THE NETWORK
December 2008
Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church, Pickerington, OH

The mission of Saint Andrew's Church is to provide a spiritual community where all are welcome
to worship, learn about God's grace, and be nourished for service to others.

Vicar's Column December 2008
The weather has been cold outside of late. I've just seen flurries trickling down from a steely sky. I've heard numbers on the local news that we haven't heard in months: "tonight's low down in the 20s, will hit teens by tomorrow…." Suddenly I'm having to figure out how thick a coat to wear while I'm getting ready to take Bear and Jasper (our Jack Russell terrier and Yellow Lab) out for their walk. I've been accustomed to putting on my shoes. Now it's a guess of whether to include cap and gloves too.

I hear and see the Canadian geese flying in their "V" shape formation, squawking as they pass right over my head. They must be headed south for warmer weather. And I don't hear the birds on my early morning walks anymore. At most I hear traffic on 161 starting up for rush hour, but not any chirping, nor see much movement.

The bare trees and browned plants can look like death, like life has long ago drained away from them. Crusted over frozen yards and a dearth of color, except the deep but paled green of wintering evergreens, can give the impression that life is difficult, if not impossible.

The bright colors of summer flowers are a faded memory. Technically it's fall, but it's winter in all but the official calendar.

Yet even through gloomy skies and biting winds, winter has its beauty. The monochrome browns of the landscape, blending into the monochrome grays of the winter sky, feel like God and nature's sign to slow down, take a deep breath, turn inward a bit, snuggle up. There aren't as many popping distractions, no piercing sun to grab our attention, nor warming rays to pull us out into the backyard. Instead, there is a calming, meditative solemnity in nature's hibernation. Nature is trying to serenade us into rest, and into waiting.

Rest and wait: hard to do with the upcoming holiday season; hard to do with a troubling economy; hard to do with schedules heating up inside even while nature falls into sleep outside.

But listen to the wisdom of nature. Somehow, someway, slow down a bit. Practice the gift of rest. Practice the gift of waiting. What nature is encouraging, the Church will be encouraging soon, resting and waiting……on Jesus. Nature is providing the example. Rest. Wait…for ourselves…for Jesus.

Weekly Worship Schedule

Sunday
8:00 a.m. Spoken Holy Eucharist
10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist

Wednesday
12:30 p.m. Holy Eucharist

Announcements
Jarrod, Megan, and Isabella Leffler would like to thank everyone for their participation in Isabella's baptism on November 9th. We are so grateful for the wonderful gifts including the children's bible, gift card, and the beautiful cake. Isabella is so lucky to have such a giving family at St. Andrew's.

Directory Updates:

Dave McEvoy's email address is dmcevoy1@insight.rr.com
The one (1) was missing from the previous announcement.

Linda Gonya's email address is lg49lady@yahoo.com

John & Judy Walkers' correct phone number is 614-866-8575 and their e-mail address is walker2571@sbcglobal.net

Tim & Elaine Vaughan's home phone is 614-837-2668

Remove the Gagliardo family from the directory

Andy Taylor's address is 4667 East Main #11, Columbus 43213.

Heidi Swanson's address is no longer valid - I don't have a new one.

Elaine Vaughan is counting on everyone to help me keep the directory up-to-date - so please, if you would like to add a phone number, cell number, email address, birthdays, children's names and birthdays, email me at beadcatz@aol.com. Also if you know of anyone I have missed or anyone who you know has moved or left the area, please let me know preferably by email, but you can also phone me at 614-837-2668. Thanks for your help!

Also, starting in January, we will be sending the newsletter out via e-mail to those of you who have supplied an e-mail address. If at all possible, please supply an e-mail address to greatly reduce the cost of printing and mailing the newsletters. Thank you!

Sunday School News:
We are looking for teacher(s) for the elementary class for the winter rotation. The schedule is for 10 Sundays of teaching, however it can be broken up into two 4-5 weeks of Sundays. Please contact Caroline Segelken if you are interested in helping out. If at any time you'd like to visit a classroom, just to see what and how we're doing, please feel free to drop in.

Bread Bakers:
If you are interested in becoming a bread baker, please contact Richard Hollinger at rhollingr@excite.com or you can call 614-991-5656. It only takes about 20 minutes or so to make the dough, and only about 10 minutes to bake. It's a very simple recipe.

Upcoming Events:
December 13th
St. Andrews Annual Cookie Sale
It's that time of year again. The Cookie Sale is one of St. Andrews largest fundraisers. You can drop off cookies early on Friday evening so they can be boxed up and prepared for the sale on Saturday. There are some cookie trays and recipes available at church. Also, if you bake cookies and there are nuts of any kind in them, please label them accordingly. People have requested ingredient lists because of food allergies. Please bake and donate as many cookies as you can. The more cookies there are to sell, the more money the church makes. If you have any questions, please contact Shelley Sakowski (614-920-0284) or Elaine Vaughan (614-837-2668) or talk to them if you see them at church.

Newsletter:
Are you interested in submitting anything for the monthly newsletter? Please forward your information to standnewsletter@yahoo.com. You can also leave it in the newsletter mailbox in the narthex.

Volunteers Needed:
Greeters, Ushers needed for Ministry Schedule. Please contact Elaine Vaughan, 614-837-2668, or email her at beadcatz@aol.com if you are interested in participating. Remember kids can help out ushering, or greeting as well. And how about some adults coming forward to acolyte? See Fr. Paul if you are interested! (It could be fun!)

On the Road with VBS :
On the Road with VBS, the 2009 NewSource Transforming Christian ministries annual VBS preview event will be held
Saturday, Jan. 24 from 9:30 a.m. to noon and
Tuesday, Jan. 27 from 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Come and enjoy the VBS settings, characters, Bible stories, themes, music and activities. Kits will be available for preview. Materials from Augsburg Fortress, Cokesbury, Group, Concordia, Gospel Light, LeaderResources and more will be among the Vacation Bible School resources to be previewed. Download an event flyer form the Christian Formation resources page of the website, or call NewSource for more information at 937.278.0400.

Recycling:
St. Andrew's now has a paper recycling bin from Abitibi Recycling in our parking lot closest to the Fire Station. We are collecting all forms of paper - your junk mail, catalogs, magazines, newspapers, office and fax papers, white envelopes with or without windows. Not only is this a wonderful Environmental Stewardship program, but we can also earn money for all the paper that is collected - and the more we recycle the more we earn. So tell your friends, neighbors and co-workers to simply drop their recycling paper items into our bin as they pass by the church.

What can we earn?
0 - 3.99 tons earns $5.00 per ton
4 - 7.99 tons earns $15.00 per ton

So hitting the 4 ton mark each month is a huge earnings potential.

What do we save with each ton?

Abitibi utilizes all of the paper it receives, it is recycled and used for newsprint.
Items they can't use - any cardboard (if in doubt, tear it, if it is brown or gray inside it is cardboard), cereal, soda, milk cartons, tissue or paper towels, phone books, plastic, or glass. Please BAG your shredded items (they tend to scatter when the bin is picked up). Yes it is ok if that bag is plastic.
Annual Mitten Tree:

Our Mitten Tree will be up soon, we will be collecting gloves, mittens, hats, scarves, and socks. All items will go to Fairfield Family and Children's Services - right back into our community for those in need.

Items can be gently used, new, or handmade. It would be fun to have a Knit/Crochet night here at St. Andrew's to share patterns, learn to knit or crochet and make some items for the Mitten Tree.

Anyone interested - bring it up at coffee hour, we'll try to make it happen!

Ongoing Fund Raisers (that aren't hard at all)

St. Andrew's receives a penny for every search done through Goodsearch. (Simply use Goodsearch instead of Google). Plug in St. Andrew's as the recipient - make sure it is the right one.

St. Andrew's receives a % of sales from Goodshop - similar to Goodsearch. If you are shopping on line, check and see if the store you are going to is in Goodshop.

We recycle ink-jet printer cartridges - there is a box for these in the Narthex.

Gordon Foods gives us a % as well when you shop with them and give them St. Andrew's name so your purchase can be applied to our total at the end of the year.

A Message from the Newsletter Editors:

We would like to thank everyone for their contributions to the newsletter, and please keep the articles coming. We need articles to keep this newsletter going.

Also, we would like to wish the St. Andrews Congregation a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Help those that are less fortunate by donating to one of the food pantries. Every little bit helps, especially around the holiday season. Richard Hollinger and Kevin Blest

Mission Council Minutes
October 12, 2008

Present:
The Rev. Paul Williams, Debi Chakeres, Jr. Warden
Andy Taylor, Member, Elaine Vaughan, Senior Warden
John Segelken, Member, Joan Diesler, Member
Shelley Sakowski, Member, Susan Highley, Member
Robbin Zaborniak, Member, Tim Vaughan, Financial Secretary

Absent:
Gingy Harshey-Meade, Treasurer

Opening Devotion, Bible Study and Prayer
Fr. Paul opened the meeting with a prayer.

Purpose of this Special Meeting was to go over the Timeline created by Elaine Vaughan, Sr. Warden, Debi Chakeres, Jr. Warden, Gingy Harshey-Meade, Treasurer, and Tim Vaughan, Financial Secretary.
This timeline was a request from the Diocese regarding our loan with the trustees and with 5/3 bank.

During the time Fr. Paul was in Germany, many things started happening regarding our loans in lieu of the stock market plummet. Fr. Paul had been emailing and speaking with Chris Stires, Chief Financial officer for the Diocese and the 5/3 Representative and both Bishop Breidenthal and Bishop Price. 5/3 had requested that our Diocese guarantee the loan with them.

After many emails, it was decided by the Trustees that they would not be able to do that for us. Because of stock market and banking issues 5/3 will need to raise our interest by 100% up to 10% for a new loan. That would raise our monthly payment to them by $500 to 600.

After speaking with both Bishops, Fr. Paul feels that it may take some time, but that the Diocese will help us out with this dilemma. Currently we are not able to pay our loan back to them and by adding an additional $5-600 to 5/3 loan, we will not be able to afford the building for very long with what is currently coming in each month. We would need $13,000 per month to pay all of our bills including the Diocesan Loan payment and continuing a part time contract with Fr. Paul.

At this point, we need to start a Stewardship campaign, be open and forth right with the congregation. The Diocese has recommended we provide them with a Faith Pledge indicating what is pledged during our Stewardship campaign.

A committee to act on this immediately was put together, with Elaine Vaughan, Fr. Paul Williams, Debi Chakeres, Joan Deisler to meet this Tuesday night and put together a campaign.

At this point, the meeting was adjourned as the 10 AM service was about to start.

Respectfully submitted,

Elaine Vaughan, Sr. Warden

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Mission Council Minutes
October 16, 2008

Present:
The Rev. Paul Williams - Debi Chakeres, Jr. Warden - John Segelken, Member - Elaine Vaughan, Senior Warden - Shelley Sakowski, Member - Susan Highley, Member - Robbin Zaborniak, Member - Gingy Harshey-Meade, Treasurer

Absent:
Andy Taylor, Member - Tim Vaughan, Financial Secretary - Joan Diesler, Member

Opening Devotion, Bible Study and Prayer
Fr. Paul opened the meeting with a prayer.

Purpose of this Regular Special Meeting:
We met early to put together the directories and the entire Stewardship packets. This meeting will take the place of the regularly scheduled one on Oct. 19.

Mission:
Food Pantries: All going ok as far as we know.

Hospitality/Fellowship:
Music Fest coming up Oct. 25. Admission is an item for the food pantry. Sandy Heren and Sharon Parham have volunteered to co-chair the food for after the Music.

Christian Education:
Christian Ed committee have been evaluating curriculums for the next quarter. Oct. 26 - Teacher Training/Meeting after 10 AM service. Nov. 16 - Youth Sunday (also last Sunday in is quarter).

Communications:
Directory is complete, and going out with Stewardship packets.

Liturgy:
Fr. would like a Liturgy committee to form. We need to advertise for this in the bulletin and newsletter to see if anyone is interested in serving on this committee.

Financial Report:
Gingy brought us up to date. She is now timing every bill and starting to juggle to meet payroll at the end of the month and to pay other bills. She estimates we will be short ~$2000 to meet all bills and payroll for this month. We will also need an additional $500 for our roof deductible.

Stewardship:
Packets ready to be handed out starting this Sunday, Oct. 19. Any leftovers will be divided between Mission Council members to be hand delivered if possible to all members. Nov. 2, All Saints Sunday, will be the end of the Stewardship Drive. We will compile our pledges at that point and Fr. Paul Williams will meet with the Bishop and 5/3 Bank on Monday, Nov. 3 to show the Diocese our "Faith Pledge".
The Diocese is possibly looking at paying off the balloon payment to 5/3, then rolling that amount and the $250,000 loan into one loan and charging us 6% interest. They would be writing off $30,000 in back interest for the $250,000 loan that we have not been able to pay. We have to remember that we have not followed through with our own negotiations to make proper payments to the Diocese for the $250,000 loan. We need to move forward with our own finances and honor our agreement with the Diocese.
Debi Chakeres moved and Robbin Zaborniak seconded that we fully support our Stewarship Program including our commitments to the Diocese. Motion approved.
We discussed how members could do payroll deduction for their pledges, at this time we cannot afford to do payroll deduction, however a member can set up with their own bank to have an automatic payment check be sent to the church on a weekly or monthly basis, whichever they would decide.

We closed in prayer. Meeting was adjourned.

Next meeting will be Nov. 16.

Respectfully submitted,

Elaine Vaughan, Sr. Warden

Timeline is attached.