Mary Penner-Lovci is the June 2009 Member of the Month
By Barbara E. Swarthout

Mary Penner-Lovci is just completing a year as chair of the Kindership Committee, one of her many volunteer activities involving FAPC’s children and families.  Although Kindership focuses on the youngest children (from newborns to age 3), the special celebrations planned by Mary and her team were enjoyed by children of all ages.  The Easter egg hunt, Christmas party and family luau are examples of “fun for all.”

The Baptism Committee, Parents’ Night Out, Moms’ Small Group Bible Study and the Upper West Side Small Group Ministry have all benefited from Mary’s participation and leadership.  Another important function she has performed is to be the liaison to families with new babies.  Her interests have often paralleled the needs of her own daughters, Jacqueline (age 4) and Olivia (nearly 2), who were baptized at FAPC.

Jacob Bolton, Director of Family Ministries, says, “Mary is an exceptional volunteer because every project she undertakes is done first with love and then with energy, care, compassion, intelligence and outstanding organizational skills.  She personifies the Christian experience and really lives her beliefs.”

Mary Penner’s ancestors were Mennonite conscientious objectors, who were fortunate to be able to leave Prussia during wartime and settle peacefully in the farmlands of Nebraska.  She came to know Christ growing up in the First Mennonite Church in Beatrice.  Then she studied music and organizational communication at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where she met her future husband, Marc Lovci.

Mary and Marc came to New York to be performers and worked for a time as entertainers on a cruise ship.  They joined FAPC in 1999 and were active in the Chancel Choir and teaching Junior High Sunday School.  Today, during college breaks, these same students are eager to return and provide baby-sitting services for the Lovci girls. Paul and Stacy Perkins Rock, whose children are a bit older, are mentors to the Lovcis as they navigate the maze of details that confront and confound parents raising youngsters in Manhattan.

Gratitude is Mary’s immediate response to being honored as Member of the Month, and she expresses most sincerely the humility she feels for having been chosen.  She explains she is merely doing her part; for she believes with all her heart that “Everyone can serve in their own special way, if they do what comes naturally and use their God-given talents as their guide.”   This is what she strives to achieve in all her endeavors.

Professionally, Mary is employed by Gallup, where she is the Senior Producer of Corporate Learn Events.  Her next FAPC challenge will be helping to select future church officers.  She was elected a Member at Large of the 2010 Nominating Committee at April’s Congregational Meeting.

Thank you, Mary, for your tireless service and dedication to the Lord through the venue of FAPC’s Family Ministries!