The Trumpet. Beyond the Hail Mary. October Sermon Series The NOT Commands

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1 The Trumpet Mountainside United Methodist Church Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of our Community and the World. Newsletter Issue No. 138 Most of us probably have a Hail Mary prayer story when out of desperation we throw a prayer up to God to get us out of a bad situation and a miracle occurs. One of my favorite Hail Mary prayers took place years ago when I was driving north on I-27 between Lubbock and Amarillo. I had left Lubbock late and after about an hour of driving I looked down at my gas gauge and realized that it was below empty. I looked up and realized that I was in the middle of nowhere (lots of these places in West Texas) and it was about 9 p.m. and really dark. I was driving on fumes hoping to make it to the next exit and find some farmer to help me out. The next exit was for Happy, Texas, ( Town without a frown ) which would have made me happy except for the fact that this town with a population of 600 or so closes at about 7 p.m. I exited off and drove down all three blocks of the downtown area, hoping against hope that the one gas station owner might have stayed up late. Unfortunately, that wasn t the case. I then started to drive into the residential area looking for a light that was on in someone s home to get some help. Needless to say, I was praying up a storm that my truck wouldn t die and leave me walking. I saw a house with a light on, pulled up into the driveway, and walked to the door. I knocked on the door and a man answered. I explained my situation, wondering if he knew if the owner of the gas station might be near. He did. In fact, he was the owner of the one gas station in town. Among the 300 or so houses in Happy, Texas, I believe God helped direct me to the house of the gas station owner. Fortunately, he was happy to help me, as you might expect. I was able to fill up my tank and be on my way and very thankful and happy that the Lord generously answered my Hail Mary prayer. Needless to say it is nice to have a few Hail Mary prayers answered like that, but what God is really after Beyond the Hail Mary in our lives is to move beyond that and have prayer be the foundation of our relationship with Him that changes who we are and how we relate to him and others. However, for that to happen we have to really pray and invest time in prayer. We have to learn to believe that prayer really can make a difference. I have been encouraged by some of the responses I have received as many of you have taken the prayer challenge seriously. Please continue to me your stories as you see changes result in your faithfulness to pray. Also, I encourage you to consider attending our Prayer Ministry meeting Wednesday October 7 from 6-7 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. We will be looking at some creative and strategic ways to raise the level of prayer at Mountainside. If you are willing to serve in this way, please contact Linda Rea at or linda@moonbeamranch.com and let her know that you are attending. If you don t want to participate in this, I still ask you to continue to regularly lift up our church, our ministries and our leaders in prayer. I also encourage you to continue to pray for that person God has placed near you that doesn t know of His Grace and to seek how God may want to use you and the one He reaches through to extend His Grace. Blessings, John October Sermon Series The NOT Commands October 4 Fear NOT October 11 Sin NOT October 18 Judge NOT October 25 Doubt NOT

2 Welcome New Members! A Visit From Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe Eileen Boehm Joined September 20th. September 27th Pam Wiltshire Joined September 20th. Terry Lesley Joined September 20th. Jubilee Band Are you wondering what to do with that musical instrument that seems to take up space in your closet? Now is your chance to blow off the dust and play some tunes. Join the Jubilee Band on Wednesday evenings from 6:15-6:45 pm, starting October 7, Let s make a joyful noise unto the Lord together! Call Susan if you have any questions. Prayer Ministry We are working on expanding our prayer ministry of Mountainside UMC. If You are interested please attend a planning meeting October 7, 6:00 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Please contact linda@moonbeamranch.com or Linda Rea at page 2

3 New Mexico UMC Women s Annual Meeting New Mexico Conference United Methodist Women annual meeting will be at Central UMC. Oct. 16 & 17. Registration is Friday, Oct. 16th from 2-4pm. The District supper is at St. Paul s UMC. Friday evening is worship service with communion is at 7pm. All women & men are welcome at the worship service (no registration needed). The main meeting is at Central UMC during the day. Gifts in kind are school supplies for McCurdy School. Saturday evening, there will be a banquet at St. John s UMC. ($17.00) Registration & meals must be paid by Oct.1. For information, call Winnie at East Mountain Food Pantry During August, the Food Pantry made up and gave out 171 food boxes for 362 adults and 167 children. 12 were new families. And Some Great News, Too! East Mountain Food Pantry was approved for a grant from the Asbury Cafe. In the past income from the Cafe was given to local charities. This year we will receive a percentage of the income. Help Needed! Multi-Media Team We need to add to our multi-media team in both the 9:00 a.m. and 11:10 a.m. services. If you are interested please contact Pastor John Rech. Budget Report As of 09/30/2015 Budget Needs 08/31/2015 $299, Received for General Budget: $327, Difference: +$28, Total Budget for 2015: $398, Thank you for your faithful support for the ministries of Mountainside UMC. Project Share Sign Up for Some FUN! We re getting together a fun group of people for UPWARDS registration/evaluations. Come join the fun! Training (short and sweet with treats) is Sunday Oct. 18th at 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Registration and Evaluations will take place Monday October 19th, Tuesday October 20th and Thursday, October 22nd from 5:30-6:30. All activities will be at the church. Contact Beth Clifford, , bclifford60@gmail. com or Janet Helmick, Sign-up in the Narthex to join the fun. Upwards Sports The time to get prepared for our Upwards Basketball and Cheer is upon us. We need a variety of help in different ways from recruiters, greeters, coaches, referees, computer operators, assistants, scorekeepers and a host of other service opportunities. Please sign up today in the Welcome Center and be a part of this vital outreach ministry of Mountainside. The next and last Sunday for this year for MUMC providing the meal at Project Share is October 11, Please join in this rewarding opportunity to serve the less fortunate. The aluminum pans with the recipe are on the table in the Narthex. Please note: this is the very last time we will be serving at this location as Project Share will be closing its current location and moving into St. Martin s Hospitality Center on 3rd Street in November. St. Martin s will not be open to serve meals on Sundays so MUMC will be selecting a new night to serve in Any questions or concerns, please contact Julia Beach at or jbeach50@comcast.net. page 3

4 First Annual Family Fun Festival A Success! On Saturday, September 26th, over 30 volunteers played a significant role in presenting our First Annual Family Fun Festival to a community of approximately 150 attendees. With hay rides, a kid s jumper house, face painting, games, and balloons, the children definitely had a good time. However, it was the adults who were given a chance to share and explore their own passions through the many hands-on booths that were created. Brought together with the heavenly music that echoed through the area, the 6 hour event was a joy to be a part of. Individuals in the MUMC Youth Program, as well as the general congregation, played their own part in this larger vision. Thank you to everyone who volunteered their services. We look forward to using what we learned this year to bring an even better festival again next year. Annual Trunk or Treat! Decorate your trunk, drive over to MUMC, and open your trunk to all the kiddos that stop by. This is a safe and fun way for the children of the East Mountains to come and trick or treat. The best part is, we get to take our house with us! If you d like to be a part of this year s Trunk or Treat, a sign-up sheet will be posted on the bulletin board in the Narthex. Trunk or Treat will be on Saturday, October 31st, from 5-7 PM. Hot chocolate and cookies will be available in the Welcome Center, along with our annual Cupcake Walk! There has been low temperatures these last few years so please dress warm! Questions? Call Callie at Fellowship Campfire &Cookout! That s right! October 17th at 6:00PM we re going to have our very own campfire at MUMC. We re having hot dogs and marshmallows, music and laughter! Please join us for what will be a fantastic evening of fun! Call Callie if you have any questions at Children s Church These past several weeks, the children have wrapped up The Story and have started on Moses and his life. We are learning the challenges that God puts in front of us and how to have faith when things get tough. Through the story of Moses, we are learning that while everything isn t fair and sometimes the bad guys appear to be winning, with God s help you can accomplish anything. Thank you for supporting our Children s Church! page 4

5 1st Annual Family Fun Mountainside UMC September 26, 2015 page 5

6 Women s Bible Study Join us for the Fall Women s Bible Study beginning, Saturday, October 10th. We will be using Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton (6 weekly sessions). We will meet 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon in the Youth Room 205 upstairs. Participants will want to order their own Book and Participant Guide. These can be ordered at Amazon.com, Cokesbury, Barnes&Noble.com, just to name a few. There will be a sign-up sheet on the table outside of the Sanctuary. Contact Lindy Rech at lindyrech@yahoo.com or if you have questions Being God s People in a Prodigal World Join us for a 5 week study on this theme Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. beginning October 21. We will be using DVD material presented by Ray Vander Laan who teaches on location in Israel where the Bible story events occurred. A sign up sheet is available in the foyer or contact Pastor Rech at johnrech@mountainsidemethodist.org. The cost is $10 for the discussion book accompanying the study. Edgewood Home Group Begins New Study The Edgewood home group will begin a new study on October 8th from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. The new study is by Dallas Willard and is based on his book Divine Conspiracy. The study focuses on Jesus sermon on the Mount and comes from the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5-7. The 6-session video has a student study guide that can be ordered through Linda Rea at The first class will be held at the Mizell s house at 44 Windmill Rd., Edgewood. For directions call Linda or Paul at We hope you will join us. MUMC Commercial Kitchen Use Update This is the second of several Trumpet articles that highlight and explain the opportunities and guidelines for using our commercial kitchen. MUMC s well-equipped commercial kitchen provides us many opportunities to support our MUMC Mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and the world. Our certified commercial kitchen is fundamental to some of most important outreach ministries including Upward Sports, Vacation Bible School, Project Share, Asbury Pie Café, and Kairos Prison Ministry and more; as well as a growing number of events that enhance our internal connections; and use by community events that are consistent with our faith. Our wonderful kitchen comes not only with opportunities for service to the congregation and the community, but also with requirements set by Bernalillo County Department of Health, Inspection, and Compliance (Bernco). For several months, we have been working the County Inspector to fully comply with their training requirements for commercial kitchen use and maintenance so that we can keep our Bernco Commercial Kitchen A-rated Certification. Maintaining our commercial kitchen certification requires that we have a team of professionally trained and certified Food Managers, as well as Food Handlers who can work with the Food Managers to ensure that we pass Bernco kitchen inspections. On August 13, Bernco conducted a Food Handler Training course at MUMC, explaining the whys and hows of safe food handling for certified commercial kitchens. If you missed this training and would like to participate in a future training event, please contact Kathy Freas and we will schedule another training with the County. Additionally, we will be posting and distributing information for using our kitchen to make it easy to understand and implement Bernalillo County guidelines. If you have questions or comments, please contact Kathy Freas at , or kfreas@ch2m.com page 6

7 Mountainside United Methodist Church 4 Penny Lane Cedar Crest, NM office@mountainsidemethodist.org RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED October In this issue: John s Gospel 1 Welcome New Members 2 Bishop s Visit 2 Upwards Sports 3 Project Share 3 Youth News 4 Family Fun Day Photos 5 Study Groups 6 Kitchen Update 6 Newsletter Submission Guidelines The submission deadline is the 20th of each month. submission to office@mountainsidemethodist.org or leave detailed information in the office Craig Jones George Trever Shelley Bateman Earl Robinson Maribel Amber Cari Neill Janet VanAllen Patrice Kerr Jay Trepanier Taylor Bachelor Scott Merkley Stephanie Brink Suzy Chambers Barbara Miller Elaine Kozlowski Robbie Hoffman Isaac West Ryan Feeney Jami Coffman October Birthdays Amanda Morrow Susan Hyde Mary Chambers Karen Watson Joan Berish Paul Mendoza Margaret Thompson Jamie Anderson Rebecca Wacker Katie Carrillo Tyler McWatters