TABLE OF CONTENTS

Deepening our Discipleship 1

Children Worship ................. 2

Youth ..................................... 3

Elementary ........................... 4

Special Events ....................... 6

Day School News .................. 7

Missions ................................ 9

Presbytery Events ................ 10

Committee Meetings ............ 11

Upcoming Events. ................. 11

Acolyte Schedule .................. 12

Birthdays ............................... 12

October 2015

Rev. Rebecca Luter

Deepening our Discipleship

This Sunday, October 3, is World Communion Sunday. In

preparation the children are invited to the church at 10am on

Saturday to bake the bread. While we wait for the dough to rise

and then the bread to bake, we will learn that people around the

world eat different kinds of breads that are related to the common

crops in their area.

Communion bread is to be the same kind of bread that is common

to the people taking it because it reminds us that God works

through what is common. The bread isn’t special; God’s grace is.

Farmington Presbyterian has certainly experienced God’s grace!

Take a moment to reflect and give thanks for the ways you have

experienced God’s grace through Farmington.

As you read this month’s New Vision, you will see many

opportunities to be part of extending God’s grace to others. You

may have wondered in the past how God could use a common

person like you to alleviate another person’s suffering. I hope that

as you read about Room in the Inn, Stop Hunger Now, The

Community of St. Therese of Liseaux, and the Yucatan Mission

Trips you will find that God is calling you to be a channel of God’s

grace.

The Buggy for Books program encourage young children and parents to read together by setting a goal for the month.

Farmington Day School set a goal of 2500 books for September and exceeded the goal by 1064 books.

Wednesday Night Children’s Worship

Christian Education

A fter a lesson with children, do you feel

like you worshipped? A few years ago, I

asked this of a group in charge of a

Children’s church program. Overwhelmingly

the answer was negative. Often we feel that

children need to be entertained while taught so

they will pay attention and perhaps walk away

with a little nugget of wisdom. A majority of

programs I come across for children’s ministry

are “edutainment” ; a whole lot of fun with a little

bitty message. My training in the clowning arts

(juggling, making balloon animals, storytelling,

theatre) made me the poster child for

“edutainment”. But early in my career as a

Christian educator, a woman named Kathy

Shows taught me another way.

While I would stand and teach with great big

exhausting hand gestures, she sat calmly in the

floor and moved only when the story required it.

While I was loud and boisterous to grab the

attention of children, she spoke softly and slowly

making every word intentional. While I

continually demanded eye contact, she rarely

looked at the children at all. Instead she was

focused on small wooden figures on a piece of

felt that made up a simple visual of the story

being told. After a few years of my “method” I

was burning out. It is exhausting to be the center

of attention for a large group of little children

every week. I asked Kathy to help me

understand what she was doing. Over the

following year, I was taught how children

worship, how pretend can bring a story to life by

engaging the imagination, and how wonder

allows the Scriptures to be God’s Word in the

hearts and minds of all children of God.

You may have noticed that the children on

Wednesday nights have moved from the Youth

Room to the Choir Room. This smaller space

holds fewer distractions for the children to

gather and worship together. Children can feel

more grown up, given an appropriate space. A

special thanks to Charles Billings for allowing us

the use of his room. I invite any adults interested

or curious to talk with me about attending a

children’s time on Wednesday night. You don’t

have to prepare anything. Simply come worship

with us and find rest in the company of children.

Grace and Peace,

Doug Barr

W e are surrounded by technology

each and every day. So much so

that we can forget that at one

time, a brink was a huge technological leap,

or that iron was a game changer for its time.

The Bible does not mention Iphones, Twitter,

Mp3, planes, trains, and automobiles but it

does frame how we should use the great

technological leaps of our day. The middle

school chapel students are participating in a

study in social media and the Bible,

Thursdays at 3:30pm. This study includes a

media fast and a time of silent reflection to

help us decide how much priority we will

give technology in our lives.

Youth Schedule

October 6 - Big Story III - Dinner provided.

4pm - 6pm.

October 11 - Fall Break - No Youth

October 18 - Mid-South Corn Maze - Meet

at the Agricenter cornmaze at 4pm.

October 25 - Big Story IV - Dinner Provided.

4pm -6pm.

Sign up for the Youth Lock In

Nov. 13 - 14. Don’t miss the up-all-night

event of the year.

Youth @ Farmington Middle School Chapel

T he sky was blue, the temperature was

balmy, and the food was yummy.

What more could you ask for at the

Germantown Festival? The youth group had

a fantastic year at the festival. The amount

they made will definitely help them with

their summer retreats. Thanks again to all

volunteers that helped before, during, and

after with the festival. Oh…by the way the

youth also received a 100% from the health

department.

- Caroline Demaree

G od is the only god. God is one of a kind with no beginning and no end. And everything God has created is unique

and one of a kind. Each animal is not only different from other species, but also different from other like animals. No zebra has the exact same patterns of stripes. Each monkey has its own temperament. Each sparrow sings a slightly different tune.

The same is true for people. God made each person one of a kind—even identical twins have unique fingerprints! Every person that ever was or ever will be is an original, including the kids we serve each week in our children’s ministry environments.

Now, imagine that God created each one of those kids with an individual box of potential and your job as a parent or leader was to help them figure out how to open it and use it.

There’s a tendency to treat kids like they need to wait before they can start discovering what’s in their box—before they can do something that matters. But kids can use their gifts right now. Sometimes they just need some help figuring out what’s in their box.

That’s where you come in. As leaders in kids’ lives, you can help them discover how to tap into their God-given potential. If you teach

kids to find purpose NOW, they’ll grow up knowing the even greater potential God has for them in the future. That’s why for our memory verse this month we chose a moment where Paul was encouraging Timothy to use the gifts God gave him to serve the church.

We don’t talk about Timothy a lot, but he is a perfect example of a young individual who had incredible potential. A handful of insightful adults in his life recognized what was in his box and helped him open it. And because of that, Timothy had tremendous impact on the growth of the early church. His story is an incredible example of individuality.

Individuality is discovering who you are meant to be so you can make a difference.

Most of us remember Timothy because of what Paul wrote to him while he was a young leader in the church at Ephesus. But if you do a little digging in the book of Acts, and you look at what we know about the journeys of Paul, you can piece together a pretty remarkable story about a young man who discovered his unique God-given potential and did some amazing things.

This month, you have the opportunity to help kids discover the same thing. You can open someone’s box and help them see something inside that they can use right now, maybe something about their story or some talent they may not know they have. When you help a child begin to understand that God made them and God has given them unique abilities to love and to serve others, it has a lasting impact—not only because of what they accomplish right now, but because they are establishing a pattern of living that can change the course of their story.

Elementary

W

an

t to

ke

ep

th

e le

sso

n g

oin

g a

t h

om

e?

Cu

t th

ese

pic

ture

s o

ut

of

the

ne

wsl

ett

er

an

d p

ut

the

m i

n a

fra

me

at

ho

me

. W

ork

wit

h y

ou

r ch

ild

ren

to

co

mm

it t

he

ve

rse

to

me

mo

ry!

PR

ES

CH

OO

L

E

LE

ME

NT

AR

Y

Fall Film Festival Bring your lawn chair and blanket, we are having a movie on the lawn. Join us for

an outdoor movie, hot dogs, popcorn, and a fun friendly atmosphere. We will be

watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" to kick off Halloween weekend.

“It’s the Great Pumpkin,

Charlie Brown!”

Friday, October 30 at 6pm

On the Farmington lawn.

Baking Bread for World Communion

Children and Youth are invited to gather in the FPC kitchen to bake bread with Rev. Rebecca for World Communion Sunday.

Gretchen Burch

Day School News

Parent Appreciation Dinner

Thank you to all the parents who attended our first

annual Parent Appreciation Dinner. It was a fun

evening with cute photos, good food and even better

fellowship! If you had your family picture taken, copies

were sent home Friday. Copies are also hanging on the

bulletin board in the hallway. Be sure to see all of our

families! We hope that you enjoyed this event as much

as we did!

Teacher Feature

Ms. Elise and Ms. Mallorie are the teachers of our full-time threes class. We asked them to tell a little about themselves. Ms. Elise How long have you been teaching?

4 years What do you enjoy most about teaching at FPDS?

I enjoy the children because each child is so different. I also enjoy meeting the families.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time? I love to be with my family, reading, going on trips and shopping.

What’s your favorite vacation spot? I love going to Nashville, TN.

Ms. Mallorie How long have you been teaching?

This is my second year. What do you enjoy most about teaching at FPDS?

Getting to know each child and their families. What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Anything outdoors; riding 4 wheelers, fishing, hunting, going to the lake

What’s your favorite vacation spot? Pickwick Lake or the mountains

I ’m sure you have all heard the buzz around

STEM by now. From high school career

paths, to elementary clubs and even to our

preschool, STEM has taken the nation by storm.

But what is it? And why is everyone jumping on

board?

STEM is an integrated curriculum that

encompasses Science, Technology, Engineering

and Math. Using these disciplines together,

students are tackling problem solving with a new

approach. The National Science Foundation

started the trend during a conference on

furthering education in the sciences. While most

K-12 education has done a good job teaching

Science and Mathematics, Technology and

Engineering are often not part of a student’s

education. Technology is used to create the

products and systems that meet human needs

while Engineering is the creative process used to

design these products. Without these

components, students were not fully prepared

when they got to college and even the job

market. Together, these four disciplines

implement higher cognitive skills and enable

students to use techniques used in the real

world.

Now let’s take this down to a preschool level!

STEM in preschool is taking the same four

disciplines and making them tangible. Preschool

students already explore, observe, ask questions

and predict. You see that each time a child asks,

what is that? Taking that natural curiosity and

creating a process to explore is what STEM is all

about. A preschool student will be presented a

problem, and then asked to brainstorm solutions.

After possible solutions are discussed, the

student will then draw possible solutions. Then

comes the fun part, students use materials to test

their solutions. After testing solutions, students

can then focus on improving their solution. The

STEM lesson that students at Farmington have

already investigated is the Three Little Pigs. The

challenge was to build a house that all three pigs

could fit in and not be blown down. First

students drew a picture of a house that they

thought would meet the challenge. Next, children

built the house they drew with blocks and wood

pieces. Last, children tested their house. Using

STEM skills for problem solving creates a critical

thinker and an innovative one!

Our goal here at Farmington is to educate the

whole child. Creating environments where

children can explore and learn is important to

us, educating future engineers and scientist is

just extra!

- Jenny Howell

What is STEM?

Upcoming Events October 1 & 2 – Picture Days

October 7 & 8 – Firefighter Visits October 12 – 16 – Fall Break

Missions

A t the stated meeting of the Session on

September 21, by a unanimous decision,

the Session approved two new outreach

programs for 2015-2016. Farmington

Presbyterian will be participating in the Room in

the Inn and Stop Hunger Now programs.

The number of homeless people in Memphis

every night stretches shelters in the city. There

is a great need for safe, clement places for people

to sleep during the coldest months of the year.

The concept is simple. Prospective guests gather

at First Methodist downtown, are interviewed

and registered for lodging that evening at a

participating church. Volunteers pick up their 10

-15 guests around 5:30 pm, take them to their

church. We will be using the facilities of

Germantown United Methodist. A hot meal is

served, showers are taken, fellowship is enjoyed,

and lights are out at 10pm. Wake-up call is

usually around 5:30am, a continental breakfast is

served, and the guests are returned to First

Methodist downtown by 7am.

We will be hosting Nov 7, Nov 21, Dec 5, Dec

19, Jan 2, Jan 16, Feb 6, Feb 20, March 5,

and March 19. To volunteer to serve in

N o v e m b e r o r D e c e m b e r , g o t o

w w w . S i g n U p G e n i u s . c o m /

go/10C0D4DAAAC2FA1FA7-room .

There are opportunities to donate needed items,

work behind the scenes, and to act as a host.

Chris Luter is the coordinator for this program.

Please see him for further information. More

information is also available online at http://

www.roomintheinn-memphis.org/

Established in 1998, Stop Hunger Now is a faith-

based, international hunger relief organization

that coordinates the distribution of food and

other life-saving aid around the world. The

organization is driven by a vision to end world

hunger in our lifetime and a mission to provide

food and life-saving aid to the world’s most

destitute and hungry in the most sustainable,

efficient, and effective manner.

What that means for us is a one-time, 2-hour

meal-packaging event to be held during the first

half of 2016. All members of the Farmington

family, from children to seniors, will be

encouraged to help in packaging food at food

packaging stations set up in the Fellowship Hall.

We will package rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables

and a flavoring mix for high-protein meals. We

will package at least 10,000 meals. The meals

cost .29 each. Session is hoping to raise half of

the funds while the balance will be supported by

your tithes and offerings. We are seeking

individuals who may want to make matching

funds available. If you are interested, please let

Bonnie or Rev. Rebecca know. Please be in

prayer for this important mission program.

Jinney Hart is the coordinator of Stop Hunger

Now. Please see her if you are interested in

knowing more . More information is also

available online at www.stophungernow.org

Bonnie Blair, Chair

Service Committee

Presbytery Events

Gathering begins at 8:45am

and light lunch will be served.

$25 per person

Register:

lucygc@bellsouth.net

OR call (901)878-1247

Join us at the Kroc Center for the inaugural “Evening with the Lisieux Community” on Friday, October 16th from 8-9:30pm. WMC-TV anchor, Joe Birch, will emcee the event. Hear the compelling story and the passion of founder and Executive Director, Sandra Ferrell, for victims of abuse, sex trafficking, and addiction. A special feature of the evening will be the screening of the award-winning Independent Lens film “A Path Appears,” which shines a light on sex trafficking and addiction and puts a human face on the victims. After the documentary, guests will enjoy special desserts, coffee, and live music by the Zoo Girls in the theatre lobby. The evening will end with an intimate

performance by Memphis-based singer/songwriter John Kilzer, who overcame addiction while staying true to his vision as an artist. Fran Carpenter, founder of Main Events and one of Memphis’ best and most prolific event designers, is donating her time, vision, and energy to make this a top tier event in the packed landscape of Memphis philanthropy. To purchase tickets: Visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/first-

annual-evening-with-the-lisieux-community-

tickets-18156633981

-or- Call (901) 800-8840

We have a limited number of paper tickets to sell if a person does not have access to the internet. Please let Bonnie Blair know how many you need. Tickets are $25. The Kroc Center is located at 800 East Parkway South, Memphis TN 38104.

Administration

6:30 pm Monday, Oct. 5

Congregational Care

2:00 pm Tuesday, Oct. 6

Christian Education

6:00 pm Tuesday, Oct. 20

School Board

5:30 pm Thursday, Oct. 8

Service

7:00 pm Tuesday, Oct. 6

Session

6:00 pm, Monday, Oct. 19

Committee Meetings

Sundays at Farmington

Sunday School is at 9:30 am and Worship

is at 11:00 am. Join us!

For Sunday School, the children gather in the

Sanctuary with music and then proceed to

their classroom (A6) for the lesson. The youth

gather in the youth room. Adults choose

between Hosea in the Interpretation Bible Study

in the East Room and Mark in the For Everyone

Bible Study in the room closest to the West

door.

Fellowship Coffee after Worship—October 4

and 18

No Potluck—There will not be a potluck

October 11. Enjoy your fall break .

Upcoming Farmington Events

FPC Men’s Ministry News

FPC Men’s group will continue a study of

redemption and forgiveness watching the film

"Unbroken.”

Join us Friday, October 9, at 6:30 am.

We meet at FPC in the youth room and enjoy

McDonald breakfast sandwiches, mixed fruit, and

Ray's coffee. We always enjoy a time of fellowship

and support.

Germantown Festival 2015 Update

We received a perfect score of 100% from the

Health Department as we prepared to sell

“walking tacos”, chocolate-covered bacon, and soft

drinks. The crowds were good and hungry on

Saturday but slowed down on Sunday. $2,000 in

proceeds will support the mission work of

This month: Canned Fall Fruits and

Veggies

Each month we collect a different item to

donate to the Feeding Fayette Food Pantry.

October is all about fall harvest! Bring in cans of

fruits and veggies to add to one of the donation

Feeding Fayette Collection

Oct 7 - Chip Roast Programs for Adults and Children

Oct 14 - Fall Break No Dinner or Program

Oct 21 - Pizza Night Program for Adults and Children

Oct 28 - Chicken Pot Pie Life App Wrap for all ages.

Jerry Hosier

Duke Lively

Roland Mittag

Gerrie Wilder

Neil Sherman

Jack Williams

Melanie Oest

Steve Demaree

Carolyn Demaree

Elizabeth Demaree

Jerry Renfrow

Paul Bourassa

Billie Wann

Bert Phillips

Jon Still

Chris Luter

John Hazen

Gerry Wilder

Farmington Presbyterian Church and Day School 8245 Farmington Blvd. Germantown, TN 38139

www.Farmingtonpres.org

If you have content for the November edition of New Vision, please email Doug Barr no later than

October 23 at Doug@farmingtonpres.org

Acolyte Schedule

Oct 4 Meredith Oest

Oct 11 Natalie Lively

Oct 18 Olivia Mittag

Oct 25 Jack Ritchey

Nov 1 Julia Lively

Session Members

Administration – Kirsten King

Christian Education – Laurinda Ingram

Clerk – Melanie Oest

Congregational Care – John Hazen

Fellowship – Mary Shelley Ritchey

Property and Grounds – Jerry Hosier

School Board – Charlie Smithers

Service – Bonnie Blair

Worship – Sandy Wann

Staff Extensions

Rev. Rebecca Luter, Pastor, Ext. 23

Doug Barr, Director of Christian Education, Ext. 29

Cyndi Bevington, Administrative Assistant, Ext. 21

Rhonda Pearsall, Bookkeeper, Ext. 22

Jenny Howell, Executive Director of Day School, Ext. 28

Linda Turner, Managing Director of Day School, Ext. 24

Gretchen Burch, Program Director of Day School, Ext. 32

Anthony Jones, Maintenance Technician

If your birthday is not listed, please contact

the church office to be added. We would

like to celebrate with you.

3 Jim Collins

3 Steve Demaree

3 Jerry Hosier

3 Cole Ritchey

3 Jack Ritchey

4 Gerry Wilder

8 Charlie Smithers

15 Kristin Ogburn

19 Al Fister

20 Jean Williams

24 Suzanne Thomas

31 Myrt Saxon

October Birthdays

The session of FPC officially welcomed into the Farmington

family Lance and Liv Palmer and their children Amelia and

Abigail and Scott Hutchins, husband of Rebecca Hutchins. Other

highlights this month were approving revisions to the Funeral

and Wedding Policies, updates to the FPDS job descriptions and

affirming an Outdoor Movie Night as an alternative to Trunk-R-

Treat this year.

Report from Session