This Week:

May 3-4- Pastor Retreat, Villa Maria Conference Center

News From The Presbytery Office

Story about Ingrid Reneau and Nancy McGaughey

Please click http://www.pcusa.org/today/cover.htm here for a special story about Ingrid and Nancy, missionaries in south Sudan who are supported by our churches.

Nancy will be here for a visit NEXT WEEK:

• 5:30 pm Wednesday at Brown’s Restaurant in Portersville
• 9:30 am Thursday at Tower Church in Grove City
• 7:00 pm Thursday at Northminster Church in New Castle

Download the information about Nancy’s visit as a bulletin insert here.

Pastors Retreat – a Great Time

41 pastors attended the Pastors Retreat on Monday and Tuesday of this week.  Rob Weingartner, with 20+ years pastoral experience and presently Executive Director of the Outreach Foundation, was a great blessing in his reflections with us on Philippians.  The up-coming retreats are:

• October 4 – 5 with Paul Detterman of Presbyterians for Renewal
• May 9 – 10 with Ken Bailey

Save the Date

The Christian Education Committee will be hosting a luncheon for Christian Educators on May 19th at 11:30 AM at Tuscany Square Restaurant, New Castle.  Further information will be mailed directly to the educators.

College Scholarship Applications Due

May 10 is the deadline for the Shenango Presbytery College Scholarship Applications.  The application can be downloaded from the Presbytery website.

News from the Churches

Rich Hill’s Mission Giving

Rich Hill Church focused its mission giving in 2009 on Hiefer Project’s Milk Menagerie.  http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.2699393/.  This provides a water buffalo, a heifer and two goats.  The youth and children raise the $1,000 in record time and Rich Hill was the smallest church to take on this challenge.  The animals are now in Nepal.

Memorial Service

Louise Hopkins, a member of the West Middlesex Presbyterian Church who provided hospitality to our Sudanese visitors in the early years of the Partnership, died recently.  A memorial service will be held at the church at 11 AM on May 15.

A Note from The Silk Road Market

World Fair Trade Day is right around the corner!  You know, that one day of the year set aside to celebrate the impact that fair trade can make through out the world.  At The Silk Road Fair Trade Market in New Wilmington, I’ve decided to do something a little different this year.  Since the day is about the people being helped out of poverty, I’m dedicating May 8th to doing just that with the first annual Hunger Cry.  According to the World Food Programme, there are just over 1 billion people living in hunger.  One billion people.  That’s a huge number!  On May 8, come celebrate Haiti and take the opportunity to make life just a little better for some of those 1 billion people.  I’ll have a sampling of Caribbean cuisine to taste at 12:00.  And at 2:00, you can try your hand at a Haitian inspired craft.  This one day, 20% of all sales will be donated to the Presbyterian Hunger Program Seed Initiative in Haiti.  The Seed Initiative goal is to supply 400 tons of seed to local farmers to prevent an anticipated second wave of famine in the region.  The more you shop, the greater the impact!  I hope to see you all there for a little food, a little fun, and an easy way to make an impact in the fight against hunger.