FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Covington, TN

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1 FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Covington, TN August 30, 2017 A Bi-Monthly Publication John Wooden was an All-American basketball player and head coach at the University of California at Los Angeles where he won a record seven national championships in a row and eighty-eight consecutive games in a row! He believed in always mastering the basics and that no team member outranked any other. He believed that values came first and help create a culture of integrity. In his book, On Leadership, Wooden shared his philosophy of recruiting: I always felt that my non-recruiting policy for players was the right thing to do a productive part of the screening process. Before I talked to an individual about joining us, I first wanted to see evidence of his desire to be part of the Bruins. The last thing you want is people in your organization who had to be talked into being there, who needed convincing that your team was worthy of them. When hiring, be diligent in discerning what the individual s motives are; be alert for those who express a sincere desire to join and contribute to your team and show some understanding of who and what your organization is all about. Recruiting should be a two-way street. John Wooden Your Staff-Parish Relations Committee has been diligently working toward recruiting a new team member Minister to Children & Families. They believe an individual has been located who strongly desires to be part of this team and understands who/what we are about. The next step will be a visit during which the candidate will a) teach a sample Wednesday evening children s class, b) spend some time getting to know this community, c) Have dinner and conversation with some of our young families, d) engage in a roundtable discussion about what makes for a healthy family ministry and e) participate in Sunday morning worship. Dates have not yet been selected but we anticipate this to happen before the end of September. When these dates are confirmed, we will do our best to communicate (via , newsletter and pulpit announcements) and actively invite broad participation from the entire congregation. In the meantime, we covet your input and your prayers. Pastoral Staff Rev. Dan Camp Senior Pastor dcamp@covingtonfumc.com Care Staff Dr. Faye Beckett Congregational Care ftrumbo@att.net Kendy Erwin Hospitality Care kerwin1962@att.net Outreach Staff Liz Newman Director of Outreach ewnewman2@gmail.com Program Staff Andrew Davis Youth Ministries ajdavis915@gmail.com Dr. Bonnie Wright Director of Music bwright@tipton-county.com Office Support Staff Sandy Burgess Administrative Assistant sburgess@covingtonfumc.com Holley Mills Morris Business Administrator hmmorris@covingtonfumc.com Musician Justin Hanson, Organist Facilities Rebecca Paris Custodian Kenny Summers Maintenance --Pastor Dan F U MC Office Hours: 9: 00 a. m. - 5 :00 p. m. M ond a y-fri da y Leading Others to Christ, Learning to 1 Be Disciples, Loving through Service.

2 UMW CORNER YOGA CLASSES Free yoga classes, provided by Michelle Tomlinson, are being offered in the Christian Life Center Monday evenings through October 16 th (excluding Labor Day) at 6:00 p.m. Please wear comfortable clothing and bring a mat. A book sale is being planned for Sunday, September 10 th. If you have gently used books you would like to donate, please bring them to the church office. Money raised from the sale will be used for missions. For more information, please contact Doris Ann Gray at dorisanngray1@gmail.com. Ruth Circle 2 nd Monday of each month 12:00 p.m. Fellowship Hall Mary Martha Circle 2 nd Tuesday of each month 9:30 a.m. New Beginnings Classroom NOTE OF THANKS! To My Wonderful Church Family, Thank you so much for thinking of me and my family during this rough patch, but with your prayers I will prevail because of you guys. Love you all from the bottom of my heart. Susan Turner YOUTH NEWS Youth Small Groups: Every Wednesday night high schoolers and middle schoolers meet together in core groups to grow deeper friendships, and develop their faith. Small Groups are a time where as a teenager you can get together with like minded people your age, share about what s going on in your life, pray for one another, learn more about who you are in Christ, and have fun with some of the coolest youth alive! High School Boys: Mike Morrison s House (1315 Walter St, Covington) 5:30-7:00 p.m. High School Girls: Susan Sampson s House (4528 Highway 52 East, Covington) 5:30-7:00 p.m. Middle Schoolers: Christian Life FUMC (145 W Church Ave. Covington) 6:00-7:00 p.m. 2

3 MASON INITIATIVE IN MISSION UPDATE AN OUTREACH OF THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH by Sue Jones The three week day camp at the Mason Methodist Church for area children was a success! We averaged 15 children daily and they were amazing and most receptive to learning and receiving God s word. A brief snapshot of a day was morning devotion, songs, a Bible lesson with active interaction, an outdoor activity, lunch and creative crafts and three field trips! Many wonderful volunteers gave their time and energy - a basketball coach from Arlington High School leading outside activities; ministers from area churches coming by for Bible stories and Rev. Dan Camp going on a field trip with us with Sandy Burgess driving the van to transport children. Our UMW prepared a picnic for us and Justin Hanson giving a tour of Covington and they loved it.; especially, crawling all over a police squad car. Special thanks to Tipton County Board of Education for supplying lunches daily and there are too many others that stepped up to reach out and try to make a difference. A tremendous acknowledgment to FUMC Sunday school classes that donated money to purchase t-shirts for volunteers and children. They were thrilled and so excited. Your FUMC members serving this outreach are Gail Ganier, Sue Jones and Kathy Wallace. Prayer Shawl Ministry Enjoy knitting or crocheting? Don t know how and would like to learn? Join the prayer shawl group from 6:00-7:00 p.m. Wednesday evenings in the Now Classroom (near the Fellowship Hall). This is a time of fellowship and prayer as you create beautiful shawls which will be given as a comfort to those who are suffering in some way. August 30 August 31 Sylvia Peeler Annalea Posey Beth Ziarko Bill Jim Davis Nancy McKenzie Alice Sigler September 1 Jasper Hunter Cayden Ray September 3 Nancy Peeler Haylee Timberlake Thomas Whitesides September 4 Margaret Peeler Laura Thornton September 5 Therica Robison September 7 Steve Clark Phyllis Richmond September 8 Debbie Winberry September 9 Nola Carter Callie Freeman September 10 September 11 September 12 September 13 September 14 September 15 September 16 September 17 September 18 September 19 Kevin Smith Bob Lakey Alex Rejaei Connor Thornton Mary Ann Gulley Scott Jackson Bill Peeler Sarah Maury Kim Stewart Sarah Newman Lane Clark Brooke Cox Blaine Locke Valerie Platt Donna Jones Ken McCool Hollie Bryant Meredith Owen Holli Ray Rachel Smith 3

4 CHILDREN S CHURCH WORKERS September 3 MorningSong: Dianne Stone and Kristin Burgess Traditional Service: Volunteers Needed September 10 MorningSong: Sherrie Wright and Mary Catherine Turner Traditional Service: Volunteers Needed NURSERY WORKERS September 3 MorningSong: Joey Caldwell and Chelsea Griffin Traditional Service: Sarah Smith September 10 MorningSong: Joey Caldwell Traditional Service: Cynthia Ford UPPER ROOM PRAYER MINISTRY SCHEDULE September 3 MorningSong Service Ellen Clark Lane Clark Doris Ann Gray Traditional Service Phyllis Richmond Brenda Wrather Contact Liz Newman to volunteer by ing ewnewman2@gmail.com or calling September 10 MorningSong Service Volunteers Needed Traditional Service Sandra Naifeh and Nancy Peeler COMMUNION OFFERING The Communion offering for Sunday, September 3rd will benefit The Gideons International, an association of Christians dedicated to telling people about Jesus through sharing personally and by providing Bibles and New Testaments. ATTENDANCE & GIVING August 13, 2017 MorningSong Worship - Sunday School - Traditional Worship - Bread of Life Worship - MorningSong Offering - Traditional Worship Offering - August 20, 2017 MorningSong Worship - Sunday School - Traditional Worship - Bread of Life Worship - MorningSong Offering - Traditional Worship Offering - August 27, 2017 MorningSong Worship - Sunday School - Traditional Worship - Bread of Life Worship - MorningSong Offering - Traditional Worship Offering $3, $3, $1, $7, $1, $4,965.00

5 SAMARITAN FUND TOTALS As of August 18 through August 25, 2017 # of Awards Amount Type of Assistance 0 $ 0 Bus Ticket 0 $ 0 Food 7 $ Lodging 1 $ 8.00 Miscellaneous 0 $ 0 Rent 15 $ Utilities 0 $ 0 Vehicle Gas 23 $ 1, Totals # of Awards Year-to-Date Totals Amount Type of Assistance 3 $ Bus Ticket 1 $ Food 223 $ 11, Lodging 5 $ Miscellaneous 44 $ 2, Rent 225 $ 11, Utilities 11 $ Vehicle Gas 512 $ 26, Totals Children: Senior Adults: Adults: Total Individuals: Fixed Income: Lost Jobs: Children: Senior Adults: Adults: Total Individuals: Fixed Income: Lost Jobs: As of August 25, 2017 Samaritan Balance: $6, ROUNDUP UTILITY ASSISTANCE August 18 through August 25, Households were interviewed CES: 21 total households 9 approved totaling $1, declined totaling $1, CGWS: 9 total households 6 approved totaling $ declined totaling $ SAMARITAN STORY The story of a young lady and her teenage sister being stranded in Covington by another family member has touched the hearts of many of in our congregation. The teenager is now enrolled in high school and has become an active member of the youth group and choir. Permanent housing is still an issue and continues to be our focus for them. Please continue to pray for their transition and that God will bless them with a better living situation. 5

6 GRACE PLACE CELEBRATION Story and photos by Lane Gardner Camp Director of Communications, Memphis Conference of The United Methodist Church (Reproduced with permission) Bessie Doll Dodd was released from prison on June 27, While she said she was glad to get out of there after 35 years of confinement, she added it was the hardest thing to walk out of those gates and leave my church behind. The church Dodd is referring to is Grace Place United Methodist Church, one of two United Methodist Churches located inside U.S. prisons. The congregation began life at what is now called the Mark Luttrell Transition Center in Memphis, Tennessee, but relocated in August, 2016, when the Tennessee Department of Correction moved the medium-security women prisoners to a different facility 60 miles north in Fort Pillow, Tennessee. The congregation's new prison, called the Women s Therapeutic Residential Center at the West Tennessee State Penitentiary, currently houses more than 1,000 women (with that number expected to grow to 1,500) while 330 was the approximate number of women inmates at the Memphis prison. Dodd was the keynote speaker at a Grace Place celebration that took place Saturday, Aug. 5, at Covington First United Methodist Church in Covington, Tennessee. More than 200 friends and supporters were in attendance. Journey of Grace was the theme for the event that celebrated Grace Place s ten years as a United Methodist Church and five years as a chartered United Methodist congregation. Grace Place is pastored by Rev. Diane Harrison, who started the congregation in the face of many obstacles and setbacks, but has persevered and followed her congregation to its new location. Dodd told the celebration crowd how "Pastor Diane" came into her life and turned it upside down by bringing her to Jesus Christ. Even though she was physically in prison, Dodd said Grace Place and her new-found faith provided her another kind of freedom inside the walls of her prison home. Dodd was baptized by Memphis Conference Bishop Bill McAlilly when he visited the prison in February, Dodd said Grace Place became a place for her and other imprisoned women to go for worship, Bible study, exercise, craft classes and more. She called it her home and said, while choking with emotion, it transformed her life. Dodd complimented the room full of Grace Place supporters she was addressing by calling them life changers. Not only did Grace Place sustain Dodd while she was in prison, but it supported her after her release, first helping set her up in a halfway house and then an apartment in Nashville. Grace Place and its supporters also provided Dodd assorted material things she needed for her new life outside prison. (Dodd works at a Nashville area restaurant where she has been employed for more than a year, according to Harrison. She has checking and savings accounts and is saving money to buy a car.) One item Dodd talked about that she received as a gift last year on Oct. 27 was a Christmas tree. Elated to have her very own tree, she told how she promptly put it up and decorated it. Then she described how Halloween trick or treaters on Oct. 31 were slightly stunned to encounter a Christmas tree. Dodd enjoyed their confusion. She said she plans to erect her Christmas tree on Oct. 27 every year as her own personal reminder of Christ s love. Dodd s first news about her release from prison, she said, came as a total shock. She said she was scared and felt her whole world was coming apart, mostly because she knew she would be leaving her prison sisters. I never knew what lonely was until I had to leave them there, she said. After 35 years in prison, the inmates were Dodd's only family, Harrison reminded. Close to the time of her release, Dodd was transferred to the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville where she helped start Circle of Grace, a branch of Grace Place. Harrison calls Dodd a missionary. 6

7 When Harrison introduced Dodd as the keynote speaker for the celebration event, she told how Dodd served as the chair of the church s inside council, helping initiate and organize a broad range of Christian mission and outreach projects inside and outside the prison. The list of ministries by the women of Grace Place is long, according to Harrison, who mentioned a recent $400 gift by the church to an officer at the prison who lost her home and all its contents in a fire. The women wanted to help the officer with a financial contribution, explained Harrison. Monies the women of Grace Place use for missions come from sales outside the prison of their many arts and crafts. Of the $5,400 raised at the celebration event, $1,000 came from merchandise sales. During the invocation and blessing for the anniversary celebration event, Rev. Dr. Virginia Jones Findel, a long-time Grace Place supporter and volunteer, described the church s birth and growth within the walls of a prison as something that couldn t be done, but for God. A video message to the women of Grace Place that was recorded in early 2017 by Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City, Missouri, was played during the celebration event. Hamilton learned about Grace Place and that its members had read and studied more than one of his books. Grace Place also sent Hamilton s church a gift -- a crown of thorns made by one of Grace Place s members. Hamilton talked about the crown in a 2016 Palm Sunday message to his congregation. In the video played at the celebration, Hamilton calls Grace Place a profound witness for sharing Jesus Christ inside and outside the prison. Justin Hanson, mayor of Covington and a member of Covington First United Methodist Church, served as emcee for the celebration event that, in addition to Dodd s message, incorporated a heartfelt testimony and liturgical dance by Nadia Ballou, another former member of Grace Place now out of prison. Ballou called Grace Place vital and told how its volunteers were and are considerate of the dignity of the women prisoners. She said they knew what she needed while she was in prison and when she left prison. I am a part of Grace Place, she said. Ballou received a standing ovation for her dance, as did Dodd after her message. The Grace Place celebration also included time for honoring volunteers, remembering supporters who have recently died, and sharing by guests Mary Mortenson, executive director of Prison Congregations of America (PCA), based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Rev. Margie Briggs, a certified lay minister to two churches in the Missouri Conference of The United Methodist Church. Briggs is the author of a book that devotes a chapter to Grace Place. The book is titled, Can You Just Get Them Through Until Christmas?: The Turnaround Story of One Lay Minister and Two Small, Rural Churches. Mortenson s PCA organization, which serves 31 other worshipping prison congregations, has been a consistent and reliable resource of ideas and encouragement for Harrison. As long as there are prisoners, said Mortenson, our work will continue. Grace Place, she said, is what a healthy prison congregation should look like.... (It) has touched people on both sides of the razor wire." 7

8 Memorials and Tributes In Honor of Paul Bierman Van Fund by Bernadine Bierman In Honor of Peter Bierman Van Fund by Bernadine Bierman In Memory of Dot Butler Food Pantry Fund by Billy Anderson and Terry Sykes Food Pantry Fund by Johnny and Carolann Kinney Food Pantry Fund by Steven and Flo Kinney Good Samaritan Fund by Leonard and Brenda Moss Good Samaritan Fund by Mike and Judy Ralph Food Pantry Fund by Bill and Barbara Kenney Renfrow Good Samaritan Fund by Bettye Shelley Food Pantry Fund by Larry and Georgeanna Kinney Vecchi Good Samaritan Fund by Patsy Mize Waits In Memory of Eric Byrd In Memory of Paul Byrd In Memory of Claude Leyhew Good Samaritan Fund by Billy and Myrna Myers In Memory of Pete McDow In Memory of Richard McKenzie Good Samaritan Fund by Nancy McKenzie In Memory of James Neely Good Samaritan Fund by Billy and Myrna Myers Youth Fund by Hank and Susan Sampson In Memory of Velma Peeler Landscaping Fund by Bernadine Bierman In Honor of Leah Stalcup Van Fun by Bernadine Bierman In Honor of Rebecca Stalcup Van Fund by Bernadine Bierman In Memory of Rodney Waits Good Samaritan Fund by Mike and Judy Ralph In Memory of Clara Nell Williams In Memory of Martha Yarbrough Learn how to heal from the deep hurt of divorce and discover hope for your future. Four divorce recovery sessions will be held beginning Wednesday, August 30 th from 6:00-7:30 in the GO Classroom (lower level of the Sanctuary building). No materials or registration fees needed. This group is open to anyone who has experienced the pain and trauma of divorce. Sessions will be led by Cindy Pease, a licensed Christian Counselor who holds a degree in counseling from the University of Memphis and is a professional member of the American Counselors Association and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Cindy believes that the gospel offers hope and the promise of new life to all those who have known the deep pain of the dissolution of a marriage. 8

9 Billy Anderson Bo Anderson Donna Beard Faye Beckett Joe Campodonico Terri Chumley Amber Corbitt Cimadevilla Craig Coley Jerry Deen Jessica Erwin Cassie Evans Charles Gray M.B. Howard Carole Hughey Jackson Hughey Siji Hutcherson Teena Jacobs Janet Klutts Bernie Liles Lori Butler Lindley Donna Luckey Peggy Massey Phillip Mathis Wallace Mathis Gary Miller Charlie Moss Leonard Moss Shannon Reed Nan Sanders BJ Smith Jim Smith Maurice Smith Daniel Stock Jacob Stock Joyce Stottlemyer Jimmy Turner Susan Turner Bart White Everett Williams Dr. Barney Witherington III Mae Belle Wright CONDOLENCES Condolences to the family of Tom Bready. He passed away August 27 th. His services will be held at FUMC, Saturday, September 2 nd, with visitation from 1:00-2:00 p.m. and the funeral service beginning at 2:00 p.m. Mary Carpenter, mother of Rev. Tim Carpenter, passed away August 26 th. Her funeral service will take place Saturday, September 2 nd at 10:30 a.m. at Germantown United Methodist Church. Visitation will be Friday, September 1 st at Forrest Hill East on Whitten Road from 6:00-8:00 p.m. and on Saturday, September 2 nd from 9:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. at Germantown United Methodist Church. Jim Bob Randolph, age 41, son of Brenda Randolph, passed away August 28 th from a heart attack. Arrangements are pending at this time. Brenda is Charlotte Quinley s friend from East Tennessee. COUNSELING Faye Beckett, D.C.C. Doctorate in Christian Counseling. For appointments call the Counseling Ministry: Empowering others to reach their God given purpose. Cindy Pease, M.H.S.P., Licensed Professional Counselor, Nationally Certified. For appointments call the FUMC office , ext. 17. Counseling is available for individuals, couples or families. Fees are based on ability to pay. 9

10 WORSHIP BROADCASTS Live radio broadcast of the Traditional Worship on WKBL AM 11 a.m. Live streaming of the traditional service is available at Traditional services are also archived at our website and can be viewed online anytime. WORSHIP TIMES MorningSong Service Sundays at 8:30 a.m. Christian Life Center Sunday School 9:45 a.m. Traditional Service Sundays at 11:00 a.m. Sanctuary 17 TH ANNUAL GOLF CLASSIC The 17th Annual Golf Classic will be held Thursday, September 14 th at the Windyke Country Club in Memphis. The classic will benefit the Golden Cross Senior Residents Fund which provides resources to enhance the quality of life for elderly residents of Wesley Living communities. Register online at First United Methodist Church 145 W. Church Avenue Covington, TN Phone: Fax: covingtonfumc@covingtonfumc.com Website: Facebook: Twitter: twitter.com/fumccovington 10