Souper Bowl Sunday is coming up THIS Sunday, February 3rd, and we are collecting donations that will go to support the Presbyterian Urban Ministries Crisis Center as well as the 350 food bag donations supplied by the Cristian Community Service Agency in our community . Please contribute to this worthy effort by bring donations of the following items with you to church this Sunday!

Please donate Canned Soup, Pasta Sauce, Ravioli, Vegetables, Fruit, Tuna, Dry Rice, Beans, Pasta, Top Ramen and Powdered Milk.

Thank you for your support!

My first Christmas in San Diego was absolutely fantastic! No snow. No ice. Not even a cloud in the sky! Who could ask for a better Christmas than sunny and seventy-two degrees! On Christmas Eve we had lunch at a restaurant on Mission Bay, and I went surfing on Christmas Day in the afternoon. You know why? Just because I could!!

But that’s not the only thing that made this Christmas so great! It was so good to be with all of you this Christmas. What a blessing to spend Christmas Eve with all of you at our Christmas Eve services! So many of you have been so warm and welcoming during this season. Thanks to all of you for making our first Christmas in San Diego such a great one!

Next on the calendar: New Year! Which, naturally, brings up the question, “What’s God going to do at Northminster in 2008?” The only person who can answer that question, of course, is God. But we can be sure of this: God has good plans for Northminster!

I believe that God is going to do at least two things in 2008. First, God’s going to use us to reach out into our community, meeting the real needs of real people in Clairemont. Second, I believe that God will bring new people into our church; people who have been touched by our love as we’ve reached out into our community and people who see what we’re doing and want to join us.

So, as we move into 2008, let’s move forward with great optimism! God has good plans for us! “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

–Markus

This winter friends of Northminster have been contributing to several collections for the homeless and the needy through our church. Although collections for these charities will always be welcomed, accepted and distributed through our church, we would like to draw your attention to some of the many ways you can contribute to the needy at Northminster as the celebration of Christ’s birth approaches.

• Northminster is collecting $1-$5 gift certificates for local fast food restaraunts or grocery stores to provide to those people who come to the church in hunger this winter season.
• We are also collecting donations to support the Community Christian Service Agency (CCSA) in their goal to supply 200 homeless individuals with gift bags containing a knit cap, gloves, hygiene kit, $5 meal card and greeting cards and stamps. (see www.ccsasandiego.org)
• The Northminster Women’s Association is collecting layettes for new mothers in need which will be donated to CCSA.
• We are also collecting canned and boxed food donations to supply to the urgent food needs of San Diego’s low income military families though the Military Outreach Ministries and for the Holiday Meal Baskets being distributed at CCSA. MOM’s current urgent needs are boxed meals, pasta, canned fruit, canned vegetables, cereal, baby food, peanut butter and jelly. (see www.ssandiegomom.org)
• The Presbyterian Women in the Presbytery at Northminster are collecting gently used items of warm clothing for the Baja Mission Project.

All contributions to these projects are welcome here at Northminster.

Finally, we wanted to spread the great news that all 94 families that registered for the Christmas “Adopt-A-Family” program at the Christian Community Service Agency (CCSA) have been adopted! Special thanks to the Northminster Women’s association for their contribution to this cause.

Join Northminster in helping the homeless January 13, 14, and 15.

Here in San Diego County, it is not uncommon for as many as many as 2,000 individuals to be homeless on any given night. Many of them are children.

The Interfaith Shelter Network (IFSN) consists of 120 faith congregations in the county who link up during the cold weather months to provide food and shelter for some of these people. An IFSN homeless shelter will be set up at Clairemont Lutheran church, (across the street from NPC) for most of January 2008. For three days, Northminster Presbyterian will be responsible for providing donations for breakfast and lunches, cooking dinner for about 12 individuals, and providing one or more persons to spend the night at the church. There are other ways you can help as well.

This is a great volunteer opportunity for friends, families and organizations to work together in this important endeavor. To learn more, please visit the sign-up table between Sunday services, or call Johana at 858-467-1836.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, reminding us again of God’s abundant gifts to us. The past few weeks have brought horrendous loss and pain to the county. We continue to comfort and assist those whose losses have been great, and we hold the community in prayer, especially during this grieving/healing time following the fires.

Traditionally, each year at this time Northminster has received offerings of funds and goods to assist those in direst need in the San Diego community at Christmas time. In the past these offerings were received separately for the Community Christian Service Agency (CCSA), Military Outreach Ministries (MOM), and the Presbyterian Crisis Center (now known as Presbyterian Urban Ministries, BUM) over several Sundays prior to Christmas. This year ONE offering to benefit ALL THREE outreach agencies will be received on Sunday, November 14. Our gifts, therefore, will be available early enough to ASSURE that special Christmas assistance WILL be available to those in need in Clairemont, San Diego, and nearby communities.

Our thanks-giving is obvious in our thanks-living. We are so thankful for the OPPORTUNITY of being called into the service of God, the Giver of Life. Let us continue to pray for God’s people everywhere, and let us PARTICIPATE GENEROUSLY in this tangible giving of ourselves this Sunday.

Special ‘Thanksgiving Offering’ envelopes will be enclosed in the bulletins on Nov. 18. or your offering may be mailed to the Church Office, please mark it “Thanksgiving”.

I got an e-mail this week from someone at Overlook Presbyterian Church in Mobile, Alabama. She said that their church wanted to partner with a church in San Diego to help with the fire relief. After looking at our church website, they felt that this was the church they wanted to work with!

Here’s the e-mail that we received:

Good morning,

My name is Deb Futral and I am the Chair of our Mission and Outreach Committee at Overlook Presbyterian Church in Mobile, AL. After hurricane Katrina our church received numerous donations from across the country for disaster relief in our community… We went, we took food and supplies, we cleaned, we built, we distributed, we housed and WE GREW in our love for our neighbors and understanding of becoming a missional church. We continue to grow and discover.

After seeing the pictures of the fires, our session voted to send money from our disaster fund to San Diego. During my quiet time the Holy Spirit told me to seek an “Overlook” in San Diego. So, to the web I went and the PCUSA site to find a church… I knew the minute I clicked on your site I had found where the spirit was leading me.

Next Sunday I will present a Moment for Mission and we will put your website on the screen for our congregation to see and feel a connection. We will be collecting contributions through November and will send a check the beginning of December to assist in your efforts to help your neighbors.

In Christ,
Deb Futral

Northminster worked with volunteers from all over San Diego and as far away as the Long Beach area to fill Sand Bags for the victims of the recent fires.

While there we learned that the sand bag facility is a completely volunteer effort which was originated by one city employee that saw a need and started making calls. All materials and labor are being donated to provide sand bags to residents for erosion control.

We left with sore backs and the knowledge that we had provided assistance to fire victims that had more urgent things to deal with in their lives than fill sand bags.

This coming Saturday, November 10^th, volunteers from Northminster’s congregation and the surrounding community will be getting together to help fill sand bags at the Rancho Bernardo Recovery Center in support of the fire recovery effort. Volunteers will be carpooling from the church parking lot at 7:30 a.m. (4324 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.), or meeting at the Rancho Bernardo Recovery/Local Assistance Center a little after 8:00 a.m.. The center is located at 18448 West Bernardo Drive, San Diego, Ca. 92127. Please join us in this worthy effort.

All volunteers of high school age and older are invited to join us. Volunteers will need to fill out a Medical Release and Consent Form prior to assisting, which can be picked up at the church office during weekly office hours or before leaving on Saturday morning. Volunteers under 18 years of age must come with a Consent, Waiver and Release of Liability Form signed by their parent or guardian. Please contact the church office at (858) 490-3995 before 3:30 on Thursday afternoon if you are planning to attend. Volunteers are asked to bring work gloves, hats, sun screen, a bag lunch and water bottles. We hope to see you Saturday!

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.

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!