Send us your holiday events

The Lincoln Journal Star is putting together its annual calendar of church-related holiday events and activities that are open to the public.

To have your church event listed, send detailed information about the program, the time, date, place and ticket prices for us to include in the Nov. 30 listing. Events may be emailed to eandersen@journalstar.com or mailed to Erin Andersen ℅ Lincoln Journal Star, 926 P St., Lincoln, NE 68508. The deadline for submissions is Nov. 26.

Sing from the Heart is Sunday

Arts for the Soul will present “Sing from the Heart” at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, 840 S. 17th St. Featuring the First Presbyterian Choir with conductor Brian Pfoltner and pianist Charles Ore, the dessert concert and charity fundraiser has an animal theme in honor of this year’s charitable recipient, the Capital Humane Society. Soloists Malley Keelan, tenor, and Jack Rinke, piano will perform.

A freewill offering will be collected for the humane society. Tickets, which include the desserts, are $18, $15 for seniors, $8 for students and $2 for children under 12. For information, go to fpclincoln.org or call the church at 402-477-6037.

Gifts needed for Operation Child

Families and organizations are invited to pack shoeboxes with holiday gifts for needy children overseas as Lincoln begins its annual Operation Christmas Child collection on Monday.

People are asked to fill shoeboxes with toys, school supplies, hygiene items and notes of encouragement for the global project. The goal for Lincoln is to fill 6,500 shoeboxes during National Collection Week running Monday through Nov. 25.

People can drop-off filled gift-filled shoeboxes at the following locations and times:

* Calvary Community Church, 4400 N 1st St. — 10 a.m. to noon Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Nov. 23; 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, and Thursday; 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 24; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 25.

* New Covenant Community Church, 6000 S 84th St. — 4 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 3 to 5 p.m. Nov. 23; noon to 3 p.m. Nov. 24; and 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 25.

* Calvary Community Church, 273 S 63rd Road, Nebraska City — 4 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 23; 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 24; and 9 a.m. to noon, Nov. 25.

Though the shoebox gifts often travel thousands of miles, Operation Christmas Child offers a way for participants to follow their box by using the donation form found at samaritanspurse.org. Donors will receive an email telling the country where their shoeboxes are delivered.

Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered more than 100 million shoebox gifts to children in more than 100 countries since 1993. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Operation Christmas Child’s goal is to collect 9.8 million gift-filled shoeboxes this year.

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an organization headed by Franklin Graham. For information, call 800-567-8580 or visit samaritanspurse.org. Although National Collection Week is Nov. 18-25, shoebox gifts are collected all year at the Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Boone, N.C.

First-Plymouth to host hymn sing

First-Plymouth Congregational Church will host a hymn sing from 6:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the church, 20th and D Streets.

The hymn sing will be led by Tom Trenney, minister of music, and Jeremy Bankson, associate minister of music at First-Plymouth. The program is free to the community.

Prior to the hymn sing, a catered dinner will be served in the church’s Pilgrim Hall from 5 to 6:15 p.m. Cost of the dinner is $6 for adults and $3 for children.

Vigil to remember transgender people

Wednesday marks the 2013 Transgender Day of Remembrance, memorializing those who were killed for being transgender persons.

The vigil will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church of Omaha, 31st and Harney streets.

Transgender Day of Remembrance works to raise public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, provides a space for public mourning and honors the lives of transgender people who might otherwise be forgotten.

Wednesday’s service is dedicated to the memory of Selena Alvarez-Hernandez of Council Bluffs, who was killed July 31, 2003. Her homicide remains unsolved. A dessert reception follows the vigil.

For information, visit tdoromaha.com or find them on Facebook at TdorOmaha.

Festival of Trees set for First-Plymouth

The Festival of Trees: The Twelve Days of Christmas, featuring the First-Plymouth Congregational Church Choir and Abendmusik Chorus, will be 7 p.m. Friday at the church, 20th and D streets

Twelve designer Christmas trees, creatively decorated to include a surprise ingredient from one of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” (song), will be auctioned off, as well as some wreaths and other pieces of holiday decor. Other items available during the silent auction include artwork, antiques, Nambe metal alloy and crystal gifts, jewelry, services and experiences. Guests can also visit wine sampling stations and snack on appetizers and desserts.

The evening will close with a live auction, which offers a dinner with local celebrities, a chance to direct Handel’s Messiah: Hallelujah Chorus on Nov. 24, trips to Orlando, Fla., and Branson, Mo., an honorary Nebraska Club membership and artwork.

All proceeds raised will assist in defraying costs associated with travel and lodging expenses for the Plymouth Choir and Abendmusik Chorus in preparation for a 2015 mission and performance tour to the Baltic States.

Tickets are $20 and are available through the First-Plymouth music office at 402-476-9933.

Handbell soloist to perform in Pierce

Handbell soloist Kristine Stout will present a concert, “Joy Un-Speak-a-Bell,” at 2 p.m. Nov. 24 at Zion Lutheran Church in Pierce.

Stout plays 37 handbells, and in addition writes and performs all the arrangements for her digital keyboard orchestral accompaniments.

Stout and her husband, Kirt Stout, own and operate “Joybell” a traveling handbell ministry based out of Clinton Township, Mich.

Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. All proceeds will benefit mission projects of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League of Zion Lutheran. To purchase tickets, call the church at 402-329-4313 or LWML members at 402-371-2394 or 402-329-4628.

Church Doctor program helps churches

Kent R. Hunter, founder and leader of Church Doctor Ministries, will lead a one-day workshop, “Reaching Young Adults: The Great Potential of Those 18-30 Years Old,” for church leaders, parents, and young adults on Thursday at Lutheran Church of the Master, 2617 S. 114th St., Omaha.

This event will focus on what the church can do to not only retain young adults, but empower them to influence the Christian faith.

The workshop runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and includes lunch and refreshments. Cost is $25. Reservations are required, call 800-626-8515 or email traceeswank@churchdoctor.org.

Church Doctor Ministries is a nonprofit mission agency based in Corunna, Ind. For information, go to churchdoctor.org.