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First Presbyterian Church, Las Cruces, NM July 2013
First Presbyterian Church, Las Cruces, NM July 2013
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Bob Waguespack Visit Alex Burr
One of the missionaries we support visited our church on June 13. Bob Wa-
guespack works for Latin American Mission in Mexico City. He has been partially
supported by our church for many
years. He, and his wife Donna, en-
gage in a variety of activities to
prepare Mexican lay people, pas-
tors, and Christian workers to be
more effective in all aspects of
evangelism, spiritual growth, and
church development. Specifically,
Bob teaches at the National Bap-
tist Seminary and at Christ for the
Nations Mexico. Mexican mission-
aries trained at Christ for the Na-
tions Mexico are already serving in
South America, Africa, the Middle
East, India, and China. Bob also
heads a separate program at the
Baptist seminary to train Mexican
missionaries to serve both in Mex-
ico and in other countries. In addi-
tion, he counsels missionary stu-
dents and former students to ad-
just and grow in full-time ministry.
Donna has been working
with Wycliffe Bible Translators to
illustrate Bible stories into sign
language for use with DVDs for
deaf Mexicans. She is also active in
a Bible study ministry for bilingual
women in Mexico City.
During their 25 years in Mexico, the Waguespacks have contributed signifi-
cantly to helping the Mexican churches to realize their desire to bring the Gospel to
the unreached peoples in Mexico and elsewhere.
Bob flew into El Paso Saturday night and stayed with Richard Paul, the Mis-
sions Committee member who coordinated the visit. Sunday morning Bob spoke
briefly with Rev. Hawkins, the pastor of Iglesia del Pueblo. He then gave a presenta-
tion to the Sunday School classes, a short presentation at the regular Sunday service,
and a question-and-answer session after the fellowship hour. After this rather busy
morning, he had lunch with the Missions Committee and then flew out of El Paso in
the afternoon.
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While at lunch he gave many examples of
people who have been part of his educational
efforts. Two were of particular interest be-
cause they illustrated some of the difficulties
which many missionaries face.
One young woman is working for a
non-governmental organization in Morocco
as a physical therapist. She has to work for
this agency for half a day in order to get a
visa to live in that country. The other exam-
ple is that of a Mexican business woman
who ran a successful restaurant. She is now
in the internship year of the four year pro-
gram. She is in China working with two ex-
perienced missionaries. When her internship
is over, she hopes to continue her work in
China, opening a Mexican restaurant there
to provide a plausible reason to obtain per-
mission to remain in China.
It is interesting to note that her support is
provided by her home church in Mexico,
which has a congregation of about 75 per-
sons.
Bob reports that efforts such as his
have helped Mexico to rank third in the list
of American countries sending out missionaries.
“SonWest Roundup” Vacation Bible School Our 2013 Wild West-themed Vacation Bible School is history now, and what joy-
ful history we made! Fifty-five adults,
along with 35 youth “Wranglers,” spent a
wonderful week riding herd on, leading,
and feeding just over 100 children age 4
through 5th grade. There was so much
going on that it’s hard to believe it was
all packed into three hours each morn-
ing!
With their red tee-shirted youth
Wranglers and adult volunteers, the chil-
dren sang and danced to exciting music
with lyrics of Bible truths, played active
games outdoors, made Bible-related
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crafts, enjoyed quite amazing made-with-love snacks, and participated in Bible lessons.
The Bible theme, continuing through the week, was the life of Moses, from the basket
among the reeds to the Ten Commandments. There was a Jesus connection for each les-
son as well, with a daily Bible verse from the Gospel of John.
The youngest class of 20 children aged 4 and 5 was called the “Playful Ponies.”
They met with their youth Wranglers on a different colored blanket for each of 3 groups
for the application of daily Bible-theme “tattoos,” learned from a pony puppet, heard vol-
unteers from the congregation read aloud, and gathered “manna” (saved Communion
wafers!) from the “desert” (a large sand-colored towel) to eat.
The SonWest Roundup music was an especially great teaching tool, since children
learn and remember the words to catchy songs. The song lyrics were full of the love,
power, and joy of the Lord. When everyone gathered in the Sanctuary for singing, amus-
ing skits conveying Christian concepts performed by youth actors Miss Lily, Hank, Dirty
Daryl, Cowboy Jack, and Sheriff Sunday were a highlight.
This year’s VBS Mission Project was gathering contributions of toiletries, school
supplies, and gently used clothing for the El Crucero program that provides help for
young people ages 16-21 who are homeless or near-homeless.
VBS was truly a week of fun and sound Bible learning. Our church can be well-
pleased with VBS as a community outreach and as an effective ministry.
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2013 Prayer Breakfast The ninth annual Prayer Breakfast was held in our church starting at 6:30 AM
on June 28. This annual event , held just before Independence Day, is a buffet breakfast
and program open to the entire community.
It started at 5:30 AM when Don Rhodes, who organized the cooking, arrived in
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the kitchen after preparing his famous sweet rolls the night before. The breakfast,
which included eggs, ham, and bacon, featured biscuits and gravy prepared by Dutch
Matkin. About 70 people from our congregation and the community at large attended.
The program opened before breakfast was served with the presentation of colors
by Boy Scouts, Parker and Kyle Temple.
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Afterwards the singing of the national anthem was led by Jeremy Borchert and
Courtny Malony.
The pro-
gram itself was
organized by Lyn
Ames and led by
Jim Parks as
master of cere-
monies. He intro-
duced the vari-
ous participants
and gave a bit
about their back-
grounds. The
program included
patriotic songs by
Brochert and
Malony and short
presentations by
speakers which
included Susan
Grandle, Gregg
Sherman, and
Gracie Class. It
featured a pres-
e n t a t i o n b y
Lieutenant Colonel Bradley West, chaplain at White Sands Missile Range.
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Hymn sing The annual Hymn Sing, organized by the Congregational Life and Outreach com-
mittee was held this year on June 2. Most of the congregation gathered in Watkins Hall
after the Sunday church service for a salad lunch and the singing of mostly old time
hymns. A wide choice of salads was available at 11:30 and, after lunch, the hymn re-
quests came in a steady stream. Greg Sherman kept the songs coming in an orderly
fashion and Howard Smolleck did his usual good job of accompaniment.
Cluster Meeting The new arrangement of meetings for Sierra Blanca Presbytery had divided the
presbytery into four clusters to facilitate the operation of the Presbytery.
We are in the West Cluster along with Santa
Teresa, Deming, and Iglesia del Pueblo. On June 1, the
third meeting of our cluster took place in our church un-
der the direction of Iglesia del Pueblo. The cluster was
brought up to- ate on the activities of the churches, dis-
cussed possible actions of the Presbytery, and agreed
that the next meeting would be at Santa Teresa.
The Lantern is a monthly publication of First Pres-
byterian Church, Las Cruces, NM. Articles and
photos, preferably in computer readable form are
welcome, and will be used at the discretion of the
publisher. For further information call 526-5559 or
send e-mail to [email protected].
Editor: Alex Burr [email protected]
Production: Linda Ramirez
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First Presbyterian Church
200 East Boutz Road
Las Cruces, NM 88005
Tel (575) 526-5559
E-mail [email protected]
Web URL http://www.zianet.com/fpc
Rev. Dr. Norman Story, Pastor
Staff News Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.
Patti Knowles, bookkeeper in office 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Staff meetings are held on Tuesdays at 10:00 am.
Deadline for announcements going into the weekly Sunday Bulletin is 10:00 am on
Thursday mornings.
Rev. Story out of the office until August 1.
Communion Join us for communion on Sunday, July 7.
Attendance –Sundays June 02 - 151
June 09 – 197
June 16 – 211
June 23 – 168
(These do not include attendance on Saturdays)
The Cover The cross on the cover belongs to our secretary, Linda Ramirez. It was given to
her by her granddaughter.
The Lantern is a monthly publication of First Pres-
byterian Church, Las Cruces, NM. Articles and photos,
preferably in computer readable form are welcome, and
will be used at the discretion of the publisher. For fur-
ther information call (575) 526-5559 or send e-mail to
Editor: Alex Burr
Production: Linda Ramirez
Photographs by Judith Ames and Alex Burr
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200 E. Boutz Rd.
Las Cruces, NM 88005 Non-Profit Org.
U. S. POSTAGE
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PERMIT NO. 91
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Mission Statement for 2007-2008 To emulate the work, the word, and the way of Jesus Christ in
ministering to the needs of members and preparing them for Chris-
tian outreach to people within and outside the Church of Jesus
Christ.
Our Vision Objectives for 2007-2008 are: To create spiritual leaders from within our congregation to recog-
nize and minister to members in need.
To develop and maintain specific ways for members to reach out
and draw the community into our fellowship.
To create a God-centered atmosphere for worship that will attract
and bind individuals, families and youth to our church.
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Ice Cream Social
July 21—11:45
Mission Statement To minister to the members of our Church and prepare them
for Christian Outreach
Vision Objectives To clearly and courageously communicate the Good News of Jesus
Christ to all within our reach.
To develop spiritual leadership that recognizes and ministers to
those in need.
To develop and maintain specific ways for members to reach out
and draw the community into our fellowship.
To create God-centered atmosphere for worship that will attract
and bind individuals, families, and youth into Christian commu-
nity.
