The Messenger. First United Methodist Church. Wellsville, NY. May 2017 WELLSVILLE FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

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1 The Messenger May 2017 First United Methodist Church Wellsville, NY God s love grows here... Through Worship, Bible Study, and Service WELLSVILLE FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH God s Love Grows Here... Through Worship, Bible Study and Service FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 79 MADISON STREET WELLSVILLE, NY (585) lovegrows@wellsvilleumc.org CHANGED SERVICE REQUESTED

2 First United Methodist Church of Wellsville Contemporary Worship Service 8:30 am Traditional Worship Service 11:00 am Sunday School/Adult Study 9:45 am Designated Sundays Hymn Sing 6:30 pm Phone (585) Fax (585) Web Page: Serving Christ and Community Since 1852 UPCOMING EVENTS: Sunday, May 7 Combined Worship Svc., 9:45 AM; Music 9:30 Monday, May 8 Team 6:15 PM Admin. Council 7:30 PM Sunday, May 14 Mother s Day 9:45 AM Wednesday, May 17 Naomi Circle, 2-3:30 PM, Meeting Downstairs Thursday, May 18 Triple L Potluck Lunch Friday, May 19 June Messenger Articles Due Saturday, May 20 Gil s Hills Work Day Weekly Bible Studies: Our Staff: Pastor..Rev. Greg DeSalvatore Office Manager.Mrs. Kim Smith Organist & Traditional Music Director...Ms. Joy Caldwell Church Custodian.Mrs. Mary Brown Tuesdays Women s Bible 9:15 AM in the Welcome Room/Library; Currently studying Scripture Press Dare to Believe Series Studies in Numbers & Joshua. Fridays Men s Bible 9:00 AM in the Welcome Room/Library; Currently studying the Invitation to the Old Testament: A Disciple Bible Series. Sundays Adult 9:45 AM in the Downstairs Lounge; Selections from Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias.

3 Newsletter May 2017 Annual Conference To Meet From the Pastor: In all their affliction, he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them. -Isaiah 63: 9 Nothing is harder to bear than to be misunderstood. It is hard enough to be misunderstood by our friends. And there is no time when we are in more danger of misunderstanding the best of all friends than when our eyes are filled with tears of sorrow. This was the mood of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, when their Lord came to them and showed them that He was never nearer to them, or doing so much for them, as when they thought He had failed them. The mystery of pain and suffering has always been hard to understand. Even our Savior, when bearing our sins and sorrows when the Father s face was turned away, cried out My God, my God, why? Nor can the thorn in the flesh always be removed, even in answer to prayer. But He knows how much we can bear, and says, My grace is sufficient for you. The Upper New York Conference of the United Methodist Church will gather to conduct its annual meeting in Syracuse, NY on June 1-3, This church s lay delegate, Darrin Cornell, alongside Pastor Greg, will be engaged in worship, celebration, deliberation, and conversation as corporately we are led by Bishop Mark Webb through the various reports of work accomplished last year, the myriad ways in which we recognized God s spirit providing and protecting the church, and to once again listen and discuss what possible new changes might benefit our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. This year s focus theme is: Together in Prayer: Trusting that God is enough. Pastor Greg and Darrin ask for your prayers during this time, as we seek to listen for God s will in the midst of all that is before us, and faithfully stand together as we seek to perfect our expression of God s love through whatever legislation may be presented. Again today, we are called to embrace this truth. In all things, Lord, may Your will be accomplished as you intend. Assist us in releasing our grasp upon all those transient things along our journey and let us further resolve to more fully rely upon that grace which is always equal to our need. May It be so. In Christ alone, Pastor Greg

4 WOMEN S GROUP NEWS Naomi Circle meets on Wednesday, May 17th at 2:00 PM. We will be meeting downstairs since we will be doing a Reflection Craft. Supplies will be provided, but if you have small curved scissors (often part of a manicure kit) or 1/2 inch or small paint brush, it could be helpful in speeding up our work. This will be a fun afternoon and open to ALL women of the church. Sue Sweeting will provide refreshments and Joy Caldwell will be devotions. Also, mark your calendars for June 21st at 5:00 PM for our annual picnic. Details will be published closer to this date regarding location and food. Diane and Linda, Co-Chairpersons TRIPLE L NEWS Triple L met on April 20th at Noon with a dozen of us in attendance for a delicious potluck lunch and great fellowship. Nitia & John Cole and Midge & Chuck Brocious were the hosts, decorating the room in green table cloths and spring flowers. After lunch we enjoyed a presentation on home improvements by Nitia. We plan to meet again on Thursday, May 18th to enjoy each other s company and another potluck lunch. Please bring a dish to share and your own table service. We are still in need of hosts for this event. If you are interested contact the church office ( ). Looking ahead to June, we will have our annual Triple L picnic hosted by Gloria & Max Shay on Thursday, June 15th. Hope you are able to join us! Greetings from UMM! UNITED METHODIST MEN Hi everybody! The men have a couple of exciting events coming up in May and we will be looking for help with them. The annual Mother's Day Brunch (just a little over two weeks away) will be held in fellowship hall Sunday, May 14th at 9:45am. Please visit the sign up sheet in the foyer for your reservations. The annual Gil's Hills work day is scheduled for Saturday, May 20th at the site. At this writing we are not sure what projects our folks will be working on, but we will let you know as soon as Ken Jordan provides the information. We always have a great time working side by side at any and all of these events. All are welcome at the Friday morning 9am Bible study. Pastor Greg is helping out with the current lesson. Did you know???? A mandate requires that all chartered UMM groups have two officers. Thus Bryan is our treasurer. UMM, where all men and boys are welcome! Blessings! Alan and Bryan FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH MAR 17 YTD 17 Operating Budget Income $ 21,904 $ 51,746 Expenses: Pastor s Package $ 7,426 $ 22,349 Other Staff 3,649 11,004 Maintenance & Supplies 1,881 5,208 Teams 387 1,064 Ministry Shares 1,000 6,425* All Other Expenses 811 6,196 Total Expenses: $ 15,154 $ 52,246 Income less Expenses $ 6,750 (500) *$1,425 paid towards 2016 Ministry Shares

5 OUTREACH/MISSION NEWS We start this month with reminders about some traditional ministry events, in May, we will again be collecting donations of non-perishable clothing, personal hygiene, and sundry items for the veterans residing at the VA Center at Bath NY. There is a continuing critical need for denim jeans. Also, please look for the list of needed items in the church bulletins during May. You can deposit your contributions in the patriotically decorated box located in the sanctuary throughout the month of May. In July, we will be looking for volunteers to work our booth at the Balloon Rally Main Street festival and the United Methodist booth at the Allegany County Fair. Please watch for the sign-up sheets that will be located in the vestibule during late June and early July. This summer, we will again be partnering with the Community Action Angels to help meet the school supply needs of our school children in the local area. Please watch future editions of the Messenger for further details regarding how you can take part in this ministry. Finally, for those of you looking for opportunities to give beyond your normal weekly tithe or gift, allow me to suggest a gift to the Heifer Fund. This can truly be "a gift that keeps on giving" as this wonderful organization uses your money to provide livestock to enrich the lives of under privileged citizens of third world countries. For more information on how you can support the work of the Heifer Fund, you can visit their website at Bryan Caldwell LIBRARY NEWS We all think and talk about the weather from time to time, now it is warmer and sunnier we feel and enjoy our time out and about. Easter holiday was a very busy time for most of us and families. Church was full of flowers and many prayers. There were 33 books donated this month to the Library. There were no In Memory of books donated this April. There were 24 fiction, 6 non-fiction books donated, and 3 Study Guides including 2 books in one plus a CD. Books were donated by Linda Austin, Betty Stoll, Nancy Blackman, Mary Zimmerman, Joan Smith and Sue Browning. There were 2 sets of 4 books donated about the life and times in the Amish Country, plus 2 books on World War 2 for men who enjoy reading about history. Books are Out of the Depths and Frame 232. A BIG THANK YOU to Max and Gloria Shay for the new Prayer Bears donated by their daughter-in-law. All shapes and sizes. Max even donated some more bears to the Salvation Army Church for distribution. The Prayer Bears are available for anyone who is having a medical problem or difficult situation, could be a relative, friend or family member. We would like to invite everyone to join us for coffee, tea, juice and a snack or two after or before church to chat with new people and get to say hello to others. Sue Browning Lenten Lunches A Success! A big thank you to all those who participated in our recently completed Wednesday Lenten Lunch & Study program. Over the various weeks throughout Lent, we gathered each Wednesday at noon for a delicious meal and inviting fellowship. Following our meal, we shared in a video-based study of the last week s experience of Christ, with a short interactive discussion which gave us much to think about as we journeyed toward Easter together. For those who gave, those who came, those who ate, those who served.we give thanks to God! OFFERING UPDATE: The free will offering that was collected in the hopes of purchasing some additional foreign language Bibles for our jail ministries has been totaled and, praise the Lord, has reached $332. This will allow us to purchase both French and Chinese bibles and still have resources to provide the Jesus story DVD for each resident pod at the county facility. May God bless the reading and hearing of the Word.

6 Focus on Prayer Transformation Prayer changes things, and it also changes us. The primary purpose of prayer is to bring us into a life of communion with the Father and by the power of the Spirit we become increasingly conformed to the image of the Son. None of us will keep up a life of prayer unless we are prepared to change. We will either give it up or turn it into a little system that maintains the form of godliness but denies the power of it. When we begin to walk with God, He is gracious and marvelously answers our feeble, egocentric prayers. In time, however, as we try to get instant answers, God says to us, I would like to be more than your Provider. I also want to be your Teacher and your Friend. Let me lead you into a more excellent way. I want to free you of the greed and avarice, the fear and hostility that make your life one great sorrow. At first we may struggle against this, but in time we learn the goodness of rightness and begin to move into holy obedience. Each day in a new and living way the Spirit of God teaches us. As we begin to follow these promptings of the Spirit, we are changed from the inside out. There are both active and passive sides to the prayer of transformation. On the active side we are pursuing God. We are a pilgrim people on a journey of faith. We are pressing on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:12, 1 Tim. 4:7). On the passive side we are being pursued by God. We are attentive and responsive. We are warm clay in the hands of the Master Potter (Jer. 18). In praying the prayer of transformation we learn the importance of progress in our spiritual lives. We grow, we change and we offer ourselves to the transformation God wants to work in us. God desires to mold us more and more into Christ s way: Those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). Because God is omniscient (all-knowing) He knows who will be His followers. But even this did not keep Him from sending redemption through His Son for ALL men. So, we are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son by choice and action of our own. It is available, but we have to make the choice to follow, to grow, and to be transformed into His image. In our better moments we want nothing more than to be like Him who loved us and gave Himself as a ransom for us. But there are other moments when we need to ask Him to help us see how good conformity to His way really is. In our seeking for Him may we grow more and more into His image. Taken from Prayer by Foster. Joy Caldwell FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH May Prayer List: 1 Custodian (Mary) 2 Women s Bible Study 3 Jail Ministry 4 Women s Bible Study 5 Men s Bible Study 6 Pastor Greg 7 Pastor s Family (Bonnie, Anthony & Family, Michael, Emily) 8 Church Teams & Administrative Council 9 AA & NA 10 Jail Ministry 11 Church Families 12 Office Manager (Kim) 13 Pastor Greg 14 Pastor s Family 15 Those who are Sick/Hospitalized/Homebound 16 Gil s Hills & Youth for Christ 17 Jail Ministry 18 Choir & Praise Team 19 FUMC s Financial Stability 20 Pastor Greg 21 Pastor s Family 22 Healing of Broken Relationships 23 Community Revival 24 Jail Ministry 25 Traditional Music Director& Organist (Joy) 26 Church Volunteers 27 Pastor Greg 28 Pastor s Family 29 Veterans & Families 30 Prayer Warriors 31 Jail Ministry

7 Food Pantry, Giant Register Tapes & Campbell Soup Labels Please bring in your nonperishable grocery donations for the Salvation Army food pantry on the first Sunday of each month; the collection box is located just inside the sanctuary to the right. Giant register tape & Campbell Soup label (UPC barcode only) collection bin is located in the Welcome Room. Thanks for your continued participation! Altar Flowers The sign up chart is located on the bulletin board before you enter the sanctuary. Cost is $15. (Larger arrangements are available upon request.) Payment of cash or check made payable to FUMC is required prior to your scheduled Sunday. Drop it in the offering plate (specify that it is for altar flowers) or you may bring/mail it to the church office. Please notify the church office if there are specific colors or flowers you would like. You may take your flowers anytime after the 11:00 service. May Altar Flowers May 7th, Given by Tom & Sheila Smith May 14th, In Loving Memory of Our Son, Kevin, Given by Nyhl & Linda Austin May 21st, In Honor of Max & Gloria Shay s 65th Wedding Anniversary May 28th, In Honor of Jerry & Nancy Levitt s 48th Wedding Anniversary 3 Heidi Braymiller 3 Cathy Lewis 4 Brenda Milligan 6 Renee (LaForge) Johnson 12 Kathy Gilbert 14 Megan Austin 15 Sharlet Fuller 18 Erland Kailbourne 24 Max Shay 26 Joanne Horton 28 Chris Forness 30 Pat Barry 31 David Amidon May Counters Max/Gloria Shay & Alan Forsberg May Greeters Pat & Michelle Barry 8 John & Cathy Lewis 18 Max & Gloria Shay 31 Jerry & Nancy Levitt