WEST SIDE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 535 Cherokee Road Portsmouth, Virginia 23701 www.westsideccdoc.org

757-488-0514

Non-Profit Organization US Postage Paid

Permit 118 Portsmouth, VA

ADDRESS SERVICE

REQUESTED

West Side Christian Church STATEMENT OF CALLING

West Side Christian Church is a faithful and caring church family committed to making disciples of

Jesus Christ in our CHURCH, our COMMUNITY, and our WORLD.

CHURCH: Equip our church family through spiritual growth and leadership development.

COMMUNITY: Share the love of Christ through service.

WORLD: Witness through support of Disciples’ missions.

March 2015

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Vol. 46

Number 3

Oasis Social Ministry

Thursday, March 19

10:00 AM

Please sign up on the bulletin board leading to the Fellowship Center.

We can carpool from the church.

March Birthdays

4th Rick Lahy

6th Wayne Powers

7th Austin Ward

8th Barbara Nelson

12th Patty Ross

Angelica Berk

13th Tommy Mills

14th Dillon Sirmans

Natalie Berk

20th Patrick Knill

23rd Charles Kelly, IV

Nancy Coe

Eddrie Bradley

25th Joshua Thornton

29th Wanda Hackler

Christie Wells

31st Fred Fritts

PRAYER LIST

Church Members

Sharon Bley, Wanda Hackler, Diana Davenport, Mary Wyatt

Family & Friends

Chip Artz, Pam Bunch, Jacky Edens, Hunter Eli Williams, Ashley Stern,

Stuart & Amy Emerson, Randall & Robin Blanchard,

Steve, Renee, Twyla & Zoe Mitchell, Marsha & Timothy Howell, Billie Warren,

Patricia Rary, Mary Grace Thomas, Kathy & Curtis Nelson, Amber Critzer & Family, Shirley Jones, Josh Williams, Katrina Hastings,

Dwight Brooks, Hunter Vaerewyck, Patricia Mann, Phil Barnes, Judy Kelly,

Ruth Ann Gonzalves, Tim Brown, Jordan Lahy

SHUT INS

Ruth Blackman, Catherine Buchanan,

Garland Cook

West Side Staff: Tom Larson, Board Chair

Zach Lowman, Youth Director

Trish Barker, Office Manager

Joe Diggs, Custodial Services

Lectionary Readings

March 2015

March 1 Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

Psalm 22:23-31

Romans 4:13-25

Mark 8:31-38/9:2-9

March 8 Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 19

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

John 2:13-22

March 15 Numbers 21:4-9

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Ephesians 2:1-10

John 3:14-21

March 22 Jeremiah 31:31-34

Psalm 51:1-12/119:9-16

Hebrews 5:5-10

John 12:20-33

March 29 Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

Mark 11:1-11/John 12:12-16

Monthly Breakfast Meeting

Saturday, March 21

8:00 AM

All are invited. Reservations are requested.

Sympathy Note ~

We extend our sincere sympathy to Joyce Thornton on the recent passing of her sister, Susan Vosburg. We also extend our sincere sympathy to

Janey Culpepper on the recent passing of her son, Donald Coble, Jr.

Many thanks for all the kind expressions of sympathy in the recent death of my son-in-law, Claude Bour, Jr. They were much appreciated.

Ernestine Atzert and Family

The newest member of West Side

Janey Culpepper

3900 Scott Street

Portsmouth, VA 23707

West Side Christian Preschool

is now accepting registrations

for the 2015-16 school year

If you are interested in enrolling your child or grandchild please call the church office or contact Carrie Kelly.

Space is limited so don't wait too long.

IT'S NOT TOO SOON TO BE THINKING ABOUT CRAIG SPRINGS CAMP!!!

LOOK AT THE SCHEDULE AND MAKE PLANS TO ATTEND!

MORE INFORMATION TO COME!

Spring Work Weekend: June 12-14

Nature Camp: June 22 - 26 Directors: Lydia Hall & Kim Sharrett

Special Camp: June 28 - July 3 Director: Janice Austin

1st Triple Camp - July 5 - 10 Directors: Steve & Rhonda Williams

2nd Triple Camp: July 12 - 17 Directors: Robert Sharp & Sarah Trezza

New Covenant/Chi-Rho: July 19 - 14 Director: Sally Good

AMPDD Camp: July 26 -31 Directors: Chris & Kim Crowley

Family Retreat: July 31 - Aug 3 Director: Amy Jones

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Stewardship Giving for January 2015

Weekly Operating Expenses: $ 4,054.00

Needed for January: $17,655.00

Beginning balance: $ 311.02

Received in January: $15,667.59

Expenditures in January: $12,579.83

Balance end of January: $ 8,692.42

Search and Call Meetings: January 19; January 27; February 2

For the past month, the Search and Call Team has met weekly. We have compiled and printed the survey results. Copies are available on the table in the rear of the Sanctuary. Our church profile has also been

completed, edited, and formatted.

On Monday, February 9, it was sent to Lee Parker at the Regional Office. He received it on February 11, when he returned from a conference.

Our team would like to express our appreciation to the congregation for your cooperation and patience. We will keep you informed as the process continues.

~ Steve Gray

OBCCM Lenten Services Community United Methodist Church

37 Cherry Street

Portsmouth

12 Noon

Lunch 12:30 ~ $5.00

Wednesday -March 11

Wednesday -March 18

Wednesday -March 25

Friday -April 3

A food offering will be received at the Good Friday service.

In April, we are participating in the Knit-a-Square project.

We will have an old fashioned sewing circle to knit or crochet

squares that are made into blankets for orphans in South Africa. Do you have any partial or whole skeins of yarn, knitting needles or crochet hooks sitting around your home that you

are not going to use? We will gather in April to sew, eat lunch and gab a bit while we work. If you

don't know how to knit or crochet, we will teach you! See Pam Gibbs for questions and donations.

Calling all those who look forward to spending their half hour with the Lord on

Good Friday. Good Friday is April 3. Prayer vigil will be from 1:00 PM on Friday

to 1:00 PM on Saturday.

There will be a signup poster available starting March 22.

There will be someone at the church during the vigil at all times.

Please consider signing up and taking this opportunity to participate in this spiritual experience. If you would like to

share some materials for others to read, you are welcome to do so and you will get them back.

I hope to hear from you. ~ Lynne Thomas

FROM YOUR BOARD CHAIR ~

Blessings to all that are a part of the West Side family. I wanted to take this opportunity to keep all advised of actions taken by the Board to become more efficient as we work toward realizing the goal set in 2007 to complete the transition process. Several motions were put before the Board which, when implemented fully will allow the completion of the transition. Some of these actions will require changes to the Constitution and By-Laws. There has been a committee assigned over the past year to update these documents. The process is almost complete and we will have the Constitution and By-Laws ready for congregation review and approval towards the end of April this year.

As we move toward a more mission focused church, action was required to be able to meet the goal, authorize the use of the resources of the Region and the National Church, and extend term limits to allow continuity and consistency. Moving forward through the process may require additional action in the near future.

The actions taken by the Board at the February 10, 2015 Board meeting are listed below:

1. The Board approves a sliding scale change to the organization as follows:

a. The Board maintains oversight of all matters of the church as authorized by the Congregation, shifts to an assessing role and visioning role - assessing if we are doing things that focus on plans, programs and actions that support the Statement of Calling. The Board would look at budgets and pledges to support the Budget, how well we are meeting our yearly plans and insure we meet the Church, Community, and World objectives.

b. That the Administrative Cabinet name be changed to the Ministry Action Team as previously designed, and said team be given authority within the boundaries set by the Official Board to:

i. Complete the organizational structure

ii. Fully implement the Vision with guidance from the Regional Office and the Hope Partnership to be completed by 12/31/2015, with an additional 6 month extension if needed.

c. The Board approve the use of an amount not to exceed $7,500.00 to be used by the Ministry Action Team to take advantage of the resources from the Regional Office and the National Office of the Hope Partnership.

d. That the Board approve changing the term of office for the Chair, Chair-elect, Secretary, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Clerk, and Church Historian to two years and add the approved changes above and changes/updates already accomplished to the Constitution and By-Laws for approval of that document in April 2015.

e. That the Board approve changing the meeting schedule of the Board to every other month throughout the remainder of 2015. (April, June, August, October, November (for budget), December). The December meeting will give a full report on the implementation, final recommendations and prepared for presentation to the Congregation and add the approved changes above and changes/updates already accomplished to the Constitution and By-Laws for approval of that document in April 2015.

I want to personally thank each of you for all the work you have put in over the years and for the work you will do moving forward. In addition, the prayers, financial support and the spirit-filled attitude you all carry are truly exemplary of the calling we each receive from our Lord Jesus Christ.

I will keep you updated as we proceed through the transition. Please keep the Board, Ministry Action Team, Care Teams and each other in your prayers.

Thank you, Tom Larson,

Board Chair

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EVERY SUNDAY:

9:00 am Coffee Fellowship

9:45 am Church School

11:00 am Worship Hour

1:30 pm Youth

CHURCH WOMEN UNITED NEWS -

Church Women United Portsmouth Unit will hold their first Celebration for 2015 Friday, March

6th @ Third Baptist Church, 461 Godwin St., Portsmouth. We will be lifting up Human Rights

Day. The program begins at 11:00 am. Let's have a good representation from West Side. We

will meet at West Side @ 10:30 AM to carpool. Hope you will mark your calendars and plan to

attend.

Cheryl Jarvis

2015 a year for Blessing Every time I go to the Chrysalis Retreat Center, I’m blessed with a peaceful place and a restful night’s sleep. In the morning, you are supposed to remove your sheets and remake the bed for the next person who comes. As you make the bed, you pray for the retreat center and the person who stays there next. I experienced this at the monastery in South Africa. It’s not work, its worship. I know the person who made the bed I slept in had prayed for me. I was blessed and I was glad to be a blessing to the next person. The opportunity to name our blessings and be a blessing to someone else has come to us.

West Side’s board has affirmed that we will make 2015 a year of blessings. In a year with many

uncertainties, loss and a lot of ‘tasks’ to do, it can become so easy to focus on the negative, the

pain and the short comings. It’s an uncomfortable place. So…. Let us take this year to look for

God’s Blessings and share them with each other and praise and thank God. God blesses us all with

different gifts, so we will express and share our Blessings in different ways. Each month we will

have different ways to remind us to search and share our blessings.

One way that will be constant is the blessing box discipline. Find a box, make a pouch, and get out

your piggy banks. With each acknowledged blessing, you need to drop a coin in the container.

You can do a family box; each person can make their own. And like the making of the bed, for

those who participate, it is a spiritual discipline even more than a financial one. It helps keep a

focus on gratitude to God and on the responsibility to share blessings with others. The amount put

in may be a dime, a quarter or more. The amount is not nearly as important as the discipline of

regularly remembering God’s goodness through the acts of dropping in coins and praying prayers

of thanksgiving.

"As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace."

(Peter 4:10)

Jennifer Larson