communicator The Monthly Newsletter of Holiday Park United Methodist Church

Transcription

1 communicator The Monthly Newsletter of Holiday Park United Methodist Church June 2014 God s Precious Gifts SEVEN REASONS TO SERVE IN THE CHURCH NURSERY Ahead Great events are planned for everyone in the family. God is there. This may come as a shock, but the Bible has specific promises about God s presence when children are welcomed and loved in Jesus name. It helps others. Your service in the church nursery allows church goers to focus on worship, rather than worrying about their children. In a way, your ministry makes it possible for the pastor to fulfill his ministry. Baby s first impressions. The first (and sometimes lasting) feelings a child will have toward church is formed in the nursery department. A positive experience in the church nursery is essential. The most special assignment. When you serve in the nursery, you are being entrusted with the most important (and vulnerable) members of the church family. There is no greater treasure on this side of heaven than the little ones God has given us. You must be someone special to have a job that is so important. Your own growth. Your service is essential for your own spiritual growth. You may have never looked at it this way, but a growing Christian is always a serving Christian. Jesus was known for putting others first, when you serve in the church nursery you are walking in his example. (Continued on page 3) June 8 Pentecost Sunday All-Church Worship Confirmation Sunday June 13 Family Movie Night June Philippi Work Mission Trip June 17 HPUMC KIDZ Gross Games! June 24 Carnegie Museum visits HPUMC

2 Snapshots Community Easter Egg Hunt We would like to thank all those that made this year s Easter Egg Hunt such a great success. 2,700 eggs = over 8,000 pieces of candy and many, many smiling faces. ABC QUILTERS The best way to build lasting friendships is by serving together. ABC QUILTERS By: Jan Roslund ABC Quilters would like to thank everyone who voted with their donations, for their favorite baby quilt during the recent Philippi Mission Trip Spaghetti Dinner. We d also like to thank those responsible for permission to decorate the Wesley Hall walls with our quilts. We will use the donations to buy quilt batting and notions. The winning quilts are displayed on the ABC Quilt Bulletin Board outside the church library. Please check them out and read some of the notes from the families who have been blessed by the quilts. ABC Quilters meet faithfully twice a month, and we d love to have you stop by to see how you could help. (actual sewing is optional) Meeting details, and contact phone numbers are also on the bulletin board. Thanks again to our church family for all of your support and kindness. 2

3 Go Deeper 2014 Philippi Worksite Selections Laying a foundation Deciding which properties to select as mission worksites is one of the most difficult things to do. Every site that you see in Philippi needs a great deal of improvement. Some require more time than money, others require great amounts of money and become labor intensive, and some are so far beyond a definition of "livable" that you don't have a clue as to what to do first; except pray. The mission survey team encounters all of the aforementioned situations every year. So what do you do? The foundation of Methodism is based on four main guidelines for belief; scripture, tradition, experience, and reason. The survey crew keeps these guidelines in mind as site selections are made. Scripture and prayer are first and utmost. God will help us decide through His teachings and through prayer! Our tradition has sent us to Philippi for twenty-six years to serve Christ through service to others. God draws us there! The trips to Philippi have given us experience with the culture and the needs in Philippi. God will help us to understand it! God has given us the ability to assimilate this information and form an opinion. With God's help we can make decisions! The prayer is that the sites that have been selected are of God's plan for our talents, resources, and enthusiasm. Our Philippi Survey Team (David Schroeder & Charlie Roslund) went to Philippi on May 3 rd. They looked at three potential worksites. The information they brought back with them was studied and evaluated and the following decisions were made. We will be working two sites this year. The first, is at the home of Regina Mouser. Regina lives there with her daughter Brandi and her grandson, Kaisyn. We will address extensive roof damage and interior ceiling damage caused by roof leaks and a faulty upstairs bathroom. We will also address that leaky bathroom. At the second site, we will be adding a bedroom addition to the home of Nicole Coontz who lives there with her daughter, Patience. Plans and a material list have been created for both sites and those materials have been ordered for delivery on Friday, June 13 th so that we are able to start first thing in the morning on June 16 th. What we know for sure, is that you need to keep all the families in Philippi in your prayers that God might ease their minds of the uncertainty of their future and comfort them with His presence. Also remember those members of the work mission team that will travel to Philippi on June 15 th for the completion of their work and for their safety. SEVEN REASONS TO SERVE IN THE CHURCH NURSERY (Continued from front page) Visitors first impressions. The church nursery is the first contact young families will have with your church. Your friendly greeting and exceptional care for their children can make a great first impression for your church. If they don t feel like their children are safe, they will not return and rightly so. Front-line prayers. Your service in the church nursery is a powerful opportunity for prayer. If every nursery worker would spend several minutes praying over the children in their care, imagine how God might begin to change this coming generation. There is no better way to create an environment of spiritual nurture than to pray while you serve in the nursery. 3

4 Snapshots HPUMC Celebrates 27 Years in Philippi This year marks year 27 annual trips to Philippi, WV. You can still be a part of this ministry through your prayers and continued support. You can also plan to be a part of next year s trip. Prayer Ministry JUNE Summer time in Western Pennsylvania! Many of us are planning time for vacations, picnics, family reunions, baseball and other activities. We need times of relaxing and making memories. Unfortunately, some church families are dealing with illness and losses. They need our prayers and support. In some areas of the United States and the World people are trying to recover from fires, mud slides, tornadoes and other disasters. They need our prayers and support. Please remember to pick up the On-going needs prayer list in the prayer room so you can pray specifically for those requesting prayer in your church family. Ask, and it will be given to you: seek, and you will find: knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8) As preparations continue for the Three Rivers Festival of Hope, we need your help. Volunteer opportunities are available in merchandise sales, parking attendants, ushers and miscellaneous tasks. You must be 18 years or older to volunteer. Please visit RiversHope.org to learn more and to obtain the necessary forms for volunteering. 4

5 Thank you What a Morning! Easter Morning Recap By: Marty Schlauch Once again, Easter Morning at Holiday Park United Methodist Church was tremendous. There was wonderful preaching and great music for the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Again, one of the highlights of the morning was the Easter Breakfast sponsored by the Methodist Men s Group. We thank everyone for their support. A full house celebrates the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this past Easter A special thank you goes out to the following men who worked very hard to pull everything together for the 125 guests. Al Bartholomae Dale Bartholomae Bill Brickner Rick Kaczor Walt Karda Jim Lawson Paul Mertz J.R. Moore Greg Schlauch Steve Schlauch Ron Wasilak Thanks again to everyone for your wonderful support, including Dee Long for printing all of the tickets. Our Christian Prayers and Sympathy are extended to: Mary Bedard and Family on the death of her brother John Pepper on March 30 th Dorothy Weber and Family on the death of her sister Edith Stalker on April 22 nd. Shirley Rupert and Family on the death of her husband, Glenn on May 13 th. Address and Telephone Changes Betty Hillman Peter Martin Plum Creek Acres th Street 501 Center New Texas Rd. Lake Charles LAS Pittsburgh PA Jessica Erb Thomas and Lauren Skillen 201 Minton Drive Delaware OH Melanie Smail Nayala Teagan 201 C Grace Street Apollo PA

6 The Last Word But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8 Media and Technology Minute Changes happening in media ministry A couple of issues ago, I had mentioned that you would begin to see some changes occur in the ways that we use media to communicate, minister, teach, and inspire. You have seen some of those changes here in the newsletter. Mary Lee Wetmore has done a wonderful job in leading us through these changes. I think I speak for everyone when I say that the newsletter definitely has a look that we can be proud of. That being said, after 10 years of service in this ministry, Mary Lee has decided to focus on other areas and now asks if there is someone else that is willing to take on the opportunity of compiling and formatting our Communicator newsletter. If you are interested, please contact Greg at the church and let him know. Great job Mary Lee! There are other changes that have already occurred. Have you been to the church website lately? If not, then I invite you to head on over to and check out the new website for yourself. This site is intended and designed to be our primary way of communicating information to our church family. As time goes on, you will be able to access video announcements, view pictures of recent events, refer to our calendar in order to see all the different opportunities for fellowship, ministry, and growth, and even watch our sermons shortly after worship has ended. You can also view past worship bulletins or editions of the Communicator newsletter. In fact, our goal is to go digital for as much of our communication as possible. I know that for a number of our parishioners that may sound a bit scary. Don t worry. We will still produce paper versions of our bulletins and newsletters and we will still gladly mail the Communicator newsletter to your residence. We will also have copies of our newsletter available at the information desk that you will be able to pick up at any time the church office is open or on Sundays. One reason that we seek to shift to more digital communication is to be better stewards of our resources. It costs about 80 cents to print and mail each newsletter. Each month, we mail out around 450 newsletters at a total cost of about $360. We produce 11 monthly newsletters at a yearly cost of just under $4,000. By mailing copies of the newsletter only to those that request it, HPUMC stands to save a couple thousand dollars each year. The next edition of the newsletter will be the last one that many will receive via mail. Come fall, we will ask those that are able to go to the website and view or print the newsletter for themselves. Again, if you do not have Internet access or just like to have a hardcopy of the newsletter in your possession, simply contact Dee in the office and let her know that you would still like to receive the newsletter and we will make sure that yours still comes in the mail. 6

7 June 2014 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 8:30 Worship 10:00 Worship :00 Staff Mtg. 4 6:30 Cherubs 8:00 Praise Team :00 Worship Pentecost Sunday Confirmation Class Confirmed followed by a luncheon 11:30 Trustees 9 6:30 Finance Mtg. 7:00 Church Council 10 11:00 Staff Mtg. 6:30 ABC Quilting July/August Newsletter articles due 11 8:00 Praise Team :00 Kids Summer Program/Family Outdoor Movie 14 3:00 Wedding: Dayna Savko and Kurt Lawrence 15 8:30 Outdoor Worship 10:00 Worship :00 Staff Mtg. 10:00 3:00 Kids Summer Program 18 8:00 Praise Team :30 Outdoor Worship 10:00 Worship :00 Staff Mtg. 10:00 3:00 Kids Summer Program 25 8:00 Praise Team 26 6:30 ABC Quilting :30 Formosan Bible Sudy 29 8:30 Outdoor Worship 10:00 Worship 30

8 Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 255 PGH, PA Holiday Park United Methodist Church He Lives Jesus is Alive today! Holiday Park United Methodist Church 81 Sandune Drive Pittsburgh, PA ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED JUNE We Are A Community of Believers, Who Exist to Worship, Serve and Share Jesus Christ with All Peoples!