In thisissue. . .

! A Thanksgiving Sunday toremember

! Cookie exchange 2014

! Operation Christmas Child shoebox ministry evaluation

! Meet the Holiday Train

! A new Christmas season tradition

! Closing in on the end of thefinancial year

! Help us deliver the joy ofChristmas in song

! Celebrating a great Thanksgivingfood basket ministry

! Important ministry training

! Claim your ministry for 2015

! This and more in your KNOLLNEWS!

Fir

st

Ch

risti

an

Ch

urc

h3501 7t

h S

treet

East

Mo

lin

e, IL

61244-3

502

Published by: First Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)On the Web: www.fccem.org

Phone: (309) 755-6552

Editor: Bill Coley

First Christian Church November 21, 2014East Moline, Illinois Volume 39, Number 11

And from Bill. . . by Bill Coley

“The song’s chorusincludes this

priceless phrasewhich describes myresponse to the year2014: ‘Awestruck

we fall to our kneesas we humbly

proclaim you areamazing, God.’ ”

Among contemporary Christian songwriter ChrisTomlin’s many magnificent praise songs is onecalled “Indescribable,” whose lyrics testify toGod’s unique greatness. The song’s chorusincludes this priceless phrase which describes myresponse to the year 2014: “Awestruck we fall toour knees as we humbly proclaim you areamazing, God.”

� In spite of discouraging worship and Sundaygroup attendance numbers, congregationalincome is higher right now than itwas at this time last year.... I amawestruck by that.

� In April we opened our first-evercongregational website. None of usknew anything about creating awebsite. Many of us had for a longtime been Web denizens, but as forcreating and maintaining an actualsite, we knew nothing. But todayfccem.org is a vibrant, attractivedestination for the curious and thecommitted to discover our church....I am awestruck by that.

� On June 6 my tenure as pastorhere reached the length of mygrandfather’s tenure as pastor of theCouncil Bluffs, Iowa, church in which I grew up:10,560 days. Time has passed since thatmilestone, and on the calendar calculator I havepassed him, but I will always be awestruck onlyby that day when I sat in the church he planted,then wailed with passion at his graveside as Iexperienced a connection with him ofindescribable value .... I am awestruck by that.

� In the summer God raised up a team of peoplewho responded to a vision of our fellowship hallas a more efficient, effective space. After so

many years with the same basic layout, in amatter of weeks that hall was transformed, madenew.... I am awestruck by that.

� In August we held another of our annualcongregational rummage sales, the plans forwhich, early on, did not inspire my confidence.Yet God raised up the right leaders, inspired aharvest of quality item donations, and thenbrought the community to us to produce a recordresult.... I am awestruck by that.

� In October we installed worshipcenter and 7th Street banners thatbring color and vitality andinformation to our premises and theexperiences people have whenthey’re here. The 7th Street banner isthere because God raised up theright person to design, build, andinstall the display board from whichwe will identify ourselves to thecommunity.... I am awestruck by allthat.

� This Sunday we will host theannual Community Praise Worshipexperience. WE will! In our freshlyadorned worship center and ournewly arranged fellowship hall we

will welcome brothers and sisters in Christ fromother churches to an evening I believe God hasset aside to start fires of hope and incite actionsof reconciliation.... I am awestruck by that.

� And there’s the season just a few days away,our 30th December together. How many ways canyou tell the story of a baby born in a manger?Doesn’t that well eventually run dry? By thegrace and goodness of God, no. We will find anew voice yet again.... I am awestruck by that,too. [COLUMN CONTINUES, INSIDE BACK PAGE]

N e w s Y o u C a n U s e

And From Bill... (cont.)The Tomlin song “Indescribable” concludes with this:

Incomparable, unchangeableYou see the depths of my heart and you love me the sameYou are amazing, God. You are amazing, God.

Indeed. May you and I have an awestruck Thanksgiving.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Find your ministry and claim it The ministry claim form for 2015 is the sheet we ask you to use to identifythe way(s) you intend to be part of the ministries of our church next year.

Nearly every ministry of our church is listed on the Claim form. Fromthings we do on Sunday mornings(breakfast potlucks, Sunday groups,serving communion, youth groups, etc)to the ways we serve throughout theweek and year (meal site, food pantry,“We Are Together” events, OperationChristmas Child shoe boxes, etc) thesheet’s contents gives us a reasonablycomplete menu of options forfollowing Jesus with our congregation

in 2015.

Our desire is to receive a completed form from every adult and child in thechurch, regardless of involvement level. For example, people who expecttheir connection to our church to be limited to worship attendance and/orfinancial giving, may mark those applicable lines. And who knows, whenyou look through the form, the Holy Spirit may lead you to a newinvolvement!

The year 2015 form is included in this month’s newsletter. We ask you tofill it out and bring it with you to worship on December 7 when we willpray for God’s blessing upon our ministry, or mail your form(s) to thechurch office.

“And from Bill...”

newsletter column

archive reaches 40

entries

For the last fourmonths, on Tuesdaysand Fridays we have

added new entries to agrowing archive of past

newsletter columns byour pastor Bill Coley.As of the date of this

newsletter’sdistribution, that

archive contains 40columns, representing23 of the 30 calendar

years of Bill’s ministryat our church.

We invite you tojourney through the last

29 years with the helpof the And from Bill...archive. Find links to

all available entries athttp://fccem.org/the-and-from-bill-archive/p

osts/links-to-all-posted-entries.

At some point in thenear future, a .PDF file

containing the firstthird of the archive’s

entries will be availablefor download on our

website.

N e w s Y o u C a n U s e N e w s Y o u C a n U s e

A new Christmas-season tradition begins December 3For many years we’ve used worship on the first Sunday in December todecorate our church lobby and worship center with the colors and symbolsof the season in a worship experience we called “Hanging of the Greens.”While we praise God for the many ways thattradition blessed our preparations for Christmas,we have decided it’s time to make a change.

In part because we no longer have availablethe number of people necessary toexecute such a worship, and in partbecause we believe it’s time tomove on to others means ofobserving the season, we will nothold a Hanging of the Greensworship this year. Instead, we inviteyou to join us on Wednesday, December 3(6:30 p.m.) as we put in place our newChristmas banners, the lobby Christmas tree, and several other seasonaldecorations that will remain in place throughout the month of December.

To set the mood, we’ll snack on cookies and such, and we’ll playChristmas music (have a CD of favorites we may borrow for the night? Letus know!) For the kids we’ll open our website to the Christmas seasondrawings they create while the rest of us place decorations (submit adrawing, we’ll post it on our site!)

Join us for a casual, enjoyable time of community and preparation.

End the year with another traditionThe cover of next month’s newsletter will present the 23rd annual KnollNews Christmas carol, brand new lyrics written to be sung to the tune of apopular seasonal song such as “White Christmas,” “Sleigh Bells,” or“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” In addition, on our website beginningDecember 1 we will each day present the lyrics of a previous Knoll Newscarol, beginning, as you might expect, with the very first one, fromDecember 1992.

Ring bells for a

great cause

We have madereservations for our

13th consecutive yearof ringing bells as

part of the SalvationArmy’s Red Kettle

Campaign.

This year’s ministrywill be held on

Saturday, December13, from 10:00

a.m.–2:00 p.m. atthe Wal Mart on John

Deere Road. Thatmeans a total of eighthalf-hour blocks will

be available. Youmay reserve your

block(s) of time onthe sheet now postedat Mission Central.

The Salvation Armyprovides greatministry to our

community. Supporttheir efforts by

contributing yourtime to our efforts on

December 13.

Community Praise worship is this Sunday evening!We’ve been talking about it for a longtime, and now it’s finally here: Ourhosting of this year’s Community PraiseWorship experience this Sunday,November 23, at 6:00 p.m. People fromUT-area churches will gather in ourworship center to sing and enjoytraditional hymns, contemporary praisemusic, and the Gospel music of the blackchurch tradition. The evening’s offeringwill support the two Churches United food pantries in the UT area.

In addition, this worship will offer a challenging and inspiring messagedelivered by two of the longest-tenured pastors in the Quad Cities: P.Wonder Harris, from Mt Zion Missionary Baptist Church in East Moline,and our own Bill Coley. As something of a preaching tag team, those twowill challenge our congregations and us as individuals to stand againsttoday’s powerful forces of division in both the church and our society. Bythe end of the night, we will receive specific challenges as a way forwardin the battle against that division.

This is must-be there worship! Join us as we welcome our community toworship this Sunday evening.

A thanksgiving baskets thank youWe praise God for another successful Thanksgiving basket ministry. JackieHume again staffed the table in the church lobby on Sunday mornings

where we have collected money to buy the food necessaryto provide a Thanksgiving food basket to six local

families in need. Because of your donations, wereceived $465, which is a great result!

Thanks to Jackie and her preparation/delivery team,as well as to all who donated. May your

thanksgiving holiday be as blessed as will be those ofthe families we serve with this year’s baskets.

A blessing for the

new snow season

After last season, theman who plowed our

church parking lotretired, compelling us

to find a newcontractor. By God’sgrace and goodness

we were led to a locallandscaping companywhose rates are lower

than what we paidlast year AND which,

as an expressionof its owners’ faithin Christ, does not

charge churcheswhen it plows late

in the day onSaturdays or early

on Sundays toclear lots to allow

entry for Sundayworshipers. Because

company workersdeeply value the

Sabbath Day, theydon’t plow on

Sundays...except forchurches. Praise

God!

Recent ConcernsLouise Hellstrom - Carpal tunnel procedurein DecemberMarsha Jones - Angiogram scheduled forNovember 25Colleen Kannenberg - at home, but back ondialysis in response to kidney issues

HomeboundEthel Dawson - 2638 5TH St. Ct. East MolineFran Littlewood - Rosewood Care Ctr - rm 219, MolineLois Tallman - Ft. Armstrong - 1900 3rd Ave, #611, Rock

IslandAnn White - Illini Restorative Care - rm. 26, Silvis

U p d a t e sParticipation reportHere we report weekly participation numbers for worship and our Sunday groups. Welook forward to the increases of these numbers as the transformation of our churchcontinues.

Date

Sunday

Worship

Sunday

Groups

October 19 40 17

October 26 30 14

November 2 34 13

November 9 41 15

November 16 27 16

Finances through October 2014Income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $54,298.47Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $52,789.03Were income on pace w/2014 budget.. . . . . . . . . . $55,433.88

Financial Situation

With a bit more thanfive weeks to go beforethe end of the year, wecontinue to be blessed

financially. Attendancehas taken hits this year,

but our giving hasremained close towhat’s needed to

underwrite our budget.We believe that means

God has great things instore for us

Christmas Eve

worship set

for 7:00 p.m.

We warmly invite youand your family to join

us for a time of worship,praise, and celebrating

the company Jesusbrings to our lives in this

year’s version of ourChristmas Eve worship.

We’ll hear the story,testify to its truth, andsing praise to the God

who brings us together inthe company of the

newborn King. We lookforward to seeing you

there!

Serving in December. . .

Welcome Team: PraiseLand Team:

Marsha Jones The PraiseLand team

Communion Prayers: LifeSOUNDS:

Jackie Hume Shari Coley

Preparing Communion: Serving Communion:

Marsha Jones Marsha Jones, Nicole Sullivan

Providing Childcare: Bonnie Thompson /Marsha Jones / Dawn Sullivan / Nicole Sullivan

December BirthdaysSharon Mee.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Sheri McBride. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Jim Ledbetter.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Barb Bennett-Hakanson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

December AnniversariesFrank & Jeanne Simpson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Bev Hartman & Earl Davidson. . . . . . . . . 13Hurley & Carole Sutton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

REMINDER: We can't tell people about yourbirthday or anniversary unless you tell us.Contact the church office with your information.

Congregational meeting toconsider 2015 budgetThe annual meeting during which we vote on anew general board and a proposed congrega-tional budget for the new year will take place onSunday, December 21, immediately followingworship. Anyone may attend; church membersmay vote.

Shoe box success!We praise God for another blessed OperationChristmas Child ministry, this year producing55 shoe boxes filled with age- and gender-appropriate gift items that will be sent tochildren in developing nations around theworld. Because we submitted all shipping costdonations to Samaritan’s Purse online, at somepoint in the first quarter of 2015 we will benotified as to the nation(s) to which our boxeswere shipped.

N e w s Y o u C a n U s e N e w s Y o u C a n U s eOffer gifts for local infants, familiesAmong the powerful images of the Christmas season is that of thewisemen making a long journey so as to find Jesus and offer him gifts.You can offer gifts to newborns and other infants in our community, butyou won’t have to travel any farther than your church’s lobby! BeginningSunday, December 7, a manger will beavailable in the lobby to receiveyour gifts (see the list ofsuggested gift items below).We will collect the gifts throughChristmas Eve, then PregnancyResources in Moline fordistribution to their clientswho need assistance. This is a greatway to reach out to our communityand make a difference in the lives of newborns and their parents. Foradditional information regarding donations, contact Terri Grove.

Here's a list of suggested donations:

terrycloth & blanket sleepers (newborn to 18 months); cloth diapers;diaper pins; undershirts or onesies; outfits; sweaters; hooded bath towels;changing pads; baby wipes; disposable diapers; plastic pants; blankets &receiving blankets; new bottles & pacifiers; bibs; socks & booties; toys

Help fill our mitten treeIt’s been cold already; it’s not going to get much warmer for a while. Youknow how the cold impacts you; there are lots of people in the Quad Citiesfor whom the cold is even a greater hardship. Every year we set up asmall Christmas tree in the lobby near the main entrance to receive

donations of winterwear accessories such as hats,gloves, mittens, scarves, etc. Attach your donations tothe tree throughout the month of December, beginningDecember 7. Donated items will be given to theSalvation Army for distribution to those in need.

Meet the Holiday

Train!

The CanadianPacific Holiday Trainwill arrive at Modern

Woodmen Park onDecember 5, 2014, at1:45 p.m. in supportof Churches United’s

hunger ministry.

Admission is simplyone non-perishablefood item. All food

collected will benefit aministry that operates

26 emergency foodpantries in the Quad

Cities. Come earlybecause the festivities

start at noon: hotchocolate & cookies,

goodie bags for thekids, local

entertainment, andeven Santa and Mrs.Claus (between noon

and 1:30!)

The entertainerarriving on the

Holiday Train thisyear is Kira Isabella,Juno (comparable to

U.S. Grammy)-nominated country

music artist and the2013 CanadianCountry Music

Association’s femaleartist of the year!

Welcome Team and worship training scheduledWorship ministries include preparing, cleaning up communion, offeringprayers for the communion elements, distributing the elements toworshipers, and presenting submittedLifeSounds prayer and celebration requeststo the congregation.

The Welcome Team distributes Sundayflyers and offers special welcomes to first-time or recently connected guests.

A combined training event will be heldMonday, December 8, at 6:30 p.m.For the first time, this year we’reconsolidating two training sessions intoone to save time and travel.

Indicate your interest in these ministries on your 2015 ministry claim formor at Mission Central.

Cookie Exchange coming December 15Last year the people involved in our inaugural cookie exchange reportedlots of fun and lots of great cookies. Now it’s your turn to enjoy.

The rules are simple. Sign up at Mission Central or our Website toindicate your intention to participate and thekind(s) of cookies you intend to bake. Then onDecember 7 learn how many people are in theexchange so that you’ll know how many tobake: one dozen of each kind you make forevery other person in the exchange. Forexample, if you’re one of six exchangeparticipants, prepare five dozen of each of yourcookie types. The result? You’ll go home with

a dozen of everyone else’s cookies as they go home with a dozen of yours(that sounds like a golden rule for cookie sharing!)

It’s time to deliver

the songs of the

season

It’s time to deliver thesongs of the season

We’ve journeyedaround the Quad City

area to sing belovedsongs of the season tohomebound and care-

center residents fordecades. This year’s

adventure will begin atthe church at 2:00p.m. on Saturday,

December 20. Fromthere we will make

several stops, all withthe simple intention ofdelivering Christmas

joy.

Whether you sing (atall) or not, whether

you’ve ever beencaroling with a group,we invite you to dress

warmly and join us.Sign up at Mission

Central or online atour website.