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The Messenger

DECEMBER 2018

Growing as Disciples of Jesus Christ through Worship, Learning, Fellowship and Outreach

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME TO REACH OUT

It is, as the song says, “the most wonderful time of the year!” But wonderful for what? To reach out! Recent studies have indicated that nearly 61% of Americans plan to attend Christmas ser-vices, and that nearly six out of ten non-church-attending people would respond well to a personal invitation to join someone at Christmas services. The holiday season is one of the greatest evangelistic opportunities in our culture. It is a wonderful time to reach out! Every one of us has friends, neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, acquaintances and family members that can be invited to church this holiday season. We have several great events for you to invite people to join you in attending: Christmas Craft Fair. This is an outreach event on Saturday, December 8th from 9am-1pm. We will have over thirty craft vendors, food vendors, a fire engine, SWAT car, CHP car, Kids’ Zone, photos with Santa, raffles, and a prayer team. During the raffles (every thirty minutes) we will make a simple gospel presentation and invite those present to join us for holiday services. This will be a great family event to attend and a great one to invite people to! Ladies Tea. This year ly women’s event is on Saturday, December 15th at 2pm. The ladies always put on a love-ly event with good food, great fellowship, and wonderful entertainment. What a great time to invite ladies to come experience fellowship at Trinity! Advent Four Children’s Program. At the 10am service on Sunday, December 23, the kids will present the Christmas gospel in Scripture and Song. The message is always rich and the kids will almost undoubtedly add a special touch! Every year, folks without family or young ones around remark how much they enjoy seeing chil-dren in action. Christmas Eve Services. Nobody does Chr istmas like Anglicans! As I quipped last year at the Preschool Program, if you’re looking for great Christmas services, we’re the folks who brought you Downton Abbey! Our services will be at 3pm and 8pm. Both services will be a traditional Christmas Eve service with Holy Commun-ion, lots of carols, and the singing of Silent Night by candlelight after communion. The 8pm service will also have brass accompanying the organ and choir. The sermon will focus on the love of God incarnate, our Savior Jesus. What a great opportunity for people to hear and experience the beauty and love of God! I want to challenge and encourage you to invite as many people as you can to join you at any and all of these events. It is as simple as letting people know that there are some great events going on and you’d love to have them join you. Keep it simple. For example, I often say to people, “If you don’t have any place to go for Christmas ser-vices, I’d love you have you join me at our church. We have services at 3 and 8 – let me know if you’d like to join me.” You don’t need to pressure them for a decision right then, but can just check back with them. It is a “most wonderful time of the year.” Not for stress, but for reaching out to those who need the love of Je-sus and who in this time of the year are strangely open to the things of Jesus. So let’s do it – let’s reach out!

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TRINITY STATS

Attendance

Nov. 4th 218 Nov. 18th 175 Nov. 11th 182 Nov. 25th 180

Financial

October 2018 Month Year-to-date Operating Income $46,735 $468,643 Normal Operating Expense $36,316 $422,393 Building Debt Payment $13,284 $160,271

In The Parish Family In Sympathy for…

Carol White and her family on the recent death of her husband, Malcolm. Donna Chaffee and her family on the recent death of her brother, Bryan. The Miller & Longbottom families on the death of Kendi Miller..

Congratulations to… Zack and Anna Clark on the recent birth of their son, Ansel.

Total Pledged: $1,803,606.00 Total Collected: $338,494.25 (10/31/2018)

Our building plans have been submitted to the city and four contractors are bidding the project. Once the bids have been received and reviewed, the Board will hire a general contractor. We are finalizing information for the bank in order to secure construction funding and start construction early next year.

ISRAEL TOUR 2019

10 Day Tour with Fr. Karl

March 28 - April 8, 2019

We are organizing a Trinity tour of the Holy Land for Lent 2019. A typical day entails two miles of walking on uneven ground. If you are interested, or for more information, please contact Fr. Karl at (karl@trinitybakersfield.com) as soon as possible.

JASON’S CHRISTMAS TREE

Please bring your wrapped gifts to the Church Office no later than Sunday, December 16th. Remember to keep the tags on your gift, so it can be identified. Once again, our heartfelt thanks and blessings to you all for your generous love and support in our work. Your brother in Christ, Dcn. John

If you have not yet turned in your Commitment Card, you may still do so. You can either send it to the church office or drop it in the offering plate on Sundays. If you don’t have a card, please call the church office and Tara will get one to you.

If you have any questions, please feel free to talk with Fr. Karl or our Treasurer, Ed Taylor.

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CHRISTMAS TEA

Saturday, December 15th at 2 p.m.

All the women of Trinity and guests are invited to our Annual Christmas Tea .

The cost is $10 per person and the tickets will be sold after church on Sunday or in the church office during the week. All tickets must be purchased before December 3rd. We are not able to sell tickets after that date, and no tickets will be sold at the door. This is a lovely event to start off our Christmas Season!

If you have any questions, please call Stana Bright at 834-7586.

Vendors Kids’ Zone Pictures with Santa Food Raffles

An Opportunity to Invite the Community to meet Trinity and to be Blessed

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8 ~ 9 AM TO 1 PM CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR

CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE

Children’s Program

Sunday, December 23rd During the 10 a.m. service

Christmas Eve Services

3 p.m. & 8 p.m.

The office will be closed on December 25th and 26th.

Christmas Blessings to all of you!

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CHRISTMAS DECORATION DONATIONS

To help with the rising cost of poinsettias and greenery, Our Altar Guild

is asking for donations for the Christmas decora-tions. An envelope will be included in the Sunday bulletins for you to use if you would like to make a donation. Make your checks payable to Trinity Al-tar Guild and write “decorations” on the memo line. These donations will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

CHRISTMAS DECORATORS

NEEDED Each year our Altar Guild ladies decorate for Christmas. This year they are inviting the congre-

gation to help decorate. Both men and women are welcome. If you can help, you can just come to the Fellowship Hall on either November 30th and/or De-cember 1st. This is a wonderful way for everyone to gather and have a good time working together. If you have any questions, please call Merry McCalley at 587-4840.

Halloween was a BLAST here at Trinity Preschool!

Thank you for all of the

yummy candy you donated.

FUN MONTHS AHEAD! For Thanksgiving. we enjoyed a de-licious feast which was lovingly do-nated by our fantastic preschool families.

I am more than happy to say we are continuing to grow our waiting list and are blessing all the wonderful families with the best pre-school in town! Our staff loves pouring the love of Jesus onto these sweet kids! AMEN!

We will be learning about the birth of baby Jesus from Fr. Karl. We’re going to create some fun Christmas ornaments to bless our friends at the Alzheimer’s Disease Association of Kern County and The Village’s Assistant Living Center. Thank you to the Trinity Outreach Committee for donating the crafts to make the ornaments.

Christmas will soon be here! Santa will be surprising our preschoolers with

candy canes at our Christmas Program! SAVE THE DATE!

December 20th at 12:30pm. We would love for you all to attend!

Please stop by our preschool lobby and look at our beautiful Christmas tree which was decorated

by our amazing preschoolers.

We wish you a wonderful rest of the year and many blessings.

Love, Ms. Jennifer

We will be having a Book Fair on

Sunday, December 9th.

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OUR CLERGY

The Very Rev. Dr. Karl E. Dietze, Rector

The Rev. John M. Wilcox, Retired

The Rev. John LaMar, Deacon

The Rev. Ron Christolear, Deacon

11300 Campus Park Dr.

Bakersfield CA 93311

661-665-7713

office@trinitybakersfield.com

www.trinitybakersfield.com

WORSHIP SERVICES

Sunday Morning

8 a.m. Holy Communion

10 a.m. Holy Communion

Thursday Morning

10 a.m. Healing Service

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Paul Wagner Sr. Warden

Dennis Gibson Jr. Warden Kaye Camp Clerk

Priscilla Beck

Steven Brown

Phil Lamirand

Larry Bright

Jerry Starr

Lynne Hall

Paul Hancock

Liz Kinney

Chris Thomas

Ed Taylor Treasurer

DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS

Jack Merickel Judy Wilcox Joanne Fredriksz Hailey Hirtz Betty Wickersham Elizabeth Thompson Debbie Camp Don Camp Heather Merickel

Joseph Fredriksz Karen Williams Matthew Fredriksz Anne Giles Joy Hawley Jerry Starr Juliet Smith Diane Moore Kristin Savage

Corinne Bogie Darcie Larman David Galagan Carlette Layne Joshua Wagner Suzanne Wagner Clayton Dunbar Jeanie Corum Stafford Betty

If you notice a missing birthday or a wrong date listed, please call

Tara at 665-7713.