April 22, 2009

Every year we spend the last Saturday in April – that’s this coming Saturday! – rehabbing the home of a needy family in Aurora through Rebuilding Together Aurora (formerly Christmas in April). The weather report looks promising, and doing this work to help someone else will make you feel great! If you’re not already signed up, contact our project leader Norm Ellsworth (630-858-7449) as soon as possible.

PADS Summer Meals Program: We will once again partner with another church to provide PADS meals on the second Saturday of the summer months. We will have a planning meeting to organize this effort this Sunday, April 26, at 11:00 a.m. in Fellowship Hall. This is a project the whole congregation can participate in! If you want to help but can’t be at that meeting, contact Sarah Allen or Pat Wiedner.

Youth News
Talent Show: By general consensus, the Talent Show and Dinner was deemed a resounding success. We enjoyed fine food and first-class entertainment. We are still counting the bills, but we netted about $475 for the Youth Mission Trip. Thanks to all who attended and donated, those who cooked, organized, performed, and served.
Did you miss the Talent Show or wish you could relive it? Keep it forever with a DVD from Jack Thorne. Sign-up this Sunday on the sheet on the bulletin board in the narthex, and Jack will burn you one. A $5.00 donation to the Youth Mission Trip is appreciated for Jack’s efforts.
Rummage Sale: Don’t forget to save items for the Rummage Sale coming mid-May. Price stickers are available on the name-tag table and the bulletin board in the narthex. Please bring sale items to the church no sooner than after worship May 10.

From Christian Ed.:
The next seven weeks of the Easter season signals a move of our hearts from the humiliation of Christ to all that was completed by His love for us, and the anticipation of Pentecost. Check out our library or a Christian book store for additional resources on keeping the Risen Lord in our hearts not only during the Easter season but throughout the year.
Music is Worship! Preschool through second graders will continue with music lessons after the Children’s Moment to gear up for the special children’s choir on Pentecost/Confirmation Sunday, May 31.
Youth Sunday: Parents, mark your calendars for a special service on Mother’s Day, May 10. Our children and youth will be special participants in this service! We will have two practices in the sanctuary on Saturday, May 9, from 9:30-10:30 a.m., and on Sunday morning, May 10, at 8:45 a.m.
We will do a one-room Summer Sunday School beginning June 14. We will have lots of Gospel-filled stories and hands-on games and activities in store for a sun-shiny summer. We are also looking for teachers and helpers for the thirteen-week program. If you are interested in teaching for all or part of the summer, please contact Laura Baer at 630-469-9149 or smpcce@ameritech.net.
Vacation Bible School, July 27-31. Be sure to fill these dates in on your family calendar and tell your friends and neighbors about our upcoming VBS. This year’s rocking theme is Crocodile Dock!
Got stuff laying around that might fit in with our VBS theme? If you come across the following items while sorting through your treasures for the youth rummage sale, we could use them for VBS: Spanish moss, inflatable alligators (yes, really!), rope lights, green and blue material, fishing nets or other fishing equipment, bug catchers, lanterns, crates, greenery. Please contact Laura Baer at 630-469-9149 or at smpcce@ameritech.net with any donations.
Pennies 4 PADS: Our children are attempting to collect a mile’s worth of pennies (84,480) to donate to our PADS mission. We collected 260 pennies this past week, which brings the grand total to 58,377 (69.1% of the goal). Please keep bringing in your extra pennies; there is a collection box in the narthex. With your help, we might even make it by the end of our Sunday school year!

Our Adult Education class will continue the lectionary-based Bible study this Sunday with the following passages: Acts 3:12-19, 1 John 3:1-7, Luke 24: 36-48. Join us and we’ll learn together. –Blair

We’re Baking Up Nice Surprises (BUNS) for CNS Hospice! Sign up in the narthex to bring baked goodies for hospice patients and their families, as well as patients in CNS Hospice’s Geriatric Assistance Program. Baked goods can be brought to church on Sunday, May 3rd, or dropped off in the narthex by 9:00 a.m. on Monday, May 4, for delivery to CNS Hospice. Remember NO ICED items! Please package your goodies in individual baggies of 2-3 cookies, muffins, or brownies. What a delicious and loving way to reach out to families during a very difficult time.

We’ve received an invitation from Jessica Henks... After she graduated from seminary last spring, she left Southminster to accept a call from a church in Kankakee. She has now passed her ordination exams and will be ordained in May – and we are invited! The service will be Sunday, May 3, at 4:00 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Kankakee, 1756 W. Route 113, Kankakee, IL 60901. A reception will follow the service.

The A.M. Circle’s May meeting will be a luncheon at Cantigny in the LeJardin Restaurant on Friday, May 15. Those wishing to carpool may meet in the church parking lot at 9:30 a.m. At 10:00 a.m. we will meet at the Visitors’ Center to tour the grounds or view the film and enjoy the center and gift shop. Luncheon will be served in LeJardin Restaurant at 11:00. Those planning to attend should sign up by getting their check to Linda Ellinghausen in the amount of $15.25. We will have three entrees to choose from.

Susie Salins, who handles most of the church’s publicity, hopes you’ll keep your eyes open for articles about Southminster in the local papers. She’d love to have clippings of the articles that appear. If you see one, would you clip it and leave it for her in Ginny Kline’s mailbox (Membership Committee)? Susie tries to catch all of them, but some slip by... especially those in the Daily Herald. Thanks in advance!