Sunday School is on the rise

The kids sang Father Abraham in Sunday School and had fun. Everyone got into it and let it shine! Sunday School meets each week at 9:15 a.m. and we have classes for all ages... and that includes the adults.

In the next few weeks we will be gearing up for the Annual Christmas Pageant. This year we will be presenting the traditional Christmas play. We are looking for a director so here's your chance to use your gift.

The Pageant and Christmas party will be on December 14 at 6:00 p.m. We will have dessert and watch the kids perform. Afterwards, we will have a visit from Santa Claus. All the children are invited to bring some health and beauty aids to add to our Winter Survival Kits for those in need in our neighborhood. Examples of what to bring include, shampoo and bar soap. New white tube socks are also welcome.

Cal

Our nursery area is getting a facelift

On Saturday three members of our Property Committee began working on brightening up the nursery at church. Mark Rogers, Pete Adams and Nancy Allen gave up a morning to come down and begin the job. They primed two walls and have plans to finish the job in coming weeks. They also hope to add a suspended ceiling and additional lighting to the area.

Rosie Main, who teaches the nursery class for our Sunday School suggested the changes. She said the toddlers need to have a bright and cheerful area that makes them feel welcome. Her classroom also doubles as our nursery area during worship. A couple of the moms have also made plans to add a new television and dvd player to the space. with some new Veggie Tales dvd's on the way, the kids will have something to look forward to in the new year.

If you would like to help with the painting or any other aspect of the job, talk to Mark, Nancy or Pete.

Cal

A Night for discussing plans

The Trustees met tonight and discussed several things on the agenda. We looked at our finances and noted that giving was a little behind schedule. George Rezendes and Frank Royce noted that of things continued as they were, we would only be behind by about 2% which isn't too bad. The only category where we didn't have and hopes for meeting the budget was in fundraisers.

Mary Brockway volunteered to head up a community tag sale next spring if we wanted her to. We would sell tables and make our money that way. It would be a lot easier to manage and everyone would take their own stuff away afterwards. We could raise between $200- 500 with minimum effort.

We also talked about the Stewardship Campaign this Fall and made some suggestions to the Budget Committee. Ray Deptulski shared that the Property Committee is planning on painting the nursery area and adding lighting and a drop ceiling to the room.

We discussed the furnaces and decided that we would wait until next year to tackle the possiblity of replacing them with gas furnaces.

Then we spent some time talking about the Kitchen project and the Capital Campaign. The final cost is going to be about $100,000. Curt Brockway is going to put together a team to raise the money. They will probably be looking for gifts to be paid out over between three and five years. It was suggested that the team needs to be made up of people who are really excited about the project. We also recognized the facxt that we will need to adjust our timeline if we are going to go ahead with the project. We would move into the funraising phase in the Spring and look to do the construction in the summer or early Fall.

Cal

New life in the Stroud home

Shane and Nikki Stroud are the proud parents of two beautiful baby boys. The Strouds moved up here last July and came to church this summer. Shane is in the Navy and is stationed in New London. Over the last few weeks we have had them in our prayers.

The two boys were born on Saturday and I got to see them up close at the Yale New Haven Hospital. Little Daniel is doing fine. He is starting to eat and may be home soon even though he was born a month early. His brother Chase may have to wait a bit longer. Chase has a heart problem that may need surgery. Things look good right now. The doctors are suggesting they wait and see how he does. If he doesn't need surgery right now he could also head home in a little while.

Nikki came home from Yale New Haven Hospital on Tuesday night. Her God-mother is up and helping out. Nikki had to have emergency surgery to bring the boys out. She has to take it easy for the next four to six weeks. We will be providing some meals for the family over the next few weeks. Call the church office if you can help.

Cal

Basketball season returns

Basketball season is underway at First Baptist. Fred Green has been recruiting players and it looks like we will have one very good team in the Church league this year. Coach Leonard Miller will be working directly with the kids with help from Joe Jensen and his assistant coach from last year.

The season will start within the next couple of weeks. Check out our web site for upcoming games!

Cal

A night of heavenly music

On Sunday night ten choirs came together to celebrate the music we sing in the churches at the 16th Annual Choir Festival. Maggie Schumaker of United Congregational Church pulled everything together again this year. Every year the anthems get better and the fun seems to grow. This year Doug Green was the guest director of our combined choir which featured over one hundred and twenty voices.

Here are a few photos that I took during the festivities. Enjoy.

Cal

Faith in action

On Sunday morning Curt Brockway unveiled our stewardship theme and campaign poster. The theme is "Unearthing Our Gifts: Growing our Ministries First Baptist Church." Curt explained that we all have been given gifts and talents by God and called to use them. As we use them in the church, our ministry will grow and be blessed by God.

The Poster features a "leafless" tree. For every $2,ooo given in pledges, leaves will sprout on the tree depicting the ministries that we are engaged in now, as well as the people who are a part of them.

A bit later Cynthia Strouse came up front and displayed one of the "no sew" blankets that we will be giving away as part of our missional church project in January. After telling us about the project, she asked for volunteers to help put them together. The blankets are made of four square yards of fleece and are tied off in knots all around the exterior. All eighteen blankets she brought with her were claimed. She promised some more would be available in the coming weeks. We hope to do at least fifty of them. Speak to Cynthia if you want to help.


In our Stewardship Moment I interviewed Amanda Duntz. She is the first of three people we will hear from during the three weeks of our Stewardship Campaign. Amanda grew up in Lebanon and has been coming to our church since the day she was born. After graduating from Lyman High School she volunteered for AmeriCorps and spent a year teaching English as a second language in an inner city school just outside Sn Jose, California. When she came back home, she got involved with the Windham Interfaith group which meets the needs of the poorer folks in the Willimantic area. She also went on our Mission trip last year and is now actively involved in our Missional church project. When I asked her why she did these things, she responded that it stems from her understanding of what it means to be a Christian. She explained that faith is meant to be lived out in the world. It isn't something to talk about. It is what you do. It is making a difference because of what you believe.

It was great to hear from three of our friends in church as they talked about what God wants to do with our gifts and talents.

Cal