January 2015

PASADENA COVENANT CHURCH

Worship at 10:00am and

Annual Congregational Business Meeting
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Join us for worship at 10:00am (note time change) followed by our Annual Congregational
Business Meeting is Sunday, January 25th at 11:00am in the gym. During that time each
family member unit will receive a copy of the annual report, in which the various Pasadena
Covenant ministries of 2014 provide an summary report, and a copy of the proposed 2015
church budget. We will also vote on the new board of Trustee nominees, the new members
and vote to approve the 2015 budget.
There will not be time to discuss the budget in detail at the annual meeting, so a
Congregation Budget Forum is scheduled the week before.
Following the Annual Congregational Business Meeting, we will fellowship together
during an all-church luncheon.

Congregational Budget Forum: Monday, January 19, 2015

There will be a Congregational Budget forum on Monday evening, January 19th, at
7:00pm in the Corner House. This forum is an opportunity to preview the proposed
annual church budget for 2015, on which members will vote the following Sunday
during the Annual Congregational Business Meeting. We will not have time during
the Annual Meeting to discuss the proposed budget, so this forum provides members
with an opportunity to ask any questions they may have and gain a better
understanding how the ministries and facilities at Pasadena Covenant Church bless
not only our congregation, but other ministries as well.

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Christmas at the Shelter 2014

Many, many thanks to pretty much the entire congregation for working together to pull off
our first-ever Christmas at the Shelter! Nearly 100 Pasadena Covenant Church members and
attenders from every segment of the church were involved in one way or another serving,
cooking, decorating, doing Costco and CVS runs, donating everything from funds to pay for
professional staff to great coffee to go with the meal to granola bars and candy canes for the
gift bags. PCC kids drew pictures to decorate the walls, put together 148 gift bags, and set the
tables. The meal was festive and abundant, the love shared by our professional and volunteer
ministry members was tangible. Our hearts are full. Much gratitude to everyone for
contributing to this wonderful event!

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Christmas at the Shelter 2014

Cooking oil, 48oz

Beans
Rice
Cereal

Canned Tomato Sauce

Pasta
Canned Mixed Veggies
Canned Fruit

Fresh Fruit that keep well

(apples, oranges, etc)
Fresh Veggies that keep well
(carrots, potatoes, etc.)

Please place your donations in the plastic basket in the small closet that is by the doors leading to
the Sanctuary building from the west side (outside the Gathering Place). If you dont know where
that is, ask at the Welcome Table or ask one of the ushers.

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Womens Book Club

The Men's Book Club will meet on
Thursday, January 8th, at the Corner House
at 7pm to discuss "7 Men - Their Secret of
Greatness" by Eric Metaxas. For more
information, please contact Rich Doyle at
DoyleRJRB@aol.com.

The Cross-Cultural Ministries Team will

meet on Thursday, January 8th at 7:00pm.
The location TBD. For location of the
meeting or more information, please contact
Bruce Wear at rbwear@att.net

The next Urban Ministries Team meeting

will be our strategic planning meeting on
Saturday, January 10th, in the Corner
House. We will meet from 9am-12noon.
After the meeting we have lunch. For more
information, please contact Wayne Aoki at
aoki6@sbcglobal.net.

Upcoming Trustee Meeting

Monday, January 5, 2014
7:00pm, Corner House

The Womens Book Club will meet on

Tuesday, January 27th, from 7:30-9:00pm in
the Corner House. We will be discussing
Wonder, by R.J. Palacio. Newcomers are
welcome.
If you have any questions, please contact
Jennifer Mawhorter at
jmawhorter@pomona.edu

Sarah Circle will meet on Tuesday, January

20th, 9:30am - noon in Fireside. We
welcome all women to join us for service
projects, fellowship and refreshments. All
women are welcome. We have a rolling start
so come when you can.
For more information, contact Julie Maljian
at (818) 790-5911.

Koinonia will not meet in January. Look for

information for our February Prayer and
Praise Potluck in the February Church
Newsletter.
For more information, please contact Judy
Pruitt at 626-351-9454.

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Cross-Cultural Communication Specialists Praise & Prayer Requests

Maureen and Dan Huang, members of Pasadena Covenant Church, live in Pasadena and work with
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. They serve in national
roles in InterVarsitys Multiethnic Ministries Department.
Maureen manages Communications and Resource
Development while Dan assists on special projects as time
allows. Maureen also helps supervise ministries among
native students. (His primary job to finish his PhD in
Intercultural Studies at Fuller.)

What is Multiethnic Ministries?

Maureen and Dan with their three boys (l-r):
InterVarsitys mission is to reach students and faculty at
Joshua, Andrew and Ezra
college campuses all across the nation in all of their ethnic
diversity. Multiethnic Ministries oversees ministries that are contextualized to different people groups. In
addition to having a long history of reaching large minority groups, some of our most recent growth has
been in reaching Hmong students.

What do you do in your role with Communications and Resource Development?

One of my roles is to help connect staff and students with the great resources available to them in areas
of cross-cultural ministry, racial reconciliation, and ethnic identity growth. In part of the country, one
staff member might develop a discipleship program that teaches students basic cross-cultural
skills. Another, elsewhere, might design Bible studies on Moses that speak to the heart of bicultural
Latino students. My job is collect these resources, create new ones, and share them with staff and
students around the country.

What do you enjoy about your ministry?

I have the honor of serving with those who are reaching Native students, coaching and shepherding
some of our Native ministry leaders. It has been challenging to learn about the histories of injustice at
the hands of European colonists and missionaries, and its impact on ministry today. Yet, it has been
exciting to see that God is raising up leaders and calling Native students to himself. It reminds me of the
importance of value of sharing the Gospel with culturally appropriate words and actions, while addressing
the very real pain and barriers to Christ, some of which have been erected by Christians themselves.
Praises

Give thanks to God for the work he is doing among Native students! We presently have 2 new Native
staff interns in Colorado along with 5 new Bible Study groups in Alaska, Hawaii, and New Mexico.
Prayer

Please pray for the Multiethnic Worship Training Kit that we hope to make available in March 2015.
Its a resource designed to help worship leaders learn new cultural styles of worship in an effort to be
more hospitable to all groups on campus.

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Advent Breakfast and Advent Craft

On Dec. 7th we gathered for an Advent breakfast to join together and shift focus to
anticipating with joyful expectation the birth of our Savior. All came together to enjoy
breakfast and work on a simple nativity sets which went along with the advent lessons for our
kids classes during December. Families were given a guide to center a simple family
devotional time each week leading up to Christmas. Brunch was provided by Pasadena
Covenant Student Ministries, with the will offering going to support youth scholarships.

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Journey to the Promised Land

Sunday mornings at 10:30 for Kids:
This year's theme for our Kids' programs is Journey to the Promised Land: Jesus is our Hope.
We are focusing on Old Testament stories of the people of God journeying to the promised
land. In those stories we find our own journey of hope following Jesus to the promised
Kingdom. All grade levels (2 years thru 5th grade) will focus on the same biblical narrative
each week, so families can follow up at home with your own conversations about our journey.
During January and February, we continue the story of the descendants of Abraham with the
story of Joseph. This is a powerful story filled with painful themes we can all relate to: sibling
rivalry, jealousy, sin, suffering. But it is also the story of reconciliation, restoration, and hope.
We will learn together how God works in the painful struggles of this family to give us a
glimpse of his great rescue planthe way he will help all of us be reconciled to God and to each
other.

Ideas for following up at home:

1. Find Israel and Egypt on a map. Help kids trace the journey Joseph took to help kids
connect this story to real, historical places.
2. Go through your closets and talk about clothing. What feelings do you associate with
different items of clothing? Do you have any hand-me-downs? Do you like them or resent
them? Talk about Joseph's special coat and what he might have felt when he wore itand what
his brothers felt.
3. Pray for peace in the Middle East as the countries there continue to struggle with age-old
conflicts.
4. Discuss the idea of "faithfulness". How does Joseph represent "faithfulness"? What
struggles did he encounter over his life? How was he faithful in difficult situations? What
difficult situations are you or those you love experiencing? Pray for God's help in remaining
faithful in all circumstances.
(Continued on next page)

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(Continued)

Mighty Memorizers
New to our kids' program this year is Bible memory. Memorizing portions of Scripture is one
of the ways we "hide God's word in our hearts", allowing it to sink in and nourish our souls.
We encourage families to learn these verses together, with our preschoolers learning a shorter
version and our gradeschoolers (Logosland) learning the full text and reference. At the end
of the year we will have a special celebration to honor all our memorizers.
The January verse is: The LORD chose you because he loved you he brought you out
with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh
king of Egypt. - Deut. 7:7-8

Save your gift wrapping tubes!

As you finish your holiday wrapping, please save the cardboard tubes from the rolls of gift
wrapPCC kids ministries needs them! Drop them off in the narthex or the church office.

Recycle outgrown toys!

Are you cleaning out your closets to make room for all those new Christmas toys? PCC Kids
Ministries can use the ones your kids have outgrown! We are in need of used toys in good
condition for 4-6 year olds, particularly: dress up clothes, Legos, hot wheels cars & tracks,
and baby dolls.

Pasadena Covenant Play Club

Play Club is a group for preschool kids and their moms or dads that meet the first and third
Tuesday mornings at Pasadena Covenant Church's nursery from 9:30-11:00. Play Club is a
place for kids to gather and have a great time singing songs, hearing Bible stories and playing
while their parents connect with each other as well.
Feel free to invite your friends. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact Lisa
Thackwell at thackwells@gmail.com or Brittany Burian at bburian@gmail.com.

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Preschool Ministry
Need Donated Items:
We are putting together great new play spaces for our preschoolers. Donations of preschool-age toys
that your kids have outgrown are needed to make that happen! Were particularly looking for:
Baby dolls, clothes & accessories
Matchbox cars

Dress-up clothes - princess; shoes, jewelry, crowns, etc..

Hot wheel cars and tracks, garages, etc.

Adults Sunday mornings!

In 2015, come and be part of a new infrastructure for adults on Sunday mornings that will
emphasize multiple paths of apprenticeship in spiritual formation:
Finding Your Place in Gods Story: Introduction to Christian Theology (Bible Study: The Word)
and
Life with God: Invitation to Christian Practice (Spiritual Formation electives)
Art Patzia, retired Senior Professor of New Testament at Fuller Seminary, will be leading our first
session of The Word, with a study of The Johannine Epistles, beginning January 11 through
February 22. It will meet at 9am in the Fireside Room, in the gym building. Our second offering in
Life with God will be ready soon.

Sunday Mornings
TheStudy: Numbers, Sunday mornings, 9-10am in the Student Room
All Wednesdays: LifeGroups, 6:30-8pm (Student Room)

Upcoming Events
For more information about upcoming events, please contact our Pastor for Youth
Ministries, Dave Rinker, at drinker@pasadenacovenant.org.

Pasadena Covenant Church

539 North Lake Avenue
Pasadena, California, 91101-1217
Return Service Requested

Page 10

January 2015
1 Thursday - Offices & Facilities Closed
2 Friday
3 Saturday
4 Sunday
9:00am Classes
10:30am Worship Service
11:45am Hospitality
12:00pm Miriam Singers
5 Monday
7:00pm Trustee Meeting
6 Tuesday
9:30am Pas Cov Play Club
7 Wednesday
5:45pm Childrens Choir Rehearsal
8 Thursday
7:00pm Mens Book Club
9 Friday
10 Saturday
9:00am Urban Ministries Strategic Planning
Meeting
11 Sunday
9:00am Classes
10:30am Worship Service
11:45am Hospitality Time
12:00pm Miriam Singers
12 Monday
13 Tuesday
9:00am Pas Cov Play Club

14 Wednesday
5:45pm Childrens Choir Rehearsal
15 Thursday
16 Friday
17 Saturday
18 Sunday
9:00am Classes
10:30am Worship Service
11:45am Hospitality
12:00 pm Miriam Singers
19 Monday - Offices & Facilities Closed
7:00pm Congregational Budget Forum
20 Tuesday
9:30am Pas Cov Play Club
9:30am Sarah Circle
21 Wednesday
5:45pm Childrens Choir Rehearsal
22 Thursday
23 Friday
24 Saturday
25 Sunday
9:00am Classes
10:00am Worship Service
11:00am Congregational Business Meeting
12:00pm All Church Luncheon
12:00pm Miriam Singers
26 Monday

27 Tuesday
7:30pm Womens Book Club
28 Wednesday 5:45pm Childrens Choir Rehearsal
29 Thursday
30 Friday
31 Saturday