Happy New Year 2011

 This past year has been a year of great change and growth for all of us at Riveroaks. If you look back at all that we have been through it is comforting to see that God has been with us and has kept us just as He  promised that He would. His faithful presence can be seen through the peace that passes all understanding that has been provided to Emma Neal in the loss of her beloved husband and I praise God. Our Lord was in the midst of a turbulent journey involving the Fearnow family  where despite  heartache there was the joy of a marriage, the excitement of a graduation and Down Under adventure, along with the pains of  moving. Through all of this Beth has exhibited a great dependence upon the Lord and shown us God's  faithfulness in the midst of  uncertainty and this has been nothing less than extraordinary. I praise God for this.
We heard  the voice of Isaiah as Billy taught us and it was hard to hear  how really sinful we all are but then Billy brilliantly pointed us to the beautiful connection of Chapter's 34 and 35 which speak of our great sin and greater blessing. What a comfort when we walk through the waters to remember our Redeemer lives and He is continually faithful.

  When we think of the monumental task taken on by the leadership of the church and  see the community groups starting up and the shepherding groups become more effective, and the change in heart that our church has experienced; It is amazing to see the work of the Lord here at Riveroaks and I praise God

The women of the church have been blessed this past year as well. We have seen the development of a strong nursery committee who have implemented changes to  provide a clean, safe, effective place for our children to be nurtured in the way of the Lord and for this I praise God

We have been blessed by the continuation of our Woman to Woman series were women have opened their lives and allowed us to share in the journey that God has given them and shown us His faithfulness to them and for this I praise God.

 We have loved and served each other and the church as a whole during the loss of family members, the joy of weddings and the blessings of births. We have watched women live out their faith with a servants heart. Jeanne Keeton organized an army of volunteers to help the Fearnow family close a whole chapter in their lives and helped prepare and nurture them on to what God has for them and for this I praise God.

2011 will bring more challenges and blessings (which are not mutually exclusive) and there is already much underway. We will have our first woman to woman on Friday 1/14. This is a change of the usual week night.  We are not having a women's winter retreat due to the Regional Women's Conference that we are hosting March 25th and 26th however; we need some time to bond. A Friday night of sharing and then of fellowship has been planned. This is one you will not want to miss. The topic is of a sensitive nature but one that affects us all. Then for those who can stay later we will have some fun fellowship. Wear your "comfy clothes".

As previously mentioned a Regional Conference is scheduled for March 25th and 26th. Save the date announcements have been mailed out with the hope that this conference will be a ministry for churches that are unable to provide this type of teaching and fellowship for their congregations. It will give us an opportunity to meet and grow to love other christian women in our presbytery. The speaker is Melanie Cogdill who is an editor for the Christian Research Institute. She lives in Charlotte North Carolina and is a leadership trainer for the PCA. She plans on teaching how we can lead Godly lives in the midst of all the hedonistic cultural changes that have taken place; "Girls Gone Wild". Teri Scott and myself have been working on this since last February and have asked Catherine Zampini to spear head the logistic. I know she will need help so I hope you will be willing to be a part of this ministry.

We will finish out the spring with more women to women evenings and a luncheon where next years   women's leadership will be announced. This will give  time over the summer to plan out the next years events. And don't worry, we have booked Pinecrest for January 2012.

I hope that this look at the faithfulness of God as He works in and among us will give you the desire to be a part of this ministry.  We are looking for women to step up to positions of service in the year to come and yes that is what this is SERVICE.

Please join me for a meeting next Wednesday 1/12 at 5:30 pm in the parlor( grab your dinner and bring it along) where we can look more specifically at the coming events and plan for the next years leadership. This meeting is open to all women who are now serving and for any who would like to come and be a part of this ministry. 

Blessed beyond measure,
Nancy Appling
550-4633

Counting your blessings

Dear Sisters in Christ,
 It is the week before Thanksgiving and I can hardly believe that the year has gone by so fast and the holidays are upon us. This is my favorite time of year. I love to come together with family and friends and to share in the blessings that have been poured out on us. If you have never experienced the Wednesday night service before Thanksgiving then you have missed a beautiful worship experience. This is a time where families share publicly in the many ways that God has worked and blessed them.

One of the great blessings for me during this year has been the time I have spent with the women of Riveroaks.  There is a wealth of richness here.  The testimonies shared at the woman to woman evenings have blessed me, studying the word of God with each other, working on committees and watching women come together bound by a love for Jesus, celebrating together the formation of new families and the joy of childbirth, supporting each other in times of great suffering or grief while resting in the sovereign love of God. This is the reason that Christ came to earth. This is the Church that Christ gave His life for. This is God at work in and through his people. What a blessing to witness this. What a greater blessing to know that God continues to build his kingdom and that we are allowed to be a part of it. Glory to God!

As we head into the Christmas season I hope we can come together and share a brief time with each other in celebration of this blessing. A Christmas brunch is planned for Saturday December 4th at the home of Sandy Smith.  I hope that each of you will plan on being there. We will have an ornment exchange.Please bring one ornament, it can be old,new, handmade or whatever you would like.  These ornaments will serve as a physical reminder of the great gift that we have been given in Christ and in His church.

Blessed beyond measure,
Nancy

Dear Sisters in Christ,
 This fall is promising to be HOT! I am not talking about the weather.I am talking about the changes at RRPC. There is much afoot at RRPC with all the new ideas and plans that are coming out of the strategic planning process and I hope that you are right in the middle of them.
The leadership council for the women's ministries is working hard to help make sure that the 2010-2011 calendar year is in line with the new initiatives. Here are just a couple of things that are coming your way.

A brochure has been developed which will outline all the major ministries and opportunities available to women at RRPC. They will be placed thru-out the church and can be used as an outreach tool. Look for them soon.

We are initiating a new professional women's book club/study. Our first book will be "A Perfect Mess" by Lisa Harper. This is a perfect book to start with.  This group will meet  in September after labor day. There will be more information sent out about the first meeting at which the group will decide where and how often to meet.  The books are available so let me or Lauren Vannuci know if you want to participate and we will get the book to you. Anyone is welcome to attend but the focus is to try and minister to our women who work outside of the home.
We have also been working on a regional conference retreat. We see this as a ministry to all the women of small churches in our presbytery who are unable to coordinate this type of event. This event is tentatively set for March 25th-26th. The speaker is Melanie Cogdill who is an editor for the Christian Research Journal a publication from the Christian Research Institute. She is a trained speaker for the leadership training from the National PCA Christian Education and Publication Committee who oversee all of the women's ministries.

 The book of John, a study by Kathleen Nielson, has been selected for this years Tuesday morning Bible Study. Ms. Nielson is one of my favorite Bible Study authors and was also a speaker at a previous RRPC women's retreat. I have also heard that Barbara Brownlee and Martha Williams do an excellent job at leading this bible study. I am jealous of those who can attend.  I know you will really enjoy and learn much in this study. There is a bible study time for the pre-school children of those who attend.

We are continuing our Woman to Woman dinners with 2 planned for the fall and 2 for the spring.
We are also going to have a Christmas Brunch/Ornament exchange. This is scheduled for Saturday December the 4th.  I love looking at my Christmas tree each year with all the ornaments from dear friends at RRPC. I have some from children that were in the choir when I directed the children's Choir. I have them from mission trips that I participated in. They all bring back great memories of the faithfulness of God as I see those children now grown and living to serve the Lord. We will wrap up the year next spring with a luncheon the last Saturday in April.

Deborah Newsom has agreed to chair a committee to promote outreach. She will serve as a liaison to
those who are involved in ministries outside of Riveroaks.  This will provide an avenue for your endeavors for support and assistance as needed.

Our Mercy committee has piloted the use of the "take them a meal" website for user friendly organization of meals for families. It has been well received and hopefully we will continue to use this as an effective method of providing for our families in need.

Care Groups are continuing to be a major force at RRPC for the intimate fellowship that we all desire. I can
not encourage you enough to treat yourself and join if you have not already done so. Contact Gwen Hannah if you need more information.

A directory of the women of the church along with their areas of ministry and talents will be placed on the new website. This is due largely to the work of Clare Jones. This will hopefully promote mentoring and give us access to those who are equipped to provide us with help in time of need.  It will be a protected page that you will need to gain access via a password but the directions are provided on the new website.

Our housework includes a major endeavor to look at some of the policies in regards to our nursery. The deacons are working to make the lay out of the nursery safe and we are working to create policies to provide for a healthy, fun place for our covenant children. You should see a request soon for more volunteers to help in the nursery.

As you can see there is a lot going on this year and it is fun and exciting to see the Lord move in and among his people We are hoping that you will all use the website to keep informed of all the new and not so new things comming your way.  Let me know if there is any way that I can be of service to any of you or if you see a need that the women of the church need to address.

With a great love for you all in Christ,
Nancy

Bon Appetite

This past weekend the spiritual food that I was fed has been incredible. I was so glad to hear Nate say that we are going to have another chance to "partake of the feast" that we heard. There was  a veritable banquet. It will be wonderful to discuss all the different courses!  There was one statement that Paul Tripp made that caught my attention and has not let me go. He stated, "the gospel allows us to be honest." That statement is what we have been striving for in our woman to woman series. We should feel  free to share our troubles and burdens because we are surrounded and protected by the amazing love and grace of Christ. I pray that we can provide a safe haven where we as sisters in Christ can be lovingly honest with each other. Where our relationships can go deeper than just the surface of," I"m fine!"  There are so many ways that we need to love and support each other that can only be done in the freedom of Christ. We all need that freedom, we all need that love, we all need that support.

Then for desert along comes the sermon Sunday morning with the wonderful passage from Ephesians 3 that beautifullly expresses the exact same love. Billy was preaching about  heaven on earth, here and now and in our homes and you will see at the end of the passage ,"To him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work in us, to Him be glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever, Amen"
Ladies that is us,  we are the ones who have his power working in us so that we can bring glory to Christ,we are one of the generations! I pray that the love we have for Christ and for one another will grow and mature so that we may be a beautiful reflection of heaven.

I am amazed by the wonderful teaching that is so readily available to us. Thank you to everyone who made this past weekend a reality. I plan to make  reservations to partake of  the next meal.  I hope you will too for I know you will not be disappointed.
Bon Appetite

What did you expect?

I expected an adoring husband who doted on me and met my every need and who would never upset me because we were so in love. I dreamed of a beautiful home where I could entertain and everyone who entered would be impressed with my decorating, cooking,  cleanliness and organization.
I imagined beautiful children( which I did get) who were always obedient and who would  excell at all they did. I wanted the big worldly package.
As my Dad warned me, "don't look at marriage thru rose colored glasses."
Well,.....I had on Elton John sized rose colored glasses.
I am so looking forward to the Conference on Marriage. I still have so much to learn after 34 years of marriage. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.........I hope to see you there.

We really had a good time last night. The 8 senior girls decorated thier tables and they were so fun. It was great getting to spend time with these young ladies. Dinner was great and I want to thank everyone who brought food and those who offered. We had more than enough! I learned you don't need as much salad.
The best nourishment that we had  was listening to Ada share what the Lord has taught her in her years working on the college campus. She was refreshing and real and the girls and parents were able to ask her questions about challenges ahead. She talked about remembering the Lord's great faithfullness and how he is mighty and able to take care of us. We need  not fret but truely trust and remember the great works of God and His ability to even part the waters. She stressed that those waters were parted for us. They were parted to bring Christ to earth for us.This should give us a great peace.
Next She focused on the future. We need to remember that we are to be purposeful in all we do. We are to
keep a kingdom perspective. This is freeing as we can love those whom we meet and rest in the fact that we belong to Jesus and he is the source of our fullfillment, not our friends,boyfriends, sororities, or posessions.


I am sorry if you did not get to come be with us but I hope that this very brief synopsis gives you and idea of what we were able to experience. I would love to hear from others what you took away from this time.

Tonight is the night!

Tonight we will have the pleasure of hearing from one of our own former members who is now working along side her husband on the campus of the University of Alabama for RUF. Ada Moore is comming to share with us her experiences as she has worked with college students for the past 8 years.  I hope that you will come and join us even if you did not RSVP. We are having a great home cooked meal. (This is the menu that my Mom would always prepare for me whenever I came home and I would prepare this for Ada when she came home from college.)
This is an exciting but somewhat frightning time for our children and for thier parents. There are new challenges with out the  presence of  parents or  church family. I hope this evening will help prepare our college students and us as parents just a little bit.I also hope we can discuss how we as a church body can continue to support these students and families and how can we  be a church to students that need a church body. Ada wants this to be an interactive conversation so come with any questions or concerns that you want to discuss. I am excited to be with you all.
God is good,
Nancy

Welcome to Woman to Woman

This is the first of what I hope will be many stimulating conversations via this form of social networking.
I hope to use this format to initiate dialog. The next Woman to Woman will be about preparing our daughters as they leave for college. This is not only for women who have daughters but for all of us as a body of believers. We have promised to help nurture these covenant children and here is an opportunity for you to fulfill that promise. Please come and enjoy a good home cooked meal and great fellowship.  I look forward to a great discussion. Hope to see you soon on the blog!