Immanuel United Church of Christ | 1526 S. 18th Street | Lafayette, IN 47905 | web: ucc-immanuel.org

facebook.com/uccimmanuel | email info@ucc-immanuel.org | 765-474-6496

January 2015

Volume 10, Issue 1

Happy New Year!

Life is such a wonderful gift! Each day is a fresh opportunity to begin anew with God's grace, and to grasp it as a gift from God. Regardless of the adversity we face, with God's grace and promise we can make each day a fresh experience of God's grace and love. So it is with a new year. It is a fresh gift from God, full of God's grace and promise. Resolve this year to accept this gift of life and with God's help strive to do that which would honor God and serve others. The best gift of all is the realization that we do not do this alone --the new year dawns with the promise of Christ walking beside us, guiding and strengthening our every step. Ask God to help you dream great dreams for your life and ask Him to fill you with fresh hope to accomplish those dreams that would honor God and serve others. Remember-- God loves you! Listen to this wonderful promise of God's love dawning each day in our lives with grace and hope.

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3.21)

What a blessing to be part of such a wonderful family of faith!

In Christ --Pastor TJ

VBS Daily Offerings Heifer Project Our Church’s Wider

Mission C.U.E. Seminaries Food Pantry C.W.U. C.W.U. Blanket Fund Food Resource Bank Laf. Transitional Hous-

ing LUM: General Fund LUM: Jubilee Christ-

mas LUM: Emergency

Fund Salvation Army University Church Cary Home Cary Home Christmas

Project Veterans of the Cross Laf. Community

Health Clinic Crossroad Ft. Wayne RBC Ministries, Daily

Bread UCC Higher Education Emmaus Home

Habitat for Humanity Trinity Mission Merom Camp Merom: Campership

Fund Neighbors in Need One Great Hour of

Sharing Church World Service Strengthen the Church Emergency Relief

Funds Mental Health America Sri Lanka Mission

Partnership Apollos Pastor’s Discretionary

Fund: for those in need

After School Program Youth Mission Trip IKC Youth Ambassa-

dor Program Souper Bowl

Thank You! In addition to the many ministries of Immanuel, thanks to you we’ve made a difference in these areas of mis-sion locally & globally--totaling over $42,000! Thank you for your generosity!

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December Blessings:

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In the Life of our Youth...

All Youth Ice Skating Sunday, January 11, 0215 from 1-3 at Riverside Ice Rink. Meet at church at 12:30 pm, eat lunch before coming, dress warm, and bring permission slip. Parent drivers are needed. Family and Friends are welcome. Hot chocolate & snacks at church afterwards, ending at 4 pm.

Homework Club/Wednesday Night Suppers are put on hold until January 5/7. Wishing all of our volunteers a peaceful and restful break while our youth enjoy their winter break!

Adults Volunteers needed for our After School Programming we are continually looking for ways to en-hance our programs, we are in the process of putting together a volunteer train-

ing program. Adults are always needed to help and mentor these children. Our goal and focus is

"One Child - One Hour - One Week"

Thank you to all that continue to make such wonderful investments in the lives of our youth!

In His work, Amy Ferrell (DCEYM)

January Mission Offerings

Twice/or more a month Immanuel devotes the loose change and designated gifts to special ministries of im-

portance to us. Special offerings will be collected on January to support the following ministries:

January 11 Immanuel Youth

January 25 Pastor’s Discretionary Fund is used to help those who come to the church requesting help with

vital bills.

January Sunday Sermon Topics

Join us as we start of the New Year with a new sermon series:

Genesis: First Things

JAN 11 The First Cause: The Creator Gen. 1

JAN 18 The First Cause: The Case for a Creator Gen. 1

JAN 25 The First Gardener: Stewards of Creation Gen. 1.26-31

FEB 1 Keeping First Things First: Sacred Rest Gen. 2.1-4

FEB 8 The First Family: In the Image of God Gen. 2.5-25

FEB 15 The First Sin: God's Grace Gen. 3

FEB 22 The First Sibling Rivalry: You're Not the First! Gen. 4

MAR 1 East of Eden: The New Beginning

We will be looking at what these great passages teach us about God and ourselves. We will also look at creation and some of the classic tensions thought to be between science and the Bible as well as some of great classic theories about God including Infinite Regression, Design, Cosmology, the God Experiment, Bell's Theo-rem and Chaos Theory. Join us and invite a friend!

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Just some of the many fun things Immanuel Youth, family

and friends do. Your donations help make these possible.

Skating at Riverside Ice Rink! This year’s trip will be Janu-

ary 11, meet at the church at 12:30 pm.

Great Skates, skating with friends.

Canoe Trip, a fun canoe ride for the whole family.

Cary Home, helping them by filling Christmas Stockings.

Health Ministry Committee will meet on January 14, 4:30 pm in the Alpha Omega Room. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Needlework Group Bring along any project you are working on. Anyone interested in needlework of any type are welcome to come to Rowena's house, 1405 S. 18th St., January

20 1:00 - 4:00. Many projects get completed while visiting with our friends. We would love to have some new persons join us.

Quilters resume quilting every Wednesday, January 7.

The Book Group Tuesday, January 13 at 6 p.m. in the Parlor. Carole Cassida will lead our discussion of One Plus One: A Novel. One single mom. One chaotic family. One quirky stranger. One irresistible love story from Jojo Moyes.

Planning ahead: Feb. - Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom Mar. - All I Know and Love by Judith Frank Apr. - Have a Little Faith by Mich Album

Dorcas Circle January 13, 12:30 pm at Christos, on Teal Rd. Call Rowena by Jan 11 to place your reser-vation 4747-2451.

Mary & Martha Circle The Woman at the Well: Bad for a Season, but Not Forever. That is the subject of Mary & Martha Circle's lesson on Wednesday, January 28th. Kristyl Sloan will host our light breakfast at 9:00 a.m. with Linda Pierret presenting the lesson and Arlene Deck leading the business meeting. Kristy Price will provide food for the Mental Health Day Shelter. Call Arlene Deck, 471-9698, for more info.

Our group has decided to again participate in the Service Kits program through the Church World Service organization in Maryland. We have chosen and have set our goal of 20 COMPLETE SCHOOL KITS –with all items collected by April 20th. Since January and February are good sales times of these school sup-plies…..we are informing you of the needs early. Some of our ladies are planning to provide the colorful cotton material and will be sewing the bag needed for each kit. Below is the list of acceptable items for each School Kit. You may bring any/or all of the listed items to church. A receptacle will be provided for them. Thank you in advance for your assistance. Arlene Deck/ Linda Pierret/ Carolyn Kuespert. Ladies Fellowship will be January 26 at Christo’s on Teal at 6:30 pm. Would You Like To Become a Member of Immanuel? - If you are not a member and would like to be-come a member of Immanuel, please contact Pastor TJ Everyone welcome! (PastorTJ@ucc-immanuel.org)

Adult Christian Education:

The Seekers is an adult class has a format of a book study. For more info see Don or Janice Partlow.

The Hobo’s is made up of a wide range of adults. Led by Gary Gangwer, this class discusses the Sunday sermon and Scripture lessons for that Sunday.

Livin’ Life 21-41 Class is where you can RECHARGE your spiritual batteries for the week ahead, every Sunday @ 9:45 am. Clay & Sue Huenemann, Advisors.

Our thanks to the most recent Tigger Award win-ners who received candles for the way they help light the way. These folks go above and beyond to make a difference in our church: Janice Partlow for writing and directing the Children's Christmas Pag-eant, Gary and Cathie Gangwer for leading the Food Resource Bank, as well as leading an Adult Ed Class, Clay Huenemann and Don Partlow for leading Adult Ed classes, Amy Chase for leading Christmas Jubilee, Lloyd Wells for putting together the Advent Devotional, Annie Rausch and Tamara House for leading the decorating of the Immanuel for Christmas, and Marcy Ritchie for serving as president of the Consistory for 2014.

PN

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Immanuel’s Favorite

Recipes

Brownie Pie

Ingredients:

Brownie Mix

Pie Crust

Confectioner’s Sugar

Snowflake Stencil

Mix Brownie according to

directions or use your fa-

vorite Brownie recipe. Pour

into unbaked pie crust.

After cooking, place snowflake stencil on the brownie and

dust confectioner’s sugar over it.

-Pastor TJ & Savannah

(Your recipe can go here next month! Call the office!)

Rowena Dickerson 1/2

Elizabeth Howard 1/3

Bob Schweikarth 1/3

Anthony Cassida 1/5

Kerry Gillespie 1/5

Sarah Seeger 1/6

Nine Jean Huber 1/7

Miles Gresham-Miller 1/8

Jay House 1/8

Jeremy Ruemler 1/8

Amy Chase 1/8

Pat Shumate 1/9

Sheila Niccum 1/10

Sharon Schug 1/11

Kerry Sloan 1/11

Patricia Shoaf 1/12

Ross Lillpop 1/13

April Phillips 1/13

Ruth Smith 1/14

Stacy Brown 1/14

Darlene Smith 1/16

Norm Beets 1/18

Brody Walden 1/18

Bryce Walden 1/18

Ellen House 1/18

Lance Wilson 1/18

Jill Collins 1/19

William Hershey 1/19

Amy Ferrell 1/21

Rob Sloan 1/21

Robyn Beaver 1/22

Candy Bixler 1/22

Janet Sheets 1/22

William Thomas 1/23

Joe Pitty 1/23

Charles Whittemore 1/23

Larry Bohl 1/25

Ashley Dickinson 1/25

Aden Beaver 1/26

Nancy Christmas 1/26

Madison Meihls 1/26

Ferdi Memelli 1/27

Madeline Anliker 1/28

Sunwoo David Ku 1/28

Lloyd Wells 1/30

Lynn Wunsch 1/31

John/Lara Dickerson 1/1

Chad/Stephanie Lester 1/3

John/Dixie Frye 1/7

Chet/Alice Black 1/20

Bill/Raynae Blair 1/20

January’s Elder of the Month: Annie Rausch January’s Deacon of the Month: Janice Partlow If you have any questions or need dates/times changes, please contact Cheryl at the office 474-6496. For up to date calendar: follow the link in the E-Spire or go to: http://www.mychurchevents.com/calendar/calendar.aspx?ci=L6L6F0M7O9F0O9L6I3

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LAFAYETTE, IN

1526 S. 18th Street

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If you move please let us know so you don't miss an issue of the Spire! If you prefer to read the Spire on our web page at ucc-immanuel.org or do not want to receive the Spire through the mail - please call the office - 474-6496, or send an email to:

info@ucc-immanuel.org Thank you.

Inside the Spire:

Pictures pictures pictures

Pastor TJ’s Greeting

Youth news

Missions

Worship Themes

Ministry Meetings

January Birthdays &

Wedding Anniversaries

A Favorite Recipe

January Calendar

Uniting in Christ

Listening to God

Serving His World

Thank you to everyone who

helped make this Christmas

Season a joy!

May your New Year be blessed!