September Gathering! Saturday, September 10, 2011 at Christ UMC Bellhaven Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28216

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1 News From the Central Carolinas Emmaus Community Volume 27 Issue 9 September 2011 September Gathering! Saturday, September 10, 2011 at Christ UMC 8020 Bellhaven Blvd, Charlotte, NC Sponsorship Training at 5:00 pm Food & Fellowship - 6:00 PM Worship and Prayer Service - 7:00 PM Next month s GATHERING is October 8th at Woodland UMC, Rock Hill, SC 4th Day Retreat - WOW!! The 4th Day Retreat was wonderful. We laughed, we hugged, we cried, we prayed, we sang and we ate. The Holy Spirit, the subject for this year's retreat, was very much present. The talks were excellent and opened our eyes to the power of the Holy Spirit and how we must ask Him to help us in our "walk." A new dimension was added to the music thanks to Scott Alden who played the drums. Scott, David Brashear and Kathy Jay helped lead the music with their lovely voices. Linda and Bob Wujciak were very grateful to have these folks as part of the music team. Next year's 4th Day Retreat will be August 2-4, Margaret Butler will be the Retreat Director. We have spaces for 70 folks. Please put it on your calendars. This is a weekend that should not be missed.

2 You may want to write this down! Notes from August s Gathering! The August Gathering of C.C.E.C. at Assurance UMC was another amazing experience. Our Fourth Day Talk was by a young lady who inspired and challenged us with her story. Following is an abbreviated version. Emily Wagner Walk 117 Table of Mary My self-will has not taken me anywhere that God s Grace could not enter to save me. I was a pilgrim last fall on the walk to Emmaus. Since then I have found myself asking Who is this girl? on a regular basis. The walk to Emmaus changed my life and my relationship with God and Jesus. A few months before the walk, I was sitting in my pastor s office asking him permission to come to church as I did not consider myself a Christian. I remember tears falling down my face as I admitted this him. You see I was raised as a Christian in a church, I had just lost my faith and my self-will had run riot in my life so much so that I believed myself unforgivable. I carried the weight and the shame of this around for years. I truly believed that I was unworthy of God s love and forgiveness because I couldn t forgive myself and I surely didn t love myself. How could I? I suffered from alcoholism and drug addiction at a young age and had hurt many people in my family and the people around me. I had been kicked out of 2 youth groups by the time I was sixteen for bringing drugs around. I gave God the credit for keeping me sober but I didn t allow him into any other part of my life. I failed out of school several times, continued to get into fights and had numerous bad relationships. I really thought I was a bad person. I now know that it doesn t matter what I think that God s Prevenient Grace was and is always there for us all. God loves me no matter what. I think I always knew that because every time something bad happened in my life I would end up in a church sanctuary by myself asking God for help. I couldn t tell you how many church sanctuaries I have gone to seek refuge from myself. Continued on Next Page

3 Continued from Previous Page I have struggled for weeks to figure out what to say up here I am not very good at speeches. I know that I have love to share, every day I feel God s spirit in me just itching to get out and to love, some days more than others. I am excited about life and all the possibilities it has to offer. I know that if I leave it up to God and continue to follow in Christ s footsteps amazing things will happen. Aside from having to sing for our meals everyday, Emmaus taught me that my greatest mission in life today is to be a channel of God s grace, to share love acceptance and forgiveness to all people as God has shown me through Jesus. There was one night on the walk that I realized that I didn t have to carry around all that guilt and shame any more that it wasn t what God truly wanted for me that it was all self-inflicted. I asked God to take it and he did, today I walk free of that, I don t have to carry the great heavy load of it any more. Since the walk a lot has happened. I became more involved in my church here at Assurance. I am committed to join, it just hasn t happened yet and my best friend and I decided that on that day we are going to throw a party for Jesus. =) (You are all invited!!!) It should be a lot of fun. This past January I found myself on my knees praying to God after another failed relationship asking to live a life of service and to help me to accept if that life is alone. From there I threw myself in to service and have not looked back. Three months later God placed a man in my life that I thank him for everyday and that s all I am going to say about that. I have made the Chancellors list and the Dean s list at school, which I never thought possible. I have prayed before every exam and taken God into the exams with me. Every paper I write I say a prayer before I sit down to write. Just like I did before this talk. I find that God is always with me, Jesus spirit always around and in me. Emmaus helped me to understand God s grace and Gods love and what it truly means to be a Christ follower. It showed me that I could forgive myself because God had already forgiven me. The Clergy response was from Pastor Mike Goode. His opening comment WOW!! He told us he had been away from the community for a while but Emily s testimony had touched him. He told (reminded) us that God, through His grace, lifts us up, dusts us off and sets us on the right path. He suggests that perhaps we sit next to people each week as they wonder is they are worthy and reminded us of the importance of the community of Faith. Once a mentor told him.. Grace has a name and that name is Jesus. Submitted by Mike Raynor

4 Message from the Registrar RECRUIT, RECRUIT! Pilgrims Needed for the Fall Walks! Hello community! Once again it is time to prepare for our fall walks. Vacations are over, children are back to school; let s get out there and spread the word about how wonderful our community is and what a difference the Emmaus Walk can make in a your life. Talk to your church community, reunion groups, other groups you are involved with, and people that you touch each day to share your experience. I know those of you that attended the 4th day retreat are on fire because I have spoken to some of you. Let s spread the news to others! Fall walks are as follows: Men s Walk #120: October 6-9, 2011 Women s Walk #121: October 20-23, 2011 Follow Up: November 3, 2011 Send off, closing and follow up will be held at River Hills Community Church For any of you that hesitate sponsoring because it has been a while since you sponsored or you are a new pilgrim, Sponsorship Training will be offered at our September 10th gathering at Christ UMC, 8020 Bellhaven Blvd, Charlotte. So let s get out there and recruit some new pilgrims, especially couples since our men s walk is usually not as full as our women s walk. Walk and sponsorship applications can be found on our website at this link: Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or reach out to other board members; we are always around! De colores, Kathy Hazelrigg kathryn.merk@gmail.com

5 2011 CALENDAR OF EVENTS Sep 8 Oct 23 Closing - Walk 121, 5:30 PM; Sep 10 Oct 6 Sponsorship Training 5 PM; Christ UMC Send Off - Walk 120, 6:45 PM; Nov 3 Nov 5 Follow-Up Walks 120 & 121; 7 PM; River Hills Community Church Sponsorship Training 5 PM; River Hills Community Church Oct 8 Oct 9 Oct 20 CCEC Gathering, Saturday; 7 PM; Held in conjunction with Walk 120 Prayer Service Woodland UMC, Rock Hill Closing - Walk 120, 5:30 PM; Send Off - Walk 121, 6:45 PM; Nov 10 Dec 3 Dec 8 Servanthood Training 6 PM; Pineville UMC Oct 22 Prayer Service - Walk 121, 8:00 PM; Woodland UMC, Rock Hill Elaine Claiborne Community Lay Director / Chairperson elaine@perigee.net Michelle Jones Vice Chair / Worship Chair mlj86@juno.com Ginger Alden Secretary aldens@carolina.rr.com Doug Morgan Treasurer the_bootery@bellsouth.net Rev. Scott Ireland Community Spiritual Director sireland@umfwnc.org Rev. Gayle Montgomery Ass't Community SD gayle.montgomery@harrisonumc.org Laura Shirey Community Records / Team Selection lshirey@carolina.rr.com Angie Lord Agape angielord@blairroadumc.org Dave LeGrande Fourth Day Activities dlegrande@comporium.net David Suddreth Housing david@carolinagc.com Jace Stowe Literature jacestowe@earthlink.net Mike Raynor Newsletter / Communications mandbraynor@yahoo.com Clara Horton Transportation clarashorton@gmail.com Kathy Hazelrigg Registrar kathryn.merk@gmail.com Dan Meyer Weekend Volunteer/Coord. Vice Chair dan@charlotteflyer.com Steve Adams Weekend Volunteer/Coord. Chair sadams@carolinacat.com David Osborne Worship Committee Vice Chair david.osborne@siemens.com