HEARTS UNITED. In This Issue. Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 10:00 a.m. 3:30 p.m. Wednesday & Friday: 10:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m.

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1 HEARTS UNITED Hart United Methodist Church November 2018 Pastor s Pondering s by Steve Young GENEROSITY/STEWARDHSIP EMPHASIS As you should know by now, we have started what I call a Generosity/Stewardship Emphasis. I say emphasis because we should be practicing generosity and managing our stewardship responsibilities all year long. Nevertheless, as announced in the October newsletter, we started this emphasis time on Sunday, October 21, and it will continue through Sunday, November 11. During worship we are looking into themes about our financial lives before God, using portions of the revised edition of Adam Hamilton s program, Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity. As mentioned previously, the series sermons cover four topics during the four-week emphasis period: 1) When Dreams Become Nightmares; 2) Wisdom and Finance on Purpose; 3) Cultivating Contentment; and 4) Defined by Generosity, which will be the theme for the last Sunday, November 11 what we re also calling Commitment Sunday. On that day we will collect and dedicate Estimates of Giving for 2019 from our congregation, including yours, I hope! You should have a packet of information with this newsletter which includes the Estimate of Giving Commitment card (if not, please pick one up at the church building). Please complete and return the card on or before Commitment Sunday, November 11, so that I can announce how many cards have been returned on the following Sunday, Pre-Thanksgiving Sunday, with thanksgiving. Also, all those who return cards, even with no commitment given, will be listed (names, not numbers) with our thanks in the December-January newsletter. You can read more about all this and about discovering joy through simplicity and generosity in the packet information. As always, thank you for your generous response to God s blessing in our lives. Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 10:00 a.m. 3:30 p.m. Wednesday & Friday: 10:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m. In This Issue Pastor s Ponderings (pages 1-2) News (pages 2-4) Youth & United Methodist Men (page 4) United Methodist Women & Financial Report (page 5) Upcoming Events (page 6) 2019 Giving Packet with November Newsletter 1

2 ALL SAINTS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4 (and D.S.T. ends) In the centuries-long tradition of the Church s Memorial Day, we will celebrate All Saints Sunday this year on November 4. A part of our worship that Holy Communion Sunday will be a time of remembering God s blessing of life in and through the lives of deceased loved ones. Candles will be lighted for any Hart UMC member deaths since last All Saints, and two separate candles will be lit as well, one for all of the deaths in the last year of known non-member friends of the church family, and the other for those named in our hearts, whether deceased recently or long ago. Hope to see you at this special worship. [NOTE: Daylight Saving Time (D.S.T.) ends early in the morning on November 4, so fall back one hour on the Saturday night before, November 3, to be on time for church although, if you forget and you re an hour early for worship, that will be OK!] NOVEMBER SPECIAL OFFERINGS A mix of things! November s special offerings and collections are a mix of worthy considerations. First, we are again putting together Operation Christmas Child boxes (see notices elsewhere) for the 17 th year. Boxes are available in the hallways to take and fill, with further instructions and information on the flyers in the sanctuary pew racks. Collection of our boxes and many others is slated for the third week of November, as our church building continues to serve as a local collection site. Then, at the same time as Operation Christmas Child activities during the first part of November, we will recognize Disability Awareness. There is NOT any offering for this (!), but the Governance Board acting as Trustees will be again be assessing our building and grounds in the coming weeks for accessibility using a form from the national United Methodist Church, with the hope of sharing the findings later. Finally, on November 25 and continuing into December, we will receive a special offering for the UMC s World Aids emphasis. The 2004 General Conference established the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund to stem the tide of HIV and AIDS around the world and to strengthen the church s response. UMGAF supports programs that focus on prevention, advocacy, testing and counseling for people living with HIV and AIDS. Through generous United Methodists and others, UMGAF has supported some 200 HIV/AIDS church-oriented programs in more than 35 countries. For United Methodists living in the United States, 25 percent of all contributions given to UMGAF through a local United Methodist church remain in the annual conference for AIDS ministries. Guiding UMGAF is an inter-agency committee from the Council of Bishops, General boards of Church and Society and Global Ministries, General Commission on Communications, Division on Ministries with Young People, United Methodist Women and Office of Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns. (Watch for more information about this in the December-January Hearts United newsletter coming next month.) November Anniversaries 2 Norm & Ruth Meyers 14 David & Nicole Schwarz 16 Rick & Marla Hodges 18 Ed & Dolores Bauer REMEMBER TO VOTE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH! NOTE: Next month s Newsletter will be a dual December January edition! Please submit articles for both months by November 20th! Thank you for your cooperation! 2

3 The November 4th Sunday Potluck will be held on November 25, Thanksgiving weekend Sunday. Please bring a dish to pass, perhaps with a Thanksgiving theme. Afterward, we will decorate the premises for Advent/ Christmas as directed, making ready for Advent, which starts this year on Sunday, December 2nd. You re invited to stay and help, as able, even as independent touch-ups and extended decorating may be completed later throughout the week. CHURCH CONFERENCE, Sunday, November 18 As previously announced in prior newsletters, our yearly Church Conference will be held on Sunday, November 18, at the Pentwater UMC facility. It starts at 2:00 p.m. in a combined worship with persons attending from our other UMC cluster churches in our new Midwest District, namely: Hesperia/Ferry, Mears/Shelby, Pentwater, Walkerville/Crystal Valley, and White Cloud. Our new district superintendent, the Rev d Dr. Margie Crawford (see picture) will lead the event, and individual Church Conferences will take place in separate designated rooms at approximately 3:00 p.m. EVERYONE is invited, although only official members of Hart UMC can actually vote on the business, which will include the approval of leadership nominations, lay servants, and the pastor s compensation package. Hope you can attend! THE GIFT OF THE NUTCRACKER ADVENT SERIES For the Season of Advent, we will be guided by a resource from United Methodist pastor Matt Rawle called The Gift of the Nutcracker. We will look at The Nutcracker, a ballet that has become a holiday tradition and Christmas classic, in a new way through the lens of faith. The iconic tale will help us understand more about God s greatest gift of the Christ child and about the kingdom-realm which Christ came to build. It may be beneficial to attend a performance of The Nutcracker in correlation with this Advent series, and there are a couple of ways to do that this holiday season. Of course, one way is to see the live ballet, and Devos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids has the Grand Rapids Ballet s presentation scheduled in December on the weekends of and See their website for more information and tickets (in the $50, $60, $70, and $80 range!). In addition, there is a new Disney movie set to be released in November which depicts a variation of the story and is titled The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. It s being billed as an action/adventure, sci-fi/fantasy PG-rated movie, and, from the dark side of the legend, shows how a young woman and a live toy soldier must retrieve a magical key to restore harmony in an unstable land. It s even in 3-D, and will be showing at the AMC Classic Ludington 8 movie theater beginning Thursday, November 1, in the $7 - $10 range for the regular evening showing. Then, on Friday, November 2, the 3-D shows begin and are priced in the $10-$13 range. Other venues in Whitehall, Fremont, Big Rapids, and Muskegon have the show as well. Check their websites for dates and times, and be sure to watch the trailer, which is somewhat more detailed than the TV advertising you may have been seeing. Still, whether you take in a show or not, be sure to attend worship this Advent as we talk about Clara and waiting for Christmas, Drosselmeir and a godfather s love, the Mouse King and a change in perspective, and, of course, the Nutcracker and the greatest gift. 3

4 CROP Walk Sunday, October 7, 2018 Teena, the Youth (including Sadie, Allie, Elisha, Azaliah and Jacob) and Kay walked 2.38 miles through the streets of Pentwater, downtown, to the beach and pier and back to Frist Baptist Church. On the pier it included carrying a gallon filled water jug out and back. The Youth had been given a challenge to raise $250 to be given an additional $120. Thanks to your generous donations they raised $431. Wow!! Kay raised $90. A total from our church raised $641. Local agencies that will benefit from your generosity are Pentwater Community Food Pantry, New Hope Community Church Food Pantry, Trinity Lutheran Community Food Pantry, West Golden Wesleyan Food Pantry and Love INC renew Program. Thanks again to the walkers and your generous donations! Operation Christmas Child National Collection Week will be taking place at our church on November 12th through November 18th. Your help is needed to pack shoeboxes and also to volunteer to collect. Please watch for a sign-up sheet at the Welcome Center the first of November. Any questions, see Kay Dion. Personal Care Pantry Thanks to a generous donation from a member of the Mears Methodist Church and our generous people who continue to keep our shelves well-stocked for our clients! College Student Ministry Come join us on Thursday, November 8th at 10:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall to pack, wrap and label care packages for our college students! Consider donating money and/or items for these packages, and place in Pat Schramm s or Linda McLouth s mailboxes. Please be sure to label the items for college students. Youth Group We are looking for a lunch host of our Sunday afternoon meetings, held from Noon 2:00 p.m. Please see Teena if you would like to sign up to provide lunch. We will not have Youth Group on December 23rd or 30th. So, mark your calendars. Below is a list of some of the Youth Group s upcoming activities: November 17: Love INC (Service Project) November 25: Advent Decorating January 4-6: WinterBlast at Grace Adventures March 2-3: Spring Splash at Great Wolf Lodge (Council Youth Retreat) **Please keep an eye on our Youth Group/Kids Club Facebook page for more information on activities! United Methodist Men The UMM would like to thank all of our congregants who supported our four Burger Bash events this fall prior to the football games. Many of you supplied us with buns, condiments, cheese and other trimmings. Thanks to all! Special thanks goes to Dave Jensen for providing and preparing the sweet corn that we served at each event. We received $729 in donations and donated $ to the Hart Athletic Department and are using the remaining funds for our Youth Camp Scholarship program. Also, this event would not be financially successful without the support of Gales IGA, Hansen Foods and Mac Meats. Each business contributed 25 pounds of hamburger to this project and Matt Gale (Mac Meats) also, without charge, ran the meat through his processor and packaged it into quarter pound patties. So, when you visit these businesses, say Thank You to the owners for supporting our Burger Bash project. 4

5 November Birthdays 1 Jeni Gebhart 3 Joe Leonardo 4 Samantha Fotis; Trenton Fotis 6 Beverly Wood; Austin VanderLaan; Michayla Rinker 8 Lizzie Jobbins; Ally Sorensen 10 Quinn Bouwkamp 12 Lazarus Banwell; Pat Weaver 14 Marsha Taylor 15 Sherry Holden; Joel Prather 17 Nancy Peters 18 David Schwarz; Traci Swihart; Aaron Jones 19 William Carskadon; Brock Stevens 26 Bill Brubaker 27 Tim VanderLaan; Chris Jensen 30 Martin Drechen; Ellery Bouwkamp United Methodist Women November is here already and it is time for the annual Fall Bazaar! Be sure to mark your calendars for Friday, November 16th from 11:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Join us in the Fellowship Hall for a great lunch of soup and sandwiches. There will also be a bake sale and white elephant sale. The women could use any donations (no clothing) you might be willing to share. Please bring to the church by Thursday, November 15th. Any questions, see Penny Brubaker or Kay Dion. Hart UMC Third Quarter Financial Report 2018 During the third quarter of this year we receipted in $75,588 and paid out $66,479 for a positive cash-flow of $9,109. $30,000 of our receipts, however, was borrowed funds which paid the $24,937 balance due for the Fellowship Hall roof repair. $5,063 of the borrowed funds was added to our Building Fund and available for additional repairs and loan repayments. We now owe $50,000 to a private lender at 4% interest, with semiannual repayments of $2,500, plus interest due on February 5, 2019 and every 6 months thereafter until August 6, 2021 at which time the entire note balance becomes due. In tracking our budget, we have expended 72.9% of our total year s Operational budget, so are 2.1% under budget for the year. Our Ministry- Share obligation to our Conference this year is $20,009 and is not part of our operational budget. We received $1,375 for Ministry Shares this quarter and will have to use some of our fund equity toward that obligation if ministry-share special giving does not increase. The church s bank account on September 30, 2018 totaled $46,613 and consisted of the following sub-fund balances: General Fund $22, Youth $2, Van Fund $ Ministry Shares $1, Emergency Repairs $1, Care Fund $ Building Fund $9, College Care Fund $ Memorial Fund $4, Music Program $ Noisy Can (S. School) $1, PC Pantry Fund $ Tech Fund $2.00 Miscellaneous Giving $ Payroll Tax $ TOTAL: $46, Respectfully Submitted, Walter Urick, Governance Board member & Finance Liaison October 12,

6 Hart United Methodist Church 308 S. State St. Hart, MI PLACE STAMP HERE Upcoming Events at HUMC Mark your calendar! Sunday, Nov. 4: Holy Communion; Worship at OCMCF at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8: College Care Boxes at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 11: Generosity/Stewardship Commitment Sunday Tuesday, Nov. 13: Personal Care Pantry from 11:30 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15: Pastor Steve vacation day Friday, Nov. 16: UMW Fall Bazaar from 11:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18: Church Conference at Pentwater UMC at 2:00 p.m. Thanksgiving & Friday, Nov. 23: Church Offices closed Sunday, November 25: Fourth Sunday Potluck after worship (followed by Advent/Christmas decorating no potluck in December) Tuesday, Nov. 27: Personal Care Pantry from 11:30 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2: Holy Communion; Worship at OCMCF at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11: Personal Care Pantry from 11:30 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Friday, Dec. 21 Jan. 1: Church Offices closed Tuesday, Dec. 25: Christmas Day Tuesday, Jan. 1: New Year s Day Contact Us Call the office or check out our website for more information about us! Hart United Methodist 308 S. State St. Hart, MI (231) hartumc@gmail.com Visit us on the web at hartunitedmethodist.org or like us on Facebook! Digging Deep ~ Reaching Out ~ Looking Up