Categories
News

Church Council News – January 2020

Council met on Tuesday, January 14, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. in the church library.

Peter Shick, Treasurer, distributed the Treasurer’s report for month ending December 31, 2019. The Treasurer’s report showed receipts for month ending December 31, 2019 of $23,115.22 and our year to date budget under $5,478.34.  Mr Shick stated we had more expenses for maintenance and repairs in the month of December.

Council continues to work on the proposed changes to the endowment policy, the guidelines and application to help process a request for donations.

Council discussed staff compensation for 2020 to include cost of living increase, step increase and merit increase. Gary Sahm, Council President, Gary Dudley, and Doug Layman will meet to discuss these increases for the staff and make recommendations to council at the next meeting.

Pastor David submitted to Council a Staff Evaluation Form he will use for yearly staff performance reviews. Pastor David and Pastor Laura will complete the form in June and submit to Council for their review in July.

Upcoming events are as follows:

Winterfest will be held on January 18, 2020. Children and family activities will be from 2-4 pm with the chili cookoff form 5-7 pm for all.

Open book hosted by Sue Huntington is on January 25, 2020, from 6-8 pm with a potluck meal. The book discussion will be on “Braving the Wilderness” by Brene Brown.

An anti-scamming seminar will be held on February 15, 2020 from noon until 3 pm.

A three part “Celebrate My Life” seminar will be held on March 1, March 15 and March 29, 2020.

Council discussed appointments to the nominating committee as new council members will be elected in April to replace those who have completed their term.

Pastor Laura reported the digital Open Door Worship was a success.

Pastor Laura will attend Winter Celebration with the senior high youth on January 25, 2020.

Pastor David will be out of the office February 2 through February 6, 2020. Pastor Laura will also be out of the office for a retreat but can be reached by phone.

B&D Locks will rekey the locks on the church doors and install a box with a passcode near the door at the kitchen to be used to enter the church on January 20 2020. Keys will be limited to church staff. Members of the congregation with a key will still be able to use their key inside the church to unlock the office and closets when needed. The passcode will be given to members of the congregation by speaking to one of the Pastors or Laura Latham, Office Administrator. A log will be kept as to whom the passcode has been given.

The next council meeting is February 11, 2020 in the church library.

Categories
Newsletter

St. Philip Church Calendar

Did you know St. Philip has an online calendar? All events and room reservations can be found on the calendar, as well as St. Philip Preschool happenings. This is an excellent way to keep up with what’s going on at St. Philip and when the building is available for your events or needs. Because ministry is thriving at St. Philip and part of the outreach of the church is to allow outside groups a space to meet, the building is often alive with activity. For example, a group that offers chair yoga to anyone in the community meets in the fellowship hall on Thursday afternoons at 3:00pm. Not only does the preschool occupy the four classrooms weekday mornings, it also uses the fellowship hall each weekday from 8:30 to 9:15am and 10am to 11:00am on bad weather days.

Because the church calendar is kept on Google, it can be added to your own Google calendar to keep it right at your fingertips. To add the church’s calendar to your own:

· On your computer, open Google Calendar.

· On the left, next to “Other calendars,” click AddFrom URL.

· Enter the calendar’s address in the field provided. The St. Philip calendar address is https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/officeadmin%40stphiliplutheran.net/public/basic.ics

· Click Add calendar. The calendar will appear on the left side under “Other calendars.”

It might take up to 12 hours for changes to show in your Google Calendar.

St. Philip’s calendar can also be found on the church website at www.stphiliplutheran.net/calendar.

Categories
Newsletter

Live Like †hat: Love, Feed, Serve

Love, Feed, Serve is not slogan; it is mission, it is purpose, and it is identity. St. Philip is an active community of faith, compelled by God’s grand gift of love to share that same love with others. As we move into the year 2020 there will be new opportunities, new ministries, new challenges, new possibilities and all that new stuff should be greeted with faith and hopefulness. In the coming weeks all kinds of new will start to take shape.

Even as pastors and staff, step willingly into the “what’s next”, we want to continually give thanks for what has been. Thank you for your generous hearts! The pastors, along with church council, wanted to give thanks. Your financial generosity for our mission together at St. Philip is appreciated, essential, and inspiring. St. Philip finished 2019 with receipts exceeding giving last year by $9000! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

God’s Spirit moves as we were blessed to receive 26 new members to join in living out God’s mission in this community. This past year was so exciting in many ways:

· Called full time Pastor Laura to serve alongside us with faithfulness, energy, passion, and innovation.

· Rejuvenated faith formation for people of all ages.

· Expanded community partnerships for Feast at Philips.

· Bible study can now be accessed via video conference

· New liturgies shaping worship.

· New online worship experiences and platforms.

· New partnerships for community ministries

We can be bold to Live, Like, †hat. Your St. Philip council is committed to continue to be faithful with the resources entrusted to this congregation. Please keep being faithful. Please keep being generous. God’s got us so that we can – Live Like †hat.

Categories
Ministries

Souper Bowl of Caring 2020

Please remember to donate food and toiletries or make monetary donations at worship on February 2. All food/toiletries will be given to St. Mark’s Food Pantry and funds will go to Feeding America Southwest Virginia.
Categories
Congregational Life Youth Ministry

Fat Tuesday Steak Dinner Tuesday, February 25, 5:30-7:30pm

Come enjoy a steak dinner with baked potato, green beans, fresh bread, and fine desserts. You can even choose to begin with a bowl of gumbo. But the best part is gracious pampering and service provided by our youth. Our youth will greet you at the front door, hang up your coat, seat you in the dining area, get your drink order, and find out how you want your steak fixed – all while you relax.

This event is not only a great time to catch up with members of St. Philip, but it is also a great time to invite someone to enjoy some great hospitality at your church (then be sure to invite them back for Ash Wednesday services the next evening). Tickets are available from any St. Philip youth.

This is an important fundraiser for the youth group so they can attend youth retreats for all ages. Tickets are available from Eventbrite and are $15 in advance/$18 the night of for adults, and $3 in advance/$6 the night of, for a kids hot dog meal. Add a bowl of gumbo to your meal for an extra $2. Yum!

Categories
Worship Assistants

February 2020 Worship Servers

Categories
Newsletter

St. Philip Invitation – February 2020

Categories
Christian Education

Open Book Small Group

Mark your calendars for January 25 from 6-8PM for a new small group called “Open Book.” Come to the church for fellowship, a potluck dinner, and book discussion over dessert.. Childcare can be provided, if requested. We will be discussing Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown. The church will purchase the books by way of a Thrivent Action Team. If you have questions or an interest in this group, please contact Sue Huntington or Pastor Laura.

Categories
Newsletter

The Key To Change Is To Change the Key

I am not quite sure this is true, but the pastors and church council want the congregation to be aware that starting mid-January, the three exterior entrances to the St. Philip facility will be re-keyed Since our building was constructed in 1993 the locks have remained the same. Over the years, one of the growing ministries at St. Philip has been opening our facilities to church members, ministry groups, and local non-profit organizations. We very much want that ministry of hospitality to continue.

Once locks are changed, entrance into the building will happen through the side doors where a coded box will have a non-duplicatable master key to get into St. Philip. Any member of St. Philip who would like the code will be able to get that from Laura, office administrator in the church office. Additionally, one-time users of the building will be provided a temporary code for entrance during their event. With this change we hope to have a bit of reset after years of keys being issued and not returned as well as simplifying procedures for all the folks who count on St. Philip for space for ministry.

PLEASE NOTE: AFTER THE NEW LOCKS ARE INSTALLED YOUR CURRENT ST. PHILIP KEY WILL NOT WORK ON EXTERIOR DOORS. The building key will continue to work on interior doors for now.

Categories
Newsletter

Community Café – Connecting St. Philip and Our Neighbors

The congregation at St. Philip is a community who wants to Live Like That (live like Christ).  Jesus ministry was always about reaching out. We want to do that at St. Philip, too. Starting in March, we plan to serve and host a lunchtime meal for the neighborhood surrounding us. Everyone is invited, but the plan is to particularly reach out to people who work and live close by.

Mostly, this time is designed to be a time to be together. To hang out and hear stories. To connect with people around us.  To be a part of the neighborhood. No agenda – no expectation, simply being with one another.

If you have questions or would like to be a part of planning for Community Café speak to the anyone on the organizing team – Bev Stith, Mary Wingate, or Linda Duncan Rhodes.