Grace Item Page (s) Gratitude Birgit’s Bits Page 2 Christian Kids’ Corner Pages 3 to 8 Hope Dentistry from the Heart Page 8 Words of Hope Page 8 Craft Camp for a Cause Page 9 Young Adult Mission Page 10 Trip Youth Pages 11-14 Stamp Ministry Page 15 Tres Dias / Vida Nueva Page 16 Missionary Update: D.R. Page 17 Goodbye Pastor Beryl Page 18 Letter from Pastor Beryl Page 19 EXCITING Life in Balance at HRC CHANGE Fall 2019 AHEAD 2 Birgit’s Bits August 2018 Guess what? Birgit’s Bits is back! This year consistory voted to change my job title to better reflect the work I do. My new job title is Commu- nications and Office Administrator. In that vein, I hope to share some communication ideas. As communica- tions is best when it is two-way, I encourage you to share your ideas with me, as well. In our daily lives, we are bombarded with information. I hope you will consider communications from HRC as a top priority. We try to consider our community when planning events. For example, we realize how busy September and October are for parents. We try to keep our emails and postings to a minimum during this time. The most important news to communicate is, of course, that we are hopefully nearing the end of our pastoral search. Many of us are anticipating that this may bring about change at HRC. For me and my co-workers, it is not only change in our church, but also change at work. That is a lot of change! Not all of us handle change well. It is scary to face the unknown, but I know God has great things in store for HRC and the future is exciting! Please keep the staff and church leaders in your prayers as we face the future together. I think it is important to remember, during this time of transition, why we are anticipating change. If you are a consistent attender, you know that our worship attendance has been decreasing steadily since 2014. In that year, we reported an average attendance of 446. This past year that has dropped to 327. Much of this decline is beyond our control, but it is alarming to see the drop in the number of young families with children, be- cause these are the future of our church. We need to attract young families and provide a place for them to grow in their faith and become a part of God’s family. By calling a young pastor, we hope to do that. Pastor Holbrook always said that a congregation’s average age is reflective of the average age of its pastor. So get ready to welcome young families! These are exciting times. Continue to pray for open hearts and minds to receive God’s direction and all the blessings he has to give! Some other items to share with you: Our Fall Kickoff is September 8. We will meet at the East Fishkill Rec Pavilion for worship at 10:30 AM, followed by our church picnic. Watch for details in your church bulletin! September is also the time many of our “regular” activities that have taken a hiatus during the summer, will start up again. I have listed some that I am aware of below. Sarah Ruvo is in the process of updating our website. It will be completed this fall. She has some great ideas – can’t wait to see it! If you want the most up-to-date information, please visit our website at HrcRca.org. All current announce- ments are listed there. You can also get links to our church calendar and prayer wall from the home page. We also post announcements to our Facebook page. If you are on Facebook, please like our page and you will see our posts. Feel free to like and share anything you think someone you know might be interested in. As always, our church-wide events are open to everyone. Here is a list of start dates for some of our ongoing groups: Judi Budryk’s group starts September 10 at 9:30 AM in the Family Room Jan Bushey’s group starts September 12 at 9:00 AM at Jan’s home Shireen Gilbert’s group starts September 12 at 9:00 AM in Room F Sunday School for Grades PreK—5 starts September 15 Bells of Praise starts September 16 at 7:00 PM in the Music Room Chorale starts September 18 at 7:00 PM in the Music Room Don Devries’ group starts September 18 at 9:30 AM in the Family Room Rich Lotze’s group starts September 19 at 8:30 AM in the Consistory Room Sunday School for grades 6-12 starts September 22 (1st service ONLY; in Youth House) (If your group is not listed above, please contact your group leader for the start information. Some groups have been meeting throughout the year, and some did not have a start date set at the time of this publication.) 3 Christian Kids’ Corner August 2018 Sunday School News In June, the children hosted a wonderful celebration of the Sunday school year. They came together to bake treats, set up coffee hour and welcome the congregation to the fellowship hall for the fruits of their labors (yes, they all washed hands before serving!) The kids’ special video message shared heartfelt thanks to all the teachers. Children’s Ministry was blessed with the caring touch of many. After years of service teaching, we are sad to say goodbye to Lauren and Matt Fitzgerald. Their creative and gentle touch will be missed. Continued on page 4 4 Christian Kids’ Corner (continued) August 2018 Baptisms and the Nursery Joys abounded with some baptisms and births this spring/summer! Proud families stood together with our congregation to commit to raising their child(ren) with the love of Christ at the center of their lives. We pray these children continue to thrive, surrounded by the support and love of their new extended church family! We welcomed newly baptized children: Evan Alexander Schmid, Jocelyn Jenny Bartolomeo and Nolan Har- ris. We also celebrated with the births of Daniel William Husted on 4May’19 and twins Anthony Emmanuel “Manny” and Alice Olivia Burkhardt on 27 Jun’19. Please consider serving regularly in the nursery this year and being a part of this important ministry. Often the first contact young families have with our church is in the nursery. Your support volunteering one hour during service allows these parents to focus on worship and renewal. Babies get to know their loving church family. Mark 9 reminds us that when we welcome children, we welcome Jesus. So hear and spread good news: be the face of our Savior in the nursery. Continued on page 5 5 Christian Kids’ Corner (continued) Nursery Continued on page 6 6 Christian Kids’ Corner (continued) August 2018 Summer Pen Pals A new program this summer matched young and old through the classic art of letter writing…..or drawing pictures. Mostly, this program is about connections in Christ, offering our children new relationships to help them develop love with others in the congregation. Eleven pairs, involving over 22 people, participated in this pilot program. Pen Pals are sharing and learning more about each other; some are meeting up in the fellowship hall. Thank you to all who took a chance on making new friends of all ages and sizes. Vacation Bible School (VBS) VBS involved almost 100 kids and volunteers this summer! We are blessed with the opportunity and privi- lege of sharing God’s love with so many in our church and community. Our mission’s mobilizer Jessica Batt taught our children about the hardships for girls going to school in Zambia. Campers raised enough to send ____ girls to school for one year! We all learned how prayer and love help anyone through the tall grasses of our paths. Aside from new campers, we also had furry actors and new teen volunteers whose energy invig- orated worship. Please join me in praying for these children and their families that they will continue to grow in faith and in the knowledge of the love of God. Continued on page 7 7 Christian Kids’ Corner (continued) Continued on page 8 8 Christian Kids’ Corner (continued) August 2018 Sunday School Fall Kick off! Fall Sunday School starts on 15 Sep’19! I am excited about the Children’s Ministry team that God is prepar- ing for this year. If you would like to be a part of it, please contact me at 914.466.0840 or at [email protected] Dentistry from the Heart Words of Hope From Words of Hope, July 27 - You can find a current issue in our kiosk. Submitted by Stephanie Patton "If God is for us, who can be against us? Paul’s writing shines here (giving hope to skeptics like me who think theology is dry and doesn’t make good literature). He gets caught up in rapture about how nothing can sepa- rate us from the love of God. The language is poetic as Paul lists a series of opposites: life/death; angels/ demons; things present/things to com; height/depth; nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!” It’s a mystery. Read Romans 8 9 Craft Camp for a Cause August 2018 Submitted by Bella and Riley Bella and Riley love doing crafts with their younger siblings and cousins, and they love to help local charities so they came up with the idea of hosting a Kid Craft Camp for a Cause to benefit Sparrow's Nest.