Growing in IN THIS ISSUE. Growing In Grace

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1 Growing in IN THIS ISSUE April 2018 Sunday Service Information 2 Calendar 3 Tidbits 4 Sunday School 5 Children s Activity 6 Outreach 7-8 Trustees 8-9 Choir 10 Budget Update 11 From the Office Back page Celebrating God s love, seeking God s direction together Growing In Grace A publication of Grace United Methodist Church 1209 Country Club Road Newport News, VA (757) admin@graceumc.hrcoxmail.com Pastor: Rev. Hank Teague hankteague@vaumc.org Sunday Services: Early Worship: 8:45 am Traditional Worship: 11:00 a.m. Sunday School 9:45-10:45 a.m.

2 2 Sunday Service Information Lay Worship Leaders/Scripture Readings: April 1 - Garrett Ouzts Acts 10: 34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, (UMH 839); 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11; John 20: 1-18 or Mark 16: 1-8 April 8 - Carter Eppley Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133 (UMH 850); 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20: April 15 - Vincent Conway Acts 3: 12-19; Psalm 4 (UMH 741); 1 John 3: 1-7; Luke 24: 36b-48 April 22 - Melissa Mygas Acts 4: 5-12; Psalm 23 (UMH 754 or 137); 1 John 3: 16-24; John 10: April 29 - Frances Porter Acts 8: 26-40; Psalm 22: (UMH 752); 1 John 4: 7-21; John 15: 1-8 (Readings may vary for services. Readings listed above are from the Lectionary.) Lockup: Earl Gray Counting Team #5 *Blackie Jackson Betty Jo Jackson Rusty Dame Susan Dame Ushers: Team # 4 *Blackie Jackson Bryan Jackson April 1 - Robert Fulcher & Patricia Allen April 8 - Audrey & Frank Wiggs April 15 - Alex, Marty, Juliette & Cassius Rogers April 22 - Rock & Karen Bell April 29 - Phillip & Katie Burke During Spring Break from school, we plan to hold Sunday School as usual. See you there!

3 CALENDAR 3 April 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat EASTER Closed Closed Chancel Bells Breakfast 9 ABC/Senior Office 10:30 Points of Grace Spring Break 2:00 Mary/ Martha Circle 7 Stewardship/ Finance 10:30 Points of Grace 10:00 CNU Exam Snacks Office 10:30 UMW Board 7:00 Trustees and Outreach 7:00 Church Council 7:00 Witness 6:00 Senior Safety Workshop 6 Praise Choir 6:30 Chancel Choir WEP Preschool Spring Break 2:00 Worship 5 Chancel Bells 6 Praise Choir 6:30 Chancel Choir 5 Chancel Bells 6 Praise Choir 6:30 Chancel Choir 5 Chancel Bells 6 Praise Choir 6:30 Chancel Choir 9:00 WEP Plant Pick-up

4 4 Points of Grace Points of Grace will meet April 2nd and 16th from 10:30 am until 3:00 pm. Please join us in fellowship as we work on mission projects for our community. A light lunch will be provided or you may bring your own. Remember to visit us on Facebook for photos & updates! April Birthdays 4 Bob Williams 20 A -Jion Headley 8 Maryjean Thomas 21 Ann Berrier 11 Bryan Jackson 22 Anne White John LeGault 24 Josephine Nebitala 13 Thomas West 25 Betty Dixon 14 Phil Lyliston Chelsea Simonsen 15 Carol Abbitt Mallory Simonsen 18 Kirsten Rumsey 30 Sir-Nikolai Headley Audrey Wiggs Katherine Thomas POTATO BAR The Second Sunday at Grace Potato Bar is on hiatus! We will return in September and hope to see you then! Thanks to everyone who purchased Easter eggs this year! As always, we appreciate the congregation s support. Breakfast Club JOIN US! The Adult Breakfast Club (ABC) will meet at the Warwick Restaurant, located at Warwick Blvd., Newport News, on Monday, April 9th at 9:00am. Everyone is welcome! The flower calendar is available for the rest of You may sign up by calling the church or Lou Thomas ( ) or by writing your name on the flower calendar on the office door. If you have any questions, please contact Lou Thomas. Flowers may be donated in memory or in honor of a person or occasion or simply to the glory of God.

5 Sunday School Easter Sunday, April 1, :45 AM All children will gather in the Small Fellowship Hall. There will be a short Easter lesson (while the Youth hide the eggs), followed by a craft and then the Easter Egg Hunt. Remember to bring an Easter basket for the egg hunt. Be sure to invite your friends and neighbors. We ll have a great time! 5 The Elementary Class meets at the top of the stairs. The children are continuing to learn from the Deep Blue series, a comprehensive Bible study for children, incorporating the pillar stories of the Old and New Testaments. Deep Blue incorporates Bible stories, service learning, science animated video storytelling, and active games into a lived faith experience that will help children discover what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ today! The teachers of children are Karen Bell, Caron Gray, Debbi Lamb, Jane LeGault, and Amy McCarthy. The Youth Class meets in the Youth Room and is taught by Garrett Ouzts. HELP WANTED: As dedicated as they are, our teachers occasionally get sick or go out of town. We need to have a list of people willing to substitute on those occasions. Please consider helping in this way and contact Marian Harper ( ). ATTENTION GRADUATES! If you, or someone you know, is a member of Grace and getting ready to graduate this spring, please contact the office. We will celebrate Graduate Recognition Sunday in early June and would like to recognize everyone for their achievement. Please call or the church office with the graduate s name and their school information.

6 6 CHILDREN S ACTIVITY PAGE

7 OUTREACH 7 UMCOR School Kits The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is a prominent worldwide emergency relief organization. A nonprofit agency of the United Methodist Church, UMCOR reaches worldwide to provide relief in five core areas: Hunger, Health, Refugees, Emergencies, and Relief Supplies. Since 1940 UMCOR has served people in almost 100 countries around the world. What makes UMCOR unique is its structure for receiving donations. UMCOR is organized so that when a need arises the committee sends all pertinent information to local churches and organizations worldwide. These churches and organizations then collect donations and send them to distribution centers. By doing this UMCOR is able to receive large donations very quickly and very efficiently, thus reducing overhead and operational costs. UMCOR acts as an information relay point between needs and donations. All emergency kits are carefully planned to make them usable in the greatest number of situations. In some countries, children don't have books or school supplies. Many have no schoolrooms; classes are held in inadequate or half-destroyed buildings, tents, or even the open air. School kits may be these children's only educational resources. The Outreach Committee (formerly known as the Mission Committee), Points of Grace and the UMW have teamed up to assemble 65 UMCOR School Kits. This number 65 represents the age of our church (1 bag for each year). Our goal is to have the school kits ready for delivery at the 2018 session of the Virginia Annual Conference at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. There is currently an appeal from UMCOR for Hygiene, School, and Cleaning Kits only. School Kits are assembled with scissors, paper, a ruler, a pencil sharpener, pencils, crayons and an eraser. The items are packed in a 14x16 inch cloth bag. Value: $11.00 per kit.

8 8 OUTREACH Points of Grace has been working on making the 65 cloth bags. Anyone who would like to help with making bags please join us at the next Points of Grace or contact Joan Heaton. We have been collecting the other supplies over the past months, but there are still items needed. If you would like to donate any of the needed supplies, look for the display board in the breezeway by the Office. We are inviting the congregation to join us on Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 10 am in the Small Fellowship Hall to help pack the bags. TRUSTEES STATUS OF THE CHURCH: The United Methodist Church has been stunned, along with others in our Country, with the violence that has occurred in schools and churches throughout the Nation. In the United Methodist Church, 2016 Book of Resolutions, there is a section entitled "Our Call to End Gun Violence." Your Trustees thought it would be good to repeat the information, from the United Methodist Church for congregations to advocate at the local and national level, for laws that prevent or reduce gun violence. Some of these measures include: * Universal background checks on all gun purchases. *Ratification of the Arms Trade Treaty. (Regulate international weapons trade.) * Ensuring all guns are sold through licensed gun retailers. * Prohibiting all individuals convicted of violent crimes from purchasing a gun for a fixed time period. * Prohibiting all individuals under restraining order due to threat of violence from purchasing a gun. * Prohibiting persons with serious mental illness, who pose a danger to themselves and their communities, from purchasing a gun. *Ensuring greater access to services for those suffering from mental illness. *Establishing a minimum age of 21 years for a gun purchase or possession. Banning large-capacity ammunition magazines and weapons designed to fire multiple rounds each time the trigger is pulled. *Promoting new technologies to aid law-enforcement agencies to trace crime guns and promote public safety.

9 TRUSTEES 9 OTHER ITEMS: Welcome to our new Trustees, Ben DeVane and Tim Lamb. The first order of business was to elect the new Chairman of the Board, Ben DeVane was selected to be the Chairman for Ben formerly served on the Board of Trustees many years ago and we welcome him back to lead us. The existing contract for lawn service is being considered for renewal at an increased cost of $2,000 from $1,600. Your Trustees have requested a more detailed list of services to be performed. We have received a number of Facility Usage requests recently. Each proposal will be evaluated individually. Riverside's RCCA Board of Directors has been approved for their monthly meeting the 4th Thursday of each month. A young man, Michael Moore, from our Boy Scout Troop #27 is looking for an activity for his Eagle Scout Project. Early plans are to enhance our Prayer Garden with several options being considered. Your Trustees received a second proposal for fascia wrap and soffits for the area around the pre-school and back of the church vs painting every few years. Baker Roofing has submitted a bid at a cost of $8,404. Additional information is needed before final consideration. Baker Roofing has been called in to examine the Breezeway for the leaking problem. Water is leaking through the ceiling and pooling in the southeast corner after it rains. Several attempts at patch-up work have not stopped it. A Wednesday Night at Grace dinner is tentatively set for Wednesday, April, 25, MPO Dinah Balthis will present a Senior Safety Workshop. Topics Include: *Telephone Scams and Fraud. *Identify Theft / Elder Financial Exploitation *Personal Safety (at home and away) *Fire Safety for Seniors (NNFD) A variety of printed resources and handouts will be available and participant questions will be welcomed. Your Trustees would appreciate your prayers, ideas, and thoughts, as we strive to meet the needs and challenges of the Church and Parsonage during Respectfully submitted, Gloria Champine

10 10 CHOIR NEWS From the Director Some of you might not be aware that October 2017 marked my 10th year as Director of Music for Grace UMC. I want to share with you an overview of some of what has been accomplished in my ten and a half years here at Grace. I came in fresh out of Christopher Newport University with a Bachelor of Music with a Concentration in Vocal Performance. I had never worked in a Church, only gone to church and participated in the choirs. I had never rung handbells, much less led them. I was given great care, patience and instruction from certain members on how to lead the bells as well as the adult choirs. In my ten years at Grace the choirs have participated in various events such as: United Campus Ministries Music Festival where I was also the director from and collaborated with Parkview Baptist Church, Parkview United Methodist Church and Grace UMC on a Thanksgiving service in I have collaborated with many other friends who are musicians at other churches on services such as Christmas Eve, and other occasions. In previous years, the hand bells played at retirement homes for a few of their concerts that occur in April/May. I am constantly learning about sound systems and how to maintain them, especially ours. The pastor and I presented and received a grant from the board of missions to upgrade some of the sound system in I took it upon myself to learn how to repair handbells when our hand bell repair representative retired. As you all know, we had to repair our roof and as a result of the roof issue we lost some of our music library. The library is now completely re-categorized, and most music moved to the music office where it is safer. Every week/month the music that we have sung is filed back in its rightful place. Every August we have special music for each Sunday in the month. I thank the individuals who have helped with certain projects like the music library and running the sound system: you have helped me learn and grow for the past ten and a half years. I believe that music is a vital part of a worship service and we are blessed to have the individuals we do to assist with that. The above is a highlight of my past ten and a half years at Grace that I want to share with you. Psalm 100 says Make a joyful noise to the Lord!, and anyone can do that, and you can do that by singing or ringing with our choirs. We invite you to join us! See the calendar for dates and times. In Christ, Regina Director of Music

11 TREASURER S REPORT 11 BUDGET UPDATE THROUGH MARCH 25, 2018: BUDGETED $61,804 RECEIVED $70,681 BALANCE OWED ON LOAN $21,596

12 Grace United Methodist Church 1209 Country Club Road Newport News, Virginia NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. Postage PAID Newport News, VA Permit No Return Service Requested I think I can safely speak for everyone on the church staff when I tell you that we are very happy to put March behind us. You re reading this note rather than Pastor Hank s article because until just a few days ago, we didn t think we would be able to get a newsletter out to the congregation. This newsletter is smaller than usual and some of the normal articles are missing. You re reading this on paper because we don t have the ability to the newsletter to you right now. The church computer is back in the office and we re trying to rebuild the files but it s a painfully slow process. Thank you to everyone who has offered their thoughts and prayers as well as their time to help rebuild the files. In the days ahead, I m sure we will take you up on your offers to help with data entry. Happy Eastertide everyone and thank you for your continued patience and understanding. Lisa Jones Administrative Assistant