MINISTRY NEWS

VOLUME 4 , ISSUE 14

APR. 2 - APR. 8

For our full calendar of events and services, visit https://holytransfiguration.info/calendar/

Due to the number of ministry events in this email, some email programs cutoff our message and include a link to see the full version in a web browser. If you do not see a flyer for an event listed above, please access that link.

Click here to receive the booklet "Journey to Pascha", a detailed description of the services of Holy Week.

Revision to Holy Week schedule - CANCELLED - Renewal Monday Orthros & Divine Liturgy

Holy Week Meals Volunteers for Palm Sunday, April 5, Resurrection Midnight Service, April 11/12, and Agape Picnic, April 12, 2026: During "Holy Week" we have several opportunities to celebrate our faith with prayer during the liturgies and food afterwards. We need volunteers to help with serving and setup at each meal. Please help setup for and serve the traditional meals for Palm Sunday, the Resurrection Service (midnight), and the Agape Picnic. Our parish cannot provide these meals without your help. Parish Life appreciates your Time and Talent. Email Lela Bridgers at lbridgers@holytransfiguration.info to volunteer your help.

The Parish Cybersecurity Subcommittee of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America invites parishioners nationwide to a free, one‑hour online session: “Cybersecurity Basics for Parishioners.” This presentation is designed for anyone who wants to stay safer online—no technical knowledge required.

What You’ll Learn

This fast‑paced, practical session will cover:

• Simple steps for protecting your accounts and devices
• How to spot common scams
• How to recognize safe vs. suspicious websites
• Real‑life examples of parishioners targeted by online scams—and what to do if something feels wrong

 Event Details

• Date: Tuesday, April 21
• Time: 2:00–3:00 PM Eastern
• Location: Microsoft Teams
• Cost: Free

All parishioners, families, and community members are encouraged to attend.

Register at https://bit.ly/goarch-cyber-april-2026-webinar

This event is our annual fundraiser that celebrates the AHEPA Mother Lodge No. 1 Educational Fund, Inc. (AEF) scholarship winners. The fund was started in 1986, and almost forty years later, the Fund has provided over $1.4 Million in scholarships to over 1,000 individuals … many of which are / were from HTGOC.

SAVE THE DATE

The evening of Saturday August 22nd, honoring Father Panayiotis’ Retirement, immediately following Vespers

More details to come!

Parish Membership - Every year, we seek your support and renewed commitment to help ensure that we are meeting our parish’s growing time, talent & treasure needs. We are also required by the Archdiocese Regulations to have all members of the Parish renew their membership each year to remain in “good standing.” 

Your Gifts in Service to God

Through stewardship, we offer our time, talents, and treasure as members of the Body of Christ, striving to reach our full potential in Him. Your generosity supports our church’s mission and transforms lives—both within and beyond our parish.

2026 STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN

How to submit your 2025 Membership/Stewardship Card: 

1. PAPER: Grab a paper Stewardship form from a Parish Council member in the Narthex on Sunday. You may mail back the completed paper form to the Church or drop the completed form in the offering tray.

2. ONLINE: You can complete the Online Membership/Stewardship Form on the church’s Stewardship webpage (https://holytransfiguration.info/join/).

3. SCAN: use the QR code. Simply point your camera on the QR code and click the yellow link that appears within your picture frame.

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, April 15 at 10:00 am in Lower Level Parish Hall Classroom #127. Please text Ann Zakreski at 770.329.7421 if you plan to come.

Hellenic Dance practice continues on Sunday, April 19th as follows:

OUR DANCE GROUPS

No Practice on Palm Sunday or Pascha. The next practice date will be Sunday, April 19th.

Visit the Hellenic Dance webpage for further details.

Greek Dance Fundraiser: Please help support our dancers by purchasing a luminary for Easter! This is a Greek Dance Fundraiser and encourage dancers and their families to participate. Luminaries are $10 per bag (two names per bag). Final day to purchase in person is this Sunday 5th after the Liturgy.

Friendly Reminder: All Greek Dancers (or their family) must be a steward of the church and must pay an annual costume fee ($50/per dancer). Deadline was March 15! If you have not paid your costume fee please do by March 31. This is required for your child to dance at the Marietta Greek Festival.

Dance Parent Volunteers: Dance parents need to volunteer 8 total hours for the Festival. Click this link to sign up! OPA!

Hellenic Dance Registration

If your child is interested in Greek dancing for the festival, here is how to register:

(1) First, your family or the individual dancer has to be a steward of the parish. Please complete a stewardship form for this year if you haven’t done so yet with our online 2026 Membership/Stewardship Form.

(2) Second, please register your child for our youth programs (including dance) with our online 2025-26 Youth Ministries Registration.

(3) Third, please also confirm with our dance team that you intend to participate and have completed the above two steps. You can email us at: hellenicdance@holytransfiguration.info.

You’re also welcome to show up at dance practice to register but will be asked to make sure you complete the above steps as well. Please email Paulina Vastakis at hellenicdance@holytransfiguration.info with questions. Thank you!

Once you have registered, you can pay for your dancer(s) costume usage fee (by March 15) any of these ways below:  Go Online and pay or write a Check out to the church, HTGOC, and in the memo line make sure you write in "COSTUME FEE/DANCER(S) NAME".

You can bring the check to dance practice and give it to Paulina Vastakis or Karen Fox (dance instructors cannot accept money) OR drop it off at the church during regular business hours or bring $50/per dancer in cash to dance practice and give it PAULINA VASTAKIS or KAREN FOX, Dance instructors will not take the cash, so please find the director, Paulina (who teaches high school) or our financial board member, Karen Fox (who also teaches middle school).

Upcoming Sessions via Zoom:



Apr. 18,

May 2 & 23,

Jun. 13 & 27

For more information and a Zoom invite, please reach out to BJ Spanos at 404-771-9335 or email

The Mixed Choir practices on Tuesday nights / sing on the 1st & 3rd Sundays of the month.

Next practice: Apr. 14 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. in the Church Sanctuary

Ministry information...

The Men's Choir practices on Thursday nights / sing on the 4th Sundays of the month:

Next practice: Apr. 2 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. in the Church Sanctuary

Next Service singing the Bridegroom Service: Apr. 5 & 6.

Next Sunday singing the Divine Liturgy: Apr. 26.

Ministry information...

A group of friends (age 50+) who gather together purely for the enjoyment of each other’s company. They share experiences in life, their philosophies, values, ideas and goodies. Meetings are a light lunch with a guest speaker presentation.

Next meeting: Apr. 16

Ministry information...

Tuesday, April 14: Philoptochos Book Club (see below).

We meet on the first Tuesday of each month at 11:00 am in the Church Library (St. Basil Conference Room) followed by an optional lunch out.



ALL book lover readers are welcome to come.

APRIL MEETING



Tuesday, April 14, at 11 a.m. in the Church Library (St. Basil Conference Room)

Book: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

Meeting followed by optional lunch out - restaurant TBD

Philoptochos News: Use the 2026 Membership Form to join or renew your membership in Philoptochos. 

If you have not already joined or renewed your membership in Philoptochos, please do the following:

1.    Go to the church’s website: holytransfiguration.info.

2.    From the “home” page, select MINISTRIES from the heading at the top of the page.

3.    Under Philanthropy, select PHILOPTOCHOS.

4.    On the Philoptochos page, select 2026 Membership Form (Download).

5.    Save the Membership Form to your computer.

6.    Follow the directions at the bottom of the form to complete, make payment to the Philoptochos Square account, and submit your completed form.

We meet on the second Monday of every month in the Church Library from 7:00-8:30 p.m. / co-hosted by Pres. Patty & Michael Gavalas, Please email us at mgavalas@holytransfiguration.info to be added to our email list.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE



Monday, April 20

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

(The Alphabetical Collection trans. by Benedicta Ward)

"The classic collection of sayings from the fourth century desert fathers and mothers whose 'words' were collected and passed around among those too far away to make the trek themselves - and to those of us living generations later. We have a great deal to learn from their integrity and their unrelenting courage, from their vision of God - so holy, so great, possessed of such a love, that nothing less than one's whole being could respond to it."

Young Adults in their 20’s and 30’s meet twice a month for continuing education and fellowship. Second Sunday YA Class & Discussion meets on the 2nd Sunday of each month, and Third Thursday Social Gathering meets on the 3rd Thursday of each month.

Want to learn more? Join the HTGOC Young Adults GroupMe chat for notifications on events.

Contact Fr. Michael or Ministry Lead

Next meeting: Sun. April 19 (Second Sunday) in the Lighthouse.

Dear Parish Family and Friends,

Are you or someone you know unable to attend church due to illness or some other reason? Would you or someone you know like a visit from a member of our clergy team or lay volunteer? If so, please fill out this form and we will do our very best to arrange times to visit!

In Christ,

HTGOC Clergy Team

Dear Parish Family and Friends,

If you or someone who's part of your community is in need, Philoptochos is here to help. Please contact Jamie Hughes at 770-710-7733 or by email for details.

In Christ,

Philoptochos

Dear Parishioner,

We are continuing our Neighborhood Gatherings at Holy Transfiguration. These small gatherings give our parishioners an opportunity to get acquainted with other parishioners that live in their immediate vicinity. I would like to ask that you consider hosting a Neighborhood Gathering in your home for parishioners in your area. We will help you set it up and will send out the invitations to your parish neighbors. This is an opportunity to host as an act of stewardship to bring parishioners closer together in a more intimate, social setting. 

The time and date of the Gathering will be your choice, to accommodate your schedule. We plan to have a Parish Council member and a Priest at each Gathering to provide "talking points", to get conversations going, and to answer church-related questions. Food or snacks will be optional. And if you do choose to have food or dessert at your Gathering, we suggest that you do it as a potluck so that all may participate in providing an item.  

If you are willing to host a Neighborhood Gathering, please respond directly to me, Steve Tingas, at  stingas@holytransfiguration.info. Thank you for considering.

Steve Tingas

Outreach Chairman

770-845-5045

stingas@holytransfiguration.info

PHISHING SCAM AWARENESS

We are aware that several phishing-type communications have been received by parishioners from supposed members of the church leadership. The church (priests, staff, Parish Council, ministry leads) will never email or text you asking for you to buy gift cards or send money for any reason. If you receive such a message, it is a scam. Please disregard the request and report it to the church office. Always verify requests for financial assistance through direct communication with the church office. Protect yourself, your personal information, fellow parishioners, and the church by being cautious of these fraudulent attempts.

FELLOWSHIP/COFFEE HOUR SPONSORSHIP

Fellowship/Coffee Hour Sponsorship is a great way to honor someone's birthday, nameday, memory, or a significant event with your church family. For ministries, it is a great opportunity to bring awareness to your group and gain members. Reserve your date using the links below.

YOUTH MINISTRIES REGISTRATION

Registration for our 2025-2026 youth ministries (Catechism, Hellenic DanceHope & Joy, GOYA) is now open! Please register your child/children and select what ministries he/she/they will be participating in.

For more information about these ministries:

It is important, and also mandatory, for all youth who are participating in ministries of the parish to have completed the Youth Ministries Registration Form AND for the parent(s)/guardian(s) of that youth to have completed the membership/stewardship form. Completing both of these forms will not only give us the information we need to better serve the youth, but it will also be a big step towards helping all families become active and involved members of the parish.

So, with this email, we are asking everyone with a child/children participating in youth ministries to make sure that both of the necessary registrations/forms are completed:

BEYOND HOLY TRANSFIGURATION