Friday, February 17th

4:45 - 6:45 PM

Pittsboro Christian Church

216 N. Maple Street

Pittsboro

Menu:  A variety of soups, sandwiches, desserts and drinks 

 Adults $5.00            Children $3.00

 (All proceeds will go to our Door Fund)

Blood Drive - February 20

            3:00-7:00 PM

Pittsboro Christian Church

Week Of Compassion - February 19-26

“Sharing Brings Joy”

Have you ever stopped to contemplate that literally all that we are and all that we have is of God? What an awesome concept! Therefore, our response to that Creator God is to give back. There is no greater joy than being in a position to share our gifts and resources with those in need. If we have enough, but others are lacking, we remind ourselves that God already created a world of plenty, and that it is up to us to distribute and share what we have with those who don’t have enough. I vividly recall this remote village in northern India and the looks in the eyes of the children and the woman, pictured above, when they received a goat from Week of Compassion. This goat would change their lives! One goat! How wonderful it felt in that moment to know that what Disciples had given was now improving the lives of an entire community. What joy!

This Week of Compassion special offering season, February 19-26 , we continue to discern how “Sharing Brings Joy.” This Week of Compassion we hope you will lift up how that sharing blesses, transforms, and brings joy to others . In a time of uncertainty, fear, and continuing economic hardship in our country and in our world, I can think of no better offering to give back to God than our profound joy in knowing that we do, indeed, have all we need-—and more. For “the point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-7) The early Christians are encouraged here to share the joy in giving by letting others witness their generosity so that all may see how God is being glorified and how others’ lives change as a result of our generosity.

For more than six decades, Disciples of Christ in the United States and Canada have shared material resources with a hurting world through Week of Compassion, bringing glory to God as well as joy to others. God’s people giving of their resources-—prayer, money, time, talent—-remains the propellant behind Week of Compassion. The act of giving back to God is simply a matter of faith. It is the natural reaction to our saying “yes!” to following Christ. Sharing with others invites God more fully into our lives. As we reach out in love, we open the way for God to reach more deeply into us. Sharing will joyfully transform you as you help transform the world.

This year, as you share your tithes and offerings with Week of Compassion, remember all the ways your gifts bring joy to others. Sow bountifully and share abundantly, knowing that you are not only helping change the statistics, you are also helping change lives. May we all give cheerfully and multiply the joy!

News from the Property Committee

The Property Committee has decided it is time to make a plan for replacing the wooden outside doors to the church.  We are just starting the research process, looking into possible door styles, which doors to replace, and schedule for doing so with our current resources.  If you have any contacts  working in this industry, please let me know. My home phone number is 852-8165, and email is: tlwurtz2@att.net

We need your help! Cathy has been responsible for cleaning the narthex and sanctuary as a volunteer for the last few years. She is no longer able to do so every week. WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS!  We now have a sign-up sheet for different people to do this task. Cathy told me it takes one person about 2 hours to complete this task every week.  Two people could do it in 1 hour. Our other option is to pay to have this area of the church cleaned.  Our budget protests against doing so at this time. PLEASE HELP!   Thank you, Ted

Wednesday, February 29th - 1:30 PM

At Pittsboro Christian Church

216 N. Maple Street

(parking available on Meridian Street across from the elementary school)

Please join us for an afternoon of fun and fellowship

News from Your Outreach Committee

Shepherds Shelves Update

      The food pantry continues to be busy. We are continuing to get donations and obtain items for the pantry from Gleaners. We did have a donation of $85.00 from the bank employees and a $300.00 donation from the Jaycees.     We also have had food donations that Bev Austin has been able to obtain and bring to the pantry. We want to thank everyone for their donations.

     The committee is working on finding ways to help with the pantry and find people that would like to do food drives for their neighborhood. We are looking at people that live in the communities in Pittsboro as well as organizations. If you are interested in doing a food drive for the church there is a sign up sheet in the narthex or you can contact Linda Wurtz. You can list what date you want to do the drive and the location. The committee will help in any way needed. 

     We can always use helpers in the food pantry. If you are interested in helping on Saturday mornings from 10:00-12:00 you can sign up on the sheet in the narthex. We also have times during the week that we stock the shelves. If you are interested in helping with this you can contact Shirley Burnell or Linda Wurtz. We appreciate all that everyone has done to help the pantry. We could not do this without our church support.

Sheltering Wings Clothing Drive

     Sheltering Wings will be holding their annual clothing drive on February 26, 2012. This is when we collect bags of clothes to give to the Goodwill and the shelter then gets vouchers of $5.00 for each bag for the women at the Shelter to use to buy clothing from Goodwill. Please start saving your clothing donations for Goodwill to use for this clothing drive. We will start collecting the bags at the church on Sunday February 19 and take them to the donation site on Sunday February 26. If you have any questions, you can contact Linda Wurtz. 

Lighthouse Mission Workers

     We had 5 people go to the Lighthouse Mission on 1/12/12. They were very busy and we helped serve 298 men. We have signed up to continue going to the mission on the second Thursday every other month. The dates that we are scheduled to go for this year are: 3/8/12;  5/10/12; 7/12/12; 9/13/12; and  11/8/12.

     If you are interested in possibly going on one of these dates, please mark these dates on your calendar so you can keep that date open. We always need to send 5 people to help serve. Thanks to everyone who volunteers to help with this program.

Coups For Troops

     The Boy Scout Troops that meet at our church have asked us to see if we would participate in a service project that they are getting ready to start. It is called “Coups For Troops”. This program collects coupons and sends them to the Military families overseas. The Military families can use expired coupons for up to six months past their expiration. They will supply a box for us to use to collect the coupons. All we need to do is put any coupons in the box they will leave in the narthex and they will handle sorting and sending them their destination. There are a few stipulations on the collected coupons.

These are:

They must be manufacturer coupons.

They can be printed internet coupons.

The coupons can be up to 3 months past the expiration date.

They can not use any store or restaurant coupons.

     Please start collecting the coupons and watch for the box to be put in the narthex. We will announce in church when the box has been placed . If you have any coupons prior to the box being put out you can give them to Linda Wurtz to hold for the box. The Boy Scouts appreciates our support. Thanks to everyone for your help.