Number 10 OCTOBER 2009 Volume 17
WHAT: WE ARE INVITING CHILDREN 5 AND UNDER TO BRING THEIR PARENTS FOR A FUN TIME OF GAMES, MAZES, SNACKS, PICTURES, & PRIZES.
WHERE: FOOTHILL COVENANT CHURCH - CORNER OF OAK AND TRUMAN AVENUE IN LOS ALTOS (Across from the MVHS football field)
WHY: TO ALLOW LITTLE TYKES TO CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN IN A SAFE AND ENJOYABLE FASHION.
COSTUMES WELCOME! COME AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS
Update on the Transition Team
The Transition Team is now in place and has begun meeting regularly as we prepare for thetransition to a new pastor. The team has met a couple of times already and is now engagedwith defining specific steps toward the creation of three critical pieces of the church profilethat will be required by PSWC in conjunction with a pastoral search - church history, Foothill's internal church demographics, and the external demographics of our community. Thegroup has divided up responsibilities and as we further clarify the process for collecting theinformation, the broader congregation will have an opportunity to more actively participatein the collection of this information. More information on how you can participate will beprovided during the month of October.
Alan Forsman, our consultant with PSWC, emphasized the process for bringing on a newpastor is lengthy and we urge everyone to be patient. To ensure the process is successful,PSWC requires a church to go through this self-assessment and profile when using PSWC inefforts to identify pastoral candidates. It is most important for FCC to bring in a pastor whowill be a good fit for us both now and in the future. We have so many exciting things happening in our congregation and we want to ensure we build on this energy.
The team expects to be focusing the remainder of the year on completing the profile andhanding over the information to a pastoral search committee sometime in January. At that time, we would also begin plans to wish farewell to Jim and bring in a transitional pastor tobridge a period of time between Jim's service to Foothill and when a new pastor will bebrought aboard. PSWC has emphasized this period as being important for a church as a wayof moving from our past with Jim and beginning a new focus on the future with a new pastor. In all likelihood, a new pastor will be on board in late spring or during the summer of2010 but this depends heavily on our ability to identify and recruit a new pastor and his orher availability.
This is an exciting time at Foothill and the Transition Team hopes that everyone will takethe opportunity to be a part of this process as we celebrate Jim's service over the past 17+years and our search for new pastoral leadership."
Mark Liedstrand, co-chair
Community Connections: The Community Connections team is actively creating our Tots & Treats event to be held on October 30th. Itwill be a fall festival for toddlers and their families, exactly the agegroup that is our growing edge. They are still looking for some help tohost "booths" and do set up and clean up. If you would like to helpwith this event, contact Pam Gaderlund
Mentor/Tutors: Our mentors and tutors are getting engaged with stu
dents for the fall. Some of our members are again mentoring highschoolers through Partners for New Generation and others are being trained for the readingtutoring program JustREAD which operates at both middle schools and high schools. If
Did you know that . . . Ginny Carlson will be participating in the Harvest Craft Faire held atthe Los Altos United Methodist Church (Magdalena and Foothill). The Fair will be held on Friday, October 16 (10-5) and Saturday, October 17 (10 to 4). Ginny will be selling purses,shopping bags and "Button Babes". Stop by and see her. . . . Or that Carly Lykke and Megan Langsdorf are expectant moms waiting for April and/or May babies. . . . Or that Esther Pipkin celebrated her 100th birthday on October 5th, and that a very nice article appeared inthe Mountain View Voice about Esther and her birthday (you can read the article on thelobby bulletin board). . . . Or that the Taladuas were able to purchase and move into theirnew home in Milpitas at the end of September?
CELEBRATE with Brenda & Perry Brown the birth of their son, Wyatt Zachary RuckerBrown on September 30th. He was 8.72 lbs. and 21". Pray for God's rich blessing on hisyoung life!
Bob & Mary Lou Jaynes welcomed their first grandchild & granddaughter on August 29,2009 when Kylee Page Jaynes (7 lbs., 20 ") was born to Tim & Amy. Brian & Marilyn Smithwelcomed a first granddaughter on September 3, 2009 when Maike (pronounced MY-kuh)Grace Langland-Shula (7 lbs. 15 oz., 19" ) was born to Laura & Chris (their first). Stan & Marian welcomed a new granddaughter, Annika Elizabeth Ecklund (5 lbs. 15 oz. ) on September 12th. born to Karl & Elaine. Pray for God's blessing on these three new lives.
Women's Bible Study will begining Wednesday, October 14 at 9:45
a.m. Marian Ecklund will continue leading us in the study we began lastspring called "Living Above Worry and Stress." All ladies are invited to attend even if they have missed the first six chapters. Please call NancyBaldwinson if you have any questions.
We will look forward to lunching together at the Country Gourmet in Sunnyvale on Thursday, October 1 at 11:30 am. Please call Ona Avent (408-984-7625) for more information.
We continue our Stretch Yoga class on Wednesdays at Noon during the fall. Call Kay Roberts (408-255-7817) for more information.
Men's Lunch
We will be meeting on Thursday, October 1 at Noon. We'll be looking for you at Brian's Restaurant in Los Altos in the Rancho Shopping Center on Foothill and Magdalena. Please call Jim Gaderlund at 650.967.7447 with any questions.
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Keep up to date on what God is doing in our larger church family. Visit the web sites for our Pacific Southwest Conference at www.pswc.org and for the Evangelical Covenant at www.covchurch.org. Each site has current news in churches and ministries around the Covenant. To have the news sent to you, subscribe to Newswire by going to the home page on the Covenant web site and looking for the link on the right side of the screen OCTOBER WORSHIP/PREACHING -In a time of much fear, nationally and internationally, Paul, through his ancient letter to the Galatians, helps us think through how to letlove replace fear rather than legalism that would isolate us. We will be continuing in ourstudy of the Galatian Letter.
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fearhas to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect inlove. " 1 John 4.18
October 4 - Gal. 1.13-2.10 -"A Real Name Dropper" - Jim G.
October 11 - Gal. 2.11-21 -"Christ the Lawbreaker?" - Jim G.
October 18 - Gal. 3.1-14 -"Tempted to Obedience" - Jim G.
October 25 - Gal. 3.15-29 -"Promises, Promises" - Jim G.
A follow up from our recent congregational meeting
From September 27th: It was decided that a By-Laws Update Team be appointed to proposerevisions to our current by-laws to have them closely represent our current operations and theway our operating procedures have evolved since the by-laws were first written. The committee, made up of Ona Avent, MJ Lykke, Jack Repenning and Jim Gaderlund, was asked toreport back to the congregation with a working draft in the next six weeks. The hope is that adocument could be finished in time to be "put on the table" for ninety days for subsequent toaction at the semi-annual meeting in January or February.
You can follow the progress of the task force each week by looking for the working documents on the lobby bulletin board. If you have questions, please talk to any of the task forcemembers.
The Executive Committee also took an assignment to create a congregational study and discussion process on human sexuality that would equip us to create related policies.