Nonprofit Organization US POSTAGE PAID Stillwater, OK Permit No.

280

Facts & Figures for November 13, 2011 Attendance (141 and 165)...........................306 Sunday School........134 General Fund Receipts..............$9,252.00 Capital Fund Receipts.......................$2,805.00 Loose Offering/Sunday School......$124.00 Non-Budget Funds Receipts...$1,556.91 2011 Facts & Figures as of Oct. 31, 2011 YTD Budget Receipts.........$399,840.33 YTD Budget Expenses.......$409,098.50 Net Receipts over Expenses.......($9,258.50) Presented by Kay Smith, Treasurer, dkwsmith@suddenlink.net

The Stillwater Christian

Volume 2011 In This Issue
Announcements Care and Feeding of a Candle Children and Youth Birthdays & Anniversaries Facts & Figures 1 2 3 3 4

November 15 Nov. 16th - Advent Decorating Please join us in lending a hand with prep for the advent season Wednesday night!

FINAL WNF Work Together, Play Together:

The menu is: 2 choices of Quiche - vegetable and cheese and meat lovers, roasted potatoes, and marinated veggies. Kids will have Green Eggs and Ham Pie, potatoes, and green beans. Desert is Peaches and Cream Delight.

SAVE THE DATE!

Nov 17 - Official Board Meeting Nov 20 - Thanksgiving Dinner and Advent Decorating Nov. 27 - Hanging of the Greens Dec 9-11 - CYF Mystery Trip

The Thanksgiving Offering benefits the colleges, universities, and seminaries affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). These communities are an extension of the church, challenging students to understand and respond to Gods call to serve. Your support provides scholarships, church relations programs, and chaplaincy offices. Most importantly, your support of the 2011 Thanksgiving Offering helps Disciples raise up servant leaders! FCC Thanksgiving Dinner, Next Sunday! Come join us as we celebrate with thanksgiving all that God has done for us. Celebrate the holiday with your church friends and family on Sunday, November 20th. To accommodate our members who do not drive at night, we will begin serving at 11:30 for those who attend first service. We will continue serving until 1:00 for those who attend second service. The turkey is provided, and you are invited to bring a dish to share. Please bring a dish according to the first letter of your last name: A - G: desserts, H - L: breads, rolls, M - R: potato, rice, or noodle dish, S - Z: fruit or vegetable salads Advent Prep Needs Volunteers and Color Wheel! Remember to join us in the Sanctuary at 1:30 this Sunday to help prepare our surroundings for the Advent season. Bring a pair of gardening gloves just in case you are asked to assist with the garland; these will help protect your hands! There will be many ways to help on Sunday. If you cant come at 1:30, consider joining us about 4 pm, when the tree arrives. Please take time to enjoy the Thanksgiving feast held in Williams Hall prior to joining the sanctuary decorating. Hope to see you there! As part of our advent preparation, the Worship Department is needing a color wheel for an aluminum Christmas tree. If you have one that you would loan us this season, please bring it to the church office. We need this by November 27. Thank you!

Thanksgiving Offering to be Taken Again Sunday

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Of Stillwater, OK, Inc. 411 W. Mathews Ave. Stillwater, OK 74075-7517

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Order forms are in the office and they will be taken until Nov. 21st. Order now for Christmas gifts! Questions? See Jack Stout

Time To Order Coffee!

The Stillwater Christian is a weekly publication of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The deadline for articles each week is 1pm Monday. Tracy Freeman, Editor editor@fcc-stillwater.org Church Office Phone: 405.372.7722 Fax: 405.372.7726 Find The Stillwater Christian and more information at www.fcc-stillwater.org

OUR NEXT OFFICIAL BOARD MEETING IS Nov. 17th!

Join us this Sunday for Owen Caytons Message, Serving Jesus in the World based on Matthew 25:31-46 and Ezekiel 34:11-24 Traditional 9:00am Sunday School 10:10 Contemporary 11:10

Send prayer requests and general email to office@fcc-stillwater.org

The Care and Feeding of A Candle

Owen Cayton, Senior Minister pastor@fcc-stillwater.org
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Ps. 136

CHILDREN & YOUTH MINISTRY NEWS

Sondra Ladd, Children/Youth Ministry Director youth@fcc-stillwater.org

What a great holiday Thanksgiving is a whole day set aside to be grateful. What are you grateful for this year? What do you recognize as grace in your life? There is indeed a connection between grace and gratefulness. There is a sense in which we should live our lives out of gratitude to God, well okay, not a sense: we should live our lives in gratitude to God. I think the world would indeed be a different place if we would live our everyday lives in gratitude, with an understanding that we didnt earn a day of life and that all life is a gift from God. However, I also know that when all-the-time is set aside for something, then no time is set aside for it (sort of an if it is everyones responsibility then it becomes no ones responsibility kind of thing). So in the practice of our faith, it is good that we set aside a day to be genuinely grateful. But it is not just a day. Again this year, the practice of listing things on Facebook for which people are thankful is in full swing. Each day in November people name something that they are thankful for in their status update. I hope that whether or not you are on the internet and whether or not you have a Facebook account that you might pick up this task in preparation for Thanksgiving Day. Maybe we could use those thanksgivings to write a psalm. Psalm 136 is a thanksgiving prayer. When you look at it, do you see the responsive character of the psalm? Can you imagine it being read in a community where each line is spoken by a leader and the response is made by the congregation? Notice the characteristics of the leader part. Each line is an account of what God has done for the people. In short, it is a recounting of salvation history up to that point. I wonder what the recounting of our own history might look like. What points of this congregation would we put in a litany like this? What points of our lives would we include? What would it look like to take the daily Facebook status and in between each thanksgiving write Gods steadfast love endures forever? The really cool thing about practicing gratefulness, particularly in the way that Psalm 136 does it, is that it gives us hope for the future. When we say the words, Gods steadfast love endures forever, after each line, remembering what God has done in the past, we remind ourselves that God demonstrates the divine love in concrete ways. God does indeed interact with this world and even our lives. While God can always surprise us, and is never limited to act only in particular ways, we can be sure that God will always act in love and care for us. This is something to be grateful for! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Shalom, Pastor Owen

Apple Pie Fundraiser Success! Thanks so much to EVERYONE who prepared and purchased apple pies. I have already sampled my pie and it was amazing. Proceeds benefit Summer Camps, Conferences, and missions. A HUGE thank you to Sheri Gumm; the Pie Making Organizer Extraordinaire! Your donation of your talents and gifts, combined with your amazingly calm and gentle spirit are the perfect combination for this task. What a blessing you are to this congregation THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Summer 2012 Announced Opportunities were presented Sunday. Here is the exciting news about where YOU can plug in in Summer 2012 and BEYOND! More details will be available on our website.
Dry Gulch 2012 I Am A Child Of God Ages: 7-12 Dates: June 4-9th Cost: $350, early bird group rate for those who have worked volunteer opportunities $175. $75 deposit due Jan. 1st; $50 due March 1st; final $50 balance due May 1st. What: Our beloved amazing summer camp Heifer Ranch: Global Challenge Bigger Than Me Tour Ages: entering 6th8th grade Dates: June 20-24 Cost: $300. Please reserve your space NOW; $75 deposit due Feb. 1st, balance due May 1st. $150 per person fee for those who have volunteered parking/pie sale). What: An immersion program in Little Rock, AR in which we will experience life the way people around the world do. Also, a side trip to Petit Jean National Park. 2012 Mission Camp El Reno Ages: Completed 8th-12th grade Dates: July 22-27 Cost: $300. $150 for those who volunteered; $75 due Jan. 15th, final payment March 15th. It Only Takes A Spark Tour Costa Rica Ages: completed 9th - 12th grade Dates: June 30-July 7 Cost: $500 per person +passport only for those who qualify. Preregister NOW, $250 deposit due Feb. 1st, final payment $250 May 1st. What: Mission trip to Robealto Childrens Home Foster Care for at risk youth.

Summer 2013 Family Mission Jamaica For all ages, dates between June 23 and July 7th. Let Sondra know NOW if you are interested! CYF Mystery Trip Clue

Off the boat and into a winter wonderland. Where could that happen? Hhmm
Happy Birthday to: 11/16 Gerg Beer; 11/17 Gage Baker; 11/18 Nancy Trench; 11/19 Ruth Sturgeon, Kathy Hornberger; 11/20 Barbara Adams, Matt Hiner; 11/21 Lynn Case; 11/22 Dorislea Kekahbah Happy Anniversary to: 11/17 Ted Peeper and Rebecca Perry; 11/22 Clifton and Searcy Crow