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Friends, the announcement you've been waiting for!!!
<DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!!!>
As many of you know, and as many of you have lamented, we have been without a Youth Director since last summer. A search committee was formed the first of September, 2017, and they have been working insanely hard to locate a new person to work with our youth. The committee met regularly, advertised far and wide (Presbyterian colleges and seminaries, local colleges, Presbyterian publications, job sites on the internet, etc.), and prayed fervently, but we just had no viable candidates. In fact, in all that time, there was only one remotely suitable applicant, who wound up not being the right person after all. But, we continued to pray with all our might.
And, God listened. And, God has answered in the most amazing way!
Through a "coincidental" (which, of course, we do not believe in!) meeting on a mission trip earlier this year, we learned about an organization within the Presbyterian Church (USA) whose specialty is youth ministry, searching for youth directors/ministers, and assisting churches with their youth ministry (note: NOT "program"), by the name of Ministry Architects. They are based in Nashville, but have ministry consultants all over the country who are working with churches, their searches, and their youth programs. Not only did they come highly recommended by a minister in our Presbytery of St. Augustine, who has worked very closely with them for the last ten years, when we checked Ministry Architects' references, they came in with an A++++++ rating! After much prayer and discernment, your session voted to engage the services of Ministry Architects to help us locate a new Youth Director, restructure our youth ministry, and guide us in ways that will help us be successful where our precious youth are concerned.
Our Ministry Architects consultants are coming to town later this month to conduct an initial assessment in order to know where and how to start our search and design our youth ministry. There is more information about this visit and the dates just below this column. We hope that all those connected with the youth and our ministry with them will make every effort to attend one of the listening sessions, as they are critical to the success of our search for a new Youth Director. For those who are not directly involved in our youth ministry, there is something of great consequence that you can do, too -
PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!!!
We all know how important and effective prayer is! Please help support this ministry in your church with your frequent prayers.
We could not be more excited about working with Ministry Architects, we have absolutely every confidence that this is a "God thing," and that they will be an enormous blessing to our congregation, and to our youth and their families, in particular.
NOW, JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT COULDN'T GET ANY MORE EXCITING AROUND HERE ....
I HAVE MORE GREAT NEWS!!
On July 29, Chris Gesdorf (Co-Chair of the PNC) and the members of the PNC came before you in worship to say that our Ministry Information Form (MIF) had been completed and approved, and that we were just awaiting presbytery approval and the necessary technical steps to get it online. That has been accomplished and our MIF is now online for your viewing pleasure! If you would like to take a look, you can find it by clicking on the following link:
The MIF was completed using the information gleaned from the focus group meetings that so many of you attended - and thank you again for that! The PNC has now begun the exciting, yet arduous task of wading through the many Personal Information Forms (PIFs) with which we have been matched. Once again, we ask for your mighty prayers on behalf of the PNC that God will direct them to the pastor God has already identified for the Hodges Church. Every step of the way, your PNC has worked diligently and prayed mightily themselves, and I say without reservation that they are the best committee I've ever had the privilege of working with. At this point, the only unknown and unpredictable variable and the one thing we have absolutely no control over is how many pastoral candidates are "out there" looking. The most comforting thing to know, then, is that God truly is in charge (duh), and God's timing, as always, will be perfect.
And, how do we know this???? Because ...
GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME AND ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD!!!
Finally, I conclude with these words of scripture from Psalm 46:
Be still and know that I am God.
Thanks be to God!!!
Your servant and friend,
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Mid-High Cross Mission Trip
 
Last week during the CROSS mission trip with 5 middle schoolers and two ninth graders, I learned tons about this enigma we call an "early teen". They play hard and they work hard. Some may be shy at first, but eventually warm up to connect with refugee children, recovering addicts, homeless people, developmentally challenged adults, and alzheimer patients. I watched them chop, slice, butter, scoop, and prepare foods for 750 Friendship Trays (Meals on Wheels), lunch for 60 men in the Rescue Mission. They cleaned, lifted tables and heavy boxes and hated stopping a job when they didn't feel like it was done. Free time in the evening, after a grueling (my adjective) 9 hour day was spent playing basketball, air hockey, foosball, and ping pong, quite competitively, I might add. A couple of their "aha" moments were when they saw the gorgeous smiles of the developmentally challenged adults in the Lifespan facility and realized that they were happy as they were, not complaining or crying because they were different. Another "aha" moment was when they realized that the homeless people we played games with and had great conversations with, were regular human beings like you and me. It all boiled down to connecting catechism to real life. We are all children of God: loved deeply and cherished equally by our creator. That translates into how WE should look at all human beings, young, old, different, hurting, foreign, etc. What a wonderful message to carry home to Jacksonville.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
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| ONE SUNDAY SERVICE THIS SUMMER 10:00 A.M. WORSHIP goes through September 9
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| August 12, 2018 "Rules, Rules, Rules!" Ephesians 4:25-5:2 John 6:35, 41-51 |
Remember in Prayer
Bob and Pam Benson, Charlotte Berglund, Ben Blunt, Bryce Cockerham, Glenn Conner, Brian Dickens,
Jose Gonzalez,
Sharon Heldwein, Bob Hiller, Carolyn and Tom Hopper, Dave Keim, Hiram Lomanto, Dorothy Martin (Brad Russell's mother), Katie Meredith, Jack Moore, Josh Moore, Kathy (Larry/Glenyce Payne's daughter), Merrylin Opendo, Ray Paul (Amy Zalusky's father), Nolan Perret, Betty Phillips, Jenny Sanders,
Roger (Judy Schuler's brother), Rochelle Seiler and family,
Robin Soergel
(Names added this week are in bold.)
PNC
Maryellen Beiletti, Wezi Blunt, Chris Gesdorf, Ryan Gulick, Alice Harper, Tod McVey,
Bruce Neu
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Special Called Presbytery Meeting
The Presbytery of St. Augustine has called a special meeting at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, August 25, at the St. Giles Presbyterian Church. The purpose of the meeting is to hear from a presbytery task force that has studied the future of Montgomery Presbyterian Center (Camp Montgomery). If you have an interest in this integral mission of our presbytery, please consider attending this meeting. If there is enough interest, we will take the church bus; we will leave the church parking lot at 8:30 a.m.
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August 9
at 11:30 a.m.
Lunch will be at
Milano's Pizza
12620 Beach Blvd.
Questions?
Contact Lynn Holmes 904-524-2134
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If you would
like an announcement
published in the September / October
Church Key please contact the office prior to August 15.
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Our St. Augustine Presbytery is planning the February 2019 Mutual Mission Trip to Cuba. The trip's purpose is to develop a relationship with churches in Matanzas
Presbytery, Cuba. This is not meant to be a tourist experience but a series of small group meetings with Cuban pastors and church members.
Dates : February 14 - 21, 2019
Estimated Cost : $1,100 including airfare
Deposit: $150
Participants : Limited to twelve by selection
Application Deadline : September 30,2018
For more info contact Diane Watkins at staugmm@gmail.com
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Meals on Wheels volunteers are needed to help deliver meals to Beaches senior citizens who are in need of assistance. Our church's delivery dates are scheduled only four times a year, and volunteers spend two to three hours picking up and delivering prepared meals. Please consider signing up for this outreach opportunity. Call Jack or Grace Hand at (904) 221-4134 or (904) 703-5518.
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Calendar
08/07 2:00 p.m. HR Meeting
7:00 p.m. PWCT Board Meeting
08/08 6:00 p.m. PNC Meeting
6:00 p.m. Pre-school Parent Orientation
08/09 7:00 p.m. Worship Mission Team
08/12 9:00 a.m. Sonriser Class
10:00 a.m. Worship
08/13 9:00 a.m. Pre-school Begins
08/14 7:00 p.m. Stewardship Meeting
7:00 p.m. Deacons Meeting
Miscellaneous Information
- Need a table in the narthex on Sunday morning to promote a project or cause? Please coordinate with the office for a table.
- You can listen to sermons online on our website: www.hbpcusa.org
- Our latest newsletter (Church Key) www.hbpcusa.org is available on our website.
- Flower sign up calendar located in the narthex.
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