Session:
     Jim Barkat
     Pam Blake
     Fred Cereqias
     Carl Erickson
     Barbara Haimann
     Debbie Michelsen
     Connie Puleo
     Courtney Smith
     Charles Thiel
     Walter Steinmann, Jr
     Beverly Winkler
     Rich Williamson
     Dorman Craig, Clerk

   
 Church Treasurer: Lew Brillhart

   2008 Church Officers  

Deacons:
     Kathy Dougherty
     Doris Erickson
     David Haimann
     Elizabeth Hathaway
     Karen Holmes, Co-President
     Robin Karpinski
     Andrea Lauckner
     Bonnie McCarthy
     Anthony Pomponio
     Liz Quercia
     Marion Shine
     Dalyce Tenore
     Ashley Tinsley
     Amy Williamson

Church Secretary: Joyce Cougan
    

Trustees:
     Ann Brillhart
     Jennifer Cerequas
     George Hansen, Jr.
     Ernie Kiel
     John Michelsen, President
     Michael Seymour
     Evelyn Spinweber
     Kathy Stroming
     Wayne Winkler

Church Financial Secretaries:
   Alison Ferrell & Robin Karpinski

A message from Pastor Spencer:     

Last Child in the Woods

Do you remember what it was like when you were growing up, running around outdoors?

Would you say that your children or grandchildren spend as much time outdoors as you did when you were young?  I’m guessing the answer is, “No”

Why do you think kids today spend less time outdoors?

Richard Louv has written a book entitled, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder.  Louv’s argument is that our children no longer spend time in the woods and there is a developmental, educational, emotional, and spiritual  price to be paid for this.

As a pastor and parent, I am especially concerned about the spiritual consequences of our children being cut off from the outdoors.

• Many people first experience the divine in nature; many of us know awe, grandeur, and transcendence first hand through our experience of nature. In the woods we learn we are God’s children, part of God’s amazing creation.
• In the woods we learned the cycle of life: birth, life, death, rebirth.  When we learned about the birth, life, death, and rebirth of Jesus Christ, we were not surprised, because we already knew that story.
• In the woods we also learned to be good stewards of God’s good creation, to chop the dead trees, not the living, and to weep when the bulldozers obliterated our private Eden.

At First Presbyterian Church, we are committed to reconnecting our children to their spiritual nature and to teaching them the important things they don’t learn anywhere else.  Won’t you join us?  Worship and Sunday School are at 10:15 am.

                                                                                  Erik Spencer, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church