The Presbyterian Church of La Porte 307 Kingsbury Ave. La Porte, IN, 46350

(219) 362-6219; office@yourhomechurch.orgwww. yourhomechurch.org

Check out our Facebook page: The Presbyterian Church of La Porte

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STAFF

Pastor Rev. Peggy Casteel-Huston (219) 362-6219

(pastorpeggy@yourhomechurch.org) 586-530-3970

Administrative Assistant Mariana Zeedyk (219) 362-6219

(office@yourhomechurch.org)

Bookkeeper Jennifer Merrill (219) 362-6219, ext 106

(bookkeeper@yourhomechurch.org)

Child/Youth Ministry Dir. Aaron Lickliter (219) 362-6219, ext 103

(alickliter@yourhomechurch.org)

Choir Director Kathleen Lang (219) 363-8610,

(kathleen.lang1589@gmail.com)

Custodian Patrick Sightes

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The deadline to submit items for the June Newsletter is Friday, May 15, 2020

Please email your article to Mariana Zeedyk at office@yourhomechurch.org

Who Are You Walking With?

In Luke’s gospel the 24th chapter, there is this wonderful post- Easter

story we know as The Walk to Emmaus. Two followers of Jesus, one

named Cleopas, had left Jerusalem post Jesus’ crucifixion and death.

Between the two of these disciples in their talk, there wasn’t any hope,

there wasn’t any encouragement, there wasn’t any joy - only hopeless,

discouraged and unhappy spirits. As Jesus unknowingly joins them,

they share with Jesus their downcast spirits and what they had hoped

for. They had hoped that Jesus would be the one who would redeem

Israel (i.e. Jesus didn’t meet our expectations). To which Jesus begins

speaking - enlarging their view of God and God’s redemptive plan

through the prophets - telling them that their minds were dull. These

two disciples remind me of the character Joe Bfstplk from the cartoon

series Lil’ Abner who always walked around with a rain cloud over his

head. (Now I don’t remember this cartoon, but my husband did- ha). The Emmaus story always makes me ask myself, “who am I walking

with?” Are there people in my life that, when I walk with them, it is

difficult for me to hear hope or to experience joy? Can I only hear

their downcast spirit? I know myself well enough to know that I have

walked with people like this and if I spent too much time with them, I

found my own spirit becoming critical.

The first person we all need to be walking with is Jesus. We need to

walk with Him everyday in prayer and in our own reading of the Bible.

Walking with Jesus keeps us focused on our purpose which is to show

and declare the love of God to everyone we meet. Secondly, we need

to find and walk with people who can be an encouragement to us.

Pastors need to know and have encouragers walk with them and so do

you. I have discovered that when I am walking with someone with a

discouraged and unhappy spirit, I want to ask them where they see

Jesus in the midst of their complaint. I want to ask them where they

A Note From Pastor Peggy’s Pen

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can plug in to brighten their situation.

Listen, all of us have been Cleopas and/or Joe Bfstplk (Google this guy

if you are under the age of 65) at one time or another. But we are not

given life by God to walk like Cleopas or Joe Bfstplk. There are times

when we all need our dull minds sharpened, time when we need to

have our eyes opened so that we can see the living Christ in the midst

of every situation even situations like we find ourselves in now.

Enjoying the journey with you,

Pastor Peggy

A Note From Pastor Peggy’s Pen

EASTER Friends, Easter is the one day upon which our entire faith is

built upon – that Jesus not only died for us but He rose again! As soon

as we have a clearance, PCLP will celebrate Easter in royal fashion at

the church. I look forward to being out of the stay at home orders

and being with you.

PASTOR NOMINATING COMMITTEE: Names have been sub-

mitted to Session for their approval of the Pastor Nominating Commit-

tee. Soon we will be finding creative ways for you as the congregation

to approve this team as well. As soon as you have approved them,

they will begin their work – using Zoom for their meetings. While this

virus may be slowing lots of things down, I encourage the forward mo-

tion of seeking your next called and installed pastor. I hope to be an-

nouncing this committee soon!

ZOOM BIBLE STUDY Currently I am hosting a bible study on

prayer through Zoom. Each lesson stands alone so if you missed the first few, no worries, please plan to join us. Just send me an email at

pastorpeggy@yourhomechurch.org. I am happy to send you the

link to join us and to provide more information.

MASKS Georgia Mareska has made masks for anyone who needs

one. Please contact Georgia at Georgia_Mareska@hotmail.com

or 219-363-5080 if you would like for her to get one to you. Thank

you Georgia for this wonderful service to our church family.

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Once we return to using the building for our services and meetings, we

plan to exhibit some of Glen Richardson’s photographic work of various

flora in our Narthex Area. Some of these pictures are from local plant

life and some are from various vacation spots that the Richardson’s

have enjoyed. The photographs are just a glimpse of God’s love that

surrounds us.

We have outlined other possible fellowship opportunities and are wait-

ing to move forward on these until our “Shelter In Place” has been lift-

ed. We are looking forward to recognizing High School and College

Graduates. Will those graduating please provide your name, contact

information, post-graduation plans, and a current photo of yourself to

our church secretary, Mariana Zeedyk’s email:

office@yourhomechurch.org

May the Peace of Christ be with you –

Growing Season Elders: Sue Osborn and James Barth

Helpful Hint: If you are trying to “Google” a website and you get the

message that this is a ‘DANGEROUS/MALICIOUS SITE”, try going to

your web browser history and deleting the history. This should remove

some of the “cookies”. When you insert a web address, be sure to add

a space after your last letter: www.yourhomechurch.org

The space would come after the letter “g” in .org

Hope that helps!

LIFE OF THE CHURCH

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LIFE OF THE CHURCH Yourhomechurch.org

If you haven’t already checked out the church website, on your cell

phone, your iPad, or your laptop, now is great time to do so!

You will find the weekly bulletin used for our Facebook services. Just

click on the word “Bulletin” and it should appear. Click on the word

“Facebook” and that will take you to Pastor Peggy’s Service. Would

you like to read about the music selections made by John Gouwens

for his Carillon program at noon on Sundays? Just click on “Today’s

Program”.

The Menu button that is seen here in the top left corner will take you

to other places on the website: the Church Calendar, the Church

Newsletter (under connect tab), Prayer Requests are also under the

Connect tab, update your tithe using the “Give” button, Sermons are

available,

etc…

Did you notice anything that needs to be updated or corrected? Want

to add something?

Please email your information to Mariana, Church Secretary:

office@yourhomechurch.org

OR call 362-6219 and leave a message on the church’s answering

machine. Mariana will be checking messages.

LIFE OF THE CHURCH

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The Personnel Committee had been hard at work through the Music

Task Force to find candidates for a position we are calling the Minister

of Music, a part-time position. Unfortunately, with the Pandemic Quar-

antine in place, most of our contacts are unavailable. Once normality

returns, whatever and whenever that may be, we will resume our ef-

forts. I have had interest expressed from both Andrews University and

Valparaiso University. Our new custodian is working throughout this

quarantine period with permission of Session since there are quite a

few tasks he can be accomplishing on his own and will be the only per-

son in the building on most occasions.

Peace be with you this season of Easter

Jill Kitowski

Great Hour of Sharing Offering

A gift to One Great Hour of Sharing(OGHS) allows the Presbyteri-

an Disaster Assistance Program to work with communities

around the world as they recover and find hope after the devastation

of natural and human-caused disasters. It receives 32% of funds raised.

Your generosity helps the Presbyterian Hunger Program to take

action to alleviate hunger and its systemic causes, and to help create

access to healthy food for entire communities. It receives 36% of funds

raised. Your sharing makes it possible for the Self-Development of

People Program to partner with people and communities with tools

for development and education to alleviate poverty, oppression and

injustice. It receives 32% of funds raised.

This offering is one of the four special offerings endorsed by the Pres-

byterian Church (USA). Many other denominations receive this offer-

ing during the time of Passion as well. We are continuing to receive

this offering even though Palm Sunday, April 5, is past.

Give generously ! Your gift will be a gift of hope!

Submitted by Adi Veenendaal

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CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND YOUNG ADULTS MINISTRY

The Scoop on Young Adult Ministry

Well everyone, our calendar is officially scrapped at this point. With

everything going on, I am effectively forced to halt all Young Adult gath-

erings until a point where normal church gatherings are possible. With

many of the businesses that we would have been visiting either doing

only carry-out at this point or other events shutting down, we simply

have no choice but to wait until a day where we can safely and smartly

gather together again. Believe me, I can not wait for that day to get

here.

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CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND YOUNG ADULTS MINISTRY

The Scoop on Children’s Ministry

Hello church family. It’s so strange to be writing these updates in the

current climate that we find ourselves in. I hope that you all are adjust-

ing well to the quarantine and shelter in place orders. As we continue

to live in uncertain times, know that we are doing our best to plan and

prepare despite an uncertain future. At this time, Children’s Bible Mo-

ments will continue to be posted on the church facebook page in perpe-

tuity Monday - Thursday with an additional upload on Wednesdays for

what would have been Kids’ Club Bible lessons. There will also continue

to be a Children’s Sermon paired with the live sermon that Pastor Peg-

gy delivers every Sunday. Please continue to watch all avenues of com-

munication (Facebook, mail, phone, e-blast…) for updates regarding ad-

ditional changes to summer and fall plans.

The Scoop on Youth Ministry

The update here will look fairly similar in concept to the Children’s

ministry. The shelter in place order and limitation of gatherings of

more than a few people will continue to be an issue for PYG to meet

in person. Therefore, regularly scheduled PYG lessons will be uploaded

in video format to the PYG Facebook page as well as the PYG Insta-

gram and the church Facebook page when appropriate. Additionally,

after a successful launch, the PYG Zoom Bible Study will be moving

forward. Each Thursday at 7 p.m. PYG will meet over Zoom and read

through and discuss the book of Philippians. This epistle is supremely

appropriate for these times and conditions we find ourselves in as the

author, Paul, was also in a sort of forced isolation due to his time in jail.

We will use this as an opportunity for weekly check-ins and to have

some fun with games and friendly competition as well. So a reminder

here as well to continue to check all of our different channels of com-munication to stay up to date on everything going on. Check out our

Instagram, Facebook page, mailings, eblasts, texts, and Groupme to stay

in the know on everything that is going on and any additional changes

that have to be made.

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FINANCE

During this trying time, I want to update you with as much information

as possible.

We are still processing contributions weekly. You can either mail them

to the church or give through the giving portal on our website at

www.yourhomechurch.org. I want to thank everyone who is send-

ing in their contributions. As of the end of March, our financial situation

remains good. Things that we are doing currently: we are continuing to

pay our staff as if they were working their normal hours. This will be

evaluated monthly to see how best to continue.

We have applied and received a waiver for the Board of Pension dues

for a period of three months. So that means a savings to our budget of

about $ 6000.

We are trying to apply for the Payroll Protection Plan (I think that is

what it is called). This will provide us with a completely forgivable loan

if we continue to pay our staff. 1st Quarter contribution statements will be going out soon if you have-

n’t already received them.

I want to thank everyone for their continued financial support of our

church.

Finance Team Update

On behalf of the staff and leadership of The Presbyterian Church of La

Porte, I wanted to take this moment to thank you for your first quarter

financial gifts to your church. THANK YOU!!

We know that these unprecedented times affect each of us unique

ways. If circumstances are challenging your personal finances, we un-

derstand, and we know that as a faithful giver you share what you can,

when you can. Know, too, that your church family has members who

are able, willing, and already offering support beyond their initial pledg-

es. As a church FAMILY, we are truly blessed by the time, talents, and

resources of our friends and members.

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FINANCE

Per Capita

Per Capita giving is off to a great start, with nearly 60 members paying

their $42 annual per capita cost. That number is about one-third of the

way to the goal we built into the 2020 budget. If you haven’t done so

already, please consider making the special gift for each church member

in your household. As a reminder, Per Capita is an expense paid by

each local church for every member within its congregation. That pay-

ment is then used by the larger church for national and worldwide mis-

sion work, as well as to help defray some costs for administration and

leadership.

A Note about Online Giving

If you’re not already aware, our website, www.yourhomechurch.org ,

now provides for secure online giving. Simply click GIVE, on the Home

Page, and follow the simple instructions.

Gifts can be directed to General Tithes & Offerings, Per Capita, or (for

a brief time) One Great Hour of Sharing. You even have the ability to

split a single gift between different options.

There is a small processing fee for these online transactions. ACH/

eCheck fees are lower than Credit Card fees. You have the option to

pay the fee, yourself, or pass it through to the Church.

If you’re not comfortable with online giving, please send your gifts by

check through the mail.

SESSION NOTES

Session notes will be published in June newsletter.

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FINANCE

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General Financial Update

Your church remains on solid financial footing.

As of March 31, 2020, Income exceeds Expenses by over $19,000.

Church staff continues to receive full salary and wages. The Session,

with guidance from the Finance Team, will closely monitor any

needed changes for staff expenses.

Application was made and has been approved for relief from costs re-

lated to Pastoral pension and insurance costs through the PCUSA

Board, amounting to an approximate $ 6,700 savings over the next

three months. We also are researching financial assistance options

available for churches through the C.A.R.E.S. Act.