“ Together We Serve”

Office Hours — Monday—Friday 9:00 AM—1:00 PM

813-782-7412 — Fax: 813-782-4352 E-mail: firstpcz@verizon.net // Web site: firstpcz.org Church Staff

Rev. Denise Lay, Pastor Cheryl Heath — Church Office Administrator Debbie Edwards — Director of Music Jason Edwards — Choir Director Tracy Clemmer — Nursery Attendant

Session Tina Hannold, Clerk John Wilcher, Treasurer

Class of 2018 Vicki Arndt Tina Hannold John Wilcher

Class of 2019 Megan Hall John Knowles Martha Wilson

Class of 2020 Doug Dorgan Mardell Franke Rhonda Register

Deacons Mary Margaret Trice, Moderator

Class of 2018 Catherine Coffey Mary Margaret Trice Vera Wilson

Class of 2019 Joyce McDonagh Thomas Todd LeaTorey

Class of 2020 Maggie Andersen Ron Bergstrom Mary Funk

July/August 2018

The First Presbyterian Church of Zephyrhills

Delivered especially to you via e-mail!

July/August, 2018 CASUAL SUMMER SUNDAYS

Invite your friends!!! Each Sunday in July dress in your casual clothes, set aside your expectations, and come worship with us.

Here are some of the things to look forward to each Sunday in July: July 1 – Communion Sunday! Hear about the Unlikely Bible Hero – Paul. Stay after worship for Hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, and all the fixin’s. July 8 – Breakfast! Bring your friends and come at 9:00 a.m. The pastor and friends will cook breakfast for you. Worship will be in Fellowship Hall at 10 a.m. July 15 – Let’s do a potluck!! Come for worship at 10 a.m. And stay after for potluck and fellowship. July 22 – Come and worship with us at 10 a.m. and immediately following—enjoy cake and ice cream sundaes! July 29 – Sermons of Service! See the article below for the details.

Each Sunday will be a little different so don’t miss a one!

Sermons of Service July 29

Worship on July 29 will look a little different from what we are used to. On this Sunday we will again be joining with churches throughout the Presbytery of Tampa Bay for a pres-bytery-wide mission project. Instead of the regular worship service, we will provide oppor-tunities for you to engage in some type of service related mission project that benefits oth-ers. So worship will look something like this:

Gather at 10 a.m. as usual. Sing, pray, read a scripture, have an offertory, and time of instruction and preparation. Dismiss to work on various projects. Reconvene for lunch.

Some of the mission projects we will work on include: writing letters to local nursing home patients who do not have family visitors or who do not receive mail; delivering small to-kens of appreciation to local families; preparing back to school treats for Thomas’ Promise; preparing lunch for participants.

Stay tuned for more information to come! Together we CAN make a difference!

Dear friends –

I pray that you are having a peace-ful summer! For those here in Flor-ida, summertime involves a slower pace than the rest of the year. For one thing, you can’t move as fast in

the humidity and heat! During summertime traffic is less congested and the calendar is less full of activities. It is a time when one thinks about taking a break, a time for Sabbath rest. Did you know that you are allowed to rest? Sometimes in our 24/7 society we feel pres-sured to constantly be doing something “productive.” We may not realize that it is okay and even healthy for us to stop and rest. Con-sider this passage of Scripture, which is one of many that encourage taking time apart for rest and to reconnect with God: Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work... For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day. (Exodus 20:8-11)

What is Sabbath? “Sabbath is a weekly day of rest and worship. A day to cease working and relax in God’s care for us. A day to stop the things that occupy our daily lives and participate in activities that nur-ture peace, worship, relationships, celebration, and thankfulness. The purpose of Sabbath is to clear away the distractions of our lives so we can rest in God and experience God’s grace in a new way.” (From Sabbath Keeping by Lynne M. Baab)

Why Do We Need Sabbath Rest?

Sabbath is vital to our lives in a number of ways. Through the practice of Sabbath we ex-perience: rest, refreshment, receptivity, release, and refocusing. With the increasing pace of life, we are in desperate need of all five. In what ways do you need each of these in your life?

Some Sabbath Practices The purpose of Sabbath is to find rest and con-nection with God. There are many ways to ac-complish this. Perhaps, Sabbath means slow-ing down long enough to share a special meal with loved ones. Maybe it means spending some time in prayer or time reading scripture. Perhaps it means an entire day of not check-ing your email (or Facebook!). It can mean set-

ting aside your “to do” list for a period of time and just enjoying being in the world.

Some Benefits of Sabbath

When we take a break once a week, we remem-ber that God is the one in charge of keeping the world turning. Dorothy Bass writes, “To act as if the world cannot get along without our work for one day in seven is a startling display of pride...” While it may feel uncomfortable at first to set aside your chores, taking this special time can give us time to reflect, to ponder, to consider where in our lives we need God the most. Un-less we take time to stop and notice, we may miss out on seeing God’s hand in our lives, we may not notice the many ways God’s grace is at work.

So my prayer for you is that you will take time for rest, time to reconnect with God, time to clear away the clutter of a busy life. And in so doing, may God’s grace abundantly fill you and renew you.

In Christian Love, Denise

Thank you to everyone who contributed to my Retirement Reception held on June 24. All the work that went into it was really appreciat-ed by me and my family! The food was so deli-cious, the cake-out of this world, the Steelers/Penguins/Pirates and flower displays through-out also were just fantastic. The cards, gifts and all the well-wishes spoken to me for my days ahead will stay with me forever. Thank you everyone and I certainly hope to see you in Worship soon. As I leave the building on Thursday, it will hurt a little, but I know I am not go-ing away for good! Just tak-ing some time to do whatev-er/whenever.

God Bless you all!

Dell

As VBS rafters paddle to the end of our Rolling River Ram-page, they have found adven-ture, acceptance, joy, rest and peace along the river. With help from Captain Rhonnie and

Romper (our resident otter), they also memorized the bible verse: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. Isaiah 43:2. Emphasis was placed on these points through skits, games, snacks, crafts and science. Thank you to our vol-unteer rafting guides, which included: Barbara and Bob Crum, Sharon Harmsen, Donna Brook-ing, Maggie Andersen, Mary & Garry Funk, Tina & Tom Hannold, Rhonnie Besonday, Becky Todd, Megan Hall, Sarah & Doug Dorgan, Roy Marks, Catherine Coffey, Denise Lay Rhonda Register, Joyce Mc Donagh, Jason Edwards, Patty Joyce, Felicia & Matilda Harvey, Tracy Clemmer and my granddaughter, Joie. Director, Joanne Combs

Doug and Sarah Dorgan had an unexpected visitor that came knocking on their door last week. They decided to simply ignore this visitor in the hopes it had the wrong household and hoping it would visit elsewhere. Stay safe Sarah and Doug!

OUR POTTER PROJECT POTTER – Prayer on Thursdays at Ten En-

courages and Remembers

God blesses us all the time, but so often we don’t recognize His hand. It’s as if we move about with blin-ders on. An unexpected smile thrown our way, a rose sky on a

summer’s eve, or even just a comforting bowl of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup on a cold winter night – all sweet, but we give no thanks. We’re like the nine lepers whom Jesus healed. We leave joy-fully but fail to acknowledge the Great I AM. God touches us with His mercy every day, but we walk around with veiled eyes and hearts, numb to the life of Christ around us. …Once you were not one of His people, but now you are. Once He was not the Great I AM to you, but now He is. How He longs for you to be, from this day forward, for better or for worse, forever in love with Him. (Forever in Love with Jesus by Dee Brestin and Kathy Troccoli)

Each Thursday at 10 a.m. (wherever we are), let’s remember our FIRST LOVE!

NEWS FROM CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Several CE programs will be taking a break during the month of July. Students in our Wednesday night pro-grams, FRESH and Jesus’

Clubhouse will not meet during July and this in-cludes the Wednesday night suppers. The program will resume Wednesday, August 1. The Primary Sunday School Class K thru 3rd grade will not meet during July and August but will resume on Sunday, September 2. The Wednesday evening adult Bible study led by Suzann Parrish will not meet on Wednesday, July 4, but will meet thereafter on Wednesdays as usual.

In order for our students in the Wednesday even-ing programs to have a successful start to their school year, Christian Ed will be supplying all the FRESH and Jesus’ Clubhouse students with a new backpack and the basic school supplies listed on the Pasco County School District website. Children in Jesus’ Clubhouse will also receive a new pair of shoes. Starting on Sunday, July 8, there will be a a large cutout of an old fashioned school house displayed in the Narthex. Attached to the school are things we associate with school. On each at-tachment there will be information about a single student which includes their age, gender, grade in school and preferred color for a backpack. Each student will also have an attachment with their gender, age and shoe size. We are hoping again this year that you take an attachment and pur-chase either a backpack or a pair of shoes. Envelopes will again be provided for any monetary donations for those who do not wish to actually shop. These donations may be placed in the offer-ing plate. On Wednesday, August 8 we will have a Back to School Celebration. The students and their families are invited to join us for a picnic supper. We will have games and the Ladies of the Oriental Shrine (clown unit) will be here to do face painting and make balloon animals. The celebra-tion will end with the children receiving a back-pack. We thank everyone in advance for your con-tinued support of this important outreach project.

May God bless you. Submitted by Tina Hannold

Deacons’ Corner

Mary Margaret Trice, Chair

Happy July and August every-one! We also wish everyone a Happy

Fourth of July! We are so blessed to be able to celebrate our independence. Please

take a moment on the 4th to remember those that fought for it and continue to defend it.

The Food Pantry in June served 88 families with 11 of them being new families. We must thank our volunteers that come to help us each month. We are always looking for volunteers. If you wish to join us at the food pantry, it’s the second Thursday of every month from 9:30 am-11:00 am. We open the doors at 9am. This is a great time to meet the friends and neighbors in our community in which we serve. It is unfortunate we need to help so many, but we are blessed to have the abil-ity to do it. On July 8 we will once again be handing out gro-cery bags with lists of items the food pantry needs. You all have been so generous with your donations and returning the bags filled with what we so greatly need to continue to serve our com-munity. The bags will be collected on July 15 and July 22. Our ability to serve and help is due to donations we receive from you, our congregation of friends, and family. Your generosity is an inspiration to everyone who receives and benefits from it. From the Deacons who take in the donations to the people they distribute it to, everyone is blessed and grateful for the gifts received from all of you.

The Deacons are here to serve you as well. Any questions, concerns or prayer request you have may be brought to any of the Deacons. Have a fun and safe 4th of July.

God Bless, Your Board of Deacons

Deacons’ Annual In-door Picnic, Sunday, August 19 following Worship. All invited...food provid-ed by Deacons as their “Thank You” to you for your support!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Back to School Bash

Wednesday, August 8 @ 5:30 PM

More to come in Weekly Words!

ADULT BIBLE STUDY WEDNESDAYS AT 6:00 PM

You are invited to join us in July and August as we continue with our Bible Study, “Follow” by Andy

Stanley. Jesus says, Follow– how will you re-spond?” In July, we will be praying for our PCUSA missionaries Alan and Ellen Smith, based in Germany and serving also in Russia and Belarus. Ellen works in communications and information sharing, etc. while Al works with minority groups in Russia, including the Roma people (formerly known as gypsies). In August, we will pray for Sharon Bryant, our missionary in Thailand since 2011. Sharon co-ordinates volunteers and is in charge of placing English teachers in 25 schools. Please join us in praying for ALL our missionaries.

ATTENTION MEN! ALL men of the church are invited to come by the COOOOL Fellowship Hall on Saturday, July 14, and Au-gust 11 at 9 am for coffee, a light breakfast and conversation!

Saturday, July 14 @ 5:00 PM. Longhorn Steakhouse at Tampa Premium Outlet Mall. Saturday, August 11 at Olive Garden in New Tampa. RSVP to Sue Ref-

fit at 813-783-1299 by Sunday, July 8 for Longhorns and Sunday, August 5 if you wish to attend. Van leaves promptly at 4:00 PM each time.

Meet your new Church Office Admin-

istrator, Cheryl Heath!

Cheryl and her husband, Mike both were born in California but have lived

in Pasco County for 12 years. She has been em-ployed previously as a paralegal, a domestic vio-lence counselor and has worked and volunteered for two local churches. Her experience will prove to be invaluable at this time. Please welcome her as your Church Office Administrator.

Prayer concerns remain for thirty days unless the office is otherwise notified by family.

Mary Andersen/daughter of Maggie Andersen Paul Kneuss/Greatgrandson of Gordon and Bette Armon Joyce McDonagh Hayley Balogh/Joyce McDonagh’s great niece Tracy Linderman Linda Dykas/Sister of Patty Joyce Bruce MacLeod/Son of Lela MacLeod Jason Ellingwood Patty Melton/Cousin of Suzann Parrish Irma Gillette Sue Reffit Tim Franke Gene Suprenant Curt Hays/Mary Jacksons’ nephew Hanna Tobin Cliff Hensley Ronald Wilcher, Son of John and Chris Wilcher Jane Hogwood/friend of Mary Jackson

Family of Barbara Oles and the Family of Ilene Eckrich

Pray for those in Rehabilitation Centers and Nursing Homes:

Katie Carlisle/Heartland —— Herb Preston/Enchanted Living Facility/Orlando

Pray for those in the Armed Forces: LSC(SS) Matthew E. Edwards/ son of Mark and Debbie Edwards Sr. Airman Jason Haas/grandson of Phoebe Kay Haas Cpl. Ashley Lawson, USMC/niece of Linda Lawson Capt. Connor McCubrey, USMC L. Cpl. Maia C. Edwards, USMC/granddaughter of Mark & Debbie Edwards Major Craig Young, US Army /son of Jack and Dianne Young Lucas Brooking, USAF/grandson of Donna Brooking

Happy July Birthdays

02 Janet Godheim 07 Joann Beardslee 14 Sarah Dorgan 26 Warren Stearns 04 Barbara Campbell 07 Rebecca Rognas 15 Mary McGaw 27 Marcia Stearns 05 Donna Brooking 07 Mary Stanford 21 Mardell Franke 27 Ben Kruithoff 06 Nora Walsh 11 Eleanor Scheuermann 24 Doris Bryan 27 Becky Todd

Happy Anniversary

01 Gene & Berdean Suprenant — 1949 04 Victor & Doris Bryan — 2004 29 Larry & Jane Stickwood — 1960

Prayer List

05 Ron & Linda Bergstrom-1972 20 Don & Maxine Stevens-1960 06 Nick & Wilma Klak -1960 23 Carson & Tracy Linderman-1980 08 Barbara & Bob Crum -1987 25 David & Patricia Reifsteck -1962 09 James & Patricia Hopkins -2014 27 John & Chris Wilcher -1955 12 John & Joan Knowles-1960 27 Roy & Lilian McIlroy -1963 12 Tim & Mardell Franke -1990 27 Lee & Suzann Parrish -1970 20 Mark & Debbie Edwards -1977 29 Tim & Kathie Flanagan -1981 20 Jim & Mary Margaret Trice –1966 31 Howard & Jeanne Hague -1947

01 David C. Reifsteck 16 Lea Torrey 02 John Knowles 16 Herbert Preston 02 Shanna Royal 16 Barb Rodgers 05 Marsha Morris 17 Harriett Pettola 06 Gordon Lord 19 Gene Suprenant 08 Mary Andersen 19 Berdean Suprenant 08 Gordon McDonagh 25 Rhonda Register 12 Kimberly Edwards 28 Phoebe Kay Haas 12 Suzann Parrish 30 Martha Wilson 30 Shelley Jewell

Congregational Life would like to thank everyone who came together for Dell’s retirement party. It is with mixed emotions we bid her farewell. She is loved and will be missed here at church. As we drift through these hot summer days we want everyone to be ready for a July of Fun Sundays. We will begin the month on the 1st with hotdogs and hamburgers after the service, so, come fellowship with us, PICNIC style! The following week on the 8th, we will once again be treated to the graciousness of Pas-tor Denise and a wonderful breakfast spread. Come at 9 am for breakfast and stay for service at 10. The 15th we will have our monthly potluck and spend time in fellowship with each other after the service. On the 22nd we will be having cake and ice cream after the service. Yay ice cream! On the 29th of July we will have our second Sermons of Service and meet back at church for sandwiches. This is a fun month for those of us sun birds who remain year-round. We look forward to seeing you!

What do Stephen Ministers do . . .? Sometime ago, I was asked by someone, “If Stephen Ministers aren’t counselors, doctors or psychologists, then what good are they . . . what do they actually do?” Hmm, a good question. At that moment, I really couldn’t give an in-depth answer, so I said, “They are mainly just there for someone who is hurting.” Although acting satisfied with my on-the-spot answer, I don’t think she really understood, and I couldn’t blame her. A good lesson learned. I am sure to be more prepared when the ques-tion arises again. The following are a few reasons I will share:

Stephen Ministers can provide a trusting relationship through which God can bring love and healing—and they may be the only person who does.

Stephen Ministers are servants of Christ, letting Jesus work through them to touch the hearts of their care receivers—and they may be the only person who does.

Stephen Ministers pray for their care receivers—and they may be the only person who does. Stephen Ministers listen, giving full attention to their care receivers—and they may be the only

person who does. Stephen Ministers are there when everyone else has gone home. They are peer counselors for

use of a better term. A potential care receiver does not have to be a Christian to have a Stephen Minister. Jesus came to minister to all. If you or anyone you know may need, or feel led to seek out a Stephen Minister, please see one of us after each Sunday Service. We will be in the rear of the Sanctuary or call the church office. Blessings, Patty Joyce, Stephen Leader

Stephen Leaders: Rev. Denise Lay (813) 782-7412/Tina Hannold (813) 782-8303 Patty Joyce (727)254-1288/Roy Marks (352) 518-8135

NEWS FROM SESSION The Session of FPCZ met on June 17, 2018. The following items were discussed:

Congregational Life Ministry Team from the proceeds of the fashion show will purchase an eight foot ladder and a vacuum cleaner. The church received a $10,000 grant from Presbytery and the supplies have been ordered to make the doors leading into the Fellowship Hall handicap accessible and possibly the glass doors into Fellowship Hall off of 19th street and the glass doors into the Narthex off 19th street. The fifth Sunday in July, (July 29) will be another day of “Sermons for Service”. This project is being done throughout the Presbytery of Tampa Bay.

A committee has been formed and is working on creating a disaster plan for the church. Cheryl Heath has been hired as Church Office Administrator to fill the vacancy left by the re-

tirement of Dell Anderson. Submitted by Tina Hannold, Clerk of Session

Little Dresses for Africa A big thank you to the talented seamstresses and the volunteers that helped with the mission project to send dresses to little girls in Africa. Because of a lot of hard work and time we were able to send 154 dresses made out of pillowcases to Little Dresses for Africa in Brownstone, MI. They will then ship them to Africa. We are very fortunate that we are able to let little girls on another continent know that they are loved! Way to go ladies of FPCZ!