Swepsonville United Methodist Church

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1 ! Swepsonville United Methodist Church From The Pastor Return to me with all your hearts return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, very patient, full of faithful love, and ready to forgive. One of our members was just telling me about a resident at a local nursing home who is so very homesick and wants to go home so much that s it s all she can talk about Just going home. Will and I are so grateful to live in this community, where home is so important. We love our home, both physically and emotionally. Jordan has learned the sights around the neighborhood, even from her back- facing car seat, and she knows when we turn into our driveway, that we are home. We re home, she says, with relief and comfort. Home is the place we can be ourselves, where we can rest, where rituals are important, where we are loved. As Christians, our home is with God. Do you ever long for God as much as you long for home, as much as the lady in the nursing home, who can t talk about anything else but going home? Though we can never be completely united with God on this side of heaven, the goal of our Christian lives is to live on this earth as close to him as we can. He created us, he loves us, and he takes care of us. God IS our home. When God says return to me with all your hearts, he is inviting us to come home, to come home where we belong. This Lent, I hope you can have that longing for God like you long for home. Part of giving up something for Lent is to create some space in our hearts, space that God wants to fill. Any of our practices during Lent have that goal. When you read scripture and devotionals, you are inviting God s word into your heart and your mind. We have two good devotionals available to you in this season, one related to the study we are doing on 24 hours that changed the world, retracing Jesus last day on earth. The other is a series of reflections gathered through our Annual Conference on the first time you realized that race mattered. Why reflect on that during Lent? It s an opportunity to examine ourselves, our lives, the world we live in, prejudices we have, prejudices we may not even be aware that we have to think less of ourselves and to give ourselves for others. When we are asked for an offering for Imagine No Malaria, we have the opportunity to love as God has loved us, showing tangible signs of love and care for all people, even those far away. When we make a bless you bag for the classrooms at Alexander Wilson Elementary School, we are showing those around us that we care, that we are here to serve, that we exist for blessing others. These are only a few of the endless opportunities we have to come home, to come closer to God, to give ourselves the way he has given himself for us. Return to the Lord with all your heart. Come home. Peace, Pastor Christi Newsletter March 2015 Our Vision For Christ s sake, just love. Our Mission To be open to the leadings of the Holy Spirit. To nurture the people of the church with the love of Jesus Christ. To reach out to the community around us and offer God s love. Swepsonville UMC Newsletter 1 March 2015

2 PRAYER CONCERNS... Roy Hall, who fell and broke his hip in late January, then had a hip replacement. He has been moved to Liberty Commons. Ruth Haney, who was exposed to the flu. Frances Allen, who was in hospice care but has been moved to Hawfields. Al Gillespie, who possibly had a small stroke. Betty Gray Vaughn, who fell and fractured some bones around her eye. She is at home recovering. Stonie Reaves, who has not been well. Bertha Webster (Betsy Shambley s mother), who is in the hospital with upper respiratory ailments. Pearl Brown (Sheila Oakes mother), who had a knee replacement in February and is doing well. Mary Wilson (Roy Hall s sister), who has been moved to hospice care. PRAISES FOR... Glenda Payne, whose carcinoma removed from her arm was benign! Donna Johnson as she embarks on the next chapter in her life! We will miss you, Donna! Eileen Penn, our new music director, for a very successful first Sunday at SUMC!! It was wonderful hearing the organ again!! Pastor Jerry Bryan, who sends his greetings to SUMC! Lilian Hammond (an alumnae of the Methodist Home For Children), who spoke to us on February 15 th! Jim Johnson (Will Johnson s father), who had a knee replacement in February. Carol Shepherd (Sheila Oakes sister). Marilyn Aldrich (Hank Kirkpatrick s sister), who will have tests on her gall bladder. Stella Hensley (Annie Terry s sister), who has had strokes. Dustin Perry (Joan & Stonie Reaves grandson). B.J. Luckey (Pat Maynor s nephew), who is recovering from a collapsed lung. OUR SINCEREST SYMPATHY TO... The Family of Kevin Smith (cousin to Donna Johnson and Linda McAdams), who passed away in late January. The Family of Ralph Rogers, who passed away on February 11 th. The Family of Harold Taylor (Judy Burge s uncle), who passed away in February. CONGRATULATIONS TO... Sienna Dodson s cheerleading team, who placed 1 st in a recent competition! Presley Lovette, whose team placed 2 nd in a recent competition! Carolyn Allen, who has retired (again)! Can t wait to see what s next! Tessa Riley s community soccer team, who had a very successful fundraiser at Applebee s in February. Tess also made her school s soccer team! THE CHURCH HAS A NEW E- MAIL ADDRESS!! Pastor Christi has been having problems with e- mail sent from the Bellsouth address, so she has set up a new e- mail account for the church. The new address is: swepsumc@gmail.com. For now, mail sent to the old address will be automatically forwarded to the new gmail account. BLOOD DRIVE Phillips Chapel would like to organize a blood drive, but they need a certain number of commitments. If you would be willing to give blood to this drive, please contact Diane Newton at or , or e- mail her at diane_newton1@aol.com. Swepsonville UMC Newsletter 2 March 2015

3 MARCH CALENDAR Mar. Liturgist Greeters Nursery Ushers 1 Greg Dodson 8 David Hadley 15 Lee Lovette 22 Pat Maynor 29 Phil Norwood Betty Hall Stonie Reaves Tommy Hodgin JoAnn Wright Linda McAdams Dickie McAdams Mary Long Peggy Smith Janet Walton Brian Paris Pam Hadley Tristan Zombar Kirk & Judy Thompson Will Kirkpatrick Lisa & Jimmy Rogers Aaron Moss Donna Gillespie Matthew Handy Phil Norwood Sienna Dodson Buck Wood John Harmon Barry Oakes Doug Coon Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 4 PM Board Meeting 5 PM Youth Meet PM Choir 7:45 PM Cantata Practice :30 AM UMM B fast 3 PM Worship Comm. 4 PM Church- wide B day Party! 9 AM Good Shepherd Kitchen 7 PM Willing Workers Circle 7 PM Choir 7:45 PM Cantata Practice PM Youth Meet 6:30 PM SPRC Mtg. 7 PM Choir 7:45 PM Cantata 22 5 PM Youth Meet 29 Palm Sunday 11 M 5 PM Youth Meet PM Choir 7:45 PM Cantata March Birthdays 1 Joe Lister 11 Quinn Rogers 1 Kenry Park 12 Hank Kirkpatrick 2 Shelby Williams 14 Phyllis Norwood 2 Kevin Wynne 17 Deborah Shebester 3 Brandi Capps 19 Bethany Burger 3 Freddy Shebester 19 Pryce Lovette 7 Gentrie Lloyd 19 Wendy Rumley 7 Dillard Paris 21 Katherine Thompson 8 Donald (Jim) Clarke 25 Etta Mae Beale 8 Christi Dye 30 Leslie Harmon 11 Anne Patterson Swepsonville UMC Newsletter 3 March 2015

4 The SUMC Council on Ministries/Administrative Board met on Sunday, February 9, Below are just a few of the items discussed: The choir will begin working on the Easter Cantata on Wed., 2/11/15. Anyone who loves to sing is encouraged to help out! Didn t the music sound amazing on Sun., 2/9/15 Eileen Penn s first official service? Thank you, Eileen! Holy Communion will be served each Sun. throughout the Lenten Season in an effort to reaffirm how special this time of year is. Breakfast will be served this year at the Sunrise Service on Easter, and the service will be held outside! NOTES FROM THE BOARD The UMM are busy preparing for their upcoming Spring Golf Tournament. The tentative date for the tournament is Sat., May 16, Mark your calendars! The annual church- wide birthday party will be held on Sun., March 8, 2015, at 4:00PM. Details will be announced in church. Christi began a continuous discussion with the Board on the church s vision and how we, as a congregation, expect to realize that vision. Questions posed were, What do you love about this church?, What are your dreams for this church?, and How can we achieve those goals/dreams? Everyone participated in the discussion, and many interesting thoughts and ideas were brought up. Keep your eyes and ears open! Exciting things are coming for SUMC! BLESS YOU BASKETS By Brandy Elsenrath To be donated to Alexander Wilson School. BACKPACK MINISTRY By Brandy Elsenrath Coupons are needed for shopping for the Backpack Ministry. Mailbox for coupons is located near the choir room. Treasurer's Report Month of January, 2015 Offering Income: $10, Expenses : $10, Net Income: $16.43 Apportionments for $ 2014 are paid in full. Memorial/Honors $3, Accounts balance: Feb. 1 Feb. 8 Feb. 15 Feb. 22 Attendance & Giving SS W ship Offering $2, $2, $2, $1, $3, needed each week NEW DIRECTORY By: Phyllis Clyburn We are in the process of updating our small directory. If you have not seen the draft that has been passed around in church the last several Sundays, please contact me either at church, by phone: , or by e- mail: fillusann@aol.com to update, add, or delete your address, phone, & e- mail information. I will be printing this within the next 2 weeks so I need to hear from you! Swepsonville UMC Newsletter 4 March 2015

5 I want to thank everybody for making me feel welcome, and for coming to me and introducing yourselves. It has been great to get to know you, and I'm looking forward to working with you. The choir is always interested in having you join us! We meet at 7:00 on Wednesdays, and you don't need to have special musical training to join us. Anybody in middle school or older who enjoys singing and making music is welcome. We are especially looking for male singers. We have recently started working on our Easter cantata, "Jesus, No Other King". We work on this Wednesday night after our regular choir practice, starting at about 7:50 p.m. This will provide us with some challenges, but working on it is sure to be an enjoyable and enriching experience. MUSIC By Eileen Penn This is also a good time to join us if you are not able to make a long- term commitment to the choir, do not feel you can sing with us every Sunday, or are just not sure about if choir is what God is calling you to do. We will be singing it in two parts, on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Please speak to me about this so that you can get materials to help you learn this music and be a part of this project! As always, please don't hesitate to speak with me about your concerns or aspirations for the music program at Swepsonville UMC. Thank you, Eileen GOOD NEWS, MALARIA IS 100% PREVENTABLE Unlike many other diseases that are awaiting a cure, malaria was eliminated in the U.S. in the 1950s. However, in Sub- Saharan Africa, malaria continues to kill a person every 60 seconds. But there is hope! Imagine No Malaria is part of a global partnership and together with our partners, our generation can beat malaria once and for all. Nearly 90 percent of malaria s victims are children under the age of 5 and pregnant women. Thanks to the efforts of The United Methodist Church and our partners, we are on our way to beating malaria for good, with a 50% decrease in malaria- related deaths in the last 8 years. $10 saves a life with a mosquito net, medication, and education. Our effort in the NC Conference will save 100,000 lives. Small membership churches are challenged to save 40 lives in 40 days of Lent, that's 40 of us giving $10. Let's meet our challenge and reach out to our neighbors. Make your check to the church and put "Imagine no malaria" in the note, or put any offering in the special envelopes provided in the pews. The NC Conference of The UMC has made a commitment to raise $1 million in the Conference year An invitation from Pastor Christi: One congregation member is invited to join me at: Third Annual Juvenile Court Awareness Day. This event will be held on Thursday March 12, 2015, from 10:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. on the 3 rd Floor of the Civil Courts Building located at 124 W. Elm Street in Graham, North Carolina. The purpose of this event is to provide information to the Faith Based Community about the Juvenile Court System. At this event you will see, first hand, actual cases and the many issues facing our youth and their families. In addition, we will have one presentation concerning how a local school and Church partnered together to help children in their community. We all realize it takes a village to raise a child in order to help our children grow successfully. If you are interested, please contact Pastor Christi by Wed, March 4 Swepsonville UMC Newsletter 5 March 2015

6 On Wednesday, February 4, 2015, Pastor Christi, Pat Maynor, Al and Brandy Elsenrath and I met with Mr. Dean Richardson, the principal and Ms. Mindy Bacchus, a teacher at Alexander Wilson School to explore needs that we may be able to assist with in a volunteer position. In addition to the backpack ministry which is already in place, we discovered that there are many areas we may be able to help. They are always in need of supplies especially toward the end of the year when supplies have been depleted. Things they usually need are paper towels, notebook paper, markers, pencils, erasers, glue sticks, crayons, colored pencils, copy paper, cardstock, etc. During cold and flu season, they also want to start a bless you box and need tissues, hand sanitizers, disinfectant wipes, and band aids for this effort. They would like to have volunteers to assist in reading classes, help with projects such as bulletin boards, arts and crafts and other areas. They also JOINT CIRCLES MEETING: Met on Monday, February 9 th, with a program on A Gesture of Gratitude recognizing deaconesses, home missioners and missionaries of Brooks- Howell Home in Asheville, NC. The agenda was long because; from February to August is the Unit s busiest months of the year. We are proud to announce that we did have two prospects considering membership to the Unit, Carolyn Allen and Brenda Wilson. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please let a circle leader or me know of this person[s]. Also, each month the newsletter will be your update on agenda items from the meeting. METHODIST HOME FOR CHILDREN / MHC: What an inspiring message that Lillian Hammond, the guest speaker gave. She spoke on the Methodist Home for Children, its history, how she became a member of the Home and her story of the Home. Lillian ended with His Eye Is On The Sparrow with congregational participation. To Ms. Hammond, guest members of the Home, Betty Hall and her family, thank you for attending this service. Your presence made this day that we will long remember. Again, thank you. CANDLE BURNING FORM: The Executive Board Committee decided to earmark March for the Unit and congregation to participate in the Candle Burning Form. The theme is Remembering, a time to honor or in memory your loved ones. The form will be in the bulletins during the month of March. PARTNERING WITH ALEXANDER WILSON By Glenda Payne need contributions to a field trip fund to pay admission for those who need assistance to allow each child to participate. Chaperones are also needed for these trips. In addition, they would like volunteers to go have lunch with students who usually don t have anyone to go eat with them. Many needs were uncovered during this meeting and the principal and teachers are working diligently to close any gaps. The school is going to send us a list of their needs and we will present them to you, our church family, so that you may choose a category where you would be willing to help. Knowing how our church responds to the needs of our fellow men, I m confident each of you will want to help these children on their journey to becoming responsible young men and women. Let us remember that they are indeed the future leaders of our cities, states, churches and nation. Thank you in advance for anything you may choose to do. UNITED METHODIST WOMEN NEWS By Pat Maynor CHICKEN PIES: With much thought and discussion, there was a consensus that making chicken pies is expensive [purchasing supplies for the pies] and time consuming. There was a motion and seconded that we would no longer make and sell individual chicken pies. Please be advised that the decision was hard to make, but has been long in coming. A PENNY AND A PRAYER: Each day from February to August, place a penny in your prayer containers. Your pennies and prayers this year will support retirees at the Brooks- Howell Home in Asheville, NC. The donations from the Call to Prayer and Self- Denial, also goes to the Home. This is a wonderful time to remember your Lenten commitments in your prayers. FOOD DONATIONS FOR THE ROGERS FAMILY: To those who prepared food for the family, thank you. The Rogers family is very appreciative for the donations, prayers, calls, cards and visits. CALENDAR: Candle Burning Form / March / Remembering March 9: 7:00 pm Willing Workers Circle / Fellowship Hall Corridor District s Theme: Today, Tomorrow, and Beyond, GOD is Calling Us To PROTECT! Our Unit s Theme: You are to Shake It Off then Let It Go and just be Happy. These popular songs have catchy tunes that are full of fun and life. Swepsonville UMC Newsletter 6 March 2015

7 Swepsonville UMC Newsletter 7 March 2015

8 Good News: Phil and Phyllis Norwood traveled to Boone in February to celebrate a screening of "Listen to Your Dreams," a documentary of artist Tommy Lee of Boone. Anna Norwood helped to edit the documentary with her friend and producer Ana Caicedo, and they have launched BAN[N]AS Multimedia. We look forward to their next project! YOUTH NEWS By Phil & Phyllis Norwood The youth also helped to serve dinner at Allied Services. As Phil and Phyllis were out of town, our parents and friends stepped up to help in this vital ministry for the church. Many thanks to Judy Burge, Kim Kirkpatrick, and Brenda and Kevin Moss for preparing the meal and helping the youth to serve those at the shelter. February Youth News Our youth celebrated February with the annual Souper Bowl of Caring. Your donations of $2670 for the youth will help to fund our many activities and missions for the coming year. In addition, we raised $1090 in our "souper bowls." These funds will go directly to our Back Pack Ministry for Alexander Wilson School, and were added to the national Souper Bowl of Caring data for This year $7.3 million was raised to help hunger in the USA. Well done Swepsonville! No fundraising event can be successful without the tireless efforts of so many people. Phil and Phyllis want to thank all of our parents who cooked, cleaned and served during the Souper Bowl luncheon. And a special thanks go to Shirley Lloyd for her famous chocolate pies and to Judy Burge whose blackberry cobbler is now just as famous (especially with Phyllis). We also want to give a shout out to all of our youth, who helped to serve those of you who give unconditionally to our youth program. A huge thank you is in order to our Christi Dye for beginning a Lenten study and including the youth! Phil and Phyllis look forward to sharing this experience with the youth and the entire church! How blessed we are to have you Christi!!! March is set to be filled with basketball, bible study, and planning for an April Youth Sunday!!! And onto March Madness: 3/1/15: Regular Meeting 3/8/15: Regular Meeting 3/15/15: Regular Meeting 3/22/15: Regular Meeting 3/29/15: Regular Meeting Swepsonville UMC Newsletter 8 March 2015