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Body

Eastminster Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina

Eastminster Update
803-256-1654 / www.eastminsterpres.org

Volume 38 Number 41

November 30, 2014

A dvent O pportunities
SHARING HIS LIGHT
1 COR. 12

STAFF
Dr. Bradley D. Smith
Pastor
Dr. Mark E. Durrett
Associate Pastor
Rev. Lynn A. Grandsire
Associate Pastor
Dr. James I. St. John
Parish Associate
Mr. Croskeys Royall
Director of Childrens Ministries
Mrs. Fredna Lee
Director of Music Ministries
Mrs. Lucy Corley and
Mrs. Anita Poole
EDS Co-Directors
Mr. William L. Collins, Jr.
Business Manager
Ms. Julie McDaniel
Member Involvement Coordinator

First Sunday in Advent - november 30

Ye Olde Merry Christmas Feast and Music- December 3 (pg. 3)
Advent Retreat - December 5 - 7
Second Sunday in Advent - December 7
St. Lawrence Place Christmas Party - December 8 (pg. 3)
Presbyterian Womens Joy Gift Tea - December 9 (pg. 3)
Circle of Giving - December 13 (pg. 2)
CHAMPS Christmas Party - December 13
PEACE Service - December 14
Third Sunday in Advent - December 14
P.E.P.@EPC Drop In - December 14 (pg. 3)
Family Gingerbread House Decorating Party - December 17
Transitions Dinner - December 18
Fourth Sunday in Advent - December 21
Choir presents Lessons & Carols at 9:00 and 11:15 a.m. Service
Living Nativity - Performances 5:00, 6:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Many event details located inside this newsletter or check the E-News!

Christmas Eve - December 24

5:00 p.m. Childrens Service
Infant Nursery - 2K

7:00 p.m. Candlelight Service

Sermon
Sunday, november 30
9:00 & 11:15 a.m. - Sanctuary
11:15 a.m. - Jubilee
Dr. Mark E. Durrett
Where Are You
When We Need You?
Mark 1:1-11

Infant Nursery - 5K

9:00 p.m. Candlelight Communion Service

Christmas Day - December 25
10:15 a.m. Worship Service
No Childcare

12:00 p.m. Transitions (pg. 2)

Daily CALENDAR

November 30, 2014

SUNDAY, November 30
8:00
9:00
10:00


10:05
11:15

1:00
4:30

Dear Friends:

Celebration Choir Rehearsal

Worship & Childrens Church
Jubilee Band Practice
Sunday School
Generation Change
Chancel Choir Rehearsal
Jubilee Worship
Worship & Childrens Church
Basketball Practices
Vespers at Presbyterian Home

It is a tradition at Eastminster for our congregation to contribute to a love offering

which will be distributed to all members of our staff during the Christmas season. We
invite you to participate in this offering as a means of expressing our corporate gratitude
for the outstanding devotion and dedication demonstrated by our entire church staff during the year.

Monday, December 1

7:00 Mens Prayer Breakfast

9:00 Count Team

Fifty Plus Exercise Class
10:00 Senior Fitness
12:00 Finance Committee
1:30 Pastors Mtg.
2:30 Program Staff Mtg.
3:00 Basketball Practice
3:10 Staff Mtg.
4:00 CHAMPS Tutoring

Young Life Mr. Christmas Tree
5:30 Yoga
6:00 Mens Basketball League Games
6:30 BSF Fellowship
7:00 Troop 10

TUESDAY, December 2

7:15 Jr. High Prayer Breakfast

9:00 Drop-In Nursery
10:00 Senior Fitness

EPW Coordinating Team

P.E.P. Planning
10:30 EPW Bible Moderators
11:45 Tuesday Lunch
12:00 NED Mtg.
12:30 Visitation
1:00 Footcare Ministry
3:00 Exercising for Arthritis

Basketball Practice
5:00 Tai Chi
5:30 Zumba Fitness

Phone Bank
6:00 Christmas Tree Pick-up

Handbell Rehearsal

MSB Team
6:30 Troop Committee Mtg.
7:00 Scottish Country Dancing

Zumba Fitness

WEDNESDAY, December 3

8:30
9:00

9:25
9:30
3:00
3:30
5:15
5:30
6:00
6:15
7:15

EDS Staff Mtg.

Fifty Plus Exercise Class
Drop-In Nursery
EDS Chapel
Prayer Shawl Ministry
Basketball Practice
CHAMPS Tutors
Ye Old Merry Christmas Feast
Phone Bank
Christmas Tree Pick-up
Childrens Christmas Musical
Chancel Choir

Please make your check payable to Eastminster Presbyterian Church, identified as a

Gift to Staff, and place it in the Sunday offering or mail it to the church on or before
Sunday, December 14, 2014.
Yours in Christ,
Personnel Committee:
Bill McDow, Chair, Steve Bryant, Jim Hatchell, Kathy Helms, Hank Mabry, Alison McGowan,
Clay Robinson

Circle of Giving - Saturday, December 13

On Saturday, December 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Thompson Hall, Eastminster
will host the Cooperative Ministrys Christmas Program. We need volunteers (teens &
adults) to help set up on December 12, from 4:00 p.m. until, and volunteers to help the children shop, wrap gifts and do small crafts. Two shifts are available on December 13: 8:45 until
11:00 a.m., and 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Please contact Laura Irick at lmirick85@gmail.com
if you would like to help.
We also need donations of gift bags (all sizes), tissue paper, large shopping bags, and unwrapped new gifts in the $10 range. A few gift suggestions (for a full list visit the EPC web):
culturally diverse baby dolls, big cars, big trucks, Barbies, beauty shop sets, footballs, basketballs, Legos, superhero toys, jewelry,hair beads and headbands, MP-3s and MP-3 accessories
(please include batteries). Gifts should be delivered to the Circle of Giving boxes in the CLC
lobby or the CE building lobby no later than Friday, December 12th.

College Students . . . Do We Have Your Address???

EPC wants to stay in touch with your college student (and we know how
much they move around)! Please email tmccormick@eastminstpres.org or
call Tricia McCormick (256-1654) with your college students current address
and cell number. Thanks!

Christmas Lunch at Transitions

Eastminster will take LUNCH to Transitions on December 25. Join us

for worship at 10:30 a.m. and leave for the lunch at Transitions afterward at noon. The meal is BBQ, potato salad, clementines and pound
cake. Contact Laura (laurapricelong@att.net) to donate money for the
BBQ and potato salad, or to provide fruit and/or pound cake. Whether
you donate or not, please join us at Transitions.

THURSDAY, December 4

9:00 Drop-In Nursery

10:00 Senior Fitness
3:00 Basketball Practice
5:00 Yoga
6:00 Christmas Tree Pick-up
7:00 Homeworks Prep. Mtg.
7:30 Jubilee Band Practice

FRIDAY, December 5

9:00 Fifty Plus Exercise Class

11:00 Support Staff Mtg.
3:00 Basketball Practice

The Body at Work

SATURDAY, December 6

Your time, talent, and treasure at work in Gods Kingdom

Eastminster provides support to Sarah Snapp for her missionary work with
childrens ministries in Sucre, Bolivia.

6:30 BSF Leader Mtg.

Saint Lawrence Place Holiday Shop & Christmas Party!

We are looking for volunteers to help! This year the Saint Lawrence Place
Holiday Shop and Christmas party will be hosted at Eastminster with First Calvary
Baptist Church helping here. We have 14 families to donate gifts for. We will also
need volunteers to put together necessity baskets and to help out the day of the
event, Monday, December 8. Please contact Susan Owen for more information on
how you can get involved in this ministry. This annual event is a wonderful way
to give back over the holidays and is lots of fun! For more information: contact
susanowen@sc.rr.com or 238-4468.

Joy Gift Drop-In

Calling all Eastminster women: The Joy Gift Drop-in Luncheon, Tuesday,
December 9 in the adult reception hall from 11:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m.
This year, the luncheon is a gift from the Presbyterian Womens Coordinating Team to all women of EPC. Come share a casual time of fellowship with your
sisters in Christ!
This annual event is named for the PCUSA Joy Gift Fund that assists retired
Presbyterian ministers. There will be an opportunity to donate to this fund and to
the Womens Shelter Christmas Project, one of Eastminster Presbyterian Women
(EPW)s ongoing local ministries.
Plan to join us and meet Eastminster friends new and old. Contact Mary Baldauf
at mbaldauf@eastminsterpres.org with any questions.

Childrens Musical

You are invited to the, Ye Olde Merry Christmas Feast, presented by the Angel and Junior Choirs of Eastminster on Wednesday, December 3. Dinner is in
Thompson Hall beginning at 5:15 p.m. with the program at 6:15 p.m. in Thompson
Hall. The meal is beef tenderloin with potatoes, carrots, apple rings and Christmas
pudding! Please register for the meal.

Eastminster First Step Class

Are you interested in joining Eastminster? The next new member class begins
meeting on Sunday, December 7, at 10:00 a.m. during the Sunday School hour
in room E-258 in the Christian Education Building. This is a 9 week class, not
holding class on January 18, Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend Sunday, with a join
date on Sunday, February 8. For additional information contact Julie, jmcdaniel@
eastminsterpres.org.

Youth Group Christmas Party

Calling all Middle and High Students to the youth group

Chirstmas Party on Sunday, December 14, from 6:00-7:30
p.m., Come dance with DJ Irv and enjoy great food and fellowship in our gym. Invite a friend!

P.E.P.@epc Christmas Drop-In

P.E.P. will hold their annual Christmas Drop-In Sunday,

December 14, from 3:00-4:30 p.m. at the home of Lisa & Madison Dye. Mark your
calendar.

Haiti Trip - January 24-31, 2015

Upon the very positive reports of a group of 6 Eastminster members who have
just returned from Haiti, we are moving ahead with a partnership with the Medical Benevolence Foundation that will include both non-medical and medical work.
To learn more about the January trip, please contact Julie at jmcdaniel@eastminsterpres.org.

CARE & CONCERN

EPC Prayer List
Part of what it means to be a Family of Faith
is to be in prayer for one another. Contact
the church office at 256-1654 to be included
on this Prayer List.
EPC Special Concerns
Remer Waguespack, Bill McInnis, Dave
Steven, and those serving in our military,
Stephen Ministers and their care receivers,
and all those in need of Gods special care.
Hospitals
Liz Draffin, LeVonne McCoy
Deaths
Congregational love and sympathy
are extended to:
Rachel & Michael Otis, on the death of her
mother, Lila Rowell, November 18, 2014.
Grandson, John Michael Otis.

Sharon Bramlett, on the death of her

father, Adair Crawley, November 21,
2014. Grandchildren, Adair & Coleman
Bramlett.
On weekends a minister is on call. If you
have a crisis which one of the ministers
needs to know about, phone 256-1654 and
leave a message. A minister will return
your call.

Our Missionaries
Rev. & Mrs. Donald Marsden-Virginia/Russia
Steven & Natalie Hall - Alaska
Sarah Snapp - Bolivia
Rev. John McCall - Taiwan
Steve & Kathy Amar - Virginia/Muslims in the US
George & Anne Harper - Philippines
Cindy Correll - Port au Prince, Haiti
Dr. John and Gwenda Fletcher - Congo

Deadline for UPDATE

Dont miss out! Send your information to

share with the congregation to tcarter@eastminsterpres.org.
Please have your information in by Wednesday,
December 3, to be shared in our next newsletter
on December 21, 2014.

Eastminster Presbyterian Church

3200 Trenholm Road
Columbia, South Carolina 29204

Nonprofit Org.
US POSTAGE
PAID
Columbia, SC
PERMIT No. 27

Update for November 30, 2014

Have You Pledged Yet?

Thank you to the 440 family units that have pledged to support Christs work
through Eastminster in 2015. If you have not yet pledged, please do. Pledge
cards can be found on the tables in the narthex or you can email crippy@
eastminsterpres.org. Our goal is for 600 family units to pledge with the theme,
Every Gift Counts.

Christmas Challenge Financial Gifts

Trying to think of creative, non-monetary ways to share love with family and
friends? Eastminster will again offer the The Christmas Challenge. Honor Cards
that can be used to tell others that a gift has been made in their honor are available in the Narthex and Reception Area. Honor Cards will also be available at
the church office during the week. Christmas Day will be the last day to support the Christmas Challenge.

Christmas Tree Pickups

Just a reminder to those who may have ordered Christmas

trees or wreaths from the youth. The trees/wreaths will be
available for pickup from Tuesday, December 2 - Thursday,
December 4 from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. in the upper parking lot
adjacent to the Christian Education building.

Christmas Memorials and Honoraria

The Flower Guild is accepting memorials and honoraria to cover the cost
of decorating the sanctuary and other areas of the church with live wreaths,
greenery and poinsettias for Christmas. Please enclose the wording you would
like to have printed in the Christmas bulletins with a check for $20.00 made out
to Eastminster Flower Guild for each listing. Checks and enclosed information
should be mailed to the church or placed in the Flower Guild box in the workroom. The deadline is Friday, December 5. Go ahead, send in your check today!

Socks In A Box

Once again, Mary Curtis Twitty and Kent Liggitt will be collecting adult
white socks for the Socks in a Box collection (November 2 - February 13).
These socks will be distributed to those in need. Look for boxes at the main
entrances.

Serving on Sunday
november 30
OFFICERS PRAYER:
Deacon Hagood Tighe
DEACONS: Lisa Dunbar & Connie Chase
Elder Sharmin Hill (Jubilee)
Deacon Patrick Turner (Jubilee)
Ushers: Berry Mattox & Charlie Irick
GREETERS:
(9:00) Larry & Risa Hudson
Butch & Susan Jones
Albert & Harper James
Buddy & Ann John
(11:15) Greg & Laura Moise
Margo Orlandini
Bob & Liz Norris
Patrick & Jennifer Rayfield
INFANT ROOM - CLC 115
(9:00) Virginia & Nate Henderson
(11:15) Stephanie & Stephen Hall
TODDLER ROOM - CLC 117
(9:00) Staff
(11:15) Kyle & Katie Johnson
2-K ROOM - CLC 119
(9:00) Natalie Quinn & Daniel Hall
(11:15) Staff
CHILDRENS CHURCH 102 - 3K
(9:00) Stuart & Jennie Lee
(11:15) Spencer & Emily Lindsay
CHILDRENS CHURCH 104 - 4K
(9:00) Dean & Courtenay Givens
(11:15) Robb & Jenny Brown
CHILDRENS CHURCH 106 - 5K
(9:00) Greg & Ainsley Rhame
(11:15) Mark & Christina Richardson