September - Winnetka Presbyterian Church

Reflections on the First Month
of the Journey
Progress on the Formation of the WPC
Pastor Nomination Committee
It’s hard to believe that I’ve now been
with you just about one month. But it
has been an eventful month! I have
preached to you and led worship for
four consecutive Sundays, have had get-acquainted
conversations with many of you and in-depth conversations
with many key leaders and staff. I have also attended five
gatherings – two board meetings, two team meetings, and a
Bible study. I also ate ice cream sundaes with our children
and burgers with the youth at their end-of- summer parties.
And I’m even beginning to remember a number of your
names – all in the first month of our journey together.
Whew! It’s been a whirlwind of connections, but it’s all good
as it’s contributed to building relationships and establishing
the trust necessary to walk this interim journey together.
Thank you for opening your lives to me.
Dear WPC Members,
I have also been concentrating on developing a process by
which we can look at your future together. Only then will
we be in the best position to help the Pastor Nominating
Committee (the “PNC”) find a good match for your next
senior leader. I presented a 3-prong strategy paper to the
session at their August meeting. It was accepted, and we
now have a direction in place. First of all, please pass on
names of persons of fellow members you believe could be
vital contributors to the Pastor Nominating Committee.
Secondly, plan to participate in the “CAT” Survey (short of
the Church Assessment Tool) when it is offered in October.
You can do this on-line, and it will only take about 30 to 45
minutes of your time. Then on October 21st and 22nd (a
Friday night and Saturday morning), we will hold a fun
church-wide event to discover the DNA of our congregation,
the deepest and truest part of the church’s identity. You will
do so by reviewing the church’s history identifying your
heroes, rituals, and visuals that make you uniquely you. This
is the church’s “true north” and all congregations are at
their best (as are all persons) when we are living from our
core selves’ inner code. So we have an exciting fall ahead as
well as one which will yield important insights for those on
our Pastor Nominating Committee as they prepare to search
for your next Senior Pastor.
With anticipation for what tomorrow will bring!
Pastor David
As we continue our journey through this time of
transition at Winnetka Presbyterian Church, we
want to provide you an update on the status of our
search for a new Senior Pastor. We are embarking
on our search for a permanent Senior Pastor for
WPC. To that end, the WPC Nominating Committee,
comprised of Bill McNair, Scott Martin, Susan
Langan and Eric Walker have been meeting to
discuss the process for selecting WPC members to
serve on the WPC Pastor Nominating Committee
(“PNC”). The PNC will be responsible for leading the
search for our new WPC Senior Pastor.
The goal of the WPC nominating committee is to
present a proposed slate of WPC members to serve
on the PNC. We hope to have the PNC candidate
slate ready for approval at a WPC congregational
meeting in mid to late September. This includes
getting candidate permission and an indication of
willingness to serve on the PNC until a new pastor
has accepted a WPC call. We hope to make this
process as transparent and interactive as possible in
dialogue with the entire WPC congregation.
Your nominating committee is looking for PNC
candidates moved by the Holy Spirit who can
provide good representation of the wonderfully
diverse faith and interests of our WPC community.
Please let us know if you personally wish to be
placed into consideration of serving on the PNC. We
welcome any and all feedback and candidate
suggestions you may have on people to be
considered for serving on the PNC.
Faithfully yours,
The WPC Nominating Committee
Bill McNair, wmcnair2@comcast.net, 847-446-6314
Scott Martin, smartin@kmrgroup.com, 847-724-7051
Susan Langan, susanlangan@aol.com, 847-431-5798
Eric Walker, eewesq@gmail.com, 773-412-7018
Rally Day
September 2016
Winnetka Presbyterian Church
1255 Willow Road
Winnetka, IL 60093
847.446.7777main
847.446.7790 fax
Join us and learn about our friendly and
faithful congregation on
ext
David Boumgarden
20
Interim Senior Pastor
Sunday · September 11 @ 9:45am
davidb@winnpres.org
Geoff Duffy
Rally Day
24
Director of Music
Associate Director of Worship
$10/person · $25/family
Newcomers are invited as our guests.
geoff@winnpres.org
Nancy Holly
21
Director of Children’s Ministry
nancy@winnpres.org
Rev. Diann Santschi
25
Parish Associate of Pastoral Care &
Counseling
Cookout!
rats
Burgers/B
Face
Paintin
g
diann@winnpres.org
Service &
Education
Opportuniti
es
Rev. Kathy Dale McNair
Specialized Minister
Mental Health Ministry
kdmcnair@comcast.net
Dina Price
23
Administrator
office@winnpres.org
Michael Jin
26
Accountant
mike@winnpres.org
Ice C
ream
Sund
ae Ba
r
Chris Kenneally
Custodian
chris@winnpres.org
www.winnpres.org
facebook.com/WinnetkaPres
twitter.com/WinnetkaPres
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Ballo
Anim on
als
September 2016
Worship and Music
Every Sunday we try to worship in ways that hopefully engage families with children.
This year however, we are making an even greater attempt to do that on the First Sunday of each month.
We are inviting families to help lead worship as lectors and prayer leaders.
Sunday School children will be invited to join the choir in the choir loft for the first part of the service.
W AYS Y OUR F AMILY C AN G ET I NVOLVED
Prepare Communion: Shop for bread and grape juice on Saturday,
cut the bread as a family, and then meet Andy McCausland at 9:15
on Sunday morning to set up for communion.
Read Scripture or Lead Prayers: Read the Prayer for Illumination
and the first scripture reading OR lead the Prayers of the People.
Geoff will provide the script and directions.
Junior Ushers: Formally known as “PUPS”, our junior usher team is
made up of middle school (6-8) youth.
Singing: Children will have singing on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of
Oct 2, Nov 6
Dec 4, Feb 5
March 5, April 2
May 7
the month in Sunday School. This year, we will focus on singing the
psalms which they will help lead on the First Sunday of each month.
The children will also be invited to sit in the choir loft with the “big
choir” for the first part of the service to help lead the singing. If your
children are planning on singing, please have them in the sanctuary
at 9:05am on the First Sundays.
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Youth
Trip
September
2016
February Cuba Mission Worship
& Music
L AS A MISTADES R ENOVADOS EN L A H ABANA
(F RIENDSHIPS R ENEWED IN H AVANA )
— by Jacques Gordon
Twenty-one missionaries from WPC were commissioned
on July 24th to make the journey to Cuba and to visit our
sister church, Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Reformada
de la Habana. The last organizing meeting before we
left was held at Margie and Kirk’s McInerney’s house.
We enjoyed a delicious meal and discussed the logistics
involved with getting all our travelers and supplies to
Miami, to Cuba and then back again. We were grateful
as we realized all the work that had been done by
many, many people to send us safely on our way
including our trip planners (Scott Martin, Al Diaz, Dina
Price), our auction committee (Chimene Pellar, Karen
Tokmakoff, Nancy Holly, and a strong supporting cast of
donors and bidders), and of course all the spaghetti
dinners, pancake breakfasts (Tracy and Mike Colitte),
car washes and other fund raisers carried out by our
youth group. And let’s not forget to mention the
vitamins bought with money raised by the youngest
members of our congregation, or the proceeds from the
Lewis Brothers concert, and the women’s retreat
organized by Kathy Fink!
We arrived in Miami on the evening of July 29th and
returned very late to Chicago on August 6th (really the
morning of the 7th!). With just a few exceptions (one
lost bag and one canceled inbound flight to Miami) the
travel plans worked very well this year. This was the
sixth mission trip to Cuba by a delegation from our
church and we all felt very privileged to be going. The
group was especially grateful that Al Diaz was able to
accompany us and to act as translator and guide—this
was Al’s fifth trip with WPC, but he had also traveled to
Havana for the 50th Anniversary of Hector Mendez’s
ministry last fall, as well as numerous other trips to visit
family and friends. (The Diaz family left Cuba when Al
was 8 years old). We were also fortunate to have three
returning college students and a total of 11 veterans of
prior Cuba trips.
WPC & Cuban Youth in Havana, Cuba
The 2016 Cuba Delegation
High School: Lara and Will Amedei, Robby Bay, Alex
Colitte, Erica Diaz, Kate Holly, Philip and Lydia
Martin, Sophia and Anna Pellar,
Alex Tokmakoff
College-bound: Alex Martin
In College: Kelsey Curran, Lauren, Holly,
Skip Wiltshire-Gordon
Chaperones: Al Diaz, Jacques Gordon,
Scott Martin, Margie and Kirk McInerney,
Chimene Pellar
the two buses that had been hired to take us to all
our destinations. Unlike prior years, there was no
official work crew assignment waiting for us. Our
mission was to make friends, enjoy Christian
fellowship, help plan and participate in a youth
service, attend prayer meetings, and learn what we
could about Cuba and the church’s ministry there,
and then to share our experiences with others when
we returned.
We saw and learned so much! An after-church
“bonus hour” on August 14th gave the congregation
wonderful insights into our activities, the
relationships that were formed and renewed, our
reactions to the people we met and the many sights
we saw. We spent many wonderful hours each day
with the Cuban youth, with their Senior Pastor,
Hector Mendez, and with Associate Pastor Carmina.
The warmth of spirit and kindness of our hosts was
Cuba will be opening up to regularly scheduled flights
from several US cities in a few months, so we got to see
Havana before a deluge of visitors begins to arrive. We
were met by Associate Pastor Carmina Blasco and by
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September 2016
Youth Cuba Mission Trip
inspirational. The Cuban youth group included
three voice students (studying to become opera
singers), a ballet teacher, an army officer heading
into seminary, an artist, several software engineers,
a retail clerk, and many who were still in school,
but who took time off from their summer jobs to
spend time with us.
A highlight of the trip for the WPC youth included a
briefing by the cultural attaché at the US Embassy,
who explained the official and unofficial status of
US-Cuban relations and how they are constantly
evolving, despite the ongoing embargo and the US
migration/visa policies that make travel back and
forth to the US problematic for Cuban citizens. This
briefing, arranged in advance by Al Diaz, was very
enlightening in that it helped explain what we were
seeing and hearing from our Cuban hosts. Other
highlights of the trip included a trip to the
Hemingway House and Museum, the Museo de la
Revolución, located in the former Presidential
Palace (still riddled with bullet holes from 1956),
the ceremonial firing of the cannon at sundown
from the Castillo de San Carlos, a trip to the Casa
José Fuster (an artist who creates mosaics all
throughout his house and his neighborhood), and a
wondrous night of Salsa dancing on the roof of the
Inglaterra Hotel. For many of us, the most lasting
memory will be the youth service on Thursday
night where we shared our faith, music and prayer
with our Cuban friends.
“This trip affirmed that
connections don’t
always need words or
language to find
success. It is something
deeper, a shared love of
God, that can connect,
Yansel and Skip Wiltshire-Gordon
break down barriers
and overcome differences. The Holy Spirit was
remarkably discernible to me in the loving faces of
my Cuban friends, always working to bring us closer.
Those in our sister church are focused on what
matters: family, friends, and beautiful spiritual
relationships I envy.” — Skip Wiltshire-Gordon
The best opportunities for the youth to really get to
know each other and to form relationships
occurred during our three trips to the beach
(including the world-famous Veradero Beach), our
shared lunches and dinners, evening games,
singing on the bus, hanging out, and dancing. The
group that went from WPC will long remember the
friendships we made, the wonderful spirit of the
Cuban people (despite great poverty and hardship)
and the vibrancy and fun of the youth of Primera
Iglesia Presbiteriana-Habana. We thank all of our
sponsors at WPC and our hosts at Primera Iglesia
for this wonderful experience of Christian
fellowship!
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Children’s Ministry
September 2016
Ice Cream Social
Sunday School
Kindergarten - 5th Grade
Families had fun reconnecting at our 1st annual WPC
ice cream social on Wednesday August 24. Over 50
children, parents and friends attended and enjoyed
bean bag toss games and making awesome sundaes
in our CLC.
Rally Day, Sunday September 11, marks the first day of
Sunday school for our 2016/2017 school year. We look
forward to a fresh, new curriculum, mission and
service projects, and lots of fun fellowship events.
Children in grades kindergarten through 5 will begin
music with Geoff again on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of
the month.
Third Grade Bibles and
Sacraments Workshop
On September 18 our third graders will receive their
personally inscribed Bibles during worship. These
Bibles will be presented during the Moment for the
Young and our congregation looks forward to giving
this special gift to these children. Also on October 1
our 3rd and 4th graders along with a parent will attend
a Sacrament workshop led by our new interim pastor
David Boumgarden. Then on Sunday, October 2 these
children will receive their “first” communion on World
Communion Sunday. Children are welcome to receive
communion whenever they wish at WPC but this will
be a special time as they will have completed a class
that gives them a deeper understanding of the two
sacraments we practice as Presbyterians.
Mission
We had a very successful book drive for Bernie’s Book
Bank which we did through New Trier Township. WPC
delivered 455 new and gently used children’s books on
Monday August 15. These books will be placed directly
into the hands of Chicago area children in need. Our
next mission project will be making cards, signs and
welcome baskets to give our Family Promise guests a
warm WPC welcome when they arrive on Sept. 25.
First Sundays
Coming this fall are “First Sundays” at WPC. Every
Sunday we try to worship in ways that hopefully
engage families with children. We are inviting families
to help lead worship as lectors, prayer leaders, and
Sunday School children will be invited to join the choir
in the choir loft for the first part of the service.
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Bonus Hours
September 2016
“Only the walker who sets out
toward ultimate things is a
pilgrim…”
T HE H OLY L ANDS : H OME
OF
J ESUS
September 18 @ 11:15am - Matt, Stacey, Riley, and Ella Baker
From the days of Jesus, the Holy Lands have held a special place in the hearts of both Christians
and Jews. This summer, the Baker family retraced the steps of Jesus (and even brought along
“Flat Jesus”) in Nazareth, Galilee, and Jerusalem. Come hear about their experiences and how it
invigorated their own faith.
R OME /V ENICE : C ATHEDRALS
AND
T OMBS
September 25 @ 11:15am - Geoff Duffy
Rome has held a special fascination for Christian pilgrims since the days of the apostles Peter and
Paul. Venice has been a place a pilgrimage from the 800’s when Venetian sailors stole the body
of the apostle Mark, and brought him to San Marco! Geoff weaves together his journey to
Catholicism with tales and pictures from his Italian pilgrimage last April.
N EW Z EALAND /A USTRALIA : F INDING G OD
IN
N ATURE
October 2 @ 11:15am - Andy and Sandy McCausland
Have you set eyes on a beautiful landscape and felt a profound connection with God? Have you
been astonished by the wonder of God's work in Nature? Join Sandy and Andy McCausland on
their spiritual journey though New Zealand and Australia.
C OSTA R ICA /T HE N ORTH W OODS :
N ATURE C ONNECTIONS WITH G OD
October 9 @ 11:15am - Judy McKee and Marj Steiner
As we take in a natural setting, we often experience a greater sense of peace. We may feel more
vibrant or alive. Judy and Marj will share their experiences in Costa Rica and the North Woods,
helping us all appreciate the beauty, complexity, and wonder of nature that can lead us to a
closer relationship with God.
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September 2016
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
9:30am LifeTalk
7:30pm Choir
8pm AA Meeting
8am Men’s Group
9am Yoga Sanctuary
4 Communion
5
6
7
8
9
10
9:45am Worship &
Sunday School
12:00pm Men of the
Church, Wilmette Golf
Club
12:30am Staff Meeting
7:30pm AA Meeting
7pm Yoga Sanctuary
9:30am LifeTalk
7:30pm Choir
Rehearsal
8pm AA Meeting
8am Men’s Group
9am Yoga Sanctuary
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
8:45am Choir Rehearsal 7:00pm Missions Team 11:30am Senior Club
9:45am Worship &
7pm Stephen Ministry
Sunday School
7:30pm AA Meeting
7:15pm Deacon Mtg
7pm Yoga Sanctuary
9:30am LifeTalk
7:30pm Choir
Rehearsal
8pm AA Meeting
8am Men’s Group
9am Yoga Sanctuary
18
22
23
24
8pm AA Meeting
8am Men’s Group
9am Yoga Sanctuary
12:30pm Golf Outing
20
21
8:45am Choir Rehearsal 4:30pm A Just Harvest
9:45am Worship &
Soup Kitchen, East
Sunday School
Rogers Park
9:45am Third Grade
Bible Sunday
11:15am Bonus Hour
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12:30am Staff Meeting
7pm Faith, Hope
Recovery
7:30pm AA Meeting
7pm Yoga Sanctuary
9:30am LifeTalk
7:30pm Choir
Rehearsal
25
27
28
29
30
1 October
5pm Family Promise
7pm Stephen Ministry
7:30pm Book Club
7:30pm AA Meeting
5pm Family Promise
7pm Yoga Sanctuary
7:00pm Session Mtg
9:30am LifeTalk
5pm Family Promise
7:30pm Choir
Rehearsal
5pm Family Promise
7:30pm AA Meeting
8am Men’s Group
9am Yoga Sanctuary
9:30am Sacraments
Workshop
5pm Family Promise
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8:45am Choir Rehearsal 5pm Family Promise
9:45am Worship &
Sunday School
11:15am Bonus Hour
5pm Family Promise
10th Annual Golf Outing
Saturday, September 24
Wilmette Golf Course · 3900 Fairway Drive · Wilmette
Tee times will begin at 12:30pm. All levels and all ages welcome for an
afternoon of fun including our usual contests: longest drive, closest to the
pin and longest putt. Sign up in the atrium or contact Nancy Holly at 773960-8377 or email Nancy@winnpres.org by Friday September 16. Cost:
$73.00 per golfer and includes practice range balls before your tee time, 18
holes of golf with cart and a whole lot of fun!
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