St. John's Episcopal Church

The World Mission Committee of our diocese and St. John's host a meeting of those involved in our work in Cange, on the Central Plateau of Haiti.

Join us Friday evening at 7:30 for dessert and a screening of Bending the Arc, a Sundance festival film that follows the lives of Jim Yong Kim, Paul Farmer, and Ophelia Dahl. As medical students, they came together in Cange, a squatter settlement in Haiti and became determined to provide the same world-class level of medical care there they would expect for their own families. Reaching far beyond the issue of health care, Bending the Arc shows how moral imagination, strategy, and sheer will together can change the trajectory of the world, bending the arc of the moral universe closer to justice. Donations will be invited. http://bendingthearcfilm.com/

Saturday sessions begin at 9 AM and explore the many dimensions of the mission in Cange, including literacy, agriculture, medicine, spiritual life, and economic development. Lunch and snacks are included in the $15 registration feel.

An agenda is available HERE.

Wednesday, February 20. featuring Taylor Lamb

All Men of St. John's (MOSJ) are invited to a MOSJ Annual Meeting on Monday, February 20 at 6:00 pm in the Barr Center. Come enjoy a low country boil, fellowship and hear our guest speaker Taylor Lamb, Offensive Graduate Assistant for the University of South Carolina Football Program. Lamb was born and raised in Greenville, SC where his dad, Bobby Lamb, served as the Head Football Coach at Furman University. After graduating from Calhoun High School in Georgia, Lamb earned a football scholarship to Appalachian State University. Lamb played football at Appalachian State from 2013-2017 and was the starting quarterback four seasons with the Mountaineers. He finished his college career first in Appalachian State and Sun Belt Conference history with 90 touchdown passes. He played in 51 career games, starting the final 49 and posting a 36-13 record. His most recent accolade was his honor of 2017-2018 Sun Belt Male Athlete of the Year. Lamb now resides in Columbia and works directly with the Gamecock quarterbacks under coaches Dan Werner and Bryan McClendon. Lamb is engaged to his beautiful fiancé, Halie, and the two will be married this year in March.

For more information, contact Scott Ballew at stballew@hotmail.com.

St. Teresa’s Guild is taking orders for geraniums, dragon wing begonias and new guinea impatiens. Orders must be received by March 24, and will be available for pickup on April 7 at the church. Make checks payable to St. John’s Episcopal Church at the time of ordering. They are $20 each (10 inch pots) and forms are located in the Church Narthex and in the Atrium of Heyward Hall. Proceeds fund the Episcopal Church Women.

Questions, please contact Mackie at 767-1338.

We are looking for a few students (college and high school) who would be willing to intern at St. John’s during the summer of 2019. Interns will assist with Children’s and Youth Ministries, mission activities, and maybe with some administrative duties, assisting the staff as needed.

An application is available HERE and is due in mid-March.

The Good Book Club - Reading of Romans - Dinner for participants on February 6

During the season of Epiphany, you are invited to join with other Episcopalians in exploring Paul’s letter to the Romans. For two months, Good Book Club participants will read short segments – on average ten verses – of Romans each day. To sign up for daily readings, email mwj@stjohnscolumbia.org. On Wednesday, February 6, participants are invited to gather together over dinner to discuss and reflect on the readings. The dinner will be held in the Barr Center dining room. For additional resources and links to Forward Movement , visit http://www.goodbookclub.org. This week's reflection: Paul was speaking to two cultures: Jews and Gentiles. How does that understanding of the context impact your understanding of his words today? What is similar about our current context? What is different? If we were saved by works, how would that change your understanding of grace? If we are saved by grace alone—and nothing we do can affect that—then what’s the incentive to follow God’s law? How can we be reconciled to God?

For more information about the Good Book Club at St. John's, email Lee Rambo at leerambo@sc.rr.com

March 1 - 3

St. John's is a people who gather at the table: the Lord's table, the family table, and the tables of our parish meals. St. John's is also a parish that loves the land, full of gardeners, keepers of bees, hunters, and many still connected to a farm, elsewhere in the state. This year's Kanuga retreat will explore the concepts of eating and gardening as liturgical practices. We will think about how eating connects us with God, our neighbor, the rest of creation, and with our own bodies. We will leave a wonderful weekend in the mountains with a renewed understanding of how faithful eating practices foster care for neighbor, place, and body in Christ-like ways.

Our retreat leader is Chas Edens, a native of Winston-Salem and Director of Anathoth Community Garden and Farm in Cedar Grove, North Carolina. Taking its name from Jeremiah 29, Anathoth heals divisions between neighbors and the land by growing and eating food together. Chas is a graduate of NC State University where he received a BS in Horticulture. Chas is particularly passionate about connecting the life of faith with the health of the land and community. Chas lives with his wife, Hannah, and daughters, Heidi and Margaux, on the farm. The whole family will be joining us for the weekend. For more information, contact Kanuga Chairperson Ashley Jaillette at ashley_e_wilson@hotmail.com.

Pick up registration forms in Atrium and Chuch Narthex
Or Download it HERE

 St. John's will host Family Promise the week of March 3 - 10. There are many volunteer opportunities available: Overnight Hosts, Dinner, Set-up, Laundry. Please let us know how you can help by contacting the coordinators listed below or volunteer using the Family Promise Sign Up Board on Sunday morning located outside on the patio after each service. Questions? Contact Co-chairs John or Jackie Boylston at jdboylston@gmail.com or 803-636-6753.

Needed:

• Moving in and out - Beds must be picked up and moved into our facility on Sunday. Beds must be moved out on Sunday morning. Contact Bryant Blakeslee at bryant.blakeslee@icloud.com or Pat O'Keefe at patbokeefe@gmail.com
• Dinner Providers - 6:00 to 7:30 pm, dinner is served at 6:30 - Sunday night through Saturday night - please contact Leigh Jones at jonesau69@gmail.com
• Overnight Hosts - Sunday night through Saturday night 7:30 pm to 7:30 am – need a male and female - 2 comfortable cots - 2 rooms available - Please contact John Boylston at jdboylston@gmail.com
• Sunday Setup - Set up bedrooms for guests Sunday afternoon. Contact Stacy Collins at stacyncollins@hotmail.com
• Laundry - Sunday will need laundry helpers. Linens and towels need to be washed. No hurry in returning clean items. Contact jdboylston@gmail.com

If you have any questions contact John Boylston at
jdboylston@gmail.com or 803-636-6753

WHO: The Cooperative Ministry

WHAT: The Cooperative Ministry’s mission is to increase the economic self-sufficiency of people experiencing poverty in the Midlands through crisis assistance and sustainability programs. The Cooperative Ministry – Working Hard for the Working Poor.

WHY: The Cooperative Ministry’s Emergency Food Bank needs our help to be re-stocked.

HOW: Collect any of the following and bring to the church every Sunday for the month of February! Add some of these to your weekly shopping list!

• Spaghetti sauce
• Spaghetti noodles
• Canned chicken
• Canned salmon
• Canned tuna
• Vienna sausages
• Canned sardines
• Tuna salad
• Chicken salad
• Corned beef hash
• Any canned meat(s) not listed
• Chili and beans
• Jelly
• Peanut butter
• Cheese or Ritz crackers with peanut butter filling
• Salted peanuts
• Crackers (Ritz, Keebler, etc.)
• Canned fruit
• Canned diced/sliced white potatoes
• Canned diced tomatoes
• Cereal (regular size boxes)
• Quick-cooking grits (2-lb. bag)
• Quick-cooking oatmeal
• Rice (1 or 2-lb. bags)
• Boxed/packaged instant potatoes
• Gravy mix
• Bottled water
• Soups with protein
• Ravioli

Let’s all do what we can to support the Cooperative Ministry

St. John’s Membership Core Features While On the Go!

• Use as a church directory. Search for parish members by last name
• View contact information for a church member
• Tap profile image to add a new one (Individual or Family Selfie)
• Got a new email address? Edit your information. Edits will be approved with 24-hours by St. John's.
• Add a church member to your Phone Contacts
• Get directions from GoogleMaps to a parish member’s residence

If you did not receive an email with login credentials, please email Dan Bernardo at drb@stjohnscolumbia.org or give the Parish Office a call at 803-799-4767.

ACCESS THE ONLINE DIRECTORY ON YOUR COMPUTER

or...

Bishop Waldo will be at St. John's on November 17, 2019 for Confirmation. Confirmation is a sacramental rite through which confirmands express a "mature commitment to Christ,". Confirmation classes begin next Sunday, February 3 at 9:30 am in the gym. Classes are held on the first and third Sunday of each month, and confirmands may choose to attend one of the two offerings.

Contact Gordon Schell (803-476-5555) or Eileen Schell (803-920-1487) with questions. 

This Fall we are excited to continue our Fellowship Breakfast on Sunday mornings from 9:00 a.m to 9:30 am before Sunday school in the Barr Center.  If you would like to help with this ministry, please consider sponsoring a breakfast, hosting a breakfast, or both. The sponsor is asked to make a minimum donation of $150.  The host group will be responsible for providing juice and fruit, serving breakfast, and cleaning-up.  The Breakfast Committee has established a menu for each week, and the Committee will be responsible for all of the cooking and grocery shopping! Even if you are unable to sponsor or host, bring your whole family every Sunday to enjoy great food and great fellowship!

Sign up to serve or sponsor breakfast online HERE!

Fresh Start is an outreach program sponsored by St. Luke's Episcopal Church. It is coordinated by Deacon Dianna Deaderick along with her husband Doug. This mission provides free food, clothing, free showers and free laundry services to those in need. All this takes place in the O'Neal Center on Thursdays from 10 am to 3 pm and the second and fourth Saturdays.

Donations of laundry detergent, bleach, and men's boxers (large and x-large) would be appreciated. 

Make your donations by dropping off items in the Fresh Start box at St. John's located in the break room across from the parish office in Heyward Hall. Volunteers are always needed too.

Contact Susan Milton at jsmilton@sc.rr.com.

The Guild of the Flowering Cross invites all parishioners to sponsor altar flowers for any given Sunday throughout the year (even during Lent and Advent when greenery is used, you may still sponsor flowers and it will be acknowledged in the Sunday bulletin). Sponsoring altar flowers is a beautiful way to honor loved ones marking special life events such as birthdays, wedding anniversaries, baptisms, confirmations, in memory of a loved one, or in thanksgiving for life's blessings. More than one person may make a gift on a particular Sunday. Names of those honored will be printed in the bulletin announcements and included in the weekly, online e-pistle for the week they are given.

The cost for sponsoring altar flowers begins at $50 per individual/family. The altar flowers are currently arranged by members of the Guild of the Flowering Cross. Donations can be made online at our Giving Page on the website or by calling the parish office at 799.4767.

Donations can be made online at our Giving Page or by calling the parish office at 799.4767. 

This is an opportunity to work with one of God’s most delightful gifts to us –flowers. The guild can be a way for you to offer spiritual service and floral beautification of our church on Sundays, Christmas, Easter, and special occasions.  Women and men of all ages can participate.

To volunteer or for more information, contact Emily Davison at  emilyok@gmail.com. 

 The price tag for the replacement of the chiller, the sanctuary doors and other building repairs, totals $75,000. Thank you for your generous offerings. We have $40,000 more to go! Donations can be made to support these projects through the capital building fund.

For more information on how you can contribute to these projects, please contact our finance administrator, Lori Anderson, at lka@stjohnscolumbia.org.

Join us for our Fellowship Breakfast in the Barr Center Gym at 9:00 am 
and regular Sunday school classes at 9:30 am, all beginning Sunday, September 9.  

Click HERE For more information on the Sunday School Programs

From Servant Ministry at St. John's

We ask the congregation to continue to show its support for Harvest Hope Food Bank.  Founded in 1981, the organization provides food to those in need across 20 different counties in the state of South Carolina. In the fiscal year of 2014-2015, Harvest Hope distributed 27,405,347 lbs of food to provide hunger relief for individuals in our service area.  Harvest Hope accepts a large variety of canned goods and non-perishable foods, but they are especially in need of specific items.
 
List of Items Most Needed
Food items and plastic shopping bags can be brought to the basket containers at every Sunday service at St John's.   You can find the containers right behind the front doors of the Barr Center. 
 
We also ask that you make monetary donations when you can to Harvest Hope.
 
Let's all do what we can to feed a hungry soul today!

“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”  John 6:35

We ask the congregation to recognize and continue its support for Coins for Change. The program is designed to provide financial support for our Weekend Backpack Food Program, which is coordinated by the St John's Servant Ministry's Committee to help bring needed food items to the students of Hand Middle School. The food is given to students of the school who have been identified as homeless or in transition between homes. Ten dollars in change will feed a child for one weekend. So keep scrambling for those coins from your piggy bank jars to the depths of your sofa cushions!  We have many great children to feed with both the food we bring as well as the love we share with them.

Help the Servant Ministry Team fill the basket with items for Harvest Hope every Sunday.