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Crystal Congregational Church
February 2015 Newsletter
Pastor’s Desk
Matthew 26:69-70 says, Now Peter was
sitting out in the courtyard, and a
servant girl came to him. “You also were
with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. But he
denied it before them all. “I don’t know
what you’re talking about,” he said. As
we approach the cross of Christ and
begin our Lenten journey, we need to
reflect on the times in our lives when we
deny Jesus as our Savior.
On Ash
Wednesday, we receive the “imposition
of the ashes” when the sign of the cross
is put on our foreheads. We are asked
not to wash it off until we go to bed for
the night. It is a very noticeable sign of
our Christian beliefs and if we happen to
go to a store or something after the
service, it is hard to deny our Christian
faith. Unfortunately, we don’t wear the
sign of the cross on our foreheads all the
time, making it easy to hide our faith.
Sure we have necklaces with cross
pendants and other subtle signs, but
nothing on our foreheads like a neon sign
piercing the darkness of the night.
Perhaps we could strive to live our lives,
especially during this Lenten journey, as
if we always had the cross of ashes
applied to our forehead. The best way to
do that is to display Christian love to
EVERYONE around us, that they might
know we are Christians by our love.
Pastor Ried
PRAYER NEEDS
Latina Andrews
Children’s Sunday School
Food Banks
Wanda Gobat
Frank Goodgasell
Dan Janzen Mission
Louise Johnson
Kid’s Hope USA
Jean Mason
David Oster
Servant Center’s Mission
Kay Smith
Jenne Lou Trudgen
Many unspoken prayers
THINKING OF YOU
“Thinking of You” cards are in the pews
and we encourage you to use these
cards to send someone an uplifting note.
If you don’t know the person’s address,
just put their name on it and the
secretary will try to complete the
address and make sure that person
receives your note. You may place the
card in the offering plate and postage
will be paid by the church. This is a
great way to share God’s love and to let
others know they are being prayed for
and thought of.
HIPAA
A reminder that with the new rules, the
hospital, its volunteers or employees are
no longer allowed to tell anyone you are
there unless you direct them to. Please,
Please, Please let pastor know if you or
any of your family or our church family is
in the hospital. Pastor Ried would rather
be told 10 times than not at all. Thank
you for your help in this matter.
February 2015 Newsletter
CRYSTAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Prudential Board Meeting
January 13, 2015
2. While repairing the furnace that
services the rear portion of the
church, Collar Heating and Cooling
reported that the bearings are going
bad in the furnace’s blower motor.
This is readily apparent when the
blower is running. It was moved and
seconded that Collar Heating be
engaged to replace the blower motor.
The motion carried.
3. Due to budget restraints we are not
going to have all of the carpets
professionally cleaned at this time.
Instead we are going to spot-clean
the worst areas ourselves as a stopgap measure.
Women’s Fellowship
1. Cookbooks are still available at $10
each. About half of the initial order of
cookbooks has been sold so far.
2. The January meeting will be a noon
potluck at the church.
Staff/Parish Relations
There was no business to report.
Pastor’s Report
1. The garage door at the office is out of
alignment again and will not close
without assistance. Dave will look at
it.
2. The bible study program “The Story”
is being looked at.
3. We now have church-wide internet
access and can set up hotel-style
open access in the church.
Old Business
The new AV system is now essentially
fully functional and it is just a matter of
getting familiar/comfortable with all of its
capabilities.
New Business
There was no new business to discuss.
Beacons of Light were shared. Following
a prayer by Ried, the meeting was
adjourned at 7:10 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Scott Matteson (for) Libbie Matteson Clerk
Present: Pastor Ried, Gail Byers, Scott
Matteson, Jeannie McNutt, Carol Shaver
and Dave Steere.
Dave called the meeting to order at 6:03
p.m. An opening prayer was offered by
Pastor Ried.
Consent Agenda
It was moved and seconded to approve
the Prudential Board minutes and the
Treasurer’s report for November. The
motion carried.
Diaconate Report
1. Lent books have been ordered.
2. Communion on January 17 will be
traditional.
3. Ash Wednesday service is February
18.
Kid’s Hope USA
Remodeling is underway in the
elementary building. The 3rd graders ae
now located in the middle school/high
school building. Mentors are working as
best possible around the construction,
finding space to mentor where they can.
Trustee’s Report
1. Scott reported on a draft proposal to
be presented to the Township Board
for the rental of space in the
Community Center in which to
permanently house the Clothing
Closet, at a cost not to exceed $75
per month. It was moved and
seconded to submit this proposal to
the Township Board. The motion
passed. (Subsequent addition: at its
meeting held on January 14, 2015 the
Township Board voted to provide
space for the Clothing Closet free of
charge for the first year, in
recognition of the community-wide
outreach of the program.)
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February 2015 Newsletter
Crystal Congregational Church
Monthly Financial Report
Following is a look at the church’s financial health
for the month of December and for the fiscal year
ending May 31, 2015.
December Collections
December Budgeted
Income Over (Under) Budget
$5,867.71
$7,604.00
$(1,736.39)
December Expenses
December Budgeted
Expenses Over (Under) Budget
$10,824.29
$7,604.00
$3,220.29
YTD Collections
YTD Budgeted
Income Over (Under) Budget
$49,858.86
$58,931.00
$(9,072.14)
YTD Expenses
YTD Budgeted
Expenses Over (Under) Budget
$54,499.10
$58,931.00
$(4,431.90)
YTD Collections
YTD Expenses
Income Over (Under) Expenses
$49,858.86
$54,499.10
$(4,640.24)
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Eric Lau
Cole Ryan
Nick Michalek
Mary Follett
Carter Akin
Craig Cook
Rev. Ried Martin
Owen Cook
Dave Richards
Brandin Strause
Berdett Wadle
Diana Michalek
Haley Pifer
Sylvia Bogart
Carol Baxter
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READERS
Sharon Woodman
Vicki Launs
Karen Merchant
Jeanne McNutt
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8
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USHERS & GREETERS
Betty Steere, Becky & Claire Akin
Eric & Carol Lau, Bob Launs
Mark & Tia Jolls, Ben Merchant
Jeanne McNutt, Dave Richards,
Becky Flowers
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Barb Duflo & Brenda Jolls
Bonnie Flint & Carol Shaver
Sharon Woodman & Jeanne McNutt
Women’s Fellowship
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COMMUNION
Bob & Vicki Launs, Ginny Wallgren,
Diana Michalek (prepares)
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Following is a list of Birthdays and
Anniversaries for the Month of
February for people of our church. If
yours is missing or wrong, please let the
church office know so that our files can
be changed.
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Buck & Mary Ann Last
Bill & Marcia Seiter
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Coffee Hour
February 2015 Newsletter
They created labels and cards.
They created charts and graphs.
They did some genealogy reports.
They did every job known to man.
Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and
Satan was faster than hell.
Dueling Computers!
Then, ten minutes before their time was up,
lightening suddenly flashed across the sky,
thunder rolled, rained poured, and, of
course, the power went off.
Jesus and Satan were having an on-going
argument about who was better on the
computer. They had been going at it for days,
and frankly God was tired of hearing all the
bickering.
Satan stared at this blank screen and
screamed every curse word known in the
underworld.
Jesus just sighed.
Finally fed up, God said, “THAT’S IT!
I have had enough. I am going to set up a test
that will run for two hours, and from those
results, I will judge who does the better job.”
Finally the electricity came back on, and each
of them restarted their computers.
Satan started searching frantically, screaming:
“It’s gone! It’s all GONE! I lost everything
when the power went out!”
So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards
and typed away.
They moused.
They faxed.
Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out
all of his files from the past two hours of
work.
They emailed.
Satan observed this and became irate.
They emailed with attachments.
They downloaded.
“Wait!” he screamed. “That’s not fair! He
cheated! How come he has all his work and I
don’t have any?”
They did spreadsheets.
God just shrugged and said,
They wrote reports.
“JESUS SAVES!”
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February 2015 Newsletter
Crystal Congregational Church
300 S. Main Street
Crystal, MI 48818
[email protected]
crystalcongregationalchurch.com
Pastor Ried Martin
Church – (989) 235-4208 Cell – (989) 763-2180
[email protected]
CRYSTAL CLOTHING CLOSET
Distributions for February will be held
on the 14th & 28th at the
Crystal Township Hall
9:00 a.m. to Noon.
Donations are welcome.
Crystal Congregational Church
300 S. Main Street
Crystal, MI 48818
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