UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
LONGMONT
No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey... you are welcome here!
Courier for September 2015
In This Issue
Pastor Rick's Sabbatical Summary
Congregation Members on Serving Lunch at OUR Center
Reggae Benefit for OUR Center
A Word From Our Stewardship Committee
Flood Recovery Picture of the Month
Happy Birthday!
2015 Youth Mission Trip
Who Do You Talk To?
Pastor's Notes: Sabbatical Summary
During the month of May, I divided my time
among home projects in preparation for Eli's
graduation party and the Weston family's
house swap with us in July, and beginning
reading in my topic area, along with parenting
as the boys finished school and Eli graduated
from Silver Creek. He and I also had a
wonderful father-son road trip as we drove to
Chicago to the Chinese Consulate to get his
visa for his China trip, and spent the weekend
in Winona, MN, while we waited for papers to
be processed for visa pickup. In addition, I
attended three continuing education events: Festival of Homiletics, a national preaching
conference held this year in Denver; and three Fred Pryor seminars on general
management, project management, and budget development and management.
June was spent preparing for the pulpit exchange
(sermons, physical details, packing lists, purchasing
things like electrical outlet adapters, and several
Skype calls) and continuing my reading list. Books
included Richard Rohr's From Wild Man to Wise Man,
Terrence Real's I Don't Want to Talk About It:
Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression,
William Pollack's Real Boys: Rescuing our Songs from
the Myths of Boyhood, Michael Gurian's The Purpose
of Boys: Helping Our Sons Find Meaning,
Significance, and Direction in Their Lives; I also reread Michael Kimmel's Guyland: The Perilous Place Where Boys Become Men.
July was the pulpit exchange with Rob Weston and his family from Reading, England.
From all accounts, the exchange was fun and filled with new experiences and learning on
both sides of the Atlantic. I preached and led worship services the four Sundays of July,
made a couple of pastoral care calls, attended a garden party of their Friendship Club (vital,
raucous group of retired and elder members of the church), to whom I also gave a talk about
Longmont, our church and the UCC; attended their monthly Elders meeting (equivalent to
our Cabinet), at which we had a conversation about our local churches, issues we're
dealing with in local churches and denominations, similarities and differences between our
churches and the settings in which they serve. The first Sunday there, in the afternoon,
Linda and the boys and I helped at their bi-monthly Messy Church, a multi-activity worship
and spiritual growth experience designed for all ages, attended their Wednesday Morning
Prayer service, taking a turn at leading one of the days; attended an all-church BBQ July 12
held to welcome us to Park Church; and attended the monthly meeting of an ecumenical
group, Churches Together in Earley and East Reading, where I saw a remarkable variety of
churches and ministries, interfaith
cooperation, and deep fellowship. I was also
invited to and attended the presentation of a
Queen's Award for Voluntary Service to A
Band of Brothers, an organization working
successfully with young men in the 18-28
age group, that has reduced reoffending
within the law enforcement andcriminal
justice systems by 80% since it was founded
in 2009 (the evening also included a
presentation of the program, its founding and goals, and testimonies from three of the men
involved as either mentors or mentees).
--Rev. Rick King
What Does Serving Lunch At OUR Center Mean To You?
"It means serving others, literally and figuratively. It means having fun with friends, talking
to people I usually don't talk to, being the face of our church in the community." - Jim Klotz
"I love to help and see the food insecure of our community show up. We seem to focus on
Shepherd's pie and the clients rave about how good it is. The people are very thankful for
our service to them. Someone that really moved me came back to the line to tell us he could
see the Holy Spirit in us and would we pray for his battle with alcohol. His name is Walter,
he's a veteran and in need of some services that I hope he can find with the OUR Center's
help. Anyway please pray for Walter to resist the call of the drink. I only end up doing OUR
Center lunches a couple times a year, but it is humbling to be of service to those less
fortunate in such a caring environment as the OUR Center." - Kristen Kinard
"When you do something to the least of them you do it to me (Jesus). Offering food is
probably the most common way to show hospitality and to demonstrate caring. Most of us
are so fortunate, and preparing lunch at the OUR Center is an easy way to show the love of
God." - Carol Matheis-Kraft
"Serving lunch as part of the UCC group lets me give back to my community and to support
UCC for their for all the kindness and support my husband and I received from the Flood
Recovery group during the 2013 Longmont Flood. My parents taught me to help others and
that kindness goes a long way. A quote comes to mind: 'Helping a person will not
necessarily change the world , but it will change the world for that person.' I am happy to
be of service and thank God for loving me." - Irene Kantrowitz
"It gives me a sense of helping in the community. It's a pretty minimal time commitment and
such a good program. I like that anyone can just walk in and have a meal and also just visit
and connect with friends in a healthy place. No questions asked. And that volunteer groups
have made it possible for food to be available on weekends." - Valita Turner
Jammin' For A Good Cause!
Our missions board, headed up by Charlie Kamenides, hosted Christafari, the #1 Christian
Reggae group in the world, for a special fundraiser to restock the OUR Center's food pantry.
The night was a huge success that gave folks a great time, exposure to beautiful music, and
also raised 236 pounds of food supply for the OUR Center!
"They said it couldn't be done...
And we're doing it!"
These words could be the theme for the past few months in
the life of UCC Longmont. Our Fellowship Hall was out-ofdate, with a sixty-year-old kitchen and a stage that had
become a storage closet. As we considered a capital
campaign to renovate the space, a fund-raising consultant
looked at our struggle to meet our annual budget, and at the
changes our congregation is facing as we move from a twopastor staff to one pastor, and advised us not to do it.
But a wonderful memorial gift was presented for a project that would engage the
congregation in working together, and we thought, "We can do this."
Then the church Cabinet took the lead in a challenge to raise
$15,000 in 15 days - and we did it! With funds in hand, the
congregation moved from worship to "work-ship" on June 21.
Wearing our jeans and t-shirts instead of our Sunday-best that
day, we joined together to start the renovation - pulling down
old ceiling tiles and wood paneling, tearing out the no-longerused heating pipes along the walls, opening up the area that
had been the stage.
Congregation members who had spent the past 18 months
helping Longmont families devastated by the floods of
September 2013 brought their skills to Fellowship Hall. More
congregation members took up paint brushes and other tools to help. An "aesthetics team"
made suggestions and chose new flooring. Trustees pondered window changes to meet
current city codes while preserving the overall style of the building.
The role of the oikonomos - the steward - is to use the resources of the household so that
the needs of all can be met. Indeed, we are a congregation of stewards!
The Stewardship Ministry
- Suzanne Cifelli, Tim Ostdiek, Marian Parsons, Linda Petitt
Flood Recovery Picture of the Month
Flood Recovery has been a very important and growing mission within our church as part of
our church's long standing commitment to strengthening and serving our community.
Don Alspaugh is a busy bee working on the tile to go down at 2829 Troxell Avenue.
Happy Birthday!
Would you like to brighten someone's day? It
only takes 5 minutes and 49 cents to make
someone smile on their special day! Our
wise elders (aged 75 & over) who are
celebrating their Birthday in May and their
address to receive warm wishes from fellow
congregation members:
Mary Rosener, September 5th
(204 Tanglewood, Longmont, CO 80501)
Robert Watts, September 16th
(322 Aoloa St. #1501, Kailua, HI 96734)
Howard "Skip" Fankhauser, September 16th
(935 Hover Ridge Cir, Longmont, CO 80501)
Sara Beery, September 24th
(1241 Hummingbird Cir, Longmont, CO 80501)
Youth Mission Trip 2015: Menaul
Our youth traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico to spend a week working on the Menaul
School, helping with repairs and upkeep at this historical school!
Contact Us
By Phone
(303)776-4940
By Email
office@ucclongmont.org
Face-to-face
The Church Office is open for walk-in and scheduled visits Tuesday-Friday, 10:00am-2:00pm.
Stories and Pictures
Have a story idea or pictures to share? Email aostdiek@ucclongmont.org.
We are an Open and Affirming Congregation. "In keeping with the life and teachings of Christ Jesus, we
joyfully and unconditionally welcome all people of any age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, race,
culture, ability, or sexual orientation into our community of faith and affirm the worth of all people as unique
individuals made in God's image. We are open to the special gifts that each person brings and invite each one
to participate in the life of our church."
Copyright © 2015 First Congregational United Church of Christ of Longmont, CO. All Rights Reserved.