Download - February 2016 Monthly Newsletter
608 SOUTH COLLEGE ROAD WILMINGTON NC 28403 (910) 392-4444 FAX (910) 392-4905
www.stnicholaswilmington.org
The Presentation of Our Lord and Savior in the Temple
February 2
February 2016
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church February 2016
Fr. Jon Emanuelson
Parish Priest
Office Hours: Monday through Friday, 9AM – 2PM
Office Phone: 910-392-4444 Office Fax: 910-392-4905
Fr. Jon’s Mobile Number: 910-685-0080
Office Email: [email protected]
Fr. Jon’s Email: [email protected]
Church Website: www.stnicholaswilmington.org
Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/StNicholasWilmington
2016 PARISH COUNCIL
CHURCH STAFF
Angelique Skandalakis, Parish Office Administrator
PARISH MINISTRY TEAM
Officers Members
Barbara Reynolds, President Evangelos Fragos Debra Rallis
Jack Poulos, Vice President Peter Manolukas Nick Saffo
Tina Bostic, Treasurer Emanuel Miliotis Maria Stasios
Peter Malahias, Assistant Treasurer
Irene Sotiriou Vogiatzis, Secretary
Emanuel Miliotis, Chairman of the Council of Ministries
Religious Education…Richard Reynolds, Ministry Chair Communications - Technology Ministries…
Adult Education…Richard Reynolds Alexandros Theodoropoulos , Ministry Group Leader
Youth Catechism…Courtney Malahias, Director Webmaster… Alexandros Theodoropoulos
Bookstore/Library…Mary Ann Wall Publications…Angelique Skandalakis, Stella McTaggart
Oratorical Festival…Courtney Malahias Technology… Alexandros Theodoropoulos
Media/Community Relations…Debra Rallis, Alexandros
Hellenic Culture…Kitsa Wiersteiner, Ministry Chair Theodoropoulos
Hellenic School…Anestis Logothetis, Acting Director
Romiosini Dance Group…Zaharoula Katsikis Parish Family Life…**Volunteer Needed**
Zoyra Dance Group…Lucas Bostic, Katerina Katsikis Parish Family Night…**Volunteer Needed**
Choral…Dr. Michael Rallis Men’s Group…Richard Reynolds
Special Activities… Kitsa Wiersteiner Women’s Group…**Volunteer Needed**
Forever Young…Stella Vallianos
Youth Diakonia…Doug Brown, Ministry Chair LOVE…Angelique Skandalakis, Kay Skandalakis
GOYA…Alexia Porzio, Doug Brown, Benjalee Pittman,
Koula Katsikis, Courtney Malahias Outreach & Evangelism…Diane McGowan, Ministry Chair
HOPE/JOY… Joyce Patsalos, Sophia Brewer, OCF…Fr. Jon, Alexandros Theodoropoulos
Jaime Saffo, Renée Karonis Psilos, Connie Ronner Hospitality…Ed Mayorga, Kathleen Mayorga
Community Service…Christina Mount
Liturgical Life… Dr. Michael Rallis, Ministry Chair Parish Care…Pat Poulos, Tina Stamatakis,
Liturgical Music… Dr. Michael Rallis Kay Skandalakis , Dr. Mary Frankos
Acolytes…Doug Brown
Neokoros/Sexton…**Volunteer Needed** Philoptochos…Tia Saffo, Chapter President
Stewardship…Debra Rallis
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church February 2016
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From the Desk of Father Jon
On Opportunities to Support our Greek Orthodox Church
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the Archetype of a good steward of God’s grace. Therefore, it makes
sense to take His example as the best way to serve God as Orthodox Christians!
There are many many passages in the New Testament where you see Jesus and His disciples attending a syna-
gogue or the Temple in Jerusalem. It may seem strange to our eyes that there is NEVER a mention of Jesus
being late for worship! From our Lord we learn to attend, participate, pray, read, heal, worship and love God
with our whole soul, mind and body. This is a central part of who we are as Orthodox Christians. Thus, let
us come into the house of God as often as possible, showing the proper respect and doing what is pleasing to
God by coming on time.
Our children, grandchildren and godchildren look to us to do what is good and right. They will take our ex-
ample and imitate us. Think about this for a moment! What kind of example do we provide? Do any of us
drop our children off at school late everyday and say, “It is enough that you show up for class, you really do
not need to pay attention or do your work.”? Of course not! So, if it is important for our children to learn a
secular education, how much more important is it for them to learn the Way, the Truth and the Life that is Je-
sus Christ in our Orthodox Church? It is the most important vocation in this life! It is not an academic study
of religion, but the very life in Christ.
Thus, every day is an opportunity to live a life in Christ. Every day is an opportunity to pray for our family
and friends. Every Sunday is an opportunity to worship and learn. Every day is an opportunity to apply the
gospel in our lives!
Jesus also came to serve. He had compassion for the sick, the lame, the blind and the infirm. He served His
disciples by teaching them the way of life that leads to salvation and in the washing of their feet after the
Mystical Supper. Thus, we too, are called to serve in many different ways. If God places in your heart a
yearning to serve Him in some way, please step forward. Chances are that we have a ministry you can help
accomplish something for God’s glory. Teaching in Sunday Church School is an opportunity to serve. Being
on the Parish Council is an opportunity to serve. Participating in one of our ministry is an opportunity to
serve! Who is so great a god as our God? He alone is the God who does wonders! Knowing how blessed we
are, how can we not serve Him?
Jesus taught us to give in every way to the good purposes of God. There are many ways to give in our Ortho-
dox Church. You can be a member of the Philoptochos. You can give your time and talent to our ministries.
You can go for Work Days at the Diakonia Retreat Center. You can help at the Good Shepherd House or at
the Greek Festival.
An Opportunity to Help
His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios has made our Diakonia Retreat Center a top priority for the whole me-
tropolis! Thus, the area Greek Orthodox Churches (Wilmington, Fayetteville, Myrtle Beach and Florence) are
uniting in an effort to help. Please join us for a special evening at St. John the Baptist in Myrtle Beach on
Sunday, March 6, 2016 at p.m. We will have a special “fun” raiser for the DRC this evening and we will
have our very “Basile” Katsikis join us! See you all there!
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From the Parish Council President
Barbara Reynolds
New Office System
Over the next several months, we will be installing and beginning to use a new information system for St. Nicholas. It will
replace our older less functional product called Bento, which we have been using for the last several years. The new sys-
tem is called Parish Data Systems (PDS) which has been in use for several years in many Protestant and Roman Catholic
Churches. Recently our Archdiocese entered into an agreement to modify the software for use by Greek Orthodox Church-
es at a greatly reduced price.
The initial module called Church Office will allow us to maintain Family and Member information including:
1) Contact information and preferences for how and when to be contacted,
2) Sacramental information such as Baptismal and Chrismation documents,
3) Ministry involvement and a talent inventory,
4) Language preferences,
5) Family relationships,
6) Personal information viewable only by the Priest, and
7) A record of correspondence
Once the basic information has been built, we will begin to use Church Office for the recording of Stewardship and other
giving. Church Office will then generate the input to our QuickBooks financial package. Later in the year, we will evalu-
ate a second module of PDS software, called PDS Ledger to replace QuickBooks.
Why expend resources to implement PDS? One of the most powerful features of PDS is its reports capability. Today the
Treasurer spends many hours of effort to provide the budgetary information that we use as a congregation to support our
many ministries. Using PDS will allow us to automatically generate the reports as well as provide information that we
don't have today so that we can more effectively run the church and keep our members informed.
There will be many features which will help our priest and parish office administrator organize and record the work that
they do to serve the parish.
The information gathered can be used to provide our own Church Directory without having to pay an outside company.
We will have the opportunity to record and document all of your financial gifts to the church so that you can claim tax
deductions on all of your giving.
We will continue our investigation and initial training using the trial system we have installed on a laptop. The production
system will be built in a few weeks. We will enter the set-up information appropriate for our church and set up procedures
for our use of PDS. We will then need you to provide us with information about your families that we can enter into the
system. No one need to be concerned about needing computer skills to be able to use the system. Those skills will be pro-
vided by the implementation team. Also any information provided by the system can be printed to make sure everyone is
kept informed.
Most importantly, sensitive information will be kept secure. For example, only those few people who today enter and view
your financial data will be able to do so using PDS. Access to the data is controlled by user ID and passwords. Each user
is only allowed to access that portion of the data base that he or she is specifically authorized to access.
Please watch for updates on the PDS system in the General Assembly Meeting on February 14, the weekly bulletin and
Monthly Newsletter.
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church February 2016
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Treasurer’s Update Tina Bostic
Great News! Our 2015 stewardship ended on a positive note for both the month of December and for the total
year. We received $17,047.89 more than our goal for the year.
We will present the final 2016 operating budget at our General Assembly on February 14 for final approval.
At this meeting we will also share other financial information including the current account information and
stewardship progress. Please join us for important updates and information. Your participation is key to mov-
ing St. Nicholas forward.
Stewardship 2016: We have received 63 stewardship cards to date with a total commitment of $177,134.00
which is a great start. This represents about 31.5% of our stewards. We would love to have 100% participa-
tion early in the year so we can budget appropriately. I ask each of you to complete a stewardship commitment
card and mail them in or place them in the stewardship box at the candle stand in the entry of the church.
2015 Operating Income /Expenses
General Fund Income Expenses Variance
Dec $32,414.35 $30,099.00 $2,315.35
Year End $343,286.04 $336,108.98 $7,177.06
For the month of December we received more than we spent and ended the year with our operating income
greater than our expenses.
2015 Stewardship
Stewardship
received
Stewardship goal Variance
Dec $27,850.35 $20,000.00 $7,850.35
Year End $257,047.89 $240,000.00 $17,047.89
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” Helen Keller
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church February 2016
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Council of Ministries
Please welcome Manny Miliotis as the new
chairman of the Council of Ministries.
Please thank Maria Stasios for her leader-
ship in the Council of Ministries for the last
5+ years.
Swearing in of our 2016 Parish Council
Stewardship Debra Rallis
Thank you to our parishioners who have filled out
their 2016 Commitment cards. If you have forgotten,
please do so asap. This helps the Parish Council and
Council of Ministries with our future planning.
All 2015 Stewards who filled out the time/talent sec-
tion of their commitment cards will be contacted
shortly by the ministry heads. Please join us in mak-
ing 2016 a year of spiritual growth at our beloved St.
Nicholas community!
“Those that seek the Lord shall never be in want of
any Good Thing.”
Philoptochos Enosis Chapter #5027
Tia Saffo
Thank you to everyone who baked and/or purchased
Vasilopitas on January 11th. We raised over $5000
at the event, to be shared equally between St Basile’s
Academy and our St Nicholas’ Benevolent Fund. In
case you missed it, the coin was retrieved by the
Philoptochos this year!
All ladies are invited to participate in our Feb 7th
meeting after Divine Liturgy. Our spiritual enrich-
ment speaker will be Angela Dentiste on the Good
Samaritan.
If you have not already renewed your 2016 member-
ship, we still have ornaments available. We will try
to have someone at the table during coffee hour every
Sunday to accept your payment. And we are now
able to accept credit cards for membership payments.
Have a Happy, Healthy New Year!
Romiosini and Zoyra
Our dancers and their families had a wonderful time
in Orlando for the Hellenic Dance Festival. Our
youth represented our St Nicholas community with
grace, respect and good fellowship. They saw old
friends and made new friends. We would like to say
a special thank you to our dance directors - Zaharoula
Katsikis, Lucas Bostic and Katerina Katsikis for their
dedication to teaching dance to our youth – the kids
could not have done it without you three; a heartfelt
thank you to Nota Dukas our costume director for
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keeping our dancers looking great. Her award- win-
ning talents are truly wonderful. And a big thank you
to all our parents for supporting our directors, and
bringing their children to all the practices and helping
with all the behind the scene activities that keep the
dance program going.
We are thrilled to report that all of our groups brought
home awards for their spectacular dance performanc-
es. Zoyra took home the gold and Romiosini took
home the silver award. Romiosini also received a sec-
ond medal - the folk expression award - for their Mac-
edonian suite. This speaks towards the hard work and
dedication of all the children, dance teachers, and par-
ents towards dancing and keeping our heritage alive.
We are so very pleased that Nota Dukas received the
award for costume design for her Romiosini Macedo-
nia design in the Advanced Senior Division. Way to
go!
We hope you saw our youth perform at UNCW's In-
tercultural Festival on January 30th. They did a really
nice job!
Forever Young Stella Vallianos
Forever Young will meet on Tuesday, February 2nd,
at 11 AM in the Hellenic Center. Kay Skandalakis will
be providing a light lunch for this meeting, which will
be our Valentine’s Social. (Please do not bring a cov-
ered dish.) Let’s start the new year right by all of us
attending.
Community Service Christina Mount
We would like to thank our community for the gener-
osity and support shown with our fund raising coffee
hour. With your help, we were able to provide a won-
derful Christmas for four women at First Fruit Minis-
tries. This is a program that assists women and fami-
lies who are homeless, gain the skills needed to move
into a home of their own and maintain that home. We
were also able to provide this program with enough oil
change gift certificates to help the few program partic-
ipants who have cars to maintain those cars.
If you have any questions regarding this event, or our
Community Service Ministry feel free to ask.
Community News
WITH GRATITUDE!
Thank you to Ed Mayorga for designing, building and
donating our new bar cabinetry in our Hellenic Cen-
ter! God Bless him and his wonderful family! We are
truly blessed when our members donate their time,
talent, and treasure to help their Community.
The officers and members of Chapter Therma #10
would like to thank everyone who came out to support
our annual New Years Eve dance! We wish you all a
happy and healthy 2016!
Greek School/ AHEPA Annual St. Valentine's Dance
The Dance will take place on Saturday, February 13
starting at 7 pm in our Hellenic Center. There will be a
Live Greek Band by Paschalis to provide the music
and the dancing, a delicious buffet dinner, a cash bar,
a raffle of $2 a ticket with all sorts of goodies ( wines,
Greek delicacies, dinner certificates and more im-
portant a secret grand prize of an electronic device).
The tickets are $35 for adults for pre-sale and $40 at
the door, $15 for students and free for children 12 and
under. There will be a sitter for the younger kids so
families can come with their children and enjoy the
fun.
The whole Parish and friends are invited for an even-
ing of camaraderie, fellowship and fun. The proceeds
go to the Greek School which is tuition free for their
books and supplies and to AHEPA Cape Fear Chapter
#408 for their charitable activities. Come and support
our Hellenic School and our local AHEPA Chapter.
For more information call the Church Office or see
Nick Lazaridis or Pete Malahias.
DIAKONIA RETREAT CENTER FUNDRAISER
Please Save the Date: Sunday, March 6, 2016!
All Greek Orthodox Churches in the area are planning
to attend a beautiful fund raiser for our beloved Dia-
konia Retreat Center. The event will take place at the
parish center at St. John the Baptist in Myrtle Beach
on the evening of Sunday, March 6, 2016 and will fea-
ture our very own “Basile!” His Eminence Metropoli-
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church February 2016
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tan Alexios will be there for an evening of fun and
fellowship. Please plan on joining us!
HOME BLESSINGS
Please call the office to schedule your home blessing
if you have not yet done so. Father Jon will be trying
to visit everyone that has not had a chance to get their
home or business blessed. Thank you.
LOCAL EVENT SPOTLIGHT
Opera Wilmington presents - AMORE! Songs of
Love, with our own Michael and Nikoleta Rallis.
Champagne + Chocolates + Live Opera. February
14th from 4-p.m. at UNCW Bechwith Recital Hall.
Tickets available from Kenan Box Office 962-3500.
WINE
We have Greek wine for sale! If you would like to
purchase a bottle, please see a Parish Council member.
DONATION REQUESTS
Olive oil for the vigil lamp is in need. If you would
like to make a donation, please bring any size bottle to
the church. Thank you.
We are accepting donations as we continue to improve
our Hellenic Center. Any donations would be greatly
appreciated. Items needed include new banquet
chairs.
Please donate all weekly coupons from newspapers &
ads to the Hellenic Center. These coupons will be used
to help our parishioners save money on products. For
more information, please see Benjalee Pittman.
We are looking for volunteers to host coffee hour. If
you are interested in hosting coffee hour please con-
tact Angelique Skandalakis. For the weeks when we
do not have a volunteer we will still have coffee and
juice.
Congratulations
For all the people celebrating their birthday, anniver-
sary, and name day in the month of February, may you
have many happy years! Many Happy Years!
On January 3 we held a 40-day blessing for Charlotte
Eloise, the daughter of Michael and Kippy Batuyios.
Sympathies and Memorials
We express our deepest sympathy to Thalia Kefalas
on the passing of her brother, Efthemios, on Saturday,
December 19th. May his memory be eternal!
March 5: First Saturday of Souls
March 6, Meat fare Sunday: Diakonia Retreat Center Fundraiser
March 12: Second Saturday of Souls
March 13, Forgiveness Sunday: Daylight Savings Time Begins & Oratorical Festival
March 14: Great Lent Begins
March 19: Third Saturday of Souls
March 20, Sunday of Orthodoxy: Procession of Icons
March 27: Greek Independence Day Celebration
SAVE THE DATES
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church February 2016
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Communications Ministries Alexandros Theodoropoulos
On behalf of our Communications ministries, we would like to extend our best wishes to all of our
parishioners for a Healthy and Prosperous 2016!
There was an issue that was brought to the attention of our Technology ministry recently according
to which when a visitor would try to view the live streaming of our services from the pertinent page
on our website, he/she would get a login screen. Of course, the login screen shouldn't have been
there and the issue, which originated by the servers of the company hosting the streaming, should
now be resolved as everything has been working fine for the last couple of weeks.
Moreover, in case there are such issues again in the future, the following alternative link could be
used until the issue gets resolved:
https://video.nest.com/live/fnkNsT
A reference to this link has also been posted conveniently on our live streaming webpage at
www.stnicholaswilmington.org/LiveStreaming.html right below the window showing the stream in
case it is ever needed.
As always, in case you experience any issues with any of our church's technology equipment please
let our Communications ministries know at [email protected].
LIVE STREAMING NOTIFICATION
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church February 2016
Romiosini
Silver medal AND
Folk
Expression award WINNERS!
Nota
Dukas
Costume
Design
winner!
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church February 2016
Zoyra
Brought home the gold!
Hellenic Dance Festival, Orlando, FL 2016
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St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church February 2016
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St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Family Activity – Baking Artoklasia
Saturday, February 6, 2016
8:30am-12:30pm
Fun and Activities for adults and youth! Part of Family Outreach Sunday
(All ministries are invited to help distribute the mini loaves starting
Wednesday, February 24, 2016 at 7pm.)
Please join Presbytera Barbara & Fr. Jon!
Learn about the gospel story, baking Artoklasia
and the special recipe.
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Join us for Super Bowl Sunday
Fellowship!
Bring your family to join our St. Nicholas family for fun, food, football, and fellowship! 6:00 pm till the game’s over!
Please bring a refreshment and appetizer/snack to share.
Can’t think of anything? Try one of these:
Cheese Ball, Cheese & Crackers, Hot Dogs/Buns, Chili, Pizza, Chips, Taco Chips, Salsa, Guacamole, Meatballs,
Lil’ Smokies, Mexican Dip, Spinach or Artichoke Dip, Brownies, Cookies, Other Desserts, Fruit or Veggies,
Sodas, Water, and Other Drinks…
Not interested in football? Bring a deck of cards or your backgammon board
See you Sunday, Feb 7th in the Hellenic Center!
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For a complete and up-to-date version of our Parish Calendar, please visit us online at:
http://www.stnicholaswilmington.org/ParishCalendar.html
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