HOLIDAY LOVE OFFERING

The Holiday Love Offering this year will be split equally to support the Pathfinder Camporee to Osh Kosh, and Sharing Our Strength Mission Initiatives.

The Pathfinders have a enormous task to raise over $60,000 for trip expenses. "We are starting early," Pastor Ann Roda said, "because the tickets for this event go on sale this Spring and we have to buy the early." The camporee tickets are a hot commodity, and are sold out very easily. The average attendance of this event is upwards of 40,000 young people. "It is a life changing experience for our young people," said Roda.

The Sharing Our Strength missions board is planning an ambitious year. Having already committed to supporting an orphanage in Haiti, working in Mississippi, and planning a summer mission trip to Mozambique, the group is focusing on local mission near New Hope Church. The mission board will be announcing in the coming weeks some local initiatives members can begin to get involved with.

The church board voted on November 19 to raise $100,000 for these endeavors. New Hope Church members have traditionally been supportive of the holiday love offering, above and beyond their regular giving.

FESTIVAL OF HOPE

In this traditional New Hope event, we share our Thanksgiving table with others in the community by giving food. Please bring the following foods for both services. Please don't forget to bring a turkey if you signed up. Include foods that represent the Latin American and Asian populations.

GROCERY LIST
Fresh vegetables
Grocery Store Gift Cards
Rice
Legumes (Lentils)
Canned Fruit
Canned Vegetables
Fresh Fruit & Vegetables
Bread
Oatmeal
Traditional Thanksgiving sides

MISSIONS MEETING THIS WEEK

Mission emphasis meeting next week after 1st service in the multi-purpose room. Lunch will be provided. Recaps on Haiti, Mississippi, upcoming Mozambique trip, and other local outreach opportunities. Please RSVP for lunch before tomorrow, November 11 to newhopesos@comcast.net.

Read a note from Dave Wooster, SOS director below:

Hello Mission-Minded People!

If you are receiving this email, it is because you have expressed an interest in the missions that New Hope has been involved with in the past and/or the plans that New Hope has for missions in the future. We will be discussing these things at the Mission Emphasis meeting this Saturday, where we plan to cover:

1. Interviews with mission-minded members of New Hope explaining why they give of themselves in this way
2. Recap of 2007 Mississippi Hurricane Katrina relief trips
3. Recap of local "Sharing Our Pantry/Food on the 15th" initiative
4. Recap of Eden Garden Orphanage and what was done with the donation New Hope sent there in 2007
5. Upcoming plans for the 2008 Maranatha trip to Mozambique
6. Other plans for 2008 for local and domestic outreach

I believe this will be a great time of fellowship and sharing of passion for others. Lunch will be provided following first service in the multi-purpose room starting around 12:15-12:30, depending on when kids church empties out. We will plan to eat first and then start the meeting after the meal is done. If you have not contacted us yet, please respond to this e-mail so we know how many to plan for the meal. If you need childcare, please let us know how many children you are bringing along with your RSVP for lunch.

Please try to make this meeting and come with open hearts and willing hands. I believe God has BIG plans for New Hope in this area for 2008 and that involves ALL of you! Let’s get this epidemic started!

Dave Wooster/SOS

You can contact Dave directly at NewHopeSOS@comcast.net

CHRISTMAS CHOIR MESSAGE

A message from Andre Reis:

I'm very excited about the Christmas Musical Everything Glorious we're performing at New Hope this year! It won a Dove Award for best Musical in 2007. Check it out here http://www.doveawards.com/categories/

Our first rehearsal for Everything Glorious was last Saturday Nov 3. We had a great turnout, the energy level was very high and it sounded great!

We'll meet again this coming Sabbath NOV 10, 2007 @ 11:45 am/right after first service. Please come to the multipurpose room as soon as first service is over.

Complete rehearsal schedule is and songs is here:

http://www.singdc.com/Christmas

***VERY IMPORTANT: BRING YOUR MUSICAL SCORE!

Thanks for sharing your talent at New Hope and see you Sabbath. Any questions call or email.

Blessings,
Andre Reis
Cell 301.653.2888
Home-office 240.374.1095

MOTHER'S GROUP BOOK CLUB RETURNS

A Message from Katina Chappell

I recently read an article in the Washington Post about Milky Way’s new “Milky Way On-the Go” bar in which the journalist rightly satirizes our busy modern day society whose need for speed has created the demand for “on-the-go” candy bars. And while I join the reporter in his harmless mockery, I have to look at the root cause, as any good satire will want for you to do, and wonder at what can be done for a society that is so busy that it must market its candy bars as “on-the-go”? The root cause, I think, is harmful. And all this I say, not to be preachy, or to presuppose the answers but only to apologize for letting the book club be lax for as long as it has been. It lies dormant no more!

Even if I didn’t want to do book club anymore, which is not the case, I couldn’t stay silent about this next book because it is so amazing. I have found an author who is so exciting, so refreshing, so compelling, that I must share his work with all of you. Even if you are not in book club for the read, get this book* and just take your time with it, because I think you will find it that rewarding.

The book is called Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. As someone who grew up a Christian since birth but continues to have lows and highs in my Christian faith this book spoke to me—giving voice to some of the doubts, fears and disappointments associated with the type of religious experiences I was looking for in the past and countering it with the joy of what I should be looking for. If you’ve been a Christian a long time, it is NOT the same-old thing you’ve always heard. I was first attracted to this author through his book Blue like Jazz which I thought was an interesting title for a Christian book. Throughout that book and Searching for God Knows What, Miller continues with the interesting titles and presents God, the bible and faith in such an interesting and refreshing way that you will feel enlightened. Let me give you some examples of the chapter titles from the book:

Fine Wine: The Failure of Formulas
Naked: Why Nudity is the Point
Children of Chernobyl : Why did God Leave?
Adam, Eve, and the Alien: How the Fall makes You Feel
A Circus of Redemption: Why a Three-Legged Man is better than a Bearded Woman
Religion: A Public Relations Campaign for God
The Gospel of Jesus: Why William Shakespeare was a Prophet

Each chapter is written almost like an essay that could stand alone but they do build on each other and I guarantee you—you will not want to read just one. It took me 4 hours to read 3\4 of the book (but, I do admit the girls were not around)

Okay, so this is not an “on-the-go” book review but I personally wanted to hype this book more than any of the other ones because it has been so inspiring to me.

* This time, there is a special offer for those who wish to participate in reading our book club choice. First of all, if you think you might be too busy to pick up the book or order it, I will do that for you and bring it to church for you to get there. You will have to pay me the cost of the book and whatever the shipping ends up to be once I order for everyone who decides to take me up on this option—but there will be no extra “handlers” fee! Please let me know by email or in person or by phone on or before next Sabbath—Nov. 10 if you want me to do that for you.

Additionally, Rej and I are talking about planning a weekend spiritual retreat of sorts for those who can get away to really talk about this book and what it means, how we can grow ourselves spiritually from what we learn of Jesus in it etc. etc. This will probably take place in February, but we do not have a specific date yet. However, that is the goal ladies! Read it by FEB>!

We still intend on having a December out-to-eat and shopping trip so maybe that date will be a good time to check in with everybody to make sure the book has been acquired.

Okay, I know I’ve taken up enough of your time for one email--but reading these short essays is good practice for the book.


Love and blessings to all!

Katina

You may contact Katina directly at katinac5@MSN.COM

Click here for more details about the book

CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER TRIP

The Tuesday night contemplative prayer and meditation class took a field trip to the National Cathedral on October 30 to walk the Labrinth. Led by New Hope Pastor Rajkumar Dixit, the group assembled in Washington DC. "It was a powerful experience," Dixit commented, "I didn't expect to have such a rich time experiencing God."

The class is meeting during the forty days of prayer emphasis at New Hope. Prayer Meeting is offered every Wednesday at 7:00pm weekly.


Photo taken with LG camera phone

SOS INFORMATION MEETING

Are you interested in missions? The Share Our Strength mission team will be having an luncheon for anyone interested in local or international projects. You are invited to this meeting on November 17 after first service in the multi-purpose room. Recaps on Haiti, Mississippi, upcoming Mozambique trip and other local outreach opportunities will be shared. Please RSVP at newhopesos@comcast.net for lunch by 11/11/07.