Please join us on Thursday, November 1 from 6:30 pm-9:00 pm for our Young Life Fall Banquet and Concert! It will be a delicious dinner, student testimonies, music by up and coming artist Haley Montgomery, special entertainment, speaker, silent auction, and more! We are currently collecting silent auction items, such as gift baskets, gift cards, etc. Tickets are $10, children are welcome!

Please contact the church office for additional information.

Sermon by Markus Watson on October 28, 2007

This is the first of a five part series titled “The Big Picture - An Overview of the Bible”

Theme - The Bible is God’s story. God’s story starts with creation. As followers of Jesus, we are part of God’s story. And as followers of Jesus, we are part of the creation story-and even continue to be part of the creation story. The reason this is so cool is that, just as God brought order out of chaos at creation, we can participate with God in bringing order out of chaos in our world today. And God can bring order into the chaos of our lives.

This sermon may be downloaded to your local machine by right clicking (or control clicking on a Mac) on the link above and saving the mp3 file to your local hard drive.

It is recommended that you give Juice a try. Juice is an open source podcast receiver, allowing users to capture and listen to podcasts.

For the next two weeks, Northminster’s congregation, along with the San Diego Presbytery, will be collecting the following items in support of the fire victims throughout San Diego County. Thank you for all of the support offered so far and please continue to contribute as you can. Delivery trucks and drivers are also needed to transport these items to the distribution centers when our collection is complete. Please contact the church office if you can help in this effort.

Emergency Clean-up Buckets

These supplies enable people to begin the overwhelming job of cleaning up after a disaster. The value per Bucket is $45.

• One five-gallon bucket with resealable lid
• Five scouring pads
• Seven sponges, assorted sizes
• One scrub brush
• Eighteen cleaning towels (reusable, like Easy Wipes®)
• One 50-78 oz. box dry laundry detergent
• One 12 oz. bottle of liquid concentrated household cleaner (like Lysol®)
• One 25 oz. bottle liquid disinfectant dish soap (like Dawn®)
• Fifty clothespins
• Clothesline, two 50 ft. or one 100 ft.
• Five dust masks
• Two pairs latex gloves
• One pair work gloves
• One 22-27 count roll heavy-duty trash bags (33-45 gallon, remove roll from box)
• One 6-14 oz. bottle of insect repellent (drops or lotion, not aerosol)

Please purchase all liquids in plastic bottles. Be sure to send only new, unopened materials. Put all items in the plastic bucket, making sure they are packed securely to avoid damage during shipment, and seal lid with packing tape. If shipping, place each Bucket in a separate box.

Tools

• Rakes
• Shovels
• Wheel Barrows

Hygiene Kits

• One hand towel (no fingertip or bath towels), measuring approximately 16″ x 28″
• One washcloth
• One wide-tooth comb
• One nail clipper
• One bar of soap (bath size in wrapper)
• One toothbrush* (in original packaging)
• Six Band-Aids ® (available at the 99 cent store)

Seal all items in a one-gallon plastic bag with a zipper closure. *Toothpaste that has an extended expiration date will be added to Health Kit shipments just prior to shipment.

All items should be brought to the church during office hours. Please contact the church office (858-490-3995) for additional information.

Our “Wild Wild West” Carnival is Saturday, November 3, 2007 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. This is Northminster Preschool’s biggest fund raiser of the year.

There will be games, silent auction, raffle drawing, bake sale, youth group hot dog sale, and church sponsored craft sale.

All are welcome.

Open House will be October 25, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The children will show off their classroom activities for their parents, who will manage to fold themselves for a while into those tiny chairs.

This event has been canceled due to the fires in San Diego and the ongoing recovery effort. A new date and time will be announced soon.

If you have not already dropped off something at NPC for the Fire Relief, we plan to continue to collect items on Thursday & Friday 25 & 26 Oct.

Other suggestions are items needed to enable people to begin the overwhelming job of clean up after the disaster include the following:

• Sun Screen(Lotion)
• Hats/Visors
• Bucket
• Scouring Pads
• Sponges
• Scrub Brush
• Liquid Cleaner
• Dish Soap
• Clothespins
• Cloths Line
• Latex Gloves
• Work Gloves
• Trash Bags
• Insect Repellent (Lotion)
• Hygiene Kits: Pkg. In Zipper Bag
• Hand Towel
• Wash Cloth
• Comb
• Nail Clipper
• Bar Of Soap
• Toothbrush
• Band Aids

Thank you so very much for your generosity.

Be safe and God Bless!

The 211 Phone Line is OVERWHELMED with people needing to be directed to resources to help them “right now”. The 211 Phone Line is for those who have been impacted by the fires & need help or help for their families trying to get info about their loved ones.

If you can help, please email Chelsea with your full name or call the church office at 858-490-3995. Chelsea will coordinate our response to the County. We need to know ASAP if you can help.

They will train — they just need people.

The call center is located in MISSION VALLEY and there are 4 hour shifts of 20 people each that need to be staffed. The shifts start at 4 pm, 8 pm, and 12 am.

If you are available, let’s step up and help to fill the need.

To help the victims of the fires and the evacuees here in San Diego County, we’re asking for your help. Please bring blankets, books, and games to the church on Wednesday, October 23, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

We also need 2 or 3 volunteers with trucks or vans who can deliver the donations in the afternoon. If you can help with the delivery, please call the church office at 858-490-3995.

The church is located at:

4324 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Thank you for helping!

I’m sitting in front of my computer trying to think what I can possibly say about the fires in Southern California without it sounding trite or inauthentically spiritual. Thousands are suffering tonight, and all I can think is, “I have no idea what they must be going through.”

It’s hard to believe the amount of destruction Southern California has sustained in these last two days. The fires that we’ve all seen and heard about on the news or while driving by on the freeway have burned over 240,000 acres of land and at least 655 homes (from the AP).

That means that there are at least 655 families in Southern California who now have no home to return to. And there are thousands of others who are praying and waiting to hear if their homes are safe or if they’ve also been destroyed.

I want to first offer up prayers for those who have been impacted by this fire. We’re praying for God to take care of you and comfort you in your suffering. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have lost everything.

And as a church, my prayer is that we would step out and do what we can to bring relief to those who are suffering in our community and our region. I pray that not only Northminster, but all of God’s people in Southern California, would reach out with love to those who need it–not only caring for people emotionally and spiritually, but providing for them physically.

My words feel thin to me, as though I can’t truly express what I’m feeling. So, I guess I’ll leave with these words of hope from Psalm 34:18:

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.

Last weeks activities included Young Life club, Wyldlife club, University City High Bible Club, and Madison High Bible Club!

Naniel Rut, a Sudanese refugee and student at University City High School, found a teacher to host the Bible Club at lunch, invited students to come, and made fliers. All we had to do is show up with pizzas and an awesome speaker! It was a very good turnout for our first lunch club on Wednesday, and I look forward to what God is doing through Bible Clubs this year. This Wednesday we handed out fliers with information on Young Life and Northminster Presbyterian Church service times.

-Chelsea