I was at the counter of Dunkin’ Donuts one day wait- ing for my iced coffee when a little boy rushed through the door and out of breath. He proceeded to order ten munchkins and then looked up at me with the biggest smile and great spirit, saying, “I just ran here all the way from home!” I responded, “Oh, so that’s why you’re so full of energy!” Then at the exact same moment, we both started to jog in place! (I guess America really does run on Dunkin’!) J It was funny as ever! I laughed, he laughed, his big sister laughed, along with the store employ- ees! That little boy was awe- some! I’ve never met a child who wasn’t awesome! My experience in the waiting time picked me up more than the “pick-me-up” itself! We are all bogged down now- adays with so many things, and sometimes only being fo- cused on finishing what we need to finish we miss the best part. Doesn’t that make us feel but rather come through God’s movement in others. God places us where God needs us. We forget sometimes that it’s not just about going to church on Sundays, praying and reading the Bible. As we leave home each day to go to work or school, the local li- brary, and sure enough every- where, we just have to keep on loving each other, loving God and asking God for the wisdom to know what God wants us to do! Summer is here and will be totally hot and muggy! It’s time for vacations and geta- ways! We’ll go to the pool and all kinds of cool places, but we shouldn’t forget that we always need God. Let’s look to more than an iced coffee to help us chill! God says to us, “Come, all who are thirsty, come to the waters.” (Isaiah 55:1a) It’s good to make friends and have fun on the journey! Katie McGuire stuck or trapped in a routine? We certainly don’t want to get too busy that we skip church, forget to give thanks for our blessings or have the time to be in service and fellowship with people. God holds us all as such a treasure, and God has a purpose for each and every one of us! Even when we are feeling weak and in need of something to keep us going, God gives us God’s love to give to others. In the book of Acts, we read about Paul and Silas being im- prisoned. Even through it all, both men continued to sing praises to God for being so awesome! God sent an earth- quake that not only broke the chains of Paul and Silas, but God also set free everyone else in the jail. When we cry out to God, we need to wait because God is actively seeking for a way to help us. The response won’t seem earth shattering,
Transcript
A publication of The First Baptist Church of Westfield
I was at the counter of Dunkin’ Donuts one day wait-ing for my iced coffee when a little boy rushed through the door and out of breath. He proceeded to order ten munchkins and then looked up at me with the biggest smile and great spirit, saying, “I just ran here all the way from home!” I responded, “Oh, so that’s why you’re so full of energy!” Then at the exact same moment, we both started to jog in place! (I guess America really does run on Dunkin’!) J It was funny as ever! I laughed, he laughed, his big sister laughed, along with the store employ-ees! That little boy was awe-some! I’ve never met a child who wasn’t awesome! My experience in the waiting time picked me up more than the “pick-me-up” itself! We are all bogged down now-adays with so many things, and sometimes only being fo-cused on finishing what we need to finish we miss the best part. Doesn’t that make us feel
but rather come through God’s movement in others. God places us where God needs us. We forget sometimes that it’s not just about going to church on Sundays, praying and reading the Bible. As we leave home each day to go to work or school, the local li-brary, and sure enough every-where, we just have to keep on
loving each other, loving God and asking God for the wisdom to know what God wants us to do!
Summer is here and will be totally hot and muggy! It’s time for vacations and geta-ways! We’ll go to the pool and all kinds of cool places, but we shouldn’t forget that we always need God. Let’s look to more than an iced coffee to help us chill! God says to us, “Come, all who are thirsty, come to the waters.” (Isaiah 55:1a) It’s good to make friends and have fun on the journey!
Katie McGuire
stuck or trapped in a routine? We certainly don’t want to get too busy that we skip church, forget to give thanks for our blessings or have the time to be in service and fellowship with people. God holds us all as such a treasure, and God has a purpose for each and every one of us! Even when we are feeling weak and in
need of
something to keep us going, God gives us God’s love to give to others. In the book of Acts, we read about Paul and Silas being im-prisoned. Even through it all, both men continued to sing praises to God for being so awesome! God sent an earth-quake that not only broke the chains of Paul and Silas, but God also set free everyone else in the jail. When we cry out to God, we need to wait because God is actively seeking for a way to help us. The response won’t seem earth shattering,
page 2 The Messenger
2013 Bible Recipients
2 yr olds Jeremy Barton
3rd Graders (Good News Bible)
Julie Morris Olivia Rosario
Memorial Funds are received by the church in memory of loved ones who have passed on to be with the Lord. Some of these funds have been designated for a specific purpose or project by
family members, but many have not been up to now allocated. As there are several specific ways funds can be dedicated in honor of that special person, you’ll want to speak to Pastor Mayra. We want to make sure that the memory of your beloved can be honored in the most meaning-ful and loving way.
...Caroline Siess, Lil Wheeler, and Dot Waugh for helping to mail the June Messenger; ...Jean Kellogg for touching base with folks we’ve prayed for during our Wednesday noon prayer time ...Warren Hanscom & Ken Wooster for sprucing up our Me-morial Garden. ...All those who helped plan and volunteer to help for our summer church picnic ...Chris Mancinelli for helping with office work ...Glen Brown and Ricardo Ri-beiro for leadership with YG. ...Allison Johnson for coordinat-ing Graduation Fiesta and Chris Varsanyi for all his help Bryan Morris and Chris Varsa-nyi for helping set up for the Church Picnic Bryan Morris for his cooking skills ...Allen & Mary Chin, Natasha Klochkova, Elaine Pratt, Pam Greenlaw, Katie McGuire, Carleen Morris, Beth Frantz, Nancy Lambros, Trish Scott, Mary Dobos and Cherie Par-ker for providing reception each Sunday. Lil Wheeler for making the pur-ple ribbons for hymnals Committee Chairs for their faithful leadership Church Officers for their dedica-tion
August 1 Devin Araujo August 2 Daniel Singh August 8 Joe Gawronski August 12 Mary Chin Marge Miller August 13 Nancy Lambros Grace Lloyd Elaine Pratt August 14 Cal Martin August 15 Katie Engel August 16 Melissa Winey August 17 Matt Barton August 21 Nova Spinner John Vastano August 22 Scott Kline
July 2 Wesley Thomas July 6 Dario Diaz Beth Hanscom July 7 Michael Klikushin July 9 Marilyn Gulotta July 13 Beth Frantz July 14 Allen Chin Taylor Kline July 15 Alan Greenlaw July 17 Paul Koslowski July 18 Olivia & Jeffrey Morris July 20 Lee Kline Caroline Siess July 22 Dean Pratt July 23 Bill Mathews Katie Virzi July 24 Colleen McGuire July 27 Mike Dobos July 29 Greg Scott July 31 Ken Wooster
July 7 Ken & Terry Wooster July 21 Cal & Nancy Martin Aug 20 Lou Ruprecht & Judy Wahrenberger Aug 22 Barron & Mary Cashdollar Aug 22 Suleima Rosario-Diaz & Dario Diaz Aug 24 Alan & Pam Greenlaw Aug 31 Leonard & Janet Gabriel
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Come listen to Downtown Westfield’s Summer Jazz Concerts on our front lawn, each Tuesday dur-ing the summer, July 2 - Aug 27 @ 7pm. (Raindates: Wed)
July 2013
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 Noon Prayer time
4 Office closed
5 6
7 Worship, 10:30am; Youth Group @5pm
8 9 10 11 12 13 Men’s Break-fast, 8:30am
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Roman/Fretas Wed-ding, 2pm
28 29 30 31
August 2013
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3
4Worship, 10:30am
5 6 7 Noon Prayer time
8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Children’s Summer Camp
Guest preachers in July – Come and hear an insightful and inspirational message
♦ July 7th – Mr. Neil Pratt ♦ July 14th – Rev. Dr. Bernadette Glover ♦ July 21st – Rev. James King
A special thank you to Paul Koslowski for playing the piano on July 21st and to Michael Ros-in for playing piano and organ on July 28th while Mr. Mathews is away.
page 4 The Messenger
With summer upon us, it is not uncom-mon to experience a decline in church attendance. Some of it is due to people being away on vacation, but unfortu-
nately some of it is due to people being on vacation from church. But the church is never on vacation. It takes nu-merous volunteers to keep the worship service meaningful and available at all times. Thanks to all the volunteers who serve as ushers, greeters, communion servers, sound system board monitors, sanctuary readiness preparers, singers, in house musicians, after church reception hosts, and to the Staff for their continued support.
May we all use these summer days to enjoy the beautiful world our Creator has given us and offer up all that we are in gratitude for this gift. No matter where we are, may we see God’s work as we’ve never seen it before, hear God’s word in a new and challenging way, and gather back to-gether in September refreshed and committed to service in Jesus’s name.
Cherie Parker Chairperson, Deacons Committee
After a year in the planning stages, Family Promise of Union County , the interfaith hos-pitality network for homeless families, officially launched in June when Faith Lutheran in New Providence provided hospitality to the first guests. The network is composed of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish congregations working together to allow families to stay intact during some of the most challenging times of their lives. This provides the safe temporary home, the food, and just as importantly the support services, fellowship and sense of community that will help these families alter the course of their lives.
You can help. Four times a year, we will be the support church to provide an evening meal when guests are housed at Willow Grove in Scotch Plains. We have a core team that has been making meals for Westfield Presbyterian. As we begin this new commitment, we need people more who are willing to make a portion of the meal – meat, starch, vege-table or salad and dessert to serve about 15 people several times a year. Since many of the guests are children, we are not looking for gourmet cooks, but the same type of meals you serve your family. Sometimes you will be asked to stay to serve the meal. Those with children are encouraged to bring their children with them to play with some of the young guests. This is a missions learning experience for children. There is also a need for overnight volunteers, both male and female, from 8PM to 6:30AM. All you have to do is sleepover and ensure security.
Members of the missions committee will be talking more about this mission opportunity in the weeks to come. If you have questions, speak with Janet Winey. FBC is scheduled at the end of September. Your help will make a dif-ference to these families.
Young Adults and Youth are invited to make bag lunches on Sunday, Aug. 4th after worship. Please sign up with Pastor Mayra.
The Scholarship Committee is pleased to announce that 8 First Baptist Church members will re-ceive scholarship awards from the Grace Lee Thompson Scholarship Fund for the 2013-14 school year. Congratulations to Marlee Araujo, Trent Gabriel, Katie Engel, Molly Engel, Jesse Kline, Taylor Kline, Tyler Martin, and Brianna Virzi.
Our Officers and Committee list has been modified as of last month’s Con-gregational meeting, and reflects the following changes:
Copies of the full list are available in the narthex or through the church office
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HELP WANTED! Do you tweet? Are you a Facebook wiz-ard?
The Evangelism Committee is look-ing for people with experience with so-cial media to help us get the word out about FBC. You can volunteer to help, or to train others. If you’re interested please e-mail Elaine Pratt, Evangelism C o m m i t t e e C h a i r , a t [email protected]
Summer Interns (ages 18—college) needed for 2 weeks in August, the 5th—16th. Paid stipend. Appli-cations in narthex and online. For First Baptist Church members.
What the Summer Intern can expect to gain…. � Experience in office procedures and protocols � Church building management � Church operations and ministry � Personal spiritual growth and development
A stipend, based upon days and hours worked. � Excellent professional experience for future ré-
sumé and college applications.
-- After Children’s Moments during July & August -- Harvey Hall
-- For ages 4yrs old – entering 6th grade
Singing with motions Healthy snacks
Bible verse memorization Activities & Games -- One week, we’ll even make a music video!
Interested in joining our team of teachers?? Please speak with Miss Katie!
7/28 -- Teddy Bear & Bunny Picnic
8/25 -- Drive In Movie
OO URUR PP URPOSEURPOSE Coming together in joyful worship,
We’re Here… • to share the reality of God’s love, • to connect our lifestyles to Christian
truth, • and to put our faith into action
through responding to needs in our community, nation, and world.
170 Elm Street Westfield, NJ 07090 www.fbcwestfield.org
YG during July July 7th – 5 p.m. meet for Fun, Food and Falar de Deus
July 14th – NO YG as group prepares for Summer Mission Trip July 15-July 20 – YG is partnering with ABCNJ and American
Baptist Home Mission Societies – work group will be in Manasquan, NJ in service to rebuild, renew and restore those affect by
Superstorm Sandy. July 21st – 5 p.m. Fun, Food and Falar de Deus - planning
August Youth in Action Week July 28th – 5 p.m. Mission Outing
Ph 908-233-2278 Fax 908-233-0555
CC HURCHHURCH SS TAFFTAFF Rev. Mayra Castañeda, Senior Pastor William R. Mathews, Minister of Mu-sic Katie McGuire, Director of Children’s Ministries Nancy Lambros, Church Administra-tor Adriana Rodriguez, Custodian
Sign your child up for : An Awesome Summer Children’s Camp!
