The Trumpet January 2016 Volume 33 Issue 1

Firelands Presbyterian Church

2626 East Harbor Road

Port Clinton, Ohio 43452

419-734-6211

Fax 419-734-5411

www.firelandschurch.org

Rev. Mark Cooper, Pastor

Dave Moore, Clerk of Session

Susan Larcey and Kay McIntosh, Musicians

Darrell Brand, Treasurer

Rachel Johnson,

Preschool Director

Janine Dress,

Administrative Assistant

Mark Owen, Custodian

Table of Contents

Thank Yous .......................................... 2

Now I Lay Me Down ............................... 2

News & Notes ....................................... 3

Preschool News ..................................... 3

Stated Session Highlights ................. 3 & 4

Lectionary Texts & Monthly Prayer List ..... 5

Birthdays, Calendar ............................... 6

Ministry Schedule .................................. 7

Musical Arts 2015-2016 Season .............. 8

Musical Art Series

Andrew Bova, Pipes and

Dan Nevans, pipes, guitar and penny whistle.

Scottish trained Highland bagpiper. The concert is

sponsored Frederick Agency and Otterbein North Shore.

Following the concert, there will be a reception for the

audience to meet the artists. Tickets are available at the

door for $15 ($12 for Firelands members); students are

admitted free of charge.

Friday Firelands Family Dinner January 15 at 6 PM

Its a New Year! Come and treat yourselves to a night

out with your church family. We will meet at 1812 Food

& Spirits and our organizers are Dottie & Harold

Douglass.

Please sign up on the sheet on the gathering table.

Mark Your Calendars for Februarys 19th dinner at CIC.

ComeUnity Caf Happenings Planning for the ComeUnity Cafe continued to be very

productive in December. Portage

Resale Center awarded a $6000.00

grant to the cafe. An anonymous

benefactor generously offered a

$10,000.00 challenge grant to match

donations made to the cafe by year's

end. As of this writing, $9681.34 in

tax deductible contributions have been raised, to be

doubled by the match! THANK YOU to the many

members and friends of Firelands Presbyterian Church

who gave generously to support the cafe.

Chef Stacy Maple has accepted an invitation to join the

steering committee, bringing to the cafe her 25 years of

culinary experience. Market research will be conducted

in January, to develop the menu and initial hours of

operation. Watch your email inbox for your opportunity

to have input.

January 2016 Page 2

Website & Facebook December was a very productive month for our church

web site and Facebook pages, as people sought and

shared information about Firelands Presbyterian Church.

Our web site was consulted 227 times this month.

68% of visits were first time viewers;

an average of 2.6 pages were consulted, led by

o Contact Us (15%),

o About Us (14%),

o and Sermons (10%).

Facebook entries that reached the highest number of

people included:

Service of the Longest Night Announcement 271

Preschool Christmas Program 165

Church Sign Worship services 164

Service of the Longest Night after photos 203

Christmas Day 277

Thank Yous To my Firelands family,

Thank you so much for the Wal-Mart gift card and your

generous gift. It will buy my plane ticket to Hawaii! The

office may be chaotic at times, but I really do enjoy

working for you all!

Janine

Thank You to all whom:

o Sang with the Advent Singers

o Signed up to light the Advent Wreath

o Decorated the church for Advent & Christmas

o Helped with the Service of the Longest Night

Kay McIntosh

Firelands Family,

Thank you for the cards, prayers, phone calls & visits

during my recent open heart surgery hospital stay and

recuperation.

Anita, thank you for the beautiful prayer quilt.

Bill Sharp

Thank You All,

Volunteers from both the Salvation Army and from the

Holiday Bureau were overwhelmed with the number of

toys, coats, hats, mittens, food and non-food items

which were donated by the Firelands congregation

during December.

Thank you also to the Bell-Ringers who gave of their

time and to everyone who supported our missions

including Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep and the

ComeUnity Cafe in so many creative ways. We are truly

blessed with generous hearts!

Karen Vardyan

Chair of Mission Committee

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep In early December I received a call from Sherry Ferne

telling me that St. John Lutheran Church had designated

their Christmas offerings to give to the Now I Lay Me

Down to Sleep project. They have partnered with us to

provide beds and bedding for the children of Ottawa

County and have also collected and given new bedding

to nine children who did have beds, but needed bedding.

This is a wonderful and much needed partnership as

some of their members have also offered to help with

the bed and bedding deliveries. More good news from

December came when we received a $4000 grant from

Portage Resale Center to use for the Now I Lay Me Down

to Sleep project.

The project received more needed support from

individual donations that members and friends of

Firelands Church made during the Christmas season and

through the generous gift of monies raised by the

Christmas cards created and provided by Bob Reynolds

and our Angel cards.

We have ordered 20 beds which will begin to be

delivered in January and will be given to children whose

need has already been determined by United Way

agencies. Even more wonderful support has been

offered to us by a group of local women called "A Case

for Smiles", who make colorful pillowcases for children.

These pillowcases are distributed on a regular basis to

sick children who are hospitalized; however, we are

going to be giving one of these to every child who

receives a bed in the new year. Thank you to Linda

Peiffer who chairs this group and has partnered with us

to help make the experience of receiving a new bed

even better.

January 2016 Page 3

Firelands Changes Lives A letter from the mother of two girls who received beds

in December tells us that one of the girls is sleeping so

much better in her new bed and the other girl now has

her own place "her bed" to go to for reading and loves

it.

Please Pay Per Capita Last year in January we asked all our members to

contribute an extra $30 toward both their per capita

the amount we pay for each member to support the

Presbyterian Church (USA) on the regional and national

levelsand the cost of offering envelopes. Many of you

did so, which was an enormous help toward our 2015

budget.

Preschool News December was all about Christmas! We spent most of

the month preparing for our Program. When we weren't

busy practicing we were busy learning and having fun.

One of our themes this month was "Gingerbread." We

read several different variations of "The Gingerbread

Man," made gingerbread play-dough and crafts, and

went on a Gingerbread Hunt. While we were not able to

find the Gingerbread Man himself, he did leave us a

plate of cookies!

We celebrated Christmas with a Movie Day, Grinch Day,

and a Pajama Day! The students and teachers enjoyed

dressing up and having fun!

Thank you to all that attended our Christmas Program!

We cannot thank the Mission Committee enough for all

of our help and delicious cookies.

Rachel Johnson

Firelands Preschool

Program Director and Teacher

Stated Session Meeting Highlights for December 8, 2015

Treasurers Report: Darrell Brand, Treasurer Our

General Fund Income of $117,163.70 minus GF

Expenses of $107,520.66 results in a gain of $9,643.04

YTD 2015.

Total YTD Preschool Income of $75,499.14 minus Total

YTD Expense of $69,340.84 results in a Preschool gain

of $6,158.30 for the YTD 2015.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Christian Education/Spiritual Nurture Karen

Coffin, Chair. Goals for the new year will be to build the

excellent Sunday School class taught by Ernie

McCullough and the Wednesday Bible Study taught by

Pastor Mark. We hope to offer more opportunities for

deepening spiritual lives through small groups, seminars

and new programs.

At church, we are emphasizing our outreach approach to

spreading the Gospel of Christ through personal

relationships with folks outside the church. We recognize

that one of our strengths is the rich personal

relationships we have with each other and we want to

make sure we never lose that.

January 2016 Page 4

Pre-school - Marsha Bordner & Karen Coffin, Co-

chairs. Kelly Wheeler, Karens daughter, has

volunteered to help organize the Elementary School

classroom to use as Director Rachel Johnsons office.

John Pugh has arranged for Mark Owen to clean and

wax the floors in the Pre-school room on Dec. 28-30.

Volunteers will be recruited to move everything out on

Dec. 27 and move all back in January 3rd.

Financial Stewardship Bill Sharp, Chair. In

January, we will review the actual vs. budgeted numbers

for our 2015 administrative year budget and the results

of our 2016 Pledge Drive. This review may propose

recommendations to the 2016 budget for Session

approval at the January 12th meeting.

Mission Karen Vardyan, Chair. Signup sheets for

Christmas giving of time and talents are all posted on

the Opportunity Table and include the Christmas Joy

offering, ringing the bells for Salvation Army at Bassetts

and the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep bed project.

Sales of both the angel cards and Christmas cards

designed by Bob Reynolds benefit this program. Twenty-

eight beds have been delivered and we are hopeful to

receive money from the Portage Re-sale funds that are

distributed to the community.

The Pre-school program will be held December 17th.

Worship and Music Kay McIntosh, Chair. The

Advent Singers will sing on December 6, 13 and 20.

Cellist, Brian Shifflet will return for solos for our

Christmas Eve Service and join with musician, Susan

Larcey, accompanying the congregation.

Nila McCullough is coordinating the five families who will

be lighting the Advent Wreath. Nila will also be training

Nic and Lily Stouffer to become Sunday readers. Susan

Rogers is coordinating The Service of the Longest Night

with Sally Wahlers and Marilyn Umlauf preparing the

sanctuary and Pastor Mark working with PC Ministerial

Association for the liturgy. Susan Larcey will be the

musician.

Fourteen members helped create our own very special

Advent Booklet. Janine Dress as our editor added

pictures and color.

The church will be decorated on Wednesday, December

2 and all will enjoy a soup and sandwich supper when

the work is done.

Through December, a Spiritual Fitness table will be

available outside the sanctuary for sharing ideas,

affirmations and interest in spiritual activities.

Outreach: Mary Caracci - Its an exciting time as our

entire community embraces the food ministry of

ComeUnity Caf Ottawa County. Ed Carlson, Joyce

Jagucki, Alison Falls and Mary are representing Firelands

Church. During this start-up time, there is a way that

each person can participate in its development and

when it ultimately opens for business in March of 2016.

Volunteer to be one of the working groups now forming

or to work later in the caf or to be a financial supporter

of the caf. Our church is leading the way with funds

already earmarked for 2016. Plus an anonymous donor

has made a $10,000 challenge grant during December

which will match dollar for dollar up to a limit of

$10,000. Make your tax-deductible donation by the end

of the year and see it doubled!! More exciting

preparations are underway-a logo, URL and Facebook

have been created; a tri-fold brochure is available to be

used in group presentations; a web site is in

development; a grant application has been made to

Portage Resale Center for supporting funds; the Greater

Area Port Clinton Arts Council has been engaged to

assist with dcor, graphics & colors; the Lake Erie Herb

Society has offered fresh herbs from their seasonal

gardens. This unique project of providing a helping hand

to the food insecure is truly ON ITS WAY! Come be a

part of it!

Our website and Facebook continues to attract an

increasing number of visitors.

Property Management: John Pugh John has not

yet received quotes for the churchs roof including one

for a metal roof.

New Business: As a result of Karen Vardyans

suggestion of further security for both the Pre-school

and the church office, a policy was approved by

Session to have all of the church doors locked at all

times and doorbells installed at the Preschool and the

office entrances with signs indicating the procedure for

entry. This will happen ASAP.

A memorial service will be held on December 5th for

member Nancy Kristiansen Gentles.

The Firelands Folk played for the community

Thanksgiving dinner at St. Thomas Church

Pastor Mark will be on vacation November 29th,

December 27 and January 3rd. Pastor Bob Butcher will

preach on the November and December dates and

Karen Coffin will preach on January 3rd.

The meeting was closed with prayer by Pastor Mark.

Next Session meeting will be January 9, 2016.

Highlights from minutes of Dave Moore, Clerk of

Session.

January 2016 Page 5

Lectionary Texts for December

January 3

Christmas 2

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Psalm 147:12-20

Ephesians 1:3-14

John 1(1-9)10-18

January 6

Epiphany of the Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14

Ephesians 3:1-12

Matthew 2:1-12

January 10

Baptism of the Lord

Isaiah 43:1-7

Psalm 29

Acts 8:14-17

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

January 17

Epiphany 2

Isaiah 62:1-5

Psalm 36:5-10

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

John 2:1-11

January 24

Epiphany 3

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Psalm 19

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Luke 4:14-21

January 31

Epiphany 4

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Psalm 71:1-6

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Luke 4:21-30

Ongoing Prayer Concerns For those receiving medical treatment or therapy, or undergoing medical tests:

Debbie Ballinger, Richard Berlinger, Jenatha Boose, Jill Petty Bryant, June Gahris, Harold, Kim Hudson, Craig

Kaiser, Arlene Kakareka, Stephen Kessler, Angjuli Lele, Judy McCollough, John McLaughlin, Ele McLaughlin, Simon

Mercurio, Michael, Jordan Moore, John Rick, Sarah, Sue, Jack Schmidt, Justin Waugh, Ann Wagnitz, Phil Wierzba

For those facing the infirmities of age:

Carolyn Doane, Tom Gahris, Clara Maag, Shirley Ohles, Jamie Petty, Betty Rodwancy, Bob Rodwancy,

Gordan Wahlers, and Irene Wilson

For those seeking freedom, security, and hope:

Bobby, Justin, Sara, Val, and CASA Families

For those in the service of our country:

SMGT Jeff Bundy, Steven Coffin, FBI; Brant Crandall, USA; Cole Daniel, USCG; Matt Devries, USAF;

Stu Gliwa, USMC; Aaron Haynes, USA; Ted Livingstine, USMC; Sanju Shinde, USMC;

For those in mission for our Lord:

Our missionaries in the Middle East; Phillip and Elizabeth Prasad in India;

The National Presbyterian Church of Mexico, Berea Presbytery;

The Rev. Hazael Compuzano and our sister congregation, Dios es Amor, Mexico City;

The Monte Sinai Mexican Mission in our Presbytery

To add or delete someone from this list, please contact Janine Dress in the church office.

January 2016 Page 6

January Celebrations

January 2015 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1

2

3

9:30 Sunday School

10:30 Worship

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

9:30 Sunday School

10:30 Worship

11

12

9:30 Quilting at Fishers

7 Session

13

14

10 MAS Committee

15

16

17

9:30 Sunday School

10:30 Worship

3:30 MAS Concert

18

19

20

21

22 23

24

9:30 Sunday School

10:30 Worship

25

26

9:30 Quilting at Fishers

27

28

29

30

31

9:30 Sunday School

10:30 Worship

John Madison 8 Bill Umlauf 16 Doug and Alison Falls 8

John Rogers 10 Karen McCollough 21 Pat and Bill Sharp 27

Tyler Gogolek 14 Patricia Anderson 22 Bob and Maxine Wilson 31

Bob Wilson 16 Marsha Bordner 26

Heather Stouffer 28

Is your birthday or anniversary missing or incorrect? Contact the office so we can make

the changes to the list!

January 2016 Page 7

Dont Forget Your Time to Serve!

Ministry Names

Monthly Deacon of the Month Joyce DellaSantina

Communion Steward Karen Vardyan

Jan. 3 Greeter(s) Moores

Reader Susan Rogers

Communion Assistant Ernie McCullough

Servers Dick Coffin, Nila McCullough, Bob Reynolds, Dave Moore

Nursery Volunteer Janet Gray-Moore

Pianist Susan Larcey

Jan. 10 Greeter(s) Bob Reynolds

Reader Ernie McCullough

Communion Assistant Bob Black

Servers Marilyn Umlauf, Marsha Bordner, Dave & Sally Wahlers

Nursery Volunteer Heather Stouffer

Pianist Susan Larcey

Jan 17 Greeter(s) Heather Stouffer

Reader Nic Stouffer

Communion Assistant Heather Stouffer

Servers Jay Viery, Susan Rogers, Ed Bettendorf, Joyce DellaSantina

Nursery Volunteer Lily Stouffer

Pianist Susan Larcey

Jan 24 Greeter(s) OMalleys

Reader Nila McCullough

Communion Assistant Karen Coffin

Servers Jack Combs, Alison Falls, Bob Reynolds, Dick Coffin

Nursery Volunteer Anne OMalley

Pianist Susan Larcey

Jan 31 Greeter(s) Moores

Reader Marta Vielhaber

Communion Assistant Nila McCullough

Servers Dave Moore, Susan Rogers, Jim Wagnitz, Ed Betttendorf

Nursery Volunteer Susan Rogers

Pianist Susan Larcey

January 2016 Page 8

The Musical Art Series / Port Clinton, OH

2015 2016 Season

Sunday, October 11, 2015

3:00 PM

ERIE WATERS THE GREATER CLEVELAND AREA FLUTE CHOIR

The mellow voices of sixteen flutes

Sponsored by The Van Der Giessen Family

1812 Food & Spirits

Saturday, November 7, 2015

7:30 PM

JAMES DLEON, PIANIST Powerful emotion and dazzling artistry

Sponsored by Dr. Jay M. and Margaret N. Mann

The Stouffer Family & Catawba Island Club

Saturday, December 5, 2015

7:30 PM

CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF MUSIC

FASQUELLE, MEZZO-SOPRANO

ANDREW ROSENBLUM, PIANO

Amber Fasquelle, mezzo-soprano and Andrew Rosenblum, piano

Sponsored by Roth & Bacon Attorneys at Law

Neidecker, LeVeck & Crosser

Sunday, January 17, 2016

3:30 PM ANDREW BOVA, BAGPIPES

Traditional music by Scottish-trained Highland bagpiper

Sponsored by The Frederick Insurance Agency

Otterbein North Shore Senior Lifestyle Community

Sunday, April 3, 2016

3:30 PM

AMANDA POWELL, JAZZ WITH PIANO & BASS Authentic and vibrant jazz celebration

Sponsored by Crown Battery

Dubberts Outdrive Service

Saturday April 16, 2016

7:30 PM

MICHIKO OTAKI, PIANO Celebrating her 25

th anniversary appearance in Port Clinton

Sponsored by Arbys Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP and Jack Hilbert

Friday May 6, 2016

7:30 PM

JINJO CHO, VIOLINIST HYUN SOO KIM, PIANO Next Stop Carnegie Hall (really!)

Sponsored by Bassetts Market Miller Boat Line to Put-in-Bay

Friday, June 3, 2016

7:30 PM

TRINITY CATHEDRAL CHOIR TODD WILSON, DIR. Clevelands acclaimed cathedral choir

Sponsored by Dr. Gil and Jan Bucholz

The Jet Express

All concerts at Firelands Presbyterian Church, 2626 East Harbor Rd., Port Clinton, OH

Tickets $15 at the door; students and children admitted free.

For information or season tickets, call 419-734-6211, go to WWW.MUSICALARTSPORTCLINTON.COM,

or find us on Facebook (The Musical Arts Series/Port Clinton).