Join Northminster in helping the homeless! Signups to help out with this year’s Interfaith Shelter Network Rotation will begin Sunday, November 29, after worship service. This year as in the past 20 + years, the Northminster congregation will serve as a support congregation for a homeless shelter that will be set up at Clairemont Lutheran Church across the street from Northminster. From January 27 to January 30, Northminster will be responsible for providing donations for breakfast and lunches, cooking dinner for about 12 homeless individuals, and providing one or more persons to spend the night at the church

The Interfaith Shelter Network involves 120 congregations of all denominations countywide in a Rotational Shelter program. About 60 of the congregations host the program in their facilities for two or four weeks a year and the remainder serve in a valuable support role, providing volunteers for meals and overnight hosting, transportation and donations.

Through neighborhood congregations linking with others, people are sheltered where there are no shelters and receive the understanding and support of congregations when previously all they knew was fear and uncertainty. Congregations benefit by getting to know homeless individuals personally and the mutual sharing of stories is beneficial to both.

Guests are only sent to congregations in the Network after being screened by an area social service agency to assure there will be no active drug, alcohol or mental health problems. Guests sent to the Network’s congregations must be willing to work closely with the referring social service agency to resolve the problems leading to their homelessness.

This is a practical, manageable way to serve for both host and support congregations. Congregations host the program for two weeks at a time, usually once, but no more than twice a year. The volunteer and meal support they receive from neighboring congregations is invaluable. Only 12 guests at a time generally stay in the congregation facilities. At the end of two weeks, the whole operation — cots and guests — rotates to another area congregation. Guests can stay up to eight weeks in the Network.

There are many ways to help. This is a great volunteer opportunity for friends, families and organizations to work together in this important mission. It could be a perfect Small Group project! To learn more please visit our table in the patio after the worship service, or call the church office at (858) 490-3995.

We hope you recall our December 2008 newsletter that we are returning to the United States this year. Preparing for this complex transition has been a significant factor in consuming our hours and days in the past few months. Our time in the Netherlands is now truly growing short. (And it truly feels real now that we’ve bought our plane tickets–at an amazing price, Praise the Lord!!!) Here’s a quick timeline of our final few weeks in Europe:

1 May – Started advertising our vehicles for sale
29 May -  Last day of homeschool!
10 Jun – Final local Club Beyond event
19 Jun – 4 Jul – Beach Break (meanwhile Shannon and her parents prepare our home for moving)
7-9 Jul – Movers pack up our household goods
9-13 Jul – Clean/repair house and yard – turn in keys on the 13th
16-23 Jul – MCYM Welcome/Goodbye conference
1 Aug – Fly home! (Frankfurt to Dallas)
2-8 Aug – Buy a van
9-14 Aug – Family Reunion in Missouri
17 Aug (TBD) – Move into our student apartment at Princeton Theological Seminary
16 Sep – Orientation begins for three-year Masters in Divinity program

We will be leaving Young Life staff at the end of July. If you are donating monthly to our Young Life account, thank you for continuing to give through July. In addition to our regular monthly expenses, we anticipate our moving costs to be approximately $25,000. Due to the faithful, generous support we’ve received throughout our years in Europe, our account already has nearly enough funds to cover these expenses: THANK YOU!! We are SO grateful to every one of our support team members. Your steadfastness and stewardship has made our ministry in the Netherlands possible, and we could not possibly thank you enough. We hope you will continue to give to the needs and opportunities within the body of Christ as the Lord would lead you.

If you would like to continue to support the Chastain family, please keep in touch! We do not know at this point what the Lord has in store for us beyond seminary. Although we are pretty sure our season with MCYM is at an end, we are confident that our time at Princeton will be preparing us to continue the mission of MCYM Europe (“Build the Church”) in some other capacity. If you are interested in continuing to invest in our small corner of that big mission, whatever and wherever that “building” may be, please let us know (email chastain.family@mac.com).

If you would like to make a tax-deductible gift (one-time or recurring) toward our immediate transition and settling-in expenses, please send checks to: Northminster Presbyterian Church, 4324 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92117 (make checks payable to Northminster and note “Chastains” in the memo line).

We are grateful for our five years of ministry here in the Netherlands, and also excited for the next chapter of our life. There are so many other details over the next two months that we need to turn over to the Lord: pray for us as we schedule our last round of doctors appointments before our insurance transitions, retrieve our medical records from our Dutch doctors, and for that insurance transition to go without a hitch.  Pray for all the details of closing out our house and rental contract to go smoothly and for our relationship with our landlord to end well; it has been somewhat strained at times.  Pray for our vehicles to sell and for us to find just the right vehicle when we return in August; we will be going from 2 cars to 1. Pray for our household goods to get on the right boat that goes just the right speed and arrives in New Jersey AFTER we do so that we don’t incur hefty storage fees.

Steve and Shannon Chastain
chastain.family@mac.com

Northminster, as part of its mission activities, supports Steve Chastain who is on staff with Young Life and serves with Military Community Youth Ministries (MCYM) in Europe. Steve is primarily working with the children of US and NATO personnel assigned to the Allied Joint Forces Command Brunssum (JFC HQ Brunssum). JFC HQ Brussum is located in Brunssum Netherlands.

The Spring 2009 edition of the Chastain’s newsletter may be downloaded from their web page on this site or by clicking — HERE.

This Sunday (June 14) will be an out-of-the-box time of worship for Northminster! Instead of gathering inside the sanctuary this weekend, we’re going to explode out into the neighborhood around us!

At 9:30 a.m. we’re going to put our hands and feet to work, worshiping God by blessing our community. What exactly are we gonna be doing? We’ll clean up the alley between Cole St. and Dubois Dr. We’re going to repair fences, clear weeds, trim vegetation, and paint walls. By the time we finish, it will be a brand new alley!

If you’re not sure what to do with your kids, bring ‘em!  We’ve got a bounce-house and all kinds of fun activities for the kids.

At 12:30 p.m. we’ll finish our work and have lunch together in Congdon Hall to celebrate what God did through us that morning!

If you’re a regular at Northminster, I can’t wait to see you this Sunday!

If you’re not, you’re more than welcome to come give us a hand!

Pastor Markus

P.S. – Plan to arrive by about 9:15 so that we can be ready to work by 9:30…

We recently received the sad news that the “Come Build Hope” trip to Mexico has been cancelled due to the swine flu epidemic.  The following communication was received from the organizers of the trip at Solana Beach Presbyterian

Please pray for the families who now will not be receiving the homes that we would have been building.  No doubt, their disappointment must be overwhelming.

Pray also about going next year.  Last year we had 12 people go on this trip. Wouldn’t it be amazing if twice as many of us went next year?!

Dear SBPC Family;

It is with heavy hearts that we have decided to cancel our 2009 Come Build Hope Memorial Day weekend build. Just ten days ago, a team of us met some of the Mexican families we would be building with and experienced their excitement.

We have prayed and listened carefully to you, our CBH participants, and to governmental agencies in reaching this extremely difficult conclusion. The swine flu outbreak in Mexico, the World Health Organization raising the influenza pandemic alert from 4 to 5, and the Center for Disease Control advisory to avoid all non-essential travel to Mexico contributed to our thought processes and discussions.

We know you join us in grieving for those whose lives and ministry our annual build touches. Please continue in heartfelt prayer support for all CBH ministry participants, including builders and senders, the Mexican families and pastors and Amor Ministries.

We are profoundly grateful for all who have committed their time, effort and financial resources to this vital ministry. Over the next several weeks, we will be refunding the fees to all those who registered for Come Build Hope in 2009. Those interested in financially supporting Amor Ministries can visit www.amor.org.

We look forward with great anticipation to “building hope” with you in Baja on Memorial Day 2010.

John Steel and the 2009 Come Build Hope Leadership Team

As a follow-up to last Sunday’s discussion of our past, present and future, today we discussed they ways in which we are currently engaged with our community and some of our plans for the future.

Theme – As followers of Jesus, we are called to be fully committed him God. This includes being fully engaged in our community. Why? Because God loves this community, and as God’s people we are sent by God to this place at this time to be the hands and feet of God to the people of Clairemont and San Diego.

The text for the sermon was taken from 2 Chronicles 16:9, Luke 13:34, Luke 19:41, Ephesians 2:10, Matthew 6:34, Colossians 4:5, and Acts 20:24.

As an example of our plans for the future, the Mexico Mission Trip planned for Memorial Day Weekend (May 23-25) was discussed during the service.

We will be joining with Solana Beach Presbyterian in this outreach opportunity to those in need just south of us in Tiajauana.  If you are interested in participating in the trip this year please contact the church office via email or by phone (858-490-3995).

Vacation Bible School registration for the summer of 2009 is now open.

Forms should be filled out and turned into the church office at your earliest opportunity — our program fills up fast!!!

Every child must have a completed registration form and release form turned into the church office.  Scholarships are available; please let us know if there is a need.  The Youth Volunteer Application Form and Release Form must be filled out and returned to the church office.

You may download registration and release forms for your children below.

• Registration Form
• Release Form
• Youth Volunteer Application

Enrollment is limited,  so please register early to avoid being placed on the wait-list or missing out!!

This summer Northminster is planning a romp through the swamp with our Bayou themed Crocodile Dock, and you’re invited!  We hope you’ll join us for this year’s Vacation Bible School.

Each day children will take part in a fun, Bible learning experience that they can see, hear, touch, and even taste!   Bible point crafts, team-building games, lively Bible songs, video visits from Chadder Chipmunk, and Bible drama adventures are just a few of the fun activities that children will enjoy.

July 27th to July 31st 9 AM to noon

Pre-registration- starts on Sunday April 26th AFTER the worship service.

FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED…..AND IT FILLS UP FAST!!!!

• $40 for first child in family, $30 for each additional child
• Potty trained 3 year olds to 5th graders are welcome

Enrollment is limited to 140 children (34 total Preschool age), so please register early to avoid being placed on the wait-list or missing out.  Every child must have a completed registration form and release form turned into the church office.  Scholarships are available; please let us know if there is a need.

Older students (entering 6th grade and above) are invited to apply to be VBS volunteer helpers.  Limited volunteer spaces are available.  Not all applications will be approved. 

Registration and release forms will be posted to this site following pre-registration on the 26th.  Please print out the forms you need, fill out, and return to the church office.

If you would like to see what happened last year, go to our Photo Gallery.

We look forward to seeing you at Crocodile Dock!

Come One, Come All and join us at our December celebration of 2nd Sunday Cafe on December 14!  This meal will be served at 10:45 (right after the service).  If you’re reading this and are new to Northminster, this will be a free meal for anyone!  Feel free to get a good breakfast without any strings attached–you don’t even have to come to church!!  (But you’re definitely welcome to…)

If you’re a Northminster regular, be sure to invite your friends, family, co-workers…anyone!  And make sure you’re there, as well.  Our hope is that we can simply offer our kindness to the people of Clairemont with a free meal and someone to meet.

Just a reminder that 2nd Sunday Cafe is this Sunday, November 9!  The meal will be served at 10:45 (right after the service).  If you’re reading this and are new to Northminster, this will be a free meal for anyone!  Feel free to get a good breakfast without any strings attached–you don’t even have to come to church!!  (But you’re definitely welcome to…)

If you’re a Northminster regular, be sure to invite your friends, family, co-workers…anyone!  And make sure you’re there, as well.  Our hope is that we can simply offer our kindness to the people of Clairemont with a free meal and someone to meet.

Thanks to all of you who have volunteered and donated financially!  We raised a total of $697 over the last two Sundays, which will cover the cost of the food not only for this month, but next month as well–and probably even January!  You are truly a generous people!  And if you volunteered to help, you’ll be hearing from someone soon about the specifics of how you can help.

On Saturday, Nov. 8 at 1:00 p.m., we’ll be putting flyers on the doors of homes and apartments around Northminster.  We’d love it if you could come and help out!  Last Sunday it took about 50 minutes to canvas the area, and there were only 5 of us.  If we can get 10 people, I think we could get it done in about 20 minutes!

Above all else, please keep the 2nd Sunday Cafe in your prayers this week!  See you all on Sunday!

–Markus