“Woo hoo!” is today’s word, pronounced with enthusiasm and expression, like “Woo hooooo!”
On Sunday afternoon nearly 80* households joined our virtual Zoom Congregational Meeting to hear the presentation of the Associate Minister Search Committee, meet the candidate, and then vote to call Josh Jackson as our new associate!
Through the wonders of technology, after the committee’s presentation Josh popped into the meeting to introduce himself, share something of his call to ministry, and tell us how excited he is to take the next step into that call. We popped him back into the waiting room while the congregation voted unanimously to call him and then invited him in again so we could greet him with applause and shouts of joy!
Woo hoo! 😊
I hope you’ve read by now the official message with this news sent out by our Council Chair, Tim Armstrong earlier today. Tim led the Search Committee admirably with his usual calm demeanor, wisdom, and ability to move things along appropriately – thank you so much, Tim!
Every one of the Search Committee members gave their full attention to our work and made the whole process a joy from beginning to end. A heartfelt thank you to Noah Bates-Scott, Tom Cain, Teresa Cochran, Gary Hume, Christina Martin, Ara Nelson-Mercer, Nita Orth, and Tim. They brought insight and wisdom and were absolutely wonderful to work with!
Josh is a graduate of Texas Christian University with two bachelor’s degrees, one in religion and one in history, and he received his Master of Divinity degree at Vanderbilt Divinity School this May. Josh is a lifelong Disciple whose home church is Creekwood Christian Church of Flower Mound, Texas, the congregation Rick Spleth helped give birth to – it is a small world! Josh will be ordained at Creekwood on August 14th.
He brings a deep love of the church, a keen intellect, highly developed relational skills, a love of youth ministry, good preaching skills, and a fun sense of humor just to name some of his many gifts for ministry.
I can’t wait for you to get to know him and for him to get to know you! The details are being worked out, but we hope to welcome Josh by mid-July when we will begin sharing life and ministry together.
In this moment when the pool of ministerial candidates is very small, I am thanking God that just the right person for us was available, and, I trust, that we are just the right church for Josh!
Let’s go, ACC!
Peace & Grace, Diane
* I don’t have an exact count; because of technical or other issues different people logged in and out on different devices during the meeting, but it’s safe to say that we had between 76 and 80 households represented in all.
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Reminder of Sunday Morning Covid Guidelines
At their meeting last evening, the Reopening Committee approved some updates to our Sunday morning in-person worship guidelines.
- We will no longer take temperatures at the door.
- We will now seat worshipers three feet apart instead of six feet, but if there are those who feel more comfortable maintaining six feet of social distance, we will be happy to accommodate that wish.
- We will continue wearing masks for the time being; at this moment we are still under a mask mandate in Marion County, but beginning this Sunday worshipers may sing with their masks on.
- We are removing the Plexiglas barriers from the pulpit and the Communion table, but will leave the one in place at the Lectern for the time being until the Elders have the opportunity to discuss their comfort level with removing it.
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Classes and other groups that want to begin meeting in person may reserve space to do so inside the building wearing masks or outside with masks optional. Click the link below. If you encounter any issues submitting your request, please contact [email protected].
We will continue making reservations for now, so we have contact information at hand in case we need to do contact tracing. Last Sunday when we had three visitors, we also realized that a side benefit of the list is the ability to reach out and welcome those who visit!
We celebrate that we are making progress toward a more normal worship experience even as we are also continuing to care for those among us, including our young children, who are not yet vaccinated.
A heartfelt thank you to the members of our Reopening Committee for their care, wisdom, and faithful perseverance!
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Click the button below to register for in-person worship for any dates through the end of May. Be prepared to include the names of anyone attending with you. For those unable to sign up online for any reason, please call the office at 317-849-3957 and speak with or leave a message for Ruth Wolff. |
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Prayer Joys and Concerns
JOYS:
We are filled with joy that Josh Jackson has accepted our call as our new Associate Minister!
We celebrate all in our congregation and in our extended families who are graduating from high school, college, and graduate school!
Many blessings on each one!
Among our concerns:
- We learned of the death of Alan Wallace, husband to Linwood Christian Church pastor Carolyn Watkins. Alan passed away yesterday in Illinois and we extend our sympathies to Carolyn and daughter Claire Wallace
- We learned of the death of former member Fredonna Logston on May 30th
- Paul Ayers in Comm N Hospital with pneumonia
- Robert Keltner will have back surgery
- Corken/Young Household; Lori Corken’s fiancé, Rick Young and his two sons are positive for Covid
- Mandy Reed, Peggy Reed’s daughter-in-law
- Gene Ray
- Paul Ayers
- Jim Hooser’s grandson, James Hooser
- Karen Bayne
- Carol Lu Knox’s son, Brad Bond
- Liz Nelson, Theron Nelson-Mercer’s mother
- Chris Higgins’ father, Geoff Higgins
- Ruth Wolff’s mother, Cindy Method
- Ben Hinton
- Lee Ridoux
- Mack Hunter
Among our communal and global concerns:
We continue our prayers for all who are suffering with Covid in our community and throughout the world.
We pray for all those whose daily lives are burdened by the sin of systemic racism, and for a spirit of courage in our pursuit to be actively anti-racist in all we do and say and believe.
June is Pride Month and we stand with all the LGBTQ+ community. We pray that all who visit our virtual chapel service will be blessed.
We pray for our Global Prayer Partners, this week in Lebanon.
Information for visiting or contacting Ben Hinton:
Ben Hinton's new address is 12999 N Pennsylvania St, Carmel IN. He loves phone calls - please call him at: 317-810-5236
Visitation Rules:
30 minute visits per person (one person at a time)
You must have a negative Covid test weekly
Call (317) 848-2448 and ask for Kimberly Taylor to schedule an appointment.
If you don't want to get a Covid test, then you can visit with Ben outside his window. The facility will be opening outdoor visits after April 2, which you can also do without a COVID test.
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Church Council Update
A brief summary of the Church Council meeting held on June 2, 2021, via zoom.
- The minutes of the council meeting of April 7, 2021, and the special meeting of May 16, 2021, were approved with minor corrections.
- The financial report was received. The end of May represents about 42% of the budget year and our income is running above that figure while our expenses continue to be below that percentage. The Financial Secretaries reported everything running smoothly and appreciate everyone being faithful with their commitments.
- Pastor Diane reported for the Re-Opening committee. We continue to make changes; i.e., singing in worship, seating more closely, Sunday School classes meeting, circles may start to meet in the building, use of the building by 2 and maybe 3 AA groups and the OA group. There are a few Disciple churches in the area who have not returned to their buildings but we seem to be on par with most that have.
- A reminder of the Special Congregational meeting was made. Sunday, June 6, at 4:00 p.m. to vote on a candidate for Associate Minister.
- The Nominating Committee is near completion of their task. Would still like to find a few more elders.
- Janette Smith reported for Outreach. One of our new members, Danielle Rupsis, has volunteered to co-chair this committee. Sandy Nagy volunteered to assist Loveta Cain with the Buddy Bags. Don Call is collecting food donations for Linwood. Many thanks to all who have helped with the garden.
- Richard Cohee and Mike McDonald will co-chair the Stewardship Committee. Richard will survey the current members to see who will be willing to continue.
- The Worship and Spiritual Life Committee will plan to meet soon. Volunteers continue to come forward for scripture readings.
- Nothing to report from the Property Committee except they are under budget!
- Preschool will be hosting a two-week summer camp, Monday-Friday from 9:00 to 12:00.
- The Elders continue to discuss how to best serve during this time and beyond. They will continue with the Elder Encouragement and Getting to Know Us articles as well as staying in touch with their care circles.
- The Deacons are doing a great job on Sunday mornings. Have reduced the number of Deacons needed each week to 5.
- Toni Medlen reported for the Membership Committee. A zoom meeting was held for the Coffee Café volunteers and most have agreed to continue. Will continue with Lemonade Café by the bell tower through the month of June, weather permitting. Still working on increasing some other activities; golf outing on September 12, possible picnic later in the fall, and some others.
- Russ Smith has met with Ruth Wolff to assist with the website. WIFI has also been improved throughout the building. The large TV on a cart is available for use by other church groups if needed.
- Diane reported that three new members were received on Sunday, May 30. Danielle and Stephen Rupsis have been worshipping with us since the Fall of 2019 and Mitch Payne, Susan Bowser Payne’s husband, who is still recovering from a serious auto accident. He told Diane as soon as he could walk to the front of the church he would be joining. We have also had some visitors at our first few in-person worship services. She encouraged folks to sign up to assist the McCrackens and Shari Jacobs with VBS. She thanked Don Call and Dave Stansifer for organizing the Deacons and the great job they have been doing. She will talk with Steve Caress about a way to add a second Elder to the service. She expressed her excitement about the opportunity to call a wonderful person to serve as Associate Minister.
- The meeting was closed with a prayer from Pastor Diane. The next council meeting will be on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, at 7:00 p.m.
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Danielle and Stephen Rupsis
In last week's Buzz, we welcomed Danielle and Stephen to ACC in membership. This week, we share a photo so you can see and welcome them at the next opportunity!
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ACC in Indy’s Pride Fest
This year’s Indianapolis Pride Fest is online rather than in person this Saturday, June 12th. The last few years ACC has been a part of the festival by renting a booth and even having a float in the parade.
This year our online presence is a brief chapel service with words of love and affirmation. A big thank you to Beth Guy and Larry Rahn for planning and creating the service that several of us have taken part in. Thanks, too, to Doug Collins for getting the creative juices flowing on this service before his departure!
It is our prayer that every member of the LGBTQ+ community will come to know that God loves them, and we do too.
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Indy Pride Virtual Volunteer Opportunities
ACC would like a few volunteers to host our virtual chapel via Zoom during Indy Pride from 12-4pm on Saturday, June 12. The hosts will be responsible for greeting and welcoming everyone who enters the Zoom room using the chat function. We will have a brief orientation for volunteers on Thursday, June 10 at 7 pm to go over everything so no need to be very tech-savvy. Sign up below!
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Blood Drive: Sunday, June 13
The Blood Mobile will once again be in the ACC parking lot from about 9:00am - 12:50pm for a Blood Drive. If you are interested in donating, please contact Curt McCollister at 317-842-5655.
New slots have been added after noon and all slots are shorter in duration, so space has opened up! Please call Curt if you'd like to reserve a space.
Please leave a message when calling. Appointments are encouraged and are scheduled every 10 minutes with the last appointment beginning at 12:40pm.
Your donations give life!
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Me and White Supremacy Closing Circle & New Opportunity
Last year about fifty ACC members and friends met in book groups to study and work through the exercises in Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor to help us recognize, unpack, and combat racism.
Because of Covid restrictions we weren’t able to meet for the closing circle of all the groups as we wanted to do, but we would like to schedule that now.
We would also like to poll that group and any others who would like to join about doing another book together to continue our study and self-awareness of racism.
You can help choose a date and time by going to this doodle and recording your preferences!
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Lemonade Cafe This Sunday!
Lemonade Cafe outdoors by the bell in front of the church for Sunday, June 13. Weather permitting, we will continue with our new Cafe tradition through the month of June. We want to continue to keep everyone safe and we feel like this is a fun way to do it.
Help Us Make Coffee Cafe a Success! Coffee Cafe is needing volunteers for set up and volunteers for serving as a host for Coffee Cafe. Set up and hosting right now is a little different but eventually, we will return to Cafe in the family room. If you are interested, please see Toni Medlen or contact her at [email protected]. Hosts serve about once every 6 weeks and set up is once every 3 weeks so it does not involve a commitment of a lot of time ... certainly not every week. It is a great way to get involved in an important ministry to provide an opportunity for casual, informal fellowship for our members and visitors.
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LIFE Class Update
The LIFE class is taking a break for the summer to allow our folks to do long-held visits to family and friends. We'll resume our Important Stories from the Bible series on the second Sunday in September with the story of the Exodus. In the meantime, you can read the story itself in the book of the same name or watch the excellent dramatization in Dreamworks Prince of Egypt.
See you all in September!
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Mary Martha Circle Annual Luncheon: June 24
The Mary Martha Circle will have their annual luncheon on Thursday, June 24th, 1pm, at George’s Grill & Restaurant (71st & SR37). We invite any ACC ladies to join us for this festive occasion of good food & company. Please call Sandy Zimmerman, 317-407-7936 before June 17th if you can attend. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Thanks, Pearl Ross
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Wheeler Mission Invitation: June 29
Celebrate with us!
Wheeler Mission invites you to the dedication of their expanded center for women & children.
Tuesday, June 29, 2021 at 10:00 AM
3208 East Michigan Street
Indianapolis, IN 46201
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Thank You from Family Promise
Dear Allisonville Christian Church,
Thank you so much for your gift of $500 in support of #NightWithoutABed! We are overwhelmed with gratitude, as together, 404 donors raised an absolutely incredible $244,558.00 in the month-long campaign!
That means we will be able to sustain our Apartment Shelter Program. When our one-year CARES Act grant is up in September-the grant that allowed us to expand to rent 20 apartments as shelters for 12 months-we will be able to renew almost all of those apartments' leases for another year!
With joy and gratitude,
Michael Chapuran
Executive Director
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Graduation Open House for Hanna Escue
Sunday, June 13th, 1-4 pm
Hummel Park, 1500 S Center Street, Plainfield, IN
Gazebo #2
(for questions call Brenda @317-753-4768 or Tim 317-753-3443)
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Vacation Bible School July 5-8
Discovery on Adventure Island: Quest for God's Great Light is coming to Allisonville July 5-8! In-person VBS for children ages 4 through 5th grade are invited to this year's Vacation Bible School at Allisonville Christian Church. Join us on the quest for God's light and love! This event is free and open to the public.
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Vaccination Reminder
ACC members can offer rides to vaccination locations, so we invite you to call the office at 317-849-3957 if you would like assistance.
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Allisonville Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
(317) 849-3957
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