Pastor’s Corner

Watching Grass Grow

Several weeks ago, with the help of some of our church members,

some new soil and grass seed was added to the back yard of the

parsonage. For the past couple of weeks I have been watching the

forecast, planning out my times to water and looking for the growth.

It takes time for grass to start to grow, much like watching water

come to a boil. Sowing grass, in a lot of ways is a good metaphor

for the spiritual life of a person or a congregation. It’s good to have

a fertile foundation to start; new soil to help the seeds germinate.

But then it takes patience and persistent care of that seed over time.

Our spiritual lives are sown in the soil of faith, experience, calling,

and love. Over time with practice and patience we grow stronger as

disciples.

The funny thing about growing grass seed is that there is that period

of time when it appears as if nothing is happening, and then one day

new grass appears. In our live and in the life of the church there will

be times when we don’t see much happening, but underneath it all,

there is growth as we move closer to the calling that God has for us.

And one day that growth will be visible but for now we have to

have faith in what is unseen.

Blessings, Adam

DISCIPLES NEWS June 2014

Keep an eye out for some of the many special fathers in

our congregation.

Don’t Forget! One service in the summer at 9:15 am.

June 21st - Sundown Cinema

at 7:00 pm

VBS Coming in July!

What’s Happening At F.C.C.

The orange cones and sawhorses are now gone from the front steps of the church. We had a broken step and cracks in others that have now been fixed. We wanted everyone to be safe during construction; now the front of the church is looking good again. Our Long Term Construction Fund that we started a couple years ago allowed us to fix the steps without incurring any debt or tapping into our operating budget. Yeah, us!!

Property Committee

Check out the PASS IT ON resource box! Look for it on top of the mailboxes in the Narthex. If you missed Pastor Adam's sermon Sunday May 25 explaining our Pass It On project and cards, be sure to check our church’s website (www.harrisonvillefcc.org). Take what you need from the box and if you have a great idea, please add it to the box. Pick up your Pass it on cards from the back of the sanctuary or contact the church office if you'd like some mailed or delivered to you. Let's have fun and PASS IT ON! Sophia Smither Mark your calendars! This June - August is our summer worship schedule! We will be having one worship service at 9:15 am. In September we will be returning to two services again. Thank you! Worship Committee

June 1, 2014 Scripture: John 8:2-11 Title: Core Value 4: Seeing Each Person as a Child of God. June 8, 2014 Scripture: Acts 2:1-21 Title: Spirit of the Living God June 15, 2014 Scripture: Matthews 28:16-20 Title: Making Disciples June 22, 2014 Scripture: Jeremiah 20:7-13 Title: The Walk of a Christian June 29, 2014 Guest Speaker Nina Cox Scripture: Lamentations 3:25 Title: God is Great, God is God.

June Sermons

Adam, Michael, and Jonathan Harmon

This June 1st is our Keep Funding Churches donation Sunday. This ministry was established by the Ozark Lakes area new church task force, NCTF. Your one dollar donation each month goes to help funding new church ministries. June 1st is also our Pentecost Moment for Mission. Adam will be showing a video at our 9:15 service. The special offering will be taken June 8th. June 2nd is our Micah Trip. We will be leaving the parking lot at 4 pm and will be back by 8 pm. May 23rd was our Food Pantry Day, thank you to all who helped. Also, don’t forget our other outreach programs: Such as Hope Haven, which has a jar in the back of the sanctuary. The donations buy cleaning kits. We also have collections boxes for Micah & Bright Futures in the Fellowship Hall.

Outreach

Membership

We have several projects to announce this month! To celebrate Father’s Day we will be serving up a nice treat for the men in our congregation. We will be having Sunday snacks dur-ing our summer worship schedule. Join us in the Fellowship Hall at 8:45 am for a light breakfast snack and refresh-ments.

Gabe, Mia, & Maise Schnelle

Jason, Krissy & Andrew Smither

Kids’ Choir

Will be taking a summer hiatus but will return in September.

Regular Sunday school will still meet following the modified summer schedule.

Christian ED.

Steve Allbaugh & Megan Davidson

Phil & Ryan Davidson

Janet (Lawson) Allbaugh with her Daddy, G. T. Lawson

Volunteers Needed for VBS This Summer: It's that time of year again! We have

teamed with Harrisonville United Methodist and Harrisonville Nazarene for another exciting VBS, July 22-25 at Lord's Park. We expect over 100 kids this year and are in need of volunteers. Needs include: **parking lot attendants, registration table, snack station, first aid station, set-up and breakdown, and group leaders/runners.** Time commitment will be 6:30-8:30 p.m. All volunteers must have a background check and attend the informational meeting. If you are interested in helping please contact Andrea in the office or email Alli Schnelle at alli.schnelle@gmail.com.

Summer Break!

We will resume in late August.

Chancel Choir

Deborah Group met May 12 with three present. We sent one card. The group watched Chapter Five of Melvia Field's “Wisdom of Women” interview, in which she discusses “Finding Balance”. Melvia talked about driving 20 miles from Paris, KY to Lexington, KY to take her small children to a restaurant for breakfast. There were no “black” restaurants in Paris. She wanted her children to know how to be seated, order from a menu, and how to treat the servers in a restaurant. Melvia had a number of trials in life, which she “survived because I believed that God never leaves. Sometimes we get away from Him, but He never leaves us.” We also watched Chapter Six of her interview about “Women on a Mission”. Melvia talked about several black women who were leaders in the early Christian Church, DOC. We reviewed Sojourner Truth's extemporaneous speech on racial inequalities, “Ain't I a Woman?”, which was delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron. Ruth served a refreshing dessert. On June 9

th, we will meet at 11:30 AM at

Ryan's in Raymore for lunch. Ladies, please join us for fellowship and lunch. We will not meet again until September 8 at 1:30 PM when we will continue our study.

Deborah Group

Rich Smither & Kerry Morgan

Matt & Addison Scoma

John & a dragon...I mean Alexander Sieczkowski

Stewardship Thoughts

Celebrating Our Permanent Fund

Our church began a permanent fund in February 2012 through an account with the Christian Church Foundation. We take a distribution of a small percentage of the value of the fund annually, so our distribution was received at the end of the first quarter of 2014. This year’s distribution totaled $555.43. Last year’s distribution was $223.93. Our beginning balance in 2012 was less than $2,000. Thanks to many generous donors and compounding earnings, the balance of this permanent fund is now over $20,000! In accordance with our Permanent Fund policy, the distribution is divided throughout our church ministries as follows: 30% goes to Outreach, which is distributed at the recommendation of the Outreach committee. Another 30% will go to the capital improvement fund since our church currently has no debt. 15% is set aside for the pastor’s sabbatical, and 15% is sent to our church’s area and region. The final 10% is added to the church’s general operating account. The numbers are: 30% Outreach and 30% capital improvement - $166.63 each; 15% sabbatical and area/region - $83.31each; 10% general operating fund - $55.55. We celebrate the growing list of people who are a part of our Fellowship of Legacy Builders. The list of Legacy Builders can be found in our church’s yearbook. If you are interested in joining the Fellowship of Legacy Builders, please contact the church office or look for the pamphlets at the back of the sanctuary. Please note: the Jennie and Elsie Mauck permanent fund is held in a separate account with the Christian Church Foundation. The distribution from the Mauck permanent fund will be received at the end of the third quarter each year.

Total income $50,705.97 Total Exp $46,136.70 Includes: Easter offering $588.00 Week of Compassion $3245.10 KFC $85.20 Capital Improvement total $7424.12

Jeremy & Clara Cornell

June 1st-- Moments for Missions Pentecost, KFC Donations June 2nd-- Micah Ministries Trip at 4 pm June 3rd-- Ministry Chairs 6:30 pm, Ministry Groups 7:00 pm June 8th-- Moments for Missions Offering June 9th-- Deborah Circle 11:30 pm June 15th-- Father’s Day June 17th-- Board Meeting 7:00 pm

June 21st-- Sundown Cinema starts at 7:00 pm June 22nd-- Elder’s Meeting 8:45 am

The next deadline for the newsletter is

June 29, 2014.

Please send your articles into

office@harrisonvillefcc.org or

andrea@harrisonvillefcc.org

June Calendar Serving Schedule

9:15 am Worship Worship Leader: Andrea Smither Greeters: Cheryl & Beverly Tinsley Sound System: Cheryl Tinsley Acolyte: Youth Diaconate: +Jennifer Cook, Darold Shelton, Dee Shelton, Delores Beeman, & Shayne Smither Communion Prep +Jennifer Cook June Elders 1 - Lyle & Sherry Krohn 8 - Travis Hillmer & Lyle Krohn 15 - Travis Hillmer & Lyle Krohn 22 - Rich Smither & Kerry Morgan

29 - Lyle & Sherry Krohn Communion Calling 1—Travis Hillmer 8—Kerry Morgan 15—Richard Smither 23—Sophia Smither 29--Jo Irwin Children’s Moments 1—Joyce Hawley 8—Rich Smither 15—Jennifer Cook 22—Kerry Morgan 29--Ryan Davidson Musicians 1 - Janet Allbaugh 8 - Jo Irwin 15 - Sherry Krohn 22 - Jo Irwin 29 - Janet Allbaugh

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH 400 S. Independence Street Harrisonville, MO 64701 Return Service Requested

Sundown Cinema

Harrisonville City Park Amphitheater June 21st

7:00 - 9:15 pm Free Food and drinks We will be showing:

Come Join Us!!