Fresh off an appearance at the White House for a Christmas concert, the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club will soon be performing at Pine Street in a concert for the benefit of Downtown Daily Bread. You will have the chance to experience this group which has a long history of choral excellence and theatrical showmanship. Now in its 153rd season, it is the oldest performing arts group at the University of Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest collegiate glee clubs in America.
to feed the hungry of Harrisburg, we need your help.
The concert will be on March 28 at 7:30pm. This event is a joint effort of the Downtown Daily Bread Advisory Board, Music at Pine Street, the Mission Committee, the Evangelism Committee, the Congregational Life Committee, and all Pine Street members. This concert is the major fundraiser of the year for Downtown Daily Bread, and in order to raise as much as possible for our commitment
The evening will include a fabulous concert of singing and dancing, a raffle, and a champagne reception following the concert. Committees are forming for publicity, operations, the raffle, programs, and tickets. You can help by saying YES if you are asked to volunteer in this all-church effort. We need all hands on in order for this to be successful. This will be your chance to support DDB either financially or with your gift of time. DDB recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and it is a treasure in our community, but in order for it to survive the increasing costs of food, the increasing needs of its clients, and the real increase in the numbers who come for lunch every day, it needs our attention and assistance.
See Glee on page 2
Winter Seminar: Shifting Sands
by Dr. Russell C. Sullivan, Jr. Pastor
You have been reading recently in a letter last fall and in a recent Pine Street Life article my strong desire for our church to re-discover Bible study as an important element in our spiritual formation. Kicking off this renewed emphasis at Pine Street will be our Winter Seminar on Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8 at Pine Street, with a lecture also at Messiah College on Monday evening, March 9. It’s a joy to do this series as a partnership with Messiah College!!
See Winter on page 3
Year-End Picture
The 2014 books have been closed and we thank you for all of your contributions. The church had a budgeted deficit of $6,220.24 in 2014, and it ended the year with a deficit of $4,996.50. That is fairly remarkable given the size of our budget and a number of extraordinary expenses. Contribution Statements have been mailed to you. If you have any questions, please call the church office at 238-9304 x108 or email aguenin@pinestreet.org
Stewardship
The stewardship campaign is nearly complete. The total 2015 estimated giving amount received to date is $501,291, which represents 97% of our budgeted amount of $515,000. There are currently 142 pledge units, up from 138 last year. Of interest, of the 138 pledge units from last year, 47 pledged the same in 2015, 59 increased their pledges, and 32 decreased their pledges. If you have not returned your Estimated Giving card, it is never too late! Thank you to all who have committed to the financial needs of Pine Street in 2015.
Continued from page 1
First and foremost, we hope you can attend the concert. Tickets will be available in mid-February and will be sold for $50, which includes the concert, priority seating, and the reception, or for $25, which includes just the concert. All proceeds will go to Downtown Daily Bread. If you purchase a $50 ticket, you will be providing 25 meals for DDB clients. We will be asking members to sell tickets. Please say YES if you are asked. If we could sell 500 tickets at the $50 level, DDB could provide 12,500 meals, which is about 4 months of daily lunches.
We are looking for sponsors at the following levels: Leading Note–$10,000, Soprano Sponsor–$5,000, Alto Sponsor–$2,500, Tenor Sponsor–$1,000, Baritone Sponsor–$500, Bass Patron–$250, and Sharp (or Flat) Friend–$100. If you have any leads on a sponsor, please pass them along to Elaine Strokoff, as sponsorship request letters will be going out soon.
We are beginning to collect items for the raffle gift baskets. Every time you visit a store, restaurant, or your favorite service provider, ask if they might contribute a gift item. If you have an idea for a themed gift basket, please let us know. A gift basket raffled for $200 will pay for one day’s worth of meals at DDB.
If you have never heard a glee club perform, you are in for a treat! The energy and enthusiasm of the Penn Glee Club is infectious. You can check out the essence of the Glee at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=UtksyHT0ElA and https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=bvOETho_xQs&feature=youtube.com and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2I7sh8_ R1U&feature=youtube.com. Let’s all rally for the Glee for DDB!!
Session Notes
Approved a partnership between Pine Street Presbyterian Church (PSPC) and Heeding God’s Call as a member in their Congregational Partnership Program. Heeding God’s Call is a multi-faith initiative to reduce gun violence through education and participation in local prayer vigils. Part of this education is to work WITH local gun stores to adopt a code of conduct to eliminate “straw purchases” of guns.
Approved a very short survey of the congregation that will ask about the preferred times for the Christmas Eve worship services and bring a recommendation to Session about the times the congregation would prefer for our Christmas Eve services in 2015.
Received a presentation from Dr. Sullivan on the Good-to-Great Task Force’s progress.
Six ALC students were retested before Christmas and four showed moderate to large gains in the tested areas. This shows that the ALC is having a positive impact on the students.
by Christine Patrick, DDB Counselor
A young lady named Jennifer came into my office crying. She said due to a breakup, she and her little girl were left homeless. She needed a place to get her mail, and a place to leave phone messages for jobs. She had to send her daughter to live with her mother in Atlanta, Georgia until she could get back on her feet.
Over the next six months Jennifer worked really hard to get on her feet. She got a job at PHEAA and we have helped her with bus passes and mail. She met with me once a week to talk about her goals and how she had been doing.
I watched this young lady walk to DDB every day to pick up her mail and then catch a bus to work. She saved all her money and is now getting ready to move into her own apartment and get her daughter back. She is very grateful for DDB.
Continued from page 1
Our featured speaker is Dr. Thomas W. Davis, a Professor of Archaeology and Biblical Backgrounds at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in Fort Worth, Texas. He currently leads the Kourion Urban Space Project, an archaeological investigation of the site of Kourion, Cyprus. Before coming to SWBTS, he directed the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute in Nicosia, Cyprus. Dr. Davis has an extensive history of archaeological excavation in Cyprus, Jordan, Egypt, and in the United States. He is the author of Shifting Sands: The Rise and Fall of Biblical Archaeology (Oxford, 2004), as well as numerous essays and articles that concern archaeology and biblical studies. Dr. Davis earned his Ph.D. in Oriental Studies—Syro-Palestinian Archaeology, at the University of Arizona, under the direction of William G. Dever.
His series of lectures is entitled: Shifting Sands: Current Research on Archaeology and the Bible.
Archaeology in the last 10 years has provided a wealth of new information challenging scholarly dogmas regarding the world of the Old and New Testaments. This series of lectures applies much of this new data to challenging questions of biblical history.
March 7 and 8, at Pine Street: Old Testament Issues
Saturday, March 7, Lecture 1: The Elusive Signature of the Exodus: New Light on an Old Question from the Sinai. Recent research in the north Sinai has provided a clearer understanding of the geography and settlement in this region that the Hebrews of the Exodus crossed. Excavation of one of the forts along the Egyptian military road (Dr. Davis was one of the field directors) bolsters the historicity of the biblical account
Saturday, March 7, Lecture 2: Conquest, Settlement and Kingdom: How a People Became a Kingdom. New archaeological work in Israel is starting to shift scholarly opinion to support a more traditional view of the united Monarchy. The kingdom of David and Solomon has left a real imprint on the land.
Sunday, March 8, Lecture 3: The end of the Dream: Assyria, Babylonia and the End of the Kingdoms The collapse of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah caused a profound crisis for the Hebrew people. New archaeological evidence helps us to better
by George Kunkle
Brad reported that everything seems to be going well with the new cleaning company. When Brad sees a problem he emails the company and it is taken care of quickly.
The Property Committee awarded a bid to H.L. Bowman to replace the heating/AC units in the mid-level exterior rooms of the Boyd Building. Brad will have metal covers made for the outside and he will insulate and install drywall to cover the holes on the inside.
The transition to a new security company for both the church and the Boyd Building has gone well and there have been no problems so far.
Gels have been added to the four large spot lights aimed at the pulpit and lectern to add more color to the speakers when viewed on computer monitors during streaming. We tried to dim the spot lights and discovered that two channels on the lighting panel did not work. George Kunkle took the panel to the company in Allentown where repairs were made.
See Seminar on page 5 See Property on page 5
Giving Tree 2014: An Effort By Many
by Laura Messner
Pine Street’s Giving Tree Program ended another successful year as generous Pine Street members donated money, gifts and time to bring a brighter Christmas to various local groups.
Pine Street members stepped up to the challenge of buying individual gifts for DELTA Community DELTA is part of Gaudenzia, a program that was founded in 1968 to provide help for those affected by addictions. Gaudenzia operates 23 programs in the Harrisburg area; DELTA is one of them. This program offers transitional housing for single parent families. Their clients are encouraged to further their education and develop careers. The task of finding some of the gifts was an educational experience for some of us raised on Lion King promos. What is a Doc McStuffins? A Ninja Turtle? Gifts for 20 families were brought to the Gathering Place in packages with festive wrapping and ribbons. Marty and Deb Gruver packed them up in their van and delivered them to the agency.
Kathleen White, director of Pine Street’s Adult Learning Center, was instrumental in putting together a gift request for the 17 students enrolled in this program. After their testing session on December 15, students were given a gift bag with the donated items. Pine Street youth put 3-ring binders together filled with papers, dividers, plastic protector sheets as well as other assorted items such as pens, highlighters and pencils. Mission Committee hopes that this gift gesture helps fulfil some of the student needs and helps encourage continued success for this new program.
Pine Street members donated to another Giving Tree agency: HELP, a program of Christian Churches United. If you are tired of winter’s chill, you can appreciate the one-time assistance that HELP provides to those needing fuel oil. Clients must exhaust all other energy assistance programs before they receive payment, which goes directly to the heating vendor.
Pine Street has had an ongoing relationship with the Hansel and Gretel Early Learning Center through a summer reading program as well as the Giving Tree. Children’s 3 to 5 size clothing and pull-ups donated this year will help alleviate the need for extra items when young children have accidents that result in a need for clothing changes. Talented Anna Hall also donated several hand-sewn covers for the children (as well as a comforter to DELTA).
This year Pine Street members donated over 150 books from Dr. Seuss to Runaway Bunny Bonnie Peckham delivered them to the Community Check-Up Center in Hall Manor. The books will be given out to youngsters after they finish a doctor’s visit. This effort will encourage children’s reading and offers a great way to recycle good children’s books after they are used.
Each year, Pine Street provides a Christmas handout to DDB clients. Socks, t-shirts and gloves were the most popular items given out by Susan Stecher, Shirley Dennis and Marty Gruver after church on December 21. Remember to save any extra gloves (especially men’s large size) or any other warming items for next year’s gifts.
Kudos to all those who helped with sign-ups, gift collection and table set-up. This includes a thanks to Sydney Brittain and Marah Dormuth for their Minute for Mission and Advent breakfast messages. The success of this program is due to the many efforts and generosity of Pine Street members.
Gifts delivered to DELTA case workers, Karol and Leah
Van filled with over 50 gifts for Delta Community
Adult Learning Center “5K
to Educate” Walk/Run
May 30, 2015
by Sue Black
Mark your calendars for the “5K to Educate” walk/run being held on Saturday, May 30, 2015 at 9:00am to benefit Pine Street’s Adult Learning Center. The event is a cooperative effort between the Evangelism Committee and the Adult Learning Center with the goal of raising community awareness about Pine Street’s newest mission, as well as securing financial support.
Pine Streeters and ALC students and families, as well as racers/walkers in the community are encouraged to participate. Children, dogs, and strollers are welcome, too!
The $25 registration fee will include a T-shirt for all participants registered by deadline (TBA). There will be a $100 prize for the 1st place winner, $75 for 2nd place, and $50 for 3rd.
The event is being coordinated by veteran runner and race participant, Jose Sastre. Steve McMullen is taking charge of publicity, and Debbie Olson is organizing volunteers. There will be plenty of opportunities for non-runners to help out with tasks such as registering participants, assembling publicity bags, and handing out bottles of water to thirsty runners.
So mark you calendar now and think about whether you’d like to support this event as a participant, volunteer, or sponsor. And encourage your friends, family, and coworkers to come out and be a part of a fun event for an important mission. February 18
ProPerty Continued from page3
Our church was inspected by the insurance underwriter and the only change he suggested was installing GFCI receptacles in two areas of the church. He was impressed with the condition of the church building and the knowledge of our facilities manager, Brad Wise
After numerous inspections and consultations it has been determined that ground water is leaking into DDB in the kitchen. Two bids were received from waterproofing companies and the Property Committee accepted the bid from Palmyra Waterproofing Co. They will install piping, channels, and a sump pump that will collect the water and remove it from the building.
Seminar Continued from page 3
understand how they lost national sovereignty but still retained national identity.
March 9 at Messiah College: New Testament Issues
Monday, March 9, Lecture 4: Out of the Comfort Zone: St. Paul on Cyprus. What caused Christianity to change from a Jewish sect to a world religion? New archaeological work has lead to a revised understanding of first century Cyprus which provides a sound basis for the profound change of Paul’s mission focus from the Jews to the Gentiles which Acts records. Christianity exists today because of the impact of Cyprus on Paul’s theology Registration begins on Saturday, March 7, at 8:30am, and the lecture begins at 9:00am. We would love for you to register in advance at the Welcome Center or by e-mailing me at rsullivan@ pinestreet.org. All lectures on Saturday and Sunday will take place in the McCormick Fellowship Hall. We are offering delicious refreshments between lectures on Saturday. We will provide registration information for the Monday lecture at Messiah College when available.
Pine Street’s middle and high school Youth Fellowship classes are active and on the move! Under a new format this year, the classes have taken part in field trips, a weekend retreat and regularly get some Sunday exercise in the Boyd Building gym. All this, in between Bible study, group discussions, art projects and play rehearsal for semi-annual performances. The result is a re-energized Youth Group that is raring to go. So much so, student reporter Marah Dormuth will be penning a regular column in these pages to keep our congregation up on all of our youth’s latest activities. Next is a Sunday of serving lunch for our fellow man at Downtown Daily Bread. Stay tuned for more Youth Fellowship news.
February 12, 2015
Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo
Reviewed by Pam Bauer
Hosted by Pam Bauer
March 12, 2015
The Cello Suite by Eric Siblin
Reviewed by Estelle Hartranft Hosted by Doris Coyne
April 9, 2015
The Places Inbetween by Rory Stewart Reviewed by Cynthia Hertzler Hosted by Sondra Fertig
May 14, 2015 Toxic Charity by Robert Upton Reviewed by Becky Cotich Hosted by Barbara Taylor
Book Club meets at the host’s home at 1:30pm. SIgn up at the Welcome Center or contact the host to let her know you will be attending.
All are welcome!
Baptism
December 21, 2014
Jane Walker Summers
infant daughter of Benjamin & Christine Summers
You are invited to join the Pine Street Men for “the best breakfast in town” on Saturday, March 14, 2015. What a great way to start the day. Breakfast at 8:00am in Fellowship Hall.
Love Songs for Valentine’s Day
Join the Pine Street Choir on Friday, February 13, 2015 at 7:30pm for an evening of love songs from stage and screen. Refreshments will be served at a cabaret setting in Fellowship Hall. Bring your sweetheart and friends to this night of music and love. Cost is only $10 per person. Please reserve your seat at the Welcome Center.
www.pinestreet.org
8:30 AM Worship - Sanctuary 9:30AM SYF & JYF-Room 106
9:40 AM Church School All Ages 11:00 AM Worship -Sanctuary
8:30 AM Worship - Sanctuary 9:30AM SYF & JYF-Room 106
9:40 AM Church School All Ages 9:40 AM Bagels & Belief - Fellowship Hall
