Behind the Scenes
June 17, 2005ENLIST Tuesday Breakfast SeriesFrom time to time, the vestry has met with small groups of parishioners in an attempt to improve communication in the church, to bring people up to date with events ongoing and to receive feedback on the work that we have been doing. A decision was made to make this a regularly scheduled monthly breakfast series on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Father Allport and the vestry host breakfast at the pacific club at 7:30 to meet and chat with parishioners in small groups to initiate ongoing conversation about St. Peter’s. Any subject about our church is up for discussion as we seek feedback from the congregation on the vision for St. Peter’s. Father Allport, Willis, Myrna , Helen and i have met with Adrienne, Ron, Barbara Vlachos, Randall, Nani and Raestelle,. Expect the church office to contact you with an invitation to join us. However, if you feel the need, please call the church office so that you might be included ASAP. Wednesday at Pete’s Almost two years ago, on a Wednesday night, a group of parishioners went to the Honolulu Country Club to see the simulcast of “the purpose driven life”. This established that parishioners in search of spiritual growth would not let our lack of church facilities, a weekday night or traffic congestion be barriers to their attendance. The vestry, on the other hand, decided not to allow lack of audiovisual equipment or church facilities to be barriers to our determination to make spiritual growth and fellowship available to our congregation. Members of the congregation contributed a multimedia projector, a screen and a portable sound system. From that has grown a regular program aptly called “Wednesday at Pete’s” where parishioners gather in the aloha room for dinner and choose between bible study or a movie with a spiritual theme. “Wednesday at Pete’s started small but ended big as the aloha room was filled to capacity in the last weeks before the summer sabbatical. In its place, look for small groups to meet in homes to further discussions and look for ways to resume fellowship and do god’s work and look for “Wednesday at Pete’s” to resume in the fall. Two weeks ago, fourteen members of our congregation met at ward center to see “Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith”, a reminder of the thirty who met a year ago to view “The Passion of the Christ”. First SundayOn the first Sunday of each month, the Time and Talent Committee has scheduled speakers on a range of subjects relevant to our parish. On June 5, Hawai`i State Family Court Judge Mark Browning gave an impassioned presentation to twenty parishioners about the plight of abused children in Hawaii. Fifteen signed up for training that will facilitate their help of a ministry structured to provide support for abused children. Next first Sunday speaker - will be Dr. John Melish. Look for speakers to discuss aging, health and nutrition, alternative medicine. New ministries Central Intermediate after school - Father Allport has met with the new principal of central intermediate and earnest discussions have taken place regarding a future mutual ministry where St. Peter’s might provide support for students after school. The learning center, with its state of the art computers already in place, is a good place to start. Respite - recognizing that a number of our parishioners are full time care givers, we are looking into the possibility of having a program offering respite for those in need, a place where caregivers can leave those in their care for a few hours so that they might have a break and time for themselves. Meals for shut-ins - the pilot for this program was initiated June 15 by Father Allport, Carrie Allport, Raestelle Gorman, and Jeane & Herb Chun. Outreach St. Peter’s now records all services and “burns” the recordings to CD which are available through the church office. One of the first to receive the CDs was Hilton Soong who now lives in a long beach care home. According to his son, Rolin, Hilton, who turned 91 this week, really enjoyed hearing the services and looks forward to receiving them on a regular basis. The CDs cost very little, so if you know of parishioners who can’t attend services but would still like to feel included, call the church office. Also available through the church office are cassette tapes and CD recordings of the inspirational speakers appearing at the Hawaiian Isles Ministry prayer breakfasts. Copies of all presentations recorded by him were provided to St. Peter’s because St. Peter’s provided the equipment enabling him to record digitally to CD. If you have never heard the true “Blackhawk Down” story, you should. Also available in the learning center are tapes designed to help those looking to further their careers or their spiritual growth. The entire CD series of “the purpose driven life” is available. The learning center also features state of the art computers that are known for their ability to slideshows, movies and other media productions. In addition, these computers support video conferencing. -- June 17, 2005 -- | 