June 5, 2010

Inside the Courier :

•

A Look at the BriteSide, p. 2

• FC

C board notes,news briefs, p. 3

•

Calendar and aReflection on theWord, p. 4

On the Web:

FCC’s website

Disciples in UpperMidwestChristian Church(Disciples of Christ) national organization

Jenny’s parents Kathy andGreg celebrated Jenny’s gra

d-uation with First Christianduring Fellowship Hour on

May 23. Many of Jenny’s

family and friends joined in

this recognition of Jenny’s

accomplishments.This summer, Jenny willwork as a counselor at theChristian Conference Center,in Newton, Iowa. Next fallshe will start classes at Min-neapolis Community Technic-al College.Congratulations to Jennyand to Greg and Kathy!Jenny Merkel will make the grand marchacross the stage to receive her high schooldiploma on Monday, June 7, at South HighSchool, Minneapolis.Graduates and church campers will be recognized dur-ing worship on June 13.Graduates include Jenny Merkel, Minneapolis SouthHigh School and Corrie Brite, Butler University.Several FCC young people will be working as counse-lors at the Christian Conference Center in Newton, IA.Amy Morton, who completed her first year at HiramCollege, will be in Newton all summer working as anintern. Ali Hesano and Jenny Merkel will each work for one week as camp counselors. Jenny will also at-tend her final week as a camper. Zack Hesano, AthenaCarlson, and Wes Creighton are attending a week of camp this summer.

Jenny Merkel graduates from South High

Grads and Campers to be recognized June 13

Christian Courier

First Christian Church of Minneapolis (Disciples of Christ)

Page 2

Transition Team update, points of agreement

Gracious God, we lift up these persons inour prayers, asking theblessing of your Graceand outpouring of your Love upon them

In Our Prayers

We pray in celebration for the recent birthday of

Mike Hesano

, and forthe

Miguel and Christina Carter

who are expecting the birth of theirtwins any day now; for

Katie Brite

, daughter of Pastor Brite, to have asafe journey to Tanzania; for those recovering from recent hospital stays,including

Karen Kandik’s father

and

Richard Schwersinske

; forthose in hospital or receiving treatments including

Mike Ronnei, DavidPyles

Deb Murphy’s cousin David and his wife Trudy, Kirsten

Cac

koski’s si

ster-in-law, Sharon and brother, Carl

; in sympathy for

Pat Carter

whose brother-in-law passed away recently; for all ourhomebound members, including

Velma Fancher

and

Audrey Hanson

.Amen.

Pastor Bob Brite

It’s been a while since we’ve u

p-dated the congregation on thework of the Transition Team.

They’re a busy group of people;currently they’re reviewing su

r-vey data, have visited vacantchurch properties, and are inconversation with about five oth-er churches in similar circums-tances, including Spirit of St.Stephens and the LyndaleUCC/Salem Lutheran partneringchurches.The goal is to, at some point,prayerfully develop a set of op-tions to bring forth to the con-gregation for discussion andeventual decision.As of the end of this coming Au-gust, we will have three years leftin the building on a financially

beneficial basis. We’re currently

supporting our budget with$150,000 per year from the 5%interest earnings from the build-

ing’s sale to MIA

. (T

hat’s a very

good interest rate, folks.) Wehave an option on remaininganother three years after August2013, but without the $150,000of interest payment per year.I, or members of the committee,have looked at about nine differ-ent possible church buildings.Seven were unacceptable be-cause of a lack of parking; onewas too small and the other hadmajor accessibility issues. Thiswill probably mean that we

won’t

be moving to anotherchurch building, that somethinglike a storefront or retail space,warehouse, school, large house,or other space, will be a morelikely place to go.To this point, the TransitionTeam has, among other things,reached the following points of agreement:-- If we continue as a congrega-tion, we want to do so as Dis-ciples. While partnership withanother non-Disciple congrega-tion is a possibility, mergerwould not be something we, as acongregation, would want to do.

There’s someth

ing distinctiveabout us as Disciples that isworth keeping and sharing.-- What holds us together is astrong sense of community. Weenjoy being with one another!-- Our continued presence in thisbuilding is too comfortable forus; habit patterns and outlookstend to remain the same as theyhave been. In order to be open tothe necessary transformation of becoming a church of the 21

century, we need to go throughthe transformation of findinganother space, space that willmake our worship and ministrydifferent and more open to tryingnew things.

Continued on Page 3

A Look at the Brite Side

Christian Courier Page 3

Board Notes

Bus notice: The church bus will not be runningon June 13. Sorry for any inconvenience!

The General Board of FCC met May 18 for its reg-ular monthly meeting. Thirteen people attended tohear reports and vote on various motions. High-lights from the board minutes include the follow-ing:



Treasurer’s

report noted loss of rental in-come from AAUW and Tiempo Nuevo, asboth organizations have moved out.



Property

chair Max Hurlocker announcedthat we have two totally new air condition-ing units that are not needed in our build-ing. Anyone needing an air conditionershould contact him.



Outreach committee

is working with Spi-rit of Joy Christian Church in planning forrefugee family sponsorship.



New picture directories

are now available.Anyone who wants one should contactMary Hurlocker.



Transition Team

visited church propertieson May 10.



Volunteer opportunities:

Rev. DennisSanders reported that two volunteer oppor-tunities are planned for this summer so farto help those who are homeless, as well as aprospective food drive to support Grovel-and Food Pantry.

Whitakers to ride in MS150 Bike Tour

Dave and Becki Whitakerwill be riding their bikes fortwo days, June 11-13, on theMS 150 Bike Tour in June toraise money for Multiple Scle-rosis.The National Multiple Scle-rosis Society uses money col-lected to fund cutting-edge re-search, to drive change throughadvocacy, to facilitate profes-sional education, and to pro-vide programs and services thathelp people with MS and theirfamilies live fully.If you would like to make atax deductible donation to thisworthy organization, you maydo so athttp://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/becki.whitaker,http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/david.whitaker, or bygiving a check to Dave orBecki.

Pat Carter to be honored at Quadrennial

FCC member Pat Carter’s

long and accomplished resuméas a Christian educator will berecognized and honored thissummer at Quadrennial, thegathering of Disciple womenthat happens every four years.Pat and other Disciple educa-tors who have awakened thespirit by their ministries, willbe celebrated during Quadren-nial at Greensboro, N.C. June23-27

Wedding Bells ringfor Kehoe family

Sean Kehoe, son of memberTerry Kehoe, was married toCharlotte May Claire Spivey-Shaw on May 15 in Hillsbo-rough, N.C.Congratulations to the newcouple!

Brite side, cont. from p. 2

The expedient choice, the ea-siest choice, would be to closein three to five years and usethe sale moneys to start 6 to 8new congregations in the Metroarea. (In the Christian Churchin the Upper Midwest, 11 outof the top 15 demographic sitesfor starting new churches are inthe Twin Cities Metro.) Yet, toa person, everyone on the Tran-sition Team dislikes this op-tion.I keep encouraging TT folks toask themselves,

“What is the

best future for FCC for build-ing the Kingdom of God?

” The

TT folks are being faithful tokeeping that in mind, and Iwould ask that you do thesame.

I’d like to see YOU on Sunday,

Bob