Where do you serve the Lord? What ministry brings you joy? Where have you seen God at work? Share your passion with other members of CHPC. Your presence is desired at one of ten dinners being hosted during the months of August and September. Small dinners of 8-10 people offer the opportunity for connection and celebration.

These dinners were born out of an idea to provide our congregation with opportunities for fellowship this summer. But more than that, we hope the dinners will provide time for God’s people to connect in their passion for Jesus, the body of Christ, and ministry. This is an occasion to build relationships by sharing the joy of being a part of God’s work and letting others see how He uses the gifts He created in each of us.

We’re hoping to get people excited about the many ministry opportunities supported by members of CHPC and about how rewarding service can be. Whether you are looking for a place to get involved and find the joy or are already feeding your passion, contact Janet Dumford at 541-8281 or barch95@fuse.net. Help is also available to discern your spiritual gifts or find a ministry area that might be perfect for you.

God’s joy is out there, just waiting for us to participate!

BlockParty 2010 will bring four nights of music, food and activities to College Hill next week. The church will be hosting the events beginning Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., August 3 and continue through Friday.

• Tues., Aug. 3, 5:30 - 9: College Hill residents will kick off the four days of fun with Tuesday’s National Night Out. This is the 27th annual National Night Out, designed to make communities more aware about law enforcement and their neighbors. Chris Miller, Community Relational Outreach Director for the church, says there will be food and music all evening.
  
  District 5 police and the fire department will be here with equipment, the mounted patrol and canine unit. The band RetroVibes will perform, and food (sponsored by Llanfair Retirement Community) will be available. Free tables will be available for neighborhood community organizations and businesses to distribute information (no selling allowed).
  
  
• Wed., Aug. 4, 6:30 - 9: The free food, fun and activities continue Wednesday with a big band concert and ice cream social. Eddie Love’s Big Band (sponsored by Twin Towers and Llanfair) will perform, as will the Senior Steppers from College Hill Recreation Center. Our Tweens will serve up Ice cream, CRASH will grill hot dogs, and pizza will be provided.

As good stewards of our finances, our church facilities are being looked at carefully including opening and closing times. Weekly times are currently posted in the Atrium. During the week of Aug. 16 - 21, the campus will be closed completely. (Special arrangements have been made for the Tools for Schools distribution on Aug. 16.)

Starting Sept. 1, CHPC will standardize campus opening and closing times. This is the best configuration for the staffing levels at CHPC. Please schedule your evening events on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

If there must be an event when the campus is closed, there will be a charge for the custodian based on number of hours worked. If you have any questions or would like to schedule an event, please contact Michelle Hemsath, 541-5676, ext. 163 or email.

Tommy Sands, Ireland’s international ambassador of song and peace activist, and Cincinnati/Nashville’s Dave Hawkins are joined by the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick Glee Club (6:40 pm) for a legendary evening of Irish music, dance and fun.

at College Hill Presbyterian Church
Tues., August 10, 7 pm

Concert: $12 ($15 at the door) Open Seating . Doors open, 6 pm
Hosts: Arts Revival of College Hill & Marty’s Hops & Vines

By popular demand Adult Spiritual Formation is coming to CHPC this September, and it will challenge you. Spiritual formation is the process of growing from a babe in Christ into spiritual maturity. Jesus expects growth of individuals, families, and the church. The characteristics of a mature Christian are given in Scripture, but are spread across a variety of passages. You can think of some of them yourself: The Sermon on the Mount, the fruit of the spirit, the elements of the faith in Hebrews 6, and the characteristics of love in I Corinthians 13. But how do we grow in these?

One writer has summarized spiritual formation as a process through which those who love and trust God effectively take on His character as revealed in his Son Jesus Christ and as they are empowered by his Spirit. Another has said that becoming a disciple means “a decisive and irrevocable turning to both God and neighbor. What follows from there is a journey which...never ends in this life, a journey of continually discovering new dimensions of loving God and neighbor.”

This September, we will begin a series of 8-week classes to help adults mature spiritually. Our goal is to run eight of these classes simultaneously involving all of you. Did you catch that? Not one class of ten, but eight classes involving multitudes (casts of thousands)! To accommodate that, the Sunday morning schedule will be adjusted to allow a 50-minute class between the two services.

The Spiritual Formation task force has been meeting over the past several months and has identified a curriculum of some thirty classes involving three areas: Spiritual Disciplines, Bible and Theology, and Faith in Action.

The task force is making use of the church survey, Reveal, that we took. It revealed some important things about CHPC, about you, your desire to grow, and what you need from the church and your pastor to help you grow. One of the most important findings is that you want and need to be challenged to grow spiritually, and you want help in doing it. Over the next six weeks or so, we will absorb the results of the Reveal Survey and its role in Spiritual Formation and release it to you.

You will be hearing more about Spiritual Formation before the September kick-off, but if you want to talk to someone right away, see a member of the task force: Jim Warner, Bill Bentley, Joe Brooks, Cindy Brown, William Custer, Scott Rice, Drew Smith, Paul Strasinger, Teri Strasinger, and Zach Vander Veen.