Happy New Year!

May God richly bless you throughout 2009!

- The Staff of Oak Brook Community Church

Join Us For New Year's Eve

Family New Year's Eve
Communion Service
7:00pm

Join us for a family-friendly Communion service on New Year's Eve.
(365 will have their own New Year's service in the Activity Center.)

Childcare available for ages 0-3 only.

Merry Christmas!

We wish you a joyous & peaceful Christmas Day.

-The Staff of Oak Brook Community Church

Join Us For Christmas Eve

Candlelight Christmas Eve Services
5:00 & 11:00pm

Childcare available for ages 0-3 at 5:00pm service only.

Awana Celebrates Christmas

Awana celebrated the Christmas season with a
party last Friday night. Here are a few shots
from the evening.


Looks like the Cubbies enjoyed eating marshmallows more than building snowmen with them.



Here's a few clubbers with the Christmas spirit!




Awana is on break until Friday, January 9th.
They'll kick off the new year with Triple Point Night! See you then Clubbers!

It Was A 365 Avalanche!

365, our Jr. & Sr. High group, held their Christmas party last night. They turned the Activity Center into a winter wonderland for Avalanche!

Here are a few photos of the evening:

Check out their website at:
http://www.365youthgroup.com
to find out about upcoming events
& learn more about this group.

Caroling Quadrants

Reports are in from all Quads on Sunday's Christmas caroling event. The consensus is that we brought the church to people who couldn't come to the church. Each Quad group reported that they spent more time ministering to people in personal ways than they had expected or planned. Some of our shut-ins received surprise visits as well.

Here's our challenge for 2009: How can we continue this line of thinking? In what ways can we bring church to those outside the walls of OBCC? How can we impact the lives of people we come in contact with daily who would never normally enter a church building? In what ways can each of us reach out to someone who can't always make it to church?

We'd love to hear your ideas and suggestions. You can either post them here or email them to us at info@obcc1.org.

Christmas Programs Fill The Air

Sunday morning our Children's Dept. presented their Christmas musical. "No Wonder" was a story with a message. Many of the characters sported tee shirts carrying the message: THE CHURCH HAS LEFT THE BUILDING. They reminded us that our mission is not to create a sterile world within the walls of the church, but to get out into our community and show Jesus' love to the world around us.

Under the direction of Scott & Caryn Jacaway, the kids did an awesome job! Here are just a few pictures of the production. We'll have more posted in the photo gallery of the website in a few days.

Signs of Christmas

Oak Brook Christian School held their Christmas program last night. "Signs of Christmas" involved the entire school. Pastor Dan led the music, while Becky Gumber narrated. The kids sang their hearts out and waved to family members all evening. It was a great evening...one of the best things we do at Christmas!

Following the musical everyone was invited into the Activity Center for a punch & cookie reception. Our Deaconesses do a beautiful job setting this up and running it each year.

If you haven't attended one of these programs yet, plan to do so next year. You won't be disappointed.

Here We Go A-Caroling...

This Sunday evening is our 3rd Annual Christmas Caroling event. This year we're putting a new twist on the evening. Instead of forming groups & picking random neighborhoods for caroling, we've turned this into a Quad-based event. Each Quad has set up a meeting location & time within it's area and will do some caroling at a hospital or nursing home. They will also send out some auxiliary teams to visit our shut-ins within the Quad.

A flier with complete details is located in this weekend's bulletin. Help to brighten the holiday of some folks in your area and show support for your Quad at the same time. See you Sunday evening.

Saying "Thank You" In A Big Way!

What an evening we had!!! So many people turned out to celebrate the true spirit of Christmas by giving back to those who have given their all for us. After singing a couple of carols, everyone posed for the group photo above. (We also enclosed a copy in every package that was assembled.)

After some delicious refreshments and great entertainment by Larry Zarletti, Pastor Paul & Becky Gumber provided some comic relief before sending people through the assembly line to create Christmas packages for the 703d Brigade Support Battalion.

While some folks went through the assembly line, others wrote personal notes to the soldiers to enclose in the packages and prayed for the person who'll receive it. We also took time to honor and pray for our own who are currently on active duty. We were thrilled that SSgt. Roger Connet joined us for the evening, and we're sending packages to PV2 Joseph Jacaway, LCpl Andrew Martinson, Cpl Christopher Russo, and AB Robert Trenkler, in addition to the boxes going to Ft. Stewart, GA.

Thank you to everyone who baked cookies or donated items for the troop packages. We assembled approximately 150 packages (or 15 boxes) that we'll ship to Ft. Stewart this week. What a great way to kick off the Christmas season!

Check the OBCC Website in the next couple of days for more pictures from the evening.

Church Christmas Party To Thank The Returning 703d BSB

It's almost time for the OBCC Christmas & Packing Party. This Sunday at 6:00pm, our congregation and community will come together to thank our troops (specifically the 703d Brigade Support Batallion) and kick off the Christmas Season in a very special way.

Families from the church, the school and the community have started dropping off packages and home-baked cookies this week. Some folks are bringing items they've purchased, others have already assembled & wrapped packages. Our Children's Dept. is making Christmas ornaments to attach to the packages. People are busy baking. We're gathering Christmas cards, ribbon, gift bags & shipping boxes. Groups of volunteers and staff are constantly holding impromptu planning meetings to make sure we're fully prepared and nothing has fallen through the cracks. The building is abuzz with activity in preparation for the evening.

It's going to be a great party! Pastor Chip has arranged some special Christmas entertainment for the evening. We'll sing Christmas Carols, play a couple of games, and enjoy refreshments before we get down to business assembling the packages for the 703d BSB. This is an event for the entire family so we'll have activities for every age group. Kids can color pictures for the soldiers or make ornaments, teens & adults can assemble & wrap packages or write personal notes to enclose. We'll be video taping the festivities so we can send a DVD of the evening to Fort Stewart along with our packages. We want to make this a very special Christmas for these men & women who risked their lives to ensure our freedom. See you Sunday night!

4th Annual OBCC Ladies' Ornament Exchange

Food, fun & fellowship are guaranteed! You'll meet some new friends and go home with a new ornament as well. But, don't get too attached to your ornament...there are 2 steals
allowed during the exchange! (Check out the photos of some previous exchanges.) Come join us at Beth Komon's house. Here's the necessary info:

Date: Saturday, December 13th

Time: 6:30-9:30pm

Location: 1304 Auburn Ave.

Naperville, IL

Rules:

1. Bring an ornament that cost less than $10.00


2. Bring an appetizer or dessert to share.


3. Be ready to have fun!

RSVP by December 10th to elizabethkomon@aol.com