Februrary 2009

30th Anniversary Celebration Sunday
Sunday, March 1st 10:00 a.m.

We hope everyone will be part of our celebrating 30 years of God’s Faithfulness to the ministry of Christian Church of the Hills. The theme for that Sunday will be “Great is Thy Faithfulness”. We have invited many people we have contact information for that have attended CCH in the past. If you are reading this and know of people who have moved, but attended CCH in the past, please let them know of our Celebration Sunday.

There is an RSVP form online on our church website (www.cchagoura.com). We would like to know who plans to attend so that we can have enough lunch to feed everyone.

Please make every effort to attend… it wouldn’t be the same without you!!!!

Planning Meeting
Our 2nd planning meeting for the 30th Anniversary Celebration will be in 2 weeks on Sunday, February 8th after the service.

So many of you have volunteered to help, it’s wonderful. Thank you. We look forward to hearing updates on all the areas you are working on. Everyone is welcome! Please mark your calendars.


Greetings Church Family!

We’ve been discussing the purposes of the church over the past few weeks in the Sunday morning services. It’s really been great to go back and remember the basics and why we do what we do at CCH! We’ll be finishing up the series by reminding ourselves that God has called all of us to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ. He’s called us to be his witnesses! Jesus tells us… “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

This wasn’t just meant for the disciples in Jesus’ day. It is also meant for us! The great thing about this is that we only have to be his witness. We don’t have to be a salesman. In other words you don’t have to pressure anyone into believing in Jesus. You don’t have to be an attorney for Jesus either. You don’t have to argue and debate people into heaven. And you don’t have to be an expert and know everything about the Bible. You just need to be a witness for God.

What does it mean to be a witness? Here is a simple definition of witnessing: "A witness is someone who simply shares what God has done in their life." Do you have to be a Bible scholar to be a witness? No. Do you have to be a Christian for 20 years to be a witness? No. Do you have to live a perfect life and have no sin in your life? No. All you have to do to be a witness is just say, "This is what's happened to me. This is what God's done in my life." And anybody can do that!

It’s important to know that this is part of your job description as a Christian. The moment you became a believer, God gave you a mission. The mission is this: now that you’ve become a Christian it's your turn to tell other people about God’s love. You wouldn't be here today if somebody hadn't told you about God’s love for you through His son Jesus. Now that you have become a believer, it's your job to tell other people. The apostle Paul reminds us of this…
"Through Christ all the kindness of God has been poured out upon us and now he's sending us all around the world to tell all people everywhere the great things that God has done for them so that they too will believe and obey." Romans 1:5

It’s my hope and my prayer that you will hear God’s call to be His witness at work, at home and in your neighborhood. My hope is that you will listen to God’s spirit as he leads you to share with others about the one person who has given you so much life and peace - Jesus!
In His Great Name!!
Pastor Dave


How do I become a Member?

With the current sermon series on the purpose of the church, we would like to encourage you to place your membership with us here at Christian Church of the Hills. Having a place to belong to a body of believers is one of the purposes of the church and it directly ties into the other purposes as well. You can listen to any of the messages you may have missed online. Go to our website and view the Media page.

In the bulletins these past few weeks has been a questionnaire to encourage you to get connected. If you are considering membership as this step in your walk with the Lord, please pick up a folder in the lobby and read through that material. Then call the church for an appointment to meet with Pastor Dave. Don’t hesitate to call with any questions!


Valentines Chocolate Hearts
The annual children’s department fund raiser will be held on Sunday, February 8th with chocolates for sale in the lobby. There will be no pre-orders taken this time. We hope you’ll take time to purchase some candy for your sweetheart or yourself!

February Birthdays
Jerry Olson—10th
Joseph Schafer —14th

No anniversaries on record for this month.

• NOTE: If you have not filled out an information sheet, please go online at www.cchagoura.com, and on the “Groups” page there are two forms we’d love to have you fill out and hand in. One is a member survey and the other is an involvement form. You DO NOT need to be a member to fill these out. They help us to get to know you better… and to recognize you on your birthday and anniversary! Please take time to fill one out.
  

Kids News

February is here and that means it is time for Valentine’s Chocolate! We are doing it a little differently this year. All proceeds will still go to the Children’s Ministry, but we will not be taking pre-orders. On Sunday, February 8th there will be a table set up in the hallway filled with delicious chocolate available on a first come, first served basis. So, don’t forget to have a couple of extra dollars on Sunday morning so you can by some chocolates for Valentine’s!

In Sunday School the Pathfinders having been working their way through the “Jesus Cares” lesson series. The kids have already learned about how Jesus cares for the hungry and poor. And, we still have three more lessons to learn in this series. The kids should be bringing home their “Growing Together” worksheets to work on throughout the week. Parents, help them go over these worksheets at some point during the week, and you’ll know exactly what the kids are learning in Sunday School.

On February 21st, the church will be having their Work Day to prepare for the 30th Anniversary Celebration. We would love to have all the kids there to be a part of making our church even more beautiful. So, get there at 8:30 a.m. to have some breakfast before you start working.

Also, we will be collecting ideas from the kids in the coming weeks to see what they would like to see happen in the kid’s classroom. We will be changing the look of the classroom and it should be pretty cool.

And, of course, we have our 30th Anniversary Celebration coming up on Sunday, March 1st! This is going to be an amazing day to celebrate how God has been faithful to our church for so many years and also to spend time with our church family and even some old friends. Kids, you can be a part of this to. We want you to invite your friends that maybe haven’t been to CCH in awhile and make them feel welcome. We also will be getting some input from a couple of kids as part of our Sunday service on March 1st. So, don’t forget to mark your calendars and commit to being there on Sunday, March 1st!!!! We want every single kid there! The kids will able to stay in and be a part of the anniversary service. Preschool classes will still be available.

Last but not least, our new preschool teachers will be starting this month! Patti P. and Kelsey M. have volunteered to teach the preschoolers on Sunday morning — we are so excited to have them. Thank you so much for being a part of the children’s ministry!
Have a great February everyone!


Youth
Winter Camp is coming up quickly— February 6th-8th! We will meet at CCH on Friday at 4:30 p.m. We will return on Sunday afternoon around 2 p.m. Check with Amber if you still need a list of things to bring. Just don’t forget your Bible, pillow, sleeping bag and SNOW SHOES (just in case)! We don’t want any more ruined Uggs if we build our awesome snowman again. And, get ready to have an awesome weekend!

Also, this month we will continue our “Feed the Youth” group on Februar11th and 28th. We will meet at CCH at 6 p.m., eat dinner somewhere local and come back to church to start youth group at 7 p.m. We kicked this off in January and it was a lot of fun! Don’t miss the next one!

At youth group we will be finishing up “The Case for Christ”. And, after we finish the book, youth that paid for a book will be able to take those home.

We have added a prayer wall to the youth room. Where we’ll be starting a special prayer project that we’ll focus on once a month. I want everyone to bring in articles from newspapers, magazines or wherever that show evil in the world to put on our prayer wall. We will spend time praying for those each week.

Also, we need all the youth at the CCH Work Day on February 21st since you are all so big and strong. =) Be there to help make this place look great before our 30th Anniversary Celebration. Invite friends that have been to youth group in the past to be there on March 1st for the Anniversary Sunday!

Fuse
Fuse had a great time at dinner in January (even if we could barely hear each other). In February we will be getting together for lunch right after church on Sunday, February 22nd. We will go to Terri’s Café in Agoura to hang out and (hopefully) be able to talk about a purpose for Fuse. We would love to get everyone’s input because we want to make this a group that you get a lot out of. See you all there!

Mission Team
This is something new for 2009. We’d like to create a new mission team and several of you have already expressed interest in being part of this team. The more the merrier… so if you have an interest in helping plan our upcoming projects, please come to the meeting Sunday after church, February 1st. The meeting will be brief, but we’d like to start the ball rolling. Call Amber if you have any questions.

CCH Work Day
Lots of help will be needed to get the church looking clean and shiny for our 30th Anniversary Celebration Sunday. So, on Saturday February 21st we’ll gather together here at the church at 8:30 for a Continental breakfast and begin work at 9:00 a.m.

• In the past some people brought flowers with them to plant — beautifying the outdoor planters. We could use some color around the monument sign out front and in the planters by the entry walkway.
• We’ve also painted rooms… I think the Children’s director’s office and the Pathfinder Classroom are due for a painting. Let Amber know if you want to be part of a team to tackle those rooms.
• General housekeeping is always a good thing. Cleaning finger prints off walls, a good scrubbing of bathroom and kitchen floors,

GO M.A.D.
Prayer Shawls—the Pins & Needle group has completed their current project. We made prayer shawls to donate to senior centers to give to people who do not have visitors. The shawls are on display in the lobby at this time.

• Our next project will be making squares to assemble into one beautiful afghan that will be part of a drawing to raise funds for one of the mission outreaches.

Mission Team: Our new team will work toward finding local, national and international mission ministries that the church can get involved with. Please consider being part of that team. See the article above for the first meeting information.

Meals to Members: We continue to bring meals when possible to families within CCH who could use some short term help. Let us know if you would like to help.

Prayer Chain

• Fran F — fell and hit her head Monday. She is home and doing well, but prayer for a quick recovery from whiplash.
• Dale R — battling with lung disease. Pray for healing and comfort.
• Loretta H — for knee and back pain.
• Amy F's: Mom and sister-in-law could use prayer for their health
• Pat Hl — several family members have health issues, please pray for them.
• Thais K — Prayer for health.
• CCH — Please pray for young families to come to CCH to build our children’s department. AND for our upcoming 30th Anniversary Celebration.
• Remember the servicemen: Drew L, Scott O (is back in the mid-east for his 3rd tour and his new wife is expecting), Andrew O, and Amber’s brother Ty.