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THE CRUSADER (USPS139220) published weekly except the week after/of Christmas by First Christian Church,301 N. Broad St., Galesburg, IL 61401-3696. POSTMASTER: Send Address Corrections to The Crusader at above address. Periodical Postage paid at Galesburg, IL 61401.

Thursday, January 12 9:30am Staff Mtg. 4:15pm FCC Packers 4:45pm FCC Transport/Serve 6pm Sorority in Large Hall 6:30pm Diaconate MeetingSunday, January 15 8:30am Worship 9:30am Coffee time in small hall 10am Sunday School 11am WorshipMonday, January 16 Office Closed – Martin Luther King Jr. Day 5-7:30pm A.S.H.A. in small hall 7pm Men’s Bible StudyTuesday, January 17 6am Men’s Breakfast at Hy-Vee E Main 4pm Girl Scouts in small hall 6:30pm Trustees Mtg. 7-9pm “Weekend” Cluster Mtg.Wednesday, January 18 5:30pm Youth & Children’s Groups 6pm Lions Club in Friendship class room 7:30pm ChoirThursday, January 19 9:30am Staff Mtg. 4:15pm FCC Packers 4:45pm FCC Transport/Serve 5:30pm Men’s Night Out at World Buffet

SERVING SCHEDULE January 15, 2017

8:30am WorshipPrepare Communion, greet at Broad St. and Serve Out if Needed: Travis & Misty StecherGreet at North Street, Prayer Cards and Offering, Serve Communion: Alanna Nalley & Blair BruynOffering: Tina BurnsCommunion: PastorPrayers: Hope NelsonPhone: Larry Thurman

11:00 a.m. WorshipClean up Communion, greet at Broad St., Serve Out if Needed: Bonnie Glass & Carmen De VossGreet at North St., Prayer Cards, Offering, Serve Communion, *Acolyte: *Chuck Boydstun & Larry ThurmanElder Serving in: Donna FlicekElder Serving Out: Chris Mowrer, Bruce De Voss, Jan Luallen, Donna Flicek, Hope nelson

January Hosts-Faithweavers Class

3rd Sundayof the Month Congo Coffee

THe CrusaderFirst Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)301 N Broad St.

Galesburg, IL 61401 Phone: 343-9960For Church News call 345-4020

Church e-mail address: fccgalesburg@gmail.com Web Page – www.fccgalesburg.org

Church Office Hours: 8:00 a.m. – 12:00, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday Organist – Amber Clark Director of Music – Steve Jackson sjackson@sandburg.edu

Secretary – Terri Oehlert fccgalesburg@gmail.com Bookkeeper – Lynda White fcclwhite@gmail.com Custodian – Jeff Jehling

Co-Pastors: Gregory S. and Martha-Jean Fitch pastorgreg02@gmail.com & pastormj02@gmail.com Vol. 71, No. 2, January 11, 2017

Sunday ~ January 15th “Believe: Prayer”

Message by Pastor MJ8:30am worship – Quest Band sing: “I Refuse”

10am – Sunday School for all ages11am – Choir sings: “I Want Jesus to Walk With Me”,

Arranged by Hal H. Hopson

“SHORTSTACKS FOR A TALL CAUSE”On Saturday, January 28th, from 8am-10am our

Youth will be serving at Applebee’s as a mission trip fundraiser. Tickets are $5 and includes pancakes, a beverage, and of course – bacon! No refills.

Please consider purchasing some tickets to help the youth raise funds for their next mission trip. They’d love to see you for breakfast. For every ticket sold, $4 will go towards the youth’s mission fund. If the weather is bad or you just don’t want to get out – they would still get the cost of the ticket donated to them. It’s such a great way to raise money for their mission work!

CONGREGATIONAL MEETING – JANUARY 22 There will be a brief congregational meeting during the coffee fellowship hour at 9:45am on January 22. We will have some additional nominees to vote on and hope to see everyone there from both services.

BUDGET FOR JULY 1, 2016 – JUNE 2017$241,054.04

Anticipated Bills $4,670.09 Actual Giving $4,089.02 Short $ 581.07

Needed each week to meet budget: $4,635.65 Year-to-Date Giving: $127,400.21

Need Year-to-Date to meet Budget: $129,798.20

IN OUR PRAYERS… CCIW Prayer list: Central CC

Bourbonnais, FCC Keithsburg, FCC Knoxville.

… The Global Ministries prayer request for this week: Andrew Cooper, Lesotho

Mission Personnel.… Our sister church, New City Church in Mbandaka, Congo.… Pray for Scott VanVelsor’s health; prayers for save travels for Jacob – 2 weeks Navy Reserves. – Larry, Kathy & Jess VanVelsor… Joyce Aldridge is back at Rosewood, room 217.… Phyllis Peterson is back at home.… Kathy Neave, battles cancer.… Sally Lozier (Neill Unger’s cousin), ICU at St. Francis and pray for Mike Unger (Neill’s nephew) who has terminal cancer.… Prayers for a family having financial problems.… Prayers for the family of Barbara Surr who passed away Jan. 7th. She was the sister of Larry Thurman. Prayers and comfort for Larry and his family.… for the victims of the airport shooting and their families.

MEN’S BIBLE STUDYMen’s Bible Study meets here at

the church on Monday evenings at 7pm and is led by Bob Clark. This is a non-denominational group and all men are welcome!

“FEED THE KIDS” PACKERS & TRANSPORT/SERVERS UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Thursday, Jan. 12 4:15pm Packers: Gene & Sue Johnson4:45pm Transport & 5pm Serve: Al Bower, Ed Barragan,

MJ Fitch, Earlene CrouseThursday, Jan. 19 4:15pm Packers: Jim Eager & Jan Luallen

4:45pm Transport & 5pm Serve: Diane Eager, Aleta Anderson, Tom Gehring, Mary Gehring

If you cannot serve your time slot – it will be your responsibility to trade with someone or get a sub and notify the church office of the change. Thank you!

MEN’S NIGHT OUTCalling all men – join us on Thursday, January

19th at 5:30pm for a Men’s Night Out at World Buffet. It will be a fun night for the guys with food, fellowship and a short medication. Each pays for his own meal. Bring a buddy along!

BLANKET SUNDAYS January 22 & 29Disciples Women are again asking the

congregation to participate in the CWS Blankets + program.  Blanket + means that Church World Service will be there as people recover after a disaster strikes: It will be there to provide support to families struggling against grinding poverty as they seek to develop viable, sustainable livelihoods-wells, livestock, and health training for example.  CWS Blankets + is about blankets and so much more.  Your contribution provides the means to transform lives and communities when they are faced with an emergency or simply struggling to put food on the table.      Just a donation of $5.00 will go towards purchasing a blanket or $10.00 will purchase one blanket.  Please give generously.  Thank you for your caring and compassionate response.  (please make your check payable to First Christian Church)

Go to www.churchworldservice.org to learn more about this organization and all the ways you can help.

YOUTH & CHILDREN’S GROUPSJanuary Meetings

Meetings are on Wednesday nights from 5:30-7pm on January 11, and 18. No meetings on January 25 th . Feel free to bring your friends!

Jr. & Sr. High Youth: Fundraiser at Applebee’s on January 28th. We’re earning money for our mission trip. Be prepared to serve!

BIBLE STUDY BEGINS“Start Becoming a Good

Samaritan” by John Ortberg

Starts on Wed., January 18th at 9:30am or 5:30pm

This is a very important study that will help us discover ways we as a church can “get outside the building” and make a difference for Christ. You may order your

study guide on AmazonSmile for $11.99. And even if you don’t have a study guide, please make an effort to attend and help us envision where God is leading

us as a church to show God’s love to our neighbor.

NEXT BOOK CLUB SELECTIONFebruary date to be determined. While James Patterson is

known for mystery novels, Woman of God is somewhat a departure. This novel, co-written with Maxine Paetro, could almost be considered Christian fiction. The dedication is to the “selfless doctors and humanitarians who travel to the world’s most dangerous places to help those in need.” This is a quick read with explorations into questions of faith and the direction of institutional religion (as the world awaits the next Pope … might it be a woman?).

Thanks so much to all who helped take down the decorations

from Advent/Christmas. We appreciate you so much!Our Mission Statement: Growing Spirit-filled, committed disciples of Christ.

JANUARY CHURCH MEETINGSTues., Jan. 10 6pm Council of Ministries,

7pm Ministry TeamsTues., Jan. 17 6:30pm Trustees Mtg.

“BEST GIFT” SALES UPDATE“Disciples Women mailed $442.00 to Church World

Services on December 19th from the “Best Gift” sales. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the gift giving program.”

~ Eva Seiler and Earlene Crouse

MORE BABY HATS ARE NEEDEDOur knitted baby hat supply is low. Did you

know there were 694 babies born in Galesburg last year? That number doesn’t even include the babies born in our hospitals from the surrounding areas. As you can see, many hats are needed throughout the year!

Plans are in the works to provide another looming class this spring, as many of you have requested. In the meantime, thank you to those who are knitting the hats. The mothers of newborns really appreciate them.

UPCOMING PICTORIAL DIRECTORY DATES & TIMES

Be thinking about a time that’s convenient for you and your family and mark your calendars! The pictorial directory dates and times are:

Thurs., March 9th from 2pm-8pm Fri., March 10th, 2pm-8pm

Sat., March 11th, 10am-4pm Sun., March 12th, 1pm-5pmThanks so much to all who helped take down the

decorations from Advent/Christmas. We appreciate you so much!

Taking the picture is free and you will receive a complimentary 8x10 photo!DAVE RAMSEY’S

FINANCIAL PEACE UNIVERSITY …

CLASSES TO BEGINThis class will start on

February 12th and meet for 9 weeks on Sundays from 3-4:30pm in the church library. The course will again be taught by Chris Mowrer so please let Chris know if you are interested. Please let Chris know if you are interested in the course. You can also register online yourself if you choose to do so.

Cost for the program and materials is $100 and this fee must be paid to the church no later than February 6 th .

Child care will be available if necessary. Please let Chris know if this is a need you have. If the $100 fee is a problem, contact Coordinator Chris Mowrer.

DIACONATE TO MEET JANUARY 12

All new and returning diaconate are urged to attend a training meeting on

Thursday, January 12 at 6:30pm. Alanna Nalley is our new moderator of the diaconate and she will be going over scheduling, shepherding and training for serving. You won’t want to miss this very important meeting.

WE NEED YOUR INFORMATIONWe are currently working on the 2017 Family and

Friends Directory – as well as anticipating the upcoming pictorial directory in March. In an effort to secure the most up to date information on our church members and participants, we need your help. Please email OR call the

church office ASAP with any changes you have had in the last year: phone, address, email. Thanks so very much for your help.

FROM THE CO-PASTORPastor Kim Engelmann shared a great testimony that

informs and helps us understand how to honor God in worship every day, and as a side benefit influence the lives of others along the way, every day. Here is what she said:

I was standing in line at the grocery store the other day, feeling discouraged for a number of reasons. And then I thought about Paul and Silas [worshiping and praising God while locked in prison] … and I decided to myself “I don’t care how I feel. I am going to worship God right now as I am standing in line. I am going to train myself right now to worship when I am feeling rotten…. So, in my mind I start praying in a worshipful way, ‘Lord, you are good. You are so faithful. You have never let me down. I am the one who has let you down. You are solid as a rock for me. You are a friend, a brother, an advocate, a shade in the desert, a refuge from the storm; you always watch me and are acquainted with all my ways. I praise you my rock and my salvation.”

I am holding my yogurt and I am doing this worship thing. I am using my mind, because I know the scriptures, and it’s getting into my heart because I begin to feel God’s presence; and then the lady in line in front of me, her card doesn’t work … then they run out of receipt tape … so I have a long time standing there worshipping … just silently worshipping.

And then finally I get up to the clerk and I look at her – and I am feeling very uplifted at this point. And she doesn’t do her usual “Did you find everything you needed today?”, or “Do you need a bag?” thing. She just stares at me. Okay. Awkward. So, I slide my ATM card in the machine … but she hasn’t started the transaction yet so it doesn’t work … And finally, she says … “What do you do for a living?”

And I looked up and smiled at her and said, “I am a pastor at the church across the street.”

“Oh,” she said. “No wonder. There is something so positive coming out of you.” Really? And I said, “Well God is real, and he is wonderful.” And there I was

without even thinking about it, using now my ability to speak, and love God that way by pointing her to the Lord…. All I know is that in forcing myself in my dark little world, to give back to God my attention, my affection, and my ability – I walked in the store downtrodden, and walked out with my strawberry yogurt on top of the world.

I’m thankful for simple reminders like this that help me every day to grow more to be like Jesus. How about you?

Shalom, Pastor Greg