It is the mission of First Presbyterian Church of Beatrice

to know Christ, to make Christ known and to exhibit Christ’s love through worship, education and service

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I want to share with you an oppor-tunity that I will be taking part in that will benefit not only myself but the ministry of our church. With the encouragement of our presbytery, I will be participating in the “Pastoral Leadership Revitali-zation” program (PLR). This is a program that is being sponsored by the Omaha Presbyterian Seminary Founda-tion (did you know there used to be a Presbyterian semi-nary in Omaha?) with the support of a grant from the Lily Foundation (meaning it is offered at no cost to my-self or our church) and the participation of Homestead, Missouri River, and Missouri Union Presbyteries. The program is three years long, and consists of monthly coaching from a trained “mentor coach” and about five retreats scattered throughout the three years. The “Pastoral Leadership Revitalization” program’s goal is to support pastors in their ministries with their church-es. Particularly, the program is aimed at pastors who are early in their ministerial calls, serving in small or isolated communities, or have other circumstances that may con-

tribute to early burn-out. While this program is fo-cused on serving pastors, it’s aim is also to help revi-talize the churches partici-pating pastors are serving. A majority of pastors in our denomination com-pletely leave ministry with-in their first five years of

leaving seminary, and this number is likely growing. In order to counteract the high rate of burn-out and physical ailments of pastors, PLR is designed to develop greater pastoral resilience with the understanding that with high-er resilience will come improved pastor health and lower burn-out rates. As with many other occupations, minis-try is often times lonely and isolating for a pastor as we

care for those in our churches and communities, but often times have very few people whom we can turn to in order to receive care. Part of building resilience is having a group of other pas-tors with whom a pastor can belong and be cared for. PLR aims to offer this community through their retreats and mentoring programs, as well as offer educational op-portunities for growth. As I briefly describe the program, I can see how you may be asking “How does this program support and benefit the ministry of my church?” And that’s a good question. Almost everything I have written has been focused on caring for me and other pastors. But that’s just it, similar to what you wrote in your Ministry Information Form (MIF) when you were looking for a pastor a year ago, a church is only as healthy as their pastor and other lead-ers. Omaha Presbyterian Seminary Foundation and par-ticipating presbyteries believe this as well, and so they are supporting our church and other churches in multiple presbyteries by supporting me and the other pastors serv-ing those churches. And they’re “putting their money where their mouth is” by financially covering the pro-gram; including, helping to pay for pulpit supply while I am at the retreats. I am very excited about the opportunity to participate in PLR because I think it will mean great things for me and the ministry of our church. My first retreat and mentor-ing session was last month, and I have already experi-enced these to be times when I have space to rejuvenate my spiritual and physical energy to serve our church, to reflect on our ministry together so far, and to vision for our ministry in the future. I look forward to sharing more about my experiences and my gleanings from this program in the future. Thank you for your support as we take this journey to greater health and vitality together. Your partner in the journey, Zac

(first pic is from: https://accordingtochrist.com/2018/01/30/marks-of-a-healthy-church/) (Second pic from: https://omahapresbyterianseminaryfoundation.org/plr-program/)

Presby-Notes November

2019

Faithful Footprints: Reflections on our journey following Jesus

***Attendance in September: 9/1-63; 9/8-45; 9/15-54; 9/22-49; 9/29-56 October: 10/6-93; 10/13-at Christ Church Episcopal

***Communion was served to 85 on October 6th.

***Pastor Zac Wolfe and Elder Doris Martin attended a conference in Kansas City on wor-shiping communities and church vitality. Zac also attended a conference on “Pastor Leader-ship Revitalization” that the Presbytery has asked him to participate in.

***Eight youth are participating in confirmation instruction.

***Pastor Chris Hanson will be pulpit supply on November 3rd.

***All Saints Day will be observed November 10th since Zac will be gone on the traditional day, November 3rd.

***The January and February Session meetings will be moved to the fourth Mondays in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents’ Day.

***Our church volunteers will serve Warren’s Table on Tuesday, November 5th.

***The Holiday Dinner will be November 24th following worship.

***The PW Christmas Tea will be Thursday, December 19th from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the P.E.O. Home.

***The search continues for a coordinator for the Middle School after-school program. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Carol Straub; Diane Mayer; Verna Light; Willard Engelman; Bob Hancock; Dorothy Appleget; Charlotte Carney; Dorothy Rockemann; Dennis and Judy Prebyl; William Cook III; and Barb Harrison.

Also: Shannon Fanning; Vera Lyons; Elmer Cook; Linnel Rials; Skylar Nicola; Elizabeth Shotkoski-Jurgens,; Pat Morris; Steve Arneal; Lori Eckert; Jake Frana; Timothy Briskey; Carol Koslofsky; Mike Willet; Judy Knispel; Stan Martin (Gene Martin’s brother); Nancy Chalupa; Jon Lucas Warren; Hope Johns (Maxine Arneal’s great grand-daughter); Imogene Johnson (Connie Dake’s sister); Jason Baird (Missy Sohl’s brother), Sawyer Lock (Kristin Jurgens’ grandson); and Norma Mitschler (Frank’s sister).

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Tickets will be sold before and after worship on November 10, 17, and 24.

They may also be purchased from the church office

Monday-Thursday beginning November 4.

Westminster Guild

Westminster Guild will meet Monday, November 4 for the monthly potluck in the church parlor. All are welcome to join us. Last month’s program was “A

Visit to Chengdu China” presented by Neil McConnell. It was a rewarding evening.

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JOYS continue on Wednesdays 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Supper is provided

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Julie Hay and Ardyth Orwen hosted the October PW meeting at 9:30 in the parlor with eleven women attending.

Following refreshments and conversation moderator Julie Hay presided over the business. Plans were finalized for the November 24th “Women’s Praise Service” and Holiday Dinner. Christ-mas mission projects were reviewed.

Next on the morning’s agenda was the PW Horizon Bible Study, lesson #2 Don’t Trivialize My Name from our book Love Carved in Stone. It was an eye opening study.

Come join us November 21st for lesson #3.

The PW Book Club will meet at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, November 20 to discuss A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

Kelan Hereth 1

Mary Ann Rowe 4

Gail Sutter 6

Ann Bowman 10

Barrett Paulmeyer 12

Harris Paulmeyer 14

Sue Ann Jedlicka 15

John Matson 15

Bette Anne Thaut 18

Neil McConnell 20

Dale Simmons 23

Leslie Rinne 26

Wilma Huff 28

Charlotte Carney 29

GREETERS & USHERS

November 3:

Kristin Jurgens

November 10:

Kristen Jurgens

November 17:

November 24:

(A calendar for volunteering to greet and usher on Sundays is

posted on the bulletin board next to the office.)

Daylight Savings Time ends Saturday, November 2. Remember to set your clocks back 1 hour. First Church will serve Warren’s Table on Tuesday, November 5, at 5:00 p.m. Call the church office if you can help. The first weekend in November we move the clocks back one hour and it is recommended to also change the batteries in your smoke alarms. To encourage you to keep a good battery in your smoke alarm, there will be 9 volt batteries available at worship service. Please pick one up for each alarm you have in your house. Please recycle your old bat-teries at the Recycle Center, located at 917 South 11th Street. The batteries are provided by Keep Beatrice Beautiful

Young Presby Women’s Group

Below is the Monthly Schedule for the Young Presby Women's Group Events. Dates are to be announced by the lead person linked to that month. If any of you would like to help in planning please reach out to the lead of that

month.

*Nov. 2019-TBD, Betsy Bolli

*Dec. 2019-Gift Exchange & Giving Back, Ashley McConnell

*Jan. 2020- Ice Skating, Missy Baird-Sohl

*Feb. 2020-Friendship Home, Lincoln/NE-Rudi Wolfe

*March 2020- Stone Hollow Brewery, Beatrice-Amanda Fossler

*April 2020- Spring Into May-Defy Gravity, Lincoln-Ashley McConnell

*May 2020-SPA Day, Amanda Fossler

***June, July, August 2020-SUMMER BREAK!

Below are the Teams we have created to help with certain areas to connect our church community. If you would like to join a group please comment/message that person and we can happily add you to the group:

*Gifts for Baptism/Weddings/Health/Medical/Etc: Ashley McConnell & Amanda Fossler.

*New Members Welcome: Missy Baird-Sohl & Rudi Wolfe

*T-Shirts/Graphics: Ashley McConnell & Missy Baird-Sohl

*Prayer List: Betsy Bolli

Contact Us:

First Presbyterian Church

Pastor Zac Wolfe

321 North 5th Street

PO Box 654 Email: presbybeatrice@gmail.com

Beatrice, NE 68310 Website: presbybeatrice.com

402-223-3933 Facebook: First Presbyterian Church—Beatrice, Nebraska

Session’s Reflections: Going Deeper with Our Elected Elders We’re now looking beyond 150 years! We have enjoyed celebrating our 150 year anniversary this year, but now we are looking beyond 150 and planning for 2020. And this is the time of year that the Finance and Personnel com-mittee starts to develop a budget for the next year 2020. The first step in starting our budget plan is to complete a pledge drive. You recall that at this time of year letters are sent to the congregation households requesting that giving for the next year be reviewed. Your household probably has received this letter by the printing of Presby-Notes for this month. The money committed through the pledge drive helps the Session plan for the next year. We will not be able to complete the 2020 budget until we have re-ceived the pledges from you. Each year the congregation generously supports the work of the church. So far this year we have received over 95% of the pledges already in just the first 9 months. Through these pledges, you support Vacation Bible School, Sunday school for the children, salaries for the staff and materials for worship. We are asking you to complete the pledge care enclosed with the letter to indicate your pledge or other planned giving for next year. This helps us greatly as we plan for next year. Also we are asking you to consider increasing your giving from last year and even consider a tithe of 10% of your income in order to share part of what has been given to you from God. Giving and pledging in this way requires planning and often prayerful consideration from each household. But giving is most helpful in supporting our work. Finally, thank you for your support of the work of our church in past years, and thank you for helping us as we look beyond our first 150 years. Finance and Personnel Committee Don Harmon, Neil McConnell, Alan Langvardt ______________________________________________________________________________________________