August 12, 2012
Built on the Rock
Volume 2, Issue 32
Welcome Back
Calendar
Sunday, Aug 12– Sunday, Aug 19
All New England Teen Camp at Camp
Laurel, ME
Monday, Aug 13– 7:00 PM
SNH– Small Group Leaders meeting
at Fix’s
Tuesday, Aug 14
No teen Dgroup
In Luke 15 Jesus tells the parable
of the prodigal son. While the story
includes the account of the lost son
it also captures God's unceasing
search for one of his own. This
shows that even when we're at our
worst God is still searching for us hoping we'll come back to Him and
His people. Sadly, we had one who
wondered away. Yet praise be to
God who patiently waited for the
return of his son Max. And on
Wednesday night Max Plunkett was
restored to our fellowship. We rejoice with the angels, Max, his family and
the Lord's church.
Below is the letter he shared Wednesday night.
Dear church,
It’s hard to admit that I’ve done something wrong. My mind goes straight to justification when confronted. It’s hard to admit
that I’ve hurt the people I care about the
most. Because in my heart I want everyone’s approval. But out of these two things
it is hardest to admit that I have wronged
God, who has blessed my life with countless gifts of love and generosities. I turned
my back on the one who continued to love
me endlessly even when I didn’t deserve it.
7:00 PM
SNH– Campus devotional at Lelesi
Clubhouse
PORTS– CampusXperience Bible
discussion at UNH MUB 112
PORTS Contribution Report
Budget:
July 22
July 29
Aug 5
Tuesday, Aug 14– Sunday, Aug 19
All New England Preteen Camp at
Camp Laurel, ME
Wednesday, Aug 15– 7:00 PM
PORTS– Men’s midweek in family
groups
7:30 PM
SNH– Men’s midweek at Londonderry Christian Church
Friday, Aug 17– 7:30 PM
All New England Singles Devotional
at Sheraton Boston
Sunday, Aug 19– 10:00 AM
SNH– Church service at South
School
PORTS– Church service at DMS
I had no legitimate reason for my ungratefulness. But there was a feeling of bitterness toward my peers, because I felt that I
wasn’t getting the recognition I deserved. And I started to distance myself
from the church body, hoping to at least
receive some kind of attention. But as I
started to drift I still was not satisfied with
the help that was presented to me. In my
heart I felt betrayed by the people I should
have been the closest to. But God didn’t
give up on me. I remember vividly many
signs and attempts from God to try and pull
me back. He kept presenting the invitation
that I so desired. But I chose to deny him,
and I silenced the voice of righteousness in
my mind. It was not until after I had started
on my walk back that I realized that I betrayed God in the same manner that I felt
betrayed.
I remember one Sunday morning; my
mother asked me if I was going to church. I
thought for a minute and responded “No I
guess I’m not”. And she simply asked
“Why?” Which turned out to be a harder
question then I was prepared for on that
early Sunday morning. But it did get me to
thinking, and I told her how I felt betrayed
and I didn’t want to risk getting hurt again.
(continued on page three)
$1,500 per week
$620
$1,860
$1,867
2012 YTD budget: $48,000
2012 YTD actual: $47,814
New Hampshire Special Missions
$4,905
SNH Contribution & Attendance Report
Budget:
July 22
July 29
Aug 5
$4,900 per week
$2,968
$4,992
$5,532
Attendance
124
107
2012 YTD budget: $156,800
2012 YTD actual: $155,634
New Hampshire Special Missions
$30,048
Granite State Church of Christ
Volume 2, Issue 32
Page 2
Update From the Marcellino’s
The following is from an
email that Julie Marcellino
sent this week. The Marcellino’s drove out to Wisconsin
to seek additional treatment
for Brynn. Please continue to
keep them in your prayers:
Hi Friends and Family,
I want to update you on
our travels. As most of you
know, Nick and I have been
planning a trip to Wisconsin to get intensive treatment for Brynn. When we
finally got our admission
date, we set out for Rogers
Memorial Hospital on July
29th. Rogers is one of the
few residential hospitals in
the country for treating children with OCD. On Monday,
we toured Niagara Falls on
the Maid of the Mist. We got
pretty misty ourselves - that
is, wet from the spray and
misty-eyed at such power
and beauty.
The next 24 hours were
pretty amazing. Five o'clock
on Monday, we discovered
our insurance denied cover-
age. By 5'oclock on Tuesday, coverage was on. Three
o'clock on Tuesday, we were
headed toward another
costly dinner and hotel. At
five o'clock we discovered
that the Ronald McDonald
House would let us come in
late. Therefore, I and we
prayed many "thank you's"
to God for my wonderful
birthday presents. Cuz on
Tuesday July 31st, I celebrated my 49th year here.
It is now a week later.
Brynn is more at ease with
Rogers staff, and we are
impressed with their expertise. It is slow going as
Brynn has so many verbal
and internal rituals that they
cannot finish the initial assessments. This delays the
treatment plan. And the
guesstimation is that Brynn
and I may be here through
October!
Nick flew back to NH on
Tuesday, the 7th (sniffle…).
Fortunately, our church family here is attending to my
every emotional, social and
spiritual
need.
Ronald
McDonald House fills in the
physical needs quite well.
And it is good for me to
meet the other parents at
the House and hear their
stories.
Thank you for all your
"powerful and effective"
prayers. Please take care of
Nick while I am away - lots
of attention, encouragement
and vegetables.
Brynn has already received
mail, and you can write to
her at: The Child Center,
(attn: Brynn Marcellino),
Rogers Memorial Hospital,
34700 Valley Road, Oconomowoc, WI 53066.
I can get mail, too! Ronald
McDonald House, (attn:
Julie Marcellino #335),
8948 Watertown Plank
Road, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
53226-4802.
Love,
Julie XO
HOPE Worldwide Granite State Chapter Event
Spotlight on Service
The Nashua Soup
Kitchen and Shelter sponsors the annual Backpacks
for Back to School program,
which has provided backpack and school supplies
for underprivileged children
and teens in the Nashua
area since 2008. Those
assisted are children of clients who receive meals or
assistance from shelter advocates, and children identified by local school teachers.
2200 backpacks were
assembled by volunteers
last year (with only 40 left
after distribution) and this
year's goal is the s a m e . . .
2200 backpacks.
Volunteers are needed
for packing and distribution
of backpacks for this important program that helps children get equipped for the
upcoming school year,
which in turn, makes a tremendous impact on the kids
and their families.
Packing and distribution
is held at The Greater
Nashua Boys and Girls Club,
47 Grand Ave, Nashua, NH.
Volunteer dates are August 16-17 (Thurs-Fri) and
August 20-22 (Mon-Wed).
Shifts are divided into 2
hour time slots. Families are
encouraged to volunteer
together.
Volunteer registration
and more information, including how to donate
school supplies, can be
found at: www.nsks.org/
backpackvolunteeropportunities0.aspx.
Please consider volunteering for this worthwhile
cause!
If you have any questions, please contact Tim
Chien at 603-377-0266.
NOTE: A backpack drive
is being planned for the
Portsmouth area, more details to come in the future.
Granite State Church of Christ
Volume 2, Issue 32
Page 3
Announcements
Teen Dgroups
Teen dgroups for the
month of August will be on
Tuesdays at 7 PM at the
Massesa’s, 3 Westerly Dr,
Derry. There will be no
dgroup on August 14th due
to teen camp.
SNH August Midweeks
The following is the plan
for the month of August:
August 15– 7:30 PM
Men’s midweek at Londonderry Christian Church
August 22– 7:00 PM
Women’s midweek at Londonderry Christian Church
August 29
Midweek in small groups
Thank You
Thank you to all of my
brothers and sisters for the
flowers,
notes,
meals,
emails and most of all
prayers in the death of my
dad. It has been your
prayers that have sustained
me during this difficult time.
Love, Andrea Tejada
Singles Devotional
There will be an all New
England Singles Devotional
at 7:30 PM on Friday, August 17th at the Sheraton,
Boston.
Prayer Requests
Please pray for Chris
Boucher’s mother who is in
the hospital. Pray that she
will get strong enough to
have surgery. Also for Brynn,
Nick & Julie Marcellino as
Brynn undergoes testing in
Wisconsin.
Also please continue to
pray for Joy Paradise’s
mother, Evelyn Rash had a
stroke; Ro Monroe and her
family in the death of her
sister; for Tom Gee’s mother
Susan who is had surgery to
remove a tumor; for Chris
Perez’s neighbor Leslie who
has brain cancer that has
metastasized to her lungs
and for her neighbor Gisele
who has been diagnosed
with several organ cancers
as well as cancer in her
lymph nodes; for Sam &
Carol Searles friend Phil
Mikoda, who has been diagnosed with lung cancer; for
Sue Compas’ cousin,
Pauline who has asked that
we pray that tests show she
will not need open heart
surgery and for Sue Compas’ friend Karen Campbell
who was recently diagnosed
with breast cancer.
Please keep the following in
your prayers for their health:
Mike Vinson’s father; Gale
Garrard’s friend, Dimitri;
Traci Iwanowski’s mother;
Doug Arthur; Chris Perez’s
cousin, as the doctors are
keeping a watch on the tumor on her spine; Deirdre
Sommerkamp’s mother;
Rhonda Meninno; Sandra
Meads; Dottie Maddox;
Glenn Petruzzi’s father, Leo;
Bobbi Jackson; Susan Compas’ mother; Lorena Cyr;
Joy Paradise’s friend Miss
Rena;
Rebecca Chris- Let us then approach God’s throne
of grace with confidence, so that we
tensen
may receive mercy and find grace to
help us in our time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16
Welcome Back (continued)
And when I told her that,
she replied, “Well, Jesus got
betrayed way worse than
you did.”
I just had to relinquish at
that point because she was
totally right. So I went to
church that morning and
kept walking back to God.
Only this time with a conviction that pushed me to be a
friend and to put my heart
out there so I could get
closer to people. And not to
back away when I got hurt,
because Jesus loved me
this way and he knew how it
felt, and he did it regardless.
I need this opportunity to
apologize to God. Because
ultimately even if I felt hurt
it was my choice to distance
myself. And looking back I
can see how God was working in my life, but how I
could not see it then. I think
that God will use a spiritual
low as an opportunity to
have us grow, in this situation that is what happened.
I needed to exercise faith
without reason.
Granite State Church of Christ
Page 4
Contact Info
ELDERS
Carl Christensen
603-465-4114
Mike Fix
603-434-3874
Mike Villars
603-432-2351
Volume 2, Issue 32
MINISTRY STAFF
Mike & Laura Fix
603-434-3874
[email protected]
[email protected]
Greg Martin
603-969-0548
[email protected]
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Andrea Tejada
603-432-5503
[email protected]
SNH FAMILY GROUP LEADERS
Merrimack/Bedford/Nashua
Jeff & Lisa Morris
603-882-4060
Londonderry/Litchfield
Mike & Debbie Villars
603-432-2351
Derry
Jeff & Kim Richards
603-851-1107
603-866-6695
Concord
Tom & Linda Roy
603-485-5269
Sam & Carol Searles
Campus Ministry
Dave & Becky Lelesi
603-315-2925
Singles Ministry
John & Andrea Tejada
603-432-5503
Teen Ministry
SNH KINGDOM KIDS
603-423-8576
PM KINGDOM KIDS
Congalton
603-868-3688
SNH BENEVOLENCE TEAM
John & Karen Oates
603-424-0286
Tom Roy
603-485-5269
PM SMALL GROUP LEADERS
North House Church
Steve & Laura Smith
603-953-5390
PM TEEN MINISTRY
Brousseau
603-822-2259
South House Church
Russ & Jeanie Congalton
603-868-3688
PM MIDDLE SCHOOL
MINISTRY
Howell
603-436-2478
Lakes Region House Church
Mike & Grace Fogarty
603-664-2681
Seacoast House Church
Greg & Leanne Martin
603-969-0548
Campus Sector
David Flores
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Greg Martin- President
603-969-0548
[email protected]
WEBSITE
www.granitestatecoc.org
Mike Klein-webmaster