News

Dance for the Kids/Zumbathon®

10 AM – 2 PM SATURDAY, SEPT 24 IN FELLOWSHIP HALL • $10 DROP-IN FEE, CHECKS PAYABLE TO FOUR DIAMONDS

Support Four Diamonds’ mission to conquer childhood cancer by assisting children and their families through superior care, comprehensive support, and innovative research! Multiple Zumba instructors will participate during the event, and snacks and water will be provided (bring your own water bottle). 

Question of the Week: 8/1/22

What is your favorite toy to play with right now?

Kennedy Damron:
My Lil Woodzeez sets

Noah Ganse:
My new baseball glove or dinosaur shaped nerf gun 

Calista June:
My ninja ropes course

Genevieve Minnich:
Wii video games: Mario Kart Racing and Disney Infinity

Adam Owsley:
My favorite right now is a foam airplane that does loops outside

New Sunday Guestbook Option

Live stream regulars let us know they’ve joined us for worship by clicking through to sign the guestbook on our live streaming page. Alert users will notice we’ve added a new guestbook option below the streaming video player. Use either one, and if you prefer one better than the other, let us know in the guestbook comments. 

Welcome Dan Dorty!

Dan Dorty

Sept 1 is the first day for Dan Dorty, Derry Church’s new organist and director of music ministry. He’s off and running with the first Sanctuary Choir rehearsal at 7 pm tonight in room 7, and all are welcome to attend.

Dan Dorty most recently served as the Director of Music and Organist at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Mechanicsburg. Previously he was the organist and music director at Camp Hill Presbyterian Church. A Shippensburg native, he grew up in Shippensburg and Newville Presbyterian churches.

Dan is the collaborative pianist and organist for the nationally recognized Susquehanna Chorale. He also serves on the Mount Gretna Summer Bible Festival board and accompanies its 200-voice massed choir. He has collaborated with such well-known composers and arrangers as Joseph M. Martin, Lloyd Larson, Howard Helvey, Heather Sorenson, Patti Drennan, Mary McDonald, and Kristyn and Keith Getty. He attended Messiah College, where he majored in church music with a concentration in organ.

Dan maintains a private studio, teaching organ, piano, and voice in Boiling Springs, PA. He frequently serves as an accompanist in the surrounding communities. He has accompanied the Messiah College Choral Arts Society, the Wheatland Chorale, Central Pennsylvania Oratorio Singers, the Harrisburg Opera Company, Men in Harmony, and many other choirs, professional vocalists, and instrumentalists.

Dan is a member of the American Choral Directors Association and the American Guild of Organists, where he serves on the board of the Harrisburg chapter. 

Bus Trip to NYC on Nov 19

Here’s what you need to know about Derry’s annual bus trip to NYC:

  • You can sign up in the Narthex on Sunday mornings beginning Sept 11: forms will be available at the insert rack outside the kitchen
  • Bus departs Derry Church promptly at 7 am SAT NOV 19 and leaves NYC at 7 pm, returning at approximately 10:30 pm
  • $60 per person for transportation only, and checks will be held until the bus is filled. Then payment is non-refundable unless your seat can be filled.
  • Enjoy a day on your own in NYC to go shopping, sightsee or take in a show
  • Bring your own snack or beverage
  • There will be no stops along the way
  • Sponsored by the Sanctuary Choir
  • Questions? Contact Cindy Royer

Derry Day Trippers Plan a Hershey Experience

MEET 11 AM FRIDAY, SEPT 23 AT THE HERSHEY THEATRE, 15 E CARACAS AVE • RSVP TO SUE WHITAKER BY MONDAY, SEPT 12

The Derry Day Trippers invite you to join them for a tour of the Hershey Theatre. Most of the tour is on the ground floor. There is no elevator so if you have mobility issues, you can remain on the ground floor and one of the guides will stay with you and tell you about the part of the theater you cannot access.

After the tour, the group will go to the Hotel Hershey for lunch and each person can order and pay for their meal. 

Everyone is welcome to join this truly “Hershey” experience. Payment for the tour ($15/person) is due to Sandy Miceli in the church office by Wednesday, Sept 14. 

Love INC’s 16th Anniversary Celebration & Community Auction 

5 PM THURSDAY, OCT 13 AT THE HERSHEY GARDENS

Check-in and silent auction for premier items begin at 5 pm with hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar available. Guests may enjoy complimentary access to the butterfly atrium and gardens prior to a buffet dinner at 6 pm. Reserve your seat no later than Oct 6 for $75/person. Walk-up seating on the night of the dinner is not available. All proceeds from this event benefit the ministries of Love INC of Greater Hershey.

The Online Community Auction happens Oct 9-13 and all may participate at no cost save the online items you may win at auction. Register now.

New! “Engage Stories” Live Storytelling Event


6:30 PM SATURDAY, SEPT 10 IN ROOM 7

We love stories, and everybody has a story: ordinary stories, extraordinary stories, stories that delight, entertain, educate, stories that make you laugh, think, hope and cry. Stories are the raw material from which we live our lives.

Engage Stories is a storytelling event where five people have up to ten minutes each to tell a true story from their own life and the audience gets to ask curious questions. Our first event’s theme is “Once in a Lifetime.” Join us to listen as George Porter, Sara Woodbury, Natalie Taylor, Frances Mohler, and our new organist Dan Dorty tell us about once-in-a-lifetime moments, opportunities, relationships, and experiences.

Everybody has a story that deserves to be heard. Join us to listen to Derry friends tell about once-in-a-lifetime moments, oEverybody has a story that deserves to be heard. Come prepared to listen, to learn, to ask questions, and grow closer to one another through the power of stories.

Question of the Week: 8/25/22

If you could return to one place you’ve visited, where would you like to go back to and why?

Tom Davis:
I have been fortunate to have traveled to many places around the world; however, there is one place that will always be “special.“ My family celebrated my first birthday in Avalon, NJ. Most of my birthdays have been celebrated there. I love the beach and the ocean. Some of my happiest memories with my Dad were our family vacations at the shore. As my Dad would often say, it was our happy place and the first swim in the ocean washed away all our cobwebs.

Cathy Olson:
I would love to return to Provence. Its towns have the best of modern France, and their Roman amphitheaters and thermal baths are well preserved.

Joanne McMullen:
I would return to Morocco because of the beauty, culture, food, geographical diversity, history, most importantly, the wonderful and friendly people.

Al Reed:
I would love to revisit Iceland and see the magical mystical northern lights at their peak.

Neal Rhoads:
I have lived in Turkey for two years and visited it three other times, however, it is one country I would like to visit again. I would visit numerous ruins of countless cultures since during every visit more of the ruins have been unearthed and others have been discovered. The people are very friendly and the food is delicious.  

AUG 2022 SESSION HIGHLIGHTS

  • The Session joyfully approved the following children for baptism on September 18: Charlotte Anele and Hazel Ruth Hempel, twin daughters of Tyler & Eliana Hempel and Nolan Michael Farbaniec, son of Michael & Rebecca Farbaniec.
  • Updated Derry’s active membership roll.
  • Approved the following building use requests:
    o Continued Capital Area Intermediate Unit’s program to offer speech therapy classes in coordination with Derry Discovery Days
    o Use of fellowship hall for two children’s birthday parties on August 20 and September 17
    o Use of fellowship hall for a “Zumba thon” to benefit Four Diamonds Fund on September 24 from 10-2 as requested by Carly Wilfong
    o Use of the Chapel for the wedding of Melissa Barlow and Ralph Fertrow on Saturday, October 1
    o Susquehanna Chorale’s request to use the sanctuary for their spring concert rehearsal on May 1, 2023 (the spring concert on May 12, 2023 was previously approved).
  • Reviewed and approved revisions to Derry’s Safe Children Policy.
  • Rally Day, which traditionally marks the start of a new church school year, is September 18.
  • Called two congregational meetings:
    o October 2 for election of church officers, and
    o December 11 to act on Pastors’ Terms of Call (this item moved from the Annual Meeting to facilitate payroll record keeping)
  • Scheduled a fall session retreat for Wednesday, September 21 from 6-9 pm.
  • Approved the hiring of four Derry Discovery Days employees: Jennifer Harman-LadybugLead Teacher, Laura Mills-Ladybug Aide, Kate Kucharski-Turtle Aide, and Susan Stanton-Butterfly Aide.
  • Approved George Porter, Duncan Campbell, and Greg Taylor as new signatories for Derry’s Vanguard investment account.
  • Hope Within will be the recipient of the Peace and Global Witness offering.
  • The Membership & Involvement committee will be coordinating upcoming Post Worship Fellowship gatherings.

Interfaith Series on Aug 28 Focuses on Islam

9-10 AM IN ROOM 2

On Sunday, join Jack Keene and friends in room 2 to watch a DVD lecture from Chautauqua Institution’s 2019 Interfaith Series. The final class in the series is presented by Mustafa Akyol, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, where he focuses on the intersection of public policy, Islam, and modernity. A Turkish journalist and author, he is a regular contributing opinion writer for the New York Times since 2013, and has been a regular opinion columnist for Turkish publications such as Hurriyet Daily News, and for the Middle-East focused Al-Monitor.com.

Akyol is the author of Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty, praised by The Financial Times as “a forthright and elegant Muslim defense of freedom.”

Following the video presentation, there will be time for questions and discussion, and even a chance to hear some of the questions posed by the Chautauqua audience.