The

MESSENGER

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH(Disciples of Christ)

View Messenger online at: www.� rstchristianhopkinsville.orgVOLUME 16 ISSUE 19 OCTOBER 25, 2017

Relationship, Re� ection and Response

Making Disciples of Christ by sharing God

’s lo

ve in -

WORSHIP SCHEDULEOCTOBER 2017

VBS FOR THE REST OF USSummer may be over, but Vacation Bible School is coming…for the rest of us! During the month of Oc-tober, we will be exploring a new sermon series in worship we are calling “VBS for the Rest of Us.” Each week we will take a post-critical look at a familiar story many of us first learned as children at VBS. Along the way, we will wrestle with questions like: “Was there really an Ark with two of every species of animal?” “Did Jonah really live in the belly of a whale?” “Were Adam and Eve real people?” Let us together reflect on how these important stories of faith speak to our faith at every age.

October 29, 2017VBS for the Rest of Us: Covenant

Philippians 3:17 – 4:1; Genesis 15:1-18Rev. Nathan C. Brown

November 5, 2017- All Saints SundayDry Eyes

Psalm 34:1-10, 22; Revelation 7:9-17Rev. Nathan C. Brown

TGIW FALL PROGRAMSFor All The Saints

Is there anything theologically wrong with being cre-mated or having your body donated to science? Was Jesus physically or spiritually resurrected and does it matter? Did you know that eternal life isn’t just about heaven, but also the here and now? Have you ever considered that the words spoken at your funer-al might change someone’s life? During the second half of TGIW, we will engage a study related to Na-than’s doctoral project on Funeral preaching. We are calling it, “Rest in Peace.” The study will focus on theological issues around death and dying and the reasons for which they are some of the most import-ant facing the Church today. Thinking about death doesn’t have to be soul-sucking. It can be life-giving!

TGIW MEAL MENU & SCHEDULENovember 1st Meal at 5:30 p.m.

Catered by: Four SeasonsTossed Salad, Roast Pork & Steamed Veggies

Dessert: Cheese CakeKids: Spaghetti

Children’s Choir/Program - 6:00 p.m.Eternal Life

In this part of the study, we will focus on common Christian theology as it relates to death and res-urrection, while challenging some of the Church’s teachings surrounding eternal life.

Chancel Choir - 7:00 p.m.

TGIW MEAL MENU & SCHEDULENovember 8th Meal at 5:30 p.m.

Fundraiser sponsored by: Seekers SS Classfor Sanctuary Christmas Food Boxes

Pinto beans, Potato/onion casserole, Cornbread,Hot dogs, Macaroni & Cheese and dessert.

Children’s Choir/Program - 6:00 p.m.For All the Saints

Utilizing the Anglo-Catholic model of Feast Days for Saints, Nathan will share his alternative approach to thinking about the Christian funeral and why it matters.

Chancel Choir - 7:00 p.m.

AUTUMNFESTSunday, October 29th

3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

See Jenny Fleming or contact her atjenny.fleming@firstchristianhopkinsville.org

if you would like to volunteer or donate candy, prizes, or desserts. Thank you and many

blessings, Children’s Ministries

NEW YOUTH DIRECTOR Brian Miller is joining our staff after serving the last 3 years as the Director of Youth and Children’s Min-istry at Community Christian Church in North Canton, Ohio. He’s original-ly from Bowling Green, Kentucky, where he attended First Christian Church as a teenager throughout

his undergraduate studies at Western Kentucky Uni-versity (Interdisciplinary Studies, 2009). Brian has been working with youth and children for the last 13 years in different school systems in Kentucky and serving in ministry at FCC Bowling Green, FCC Bardstown, FCC Hopkinsville and CCC in North Canton. Brian is married to his beautiful wife, Brandi Miller, for 3 years and they have a Scottish Terroir, Lucy, as their beloved child. He loves his family, friends, God and peanut butter. Brian enjoys smiling, laughing, and being authentic (keeping it real).

SEARCH AND CALLASSOCIATE MINISTER

UPDATE #5The committee is in the process of checking references, while also following up on additional candidates. Please pray for the search process and for the search team as we discern whom God may be calling to be our next Associate Minister. The search team members are as follows: Scott Ross (Chair), Spencer Kilijian, Linda Led-ford, Marie McCourt, Lauren Roberts, Sara Camp, Jeff Chapman (ex-officio), and Rev. Brown (ex-officio). If you have any questions along the way, please do not hesi-tate to contact the team. Look to your newsletter for more updates on the process.

ALL SAINTS SUNDAYNovember 5, 2017

On Sunday, November 5th, we will observe All Saints Day during worship. Our records indicate that the fol-lowing members have passed away since our last All Saints Service: Floyd Cannon, Thomas E. Morris, Ma-vis Crenshaw, Lynn “Boogie” Morris, Mildred Jack-son, Madge Loftus, Betty Major, Rudianne Thomas, Tommy Nelson, Bobbie Huffman, Ed Davis and Mar-tha Tate. These names will be read during worship on this day. If we are missing someone, please let us know. We hope you can join us for this meaningful, annual worship experience.

FOR ALL THE SAINTS

On the first Sunday in November, we celebrate All Saints Day. It is a time to remember those congre-gants who have died in the last year, honoring these saints and their families, by reading their names in worship. It’s one of my favorite worship experiences. It’s also one of the most emotional—filled with both grief and gratitude. I’ve been thinking a lot about the saints recently. In fact, I’m writing my doctoral thesis about them. (By the way, we are discussing my project on Wednesday nights during TGIW if you are interested in learning more!) Yes, it’s a paper on the funeral homily. How-ever, it’s more about how we see God in and through the lives of people of faith. It is a tremendous honor and privilege to preside at a funeral for one of God’s children. I’m writing the project, in part, as a remind-er to clergy that we should take great care in what we say about those whom God has created. In some respects, my project is a trip down mem-ory lane. I have been pouring over funeral homilies I wrote for many of the saints of First Christian Church--people like Nancy Cost and Bill Bruce and Ramona Collins and Ruth Cayce. We have buried some amaz-ing people of faith during these last eight years. All Saints Sunday is a time to remember the legacy they have left behind and that we are called to carry with us into the future. After all, you don’t reach sainthood only at a time of death. We are the saints too. In her poem, The Saints Come Marching In, An-nie Sexton writes, “The Saints come as human as a mouth, with a bag of God in their backs.” When I think of saints as having “a bag of God in their backs,” I see them as those who bear the weight of God--those of all ages and cultures who continue to live as bearers of the divine glory. They are the embodied response over the centuries to the request some Greeks made long ago to the apostle Phillip: “We wish to see Je-sus.” They are those we have buried. They are also you and me. We tend to glorify the past. We are more apt to divinize the deceased. We typically sanctify what is gone. However, we must remember that the saints should not only be referred to in the past-tense, but also the present and, more importantly, the future tense! The truth is we carry a bag of God in our backs every day. We carry the legacy of the saints who have gone before us. We carry the future of God’s king-dom in everything that we do. Don’t ever forget that God is calling you to “Rise up, O Saints of God.” After all, the world is still making the same request today that was made so long ago, “We wish to see Jesus.”

“A Note from Nathan”

Brandi & Brian Miller

LEADER SPOTLIGHT: I have been married to John Cren-shaw since October 26, 1985. He has been a member of FCC since around 1971. John’s parents and grandfather also were members. I joined the church in 1987 when we moved to Hopkinsville. I attend-ed college at Vanderbilt University

and went to law school at Washington & Lee Univer-sity School of Law. I am a member of the law firm White, White & Crenshaw, PLLC, and have been as-sociated with that firm since April of 1987. John and I have two children, William Crenshaw, who is 29 and is a CPA in Nashville, and Helen Crenshaw, who is 26 and is a CPA in New York City. Some of the things I like about FCC are the great friends I have made while attending church and Sun-day School classes and the openness of the church to allowing and facilitating each person to follow his or her own faith journey. One of my favorite interests is to go to work out classes at the YMCA.

PLP CHRISTMAS BAZAAR!Promise Land Preschool is in need of baked goods for our bake sale at the Christmas Bazaar on Satur-day November 4th. Cookies, brownies, breads, pies, cakes would be great- anything but cupcakes. These would need to be in disposable containers that would not need to be returned. If you are able to donate an item please let Tina Jarrett know by calling her at 625-2882. Thank you for support of our program.

NEW MEMBERS SPOTLIGHT

We will be spotlighting our newer members as a way to get to know them better! Greg and Kandy Fear have been attending FCC for over a year and transferred their membership in Au-

gust. They have been married for 12 years and lived in Bowling Green for 10 of those years. Kandy is orig-inally from Crofton and grew up in Crofton Christian Church. Greg is originally from Newton, Illinois. The Fears were members at FCC Bowling Green while liv-ing there. They have 2 daughters, Krystina (28) who works and goes to school in Knoxville and Kassidy (22) who is a senior at Kentucky Wesleyan. Greg works for Sodexo where he is a SME (subject matter expert) in the area of grounds, sports fields, and landscaping; he travels quite often. Kandy has been a teacher for 22 years and is currently teaching 6th grade Science/Social Studies at Pembroke Elementary School. They like to spend time with family and friends, especially their 2 year old great niece Ivy Rose, traveling to visit family and friends, being outdoors, and going to live musical performances. They both like working on en-vironmental issues and making the planet a healthier place! Welcome, Greg and Kandy!

ATTENDANCE PAST SIX WEEKS09.17.17 208 09.24.17 19410.01.17 186 10.08.17 11810.15.17 166 10.22.17 191

REMEMBER IN DAILY PRAYER(Names will remain on prayer list for one month,

unless the offi ce is otherwise notifi ed.)

David Turner Teresa Combs Aneta MiteraEleanor Rogers Sue Cummins Hanson WilliamsKelly Campbell Donna Bolton The Frost FamilyRon Hayes Helen Damron Austin Fleming Mark Roseberry Gary Haddock Betsy RitzelOakley Haddock Karon Zimmerman Rochelle ClaittGaryandNitaSatterfield LorrieHargrove SharonGustafsonTheFamilyofDr.Ed.DavisTheFamilyofMarthaTateMaryPartainandthefamilyofMikePowell

SYMPATHYChristian sympathy is extended to the family of Mar-tha Tate who died on Friday, October 13th. A memo-rial visitation was held at Hughart, Beard and Giles on Wednesday, October 18th.

Visitation for Dr. Ed Davis will Saturday, October 28th from 10:00 a.m. - noon at Hughart, Beard and Giles with a Graveside service for family to follow.

CHALLENGE HOUSE NEWS!FALL EVENTS AT CHALLENGE HOUSE 5

Calling All Chess Players!We are starting an intergenerational chess club at

Challenge House 5 and are looking for both neighborhood residents and FCC members of all ages to join! See Pastor Sara or Dr. Steiner for

more information.

Challenge House Annual Fundraiser DinnerNovember 9, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Bruce Convention CenterTickets are $30.00 each.

Contact Pastor Sara for more information.

TABLE TALKNovember 16th, 6:00 p.m. @ Davinci’s.

See Sheila DeMoss to sign up. All Women are invited!

FIFTH-SUNDAY OFFERINGOn October 29th, Jim Patton from Christian Care Communities will be present in worship and Sunday School. He will share about CCC as a part of our fifth-Sunday offering emphasis. The Adult Sunday School Classes will combine that day to participate in a seminar about end-of-life planning.

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2017

The Messenger

First Christian C

hurch(D

isciples of Christ)

2601 South Walnut Street

Hopkinsville, K

entucky 42240

Periodicals

Hopkinsville, K

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Making Disciples of C

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MESSEN

GER

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DLIN

EIf you have inform

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7Thank you for your cooperation.

NOTE OF THANKSFirst Christian Church, Your thoughtfulness during the loss of our mother is much appreciated. Please keep us in your prayers for strength. Sincerely, Nikki, Renée & Conan

(Renée is the new Challenge House Ambassador)

To my amazing church family, Thank you just doesn’t seem adequate for all of your love and support over the past 14 months. Your love, thoughts, prayers, hugs, phone calls, visits, food and frequent rides to and from Nashville have been very much appre-ciated. I have most certainly experienced the mind, heart and spirit of Christ throughout this journey. Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!! With much love, Donna Bolton

ASPIRING VOCAL PERFORMERS (AVP)

Aspiring Vocal Performers (AVP), a student or-ganization at Austin Peay State University, will be sending seven students, including three FCC of Hopkinsville choir members, to the Nation-al Opera Association Convention in January to learn about the traditions, as well as the future of not only professional opera performances, but also how it is taught in the classroom. They are selling assorted mini pretzel gift boxes (plain, chocolate covered, yogurt covered, and rainbow nonpareil) to help raise funds to cov-er the hotel costs. If you would like to purchase a gift box, you can find the link on FCC of Hop-kinsville Facebook page, meet Tyler or Kaylee by the doughnuts after service with a payment, or email avp@apsu.edu

THANKSGIVING OFFERINGNovember 12th and 19th

Higher Education & Leadership MinistriesFour times throughout each year, we and all Disciples churches receive special offerings. The Thanksgiving Special Offering is designated for HELM - Higher Education and Leadership Ministries. You might not realize it, but FCC has been benefiting from HELM for several years! Pastor Nathan is a graduate of Texas Chris-tian University and the Disciples Divinity House at Vanderbilt, and Pastor Sara is a graduate of Lexington Theological Seminary. These and other Disciples institutions prepare our stu-dents for a future serving God’s church through this denomination, valuing the centrality of the Table and ministry of all believers. Your gifts to HELM help ensure this vital preparation for min-istry continues!