After a unanimous  vote during Sunday’s meeting Jason Abbott was confirmed as Community’s Senior Pastor and full-time pastor/elder. There is no timeline for transition yet as it is  unsure how quickly he can sell his house.  As summer draws closer there should be a better idea.  As soon as there is definitive information it will be sent to the congregation, as appropriately needed.

Please be in prayer for Jason and his family:
• For the family as they prepare to move
° Their house to sell quickly
° As they pack their house
° Jason and Natalie as they manage the family/house/kids during this stressful time
• Jason as he finishes well at Grace Evangelical Free Church
• Jason, Mike and Jon as they work out the details of transiting during the summer

Jason Abbott, the pastoral candidate that the elders and search committee have asked to come and candidate will be here May 1st through May 7th. During that time, there will a variety of opportunities for him to interact with the congregation. Provided below is the schedule that has been put together along with the details about each of the events.

Wednesday May 2nd 11:00am-1:30pm – Bring a packed lunch and join other Moms and kids as they spend time fellowshipping with Natalie, Josiah and Esther Abbott at Thomas B. George, Jr. Park/Possibility Place. In the event of bad weather, this event will be moved to Thursday at the same time. Feel free to come and go as needed.

Contact Megan Spinney if you have any questions. Email: jon.megan.spinney@gmail.com

Wednesday May 2nd 6:30pm-8:30pm – Jason will be visiting the youth programs (Boys Brigade, GEMMS, and the youth group).

Thursday May 3rd 6:00pm-8:00pm – The church softball team will be playing Hershey Evangelical Free Church at Campbelltown United Methodist Church softball field. Come out and support our softball team as well as get a chance to visit with the Abbotts. The Campbelltown United Methodist church is on Route 322, just past the Londonberry Inn and is on your right as you are heading east. The field is located behind the church.

Check with Mike Grenier or Zach Border for any questions about this event. Email: mg1198@gmail.com or zacharyborder@gmail.com

Thursday May 3rd 8:30pm-whenever – The Man ‘Meat’ing. Bring meat. Bring a drink. Do not bring veggies, fruit, or carbs. Enjoy roasting the meat as we fellowship as men with Jason. The ‘meat’ing takes place in the Elders’ back yard at 173 Steeple Chase Lane, Harrisburg.

For questions, check with Scott Elder. Cell: 717-395-5355

Friday May 4th 7:00pm-9:00pm – There will be an ice cream social in the Fellowship Hall of the church building. Come out and create your own ice cream creation and spend some time visiting with the Abbotts.

Please RSVP to Jon Spinney so we make sure there is enough ice cream for everyone. jonathan.spinney@gmail.com

Saturday May 5th 9:00am-10:30am – Monthly Men’s Breakfast. Jason will be joining the monthly Men’s breakfast in the Fellowship Hall at church.

For questions or to help prepare, check in with Joel Medvidovich. Email: joel.med@live.com

Saturday May 5th 1:00pm-3:00pm – There will be an Open House to meet the Abbotts. If the weather is nice, we will be having it at the Gessweins house at 429 Woodruff Way, Harrisburg. In the event of bad weather, we will have it in the Fellowship hall at church.

For further details or questions, please contact Patti Gesswein. Email: rpgesswein@gmail.com

Sunday May 6th 10:15am – Come out and enjoy the worship service as Jason shares from God’s Word and continues the series on the Gospel of Mark. Following the service we will have time to fellowship at a congregational meal. An email with those details will be sent on Friday. Following the meal, we will have a congregational meeting to formally ask Jason questions. After the questions have been asked, Jason will step out of the meeting and we will discuss calling him as a pastor and vote as a congregation.

• The Elders and the Search Committee have asked Jason Abbott and his family to come and candidate for the Pastoral position at Community. They will be here during the week leading up to May 6th and there will be opportunities to get to know him. To learn more about Jason check out his bio.
• On May 6th, we will have a congregational meal, followed by a congregational meeting. Please contact Ann Snyder or Shelby Stauffer to sign up for the meal.
• Remmy Hamapande, Africa/Zambia Director for Forgotten Voices International is visiting the US during the month of April and has agreed to speak at Community Evangelical Free Church of Harrisburg on Wednesday, April 25th from 6:30-8pm. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear from Remmy as he speaks to how the gospel has affected powerful change in his life and the local church in Zambia, especially in regards to the care of widows and children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic. There will be a time of Q/A as well, following his talk.
• There are 4 applicants for Membership. Luke Johnson, Faith Anderson, and Rachel and Wells Gage.

Brief ministry bio:

Francis Schaeffer reportedly used to say that if he only had one hour to spend with someone, he would spend 55 minutes asking questions and 5 minutes trying to say something that would speak into the person’s situation once he understood a little more about what was going on in that particular individual’s heart and mind. Jason’s prayer and passion is that this philosophy will characterize his ministry. He is excited about building caring and lasting relationships in the church and believes that God is pleased to use such relationships to sanctify his people and to reach the lost.

Jason grew up in the church but wasn’t saved until college. He attended the University of Missouri, Columbia (B.S. Ed. ’97, M. Ed. ’99) and met his wife, Natalie, while there. They were married in November of 1999 and settled in Jefferson City, Missouri where Jason began teaching high school English. Both Natalie and Jason had attended an Evangelical Free Church while in college so, when they left Columbia, they were excited to find an Evangelical Free congregation in Jefferson City. For the next two years they attended Grace EFC.

During that time, Jason began to discern a call to seek more formalized theological training; consequently, in the fall of 2001 Natalie and Jason moved to Chicago to attend Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Over the next two years, Jason completed a Master of Arts in Religion degree and began to prayerfully consider the ways God might use his theological training in lay or possibly fulltime ministry. Natalie and Jason thus moved back to Jefferson City and began looking for teaching positions but prayed that if God would call them into fulltime ministry that he would make that calling abundantly clear. Over the next few months, God was pleased to do just that. Without seeking ministry positions, Jason was approached by his home church and asked to consider coming on staff as an associate pastor. He and Natalie prayerfully and joyfully decided to accept that call.

It is now approaching nine years since Jason joined Grace’s staff, and God has richly blessed that time. There has been much learning and growth in ministry practice; there have been a number of family additions (four rug-rats to be precise: Josiah 7, Esther 5, Miriam 3, and Ezra 1); there has been further formalized education (graduation from Covenant Theological Seminary’s D. Min. program anticipated May ’13); and, there has been a blessed affirmation of God’s call to pastoral ministry. Consequently, Jason and Natalie are both humbled and excited to discern and pursue God’s gracious plan for their family’s future ministry.

God has provided many resources for parents, youth workers and adults to find helpful information and blogs pertaining to the seemingly impossible task of raising our children to become Godly men and women. Two of our favorites is CPYU’s Digital Kids Initiative and Center for Parent and Youth Understanding. CPYU’s goal is helping parents better understanding the culture children, tweens, and teens face. This site and newsletter offer information about books, movies, music, the internet and the effects they have on our children and youth. Learn how to diffuse the effects of the culture and speak God’s love into the lives of our children and youth.

Digital Kids Initiative
Center for Parent and Youth Understanding

Any questions about this site and newsletter can be directed to Blain Buck – Director of Youth Ministries: bbuck@communityfreechurch.org

Ladies’ Book Study: A new ladies book study has started using the book “The Weight of Your Words” at the home of Jane DelSordo. If you are interested in learning more about this study please contact Jane at jsdelsordo@comcast.net or 717-579-3517.

Ladies’ Bible Study: A Beth Moore study on the book of Daniel has begun. It meets every other Monday and will continue until May 14. During the summer there will be monthly times of fellowship with the “Daniel” study resuming in the fall. If you would like to join the group please contact Carolina Harvey at lcharvey4@verizon.net or 717-564-3506.

This summer starting Wednesday June 13, we will be partnering with Vida Life Church (Formerly Vida Nueva) each Wednesday evening throughout the summer for an activity called Ignition.  This activity is designed for all ages to attend.  We are asking God to ignite in each of us a passion to share the good news of what He has done in each of us with our surrounding neighborhood and the city of Harrisburg.

The evening would go as follows:

 4:30pm                                 Meet at the church building at 4501 Franklin St.

4:30pm – 6:00pm           Outreach to our neighbors/city

6:00pm – 7:00pm           Fellowship dinner (BYODinner – occasional prepared meal)

7:00pm – 7:30pm           Worship celebration

7:30pm – 8:00pm           Bible study/devotional

Outreach will vary from playing with kids to visiting families we have made contact with.  The worship team will consist of anyone, either youth or adult who is willing and able to lead in a Christ like manner.  If you are interested in being a part of the worship team regardless of commitment availability, please contact:

myself, (Blain Buck)  -  bbuck@communityfreechurch.org

or Pastor Christian of Vida Life – pastorchristian7@gmail.com

Please join us in prayer as we anticipate what God will do both in and through us.

Church Family:

We are in need of several “clickers” to be put on a rotating schedule for Sunday mornings. The responsibility would involve clicking through the music during Sunday services as well as being there for practice with the team (8am Sunday morning). We are in need of several people so that we can create a rotating schedule so that folks will not have to be on more than once or twice a month. The “clickers” would be under the worship team and sound team working directly with Susan Elder and Dave Barreca. Anyone interested in helping should speak to or email Susan Elder at sedler@comcast.net or Dave Barreca at davidbarreca@hotmail.com.

This is a little known, but extremely important part of Sunday mornings because it allows worship to go smoothly.  Thanks for your help!

Spring is in the air and that means another softball season is beginning!

Signups for the 2012 church softball season are now open – we are looking forward to another great year of friendship and community-building, enjoying the beautiful spring weather, and softball.  Please make sure to either sign up in the lobby or let Mike Grenier (mg1198@gmail.com), or Zach Border (zacaryborder@gmail.com) know of your interest.  Anyone 14 years and older is eligible to play.  We enjoy some friendly competition, but the emphasis is on spending time together as a church family and having a good time, so anyone and everyone is welcome regardless of skill level!  Some of our brothers and sisters from Vida Nueva will also be joining the team- so it will also be a great opportunity for us to spend time together.

In addition, we are looking for an additional coach this year (since Mike will not be coaching due to lack of availability) – please let us know if you have some softball experience and would be interested in helping out.

The deadline for Signups is Sunday March 25 and the fee to signup is $25 if you need a new team t-shirt and $15 if you do not.  There will be a signup table in the lobby over the next 2 weeks.

There will be approximately 18 games running from early May to late July, with a couple optional practices in April.  No need to attend every game to participate!

Scott Elder is hosting a Man Meating this Tuesday, March 13 at 8:30pm. Scott will provide the fire (plenty of it) and you provide the meat. This is a BYOM (Bring Your Own Meat) event.

Scott’s address is 173 Steeple Chase Lane, 17112.
Meat and fire, fire and meat…what could be more delightful?

Contact: Zach Border (610-400-5108) and Joel Medvidovich (717-580-8632)