October Youth Times
Advent Devotional subject phrases
29 Days of Advent – 29 phrases from familiar Christmas carols
1 – How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given! (O Little Town of Bethlehem, #144)
2 – He comes to break oppression, to set the captives free. (Hail to the Lord’s Anointed, #140)
3 – Come as a baby weak and poor, to bring all hearts together. (Awake! Awake, and Greet the New Morn, #138)
4 – God with us, revealed in us, His name is called Emmanuel. (Emmanuel, Emmanuel, #134)
5 – When god is a child there’s joy in our song. (When God Is a Child, #132)
6 – So come, our Sovereign; enter in! (Lift Up Your Heads, O Mighty Gates, #129)
7 – From our fears and sins release us; Christ, in whom our rest shall be. (Come, O Long-expected Jesus, #125)
8 – O come, Desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind. (O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, #119)
9 – A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices! (O Holy Night)
10 – Let every heart prepare Him room! (Joy to the World, #143)
11 – Then He smiled at me, pa-rum-pa-pum-pum, me and my drum. (Little Drummer Boy)
12 – Radiant beams from thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace. (Silent Night, Holy Night, #145)
13 – Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay. (Away in a Manger, #147)
14 – Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation. (O Come, All Ye Faithful, #148)
15 – God with us is now residing, yonder shines the infant light. (Angels, from the Realms of Glory, #149)
16 – God and sinners reconciled! (Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, #150)
17 – When peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling. (It Came upon the Midnight Clear, #153)
18 – Come adore on bended knee, Jesus, joy of heav’n and earth. (Angels We Have Heard on High, #155)
19 – She bore to us a Savior when half spent was the night. (Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming, #160)
20 – We rejoice in the light, and we echo the song. (There’s a Song in the Air!, #159)
21 – The promise of ages it then did recall. (I Wonder as I Wander, #161)
22 – The King of kins salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone Him. (What Child Is This, #162)
23 – With the poor, the scorned, the lowly, lived on earth our Savior holy. (Once in Royal David’s City, #165)
24 – Go, tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born. (Go Tell It on the Mountain, #167)
25- The Child, the Child, sleeping through the night, He will bring us goodness and light. (Do You Hear What I Hear?)
26 – From paradise to earth He came, that we with Him might dwell. (Gesu Bambino)
27 – Yet what can I give Him? Give Him my heart. (In the Bleak Midwinter)
28 – To save us all from Satan’s power, when we had gone astray. (God Rest Ye Merry)
29 – On, on they send, on without end, their joyful tone, to every home. (Carol of the Bells)
Youth Times September
November Youth Schedule
Change in all things is Sweet ~Aristotle
Change is all around us, especially in this month when the leaves are changing colors and the earth is going through the yearly preparations for winter. Likewise our lives change every single day. We will be having a discussion about what some tools are to help you cope with the changes in your life. Those tools will become essential in your life in the coming year and may even prove to be important for years to come.
- Nov. 6 F U N D A Y—We will have a special craft in celebration of thanksgiving and we will also be playing fun games.
- Nov. 13 Tool belt for change-Helping you handle
- Nov. 20 Summit (18-20) No regular youth meeting scheduled because of Summit
- Nov. 27— No youth meeting planned because of thanksgiving break, enjoy the food and family that is a blessing during this holiday.
Eureka Rotary donates to Weekend Snackpac Program
Eureka Rotary recently provided a gift of $1300 to Weekend SnackPac program to help with costs. The Weekend Snackpac program through Eureka Christian Church helps provide a hot weekend meal to more than 37 Unit District 140 students. Eureka Rotary is well known for their pork chop sales; one of which they did on January 29th at the First Annual Polar Plunge at Eureka Lake. Members from the Weekend SnackPac program were also at the Polar Plunge selling hot chocolate. Chair of the pork chop committee, Jeff Schumacher said he was thrilled with the turnout for the chilly event and that it was a great way for two Eureka Community Service organizations to partner for a good cause.
Eureka Rotary Club provides a way for local business leaders to give back to their community through fundraising and community service. Eureka Rotary meets at 11:45 a.m. every Tuesday at Eureka College Cerf Center. Visitors and prospective members are welcome. For more information, call 309-467-2922.
Parish hall project updates
Parish Hall Insulation Project
One of our Capital Campaign projects has as its primary goal the improvement of the thermal insulation of the Parish Hall building. By one estimate, we can expect to realize an annual savings in heating costs on the order of $3,000. A subcommittee consisting of Tom Price, Robin Robinson and Steve Colburn has been working on the detailed planning of this activity since June of this year. We have decided to split the project into two parts. We will do the first part beginning soon, with completion by early autumn. The second part will be done next summer. Selected for immediate work are the areas where the greatest heat loss is known to take place. This includes the east interior gable of the Parish Hall, as shown in the accompanying photo. The parts to be done next summer will include the main ceiling of the Parish Hall. There are two reasons for splitting the project. First, this is a complex undertaking. By doing some of the work next summer, the work will only minimally impact normal usage of the space by the congregation. Secondly, there are some design issues particular to the main hall ceiling area that will require some additional study.
Work Plan for week of Sept. 6
Starting September 4, we plan to begin removing celotex from the east gable (photo) and the west wall surrounding the stage. On Tues., Sept. 8, drywall will be applied to these areas. On Thursday, Sept.10, foam insulation will be applied, working from inside the attic, to the back side of the east gable drywall. Also that same day, foam will be applied to portions of the stage end walls, and to the ceiling of the front entry porch. 
Then, on Friday, the stage end walls and the entry ceiling will be covered with drywall, and all the drywall will be finished ready for paint. Once the new drywall is painted, existing wood trim will be put back in place.
We thank Mark Honeg for loaning a scaffolding set for use in this work.
As of 5:00 pm, Sept 7., both ends of the Parish Hall are ready for drywall. 
Thanks to John Gholson for helping. In the course of this work, we found two signatures inside the wall, probably made by workers. One is Bob Potts, and the other Johnnie Hartter, who was Annette Schurter’s brother. The Potts signature was dated 6/1935, the year the Parish Hall was built.
As of 5:00 pm Sept. 8, Kent Kamp and his helper Duke have finished hanging drywall on both ends of the Parish Hall. They will finish after the foam insulation is applied. Foam will be applied Thursday, Sept. 10.
A third signature, that of Ben Danhoff, was found above the stage. John Potts (EHS 1959) says that his Uncle Bob Potts graduated from Eureka High School in 1931 and worked as a carpenter for Dickensen Lumber Co. Some wood trim that was removed has J.M. Allen Lumber Company marked on the back side.
As of 5:00 pm, Thursday, Sept. 10, the foam insulation has been applied. Next, drywall will be installed over the insulation in the stage area and in the front foyer. Drywall work will resume Monday, Sept. 14.
As of 5:00 pm Monday, Sept. 14, the drywall crew has finished hanging almost all the drywall, and will start taping on Tuesday. Regarding the stage curtains, the current thinking is to put them in storage somewhere until the main hall ceiling is done next summer. This could change if we have a big stage production in the works, but if they are not needed for a while, it would save the work of taking them down again for the work next summer.
As of 5:00 pm Friday, Sept. 25, the drywall is finished and the white prime coat of paint is applied. Thanks to Robin Robinson and John Gholson for helping. On Saturday we will put on the finish coat of paint. tom Price will also be helping.
As of 5:00 pm, Thursday, October 1, the Parish Hall is cleaned and ready for the Saturday night square dance event. The tools and ladders on the stage will be put away. Thanks to the painting crew of last Saturday – Robin, Tom, Mark, and John. The trim went up this week, and we turned the Hall over to the custodial staff by mid day today.
On Friday, November 27, the job of rehanging the red stage curtains was finished. An improved suspension method was devised and installed. Before hanging, the curtains were dry cleaned and repaired. Thanks to Lorna and Ken Smith for taking charge of the cleaning and repair. Also, thanks to Eileen Baker and her sister Janet, and to John and Robbie Gholson for coming along at just the right time to help lift the weighty curtains up to their lofty destination. You will also notice that all the stuff on the stage, showing in the photo above, has been removed.
December 14, 2009 – Today the December AmerenCILCO bill arrived, with a monthly total of $1,811.48. Last year at the same time, we paid $2,850.71, or over $1,000 more. The new insulation must be working. At this rate we will pay for the Parish Hall work that we did this Fall before the winter is out. See graph below.
Check back soon. We will post the latest results each month.
Parish Hall Insulation Project Making Plans – Posted April 18, 2010
Winter is past and it is time to start planning for the next steps in the Parish Hall insulation work. The committee will be meeting in the week to come.
The main effort last year was to insulate in East gable end of the Parish Hall, which was accomplished, along with similar work on the West end and on the Stage. This insulation helped our heating bills, as shown in the graph below. This graph shows monthly AmerenCILCO bills through April. In the first four months of 2010, we have saved about $1,570 over the same period last year. This is in addition to the $1,000 saved in the December 2009 bill, for a total of over $2,500, so far.
We still have an opportunity to save more as we complete the insulation project. If you were watching, last winter, you would have noticed that the snow still melts off the Parish Hall roof before it should. The ceilings over the Quilting Room and the Vaulted Ceiling over the stairs is sheathed in the brown celotex material. This material is not airtight, and lets warm air infiltrate up through the glass fiber batting. We will replace the celotex with drywall, and replace the batting with the same foamed insulation we applied last Fall.
As we work out the details and dates for this work, we will keep you informed.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Primary activity this weekwas in the Parish Hall insulation project, one of the ongoing Capital Campaign funded projects. We are preparing several areas for foam insulation, starting with the Quilting Room and the rest of the attic at that end of the building. This week, John Gholson and I tore out the existing ceiling. Mike Davis and I upgraded the electrical wiring, and Tom Price and I spread the 6″ fiberglass batts that were removed in the attic of the Education Building. John did a final pass on cleanup. Early next week, Kent Kamp will come and hang drywall on the Quilting Room ceiling. After he has finished that, we will paint the ceiling, and hang the light fixtures. Then we can put the kitchen supplie
s back where they belong. We found the signature of one of the carpenters – Johnnie Hartter, dated January 3, 1936, on one of the rafters in the attic. He was Annette Schurter’s brother.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
We are finishing up the ceilings over the stage, back hall and attic over the kitchen and quilting room. When these areas are done, the remaining part will be the main Parish Hall ceiling.
August 20, 2010
Parish Hall Insulation Upgrade Project Status
The primary purpose of the Parish Hall work, sponsored under the current Capital Campaign, is to improve the thermal insulation in the ceiling of the Parish Hall. In the process, we are also replacing the original wall and ceiling covering with new.
As shown in the photo, the Parish Hall insulation and acoustic matt were removed during the week of August 9-13, and the 2 x 6 trim was taken down the week before. Many thanks to the following people who helped with this very hot and dirty work: Mike Davis, Jody Evans, John Gholson, Kevin Kalmer, Todd Lind, Tom Price, and Robin Robinson.
Current work involves running some new wiring, cleaning up, and getting ready to install the new foam insulation.
