JUNE
2008 Encounter
8:30 am
Traditional Worship
11:00 am Contemporary Worship
“Power
Lab” Vacation Bible School
August 4-8, 2008
Children Age 5 through Grade 5
We are encouraging on-line registration at www.ankenypresbyterian.org.
(Please use the enclosed printed registration form ONLY if you are not
able to register on line.)
A
$10 fee is requested and can be paid to the church before the start of
VBS or on the first day. Contact Ann McGill (963-0301) or Cindy
Braak (783-4743) with any questions. Crew leaders and
registration assistants are needed. If interested in creating
stage decorations and posters this summer, please contact Ann or
Cindy
O.W.L.S.
(Older, Wiser, Livelier, Seniors) Meeting Our
next meeting will be Tuesday,
June 10.
We will be meeting in the church's parking lot at noon to car
pool to Reiman Gardens in Ames and share in the cost of the gas.
The cost to tour the gardens is $6 (or $5.50 if we have 20
people or more). Everyone
is asked to bring a picnic sack lunch which we plan to eat outdoors in
the garden, weather permitting. We
hope everyone can come and join our O.W.L.S. field trip (I hope
O.W.L.S. aren't as hard to keep quiet as a group of 6th graders!)
If you have questions, contact Gary Naylor at gwnaylor@dwx.com
or 964-1959.
SAVE THE DATE!!
"Women
Under Construction"
A
Retreat for APC women and their friends!
November
7-8, 2008, Christian Conference Center, Newton, IA
LADIES!!
As we continue to plan for the Women's Retreat in Newton
November 7-8, 2008, we'd like to get more women involved in the
planning.
So....if you are feeling called to get involved in Women's
Ministry, check out the list of opportunities in Fellowship Hall.
Questions?
Contact Arlene Edmondson, Jan Klinker, or Mary Kohlsdorf.
Let’s
all practice the “3 MINUTE RULE” on Sunday mornings.
During the first three minutes after worship, greet a guest or find
someone to speak with whom you don’t know.
NAME
TAGS !
NAME TAGS !
When entering the Church for any
function (Sunday worship, Sunday school, Logos, committee meetings,
etc.) grab your name tag and wear it!
CHILDREN WORSHIP BAGS Children Worship Bags are available for children during
the worship hour. Your child may
tear out a picture or activity they chose to complete.
All other items should remain in the bag and be returned to the tree
stand in the center sanctuary entrance.
PRAYER QUILTS—WHERE DO THEY GO?
The
Prayer Quilts are for anyone who needs a tangible form of
comfort.
Since the entire congregation “ties a knot, and says a
prayer,” these quilts are loaded with God’s comfort.
Anyone can ask for and receive one of these quilts.
If no one asks specifically, then Marcia Justice takes them to
the Family Crisis Center.
The Prayer Squares, while great for our service people, also are
available to anyone who needs them.
They are prayer reminders to carry in purse, pocket, or to put
under your pillow.
For receiving a Prayer Quilt, call the church office, or Martha Gray
(963-4088).
If you would like a Prayer Square, please help yourself.
People making Prayer Quilts are Pat Brewbaker, Jan Klinker, Kathy
Hamilton, and Martha Gray.
 JUNE LOCAL MISSION PROJECT
The Local/Global Mission Ministry
Team brings you ANOTHER
LOCAL MISSION opportunity for June!!
We have 4 dates in June/July to serve breakfast on the
streets of downtown Des Moines with the Salvation Army breakfast truck!
This is great for the early riser or those of you who work in Des
Moines.
We meet at the Church at 4:50 a.m. and head to Salvation
Army on 6th Street. We load
up at the Salvation Army and hit several shelters, YWCA, and other spots
to serve hundreds of people a warm breakfast.
We are usually back at Salvation Army by 7:30 a.m. and you can
head on to work or back to Ankeny.
If
you are interested in going, please sign up in the Fellowship Hall on
the "Mission" board right outside the main Sanctuary doors or
contact Mary Kohlsdorf (491-6589).
The dates are June
3 & 27 and July 8 & 25.
We welcome youth, college students, and adults to join us!
THANKS
TO ALL WHO DONATED FOOD ITEMS to DMARC Emergency Food Pantry for the
month of May.
We had a "friendly" competition to spur giving to a
greater level!
We collected a total of 278 food items!
Here's the breakdown:
NW
Quadrant
67
NE Quadrant
58
SE
Quadrant
96
The Winner!!
SW Quadrant/outside Ankeny
57
THANKS to Carl and Brenda Schumann for delivering food pantry items on a regular
basis!
THANK YOU!
We thought you might be
interested in knowing how many products were donated to the Red Rock
Community Action Center in Ankeny.
The count may not be precise, but it is outstanding:
170 rolls of toilet paper and 72 containers of detergent—some
were at least 100 ounces in size.
I hope we can do some type of local help again in the future.
Thanks again!
Mission Ministry
FROM YOUR PASTOR—
Last month, I had the privilege of
attending the first week of a five-week program
offered by the Center for Excellence in Congregational Leadership (CECL).
Over the next two years, I will attend four more weeks of intense
training in congregational leadership.
The goal of this program, is “…to help pastors
increase joy in ministry and help churches reach communities for Christ
through health and outward focus.”
Churches participating in this program have consistently shown significant improvement
in four of eight attributes measured by the Natural Church Development
Survey.
Since my next two years in the CECL program will not
just be a personal journey, but a journey we take together as a
congregation, I’d like to take a moment to provide you an overview of
the program.
SESSION
1: May 19-23, 2008
Peer learning teams were developed.
Relationships with coaches were formed.
Pre-course reading and speakers challenged us to work on our
character defects.
The Natural Church Development Survey will be conducted in
churches before the next session.
SESSION
2: September 22-27, 2008
In the second session the focus is on
visioning, strategic planning, and
leading change.
Spouses come in for the weekend to learn about emotionally
healthy spirituality.
SESSION
3: April 28-May 3, 2009
The third session focuses on creating
and strategically implementing the
vision to build church
health. Six
to eight lay leaders from the congregation will attend on the weekend.
SESSION
4: August 18-23, 2009
Session four begins with “Rethinking
Leadership: equipping pastors to
discover and effectively use their
leadership style.”
The lay leaders come back for the weekend, where the focus turns
to “Winning on Purpose: how
to organize congregations
to succeed in their mission.”
SESSION
5: Spring 2010
CECL concludes by helping pastors find
their unique excellence in preaching.
The session includes critique of a videotaped sermon submitted in
advance by each pastor.
Coursework includes readings prior to
each session, monthly coaching calls, and peer team conference calls.
I’m so pleased to have been accepted
into this program and believe God has good plans for us as we take this
journey together.
Blessings,
Rev. David Braak
P.S. We have begun receiving résumés for our Youth
Ministry position. If you know of anyone who may be interested in
applying for this position, please have them contact me or Ronda Heyer-Zwiefel
as soon as possible.
 MARRIAGE
RETREAT
This
spring, you’ve probably finished some maintenance projects in and
around your house and possibly for your motor vehicle. Now is a perfect time to consider maintenance for your marriage
– a Marriage Encounter weekend. Central
Iowa Marriage Encounter, an interfaith affiliate of National Marriage
Encounter, is offering such an activity from June 6 to 8.
A
Marriage Encounter weekend provides a process for couples to renew their
own marriages privately away from the distractions of everyday life.
It is wonderful for marriages at all stages.
Those in the early years of marriage can deepen the communication
and love in their marriage to keep it strong through inevitable crises.
Those in the middle years of marriage can revive and strengthen
their love to help them survive the challenges and pressures that life
and society throw at them. Those
in the silver and golden years of their marriages can delight in the
wonder of deeper trust and communication that can still be developed.
Most people wonder why it took so long to decide to try a
weekend. One couple said,
"I wish we had done this twenty years ago."
Check
out the C.I.M.E. web site: http://home.mchsi.com/~cime.nme and click on
the registration form link. Hurry,
in order to confirm your space for the June weekend.
There is nothing better that you can do for yourselves and your
family than to live in a happy marriage!
Additional information is available on request from Kent and
Jeannette Babcock, 3922 77th Street, Des Moines, IA 50322 (278-8458 or
cime.nme@mchsi.com) or Rich and Trudi Holst at 278-0298 or r.holst@mchsi.com).
DID YOU KNOW?
Sr. High Youth have an on-going fundraiser of collecting cans and bottles to return for redemption money. Please drop off cans and bottles in mechanical room off east hallway. Thanks, as always, for your support!
Loving the Trouble
Maker
1 Peter 3:8-9 “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic,
love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.
Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with
blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a
blessing.”
I can speak with some authority on dealing with difficult people,
because I am a difficult person. You
shouldn't have that much trouble either, since, to at least a few people
at our church, at school, at work, or in your family, you are a
difficult person also. So as
difficult people, let's consider how Jesus dealt with folks like us.
Jesus recognized that difficult people are NOT the
enemy. No matter how
hostile, how rude, how obnoxious we were, Jesus loved us enough to die
for us, and He loves us enough to want difficult people to live a life
submitted to Him and changed by grace.
Even the people at work, school, or in our ministry groups who
might seem a bit disagreeable or un-Christ like!
There is an action plan for dealing with us obnoxious
folks that is found in Proverbs 25:21-22, and repeated in Romans
12:20-21, which tells us: “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to
eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the
LORD will reward you.”
Befriending difficult people can be rewarding.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Do not I also destroy my enemy, if
I make him my friend?” Christ
called us to minister to the neglected –the poor, the widowed, the
orphaned. In our culture some of the most neglected people in a very
significant sense are people whom we view as “difficult.”
They often have poor social skills, job disappointments, can be
abusive, and have a poverty of good relationships.
God may well be calling us to cultivate loving
relationships with folks just like this.
Not always for the sweet joyful emotional love but also for the
“tough love” that is truth, that’s in your face, blunt, bold, firm
and resolute.
“Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies
kisses” (Proverbs 27:5, 6) Enabling
someone’s faults is not “loving them” it may
make you “feel” loving and feed your ego but it is among the most
insidious forms of selfishness. It
takes true courage to confront a friend and “speak the Truth in
love” and it takes a person of true depth of character to accept such
an offering. Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up
into him who is the Head, that is, Christ (Ephesians 4:15-16).
However… “Whoever
corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs
abuse. Do not rebuke a
mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you.”
(Proverbs 9:7, 8).
Do not confuse constructive criticism with destructive
words of condemnation and abuse.
Christ calls us to love our enemies, to bless those
that curse us, to do good to them that hate us, and to pray for them who
despitefully use us and persecute us; that we may be the children of our
Father who is in heaven (Matt 5:44-45).
Just be careful not to mistake the “feel good” love of
secular humanism for the “Love in Truth” which is Christ.
One of the most important skills we can
develop as we walk with Christ is knowing how to love troublemakers.
If we learn how to interact with difficult people, then we’ll
be able to pour our energy into areas of ministry rather than constantly
putting out fires of conflict.
Here
are 7 methods Jesus modeled when he encountered difficult people:
1.
Realize you cannot please everybody (John
5:31-45)
Here Jesus deals with a group of difficult people by
appealing to four witnesses of His authority: John the Baptist, His
miracles, the Father, and the Scriptures.
2.
Refuse to play their game (Matt
22:18)
The Pharisees tried to catch Jesus by pitting him
against the government. He refused to play,
“But perceiving their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you
testing Me, hypocrites? Show
Me the coin used for the tax.” So
they brought Him a denarius. ‘Whose
image and inscription is this?’ He asked them.”
3.
Never retaliate (Matt
5:38-39)
“You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth. But
I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer.
On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek (insults
you), turn the other to him also.”
When we retaliate it only continues the negative spiral.
Even with gossip or passive aggression.
This verse is often misinterpreted and taken out of context.
Jesus was explaining the importance of living peacefully with
each other and avoiding retaliatory evil or revenge, NOT telling us we
should blithely sit back in complete apathy and ignore the evil around
us in an effort to "just get along."
Sometimes to love someone you must take action, not avoid
conflict. Jesus never
avoided conflict but met it head on.
The truth is offensive to those who are working against it.
If the apostles had analyzed what other’s reactions would be to
the message of truth, and held back accordingly, they would not have
died as martyrs, but the Gospel would have died.
Speak the truth in love. Be
kind but be bold, firm and resolute.
4.
Pray for them (Luke
6:28).
It will help both of you.
Let God speak to them and to you.
5.
Control your temper (Ephesians 4:25-32)
"Therefore, putting away lying, each
one speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another ...
do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil
... And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed
for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and
evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
just as God in Christ also forgave you."
The Bible
has a lot to say on temper and self control.
Unless we have the peace of the Holy Spirit operating in
our minds and emotions - we are going to have a very hard time in
handling all of the stress this life can throw at us.
We have to have a supernatural source of peace flowing through
us, and we can't get this kind of supernatural peace from our own
emotions or from our own mental makeup due to our own imperfections.
This kind of powerful supernatural peace can only be received direct
from the Holy Spirit Himself.
6.
Be quick to forgive and even quicker to ask for forgiveness (Matthew
6:14-15)
“For if
you forgive people their wrongdoing, your heavenly Father will forgive
you as well. But if you
don’t forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.”
7.
Learn to say NO to unrealistic expectations.
Confront people by “telling the truth in love.” (Eph 4:15)
Don't
quit loving the difficult people God has brought into your life.
He hasn’t quit loving us!
Love one another,
The Church Mouse
A.K.A Scott Hamilton
If you have questions about this message or would like to discuss or get a
copy of previous messages, poems, or art work, the Church Mouse can be
contacted at:
swh@church-mouse.org
or www.church-mouse.org
Don Justo Coffees in
one-pound bags (regular roast, French roast or flavors), A Just Cup
of Coffee Mugs, and APC cookbooks are all available from the
coffee cart in the Fellowship Hall. Contact Marcia Justice (964-5244)
with questions or special orders.
FAIR
TRADE DECAF COFFEE AND
TEA AVAILABLE!
Order forms are on the
coffee cart.
MAY
donations are above in Local Mission section!
[April
2008 donations
to the
FOOD PANTRY were 62 items. Total
so far in 2008 is 482 items.
Thank you for your continuing support of the Emergency Food Pantry]
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