The Lighthouse - Amazon S3...The Lighthouse July 2016 Dear Friends, One of my favorite movies is a low budget production by a church in Geor-gia entitled, “Facing the Giants”.

The

Lighthouse July 2016

Dear Friends, One of my favorite movies is a low budget production by a church in Geor-gia entitled, “Facing the Giants”. It’s the story of a football coach at a private school whose life appears to be falling apart: his team has a losing record, he drives a beat up old car that always breaks down, his wife is having trouble getting pregnant, and the parents of the school are trying to get him fired. In the midst of all these difficulties, however, he begins to read and study the Bible. He develops a new philosophy for his life as a husband, as a coach and as a man of God. From this a transformation takes place that takes him to places he never thought or imagined he could go. I highly recommend this movie to you and your whole family. One of the Bible passages highlighted in the movie is one from Revelation 3:7-8. It’s the angel’s message to the church of Philadelphia (a city in Asia Minor, not Pennsylvania). The angel says that our God is a God who opens what no one will shut and shuts what no one can open. Our God is a sovereign God who does what He wants when He wants to do it. I believe God blesses those who honor and worship Him with all they say and do. In essence, God is in control. Everything is in God’s hands. So what can we do? Its starts with our recognition that everything we have, every-thing we know, everyone we love, and every moment of our lives is a gift from God. Without God, we would not exist. When we truly come to grips with this, there is freedom. There is freedom to help and serve others to the best of our ability. There is freedom to give God our very best effort in all areas of our lives. For when we do our best, when we give our best to God and trust in Him, God takes care of the rest. We need to leave the results up to Him. We trust God through faith that when we give our best effort in our jobs, in the classroom, on the field and at home with our families, God takes care of the results. I believe God wants to do amazing and awesome things through each of us. God wants to set us up for success, but we need to do our part and give God our very best effort in all we say and do. And always remember to “Live simply, love

generously, serve faithfully, speak truthfully, pray daily, and leave eve-rything else up to God”. In Christ,

Pastor Scott

August

CHURCH ANNOUNCEMENTS PAGE 2

SESSION NEWS PAGE 3

STEPHEN MINISTRY PAGE 3

MISSION & OUTREACH PAGE 4

CAVE QUEST 2016– VBS PAGE 5-6

CALENDAR & BIRTHDAYS INSERT

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Church Announcements LUNCH BUNCH:

Time for a road trip to end the summer. We will journey to Mar-tindale to lunch at the Cottonseed Café. We’ll meet at the church on Tuesday, August 2nd at 12 pm to carpool. It will be about a 30 mi-nute drive. There is a nursery next door to buy your tomato plants. Sign-up sheet in the Nar-thex.

SERMONS FOR AUGUST: (Scott on Vacation August 1-14)

August 7- Brianna Benzinger- 12th Sunday after Pentecost Texts: Isa. 1:1, 10-20; Ps. 50:1-8, 22-23; Heb. 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:32-40 August 14—Brianna Benzinger- 13th Sunday after Pentecost Texts: Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56 August 21—Scott Nowack-14th Sunday after Pentecost Sermon Focus: “Sharpening Your Saw” Texts: Jer. 1:4-10; Ps. 71; Heb. 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17 Events: Blessing of the Backpacks (8/21); First Day of School (8/22) August 28—Brianna Benzinger- 15th Sunday after Pentecost Texts: Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1, 10-16; Heb. 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14 Events: Stuff the Bus (8/28). Brianna’s Last Sunday (8/28) - luncheon to follow 11 am service

NOMINATING COMMITTEE SEEKS INPUT: The NBPC Nomi-nating Committee is working to recommend the Session Class of 2019 (4 members) as well as one Trustee for a one year term. If you have any suggestions, please con-tact Michael Meek at [email protected] or 830-620-8019. The committee met for the first time on July 14 and is moving toward recommendations for a congregational meeting in September to elect these individu-als.

LADIES NIGHT OUT:

Gennaro’s, 1304 E.

Commons St., New

Braunfels will be the

location for our La-

dies Night Out on Au-

gust 23 at 6:00 p.m.

The signup sheet will

be posted in the nar-

thex on the credenza.

If you have any ques-

tions, please contact

Dorothy Pollock 210-

260-8010 or 830-560-

1109.

THANK YOU: I wish to thank my church family for the many expressions of love that have been given to me while I have been recovering from surgery. The prayers, phone calls, cards, visits, and gifts of food for George have certainly sus-tained us and blessed us beyond words. God Bless You All, Alexis Burke

PARENT’S NIGHT OUT: DUE TO

THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND, FIRST

FRIDAY PARENT'S NIGHT OUT WILL

NOT BE HELD IN JULY. THE NEXT

DATE OF PNO IS FRIDAY, AUGUST

5TH, 6-9PM.

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Special Session meeting in July In 2015, the Session approved the purchase of a home in New Braunfels for Rev. Scott Nowack and his family until their home in Kilgore sold. Upon the sale, the Nowacks were to purchase the NB home from the church. A short special meeting of the Session was held on July 6 to discuss and take action on the sale of the NB home to the Nowacks. Session unanimously approved the sale. The original note was just over $37,000 and included the down payment and closing costs. The church is estimated to receive just over $28,000 from the original note during clos-ing, leaving approximately $9,160 remaining to be paid back to NBPC. A note with applicable interest regarding the re-maining amount owed to NBPC is under development.

Stressed? Discouraged? Lonely? Sad? Don’t Suffer Alone. Help is Available. Sometimes we fall into a trap where we think it’s a sign of weakness to ask for help. So when we’re stressed, discouraged, lonely, or sad, we try to keep our struggles to hidden or are reluctant to ask for help. However, that’s not God’s plan. Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” God wants us to care for others—and allow others to care for us in our time of need. If you’re sad or struggling inside, don’t suffer alone. Ask for help. We’ve got a team of Stephen Ministers who are ready to provide confidential one-to-one care, encour-agement, and support to help you through a tough time. Find out more about Ste-phen Ministry by talking with one of Stephen Leaders: Susan Bell (830.625.1102), Scott Payne (830.625.6705), or Anne Felts (830.625.4803). Our Stephen Ministers are ready to bring God’s love and care into your life.

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Mission & Outreach News Briefs It was another successful and meaningful Family Promise week, July 3-10, when numerous church members came togeth-er in fellowship with three families partic-ipating in the Family Promise program. There were three mothers/grandmothers and six children who stayed in our church during the week. Thank you to everyone who made a difference! The start of school is just around the cor-ner so that means we need to help Pack the Bus! We have until August 6 to pack the plastic container in our Narthex with any and all school supplies for the Communities in Schools annual project to help students in need. So, bring your do-nations of binders, wide ruled notebook paper, washable markers, and glue sticks. The entire list can be found on the CIS website at http://www.cis-sct.org/. For more information contact Ruthie Perkins at [email protected]. NBPC’s annual Mission Fair & Education Rally is Sunday, September 11 in the Activity Center. It will be a great time to learn more about the various missions and social service organizations our church supports and get ready to embark on a new Sunday School season. For more information contact Deedy Wright at 830.214.6330 or Sharon Jebens at 830-899-4171. The Comal County Senior Citizens Foun-dation has created a new community outreach program, Serve-A-Senior, to pro-vide lawn maintenance each month for the aging adults in our area. They would love your help! Contact Jana Evans at the Comal County Senior Center at 830.629.4547 or [email protected] if you are interested.

Volunteers needed on August 13

Join us for our quarterly Adopt-a-Highway Trash Pickup on Satur-day, August 13, beginning at 7 am (we want to beat some of the heat) in the NBHS parking lot. The more volunteers the less time we will be out there! Bring leather work gloves, closed-toe shoes, long pants/jeans, and long sleeves. Bottled water is advised too. Safety vests, litter bags, and trash sticks are provided. Let James Lowe know you will be there by emailing him at [email protected]. Thank you!

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CAVE QUEST 2016

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CAVE QUEST 2016

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Please submit all materials for The Lighthouse to the church office, or by email to

[email protected] by Thursday, August 18th for the September 2016 Newsletter.

Worship Information * 9:00—Worship Service * 10:00—Christian Education (all ages) * 11:00—Worship Service

373 Howard Street New Braunfels, TX

New Braunfels Presbyterian Church 373 Howard Street New Braunfels, Texas 78130 Phone: 830-625-5141 FAX: 830-625-5161 Email: [email protected]

Web site: www.nbpres.org Church Office Hours: Monday –Thursday 8:30am-3:00pm; Friday 8:30am-12:00pm

MINISTRIES AT WORK… Want to BE INVOLVED in the Life of the

Church? Contact one of the committees of your choice and make a DIFFERENCE!

Julia George—Clerk of Session [email protected]

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION/YOUTH

MINISTRY Sharon Jebens

[email protected] COMMUNICATIONS MINISTRY

Kari Hutchison [email protected]

CONGREGATIONAL CARE Jody Cosson

[email protected] FACILITIES MINISTRY

Joyce Taylor [email protected] FELLOWSHIP MINISTRY

Austin Talley [email protected]

KIDS DAY OUT MINISTRY Laura Smith

[email protected] PERSONNEL Michael Meek

[email protected]

MEMBERSHIP MINISTRY Ann Brunn

[email protected] MISSIONS/OUTREACH MINISTRY

Jerri Petmecky [email protected]

STEWARDSHIP Charlie Felts

[email protected] WORSHIP MINISTRY

Bob Nolen [email protected]

Dave Wright [email protected]