Faith Presbyterian Church of Valley Village

5000 Colfax Avenue • Valley Village • CA • 91601 • (818)766-8103 • Fax: (818)766-2987

We'll Continue to Be the Church God Wants Us to Be

by Areta Crowell

We know some in the congregation thought the PNC was moving very slowly, but when we had made up our minds things moved really quite quickly!

Some of us had met Rev. Richard Poole before Christmas when, having already decided we were almost ready to invite him to preach at a neutral pulpit, we were able to have a visit while he was en route to spend Christmas with his parents in Hawaii! So when he came to preach at Panorama Presbyterian Church on Sunday, Jan. 24, he already seemed like an old friend. We spent all the previous Saturday with him and his family, meeting his two sons, his aunt, and cousin. We then showed him the Faith Pres neighborhood and the entire church property. We talked a lot about both our vision for Faith Pres and about his ideas about ministry.

After he participated in worship at Panorama, and preached of course, we had lunch and talked more about all the ways in which his sense of purpose and God's calling and ours came together. We all loved the Children's Moment he led at Panorama Pres and the way he took everything in stride! We all agreed that if the Committee on Ministry of the Presbytery endorsed the call, we would invite him to be the candidate for us. And, equally important, Rich decided that he was hearing God calling him to Faith Pres just as much as we were feeling God calling Rich to us.

Rich met with the COM interview group on Jan. 25. The COM interview went very well. We were told after that they thought he was the "brightest and best!" So then it was a matter of choosing a date for the formal preaching and vote time at Faith Pres! Thus it came about that Rich preached on Sunday, Mar. 14, and our congregation voted overwhelmingly to approve him as our next minister.

But, we were not all done yet! Then the full Presbytery, not just the COM,  had to vote! The COM presented him to a special called meeting of the Presbytery on Tuesday, March 16. There were about 40 elders and clergy from the churches of the San Fernando Presbytery and several of our PNC members were also able to attend. Rich was asked to tell some of his journey of faith leading him to that time and place. He was invited to read his Statement of Faith and then ushered out while the full Presbytery considered his call. Again, the COM gave him the strongest possible endorsement! Joyfully the Presbytery unanimously endorsed his call to Faith Presbyterian Church of Valley Village and approved the “Terms of Call,” which were also approved by the congregation when we voted for Rich on Mar. 14. After the vote, Rich was welcomed back into the meeting with applause, and the Presbytery prayed for him, and for us. All of the PNC members from Faith and Rev. Kim Strutt were invited to stand with Rich and to add our prayers to those of the officiating ministers, and we did. It was a sacred and special moment. Our searching had been hard for all of us, for the PNC, and for Rich; but God clearly was guiding us, and we all felt that special blessing.

 

The next "official" step will be for the Presbytery to formally install Rich as our pastor. That will involve a special worship service of dedication, presided over by the Moderator of the Presbytery (usually) and other Presbytery clergy and elder leaders. It will include a challenge to him, and to us, as we work together to be the church that God intends. The installation will be on Sunday, June 20, Fathers Day, a date which will enable his parents to be present since Rich's cousin will be married in LA on June 19, and the entire family will be here and will want to attend this special time for all of us.

So, now we  look forward to Rev. Richard Poole beginning his ministry among and with us on April 12, and with God's continued blessings on him, and on all of us, we will continue on our journey to be the church God wants us to be in this community.

  

Christmas for the Troops

By Erin Poole

"Sometimes, it feels like America has forgotten about us."

It was that sentence in a letter from a soldier that caused me to start what I then called "Operation Holiday Cheer."

I was in high school and honestly thought it would be a one time event; though it was, and still is, a cause that I care deeply about. The goal was to collect as many Christmas cards and items to put together Christmas care packages for the troops serving overseas.

In the years following, I enlisted the help of everyone from my family, to my school, to the local Republican Assembly to help, and we held a drive every year. When I moved to Hollywood, I didn't know how I was going to keep it going other than sending what I could, personally. Even as a penniless student, I found the help and support to keep it going.

There were several reasons why I approached Jill McNulty with the idea of gathering Christmas cards for the troops through the church. The Sunday bulletin always mentioned keeping the troops in our prayers, and I've spoken with so many people at Faith Presbyterian that have ties to the military. I didn't think there was a more perfect place to take the idea. The holidays can be rough even on the most blessed, and I knew that Faith Presbyterian would make sure that no one serving our country felt like they were forgotten this year.

Before Thanksgiving, the session voted to support the project, quickly named "Christmas for the Troops." David Morehouse immediately set up a section of the fellowship hall, dedicated to writing cards and creating packages. He was an amazing help in organizing the project. By the following Sunday, I was overwhelmed by the response to the "Christmas for the Troops" project. Everyone wanted to help and be a part of it. Two tables were filled with blank Christmas cards, magazines, and boxes of items to be included in packages. Bruce Bailey spent weekdays addressing envelope after envelope. The first Sunday of December saw the children of the church hand-making cards that expressed Christmas wishes and gratitude. Pauline Shaw and her grandson Tyler spent several Sundays with me writing cards in the fellowship hall until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Dave Derus wrote nearly 20 cards to members of the Air Force, which he plans to join as a Chaplain.

In total, six care packages were put together with everything from Christmas lights and shampoo to magazines and snacks. Over 300 cards were written and mailed, making sure that troops from each branch of the military received some Christmas cheer. With such an amazing response, it is my hope that we can continue to show this support of our troops next year as well. Thank you to everyone (and there were so many of you!) that helped make this possible. And, as always, please keep the courageous men and women who are defending our country in your prayers.