Radcliff Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)

News Letter – February 01, 2012

From your Pastor…

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

God doesn’t ask us to be faithful tomorrow. He asks us to be faithful today. That’s how we stay faithful – one day at a time. God’s grace is sufficient for today. We don’t know what tomorrow holds and we aren’t guaranteed any tomorrows. We only have this moment for sure so we need to live it in the way that honors God the most. (Ideas from an article by Lyn Smith, General Baptist Convention)

Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank God for what he has done. Phillipians 4:6

Feeling overwhelmed? This wisdom in the letter to the Phillipians (written 2,000 years ago) speaks to a constant human need.

Pray like everything depends on God. Work like everything depends on you. (Not a Bible verse, but a Biblical idea)

The book of James reminds us that faith without works is dead. Prayer without works may not be dead, but prayer is more than closing our eyes and hoping God will do something. Prayer works best when we become co-workers with God.

This past week someone handed me some cash for use by our advertising team. In addition to praying for our upcoming plans, this person sacrificed to help those plans grow. Will you consider adding one dollar a week to your offering, designating it to our advertising efforts? If 30 people each give a dollar we'll have $1500 in a year! My offer still stands--if you don't have a dollar I'll give you one :)

Pray for our board. Another Biblical idea!

Our board is working overtime to keep RCC healthy. Carpet samples were available last Sunday, and will be for the next two Sundays. Take a look at them and we'll vote for our favorite on Sunday, Feb 5th. Information is being gathered for an electronic sign out front and possibly mailing 10,000 post cards to homes in our area. On average 40-50% of households in any town are not in worship on any given Sunday. That's a lot of folks. Some of them need a church home. The figures may be slightly better in Hardin County. But there are plenty of folks here who need a church home.

Sometimes I'll hear someone say that everybody who wants to go to church is already going. Maybe. Maybe not.

Go into all the world, teaching, preaching, and baptizing in my name. When you do I will be with you until the end of the age.

These are the last words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. A person's last words are usually significant.

Let's pray. Let's work. Let's Go!　 As we learned in our Surfing the Edge program, let's discover what God is up to in Hardin County.

It's great to be your Pastor!

David Conway
502-552-0451

cdconway1@netzero.net

View and vote for your favorite carpet

The church has planned on replacing the carpet for at least the past 20 years; now we’

re ready to do it! Carpet samples are at the church for viewing; check them out this coming Sunday, Jan. 29, and the next Sunday, Feb. 5; a vote will be taken on Feb. 5.

Highlights from the book:

Selling Swimsuits in the Artic

Rita Carraway summarized some of the ideas she gathered from her reading. Thank you Rita for giving us these ideas!

Virtually everything we do in life can be looked at as a form of sales.

Selling Christianity and the Church.

Seven important keys to sales:

1.　Believe in the product.

2.   Believe people need the product.

3.   Understand needs of customers.

4.　Must offer excellent product.

5.　Embody the product.

6.　Effectively market product.

7.　Perseverance was the key to success in sales.

Who are potential customers?

People looking for a church "shop around" – There should be something that stands out about our congregation or ministry.　 Something that sets us apart.

(Serve the Lord’s Supper every Sunday – Easter Sunrise Service – Christmas Eve Service)

Are we offering what people need, or simply what we want.

Look at worship styles and programming.

We discussed the Sign, media, carpet and post cards.

Also we discussed educating the congregation on what we have to do in order to try and get potential new members i.e. different hymns, media.

Hope this helps.

Rita

Upcoming Events

Jan. 31: Serve at Warm Blessings

Feb. 5: Vote for your favorite carpet sample

Feb. 6: CWF at 6:30 p.m.

Feb. 12: Celebration of Sue and Bill Campbell's  60^{th anniversary, noon (after church) until about 3 p.m., at the church.}

Feb. 19: Nursing home worship at 2 p.m. at North Hardin Health & Rehab.

Feb. 26: Valentine potluck dinner at the church at 5:30 p.m.; there will be a signup sheet in the kitchen (or Sue will have it) as it gets closer to the date.

Happy Birthday!

Mike Yourous on Feb. 8;

Ross Eaton on Feb. 9;

Rita Carraway on March 7;

John Michael Carraway March 12;

Rose Brumback March 21;

Buzzy High March 24.

Happy Anniversary!

Sue and Bill Campbell are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this month! They plan to celebrate with an event from noon to 3 p.m. Feb. 12 (right after church), at the church. Sue is doing most of the planning for it and has ordered various trays of food to serve, but we could definitely use more food. If you would like to bring something, tell Sue what you want to bring.

Keep in Prayer

Please keep the following in prayer: Frances Johns, Beth Conway and Marilyn Rich, medical concerns; Steven Campbell as he serves in Afghanistan; all of our military.

Capital Campaign Update

A little more than one year ago we started the Capital Campaign. Our goal was to raise $18,000 in two years to reseal and stripe the parking lot, repair and paint the exterior of the church, and to replace the carpet in the sanctuary. So far we have raised $9,814.88. From the money raised we have resealed the driveway and parking lot, which included restriping the parking area, and we painted the exterior of the church. Together the two projects cost $2,541.14. Much less than we originally projected thanks to the many volunteers who did the painting in lieu of hiring a paint contractor! To date, there is $7,267.74 remaining in the Capital Campaign fund which is near what we need to replace the carpet based on some rough estimates that Sheila Richardson got for us last week. So we are moving forward to get the carpet replaced very soon. As mentioned earlier in this news letter, we already have the samples from which we will vote on to select our new carpet. And many of us agree that since the three projects together will cost much less than originally estimated, it is a good idea to continue to raise money so we can also purchase new chairs for the sanctuary. So let

’s keep focused on the Capital Campaign for a while longer. Again this year we will continue to place our rental income from the Wilson’

s, and the redirected 6% of our offerings into the Capital Campaign. Our individual contributions to the Capital Campaign will make the difference.

Keep in Mind

Weight Watchers uses the church on Tuesday evenings; Dr. Keith Wilson　

does private counseling at the church on Wednesday evenings and all day Saturdays; and Pam Wilson will be using the church during the day on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and all day Saturday for private counseling.

Newsletter

If you have something to go in the newsletter, email it to me at maryaliceholt@comcast.net

or bring it to me to church on a Sunday; I will need to have it at least 4 or 5 days before the end of the month