Next Sunday, January 31, 20% of everything you put in the offering plate will automatically go to relief efforts in Haiti. Our Missions Board has conducted extensive research and has identified two organizations who are doing exceptional work in Haiti.

Chapel Hill Medical Missions Trip
The first $1,250 of our relief funds will go to support a medical missions trip being coordinated by a sister congregation here in Indianapolis, Chapel Hill United Methodist Church. They will be sending 17 medical missionaries to Haiti from February 5-13. They have made similar trips to Haiti for years. These medical missionaries will be stationed at a clinic about an hour north of Port-au-Prince, where refuges from Port-au-Prince are fleeing to seek medical assistance.

The Chapel Hill team expects to treat about 5,000 Haitians during their two week stay! Our funds will be used exclusively to purchase medical supplies for this trip, including antibiotics, bandages, suture kits, braces, splints, and medications. If you would like to help prepare handwritten notes of encouragement for these medical missionaries, join us at the church this Tuesday, January 26 at 7:00 pm in Room 6.

Partners In Health
Amounts collected in excess of $1,250 will go to Partners In Health. Our Missions Board is very impressed with the work PIH is doing. For the past 20 years, PIH has employed a number of native Haitians to provide medical and health services for the poor in their local communities — as well as water, food, and shelter. All of the funds we donate to PIH will go directly to their relief work in Haiti.

When you give next Sunday, there is no need to designate your giving for Haiti. We will automatically set aside 20% of every dollar donated next Sunday. This approach has worked well for us in the past when we responded to the tsunami in Asia and starvation in Africa. Our 80/20 formula allows us to make a very sizeable donation to relief efforts without falling too far short in funding the ongoing ministries of our Church.

So, we encourage all who can to plan to give a little extra next Sunday, as an expression of God’s love for Haiti. Thanks!

Our Sanctuary Choir and Instrumental Ensemble are ready to kick off the spring season. Please join us!

• The Sanctuary Choir rehearses every Wednesday at 7:00 pm. We sing every other Sunday in both morning services, and in the evening service on opposite weeks.
• The Instrumental Ensemble rehearses on Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm and/or Saturday mornings at 9:30 am. They also perform every other Sunday in the morning services, and in the evening service on opposite Sundays.
• We have one major presentation during Holy Week. This year the choir will perform a three-part musical to chronicle the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection of Jesus. We’ll work with the Theater Arts Ministry.
• If you’re a soloist, the Music Ministry invites you to audition for Mark Brown, our Minister of Worship Arts.

The Sanctuary Choir and Instrumental Ensemble are not “official” Oasis gatherings, but many of our members find this is a meaningful part of their spiritual development and service. It is a time that those called to serve as church musicians can be of one spirit and offer their talents to God and allow the Spirit to touch lives through the music that is presented.

For more information please email Mark C. Brown, Minister of Worship Arts, or call (317) 722-0000 × 104.

Exciting things are happening with Found Pearl Press, our church’s publishing ministry.

• Our new website, FoundPearlPress.org, is fully operational. All of our current products can be purchased there, and there’s lots of room to grow. Many thanks go to Hiroki Chalfant for his expertise and many hours of work with this project!
• As you may know, we’ve just launched our second book, Quench! refreshing devotionals by gay, trans, and affirming Christians. It’s available on Amazon.com and ­FoundPearlPress.org.
• A few of the Found Pearl Press team members will be attending the Gay Christian Network conference in Nashville, TN, January 7-10. We’ll network with the 300 attendees, and have a table in the vendor’s area.
• In February, we’ll release To Have and To Hold: Spiritual Insights on Commitment and Marriage for Lesbian and Gay Couples. It’s a set of five sermons on CD with a study guide.
• Coming in 2010, new versions of The Children Are Free: a Spanish translation, an audiobook, and a print run of the English version in Nigeria. We’re doing this in cooperation with House of Rainbow MCC in Lagos, Nigeria, for distribution in Africa.

If you’d like to be part of Found Pearl Press or you’d like to get more information, contact team leader Lynne Kaminiski via the church office.