Reports for the Annual Parish Meeting
January 22, 2012

Christ Episcopal Church
One Main Street
Towanda, PA 18848
(570) 265-5035

The Rev. Maureen AtLee Hipple, Rector

The Rev. J. Lawrence Holman, Deacon

Table of Contents

Mission Statement

Minutes from February 27, 2011

Rector’s Report

Deacon’s Report

Usher Captain’s Report

Junior Warden’s Report

Church School Superintendent’s Report

Treasurer’s Report

Wonder Group Report

Report on Capital Projects

New Consecration Sunday Report


“Loving God and Others Through Christ”
Christ Church Evangelism Statement

Mission Statement

Christ Church- Towanda, PA

Christ Church, a Christian community empowered by the Holy Spirit and in unity with Jesus Christ, is a place:

  1. …to be grounded in the Holy Scriptures and God’s love in order to develop faith in and love for God, and to develop gifts to do the work of ministry.
  2. …to worship and glorify our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus through Eucharist and other forms of praise and thanksgiving.
  3. …to pray for forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing.
  4. …to be united in fellowship within our church family, joyous in giving, sharing, encouraging, and being compassionate.

With love and faith in God our Father, Christ our Lord and Savior, and energized by the Holy Spirit, we are a church that endeavors to share God’s gift of love by:

  1. …evangelizing the good news of Jesus Christ in our community.
  2. …bringing wholeness to the human soul through forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, compassion, and encouragement through the assurance of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.
  3. …showing the knowledge of God’s compassion through serving the community where social needs are found.
  4. …inviting others to join our Christian community through our involvement in the secular community.

Minutes of Christ Church Annual Meeting
February 27, 2011
169 Annual Meeting
35 Members Present

Marshall Dawsey, Senior Warden, called the meeting to order. Mother Maureen offered a prayer. Ginnie Schoonover was appointed Secretary Protemp.

A call for a motion to accept the January 17,2010 minutes was answered by Marg Shaner and seconded by Sharon Brutzman. Motion carried unanimously. A comment was added to reflect the completion of candlelights in the nave, a plan for a handicapped entry for north entrance of church, and a plan for refurbishing of hanging lights in nave.

The rector "our wonder priest" commented on her report. The last few months have been very difficult and all members are church family. During this very sad time Mother Maureen felt honored to be called to celebrate each life. She went on to say how she has never seen a parish more loving, giving, and with the most wonderful "what can I do attitude". This parish is truly filled with the Holy Spirit and "we are awesome". She feels it is an honor for her to be here. She apologized for her lengthy report. She then asked all to please take a moment and thank God for those now departed in heaven with our Lord and Savior, praying, "Lord your love is awesome and never failing, we praise you and thank you Lord".

The Senior Warden thanked out going vestry members, Jim Vanderpool, Lee Baker, and Larry Gehring for faithful service.

It was reported Wonder Group had new kitchen flooring installed and parishioner's completed new tables and chairs project by individual and families monetary donations of adopting tables and chairs.

Reports presented in the Annual Report Booklet, with the exception of the Treasurer's Report, were accepted by a motion made by Connie Burruss and seconded by Larry Gehring to be accepted by title. Motion carried unanimously.

The Treasurer's report by Gene Weisbrod was accepted with Marg Shaner saying, " if Gene could work for Washington things would be great." Gene reported this is first year budget since having Stewardship Consecration Sunday. Pledges came in higher then pledged. This campaign was lead by Connie Burress who did an excellent job and who has agreed to head up again this fall. He cautioned next year will be a difficult year for vestry to budget. The DIT is a three year moving trust, 3 years ago it was great, 2 years ago tanked, this year saw reduction equivalent to laying offsecretary, but with all giving and over giving this keeps us going. June 31st of this year will tell the tale. Gene reported overall things look good at this time.

Nominating Committee presented slate of new vestry members: Brigette Callear, Blythe Hart and Ginnie Schoonover. A motion to close nominations was made by Marg Shaner and seconded by Jo Burke. The secretary was instructed to cast a unanimous ballet to accept slate.

Motion to adjourn meeting was made by Marg Shaner and seconded by Jo Burke Motion passed unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 12:05.

Respectfully submitted,

Ginnie Schoonover Secretary Protemp

Rector’s Annual Parish Report – 2011

Here are the statistics for our past year:

deacon Our Administrator of Acolytes is Deacon Larry. Deacon Larry has written a report so please be sure to read it. Deacon Larry and Sharon are in Puerto Rico for the next couple of months. Larry does a wonderful job helping me with doing services, also the acolytes and scheduling. Thank you Larry!!! While Deacon Larry and Sharon are in Puerto Rico he does 5 services for those in the area. So….. even though Larry and Sharon are having some fun in the sun……they are still doing God’s Holy work of sharing the Gospel of God’s Son, Jesus our Lord! We miss you both!!!
Ginnie Schoonover has done an excellent job with the Altar Guild this past year. For Ginnie, personally, it was a daunting task to be our newest Altar Guild President… not due to a lack in Ginnie’s abilities but because Polly had been such a treasured friend to her and many many others. Polly, too, was a superb Altar Guild President.  Sadly….. when Polly died last year…. her death left quite a hole in the hearts of all of us. Thank You Ginnie for your love, faithfulness and diligence!  You, too, are such a blessing and a treasure! You have truly done an outstanding ministry with our Altar Guild!
Our Altar Guild works exceptionally hard each week and sometimes each day by preparing our Sanctuaries for worship. Doris Lewis is our Nativity Chapel Altar Guild. Doris does an amazing ministry with keeping up the chapel and preparing the chapel altar for each service! Especially during Lent!!!) I do believe Lent is our most demanding time of the church year…but it is a time in which we are able to re-assess our lives, actions, devotion and daily faithfulness in our worship of our most Loving God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thank you tons Doris for all of your generosity, faithfulness and immeasurable work for our Lord and our parish! The teams for this past year were: Marg Shaner & Karen Ugliuzza, Sharon Brutzman & Hilary Haight, Dave & Melba Vanderlyke, Jon & Doreena Rineer, Ginnie Schoonover & Sue Schoonover and last but not least Cindy Williams & Dr. Kippy Vail. Thank you alllllll for your faithful and much needed ministry! You are alllllll a blessing!!!If you are interested in joining the Altar Guild please take time to speak with any of the members and/or call Ginnie Schoonover.
 Our Bell Ringer, Hilary Haight, does a wonderful job!Each week before and after our services she dutifully and faithfully and cheerfully annnnd energetically walks up to our belfry to ring our Steeple Bell! (Those steps are steep!) We will be working on the Belfry soon. It is in much need of repair. Hilary’s ministry gives many people such an extraordinary… actually a spiritual feeling of God calling them and all of us to worship! Thank you Hilary! You and your ministry are gifts to us from God!
Marie Hvezda and the choir have once again given us a spiritually rich year of music. Marie does a terrific ministry of choosing the anthems and directing the choir. Thank you to the choir and to Marie!!!Marie is multi-talented and helps us worship our Lord with an extra-special boost of spirituality…..annnnd Marie does this sometimes at the spur of the moment!! Thank you for your willingness! A thank you also goes to Larry Gehring for putting our service music on CD’s when needed! And Praise the Lord……we have a new organist!Tom Kennedy is doing a fantastic job!Thank you Tom!!!Also, thank you to Brian who struck up a conversation with Tom while at Hurleys…..that’s how Tom found out we needed an organist! Hooray!!!!So…… a special thank you to Marie, Tom, Connie, Brian and Ron for all of their music and song. Another special ‘Thank You’ to Larry and Maurine Gehring for doing music throughout the entire year!You are amazing!
Marie and Connie are also our faithful chefs and facilitators of our Parish Dinners! The Christian fun and fellowship is incredible during ours uppers…..and always have some who attend from other churches in our area. Hooray! We have such exquisite chefs in parish and also in the parishes who attend our dinners!Christian fellowship is such a needed and welcome blessing! Our next parish dinner will be on Saturday February 4th at 5:30…..that’s our Italian Dinner!!! Don’t forget our Pancake Supper on February 21st.The donations go to the choir. They use this money to buy their music.
Would anyone like to volunteer to be our Coffee Hour Assignment Minister? The ministry would be calling parishioners to see if they would be willing to provide coffee hour! The goodies can be either cookies and/or crackers & cheese or… You may go for broke and provide a banquet! We have been thinking about putting out a donation dish to help elevate any financial burden incurred. Anyway… the idea is to have joy-filled time to snack and visit with our Christ Church family! Coffee hour is one of our Christian bonding times! And pleeeeeeeez don’t forget the new schedule is on the bulletin board…..sign up!If you need help, please let me know

Marg, Doris and Donna still work diligently on our card ministry. This past year Marg suggested we have a Christmas Card Shower for the Bradford County Manor. Everyone responded and we sent approximately 200 cards to the residents at the Manor. Hooray for Marg and alllllllllllll those who diligently signed the cards. Doris Lewis mails out the memorial acknowledgements devotedly. Also, Marg and her helpers… Ginnie and Barbara do a special ministry of being sure that the altar flowers get to whomever gave them. Many times, if not taken, they are graciously given and then brought to someone who could use an uplifting surprise and/or a bit of encouragement! Thank you to alllllllllll who help with these cards and flower ministries!
Lynn Daly, our flower expert, donates the table cloths and center pieces each and every week, and occasionally donates the Sunday flowers when no one has signed up. Thank you Lynn. Her gift not only adds beauty but is also hard work!!! We all appreciate your efforts Lynn weekly supplies our donated altar flowers too! If you need a special bouquet for any day during the year, please give her a call or visit her at her store…. Baskets Blooms & Beyond, 508 Main Street(free publicity is always good and she deserves it!)
THANK YOU Marg for your work with the Grace Connection. Marg is our parish representative and attends all their meetings. Marg keeps us updated and shares the committee’s needs for the Towanda area. If you would like to help or find out more about this ministry, please speak to Marg.

The Vestry has accomplished another wonderful year of ministry. Our vestries over the 15 years I’ve been rector have been such a blessing. This year has been an extremely active time and a great deal of repairs have been needed on our church building. All of the particulars will be noted in our Junior Warden’s report and Larry Gehring’s too. Being on the vestry is an opportunity to serve God and the parish. It’s demanding and stressful at times but our meetings are normally constructive, positive and productive. We begin each meeting with the Eucharist and a short Bible Study. Everyone is encouraged and expected to give their own personal opinion and/or thoughts on various topics brought forth to the vestry. No one should ever feel that his or her personal opinions are not important and/or valued.

The Vestry is a group of committed parishioners who strive to work together without infighting, hurtful and/or disrespectful comments. We are working towards improving our building, parish family and ourselves. Being a vestry member and/or a warden requires a lot of time, patience, work, interest, energy and commitment. There are many opportunities for ministry in our parish, volunteering to be on the Vestry is one. We have a faithful Vestry; a huge Thank You goes to its present members: Marian Bowker, Larry Gehring, David VanDerlyke, Jimmy Haight, Marguerite Shaner, Debi Weisbrod, Brigette Callear, Blythe Hart and Ginnie Schoonover. Another special task/ministry is our Clerk of the Vestry. A BIG Thank You goes to Ginnie Schoonover who has done our vestry minutes for many years!In truth it takes patience, time and effort!!!Ginnie does a GREAT job! And Thank You Ginnie for taking the minutes of our Annual Parish Meeting today too!
Marshall Dawsey and Lee Baker are our Senior and Junior Wardens, respectively. Marshall has been exceptionally faithful in presiding over all of our Vestry meetings and our meeting today. He has been exceedingly helpful this past year with his ‘Law” expertise too! We are blessed by having him…..and his lawyer skills! Thank you very much! As you read both Marshall’s and Lee’s reports you will realize what a busy year this has been. Thank you for alllll you have done!!!
Larry Gehring is a multi-tasker!He is our Verger, Webmaster, supplemental music Minister and our ‘Assistant’ Junior Warden. He has overseen many projects this past year! His dedication, determination, and willingness have been incredible!!! Larry you are a blessing from God! Hopefully by now….our latest project, the handicapped ramp, is totally finished. Thank you Larry for all you do!
We have so many blessings and not the least of them is Gene Weisbrod…. Our ‘Trusty Treasurer’! Gene is truly remarkable!His work is meticulous and never-ending!We always display the Treasurer’s report, plus all the information from our monthly Vestry meetings on the bulletin board. You can see for yourself that his work is precise and accurate! Thank you Gene!!! (Gene….I mention you twice in my report… and no I’m not looking for another raise! LOL and I’m leaving both in to see if any one reads this far)
Jo Burke has been doing an excellent ministry being the“Kitchen Supply Minister”! Thank You Jo!Jo comes in weekly and takes an inventory of our kitchen supplies. Then she provides Amy with a list of our needs. Amy then puts a notice in our bulletin. Many times parishioners donate the needed kitchen items. Thank you to Jo and those who donate the supplies! This is a very helpful ministry!And it WORKS!!!! Hooray!!!
Next…..Praise the Lord!We have Debi Weisbrod as our Superintendent of our Sunday School. Thank you!!!Debi and Kippy are our Sunday School Teachers and on occasion Blythe Hart and Maurine Gehring volunteer to substitute in their absence!Thank YOU! The Sunday School presented a FABULOUS Christmas Eve play!!!Thank you to the teachers and the children who were willing to work soooooo hard on the play! And thank you to the parents who were faithful in bringing the children!!! YOU did AWESOME! Let’s remember it is everyone’s Christian responsibility to nurture and instruct all of the children in our parish, by our word and example, of the love of our Lord, Jesus Christ. They (and we) have an extremely important ministry given to us from our Lord. (Matthew 19:14-“let the little children come to Me” if the children don’t learn about the Lord and the importance of loving, serving and worshipping Him.... Why would they be interested in coming... it’s up to us to teach by word and our own example) Please consider offering your help to this ministry! (**any** help is welcome)
Another HUGE Thank you goes to Connie Burruss for chairing our stewardship program for 2012, Consecration Sunday. It takes a lot of time and planning and help. Connie had many volunteers…..even her daughter Bethany came in the night before our Consecration Sunday Luncheon to wash all the flatware and plates!Thank you Bethany and Connie. Connie will share her information with you too!
Our Treasurer, Part II We are also blessed by having an OUTSTANDING Treasurer……..who is a Treasure in and of himself!(and yes…..this is the same first line in my report of Gene last year….but it is so true…..he is a Treasure!)Gene Weisbrod does an unbelievable job/ministry. Thank you!!!!!!Gene prints out reports for each vestry meeting, pays the bills, keeps the vestry aware of our financial status and does all his work with great accuracy!Each meeting we post all financial information on our bulletin board. We do an internal audit each year and an external audit every three years as our diocese requires.
The Wonder Group is a WONDER!!! (this is so very true too) They have donated,through the giving of their time, work and monies this past year, the reworking and leathering of the eight doors upstairs in the front section of the nave! They also donated$500 to the church discretionary account. This account is used to help the poor in our area. (i.e.:heating & electric bills, food, medicine, doctor visits, dentist, clothes, school supplies, gasoline and on occasion a night in a local hotel when needed) Their faithfulness not only this past year but for many many years has been a true Christian gift to alllll of God’s children and this congregation. God bless and thank you all!Doris Lewis continues to be our Wonder Group Treasurer and is doing a particularly proficient job!Thank You Doris!(just think….our Wonder Group… The 8th Wonder of the World! I love and admire you all!

 

Even though we are unfortunately running a deficit budget this year I would like to thank allllll who have pledged and or given during this past year and for the year to come. Special thanks to those who have given beyond their pledge to our Kajo Keji project, our food pantry (which has been helpful to the needy), the church’s Discretionary Account, TACO, a special collection for The Grace Connection, the United Thank Offering (see Brian Daly’s report), the Children’s and Youth Services need of cleaning and laundry products, a food drop off box for the Ronald McDonald House, a collection for the Bradford County Humane Society, our Adopt a Family (two families this year) for Christmas project in Advent through The Grace Connection, and our Easter Flower Bouquets for our Shut-ins. Plus allllll the generous donations to the natural disaster victims in our USA and over seas. God doesn’t miss a thing!Remember what Jesus said…… What ever we do to the least of the brethren that we do to Him!!!

 

 Once again, Barbara Sowinski has given our parish a very generous gift. Thank you Barbara for your generosity and all the other ministries you do for our parish and our Lord. Barbara made it possible for our parish to install a handicap ramp. It is almost finished! (maybe it’s done by now!?!)T hank you Barbara! It is lookinggooooooooood! I really like how the side-walls of the ramp truly match our church building!Hooray for Larry Gehring too for all his constant and faithful work on this project!!!!AWESOME!!!!
Thank You’s also go to… our accurate counters as well. The counters, this past year, were: Sharon Brutzman, Connie Burruss, Doris Lewis, Wayne Thomas, Marian Bowker, Jim Vanderpool and Marie Hvezda. Marie additionally schedules the counters and is our pledge recorder. Thank you Marie! If you want envelopes see Marie! And… just so you know………the counters sometimes miss out on coffee hour! Seriously, each person gives their time and talents to accomplish what is needed in our parish. Thank you all!!!
Wayne Thomas is our Unbelievable Usher Captain! He has done a remarkable job scheduling ushers for our church services!!! Scheduling can take an enormous amount of time especially when Wayne needs to leave a message and then call back again. He appreciates all who volunteer. YOU are needed!If you are not confident about trying… just tell Wayne and he will BE SURE you are helped and feeling self-assured! Thank you Wayne! Being an usher is truly an important ministry!!! Ushers greet and welcome all our parishioners and hopefully NEW parishioners!!!Evangelism is needed and being welcoming is what Jesus requires from us!!! Being welcoming and hospitable is a Biblical directive! We also have pamphlets to hand out to visitors and new parishioners. Wayne is resolute but with an attitude of cheerfulness and a bit of evangelism himself!!! He is faithful to our Lord, this parish and each one of us individually! When Wayne calls YOU…. pleeeeeeeeez say YES! …or even better.. YOU COULD CALL HIM!!!! Thank you to Wayne and alllllllllllllll who have ushered!Your phone will now be filled with messages of volunteers to usher!!!
Brian Daly has been our Sexton for several years but we needed to have this position filled with volunteers rather than paid. Thank you tons Brian for all your work in the church building…… but….Brian has also done many other ministries too! He chants the psalms for us during certain church seasons. He does a GREAT job! Thank You In regards to volunteering of cleaning help……we do have a massive building so any extra help will be very welcomed! Thank you Brian for all you do!
www.christchurchtowanda.org is our website! Larry Gehring is our webmaster and updates our site weekly…..if not daily. Larry stays informed with allllll the information that is happening n and around our parish, diocese and world. Then he puts the information online. In a way….I guess it is like an electronic spider web….hmmmm does that mean Larry is our official church Spider-man?!!!!! Thank you Larry! Have you visited our website lately? Do so if you have not visited our site. Oh and by the way…….our website was on the ‘Website of the Month’ on the Diocesan Website!gooooooo Larry our very own Super Hero!
Amy is our Spectacular Parish Secretary. Amy is truly incredible and performs her many and varied tasks commendably. Amy, our SPS, is truly an extremely diligent and caring Christian lady. It is such a delight and an enjoyment to work with her. During the past few years I have never heard an unkind word or thought spoken from her. In fact one of her motto is: “Before you say anything…. think…… and….. if it’s not kind, true or necessary…….don’t say it!” I think Jesus likes THAT ONE!!!! If I were to list all that Amy does, gives and who she is as a daughter of God….it would take another page or two…..and I’m not overemphasizing!!! Thank you Amy for being you! You have my continual praise and appreciation!
Thank you for the honor and privilege once again this year to be your rector. It’s important to remember that all of our God given gifts are given to us for the common good. God knows we need Him and each other! We are to work together for our Lord,Jesus. If YOU are interested in any of the church ministries pleeeeeeeeeeeez let me know!

A Prayer attributed to Saint Francis

Lord, make us instruments of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal life.

With much respect, appreciation and love to each of you,

Maureen Hipple

“The Lord bless you and keep you,
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord left up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26

ANNUAL MEETING REPORT FOR 2011 ex DEACON LARRY HOLMAN

I enjoyed participating in the activities of Christ Church. My absences were from 3 trips: 10 weeks, 3 weeks, and 1 week, leading to:

UPSTAIRS SERVICES:35

DEACON’S MASSES

Tuesday = 1
Sunday = 1
Troy = 2

OTHER SUNDAY PREACHING= 4

BAPTISMS: Assisted at several

VESTRY MEETINGS = 7

AREA CLERGY BIBLE STUDY = 6

TORCH BEARERS, CRUCIFERS, SERVERS & CHALICE BEARERS

Issued 4 quarterly schedules with follow up.
Torch Bearers = Gained one, lost two – need two more.
One more Crucifer would be good.
Scheduled 1 Torch Bearer in July & August:worked OK

CONGREGATIONAL RENEWAL ASSEMBLY MEETINGS

Attended 2 (Sayre & Towanda) plus pre-meeting with Rev. Caesaretti

DIOCESE

Clergy Day meetings = 2-day retreat
Convention @ Cathedral
Attended Clergy-Spouse meeting

TUNKHANNOCK

St. Peter’s new church consecration: Sharon, I, & Marie H. represented Christ Church.

PUERTO RICO

Presided at 5 Morning Prayer Services (preached at 3)

Usher Captain Report for 2011

We had Ushers for every service. The Meeters and Greeters are the most important part of every service, after the Clergy.

The following people were happy and smiling Greeters for this past year: Greg & Cindy Williams family; Fran & Bruce Hoffman family; Hilary & Jim Haight; Beth & Jon Schulze family; Bill & Marian Bowker; Art & Fred Johnson; Sharon Brutzman; Blythe & Dominick Hart; Jo Burke; Brigette Callear; John & Lynn Daly; John & Sue Schoonover family; Kippy & Mark Vail family; Lee Baker; Marg & Ken Shaner; Jon Rineer; Lou Phillipi; Marie & Ron Hvezda; Trudy Bull; Barbara Sowinski; Marshall Dawsey and family.

Thanks for everyone that worked this year. Your help is greatly appreciated.

With Lots of Love and Appreciation:
| Respectfully Submitted,
Wayne Thomas

2011 Junior Warden’s Report

CHURCH BUILDING

FURNACE

NAVE

ROOF

GENERAL