The Shepherd’s HornNewsletter of the Church of the Good Shepherd

June, 2014

On May 9, eleven people from our parish set out for Trinity Center on the coast of NC. The purpose of the trip was a vestry retreat: We left Rocky Mount as eleven individuals, and upon our return two days later we had bonded into one united group. Matt led us in prayer and study, and he helped us to reach a consensus for our hopes and dreams for the coming year.

I continue to be impressed by the vestry you

The Rev. Bo Millner (15th rector):The Rev. Charles

Penick, rector from 1965 – 1990, was “the consummate pastoral priest; his compassion for the homeless led to the founding of soup kitchen and shelter ministry; a man of great courage and conviction; his quiet and stable leadership led the parish through the controversial times of social consciousness of 60’s and 70’s; greatly responsible for our strong commitment to outreach.”

Charlie was nothing but kind and generous to me during my tenure. The church is full of horror stories about previous rectors interfering with the work of the sitting rector, but nothing remotely like this happened with Charlie. He was gracious beyond measure. He was funny without being mean, had strong opinions without being rigidly dogmatic and always had a wonderful and wonderfully unique take on things. The love that he has shown to all people for many years and most recently the love he has shown to Nancy are examples I will never forget. I am grateful and will always be grateful that our paths crossed.

The Rev. Scott White (16th rector):I will always

remember Charlie Penick as a man, and a Priest, of integrity, justice, personal warmth and good humor. Charlie welcomed me a new Rector at Good Shep-herd, he supported me, he encouraged me, and he always left me with a few good jokes to remind me not to take everything to seriously. And, beyond anything else, he reminded me that the God whom we

The Rev. Charlie Penick14th Rector of the

Church of the Good Shepherd, 1965-1990.

love is a personal God who loves us, often, more than we love ourselves. Charlie will be missed by so many of us. If there ever was a person for whom the saying fit, it is Charlie, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

The Rev. Matt Johnson (17th rector):Charlie shepherded

this parish through a time of great change in the Episcopal Church, in Rocky Mount, and in the world. During his ten-ure, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer was introduced, the first women were ordained to the priesthood, schools became more fully integrated, the Vietnam war ended, the Iron Curtain came down, and man even walked on the moon. As the people of this church navigated these exciting and challenging times, Charlie preached and practiced a ministry of presence. There was nothing occurring on the world stage that would distract Charlie from his parishioners. Whether it was to celebrate new life in the birth of a child, or to offer comfort after a death, Charlie was there. In the midst of the cares and occupations of this life, Charlie showed that nothing is greater than God’s love made manifest in the Body of Christ, the Church.

View From the Pew May 2014have elected. Over the two days we considered many of the challenges and opportunities facing our parish. One opportunity we discussed was the proposed moving of the altar, which Matt and I wrote about last month. From our discus-sion, I feel that any member of the vestry is able to explain the proposed change.

During the weekend we also talked about the Continued on page 2.

Page 2 • The Shepherd’s Horn

Matt will be in Germany visiting his in-laws with Katharina and Elli from May 30th through June 20th. Amy Huacani will handle pastoral emergencies during that time and can be

June is here and we are anxious to enjoy summer weather! This month we will honor our father’s by celebrating our annual “Danishes for Dad” on Friday June 13th. If you’re a dad, join us at the entrance of the church that Friday morn-ing from 8:00-9:00am for your danish. Happy Father’s Day!

Our day school is blooming with new faces and the laughter of children everywhere. If you know someone who may be interested in reserving a space in our day school, please contact me at

Pre-K fieldtrip to Strawberry City. (They learned a lot about strawberries.)

252-442-1092 to schedule an appointment for a tour and to receive more information.

Day School art will grace the halls as you approach the entrances to the school and church offices. We’ll hang something new every month and are excited about exhibiting our art for everyone to see!

Thank You

Shawanda Jordan, Day School Director

need for an addition to our current columbarium. The project has been under consideration for many months, and we continue to discern the best way forward. We decided that in order to be faithful stewards of the church property it would be best for more information to be gathered before a final plan is adopted. To this end, you will soon receive a survey about the burial needs of our parish. Also, Matt will be offering a series on dying, death, and burial practices. The results of the survey, discussions during Matt’s series, and other conversations with you will help us to decide exactly what the needs are. We want everyone to participate in this discernment, so please do fill out the questionnaire. And all the members of the vestry are eager to talk with you and hear your views so that we can come to a decision which will best suit our needs.

We continue to test our own capabilities. Soon we will be losing our assistant to the rector. Amy has served our church with so much enthusiasm, and we thank her for all that she has brought to us. Amy, we will miss you and we will keep you in our thoughts and prayers. Before Amy leaves us we will call upon her to guide us over the next three weeks while Matt and family are away in Germany. Vacation Bible School is just around the corner and summer will be in full swing -- we are entering exciting times for our parish.

I would like to address one more issue that is facing us as a parish. I feel that I would not be faithful to you as a congregation if I did not say a few words about our current financial state. I want to first thank Louis Weeks for the outstand-ing job he does as our church treasurer. Louis has a unique ability to make our dollars reach to extraordinary limits. At this month’s vestry

Day School News

meeting we were reminded that we continue to operate with a budget deficit. I am certain that we can make up this shortfall and would ask you to consider your church offering. Please make sure that your church giving is current, and, if it is at all possible, I urge you to give any additional amount you can. I do have a selfish motive in my request: we currently do not have the financial resources to hire another clergy to serve as Assistant Rector, and I would like to see us in a

Continued from page 1. position to call someone in the next year.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns about any information I’ve mentioned. My best wishes for a great summer.

Peace

Jim Curtis, Senior Warden

P.S. Please continue to wear your name tags. This helps Matt and visitors to get to know each of us by name.

Pastoral Care during Matt’s Absencereached at (704) 579-0806. For non-urgent pastoral care concerns, please call Tom Parker in the church office.

The Shepherd’s Horn • Page 3

Youth Sunday and Seniors! June 8 is Youth Sunday. Please plan to come

and worship at the 10 am service that day. (The 8 am service will continue as usual.) The youth look forward to sharing their leadership gifts with you. We’ll also recognize and give thanks to God at the 10 am service on June 8th for our three high school seniors -- congratulations and blessings to Susanna Crestetto, Ty Ellstrom, and Mason Miller and their families!

Vacation Bible School“Workshop of Wonders: Imagine and Build with God”June 16-20 held at Lakeside Baptist Church

It’s not too late to register!

Here’s how to be a part:

• Register a child. (age 3- grade 5): 2014.cokes-buryvbs.com/lakesiderm

• Serve one day or more as a volunteer (must be 6th grader or older): use link above to register

• Help serve snack on Friday, June 20th at noon here at Good Shepherd: Mary Kemp Mebane has volunteered to be the team leader, but we need a team. If interested, contact Amy Huacani at ahuacani@goodshepherdrmt.org

Thank you Mary AlstonMary Alston, known to many as “Miss

Mary,” has faithfully served as our nursery attendant for the past three years. So that she can tend to her family, Mary needed to resign from this position and her last day was May 25th. She will continue to work at the Day School, so if you see her please express your thanks for her ministry.

Monday, June 23, 7:30 p.m.

The Virginia Girls Choir, under the direction of Dan Moriarty, will perform a concert at Good Shepherd that will include sacred and secular a cappella and accompanied music from “Some-where over the rainbow” to Schubert’s “Psalm 23” and a whole host of things in between! A reception will follow the concert.

Founded at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Richmond in 2008, the Virginia Girls Choir is an auditioned group of girls in grades three through twelve who come from across the greater Richmond area and represent a variety of faith traditions and congregations. The girls work to sing with spirit and understanding in a variety of musical styles, with the music of the Anglican tradition taking pride of place in their repertoire.

At St. Stephen’s, the choir sings weekly services and has performed concerts at many Vir-ginia venues and at churches across the country

The Virginia Girls Choir will arrive in Rocky Mount late evening on Sunday, June 22nd. The touring choir includes 16 girls and four adults. Host families are needed to provide accommoda-tions for two nights, Sunday and Monday, June 22-23. The girls are assigned to host homes in groups of two or more.

This choir is coming to us from Matt Johnson’s former parish as part of their summer tour that

including St. Paul’s Church, K St., Washington, DC; Washington National Cathedral; St. Bar-tholomew’s Church, NY; St. Luke’s Church, East Hampton, NY; and St. William the Abbot Catholic Church, NY.

On tour in England in 2012, the choir sang with the Girls Choirs of Lincoln Cathedral and of All Saints Church, Northampton. They also sang at Eye Church, the East Anglia Children’s Hospice, and for the Mayor of Ipswich at the Ipswich Cultural Center.

The choir released their first CD in 2010, a Christmas recording made in collaboration with Ana Hernández, called “An Unexpected Christ-mas.” With 16 original arrangements of familiar carols, as well as several new tunes, the CD received airplay in both the U.S. and Canada, and led to radio and television appearances.

Virginia Girls Choir Concert Music At Good Shepherd

Host Families Needed for The Virginia Girls Choiralso includes a weekend at Shrine Mont, the Episcopal outdoor cathedral and retreat center for the Diocese of Virginia and a performance at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Charlotte.

Please help us welcome this fine choir to Rocky Mount by signing-up to host members during their two night stay. To volunteer, please contact Lawrence Goering at lgoering@good-shepherdrmt.org or 252-442-1134, ext. 224.

The Church of the Good Shepherd231 N. Church Street • Rocky Mount, NC 27804(252) 442-1134 • www.goodshepherdrmt.org

Non-Profit Org.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPermit No. 194

Rocky Mount, N.C.

In MemoriamRest eternal grant to them, O Lord: And let

light perpetual shine upon him.

Betty Hobbs, former parishioner, died on May 7

Alice Blaauw, sister of Elsie Crisp, died on May 10

The Rev. Charlie Penick, former Rector, died May 23

Virginia Lutpton Knowles, parishioner, died May 26

Katharine Spruill Harrison, parishioner, died May 30

June BirthdaysPlease contact Tom Parker in the church office if

you have a birthday this month and it’s not listed here.

2 Sister Cherry 3 Frances Gaither, Bella Warthin 5 Grey Chase, Billy Cooper, Grace Hadicke, Gina Judkins, Robert Lyon, Katherine Rothrock 6 Anna-Dreher Miller, Abigail Vann 7 Heather Vann 8 Scott Hendrix 10 Debbie Nivison 11 Jenny Braswell, Lee Green 12 Tom Moss, Ali Parker, Anne Townsend 13 Eden Curtiss 14 Jim Ashby 15 Elsie Crisp, Mary Kemp Mebane 16 Lucy Rose, Mason Miller 17 Helen Haynes, Kay Lockey 18 Lynne Jacob 19 Paul Larimer 20 Kim Bayless, Rob Ferguson 21 Ben Blackburn, Scott Hedgepeth

22 Linda Edmondson 23 Tommy Parker 24 Dillon Rose 27 Michael Ulrich

Summer Choir of All Ages for the 10 a.m. Service

If you have ever thought about singing in a choir at church, the summer months provide a perfect opportunity to participate. Beginning on Sunday, June 15th, the choir will sing music at the 10 a.m. service that can be prepared in one rehearsal each Sunday beginning at 9:10 a.m.

All singers, from those who have just com-pleted third grade and up, are invited to join this choir for any Sunday or number of Sundays that they are available.

So that we can be sure to have music and robes for all who wish to participate, please contact Lawrence Goering (lgoering@goodshep-herdrmt.org or 252-442-1134, ext. 224) to let him know when you wish to sing.

28 Kate Arroyo 29 Robert Steed 30 Seabury Thorp