February 2014

Annual Congregational Meeting & Dinner

Saturday February 1, 5:30pmCovered Dish Dinner

PASTORS’ CORNERLifting Up the Rod

In 1 Peter 5:2, we read instructions that God gave to those called to be pastors. He said, “Feed the flock of God; care for it willingly, not grudgingly; not for what you will get out of it but because you are eager to serve the Lord.” While God cer-tainly calls pastors to lead and feed, He also calls many people to help carry the load of leadership. As Pastor Andy begins his three month sabbatical, it’s a good time to be reminded by Scripture that even the strongest of leaders need the support. We see this example unfold very clearly when we look at those who physi-cally and figuratively helped carry the load that belonged to Moses. Here’s part of an article printed with permission from Ligonier Ministry.

“When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed”

(v. 11). - Exodus 17:8–16

The Amalekites were the posterity of Esau and thus Israel’s sworn enemies. They were a no-madic people who roamed the country in south-ern Palestine. These ancient enemies of Israel dealt subtlety with the Hebrews by striking them

from the rear. In response to this unprovoked at-tack against His people, God directed Moses to put Joshua in command of the army, and for Moses to stand on the top of the hill, lifting his staff toward heaven. This was the same staff Moses used to deliver the Hebrews from Egypt. It was a sign of God’s power and presence, and so it would be lifted up before the people as a re-minder that God would fight for them against their enemies.

The lifted rod served to bolster the faith and en-courage the fearful hearts of Israel as they warred against the Amalekites. When we know that God is with us, that it is by His power we are saved, our faith is strengthened and the battle goes our way.Moses’ task to lift up the rod was not merely an encouragement to the Israelites of God’s pres-ence, but it was, in essence, intercessory prayer to God. And so we learn from this that those who go out into the fields to wage war against our en-emies need those who are committed to prayer to intercede on their behalf. Matthew Henry comments, “When the host goes forth against the enemy, earnest prayers should be made to the God of hosts for His presence with them. It is here the praying legion proves to be the thunder-ing legion.”

Being but a man, Moses soon grew weary: The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Thus, we learn how important it is to have supports in our ministry, to admit that we are frail and in need of help from others.

Moses anticipated this weakness of his flesh and so asked Aaron and Hur to go up with him on the hill. We should be just as willing to have others help us in the midst of spiritual warfare, times of

trial, and physical affliction. It is to our own hurt when we fail to rely on others in the church to assist us. Imagine what would have happened if Moses had refused help. Israel would have been defeated.

Israel, however, did not suffer loss, but was vic-torious over its enemies. Notice that Moses did not claim credit for this victory, but gave God the glory, saying, “The Lord is my banner.” We, too, should always remember that God is our banner, the one who delivers us.

Do you regularly pray for someone in ministry? It could be any ministry from a pastor, to a mis-sionary, to a husband and wife ministering to their children, to a Sunday School teacher. If you do not already do this, make a list of people to pray for. Intercede for them, praying that God will give them faithfulness in their ministries.

- Pastor Pete

Meet our New Members!Anoop Clifford and his lovely wife Ruchi Chatterjee were born and raised in India and were married in December 2012. Before coming to Germantown to begin working at Qiagen, Anoop worked in Hollywood California and grew in his faith through the ministry of First Pres-byterian Church of Hollywood. After spending much of his life as an atheist, Anoop became a believer in Jesus Christ as a result of reading the Gospel of John. Ruchi was an IT professional and is now preparing to welcome their first child at the end of February!

Jason and Tina Craft live in Gaithers-burg with their two dogs. Jason was raised in the Baptist Church in South Carolina and Tina was raised Greek Or-thodox in the DC area. Jason works as a mechanical engineer at the Naval Sur-face Warfare Center in Bethesda and Tina has gone back to school after 8 years as a PG County police officer. Ja-

son plays competitive pool, so we can all be thankful that he’s married to a former cop to keep him in line.Virginia Groves is a native Coloradan grew up rooting for the Broncos at New Hope Baptist Church in Denver. She is currently a student in Public Health and her favorite verse is Isaiah 40:31, and says she is glad to join a church that val-ues the life of the mind. She is classi-cally trained in voice, piano, and flute and has also bicycled 2,000 miles in one year and seen it snow every month of the year (the last two are normal for Col-oradans!)

Mollie Kaufmann first learned about God in the Sunday School of St. Matthew Methodist Church in Memphis TN. She has traveled the globe with her late hus-band Paul, who worked for the State De-partment. Mollie is a retired secondary school teacher and has been a partici-pant in the Friday morning Women’s Bible Study for a couple of years. She has seen her faith transform her from a timid and fearful person to someone filled with love, peace, and assurance.

Ralph Lovejoy is the proud father of two grown daughters and works as a State Farm agent in Germantown (look for the sign with his name on it on Ger-mantown Road!) He grew up in a small town in West Virginia and his faith has caused him to focus on helping others in family and in his career. He has a spe-cial passion for blood donation and ran blood drives for years at his previous church in Charlotte, NC. He loves Matthew chapter 6, where Jesus gives us a complete guide to prayer.

George Oku is the father of three boys: Andrew, a student at Montgomery Col-lege, Christopher (3rd grade) and Jordan (1st grade). Born a Presbyterian in Ghana, he has lived and studied all over the world. He comes to Neelsville from just down the road at Gaithersburg Pres-byterian Church, and works for the US

Postal Service. He values a church where the Bible is deeply and widely read, and points out that one of the keys to engaging the Bible is to recognize that the story has not yet ended. Amen!

- Pastor AndyAdult Education

February Adult Education SeriesHome: The Bible and HomelessnessJoin us in the Fellowship Hall this Febru-ary at 9:40 am on Sundays for a special adult education opportunity. Rev. Derek Longbrake, Presbyterian Pastor and cur-rent staff member at the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, will lead us in teaching and reflective con-versation about Scripture and the vari-ous ways it calls us to concern for the homeless. We’ll also learn about home-lessness in our area and ways we can obey God’s call in our own context. Don’t miss it!

Men’s Ministry Opportunities:

• Tuesday morning Bible Study meeting at 6:30 at the McDonalds on Quince Or-chard Road near NIST (contact Al Henins for more info).• Wednesday night Bible Study at NPC, led by Brian Farrell meets at 7:30 in the Parlor. • Wednesday night Small Group meeting at 7:30 at Pastor Pete’s house where we are studying “Discipleship Essentials” by Greg Ogden.

For more information, to get involved, or help plan events, contact Pastor Pete or Brian Farrell (bfarrell01@aol.com)

Fellowship @ NPC 2013There are eleven members of fellowship committee who were responsible for co-ordinating twenty eight fellowship events (exclusive of MOPS) at the church during 2013! The fellowship committee strives to provide a variety of activities to interest a broad section of our church family- whether they are fam-ilies, singles, seniors, or anyone in be-tween. The fellowship committee views its job as two-fold, the first is to provide new and exciting ways for the church to interact and grow (rather than running the same old events year after year). Second, the fellowship committee views its job as evangelistic as it strives to of-fer activities and events not only for our church to grow as a family but for us to have reasons and ways to invite new friends to activities at Neelsville. We are hopeful that fellowship committee is able to offer something that will get you out meeting your church family and bonding you in relationships with each other and our Savior. The activities offered in 2013 were the support of the annual dinner/congrega-tional potluck, a secret sister brunch, Easter brunch, Mother’s Day strawberry social, a baked potato bar for lunch in honor of father’s day, women’s craft nights, refreshments at the building ded-ication, the Frederick Keys Family Faith Night, a church picnic, a family friendly trunk or treat, a Veteran’s Day potluck with special patriotic music performed

Upcoming Scripture Selections: February Sermon Series - Feb. 2 based on - Feb. 9 Romans 11 - Feb. 16 - Feb. 23

by Harmony Express, an evening of fam-ily Christmas caroling at Wegman’s, the Yankee Swap, and a cookie swap. In ad-dition to all those activities, the fellow-ship committee provides support for Young at Hearts, MOPS, JOY Fellowship and coffee service for all church activi-ties. We welcome new ideas and helpers in 2014!

What Is MOPS?

MOPS, or Mothers of Preschoolers, is an international Christian program de-signed to support mothers in raising their children. Neelsville MOPS was chartered at the end of 2012 and began this ministry under fellowship committee in January 2013. The Neelsville MOPS is coordinated by Kimberly Nugent King, Barbara Miller, Kathryn Johnson and Jennifer Michael. Heather Rutz joined the coordinator team in September 2013. Neelsville MOPS focuses on sup-porting moms who are pregnant, have newborns, and who have children not yet old enough to enter kindergarten. MOPS is designed to connect mothers in a loving Christian environment. The Neelsville group meets formally every other week at the church and strives to provide an activity or opportunity for the mothers to connect informally on most days during the week.

During the formal meetings, the moms meet for a time of fellowship, Christian devotion, breakfast, a speaker and a craft. The children are lovingly cared for by a team of volunteers from Neelsville and we would not be a success without he hard work love and support of this very dedicated team. They are an amazing blessing! Barbara Miller has developed a Biblically based curriculum for the children ages 2 and older includ-ing Bible stories, crafts, music, move-ment, circle time and snack. Children younger than 2 are rotated in to the ac-tivities as they are able to participate while babies are lovingly cared for in the nursery. Through the work of these vol-unteers, twenty eight children, twenty-one moms, a grandmother and a nanny are currently participating in the pro-gram.

Where have we seen Christ in MOPS?At the very first MOPS meeting held at Neelsville the steering team handed out a calendar of activities that the moms could connect at between the formal meetings. None of the activities were fancy… lunch at Chick-fil-a, meeting at the library, and a kids cooking class at Whole Foods... just opportunities to get out of the house and have adult conver-sation. One of the moms burst in to tears and said, “There is something al-most every day… now I won’t have to be trapped inside feeling isolated and lonely.” Many months later this mom told us that she had really been strug-gling with postpartum depression and that MOPS provided her the friendships and support that she needed to heal. MOPS provides an opportunity for moms to bond, get support and care from other moms and to learn that they can rely on Christ during their times of need. From my own personal experience, I am a bit embarrassed to admit that prior to MOPS I had a child who hated to attend church. Once Gavin began attending MOPS everything changed. Barbara

Miller designed a program that was so fun-filled that the children pretty quickly forget that their mom had dropped them off. The team of volunteers showers the children with love, support and fun activ-ities so that all the children really look forward to attending MOPS and have be-gun to see the church as a place they want to attend. The volunteers are such a huge blessing and really mirror Christ’s light on to these precious little children. My child loves seeing the MOPS volunteers at church on Sunday mornings and is always filled with de-light when he gets to see Miss Barbara. How has MOPS served our Community?

The MOPS moms have provided love and support to church members during times of need. Whether through cards, phone calls or words of encouragement many church members have benefitted from the love and prayers of the MOPS moms. It was such a blessing to be asked to contribute lunches to the women’s shel-ter the week that Neelsville sponsored meals at the women’s shelter. The moms had been looking for a community service project that they could partici-pate in with their children and the shel-ter lunches were a perfect opportunity. Moms assembled sandwiches while kids as young as 18 months old helped to decorate the lunch bags with stickers, stamps, crayons and words and phrases of loving support. Finally, the Neelsville MOPS moms served the community by making fleece baby blankets that were donated to the NICU at Shady Grove Hospital. It has been a blessing for the MOPS moms to be welcomed in to and loved by the Neelsville Community and we look forward to continuing to serve Christ with Neelsville well in to the fu-ture.

What is JOY Fellowship?

Under the Fellowship Committee, a women’s ministry JOY fellowship (Jesus, Others, Yourself) began on October 1, 2011 and meets at the church the first Saturday morning of each month, at least eight months of the year. Each meeting includes music, crafts, games, devotions/Bible verses, worship and prayer. There are additional opportuni-ties to support local and global missions at each meeting as well as individuals in the church who may need support and encouragement. Women of all ages are encouraged to attend and invite other fe-male neighbors, friends and family mem-bers. Child care is provided. JOY is not primarily a women’s fellowship event, but rather is a “door ministry” to encour-age people to come to these events re-gardless of church membership and to get to know us with the ultimate hope that they will grow in their relationship with Christ.

What did JOY Fellowship do in 2013?

The theme in January was snow. We had 48 ladies attend. Five of them were first time visitors to Neelsville and many ladies who attend the ESL classes of-fered at Neelsville attended. Commotion Fitness Studio of Germantown came and did a free interactive Zumba demonstra-tion. The January community outreach was to help collect coats, hats, gloves, socks and McDonald’s gift cards for the homeless. Our youth delivered them to Washington D.C. residents living on the streets.

The February theme was Japanese Tea. 57 women attended and 12 were first time visitors to Neelsville. The Japanese Embassy connected us with a group that came and performed a formal Japanese tea. All the food was Japanese themed. Amanda Kay, from Amanda Kay Designs volunteered her time teaching us how to make origami flowers. The community outreach was bringing snacks (home-made or purchased) for local first re-

sponders to show our appreciation for their hard work. In addition, February’s JOY also supported 2 of Neelsville’s mis-sionaries. Jayme and Malia Swanson serving in Ghana who are starting a min-istry with some Ghanaian widows who could not afford to send their children to school. Together they learned to make soap and sell it at the market to pay for their girls to attend school. This story was shared at JOY and the soap the wid-ows made was offered for purchase. We also helped support a missionary serving in Tajikistan - a woman who came to Christ and left a life of prostitution. She makes beautiful hand crocheted snowflakes to support her family. These snowflakes were offered for purchase at JOY.

The theme in March was Spring in to Fellowship. Christian musicians, Jay and Tessa Frost, performed (piano and singing). Resurrection eggs were made as the craft. The monthly community outreach was to bring in supplies for both the Rockville and Shady Grove Pregnancy Centers.

In April, the ladies enjoyed beautiful vio-lin music by David Shulman, ate deli-cious Chinese-themed food provided by Gerry Davis, made a homemade card and enjoyed a traditional Chinese Lion Dance performed by East Rising Sun Lion Dance Troupe. The community out-reach supported missionaries Howard and Jo-Ann Brant (supported by Neelsville since 1985), who have been working with 22 students recently grad-uated from a Bible school in Ethiopia. They received a generous donation of embroidered messenger bags and cards of congratulations, support and encour-agement for the new graduates.

In May, JOY fellowship had Polynesian entertainment provided by Tepua Hio Hio. The ladies were treated to leis, beautiful decorations and fabulous food while enjoying a narrated show that in-

cluded traditional conch shell blowing, graceful dance demonstrations, and au-dience participation. This event allowed many of the attendees to don their beau-tiful Hawaiian dresses and skirts! Sev-eral first-time visitors were welcomed. The outreach for the month was food do-nations for the local area food banks.

After taking the summer off, JOY fellow-ship kicked off season three with a down on the farm theme. Attendees contrib-uted apple themed baked goods for a contest. Pastor Pete welcomed the ladies and judged the baking contest with Gerry Davis taking first place. Bet-sey Bell led a devotion on Adam and Eve. Entertainment was provided by Charm City Limits, a country western/blue grass duo, as well as a local square dance caller, Kenny Farris, who instructed the ladies in square dancing. Many ESL stu-dents joined in the dancing. The com-munity outreach focused on showing our appreciation to local teachers at Seneca Valley High School and our neighbors at Neelsville Middle School by making them handmade pencil holders filled with donated pens, pencils and high lighters as well as an invitation to join us at upcoming JOY fellowship events.

The theme for November was soup and bread. Ten ladies donated crock pots of homemade soup for attendees to enjoy and Tom Allison donated homemade rolls. A devotion was led by Betsey Bell on Ruth and Boaz which included audi-ence participation and acting out the story. Several ESL students joined JOY fellowship in the craft of assembling dried soup starter mixes. The commu-nity outreach for November was bring-ing non-perishable food items for Ger-mantown Help.

December’s JOY fellowship celebrated theme of Happy Birthday Jesus. Betsey Bell gave a beautiful devotion on Mary and Joseph and the group was enter-tained by an amazing Gospel choir-

Thomas Sligh and Treasures of the Hearts Ministry. 54 women attended, many from the ESL program at Neelsville. The community outreach was to provide food items for the Women Who Care Ministries which identifies children within the public schools who are at risk of going hungry over the weekend. This ministry discretely places non-perishable food items in the back-packs of these children. This was a won-derfully uplifting event that really wel-comed the Christmas season.

Where have we seen Christ in this ministry?

Some have questioned the value/return for investment for this program. I would like to share a few short stories that re-ally show how Christ’s light is alive in this ministry.

In JOY’s first year a Chinese woman at-tended the program. When she was in-vited she did not realize the program was in a church. After the meeting she called me to ask if anyone was going to report to the Chinese government that she had come to a church. She had al-ways believed in Jesus but had never participated in public worship. When I reassured her that would not happen she began coming to worship at Neelsville.

At the very first JOY fellowship we hired the Darryl Brenzel Jazz Band. After their lovely performance we invited them back in November 2013. One of the band members confessed that he had turned away from the church for many years. He said that when he came to Neelsville and had an opportunity to see all the ladies having a good time, participating in fellowship and welcoming them with-out questioning whether or not they were Christians he returned to his home church in Frederick. He mentioned that he had just returned from a 6 week long mission trip in Honduras. He told us that JOY fellowship helped him return to

church and refocus his life on the Lord and missions! He brought some pictures of the mission trip to share with the JOY ladies.

Church member Joy New-ton Grubb sent this letter that embodies the vision behind JOY fellowship: “I wanted to write this quick email about how JOY Fel-lowship impacted my deci-sion to, along with my Mother, join Neelsville Presbyterian Church this past year. Upon the passing of my father, my Mother and I wanted to find a church that would fit both our needs. A church that would reach out to all generations. It was important that activities were strong and available for both of us…. We attend our first JOY fellowship after our first worship session and could not be-lieve that this fellowship was available to us as non-members. We started attend-ing JOY and church regularly. When the inquirer's class came about we had no hesitation in joining the church. Our biggest influence was and is the JOY fel-lowship on Saturdays. We met many people that we engaged with quickly…But the clear message was this is where we belonged. The rest is history. I am now an active committee member and we continue to participate.”

It is the prayer of the JOY planning team that women from all walks of life will feel welcome at JOY fellowship. Making the women who attend feel valued and maybe even a little pampered is part of our goal, so that women know that Jesus loves them unconditionally. Whether Christian on non-Christian we want them to feel that Neelsville Presbyterian Church is a warm and loving environ-ment where they are loved, cared for, and welcomed. Our goal is to BE Christ to one another and plant the seeds for a deeper relationship with Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Mission to Serve

Thank you to all who donated and partic-ipated in the clothing distribution! On Saturday, January 11th, 22 adults and youth distributed approximately 45 shop-ping bags of warm clothing to individu-als living on the streets of Washington DC. A special thank you goes to the Knit-ting & Crocheting Group who knitted warm hats and scarves, and to the Evan-gelism Committee for again providing funds for McDonald’s gift cards (which are always in high demand). Many of those we talked to were very grateful to have warm clothing, and some asked for prayer over their circumstances. There are some familiar faces, like Lulu and James, who truly appreciate the generos-ity of Neelsville.

Heading down on the Metro

Sharing Good News in DC

Join us for Scout Sunday

Pack 618 and Troop 489

February 2nd

GIVING TREE THANKS!!

A great big thanks to everyone who helped make the 2013 Giving Tree a re-ality. Thank you to Sherrie for making the tags, Betty for making phone calls, Hugh and his daughter for covering the boxes, Michele for helping with the gro-cery shopping, and Darryl, Karen & Michele for packing the boxes. Thanks to each of the shoppers and to the Smiths & Perettis who each made a de-livery. The families I spoke to were very grateful for “people who care.” “He who gives to the poor will lack nothing...”

Proverbs 28: 27a

Shelter Week BlessesRecipients and Volunteers Alike

Neelsville was blessed to provide and serve meals for a week in January at the Wilkins Avenue Women’s Shelter in Rockville, a homeless shelter for some 36 women run by Interfaith Works. NPC members provided three meals a day, for a total of 756 meals! Thank you to all who gave of themselves in the name of Christ to lift up these women in need!

A few comments from the many groups and individuals who served:MOPS provided lunches for one day: It was a blessing for the Neelsville MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) to provided lunches for the women's shelter. The mother's had been eagerly searching for a service project that they could do with their children and meals for the shelter provided a perfect opportunity. Many moms contributed the items to make the

lunches while the children (ages two to five) decorated the lunch bags with stamps, stickers, crayons and markers while the moms added words and phrases of encouragement.

The 4th and 5th grade Sunday School provided and served dinner one evening. Four children from Sunday School helped to serve dinner, and they enjoyed the experience. The ladies liked inter-acting with the children, and asked if they could come back soon. Caroline Green stated “It felt good to help people who are less fortunate. I want to do it again!”, and during Sunday School War-ren Swank asked “”Mrs. Green, can we go back to the homeless shelter again?”

Local Missions provided and served din-ner one evening, headed up by Gail Haag, Karen DeMatteo and Joan Ginetis. They enjoyed serving and the women were very appreciative of the food. Most of them thanked the servers as they left the dining area.

The Deacon Board made and served din-ner for one evening. The ladies were ap-preciative and enjoyed the food – the casserole pans were empty, and they es-pecially enjoyed dessert. Deacons Sharon McNott, Caron Stewart, and Steve Kline, who were assisted by Mar-shall McNott, served dinner. Katie El-liott’s Junior Girl Scout troop provided the dinner casseroles. The servers had great interactions with the ladies and it was a good, worthwhile experience. Caron Stewart highly recommends the experience!

Many thanks to several small groups, study groups, Girl Scout troops, families and individuals who helped make this a success this year. A big thank you to Cheryl Della Santina for again shopping to stock the pantry items for the week.Submitted by Liz Elliott, NPC Shelter Week Co-ordinator

RECYCLING AT NPCNPC is keeping recyclables out of the waste stream each time we put cups, plates and nap-kins in the blue recycling bin near the kitchen. Please make sure food scraps and liquid are removed first. An-other way to help in the effort to reuse is to bring a reusable cup from home to use during fellowship time or meetings. Thanks for all your efforts to help preserve God’s creation!

Church Library NewsNew donations to our church library await you!

DVDs • If You Want to Walk on Water You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg, with accompanying leader’s guides and stu-dent guides!• The Girl’s Still Got It, by Liz Curtis Higgs, a study of Ruth.• Body & Soul, by M. Craig Barnes, Re-claiming the Heidelberg Catechism, DVD and book.• Vintage Nicole, 10 of your favorite sketches by Women of Faith actress, Nicole Johnson.

Books for Reference and Help• In the Footsteps of Jesus, a National Geographic book on the Bible Lands• Genesis, a commentary by Jeanne Guyon• The Healing Connection, by Harold

Koenig , A world-renowned medical scientist ex-plores the powerful link between Christian faith and health.

Newsletter news:

Many thanks to Cheryl Della Santina for all her efforts that made the newsletter happen over the past few years. She has decided to focus on Jonathan’s home schooling. Cheryl, thanks for all your dedication and effort!

We are putting together a Newsletter team. Please consider volunteering to help with compilation of articles, layout, or editing. Call the church office for more details at 301-972-3916.

Please continue to email Word file sub-missions by the 15th of the month for in-clusion in the following month’s newsletter to:neelsvillenewsletter@gmail.com.

Knitting and Crocheting Group

Yards of yarn! Hundreds of hats! And more! For the seven years, the Knitting and Crocheting Group has met regularly on the second Saturday of the month to make hats from “preemie” size to adult, IV covers for kids, prayer shawls, baby blankets, afghans, even blankets of polar

fleece in bright colors that you only need a scissors and a good eye to create.

Where do they go? All over the place: Shady Grove Hospital, Steppingstones Shelter, Rainbow Place, Rockville Preg-nancy Center, Sons of Thunder, our youth distribute them to the homeless, our own members for whom a prayer shawl is a comforting “hug from God.” I’ve been asked how many items we’ve made. Who knows? But in the first three weeks of January we gave away 83 items—each one a unique creation made with love by someone who will never know the recipient!

We appreciate all donations of yarn. We’ve made a lot of wool hats recently because that’s the yarn we have. We can find a use for almost anything that is taking up space in your closet. Or come, bring the yarn yourself and join us in the library at 10:00 am Saturday, February 8. Questions? Please contact Marilyn Splete at amsplete@yahoo.com or Mar-sha Stewart.

In Review: Yankee Swap 2013

This year's Adult Christmas Party and Yankee Swap was held on a snowy Saturday night, December 14, at 6 pm in Fellowship Hall. The event, started with a

delicious potluck dinner, piano music by Michele Kelly, a Christmas Carol quiz/devotion, a bit of prestidigitation by Phil Peretti, and the traditional swap. Many creative gifts were swapped

during the evening and Al Blount went home with the TOWEL - which has been coming back to the swap for 35 to 40 years! This year we also collected cans of food for the Giving Tree food baskets. Despite the dicey weather, 35 thoroughly enjoyed the festive evening. We hope to see you next year! Brian and Sue Farrell, Phil and Julie Peretti

ADOPTION FAIR

On Saturday Jan-uary 11 over 100 people from the area came to an Adoption Fair cosponsored by NPC and the Children's Home Society & Family Services. Pre-sentations were given by experts on in-ternational, domestic, and private adop-tion as well as foster care. Let's pray that God would use this event to bless many children and families. Many thanks to Judy Allison for all her work in organizing this event!

ADVERTISE YOUR EVENT OPPORTUNITIES TO SHARE,

CHRISTIAN CARE, & FELLOWSHIP

Community Relations is available to help you advertise your NPC event to the lo-cal community. If you would like assis-tance in selecting ways to let Mont-gomery County learn about an event your group or committee is holding in 2014 please contact Earl Haag at least 60 days before the event and we can dis-cuss how we can assist. day 240-299-0606 evenings 301-515-1918

NEELSVILLE CHANCEL CHOIR INVITES YOU TO JOIN & SING

7:30 IN THE SANCTUARY

WEDENSDAY NIGHT RE-HEARSALS

Young at Hearts

The Young at Hearts group will meet Wednesday, Feb. 5 in the Fellowship Hall beginning at 11:30 AM. Please note the change in day. Lunch will be served. The program will bring us up to date on the latest in physical fitness for seniors led by our own Steve Escholtz. Ques-tions? Contact Marilyn Splete at am-splete@yahoo.com or 301-253-1274.

Ash WednesdaySupper & Service

The Deacons would like to welcome ev-eryone to the Lenten Soup & Bread Supper, March 5th 6:30pm in Fellow-ship Hall to be followed by the Ash Wednesday Service, 7:30pm in the Sanctuary. Come and enjoy the fellow-ship and annual tradition with delicious soups prepared by fellow members. Bring soup to share if you like!

The Salt and Light High School ChoirFrom First Presbyterian Church in Boulder, Colorado

Spring Concert — Sunday, March 23 at 7:00 pmPotluck supper at 5:30 pm

There are 30 students traveling on their annual spring tour. The program will include a wide variety of music. The Chancel Choir is hosting them. We will need homes to house 18 girls, 12 boys, and 6 accompanying adults.

First Presbyterian, Boulder, is the home church for Andy and Bethany Nagel and for Tricia Bradford. Andy and Bethany sang in the Salt and Light choir when they were teens.

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Christ in the Passover PresentationMarch 2nd at 6pm

Jews for Jesus is an organization that promotes awareness of the Jewish heritage of the Christian faith and strives to make the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to the Jewish people worldwide. On March 2nd at 6pm there will be a presentation of “Christ in the Passover” at Neelsville. Those attend-ing last years’ presentation were quite impressed by what they learned. So much so, the Worship and Arts Committee asked them to return for a repeat presen-tation! “Christ in the Passover’ shows the link be-tween the ancient Festival of Redemption and Christ as the Lamb of God. The use of scripture, as well as the visual items used to walk through a Jewish Passover Seder, weaves the story of Exodus together

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with the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Please join us in the main sanctuary for this very informative experience.

New Christian PreschoolComing This Fall!

Since 1985 we have served the commu-nities of Damascus, Cedar Grove and Clarksburg. We are excited that God has opened the door for us to move and part-ner in ministry with Neelsville Presbyte-rian Church. The 2014-15 September through May school year will be our first in our new home.

We provide a loving Christian preschool that reinforces Biblical truths and family values. Our “hands-on” approach is filled with age appropriate academics designed to stimulate a child’s love of learning. We include social emotional enrichment in addition to academics and are licensed through Montgomery County and the State of Maryland.

Registration (at Clarksburg United Methodist): - February 3 – 6 Members of NPC, alumni and currently enrolled students- February 7 Public Registration

Classes Offered:Tues/Thurs 3’s 9:30 - 12:00 $175.00/ month (must be 3 by Sept. 30)Mon/Wed/Fri 3’s 9:30 – 12:00 $250.00/month (must be 3 by Sept. 1) Mon/Wed/Fri Pre K 9:30 - 1:00 $375.00/month (must be 4 by Sept. 1) Mon. – Fri. Pre K 9:30 - 1:00 $525.00/month (must be 4 by Sept. 1)

Check us out at: www.dcp-clarks-burg.info. Call us at 301-916-8888 to schedule a visit.

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