March Eastwind 2012

March 2012

LOVE Wichita returns April 28 Details page 7

Lenten Thoughts

by Dave McKechnie, Interim Senior Pastor Lent is a 40-day season of repentance and renewal preceding Easter. This unique period is designed to increase our understanding of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary and his resurrection.

Scary? Yes, it is. It is scary that only infrequently do we stop to call on ourselves and discover our strengths. I pray you claim it. Henri Nouwen says, “Compassion is the fruit of solitude.”

The crucifixion and the resurrection make it possible for us to renounce sin and renew our commitment to live in the light of Christ’s love. Our joy comes through forgiveness and reconciliation. Lent is a period of contrition. Contrition is to mitigate our pride not eliminate our hope.

Blessings, Dave

During Lent, I will preach on the three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the Judean wilderness for 40 days to wrestle with his calling to messianic ministry. Between the Jordan River and Jerusalem was a warped landscape of intense heat and emptiness. Here Jesus walked alone pondering and praying about his mission. This is when Jesus went eyeball-to-eyeball with the devil.

“Religion,” said Alfred North Whitehead, “is what people do with their solitude.” Do you agree? Solitude is where you have it out pertinent to the basic issues of life: • where you decide how to prioritize relationships; • where you decide that your life is not a possession to be hoarded but a gift to be shared; • where you decide on self-sacrifice or self-preservation.

Palm Sunday: April 1 Easter: April 8 See details on page 5.

message series • March 2012

2

Eastwind Newsletter

March 4

March 11

March 18

March 25

Eyeball to Eyeball with the Devil Over Power Dave McKechnie Luke 4:1-8

Eyeball to Eyeball with the Devil Over Identity Dave McKechnie Luke 4:1-13

Committing My Life to God’s Purposes Steve Dickie Romans 12:1-2

Whose Voice Is It? Dave McKechnie 1 Kings 19:1-12

April 1 Palm Sunday A Wave or a Waiver?

Dave McKechnie Matthew 21:1-11

Senior Ministries Senior Spotlight: Bill Kenley “When I was younger, I remember my parents spending $60 to buy me a chest of drawers,” says Eastminster senior Bill Kenley. “I thought that was crazy considering that amount of money could have bought me a Vespa!” Saying Bill loves motorcycles would be an understatement.

Whether it is racing fast motorcycles down two-lane highways or riding a motocross track in Colorado, Bill has had a love for motorcycles since he was a kid.

While Bill loves to be out in the open air on a bike, he also values serving the Lord at Eastminster. This year will be the eighth year that Bill has helped with the Wednesday night EDGE program. You won’t see Bill in the kitchen cooking, instead you will find him recruiting volunteers and organizing the volunteer’s shifts. Service is important to Bill, “I would like to live a life

pleasing to God,” he says, “instead of just pleasing to Bill.” He also attends Men’s Life and serves with LOVE Wichita.

After a causal comment from his sister about how she would attend Eastminster if she didn’t already have a church home, Bill and his wife, Mary, decided to try it out. Bill and Mary have attended Eastminster now for 15 years and joined the church this year. You will find Bill and Mary at the 9:30 a.m. service although occasionally they will be at the 8 a.m. service if he has a race. Bill never misses the Sunday morning services, his favorite thing about Eastminster.

When asked what Bible verse was his favorite, Bill responds that he does not have a favorite verse per say, but instead he has a favorite chapter, the third chapter

of the book of James. “It speaks directly to almost everybody and their personal problems,” says Bill.

Bill grew up in Wichita with one older sister. Bill served in the Vietnam War and then went on to work for Boeing, and retired from the company eight years ago.

He has been married to Mary for 37 years and has one daughter, Louisa.

Notes from the Chairman

by Warren Hillwig, Co-Chair

Come join us at noon on March 16 for an exciting event. March is the beginning of our severe weather season in Kansas. Being in the middle of tornado alley, our guest speaker seems appropriate for the time. He is Lance Ferguson, a native Kansan and a storm chaser for KWCH Channel 12 television in Wichita. When severe thunderstorms approach the area it is a call to action for the chasers. Seeing a tornado up close and personal must be a test of nerve.

Lance will share his experiences with us via a video presentation.

Accompanying Lance will be Mark Larson, who is the morning weather reporter for KWCH and is a member of Storm Team 12 for the TV station. We think this will be a most informative and entertaining presentation.

A delicious luncheon will be catered by Sweet Basil for our enjoyment. The cost will be $10 per person (please pay by check).

You can register in Fellowship Hall on March 4 or 11.

We hope to see you there for good fellowship, good food and great information.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the April 20 event at Botanica. Springtime in the gardens is always uplifting after a snowy winter.

Our final spring season event will take place on May 18. Dr. Jerry Old, Director of Geriatric Medicine at the KU Medical Center of Wichita, will tell us about being Chronologically Gifted.

Eastminster Presbyterian Church

3

Easter Music Celebration

by Tom Wine, Chancel Choir Director Did you get a chance to attend the extra Christmas concert presented by Eastminster in December? It was a wonderful outreach by our musicians to bring a new level of participation into the Sanctuary. We are happy to say that tradition will continue for Holy Week. On Palm Sunday evening, April 1, the Chancel Choir invites you to a special concert of music inspired by the events leading up to the resurrection.

The featured performers of the evening will be from Maize High School. The Maize choral program has been featured at the Kansas Music Educators Association as well as being an invited choir for the American Choral Directors Association. Their director, Doris Prater, has established a tradition with her students to present a major sacred choral work in a church setting every other year. The focus is to give her students an opportunity to perform with a pipe organ. Lucky we have Anna Jeter! Anna will accompany the Maize choir on several of their musical selections. The Eastminster chancel bells directed by Deborah Harris will also lend a “few hands” to play along with the high school choir.

The music for the evening is inspired by the Palm Sunday walk into Jerusalem (Ride on, King Jesus), the Last Supper (Ubi Caritas), the evening in Gethsemane (Thy Will be Done), Good Friday (Cruxifixus), and Easter (Hallelujah by Beethoven). The Eastminster Chancel Choir will present three Lenten anthems and then join the high school choir for the final piece. Additional instrumentalists will line the front of the church as more than 150 combined voices are raised in praise and celebration. The evening will be alive with sound. Please join us for this musical celebration of Holy Week.

4

Eastwind Newsletter

“‘...Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 15:55-57

Palm Sunday Concert April 1 • 7 p.m. • Sanctuary • Free event Enjoy an evening of celebration as the magnificence of Holy Week and the resurrection is musically illustrated by our talented musicians and choirs. Travel the road to Jerusalem, sit in the Garden of Gethsemane, share the sorrows of the cross, and experience the joy of the empty tomb. Together we’ll walk through the week that changed history during this musical event that’s not to be missed! Invite your friends to this powerful experience this Easter season.

Holy Week 2012

Join us for special worship services celebrating the week that changed everything.

Palm Sunday • April 1 Our three worship services will be held in the Sanctuary at their usual times: 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m.

Pastor Dave will give a message on A Wave or a Waiver?

by Dave McKechnie

April 8 we celebrate Easter. Christians around the world proclaim, “Christ is risen.”

We declare this truth accompanied by brass choirs, organs, drums, bells and much more to celebrate the great mystery of faith: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

The Gospel writers were not hucksters! They were not appealing to someone’s need for instant gratification. Rather, they were giving an eyewitness account as to what happened to Jesus of Nazareth. It became obvious that the tomb was empty. It also was obvious that Jesus appeared alive after his burial. According to the New Testament, there are at least 10 distinct appearances. These appearances were not just to the disciples, but also to more than 500 witnesses.

We live with the unexplainable! Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is unexplainable.

A third of the population on this planet celebrates the fact that more than 2,000 years ago something fantastic happened in Palestine. God suspended the law of mortality. God is not bound by our sense of what is believable, comprehendible, explainable, imaginable, or measurable. You can count on this. God’s redemptive actions always exceed the boundaries of our imagination.

The Jewish Sabbath began at 6 p.m. Friday. It was important that the body of Jesus be taken down from the cross and squeezed into that newly hewn, four-foot-high rock tomb prior to the 6 p.m. deadline.

It was early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, that a hint of dawn came and Mary Magdalene was there at the tomb. She was there to do her sad duty of embalming the body of Jesus. Emotionally drained, she was met with a divine interruption. There was a divine intrusion. “Do not be afraid. He is not here. He is risen.” It dawned on her, Peter, the disciples and 500 eyewitnesses that there was no restraint on God’s power. That no situation is hopeless. That God is in charge. That Christ is alive and that there is indeed life after death.

Yes, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is unexplainable, but we live with the unexplainable. Who can understand how that pump in the human chest known as the heart drives 2,000 gallons of blood through the body every day?

There are truths that the brain can discover but cannot defend. The resurrection is one of those.

On Easter, we do not defend the resurrection. We simply celebrate it. It affirms the power of God to break sick addictions that consign successful people to a veritable living hell.

The promise of Easter is simply this; we are not terrorized by our past. In Jesus Christ the future is open.

Maundy Thursday • April 5 Noon in the Chapel. A traditional service with organ.

7 p.m. in the Sanctuary. Music with the Chancel Bells and organ. Including the sacrament of Communion at both services.

Child care: birth – 3 years (7 p.m. only) Good Friday • April 6 7 p.m. in the Sanctuary.

Including A Service of Darkness by Dale Wood. This seven-movement piece dramatically represents the actions of Christ’s final hours. Brief reflections on the text will be presented by the pastoral staff between the movements.

Child care: birth – 3 years.

Easter Sunday • April 8 Has It Dawned On You? Join us on April 8 as we celebrate the most pivotal day in history. Our three worship services will be held at their usual times in the Sanctuary: 8 and 9:30 a.m. Traditional worship services with music led by the Chancel Choir, Chancel Bells, brass tympani, piano and organ. (for children: 8 a.m. programs for birth – 16 months; 9:30 a.m. programs for birth – fifth grade) 11 a.m. Contemporary worship service with music led by our worship team. (for children: programs for birth – third grade) Eastminster Presbyterian Church

5

Glimpses of LOVE Three LOVE Wichita volunteers share their stories from the day when LOVE came to town.

Shelley Cooper During LOVE Wichita 2011, I co-chaired a project with Cheri Bonnell. It was to paint a 120-year-old farmhouse in Maize white from its original color of red. Cheri was able to find a paint that would cover the red very well.

There was no running water so the next door neighbor let us use her water to power wash the house the weekend before LOVE Wichita to get it ready for painting. There was a lot of damage to the house and we tried to get it ready as best we could for painting. A Boy Scout troop came and cleaned up the yard of branches and leaves, which was a big help. It was a good witness to the surrounding neighbors who were very glad to see the property cleaned up.

This project definitely took more than the allotted eight hours and still needed more work. The new owner was a disabled young lady who we only met once, but her 88-year-old father was there a lot helping us. It really made it worthwhile just to help him help his daughter.

Whatever we do, it should be done as if working directly for the Lord, and we did our best with what we had to work with. It definitely was a challenging experience, but through it all we were spurred on knowing that Satan was trying to keep us from doing good works and witnessing to the community, and we didn’t want that to happen. We made sure the love of Christ was shining through us as we served.

6

Eastwind Newsletter

Cameron Anderson My project last year was to help bring an elderly man’s home up to code so he could continue living in it. The house was supposed to be temporary housing built in World War II, but it and many other houses in the area continue to be used as homes to this day. The house needed a new pole for a fence that was falling down, outside trim, new stairs to get into the house, and siding to protect the bottom of the structure.

The man living there had joint problems but he continued to try

“To the people who volunteered that day it was just a couple hours, but to the gentleman we helped it was so much more because he got to stay in his home.” to help us through out the day. At the end he couldn’t express in words how much we helped him. To the people who volunteered that day it was just a couple hours, but to the gentleman we helped it was so much more because he got to stay in his home.

It’s tough seeing an old man cry.

I am passionate about LOVE Wichita because it’s a day to actually “do” instead of talk. Sometimes I feel like there is more talking about being a Christian than actually acting as a Christian.

I think it’s so important for everyone to get involved in order to actively show others the love of Christ. You also get to experience joy by helping others.

Where will you be ... when LOVE comes to town?

Wayne Becker Our team focused on rehabbing a middle aged man’s garage, painting and caulking the back side of the home, hanging a gutter, cleaning up the yard, and planting flowers in a front flower garden. Our team was very versatile and so we just kept rotating from job to job.

April 28, 2012 • Register today!

Two Shifts: 8 a.m. to noon // 1 to 5 p.m.

(Rain date: May 5)

The most rewarding thing was to see the homeowner just stand in awe of the work being done for him. I’m passionate about this event because we are called to “get out and serve.” Working shoulder to shoulder with another person brings depth to a new relationship and creates a new perspective and a memory to an existing relationship.

I think we should each volunteer during LOVE Wichita to experience exposure to a different part of the city, potentially a different culture, and work in a different environment with folks you might not know. The one year we walked through the streets west of WSU helping people pull out trash, cleaning up eyesores, and interacting with homeowners up and down the streets was the most gratifying project I personally have worked on. We had a large number of volunteers and the homeowners could easily recognize the work being done and were quick to jump in and help or ask for help. I think many people that year were touched.

During our 2011 project, it was so incredible to see Christians rallying to serve and uplift a man they didn’t know and to see the homeowner graciously acknowledge the service in his quiet way.

LOVE Wichita is a statement to the city that we care for anybody and everybody in our community, and there’s nothing more important than that!

God is calling us to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city” (Jeremiah 29:7). To answer his call we’ll partner together with other churches to complete service projects throughout the area.

We hope to have more than 5,000 volunteers from more than 40 churches across the city join together in an attitude of service and hope at the fourth LOVE Wichita event of serving. We will have the opportunity to resurrect our city as we clean, paint, touch and transform the place we live and encourage the people we encounter in the name of Jesus. More than 150 projects across the city are planned to be completed.

Register to serve from 8 a.m. to noon, 1 to 5 p.m., or for all day. Registration is open now at lovewichita.org. Forms will also be available following Sunday services during March and throughout the week at the reception desk. Each person serving is asked to wear a blue LOVE Wichita T-shirt. If you already have one, you may wear it again. To order a new one, you can pay for your T-shirt online when you register, at the registration table or at the reception desk.

T-shirts are $6.50 each.

Go online at lovewichita.org for more details and to register.

Eastminster Presbyterian Church Eastminster Presbyterian Church

7 7

Non Profit Org. US Postage

PAID

Wichita, KS Permit No. 1293

Eastminster Presbyterian Church 1958 N. Webb Road • Wichita, Kansas 67206 316.634.0337 • www.eastminster.org

Worship Services Sundays at 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m.

The goal of Eastwind is to support the five Core Commitments of Eastminster Presbyterian Church: Know God, Grow in God, Connect in God, Serve God and Glorify God. Associate Director of Communications: Courtney Browning (cbrowning@eastminster.org).

Your Input Matters Church Assessment Tool Now Open As Eastminster moves forward together, our leadership is assessing where our church is today and the direction we need to take in upcoming years. We’ll look at our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for growth and ministry goals to bring together a cohesive vision for the future. This also serves as a key component in the search for a senior pastor.

The first step in the process of assessing where we are and where we’re headed is to survey our members. We’re using an online survey, known as a Church Assessment Tool, that will help leaders gauge the strength, vitality and inclinations of the church.

The Church Assessment Tool is open now and takes approximately 20 minutes to complete.

Your responses are confidential and anonymous. The survey closes March 12.

To access the Church Assessment Tool: • Go to surveymonkey.com/s/eastminsterwichita to participate.

• You can also access the survey by visiting eastminster.org/survey.

• Password: The survey is password protected. Members received the password either by mail or email.

Questions? Contact Rick Hilscher, chair of the Mission Study Task Force, at rwhilscher@yahoo.com. If you do not have internet access, paper copies of the survey are available by contacting the church at 634.0337.

Save the Date! Children’s Ministries Spring/Summer Events Communion Class: March 31 9 a.m. – noon For fourth and fifth graders plus at least one parent. RSVP to Mary Stephens by March 18.

Family Fest: July 24 – 27 Operation Overboard: Dare to Go Deep with God This year’s VBS will be a grand time on the high seas with fun for the whole family! Registration begins June 3. Be part of the planning team! Contact Mary Stephens at 634.0337, ext. 226, or mstephens@eastminster.org.