Sunday, May 23

Feel the power of the Holy Spirit in our corporate worship as we praise God with a processional of three choirs and trumpets and a liturgical offering in dance and signing! Enjoy the balloons and banners! Wear RED and join the celebration!

Pentecost Sunday May 23

Picnic in the Courtyard with Brisket and Fixin’s Birthday Cake and Ice Cream

Devotional Leader: Al Kissling

GRADUATES

Who Are They?

If you are, or you know of, a graduating senior this spring or last December, please contact the church office and let us know as soon as possible. This would include high school and college graduates. A special recognition is planned for May 16 in worship.

We need a BIG TURNOUT of people to get our spring cleaning done!! Big jobs and little jobs available. Painters are really needed! The Congregational Life Committee will furnish a morning snack and a delicious lunch. It’s lots of fun! Join us!!

Adult Education

Teacher: Al Kissling (Jones #115)

Every Sunday evening 6:30-9:00 PM

Sue Spencer, our Associate Pastor, is hosting a fellowship and Bible study in her home,

2215 Coleen Ct. (524-2558). Please come!

May 9-15

The Bible is full of promises of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to all generations. Holding a hand, giving a hug, providing professional care, and sharing a smile are some of the ways in which staff members and volunteers at the various nursing homes and retirement centers fulfill God’s promises in our community. During this week designated by our government, please say extra prayers for these loyal and capable workers and also for the many members of our congregation living in the facilities in our town.

Vine & Branches

This fellowship group of parents and young couples meets monthly for a variety of activities. A day hike is being planned for May. Watch Sunday bulletins for more information or call Sue Kramer (382-0986)

In-Betweeners

This fellowship group of "empty nesters" (singles and couples) meets each month for different activities. They also meet for lunch after worship on the third Sunday of each month. Watch Sunday bulletins for May’s fellowship event.

Desert Cruisers

This group of retired people (singles and couples) will meet on May 24 at 12:00 P.M. in Watkins Hall for a potluck lunch. Bring an antique or piece of artwork to share for the program. Plan to join the fun!

Presbyterian Women

*Coordinating Team will meet on Tuesday, May 18 at 9:30 A.M. in the library.

International Bible Study Program

This interdenominational program of directed Bible study for women is held weekly in our fellowship hall.

Beginning next September 16, the new study will be from Romans.

Introductory classes and registration will be held at 9:00 until 11:15 A.M. on Thursdays, May 6 and May 13. All women are welcome to join this weekly study!

Shopping Albertson’s?

Throughout May, Albertson’s stores are giving out stamps for table flatware. A filled card and $0.99 will buy one complete table setting that can be used in our kitchen! If you want to help out, just drop off any set you purchase in the church office. The preferred pattern would be "Rose Queen" but any will be a help. Thanks.

Update on Investment Opportunity

Last month, the Foundation article talked about a house that had been donated and they requested someone to fund the mortgage. There was an immediate, overwhelming response! Within hours, the mortgage was paid for! Thanks!

Paving Our Parking Lot

Now it is time to pave the parking lot! The total cost is approximately $70,000. Generous donors have already provided $55,000! The Session will be asking for donations from the congregation for the remaining $15,000 needed. Please consider how you can help - any size donation will be a help! The Session and the Foundation Board hope to complete this work soon!

If you wish to donate to this project by selling stock, mutual funds, or other property, you may want to do so through the Foundation and take advantage of other tax breaks. Just contact Kathy Tucker, financial secretary, or a member of the Foundation Board (Jim Parks, Joel Tomlin and Lyn Ames).

Once again, to those of you that have already donated to the foundation and made this funding of the paving project possible . . . we thank you.

* * *

John and Jackie Poling will be doing continuing education at St. Mary’s College of the University of Scotland in St. Andrews, Scotland. This is a joint effort by the University, the Board of Ministry of the Church of Scotland, and Princeton Theological Seminar’s Institute of Theology. The theme for study, inspiring speakers, and conversations is "Building Vital Congregations."

John and Jackie will leave June 1 and be in Scotland until June 17. Then they will join Paul, Amy, and Elisa in London and vacation in England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Czechoslovakia before returning on July 6.

March Income and Expenses

Balance $ -3,656.23

Year-to-Date Summary

Balance $-16,403.57

Congregational News

* Greg Cummings, son of Merrilyn Cummings, will be married to Debbie McClain here at First Presbyterian Church on Friday, July 30.

* Dutch and Tommy Matkin have a new great-granddaughter, Kaitlyn Marie! She was born on March 28 and the proud parents are Stacie and Clay Mason who live here in Las Cruces.

Staff News

* Kathy Tucker will be on vacation in Texas on May 23-26.

* John and Jackie Poling will be gone May 6-13 for Paul’s graduation from Emory University in Atlanta.

We have been using the Workshop/Rotation Model in our elementary classes for two years now - with great results! (and a lot more fun!!) The Christian Education Committee hopes to expand this effort into the mid-school classes and also build a computer lab soon.

With money from the Watkins Memorial Fund, four people - Joyce Gemoets, Jacque Parks, Nova Rutledge, and Patricia Tomlin - are going to a National Conference on the Workshop/Rotation Model in Chicago on May 13-16. Please keep them in your prayers.

Sponsored by our Deacons, this is always a special time of fellowship in the cool, tall pines near Cloudcroft. There is plenty of space and activities for people of all ages! Mark your calendar now! More details next month.

If you learn that someone has been hospitalized, or has a surgery scheduled, please call the church office or Pastor John Poling. Memorial Medical Center will not list church affiliation or notify pastors. Thanks!

(Our goal was $9,000!)

This statement of the all peoples imperative appears in each issue of Beyond Our Walls. It is for those new to First Presbyterian Church and for those who find it helpful to review the scriptural foundation for our church’s worldwide outreach. You may want to use it from time to time as a devotional exercise.

Outreach is foundational to the life of our church. It is the backbone of the Old and New Testaments. It begins with God’s promise to bless all peoples of the earth through Abraham and his descendants. It is not an agreement to be carried out only if humans respond favorably. It is God’s unconditional declaration of what he will do through his followers.

We invite you to read and meditate on the following instances of God’s promise. The promise to Abraham: Genesis 12: 1-3; Genesis 18:16-18; Genesis 22:15-18. The promise to Isaac: Genesis 26:2-4. The promise to Jacob: Genesis 28:10-14. David’s recognition of the promise: Psalm 22:27-28. Isaiah’s recognition of the promise: Isaiah 44:22; Isaiah 49:1, 5-6; Simeon’s awareness of the promise: Luke 2:30-32. Jesus’ proclamation of the promise: Matthew 28:19; Mark 13:10; Luke 24:44-47; Acts 1:7-8. Paul’s recognition of the promise: Galatians 3:6-9; The promise in John’s Revelation: Revelation 5:8-9; Revelation 7:9-10.

The Bible contains many examples of descendants of Abraham, including Jesus himself, being a blessing to non-Jewish peoples. Any church that is functioning as God desires consists of Christians who are communicating Christ’s salvation and love through their words and lives to their spouses and children, relatives, friends, and acquaintances and, also, who are helping to send and support dedicated messengers of Christ’s salvation and love to people groups around the world.

Maybe what comes to mind most easily when we think of missions is either converting people or helping them materially and socially. If we take the Bible seriously, we have to include both. Jesus’ own ministry clearly exemplifies this. Yes, he asked people to commit themselves to him for eternity, but he also healed them and taught them how to live better lives. One of the most striking examples is his forgiveness of the paralyzed man, as recorded in Matthew 9, followed immediately by the man’s healing. So it comes as no surprise that the Haspels in Ethiopia and the Prasads in India are inviting people to accept Christ into their lives, bringing them relief from disease and other troubles, while helping them improve their lives materially and socially.

Missionaries, many have learned, are as gifted, as skilled, and as accomplished a professional group as you can find. Some their specialties are organizing churches; pastoring and preaching in churches; analyzing and translating languages; literacy programming; musicology; literature publication and distribution; audio, film and video production and distribution; radio and TV broadcasting; evangelistic preaching; personal evangelism; discipling new Christians; medical ministry; teaching in Christian schools; agricultural teaching and demonstration; relief and rehabilitation; and maintenance and operation of transportation services. Mission specialists are often more skilled than their secular counterparts. Combining this with high moral and ethical commitments often yields unusual excellence.

Some of the missionaries we help support specialize in one or two areas, while others are involved in several. The volunteers with St. Luke’s Health Care Mission here in Las Cruces specialize in medical service, but medicine is only one aspect of the ministry of John and Gwen Haspels to the Suri, the work of Philip Prasad among the Dalits, and the border ministry of Bill and Susan Soldwisch in Tijuana, Mexico. These three work in several other specialties.

Ricardo and Renya Green, one of the new Presbyterian missionary families we have begun supporting in 1999, serve in Brazil. Ricardo teaches at Fortaleza Theological Seminary and works on planting new churches. Do you know how to organize new churches? For years Bob Waguespack has been teaching Mexican Christians how to establish new churches. He also teaches at a seminary in Mexico City.

Tom and Judy Harvey are also new to us for support this year. Tom is a theology professor at Trinity Theological College, a Presbyterian seminary in Singapore. He also preaches in churches and develops leadership training programs. Don  directs Kunming International Academy in China, and Kim  ministers through the performance and recording of Christian music. The Priscilla Bible School in Mérida, Yucatan, trains young women for Christian service. Christian training is also provided at the Christian Day Care Nursery here in Las Cruces. Witnessing Ministries for Christ is establishing schools for Dalit children in India, and there are educational components to several other mission enterprises we help support.

Doug Barron is responsible for distribution of the Jesus Film in Latin America for Campus Crusade for Christ. A few years ago First Presbyterian helped Ron and Donna Pontier, then ministering in the Central African Republic, to purchase the Jesus Film for evangelistic use in that part of Africa. You may remember that Ron’s main job is providing air transportation.

Donna Evans is a linguist with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Her translation of the New Testament for the Ledo of Indonesia is about to be published. Joel and Barbara Trudell are involved in literacy work, supervising the literacy program for Africa with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

John and Marnie Pickering in Mongolia and Lu Stephens in Oregon are specialists in one-on-one evangelism, and John and Tracy Patton evangelize and disciple on the University of Arizona campus. Presbyterian Campus Ministry students also get involved in personal evangelism, and discipling is one of the aspects of that ministry.

The Gospel Rescue Mission here in town specializes in relief and rehabilitation of individuals whose lives have fallen apart materially and otherwise, along with others we support. The Mission also evangelizes. The Charles Diebold Mission in northern Mexico combines evangelism and church ministry with agricultural, livestock, water, and other technological improvements.

The world of Christian missions is a wondrous world where flawed but dedicated and highly accomplished servants of God are using money Christians have given to do the Lord’s work. We need to know this world. It deserves our pride, our understanding, and our daily prayer.