An Unfinished Drama?

While the Bible is a large and varied book, it tells a single, grand

narrative: the story of our loving God who redeems and restores

the sin-shattered world through the self-giving and sacrificial life,

death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. In Christ, God re-

claims and renews the world, defeating the powers of sin and evil,

and inaugurating the new age, the new creation, the new life. (If

you missed the previous installments of the story of scripture, take

a look at the Feb.-June PresbyNews.) Where does that leave us?

Act 5: The Sent People

In Acts 1:1, Luke writes, “In the first book [The Gospel of Luke], I

wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach,” with the clear

implication that Jesus is still doing and teaching! Indeed, the story

we find in Acts and the letters of the New Testament, shows us

that Jesus, having won the victory over sin and death, is even now

working to erase their effects on his world.

How is this possible? How does

this work? Acts 1:6-11 records

Jesus’ ascension into heaven, and

in John 14:15-31 Jesus promises

that after he ascends to heaven,

God will send the Holy Spirit who

connects us so directly to Jesus

that Jesus can say “I am going

away, and I am coming to

you” (John 14:28).

Jesus physically left the disciples, but then came to them in the

power of the Holy Spirit so that through them Jesus continues to

work in the world (see Acts 2).

And that’s where we fit in! The scriptures teach that we live in

the in-between times. Jesus has won the decisive victory through

his death and resurrection, but the powers of evil are still active.

We look forward to the day when Christ will return and finally set

all things right, but, until then, he works through us to carry out

his mission.

To better understand the ‘in-between time’ that we live in,

imagine ‘evil’ as a snake. In his death and resurrection, Jesus cut

off the head, but, as often happens, the body

continues to thrash around for a bit. Likewise, Jesus’

final victory is already assured, but he’s empowering

us to work against evil’s lingering effects.

Over the next few months we’ll take a peek at what it

looks like when we allow Christ to work through us

to restore his creation.

Pastor Andrew

Issue # 7

July 2012

Member Highlights

Darel & Barb Peterson

Darel was born in Huron to Elwood and Luverne Peterson. He graduated from Tulare High School and Huron College. He has an older sister, Darla (Doug) Roeber in Tennessee and a younger brother Dale, who died in 1958. Darel taught school and coached in Conde for three years before moving to Huron in 1976 where he taught and coached until 2006 when he re-tired. He is currently the manager of the Huron Area Education Federal Credit Union where he has worked part time since 1987. Barb was born to Carl and Tressa Bonesteel in Huron. She had a brother Craig who died at age 19. Barb graduated from Huron High School and attended Huron College majoring in PE and Art. She served as an aid in Wilson, McKinley and Jeffer-son Schools before taking the position as Secretary at Jeffer-son. She is in her 36

th year there and loves it because every

day is different and there is never a dull moment. Darel and Barb were married in First Church in Huron in 1972 and recently celebrated their 40

th anniversary. They have

three children. The oldest, Cherine and her husband (Eric) Smith are currently living in Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, Canada and work for Associated Mining Construction but will soon be relocating to the Salt Lake City area. They have lived in Mon-tana and Indonesia as well. Darel and Barb have two sons. Cris lives in Huron and works for Muth Electric.

He and his wife, Jamie, who works for Dakotaland Federal Credit Union, have a daughter, Jayda, age five. Chaun and wife Nickie live in Mina SD and he works for Midcontinent Com-munications and Nikie works for the Ophthalmology Associates in Aberdeen. They have a son, Cully, 16 months old. From Sept. to May, Darel and Cris travel to Aberdeen once a week to sing, along with Chaun, in the Aberdeen Area Men’s Chorus. They do some singing in the local area and have a Spring Concert in May. This year they also participated in the SDSU Festival of Male Voices. He enjoys hunting, fishing and tinkering with older cars of which he has a small collection: a 1950 Ford, a 1973 Corvette and a 1929 International truck that his dad used to ride in to American Legion baseball games. He is involved with Chaun’s race car when he races in Aberdeen and Huron. Barb, who likes to bake and make cards, also enjoys taking care of Jadya once a week and Cully when she gets a chance. She has made seven or eight banners for our church including Christmas, Easter and the current white one with a butterfly on it. She also helped the kids paint the murals in the church nurs-ery and hand printed walls. She makes backdrops for plays as well. Both Barb and Darel have sung in the choir for over 30 years, have been Elders and Deacons and taught Sunday School. Darel has been Youth Club Activity Director and Barb has taught Youth Club crafts. Darel is curently the Treasurer for First Church.

Celebrations & Congratulations

May & June Birthdays: Cherry Amick 84, Elizabeth Freeman 95, Victory Dracy 82, Bob Olson 89, Bob Mueller 88, Howard Clark 83, June Larsen 89, Oliver Nicholas 94 and Jean Ann Beach 89 Anniversaries: LeRoy & Judy Neuharth’s 56

th, Merle & Rox-

anne Veenhof’s 41st , Randy & Adele Jacobson’s 41

st , Darel &

Barb Peterson’s 40th , Wendell & Shirley Duxbury’s 54

th Oliver

& LaVonne Nicholas’ 70th , Laurrell & Marilyn Rogers’ 66

th , Jim

& Jo Long’s 62nd

, Mike & Judy Stahly’s 46th .

Weddings: Derek Wipf & Kimberly Eggleston

To: Paul Ford and family on the death of his mother, Darlene Ford. Stan and Duane Kopfmann families on the death of their father, Floyd Kopfmann

PRAYER LIST Members

Anonymous Sue Gose Keri Brede Linda Marcus Sally Meyer Bob Mueller Alan Schmidt Beverly Hook Phyllis Lemke Sue Gose Pace Clayton (in Afghanistan) Baby Alex (son of Tiffany Lawrence and Adam Atkins.)

Friends & family

Stephanie Beigh (granddaughter of Betty McBride and Charles & Shirley

Katz)

David Bryan (Alan Schmidt’s brother in law)

Orville Brugger (LaVonne Nicholas’ brother) Scott Brugger (LaVonne Nicholas’ nephew)

Virgil Brugger (LaVonne Nicholas’ brother)

Carolyn Carathers (Ken Shoultz’s sister)

Larry Claypool (Renea Katz’s father)

Brett Dody (Jamie Peterson’s cousin)

Lois Duxbury (Jack Duxbury’s mother)

Leslie Gamber (Marlene Gamber’s brother-in-law)

Ron Gogolin Seth Hastings (son of Brady V and grandson of Ron and Sharon Hast-

ings)

Gladys Hrdlicka (Donna Meiers’ mother)

Mary Louise & Leslie Jensen

(Brenda Schmidt’s parents)

P.F.C. Andrew Keith Braxton Klein, (Great grandson of Cobbie & Vi Magness/Becki’s daugh-

ter’s son)

Nita Kirkham (Steve Peters’ Step Sister)

Doretta Nelson (sister of Berneice Muilenberg)

Charlotte Mangan (sister of Oliver Nicholas)

Idel McDonald

Donna Hulst (friend of Sandy Fisher) Angel Pietz (Cheryl Davidson’s great niece) Harvey Pietz (Milo Pietz’s cousin) Ron Portner (Alan Schmidt’s cousin) Berniece“Schamp”Lowenberg (Keri Brede’s Grandmother)

Phyliss Schmidt (Alan Schmidt’s mother) Karen Winson (friend of Marlene Gamber) Joe Wolf, (JoLynne Parmely’s brother –in-law)

Others First Presbyterian PNC

(Pastor Nominating Committee)

Military Personnel Pace Clayton (in Afghanistan)

President Obama, Government Officials Prison Inmates

Assisted Living, Nursing Homes & Home bound

CountryView Estates: Evelyn Williams. SunQuest Village: Kathleen Amundson, Mary Haley, Harlow & June Larsen, Eva Vilhauer. Country Side Living, Mitchell: Don & Korlas Winter. StoneyBrook Suites: Viola Hins, Gertrude Troth, Harriet Turnwall. SunQuest Healthcare Center: Maxie Cook, Les Erdahl, Bernice Hermanson, Emma Timothy. Out-of-Town Nursing Homes: Jean Ann Beach, Florence Reimers, Ella Hanson, Ann Thomkins, Jill Baker. Home Bound: Mahalia Connell and Leah Ochsner.

CENTS ABILITY UPDATE…

Holy Buckets Penny Offering June3, 2012 $276.74

Total for year 2012: $1931.24

Do something special for your July Birthday by donating a penny for each year of your age to the PW’s Birthday Box in the east room. You will be helping to fund our mission pro-jects. Have a special happy birthday.

SESSION HIGHLIGHTS

Sunday School Worship Date # Date # Date # Date # ……………………………06/05/11-148 06/03/12-125 …………………………...06/12/11-127 06/10/12-124 ……………………………06/19/11-125 06/17/12-117 ……………………………06/26/11-120 06/24/12-100

PNC Report The PNC has approval from the Session for the Church In-formation Form (CIF) and submitted it to the Presbytery Committee on Ministry (COM) for review.

CAPITAL EXPENDITURES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Master Roof Innovations of George Iowa has begun the work to replace the outside mate-rial of the dome. Tempered glass and a louvered vent will replace the currently boarded up window sections. Copper will be replacing the tin. The ceil-ing stained glass in the sanctuary will once again have natural back light

The Sound and Video Committee has con-tracted Mid States Audio and Video to install the Sound & Video systems, including a hard of hear-ing module. The church will purchase a number of hearing packs with ear buds or individuals may purchase their own.

Contributions may be made to one or both of these projects by indicating for roof and/or sound.

CAKE PROVIDERS AND WORKERS July 2012 FUNERALS

Dennis & Kathy Meyer, Hugh & Lee Ann Miner, Jill Minske,

Walter (Bob) & Peggy Mueller, Karen Mueller, Berneice Muilenburg,

Stephanie Myers, Pat Nagel, Larry & Keitha Neuharth, Mark & Cinthia

Neuharth, Madelyn Nickelson, Oliver & LaVonne Nicholas, Earl

Nordby Elder of the Month: Nursery Schedule Dave Armstrong July 1 Becky Eichstadt Deacon of the Month: July 8 Gina Griffith Sandy Fisher July 15 Alissa Crandall

July 15 Alissa Crandall July 22 Kahlie/Lexi Eckmann July 29 Emily Arteman

We’ve got mail Thank you so much for believing in me and awarding me this scholarship! I am truly Grateful! Sara Daugherty

Volunteers for Prayer Chain #1 Harriet Turnwall 353-1750 Greg and Donna Hepper 352-3621 Cobbie and Vi Magness 352-5377 or 8759 Oliver and LaVonne Nicholas 352-7957 Sue Gose 352-8104 Betty Freeman 352-1447

Volunteers for Prayer Chain #2 Frances Langbehn 352-4079 Thelma Peterson 352-4343 Bev Erdahl 352-4746 Marlene Gamber 352-5219 Cam and Melba Galliger 352-4928 Mona Kotas 352-9517 Brad Magness 352-9545

If you would like to be on one of our prayer chains, please call the church office

VBS, Day-Camp 2012 Children 3 years through 6th grade attended VBS and

Day-Camp June 3rd—7th with American Lutheran First Presbyterian and

Our Saviors Lutheran. VBS was held at First Presbyterian and Day-Camp at

Our Saviors. Thank you teachers, helpers, leaders

and those of you who provided food and materials.

VBS Day-Camp

2012 Snack Time

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

Men’s Prayer Break

fast - Plains

8:00

Holy Buckets

Worship 9:30

2 3 4

July 4th

Office Closed

Jim Pownell 87

5 6

HRCC Bible Study

1:30

7

8

Worship 9:30

Larry & Keitha

Neuharth’s 45th

9

Fern Armstrong 86

Janis Andol gone 9-25

10

No Session

Dwayne & LaVon

Poulisse’s 41st

11 12 13

HRCC Bible Study

1:30

14

Hugh & LeAnn

Miner ‘s 45th

Jim & Ada

Pownell‘s 62nd

15

Men’s Prayer Break

fast - Plains 8:00

Worship 9:30

Maxine Paye 84

16 17 18 19 20

HRCC Bible Study

1:30

21

22

Worship 9:30

23

Ed & Deannie

LeRoux’s 63rd

24 25 26 27

HRCC Bible Study

1:30

Betty Decker 80

28

29

Worship 9:30

30 31

Allen & Jeannie

Sager’s 46th

July 2012