The LAC Centennial

PROMPTER

Fall 2014

Welcome Back Sunday!

September 7

The annual LAC Block Party, part of our continuing Centennial celebration, took place on Forest Park Avenue after worship, with a special farewell to Rev. Julie Emery. (A note from Julie is on page 7.) A picnic lunch was served, ice cream was provided by Mr. Softee, there was a visit from a fire truck and celebratory cakes to finish.

The Prompter

A newsletter published quarterly by

The Larchmont Avenue Church 60 Forest Park Avenue

Larchmont, New York 10538 914-834-1800

You may reach staff members directly at the following extensions:

Senior Pastor: Rev. Dr. William P. Crawford 308

Director of Music Ministry: Douglas Kostner 307

Director of Christian Education: Louise Moore Williams 309

Bookkeeper: Marjorie Bee 310

Church Secretary: Melanie Murray 300

Sexton: Frankie Madrid 304

Evening Sexton: Franklin Taylor 304

Fax: 914-834-1832 Web site: www.lacny.org

Prompter Editor: Jane Land

Website Editors: Jane Land

Marge Lindblom Dan Walden

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Here at LAC . . .

The LAC Prompter newsletter is at your service communicating news and notes on our Church life. The Prompter is now a sea-sonal publication; it complements the weekly LAC Church Notes (our regular weekly email “blast”) and the LAC Facebook page.

While other church newsletters may present miscues or mala-propisms, your Prompter news-letter team is passionately com-mitted to consistently presenting accurate information . . .

Seen in another church bulletin: “For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.”

Here at LAC: During worship child care is provided in the ground floor of the education wing.

Seen in another church bulletin: “Barbara Jones remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trou-ble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack’s sermons.”

Here at LAC: This fall’s sermons are available on the LAC website, www.lacny.org The website also provides a full menu of information on LAC activities, the church calendar and special features. Look for links to video of Centennial Celebration and late breaking news, in-cluding: the 2014 “Seed the Future” stewardship campaign, and the October 26 Centennial Concert.

Seen in another church bulletin: “Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24th in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.”

Here at LAC: Wedding services are held for church members and non-members. Vital information on pastoral/pre-marital counseling, wed-ding arrangements (rehearsal, service, videography), staff responsibili-ties (custodian, organist, minister) is presented on the website and via a special brochure (available at the church office.)

Seen in another church bulletin: “Eight new choir robes are currently needed, due to the addition of several new members and to the deteri-oration of some older ones.”

Here at LAC: Our choir robes - when not being worn by our adult and youth choirs - have a new home in the LAC chapel’s enhanced closet space. The chapel is currently being renovated to provide wonderful space for multiple uses including worship, educational programs, re-hearsals, all with media/wifi accommodations, thanks to Centennial Fund/Faith in Our Future gifts.

Seen in another church bulletin: “The eighth graders will be present-ing Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the church basement Friday at 7:00 p.m. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.”

Here at LAC: The gifts of our youth abound! The LAC youth ministry has moved into a great new season with TGIF Middle School fellow-ship led by Louise Moore Williams and the SHiFT Senior High fellow-ship with leaders Meg Kaufer, Rev. Lynn Dunn and Rev Bill Crawford, and Confirmation Class led by Revs Lynn and Bill C...

Stay tuned for more new notes in the new seasonal Prompter (the next edition will be Advent, along with the weekly LAC Church Notes (If you haven’t yet received it, please call the office with your email ad-dress.), and the LAC Facebook (like LAC!). There may even be some miscues . . . but there will always be grace . . . Here at LAC!

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Coffee Hour Hospitality

The fellowship of coffee hour is one of the joys of Sunday at LAC. Please sign up to provide hospi-tality for the congregation one Sunday this fall. Coffee, beverag-es, platters, napkins and plates are all provided. Food will be laid out - you just have to bring the goodies. Too busy to bake? Purchased food is fine. Put your name on the sheet at coffee hour.

Stewardship 2015: The Stewardship Committee is very ex-cited to announce the launch of Stewardship 2015 - Seed the Future. The campaign is based on the idea that we can each do things today that will create promises for tomorrow. The campaign focuses on ways we can plant seeds for ourselves, others and Larchmont Avenue Church. We look forward to sharing the campaign with you on Sunday and over the com-ing months!

Associate Pastor Search

Presently the Session (co-clerks Kim Christiansen and Sarah Wer-ner) are preparing the Ministry Information Form (MIF) which describes LAC's vision and minis-try, along with the position de-scription for the LAC Associate Pastor. The MIF (soon to be com-pleted) will be presented to the Hudson River Presbytery's com-mittee on Ministry (COM). Upon COM approval, the LAC Nomi-nating committee will proceed to nominate members representing the congregation to serve on the Associate Pastor Nominating Committee (APNC). The APNC will then conduct a search to fill the position of LAC Associate Pastor. Note: Upon its approval by the Presbytery, the MIF will be sent to the National Presbyterian "Church Leadership Connec-tion" (CLC) where it will be post-ed nationwide. The Session and APNC will share regular notes on the AP search process.

LAC Session, Co-Clerks: Kim Christiansen, Sarah Werner

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The Centennial

fall guest

Preacher series

October 19: Rev. Casey Wait Fitzgerald, Associate Pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, VA. Casey grew up and was confirmed at LAC. November 16: Rev. Andy Kort , Senior Pastor of 1st Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, IN. Andy served as Associate Pastor at LAC from 2003 - 2005.

The LAC Women's Bible Study …

… is convening on the first and third Tuesday over the next few months, beginning in October on the 7th and 21st from 12:30-2 p.m. in the Lindsley Room. Our lesson will be "Esther: It's tough being a woman" by Beth Moore, a video and discussion study of the Old Testament story of Esther as author Beth Moore peels back the layers of history and shows how very contemporary and ap-plicable the story is to our lives today. If you've ever felt inade-quate, threatened, or pushed into situations that seemed overpow-ering, this is the Bible study for you. Just as it was tough being a woman in Esther's day, it's tough today. This portion of God's Word contains treasures to aid us in our hurried, harried, and pres-sured lives.

We want to offer an evening study group as well, if feasi-ble. Interested? Contact Dale Kelly to sign up, or for more de-tails: 914-450-7555; daleandersonkelly@gmail.com

SUNDAY SCHOOL

NOTES Sunday School 2014-15 is off to a great start! Students are already settled in their classes, thanks to our fall teachers. This is to fill you in on what our students will be working on this year. Lessons for preschool through grade 4 come from the ecu-menical Seasons (of the Spirit) ENCORE curriculum, which of-fers age-appropriate Bible stories and activities with emphasis on the arts and connecting faith to life. Seasons of the Spirit

follows the Revised Common Lectionary, so lessons will often tie in with readings/sermons heard in worship. Using the CONNECT curriculum from Sparkhouse (Augsburg Fortress), Grade 5 will work their way through the Old Testa-ment in sequence. Each session includes an animated video segment to introduce the Bible lesson, along with a mix of learner activities. The 6th and 7th grade class is also using CONNECT from Sparkhouse, but studying the New Testament. This program level is new to LAC this year. Our 8th grade studies key Bible figures/stories in both the Old and New Testaments through the re:form Ancestors program (also from Sparkhouse). Lessons here also offer a video seg-ment and leader material, as well as “anti-workbooks” for stu-dents to use for some of the activities. The Children’s Ministry committee and I are very happy with our curriculum sequence, which we believe will engage our students and help them learn and grow in faith.

Louise Moore Williams

Nominating Committee

The 2014 LAC Nominating Committee has begun its work on nominees for church offices: four Elders (Session), four Trustees, six Deacons, two Youth Deacons and six at-large members of the 2015 Nominating Com-mittee. The slate will be presented at the December 7 meeting of the congregation. Interested members or suggested nominees can be pre-sented now to the committee. At the December 7 meeting nominations can also be presented from the floor. The members of the Nominating Committee are: Session: Angie Leissl (chair) and Greg Hawkins. Trustees: Dan Walden. Deacons: Susan McLaren. At-Large: Suzy Huang, Chrystal Chambers, Mary Joyce Beringer, Justin Kane, Pat Al-len and John Irving .

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History Committee Preparing LAC Archives The Centennial History Committee is currently working to bring LAC’s archives into the 21st century and to preserve them for another hundred years. Papers and ephemera have been brought down from the attic, retrieved from closets and files, and sorted by decade. The documents, photos and clip-pings are now being removed from crumbling, acidified scrap-books and folders and being categorized by subject matter.

Ultimately, important materials will be scanned and digitized. Not every saved document will be scanned, but all will be cat-alogued, placed in acid free file folders or archival plastic sleeves put in acid free tubs, and stored in the cabinets in the library. With these two techniques - digitizing and archival storage - important parts of LAC’s past will be secure and available to all.

Recycle a Bicycle!

Local community groups, with the support of Miller's Toy Store on Mamaroneck Avenue, will once again be collecting, refur-bishing and donating used bicy-cles to those in need. This time the recipients will be families con-nected with H.O.P.E. Soup Kitch-en. Last year we successfully pro-vided numerous bicycles to chil-dren and adults with much ap-preciation. Let's do even better this year!

We need bicycles of all shapes and sizes, for all age users, but please, no bicycles that are rusty or cannot be restored.

Miller's is donating their facilities, their staff, and their know-how to make this happen. We just need to provide the used bicycles.

When: Friday afternoon October 10 from 3 to 5 p.m. and Saturday morning October 11 from 9 to 11 a.m.

Where: Drop off behind Miller's Toy Store in Mamaroneck.

All donations will receive a $50/bike tax deduction

Please forward this information to friends & neighbors!

CONFIRMATION CLASS AND SHiFT

Pictured above are Rev. Lynn Dunn, Meg Kaufer and Rev. Bill Crawford, the leaders of this year’s SHiFT and Confirmation Class, which welcomes all 9th to 12th graders. Rev Lynn Dunn is part-time Associate Pastor at the White Plains Presby-terian Church. She was the presbytery-wide leader of this past summer's trip to the PCUSA Youth Triennium at Purdue University . . . with 500 youth nationwide, 40 from presbytery including LAC! She'll join us at LAC this year on the SHiFT/

ConClass team.

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS PROMPTER DEADLINE:

NOVEMBER 14

Please send all submissions to Jane Land at jland@optonline.net

and Melanie Murray at mmurray@lacny.org

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CHURCH FAMILY NEWS

Baptisms

July 13, 2014

Pictured left, the Carpenter family, parents Jeff and Kristen with (left to right) Elise and Caitlyn. And the Reynolds fam-ily, parents Curtis and Jeanne with Maxine (in Jeanne’s arms) and Ariane.

September 21, 2014

Celebrating the Sacra-ment of Baptism for Giselle Elizabeth Har-vey, born 11/25/13 and Ryan Michael Schmitz, born 11/13/13. Pictured left to right: the Har-vey family, Vaughn and Stacey with Giselle; brother Grey is nearby. Elder Alyssa Gomez; Rev. Bill Crawford. The Schmitz family, Roger and Katie with Ryan.

Wedding

August 2, 2014

Krista Ermini and Kevin Gedney were married at LAC.

Address Change

Muriel Marvin Sunrise Assisted Living

500 North Columbus Avenue Mount Vernon, NY 10552

In Memoriam

The families of the following are in our prayers:

Long-time LAC member Joyce Phelps died on July 25 in Evanston, Illinois. Joyce and husband Bob, who passed in April, had retired to Evanston to be closer to their family after years in Larchmont. A me-morial service is yet to be scheduled.

Thank You, Hannele!

Hannele Sansbury concluded her service at LAC as part-time secretary on September 5. She was responsible for the production of our weekly worship bulletins and Prompter (Jane Land, edi-tor). She leaves her job at LAC after 7 years of ser-vice. Thank you Hannele!

Happy Birthday to The Sharing Shelf! A Free and Fun Family Event - October 19

Families are invited to an af-ternoon of free activities and refreshments celebrating the 5th anniversary of Family Services of Westchester's Sharing Shelf. Activities include face paint-

ing, storytelling, magic show, arts & crafts and more! 2-5 p.m. at Raymour & Flanigan, 1 Maple Ave. White Plains, Sunday, October 19.

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Joel Abels* Wayne Armstrong George Babakian William H. Bauman* Walter Bell* Bruce Beringer* Stuart M. Beringer* Thom Bigger Norman Blair* Walter Bopp* Everett Bovard* William Boyd Benjamin Brush* George Burchell* William H. Childs* Tony Delanno* William Dentzer Charles DiSalvo Sonya DiSalvo John Farris Albert Fields Alexander Forger Roy Foulke* Paul Gerhold* Bob Gibson* Frederick M. Gilbreth Warren Holby*

Robert Holst Alice B. Holt George Homer Thomas R.C. Hood* Carroll H. Hudders John Irving Kenneth Jones James Kronenberger* Paul G. Lips* W. Allen Luther* Robert Martin Harry Marvin II* Muriel Marvin Bob Mayo Pete McCutchen James N. McDonald* Bing Millar* Joe Moran* Charlie Neumann* Eric C. Neumann* Russell Pelton* Ted S. Pilcher David Porterfield* Robert Proctor Adrian Pugin Christopher Reisman Peter Reisman

Philip Reisman, Jr.* John Rich William Richards* Douglas Roever* Alan Scott Warren Serenbetz Gordon Sleeper* Hayden Smith Kenneth Spangler* Nicholas Sparkman James L. Spikes, Jr. Parker Tyler* Kenneth Wanderer* Fritz Wanzenberg* Robert Wassman Andrew Watson Jack Wells Alan Welty, Jr. Jack Williams Wilbur Wright William Young *deceased

HONORING THOSE WHO SERVED

On Veteran’s Day, with thanks, we want to acknowledge and honor all the members of our congregation who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Please call the office if you know of any additions or changes to the list.

To the LAC family from Rev. Julie Emery . . .

Dear Friends,

Jason and were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love during our September 7 worship and block party. While it was sad to say goodbye, the day was full of celebration for our time together, which felt just right. While we miss you terribly, we feel God's calling as we settle in to West Hartford. The boys are getting into school routines, soccer and hockey, and we spend lots of time unpacking boxes. Through it all we feel you prayers and love surrounding us. We wanted to thank you as well, for your generous gift to us upon our departure. We are beyond grateful for the financial support during this time of transition, and the painting by Jane Land is a lovely re-minder of our time together. We will always remember the hugs and tears, laughter and smiles shared on that day and are forever grateful for the faith we shared during our time at the Larchmont Avenue Church. As always, our prayers are with you as journey forward, may God's blessings be upon each and every one of you now and always.

PERIODICAL

THE PROMPTER (U.S.P.S. 784-820) is published quarterly by The Larchmont Avenue Church, 60 Forest Park Avenue, Larchmont, N.Y. 10538. Periodicals postage paid at Larchmont, N.Y. 10538. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE PROMPTER, 60 Forest Park Avenue, Larchmont, N.Y. 10538.

Why Have a Will?

Everyone has the right to a Last Will & Testament, and regardless of how much you might own at death, it is your right and responsibility to determine how your remaining assets should be distributed.

A will allows you to:

Provide for your spouse and other loved ones at your death; otherwise, the distribution of assets is left to state law and the courts.

Determine the guardianship of any minor children. Identify who will oversee the distribution of your estate. Provide a charitable gift to Larchmont Avenue Church that will provide a witness to your heirs about the

importance of your Christian faith and the church in your life.

A will should always be drawn up by a qualified attorney familiar with your fi-nancial circumstances, family situation and your wishes. Advice from an attorney and other professional advisors should be sought when considering charitable giving.

If you are interested in discussing leaving Larchmont Avenue Church in your es-tate plans or for information about The Emily Lindsley Legacy Society recogniz-ing long term gifts to LAC, please contact Chris Templeman at 914-844-7279, Scott Meador at 914-287-4744 or Church Bookkeeper Marjorie Bee at 914-834-1800 ext. 310. Information concerning numerous planned giving strategies that may suit your current needs or estate objectives can also be found at lacny.org/plannedgiving.

Get involved in your LAC music ministry!

Chancel Choir: Open to all members, high school age and over. Meets Wednesday evenings

from 7:45-9:15 in Russell Hall and Sunday mornings at 9 a.m. in the sanctuary. Children's Choirs: For grades 1 through 6, meets Wednesday afternoons from 3:15 to 4:30 in Russell Hall. Symphonia: Our instrumental ensemble for proficient instrumentalists of any age. Meets Thursday evenings from 6:30-8:00 in the sanctuary.

There can be no music ministry without your participation, so join us and lift your voices (and instruments) to the Lord.