Ryken Report

Marion,

This is just a quick message to say that things are going well in Singapore. Kirsten is having such a good time that she is thinking about moving here. We are just leaving in a few minutes for the morning session of the Singapore Youth for Christ Bible Conference, which is being held at St. Andrews Cathedral -- a beautiful Anglican church right in the center of Singapore. Please ask people to continue to pray for the ministry of God's Word.

Phil

Festival of Carols Tonight

They are coming from Newark, Delaware; from Bryn Mawr and Paoli; even from Deerfield, NJ; even from Lancaster. They are bringing horns and pipes, strings (even a banjo) and handbells. Musicians and singers from seven churches will come together tonight and with us sing and make glorious music celebrating the birth of our Lord.

See you tonight at 7:30 for the Festival of Carols (hosted by Carroll), though you will be smart to come by 7:00.

Lori Greenawalt news release

Here's the Lori Greenawalt as a Woman of Distinction news release on her alma mater's website (see Marion's entry below). Tenth was mentioned in the Business Journal article, though not in this news release.

Featured Tenth Member

Lori Greenawalt was featured in the Philadelphia Business Journal (Nov 30-Dec 6 edition) for her volunteer work. Some of her activities noted are: short-term trips to Peru with Medical Minstries International, Board member of the Children's Crisis Treatment Center, and SS teacher at Tenth. Thanks, Lori, for shining the light of Christ in your workplace and community!

Soccer uniforms wanted

Cleaning out your kid's closet? Don't toss those outgrown soccer cleats and shin guards; send them on a mission! A church plant we support in Barranquilla, Colombia, has started a soccer outreach to engage kids in a distressed neighborhood. Besides learning soccer, the kids are learning about the gospel. Unfortunately the church there does not have the resources to equip the teams and has asked for our help. In response we are asking folks to donate cleats, soccer socks, and shin guards suitable for wear by boys aged 9 to 16. And if we could get a set of team uniforms that would be fantastic. Please bring your surplus soccer gear and place it in the box in the catacombs during December.

Mohler on Pullman

So Phil leaves for the other side of the world, and I'm thinking I can now relax a bit since he is not here to give me more "suggestions." But, alas, there is now email that keeps us linked. He thinks my readers will appreciate Al Mohler's analysis of both the move "The Golden Compass" and the series of books written by Philip Pullman. It is one of the more thoughtful responses you will read - http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=1065.

Signings

Bryan JL Glass and Mike Oeming will be signing @ BRAVE NEW WORLDS in Philadelphia. WHEN: Dec. 7th, (First Friday)
SIGNING: 6-9pm
WHERE: BRAVE NEW WORLDS 45 N 2nd St. near 2nd and Market Sts.

The second volume of The Mice Templar is out.

Tenth Hits

John Voorhis sent in these YTD statistics for www.tenth.org as of Dec. 4.

Highlights (Note that these figures are from actual users, not search engine bots, spiders, crawlers, etc., etc.):

Visitors:
Approx. 70,337 – unique visitors
184,079 – visits
Not surprisingly, Sunday gets approx 70% more traffic than any other day.

Countries:
Visitors from 115 countries, including China, Pakistan, many countries of the middle east and Africa, Cuba, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Niue, Mauritius, Montserrat, Brunei Darussalam, Christmas Island, Micronesia, Tanzania, Latvia, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Canada has the most foreign visitors, with 8,656 pages served.

Popular pages:
Other than the Home page, the Webcast / Sermon page is the most popular, follow by “About Tenth,” the bulletins, “Tenth Ministries,” and “Window on the World.”

Singing Parishes

Two parishes have caroling events coming up:

Parish 3 has two: Thursday, December 13, 7:00 pm, will be at Bob and Cathy Kempf’s, Drexel Hill. Bring a dessert to share. RSVP to the Kempfs. Then Wednesday, December 19, 7:00 pm, at Greg and Mary Berzinsky’s. Bring a dessert to share. RSVP by December 17 to the Berzinskys.

Parish 4: lunch and Christmas caroling at the Lintons Sunday afternoon, December 16, 1:30 pm, 5 Primrose Lane, West Chester. Please bring a dessert. RSVP to 610.436.4962 or 610.356.3472.

Blood Drive was successful!

Janice Roberts, who headed yesterday's blood drive, sent in this report:

The Red Cross Blood Drive was a great success, thanks to all who helped either by donating blood or helping to attract and serve those who came in from the street. We made our goal of 60 pints. Those who shared in the ministry to our guests, Jay Hood, Janice Witmer, Danya Kellberg, and Sandy Hill, were blessed as they invited people to come to the concerts and answered questions. Those on the cold street corners persuading passers by to come in, Bob Lang and Paul Jones, were tremendous partners. Janice Roberts coordinated the drive. Many thanks to all who served God in this ministry!

Carseat Needed

Trey and Becky Holloway are returning to the States a week from today. It is their first trip back since going to Aberdeen and will be in Philadelphia for two weeks over Christmas. They are in need of a toddler carseat for Addison to borrow while in the area. If anyone has one they could lend, contact Becky at holloway.rebecca@gmail.com.

Staff Christmas party today

Did you ever wonder what the staff party was like? Click here.

Bible Review

Does anyone have a large-print ESV Bible? A church member is considering buying one for his mother and would like to hear how others' opinion about it (the quality of the binding, not the translation). Email me (mclark@tenth.org) and I will pass it on.

Jerry at Peace

Jerry McFarland is preaching Sunday morning. As you know, he and Bev are moving in January to Cary, NC, where he will serve on the staff of Peace Presbyterian Church. Here is their website, if you want to get an idea of the church he will be serving.

Of Meetings and Parties

A typical Tuesday at Tenth has several staff gatherings. The schedule usually runs like this:

10:30 - Administrative staff meeting (they usually focus on a particular topic)
11:00 - All staff meeting (everyone is able to update both church and personal matters)
12:00 - Lunch together
1:00 - Pastoral staff meet for reporting and prayer

We will not have the first two meetings today, as we will take time tomorrow to have our annual staff Christmas party tomorrow 12:00-2:00. Did I say party? I meant we will take time for quiet reflection to consider how we can work harder in the coming year.

Festival of Choirs

Get the word out for the Festival of Carols for this coming Friday night at 7:30. Besides Tenth, there will be musicians and singers representing six other churches. I've posted an image of the flyer earlier. If you want a copy to email to friends, contact Christy Corbett at ccorbett@tenth.org.

Blood Drive

Tomorrow is the Red Cross Blood Drive at the church from noon to 6:00 p.m.

Off and Away

Phil is busily getting ready to leave this afternoon with Kirsten. They are catching a plane in New York and heading to Singapore where he will be teaching for a Youth for Christ conference. Click here for their website which gives info about the conference.

Paul Tripp goes to New York tonight to catch an early morning plane for Dubais where he will be teaching at a conference sponsored by the United Christian Church of Dubai.

Our motley crew...

While preparing Christmas cards for our global partners, I found this picture of a select portion of our staff (those who attended a particular Tuesday meeting). What a motley crew!