GOOD NEWS AND WORSHIP UPDATE
Sunday, July 24, 2022 @ 11 am
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Scripture: Matthew 10:1-16 and Galatians 5:1, 16-26
Sermon "The Fruits of the Spirit - Generosity"
Rev. Sharon Amstutz, Interim Pastor
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Comments: We have set our YouTube channel to accept comments. If you are viewing, we ask that you say hello or to let us know you are there so we can count you as part of our attendance.
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SPECIAL NEWS AND INFORMATION |
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GOOD SAM BACK TO SCHOOL PROGRAM |
The Mission Team would like to thank everyone who brought backpacks and supplies for the Good Sam Back to School program. Your support and gifts are always appreciated. |
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AFGHAN FAMILY RESETTLEMENT |
Thanks for everyone's support in this joint venture. The items you gave were picked up at the church office on Thursday morning (today). As we learn more information about the family, we will keep you posted. |
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Jean Darling has asked if anyone is interested in reviving the Keenagers group for gatherings or other events. The Keenagers involves anyone over 50, which is most of us now. If you would like the group to return, please give Jean a call. |
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Just a friendly reminder and plenty of notice that there will be at PW 5th Tuesday Work Day coming up on August 30th. It will be time to make more Hygiene bags. So bring your items to fill those bags. Also remember that is the same week that PW Circle restarts for the fall on Thursday, September 1st. Please contact Linda Brashear if you will be needing a study book. New members are always welcome so let Linda know if you want to join with them. |
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The Lunch Bunch will be going to Frieberg's (July 24) which only has indoor seating. We are planning to schedule Cafe Lola sometime in August with Michelle's help. If you want to join us and have a favorite restaurant that includes outdoor seating, just give the office a call so we can put it on the list. See you Sunday!! |
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HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE COMING WEEK |
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Thursday, July 21
4 pm Green Team (vis Zoom)
Sunday, July 24 - Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
11 am Morning Worship, Interim Pastor, Rev. Sharon Amstutz (in-person YouTube / Facebook)
12:30 pm Lunch Bunch @ Frieberg's (203 East Main, JC)
Wednesday, July 27
4 pm Meditation Circle (via Zoom)
6 pm Chancel Choir rehearsal
Sunday, July 31 - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
11 am Morning Worship, Interim Pastor, Rev. Sharon Amstutz (in-person YouTube / Facebook)
12:30 pm Lunch Bunch @ TBD - suggestions please
Wednesday, August 3
4 pm Meditation Circle (via Zoom)
6 pm Chancel Choir rehearsal
Sunday, August 7- Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time / Communion
11 am Morning Worship, Interim Pastor, Rev. Sharon Amstutz (in-person YouTube / Facebook)
12:30 pm Lunch Bunch @ TBD - suggestions please
Wednesday, August 10
4 pm Meditation Circle (via Zoom)
6 pm Chancel Choir rehearsal
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GENERAL FUND: YEAR TO DATE:
2022 Annual Budget - $ 135,000
Budget through July 12th 2022, Week #29 ($ 75,288)
Receipts $ 77,052.50
Disbursements - $71,862.99
Balance $ 3,189.51
Thanks to everyone for your continued support the church with your tithes and offerings during this extraordinary time. But please note that our surplus funds are dwindling. Make sure that your pledges are up-to-date. There is much work that still needs to be done and we are only half way through the year.
You are encouraged to mail your pledge to us or to drop it by the church office during regular business hours. Thanks.
We are still receiving the 5 Cents per Meal offering that is usually taken on Communion Sundays. If you would like to make a contribution to this offering please do so and designate it on your checks.
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Semiannual Report, July 15, 2022
This year marks the 10th anniversary of WAPC’s investment program. It began when the Finance Committee voted to use interest only of proceeds from sale of the Manse (~$136K) plus ~$6K of donated bonds (~$142K total). Since the funds came from housing, this was called the “Housing Account.”
Housing Account (HA) In Jan. of 2012, a compromise portfolio was reached of a 5-yr. $100K CD @ 2.25% p.a. with the remainder in 7-8% muni bonds. This produced income of $6K p.a. for the first 5 yr. However, it was clear that better rates could be obtained, so over the next 3-4 yr. investments were gradually shifted to muni bonds.
In 2020-21 the pandemic caused the Fed to lower interest rates to near zero, such that muni issuers redeemed (called) most of their bonds to refinance at lower rates. With fixed rate vehicles paying next to nothing, WAPC was left with few options (Bitcoin was not a viable one!). One possibility, however, was to invest in PIMCO bond funds (vide infra). In addition to $60K of non-called bonds*, these now comprise the bulk of the HA.
Investment Account (IA) In 2013 it was decided to invest some of WAPC’s other funds that were drawing money market interest only. The IA was thus started with $35K and supplemented over time with donated stock, bond, and stock fund shares. Initial investments consisted of munis and stock and bond mutual funds. However, in Feb. of 2022 (before the Russian invasion), all holdings were switched to PIMCO bond funds.
PIMCO funds PIMCO is one of the premier bond companies in the world. Of its many offerings, six were identified as paying > 9% p.a.: PDI (13.1%), PTY (11.4%), PHK (11.6%), PFN (11.5%), PFL (11.2%), and RCS (11.9%). These are closed-end* bond funds that are actively managed by different fund managers. They are also exchange traded funds* (ETFs), which means they trade like stocks and fluctuate with the markets* but perform like bonds to provide fixed (monthly) income.
The long-term goal will be to minimize the impact of any one fund cutting its dividend. This can be achieved by diversifying holdings over four or more funds to spread the risk. Fortunately, these funds have historically raised their dividends as much as cut them.
July 15, 2022 Market Value Est. Annual Income
Housing Account (HA) $118,371 $12,953
Invest. Account (IA) $121,280 15,051
Total $239,651 $28,004
Prognosis It would be ideal to ”set it and leave it,” but the world does not work that way. Over the last 10 yr., we have lived thru the tail end of the Great Recession, the COVID pandemic, and the worst first six-month market performance in > 50 yr. , as a result of supply shortages, the Russian “Bear” market, high inflation, and fears of recession.
The Finance Committee’s recommendation to hire a full-time pastor was based on a leap of faith that would require $30K of extra income over the $135K budgeted. A “back-of-the-envelope” calculation suggests that WAPC could, if necessary, tap the fixed income from HA and IA ($28K - $6K already committed + any budget surplus, currently ~$1.5K) to tackle this need without touching the principal. Of course, this all assumes no recurrence of missteps/backtracking by the Fed and no more geopolitical bombshells.*
Mike Miyamoto
Investment Manager
*Notes
1. The non-called bonds are Economic Recovery Bonds issued during the Great Recession, where the Fed. Gov’t pays 45% of the interest. They mature in 2031 & ’41.
2. A closed-end fund is one with a fixed number of shares at inception. Its share price may deviate from its underlying net asset value, depending on market behavior and confidence in management.
3. An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is one that usually follows an index and involves little or no managing and commissions. Unlike a mutual fund, it trades continuously during the day rather than just at the close.
4. Stock/Bond valuations are primarily dependent on market psychology, swinging between “greed and fear.”
5. A normal portfolio has a mix of growth and income vehicles. In an uncertain market like today’s, a 100% income portfolio will ensure a fixed income despite market valuations that mirror the overall markets.
6. A 5-yr. CD is currently paying 3.4% p.a.
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JULY BIRTHDAYS
July 29 - Tom Shanks
July 31 - Tommy Causey
August 1 - Janis Miyamoto
August 2 - Emily Caponero
August 3 - Sherry Bailey & Marty Shanks
August 10 - Matthew Clark
AUGUST ANNIVERSARIES
August 6 - David & Jennifer Wood
The Chancel flowers were given in loving memory of
Earl Snodderly
(21 July 1917 - 9 November 2015)
on the 105th anniversary of his birth, by the Bailey and Snodderly families.
PLEASE NOTE: THE NEW 2022 FLOWER LIST IS AVAILABLE ON THE BULLETIN BOARD IN THE SIDE ENTRY
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For Members / Regular Attendees
Phyl Summers; Don Loughry; Camilla & Hunter Lyle; Jack Hansel.
For Friends
George & Jo Rolling (recovering from covid / pneumonia; Miyamoto and Chin families in the loss of Janis' brother, Jerry Chin; Ken Solly and family in the loss of his wife Linda; Sally Gerhardt's son, Fritz is beginning his second round of chemo for multiple myeloma; Gene Barringer and Betsy Parks, friends of Matthew & Karen Clark; Eddie & Pauline Everhart, neighbors of the Danks; Nathan Songer; Rev. Maggie Lauterer; Karen Frederick; the family of Olga Pastushenko from Odessa, Ukraine refugees in Romania; Joel Carillet, local photojournalist; Sue Sheffield's nephews, Jeremiah Collins and Tanner Frye; Sue Shank's friend, Judy Klein; Sharon Amstutz's brother, Paul Hagood; Theresa Lura's cousin, Randy Carter; Sarah Suptin; church neighbor, Dorothy Harvey.
Special Prayers for Clinical and Medical Health Care Workers
The continued COVID pandemic concerns with cases still on the rise with the delta, lambda and mu variant strains, along with the new omicron virus with the highest number of overall cases in the United States, India and Brazil; a new strain BA2.12.1 subtype COVID cases are now on the rise in numerous European countries. And persons now affected by the rise in new active cases of the infectious disease, monkeypox.
Special prayers for the people of the Ukraine in light of the military invasion by Russia and the ongoing humanitarian crisis there; for our military members who serve our country here and abroad, as well continued prayers for our fragile planet during this time of extreme weather conditions, and for those who have suffered loss from recent ongoing disasters including a new humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan following the earthquake on the Afghan / Pakistan border, as well as the Horn of Africa hunger crisis. Prayers for the families in Buchanan County, Virginia with the lost of property due to flooding, but grateful that there were no lives reported lost or missing. And especially prayers for our nation and for strength, endurance, faith and courage for all.
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This is one of the late David Taylor's many beautiful paintings. |
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Scientists have found that the sea's huge baleen whales eat two to three times more food, both daily and annually, than researchers had previously thought. That means that the animals also poop much more than earlier studies had estimated. The finding is important because whale feces are a critical source of nutrients in the open ocean. To come up with the new estimate, published in Nature magazine, a team of ecologists from Stanford University closely followed 321 humpback, blue, fin, and minke whales in three different oceans.
The whales capture prey by filtering vast amounts of water through fringed baleen plates in their mouths. The scientists learned, for example, that the North Pacific blue whale—Earth's largest animal—consumes some 35,000 pounds of krill per day in the summer. By eating such enormous quantities and then defecating, the whales release iron locked within the krill back into the water, making it available to phytoplankton that need the mineral to survive. "These ecosystems are complex and highly intricate," affirms lead author and Stanford marine ecologist Matthew Savoca. (GSN #108)
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VIRTUAL CREATION ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK |
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MAVIC MTA
(September 2021 | 9:47 min.)
Cheddar Gorge is a limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills, near the village of Cheddar, Somerset, England. The gorge is the site of the Cheddar show caves, where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 years old, was found in 1903.
Cheddar is a gorge lying on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. The maximum depth of the gorge is 449 ft), with a near-vertical cliff-face to the south, and steep grassy slopes to the north. The B3135 road runs along the bottom of the gorge which looks beautiful from an Aerial perspective.
The gorge was formed by meltwater floods during the cold periglacial periods which have occurred over the last 1.2 million years.
Enjoy these scenery of this special place.
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IN THE POTEAT LIBRARY
NOTE: The library is open by appointment. Please remember that you are welcome to drop by the church library if you are looking for something new to read. We ask that you to sign out any books on the register sheet found on the file cabinet in the corner with the call #, book title, your name and date checked out.
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Rocky Fork, Hidden Jewel of the Blue Ridge Wild
By David Arthur Ramsey and Photographs by David Ramsey and Jerry D. Greer
(917.68/RAM)
Lamar Alexander Rocky Fork State Park is 2,076-acres of scenic wilderness in Unicoi County, in the southern Appalachian Mountains.
The park is surrounded on three sides by the Cherokee National Forest. The steep, rugged terrain is drained by numerous cool mountain streams including its namesake, Rocky Fork Creek, which flows through the park. The stream is located in the pristine Rocky Fork watershed.
With large moss-covered boulders and deep pools, Rocky Fork Creek is noted for miles of excellent native trout fishing. A corridor of the AT and the Sampson Mountain Wilderness Area are nearby.
The land was designated a Tennessee State Park in October 2012, but was not officially opened until May 2015.
Rocky Fork, Hidden Jewel of the Blue Ridge Wild is the story, in powerful images and words, of the decade-long battle to save northeast Tennessee’s spectacular Rocky Fork Watershed—the last great wilderness of its size and kind in the eastern United States—which was threatened by a massive development project. Along with stunning photographs by David and fellow photographer, Jerry Greer, the book features David’s first-hand narrative of the campaign to preserve what many called, “the last crown jewel” of the Blue Ridge Mountains.” – From the book’s cover and park’s brochure.
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Congregational Concerns / Prayer Requests - Please contact the church office or Sherry Bailey with information.
Flower List - The 2022 Flower List has been posted on the bulletin board in the side entry. Please sign up to sponsor flowers for our weekly worship services in honor or in memory of loved ones.
Arrangements are $65 each.
Liturgists - We are always looking for new people to be liturgists. Please contact the church office, if you would like to volunteer.
e-Avenue deadline - Please submit information to church office (office@wataugapc.org or 926-7942) at any time and for the August issue of the e-AVENUE, no later than Friday, July 15th. This includes team and committee meetings, news, planned events and other newsworthy items.
Photos needed - We welcome contributions to our Facebook page via your comments and photos of church events and activities. Please also submit your photos to the church office for archiving. It will be wonderful to have a visual record of all of the positive things that Watauga Avenue Presbyterian Church does for our community.
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Established 27 September 1892, Watauga Avenue Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ. Reformed in theology and Presbyterian by way of organization, it is related to Holston Presbytery, the Synod of Living Waters, and to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) |
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