June 2007 Youth Mission Trip:
Amazing Maine

On Sunday, June 17, 2006, four high school students and their adult sponsors gathered on the sidewalk at The Brick Church early in the morning. After flying to Portland, Maine, we picked up our rental van and drove to rural Farmington, Maine. We moved into the dorms at the University of Maine there and explored the small town of Farmington, getting soaked in a rainstorm and enjoying time together before the work began. We even went for a dip in a very cold mountain lake. In the evening, we started our weeklong Bible study on the practical book of James.

Over the next two days, we worked really hard with the East Parish Housing Ministry in Starks, Maine. We were assisting a wonderful family with four children whose 30-year old mother has been diagnosed with lupus. To help her get in and out of her house once she is wheelchair-bound, we built a new deck. Another group would follow us by installing a ramp for her. Each day we worked, the family talked with us, brought us lemonade, and made us a surprise BBQ lunch. The oldest daughter made small presents for all of us and won our hearts.

In the evenings we ate dinner in the university cafeteria, enjoyed our much-needed showers and rest time, and met together to reflect on the day. We also spent solo time each day with a book called Soul Tending, which helped us think about God’s presence in our lives and God’s call to serve people.

On Thursday morning we went white water rafting on the Kennebec River all day long, eating lunch on a beach and getting soaking wet in the river. It was a cold, rainy day, and we were freezing, but it was also fantastic. Our tour guides were fun, professional, and worked to make our day safe and enjoyable. That night we ate dinner together at a restaurant in Farmington.

On Friday, we visited a thrift store and bought bizarre costumes to wear on the way home. Then we drove to Winslow State Park near Portland, to enjoy some time on a beach and to reflect on the week individually and together. We all noticed that we were extremely grateful for all the surprises and gifts that had come our way over the week, and especially the gift of new friendships and a close-knit group. We arrived home in costume, exhausted, happy, and thankful for all that God did in and through us over the course of the week.

Thanks to the students and adults who participated, to parents who entrusted their children to us, and to all who prayed for us. Remember to mark your calendar for next year’s trip, June 16-20, 2008!
—Rev. Christy Lang

Dr. Anderson to Preach On Sept. 30
Pastor Emeritus Herbert B. Anderson will be our guest preacher on Sunday, September 30, 2007. Dr. Anderson served the Brick Church as Senior Minister from 1968 until his retirement in 2000. He then served as the Interim Minister of the Village Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, Kansas. Dr. Anderson is a graduate of the College of Wooster and McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He and his wife Mary Lou are remembered with deep affection and appreciation for their 23 years of extraordinary service to our congregation. The Andersons now make their home in Quogue, New York, and Naples, Florida.

Share the Feeling on Oct 2:
“Learn About Brick” Reception
Have you ever experienced something wonderful and just had to share it? That’s the way many of us feel about our church community. Well, now it’s possible to pass that feeling along by introducing a friend to Brick Church. The New Members & Evangelism Committee is hosting a “Learn About Brick” reception on Tuesday, October 2.

If you know someone who is interested in Brick Church, or if there’s someone you’ve been meaning to talk to about your Brick experiences, you can pass the spirit of fellowship along at the reception. Visitors will meet and talk with members and ministers in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Bring your friends to our first “Learn About Brick” wine and cheese reception in the Living Room on Tuesday, October 2, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. You’ll both be glad you did! Please RSVP@brickchurch.org or call Tanisha at 212-289-4400, ext.230.

Melissa Morgan Joins Staff As Communications Coordinator
As of Sept. 4, The Brick Church has a new staff member filling a new position: full-time Communications Coordinator. Melissa Morgan comes to us from Cambridge Publishing, where she has served as Assistant Editor/Copy Editor. Her experience also includes newspaper writing, editing, layout and online publishing. She is a graduate of Pepperdine University, where she received a BA in Journalism, Magna Cum Laude.

The scope of her work will include both our print communications and the website. Melissa says, “I’m very excited about the position and the opportunity to work for Brick Church. I look forward to getting to know the members of the congregation and working with them to increase communication among all the Church’s constituents.”

Melissa attends Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church and grew up going to University Presbyterian Church in Seattle, where she taught Sunday school and served on the Inner City Missions Planning Committee. She and her husband Stephen live in the neighborhood.

Welcome 3 Seminary Interns for 2007-2008
Beginning in late September, the Brick Church community will welcome three new seminary interns. Church members can greet them in person at a coffee hour reception on Sunday, September 30. The Seminary Field Education Program, in which Rick Bold, Emily Krause and Rachel Pedersen participated, completed its first year last May.

These students were selected through interviews conducted last spring by the three pastors, members of the Session Committee on Seminary Field Education Program and the Coordinator of the programs. Each of the students comes with a background and experience in the Presbyterian Church.

The seminarians will teach Bible study, adult classes and assist with the Christian Education program, worship, pastoral care and mission outreach.

Charles Kalmbach, a second year student at Princeton Theological Seminary, brings a distinguished business background to the ministry. He has served as President and CEO of Drake, Beam, Morin in Philadelphia; Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Princeton University; and as a partner in leading consulting firms, among other achievements. He holds BSE, MA and PhD degrees in applied math and mechanics from Princeton and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania. Charles and his wife Susan have four children.

Katy Moore, a second year student at Union Theological Seminary (New York), graduated from Brown University in 2005 with a degree in American Civilization, with specific focus on Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Americas. Katy has worked during her school years in summer programs with youth and after-school programs as a teacher. She has an interest in theater, arts and religion.

Caroline Unzaga is a second year student at Princeton Theological Seminary. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003 with a degree in Business Administration and French. Fluent in Spanish, she has been a Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer Program in Argentina working with the elderly and also teaching English. Her husband is Ignaki Unzaga.

Watch Email for Sermon Collection Encores from Pulpit
Nine of your favorite sermons are coming your way this month via email. Representing the work of all our pastors, the Encores from the Pulpit booklet is being distributed as a PDF file for your home or office printer. Hard copies will also be available for visitors and members without email. As editor Kerri Devine says in the foreword, “We hope the sermons are as meaningful to you as they were to us when we first heard them on Sunday.”

CCOC Grant Recipient
Face to Face/Faith to Faith Program Receives Groundbreaking Grant
Face to Face/Faith to Faith furthers the habit of peaceful co-existence among teenagers from the world’s most troubled places: the Middle East, Northern Ireland and South Africa, among others. Our Grants Committee has supported the program annually. Brick Church’s support has extended to volunteering and using church space for informational presentations. Now a grant of $100,000 will enable Face to Face to expand in New York.

Teens, Palestinian and Israeli, Muslim, Christian and Jewish, Northern Irish Catholic and Protestant, instead of fearing, learn to listen and express themselves on sensitive subjects. They also live together and have fun, discovering they can live together safely, whether or not they agree. Brick teenagers have participated.
At a reception at the Lindvalls’ home, a young Palestinian woman described coming to Face to Face after a lifetime of thinking of Israelis as people who imprisoned her father or soldiers patrolling her neighborhood. A young Israeli described constant fear of terror. Both described how their perspectives and lives were enriched by Face to Face.

A participant from Brick Church then told her experience. She concluded that although New York City enjoys peace among its demographic groups, much of that peace is due to de facto separation and the habits of a city that has been accepting immigrants for nearly 400 years. We needed a Face to Face program to learn to know each other, live with and listen to each other better. She imagined knowing our fellow New Yorkers on a deeper and richer level.

Brick’s Capital Campaign responded with the $10,000 grant to create a New York program as a pilot for this and other American cities. It is now beginning in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Bay Ridge is home to the nation’s largest Palestinian community, is unusually ethnically and religiously diverse and is undergoing dramatic demographic change. If Face to Face can make it there, it can make it anywhere in America. We are confident it will.

Thank You For Your Support!
We are pleased to recognize and thank households that have made financial commitments to The Brick Church 2007 Stewardship campaign. At this writing, we have received 553 pledges and have exceeded our pledge goal of $2.3 million. If you have not yet pledged, know you are still invited to do so by contacting Tanisha Carrell (tcarrell@brickchurch.org) or 212-289-4400 ext. 230. Your financial support of the Brick Church is critical to the Church’s mission. We cannot emphasize enough our appreciation for all who have pledged and contributed.

Recent Pledges Received
Allen and Jennifer Andreas, Mrs. Gilmore Clarke, John and Susan Cramer, Christopher Croft, Dorothea Darlington, Todd and Cheri M. Davison, Brenda Earl De Paola, Jean Francois Dreyfus and Susan Webb-Dreyfus, Michael M. Ellis, Karen Fang, Charles and Hope Foster, Nancy K. Fraser, Sarah Belk Gambrell, Willliam and Mary Gay, Arlene Gibbons, John and Ashley Gramins, Mary Gross, Adrienne Hadlock-Eisenstein, Tai and Mimi Hah, Marilyn Hansen, Dorothy Haug, John and Paula Hornbostel, C. Edouard Houriet, Kristopher Johnson and Amy Gillis, Bruce Knecht and Henry van Dyke, Ronald Matossian and Alicia Sisk, Kent and Linda McKamy, Carol Ann Mercer, Claus and Tiffany Moller, Stephanie Nelson, Jamie and Courtney Peschel, Susan Schlager, Kent and Elizabeth Sevener, Jason and Catherine Sibley, Dan and Erin Stenson, Eric and Arden Stephenson, Robert M. and Rebecca Thomas, Jodi Wehr, William Winmill, Woodworth Winmill.

Sunday Church School Resumes September 16

Registration. If you plan for your child to attend Sunday School next year, please fill out a registration form and return it to the front desk of the church, care of Caitlin Sparks. You may also fax it to (646)-672-2198.

The Schedule. In planning the schedule, the Sunday Church School Committee seeks to offer consistent classroom time to all children, while allowing families to worship together and children to participate in Communion.

Regular Sunday School Days.
11:00 a.m. – Children aged 2 and 3 begin in class and do not attend the worship service.
11:25 a.m. – Children 4 years old through 7th grade go to class after the Children’s Message.

Family Sundays. On Family Sundays, children in the 1st Grade and older remain in worship for the entire service. This allows these children to participate in worship, provide worship leadership, and partake of the Lord’s Supper. Because of Family Sundays, older and younger children have different schedules, which can be seen in separate columns in the Sunday School schedule. Family Sundays take place on the first Sunday of the month, to coincide with the Communion schedule.

The Curricula. Children aged 3 through the 3rd grade will use Seasons of the Spirit, a Bible lectionary-based, fine-arts focused curriculum designed for churches that value spiritual growth, tradition and liturgy, Biblical understanding, social justice, inclusiveness of everyone, and children’s special giftedness.

Children in the 4th-7th grades will do a New Testament survey, using a Presbyterian curriculum entitled We Believe. Our use of We Believe reflects a growing interest among Brick Church members in helping older children learn to read the Bible with heart and mind as they prepare for Confirmation.

The Teachers. A team of teachers is assigned to each class. The team members serve as teachers for the whole year. They rotate responsibilities so that they may also attend church every month.

Teacher Training on Saturday, September 8
If you have agreed to teach Sunday School this coming year, please remember to attend required Teacher Training on Saturday, September 8, 9:30 a.m.-Noon in the Carnegie Room. This meeting is especially important because teaching teams will meet one another, sign up for teaching dates, learn about the curriculum, and talk about the year together. This is our only meeting before class begins. Breakfast will be served, and childcare will be available. If you need childcare or cannot attend, please contact Christy Lang.

BRICK CHURCH YOUTH
Confirmation Class Begins Sunday, October 14
Confirmation Class is for 8th graders who want to explore the Christian faith, learn more about The Brick Church, and grow in faith with their friends. We discuss relevant topics, talk in small groups, eat lunch together, and do activities that help us connect with the topics we discuss. Many students say it is a great milestone in their spiritual journey. Registration forms were mailed out in June. If you need another registration form, please contact Caitlin Sparks. Please direct questions to Christy Lang.

Friday Night Dinner Program for Brick Church Youth
The Brick Church hosts a meal every Friday evening for residents of the 81st St. Coalition for Shelter community. Brick Church youth in 8th-12th grades have opportunities to cook together, meet these friends of Brick Church, and to receive community service credit. Pastor Christy Lang, Georgia Meeter, and other adults help the youth to prepare the meal in Watson Hall Kitchen. The first youth night for FNDP is Friday, September 21. Please arrive at 5:00 p.m. in Watson Hall. We are finished by 7:45 p.m. We will serve again on October 5 and 19. See you there!

Day School Admissions Guidelines
Apply to Day School by October 1
Children who will be three years old by November 1, 2008 are eligible for admission to the Brick Church School in September 2008. You may download an application after Labor Day from the School’s website, www.BrickChurch.org/DaySchool or call and request to have an application mailed to you. Applications will be available throughout the month of September, so you do not need to contact us the first day after Labor Day. All applications must be received by the School by October 1. Please call us at 212-289-5683 to make an appointment to tour the School.

The Session has approved the following Guidelines for Admission:

The Brick Church School recognizes the importance of diversity in its student body and also seeks balance in each classroom in terms of gender, age and personalities. To this end, it welcomes children of members and non-members of the Church of all racial, ethnic, religious and other backgrounds. However, in accepting candidates for admission, the School will give preference to:

Children of parents, be they Church members or non-members, who require scholarship assistance to fulfill the Brick Church’s goal to have at least 10% of the students receive financial assistance

Children of active members of the Brick Church who joined the Church at least two years prior to the December 1 application deadline. [The Constitution of The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – Part II, Book of Order 1999-2000, Section G-5.0202 defines an active member as a “person who has made a profession of faith in Christ, has been baptized, has been received into membership of the church … and participates in the church’s work and worship.” Earlier in the Book of Order {Section G-5.0102 (d.)}, it states that financial support is an important part of being a faithful member, and the Brick Church requires a timely stewardship pledge and payment as part of financial support.]

Siblings of non-member children who are or have been enrolled in the school.

In every instance, admissions decisions will be made by the School to preserve the best interests of the students and the quality of their educational experience both as individuals, as members of a particular class or grade, and as members of the student body of the School as a whole. Therefore, while preference will be given to the aforementioned applicants, preferential consideration will not guarantee admission.

Information for Church Members Interested in Applying to The Brick Church School can be picked up at the Church desk. This more fully explains what active membership means.

By January 8, Church members who have been members for more than two years and parents of siblings must choose if they would like to have preference status. If they so choose, they will receive an early decision from the School by January 25th and will need to reply to the School by noon on February 1. Decisions for members less than two years and for all other candidates will be mailed on March 4.