Christmas Eve Services

Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011

3:30 PM

Sharing the

Light of Christ

A service for pre-school age children and their families

Slack Fellowship Hall

5:30 PM

Christmas Eve

Service

Child-led service, Carol and Chapel choirs, Communion

Sanctuary

10:30 PM

Lessons & Carols

Chancel Choir, Communion

Sanctuary

Decatur Presbyterian Church Dec. 16 -31 , 2011

W I N T E R P R O G R A M S F O C U S O N “ L I V I N G T O G E T H E R ” I N O U R C I T Y , O U R W O R L D

Decatur , Georgia

DECPRESS

Jeff Jel Project Update 2

Transportation Needs 3

New Members 4

Newsletter Changes 5

Session Highlights 6

PW January Dates 7

Westminster Choir 8

(404) 378-1777 | decatur-presbyterian-church.atlpcusa.org

A fter celebrating Christmas and the New Year, we will gather again in Slack Fellowship Hall on Wednes-

day evenings this winter for supper, fel-lowship, learning and fun.

On Jan. 4, we will hold a special ser-vice in Scott Chapel to mark the occasion of Epiphany. In the Western church, Epiph-any has marked the “manifestation” of Jesus Christ to the whole world, and it is connected to the biblical story of the ap-pearance of the Three Magi at the place of Jesus’ birth (Matthew 2). Being visitors from far-off lands, the Magi are, in effect, the first Gen-tiles to witness the coming of God in the flesh. This is a joyous occasion and a fitting one to accompany the beginning of our “Living Together in Christ” season.

Lyn Menne, Assistant City Manager, will join us Jan. 10 for a presentation on

Decatur’s strategic plan and downtown development. We all benefit from these ongoing improve-ments that make this

community an appealing place to live, work and worship.

Jan. 17 we will hear from Dr. Phil Noble, the author of Beyond the Burning Bus: The Civil Rights Revolution in a South-ern Town. Published in 2003, the book re-counts the decision by leaders in Anniston, Alabama, to form a biracial human rela-

tions council, which he chaired while serving as pastor of the First Presby-terian Church of Anniston from 1956-1971.

Dr. Noble will be joined by Hank Thomas who was one of the Free-dom Riders aboard the bus that was burned in Anniston.

On a lighter note, we’ll celebrate the Third Annual Talent Show Jan. 24 in Slack Fellowship Hall. Individuals and groups of all ages are encouraged to share their tal-ents for singing or dance, playing instru-ments or telling jokes. Contact the church office at (404) 378-1777 to sign up for the talent show.

In February, Rev. Hughes will lead us in a three-week study of the book Life To-gether by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a German theolo-gian who opposed the Nazi regime in WWII and paid for it with his life.

For our Pub Theol-ogy program, a 90-minute documentary on Bonhoeffer was offered in December at Columbia Theological Seminary. A second showing has been scheduled for Monday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m., also in the auditorium of the Harrington Center on the campus.

Bus transportation will be provided from DPC for those who need it.

2

The Broom family from our congregation directs a project to improve the quality of life in a village in Senegal. Recently $2,500 of the 5% of capital campaign funds designated for missions was provided for this work. Candler and Ward recently returned with the following report.

Page 2 Dec. 16-31 , 2011

A lot of good news to report from our last trip to Senegal. Everyone there sends their greetings and

thanks to their American friends for the love and assistance provided to them. It was very hot and humid with lots of mos-quitos, but the villagers’ enthusiasm makes it all worthwhile.

Chicken Project-Ward (known as the Big Chicken in the village) has done a great job working with the villagers in construction of the house and procedures in handling the chickens to create jobs and help them earn some income. They have raised two batches to date. On the first batch they made $4 and on the second they made $250. Being in the black for the first two tries, I think, is remarkable. Ward has now set up proce-dures where they will be able to sell chick-

T H E J E F J E L P R O J E C T I N S U DA N S E R V E S A S A M O D E L F O R O T H E R S

Whose December

Birthday Is It?

16. Joseph Looper

17. Julia Carter, Betty Cousar, Meryl Frick, Gail Kearney, Jim McDonald, Stephanie Townsend

18. —

19. Ben Carter, Philip Freiji, Joe Gilbert, Steve Maroney, Silvia Stribling

20. Nicholas Keith, Mary Moore

21. Allan Chastain, Vir-ginia Edwards, Eve McClennen, Caitlin McDonald, Mary West

22. Claire Toole

23. Elizabeth Churchman Byrum, Hannah Godwin, Natalie Joy-ner, Roger Rowell, Bill Wall

24. John Bingeman

25. Sarah Lakitulah

26. Deede Murrell, Ronnie Roe, Sybil Washington

27. Chris Vance

28. Mary Phillips

29. —

30. Susan Fleischman, Rush Forquer, Kathy Mallard

31. Muriel Brown, Eilis Gehle, Kati Hash

Candler Broom meets with the Women’s Committee — where every program starts.

ens on a daily basis to keep their custom-ers supplied daily instead of having them available only every seven weeks. This is a project where we loaned the villagers the start-up money, which will be repaid by year-end.

Micro Finance: Our village women have come up with five groups, each with five members who will submit their projects that we will finance and they will repay at the end of their projects. They are really excited about the prospect of earning their own money and a bit of good-natured competition has been created. Jennifer Broom is the force behind this project.

The Kellie Lartigue Ndiaye Clinic. Our clinic is one of 15 in our District. With the

Continued on next page

3

J E F J E L P R O J E C T ( C O N T I N U E D )

DecPress Page 3

N E W T A S K F O R C E I S S T U D Y I N G DPC’ S T R A N S P O R TA T I O N N E E D S A N D A S S E T S

L ast August, the Congregational Care Council asked the session to form a Transportation Task Force.

We know that to fully participate in wor-ship, learning and service opportunities at DPC, our members and visitors have to be “present” in mind and body, and many need assistance with transportation.

This task force was charged with studying our varied needs and the popula-tions we serve, then recommending pro-grams or solutions, suggesting how to fi-nance them, and determining time lines for achieving them.

Gregg Bedol chairs the task force, and assembled a team from key councils that includes Linda Shelles, Elizabeth Webb and Mike Weitnauer. Rev. Ken Hughes and Kathy Morse serve from the staff.

We have a diverse population of mem-bers and visitors, and the church is asked to provide transportation to worship ser-vice, weekends at the retreat center, Pub Theology events, Senior Adult Ministry outings, youth mission trips/conferences, and much more.

We have no clearly defined transpor-tation policies and our approach to trans-portation solutions has been inconsistent or fragmented, with some needs unmet.

The church owns a small bus that seats

work Jef Jel has done here it is now the envy of the others. The District Doctors work out of the main Clinic in NDofan. They want the main clinic to be as nice as ours and have asked for our assistance. This is exactly what we were looking for — to build our model clinic and have the others want to do the same.

Chicken Transportation: Thanks to Decatur Presbyterian Church, The Imlay Foundation and the Lartigue family for providing the funds needed to purchase a mini-truck to transport our chickens to market. Without refrigeration we need to get the chickens to market as quickly as possible and now we have that capability. It can also serve as an emergency vehicle for the villagers.

15 and a golf cart parked at Sycamore House that is used to bring residents from Philips Tower to services and programs.

Members of the task force have sur-veyed councils and commit-tees to gather their input. Then they de-velopd an in-ventory of needs by council, from field trips for the pre-school to deliveries of flowers or meals to shut-ins. These needs are being evaluated based on their fre-quency, the number of people served, costs associated and the type of program served.

The group is brainstorming ideas and solutions, being creative as well as practi-cal. They plan to make their recommenda-tions – from ride boards to renting vehi-cles, training drivers and teaming up with other local church – to the session at its February meeting.

Joe Looper drives the golf cart (decorated with cob-webs for Trunk or Treat Night in October) to pick up Florence Fivecoat from Philips Tower.

Gregg Bedol bedol@mindspring.com

(404) 307-3269

Kathy Morse kmorse@dpchurch.org

(404) 378-1777, ext. 222.

COMMENTS OR

QUESTIONS?

4

Page 4 Dec. 16-31 , 2011

D E C P R E S S S E N T M O N T H LY , B A L A N C E D W I T H F R E Q U E N T E M A I L DPC N E W S

W e hope you value all the ways Decatur Presbyterian Church keeps in touch with you

through newsletters, email messages, bul-letin inserts and flyers. We want to use

our resources wisely and re-spect your time while providing the news and information you need to keep up with all that is happening in the life of this congregation.

In the new year, we plan to distribute DecPress once a month instead of twice. We’ll continue to keep you current on DPC news through DecPress Lite, sent by email on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week.

We’ve made improvements to both publications over the past year, hoping you find them helpful, interesting and at-tractive. You are also getting Congrega-tional Life Notes, youth news, PW Night Circle invitations and many other commu-nications from DPC via email.

We’ll no longer use bulk mail to send a copy of the newsletter to everyone on our address list – some 550 copies. As soon as each issue is completed, we’ll send it immediately via email to everyone who has provided us with an email ad-dress.

We will also begin using email to send it to the parents of DPCC students. Copies

have gone home in book bags in the past.

Those members of the congregation and prospects who don’t use email are just as important to us. We’ll send a printed copy using first class mail. The newsletter will reach you in just a day or two – not the one to two weeks (or more) bulk mail often takes.

Printed copies will always be available at the church for you to pick up on your next visit if you don’t want to read the newsletter on your screen.

So these changes will result in every-one getting DecPress quickly. And we’ll find savings in so many ways, respecting your pledges to this church: printing far few copies and use fewer staff and volun-teer hours to prepare bulk mailings for the post office.

What should you do?

1. Make sure we have a current email address for each person in the house-hold who wishes to get messages from DPC directly. If your spouse gets DecPress by email at work, you probably won’t see a copy – so let us know your pre-ferred email address, too.

2. If you have a new email address, es-pecially for the first time, please share it with us.

3. Always keep the church current if you move, change phone or cell services, or email address. We want to keep in touch so we can meet your needs. Watch for bulletin inserts asking for your updates, or provide them by phone or email: (404) 378-1777 kmorse@dpchurch.org

dhowell@dpchurch.org,

HAVE NEWS FOR DecPress OR DecPress Lite?

Send your articles, updates and “thank you” notes to decpress@dpchurch.org or drop the information off in the church office.

We’ll publish a Jan. 15, 2012 edition of DecPress (deadline Jan. 1)

Following that, each monthly edition will be dated on the 1st. Arti-cles and photos are due the 15th of each month for the following month’s issue. So an item for the April 1 issue is due March 15.

DecPress Lite is distributed each Tuesday or Wednesday, so informa-tion is needed by noon on Tuesdays.

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DecPress Page 5

E VA N G E L I S M C O U N C I L C E L E B R A T E S O U R N E W M E M B E R S W I T H R E C E P T I O N

DPCC PMO Debbie Van-Sistine & family on the 11/14 death of her fa-ther, Leroy Rehbein

Former DPC staff mem-ber Elizabeth Lewis & family on the 11/17 death of her mother, Norma Hughes

John Kline & family on the 11/26 death of his mother, Chris Kline

Betty Prather & family on the 11/26 death of Bob Prather

Family and friends of Margaret Thrasher, who died 12/9

Family and Friends of long-time former mem-ber Pat Kjorlaug, who died 12/13 in Greens-boro, NC

PRAISE AND JOY

Justice & Ginny Brogan and big sister Zoey on the 11/4 birth of James “Jimmy” Brogan. Jimmy weighed 7 lbs., 8 oz.

SYMPATHY

T he Evangelism Council celebrated a year in which we welcomed 37

new members to the congrega-tion. They hosted a reception for our new members in Keith Parlor Sunday, Dec. 11.

The families and individuals got reacquainted with others who had attended the same Discover DPC class, and re-ceived a DPC coffee mug and Christmas ornament.

Recent new member Don Gardner (L) joined by transfer of letter from University Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill,

Jonathan Harris and Miche Baskett joined DPC by transfer of letter from Oakhurst Presbyterian Church. They bring with them twin son, J.D. and Earl Harris, 9 years old.

Pat Tatro joined by reaffirmation of faith, bringing her son, Max Boles, who turns six in January.

Freddie Newsome (L) and Sarah Looper enjoy the re-ception with Kathryn and Josh Russell, who joined by transfer of letter from Newnan Presbyterian Church with their daughter Lola, nearly six.

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N E W E L D E R C L A S S E X A M I N E D B E F O R E T H E I R I N S TA L L A T I O N I N J A N UA R Y

Dec. 16-31 , 2011

Catherine Carter, Tim Carter, Jim Keith, Anne Marie Miller, Reed Owens, Eric Toole, Herb Uthlaut, and Leah Vaughan. Eilis Gehle will rotate off as youth elder.

The following actions took place at the Dec. 6 meeting:

Approved the hiring of six counselors for the 2012 Bible and Music Camp, held the week of June 12.

Accepted with regret the resignation of Cheryl Sullivan and Barbara Warren from the class of 2013. They author-ized the Nominations Council to begin the process of filling these positions, to be voted on at the annual meeting of the Congregation on Feb. 12.

Received for information a compensa-tion study prepared by Fred Donald-son, indicating that DPC staff salaries were well within the range of market comparable positions.

Endorsed Rebekah Abel Lamar to be enrolled by the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta as an Inquirer. She is studying at Columbia Theological Seminary in the Masters of Divinity program.

In addition, Dr. Speed reported that he has been called to serve as a commis-sioner to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., when it meets June 30-July 7, 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA. This will be the first time he has served in this capacity, and is one of a dozen pastor and elder commissioners from the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta.

An annual officers’ retreat for all ses-sion members and staff is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27-28 at the DPC Retreat Center at Lake Lanier. Dr. Ralph Watkins, associate professor of evangelism and church growth at Columbia Theologi-cal Seminary, will address the elders and help with visioning our future on the topic, “The Church in the 21st Century.”

T he DPC Session met Dec. 6 and examined the Class of 2014 as the special order of the day.

Each discussed which tenet of the reformed tradition was primary to their faith and named the strategic goal of the church they would most like to pur-sue during their term in office, among other topics.

They will be ordained and installed during the worship service on Jan. 8, an important day for them, their families and the congregation. At the conclusion of their first session meeting Jan. 24, they will receive “Practical Elder Train-ing” that ranges from how to serve communion to unlocking doors.

The new class includes Jan Bedol, Les Cook, Julia Carter, Tamara Gehle, Candace Godwin, David Holbrook, Tony Miller, Greg Perry, Harley Smith, Donna Stroup and Jeff Vaughan. In addition, Hallie Bedol is the incoming youth elder, who will serve through May 2013.

Dr. Speed also thanked the outgo-ing class of 2011 for their service: Hikie Allen, IV, Suzanne Ault, Henk Brinkman,

Hallie Bedol, incoming youth elder, shares her faith journey.

7

DecPress

P resbyterian Women moves into the new year with Diane Hunter serv-ing as the Bible interpreter for the

January 10 meeting of the day circles. Diane is a recent graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary, and will lead PW members in a continuing exploration of The Beatitudes.

Members will gather in Crusaders Classroom at 10:30 a.m. for the presenta-tion, and remain afterward for a discus-sion of the future of PW at DPC, making suggestions for any improvements or changes.

Moderator Elinor Cook spoke of the success we have had with the new Mom’s Group. They have been meeting each Tuesday morning. Many of these partici-pants are DPCC parents who are getting to know our congregation. Several have be-gun attending the monthly circle meetings and staying for lunch with their children.

The menu for lunch, prepared by Zest

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PW D A Y C I R C L E S M E E T JA N . 10 W I T H D I A N E H U N T E R A S S P E A K E R

H O S P I TA L & H E A L T H C O N C E R N S

June Dollar, cancer John Hamilton, brother of Dorothy Hamilton, prostate cancer Leslie Miller’s father, Herb Miller, bro-ken hip, pneumonia, stroke Kathryn Russell’s friend Jennifer Ear-nest, heart arrhythmia and upcoming surgery to correct Pat Bach, broken leg, has moved to Presbyterian Village, Austell Allen Butler, son of Ben and Laura But-ler Gail Perkins, former DPC associate pas-tor, fell and broke upper arm near the shoulder, many weeks of rehab Sarah Carlson fell, nothing broken, re-hab, moved to Dogwood Forest As-sisted Living in Gainesville Margaret George, sore and trouble get-ting around after fall Former DPC member and son of Nath Briley, Charles Briley had surgery to

remove portion of colon 11/7, SC Earth Covenant Ministry’s Kate McGregor Mosley’s husband Larry, had a cardiac episode, not an attack, on 11/7, monitoring Kris Taylor’s niece, Julie Dubois, pan-creatitus Linda Bailey’s sister, Janice, chemo for lung cancer, and Linda’s mom hav-ing heart issues Matt McMahan’s mom, Bobbie McMahan, diagnosed with lymphoma and leukemia Marceil Joyner’s friend, 6-year-old Audrey Stanger, in TN, doctors found a second tumor DPCC teacher Allison Steele, heart cath on 12/7 David Forquer, shoulder surgery 12/16 Bill Jackson starting radiation for can-cerous lesions on his vocal cords after Christmas

Atlanta, includes cream of tomato basil soup, warm grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches, fresh fruit salad, and assorted cookies.

Reservations should be made through the church office by Friday, Jan. 6 by call-ing (404) 378-1777.

Mary Uthlaut greets Kate Buckley and her daughter, English Jane, at lunch.

8

EN J OY CO N C E RT B Y CO L L E G E C H O I R A N D H E L P HO U S E ST U D E N T S

G O D & F A M I L Y A W A R D P R O G R A M O P E N T O S C O U T I N G B O Y S , G I R L S

NONPROFIT ORG POSTAGE

PAID DECATUR, GA

30030 PERMIT NO. 557

Return Service Requested

(404) 378-1777

Decatur-Presbyterian-church.atlpcusa.org

● 9 a.m. Sunday School

for all ages

● 10:15 a.m. Sunday

worship service

● Office open from

8:30 a.m. to 4:30

p.m. Monday

through Friday

T he Westminster College Chamber Singers and Concert Choir will present a pro-gram “Rejoice Greatly” in our sanctuary at 7 p.m. on Thursday night, Jan. 12.

The stop is part of a week-long tour of the southeast that takes the group next

to Brevard, NC. The choir is under the di-rection of Dr. Robin Lind and includes 45 young men and women.

Founded in 1852, Westminster College is a liberal arts institution in New Wilming-ton, PA, formed by the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.

We also are looking for members of the congregation to host the students in their homes Thursday night, provide their breakfast the next morning, and bring them to the church before their board their bus and continue on their tour.

Use bulletin inserts or contact the church office to let us know if you can pro-vide space for two or four students, all of the same gender. Also let us know if you have pets such as dogs or cats in your home.

S couts at DPC are invited to join a God and Family Award program that gets underway in January. The two-month program is open to

Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts in grades 4 and 5.

They will “discover how building and strengthening families can be compared to making a pizza. Study the Bible to learn about God’s rec-ipe for living together as children of our heavenly father.”

Associate Pastor Ken Hughes will lead the program, starting with an introductory meeting at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 8, in the Crusaders Classroom (M212). The class will continue with six sessions held Jan. 22 and 29, Feb. 5 and 26, and March 4 and 11 from 12:30 – 2 p.m. The group will use room M305 on the top floor of the McGeachy Building.

The awards will be presented at the DPC worship service on March 25, followed by a celebration pizza party after the service.

The cost of the program is $25 which includes the workbook, sup-plies, and award pin. For more information , contact Reynolds DeLisle at rdelisle@bellsouth.net or (404) 402-7000.