Church Calendar of events
Volunteer Schedule 2007
church officers

Bike Hike Review
     Colder weather did not stop us!  Six youth and eight adults met at Rushford for our annual Bike Hike.  We rode toward Houston.  Three riders got within three miles of Houston! ( a 20-mile round trip).  The rest of us rode about 13 miles round trip.  It was a beautiful day!  Around noon we drove to Jim and Tara Scaife's home for a potluck lunch.  We enjoyed good food and fellowship at a quiet farm setting, seeing the sheep and chasing the chickens until one was caught to be petted!  Thank you to the Scaifes for opening their home to us, and to Gayle and Jessica Arndt for checking out the bike trail weeks ahead for us.
 

Operation Christmas Child
     The twenty-three boxes for Operation Christmas Child are packed and ready-to-go.  This is a mission project of the youth and the entire congregation. On Sunday, November 5 you may see them on display in the Fellowship Hall.  Also the children will talk about the project briefly during their Sunday School time.  Please take time to look and thank you for helping to share with children who especially need the love and joy brought by shoeboxes this Christmas.
 

Mitten Tree
     After Thanksgiving, on Sunday, November 26, look for the Mitten Tree in the Fellowship Hall.   You may begin to decorate it with hats, mittens, gloves and scarves for children and adults.  Please donate these before Christmas when the items will be delivered.  Children's sizes will go to an elementary school in Winona for children who need them.  Adult sizes will go to the Winona Volunteer Services.
 

Christmas Program
     The Christmas Program, directed by Heather McRae, will be held on Sunday, December 17 during the 10:30 worship service.  A rehearsal is sceduled for Saturday morning, December 16, 9:00-11:00 a.m.  Please mark these dates on your calendar.  Youth ages three-eighteen years old are encouraged to participate!!!

Notes from the Worship Committee
Advent Event: Dec. 3, Sunday
4:30 p.m. decorate the church
5:30 p.m. soup and bread supper
6:30 p.m. Caroling at Watkins Great Hall
Christmas Eve Service: Sunday, December 24
4:30 p.m. Reception
5:30 p.m. Candlelight Service

Corporation:
We would like to thank everyone who
came and worked for work day. We
had beautiful weather and a lot
was accomplished. Also, thank you to
those who provid lunch

Open House
Derik and Jennifer MacAskill are inviting you all to an
Open House on November 19 f rom  1-3pm at the
new home (307 E. Third St)
Please, no gifts or cards.

SmartTown Cards

The Session of Grace Presbyterian Church has decided to participate in the Winona Area Chamber of Commerce
SmartTown Cards program. Here are the details of the program:
It is free for all participants
Cash back on every transaction .cash, check, debit card, credit card and store value.
Stored cash can be used at any business in the program
Businesses make an equal contribution to the non-profit cause of the cardholder
Cards are issued to age 10 and up
Cards can be used in other SmartTown programs
Here is how you can get started:
Please pick up your SmartTown card on the fellowship hall information table. Instructions for the program are
on the card. It will be coded for Grace Presbyterian Church. If you have another card, please continue to use
that card and at any time you can change the code to Grace Presbyterian Church. We know that some of you are
already using a card for other organizations and that is o.k. If you decide to change your organization to GPC or
from GPC to another organization, you can do it by going online at www.smarttownalliance.com
There is a list of businesses who accept the SmartTown cards and what type of donation they will make to the
program. A check will be written to our church on a monthly basis.
If you have any questions, please call Candi.

00000 CIRCLES 00000
Circle I is planning a Christmas party at the MacAskill home (307 E. Third Street) on December 1st at 6:00pm. It will
again be a potluck with the menu being planned at a later date.
Circle II will meet at 1:30 p.m. on November 8. Dorothy Gilbertson will have devotions, Mary Rennells will give the
lesson and Elsie Ring will serve devotions.

JOYS -
Dan & Mickey Barr are proud grandparents of Magnus Stewart McGrath, born to
daughter Danielle and her husband David, on October 18 at 5:30 a.m. He weighed 9
Ibs 13 ozs and measured 23 inches long! Everyone is doing great, and Georgia
(16 months) loves her new brother!

Loel Gordon's mother, Verda, celebrated her 104" birthday recently attended by her family. When asked how she
was doing, Loel said "Well, she has to use her walker now." Verda, you go girl!
New members in the Grace Church family are Audrey Smith, 224 E. Samia, Winona, MN, 457-0660, from
Galesville Presbyterian church and Tara Scaife, 29686 Aspen Rd, Rushford, MN, 5597, 507.864-2896, who shares
bed & board with Pastor Jim Scaife.
CONCERNS
Wally Thiele fell twice recently. As a result of one of the falls he suffered a skull fracture. He is now in rehab a
Gunderson Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse. Visiting hours are from 4:00 - 8:00 pm because he has rehab during the
day. Our prayers are with Wally and his family. (Wally and Leona just celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary

B.O.O.
Book of Order Study
G-fi.000 The Church and its Officers
G-6.0100 Offices of Ministry
G-6.0104 Variety of Forms
While the ministry is one, specific forms of ministry may
emphasize special tasks and skills and the ordering of the
offices of ministry shall reflect this variety. There may
be forms of ministry in which primary emphasis is given
to proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the
Sacraments, forms that stress deeds of love and mercy,
forms that are primarily educational, administrative,
legislative, or judicial, and forms that are primarily
prophetic.
0-6.0105 Called to Ministry
Both men and women shall be eligible to hold church
offices. When women and men, by God's providence
and gracious gifts, are called by the church to undertake
particular forms of ministry, the church shall help them to
interpret their call and to be sensitive to the judgments
and needs of others. As persons discover the forms of
ministry to which they are called, and as they are called
to new forms, they and the church shall pray for the
presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit upon them and
upon the mission of the Church.

HELP THE DEACONS
The Deacons need your help!
Did you know.. .The deacons provide cab rides to
church and back home for those without
transportation?
Did you know .. .The deacons send cards, flowers or
gifts to members who are hospitalized?
Did you know .. .The deacons, along with the Pastor,
serves communion to and regularly visit shut-ins?
Did you know .. .The deacons coordinate the food
chain for those who are ill or going through crisis?
Did you know ...The deacons cannot do the Lord's
work without your support?
Our deacons ftind is very low. On November 19*, we
will be taking a special offering for the deacons fund.
We would like to ask you to prayerfully consider
donating to the ftind so the deacons can continue their
ministry.
thank you

Newsletter Article
Session Retreat 2006 Style
On Saturday, October 21, session met for their annual retreat to plan the upcoming year and deal with things that don't
fit nicely into the monthly agenda.
Have you ever wondered about that word retreat? Webster describes it as going backward or giving ground before
opposition. I don't think that fits what we did. A hiding place. Not quite right here I think. An asylum or sanitarium for the
mentally ill or alcoholic-hmm. Lets hope that isn't the correct usage of the word for what we did on Saturday. A period of
retirement or seclusion, especially devoted to religious contemplation. I like that definition for what we did. Yep- that is what
session did-sort of.
On Saturday, we escaped Winona and retired to Jim and Tara's farm. They offered us the use of their lovely farm to
pray, seclude and plan for the coming year. That planning thing was a big part of the morning retreat and it was actually
exciting by Presbyterian standards. Session agreed to emphasize one of the six values that were embraced last year. For the
coming year we will attempt to direct the actions of our church and its committees toward putting into action the belief that we
are called to be caretakers of God's creation, with responsibility of respecting and nurturing all that God has created.
0. K.. On the surface the idea of taking a half day to select one value to emphasize doesn't sound any more uplifting than
listening to Doug give a book report on the. Book of Confessions, but it really is exciting. Or at least it can be exciting if
everyone follows up over the next year in picking actions that we want to follow up on in our committees. There was talk of
mission support, intergenerational mission work, exploring our daily activities and their impact on the world God created.
In addition, we had the task of starting to develop a Safe Sanctuary Policy for the care of our youth. Our insurance
carrier is requiring every church in the Presbytery to set standards for the care and supervision of our youth. Over the next
couple of months we will be fine tuning this essential policy and then distributing the results to every family in Grace. We
live in a changing world. One wouldn't think that we would need to have a policy about who can baby sit in the nursery, but
that is the world we live in and session will be addressing this in the next few months,
Respectfully submitted by,
Gary Hayes

THANK OFFERING
It all begaii in 1888 when Eliza Clokey of Springfield, OH, urged each woman to
give one dollar over and above her usual contribution to the Women's General
Missionary Society of the United Presbyterian Church of North America as a "thank
offering to her Lord." A day was set aside for meetings that were to be a "concert
of prayer and praise and the gathering of the Thank Offering." The gifts presented
at the annual convention represented much soul-searching and self-sacrificing on
the part of many women. The impact they made was immeasurable. It has been
said that women's giving saved the world wide missionary movement at that time.
A "thank offering to her Lord" continues to be an important part of women's giving
by United Presbyterian Women.
The monies collected in 2005 - $860,868 - were distributed to 47 projects: 26 in
the US and 21 internationally. At least 40% of the money allocated supports health
ministries throughout the world. Projects must meet criteria established by the
committee, including consistency with the mission concerns and policies of the
PC(USA).
Our local PW will receive envelopes and information on November 5 and we ask
that the gifts be returned by November 12 or as soon as possible.
A listing of the 47 grants for 2006 is on the bulletin board. There are many very
interesting programs going on around the world - and we are helping to support
them with our "Thank Offering."

CROP WALK 2006
The total giving for Crop Walk 2006 - as of 10/24/06 - is
$10,072.39. Great!! Grace Church had 8 walkers
4 that had over $100 in donations and received Crop
Walkt-shirts. The total donations from Grace totaled
$794.00.
Walkers were: Jessica Arndt Dema Burt, Jean and Imani
Hayes, Kiyomi Kurukawa, Mercedes Martin, Janet Nustad
and Laura Weiner. Thank you to all who walked
and to those who supported our walkers and Crop Walk. Great
job!