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Thank You!!
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Church Kitchen Fundraiser. With your help we were able to get almost everything on the wish list PLUS we raised $362.09 for the Deacon Family Emergency Fund! Thank you for all of your support.
 Food Pantry Work Day
Our next scheduled date to work at the Crystal Lake Food Pantry will be Friday, January 22nd. Please contact Nancy Vazzano at (847) 658-5360 with any questions.
Giving Statements
Please save the church postage by picking up your end-of-the-year statements that are in the box out in the Connecting Link. Thank you. If you have any questions about your statements, please contact Rick Pohl, our Finance Secretary.
Shepherd’s Fold Preschool
The Shepherd’s Fold Preschool is now accepting applications for the 2010-11 school year. Please contact Cynthia Maron at 815-715-2751.
PowerPoint Ministry
Team
Needs Help
If you can help create and run PowerPoint, then please contact the church office at 815-459-1132 or email office@rclpc.org. Thank you.
“HOPE” Fundraiser for Make-A-Wish Foundation
RCLPC is hosting a fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish foundation. The fundraiser will be honoring a few kids that have either lost their battle to cancer or who are fighting cancer. It will be held on Saturday, February 20th from 6 to 10pm. There will be silent auctions and also a pasta dinner. The prices are as follows:
Without pasta dinner -
$5 for adults and $3 for
children (10 and under)
With pasta dinner -
$10 for adults and $5 for
children (10 and under)
Thanks, Kayleigh Jensen
Giving Tree and PADS
All tags were taken from the giving tree for PADS and all the items were delivered, plus more. Raechel Sowa and Laurie Dayon, their daughters and friends assembled some special cosmetic bags with shampoo, lotions, soaps, and other delightful items. All was taken to PADS in Woodstock (3 trips) and everything was so very much appreciated. Do remember PADS during the year. A bin for your contributions is under the stairway, next to the Food Pantry donations. Thank you to all who contributed and to those who will continue to contribute in 2010.
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January 13, 2010
The Spirit
of Ridgefield Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church
Congregational Meeting Called
Session has called a Congregational meeting for Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010 immediately following the 9:30 service. The purpose of the meeting shall be for receiving the annual report and budget, and approving terms of call for Rev. Teri Peterson for 2010. |
Curious?
Join Teri in the sanctuary Sunday mornings from 10:30-10:50am for a new class exploring the question “why do we do that?” We’ll be talking about worship, theology, the life of faith, and the life of the church, wondering together just why we do the things we do as Christians. Have a question? Write it down and put it in one of the Mystery Boxes near the entrance to the sanctuary, and we’ll answer it in class!
 Read with the pastor book group!
This month we are reading the book that made Teri want to start this book group: How (not) to Speak of God by Peter Rollins. We’ll meet in “the living room” area of Fellowship Hall on Tuesday, January 19 at 7pm to talk about this book from a pastor of an emerging faith community in Northern Ireland. Need a copy of the book? Books are available through the church office for $16.
Explore themes of faith and theology in pop culture!
Join us on Wednesday Evenings from 6:45-8pm to look for and explore together our pop culture—movies, TV, and music—and look for themes of faith and theology. We’ll be exploring themes like Call, Grace, Justice, and just what Prayer is... by looking at films like Harry Potter, the Pursuit of Happyness, Kung Fu Panda, and more… and through television shows (not much Buffy, though, so you’re in luck!)… and through some of the music you might hear when you turn on your car radio. See you Wednesday!
 Chili Cook Off
Saturday, January 23, 4:30 – 6:30pm
Come join us for the RCLPC Chili Cook-Off! Cook up your favorite chili recipe and bring it to compete – there will be prizes for the best chili in several categories! Salad will also be served. After dinner Phil Wesa will lead us in bingo. The charge is $5.00 per person, $20 limit per family. If you bring chili, you eat free! Please join us in Fellowship Hall for a fun early evening event! "A signup sheet is posted in the Connecting Link - hope to see many signatures and varieties of chili!"
Men’s Breakfast Group
Hey men!! Remember that old saying? "Taxation Without Representation is Tyranny." How about: "Being taxed without knowledge of your 1040 is unfortunate!"
You can get much knowledge about the 1040 and other tax items at the next meeting of RCLPC Men's Breakfast. Dick Virkus will lead the discussion. Dick was with Sears in managing and then for the past 17 years has worked for H. & R. Block in tax preparation. His knowledge of the tax field will be of benefit to all. Let's get prepared. The next meeting is coming up on Saturday, February 6, at the Colonial Cafe in Crystal Lake at 8:00 a.m. Hope to see you there!!
It’s Bowl Time—the Bible Bowl, that is!
Not just the Super Bowl, and not even just the Souper Bowl… but also the BIBLE BOWL! Our Sunday School students will be practicing up for the Bible Bowl, a friendly competition between students and between classes. With categories like “places in the Bible” and “sayings of Jesus” our Sunday School youth will be learning about Scripture and earning prizes—as well as earning some bragging rights! They’ll practice each week and then the Big Event—Bible Bowl II—will take place in Fellowship Hall at 10:30am on February 7. Hope to see you there!
Got Pictures??
Pastor Gendi Rizk has extended an invitation to RCLPC to come to Egypt for a March 30 and over Easter 2010 celebration of the 20th anniversary of Fairhaven School for the handicapped. We have made three trips to Alexandria and Cairo, the last one being 2006, and RCLPC has hosted teachers from Fairhaven School as they honed their skills at NISRA and Pioneer Center on two trips they made to McHenry County. At present, we are supporting three girls at Fairhaven so that they can reach their full potential under the guidance of the loving and knowledgeable teachers there.
We are putting together a gift to send to Fairhaven. If anyone has pictures of the previous trips to Egypt or pictures of the teachers who came here for training, please get them into the church office by next week. We will scan the pictures and get them back to you, so please make sure to have your name written on the backside. Thank you. ~ Mission Outreach Ministry
Family and Handicapped Seating available in the sanctuary
We are experimenting with more accessible seating in our sanctuary, so if you need more room (for wiggly children or for wheelchairs/walkers), feel free to come on up to the front left side of the sanctuary, where you’ll find more space available between pews. There are activity sheets to help engage children in the scripture for the day, as well as good sightlines for children or those in wheelchairs. Of course, families are welcome to sit anywhere you like—to help you out, there are also children’s worship bags and pew pals at the bottom of the brown stairs. And if you or someone you worship with needs extra assistance with a wheelchair or walker, please just ask an usher and we’ll do everything we can to ensure you are able to fully worship within the community!
Get Your Act Together!
The RCLPC Talent-Optional Show is coming!
Sunday, February 28th, from 5-7pm, come to RCLPC for an evening of performance fun! Have an act you want to do? Email or leave Teri a note about your act and how long it is (so we don’t have duplicate acts and so we don’t end up with 8 hours of fun—it’s a school night after all!). Our youth will be displaying their talents, their non-talents, and their senses of humor—will you display yours too? Skits, music, stand-up comedy, and many other acts welcome! Come one, come all—talent optional! Tickets to the show will be by donation to the summer high school mission trip to Houma, Louisiana.
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Heartfelt Thanks to RCLPC Members and Friends
There were a lot of opportunities for helping our brothers and sisters in need during this Christmas season and RCLPC members and friends again showed their generosity and Christian love through the sharing of time, talents and money. Please know that your gifts were greatly appreciated and in some cases were the only presents people received. Thank you to the following:
- Lois and Rick Johnson and others who organized and ran the Global Gift Shop as well as those who purchased items
- the Christmas Caroling Group
- those who contributed to the Christmas Joy Offering
- those who made and delivered PADS lunches
- those who created delicious and beautiful cookies and worked the Cookie Walk for the benefit of several missions
- many members and friends who provided gifts for the people and agencies on our Christmas Giving Tree
- those who contributed money, along with many who came out and helped on Dec. 23rd for the Advent Conspiracy - Food Distribution, and to Nancy Vazzano who headed up this project. As Pedro Enriquez, Executive Director of PADS said, "RCLPC members are angels. We didn't know how we were going to take care of our children this year." Similar comments were made by the Family Service Worker from Community Action Agency Head Start. Another comment heard from more than one recipient: "The food was a wonderful gift so close to Christmas, but the wrapped presents for babies up to adults was an added Godsend as were the caring people who made us feel so special."
With gratitude, Mission Outreach Ministry Team
Update on the 2010 Stewardship Campaign...
"Thank you" to everyone who returned their pledge cards and to those who cannot pledge, but who give what they can, when they can. We greatly appreciate your generous response and your support of RCLPC for 2010!
To date 63% of the pledge cards were returned, resulting in $277,742.00 pledged dollars for 2010. As a point of reference, this time last year we had a 78% response for a total of $298,329.00. That is a difference of about $20,500. Clearly, this is a challenging year for all of us at RCLPC. Our large budget deficit has serious consequences for us as a church if we do not rectify the situation quickly. Our fixed costs are ones that we cannot reduce such as our electrical or heating bills. Over the last five years, Session and the Budget Committee trimmed and cut our budget back to its barest of essentials.
That now leaves us with few options for 2010 -- reduce staff positions, reduce mission and ministry outreach, or increase revenue.
We cherish our amazing staff and would love to give them all raises; not "downsize" them. In addition, if mission and ministry are as important to us as we say it is, then it really seems wrong to turn away families and the local charitable organizations that desperately need our help. The last option may be the hardest: each of us digging a little deeper and thoughtfully giving what we can. Yes, the economy is still weak. Yes, it's hard to get excited about Stewardship again. Nonetheless, we desperately need to close the budget gap, and every dollar will help.
If you are financially able, please give what you can. If you have the ability to give a bit more, please do so, and if you have not already returned your pledge card for 2010, please do so as quickly as possible.
We are a dynamic congregation who can do great things with God's help. Together, we can overcome this time of struggle and financial hardship, and continue to focus on what's important: helping others.
Please support this church and its ministries. Our future depends on you.
-- The Stewardship Team
MCC to Host “2010 People in Need Forum” – January 30
Volunteers and human service staff members can mark their calendars now to continue the holiday spirit of helping others with the 2010 People in Need Forum, featuring resources to help people in the community, from 8am to 12:30pm Saturday, January 30, 2010, at McHenry County College.
The forum connects volunteers and staff from human service, civic and faith-based organizations to community resources available for those in need. This annual opportunity for volunteers and staff from human service, civic and faith-based organizations started in 2003 and has steadily grown since that time. The forum provides an opportunity to learn about community resources available for those in need.
Workshops will provide practical information to help resolve care-receiver issues. Representatives from human service organizations will be in attendance with informational handouts on such timely issues as utility assistance, food stamps, transportation options, homelessness, domestic violence, legal matters, and loss of job. All participants will receive the 2010 People in Need Community Resource Directory. Admission is free and CEUs are available.
The People in Need Forum is sponsored by the McHenry County College Center for Non-Profit Leadership. Registration is available online at the website www.peopleinneedforum.org, or by calling the United Way of Greater McHenry County Volunteer Center at (815) 344-4483, or Bev Thomas at MCC at (815) 479-7792.
Life Line Screening at Ridgefield Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church
We will be hosting a community preventive health screening on Thursday, January 21, 2009. Life Line Screening will be offering ultrasound screenings for the prevention of stroke and vascular disease.
Life Line Screening includes an ultrasound of the carotid arteries in the neck to determine if you are at risk for stroke. The majority of strokes are linked to blockage caused by the buildup of plaque in the carotid arteries. A new screening is now available to detect atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm that is linked to up to 20% of strokes. A screening of the arteries of the legs is offered to check for peripheral arterial disease, which is the leading cause of diabetic amputations and an indicator of heart disease. Lastly, a test is performed to detect abdominal aortic aneurysms. All results are reviewed by a board certified vascular surgeon and sent directly to you with all the information you need to take to your own personal physician for any needed follow up.
These screenings are non-invasive, painless and affordable; the Stroke, Vascular Disease and Heart Rhythm Package (4 tests) is only $139. Also, a finger stick blood package including cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL/LDL, and glucose is available for an additional $50 with that package. Osteoporosis-$10 additional with ultrasound package.
PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Appointment times begin at 9:00am and fill quickly; please call Life Line Screening directly at 1-800-324-1851 for your appointment or for more information.
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