Remember all that money we raised at the Christmas Party...

Below is a letter from Heather Moss, wife of the principal of McCarver Elementary School. At our annual Christmas Party we raised enough money for McCarver to host the Missoula Children's Theater. Well, the time has come for the show to begin! Please read the letter and let us know how you can help them. Email Michael Gray if you are available.

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The time has come! Ruby Midgette (the school music teacher), Scott and I met last week to do the final planning for MCT at McCarver. We are so excited, and the kids are already all a-buzz about auditions and the play. The residency week starts in just under 3 weeks (May 9-14), and everyone is so excited! We have you and your congregation to thank, so thank you!

On the heels of our gratitude, however, comes a request for more help (you told me to ask!)...

IF you have members who are interested in helping more with this project, here are two ideas:

• We have decided it would be best to feed dinner to the kids who are staying Mon-Fri for rehearsals (3:30-8:00 each night!), so they don't have to worry about packing a meal (or going without). We are looking for volunteers to host each dinner, which will feed about 50 kids and a handful of adults. Scott is asking St. Joseph's hospital staff to do one, and I think Scott and I will buy pizza one night -- would your church be willing to host dinner for the cast one night, as well?
• The MCT team does a great job of managing the kids all week during rehearsals, but they/we will need help on Saturday to set up chairs and help get the kids in costumes and makeup. Is this something you might have 2-3 people help us with?

Finally, please be sure to come to one of the Saturday performances (I think they will be at 3:00 and 5:30, but I'll confirm as we get closer). We are not selling tickets, so you can just show up, and I know the McCarver community would love to have you there! I'll send a more formal invitation soon, but be sure to put it on your calendar -- May 14!!

Looking forward to talking again soon!

-- Heather Moss

NCC Kids Announcement

On Easter Sunday ALL of the NCC Kids will be in the gymnasium the whole time. The only ones affected by this change are the 5-11s. They will not be in for worship. The NCC Kids teachers have created a special program for Easter... the kids are going to love it!

A Few Needs...

Well, it's all happening now! We have invited thousands to Good Friday, the Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Sunday. We have spent the week praying and asking God to do what He does best... seek and save! Please join us tonight at Central Lutheran at 6:30 pm- 7:30 pm to pray again for the upcoming events and more. (No childcare provided tonight, but children are welcome!)

The good news is the Easter Egg Hunt has created quite the buzz... we have received phone calls about it, it's been posted on several blogs and news websites and invites have been handed out! This does mean we need more helpers though! We want to make sure we have a fun and safe event... this means lot's of people to help keep order. The volunteers will gather at Wright Park at 8 am to start the set-up or organizational process. Please consider coming... no need to RSVP for it, just show up!

Thanks so much!

Easter Egg Hunt Volunteers

We are so excited about serving the city with our Easter Egg Hunt at Wright Park on Saturday, April 23rd from 10 am to 11:30 am. We are hoping to have over 5,000 eggs stuffed with candy! We will also have a bouncy castle and face painting.

We will need lot's of help to pull this off... from hiding eggs, registration table, manning the bouncy castle, helping the kids with the egg hunt... and more! Please, please let us know if you are available to help. This is a great opportunity to serve the city and invite them to our Easter service.

Contact Michael Gray for more info and to volunteer.

A Few Changes for This Sunday

We will be making a few 'ONE TIME' adjustments for this Sunday. The beautiful venue that is Stadium High School is in demand and tomorrow we will be sharing the venue with a gymnastics competition. They will be in the gymnasium where our kids usually gather. This Sunday only our kids work will be downstairs in classrooms. We will have people available to point you in the right direction and get you signed in.

Another change is that we will be using the entrance in the front of the building closer to N. 1st St.

And finally, we will need to be out of the venue at 12 noon. The gymnastics competition will be having an awards ceremony in the performing arts center shortly after we are finished. We are typically out of the building around 12 noon any ways, we just need to be more sensitive this Sunday.

By the way, this is the Sunday where we will be talking about sex. Again, the topic will be PG-13 but parents should be aware that this is the subject and they should feel free to lead their children accordingly.

CPR Class

NCC is offering a CPR class Saturday April 16th from 9 to noon at Central Lutheran. There is no cost and child care will not be provided. This is open to everyone (parents, babysitters, concerned citizens, etc...) but we would especially like to see you there if you are a Sunday school teacher and have not already received the training. If you have any questions please email Wes Swarthout. Hope to see you there!