Weekly Witness for Facebook & Friends

October 24, 2024

To Have An Item in the Newsletter...

Please email the office manager, manager@rrpchurch.org, by 5 pm the Tuesday of the week you want it in. The newsletter for Nov\ 7 is cancelled; so when you are sending in articles for the Oct 31 Witness (to go out this Thursday), please think about providing 2 weeks' content covering Nov. 3-Nov.16.

Pardon Our Dust!

We have a new phone system so please understand if you call and it goes to a voice 'tree' with several choices for people to talk to. We are working out the kinks and by Tuesday and should have everything taken care of.

Reformation Sunday, October 27, 2024

Livestream worship and bulletin.

Preaching: Rev. Frank Yates

Liturgist: Linda Hood Psalm: Bill Cox

Greeting: Sharon and Mike Furl

Next Week: We will celebrate All Saint's Day Nov 3, so please send names of people who have passed away so we can remember them in prayer.

Finance Corner — We Need Your Help...

The Finance Committee is exploring options to reduce our church's postage expense. We have created a brief survey about ways of receiving correspondence — including stewardship letters, annual giving statements, and other church information. 

Here are the Finance Committee’s questions (which you will see Sunday or can reply to by email):

1. Your preference on the spelling of your first and last name. If you've noticed we have it wrong, please put that on your survey response. For example, Cyndi Pitts is not spelled Cyndie. And Ryanne Mitchell is not spelled Ryan.
2. Your preferred method of getting correspondence. Choices are: by US Mail / email / in-person (meaning, you would pick up an envelope in the narthex).
3. Whether you can print documents at home.
4. Your preferred email address
5. Your mailing address.

Pam will be handing out paper surveys this Sunday with these questions. If you will not be attending worship Sunday, please take a moment to email her with answers to the questions above.

Thank you!

Finance Committee

Men's Breakfast Next Saturday, Nov 2, 8am

You are invited to join us for a delicious breakfast, fellowship, and time with our new Interim Pastor, Rev. Frank Yates, as we get to know him better and vice versa. You don't want to miss this!

Blessings,

Bill Cox

Worship Committee Corner

Reformation Sunday

We wear plaid to commemorate the beginning of the Protestant Reformation that was born in 1517 when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. We celebrate the church's heritage and God's work in the church over the past 500 years. 

Sanctuary Flowers Dedications

To make the sign-up process less physically demanding (so you can stop trying to write sideways and down a wall simultaneously!), the sheet is now located in the narthex where sign-up sheets live.

All Saints Day Next Sunday

On November 3, will will observe All Saints Day. The people who have passed on since last year's All Saints Day will be remembered.

Parking Lot Update - Wishing on a Star (Paving)

After a week of asphalt milling, earth moving, and dirt flattening, the situation to report is: park in the west lot or on the street, and use the south sidewalk to the main door.

Nominating Committee Report (and Why a Congregational Meeting Has Been Called)

For the coming year, the Committee is recommending a new and returning slate of officers (elders and deacons) to be approved at the congregational meeting this Sunday.

We are so grateful to all of these members for stepping into leadership roles at this critical time in the life of our congregation!

Introducing Your Mission Self Study Group...

A mission Self Study Group has been formed and has met for the first time! Their task is to collect input from you, the congregation, about who we are as a church and where we see ourselves heading into the future. They will also be collecting information about our community, how we meet their needs now and in the future. Your feedback is critical to their work. On Sunday, Nov 3, during Fellowship time, they will be circulating and asking you how you would like to give that feedback (via online survey, paper survey, phone call or in-person conversation), and also answering any questions you may have. The members of the mission self- study group are Abou-Nica Fomukong (chair), Liz Bushma, Bill Cox, Victoria Flick and Laura Gonzales. 

If you are not able to be at worship or fellowship next Sunday, please reach out to Birgitta Gustafson , (719) 510-0660 and she will make sure to get your questions/comments to the group.

Church Calendar for Oct 26 – Nov 2, 2024

Fellowship Corner

Helen brought in “goodies” two Sundays ago...thank you!

The first two November Sundays' hospitality hosts are:

• Nov 3 -- the Presbyterian Women's Bible Study group.
• Nov 10 -- the Mission Committee in gratitude for the congregation's generosity.

Let’s put your baking skills to work… whatever you create will be much appreciated, and better than goldfish and animal crackers!

Thank you all for the wonderful support for our enhanced Fellowship time. We have made extra tables available for our social time together. Thanks for the feedback and volunteering to make our time together sociable and meaningful. 

Blessings everyone,

Meredith, Tina, and Kathy

Mission Committee Corner

Thailand Mission Co-Workers' Visit

Carol and Leith Fujii came to share an update on their mission work with us last Wednesday. The Fujii's were originally located in Bangkok but have since migrated south to work with people in less urban areas. They have been in the country for 26 years.

Shirley and crew provided a light supper, and we watched Leith's Power Point presentation on the friends they have made and their work there. A love offering was taken, yielding $236 for the cause.

Thanksgiving

Let's gather again this year and share in a Thanksgiving feast. There is a sign-up sheet in the narthex -- please let the planners know what you would like to bring the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Nov. 24th.

The Bikers Will Be Back!

The Guardians of the Children will again be holding their children's Christmas party on Saturday, Dec 7th, 10a-3p in the Fellowship Hall. Guardians is a group of bikers who are committed to being advocates for abused children, to educate the public, and to provide stength and stability to families in the midst of domestic violence/other crises. To support their efforts again this year, we would like to provide cookies and other homemade goodies for the party! If you can bake something to help us provide for 125-150 people, please sign up on the sheet in the narthex. The treats need to be here by 4pm Thursday afternoon, Dec. 5th. Please put them in the Sunday School room. The Guardians are so delighted that we want to help!

A Preview of Other Holiday Events

The Presbyterian Women's Annual Brunch and Cookie Exchange will be on Saturday, Dec 14, at 9:30am at the Neighborhood.

This Year's Adopt-a-Family

Details are still being worked out, but gifts will be due Sunday, Dec 15th.

Worship Committee Corner — Communion 'Preppers' Needed

Communion is a precious part of worship, and it takes numerous people to make it happen. We are looking for 2 or more people to be on a rotation for every 3rd month or so, starting in January of next year, to prep for communion services on Saturday and to set up and take down the following Sunday. 

And a BIG thank you to all the volunteers in our church! So many things couldn't happen without you!

Concert and Reception

Nathan’s 12th and final concert was this Saturday, Oct 26, at 5pm. He had a Halloween theme. Thank you to Nathan for bringing music education and such fine entertainment to our church! There was a thank-you reception held following the concert.

Pastor to People

This Sunday we will elect our new officers at our Congregational Meeting

right after worship. Then our new elders and deacons will have two sequential training sessions, (Parts 1 and 2) next Sunday Nov 3, and four weeks later on Sunday Dec 1, both at 11:15am. Our new and current officers and those considering becoming officers of the church are cordially invited to attend. We will consider your sense of calling to this task and what inspired you to say yes.

In training, we will look at our polity (how we govern ourselves) and our theology (our beliefs). That means we will get acquainted with our denomination's Book of Order and Book of Confessions.

We will also look at our church's history and our mission to serve Christ both within the church and in the world.

The hope is that these two classes will remind us who we are and what we are called to be. And to point us to Jesus, who "came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many." We find our inspiration for leadership in the church from Christ our Lord. And as the ordination vows remind us: we are called to serve the Lord with "energy, intelligence, imagination and love."

Hope to see many of you in our two classes.

Peace and hope,  Frank

CWU Monthly Meeting

Church Women United, an ecumenical Christian women’s group, will meet for the annual World Community Day celebration on Friday, Nov 1st, at St. Luke Lutheran Church at 9100 Menaul Blvd NE. The meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. with coffee fellowship, followed by the program which concentrates on the theme of “Humility” from Matthew 5:5. Rev. Patty Davison will lead a Bible study, followed by a presentation of the work of the Compassion Services Center in the International District by Pastor Joanne Landry. A collection of bath towels and menstrual products will be gathered for the Center. Join us, and bring a friend! Questions?  Please contact Shirley Nilsson at 505-463-3657.

Prayer Concerns

The 3 most powerful resources you have available to you are love, prayer and forgiveness.

― H. Jackson Brown, Jr.



For those in a small town near Lexington, Mississippi, dealing with the latest mass shooting last Friday. There were three deaths and eight injuries after a football game at the Holmes County Consolidated Schools' homecoming celebration.

For all victims of gun violence.

For the citizens of Gaza, Lebanon, Israel, and Ukraine; and people affected by war everywhere.

 Rio Rancho Presbyterian Church

1004 24th Street, SE, Rio Rancho, NM 87124

505.892.6664

Email the church office

Office Hours

Monday – Thursday | 9am–1pm

Closed Federal holidays