April 2009

Easter Celebration
Sunday, April 12
10:00 a.m.

Easter Lilies
If you’d like to bring in an Easter Lily to help decorate the church for Easter Sunday, we’d appreciate having those by Saturday, April 11th. You are welcome to take the plant home on Easter Sunday after the service.


From Pastor Dave
What a great church we have!! Thank you for being a very important part of the Christian Church of the Hills family. You are the reason this church continues to be a special place of hope and inspiration to so many people.

We are only a couple of weeks away from Easter! Sunday, April 12th is Easter Sunday and it will be an inspirational time to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Remember that Easter worship services are attended by more individuals across the country than any other worship service throughout the year. Many of your friends would agree to go to an Easter service who would not generally agree to attend with you any other week. So why not use this opportunity to invite a friend to visit church with you?

This past Sunday I shared with you an interesting fact from George Barna's book, “WHAT AMERICAN’S BELIEVE”. In it he states that barely one-third of Christians will ever invite an unchurched person to attend church with them. Barna writes…

“A national survey found that one out of four unchurched people would gladly attend church if a friend would only extend an invitation. This means on any given Sunday morning, 14 to 20 million adults are sitting home because nobody took the simple step of asking them to attend a church service.”

Let me ask you an important question. Will you take the time to think of one person you would like to bring to church on Easter Sunday and then invite them to attend church with you? I will be praying that God will give each of you a burden to invite someone you know to church. I will be praying that God will give you boldness to invite that person to church on Easter Sunday!

I’m looking forward to celebrating with you the greatest event in human history --the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave! “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” Matthew 28:6

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Dave


Very Important
In order to conserve paper, stamps and time, we are not going to mail out our newsletters in the future. We will send a link by email when the newsletter is online. There will be copies available in the lobby if you’d like a printed one. For our friends far and wide, please email me your addresses and I will send you the link as well!! And only if you haven’t got email, send me a request and I will continue to mail your copy.


CCH Family—BBQ Lunch
On Sunday, May 3rd, we are planning a potluck BBQ lunch to be held immediately after the service. This is the first in what we hope to become a quarterly event at CCH. This is a great time for fellowship and getting to know one another better.

Please consider what you might be able to bring as part of the lunch and sign up in the weeks ahead. A $2 free-will offering will be taken for the cost of the BBQ’d food.

• Salad Fruit
• Bread Dessert
• Other?
  

People who would like to help BBQ are welcome as well — that will be on the sign up sheet.


Adult Bible Study
Beginning Wednesday, April 15th at 7:00 p.m., Pastor Dave will lead an adult Bible study here at the church. Anyone interested in attending the study is welcome! Hope to see you all there.


Birthdays & Anniversaries
April Birthdays
Janet S.— 2nd
Reign L.— 6th
Dave G.—8th
Summer S.—10th
Lori G.—11th
Adam G.—21st
Floyd B.—26th
MaryAnn C.—29th

Anniversaries
Bob & Marcia H.—April 20th


Kids Korner
Spring is finally in the air. It is starting to warm up and Easter will be here very shortly!

We will have our Easter Service Sunday, April 12th at 10 a.m. The Preschool and Pathfinders classes will have a joint Easter party during the worship service. There will be a Veggietales movie, treats, crafts, a special Easter lesson and an Easter Egg hunt! It will be a great Sunday to invite friends. It is sure to be a lot of fun and a great time to learn about the real meaning of Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus!

Also, the Pathfinders are starting a new series this month. After we finish our 3 week Easter Series, the Pathfinders will start a series on the book of Acts. These lessons will take us into the month of May. And, each week the kids will be bringing home their “Growing Together” worksheets, which I encourage parents to go over with them.

Also, summer will be here before you know it. And, so will summer camp! The dates for ACCC junior summer camp are July 12th - 17th. Mark your calendars and let me know if your child is interested in attending.

Happy Spring everyone!
Amber


Youth News
Youth are continuing their Sunday school with Chris Miuccio. But, on Easter Sunday the youth will stay in the worship service.

And, mid-week youth group is changing! We will no longer be meeting on Wednesday nights. We are moving our meetings to Sundays. Instead of meeting weekly, we will meet monthly. The meetings will be different every time and will be at different times. Our first get together will be April 26th in the afternoon.

Also, Amber will be sending out devotional ideas and books to check out for those who want to get in their Bible study time during the week, even when we are not meeting. Just e-mail Amber at amber@cchagoura.com to get on the Youth study list.

The calendar of events is in the works. And, I have heard lots of ideas from everyone already. Like a lock-in this summer and Disneyland in August. Keep your eyes open for more upcoming event details!

And, here are the dates for ACCC summer camp: August 2nd - 7th. Put it on your calendar! See Amber for more information.


Project Nehemiah
Angeles Crest opens its camp to everyone on Memorial Day weekend each year (May 22-24th) for family fellowship and a time to help with projects around the camp that are needed to get the place ready for summer.

You can choose to make a 3-day weekend out of it, or just come Saturday to help with the work. This is a great way to enjoy the mountains and be a great help to the camp.

The cost for food is only $20, with a family maximum of $60. The list of accommodations and options is on their website www.angelescrest.com. We’ll have a sign up board at CCH.


Upcoming Retreats for Men, and for Moms & Daughters

• Men’s Retreat at Angeles Crest Christian Camp — Friday evening—Sunday morning, April 24—26th. The cost is $99 per man. ACCC’s Men's Conference is uniquely designed to provide quality time for men to evaluate the path they are on and to renew and refresh their spirit. This retreat will give you the opportunity to get away for a few days and help equip you to not only grow closer to the Lord, but also to be stretched in ways that will help you find God's will for our life as a Christian, husband, father and friend. Let us know if you are interested, we’ll get you the registration forms. And there is more information at www.angelescrest.com.
• Mothers & Daughters (Kindergarten & older) Retreat at ACCC—May 15-17th or May 29-31st. $99 for moms, $80 for JH & HS, $70 younger. Brochures are on the bulletin board.

Prayer Requests

• Dale R.— battling with lung disease. Pray for healing and comfort.
• Eunice P. -- is recuperating nicely from her recent back surgery.
• Loretta H.— for knee and back pain.
• Amy F.’s: Mom and sister-in-law could use prayer for their health
• Pat H. — several family members have health issues, please pray for them.
• Thais K.— Prayer for health.
• Our Servicemen: Drew L., Andrew O. and Scott O.(who is back in the mid-east for his 3rd tour and his wife is expecting SOON).
• CCH — Please pray for young families to come to CCH to build our children’s department.
• Finances: These are tough times for many individuals and ministries. Please pray that God will help his people get through this recession.

Nancy O. is our Prayer Chain coordinator. Please be sure to let her know of any updates and pray needs.


GO M.A.D. (Go Make a Difference)
Mission Team: Our new team will work toward finding local, national and international mission ministries that the church can get involved with. New Mission team members are always welcome! Watch for meetings and simply attend. (March 29th is the next scheduled meeting after church.)

New:

1. Afghan Give Away—drawing to be held on April 19th and tickets are available at the church right now. Donations of $5 gives you one ticket in the drawing. All monies collected will go toward mission outreaches. Please try to get your friends and families involved in this drawing.
2. Manna Food Collection—the 4th Sunday of every month. Watch for lists of needed items in the Sunday bulletins. On March 29th the list includes: cooking oil, sugar, toilet paper, peanut butter and jelly.
3. World Vision Adopt-a-child — CCH will adopt at least one child as a church family. And $1 per person per month will help fund this outreach.
4. Women’s Resource Center — Mother’s Day Gift boxes for single moms. We are now collecting NEW toiletry items to be used to fill shoe boxes and gift wrapped for the moms. Please bring items in by April 26th (including gift wrap and shoe boxes). On that day, after church, anyone wishing to help fill the shoe boxes and wrap them will be welcome — and lunch will be provided by Kathy Patton.
5. Bake Sale—Sunday, April 5 (Palm Sunday). The Mission Team will provide baked goods (individual and family sized) to sell that morning. All proceeds will go directly toward our mission outreaches.