“You are the salt of the earth.” — Jesus (Matthew 5:13)

OUR MISSION

Parkville Presbyterian Church

is a community of believers

following Jesus Christ

by sharing God’s Word,

serving and welcoming all.

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Family Day Tea 2

Pastoral Visit 3

Pentecost Offering:

Feed Northland Kids!

4

Back to School Fair 5

Session News 6

Adult Education 7

Opportunities for

YOU!

8

The Salt ShakerThe Salt ShakerThe Salt Shaker

M A Y 2 0 1 5

Summer is almost here . . .

And so will be Vacation Bible School!

Mon - Fri July 27 - 31

9:00 - 11:30am

Sun, August 2—11:00am

God's love is Incredible! God's love is Faithful! God's love is Invincible!

God's love is Unconditional! God's love is Real!

Be a part of helping our children learn a different aspect of God's love each day for a week this summer. There is a place for everyone at PPC to help the children in our community experience God’s love. Helped with VBS be-fore? We value your experience and leadership. Never helped with VBS? We'll work with you to give you the skills you need. People are needed to help prepare before VBS as well as people to work during the week. We need people who are willing to be storytellers and others to work with registration. Come to a planning meeting and learn how you can be a part of this exciting week. What a wonderful opportunity to share God's love and our love to the kids in our church and community.

Sunday, May 17 4pm in Room 312

Questions? Contact Janet Geary 816.716.9527 or jegeary1@gmail.com

Thank you for all you do

to bless our neighbors!

Place shared items in

the grocery cart outside

the Sanctuary. Special

needs at this time are:

Jell-o

Pudding

Mustard

Ketchup

Bath soap

Paper towels

Toothpaste Feminine hygiene

products

Cash donations are

always helpful—make

checks to SPEAC

Food Pantry

May

Food

Pantry

Needs

T H E S A L T S H A K E R

Thank You

Many thanks to everyone who do-nated towels for domestic violence clients at SafeHaven. I delivered the fifth car load on Monday and volunteers were so appreciative. Thank you also for continuing to clean labels from prescription bot-tles and adding them to the basket in the Narthex. Jack Schrimsher delivers them to members of the Neema Community Church in Overland Park, KS at Presbytery meetings. Those empty bottles go with medical teams to Kenya each summer. Those we serve depend on our grace in continuing our dili-gence. Thank you so much. - Joyce Schrimsher

Thank you, you couldn’t have been kinder; and I couldn’t be more grateful! The last six months have been at times a nightmare but without your prayers, cards, food and help I don’t think I could have made it. My sincere thanks, - Jean Davidson

Family Day Tea

“FAMILY DAY” – welcoming and

celebrating families in whatever

form and dynamic they take on.

Won’t you plan now to join us

during the Sunday School hour,

May 3 – in Whipple Hall, on the

floor below the sanctuary.

Little Dresses

for Africa This mission work group will NOT meet in May.

Do you shop at the

grocery store?

Could you pick up a few items

for a member of our church?

Susan Heim-Davis is unable to manage her food-shopping and loving PPC folks have been help-ing her out. Beginning in May, we are in need of a person who can take this ministry on regularly.

Susan’s needs are not cumber-some. She needs 2 or 3 bags of groceries about every two weeks. She will text her simple shopping list to the good-hearted shopper, who can get the groceries to her either at choir rehearsals on Wednesday evenings or on Sun-day mornings. She will trade you her check for the grocery bill.

If you can take on this hands-on ministry that will fill a vital need—contact Dawn Althoff at 816.888-4689 or Dawnralthoff@gmail.com

Pastoral Visit

Malcolm Alexander Andrews is

now nine weeks old, and what an

amazing nine weeks it’s been!

I am deeply grateful to our con-

gregation for all

the ways we

have loved and

supported Mal-

colm in the first

nine weeks of his

life. It was a huge

help to have all

the meals that

came to our doorstep in those first

few weeks. (And by the way, if

you brought a dish, it is now clean

and in the small conference room

outside my office. I hope.) It was

wonderful to have paternity leave,

so I could spend time at home get-

ting to know him without having

to worry about things at church.

I’m also grateful for your pa-

tience. I know some of you wanted

us to bring Malcolm to church

sooner than we did, and that our

insistence that folks wash their

hands before touching him may

seem a bit over-protective to

some—but I’m grateful for the

ways you have respected our

needs, our time, and our concerns.

As Malcolm grows up in this

church, I know there will be many

more joys and some challenges

ahead. The baby shower you all

blessed us with last fall was an in-

credible gift; you barely knew us

then, but you were already excited

to welcome our little boy into the

world with love and grace. I’m

glad he’s going to learn about and

be nurtured in the faith by folks

who are so willing to love, and

who have demonstrated love to us

and to him over and over again.

But of course, like any parent, I

also worry.

I know several adults who are

the children of pastors and who

have a strained relationship with

the faith, at least in part because

their parents often chose the

church over them. Because of that,

as Malcolm grows up, I’m going to

do my best to let him know that

he’s my priority. This means that

I’ll sometimes miss important

meetings, and that I won’t be visit-

ing folks with the same frequency

I was before he was born, because

I need to spend that time with

him.

Of course, I’ll always be availa-

ble for emergencies—so please call

me at any time, day or night, if

there’s a death in the family, or a

sudden trip to the ER, or a 3 a.m.

spiritual crisis. Chances are, at 3

a.m., I’ll already be up, anyway.

But with that said, I will still

make every effort to let Malcolm

know that he’s number one.

And speaking of him, another

thing I worry about is scrutiny

he’ll receive as a pastor’s kid.

Right now, as a cute little baby,

that comes in the form of attention

and adulation and praise—and it’s

glorious! But eventually, he’s go-

ing to grow up, and he’s going to

start making messes, hitting other

kids, not knowing the answers to

Bible questions, and who knows

what else.

In some churches, when the pas-

tor’s child fails to live up to expec-

tations, it’s a bigger deal than it is

for other kids. They get held to a

higher standard, and they begin to

feel the weight of all that pres-

sure—of all those adoring eyes

that can become scrutinizing eyes.

It’s my hope that, as he grows

up, you will be willing to look at

him with the same eyes through

which you see every other child in

the church. I hope you will hold

him to the same standards. I hope

you will treat him the same way. I

hope you will continue to love him

and think of him as special—but

only to the extent that you will

love and praise and call by name

every other child that comes

through our doors.

I am deeply, deeply grateful for

the way this church has loved our

son in these first nine weeks. I

know that not every nine-week

burst of his life will feel this spe-

cial—but I pray that your love for

him will continue to grow, deep-

en, and mature, just as he does.

Amen.

P A G E 3

Pentecost Offering and Feed Northland Kids

May 24, 2015

The Pentecost offering is one of the four Presbyterian Church USA(PCUSA) offerings that

Parkville Presbyterian Church participates in during the year. The other PCUSA offerings

are One Great Hour of Sharing, Peace & Global Witness, and Christmas Joy.

The proceeds of the Pentecost of-

fering are directed to benefit children at risk. Parkville

Presbyterian Church (PPC) re-

ceives 40% of the total offering col-lected to allocate

for programs tar-geting children at risk in the Kansas

City area. For 2015, the Mission

Team elected to designate PPC’s 40% portion of the

offering to the Feed Northland

Kids initiative.

Feed Northland Kids raises funds to expand the Harvesters’ BackSnack program in Clay

and Platte counties in Missouri. Harvesters’ BackSnack program addresses weekend nu-

trition and hunger by providing healthy, kid-friendly foods for children. Harvesters pro-vides the food and volunteers pack food kits weekly. A community partnering organization gathers the empty backpacks from the schools, cleans them, and packs them with food

kits. School staff distributes the kits on Friday to the kids, who bring them back on Mon-

day to start the whole process again.

One in five children in the Northland lives in a food insecure home.

Among elementary children in the Northland, 34 percent receive free and reduced price

meals.

Sixty elementary schools in all nine school districts north of the river participate in this

program.

Please consider giving generously when PPC dedicates the Pentecost offering on Sunday, May 24th. Call Herb Tillinghast, 816-741-4841, or Ron Leo, 816-

835-8101, to discuss this PCUSA offering.

T H E S A L T S H A K E R

2015 Platte County Back to School Fair P A G E 5

Did you ever “share” a secret? Our Mission Team wants to encourage you to do just that—several “Secrets,” in fact! For the annual “Back to School Fair” PPC will not only be providing 50 scientific calculators (TI 30X-A) for older students with limited resources, but this year we will also be providing deodorant sticks to be added to student hygiene packets. Not just a few deodorant sticks, but 700—800 are needed! Here’s a great idea: the Fair is not until the end of Ju-ly; if you would pick up a stick or two of deodorant each time you go to the store between now and then you would hardly

notice the cost, but when you see the collection box filling up in the Narthex week by week, you will certainly see the value! Thank you for being an ongo-ing part of these vital contributions to the young people of our community!

Senior Recognition Sunday – May 31

It’s not too late for this year’s high school or col-lege graduates – to provide a picture along with graduation information and future plans - if you will get it to us SOON!

College Scholarship Applications

Available in the Narthex

The initial scholarship amount is between $500 and $1,000 and previous scholarship recipients

are now able to apply for a scholarship renewal of $250. The scholarship is intended to assist full time students with tuition, fees, books or sup-

plies.

If memory serves (and I think it does)

… Cheryl Keimig was the last clerk to

write regularly (as the Clerk) for the

Salt Shaker. So it’s been a little while

since the Clerk has written regular arti-

cles for the Salt Shaker. This writing

represents my first attempt at such a

thing as Clerk. May God grant you

patience.

Many would properly ask… “Who is

the Clerk anyway?” Well, the Clerk is

no more and no less than an Elder in

the church. One thing you may not

realize is that the Clerk is not necessari-

ly a member of the Session. Per the

Book of Order, the Session can elect a

Clerk from its own membership or it

can elect a Ruling Elder from the con-

gregation to serve as Clerk. As the

PPC Session is currently configured,

the Clerk is not a member of the Ses-

sion and therefore, has no vote. You

should also be aware that the Clerk of

Session’s term is indefinite…, which

basically means that the Clerk of Ses-

sion serves at the pleasure of the Ses-

sion and that they can elect another

Clerk whenever they want.

One of the Clerk’s primary duties is

to act as the secretary/recorder and to

keep the minutes of the Session’s meet-

ings and other church records. The

Clerk also serves as the secretary/

recorder for meetings of the congrega-

tion. For some time the Session has

desired to have a Salt Shaker article

that communicates in some way to the

congregation their actions as they seek

to live out their calling to guide and

lead the church in partnership with the

Pastor.

Now, when Ruling Elder, Alan Grimes

was on the Session, he was willing and

marvelously adept at writing a blow by

blow summary of the meeting on the

spot and ready for immediate publica-

tion in the next Salt Shaker. The current

Clerk (me) is sadly not nearly as adept

at summary as Dr. Grimes. So it’s with

some trepidation that this Clerk takes

responsibility for the creation of this

communication. Nevertheless, I hope

to honor the Session’s intention and

keep the congregation in the loop as to

what is happening in Session as they

seek to do God’s will in this place.

So here are a few highlights from the

last Session meeting that you may wish

to note (some of these items are com-

mon to Session meetings in general).

The Session is open and ready to

hear any hopes, prayers, sugges-

tions, concerns or compliments

that are on your heart. Every Ses-

sion meeting includes time (at the

beginning) where members are

afforded an opportunity to speak

face to face with the gathered Ses-

sion about any concerns the indi-

vidual or group might have.

The Session ensures the day to day

operations of the church, including

maintenance, repairs, taking ac-

tions on building use requests, re-

ceiving reports, acting on member-

ship changes, scheduling/

coordinating other activities, etc..

At its April 7th meeting the Session

received the Pastor’s report and

heard about his many activities as

he works to minister to this congre-

gation.

Related to the Pastor’s report, the

Session discussed the Pastor’s job

description. It is felt that a good

job description for the pastor will

help the church to have clarity re-

garding what he will be responsi-

ble for and those things for which

the church needs to be accountable

and responsible to him in order to

give him the ability to do ministry

in this place.

The Session also acted to support

ministry to teens and young adults

by creating a ministry for young

people who will be mentored by

members and staff. The basic idea

is to provide choral internships for

up to 4 high school aged young

people. It is anticipated that a

small stipend will be conveyed to

the interns from time to time as an

encouragement to responsibility

and as a token of appreciation from

the church. Participants will be

chosen by audition and interview.

It is hoped that this ministry will

help participants to grow in the

spirit, to develop their Christian

faith as well as their choral skills

and to plant the seeds of future

service to the church of Christ in

every place.

Finally let me say that we’re taught

that the Kingdom of God is here and

that at the same time that Kingdom has

not yet fully arrived. Jesus calls us, all

of us (and all of us together) to be

Christ for one another and to love one

another into the Kingdom that’s al-

ready here and into the fullness of the

Kingdom that is yet to come. It is my

observation that the Session takes this

teaching seriously as they work togeth-

er. So it is not surprising (even though

the practice is ordered by the Book of

Order) that meetings of the Session

always begin and end in prayers for

the community that we serve and the

world we live in.

Grace and Peace to you!

Mike Vaughn Clerk of Session

From the Clerk of the Session

T H E S A L T S H A K E R

The Gospel of James, Brother of Jesus

An engag-ing adult education study began last Sunday

and will continue through the end of May. It fo-cuses on “The Gospel of James”, based on the New Testament letter of James as well as sources from the Acts of the Apostles. Rev. John Brent-

linger leads us in tracing the leadership of James among Jewish believers in Jerusalem and his role in the expansion of the Jesus movement to non-Jews. We hope you’ll plan to join us for this adult education opportunity – Sunday mornings at 9:40.

Mondays, 5pm, Room 307 Did you ever think you might lend a hand in the preparation of the

Sunday sermon? You can effectively do just that by being a part of our weekly Bible Study that digs into the text for the following Sunday and begins to understand its relevance to today’s liv-ing. Join Pastor Steve every week—or when you are able for these Monday evening explorations of the Word!

Adult Education in May

Faith and Family Class Starting May 10 the class will begin a study of the book 99 Ways to Raise Spiritual-ly Healthy Chil-dren by Kathleen Long Bostrom. We will read about three “ways” each week and each family will experi-ment with one of these during that week. The following week we will discuss our experiences. The class meets each week at 9:40.

Small Group Ministries It’s not too late to be a part of the new cycle of small groups that are forming at PPC. Our pur-pose is to better know one another and to learn how to strengthen and grow in our Christian faith. Let Pastor Steve know if you’d like to be included in this dynamic opportunity!

PPC’s 3rd grade—Middle School

youth group

gathers with Pastor Steve weekly

at 4pm Sundays on the Youth

Floor. Call Mary Listrom for info

on coming activities

Scout CAR WASH

Scout Troop 333 is having a car wash THIS SAT-

URDAY in the church’s East Street parking lot. Proceeds will assist with an upcoming trip. In the event of inclement weath-er, it will be rescheduled.

P A G E 7

Walk for the Homeless 2015

Super Hero Walk and Hawaii 5K run

Saturday, May 9 at Zona Rosa

Festivities begin at 8:00 am

Packet Pick up begins at 7:00 am

Register for the Super Hero Walk and 5K or Hawaii Walk and 5K today! All participants are encouraged to raise a minimum of $50 in pledges and earn awesome prizes while raising funds to help Hillcrest families in need! All events require an entry fee payment.

Sign up online:

http://www.enter2run.com/search/

event.aspx?id=31877

To Benefit Hillcrest Ministries —

T H E S A L T S H A K E R

P A G E 9

36th Annual Bachathon Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral

Sunday, May 3 2:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Kansas City's annual festival of the great music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists

Paul Erickson will play at 4:10 Park University friends play at 5:15

Come when you can,

leave when you must!

http://www.kcago.com/bachathon.html

T H E S A L T S H A K E R

PPC Happenings

“God and Me” Cub Scout group meets with Pastor Steve

Left: Christian Youth

Theater (CYT)

Showcase reception

Below: A great Easter

egg hunt with PPC

young folks

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 9a-10p Park Uni-

versity ICM 1:00 p.m. Little Dress-es for Africa 6:00 p.m. Home School Banquet, Whipple Hall 5:00 p.m. CYT, Youth floor.

2

Family Tea Set-up Boy Scout Car Wash, East parking

3 5th Sunday of

Easter 8:30 a.m. Worship 9:40 a.m. Family Tea 9:45 a.m. Church School 11:00 a.m. Worship 4:00 p.m. Upper Elementary & Middle School Youth Group, Youth floor

4 9a-10p Park Universi-

ty ICM

5:00 p.m. CYT 6:00 p.m. Bible Study, Room 307 6:00 p.m. Cubs/rooms 205/206/208 7:00 p.m. Boy Scouts Whipple Hall 7:00 p.m. Evening Circle

5

1-10p Park University ICM 5:00 p.m. CYT, Youth Floor 6:30 Cubs 205/206/208215 7:00 p.m. Session, 307

6 8:00 a.m. Morning Prayers 7:00 p.m. Choir Rehearsal

7

7:00 p.m. Right Side of the Tracks/Room 208

8

5;00 p.m. CYT Whipple

9

8:00-5:00 p.m. CYT Whipple Hall

10 6th Sunday of

Easter 8:30 a.m. Worship 9:45 a.m. Church School 11:00 a.m. Worship 4:00 p.m. Upper Elementary & Middle School Youth Group, Youth floor

11

6:00 p.m. Bible Study, Room 307 6:00 p.m. Cubs/rooms 205/206/208 7:00 p.m. Boy Scouts/Whipple Hall

12 2:00 p.m. SPEAC Board of Directors, Room 307 6:30 p.m. Cubs/rooms 205/206/208/215

13

8:00 a.m. Morning Prayers 7:00 p.m. Choir Rehearsal

14 Ascension of the

Lord 6:00 p.m. Ministry Teams light-meal 6:30 p.m. Worship 7:00 p.m. Ministry Team Meetings 7:00 p.m. Right Side of the Tracks/Room 208

15

16

Boy Scout Car Wash, East parking lot

17 7th Sunday of

Easter 8:30 a.m. Worship 9:45 a.m. Church School 11:00 a.m. Worship 4:00 p.m. VBS Plan-ning Meeting 4:00 p.m. Upper Elementary & Middle School Youth Group, Youth floor

18 6:00 p.m. Bible Study, Room 307 6:00 p.m. Cub Scouts 205/206/208 7:00 p.m. Boy Scouts Whipple Hall

19 6:30 p.m. Cubs,/rooms 205/206/208/215 7:00 p.m. Board of Deacons/Room 307

20 8:00 a.m. Morning Prayers 7:00 p.m. Choir Rehearsal

21 7:00 p.m. Right Side of the Tracks/Room 208

22 8:00 a.m. Fire Mar-shall Training & Lunch Whipple & classrooms

23 9:00 a.m.

Worship Team,

Room 307

Boy Scout Car Wash, East parking lot

24 Day of Pentecost 8:30 a.m. Worship 9:45 a.m. Church School 11:00 a.m. Worship 4:00 p.m. Upper Elementary & Middle School Youth Group Youth floor

25

Church Office Closed

26

6:30 p.m. Cub Pack

Meeting, Whipple Hall

27

8:00 a.m. Morning Prayers

28 7:00 p.m. Coordinating Committee/Room 308 7:00 p.m. Right Side of the Tracks/Room 206 & 208

29 7:00 p.m. Final Friday Concert

30

31 Trinity Sunday

Senior Recognition 8:30 a.m. Worship 9:45 a.m. Church School 11:00 a.m. Worship 4:00 p.m. Upper Elementary & Middle School Youth Group, Youth floor

May 2015

Parkville Presbyterian Church

Sunday Worship 8:30 & 11:00 a.m.

Church School: 9:45 a.m.

Wednesday Morning Prayers: 7:30 a.m.

Church Office: 816-741-1641

Church Fax: 816-741-1644

E-Mail: church@parkvillepresby.org

www.parkvillepresby.org

Parkville Presbyterian Church

819 Main Street

Parkville, MO 64152-3630

Office: 816.741.1641

Fax: 816.741.1744

E-mail church@parkvillepresby.org

www.parkvillepresby.org

PPC has a Facebook page! “Like” us at “Parkville

Presbyterian Church”

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Salt Shaker published monthly by

Parkville Presbyterian Church

The Rev. Steven Andrews, Pastor

Paul Erickson, Director of Music and Arts & Organist

Peggy Pape, Office Manager

News Deadline is NOON — Last Sunday of Month