Missions Pledge update

Thank you for a good start to providing support for our Missions Partners in 2017. We have now received 68 pledges totaling $101,000 toward our minimum direct member giving goal of $144,564. Our hope is that all members will participate in supporting our missions ministries. Please continue to pray about how God will lead you to pledge and give in the coming weeks. Thank you again for your commitment to our missions partners and the expansion of His Kingdom!

Connect 4: Volunteer Opportunity

The Moses' Basket team will host a Connect 4 on Saturday, April 8th, 9:30-1:30,and we need more volunteers! This is a respite event similar to Sonbeams except that we are serving foster families. We hosted one in February, and it was a great success with nearly 30 kids. Please contact us at mosesbasket@pearorchard.org if you have questions or would like to volunteer. Since we are working with foster kids, all volunteers must be background checked. The paperwork is simple so don't let that scare you away. Please consider joining us!

MMO Registration Information

MMO is intended to allow parents the opportunity to meet personal and family needs such as doctor and dental appointments, shopping, volunteer work, sports and exercise, uninterrupted time at home, as well as part time employment while your child is cared for in a loving Christian environment. Children learn to play in a group, share toys, take turns, sit for story time and follow directions. Lots of outside play is also included.

MMO registration for Pear Orchard church families begins March 15. This is for our Summer Session, June 6 - July 14 and the 2017-18 school year. For information, please contact Mary Lou Heaney (601-206-9147 or you may email marylou@pearorchard.org). Registration forms are
available online buff.ly/2mGKf3Y, or from Mary Lou. Registration opens to the public on April 1.

Staff Highlight: Michael Johnson

Staff Highlight: Michael Johnson, Buildings & Grounds Superintendent

How long have you been at Pear Orchard on staff?
Since 2011

Where did you grow up?
Kosciusko, MS

What are some of your hobbies?
Woodworking, tennis, hunting, fishing, waterskiing 

Fun fact about yourself: 
I love riding motorcycles

 

Thanks for all you do, Michael!

Women's Retreat information

Ladies, we want to encourage you to come to our women's retreat at the end of this month - March 31- April 1. We want this retreat to be about fellowship with our sisters in Christ and time in God's living and abiding Word. 
We want it to be casual, comfortable, and encouraging. We want it to be refreshing, renewing, and helpful.

What we need is YOU!

And what we all need is renewed hearts! Spiritual retreats can serve the purpose of re-focusing us, nourishing us, building us up and encouraging us to be steadfastness in the Lord. There are times when we need to pull away from the pressures and demands and intense heat of the battle, for a concentrated time of focus on our Great God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

To register and view the schedule, click here - (we don't have the option of online registration and payment at this time)
Please print and fill out the registration form, attach a check made payable to POPC, with "Women's Retreat" on the memo line, return the form, with payment, to the church office by way of the offering plate on Sunday, or put it in Tammie Haynes's box in the church office. 
You may also mail your form and check to POPC, 750 Pear Orchard Road, Ridgeland, MS 39157.

Missions Monday: The Bonhams

Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church supports Nate & Nikki Bonham - MTW Arequipa, Peru!

Nate and Nikki’s desire for foreign missions began soon after they married in 2004. After several years working in secular vocations, Nate received his M. Div. and Nikki received her M.A. in Christian education from Reformed Theological Seminary (Jackson, Miss.). Nate is an ordained teaching elder (pastor) in the Presbyterian Church in America.

The Bonham family arrived in Latin America in 2012 after serving in a church plant in Mississippi for almost seven years. They spent their first year in Bogotá, Colombia, where they attended language school and worked with a new church plant. In December 2013, they arrived in Arequipa, Peru, where they and their team began a new work for MTW. Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru, has a population of over 1 million with a very small evangelical presence. There is much work to be done and they hope to serve indefinitely.

Their desire is to see Christ-centered churches planted and believe that this is accomplished by the Holy Spirit working through ministries of evangelism, discipleship, and mercy. Please pray for the Bonhams and their team!

Moses' Basket volunteer opportunity!

The Moses' Basket team will host a Connect 4 on Saturday, April 8th, 9:30-1:30, and we need more volunteers! This is a respite event similar to Sonbeams except that we are serving foster families. We hosted one in February, and it was a great success with nearly 30 kids. Please contact us at mosesbasket@pearorchard.org if you have questions or would like to volunteer. Since we are working with foster kids, all volunteers must be background checked. The paperwork is simple so don't let that scare you away. Please consider joining us!

Missions Monday: Biblical Counseling Training Ministry

Missions Monday: Pear Orchard Supports Biblical Counseling Training Ministry. You can visit their website here or their Facebook page here: 

BCTM’s goal is to help people explore the wisdom and depth of the Bible and apply its grace-centered message to the problems of daily living. Their mission is to make Christ the central point of any conversation and partner with various churches, to help those churches become equipped to provide wise counsel. Please pray for them!

Missions Festival Update

Thanks be to God who went before us to prepare the way so that the Missions Festival was such a tremendous blessing to our congregation and to our Missions and Ministry Partners! Thank you to all who planned, executed, hosted, volunteered and participated in numerous ways to make this a special week in the life of Christ’s church at POPC. We got off to a great start on our Direct Member Giving Goal of $144,564, as we have received 60 pledges for $86,574 so far! Keep praying about how God would use you to plant the seeds of His love and grace. Will you be one of God’s senders?

Special Family Night Supper this Sunday!

Our Family Night Supper will be unique Sunday as we celebrate Betty Jo Palmer's service to the covenant children of our church for over 40 years. We will have many members of her family with us that night, so please bring plenty of extra food to share. The church will provide fried chicken, cake, and ice cream. There will be a slide show of pictures through the years along with all 3 children's choirs singing. Please join us in bringing Glory to God as we honor Betty Jo.

Missions Monday: Bethany Christian Services

Missions Monday: POPC Supports Bethany Christian Services! Pray for them. 

Bethany Christian Services is a global non-profit family preservation and child welfare organization caring for orphans and vulnerable children on five continents. Founded in 1944, our mission calls us to demonstrate the love and compassion of Jesus Christ by protecting and enhancing the lives of children and families around the world.

Missions Pledges

This coming Sunday morning in our worship services, we will close worship with a second offering, during the final hymn. This will be a time for us all to consider making a pledge for our support of the local, national, and foreign missions commitments of our Church to Christ's Kingdom.
You should have received a pledge card in the mail which you may use. There are additional cards available in the hallway and foyer of the sanctuary building, and in the friendship registry books in the pews.
Please be in prayer regarding how the Savior would have you involved in carrying out His Missionary heart to the ends of the earth. If you will be absent this coming Lord's day, you may make a pledge in the next several weeks during the regular offering, or mail it to the church. Let this be an every member ministry as we labor together to bring the Great Commission to fruition!

Thank you,
Your church officers

Notes From the Orchard (Volume 2, Number 2)

You can find the newest Notes From the Orchard (Volume 2, Number 2) here. We include a new feature this month, which we hope to have regularly - an interview of one of our members about how a Biblical worldview informs their life at work. This month, we interview Jason Branning. Here's this issue's lineup:

- Reflections of an Adult MK (Missionary Kid), by Mr. Daniel Borden

- Stewardship and Retirement to the Glory of God: An Interview with Mr. Jason Branning

- Passing the Torch: Our Commitment to Teach the Next Generation the Songs of our Savior, by Mrs. Margaret Sprow

- Life and Theology, by Mr. Alex Wright

Enjoy!

Come to the Missions Showcase!

  This evening we have a great opportunity to encourage and be encouraged by many of our missionary partners at our Missions Showcase. 48 representatives from 25 ministries will be in our Multipurpose Building from 6:00-7:30. If you signed up for dinner, that starts at 5:30 in the Cafeteria. But even if you're not eating with us, come at 6:00 and spend time learning about God's work around our community, nation, and world.

     We have a special evening planned for our children. From 6:00-6:30, they will visit the booths of the various ministries, getting their Mission Passports "stamped" and hearing the prayer needs of each missionary. At 6:30, we will break them into three groups by age, and rotate them through four stations: praying for the missionaries, singing songs from other countries, interviewing Daniel Borden (who grew up as a missionary kid), and learning about a missionary hero of the past. Our youth will be guiding the children from station to station, and will be leading the prayer time and singing. This has been a wonderful experience for the children the past couple years, and we pray that tonight is just as much fun and encouraging. 

     We hope to see you tonight!

The Missions Festival Team