1 C Christian Direction: “Seeking to grow in our relationship with Christ” Reaching the Non-Churched: “Building relationships with non-churched people through servant evangelism” Authentic Community: “Sharing our needs, hurts, & joys with one another” Gift-Based Ministry: “Using the spiritual abilities God has given us to fulfill the Great Commission” Being Children & Youth Oriented: “Supporting & involving children & youth in the life of the church” Meaningful Worship: “Focusing on the Trinity through our hearts, minds & senses” Pleasant Community Church 673 Pleasant Drive Warren, Pennsylvania 16365 (814) 723-7730 Web: pleasantcommunitychurchwarrenpa.org Email: [email protected]Pastor Mike Email: [email protected]Cell phone: 706-8464 Church Office Hours: M-F 8:30 am-11:30 am PASTOR: MICHAEL POINDEXTER YOUTH & WORSHIP LEADER: AARON REINARD “Real Worship, Real Relationships, Real Service” TO: 1 SUNDAY SCHOOL 9:30 AM WORSHIP 11:00 AM March 2016 UNIFIER Happy 10th Anniversary!
Transcript
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CChristian Direction: “Seeking to grow in our relationship
with Christ” Reaching the Non-Churched:
“Building relationships with non-churched people through servant evangelism”
Authentic Community: “Sharing our needs, hurts, & joys with one another”
Gift-Based Ministry: “Using the spiritual abilities God has given us
to fulfill the Great Commission” Being Children & Youth Oriented:
“Supporting & involving children & youth in the life of the church”
Meaningful Worship: “Focusing on the Trinity through our
25 GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE AT First UMC, 200 Mar-ket St—7:30 pm
26 Barre’s Small Group 6:30 pm
27 EASTER SUNDAY
Sunday School 9:30 am
Worship 11:00 am
28 29 Men’s Bible Study 7:00 pm Crossing
30 Women’s Bible Study 9:30 am
31 Kolcharno’s Small Group 7:00 pm
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FFrom Pastor Mike...
In his book Up with Authority, Victor Lee Austin uses the analogy of an orchestra to explain
why we need human authority. Orchestras need conductors because the musicians don't have
a single right answer to questions like, "What should we play at the concert?" or "What should we practice
today?" or "How should we interpret this passage?" Each musician might have a perfectly reasonable opinion,
but their opinions will inevitably be different and will almost always be incompatible with one another.
And it's no good for each musician to do what is right in his or her own ears. It won't do for the brass section
to insist on playing one musical piece if the strings have chosen to play a completely different piece. I
f the orchestra is to perform coherently, if the musicians want to perform music rather than just make
noise, somebody has to have authority to decide.
By submitting to the authority of a conductor, individual musicians attain musical expression they could
never realize individually or even as a collection of free-wheeling players. Authority is necessary for classical
musicians to bring musical fulfillment to others. In the words of Victor Lee Austin, the conductor's authority
yields "a greater degree of human flourishing than we would have from the musicians separately or individually."
What is true for orchestras is true for human life in general.
Adapted from Peter J. Leithart, "Miracles of Authority," On the Square (2-10-12)
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I would add that what is true for orchestras is also true for a church body. The elected
leaders within a church (similar to an orchestra conductor) must not only be given tasks to
perform and responsibilities to uphold, but they also must be given the authority to lead
and to establish direction, otherwise all that a church will end up with is noise instead of
music; a collection of individuals rather than a unified group; a body that has potential
but never sees that potential lead to any significant ministry. There is no limit to opinions
and ideas about what a church should and shouldn’t do. Within a congregation of
one hundred people, there’s going to be one hundred different opinions. How do you go
about selecting what should be pursued and what shouldn’t? Is it just a matter of personal
preference and majority rule? It’s got to be more than that if a congregation is going to
make music instead of noise. It’s got to be more than that if a congregation is
going to realize its potential instead of just exist. A congregation must authorize its
leaders to keep the church on course instead of allowing it to get distracted in a multitude
of directions. This doesn’t mean that leaders shouldn’t listen to
input from other parts of the congregation. But it does mean that leaders must weigh all input against the church’s
purpose and core values. And where suggestions and input don’t match up with the purpose of the church and
what it holds to be important, then those suggestions and input should not be followed, because they would take the
church off course. In Christ, Pastor Mike
The elected leaders within a church
(similar to an orches-tra conductor) must not only be given
tasks to perform and responsibilities to
uphold, but they also must be given the
authority to lead and to establish direction, otherwise all that a church will end up
with is noise instead of music
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From Pastor Aaron...
I'd like to start this month saying thank you to everyone who's reached out to my family in the past couple weeks with the passing of my grandfather. It was greatly appreciated and meant a lot to be supported by our church family in a time of grieving. Thank you.
Every now and then online there are some great pictures taken of places that have fallen by the wayside over time. Recently it was Geauga Lake amusement park. Someone had gotten in to take pic-tures for a book they were doing on abandoned amusement parks. There were trees and vines growing up through the roller coaster tracks. The water log ride was bone dry and the building looked like it was ready to fall in on itself. It was a fun looking ghost town.
My particular favorite set of pictures is old Olympic sites. The Beijing Olympic sites are almost completely abandoned and unused. The same can be said for the Sochi Olympic sites. These build-ings that once housed some of the greatest athletic accomplishments on Earth sit unused and in disre-pair.
How could these places get like this? How could something that was once teaming with life, now be the model of brokenness?
At the annual meeting Pastor Mike shared with us about the classes he's taking. He gave us a model where a church will be born, grow, mature, start to fall, and eventually die. HOWEVER, if in the mature years of the church there is a re-visioning the church can grow out of that revisioning.
When the Olympic buildings were built they were built for one time and one purpose, not for a revisioned long term goal. There was no chance for re-growth (is that a word?).
I read an interesting article the other day about teenagers that was just jam packed with statistics. One of them seems pretty obvious but also very telling. 94% of teens say that they are positively im-pacted by a teacher. 65% say they are negatively impacted by a teacher.
Before my teacher and ex-teacher friends get worried this has nothing to do with teaching style or the job you're doing (or have done). It's about impact.
There is an opportunity to impact students one way or the other. There is an opportunity to speak goodness into their lives. There is a chance to not just give them material and knowledge, but life long lessons.
In the article it also talked about the belief that students have that certain teachers are teaching because they actually like it and like kids, and like their material. When I read that I heard “students are very perceptive.” You can't blow smoke at them and have them not notice.
I would encourage all of us to engage the students we see. Ask them simple questions. “What's your favorite subject in school?” “What do you do for fun?” “Are you reading anything interesting late-ly?” “What's your favorite candy?”
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MAUNDY THURSDAY SERVICECE
March 24th at 7:30 pmm
Here at Pleasant Community Churchch
GOOD FRIDAY SERVICECE
March 25th at 7:30 pmm
At First United Methodist Churchch
200 Market St., Warrenen
EASTER FLOWERSRS
Lilies, Tulips and Hyacinths will be available for Easter Sunday, March 27th. , p y y, 7Order forms will be available in the bulletins soon and the deadline to order is Sunday, March 13th. Please call the church office for more information.n.n
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If you would like your birthday and/or anniversary
listed in the “Unifier”, please contact the church office.
MMarch Memory Versese y
Nursing Home Residents & Shutut-t--insns
Please e rememberbebe
gerer our church members that are in a nursing home or who are shut in.n PPleasee emembere beer ur chhurch members that arre in a nursing home oor who are shut inouo
We have church members that are residents at the Warren Manor, Rouse Home and nn.ddd WWe have church membbers that are residents at the Warren Manor, Rouse Home and
who are home bound. This is a very difficult time for these people, give them a visit!nddit!itt!
2016 1st Quarter Special Offering
January thru March St. Joe’s Soup Kitchen
Pleasant Community has helped St. Joe’s
Soup Kitchen in the past. This offering will help stock the kitchen
with the necessary items to help with the dinners.
Please consider donating to this great mission for our area needy families.
Special marked envelopes are available in the pew backs for your Special Offering.
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Ten Year Celebration in becoming Pleasant Community Church! est. January 1, 2006
HAPPY 10TH ANNIVERSARY, PCC! The Executive Council would like to put together a committee to plan the church’s 10th anniversary of it’s merger. Please see Gloria Werner,
if you would like to be a part of this planning group.
The churches combined were First
Baptist Church (pictured above to the right) and Bethlehem Covenant Church
(our present building) to become Pleasant Community Church.
If you have any old pictures of FBC & BCC, the church would like to borrow them. Please mark your name on them and we will gladly
return them to you.
Please jot down your suggestions and give them to the Church Office or Gloria Werner.
FFaith Circle
Eight ladies were treated to a lovely luncheon prepared by Kathy LaCaze and Yvonne Lee for the February 8th meeting of the Faith Circle.
During our meeting we signed cards for several of our church family. We received a thank you from Warren General Hospital’s Cancer Center and PCC for donations made in the past month. We were notified of a generous donation given by the Koinonia Sunday School class toward our mission work, in memory of Barb Confer.
We also recognized Yvonne on the occasion of her upcoming birthday. Following devotions we worked on tearing and rolling bandages.
Our next meeting will begin at 10 AM on March 14th. We will work on rolling the bandages. Soup will be provided at noon by Jeanne Maier and Gloria will bring a dessert. Following lunch we will hold our business meeting and then complete the bandages.
Anyone wanting to join in the fun, please feel free to join us!
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To the congregation of Pleasant Community Church:
Dear Friends, We are now half way through our school year and are thankful for how much the Lord has done for our school as well as for the families who share in this ministry. Thank you to all who support us on a monthly basis and those who have contributed to our Appeal. God continues to be faithful and pring many blessings on this school. Please continue to hold us up in prayer as we work to do His will.
In Him, Ric Kolcharno Administrator
Dear Pleasant Community Church,
Thank you for your recent financial gift of $325.00 for the ministry of Warren County Bible Club. In the Spring we will be celebrating 70 years of reaching our boys and girls with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Without your faithful and generous support through the years this would not be possible. Mrs. Ruth Gray
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WARREN CHRISTIAN WOMEN’S CONNECTION Invites you to
“A Happy Paddy’s Day” Luncheon
Tuesday, March 8, 2016 12:00—2:00 pm
Allegheny Community Center, 42 Clark St., Warren $9.00 inclusive
Featuring Josie Gerardi from Warren
“My Grandmother’s Aprons”
Speaker: Naomi O’Kane, from Treasure Lake, PA
Music provided by: Sylvia Tate, Warren
For reservations and information about our complimentary Nursery
Call Lee Jones at 723-5952 by March 3rd
St. Joseph’s Soup Kitchen
Tuesday, March 1st at 4:15 pm Pleasant Community Church helps in St. Joseph’s Soup Kitchen ,
the first Tuesday of each month. If you like working with people and helping out in the kitchen,
this is a great opportunity!
“Lord Jesus, help me to see others with Your eyes. Show me what it means to demonstrate Your love to those around me. Thank You for the love You give to me that I can share.” Daily Bread
Help the needy families in our community.
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ATTENTION — LADIES
TRIENNIAL XV - July 28 -31, 2016 Kansas City, Mo.
Greetings from Covenant Offices in Chicago! Triennial XV is just around the corner, gathering in Kansas City in the Summer of 2016. This discipleship-oriented ministry event for women of the Covenant has hap-
pened very three years since 1974. Covenant Events and Women Ministries are excited to partner with churches across North American in connecting, trans-forming and providing space and opportunity to be refreshed. Triennial is an opportunity for women to gather with others from around the globe to see God’s work in and through the lives of His people. It is a ministry of the Make and Deepen Disciples mission priority team. Please consider attending this Triennial. If you are interested, please contact Wendy Carrington or Pastor Mike. There are brochures laying on the table outside the Church office. The Christian Formation Board will pay for your de-posit.
Ecuador Mission Trip Pastor Mike is working with Joel and Kim Delp, Covenant Missionaries in Ecuador, to organize another mission trip to Cayambe, Ecuador.
In 2014, the group worked on the foundation of the children’s home, which has made amazing progress since then. The trip is being planned for Au-gust 2016.
If you would have interest in going, please let Pastor Mike know as soon as possible, so that date can be set.
