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Contents:
- From the Pastor
- Saint of the Month
- Pictorial Directory Info
- Giving Service to the Lord
- Church Council Minutes
From the Pastor
Listening for the Voice of the Lord
This month, we gather as a congregation in our annual meeting. Looking back over 2025, we have a great deal for which to give thanks to the Lord! Lots of new members in our church family, the growth in our music ministries, productive service to render for the Lord to our neighbors both within our community and abroad, and chances to support and encourage other ministries within our mission region. We will receive reports, look to the year ahead, and adopt a budget. But there is one thing we will not do…
We will NOT be merely making decisions about how to move forward. We will be listening for the will of the Lord to guide us. His voice does not always manifest itself with the directness of revelation… indeed, in the Creeds, we affirm that the voice of the Holy Spirit is most clearly heard in the corporate discernment of the gathered body of Christ. The primary ministries of the Holy Spirit are “the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”
1 Corinthians 2:16 avers, “we have the mind of Christ.” Paul’s shift to the plural “we” at this point is intentional and in keeping with the theology of chapter 12 ahead, where the Spirit’s gifts are given for the good of the whole Church and can only be fully received by the coroporate Body of Christ.
So, in preparation for our upcoming meeting, I am calling upon us all to pray regularly and earnestly in the time leading up to the meeting. That way, when we come together, we will be attuned to the Spirit’s promtpings. What ministries are we called expand? What new ministries might we be called to assay? What ministries may have run their course, and we should consider discontinuing them to leave room for others?
Please pray for the Lord’s leading…
I will be doing the same.
Saint of the Month: Saint Basil the Great
By Melissa Misiti
This month we are remembering Saint Basil the Great on Friday, the 2nd. He was born in A.D. 329 to St. Basil the Elder and St. Emmelia, in Caesarea, Cappadocia, Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), and was one of ten children. He studied in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) and Athens, Greece, and was classmates with Gregory Nazianzus and future Emperor Julian the Apostate. After his education, he taught rhetoric in Caesarea, and then began his pursuit of religion. St. Basil visited the monasteries in Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, eventually finding a hermitage in Pontus (modern day southern Black Sea area), on the Iris River. He was ordained later in Caesarea in A.D. 363, becoming archbishop in A.D. 370, and finally died on January 1st, A.D. 379.
St. Basil accomplished many things in his lifetime, among them was speaking out against Arianism, which resulted in him being persecuted by Emperor Valens, he helped with the Nicene Creed’s victory and the condemnation of Arianism in the Council of Constantinople.
He wrote many writings, including On the Holy Spirit, and much more.
As we read this, let us remember 2 Timothy 3:12-17, which states. “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete,
equipped for every good work.”
At Long Last…
The Pictorial Directory Is On Its Way!
Every Sunday in January, a station will be set up in the prayer chapel to take both individual and family photos for our new directory. Simply queue up in hallway leading to the prayer chapel after either service, update your personal information via app or the provided paperwork, get your pictures taken, and bingo, you are ready to be listed in the directory!
To keep any one Sunday from getting unmanageable, families have been assigned a Sunday alphabetically:
Abbott – Diefenderfer January 4
Drosnock – Kratzer January 11
Kryman – Rios January 18
Rissmiller – Zaso January 25
If your assigned weekend is inconvenient for you, no worries! You have two options. First, for the less tech-savvy, just call the church office and let them know what weekend you will be in, or email new member Steve Bauman, who is heading up this project at cgcaptsteve20@gmail.com.
Second, if you like working from your smart phone, iPad, or home computer, you have an even more convenient option! Just download our new improved app and create a login. From there, you can update your address, phone numbers, and other information, as well as upload your favorite picture of yourself and your family. You will also get access to our online directory (which you can access while at church or during a Bible study when you can’t remember somebody’s name!) and determine what of your own information appears to fellow congregation members in the same. You will also have instant access to our church calendar, digital prayer request form, online giving, Communion registration, and lots more!
Even if you have downloaded our app in that past, you will want to delete your old installation and setup a new one; our provider updated the entirely just a little before Thanksgiving, and you will need the latest version to get all the features. You can install the app by scanning the QR code to the right, searching for “Church Connect” in your favorite app store, or linking to it from our website homepage banner. If prompted, our church’s identification code is 4KRZE9. You will know you have the correct version when you see the logo to the left.
This is an entirely in-house project this time, so there will be no high-pressure salesman encouraging members to buy a photo package, so don’t hesitate or delay participating! We look forward to seeing you!
Giving Service to the Lord
COMPLETE Church Council Minutes are posted on the bulletin board in the Narthex. Attachments are filed in the church office with the originals.
The meeting minutes summarized here are pending Council approval at next month’s meeting.
Meeting Highlights for December 11, 2025
Six members present.
Absent: AJ Arfanella, Rob Ingenito, Tom Kneisly, & Tim Kryman
GUESTS: Pastor Jenkins
Review of Reports:
Secretary’s Report – All ministries/committee leaders will need to turn in a year-end report by December 23, 2025 to allow enough time to prepare packets for the Annual Meeting on January 25, 2026. Kistler O’Brien annual fire alarm inspection was done on December 11 and went well. Church office will be closed from December 24, 2025 – January 2, 2026.
Treasurer’s Report – Category Overview provided, income Statement Provided, General Operating Report provided, Detail Report provided.
Pastor’s Report – ESG visited to get our new PC interacting correctly with our soundboard. They have also recommended a video distribution unit for our nursery, library, and social hall. We continue to have difficulties with our Sunday feed. These difficulties seem to be within our building, so I recommend cutting off all guest logins on Sunday to preserve bandwidth for our outgoing signal. The new bulletin format was launced 11/30, attempting to preserve as much of the original information but in a more economic design that gives full attention to our announcements. 5 youth were confirmed on 11/23. One of their confirmation projects and four of their personal statements of faith will be available at the meeting for Council perusal. I have slightly reworked the membership handbook for the sake of branding and communications consistency within the life of the congregation. The new member orientation process will be pioneered by Jerry Lewis, Dn. Michael, and myself on 12/7 with new member welcome on 12/14 to coincide with the Christmas tree decoration and potluck luncheon. New member, Steve Bauman, has agreed to help us with the creation of a pictorial directory through Churchtrac. He is recommending that we develop a team of volunteers to man a picture station throughout the month of January. At that station, family and individual portraits could be taken as well as gaps in our church records filled in. We could use the congregational meeting as an opportunity to remind people to get their photos taken if they have not. Distribution of directories would be part of our Lenten kick-off.
Committee Reports:
Christian Education: See hard copy of minutes.
Emergency Planning: See hard copy of report. After considerable discussion, a motion was made to table action items.
Finance Committee: Proposed Spending Plan was presented.
Social Ministry: See hard copy of report.
Women of Abundance – See hard copy of minutes.
Old Business: We have two potential candidates for Church Council and we have three potential candidates for Elders. Spending Proposal for 2026 has been accepted. Gathering photos for the church member pictorial will begin in January.
New Business:
Church security: Outdoor solar system and floodlight with camera for corners of buildling totaling approx. $2000. Motion approved. Tech equipment: Laptop donated by Rich. Motion to purchase splitter/extender approved. Wi-fi upgrade completed by Andy Z.
Meeting adjourned at 9:13 pm.
The next regular meeting is scheduled for
Wednesday, January 14, 2026 at 7:00 p.m.