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Summer is a wonderful time to be involved with Family Promise,

an outreach ministry to families who are in between jobs and/or

homes. Families will be staying here at our church, arriving

Sunday evening, July 5 and departing Sunday morning,

July 12. Volunteers are needed to set up classrooms for our

guests, greet families in the evenings, prepare, serve and clean

up meals, entertain children, and stay overnight. All ages and

“stages” are encouraged to serve!

There is a large white board located in the connector–

add your name and be part of this special ministry.

We are blessed to be a blessing!

J. Barry Dagenhart, Pastor Philip Bunch, Associate Pastor Robert J. Robinson, Pastor Emeritus

Office Hours: Monday - Thursday 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. and Friday 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

803.327.2009 phone 803.327.4123 fax www.firstarp.org

JULY 2015

First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Rock Hill, South Carolina

9 a.m. - Acoustic Service • 11 a.m. - Traditional Worship Service

10 a.m. - Sunday School

FIRST CHURCH LIFE

Upcoming Host Week:

July 5—12

Summer Church-Wide Fellowships

The Family Life committee is hosting monthly gatherings during the summer months. Join us

Wednesday, July 15 5:30—7:30 pm at the church

Dinner, followed by kids vs. adults games

Fun for all ages! Players and fans are needed; come

out and enjoy this fun time with our church family!

Congratulations to

Kayleen Muchler andDavid Rankin Who were united in marriage in our sanctuary

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Jill Fleischer and Charles Fitzhenry Who were united in marriage in Cashiers, NC

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Summer is off to a great start! We’ve had our first game nights and breakfast clubs, and enjoyed an awesome week at the Quest middle school conference! First ARP youth were MeiRose

Barnette, Helen Cable, Elliott Smith and Kelsey Stutts with Molly and Luke Grigsby.

Upcoming summer activities: Game Nights (7-8:30 pm)—drop in at the church for games & desserts July 1, July 8, July 22, August 12.

Breakfast Club (10:00-11:00 am) fellowship, Bible study & breakfast— July 14 and August 4 at the Grigsbys' (1426 Lowell Trace).

Appalachia Mission Trip—July 4—10 Please pray for our youth and leaders as they minister and serve this week. The team will be hosting a VBS for children in the Appalachia area of Tennessee.

Summer Children’s Activities

Mondays through August 10 Open Gym 10 am-12 noon

Join us for a relaxed, unstructured time to play with your church friends in the cool gym. Drop in anytime—all ages are welcome!

Tuesday, July 14 Children’s Baking Day 1:30—3:30 pm Rising 1st—3rd Grade students are invited to the church kitchen to make desserts for the Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen. We’ll bake delicious treats for

others, then play some fun games. Sign up in the connector.

Monday, July 20 Preschool Water Day 10 am—noon Rising Kindergarteners and younger are invited to the Robinson’s (2115 Eakle Dr) for a morning of splish-splashing fun! Bring a

towel, sunscreen & picnic lunch! Sign up in the connector.

August 4-6 Mission Possible Service Day Camp

Rising 3rd– 6th Graders are invited to his special three day camp that will focus on service projects in our community. Camp will meet Tuesday through Thursday from 9:30-3:30 and is limited to 12 students. Registration is $20; sign up in the connector.

First ARP Church friends, We have many things to be thankful for! Emily and I are currently enjoying some much needed vacation time out of town, but appreciate your continued prayers for us and for RiverCrossing. 1) We are thankful for this time to visit our daughter in Delaware and Emily's family in Iowa. We are also fund raising as we travel. 2) We are thankful for the movie night outreach we had in our neighborhood a few weeks ago. We met several new families that we didn't know and plan to do more relationship building things like this. We're learning that Jesus wants us to take His command to love our neighbors seriously! 3) We're thankful for the session members of 1st ARP as they visit us over the summer months. 4) Pray for a recent graduate from Columbia International University that is interested in helping us in our work here in York County. Pray that it's a good fit! 5) Ask the Lord to bring us to people He wants us to reach and that He will bring people to us.

Thanks so much for praying,

David Stover

Family Bible Conference July 27-30 Bonclarken Conference Center, Flat Rock, NC

This year’s conference is coming up quickly and discounted advance

reservations are still available until the end of the month. Programs

include teaching on the Book of Joshua (the Women’s Ministry study book

for the coming year). Dr. Ralph Davis, who wrote one of the study

books, will be giving four morning talks on Joshua and seminar

speakers are further developing Joshua themes. Mark Ross is this

year’s evening speaker. A wonderful children’s program for all ages is

also included; informational brochures are located in the connector.

See John Barron if you have questions.

July is HOPE Month

Please bring your canned foods and pantry

items to the blue container in the connector.

Thank you to Ken Gasque who transports our

donations to the HOPE House so they can help

those in need in our community.

Tell your friends! Tell your neighbors!

First ARP Preschool is enrolling for Fall 2015!

Space is available for ages 1 year through 4 year old Pre K.

Contact Heather Robinson— preschooldirector@firstarp.org

Next Worship Service

Thursday, July 23

6:30 p.m.

Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen

Thank you to Joanne Edwards, Susan Gardner, Fran Hancock, Wayne Wingate and Donna Zeigler who served 50 people in May, and to Fran Hancock, Jan Phillips, Gail Stafford, and Brad and Elena Ziegler who served June 18 at the Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen.

Would you like to serve?? Our church is committed to serving the 3rd Thursday of each month. Our next serving day is July 16. Contact Susan Gardner (327-6551) to volunteer.

Men's Fellowship Breakfast

Saturday, July 11 @ 7:00 am

Robinson Hall

Women’s Ministries News:

Summer Joint Circle Meetings: Wednesdays, 6:00 pm July 8, & August 12

Join us at the church for a light supper as we complete our study of A Women’s High Calling.

Summer Bible Study: Tuesdays, 10:00 am Psalms: Songs Along the Way

Lessons are not dependent on each other—attend whenever you are able!

June 30 at the home of Fran Hancock July 7 at the home of Katie Beth Tinker

July 14 at the home of Ginger Smith July 21 at the home of Mary Joyce Wright

Annual Yard Sale: Saturday, July 25 Clean out your closets and garages for our annual yard sale! We’d like to refrain from cluttering up the hallway, so when you have dona-tions, please call Michele Harbin (366-1250) before bringing them to church so items can be stored in the closet. Women's Ministries appre-ciates any volunteers to help sort clothes and be available the day of the sale.

Salsa Making Workshops Friday & Saturday, August 7 & 8

Mark your calendar:

Women’s Ministries Fall Dinner

Wednesday, August 26

1 Payne Gettys Jay Holladay Lauren L. Barnes Mallory Pearson 2 Ivey Smith 3 Nick Tuttle 4 Cameron Miller 5 Lucas Ramsey 6 Tripp Eaves Don Ferguson Josh Madsen Johnny Smith 7 David Smith 8 Christian Kulbok 9 Kyle Brakefield Elise Harbin Kathy Todd

Happy Birthday! 20 Allen Elliott, Jr. Betsy Ledbetter Caleb Ramsey Olive Rhoad Stephen Turner 21 John Simpson 22 Robert Faulkner, Jr. H. W. Rhodes, Jr. Lisa Smith 23 Dottie Gettys 24 Shellie Sloop 25 Sally Williamson 28 Casey Fincher 29 Angela Fischesser Bo Youngblood 30 Jaycie McMullan David Allan 31 Ashley Barron Susan Faulkner Chandler Green Kay McKinney Beth Robinson Hal Todd

10 Lew Dickert Jane Fleischer Miriam Ghent Taylor M. Rushing 11 Dorcas Hinson Manning Sloop 12 Chris Helms 13 Katherine Rutland Debra Heintz Jan Small 15 Barry Dagenhart Ann Laney 16 Rob Crawford 18 Ann Louise Kellett Walker Norris Frank Simpson 19 Buzzy Elder Rene` Helms

On June 26-28, we enjoyed our first ever weekend Bible school! It was a wonderful weekend of fun fellowship, delicious food and Biblical learning. We were all reminded of the greatest treasure of all .... God's love, which is patient, kind, forgiving and forever! Our

children sang about his love during worship on Sunday and a delicious

lunch concluded this special weekend. A special thanks to our speaker, Dr.

Dale Johnson, who led the Adult sessions on the Reformation, and the

Maud Martin Gettys Fund for their sponsorship. (sessions were recorded; contact the church office if you are interested in a copy).

We are grateful to our fantastic volunteers who gave their time to make

SonTreasure Island happen! We especially thank our creative and energetic

Directors, Chrissi Norman and Ginger Catoe; Bible teacher, Amanda

Ghent; Music leader, Jenny Nowicki; Recreation, Brad Brakefield, Mike

Catoe and Warren Norman; AAA Volunteers, Jamey Dagenhart Sarah

Dagenhart, Lesslie Pursley, Mabry Smith, and Roddey Smith; Elementary

Leaders, Terisa Brakefield, Taylor Madsen, Linda Neely, Megan Sanders

and Neely Turner; Preschool Leaders, Hall & Meg Dozier and Anne

Sanders Kiser; Nursery, Michele Harbin, Greg Harbin and Kelley Tuttle;

and our amazing kitchen staff, led by Ginger Smith, Janie Cauthen, Eric

and Nora Madsen and Jody Rankin.

2015 Synod and Presbytery Report Bonclarken Assembly, June 9-11, 2015

Barry, Philip, Bob Robinson, John Barron & Don Harper represented our church at the summer Presbytery and Synod Meetings. Some highlights include:

Summer Meeting of Catawba Presbytery

The Presbytery established the Shem Creek (Mt. Pleasant) mission and licensed Ben Carver to serve as its Mission Developer. Ben recently spoke at FARP about the mission work.

Approved David Ledbetter to serve on the Provisional Session of the RiverCrossing Mission.

The Commission of the Old Brick Church continues its work for the denomination’s historical home. Numerous repairs have recently been made to the building. The Commission is working to document cemetery graves and preserve tombstones.

Meeting of General Synod – Larry Littlejohn (Mississippi), Moderator

This year we shared Bonclarken with the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America. We shared worship and meals with them while holding separate business sessions.

The General Synod finalized the removal of chapters 34 & 35 (added by the denomination early in the 20th century) from our version of the Westminster Confession of Faith

Bonclarken has completed a major renovation of ‘the motel.’ With this upgrade the name has been changed to Founders South.

Alex Pettitt, the Executive Director of World Witness, reported major work with refugees of the ISIS fighting. A recent report identified the ARP Church as the world’s #1 agency supporting these refugees.

The Executive Board announced they believe they have found a buyer for the denomination’s Greenville office property. New Greenville property will be pursued for the offices.

Erskine College continues to address concerns of our accrediting agencies with good progress being made. (Erskine’s President, Dr. Kooistra, will be addressing our church at a Foundations for the Family dinner in September.) A specific motion to have the school end its participation with the US Army in a Doctor of Ministry program for chaplains was defeated.

Elected Mr. Phil Williams (elder from Covenant of Grace ARP Church, Winston Salem) as the Moderator-elect.

If you would like additional details or have questions, please contact Barry, Philip, John or Don

Missions 2015 We praise God for safety and the work He accomplished in both our adult mission teams this year. Both teams will share in-depth about their experiences on Rally Day, August 30. Pat Smith, recently returned from Berlin, wrote the following: “Team Berlin is back! What a trip! Nine women traveling to a city that is in need of hope. Our team tried to impart as much as we could while on our ten day trip. We were enlightened about the struggles of those working with the people of Berlin, as well as the daily struggles of Berliners, and how their remorse of events in their history affect their quality of life and their hope for

the future. There are so many stories to tell and prayer requests on our hearts that we will continue to share as we talk about our trip. We began

each morning with Psalm 118:24 ‘This is the day that the LORD has made….let us rejoice and be glad in it!’ In addition to the two festival sites,

we traveled to three additional ministry locations across the city to see the needs of people and understand the overall dynamics and ministries of Team Berlin, a partnership of World Witness (ARP) and Mission To the World

(PCA). Each missionary has unique challenges in each location, yet the overwhelming need of all is the need for the love of Christ. Those serving in Berlin have to find creative ways of reaching the people so they understand

the gospel and the free gift of salvation that will bring them the joy and hope they so desperately need. It quickly became apparent to us that it is about building relationships. This is what we tried to do as we hosted the two festivals, one for the Philippus church in Prezenlburg (the church Jeff & Suzanne currently serve) and one for the Marzahn church (where Jeff & Suzanne and the Burklins formerly served). On Sunday, we worshipped

with the Marzahn church before the festival, which was an amazing experience. Jeff & Suzanne (and their boys) translated the sermon for us,

but the most memorable part of the service was the music. Even though we could not totally understand the words of the songs, we all felt the joy and

were united together praising God. In spite of the language, the Holy Spirit was evident, binding us together in love. We ended our days with Psalm

118:29 ‘ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, His steadfast love endures forever.’ Through your support and prayers, we truly believe we had a small

part of planting seeds and built relationships with the people of Berlin.”

Our Appalachia Mission Team will be serving July 4-10. Please pray for team members Ethan Barkley, Mary Margaret Donahue, Sarah Donahue, Jack Gettys, Lindsay Looper, Hannah McKinney, Taylor Madsen, Mabry Smith, Roddey Smith, Philip Bunch, Luke & Molly Grigsby.

Please submit information for the next newsletter by July 23.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday

June 30 10:00 a.m. Women ’s Bible Study 10:30 a.m. Breakfast Club

1 9:00 a.m. the Beast Jr.7:00 p.m. Youth Game Night

5 9:00 a.m. Acoustic Worship 10:00 a.m. Sunday School 11:00 a.m. Traditional Worship

Appalachia Mission Trip

6 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Open Gym

7 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Preschool 10:00 a.m. Women ’s Bible Study 10:30 a.m. Breakfast Club

Family Promise

8 9:00 a.m. Preschool 6:00 p.m. Meeting7:00 p.m. Youth Game Night

12 9:00 a.m. Acoustic Worship 10:00 a.m. Sunday School 11:00 a.m. Traditional Worship 12:15 p.m. Kay McKinney and Tom Simpson Prayer Teams MUSIC CONFERENCE

13 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Open Gym

14 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Preschool 10:00 a.m. Women ’s Bible Study 10:30 a.m. Breakfast Club 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Children’s Baking Day 7:00 p.m. Diaconate Meeting

15 9:00 a.m. Preschool 5:30 p.m. Church-Dinner

19 9:00 a.m. Acoustic Worship 10:00 a.m. Sunday School 11:00 a.m. Traditional Worship

CAMP BONCLARKEN

20 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon

Preschool Water Day 7:00 p.m. Session Mtg

21 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Preschool 10:00 a.m. Women ’s Bible Study

22 9:00 a.m. Preschool 7:00 p.m. Youth Game Night

26 9:00 a.m. Acoustic Worship 10:00 a.m. Sunday School 11:00 a.m. Traditional Worship

27 NO OPEN GYM (Set up for book sale)

28

Congregational Service Luncheon

29

Reminder:

July is HOPE month

Family Bible Conference - Bonclarken

Additional information about these events may be found within the newsletter.

Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

9:00 a.m. Beauty and the Beast Jr. 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Youth Game Night

2 8:00 a.m. Barry Dagenhart Prayer Team

3 OFFICE CLOSED

4

Independence Day

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Preschool

6:00 p.m. Joint Circle Meeting 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Youth Game Night

9 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Preschool

10

11 7:00 a.m. Men’s Fellowship Breakfast

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Preschool

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Church-Wide Fellowship Dinner

16 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Preschool

Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen

17

18

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Preschool

7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Youth Game Night

23 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Preschool 6:30 p.m. Just Joy

24

25 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Women’s Ministries YARD SALE

30

31 Library Book Sale (public)

August 1 Library Book Sale (public)

Bonclarken