PHOENIX LOCAL / WEEKLY NEWS & EVENTS:
For questions or clarification, please call
the office at 269-383-3222

This Week's Highlights

Sunday, Apr 24
6:30 am: Sunrise Service & Breakfast @ Frank's
6:00 pm: Easter Worship

Tuesday, Apr 26
7:00 pm: Bowling Team @ Eastland Bowl

Wednesday, Apr 27
6:00 pm: Prayer Group
7:00 pm: Video & Discussion

Friday, April 29
6:00 pm: Move worship space

Sunday, May 1
6:00 pm: Worship @ 2208 Winchell

Our Worship & Ministries

The purpose of Phoenix Community Church is "to embody God's all encompassing love, as exemplified by Jesus, in the way we interact with each other, our neighbors, and all creation."

Sunday worship schedule (topics listed are tentative):
May 1: "Do Not Doubt" @ 2208 Winchell
May 8: "Recognizing the Christ"
May 15: "Life Abundant"
May 22: "The Way, the Truth, the Life"

If you have prayer requests that you would like to share with our community through the Flamings, please send them to the church office.

Our Peer Ministers provide a helping hand as needed. Peer Ministers for 2011 are: Ruth Ketchum (269-628-4775), Katy Neynaber (269-383-9318), and Bev Edwards (269-372-7516)

We occasionally receive requests for a ride to Sunday evening worship services (usually people who haven't been to Phoenix before). Are you able to offer a ride when needed? It would be nice to develop a call list of people who would be willing to give rides as needed. If you feel called to this mission, please send an email to the church office. Thank you!

Announcements

Phoenix has the opportunity to get in on the testing of a new course called "Grow My Church!"
Are you interested? Although we did a lot in 2010, the work of making our church community a vital, growing outreach for God's mission in the world is not done (and never is, really). This course should help us continue that journey but would require a serious commitment. Is Phoenix and the message of God's love worth it? Details still need to be worked out, but we would need 6 people to commit to 12 3-hour meetings (which would include a meal together). Meetings would be either weekly or bi-weekly. If you are interested or would like more information, please contact Pastor Ken ASAP.

Looking to get to better know our new hosts at Christian Church (DOC)?
You are invited to join them for morning worship on Sundays at 10am (as long as you still come to Phoenix in the evening, of course!). There is also a community Good Friday service at 12:30pm at Christian Church (DOC). We have also been invited to a fund raising dinner for Foods Resource Bank. The dinner is from noon to 2:00pm on Sunday, May 1, 2011, at Christian Church (DOC). A free will offering will be collected.

We are planning on moving our belongings from Skyridge at 6:00 pm on the evening of Friday, April 29. If you can help, please contact Martin.

If you have a key for the Skyridge church building, please turn it into Pastor Ken as soon as you no longer need it. All keys should be turned in no later than May 1. If you need for a key at our new location, please talk to Pastor Ken.

We have an online calendar! To keep up on Phoenix Community Church events, go to http://www.phoenixchurch.org/WebCalendar. If you have an event that should be added to our calendar, email the information to the church office. Hint: When viewing the calendar, scroll your mouse over the event name for more information.

A few worship assistants are still needed for August. If you would like to assist in making worship a pleasant and meaningful experience by helping, please email the church office or sign up on Sunday evening at worship. For August 8, we need a greeter and reader. For August 22, we need a reader and for August 29, we need a setup person, a greeter and someone to work the sound system. Thank you!

Do you, like me, hate to carry around change in your pocket and just let it accumulate on a dresser or desk? Consider donating your change to help Phoenix. An easy way to do this is to put your change in an old prescription bottle and when it fills up, bring it to church and leave it in the offering basket. We hope you will consider doing this... old prescription bottles will be available at church soon for you to use.

Are there any musicians out there? We are looking for volunteer musicians who might be interested in either playing piano or providing special music for worship. This is a wonderful way to honor God and get some experience playing for a group of people. If you would be interested or know someone who might be, please contact Katy Neynaber.

If you are willing to help organize a fundraiser or two, or even just have an idea for something we might do, please contact a member of Steering Committee. We have some possible ideas, but we need more ideas and people to help us follow through.

Did you know Phoenix has a Wedding Policy? However, it is about 10 years old and needs to be reviewed. If you would be interested in such a project, please let the church office know.

Help with Worship planning is very welcome. If you have ideas for worship you would like to share or if you would like to help plan a future service, please contact the church office. In particular, we are considering a service to honor the Autumn season on September 26 and would like ideas for the service.

We are re-working the Sermons page on the Phoenix web site. We are now posting written sermons there, and hope to post recorded audio sermons again soon. Text (PDF) versions of some recent sermons are now downloadable. Also, please feel free to visit Pastor Ken's online blog and sermons pages at: http://www.pieceofthepuzzle.net/blog

Food For Thought

For Our Earth: Travel green! Look for hotels that encourage guests to use less water or energy. Hang up your towels to dry so you can use them again. Use the sheets more than a night or two. When you go out, look for local foods and souvenirs to reduce transportation. Before you go, unplug your computer, DVD player, and other electronics, and turn down your thermostat. (from http://www.epa.gov/earthday/tips.htm)

Water is a critical resource for all life. If you are concerned about the health of this vital resource and particularly the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, you might be interested in investigating some of the following links in addition to your preferred news sources:
Water.Org
Sierra Club
Natural Resources Defense Council
Change.Org


Ongoing Missions for the Greater Good...

For Our Earth:
Car Wash: Take your car to a car wash that recycles water. If you wash it yourself, use a bucket and sponge, rinse sparingly and allow water to drain onto the lawn.
Home Shade: In hot areas, if you have west-facing windows use window tints, blinds, deciduous trees or trellises to help keep out heat from the summer sun and help lower energy consumption for air-conditioning.
Teach Thrift: Teach children the value of being thrifty (the wise economy in the management of money and our limited resources; frugality).

Pack-it-Out: If you are traveling and no recycle bins are available, pack your recyclables home with you whenever possible.

Don't forget to bring your plastic grocery bags and old newspapers (please remove the shiny inserts) to church for recycling. If you have questions, contact Ruth Ketchum about plastic bags and Jim Shoup about newspapers.

If you have canned goods you can donate, please remember Loaves & Fishes. You can bring your canned goods (no glass) to worship on Sundays and put them in the bin labeled "Loaves & Fishes". They will be delivered to the food bank for you.

If you have empty printer ink cartridges that you don't want or need, please save them for Phoenix to help toward our supply purchases. They must be HP, Dell, Lexmark, Brother, Epson, Samsung, Kodak, Sharp or Canon ink or toner cartridges that have not been previously refilled. They are worth $3 each at Office Max. We also need copies of receipts for anything purchased at OfficeMax. We now have to spend the same amount of money before we can get credit for the used ink cartridges. Receipts must be less than 90 days old and need not be original. You can give cartridges and receipts to Linda Cross, who is coordinating this effort.

Our Peer Ministers

Peer Ministers provide a helping hand as needed. Peer Ministers for 2010 are: Richard Dailey (269-342-5058), Ruth Ketchum (269-628-4775), Mona Olson (269-383-9318), and Bev Edwards (269-372-7516)