As I make my rounds each Sunday morning, everyone seems to stop and ask me this ques-tion, "How does it feel to be the Minister-in-Training now?" The truth is that it has left me with a deep feeling of gratitude. You all made this transition truly special with a celebratory Sunday and a beautiful robe!

I talked about how we are all Ministers in Train-ing, learning what it means to do God's work in our community and around the world. I truly be-lieve there is no better place for me to learn that work than here at Danville Congregational Church, where so many people are ready to help me and to learn alongside me. I hope you feel the same way about this community. As I count my blessings this Thanksgiving, you all will absolutely be named.

In addition to Sundays, I am in the office from 10AM-2:30PM every Thursday and would be de-lighted to have you make an appointment. I look forward to serving you and serving alongside you in the year ahead.

With gratitude,

3 – Polly Smith-Telfer 7 – Dee Brook 9 – Bob Hardy 12 – Barb DeBarger, Nan Karns, Barbara Olwin 14 – Laura Beaver, Judy Schreib 17 – Betty Leecing 18 – Marylou Acorn 21 – Wilson Jackson 23 – Nancy Hill, Don Lenhardt, Lynda Manstrom 29 – Karen Anderson 30 – Ligaya Marston, Elke Torgersen

Please enter your birthday and/or anniversary on the calendar in Koinonia Hall if you would like to be

celebrated on your special day!

Don’t forget, Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday, November 3, so set your clocks back one hour before bed Saturday night.

November 2013

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Church Staff

The Rev. Dr. Anton DeWet, Senior Minister Lydia Mulkey, Minister-in-Training and

Director of Children’s and Youth Minis-tries

Kristin Pankonin, Music Director Angela Borba, Children’s Music Director Lynda Manstrom, Office Manager Kim Michaud, Office Assistant Carrie Gaytan, Nursery Attendant Janice Inman, Preschool Director

Church Officers Syd Dent, Moderator Joy Grant, Vice Moderator Michael Schmahl, Treasurer Gary Dowell, Financial Secretary Karol Mead, Church Clerk

Commissioners

Don Lenhardt, Buildings and Grounds Barb DeBarger and Anne Seiler, Children’s Ministries Anne Moulds, Church Family Bette Felton, Faith Journeys Ligaya Marston, Membership Doug Leich, Outreach Carol Gilliland, Stewardship Bob Hardy and Randy Jang, Worship Deborah Daily and Alex Hasselbrink,

Youth Ministries

Preschool Board Tim Booher (Chair), Penny Davis, Charlie Hasselbrink, Krista Hixon, Janice Inman, Donna Lenhardt, Polly Smith-Telfer Pastor Anton’s Pastoral Relations Committee: Laura Beaver, Mary Deau-

claire, Julie Grenley, Dave Hill (Chair), Krista Hixon, Tim Seiler

www.danvillechurch.org

www.dayspringpreschool.org

Danville Congregational Church is an Open and Affirming church, welcoming all of God’s children – of diverse race, gender, sexual orientation, family status, economic condition, and physi-cal, mental and emotional ability.

Telephone: (925) 837-6944 Office Hours:

Tuesday - Friday 9AM – 3PM

Worship Sunday at 9:30AM Everyone is welcome!

Prayers of Healing...

Steve and Phebe Carniglia Britta Cascio Gail Clark’s brother, Rand Caryl Krotz’ nephew, Craig Rowe, recovering from a stroke Kristin Pankonin Millie Palmer Kevin Shellooe’s sister-in-law Alan Wadsworth, recovering from shoulder surgery

Sympathy to… Janis Jang and her family upon the death of her aunt, Helen

Cochran, September 30

Prayers of Joy…

Upon the baptism of Daniel and Charles Sheehan, sons of John and Susan Sheehan, on October 13

For Tom and Chris Sonnemann on the birth of their second grandchild, a son, born to son Andrew and wife Christy, and upon the recent marriage of their son, Ian, in Eugene, OR

Congratulations…

To Steve Paroli and Mark Critchfield who were married on Octo-ber 12

Please remember that the Deacons are available to pray with you or take your prayer request at any time. We can pray indi-vidually (privately) or pass your request to the whole Diaconate or the church-wide Prayer Support Team. Please feel free to contact any Deacon with your requests for prayer, or to be a part of the Prayer Support Team. Prayer requests can also be e-mailed to prayerteam@danvillechurch.org.

All are area code 925:

Larry Berlin 351-8150 Nan Karns 362-0064 Dee Brook 846-0789 Joyce Klassen 855-0714 Peggy Gierke 968-1234 Judy Leach 736-9262 Judy Halden 735-8832 Kim Michaud 355-0268 Nancy Hill 743-0516 Diane Stein 829-5182 Randy Jang 837-4218 Bob Wilkens 943-1357

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This last month we had three key discussions. First, the council has authorized the formation a “Church Administration Committee.” This committee will be looking over the Administrative procedures of the Church office, minding the Administration Budget and, in general, looking to improve how we budget and manage the office and DCC administration. This is the only portion of the budget that has not been overseen by council or the congregation. Lynda Manstrom has been consulted and the Office Manager and the Pastor are expected to be mem-bers of this committee as well as two or three members found by the Nominating committee. After a bit of organizing, we hope to have it running by December. Please contact Syd Dent if you are in-terested in being on this committee.

Second, we looked at a timeline for “Visioning” within the DCC. I have mentioned this before, but DCC needs to understand ourselves better before we can define where we want to go. Over the next two to three months, we will be looking for people or organizations that will help us in this process of self-discovery. The goal is to begin this after the New Year. This is a process that must involve the whole congregation. It an opportunity for all of us to consider what makes DCC special for us; why do we call this “Our Church.”

Finally, Membership committee has announced that new members will be joining the church this month. It is always a joyous time to welcome new family. Ligaya and the Membership Committee did some excellent work finding out from our newest friends what was important to them. Some things that stood out to me:

People greeting others makes a real impres-sion. I encourage all of us (me included) to find people we don’t know and get to know them at coffee hour.

Finding people we can connect to is essen-tial. We are a community of many types; finding someone to relate to is crucial for us to feel at home. Again I encourage everyone to get to know others and find those connections of fami-ly, location, recreation, or favorite food.

Being Open and Affirming is a main reason people join us. This is a place that believes that we are all beloved children of God. We are a place that teaches and practices tolerance, acceptance, and affirmation of love in all its faces. And people are finding us because of that. I am proud to be part of a family that eve-ryone finds safe and accepting.

I encourage all of you to see October’s Council minutes for a full report on the new committee, the coming visioning, and all of the findings of the Membership committee.

Syd Dent Moderator

Outreach Commission

Intergenerational CROP Walk, October 19

Faith Partner Build Days Resume

After a pause due to the recent Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project in Oak-land and San Jose,

work has resumed at Habitat for Humanity's Pleas-ant Creek Homes project in Walnut Creek (near BART). Construction work continues on six homes (two triplex buildings) and foundations will soon be poured for the remaining four homes (two duplex-es), including the All Faiths House funded by a consortium of Faith Partners including Danville Congregational Church.

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Habitat for Humanity has allocated five volunteer spots to DCC for Faith Partner Build Days at the Walnut Creek project on Saturday November 2 and on Saturday December 7. Volunteers (ages 16 and up) will be asked to commit to an 8:30 am – 4 pm workday. See Doug Leich for more information or to sign up. Dinners for Homeless Families

We will have an opportunity to help SHELTER, Inc. serve homeless families by providing dinners at the Mountain View House Emergency Family Shelter Monday through Friday, November 18-22, the week before Thanksgiving. Mountain View House is one of only two permanent facilities in Contra Costa County (the other is in Richmond) providing emer-gency shelter for homeless families. Providing din-ner at the shelter makes a great Circle service pro-ject, and we also welcome individual contributors to make up a dinner team. For more information or to sign up, check the Outreach table or see Doug Leich. If you can't help with a dinner, ask for a copy of Mountain View House's wish list and help by donating one or more of the wish list items. Christmas for Others

Our annual Christmas for Others project is just around the corner! We will have Christmas wish lists from children and parents in homeless and formerly homeless families and invite you to "adopt" a child, a parent or an entire family (a great Circle service project) and provide wrapped Christmas gifts for the adopted family members. The recipi-ents will all be in SHELTER, Inc. or Contra Costa Interfaith Housing programs. Look for the sign-up information at the Outreach table beginning Sunday, November 17 or contact Karol Mead or another Outreach Commission member.

Ruby Boots 2014 “There’s No Place Like Home” Saturday, February 1, 2014 An evening of dinner, libations, and festive fund-raising.

Contra Costa Interfaith Housing is seeking volun-teers for the Ruby Boots 2014 Committee. Help raise funds for the home-less in our community by lending us your time and talents.

Contra Costa Interfaith Housing (CCIH) is dedicat-ed to providing permanent solutions to local home-lessness. Our annual fundraiser, Ruby Boots, rais-es much needed funds for our programs which will help us continue this critical work.

Get involved, have fun, and help us to make a dif-ference in the lives of others. For questions or ad-ditional information contact Lynden Tripp at lynden@ccinterfaithhousing.org or 925-944-2244.

Stewardship

Our Financial Secretary, Gary Dowell, reports the following progress on this year’s Stewardship:

2012-13 2013-14

Giving Units 109 109

Budget

355,000 348,000

Actual commitments received 325,837 347,461

Total received for commitments June through September 116,571 120,294

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Faith Journeys

Second Hour Schedule in November

November 3 No Second Hour November 10 Commission Meetings November 17 Mercy Ships with John Creech November 24 No Second Hour Join us during Second Hour on Sunday, November 17, when we will welcome John Creech, a good friend of DCC and long-time participant with Mercy Ships. John will update us on the current work of this international health care effort. The fall Men’s Breakfast Advent series will begin on Thursday, December 5 and continue through December 19. All men of the church are invited to join us for breakfast, fellowship, and discussion centered on the scripture passages planned for the following Sunday.

Save the Dates for our Advent Study Series! Thursdays, December 5, 12 and 19 from 7-8PM Watch our Sunday bulletins and December newsletter for more details…

With a grant from our Endow-ment Fund, the church has pur-chased an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) which will soon be mounted in an easily accessible location. Sudden car-diac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. Over 350,000 people will suffer from

sudden cardiac arrest this year. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere and at any age. An AED is the only effective treatment for restoring a regular heart rhythm during sudden cardiac arrest and is an easy to operate tool for someone with no medical background. Training for use of the AED, as well as First Aid and CPR for adults and chil-dren, was provided to several members of our staff and congregation on Saturday, October 19.

Winterdance returns to DCC on Friday, Novem-ber 29 (Black Friday). End your day of shopping and tree lighting with a lively and beautiful Celtic Christmas concert to kick off the holiday season!

Bring your friends, family and neighbors; join our favorite trio, Molly's Revenge, and special guest vocalist Christa Burch with Irish Dancers for an evening of music, song and dance associated with the festive season.

Tickets for the show will soon be available online (www.mollysrevenge.com or watch the DCC web-site and Facebook page), and in the church office.

Proceeds from refreshments served at intermission will benefit the Bay Area Crisis Nursery.

Our friends at Beth Chaim, 1800 Holbrook Drive, Danville, will host this year’s Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve service on Wednesday, November 27 at 7:30PM.

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Youth Ministries

Youth Events November 2-3, High School Fall Youth Event

November 3 9:30AM Worship No Youth Group- enjoy your family

November 10 Begin Equal Exchange Fundraiser

9:30AM Worship 6:30-7:30PM OWL (3) 6:30-8PM Youth Group

6:30PM Games

7:30PM Teams

November 17* 9:30AM Worship 6:30-8PM Bowling night

for grades 6-9! (Bring $20 for bowling and pizza.)

6:30-8PM OWL for grades 10-12

November 24 9:30AM Worship 6:30-7:30PM OWL 10-12 6:30-8PM Youth Group

6:30PM Games

7:30PM Youth Worship

Thursday, November 28, Happy Thanksgiving!

*Dinner Served on these nights

2013 Fall Youth Event November 2, 12:00pm - November 3, 12:00pm

Price: $25.00

Location: Community Church UCC 1000 Gravenstein Hwy N Sebastopol, CA, 95472

"Go With the Flow" From the waters of bap-tism, to the fresh water we drink to the gorgeous Pacific Ocean, water is central to our daily lives and to our spirituali-ty. Join us November 2-3 for the NCNC Fall Youth Event as we go with the flow together - exploring

the waters of faith that connect us all.

Join Sr High youth from all over Northern California (and Nevada) at this year’s annual Fall Youth Event. We will meet in the beautiful new youth room at Community UCC of Sebastopol (1000 Gravenstein Highway North). This 24 hour event will include time of connection with old friends, making new ones and exploring our faith together in engaging and highly interactive ways. Add in some delicious food, games and surprises (!) and you have a guaranteed good time! Check out the church at www.uccseb.org! Join us at 1PM on Saturday, November 2. Bring your sleeping bag, pillow and change of clothes. We will worship with the congregation Sunday morning and be on the road back home by 11AM after our closing circle. Questions? Email Kristen Delmonte, Minister for Children and Youth in Sebastopol at kristendelmon-te@uccseb.org or Laura Barnes Coney, Minister for Children, Youth and Families at San Mateo UCC at lbarnesconey@ccsm-ucc.org Register online: http://www.ncncucc.org/event/2013-fall-youth-event Hope to see you there!

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Children’s Ministries

November Godly Play Schedule

November 3 The Ark and the Tent November 10 The Ark and the Temple November 17 Exile and Return November 24 Family Worship (No Godly Play)

Joyful Noise and Noisy Joy is off and running with great success! All children grades K – 8 are invited to meet Angela Borba and our high school volunteers for small group sessions of music, snacks, and recreation from 6:15 to 7:30 on Thurs-day evenings. Registration forms can be found on our website or in the church office. Our October Commission meeting was a refresher training session for Godly Play Doorkeepers. In attendance were: Director of CM Lydia Mulkey, Nan Karns, Carolyn Courtright, Janis Jang, Karen Ka-waguchi, Trish Moosbrugger, Anne Seiler, and An-gie Ho. Godly Play wouldn’t be moving so smoothly if it weren’t for all of these generous volunteers. If you weren’t able to make it to the October com-mission meeting, our November meeting will be a gathering for Godly Play Storytellers. Look out for reminders in the upcoming emails and bulletins. We are pleased to announce that there will be nursery staff present during all Second Hour pro-grams. Remember to sign your child in with the su-pervisor so they know who to keep their eyes on while you are able to be a part of and enjoy your Second Hour church activity.

Since the school year began in late August, Day-spring's monthly themes have been “All About Me,” “Sensational Senses” and “Imagination,” while the monthly character traits were “I Am Unique,” “I Do My Best,” and “I Can Cooperate.” Letters Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd and Ee have already been learned!

We have had many special events during the past weeks and months. In August we had a great turn-out of children and parents for Orientation. The Scholastic Book Fair began in late September, and the teachers were thrilled to receive so many won-derful book donations for their classrooms from their wish lists. It was followed by our Fall Picture Day for children and staff, and also Back-to-School night, which was attended by about 85 Dayspring parents. Harvest Happenings at Dayspring includ-ed our annual backyard pumpkin patch, with chil-dren being able to select a small pumpkin to take home. On Halloween, families were invited to at-tend the Dayspring Imagination Parade in Kairos Hall, where children from each classroom marched around and showed off their handmade costumes. Each class voted on a favorite children’s book, and made costumes of one of the characters in that book! (At this writing, we hope to schedule a pa-rade on the patio for the senior citizens who attend Valley Oak Respite Center in Koinonia Hall- an an-nual favorite for the children and the seniors!)

Cooking and craft projects have related to the cur-riculum lessons, letters, and the season. The chil-dren have made fall wreaths, leaf rubbings, leaf prints, leaf people, puppets of paper and socks, clothespin caterpillars, caterpillar toe prints, and doctor bags and contents. Lessons have included lots of counting and patterning activities, as well as life inside an egg. The children have made apple turnovers, egg salad in a baggie (squish), pumpkin bread, and pumpkin pie!

The Dayspring Preschool website has recently been updated with several videos! Go to www.dayspringpreschool.org and click on the “Activities” tab for two parent testimonials; the “Staff” tab for the Director's message; and the “Find Us” tab for a 360 degree virtual tour of our beautiful facilities. Newsletters are also posted with information about Dayspring classroom activities each month.

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2013 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 All Saints Day

2 Fall Youth Event

3 Communion Sunday

Daylight Savings Time Ends

Fall Youth Event

9:30 AM Worship and Godly

Play

4 5 Election Day

1:30 PM Spiritual Formation

Group #1

6 7 2:00 PM Spiritual Formation

Group #3

6:15 PM Joyful Noise and

Noisy Joy

7:30 PM Choir Rehearsal

8 9

10 9:30 AM Worship and Godly

Play

11:00 AM Commission Meet-

ings

11:20 AM Storytelling Circle

6:30 PM OWL

6:30 PM Youth Group

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12 1:30 PM Spiritual Formation

Group #1

13 7:00 PM Finance Committee

14 9:00 AM Diaconate Meeting

2:00 PM Spiritual Formation

Group #3

6:15 PM Joyful Noise and

Noisy Joy

7:30 PM Choir Rehearsal

15 16

17 Ingathering

9:30 AM Worship, Godly Play,

Joyful Noise and Noisy Joy

6:30 PM Youth Group - Bowl-

ing!

18 SHELTER Inc Dinners

7:00 PM PFLAG

19 SHELTER Inc Dinners

1:30 PM Spiritual Formation

Group #1

7:00 PM Council Meeting

20 SHELTER Inc Dinners

21 SHELTER Inc Dinners

2:00 PM Spiritual Formation

Group #3

6:15 PM Joyful Noise and

Noisy Joy

7:30 PM Choir Rehearsal

22 SHELTER Inc Dinners

23

24 Reign of Christ

9:30 AM Worship and Godly

Play

6:30 PM OWL

6:30 PM Youth Group

25 26 1:30 PM Spiritual Formation

Group #1

27 7:30 PM

Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve

Service at Beth Chaim

28

29 7:30 PM Winterdance

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