June 26, 2010

Inside the Courier

•

A Look at the BriteSide, page 2

• Mission Notes,

page 3

• June Board notes,

page 5

• July Calendar

page 4

On the Web: fccminneapolis.org Disciples News Ser- vice Week of Compas- sion updates

Deb Murphy named to new post at FCC

July isMinnesotaFood ShareMonth #2Deb Murphy has been named Direc-tor of Spiritual Formation and Com-munity Ministry, by action of thechurch Board. Beginning July 1,Deb will work up to 15 hours a week on a six month contract, subject torenewal for an additional six months.Her job description, which the FCCBoard voted to accept on June 15,focuses on Spiritual Formation, for-merly called Christian Education.FCC has not had a Christian Educa-tion committee for several years.

Deb‟s

responsibilities will includethe following:

•

Developing spiritual formation op-portunities for children, youth, andadults of all ages;

•

Providing hands-on ministry oppor-tunities for youth and adults in thecongregation;

• With the Open Table Task Force,

establishing a regular spiritual oppor-tunity for GLBT (gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender) teens and par-ents;

•

Organizing a cooperative Vacation BibleSchool.

• E

xploring a neighborhood-wide multi-congregational youth program amongneighborhood churches;Deb is currently pursuing an MA in The-ology and the Arts at United Seminary inNew Brighton

. “One of my classes this

past spring semester was Spiritual Forma-

tion of the Congregation,” sh

e remarked.

“Not only was it fun, but the readings r

e-lated so much to FCC that I thought theauthors had been sitting in the balcony tak-

ing notes.”

Deb has been a member at First Christiansince the early 90s and for many years wasthe editor of the

Courier

. Last fall, Debstarted

a children‟s Sunday School class

called Art of the Covenant,the first suchclass for kids in nearly a decade.

“I realized after starting the Art of t

he Co-venant class and working with my photo-graphy project, that art is my approach tospiritual formation and that this is the

niche I've been looking for,” she said.“The youth are going to be my priority to

start with - the ones we have and theGLBT teens we want to reach out to, and Ihave an idea for a "Camera Club" from

comments made by a couple of members.”

Look for these and other initiatives in thecoming months as Deb starts her work onspiritual formation at FCC.

Christian Courier

First Christian Church of Minneapolis (Disciples of Christ)

Page 2

Pastor Bob Brite

Gracious God, welift up these per-sons in our pray-ers, asking theblessing of your Grace and out- pouring of your Love upon them.

In our prayers

Painful/Wonderful lessons learned in 30 years of ministry

We pray in celebration over the birth of

twins Raphael and David to Mi-guel and Christina Carter

, and

Adrian Michael Ramirez to Ciceli andRene Ramirez

(grandmother

Laura Arradondo

, great-grandmother

DorisHelvig

), and

Mason Dunham

who recently celebrated his 5th birthday; inconcern for

Greg Merkel

recovering from a knee replacement, for

DavidPyles

who was recently in Mayo for more cancer treatments, for

Pat Carter

and

Jay Hillestad’s two nieces

who were recently hospitalized, for

DebMur

phy’s mother

, recently diagnosed with breast cancer; and

for Tom andNancy Curry

; for safety for all who are traveling, including the

Wolver-ton, Morgan and Creighton families

, and

Katie Brite

who arrived safely inTanzania; for all the families and citizens in the Gulf Coast who are suffer-ing from effects of the oil spill; for all our homebound members including

Dorothy Becker

and

Jane Anderson

. Amen.

June 26, 2010

Last Saturday I had the suddenrecollection that this Tuesday,June 22, marks the 30

anniver-sary of my ordination into Chris-tian ministry. I was ordained outof Faith Christian Church in Oma-ha, Nebraska, a congregation of which I was a charter member andthe second individual (by a fewminutes) to be baptized into thelife of the body there.The thirty years has gone like theblink of an eye; I have since beenthrough a lot of changes andmoves. I served first as an associ-ate at Glen Oak Christian Churchin Peoria, IL, then a short stint aspastor in Winterset, IA (Bridges of Madison County country), then onthe regional staff of the ChristianChurch in Illinois and Wisconsin,then as senior pastor at Pekin, IL.From there I spent three years outof ministry due to bu

out, work-ing as a waiter, bartender, apart-ment sales agent, piano tuner, andhandyman, then back into ministryhere in Minneapolis. I spent my25

anniversary at a strawberryshort cake party at the Methodistchurch I was attending then, hav-ing gotten my tips for the day ear-

lier. I‟ve been married and d

i-vorced, have two wonderfuldaughters about whom you mightbe sick of hearing, and am nowkinda, sorta, beginning to reflect abit on what retirement in 12 to 14years might be like.Back then I was full of ambition(that was based on no smallamount of anger) to bring trans-formation to the church. Thepainful/wonderful lessons learnedover those 30 years is that the onlyway I can be an effective agent of transformation is to be an effective

witness for Christ. A pastor can‟t

force transformation onto a con-gregation; he/she can only issuethe call for such. Over those years

I‟ve become less ambitious and

more reflective, less focused onchange for the Church and morefocused on theological develop-ment, both for the Body and for

myself. I‟m kinda, sorta, figuring

out that what I do in ministry isnot nearly as important as beingthe channel for what God wantsme to do and be. (Though I wishHe/She would be more forthcom-ing on that point.)I will issue the call here again:What do you want for the future of your own lives, and the ministryof First Christian Church of Min-neapolis?

I‟d like to see YOU on Sunday,

Bob

Correction:

Bob Brite‟s daughter Corrie gra

d-uated

summa cum laude

fromBradley University rather thanButler University as reported inthe last Courier.

A Look at the Brite Side

Christian CourierPage 3

By the Numbers

When I enter the sanctuary at thebeginning of church every Sun-day, I look out at the congrega-tion. Being in a building that wasbuilt for a church much larger thanwhat we are now, it's hard not tofeel your heart sink a bit at thesmall number of people in theroom.Then, little by little people startshowing up. By the time we get tothe sharing of the peace, we haveat least 70 people in the room. It'sstill small compared to the size of the sanctuary, but it's averagewhen compared to churches acrossthis land: the majority of Ameri-can congregations have less than75 people in worship.Our "average-sized" gathering al-so reminds me of something else:the size of a church is not as im-portant as the ministry it is in-volved in.In the last few months, I've beenimpressed by what this small(er)congregation can do and evenwhat it wants to do. Back in Feb-ruary, we made 100 hygiene kitsto help in the Haiti earthquake re-lief efforts. We gave $3000 to helplaunch the Currie Avenue Partner-ship, which will move 150 out of homeless shelters and into perma-nent housing. We also have goneto every dollar store in the TwinCities Area to make WelcomeBaskets for those new homeown-ers through the Welcome BasketDrive. We raised $1600 in Marchto support Groveland Foodshelf during Minnesota Foodshare andwill hope to raise even more dur-ing our July drive.We are working with Spirit of JoyChristian Church in Lakeville tosponsor of refugee family andwith the help of our newly hiredDirector of Spiritual Formationand Community Ministry, we planto launch a ministry to gay teensand their parents in the fall.Not bad for an average church.It's easy to get wrapped up in thenumbers. Like most of you, Iwould love to see more people inthe pews. I still hope that be-comes a reality some day. Butthere are other numbers that sug-gest that this faith community ishousing the homeless, feeding thehungry and welcoming the outsid-er. They maybe small numbers,but God seems to have a habit of taking small things and using themto make a big difference in theworld.Senior Pastor Bob Brite has askedus what would be the best thingfor this church to do for the king-dom of God. I know he is talkingabout the future of First Christian,but I hope you all are doing a lotin the cause of bringing for God'srealm. Go and be the church.

A Note for All Elders

Elder Meetings will now be takingplace the 3rd Sunday of everymonth from 5-8 pm. The first ga-

thering will be at Jay and Arlene‟s

home on Sunday, July 18, from 5to 8 pm. (See me for directions.)We realize this schedule may bedifficult for some to adapt to atfirst, bu

t we‟d like to encourage

everyone who is able to come toattend. If, in the future, we needto arrange a different time, we cando that. This meeting will includea potluck dinner, though we wanteveryone to come, even if they just bring themselves!!If you are able, this is what tobring: yourself, a Bible, a note-book and pen/pencil, and afood/beverage item as follows: If your name ends in A-J, bring aside dish. If it ends in I-Z, bring anappetizer or dessert. Main dishwill be provided, as will coffee,tea, and water. Any other beverageneeds, please feel free to bringyour own.Our hope is to have rich and mea-ningful time together that includesprayer, study, thoughtful reflec-tion, and fun!! Jay & Ar

lene‟s

home is located at 9082 GouldRoad, Eden Prairie, 55347 (952-949-0492).

“. . . [For] you are precious and

honored in my sight . . . . Do notbe afraid for I am with you (Isa.

43:4a; 5a). ”

Blessings and Peace,Jay Hillestad, Chair for Elders

Mission Project Notes from Pastor Sanders