Food Pantry Report

II Corinthians 9:6-15In Psalm 103, David lists the many benefits our Fatherbestows on us. Verse 4 says that He redeems our life fromdestruction and crowns us with loving kindness and tendermercies.The Apostle Paul reminds us that God "has blessed us withevery spiritual blessing" and "is able to do exceedinglyabundantly above all that we ask of think." (Eph. 1:3 &v 3:20)Because of His great love" we are called children of God (1John 3:1), and His grace gives us "sufficiency in all things" thatwe "may have an abundance for every good work." (II Cor.9:8)The God of power and provision is always the God of "morethan enough" to share with others.

Love, RickPsalm 100

Note of ThanksDear Church Family,

I want to express my appreciation to my church family for themany acts of kindness during my illness. Thanks for the manycards and prayers.A special thanks to Ryan for his wonderful friendship andsupport.

Blessings,Marilyn Halferty

IChristmas EveServicesChristmas Eve services will be held at 6:00 PM and 11:00 PM.This sacred evening will be a great time of tradition, family,worship, and holiness. Be with us!

I Issue 43

Children and Youth Christmas elodrama

should be at church

Youth (Grades 6-12), Graduated uth and their families arewelcome as we head to the Country lub Plaza to celebrate theholidays! We'l! eat at Winstead's a walk around to look at thePlaza lights. We will also take a Hansome Carriage Ride.RSVP for this event by calling the Ch rch office, emailing Ryan orsign-up in Fellowship Hall on Sunday.

Salvation Army Bell RingingSign up for a one-hour slot to ring athe Salvation Army at the Big V Cou21 or 23 from 10 AM to 6 PM Sign-upFellowship Hall. If you have questionsor the Church office.

You've heard the Christmas story told, but you've never heard ittold in this way I Join us during worship s Ryan gives his messagethat day with the help of the chi ren and youth of thecongregation. Every child and present in worship onDecember 22 will get a part in the greatest retelling of theChristmas story ever told in these lis. There will be norehearsals and no preparation; thisand purejoylChildren and youth who want to partino later than 10:15 Sunday morning.

Plaza Youth Outing

a word from ryanMost of the time I use this Newsletter article to communicateone single, focused message. This week, due to some timeconstraints and due to the need to do two things, this article isgoing to have two foci. So, as you read it, please note that it'll"switch tracks" about halfway through.

Our first focus: continued thanksgiving. A few weeks ago webegan to give thanks for the people who keep our church movingand shaking. This week, we want to continue the gratitude.Take time this week to lift up your thanksgiving for these folksand their contributions to our church's life!

Rader Miller works hard each and every week tomake sure that the church is picked up, cleaned,and looking good. His steadfast commitment tokeeping our physical plant helps all of us, fromtables set up to floors that have been mopped.Each Sunday morning our lives are filled with livemusic, brought to us by Velva Fausett and JanetGeorge. Both of these talented women practicecountless hours each year to bring our worship thenotes of praise we sing each week.The one who moves our music, Mark Holcomb,puts in so many hours behind the scenes that.when he stands on Sunday morning, it's easy tothink that he has an easy job. Far from it! Markrehearses with our choir each week, chooses andcoordinates their music, works on details of theirspecial events, chooses all of our music for worshipeach week, and keeps us connected to the largermusic scene of the city. Mark improves our life as aworshipping community and is an invaluable assetto us.That baby you heard crying? The children whocame with you to worship? These folks are familiarwith our nursery attendants, Cassidy French,Aleigh Porter, and Lauren Fralal These youngwomen do a stellar job of coordinating our nurseryand caring for the young children of our churcheach Sunday.

Take time this week to give thanks to each of these people.Write them a note, give them a call. offer them a gift: our church

couldn't function as it does without them and we're so gratefulfor the hard work they offer to us.

Now, our second focus: some changes in our Newsletter. Ouroffice has been in contemplation about how best to improve ourcommunication to be both more effective and more costeffective. Last Monday, the Elders and the Board discussed thematter together, and we feel like we have a good idea that we'lltry and see how it is received. Starting as soon as possible in2014, our newsletter, The Current. will switch from being ablack-and-white weekly publication to a monthly publication infull color. We have decided to do this for a few reasons:

We have several different means of communicationin the church that supplement the Newsletter. We

have Sunday bulletins, annou cements from the pulpit.email communication.Facebok.twitter. and this old-fashioned invention known a the telephone! All ofthese will continue, and be u d more effectively.Right now, our newsletter is ighly reiterative. Articlesare frequently repeated. We eel that publishing anewsletter just to publish reit rative material leads tosubstantial waste of both tim and resources.There is a huge amount of co t savings in doing this.We'l! save around $1,300 a y ar in Newsletter Costsrelated to postage and printi g. By leasing a colorcopier, we'll also save about 600 in bulletin costs. Inaddition, we will free up a su stantial amount oftimefor Jennifer Schultz, our Offic Manager, to accomplishother tasks. This extra time ill be necessary as webring on board our second m nister, Lara.We feel that. in order for prin media to be reallyeffective, it needs to include ictures so that people canactually see what's happenin at church.We will be able to suppleme t the Monthly Newsletterwith weekly Email Blastsor"-blasts n asneeded.Thiswill include a weekly email 0 the prayer concerns.

So, starting early in 2014, we will have on monthly newsletter, TheCurrent. in full color. In order to supplem nt this, we will be workingmore intentionally to send out a weekly e ail blast with the week'sprayer list and any important announcem

We understand that some of our church embers rely on a weeklynewsletter and we do not want you to fee stranded by this decision.If you would like, you can contact the chu ch office and ask that allcommunication put out via email be print d out and mailed to youpersonally each week. If you would like t is, all you need to do is callJennifer and let her know that you'd like f r her to mail you a newsupdate each week.

In addition to the monthly Current, we'll ba seeking to use ourFacebook page, our Twitter feed, and our hurch Website(www.smithvillefcc.org) all more effectiv Iy.

We thank you for your patience in this pr cess and for yourunderstanding. Together, we'll communi ate more effectively and

together we'll praise God in new ways thr ugh our living ministry.

With excitement and gratitude,

RyanPS Please remember that the Church 0 ice is closed next week onWednesday, December 25 and Thursday December 26. Due to theOffice Closing, NO CURRENT WILL BE P BLlSHED NEXT WEEK!Enjoy your Christmas holiday with your f mily!

current culture

Sunday Stats - December 15, 2013

Income from Sunday, December 8- $14,308.59Attendance from Sunday, December 8-170

Please help us welcome these guest from Sunday,December 15:Gerry Carson, Sharon Carson, Courtland Ingram, Kyleigh Reid,Oebbie Cabra, Travis, Christy, Trevor & Addison Ford, Pat Luce,Jack, Henry & Oliver Neer, Pam Johnson, Kay Johnson,

Remember Our Service Men and Women:

Sgt. Joseph Binggeli, Denielte and Priest,2306 Lichfield Drive, Columbia, MO 65202

Pvt. Trevor Burgman, PFC,3rd Brigade, 775thBatallion5007 River Chase Or., #223Phoenix City. AL 36867

Mc!J.Todd Hanks, HSC 563rd774Jasmine PlaceHonolulu, Hawaii 96878

Sst. Bobby Hayes, CMR 459

Co/. Lanier Ward and family.3903 Commanders LoopFort Irwin, CA 92370

Specialist Sarah Anderson297stMPCoCamp Sabalu-HarrisonAPO AE, 09354

CANDLELIGHTERS:Emma Drake and EllaParksELDERS:Barbara McFadden and Larry DriverDIACONATE:Ed Blosser,Val Blosser, Brady French,MattFrench, Kathy French,Conner FrenchPREPARECOMMUNION: EdBlosserCLEANUPCOMMUNION: Val BlosserPICKUPSANCTUARY:Brady FrenchCASHCOUNT:Judy Clouqh CASHCOUNT: Jones

DECEMBER 17:Stephanie Henson, Carol Lake, Marilyn Simrall; DECEMBER 18: Fausett; DECEMBER 19:Stefanie Duff, Michelle Atkins, Nancy Pulliam; DECEMBER 20: Mary Shannon; BER 23: Kelsey Boswell,Lauren Frala, Jesse Hamilton; DECEMBER 24: Trudy LaForce; DECEMBER 27: E Summers; DECEMBER 28:Suzanne Crawford, Devin Stripling, Kenneth Brownlee, Joni Weinert; DECEMB R 30: Barbara Krueger;DECEMBER 31:Alexander Hamilton, Amy Heath

FirstChristianChurch

Ryan Motter, PastorCell: 913.707.2870Email: ryan@smithvillefcc.org

Mark Holcomb, Music MinisterVelva Fausett OrganistJanet George, PianistGreg Atkins, TreasurerJennifer Schultz, Office Manager

a look aheac

Children Worship & Wonder

Oct. 20: Storyteller: Bev DarlingGreeter: Kathy Hamilton

Oct 27: Storyteller: Jacinda MankaGreeter: Ken Lippincott

GREETERS,EASTDOOR:Dale and SusanFrenchGREETERS,WESTDOOR:SusieClowerLAY READER:Kathy AtkinsCHILDREN'SSERMON: Bill Drake

Interested in volunteering for Children'sWorship & Wonder? Contact JacindaManka at mankaja@smithville.k12.mo.usor 816-225-1973.