New Hope Christian Church Good News

May 15, 2017

New Hope

New Vision

New Spirit

The years have slipped swiftly by as one month passes into another. In the course of passing years my family has trav-eled thousands of miles (As a matter of fact, my big Red Truck has 251,468 miles on it). In all of our travels signs have had a significant impact on life’s journey.

An encounter with the sign shown to the right usually means delay and anxiety. It is frustrating, having selected a route and time table, to be stopped and redirected. The alternate route is rough, traffic is heavy, and the journey disappointing.

It is written, “You must change your hearts, for the kingdom of heaven has arrived!”...Make ready the way of the Lord. Make His paths straight.” Matthew 3:2-3

It is tragic that many will attempt to find an alternate route for the Christian way of life. Seeking al alternate route to abundant life ends in futility, frustration, and despair. God has established a bridge between God’s own self and human beings. He sent His Son into our world in order that, “All who believed in Him should not be lost, but should have eternal (abundant) life” John 3:16.

If we do not believe in Jesus Christ, if we do not follow Him as our Lord and Savior, the “Bridge to abun-dant life is “OUT” and THE ROAD IS CLOSED. It is worth thinking about, it is worth praying about and pon-dering as you read the signs along the way. See you at New Hope as we worship together.

Rev. SRC

Memorial Day Sunday

We are thrilled to announce that on Memorial Day weekend the Pulpit at NHCC will be filled by Rev. Joe Massi, Jr. Rev. Massi is a retired Disciples of Christ minister who has served the Church faithfully for over 50 years. Joe and Jan have been worshipping with us for well over year after having made the decision to move from Lake-wood, Colorado to Oklahoma City. We all look forward to hearing his message on Sunday, May 28th.

Pentecost Sunday—June 4th

Pentecost has always been a special day in the life of the church. It is a time of promise and possibility ex-pressed through the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. On June 4th you will have your Soul touched and your Spirit lifted through the message that Rev. Jim Davidson will bring as he fills the pulpit. Jim and Mary frequent our worship ser-vices to hear their son, Brad, play the piano. Make your plans to be present in Worship.

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Diana Anders0n, David Ray, Georgette Reed, Mar-

shall McDougal, Dan Turner (Ann Kennedy’s Fa-

ther), Wanda Foutty, Wilma Cox, Patricia Johnson,

Linda Brown, Alvina Wilks, Fred and Thelma Shim-

mels (Beulah Ames’ brother and sister-in-law),

Mike Bland (friend of Alvina Wilks)

ONGOING PRAYER CONCERNS

David Lee (Mollie Coker’s brother), Bonnie Beck

(Patricia Johnson's sister), Joe Smith (Patsy Webb’s

Nephew), Sharon Fisher (friend of Eugene Earsom)

Tawanna Romine, Lavelle Dinwiddie, Judy Kemp,

Lavonna Adams, Nita Beckett (Beulah Ames’

niece), Jan Reames, Gerald Staggers (Eugene Ear-

som’s uncle), Sandy Kidwell, Steve Kidwell’s Dad

and Mary, Karla Wogomad

Please note: If you have placed a name on the pray-

er concerns list, please notify the church office

when the name should be removed.

During the month of May, New Hope children will be learning and memorizing the books of the New Testament during Children's Church. Each week, chil-dren are encouraged to bring their bibles with them to church. Parents are also encouraged to help children study at home and to help with pronunciations. A con-test will be held at the end of May to see which child can recite as many books in order. Is there a prize? Yes, there is. The winner gets to take a special trip to "CELEBRATE". So get out those bibles and start learning the New Testament books. May God Bless us All!

VBS 2017 will be here before you know it. This year's theme is HERO CENTRAL, Discover Your Strength in God! Our bible verse for VBS is: DO GOOD! SEEK PEACE AND GO AFTER IT! Psalm 34: 14. POWER UP! Get ready as kids are taken on an awesome adven-ture alongside some of their favorite Bible heroes and discover the qualities that make us truly heroic in God! VBS Hero Central uses epic music, spectacular sci-ence, crafty crafts, heroic recreation, and fantastic Bi-ble stories to help kids discover their strength in God! VBS 2017 HERO CENTRAL, Discover Your Strength in God! coming soon. Stay tuned for future dates and times…

For and About

New Hope Kids

The Prayer Connection Begins Action

As a congregation we continue to Nurture, Serve and

Connect with God, one another , and the communi-

ty. The Prayer Connection has established a team ded-

icated to praying for specific church members and

friends in a monthly rotation. Beginning in June the

Prayer Connection will be proactively praying for

those listed for the month. You will receive either an

electronic or handwritten note notifying you when the

Prayer Connection is praying specifically for you. If

you have special prayer needs during that month, or at

any time, please notify a member of the Prayer Con-

nection, the church office or Pastor Steve. The mem-

bers of the Prayer Connection are Diana Anderson,

Brad Davidson, Eugene Earsom, Penny Hampton and

Alvina Wilks. God continues to call us to be His peo-

ple and to follow His teachings. New Hope is contin-

uing to meet His call in this and many other ways. An

exciting time for our congregation. Please pray for the

Prayer Connection as we pray for each of you.

The Prayer Connection

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New Hope by the Numbers

Income Expenses

April $ 13,852.38 $ 12,711.02

April Attendance

April 2nd 80

April 9th 82

April 16th 95

April 23rd 60

April 30th 58

General Assembly July 8-12

Indianapolis, Indiana

Over the past 4-5 years during which New Hope has sup-ported Refuge Fellowship Church by providing a meal once a quarter, many of our members have helped and been blessed by the experience. Occasionally, some of our folks have assumed a much larger share of the preparation and serving of the meal than the rest of us. We don't want anyone to get "burned out" or to feel overburdened, so we are considering making some changes and will try them out this month. New Hope is scheduled to serve at Refuge Fellowship on Monday, May 22. To help things run a bit more efficiently and to "share the wealth," we will try having two teams. The first team, the Preparers, will make the neces-sary purchases for the intended menu, prepare the meal at the church, and prepare the menu items for transport. The second team, the Servers, then will pick up the meal and serving items, transport them to Refuge, reheat if neces-sary, and serve the meal. Nothing prevents anyone from being on both teams if s/he chooses, but we hope that we will have more volunteers who can truly and sincerely commit to this ministry by defining the tasks more clearly. Will you volunteer to try this out? Please let Anthony Henderson or Eugene Earsom know. We promise: you WILL be blessed! [Matt. 40:25]

Pentecost Offering

June 4th & 11th

The Pentecost Offering supports Disciples new

church development. Planning, nurturing and sus-

taining new congregation is part of the Disciples’

vision.

This offering supports the specialized ministry of

new church development through both regional

and general programs – with gifts for this offering

divided between each. Fifty percent of gifts re-

ceived by a region remain in that region, the bal-

ance supports the work of general, new church

efforts.

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Congratulations Are in Order!

Be sure and say congratulations to Braden Walker who will graduate with the Class of 2017 from Newcastle High School on May 22nd.

Sunday, May 21st

1:30p.m.

The New Hope Board conducts the business and

plans for the future of the church. If you are a

Board Officer, Committee Chair, Elder, Deacon,

or Trustee, you are a member of the Board and

should be present at Board meetings. Your partic-

ipation and input are important.

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Western Oaks Christian Church

8100 NW 23rd

9a.m.-12p.m. and 1p.m.-4p.m.

Join with friends to package food for folks in need

locally and around the world. There are tasks that

are done standing and other jobs that can be done

sitting. Most anyone can come and help. Gifts of

money for food purchases are always needed (Make

your check out to Stamp out Starvation and mail it

to Tom Russell, 5112 NW 20th, Oklahoma City,

OK 73137)

It is helpful to know how many are coming, so

please call Tom @ 650-3335 to register or if you

have questions.

* Formerly “Kids Against Hunger”

*

Blanket Making

Opportunity

Many of you may know that our ever

busy and ever caring JoCarolyn is in-

volved in leadership of the Crossroads Kids Camp. A

camp supported by the Crossroads Hospice Charitable

Foundation whose mission is to honor the validity of

child and family grief by facilitating the healing process.

This coming October the camp will host forty children

and their families as a ministry and support in their grief

walk.

Two years ago we supported their first camp in Oklaho-

ma by making and presenting 25 fleece blankets for the

children of the camp. Each child is greeted their first

night at camp with a blanket, a soft toy and other good-

ies to say welcome you are loved. This year we are again

needed to make blankets for the children. On June 3, at

10:00 am, we will be meeting in the church fellowship

hall to tie fleece blankets, snack a bit and help this min-

istry as outreach for our congregation. If you would like

to come and bring your supplies you will need two yards

soft fleece for one side of the blanket and two yards for

the other side, four yards in all. They may be contrasting

patterns or solids or all the one pattern or color. These

are the simple tied blankets so no sewing is necessary.

Scissors are a must if you can bring your own. We will

have extra fabric to purchase or to tie, and some extra

scissors.

So bring a snack to share, your supplies if you have

them and your tying fingers. We will make as many

blankets as we have supplies and present them to

JoCarolyn to take to the camp.

FYI:: Fleece is on sale right now so check out Hobby

Lobby, etc.

If you have questions please contact Marietta Combs, Vicki Eaton or Penny Hampton

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Sun. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thur. Fri. Sat.

14 15 16 9a.m. Ladies Breakfast

17 9a.m. Men’s Breakfast at Sunny Side Up 7p.m. Choir Practice

18 19 20

21 Stewardship Meeting 1:30 p.m. Board Meeting

22 Serve at Refuge Fellowship

23 24 9a.m. Men’s Breakfast at Sunny Side Up 7p.m. Choir Practice

25 26 27

28 Rev. Joe Massi, Pulpit Guest

29 30 31 9a.m. Men’s Breakfast at Sunny Side Up 7p.m. Choir Practice

June 1 2 3 10a.m.

Meet to make

blankets for

grief camp.

4 Rev. Jim Da-vidson Pulpit Guest

5 6 7 9a.m. Men’s Breakfast at Sunny Side Up 7p.m. Choir Practice

8 9 10

White Team Red Team Purple Team Green Team

Priscilla Mann Eugene Earsom Ann Kennedy Anthony Henderson

Kendall Hartman David Ray Christy Qualls Joe Massi

Sidney Hartman Frances Ray Roxanne Walker Georgette Reed

Steve Chambers Marietta Combs Jo Carolyn Chambers Mollie Coker

Lori Lessmann

Andy Lessmann

PURPLE TEAM

GREEN TEAM

WHITE TEAM

RED TEAM

May and June

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Bringing Heaven to Earth 12323 S. Pennsylvania

Oklahoma City, OK 73170

Phone: 405-691-5366

E-mail: newhopeccokc@sbcglobal.net

Place

Stamp

May 15, 2016

We’re on the Web

nhccokc.com

May/June Calendar 5

Prayer Concerns 2

April By the Numbers 3

Stewardship Clip 3

General Assembly 3

Prayer Connection 2

Children’s News 2

Board Meeting 4

Blanket Making 4

Mission Opportunity 4

Serving at Refuge Fellowship 3

What’s Inside