-
E l a t i o n A r t s S e r i e spresents
Emmanuel Church Choir with special guestMatt Harris and the
California State University Northridge Jazz Band
A Christmas Tale&
Saturday, December 13, 20144:00 pm
Emmanuel Church
588 Camino Manzanas Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
For Tickets Call or email:[email protected]
$15 in advance$20 at the door
Tales ofChristmasA Jazz Nutcracker Suite
The spirit of Christmas will ring through the hall with music
and laughter on Saturday, December 13, at 4pm, when Elation Arts
presents Tales of Christ-mas in the sanctuary. This musical
extravaganza, pro-duced and directed by Kim Harris and Ed Rouse,
takes a fresh and innovative look at this heartwarming time of year
through two very dif-ferent tales of the season.
Emmanuel Christmas Choir will present “A Christ-mas Tale” by
Greg Ferguson and Aaron Reynolds, which tells the story of
Christmas through music and drama, exploring the larger story of
who God is and why he loves us. This timeless tale is told through
a troop of story tellers who gather to communicate a miraculous
true story entitled, “Christmas.” The choir joins in sing-ing
favorite seasonal carols and praise songs, including “O Come
Emmanuel,” “Joy to the World” and “God of Wonders.”
Special guest Matt Harris and the California State University
Northridge Jazz Band will tell another beloved tale of the season,
with a twist, when they
perform A Jazz Nutcracker Suite, which was originally arranged
by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn in 1960 featuring jazz
interpreta-tions of The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. CSUN’s jazz band
is recognized as one of the finest college jazz bands in the
nation. The band’s recordings are heard on jazz radio stations
around the world. Harris, conductor of the jazz band, has performed
with numer-ous jazz greats, including Maynerd Ferguson and Billy
Rich. Harris is an active clinician, conduc-tor and composer for
high
schools, colleges and professional bands around the world, and
he has played at Emmanuel for several years during Sunday worship
services and concerts.
Continued on Page 3
Tales of Christmas & Tree-Lighting Ceremony: A Delight for
the Whole Family!
Please Join Us On Christmas Eve!
EMMANUEL NEWSLETTER Winter 2014-2015 VOLUME 10 | ISSUE 10
INSiGHT
Christmas Eve Services will be held at 5PM and 7PM. The 5PM
service will be family oriented and childcare will be offered.
The 7PM service will be led by the Emmanuel Choir and a quartet
that will include Ed and Dana Rouse, Sharon Boyajian and William
Martinez. William is returning to Emmanuel after traveling
professionally for sev-eral months. He will also sing a solo during
the service.
Bring your family and enjoy an evening of wonderful music,
traditional Christmas carols and a special message.
-
DPNC Update
2
Your Emmanuel Designated Pastor Nominating Committee is near
completion of 6 skype interviews with candidates we have
considered. The committee has put together a list of discussion
items and questions which uniformly address the skills and
experience of each potential Senior Pastor.
At this point, we are on schedule to have competed our skype
interviews, and then begin face to face individual interviews with
one or more of the candidates. We also will be observing one or
more final candidates who will preach at a neutral pulpit.
Your DPNC is moving as quickly and efficiently as is prudent. I
believe the Lord is moving us forward, yet helping us to be
discreet, judicious, and effective on behalf of the church we love.
I am so pleased that we have come this far in only a few months!
Our goal is to have an announcement mid to late January. (Lord
willing!)
Your prayers and comments are always welcome.
Alan Kay, Chair
Single Service & Congregational Meeting
On Sunday, December 28, we will have just one service at 10AM. A
short Congrega-tional Meeting will follow the service.
The purpose of the meeting will be to disolve the Associate
Pastor’s term of call. This is just a formal-ity that hasn’t yet
been carried out and is a require-ment by the Presbytery.
Men’s RetreatApril 10-12
To all of the Manly Men of Emmanuel, We start our sign-ups in
January for the Emmanuel Men’s Retreat, which is being held at
Forest Home on April 10-12. Please see the Emmanuel website for
details about the speakers, music, golf and disc golf available.
You won’t want to miss this annual time of great fellowship!
Guest Preachers to Bless EmmanuelIn the coming months, we will
have several guest preachers visit Emmanuel. Some we are
familiar
with like Nita Hansen, and some from various church families in
our community like David Worth and Kirby Bradford. We know that
there is anticipation surround-ing the calling of our new pastor,
and we want to be
clear - none of our guest preachers are candidates for the
position. It has been fun hearing from different voices as God’s
Word is preached at Emmanuel and we see beauty in sharing that
responsibility. Please wel-come these guests as they contribute to
Emmanuel’s vital ministry.
Landscape Project StartsDuring the next several weeks, we will
be removing sod and installing a new landscape in the front area of
the church bordering the corner of Lynn Road and Camino Manzanas.
Please excuse any inconvenience
this creates and watch how this project takes shape. A new
welcoming, low water maintenance landscape will soon appear!
-
As Emmanuel approaches the end of 2014 we want to thank you for
your generous investment of time, talent, and money throughout the
year; and ask that you pray for continuing wise stewardship by our
church leaders.
YTD Financials: Estimated giving: $296,456Actual giving:
$272,763Expenses YTD: $305,473 Donations received in the church
office by December 31, are tax deductible for the year 2014. If you
have questions regarding year-end giving you may contact Bernadette
Amos, Session Treasurer at805-493-4776.
3
Stewardship
A Mission Field Next Door!I suspect you have heard it said by
someone you know, “If we are going to survive as a church we need
to reach out past the walls of our church to young fami-lies.” I
also suspect you have heard the Biblical man-date, “to love our
neighbor.” (Luke 10:27) What could be more perfect than to have an
elemen-tary school as our neighbor? We get to accomplish two things
at the same time. We can love our neighbors and reach out to
families with young children by sim-ply seeking to bless Madrona
Elementary with the love of Jesus.
We have several ministries that are working to do just that by
loving the folks of Madrona - staff, kids, and parents:
• As you may know, two of our staff, Rachel and Jared Del Dosso,
started a coffee and bagel ministry to the parents that drive
through our parking lot every morn-ing to drop their kids off for
school. The second Friday of every month free coffee and bagels are
provided for kids and parents. They also offer to pray for the
par-ents, both of which have been well received.
• Nancy Hicks is continuing a parents’ prayer team to pray for
the school, it’s staff, and kids. They pray that God would be
present in obvious active ways among the teachers, aids, and
students.
• Caroline Ross is heading up a new outreach to teachers and
staff by providing lunch for them this Christmas season (Dec.16th.)
This is a big undertak-ing because there are 50 staff at Madrona
with all the teachers, aids and administrators combined. It is a
wonderful way to say we appreciate you for what you are doing for
the kids of our community.
If you would like to be a part of anyone of these ministries
please contact the church office at 498-4502, Rachel at 338-2218,
Nancy at 376-1038, or Caroline at 217-4281.
Our biggest need at the moment is for volunteers to help with
the lunch on the 16th. Please call Caroline and let her know you
want to help.
Let’s love Madrona toward Jesus.
Tales of Christmas & Tree-Lighting - Continued from Page
1Once the evening of music is completed, the choir will lead the
audience out onto the front lawn of the church
with lit candles for a tree-lighting ceremony. All will join in
singing favorite Christmas Carols, one of the pas-tors will say a
few words, and the tree will be lit, completing an evening designed
to delight children of all ages. Afterwards, refreshments will be
served.
Tickets for the concert are $15, $20 at the door, and children
12 and under are free. Tickets may be purchased after services on
Sunday, in the church office or online at epconline.org.
-
With Great AffectionHow does one begin to put into words what
the last quarter of a cen-tury has meant to us? It has been a
wonderful journey in which we
have experienced God’s faithfulness and graciousness as we
shared our lives and stories with all of you.
Our profound thanks to all who organized, participated and
attended the celebration event and for the notes written and the
gifts given. It was indeed an ‘unforgettable’ evening in which the
Lord was honored and His people blessed.
Thank you, thank you – we have been blessed beyond measure.We
leave you with these words from Philippians 1:6 “Being confident
of
this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
With Great Affection, Dana and Ruth
Weekly & Bi-Monthly Groups
ROMEOS - (Retired older men eating out), Thursdays 8AM at
the Newbury Park IHOPMom’s In Prayer, 8:30AM, every
Wednesday, Youth RoomWomen’s Bible Study
Wednesdays at 9:30AM, Room 5/6Men’s Bible Study
Fridays at 6:30AM, Youth RoomMOPS & Mom’s Next - Mother’s of
Preschoolers & Elementary age, 2nd
& 4th Wednesdays, 9:15AMMOTS - Moms of Teens &
Beyond,
1st & 3rd Wednesdays, 12PM, Youth Room
12/5 Parent’s Night Out 5-7PM, EPC Nursery EPC Family Game Night
6:30-9PM, Fireside Room
12/13 EPC Christmas Concert A Jazz Nutcracker Suite and a
Christmas Tale 4PM, Sanctuary
12/24 Christmas Eve Services 5PM & 7PM, Sanctuary
12/25 Merry Christmas!
12/28 One service at 10AM followed by a Congregational Meeting,
Sanctuary
Coming in January
1/1 Happy New Year!
1/19 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Church Office Closed
1/23-24 Santa Barbara Mission Conference, First Pres. Santa
Barbara
Youth Happenings It has been an eventful Fall for Emmanuel, and
it has been fun for the Youth to participate as attendees and
volunteers alongside the rest of
you. Some events that the youth participated in included helping
at Parent’s Night Out, attending the Shaw Celebration, with some of
them performing, the Mission Market and Business and Burgers. The
Youth have had a fantas-tic time! We will continue with our
attendance at the Mission Conference towards the end of January,
and we hope to see the rest of you there!
We have been doing some activities of our own as well. A few
days before Thanksgiving, we had an eventful (to say the least!)
all-nighter where we went to laser tag and to bowling. Later in
December, we will be going Ice Skating at the Lakes, and my
personal favorite trip is right around the cor-ner, the High School
Forest Home Service Trip in February.
Please join us in praying for personal growth and transformation
as we all continue to play, pray, sing, sob, work, and worship in
God’s bountiful and joyful Kingdom. If you would like to be
involved with the Youth in any capacity, feel free to contact me
through the church office and I would love to figure out with you
what that would look like.With great love, Jared Del Dosso - Youth
Director
Christmas Opportunity The Youth at Emmanuel will be volunteering
at the Conejo Valley Christmas Shoppe - an event for low-income
families,
where parents are invited to shop for new, donated toys for
their children (ages 1-18). The goal is to meet the need of local
families struggling to provide a Christmas gift for their children
in an envi-ronment that maintains the dignity of the parents.
The Youth will be accepting donations of new, unwrapped gifts
from now until December 10. Gifts can be dropped off in the
Nar-thex or in the office. Please consider partnering with the
Youth by donating a gift or volunteering at the event. Contact
Jared Del Dosso at 805-498-4502 or at [email protected].
Thank you!
