_

March 5, 2008                                                                                                                          VOLUME 60, NO. 10

MARY MARTHA CIRCLE will meet on Tuesday, March 11, in the parking lot at NACC at 9:00 a.m. to car pool to the home of Duff Knudsen for their meeting. Lee Longman will serve as hostess and Karah Joiner will lead the worship and study.

ABIGAIL CIRCLE will meet in the parlor on Tuesday, March 11, at 7:00 p.m. Suzanne Richmond will serve as hostess.

There will be No General Meeting in March.

A planning meeting for an NACC spring trip to the Gulf Coast will be held on Sunday, March 9, after the second worship service, in the parlor. All those interested in working in coastal Mississippi this spring are invited to attend. A wide range of work, both skilled and unskilled, is possible. If you can climb two flights of stairs, you can help. Please contact Scott Zimmerman (581-4959) for more information.

We will again use the symbolism of the Easter lily for our chancel decorations on Easter Sunday, March 23. After the 10:45 a.m. service, you may take your plant home or deliver it to a shut-in. If plants are not picked up by Monday, March 24, the plants will be discarded. Plants may be purchased through the church office NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, MARCH 14. Fill out the form below and mail it to the church office (with your check in the amount of $7) or place the form and your check together in the offering tray on Sunday. A list of donors and memorials/honorees will be published.

HELP WANTED!

Help is needed putting our newsletter together on Wednesdays at around 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. It usually takes only about one to two hours at most and you would be working with one other person unless there is an insert and then there would be three people working. You only have to work about once a month (maybe twice a month on occasion). No experience is required and it is a great way to get to know other NACC members. Call Kathleen in the church office (869-9176) if you would like to help.

Meet Our New Director of Children & Youth Ministries

Leslie Dobyns is a May 2007 graduate of Culver-Stockton College (a Disciples of Christ affiliated school in Canton, Missouri). Her full-time employment is at the Springfield Regional Arts Council where her degree in Arts Management serves her well. She is the Arts Education Outreach Coordinator working to build a strong community for the arts in Springfield and beyond. Leslie moved to Springfield in June 2007 with her fiancee, Phil Forrester. He is a music theory graduate student at Missouri State University. Their wedding will be May 24 in Peoria, Illinois. Leslie comes from a strong Disciples of Christ background. She has been a member of the Regional Youth Council in Illinois-Wisconsin, a Disciples representative for the Student Ecumenical Partnership team (STEP), and an active member in her own youth group, including many fund-raisers and mission trips. Both her mother and father are ordained ministers in the Christian Church. Her father, Bruce, is the Senior Pastor at First Christian Church in Peoria, Illinois, and her mother, Beth, is currently the acting Regional Minister for the Illinois-Wisconsin region. Her younger sister (Nikki) is a freshman at Western Illinois University. When called to this ministry, Leslie said, "I’m very excited about working with the young people of the congregation and their families. I want collaborate with the young and young at heart at National Avenue to build a youth ministry that is both exciting and engaging for all who participate." We’re excited also -- welcome Leslie and Phil!

Join Disciples men for a retreat that will rekindle your faith life through mission work. "Men in Mission" will be held April 4-5 at Community Christian Church in Kansas City, Missouri. David Emory of Middletown Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky will be the keynote speaker and Mike Graves of Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City will be the Bible study leader. This promises to be a day of putting the gospel into action by helping others in the Kansas City area. Mission opportunities will take place on Saturday, April 5. For more information, contact Tod Iseminger at 666-346-2631 or download the retreat brochure at: www.disciples.org/dns/Releases2008/08015.pdf