18 - sonkaucc.org - Southwest Ohio Northern Kentucky Association

SNIPPETS March 18, 2013
SOUTHWEST OHIO NORTHERN KENTUCKY ASSOCIATION
OHIO CONFERENCE-UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
‘Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another.’
(from Zechariah 7:9)
‘
THIS NEWSLETTER IS MADE POSSIBLE BY YOUR OCWM GIVING.
Registration for SONKA Spring Gathering Opens Today
Registration for SONKA’s Spring Gathering is open on-line today, March 18, on the association website.
All in SONKA are encouraged to make plans to attend this important meeting of our association family, at
which two proposals for Ohio Conference reorganizations will be detailed, and results from the recent
Listening Sessions will be outlined. Centering on the theme,
“Building for an Effective Future,” the meeting will consist of a
plenary session in the morning, along with regular business and
worship, and four workshops in the afternoon. SONKA
leadership invites all in the association to come and help plan
for a viable future as a covenanted group of UCC churches and
individuals from the region working together for God’s realm.
“Central to the process of building an effective future in
SONKA is the ministry and mission of the local church,”
comments Carl Robinson, pastor of Shiloh UCC and member of
the association’s Strategic Planning Team. “SONKA leadership
is directly invested in assisting the congregations that comprise
SONKA in strengthening local church ministry, using
congregational strengths to assist other congregations.”
The Gathering will begin with sign-ins at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 27, at Christ Church, UCC, Fort
Thomas, KY. In addition to the plenary session and worship, the morning session will include the
affirmation of candidates approved for ordination pending a call. Following lunch, workshops will be
offered. An official call letter containing details on the workshops and a flyer for posting on church
bulletin boards will be emailed today. (Continued on page 2)
SONKA Kids Can Eggs-pect Eggs-tra Fun around Easter
Remember Easter egg hunts from your childhood—running around a lawn wearing your frilly Easter dress
and new patent leather shoes, or your miniature three-piece suit, trying
to grab as many eggs as possible while avoiding getting the grass
stains that might provoke your mom’s displeasure? Well, the kids now
might come sans bonnets and Buster Browns, but they still have a
great time at our area churches’ Easter egg hunts. Some on tap this
year include:
Smiles always abound at Faith
UCC’s Easter egg hunts.
Saturday, March 23, at Faith UCC, Cincinnati: An Easter egg
hunt will be held from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. in the back playground area.
This event, which is free and open to all children, will be held rain or
shine. Following the hunt, there will be a magic show, refreshments
and crafts. Nut-free candy will be provided for children with allergies.
Saturday, March 23, at David’s UCC, Kettering; Children 11 years
old and under are invited to Breakfast with the Bunny! and an Easter
egg hunt, beginning at 9 a.m. Kids must be accompanied by an adult,
and non-members, who are welcome, should sign up in the narthex or
call the church office at 937/434-2131 so that the church can plan for
enough food and treats. Photos with the Easter Bunny will be offered.
(Continued on page 2)

Spring Gathering Registration (Continued from page 1)
To register for the Gathering, go to the SONKA website home page, www.sonkaucc.org, or use this link:
https://secure.accessacs.com/access/eventlogin.aspx?id=YjWtW3eZKqPzib6zUbD4WQ==&site=112405&ReturnUrl=
events%2fwz_people.aspx&ChurchID=3374&EventID=45040&sn=112405 .
Easter Egg Hunts (Continued from page 1)
Sunday, March 24, at Highlands UCC, Springfield: Highlands will have its Easter egg hunt on Palm
Sunday after the 10:30 a.m. worship service, or approximately 11:45 a.m.
Sunday, March 24, at St. Peter and St. Paul, Cincinnati: On Palm Sunday, St. Peter and St. Paul
invite children ages 10 and under to its egg hunt.
Sunday, March 24, at St. John’s, Newport, KY: The church will have an egg hunt for children at 11
a.m., which is after the 10 a.m. Palm Sunday worship service.
Saturday, March 30, 10 a.m. at Harmony Creek, Kettering: The event will begin at 10 a.m. in the
fellowship hall, where children can make Easter crafts. The hunt for treat-filled eggs will follow.
Saturday, March 30, at St. John’s Westminster Union Church, Delhi: This church’s Easter egg hunt
is so popular, reservations are required. The event, which begins promptly at 11 a.m., starts with the egg
hunt, followed by pizza, salad and drinks, and photos with the Easter Bunny. Call the church office at
513/- 347-4613 by March 22 to register children.
Saturday, March 30, at Greenmont-Oak Park, Kettering: This church’s egg hunt is a big community
event, sometimes drawing 100 children from the neighborhood. Starting times are by age group: 3 years
and under, 10 a.m.; 4-5, 10:10 a.m.; 6-8, 10:15 a.m.; and 9-12, 10:20 a.m. Each child will receive a
coupon for a free Dairy Queen ice cream cone.
Sunday, March 31, at Fleming Road, Cincinnati: The Easter egg hunt at Fleming Road Church will
be incorporated into the Sunday School hour on Easter morning, with Sunday School starting at 9:15 a.m.
and the hunt scheduled for 9:30.
Sunday, March 31, at Pilgrim UCC, Cincinnati: The egg hunt will be held immediately after the 10
a.m. Easter worship service, or at about 11 a.m. Children in fifth grade or younger are invited to bring
their own baskets or another container for the gathered eggs.
Sunday, March 31, at Plattsburg UCC, Plattsburg: Plattsburg will have an egg hunt for children
following a 7:45 a.m. Easter breakfast, or at about 8:30 a.m. The egg hunt and breakfast are scheduled
between the 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. worship services on Easter Sunday.
Sunday, March 31, at Trinity, New Lebanon: Trinity will have its Easter egg hunt for the little ones
at 9:15 a.m., before the Easter Sunday worship service at 10.
Sunday, March 31, at Trinity, Fairborn: Our church in Fairborn will have an Easter egg hunt for
children immediately following its 9:30 a.m. Easter worship service.
-Lynne Wise
NEW! For the Bible Film Showing
Equality Springfield will show the film, For the
Bible Tells Me So, Thursday, March 21, at 7
p.m. at Chakeres Theater, Upper Valley Mall.
Tickets, at $5 each, are being sold at Highlands
UCC in Springfield. Call 937/206-1005 for
ticket information. The film depicts stories of
some high-profile parents who discover one of
their children is gay.
NEW! Cluster 2 Meeting
SONKA’s Cluster 2 will meet at St. Peter & St.
Paul UCC in Cincinnati on Thursday, March 21,
at 7 p.m. in Room 107. The group plans to
discuss options for joint ministries and events.
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THIS WEEK
Slave Trade Film Showing
The Centerville-Washington Diversity Council
will show Traces of the Trade, the Emmynominated
documentary about a modern family
which discovers their ancestors were involved in
the slave trade, Thursday, March 21, at 7 p.m. at
the Rec West Theater next to the Washington
Township Rec Center. The showing will be
followed by a discussion. Additional
discussions will be held at Harmony Creek
Church, UCC, Kettering, from 9:15-10:30 a.m.
and at Epiphany Lutheran from 2-3 p.m. on
Palm Sunday, March 24, and at Miami Valley
Unitarian on Thursday, March 28 from 7-8:30
p.m.

Palm Sunday Vocal Concert
St. Paul’s in Alexandria, KY, will offer a free
concert of sacred music on Palm Sunday,
March 24, at 6:30 p.m. The concert will be
performed by the Miami University Cantore
Vocal Ensemble, under the direction of Merrin
Guice-Mendel. The Lenten concert, Where
You There?, will be preceded by a meal at
5:30 p.m.
NEW! Pancakes on Palm Sunday
The high school youth at St. John’s
Westminster Union Church, Delhi Township,
will host the church’s Annual Pancake
Breakfast on Sunday, March 24, after the 10
a.m. Palm Sunday worship service. Pancakes,
eggs, juice, milk, coffee and sausage will be
served. The Youth and parents will be taking a
free will offering to raise money for the youth
mission trip to Hazard, KY, in July.
UCC Grant Helps St. John in Reading Operate Food Pantry
The food pantry at St. John in Reading, open on Thursday mornings and on Thursday evenings during the
church’s free community dinner, is supported 100 percent by the congregation, so when the church received
a $1,000 grant earlier this year from the UCC’s Justice
& Witness Ministries, it saw it as a real blessing.
With two administrators in place now thanks to the
grant, the church is implementing plans to streamline the
food collection and distribution processes, include
recipes for nutritious meals in with the grocery bags of
food given out, and raise awareness about the pantry in
the community. It also will encourage area businesses
and schools to have food drives to support the pantry.
One of the new administrators, Nancy Stankorb, feels
it’s a blessing to her to be involved in this mission in
Reading, commenting that the people who frequent the
St. John pantry don’t just get food.
“It’s not just the food, but the personal contact we make
with each person,” she remarks. “With each person goes
a personal prayer that our God will watch over the families, keep them sale and bless them all.”
NEW! Passover Seder at First
An Inclusive Passover Seder meal will be
shared at First UCC in Cincinnati on
Wednesday, March 27, at 6 p.m. For the third
year, the church is inviting Christian, Jewish
and Islamic friends to share this traditional meal
together in honor of common Abrahamic roots
and the meal’s importance as a celebration of
liberation. Members of SONKA’s First UCC,
Truth & Destiny and St. Peter’s churches will be
represented, along with friends from the Jewish
and Muslim traditions. Although the meal is not
kosher, participants are asked to bring a dish
(meat, vegetable or fruit) to share that does not
contain any pork, shell fish or yeast. Matzo
bread, ceremonial foods, wine and nonalcoholic
drinks will be provided. To help with a
headcount for table settings, RSVP to 513/541-
7302.
COMING UP
The shelves are stocked at the St. John food pantry,
but the food goes quickly on Thursdays.
-Lynne Wise
NEW! UTS Church Renewal Confab
Light the Fire! 2013, United Theological
Seminary’s third annual Church Renewal
Conference, will take place April 18-19 at
Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City. This year’s
theme is
Divine
Healing.
The focus
will be on
divine
healing in global Pentecostal and Charismatic
Christianity; healing for physical, emotional and
social ailments; the role of intercessory prayer
and divine healing in scripture; and spiritual and
theological challenges that arise when healing
doesn’t come. For more information and to
register, visit www.lightthefire.org.
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* NATIONAL AND CONFERENCE *
NEW! Tom Paton Award
Each year this award is given to a church which
has worked hard to become physically
accessible to everyone. This award was
established in 1979 by the Ohio Conference
Task Force on Ministries. The criteria include
building accessibility, participation by persons
with disabilities, public awareness of a church's
accessibility, special facilities or services and
employment of persons with disabilities, to
name some. For more information and the
application go to the Ohio Conference website,
www.ocucc.org.
Summer Camps Early Registration
Lots of fun in the summer time is planned at
the Ohio
Conference’s two
beautiful camps,
Pilgrim Hills and
Templed Hills, and on-line registration is open
for a wide variety of summer camps designed
to interest all age groups. Early registration by
March 31 will mean a $15 discount on the
camp experiences, which will begin June 9
and continue through July 27. To register or
to learn more, go to
http://www.ocucc.org/OutdoorMin/OutdoorMi
nistries.htm.
Excellent Ministry Recognition
The Ohio Conference is looking for “awesome
ministries” by local churches to be highlighted
during its June Annual Gathering. Association
churches are invited to nominate
congregations for an excellent ministry. Three
congregations will be chosen through an
interactive on-line process to present their
ministries in 60-minute workshops on
Saturday afternoon, June 8, the second day of
the Annual Gathering in Columbus, OH. A
downloadable nomination form also may be
found at
http://www.ocucc.org/Annual%20Gathering/A
wesomeMinistryNominationForm.pdf.
Completed nomination forms are due by April
1 to the Conference office.
* PRAYER REQUEST *
Please hold in prayer Ruth Adams, wife of retired SONKA minister Mendle Adams, as Ruth continues to
struggle with health issues and the necessity of long-term care.
* EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES *
Washington UCC, our mission church in the Camp Washington neighborhood of Cincinnati, is hiring staff
for its 2013 Summer Program, “Blessed Are the Peacemakers.” Positions are available for the children’s
program, running from June 5 – Aug. 3, Sunday evenings through Thursday evenings, with occasional
Sunday mornings. Those interested should contact Pastor Pam DeFusco at revpamdefusco@aol.com or
513/541-7757.
Harmony Creek Church is seeking a Director of Children’s Ministry. This part-time position requires
recruiting, training, organizing and supporting teaching staff, organizing special events like Vacation Bible
School, fostering fellowship among families of children, and implementing curriculum that reflects the
progressive Christian values of the church. Great organizational, educational and communication skills,
and a passion for children’s ministry are required. Harmony Creek is accepting resumes until March 31. All
questions and resumes should be sent to the Senior Pastor, Rev. Dr. Michael D. Castle, at
MDCastle@aol.com or by mail to Harmony Creek Church, 5280 Bigger Rd., Kettering, OH 45440.
Interim Association Minister Kathryn Anadein: kathryna@sonkaucc.org
Snippets Editor/ Communications Coordinator Lynne Wise: lynnew@sonkaucc.org
Bookkeeper Wilda Peters: wildap@sonkaucc.org
Registrar Jim Hill: jimh@sonkaucc.org
SONKA: 937/438-8050 or Toll Free: 888/631-9578
SONKA WEBSITE: www.sonkaucc.org
NATIONAL UCC WEBSITE: www.ucc.org
OHIO CONFERENCE WEBSITE: www.ocucc.org
Where in the World is Rev. Kathryn?
Interim Association Minister Kathryn Anadein will be on vacation March 24 – 26.
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