ANNOUNCEMENTS       

ADORATION

LENT READING     “The Rooster” Mark 14:29-31, 66-72

INTROIT:   “The Call”  by R. Vaughan Williams, words by George Herbert performed by Sandy Cranfill on soprano & Randy Martono-Chai on piano.

CALL TO WORSHIP (Psalm 121:1-2)

     

ONE: I lift up my eyes to the hills

MANY: from where will my help come?

ONE: My help comes from the Lord,

MANY: who made heaven and earth.

                                        

PRAYER OF THE DAY 

Almighty God, 

whose Son was revealed in majesty before he suffered death upon the cross: 

Give us faith to perceive his glory, that we may be strengthened to bear our cross, 

and be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, 

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Hymn [BLUE #469] “Morning Has Broken”

 REPENTANCE

CALL TO CONFESSION                                                                  

SILENT CONFESSION

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

God of mercy, 

you sent Jesus Christ to seek and save the lost. We confess that we have strayed from you 

and turned aside from your way. We are misled by pride, for we see ourselves pure when we are stained, 

and great when we are small. We have failed in love, neglected justice, and ignored your truth.

Have mercy, O God, and forgive our sin. Return us to paths of righteousness 

through Jesus Christ. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON                   

GLORIA PATRI [Blue#] [GTG#762]  

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning,

is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen. 

THE WORD READ AND PROCLAIMED

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

RESPONSE  [Blue#586] [GTG#601] “Amen”

1ST SCRIPTURE                                              Psalm 138

2ND SCRIPTURE                                              Matthew 6:24-34

ONE: The Word of the Lord

MANY: Thanks be to God

Sermon                                    “Your Heavenly Father Knows”                                         CP Ford J. Dieth

HYMN [Blue#403] “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”

CALL TO ORDER and DECLARATION of QUORUM  

ANNUAL MEETING

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN (PW) of

JOHN CALVIN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

2025 ANNUAL REPORT

PW Council 2025:

                                               Sandy Cranfill                 Evelyn Tobey     

                                               Barbara Remmelts          Jananne Lankard

                                               Beverly Ross                   Emily Garland

                                               Sheryl Wise                     Beverly Kennedy

 Paula Palermo                 Ernie Price 

The Presbyterian Women of John Calvin serve the church through MISSION, BIBLE STUDY, and FELLOWSHIP.  We meet the first Thursday of every month in the church library.

     MISSION  

     The PW coordinated a Food Drive with the church and playschool.  The collected food was

     brought to Jefferson Presbyterian Church for their community food pantry.

     The PW coordinated a Coat Drive with church and playschool.  All donations were given

     to the Program of Hope.

     This Christmas, we adopted 15 Christmas Angels from the Salvation Army.  Gifts were

     purchased and delivered to bless needy children with a nice Christmas.

     School supplies were purchased and donated to our neighbor school, Alice Birney.

     Grace circle donated $100 from their Sunshine Fund for a gift card to Austin’s Restaurant     

     to be auctioned at the Playschool Fair.

     The PW donated funds for planting flowers and shrubs in the gardens by the parking lot.   

     The Food Pantry in our church is manned by Beverly Kennedy.  Food items are donated

     and given to people in our community who are in need.

     BIBLE STUDY

     Grace Circle provides a Bible Study each third Thursday, at 10:00 in the church library. 

     We studied “Let Justice Roll Down – God’s Call to Care for Neighbors and Creation”. 

     It focused on environmental justice including climate change, water, land and food justice.

     The curriculum comes from PWUSA.

     FELLOWSHIP

     GAME DAY – The PW sponsors a game day on the second and fourth Thursday of each month.

     It is held in the church library and all are welcome to attend.

     The PW assisted with the Playschool Fun Fair by selling tickets, working in the kitchen, 

     serving food and baking pastries to sell in the “Sweet Booth”.

     The PW hosted several Tablecloth Dinners at Outback and Porter and Lukes.  

     The PW hosted a Potluck dinner after the Christmas Cantata.

     The White Elephant party was held at the home of Emily and David Garland.  It was well

     attended and much fun was had by all.

     Respectfully submitted,

     Barbara Remmelts

For more information on the Presbyterian Women of the PCUSA, go to

www.presbyterianwomen.org

CHRISTIAN ED COMMITTEE

Brief Overview of CE: The Christian Education Committee has the duties of educating children, youth, and adults of John Calvin and providing a time of Christian Education to the children at the Playschool. We seek to help you deepen your faith through personal study, discernment, and fellowship activities for all ages. Through adult Sunday School, Youth Group, Children’s Church, Children’s Sermons, Youth Events, Youth Work Projects, Community Events, and Playschool Bible Time. 

• What we did in 2025:

We started the year off with two scheduled museum trips. The first was a trip to the New Orleans Museum of Art where we explored the different types of art throughout generations, a glass exhibit, and had a light lunch with fellowship in Cafe NOMA. The second trip was to explore a local Civil Rights Movement Museum in honor of Black History Month. There was a lack of response which led to the event being cancelled.

Briana Mayfield led an Ash Wednesday prayer service through the committee after getting permission from the worship committee. There was great support with different people coming from different congregations in the city.

Playschool 

Every 1st and 3rd Wednesday, Briana hosts a Bible Time for the PK and TK classes here in the Sanctuary. We open with questions about the topic of the day, read a bible story, hear from Theophilus the faithful retriever, learn a new song, and close with prayer. I give them a take-home sheet with what they learned and a coloring sheet that reflects what we discussed during class.

Every 2nd and 4th Wednesday, Briana teaches Bible Time for the 3’s in their classroom. This includes a story, a song, prayer, and a handout to take home so their parents know what we studied and a coloring activity that matches what we talked about. 

After much thought, Briana resigned as chair of CE to focus on her pastoral duties and training in the Presbytery. Upon submitting the resignation letter, it was encouraged that someone take over CE and further promote ways to continue Faith Formation via bible studies, trips, fellowship time, etc. There has no update as to who that person will be.

Respectfully Submitted,

Briana Mayfield

STAFF COMMITTEE

John Calvin Presbyterian Church

2025 Annual Report of the Staffing Committee

Committee members: Bill Bottomley, Sandy Cranfill (Chair), Emily Garland, Evelyn Tobey

The duties of the Staffing Committee are: 

Hire and dismiss staff

Prepare staff contracts

Oversee the fulfillment of staff contracts

Moderate and resolve any questions and/or conflicts between staff members or with the congregation

This year, the committee hired Randy Martono-Chai as organist/accompanist.  A new contract was prepared for Randy.  He has been a true blessing to our congregation!

A new contract was also prepared for our Administrative Assistant, Briana Mayfield.

Respectfully submitted,

Sandy Cranfill

OUTREACH COMMITTEE

OUTREACH COMMITTEE

ANNUAL REPORT 2025

Committee Elders: Sue Crawford (chair), Beverly Kennedy, Joan Albright, Barbara Remmelts and Amy Cardinale.

Volunteer:   Andrew Crawford

Support for Church Activities

As always, the Outreach Committee is involved in support of the events that the other committees put together:, the Playschool Fair, the Church Work Day(s), etc.  

Dismantling Structural Racism

This possibly the toughest of the Matthew 25 focus areas to tackle.  Our work with Program of Hope and our donations to some of the PCUSA offerings go toward dismantling structural racism, but nothing we are doing directly affects this problem. With the climate building up in Washington, we will need to investigate actions we can take to do our share to help the voices of the oppressed be heard. 

Eradicating Systematic Poverty

Program of Hope (PoH)

We continue to be involved in Program of Hope, with other area Presbyterian congregations First Presbyterian, St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian, Parkway Presbyterian and Berean Presbyterian.  Little Farms United Church of Christ members have volunteered also, helping make sandwiches and serving our guests on some of our Wednesdays. Program of Hope is a mission to the housing-challenged in New Orleans.  We provide lunch, a voucher for a night at the Salvation Army shelter, day bus passes, toiletries, clothing, worship leadership, and most importantly a dignified, respectful, loving respite from the world, on Wednesday mornings throughout the year.

Program of Hope guests, as well as the church volunteers are grateful for the spiritual guidance through mini sermons and interaction with the guests by Brianan Mayfield.  Many of the guests ask about her on Wednesdays that are not on our schedule.  She has brought an understanding and a positive light to us all.

Sharon Fortin and Sue Crawford serve on the Advisory Board for Program of Hope which meets monthly via Sharon’s zoom account.  Program of Hope is no longer pursuing becoming a New Worshipping Community as some of the guests were opposed to opening and other reasons.  Sue serves on the Presbytery New Worshiping Communities Committee.

John Calvin Presbyterian Church has generously supported the mission of Program of Hope through monetary donations, clothing donations and time and energy given.  Because of the years of dedication by Richard Britson, Sharon Fortin and Lorraine Hicks, Barbara McCan and many others, John Calvin has served PoH for twelve years.

Sue and Mary Antill have worked with PoH board members, attending Loyola School of Communication & Design Immersion Presentations. This has resulted in campaigns for PoH.

But it all comes down to the actual activities of which we have many to thank:

             Mary Antill has helped Sue with food and clothing procurement.

Little Farms United Church of Christ is sending 2 people some Wednesdays when it is our turn to serve.  This is really helping, and the rest of the POH folks are getting to know and appreciate them.  Rev. Susan Lasalle has given her services.

Rev. Aaron Ochart showed us by example how to become more comfortable connecting with our PoH guests.

A big THANK YOU to all of you who give your time on Tuesday afternoons at 3:00 to make the sandwiches!  You are vital in making this work.  A huge thanks to our folks who come to serve on Wednesday’s. It can be a little intimidating, but our faithful team is able to share God’s love.  A big heartful thanks!

JCPC has a major role in working with clothing.  Donations of needed men’s items were diminishing, so Mary and Sue took on purchasing only needed items at estate sales, and our team is doing a great job of making it feel like a bit of a fun shopping experience for the clients, instead of a handout. 

 

Clothing Drives:

Thank you to everyone who donated the wonderful clean and well-kept seasonal clothing for the clients at Program of Hope!  And thank you to all the sorters who came to package the clothing for easy use at POH.

Berean Presbyterian Church Christmas Party

JCPC Playschool, as well as the church, holds a coat drive every year.  It is wonderful and many coats for children and adults are collected.  But what happens to those coats?  Did you know that the Outreach Committee are the ones who take care of distributing those coats?  In 2024, the coats collected from the Playschool and JC church coat drive as well as the fifty or so adult coats Mary and Sue had from estate sales went to Program of Hope as part of their extra Christmas help for the clients. Over 125 adult coats were donated from our church family and school.

The children’s coats collected from the playschool all went to Berean Presbyterian Church for the children’s Christmas party.

JCPC also collected toys and brought them to the Children’s Christmas party at Berean.  Our church family is so very generous, with special thanks to Sharon and Mike Fortin.  Thank you all for your contributions!

NEW ORLEANS MEDICAL MISSION

In the narthex is a collection box for empty medicine bottles and containers.  Joan Albright takes this supplies to Elmwood so they can be shipped to South/Central America so when doctors give medicines, there are containers to send home with the patients.  Other medical supplies are welcome.

JCPC PANTRY

Thank you to Beverly Kennedy for your leadership in maintaining the food pantry.

PCUSA Offerings

This wonderful congregation always gives generously to the four PCUSA Offerings.  Thank you!

One Great Hour of Sharing

Pentecost – 40% stays here to impact the lives of young people within our community.

Peace and Global Witness Offering – 25% stays here for peace projects.

Christmas Joy Offering

You also give generously to Evergreen Life Services a long-time mission of this congregation.

Building Use

The Outreach Rooms were used by 14 different Anonymous type groups and 2 additional groups for a fee.  The Outreach Committee with much help from Louise Ochart and Briana Mayfield, screens these groups and supports their need for space, tables, chairs, and a screen for internet.

The Fellowship Hall and Sanctuary are used for various events for a substantial fee.  The Outreach Committee members, do minor set up and take down, and monitor for cleanliness when the group is done

Examples:

Use of the Sanctuary for piano recitals.

Use of the Fellowship Hall for bridal showers, birthday parties, funeral receptions, banquets.

Changes to the Building Use Policy

The Outreach Committee will need help in rewriting the Building Use Policy to reflect this new information.  

The Outreach Committee for 2026 is: Session Members: Beverly Kennedy, Joan Albright, Amy Cardinale and Barbara Remmelts.  Volunteers: Andrew Crawford, and Sue Crawford

PLAYSCHOOL COMMITTEE

John Calvin Presbyterian Playschool 

2025 Report

The Playschool is always a fun place to be, however it is very, very busy!   

They learn through play. The Playschool has been known as the Best Preschool in Jefferson Parish. Grammar schools have always remarked that the John Calvin children are well prepared for entering their next level of education.

The teachers are very dedicated and always teaching and helping the children grow and learn with loving care. Most of our teachers have been with us for decades. The teachers along with the parents and the administrators make a great school family.

Our school calendar starts in September:

   We begin with orientation, this takes up most of the first week. Following with extended day schedules (till 2:45)

Toward the end of the month we have “Family Fun Night” and “Disney Dinner with a Movie,” of course a Disney Movie!

October:

School Pictures are taken.

Fundraiser: Gift Wrap & Cookie Fundraiser.

Fundraiser : Canes Night (location on Veterans Blvd) they give the Playschool a percentage of sales from anyone who mentions John Calvin Playschool.

Teachers make “update” calls to parents to let them know how their children are adjusting to the new school year.

Then we end October with “Trunk or Treat Halloween Fun”

November:

Individual pictures are taken.

PK 4 has its Friendsgiving Performance.

Then the classrooms enjoy their Thanksgiving Feasts.

Thanksgiving Holidays.

December:

Christmas Pictures with Santa

TK Christmas Play “Angel! Angel!

January:

Parent-Teacher Conferences are held.

Registrations begin for next year.

February:

Grandparents Week & Scholastic Book Fair 

Classes have their Mardi Gras Parades

Mardi Gras Holidays begin.

March:

Easter Bunny Party 

Summer Camp Registration begins

 Art & Fun Festival 

April:

Easter break begins.

Big Red Barn Farm Tour visits.

May:

Teacher Appreciation Week

Class Graduations/last day of school

Teacher Work Week 

Every year Jefferson Parish Licensing make several inspection visits to the campus.

Every year the Fire Department for Jefferson Parish also make their visits to the campus and facilities.   

-WORSHIP COMMITTEE

WORSHIP  COMMITTEE  ANNUAL REPORT

2025

Members of the the Worship Committee are:  Mary Antill (chair), Sandy Cranfill, Mike Fortin, Cindy Freudenthal, Emily Garland, Beverly Ross and Evelyn Tobey,

The Worship Committee  is responsible for all church services held at John Calvin.  These duties include music, technology, running the sound booth, obtaining liturgist and ushers.  We secure flowers weekly and prepare the sanctuary for worship.  We open the church and close the church each Sunday.  At Easter we are responsible for putting up the cross and at Christmas we decorate the sanctuary.

Our main responsibility has been securing pulpit supply until a permanent pastor is hired.  Since August, 2024 Ford J Dieth and Rev Dr Martha Robson have been alternating Sundays monthly.  Sharon Fortin administered communion several times earlier in the year when Rev Robson was unavailable.

In March, 2025 we hired a Music Director, Randy Martono-Chai.  He has been a wonderful asset to our church. 

During each Sunday in Lent a symbol from “Remembering the Cross” was presented and the Liturgist explained its significance by reading the corresponding scripture.  Several special services were held during this time.  On Palm Sunday we secured and distributed palms for church participants.  On Maundy Thursday we had a “Tenebrae Service” and invited surrounding Presbyterian churches plus Little Farms to attend.  CP Briana Mayfield preached. 

Easter Sunday Rev Martha Robson preached.  The floral display of Easter lilies was created by Emily Garland.

Beginning in August, 2025 we rotated the 5th Sundays with the Chinese Church.  This provided us the opportunity to meet more of their members as we are in discussion to “yoke” with them.  A pot luck luncheon followed these services.

Mike Fortin resigned in September from the Worship Committee and as the main operator of the sound board.  Mary Antill has stepped in as the weekly operator and has secured the assistance of Ron Palmisano.

During the year we have attended services with Parkway Presbyterian Church.

In December we hosted a Christmas Cantata.  The Chinese Presbyterian Church and Little Farms Church of Christ were invited to participate with us. Rev Susan Lassalle, the pastor at Little Farms Church, led the service. Several members of the church were readers for this service.  

The Christmas Eve service was led by Rev Dr Martha Robson.  Many members participated as readers.  Sue Crawford was able to obtain the “Eternal Flame Candle” from which the Christ Candle was lighted.  This flame was then passed onto the congregation as we sang “Silent Night”.

As we enter 2026 our responsibilities have increased as we have fewer active members to assist.   We are praying that a permanent pastor will be with us before 2027.

-FACILITIES COMMITTEE

Annual Report,  2025

It has been a busy year regarding the upkeep of our church facilities.  Normal maintenance includes annual inspections of the Backflow preventer, fire and burglar alarm systems, fire extinguisher inspections and recharging or replacements, if needed; carpet cleaning, pest and rodent control, quarterly A/C filter changes and system inspections, exhaust fan and fire prevention system in FH kitchen.  There are always plumbing issues to address in both the church and FH:  leaking faucets, toilet repairs, clogged drain, etc.

Two major projects were addressed this year.  The FH main room ceiling LED lights were repaired. All the remaining fluorescent light fixtures in the church were replaced with LED units.

Water leaks in the Outreach wing led to the discovery of A/C problems.  Repairs were made.  Then sewer backup in this wing led to the discovery of a major problem—cracked pipe in the sewer line leading out to the street.  The crack was under the slab of the Administration wing.  The pipe was replaced and eventually sand was pumped under this slab and also around the slab on the Fairfield Street side.

Leaks in the roof of the FH were repaired under warranty.  

The A/C unit in the FH kitchen had to be replaced.

The dishwasher in the church kitchen was replaced by donors.

Trees were trimmed as required by the insurance company and the gutters cleaned. 

The exterior glass doors on the church and FH were repaired.  Several of the original hinges needed to be replaced.  New weather stripping was added where needed.

The exterior metal doors on the front of the church and Room 9-12 were painted.   The cupola over the sanctuary and the cross were also painted and caulked.

Stained ceiling tiles were replaced.

A railing leading to the chancel area was installed due to the generosity of a donor. 

An accumulation of outdated electronics, yard equipment, closet overflow, the  storage unit and any other trash was finally hauled away.

The lock on the exterior door of the Outreach wing was repaired and re-keyed. 

The base of the cabinet in the hall of the Outreach wing was replaced.

New directional signage was installed near FH.   The “No Parking” Sign was replaced in the parking lot.

The original caulking on the second floor windows of FH was replaced. 

Caulking was repaired where the side hip roof meets the vertical wall of the church roof.  The vertical panels were painted.

The Playschool continues to fund its needed repairs to the classrooms and playgrounds.  The Playschool replaced the ground surface of the one-year old’s playground with artificial grass.

Thank you to David Garland, Bill Bottomley, Steve Barnes, Briana and Cameron Mayfield and others that help with the ongoing projects on our campus.

Respectfully submitted,

Evelyn Tobey

-FINANCE COMMITTEE

Treasurer’s report showing finances for 2025 and what is proposed for 2026:

1. Pledge and Faith offerings were as expected.
2. Building use:  Sanctuary use exceeded expectations.   Fellowship hall use did not come close to expectations.
3. Total revenues for the year exceeded our expectations.
4. Total office expense is on budget.
5. Insurance is below budget by $16,000.  This is because we did not have to pay Louisiana Citizens in December for the first quarter of 2026.  (New property insurance sources for 2026.)
6. Utilities are slightly less than budgeted.
7. Repairs and Maintenance are below budget.  We used approximately $52,000 from the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) restricted fund to offset expenses, which were over and above the normal yearly maintenance.  The ERTC fund is the tax credit refunded to the Playschool for their continuing to pay their teachers and staff during the pandemic.  Playschool administration graciously let the church have this money, so we could make improvements to the buildings.)
8. Committee accounts are as expected.
9. The deficit, which was expected to be around $19,000, turned out to be a surplus of just over $28,000, based on the ERTC funds, and that we are not paying full-time clergy.

 RESPONSE     

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH         Apostles’ Creed 

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,  and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

RECEIVING OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS

OFFERTORY   Minuet in G by L. v. Beethoven performed by Cindy Freudenthal on organ & Randy Martono-Chai on piano

DOXOLOGY [GTG#606]

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise God, all creatures here below;

Praise God above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. 

PRAYER OF DEDICATION

THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

THE LORDS’ PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.  Amen

HYMN [BLUE#333]  “Seek Ye First” all verses then first verse again

PARTING PRAYER

Faithful God,

you know our anxious hearts and our divided loyalties. Teach us to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, to trust in your daily provision, and to rest in your faithful care. Free us from worry that we may live with undivided devotion to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

RESPONSE [BLUE#333] “Seek Ye First” Verse 1

POSTLUDE               “Way Beyond the Blue”               

*Liturgical material taken from the “Weekly Liturgy” of the Presbyterian Outlook. ©Presbyterian Outlook, 2026.

Note: the hymn lyrics in the bulletin and on the projection screen are from the Glory To God Hymnal (© 2013 Westminster John Knox Press), which we are transitioning to. Words in the “Blue” Presbyterian Hymnal (© 1990) in your pew may differ slightly. The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved.

STAFF