First Time Visitors – (1/18) Paula Heisler of Garrettsville (2/1) Steve Bruce and Sandy Smail of Garrettsville, Mike & Lisa Roberto of Aurora

Baptisms – Adeline Ruth Bates, daughter of Rob & Lissa Bates, granddaughter of Bob & Ruth Tuttle

Chloe Morgan Messner

Memorials – David Wilson, brother-in-law of Jean Mills Wilson; Kenneth Cross, nephew of Melva Wendell; William Kirk, father of Susan Lebas

Births – Benjamin Elliott Keckan, son of Sandy & Mike Keckan, grandson of Debbie & Ken Elliott;

Reagan Elizabeth Jurca, daughter of Val & Heather Jurca, first granddaughter of Rita & David Suchanek

VOA Food Pantry Needs – The Food Pantry is looking for paper good this month: toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex and hand soap. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

New Pictorial Directory – Have you made your appointment to have your photo taken for the Church Pictorial Directory?  If not, you may sign up in the Great Hall before and after each church service through February 22nd OR do it online! Go to www.ucdir.com, click on the yellow sunburst icon, enter OH962 in the church code field and enter aurora in the church password field.  Follow the prompts to schedule your family's appointment time.  This option is available M - F.  Visit the Current page of our church website for complete information about the pictorial process.  If you have any questions or need to reschedule an appointment, call Bonnie Niebuhr at 330-995-5084.

THANKS to the Red Cross Bloodmobile volunteers Nancy Brainerd, John & Betty Martin, Lillian Papp, Winnie H. Tucker, Barbara Bigler and Tim & Martha Wagner.  And to all those who donated blood!  A big thanks to all!!!!

The Church in Aurora Barkett Memorial Scholarship – Applications have been mailed to all high school seniors.  If you have not received yours, and are interested in applying, please contact Mr. Bush or Mr. Keister.

Listen: To hear with thoughtful attention – Did you ever talk to someone but felt as if that person just wasn’t listening?  Stephen Ministers are trained to listen well.  They will hear what you have to share and respond lovingly and nonjudgmentally—rather than telling you what you should or shouldn’t have done.  If you need someone who will really listen to you as you work through a problem in your life, consider Stephen Ministry.  Call Russ Post (330/562-9789) or Susan Kray (330/562-1344).

WOMEN’S GUILD – The focus of the March Women's Guild meeting will be the allocation of the "Nutcracker" monies.  We will not have a "program" as such but have invited two church members to better inform us about a couple of church groups.  Russ Post will clarify the purpose of the Stephen Ministers and the training required and Betsy Tomasko will update us on the youth Workcamp effort and needs for this year's success.  We will have lunch provided by the Non-circle ladies and devotions will be shared by Winnie Chubbuck.  Please join us in Fellowship Hall on March 11th at 11:30 a.m. for this very important meeting. 

CIRCLE 3H – For the March 6 meeting of 3H Circle the group will meet at 9:30 a.m. for a short business meeting after which members will carpool to the World Day of Prayer service at the Methodist Church.

CHURCH LIBRARY  What's Miss Julia involved in now?  A developer has designs on the historic town courthouse.  The plan is to tear it down and build upscale condos on the site.  Miss Julia Paints the Town by exposing the town's many eccentric locals in hopes of scaring off developers.  This is the ninth book in Ann B. Ross' series starring the perfectly proper but feisty southern lady.  

Neta Jackson has surprised me by starting a new series, "Yada Yada House of Hope" with the first book, where do i go?, which is centered around the Manna House Women's Shelter.  Some of the characters that we know from the Prayer Group will make appearances in the new series.

The ladies of Covington are back in Joan Medlicott's Promises of Change.  Can't wait to see what changes now.

You don't need to be a knitter to enjoy our new series, the friday night knitting club by Kate Jacobs.  This is a rather diverse group of women who meet at a New York city yarn shop to work on their latest projects, and to encourage each other in their personal situations.

Who better to recommend this series but Joan Medlicott, who called it a delightful read.  "The Lumby Series"  is located in a charming village by that name which is located in the foothills of the Rockies.  Not only are there some quirky characters (and we do love them), but even a pink flamingo that thinks he's a bald eagle.  I think it's a good thing to think highly of oneself if it's not taken too far.  We have the first three books in the series, The Lumby Lines, Stealing Lumby and Lumby's Bounty written by Gail Fraser. 

All of these new series are suggested for those who read the Karon and Medlicott series, so I'm sure we'll love them.  Jan Karon has a new book coming out in April, so help me watch for that.

The Church in Aurora Youth to Help Raise Funds for the Worlds Hungry Children – World Vision is a Christian, humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. They provide hope and assistance to approximately 100 million people in nearly 100 countries. In communities around the world they join with local people to find lasting ways to improve the lives of poor children and families. Motivated by their faith in Jesus Christ, they serve alongside the poor and oppressed as a demonstration of God’s unconditional love for all people.

World hunger is totally preventable. Not mostly. Entirely. But it’s still a question of who’s willing to stand up and spread the truth about hunger…who’s determined to do something to help children in need. In the end, the real question is: are we willing to starve for food? Well, our youth are. They will be joining thousands of youth all over the United States to fast for 30 hours while drawing their community’s attention to the facts of world hunger.

Did you know more than 26,000 children, many under the age of five, die every single day – most from preventable causes like hunger, poverty, disease, or all three of those problems? That’s around 9.7 million children each year. Did you know more than 14,000 of the 26,000 children mentioned above (more than half) are killed by hunger-related causes? That’s one child every seven seconds.

Please consider seeing one of our youth, seventh through twelfth grade, to donate through their efforts to World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine. The date of this event is March 21-22, 2009. You will find a table manned by our Youth in the Great Hall in February and March. You can make a difference in a child’s life….one child at a time.

FAITH PROMISE UPDATE – The 2009 Faith Promise Campaign is in the final stages. The Stewardship Committee would like to close it out. However, there are several members who have not responded. To date $476,687 has been pledged which is 88% of our goal. The average pledge is $1,661. 287 or 68% of the giving units have pledged thus far. The number of responses is a little disconcerting. That is why we have extended the campaign to send one more letter and make one more phone call before it is closed.

We need a Faith Promise from everyone so we can anticipate our income for budgetary purposes. It is a very integral part of the entire process of managing the finances of the Church. A Faith Promise is a promise and not a contract. Uncontrollable circumstance may develop during the course of the year that precludes a person from being financially able to keep the promise. However, we would just like everyone to make one no matter how large or small.

It is interesting to note that 41% of the Faith Promises have been an increase over ’08, 34% pledged the same, 16% decrease from ‘08, new members 3%, and 6% made a pledge for the first time.

A special thank you goes out to all of the membership who participated in the Faith Promise Campaign for 2009. Your support goes a long way in helping to keep The Church in Aurora as ‘More Than a Landmark" in serving Christ and the community.

If you have not made your Faith Promise either contact Carol Keister or place your pledge in the Stewardship mail box outside the church office. The Stewardship Committee

The WORKCAMP CREWS are attending TWO Workcamps this year, one in PA in June and the other in MI in July. Our program is growing locally with participants from at least three area churches and seven from Gahanna Community Church.  The 50 or so participants from these churches are looking forward to repairing many more homes and bringing many people closer to Christ in the process. We so appreciate your financial support which allows us to do so. THANK YOU!

Thus far, our fundraisers (summarized below) have raised:

3H PM – Please join us in the Stephen Ministry Room on Thursday, March 12, 6:30-8:30 p.m. as we continue making our prayer shawls and baby blankets while reviewing Chapter 11 of Beth Moore's book, PRAYING GOD'S WORD.  Kathleen Horak ~ 330-562-1930.

The CARE TEAM is available for those who need meals during a time of recovery or a ride to an appointment or someone to pick up prescriptions or just a friendly visit. If they could help you, call Pat Way at 330-673-7917 or Rita Suchanek at 330-562-3273 or 216-570-9808!

Mission of the Month – In March, the Missions Committee is requesting support for the Haven of Rest Ministries’ special Easter outreach program, the annual Hope Tote Campaign. This outreach ministry provides items to needy and homeless men, women and children in our local communities. The following new, regular or large size items can be donated for later distribution in Hope Totes:

The collection bin will be located underneath the Missions Committee bulletin board from March 1st until March 15th. All items will be sent to the Haven of Rest to be placed in their Hope Totes prior to Easter.