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Call Us: (620) 342-0375
Address: 802 Commercial Street,
Emporia, KS 66801
Welcome to the Emporia Presbyterian Church
Faith Statement: Through the love and inspiration of Jesus Christ and each other we reach out beyond ourselves to support others, continue to grow in faith, praise God, and celebrate His gifts.

In-person worship service Downtown
802 Commercial Street, 10:45a.m.

Join us for Online Worship
Go to our EPC website:
www.emporiapresbyterianchurch.org
click on the Worship tab
or watch from our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/EmporiaPresbyterianChurch/

June Events

Sunday, June 4, 2023

Trinity Sunday


Sunday, June 18, 2023

Father's Day

Monday, June 19, 2023

Juneteenth


Wednesday, June 21, 2023

1st Day of Summer


Wednesdays June 21, 28, July 5, 12

Vacation Bible School

Intergenerational VBS at West Campus


Amanda & Art Gutierrez Jun 1

Grace & Ty Short Jun 3

Sandy & Kent Chapman Jun 4

Susie & Jim Aber Jun 5

Pastor Phyl & Jacob Stutzman Jun 6

Connie & Tom Jobe Jun 7

Donna & Eric Sprague Jun 8

Katherine & Ken Weaver Jun 8

Valerie & Gary Conrade Jun 9

Sharon & Max Stewart Jun 13

Rhonda & Scott Gordon Jun 19

Rev. Pat & Mike Ireland Jun 20

Katie Weaver Henn Jun 1

Trevor Crosby Jun 1

Tyson Crosby Jun 1

Don Jones Jun 3

Jennifer Moffitt Jun 3

Tammy Cheeseman Jun 5

Sophie Thayer Jun 9

Trent Olivier Jun 10

Bruce Short Jun 15

Brenna Cunningham Jun 22

Andrew Weaver Jun 24

Kiley Hadicke Jun 27

Anita Bruner Jun 28

Brittany Rees Jun 28


Re-Reading List

 

Summer is a fabulous time to go exploring. I love hiking through the Flint Hills, a good cross-country road trip, and especially getting lost in a good book. Often, I find myself cultivating reading lists with great aspiration, only to find myself drawn back to old favorites and/or captivated by a recent read that I’m just not quite done with (or that isn’t done with me), yet. 

 

What books are on your “Must Read” list this summer? What titles do you find yourself returning to or mulling over long after the final chapter closes? Here’s a snippet of what’s currently active in my biblio-world. Within these pages, the authors explore churchy topics, life topics, kids’ topics, and, yes, naps. (If I can’t get “nap” as a star word, at least I can read theological reflections on our need to Rest! Dream! Resist! Imagine!)

 

The only thing I love more than reading a good book is discussing one. So, let me know if you want to work through one together, chat about something over coffee/tea/lunch, or have a recommendation to add to my “Must Read” pile this summer. Let’s go exploring!

Current Reads


Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey (Little, Brown Spark, 2022).

The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker (Riverhead Books, 2018).

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Tor Books, 2020).

Belonging: 5 Keys to Unlock Your Potentional as a Disciple by Karoline Lewis (Abingdon Press, 2022).

Hope: A User’s Manual by MaryAnn McKibben Dana (William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2022).

Re-Reads


When Kids Ask Hard Questions: Faith-filled Responses to Tough Topics by Bromleigh McCleneghan & Karen Ware Jackson – Volume 1 (Chalice Press, 2019) & Volume 2 (Chalice Press, 2021).

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (Algonquin Young Readers, 2016).

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Ballantine Books, 2020).

She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs by Sarah Smarsh (Scribner/Simon & Schuster, 2020).

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski & Amelia Nagoski (Ballantine Books, 2019).

Vacation Bible School


Save the date(s) for Intergenerational VBS – Wednesdays: June 21, June 28, July 5, and July 12 – at West Campus.

 

We will use Illustrated Ministries Reflections on Giving and explore stories from all four Gospels. 

 

Watch for more information on how to join the fun or help volunteer with this growing summer tradition!

Kevin Ireland Ordination Pics Sunday, April 30, 2023

Christmas In July

“I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.”

 ~Charles Dickens

 

On Sunday, July 30, we will celebrate Christmas in July, bearing witness to the incarnation of Christ and the guiding presence of our Lord that is with us all year and not just during the winter holidays. For the “sermon”, Session elders plan to focus on our Star Words and how these words have led us to this point of the year. If you would be willing and able to share a short story about how your Star Word has impacted your journey of faith from Epiphany to now, please let Pastor Phyl know no later than July 9. If you still need a Star Word – good news! Christ’s light can never be extinguished, and Star Words are still available in the office.

Property Committee Report by Lois Schrock

Downtown: The property committee has been very busy these last couple of months. Spring brought the need to clean up the landscape around the church. Dead winter plants needed to be removed. Some weeding has been done but now more weeds are really growing with all the sun and all the rain. Susan Severin and her Sunday school class planted a few annuals on May 7th. Lois Schrock put some petunias out along the west side of the Downton building before Easter. George Durler trimmed the hedge along the playground fence. The mats at the doors and elevator were power washed.

 

There have been many phone calls and much behind-the-scenes work going on, but now we can see things are starting to happen with the basement remodel, and the cracked plaster repair around the windows in the sanctuary. The asbestos group started work on Tuesday, May 9. Their plan is to be finished by June 2. They started with the ceiling, then plan to do the pipes, and last the floor.


The Heartland Stucco group will chalk the outside of the two windows on the north and two windows on the south of the sanctuary, and repair the cracked plaster inside on the north and the south. That work will begin in late May.

 

West: Many bags of soil were brought in and grass was planted along the sidewalk to the west entrance. After the side walk was leveled by Thrasher, the soil needed to be leveled where it had washed away over the years. Kathy Weaver brought in several buckets of soil and put them around the building where the spots had washed soil away. (She was working on a project at her home and didn’t need the soil.) We had Roto-Rooter fix the sewer lines due to backed-up bathroom drains downstairs.


Tammy and Michael Cheeseman are mowing and trimming the yard at West Campus. Leonard Rhoads is mowing and trimming the Downtown Campus.

 

Here is a trivia question for you: Do you know what the total number of toilets are in our bathrooms at both of our buildings?

Adult Sunday School Update

The adult Sunday school class ended group meetings May 14. The curriculum remains in the conference room, and individuals and small groups are welcome to watch lectures during the summer as they wish. We will evaluate the next class offering when we return in the fall.

Breakthrough Prayer

The Presbytery’s annual Education Day typically offers a day-long event including sessions on a variety of topics for members to take back to spiritually strengthen their congregations. For example, in 2022, Amanda Cunningham offered a session during Education Day on mental health challenges for churches, how congregational leaders can learn to recognize mental health signs and symptoms, and how the church can best respond to those in need. 


For 2023, Breakthrough Prayer will be the sole focus of Education Day, led by guest presenter Rev. Sue Nilson Kibbey. Sue is a nationally recognized trainer, consultant and author of multiple books and resources, each aimed to equip and fuel the spiritual and missional renewal of pastors, leaders, and congregations. Her greatest passion is igniting church-wide congregational momentum with what she terms a “Breakthrough Prayer Initiative.”


The Presbytery Meeting and Events Committee shares, that every church recognizes prayer as important. But what happens when a congregation unites to pray collectively and consistently for God to break through in new and miraculous ways? Members can launch their congregation into the kind of churchwide breakthrough prayer initiative that fuels the atmosphere of possibility, and the entire focus begins to shift from inward to up-and-outward. It's easier than you think, and the results will make spiritual history right in your own community and beyond.  Breakthrough prayer is an additive prayer component that can be incorporated into what already happens in the daily life of your congregation, and this workshop will equip your team, plus it will provide many stories, creative practical examples, and ideas from other congregations across the country that have done so with innovation and miraculous impact. Additionally, learn how you can utilize breakthrough prayer through key aspects of your weekly worship service, and develop your church's heart to reach its neighborhood with the message and love of Christ.


EPC is recruiting a team of at least five members to attend this daylong event that will include a morning session, lunch, and an afternoon session geared toward providing valuable information and resources within the framework for the Breakthrough Prayer Initiative. Watch for more specific information (program details, schedule for the day, etc.) in the July newsletter along with information about how Westminster Presbyterian Church in Topeka is using Breakthrough Prayer and ways the initiative has been meaningful for their congregation.  

Local Mission Assistance Fund Update

Our Local Mission Assistance Funds are to help out locally for those in need. Funds are used primarily to pay for food vouchers and some utility bills. Thank you to those who have offered their gifts to keep the fund going.


In the month of May, we disbursed $230


Currently, the Local Mission Assistance Fund balance is $14,035.54

Monthly Collections

For the month of June we are collecting the following items for The Salvation Army: cereal, canned tuna or chicken, pastas, peanut butter and jelly (no glass jars).


Place items on the table Downtown in the sanctuary or drop off in the church office.



Little Blessings Box
We encourage everyone to continue filling the Blessing Box outside of West Campus filled with nonperishable items, as great need continues in our community.
Free Yard Signs
You may have seen “Love Your Neighbor” signs springing up in your neighbors’ yards the past few months. Now, thanks to a grant through Kansas Leadership Center, “Love Your Neighbor” signs are being shared with Lyon County Ministerial Alliance member churches which includes EPC! EPC still has 26 signs available on a first come-first serve basis. You can pick one up from the church office, or let us know and we can deliver.
"Growing with EPC" signs
We also have “Growing with EPC” signs still available from our family sign drop last Fall, a nice reminder as the grass keeps growing with all the rain. There are 9 of these left, if yours blew away, has seen better days, or if you missed the first run. Again, stop by to pick one up, or let the office know and we’ll drop one by.

Information needed by

June15th

for the July 2023 Presby News.


To submit or suggest articles, contact

Diana Hizar, Business Manager,

businessoffice.epc@gmail.com,

620-342-0375.

Weekday Office Hours:
Downtown Campus
Tuesday – Friday, 9:00am-3:00pm
Office Phone:  620-342-0375
Office Email: businessoffice.epc@gmail.com

Website: www.emporiapresbyterianchurch.org
Pastor: Rev. Phyllis Stutzman
Email: pastorphyl.epc@gmail.com
Address:
Downtown - 802 Commercial Street, Emporia KS 66801
West - 1702 W 15th Avenue, Emporia KS 66801

Committee Members
SESSION MEMBERS
Meets Second Monday of the Month Downtown at 6:00p.m., or via Zoom
Pastor Phyl moderator
Kathie Buckman clerk of Session (620)412-1971
email: kbuckman@hotmail.com
Nickie Edwards (620)794-3541
nickieedwards@yahoo.com
Rhonda Gordon (620)366-5169
rgordon7713@gmail.com
Amanda Gutierrez (620)794-7770
email: flick25_2000@yahoo.com
Becky Hadicke (620)343-5547
email: rhadicke18@gmail.com
Connie Jobe (620)255-3441
email: connie_jobe00@hotmail.com
Brett Stewart (620)340-9590
email: brett@trustpointservices.net
Kim Stewart (620)342-4792
email: bobandkim2915@gmail.com
Ken Weaver (620)757-1920
email: knweaver51@gmail.com
Church Treasurer – Tammy Cheeseman
email: tammy_cheeseman@yahoo.com
MISSION AND BUILDING FUND TRUSTEES
Dean Edmiston and Don Miller, Financial Administrators. 
Chair, Brett Stewart (Session);
Vice-Chair, Rhonda Gordon (Session)
Secretary, Amanda Cunningham;
Members: Art Gutierrez,
Adriane Lang, Sharon Stewart
STEWARDSHIP & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Chair, Connie Jobe, Tammy Cheeseman, Rhonda Gordon, Carolyn Turney
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION AND NURTURE COMMITTEE
Co-Chairs, Amanda Gutierrez & Connie Jobe; Amanda Cunningham
PERSONNEL COMMITTEE
Chair, Brad Stewart; Kathie Buckman; Linda Miller
PROPERTY COMMITTEE
Co-Chairs, Amanda Gutierrez & Lois Schrock; George Durler, Tammy Cheeseman,
Brian Severin, Kathy Weaver
NOMINATING COMMITTEE
George Durler, Sue Jones,
Don Miller
WORSHIP COMMITTEE
Chair, Ken Weaver; Karen Moorman; Margaret Davidson, Nickie Edwards, Becky Hadicke
VISITATION COMMITTEE
Chair, Sue Jones; Kathie Buckman, Betty Campbell, Margaret Davidson, Nickie Edwards, Karen Moorman, Max & Sharon Stewart
MISSION & OUTREACH COMMITTEE
Chair, Amanda Gutierrez, Amanda Cunningham,
Lois Schrock
COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE
Betty Campbell, Kim Stewart,
Lee Tucker
Click here for the church calendar
802 Commercial St. • Emporia, KS 66801
(620) 342-0375
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