• Become a fan on Facebook: facebook.com/FoundPearlPress.
• Suggest Found Pearl Press to your Facebook friends. On our Facebook page, right under the logo, it says, “Suggest to friends.” When you click on that, you’ll see a list of your friends you can choose from to send a brief message. (It doesn’t spam-blast a message to all of your friends.)
• Write a review on Amazon.com for Quench!, To Have and to Hold, or The Children Are Free.
• Do you have a blog, website, LiveJournal, or other web presence? We’d appreciate a link to http://foundpearlpress.org. If you’d like a graphic to add to the link, you can use the logo with this post, the logo on our Facebook page, or email info@foundpearlpress.org for more options.

So we’re going to use this as an opportunity to offer a different kind of worship experience. Sunday evening worship will begin at the same time (6:00 pm), meet in the same space (the sanctuary), and still be led by Jeff and Melody. However, we will get to know each other at a deeper level. The service will begin with sharing and prayer. Then we will watch a recording of the Sunday morning sermon together, after which Jeff or Melody will lead a lively discussion of the sermon, challenging us to wrestle with the key concepts.

Some will love this more interactive form of worship, while those who want a more traditional worship format will have the option of shifting to Sunday mornings. These changes will take effect on Sunday, March 7!

Historically, Jesus MCC has had a part-time accompanist to supplement and support the work of our Worship Arts Minister. The position has been vacant for the past two years due to the deep economic recession and associated budget shortfalls. In recent months, however, giving has begun to return to pre-recession levels. So, at our January 31 Congregational Meeting, a budget was approved that restores funding for the accompanist position.

If you know someone who might be interested, please download the Position Posting. The deadline for application is March 14, 2010. Let’s pray that God will bring us the right person!

The service will be a time of reflection and prayer with the imposition of ashes. If you can’t make it to the church you are encouraged to set aside some time for reflection and prayer in your own sacred space.

Specifically, $1,250 was sent to a sister congregation, Chapel Hill United Methodist Church (Indianapolis), to purchase medical supplies for their medical missions trip to Haiti. They left Friday, February 5 and expect to treat 5,000 patients at a clinic near Port-au-Prince this week. Another $2,162 was sent to Partners In Health to be used exclusively to provide medical and health services for the poor in Haiti. Thank you so much for your overflowing generosity!

If you’d like to make additional, individual contributions to help in Haiti, you can find more information here:

• Partners in Health
• Doctors Without Borders
• American Red Cross or text “Haiti” to 90999

Next Sunday, January 31, 20% of everything you put in the offering plate will automatically go to relief efforts in Haiti.

Chapel Hill Medical Missions Trip
The first $1,250 of our relief funds will go to support a medical missions trip being coordinated by a sister congregation here in Indianapolis, Chapel Hill United Methodist Church. They will be sending 17 medical missionaries to Haiti from February 5-13. They have made similar trips to Haiti for years. These medical missionaries will be stationed at a clinic about an hour north of Port-au-Prince, where refuges from Port-au-Prince are fleeing to seek medical assistance.

The Chapel Hill team expects to treat about 5,000 Haitians during their two week stay! Our funds will be used exclusively to purchase medical supplies for this trip, including antibiotics, bandages, suture kits, braces, splints, and medications. If you would like to help prepare handwritten notes of encouragement for these medical missionaries, join us at the church this Tuesday, January 26 at 7:00 pm in Room 6.

Partners In Health
Amounts collected in excess of $1,250 will go to Partners In Health. Our Missions Board is very impressed with the work PIH is doing. For the past 20 years, PIH has employed a number of native Haitians to provide medical and health services for the poor in their local communities — as well as water, food, and shelter. All of the funds we donate to PIH will go directly to their relief work in Haiti.

When you give next Sunday, there is no need to designate your giving for Haiti. We will automatically set aside 20% of every dollar donated next Sunday. This approach has worked well for us in the past when we responded to the tsunami in Asia and starvation in Africa. Our 80/20 formula allows us to make a very sizeable donation to relief efforts without falling too far short in funding the ongoing ministries of our Church.

So, we encourage all who can to plan to give a little extra next Sunday, as an expression of God’s love for Haiti. Thanks!

• The Sanctuary Choir rehearses every Wednesday at 7:00 pm. We sing every other Sunday in both morning services, and in the evening service on opposite weeks.
• The Instrumental Ensemble rehearses on Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm and/or Saturday mornings at 9:30 am. They also perform every other Sunday in the morning services, and in the evening service on opposite Sundays.
• We have one major presentation during Holy Week. This year the choir will perform a three-part musical to chronicle the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection of Jesus. We’ll work with the Theater Arts Ministry.
• If you’re a soloist, the Music Ministry invites you to audition for Mark Brown, our Minister of Worship Arts.

The Sanctuary Choir and Instrumental Ensemble are not “official” Oasis gatherings, but many of our members find this is a meaningful part of their spiritual development and service. It is a time that those called to serve as church musicians can be of one spirit and offer their talents to God and allow the Spirit to touch lives through the music that is presented.

For more information please email Mark C. Brown, Minister of Worship Arts, or call (317) 722-0000 × 104.

• Our new website, FoundPearlPress.org, is fully operational. All of our current products can be purchased there, and there’s lots of room to grow. Many thanks go to Hiroki Chalfant for his expertise and many hours of work with this project!
• As you may know, we’ve just launched our second book, Quench! refreshing devotionals by gay, trans, and affirming Christians. It’s available on Amazon.com and ­FoundPearlPress.org.
• A few of the Found Pearl Press team members will be attending the Gay Christian Network conference in Nashville, TN, January 7-10. We’ll network with the 300 attendees, and have a table in the vendor’s area.
• In February, we’ll release To Have and To Hold: Spiritual Insights on Commitment and Marriage for Lesbian and Gay Couples. It’s a set of five sermons on CD with a study guide.
• Coming in 2010, new versions of The Children Are Free: a Spanish translation, an audiobook, and a print run of the English version in Nigeria. We’re doing this in cooperation with House of Rainbow MCC in Lagos, Nigeria, for distribution in Africa.

If you’d like to be part of Found Pearl Press or you’d like to get more information, contact team leader Lynne Kaminiski via the church office.

We recently sang inspirational songs as part of the annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner. The audience was also invited to share their testimony. Several youth and adults from Indiana Youth Group joined us. They and others graciously shared their stories and what they were thankful for. Upon closing, everyone sang Nobody Can Do Me Like Jesus, filling the room with the Spirit.

On Christmas Eve, the Gospel Choir will help bring Christmas cheer as we delight in song along with Deacon Robert Ferguson, who will deliver the sermon. Please join us and partake in a wondrous, God-loving event.

On January 9, we will begin rehearsing for our annual Black History Month Celebration. We invite anyone who is interested in being a part of the gospel choir to join us in this exciting new year! Please contact Mark Brown for more information, or fill out the form in Sunday’s Weekly News.

Lavonda comes to us with a deep business background. Before connecting to Tradebank, she spent years managing in Kohl’s and Lazarus Department Stores. Initially, Lavonda’s work for the Church will include:

• Office management (including coordination of office volunteers).
• Management of building and grounds.
• Help with marketing strategies for Found Pearl Press.
• Database management.
• Payroll and HR.
• Purchasing agent.
• Budget compliance and trend tracking.
• Constituent service enhancement.

When you see Lavonda and Charlene, be sure to thank them for this incredible act of generosity! Lavonda has been on the job for 5 weeks now and is already making a huge positive difference!

We also want to thank all those office volunteers who give one to five hours per week doing critical clerical tasks. If you would like more information about being an office volunteer, just email Lavonda.