Dear Peacemakers,
It gives me great joy and gratitude to announce our current total of building pledges and gifts for the next three years. (a drum roll may be heard) By the grace of God and your generosity, we have raised over $970,000 in 60 pledges and/or gifts to date, $100,000 of which has been pledged for either building or operating needs!
We have far exceeded the prediction of the financial consultant who was with us in the spring. You saw the urgency of our situation and responded to the vision of what God might do with a ten year-old building and 25 acres! Thank you so very much for taking this leap of faith and making sacrifices that we might better carry out our mission to make God known by growing as disciples of Jesus Christ, building a community of peace, and caring for the needs of others.
Any new gifts or pledges will help us with much needed improvements and with debt reduction, so that we might consider adding on in a few years – getting rid of portable classrooms. There's great joy in being part of this exciting venture. Every level of giving is appreciated, so don't be embarrassed if you don't have big bucks to give. Your ideas and/or involvement in the renovation are desired, so drop a note in the building ideas basket on Sunday.
Tomorrow (23rd) at least eight of us will go to the orange grove in Nokomis, leaving from Peace at 9:00 and getting back for a late lunch. It should be a beautiful day to pick fruit for the hungry. The trees are covered with citrus! All ages welcome.
Next week-end, March 2-3, we have our kickball picnic and choir festival at Harvest on Saturday and CROP walk Sunday afternoon. Hope one of these fits your schedule.
Sunday’s scripture is Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem from Luke 13:31-35. He wishes he could gather them up like a hen gathers her young, but they are not willing.
Hope to see you Sunday!
Elizabeth
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Dear Peacemakers,
This Sunday, the first Sunday of Lent, we will celebrate the bountiful blessings of God as we bring our pledges for the Peace building campaign. We read from Deuteronomy 26:1-11 the challenge to the Israelites to remember that it was God who brought them out of slavery into a land of promise. God is the giver of bountiful gifts and through the bounty we are given, we can be a blessing to others. That’s what we intend to do at 5215 Lorraine Road – be a blessing to many! We want Peace to be a safe place, a refuge, a sanctuary for ALL people.
Thanks so much to the forty-seven families or individuals who have turned in 3-year building pledges and one-time gifts. I have been amazed at your responsive stewardship. We have $220,000 in the bank now, and need another $280,000 in hand no later than March 10 to close. The current total of pledges assures us that we will meet our goal to cover the downpaymnet and mortgage and likely pay it off in just a few years! Every pledge or gift added now will enable us to renovate the building. Think of an improved sanctuary, a great digital organ, a beautiful memorial garden, renovated classrooms, a re-designed cross. Will you help us reach our goal of 100% participation? Whether you give $30/month for 3 years or $30,000 from investments, we hope you will join our campaign this Sunday to provide a permanent home for Peace’s ministry and mission.
We will be forming Building Vision work teams to tackle the various tasks of landscaping, décor, sanctuary design, kitchen, and classroom improvement. Please add your ideas and your interest in volunteering to the Building Vision basket.
Speaking of volunteering, the Peace Mission Team has many opportunities for you to consider during Lent. The Lenten Challenge is to try to live for one week on $31/person for food, and to contribute as much as you exceed that amount to the Food Bank through a gift to Peace. Learn more on Sunday.
We’d like to go back to the unharvested groves of Nokomis next Saturday morning (23rd) to pick citrus for the Food Bank. Please reply if interested.
Some of our Senior Highs are on a mystery trip (mission work included) this week-end. Thanks for your $425 support of the Peace youth at the Fat Tuesday Brinner, making such trips possible! I know you enjoyed hearing from the youth that night.
If you missed Ash Wednesday, you are encouraged to consider a good discipline to take on or bad habit to relinquish that you might draw closer to Christ, who sacrificed all for us. Embrace the disciplines of Benedictine spirituality these next several weeks in Lively Learning.
With deep gratitude for your Faith and Christ’s Peace,
Elizabeth
This Sunday, the first Sunday of Lent, we will celebrate the bountiful blessings of God as we bring our pledges for the Peace building campaign. We read from Deuteronomy 26:1-11 the challenge to the Israelites to remember that it was God who brought them out of slavery into a land of promise. God is the giver of bountiful gifts and through the bounty we are given, we can be a blessing to others. That’s what we intend to do at 5215 Lorraine Road – be a blessing to many! We want Peace to be a safe place, a refuge, a sanctuary for ALL people.
Thanks so much to the forty-seven families or individuals who have turned in 3-year building pledges and one-time gifts. I have been amazed at your responsive stewardship. We have $220,000 in the bank now, and need another $280,000 in hand no later than March 10 to close. The current total of pledges assures us that we will meet our goal to cover the downpaymnet and mortgage and likely pay it off in just a few years! Every pledge or gift added now will enable us to renovate the building. Think of an improved sanctuary, a great digital organ, a beautiful memorial garden, renovated classrooms, a re-designed cross. Will you help us reach our goal of 100% participation? Whether you give $30/month for 3 years or $30,000 from investments, we hope you will join our campaign this Sunday to provide a permanent home for Peace’s ministry and mission.
We will be forming Building Vision work teams to tackle the various tasks of landscaping, décor, sanctuary design, kitchen, and classroom improvement. Please add your ideas and your interest in volunteering to the Building Vision basket.
Speaking of volunteering, the Peace Mission Team has many opportunities for you to consider during Lent. The Lenten Challenge is to try to live for one week on $31/person for food, and to contribute as much as you exceed that amount to the Food Bank through a gift to Peace. Learn more on Sunday.
We’d like to go back to the unharvested groves of Nokomis next Saturday morning (23rd) to pick citrus for the Food Bank. Please reply if interested.
Some of our Senior Highs are on a mystery trip (mission work included) this week-end. Thanks for your $425 support of the Peace youth at the Fat Tuesday Brinner, making such trips possible! I know you enjoyed hearing from the youth that night.
If you missed Ash Wednesday, you are encouraged to consider a good discipline to take on or bad habit to relinquish that you might draw closer to Christ, who sacrificed all for us. Embrace the disciplines of Benedictine spirituality these next several weeks in Lively Learning.
With deep gratitude for your Faith and Christ’s Peace,
Elizabeth
Friday, February 8, 2013
February 8, 2013
Dear Peacemakers,
If you missed last Sunday, here’s the good news: We have a signed contract on the Faith Church Property, and our closing is on Easter week-end for the good price of $950,000. Next we have secured loans from both Sabal Palm Bank and from Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program at blended rate of 3.9%. Both organizations consider us a low risk, thanks to the amazing total of pledges and gifts which have come in so far. Last but not least, it is confirmed that we can move out of MAR anytime after May 31, giving us time to renovate.
We celebrate the goodness of God and the vision the Spirit has put in you to plant yourselves on twenty-five acres on Lorraine Road in order to more effectively make God known by growing as disciples of Jesus Christ, building a community of peace, and caring for the needs of others.
We are hoping that every single family or individual at Peace will say, “I’m in” by making a pledge or contribution to the building fund at whatever level you can. You can be part of this lasting legacy. Checks can be written to Peace Church with building fund in the memo line.
By God’s grace and your generous giving, we have reached our minimum goal -- having the funds needed to make a down payment and service the debt on this loan for first three years. Thank you! Every pledge or gift added at this point will enable us to renovate the building and pay down faster, diminishing the total cost, and propelling Peace into a confident future.
Be part of the icing on the cake! Think of an improved sanctuary, a great digital organ, a beautiful memorial garden, renovated classrooms, a re-designed cross. Imagine what God can do when your gift is multiplied with others’! Imagine a church that draws newcomers in and invites them to stay.
Next week Lent begins. Our youth are having their Fat Tuesday Pancake Brinner to raise funds for Montreat and other youth trips. Come Tuesday anytime between 6:00 and 8:00 pm for breakfast at dinner. Wednesday night we have our Ash Wednesday service at 7:00 pm to begin a season of reflection on the loving sacrifice of Christ.
On Transfiguration Sunday this week, we will read 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:7 and will imagine ourselves as reflectors of Christ’s glory. We are created in the image of God and transformed by the life of Christ in us.
With deep gratitude for your Faith and Christ's Peace!
Elizabeth
If you missed last Sunday, here’s the good news: We have a signed contract on the Faith Church Property, and our closing is on Easter week-end for the good price of $950,000. Next we have secured loans from both Sabal Palm Bank and from Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program at blended rate of 3.9%. Both organizations consider us a low risk, thanks to the amazing total of pledges and gifts which have come in so far. Last but not least, it is confirmed that we can move out of MAR anytime after May 31, giving us time to renovate.
We celebrate the goodness of God and the vision the Spirit has put in you to plant yourselves on twenty-five acres on Lorraine Road in order to more effectively make God known by growing as disciples of Jesus Christ, building a community of peace, and caring for the needs of others.
We are hoping that every single family or individual at Peace will say, “I’m in” by making a pledge or contribution to the building fund at whatever level you can. You can be part of this lasting legacy. Checks can be written to Peace Church with building fund in the memo line.
By God’s grace and your generous giving, we have reached our minimum goal -- having the funds needed to make a down payment and service the debt on this loan for first three years. Thank you! Every pledge or gift added at this point will enable us to renovate the building and pay down faster, diminishing the total cost, and propelling Peace into a confident future.
Be part of the icing on the cake! Think of an improved sanctuary, a great digital organ, a beautiful memorial garden, renovated classrooms, a re-designed cross. Imagine what God can do when your gift is multiplied with others’! Imagine a church that draws newcomers in and invites them to stay.
Next week Lent begins. Our youth are having their Fat Tuesday Pancake Brinner to raise funds for Montreat and other youth trips. Come Tuesday anytime between 6:00 and 8:00 pm for breakfast at dinner. Wednesday night we have our Ash Wednesday service at 7:00 pm to begin a season of reflection on the loving sacrifice of Christ.
On Transfiguration Sunday this week, we will read 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:7 and will imagine ourselves as reflectors of Christ’s glory. We are created in the image of God and transformed by the life of Christ in us.
With deep gratitude for your Faith and Christ's Peace!
Elizabeth
Monday, February 4, 2013
Good News for Peace! - January 31, 2013
Dear People of Peace,
What an amazing response we have received from Sunday’s presentation by the Building Vision Team! Pledges are rolling in. It is miraculous, like the loaves and fishes! C1 Bank accepted our offer but it looks like we will have to accept their closing date of March 29 – Good Friday. This is a month earlier than we wanted, but with the great generosity of this church, I think we will make it!
If you missed our congregational meeting last week, please pick up a packet at church. Remember to sign up (if you’d like) for a personal visit from a member of the Building Vision Team to answer your questions and talk about your commitment to help. We understand some are on a tight budget, but remember if you save an extra dollar/day for three years, then you can give more than $1000 to help Peace have a home. If 100 of you do this, we have more than $100,000 for our building. What we want is a commitment from 100% of the congregation – at whatever level you can afford to give! Thanks to all who have pledged or given already. We hope to have all pledges in by mid-February.
Early givers, please cut those checks as soon as you can – if this deal falls through (don’t think it will) your money is yours again.
We are joining the Society of St Andrew and many others who are picking oranges in Nokomis this Saturday (no climbing – just low-hanging fruit). Meet at Peace at 9:00. If you can stay most of the day (quit at 3:00) or half of the day, please reply immediately to me so Tricia can give them a headcount for the church providing lunch and drinks. It should be a fun way to spend time with each other as we fill the Food Bank.
The youth will collect their annual Souper Bowl Offering this Sunday. Make sure you bring an extra five bucks for to drop in the soup-er pot at the end of worship -- to help the hungry, instead of spending all of it on your chili, wings, and beer for the game.
The text this week is Psalm 71, in praise of God our refuge and rock. At 11:30 this Sunday, in addition to Worship Reflection and Wired Word: Liturgists (prayer leaders) training for any who are interested. Potential new members can meet with elders this Sunday (let me know if interested) and Pastor Tricia is gathering a new group of parents and younger adults! There’s something for everyone.
Glory to God for the wonderful gift of a home for Peace!
Elizabeth
What an amazing response we have received from Sunday’s presentation by the Building Vision Team! Pledges are rolling in. It is miraculous, like the loaves and fishes! C1 Bank accepted our offer but it looks like we will have to accept their closing date of March 29 – Good Friday. This is a month earlier than we wanted, but with the great generosity of this church, I think we will make it!
If you missed our congregational meeting last week, please pick up a packet at church. Remember to sign up (if you’d like) for a personal visit from a member of the Building Vision Team to answer your questions and talk about your commitment to help. We understand some are on a tight budget, but remember if you save an extra dollar/day for three years, then you can give more than $1000 to help Peace have a home. If 100 of you do this, we have more than $100,000 for our building. What we want is a commitment from 100% of the congregation – at whatever level you can afford to give! Thanks to all who have pledged or given already. We hope to have all pledges in by mid-February.
Early givers, please cut those checks as soon as you can – if this deal falls through (don’t think it will) your money is yours again.
We are joining the Society of St Andrew and many others who are picking oranges in Nokomis this Saturday (no climbing – just low-hanging fruit). Meet at Peace at 9:00. If you can stay most of the day (quit at 3:00) or half of the day, please reply immediately to me so Tricia can give them a headcount for the church providing lunch and drinks. It should be a fun way to spend time with each other as we fill the Food Bank.
The youth will collect their annual Souper Bowl Offering this Sunday. Make sure you bring an extra five bucks for to drop in the soup-er pot at the end of worship -- to help the hungry, instead of spending all of it on your chili, wings, and beer for the game.
The text this week is Psalm 71, in praise of God our refuge and rock. At 11:30 this Sunday, in addition to Worship Reflection and Wired Word: Liturgists (prayer leaders) training for any who are interested. Potential new members can meet with elders this Sunday (let me know if interested) and Pastor Tricia is gathering a new group of parents and younger adults! There’s something for everyone.
Glory to God for the wonderful gift of a home for Peace!
Elizabeth
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