Sunday School Teacher Recruitment

Teachers are needed for Summer Sunday School.

Choose the age group you prefer and the most convenient

Sundays for you. Our curriculum and materials are

already here. You may be surprised how much you will

enjoy getting back to the basics of our Christian faith while

nurturing the spiritual growth of our children. You can sign

up on Sunday morning in the Recreation room or contact

Andrea Staten at 934-9885.

Prayer List

the family of Lee Hirshland (Pat Nix's brother-in-law), the family of Sally Durr (Sarah Helen Ware's mother), Adam Burkes (Iraq), Sara Graves, Linda Schockley (Marty Snellgrove's sister), Angela Perkins (Gail Corr's daughter), Jeb Neel, Peggie Robertson, Braxton Simmerman, Pat Hendren, Betty Darby Cole, Jennifer Myers, Norman Scott, Jimbo Carr, Bobbie Jean Pounders, Banks Brasell, II, Bob Norris, Dudley Beall, Bubba Bryan, Sarah Cummins, John Cody Dalrymple, Danny Ferguson, Olivia Fitch, Bill Harmon, Sybil Jackson, Bobby Jones, Donna Magee, Jr., Frances Meurrier, Mary Lou Mitchell, Jeff Nichols, Frances Paulk, Tony Ray, Georgia Seale, Johnny Walters

Vacation Bible School June 11-15

Lift Off!

Mark your calendar for Vacation Bible School on June 11-15. Debi Honnoll and Teresa Brassell are the co-directors this year. The theme this year is Lift Off!

Our children will begin each day at “Lift Off! Rally,” an assembly time featuring Skylar the Sky Squirrel and Scoop, a reporter from the Hot Air Ballyhoo. They will start each session by providing information to set the stage for the day’s highflying Bible experience. Children will also sing amazing Lift Off! tunes and perhaps visit via video Dr. B. A. Loon in his skyology laboratory.

After Lift Off! Rally, each Sky Crew will visit several different locations to interact with the Bible stories and their teachings. At High Fly Bible Time, our Sky Scouts will go on a Bible story exploration, meeting Bible people who experienced reaching new heights with God and a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Prayer is an important component of this curriculum. Our children will see how the Bible characters were always talking and listening to God and Jesus. Our children will learn Power Prayers from the Psalms. These verses are quick sentence prayers that your Sky Scouts will be able to use in their daily lives.

The curriculum emphasizes sharing prayer requests and teaching children to remember to pray for other people. Each day at the end of their High Fly Bible Time, our children will attach a prayer request to a Power Prayer Hot Air Balloon figurine. At the end of the day, we will send everyone home with a Power Prayer Hot Air Balloon that has someone else’s prayer request attached to it. Th e children will leave with the Scripture and with the responsibility to pray for someone else’s concern . This opportunity teaches the children the discipline and the power of prayer in their lives.

The crafts in Pilot Projects, the recreation activities at Rip Line Rec, the music at Sky Songs, and the snacks at Cloud Café all reinforce the daily Bible stories and Flight Plans. The Cloud Café, where the motto is “Serve and Be Served,” plays an additional role this year as the center of the mission project. In the spirit of Session Five’s Flight Plan, “I Will Serve,” children can bring in school supplies for donation to local schools and shelters.

New this year is an opportunity to use science activities to reinforce the day’s Flight Plan. At the Launch Lab, kids participate in hands-on demonstrations that lead to important discoveries about their faith.

Each session ends with Reflection Time, a chance for Sky Crew Captains to pull together the whole day’s experiences. After this meaningful discussion, everyone will head back to Lift Off! Rally for the closing assembly. Are you ready to soar? Mark your calendar for VBS on June 11-15 from 9:00 A.M. until Noon at Batesville Presbyterian Church!

Thanks to Pat Nix

Thank you to Pat Nix for providing a beautiful silver bread tray that goes well with our communion silverware. The bread tray has been in use now for a few months and we are grateful to Pat for letting us use it.

VBS Recreation Leader Needed

Deborah Honnell, VBS Director is in need of a recreation leader for VBS. To volunteer, please contact her.

Xyz Trip to Tunica

For those who expressed an interest in the Xyz trip to Tunica, the date has been set for May 10th. We will need to leave from the church at 9:00 A.M. If you have not already contacted Paulette Norman, please call her no later than May 1st at 563-2263.

Centering Prayer Group

Pastor Burnham has started a centering prayer support group with several people who attended a recent workshop in Grenada. The support group will meet in the church library on Wednesdays from 4:00 - 5:00 P.M. The group is open to anyone who is interested in developing a relationship with God through prayer.

Prayer List

Sara Graves, Linda Schockley (Marty Snellgrove's sister), Angela Perkins (Gail Corr's daughter), Jeb Neel, Peggie Robertson, Braxton Simmerman, Pat Hendren, Gayle Spencer, Betty Darby Cole, Jennifer Myers, Norman Scott, Jimbo Carr, Bobbie Jean Pounders, Banks Brasell, II, Bob Norris, Josh Patton, Dudley Beall, Bubba Bryan, Sarah Cummins, John Cody Dalrymple, Danny Ferguson, Olivia Fitch, Bill Harmon, Sybil Jackson, Bobby Jones, Donna Magee, Jr., Frances Meurrier, Mary Lou Mitchell, Jeff Nichols, Frances Paulk, Tony Ray, Georgia Seale, Johnny Walters

PYF at 5:00 P.M. Sunday

The Presbyterian Youth Fellowship will meet at 5:00 P.M. at the Youth House this Sunday and dinner will be served at 6:00 P.M. Note the time change to 5:00 P.M. for this and succeeding PYF meetings.

PW Senior Sunday 4/29

The Presbyterian Women will honor our three high school graduating seniors on Sunday, April 29, with a brunch at the home of Dot and Briggs Smith at 9:30 A.M. and during the 11:00 A.M. worship service. The Dunlap and Curry Scholarships will also be presented during that service. Our graduating seniors are Nicole Risner, Lindsay Henry, and Holly Holland.

If you have family members who are graduating from college please call the church office and tell us when they are graduating, from where and with what degree, so that we may publish it in an upcoming edition of BPC News.

Lectio Divina (Praying the Scriptures) Program at St. Timothy's in Southaven - April 28, 2007

Discover the “treasure hidden in a field” through praying the scriptures and deepen your interpersonal relationship with God. Contemplative Outreach of West Tennessee is pleased to present an Introduction to Lectio Divina (Praying the Scriptures) Program, which begins with a workshop on Saturday, April 28th at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, 8245 Getwell Road, Southaven, MS from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Doors open at 8:30 a.m.). Additional instruction and practice in a supportive group environment will be provided through six weekly follow-up sessions will be held at the Church on dates and at a time to be determined at the workshop.

The cost is $40 per person and includes the workshop by presenters commissioned by Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., six follow-up sessions with a trained facilitator, and the book Too Deep for Words by Thelma Hall, r.c. A light lunch will be provided. Please call Rev. Andy Andrews at the Church office at 662-393-3100 for more information.

PW Senior Sunday, April 29

The Presbyterian Women will honor our three high school graduating seniors on Sunday, April 29, with a brunch at the home of Dot and Briggs Smith at 9:30 A.M. and during the 11:00 A.M. worship service. The Dunlap and Curry Scholarships will also be presented during that service. Our graduating seniors are Nicole Risner, Lindsay Henry, and Holly Holland.

If you have family members who are graduating from college please call the church office and tell us when they are graduating, from where and with what degree, so that we may publish it in an upcoming edition of BPC News.

Highlights of the Deacons & Session Joint Meeting

The deacons and session of Batesville Presbyterian Church held their annual joint meeting in the Recreation Room on Monday, April 9, 2007.

The meeting started with a report from Al Welshans, Moderator of the Deacons. He said the congregation seems to be thriving with larger attendance at the recent Kirkin' service and at the fellowship events such as the church picnics. The numbers and the spirit of the congregation seem high. Our church is growing and should continue to grow along with Batesville as new industry moves in and people continue to move into our area which is the most desirable place to live in the state of Mississippi.

The church officers then heard an update from the Long Range Planning Committee composed of Moderator Kenny Hopper, William Cole and Billie Lois Marshall. They have had several meetings with an architect from Vicksburg who comes highly recommended from other congregations. Their plans include some major remodeling of the current facilities in phase one; then some new construction on our newly purchased lot where the Cox house once stood in phase two. This work will require a capital campaign that will require significant giving from the congregation. The task force will reveal more of the plan and solicit input from the congregation as the project moves forward. It has been delayed recently due to reconstruction in Ocean Springs after Hurricane Katrina which has employed much of the time and interest of our architect over the past year. The feeling of the deacons and session is that the Long Range Planning Committee should move forward with these projects now and they plan to do so.

These are exciting days in the life of our church and the deacons and session appreciate the support of the congregation as we move forward. We are united in Christ's mission in this place at this time.

Polity Matters

At our meeting on Monday, April 9, your session responded to a question from a presbytery task force that has been appointed to deal with a request by the French Camp Presbyterian Church to seek dismissal from Saint Andrew Presbytery so they may join the Associate Reformed Church.

The task force recommended our session, along with all other sessions in Saint Andrew Presbytery, consider three options in regards to the French Camp Church's request:

1. To recommend a lease option whereby the French Camp Church would pay the presbytery an annual fee of $2000 a year for 99 years to lease their church facilities from the presbytery.

2. To propose a "buy out" similar to how the presbytery handled the Charleston request for dismissal a few years ago.

3. To accept or reject the request by the French Camp session.

After considerable discussion, ten of our twelve session members present at the meeting voted for option 2 and two elders voted for option 3: To reject the request by the French Camp session.

We will communicate our recommendation to the task force and the question of how to respond to the French Camp congregation's request for dismissal will be discussed at our next presbytery meeting on May 1 at the Ripley Presbyterian Church.

The request for dismissal from the French Camp session comes on the heels of an unprecedented move by the session of First Church in Corinth. At the beginning of the stated presbytery meeting in Leland last month the session of the Corinth Church presented the presbytery with a court injunction forbidding the gathered assembly to speak about the Corinth Church or conduct any business in regard to the Corinth Church. We understand it is the intention of the Corinth Church to be dismissed with their property. Due to their legal action against our presbytery this matter is now tied up in the court system.

The sessions of French Camp and Corinth claim their requests for dismissal are justified based on the actions of the General Assembly last summer in regards to the question of whether to ordain gays and lesbians as elders and ministers. In my opinion the actions of the 2006 General Assembly in no way warrants such a response. That General Assembly took the following actions:

1. Left in place the definitive guidance that says candidates for ordination must live in fidelity within the marriage of a man and a woman or celibacy as a single person.

2. Strengthened the presbytery process for examining and installing elders and ministers.

3. Left in place the language in the Book of Order that says a congregation shall not be dismissed from a presbytery with their property without negotiating the purchase of their property from the presbytery since the presbytery holds in trust all the assets of each congregation.

However, some sessions in our presbytery and others have decided to follow the leadership of their misguided ministers and seek to leave our denomination. This is primarily effecting our presbytery, the Presbytery of Mississippi (from Jackson to the Gulf Coast); the Presbytery of Memphis; and San Diego Presbytery. It is not a major issue in the vast majority of presbyteries across the United States. Your session, including your pastor, intend for Batesville Presbyterian Church to remain a member of Saint Andrew Presbytery and the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Having lived through a similar experience some years ago in Memphis Presbytery, when Second Presbyterian Church pulled out of that presbytery, I can tell you that the presbytery survived and since has thrived, even though Second Church was considerably larger in the number of members and giving than both of the congregations requesting dismissal from our presbytery.

During this painful process we will continue in mission and fellowship with Saint Andrew Presbytery. In the meantime, I solicit your prayers for the sessions, ministers, staff, and Executive Presbyter of Saint Andrew Presbytery.

Peace,

Dr. Jon Burnham, Pastor

Batesville Presbyterian Church

PW Calendar

Here is the calendar of upcoming area events for the Presbyterian Women:

• June 5-8: PW Synod of Living Waters officer's training meeting in Franklin, TN
• June 8-10: PW Synod of Living Waters Triennial Gathering in Franklin, TN
• July 23-27: Area 1, Mississippi women's conference at Belhaven College in Jackson, MS
• August 11: Area A & B, meet in Oxford First Presbyterian Church
• October TBA: Fall Retreat, Camp Hopewell, officer's training
• January 2008 TBA: Tapestry
• March 2008 TBA: Annual PW Gathering, First Presbyterian Church, Tupelo, MS
  

Presbytery Hunger Network

Our Presbytery of Saint Andrew has a Hunger Network that presented grants for $750 last year to the Panola County Food Pantry and 9 other such food pantries in our presbytery. In these 10 programs, a total of 85,500 people received food assistance. The money for these programs comes from the 2 Cents a Meal collection at our church and others throughout our presbytery. There is a collection jar for 2 Cents a Meal on the table in the entry hall of the church.

Centering Prayer Saturday

Meet Pastor Jon Burnham in the church parking lot at 8:00 A.M. this Saturday, April 14, to ride the church van to the Centering Prayer workshop in Grenada. The cost is $15 and includes lunch.

All that is required of participants is the ability to sit upright in a chair. The format Saturday will include a lecture and some experience practicing the prayer. No one will be asked to respond to questions or tell about their faith journey or be embarrassed in any way.

If you make a commitment to this spiritual discipline and follow through, several years from now you will remember this Saturday as a turning point in your life. Call Jon for more information about centering prayer and about this workshop. Come learn the power of the Psalmist's injunction: "Be still and know that I am God."

Lent and Easter Crosses

The Lent and Easter Crosses we erected on our property at the corner of Eureka and Church Street have been a big hit with the community. The poles were orginally erected by Don Kilgore and Ben Graves to display banners for our Kirkin' o' the Tartans service. Ben and Suzan Graves then added a crossbeam and purple robe to create a Lenten display of the crucifixion of Christ. The purple robe and crown of thorns were removed and lilies were placed at the foot of Christ's cross to signify his resurrection on Easter Sunday. The crosses will continue to portray Christ's resurrection during the Easter season and then they will be removed. We anticipate using the Kirkin' banners again next Spring and perhaps we will again erect the Lent and Easter crosses since they have been so well received by the community. We've heard positive comments about the Lenten Crosses from Baptists, Methodists, and various friends and family throughout the community.

Parking Lot Resurfaced

The church thanks Kenneth Brasell and the Property Committee for supervising the resurfacing of our church parking lot.

PYF at 5:00 P.M. Sunday

The Presbyterian Youth Fellowship will meet at 5:00 P.M. at the Youth House this Sunday. Note the time change to 5:00 P.M. for this and succeeding PYF meetings.

Spring Picnic, June 10

The Deacons have scheduled the Spring Picnic on Sunday, June 10, at 5:00 P.M. in the back yard of the Whitten House. Mark you calendar and plan to come.

Senior Sunday, April 29

Our three high school graduating seniors will be honored on Sunday, April 29, with a brunch at the home of Dot and Briggs Smith at 9:30 A.M. and during the 11:00 A.M. worship service. The Dunlap and Curry Scholarships will also be presented during that service. Our graduating seniors are Nicole Risner, Lindsey Henry, and Holly Holland.

If you have family members who are graduating from college please call the church office and tell us when they are graduating, from where and with what degree, so that we may publish it in an upcoming edition of BPC News.

Prayer List

Linda Schockley (Marty Snellgrove's sister), Angela Perkins (Gail Corr's daughter), Jeb Neel, Peggie Robertson, Braxton Simmerman, Pat Hendren, Gayle Spencer, Betty Darby Cole, Jennifer Myers, Norman Scott, Jimbo Carr, Bobbie Jean Pounders, Banks Brasell, II, Bob Norris, Josh Patton, Dudley Beall, Bubba Bryan, Sarah Cummins, John Cody Dalrymple, Danny Ferguson, Olivia Fitch, Bill Harmon, Sybil Jackson, Bobby Jones, Donna Magee, Jr., Frances Meurrier, Mary Lou Mitchell, Jeff Nichols, Frances Paulk, Tony Ray, Georgia Seale, Johnny Walters

Centering Prayer in Grenada

Dear church family and friends,

Last week I learned Rev. Tom Ward is leading a Centering Prayer Introductory Workshop in Grenada on the same day as our workshop here on April 14th. Rev. Ward is the Episcopal minister who led the 8-day centering prayer retreat I attended in January.

I talked to Rev. Lynn Baker, minister of All Saints Episcopal Church in Grenada, which is the host church of Rev. Ward's workshop. She would be delighted to have us join them.

Therefore, I encourage you to attend the centering prayer workshop in Grenada on April 14th from 9:00 A.M. until 3:00 P.M. The cost is only $15 for the workshop and a light lunch at All Saints Church. If there is enough interest, I will drive the church van to All Saints in Grenada, leaving at 8 AM on Saturday, April 14. Let me know by Wednesday, April 11, if you want to ride with me. I am looking forward to meeting new friends in Grenada on April 14th.

Take advantage of this terrific opportunity to be introduced to centering prayer by Rev. Tom Ward, a leader in the worldwide contemplative outreach ministry. In fact, Tom serves on the board of directors of Contemplative Outreach.

Centering prayer has made a real difference in my quality of life: Physical, spiritual, emotional and mental. I highly recommend it to you and to anyone else who is interested. This spritual discipline has transformed my life. Most of the people who practice centering prayer are lay people such as you. That is why I am so excited about this workshop and your opportunity to participate in it. Call me if you have questions.

Peace,

Dr. Jon Burnham, Pastor

Easter Egg Hunt Details

• Everyone is invited to come and bring a friend to the Easter Egg Hunt at the home of Jane and George C. Carlson on Saturday, April 7, at 11:00 A.M. Due to some remodeling of their house, the Carlsons suggest turning left before their house and parking on Goff Street.

• Please bring at least two dozen plastic eggs filled with candy, per child, to the church office before 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 5. Carole and Smith Murphey will organize the hiding of the eggs on Saturday before the hunt. We will also take a group photo before the hunt begins. Hope to see everyone there.

Wedding Congratulations

Congratulations to Shea Golden and Jonathan Garner who were married in Eureka Springs, Arkansas on March 31, 2007. Shea works at the Renasant Bank in Water Valley. Jonathan is employed with HDW inc. Jonathan, Shea, and her daughter, Laken, will reside in Grenada, Mississippi.