This Sunday is Palm Sunday!

Happy Thursday Dear Church!

Palm Sunday is almost here! Pastor Greg got a little behind this week, but I can’t wait to celebrate with you this Sunday. Come join us and start Holy Week together as a community!

Holding you close and lifting you high!

Pastor Greg

Resting or Restless?

Rest is a holy thing. We are made to reset, at least 1/3 of our time each day and then we are asked to set aside 1/7 days to rest as well. If you do the math that is 57% of the time! Do you feel like you rest that much? Rest is worship to God because it lives out the way God created us to live. It also trusts that God can be productive on our behalf even when we are not working. Smarter people than me point out that not everything we do when we try to rest is truly restful or recharging for us though. What rest activity do you do that actually takes energy from you? What really recharges your battery? These are all questions I’m asking I take a week of rest with my family. We’ll see you on Palm Sunday! Enjoy this song about resting in God.

Restless- Audrey Assad

Lent 2026

“Close Encounters of the Jesus Kind”

A journey through the Holy Encounters of Christ

Small group gatherings on Tuesday at 12 noon, and Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.in the Fireside Room, beginning Tuesday, Feb. 24th. For the Tuesday gathering, feel free to bring your brown bag lunch, or treats to share. Hope to see you at one of the gatherings.

“A 5th Sunday Cabaret”

Sunday, March 29th

4:00 p.m.

Tickets on Sale Now

Holy Week in the CCPUCC Family!

Sunday, March 29th, Palm Sunday, 9:15, worship hour

Thursday, April 2nd, Maundy Thursday

Brown Bag Luncheon, Fellowship Hall

Friday, April 3rd, Good Friday—Combined worship with 1st Congo of Escondido

6:00 pm here in our Sanctuary.

Sunday, April 5th, Easter Resurrection Celebration, 9:15 worship hour

Tech Sunday March 29

Last fall we encouraged everyone to create an account with Church Connect at ccpucc.churchtrac.com/sign-in. Many of you did, but haven’t used it. Some of us installed the Connect app on our phones, but had trouble with the log-in. Good news, we have fixed that issue. I find the phone app to be an easy way to make recurring tithes and one- time gifts to various restricted offerings straight from my bank account!

What is Church Connect? It is a portal for members and donors to give, view their giving history and submit prayer requests online. We will have another tech Sunday March 29 after church. Come with your smart phone and your questions!

The advantages of signing up with Church Connect are that you will be able to view your giving records anytime, and can set up recurring payments and one-time payments with a credit card or directly from your bank account. In addition to your tithes and offering, it will be simple to designate what other gifts are for, such as mission offering, Guatemala, Jesus Birthday, etc. Plus, if you want to add a note, just click on the plus sign next to the giving category and add your note. You can also make prayer requests through the same link.

Just go to ccpucc.churchtrac.com/sign-in, select Create an account. Enter your email address, click on verify that you are human, then continue. Next you will be asked to enter your first and last name and phone number. Then you will need to set up a password. This assures that only you and the office, can view your giving history. At this point, Vicki or I will need to approve your access.

If you will be initiating donations from your phone, you may want to install the Church Connect app on your smart phone. This app will take you directly to the Community Church of Poway Church Connect page. Here is the QR Code to install the phone app:

Once you have set up your account, if you would like to move your current automatic payments, which are through Stripe for credit cards and Vanco for ACH, please email Vicki for assistance at office1@ccpucc.org. Vicki will be able to stop your old automatic payments so that you can set up the new payment method.

To modify recurring payments in Church Connect, first log into your Online Giving page (ccpucc.churchtrac.com/sign-in, entering your login in and password then select giving), then click on the cogwheel icon to the right of “choose a Payment Source”. A window will appear from the right allowing you to view or cancel an existing recurring donation. Then you can setup a new recurring donation.

Linda England

Greetings from the Outreach Ministry

It’s time to put our basket of hope back in service for God’s most vulnerable. This month we will be supporting the Alabaster Jar Project. This nonprofit supports women survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. You might ask, “Does this happen here?” The answer is YES! Human trafficking is San Diego’s second largest underground economy, after drug trafficking, an estimated $810 million in annual revenue.

The mission of the Alabaster Jar Project is to provide long-term housing and comprehensive support for survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, empowering them to move from crisis toward healing, stability and successful return into their communities.

The project is comprised of 3 programs, Grace House, which is a long-term residential program; a Resource Center, which is a drop-in center that provides clothing toiletries and other needs; and Peer Support Groups.

For our basket of hope, we want to provide the items needed to create comfort baskets that are handed out to new residents of Grace House, bringing them comfort and helping them feel settled and cared for. New items requested for these baskets include:

· Small blanket

· Reed diffusers (no candles or plug-ins please)

· Slippers or shower shoes

· Coloring books or activity books

· Small snacks

· Tea

· Reusable water bottle bottles

· Notebooks or journals

· Fuzzy socks

· Basic toiletries (full size, body wash or hair care items for all different hair types)

· Small comfort item such as a stuffed animal or stress ball

Please prayerfully consider how you might be able to help this amazing organization. Thank you again for all your amazing support for all of our Outreach projects!!! You are truly God‘s hands and feet!

Blessings,

The Outreach Ministry

Books & More

On Tuesday, March 10, Books and More will start reading “The Death of Us All” written by Gregg Brandalise. The extraordinary life of Sister Dorothy Stang, a catholic nun who was brutally murdered while she dedicated her life to saving the Amazon Rainforest and ending the atrocities inflicted upon its indigenous peoples. Three women rise above their challenges through friendship, faith, and determination amidst the destruction of the rainforest.

This book is inspired by true events.

Everyone is welcome to join this wonderful group of ladies every Tuesday in the Fireside Room at 10 a.m.

Thank you for checking out our BUZZ! Here is what you were waiting for! If you have a favorite quote or any tips to make the BUZZ even better, please send emails to julie@ccpucc.org :)

Quote of the Week: