bbpc weekly buzz - amazon s3...the adult choir “teach me, o lord” - philip w. j. stopford (b....
TRANSCRIPT
December 7, 2018
BBPC Weekly BUZZ September 06, 2019
This Week in Worship Saturday, November 16
5:00 p.m.
&
Sunday, November 17
10:00 a.m.
Rev. Linda E. Owens Preaching
“Building a Mystery (part 2) “
Stewardship Dedication
Scriptures:
Isaiah 65:17-25, Psalter: Isaiah 12
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13, Luke 21:5-19
The Adult Choir
“Teach Me, O Lord” - Philip W. J. Stopford (b. 1977)
“The Lord Is My Shepherd” - Jill Gallina
Love Local, Dine Out!
If you have signed up to join us as we visit local
Bound Brook restaurants for lunch, your restaurant
assignments are in the reception area (round table).
We will depart after church on Sunday, November
17th. If you have not yet signed up , please email
Linda Owens at [email protected]
Prayer Shawl Ministry
Prayer Shawl Ministry will be meeting WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 20, 2019 at 7:00 P.M. at the home
of KATHY HOBBS, 20 DOMINO RD., SOMERSET, NJ.
PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF ADDRESS FOR
THIS MONTH! We are always seeking and wel-
coming new members. Please let Kathy know if you
will be attending: [email protected].
We hope to see you there!
Buildings & Grounds
BG&T is planning a work session on Saturday
(11/16/19), around 10:00 AM to remove the rest of
the wood from the foyer.
We need volunteers with: hammers, pry bars,
sawzalls, and other power tools.
Please also bring gloves and safety glasses.
We plan to: remove the wood and the nails
from the wood so it can be reused and store the
wood
If you’re available we need 3 - 4 people.
Thanks.
Dan Luna BG&T
Community Interfaith Thanks-
giving Service
This year we will be hosting the Community Inter-
faith Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, Novem-
ber 24 at 4PM. P lease join us in our common
celebration of gratitude. It is a wonderful oppor-
tunity to get to know our neighbors and to share in
what we all hold dear. Please bring canned goods
or other non-perishable food items for the South
Bound Brook Food Bank.
The Fellowship Commission is responsible for
refreshments after the service and we’d like
to ask church members to donate desserts
and goodies . We’re going to have a sign up
sheet available after church this Sunday for
anyone who wants to donate. Please email
Doug Boleyn at [email protected] with any
questions or concerns.
Lifetouch Photography Update
Some of you have told me that you have received
your photograph order from Lifetouch Photog-
raphy. I hope you are happy with your order. If
you have a specific problem, please notify me. I
have been in contact with Lifetouch to learn that
the processing of some of the photographs has
been delayed. Lifetouch is working on the orders.
I will give you an update when I know more infor-
mation. Thank you for your patience.
Kathy Hobbs
Youth and Families Spark Sunday School is for children ages three
through grade five. Each week, we enjoy hands on
activities that help children understand and re-
member stories from the SPARK Story Bible. This
month we are learning about the Battle of Jericho.
Advent Open house: Sunday December 15
Come experience Spark Sunday school after
church
ECHO is a for middle school students, and meets in
the cave during worship.
Youth Group
All youth grades 6-12 are invited to join us! Please
email [email protected] for more information.
November 17, 5 PM in the Cave:
What were your favorite shows when you were
little? Relive them with Charades and Netflix.
Youth Retreat
This year's youth retreat is just over a month
away. The BBPC youth will enjoy a weekend grow-
ing in faith and community together at the beauti-
ful Mont Lawn retreat center in PA. We hope your
teen (6-12 grades) can join us this December 6-8.
Please email [email protected] if your youth would
like to attend.
Confirmation
Please let us know if your high school aged
child would like to participate this year.
Spark
Friends
Building
walls &
knocking
them down
Saints’ Photo Tables
Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos of
loved ones. The saints’ photo table has been taken
down. Please pickup your photos at the church
office.
2020 Stewardship Update
On Thursday October 31st letters announcing the
2020 Annual Stewardship Campaign and pledge
cards were mailed to church members. Members
began receiving their letters on November 1st. We
learned earlier this week that there was a glitch in
generating the mailing labels, so a small number of
members may not have received the stewardship
information. If you have not received your letter and
pledge card, they are available on the table in the
reception area. Please take this opportunity to pick
up the information and plan to return your pledge
card this weekend (Stewardship Commitment Week-
end).
Your Stewardship Commission
Fearless Generosity Abounds at BBPC!
Last weekend the 2020 Stewardship Campaign was launched with a ROAR, heard up and down
Mountain Avenue. The majority of church officers pledged along with many members on
Stewardship Commitment Weekend for our Officers. We received 31 pledges totaling $110,167.
Thanks to all who made their fearless pledge it is so very much appreciated.
Your Stewardship Commission
Did you know?
Some interests survive from generation to generation. Such is
the case in Chris Potter’s family when it comes to geology.
Chris’s dad was a geology professor at Hamilton College in
Clinton, NY. Chris was a geology professor at Lafayette
College in Easton, PA before working for thirty years for the
US Geological Survey. Chris and Cathy’s youngest daughter,
Kate, is a geologist that will join the faculty of New Mexico
Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro in 2020 when
she completes her post-doc studies at UC Santa Barbara.
Clearly, this must prove that even rocks do not fall far from
the tree!
Clinton, NY was and is a small town in upstate NY. Chris grew up there as the fourth of six kids. His mom
was very active as a community volunteer in the local arts center, assisting immigrant families with language
training and helping students from low income families. Chris played the French horn and ran track and
cross country in high school. He grew up attending an Episcopal church. Chris matriculated Williams
College in MA where he was on the ski team, the track team and the cross-country team. He received a B.A.
in geology in 1974. Chris then attended Brown University in RI where he obtained a M.S. in geology.
Before beginning his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in Seattle, Chris worked as a geologist at an
engineering firm in Atlanta from 1977-1979. There he met Cathy, a young social worker, at a Presbyterian
church. They were married in 1978.
Since then, Chris and Cathy have been longtime Presbyterians in a number of states as various jobs have
taken them from place to place. Chris has served numerous times on the sessions of the various churches
and has sung in the traditional and contemporary choirs, serving as one of the song leaders for the
contemporary-ish service at the church in Denver, the last before the move to NJ. Most recently, it is Cathy
that has brought the Potters to NJ and BBPC. She is currently the Dean of the Rutgers University School of
Social Work. The Potters live in Bound Brook not far from the church.
Chris completed his Ph.D. in 1983. His specialty is structural geology which involves the study of the
deformation and tectonic evolution of different regions of the US and the world. Chris did research for a
couple of years at Cornell University and was a professor of geology at Lafayette College in the late 1980’s
until he was recruited as a research scientist by the US Geological Survey and from which he retired at the
beginning of this year. Most of the years at USGS were spent in Denver and, while there, Chris was the
Director of the Central Energy Resources Science Center for seven years. His work focused on various
regions of the US and the world including Nevada, Alaska, Madagascar, China and elsewhere. As a
structural geologist, Chris’s work applied to a variety of issues including earthquake hazards, nuclear waste
disposal and oil and gas resources.
Chris and Cathy have three daughters and three granddaughters and, as of three weeks ago, a grandson!
Beth and her husband, Devin, live in Brooklyn with their daughters, Anne (6) and Abby (4). Devin is an
educator/school administrator at a school in Manhattan, and Beth is in her final year of law school planning
to work in the area of gender equity law. Laura and her husband, Matt, and their two little ones (Nancy [2]
and Denis [3 weeks]) live in Cleveland Heights. Matt is an accountant, and Laura works for a local chamber
music organization fundraising and performing administrative activities.
CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE.
Did you know? Continued
Laura has a doctorate in tuba performance from the University of Kansas! Kate and her husband, Ryan, are
currently living in two difference places while Kate does her post-doc work in geology. Ryan is a professor
of geology at New Mexico Tech. Kate will join him on the geology faculty in the fall of 2020.
Cathy and Chris joined BBPC in 2014. Chris is presently serving on session and is the co-moderator of the
mission and outreach commission. He also served on the mission study team that paved the way for the
selection of Linda as our pastor. And, of course, Chris sings in the choir.
Over the years, both due to work commitments and for pleasure, Cathy and Chris have explored much of the
planet – Europe, China, Madagascar, New Zealand, on and on. Chris is a skier, runner and hiker.
Chris’s current-most-active-retirement job is as president of the Brandreth Park Association, though he
admits that he loves being recruited by his daughters to provide childcare of the grandkids in times of need!
Brandreth Park is a family association of landowners in the Adirondacks. This large plot of wilderness was
purchased by Chris’s great-great-great grandfather in the mid-nineteenth century and is currently held by the
descendants as a tenancy in common.
There are about 40 “camps” (cabins of one sort or another) on a beautiful lake. Chris estimates the number
of interested family members of every variety on the email list is about 100. There are biannual business
meetings and occasional large social events. Once upon a time, lumbering was done on the property. More
recently, the “family” views its role as steward of the property and as host to environmental research. How
remarkable that a family could peacefully own this large tract of land for decades, approaching centuries?
Surely the ancestors must feel enormously proud of its offspring!
October Year to Date Income and Expense:
Actual Budget Over/(Under)
Income
Pledge 258,112 269,006 (10,894)
Plate (non pledge) 30,101 24,808 5,293
Church Usage 23,650 22,833 817
Other (excluding per capita) 25,702 25,054 648
Total Income 337,565 341,701 (4,136)
Expenses
Personnel 249,291 249,527 (235)
Ministry 20,582 24,738 (4,156)
Administration 85,207 89,226 (4,019)
Total Expense (excluding per capita) 355,081 363,491 (8,410)
Net Income to Expense (17,516) (21,789)
Advent & Christmas Happenings: Tree Lighting & Carol Sing – Date to be announced
December 6-8 Youth Retreat
December 19 @ 7pm Blue Christmas Service at the Trinity United Church
118 King George Road, Warren
December 21 & 22 Lessons & Carols
December 24 Christmas Eve Candlelight & Communion Services
4:30pm Intergenerational Family Service
7 & 11pm Traditional Worship
A NOTE FROM PASTOR LINDA
“Now to him who by the power at work within us is
able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can
ask or imagine …” Ephesians 3:20
It is that time of year again in the life of the church
when we look forward, beyond Thanksgiving and
Christmas, to the new year ahead. What will 2020 look
like here at BBPC? Quite frankly it is hard to imagine
what the next year will have in store. All we know for
certain is that change is in the air.
In 2020 we will say “goodbye and thank you” to Tom Rodgers and hello to an interim Director of Music. We will also be thanking Sally Zeiner for her transitional
work with our children and youth and welcoming a per-manent, part-time Director of Christian Education. We will be wrapping up our Capital Campaign, tackling
repairs to the windows and updating church signage and lighting. But we will also be doing the things we
have always done and done well … fostering a welcoming and supportive community of faith and
reaching beyond our walls to love and care for the world around us.
Our staff will change, but our mission will not. We will remain faithful to God, who has been so faith-
ful to us. We will worship with joy. We will welcome with open arms. We will care deeply and love
tangibly. And we will give of ourselves generously, of our time, talent and treasure to a God who sees
the future clearly, even when we can’t, and who will work through us in ways beyond our wildest
dreams.
On the weekend of November 16 & 17th you are encouraged to say, “Yes!” to God’s plan for our new
year ahead though an act of fearless generosity, by offering your financial pledge for 2020. Your
pledge makes it possible for the Session to plan responsibly for the challenges that lie ahead; the hiring
of staff, the support of programming, the maintenance of the building, payment of utilities, and faithful-
ness to our mission. We hope to walk boldly into 2020 with high expectations and generous resources.
That can only happen if you help make it happen by sharing with us your anticipated financial giving
for the coming year.
Please join us next weekend and bring your pledge card with you. During the closing hymn you will be
invited to bring your pledge card forward to drop it in the basket. This weekend our church officers,
elders, and deacons will lead the way offering their pledges. Let’s give without fear, trusting God for
our future!
A pledge to the church is not a legal obligation. You can amend your pledge if your circumstances
change by contacting one of the church Financial Secretaries (John O’Melia or Judy Wahrenberger). It is, however, a good faith statement of your intentions for the future and is essential to the process of
planning for the coming year.
Capital Campaign Update
Progress – Progress – Progress
The capital campaign committee continues its work in
support of your pledges and gifts for capital improve-
ments to enhance the utility and beauty of our church
home. Good progress has been made in recent months
and a summary of our progress is available in a three-
page report in the church reception area for your review.
The report includes a financial summary, project specif-
ic financials, a project summary, and information on
new project activities planned for 2020. Thank you for
your continued support of the capital campaign.
Your Capital Campaign Committee
Follow us: Facebook @ B.B.Presbyterian Church & Instagram @ bbpresby
The Bound Brook Presbyterian Church
409 Mountain Avenue, Bound Brook, NJ 08805
In Other News…
College Student Updates: Please provide your college student ’s current address to the church
office.
Caring Minister On Call: November 17 - November 23: Jill DeMouth Save The Date: After Hours Bible Study meeting in 2019-2020 year from 7:30—9:00pm:
Nov. 25 (lesson 3), Dec. 16 (lesson 4), January 27, 2020 (lesson 5), Feb. 24 (lesson 6), Mar. 23 (lesson 7), Apr. 27 (lesson 8), May 18 (lesson 9), June, picnic. Date and time TBD.
Church Office Hours: Monday—Friday, 9:00am - 4pm
BBPC is SMOKE FREE! No smoking is permitted on church grounds. We hope that this w ill create a healthier and more pleasant environment for all of us.
Chair Yoga Class—Join us! Monday at 9:00-10:00am, Wednesday at 12:00-1:00pm, and Friday at 12:15-1:15pm. Please note, all classes will be at the Freeman Chapel in the cemetery. Cost: $40 for 8 weeks per class.
Flower chart: The 2019 Flower chart is posted outside the Sanctuary.
Please send Buzz articles to [email protected]. Article deadlines are Thursday 1:00pm.
Weekly Calendar November 15 — November 23
Friday 12:15 p.m. Chair Yoga 7:00 p.m. BBP Railroad Club 8:30 p.m. AA
Saturday 5:00 p.m. Worship
Sunday 8:45 a.m. Adult Education 10:00 a.m. Worship 11:00 a.m. Youth & Children’s Choir 11:30 a.m. Youth Group
Monday 9:00 a.m. Chair Yoga 8:30 p.m. AA
Tuesday 11:45 a.m. Staff Meeting 7:00 p.m. Sessions & Deacons Meeting 8:00 p.m. AA
Wednesday 12:00 p.m. Chair Yoga 12:15 p.m. Caring Ministry Meeting 7:00 p.m. Prayer Shawl Ministry Meeting
Thursday 9:00 a.m. Silence Seekers 6:45 p.m. Bell Choir 7:15 p.m. Boy Scout Troop Meeting 7:30 p.m. Choir Rehearsal 8:00 p.m. AA Meditation
Friday 12:15 p.m. Chair Yoga 7:00 p.m. BBP Railroad Club 8:30 p.m. AA
Saturday 5:00 p.m. Worship