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NUMBER 2011-08 April 3, 2012

IN THIS ISSUE ~ NEWS & NOTES ~ HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE ~ SUMMER SOFTBALL and so much more..... Dear friends, After Jesus was baptized, the Spirit led him out into the wilderness, where he spent forty days praying and fasting and clearing his mind, wrestling with temptation. Upon emerging from the wilderness, he began his ministry of healing, teaching, and proclaiming Gods kingdom. Our own forty-day journey through Lent is now at an end. It seems that, like Jesus, we are called to move from reflection into a time of ministry and action. In the coming months, we will host a bike safety rodeo in our church parking lot, a Womens Tea, more neighborhood cleanups, and a week-long Vacation Bible School. We will have another combined/bilingual worship on Pentecost, followed by our annual church picnic. We will participate in a week-long mission project known as Miracle on 43rd Street to help a struggling Disciples congregation in the heart of Los Angeles. Yes, the coming months will definitely be a time of ministry and action! All this we do in order to spread the joy of Easter, to bring new life and wholeness to our neighbors, our community, and our world. If it all sounds a bit tiring to you well, it does to me, too! Which is why we need to constantly rely on God, and not neglect those spiritual practices that keep us strong in the faith. The time of reflection may be over, but it is always essential to take time to pray and to worship. I dont remember who said it, but the truth of the quote remains with me: The busier I get, the more I need to stop and take time to pray. See you in worship! Blessings, Pastor Danny Holy Week Thursday, April 5 - Maundy Thursday Service, 7pm Friday, April 6 - Good Friday, sanctuary open at noon for prayer and meditation Saturday, April 7 - Lent ends. Live victoriously in Saturday. Jesus has won the victory lap and is coming around again. Taken from the Newsletter Newsletter Sunday, April 8, Easter Sunday, rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Service, 10:15am

A prayer for Bixby Knolls Christian Church

Use me to bring wholeness to my neighbor. Use my church to bring wholeness to our community. Show us how your kingdom of shalom can be made real on earth through us.

Bixby Knolls Christian Church, (a Disciples of Christ Church) (562) 426-0428

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Saturday, May 5, 1:00 p.m.

Please make your reservations early. The tables are filling up quickly so dont miss out on this special day.

Lively. Informal. Intimate. Creative. Spiritual A new generation of worship. April 22, 6:12 pm.

Miracle on 43rd Street is our regions 2012 mission outreach in our own backyard. In collaboration with the Disciples Women, this unique service project focuses on bringing the best of our gifts, resources and talents as an expression of Gods love and empowerment to a welcoming community. This hands on work is a visible witness to what it means to be one church! It takes place June 27-July 1 at United Christian Church in Los Angeles, a historically African-American congregation in a mostly Spanish-speaking neighborhood where 72% of the residents have never finished high school. It is one of the most densely crowded neighborhoods in southern California. The need for a Christian witness of healing and wholeness is great. Help is needed to: paint the sanctuary; install new flooring in the sanctuary; remove the pews; clean and polish the pews; re-install the pews; repair and paint drywall; replace light fixtures; replace lamps; paint the dining hall; clean and paint the cupboards in the kitchen; mend and paint the wrought iron fencing; install irrigation and landscaping; re-stripe parking lots and as with every church facility, theres always window washing, general cleaning and closets to be organized. In addition, there will be a Youth Experience held in conjunction with Miracle Week; high school youth from throughout the United States will be coming to participate in mission projects at United Christian Church (in conjunction with Miracle Week) as well as at other locations in Los Angeles. Evenings will include worship & a special music concert. Pastor Danny is on the planning team for the youth event, so interested youth should talk with him. For more information regarding Miracle Week, or to register, visit www.pswdw.com/events.

There will be no Worship & Wonder nor Jr. class on Easter Sunday.

FELLOWSHIP HOUR HOSTS NEEDED

Monthly 30-min. Neighborhood Clean-Up

Leo Dittemore - April 5 Bob Dickison - April 7 Andrew Berg - April 16 David Rugh - April 18 Frank Martinez - April 28 Hazel Torres - April 23
April 14 11:00 a.m. Youth & adults of all ages are welcome to join us. Those who want can go out to lunch afterward.

You know that BKCC supports Centro Shalom with financial help, groceries and clothing. But do you know what Centro Shalom does? Centro Shalom: distributes food, clothing and furniture. provides paralegal assistance to families, renters and small business owners. offers help with public agencies for domestic issues, immigration, welfare and school issues. holds computer classes for job skills and literacy. Over 500 women have graduated from our Womens self-esteem mentoring program. By learning parenting, community service, and job skills, they have overocme low self-esteem and even abuse issues. Many have opened their own businesses, many continue to participate in this program to h elp other women develop the self-esteem that is essential to creating stable families where parents and children can grow and succeed in becoming productive members of our community. Thank you for your support of this great Long Beach service organization. Pat Cohen Community Action

As stated in the previous Fellowship News, we have redone our planters. In addition to thanking the young men from Brethren High, I would like to thank Las Marias Nursery for giving us a discount on the plants. With all of the new plants I would like to call your attention to the new orange tree. If you are out front facing the church look to your far left and you will see it. The idea is that as it grows and produces fruit, we will invite passersby by to have an orange on us. Just one more simple way to reach out. Las Marias Nursery 5777 South Street Lakewood

Gretchen Rugh

Potato Bake Update! What a spud-tacular turnout at our annual Potato Bake, March 18th! Yep, those were the biggest potatoes in the world...right here at BKCC, plus music, fun fellowship, a raffle, delicious cake (thank you Lydia) to celebrate Tom's 92nd birthday, and of course lots of laughter (it was a St. Patrick's Day clearance after all & all jokes and potatoes had to go!) Thank you to our potato bakers and help crew - you're the best! Contributions toward the camp fundraiser totaled $245! In addition, John Solan transferred a whopping $700 to the camp fund from the church's soda machine profits! Thank you John, for overseeing this valuable resource. On behalf of CE and our Youth, we really appreciate the on-going support from our church family. Scheri Dubon Sharon Lebots surgery last month was successful. She is recuperating, and hopes to return to worship in a week or two. Marcia Solan has not been feeling well lately. Scheri Dubon will be having surgery this week.
To have your news, joys, or concerns included in next months newsletter, send a note to Pastor Danny at dannybradfield@gmail.com, or call the church office.

Spring has sprung and its time to start thinking of summer softball. The South Coast Interfaith Councils Congregation Athletic Association will begin play with division classification games April 28 and May 5. Classification games will be played at Palms Park in Lakewood at a time to be determined. The regular season will begin May 19 through July 28 with all teams playing eight games against other church teams. Regular season games will be played at St. Martin Park in Lakewood. You can find more info at www.WebConnections.com/CAA. The team must field at least three females playing positions and all players bat. If we have more than ten players we switch off field positions. All players must be 13 years of age by Dec 31, 2012. The cost will be $25 to $40 per player depending on the number of people on the team. We use the classification games to match teams with similar playing skills to make the regular season fun for all. We need to decide if BKCC will have a team this year before April 16. We have had trouble with enough players being at each game the last couple of years. It cost an extra $13 each time a team forfeits and is unfair to the rest of the players and other teams when not enough people show up for games. I enjoy leading team but we need people who can commit to being at the games Saturday afternoons. Please contact Leo Dittemore@WebConnections.com, or call (562) 429-2137 and leave a message, if you or someone you know are willing to be to be part of the BKCC team. I do not need money at this time. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Play ball! Leo

Church Camp and EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION DEADLINES are quickly approaching. If you are requesting a camp scholarship from the Region, all applications must be submitted no later than April 30, 2012. form may be obtained from the church office or on-line www.lochleven.org Camp Dates: Mini Camp - July 1-4 is for those who will be in grades 2 & 3 in the fall of 2012. Junior Camp - July 8-14 is for those who will be in grades 4-6 in the fall of 2012. Chi-Rho Camp - July 15-21 is for those who will be in grades 7-8 in the fall of 2012. CYF 1 Camp - July 22 - 28 is for those who will be in grades 9-10 in the fall of 2012. CYF 2 Camp - July 29 - Aug 4 is for those who will be in grades 11-12 in the fall of 2012, as well as those graduating in the class of 12. All Ages Camp - August 5 - 11 is for kids in grades 4-12. Young Adult Camp - August 17 - 19 is for those who are at least one year out of high school. This at

Wednesday Night Dinner

Join us every Wednesday for our pay-what-you-can community supper. Whats on the menu? Come and find out! 6:00pm

Vacation Bible School July 16-20

BIXBY KNOLLS CHRISTIAN CHURCH

(Disciples of Christ)
SUNDAY SCHEDULE: 9:00 a.m. Sunday School for Adults 10:15 a.m. Morning Worship and Childrens Church OFFICE HOURS: Monday - Thursday 7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Friday closed

CHURCH STAFF: Pastor Daniel Bradfield -Minister Monica Lanz -Church Secretary Barbara Neal-Peebles -Music Director/Organist Christine Perkinson - Church Child Care Suzie Romero - Custodian

BOARD OFFICERS: David Rugh -Board President -Vice President Pat Cohen -Secretary Angela Hillig - Treasurer Chrysan Naw - Financial Secretary Phil OLaughlin -Church Clerk

The Fellowship News A publication of Bixby Knolls Christian Church of Long Beach (a Disciples of Christ Church) 1240 E. Carson Street Long Beach, CA 90807 www.bixbyknollschurch.org Editor: Monica Lanz 562-426-0428 bkcchurch@aol.com fax 562-426-0429 Pastor: Daniel Bradfield The Fellowship News is published twice monthly.

Newsletter Article Deadline April 15, 2012, 5:00 p.m.

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