Weekly Announcements December 11-17, 2011

SPECIAL NOTICES

A WARM WELCOME TO OUR VISITORS! You are our guests, and we are grateful that you have come to worship. We invite you to sign the Welcome Mat during the offering and to join us for coffee in Fellowship Hall after the service. A pamphlet listing our programs is available in the lobby. If you have questions, please contact Kyle Haack ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Susan Anderson (630-462-0406).

ORDER OF WORSHIP: To help everyone to participate in worship together, congregational responses are both printed in the bulletin and projected on the front wall. You can find the music for most songs in the songbooks in the pew racks; words for those songs will also be projected, and music as well as words will be projected for songs not in the songbooks. Printed music for those songs is available on the table outside the sanctuary.

PRAYER ELDER: If you have something you would like to ask or share, Paul DeGroot will be at the front of the sanctuary after the service. You can also contact him at 630-629-8818 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

CHILDREN’S CHRISTMAS PROGRAM: Tonight, at 5:00, we will enjoy a presentation by our children. This will be followed by our church supper. 

VESPER OFFERING: As the media ministry of the Christian Reformed Church of North America, Back to God Ministries International® partners with churches in North America and worldwide to announce God’s good news. BTGMI’s media ministry is in ten major world languages. Related to their Spanish ministry, 1,000 people recently attended the Media Broadcasters Conference in Paraguay, where BTGMI led seven workshops to teach how to produce radio, TV, and Internet-related media.  Visit www.backtogod.net for more information. 

PRAISE AND PRAYER CONCERNS

·        Continue to pray for Paul and Carol Wise, as they are in Atlanta, helping Paul’s mother.

·        We mourn with the Nguyen family and our sisters and brothers at New Hope CRC after the death of Mr. Dinh Nguyen. Please lift up the family and the congregation in your prayers. 

CHILDREN’S CHURCH will not meet the Sundays of December 18 and 25 and January 1. 

SUNDAY SCHOOL: There will be no adult Sunday school or children’s Sunday school December 25 and January 1. 

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL We meet on Sunday mornings in the ministry center. We start gathering at 9:00 a.m. for coffee and begin promptly at 9:15 with a brief time of prayer, followed by a 50-minute teaching session.

 ·        Today: Brad and Rebecca Gundlach will give a musical presentation of the “Seasonal Sounds of Joy.”

·        Next Sunday: Video: Selections from Handel’s Messiah, performed in Pieterskerk in Leiden, Netherlands,   enhanced with images of sacred art

·        Next Session – January 8:  A presentation of the “Crossroads” jail correspondence program by Wheaton CRC members engaged in this ministry                 

HOLIDAY WORSHIP SCHEDULE

Christmas Eve service:      5:00 p.m.; caroling in lobby at 4:45 p.m.

Christmas Day service:    10:30 a.m., Sunday, December 25; no evening service

New Year’s Day service: 10:30 a.m., Sunday, January 1; no evening service

NURSERY WORKERS are needed for our Christmas Eve service. If you can help, please talk to Dan Dykstra (630-851-3880 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

STOCKING STUFFERS WITH A CAUSE: Beautiful stationary cards, covered in African fabric, for sale! Last year, the junior-high GEMS girls took African fabric, given by Mary Sytsma, and ironed it onto stationary cards. They are sold in sets of 5; each set is $6 and will support a child for two days’ worth of education, medicine, and food. We have about 40 sets that we would like to sell in order to give the proceeds to our friends at Gweimen Centre. We also have a few other African fabric themed gifts. See Emily Dykstra in Fellowship Hall following church to make a purchase.

SENIOR MOMENTS will meet this Tuesday, December 13, 11:30 a.m. for their annual Christmas lunch. There will be no Bible lesson. Enjoy some time of fellowship and say goodbye to the DeJongs, who will be moving to Victorian Village in January.

OUTREACH COMMUNITY CENTER CHRISTMAS STORE THANK YOU: Thank you for all your help with the Christmas Store. Wheaton CRC sent 11 volunteers to the Store and supplied over 50 gifts through our toy drive! Thank you for your generosity in supporting this important ministry.

MISSIONS EMPHASIS WEEK UPDATE: The Missions Committee thanks everyone for their generous pledges in support of our 2012 Missions Program. Total pledges received during and after Missions Emphasis Week were $39,050. You also contributed $2,128 to Lawndale Christian Reformed Church at the Wednesday evening dinner. Your generous pledges and contributions will enable our church to support many missionaries and mission programs again in 2012. Thank you! 

DECEMBER 4 OFFERING: General Fund $7,727; Capital Improvement $200; Benevolence $531.52; Missions $1,960; Building Fund $630; PADS $87 

EVENING OFFERING SCHEDULE: December 11 Back to God Ministries International; December 18 Emmaus Ministries; December 24 (Christmas Eve) ECFA; December 25 (Christmas) No Vesper Service 

AGENCIES WE SUPPORT

 THE CALVIN COLLEGE JANUARY SERIES 2012: For over 20 years, the January Series has been the leading lecture/cultural arts series in the country. Faith CRC of Elmhurst will present all the programs from the January Series. These live presentations from Calvin College will be simulcast to Faith CRC from 11:25 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Start planning now. The series beings Wednesday, January 4, and continues Mondays through Fridays, concluding Tuesday, January 24. For a schedule and line up of speakers, see the poster in the lobby or visit www.calvin.edu/january. 

WORLD MISSIONS: Interested in nursing, public health, or youth ministry? Volunteer with Christian Reformed World Missions this summer on a team of North American and Filipino young adults leading workshops on HIV and AIDS prevention in schools, churches, and other settings throughout the Philippines. Up to six North American young adults are needed. For more information, visit www.crwm.org/summer.