New Minister Called
to Orange Presbyterian Church

The Pastor Nominating Committee has been meeting on an almost weekly basis since September 25, 2005. Members Martha Clements, Anna Collins, Ralph Graves, Lavinia Phillips, Margaret Thompson, Travis Tysinger, and Bill Chapman have prayerfully reviewed the almost 50 Personal Information Forms we received in response to our information submitted to the Church Leadership Connection computer system in Louisville. The expenses incurred by the PNC were $1,399, including our mileage, office supplies, and mileage for two candidates who were invited to preach at a neutral pulpit location.

After working together for ten months, the PNC was pleased to announce July 30th that our vote was unanimous to offer a call to Dr. Denise Hall. We were even more pleased that the congregation approved our recommendation and the Terms of Call.

Dr. Hall has twenty-three years experience as a pastor. She began her career as Associate Pastor of First Baptist Church in Erie Pennsylvania in 1983, but chose to become a Presbyterian minister in 1992. She is coming to us from Westminster and South Park Presbyterian Churches in South Charleston, West Virginia, where she has served since 2002.

The PNC members found her to be an excellent communicator. Her sermons shared with us on tape and in person were excellent and entertaining. Her children’s sermon was memorable when we visited Hartwood Presbyterian Church. She quickly remembers names and faces and seems to be very appealing to children and youth. Her sense of humor, high energy level, preaching skills, organizational abilities, and experience made her an outstanding candidate.

The terms of Call agreed upon include salary and housing, $42,000, plus long-term health care insurance at an annual cost of $1,233. The other standard benefits over which we have no control, (pension, major medical coverage, and fifty percent of self-employment tax), bring the total compensation and benefits cost to $59,466.

During our negotiations, Dr. Hall requested and was granted two weekends off in addition to the somewhat standard four weeks of paid vacation. Also included were two weeks of annual continuing education leave and $1,000 continuing education reimbursement allowance. We will pay moving expenses from West Virginia.

Dr. Hall will begin her ministry at OPC on Monday, September 11th and preach her first sermon on September 17th.

Pastor McCrary’s last day will be August 13th. She leaves us with our love and admiration for a job well done. We will require supply ministers or volunteer speakers for four Sundays, by design. More...

Bill Chapman

HOUSING NEEDED

The new minister of Orange Presbyterian Church will need to rent an apartment, townhouse, or small house beginning in early September. If you know of someone willing to rent a two or three bedroom home, please give Bill Chapman a call at 672-1794. A dining room is not required if there is an “eat-in” kitchen. An in-town location is desirable, must be very clean and reasonable .

THE PASTOR'S CORNER

Dear Friends,

It’s hard to believe that this will be my last newsletter article for OPC. As I said a couple of weeks ago during worship I am very excited and pleased that you are now almost at the end of your search for a new minister; but I also feel some sadness about leaving you. This is a wonderful congregation and it has been my privilege to be a part of your lives for the last 17 months.

My last Sunday at Orange Presbyterian Church will be August 13 th. I’m not sure yet where I’ll be going after I leave here. I’m currently looking at both some interim positions and installed positions. Who knows where the Lord will lead?! Wherever it is, I hope it will be a warm and welcoming congregation like this one.

In Christ,
Beth

The Fifth Annual Lobster Fest

• When: Sunday, August 27, 2006
• Where: OPC Fellowship Hall
• Time: 6:00 p.m.
• Why: Because It’s Fun & Delicious!
• What: Menu as follows…. Steamed Clams, Corn on the Cob, Cole Slaw, Maine Baked Beans, Chips, Boiled Lobster with Drawn Butter, Rolls, Drinks, Relish Trays, Watermelon, Ice Cream Sandwiches, Hot Dog Plates available for non-seafood appetites.
• How Much:$20.00 Lobster Dinner, $6.00 Hot Dog Plate, $7.50 Extra Lobster
• Lobster, clams and corn transported directly from Boothbay Harbor, Maine on Saturday, August 26.
• All proceeds over cost will be used towards the Piano Restoration Fund.
• All orders must be placed through: The Packard’s (672-3322) by 8/13, or Church Office (672-4240) by 8/23. Come one, come all, OPC members and friends, and enjoy this wonderful time of Feast and Fellowship!

Destination: New Orleans

Want to go? Looks like we are sending a mission team from OPC to New Orleans.The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has set up 7 Villages in the New Orleans area to house volunteers to come and spend either a few days, a week, or longer helping families in New Orleans re-build their home and lives. We will be heading to the Big Easy on November 12 and returning on November 20, which will give our team 5 full days to work on a project assigned by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. Deadline to register for this trip will be September 1, 2006.It will cost our church $120 per person for 6 nights food and lodging at one of the Villages. And we will need to raise money for travel expenses to and from New Orleans. You can help us once again send a mission team out to do God’s work. We already have $350.00, almost enough for 3 people to stay in the Village.

Our team so far: Jack Thompson, Margaret Thompson, Anne Somerville, Dianne Haberland, Cindy Reid, Gene Whitaker.

Please join us. Call Carole Sue Graves (672-4192) or email her at csuegraves@aol.com if you are interested.

Report on Mission Trip

In a nutshell, I had too good a time to feel really sacrificial about the Mission Trip. I think most of us -- if not all of us -- felt that way.

Our group traveled under the auspices of Youth on Mission -- organized and directed by Henry L. Fowler, a Baptist from Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Of the six groups who were staying in Morehead City the week of June 17 - 23, four were Baptist and two of us were Presbyterians. Group assignments ranged from conducting Vacation Bible Schools at about four locations, feeding homeless people at a mission soup kitchen, repairing homes, and visiting nursing homes. We all got together for instructions, inspiration, and sharing our group activities three or four times during the week.

Our team’s main responsibility was conducting a Vacation Bible School at Emerald Isle Baptist Church for four days. It seemed to go over well. The eleven of us who went were prepared for far more children than came. We had only about 20 children in all -- Kindergarten through fourth grades with “helpers” from that church who were fifth or sixth graders. But we also reached adults who were parents or sitters for the young children and some of the church staff. This church is larger than our own by far, but they consider themselves a mission church that has expanded greatly. They have a youth program on Wednesday afternoons and evenings, but there is no Sunday School program and they have depended on others for Vacation Bible School. So, we felt that part of our mission was to encourage some of their leaders to take on such programs.

Two afternoons we were assigned to visit nursing homes. Some of the arrangements for this were lacking, as we were prepared for nursing homes for folks with physical disabilities, but found ourselves with those with dementia in one case and a group home for mentally challenged adults in the other case. There was also an overlap of groups doing this -- one day, two groups at the same time. But we sang old hymns and managed to bring a bit of comfort to some of them, and prayed with a few. The VBS children had made “God Loves You” notes which we passed out to those confined to their rooms.

One of the main blessings for us was the way out team got along so well together, and how we grew in our relationship with one another. We had one family of three (the son a young teenager), two mother-daughter combinations, and another teenage girl (the three teenager girls with long dark pony tails looked like triplets, almost) and three other ladies (I was the oldest for sure).

Our accommodations were pleasant. The Youth on Mission -- to which we’d paid a fixed amount per person -- provided breakfast tickets for the restaurant adjacent to our Buccaneer Inn Motel. They also had sandwich makings, snacks and fruit cups for us for lunches. However, the ladies of Emerald Isle Baptist Church fixed marvelous hot lunches for us each day, so our sandwich makings were donated to the soup kitchen group and canned fruits and snacks were brought home to our Food Pantry here in Orange.

A generous allowance for meals was given each of us by our church, so we all went as a group to some wonderful seafood restaurants. Money left over was returned on Sunday morning to be used as “seed money” for the next mission trip. There was talk of such an opportunity in November when a group might be going to New Orleans to help build or rebuild houses.

There was free time for shopping and trips to the beach. I made it to the beach with others three times -- once at Emerald Isle and twice at Atlantic Beach, which was closer to our motel in Morehead City. We also discovered the delightful old town of Beaufort (BOE-fort, not BIEW-fort, as in South Carolina), which is right on the water. We had three meals there and enjoyed watching the sail boats in port. (The tall ships were due to come in the following week.)

So, you see why we had such a wonderful time!

For those of you who prayed for ideal weather, safe travel, a good learning experience for our church’s first mission team and our youth, an outreach to others, and God’s various blessings, your prayers were answered abundantly. We thank you! More...

God bless you,
Lavinia Pretz Phillips

Office Remodeling Update

The office remodeling is progressing with a target date for completion by September 1 st. The re-wiring is almost complete and the dry wall installation has begun. The furniture, cabinets, carpet and paint color have been selected and the bookcases are being made off site.

There are two opportunities for you to become personally involved.

• In order to drywall both offices and stay within our budget, we are going to use “Presbyterian Painters”. If you can help with either the prime coat or the finish coat, please contact Louise Whitaker (661-0150). (August 5 update - Thanks to the crew that painted the wall. Volunteers are now be needed to paint the trim.)
• The selected furniture is available for “adoption”. If you would like to donate the sofa, one of two chairs or a coffee table, talk to Louise.

We will also be grateful for a seamstress to make curtains and throw pillows once the furniture arrives.

Louise Whitaker

A Letter from Mike and Nancy Haninger in Congo

Dear Friends,

Greetings and Happy Independence Day! We pray that you all are well and enjoying the more relaxed, contemplative pace of the summer months. Please accept our apologies for not writing with updates during the busy months of May and June, and we thank all of you who have sent emails inquiring about Mike’s health status. So much has transpired since we sent our last newsletter in April, and we are happy to have much good news to share with you.

To begin, Mike has now completed all the lymphoma treatments, concluding with 20 radiation treatments during the month of May. His most recent CT scan (June 22) was very reassuring, revealing that the primary tumor scar had diminished even more following the radiation treatments. Mike is now in the “follow up” period, and requires CT scans plus laboratory assessments every three months for the first year, followed by every six months check ups during the second year. There is risk of recurrent or new disease, so this close surveillance is necessary and important to detect any future negative developments. Overall, Mike is feeling great! He is running one hour each morning and doing some strength training, all in an effort to get back into shape and “get back to Congo!”

In May, while Mike was undergoing radiation treatments, Nancy was blessed to be able to return to the Democratic Republic of Congo for a month of whirlwind reunions and activities. The first week, she participated as a PC(USA) representative in a six-day workshop, held in the capital city of Kinshasa, “Training for Health” which focused on community problem solving and health development, HIV/AIDS and gender inequality/violence against women. Twenty-six bright and eager participants, representing the HIV/AIDS program and project leadership force of the Presbyterian Church of Congo were ‘transformed’ as they processed new, constructive ways of thinking and responding when faced with community health crises. The remainder of the month she traveled to our village of Tshikaji, where her time was divided between praise and worship at our village Presbyterian church, responsibilities at the IMCK Hospital annual board meeting, the Nutrition Rehabilitation Center, the village health center and maternity and having meaningful reunion visits and meetings with villagers and all the project/program partners. The fantastic news is that all the Tshikaji health, development and evangelism projects are thriving and serving thousands of vulnerable impoverished Congolese. God is so good!

With love,
Mike and Nancy

Linda Nash

Bill & Gail Chapman

Alice Parcell

Jim Reid