Dr. Zan Holmes to preach on January 16th at Westbury

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1 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 1 JANUARY 7, 2011 at at entrance Wednesday night Bible study Our Senior Pastor, Rev. Tommy Williams, will begin a 6-week Bible study on Wednesday nights beginning on January 19th at 7pm. There will be childcare provided. We will study Luke and Acts. If you purchased a Wesley Study Bible, Dr. Zan Holmes to preach on January 16th at Westbury For the Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend, we will welcome to worship Dr. Zan Holmes as our guest preacher. We will have one worship service at 11:00am that day. Dr. Holmes is a retired United Methodist pastor from Dallas, Texas, known around the country as an outstanding prophetic preacher. Dr. Holmes was Senior Pastor of St. Luke Community United Methodist Church in Dallas and a Texas State Representative in the 1970 s. Dr. Holmes was known as a civic leader in Dallas often sought after to be a reconciling leader and peace maker in times Dr. Zan Holmes of conflict in the community. Dr. Holmes will preach at Westbury on January 16th at 11:00am. We will have one service that day. Please make plans to attend as we celebrate and remember the prophetic Christian ministry of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A Note of Thanks from the Worship Committee The 2010 Advent Booklet was one of the best and most inspiring that Westbury has been blessed with. The Worship Committee wishes to express their gratitude to each one who contributed a meditation. The articles were timely and spoke to the season of Advent. It was evident that each writer spoke from their hearts and gained please bring it. If you d like to buy one, you can pick one up at the Cokesbury Book store on Edloe and West Alabama here in Houston or at com < inspiration from the scriptures. It was also evident that the meditations were prayed over before their creation. All this enhanced the daily meditations, making each of them meaningful and aided in our time of waiting for the blessing of Christ s birth. Once again, our deepest appreciation to the writers, those who assembled the booklet and others who gave freely of their time to make this year s Advent Booklet a very special one. Sarah Winkel January 17, 2011 Page 1

2 From the Pastor Dear Westbury Family, Happy New Year! I am excited about what God has in store for Westbury on so many fronts. With this new year brings new beginnings at Westbury. We will welcome a new leader for music ministry in the Rev. DeAndre Johnson. Please see this and future newsletters for more information about the Johnson family. With new leadership and our vision, refreshed mission and new core values, many areas of our ministries will see transformation this year. We have already seen the fruit borne of God s work. As we begin this new year, I share with you here the goals announced at our Annual Charge Conference in December. Please pray and begin to make new year s resolutions around your church s goals. Total Average in Worship Services of 400 Membership research process that contacts all inactive members directly or indirectly in order to clarify our membership roll Receive more persons on profession of faith than the number we ll receive in confirmation Pay 60% of conference apportion ments and 100% of District Appor tionments Begin Wesleyan Covenant Small Groups in the Fall, 2011 Expand number of people involved in hands-on mission in the commu nity and the world Stronger internal and external com munications Continue to align our budget, staff ing, lay leadership and ministry planning with our Vision and Mis sion Statements and our Core Values To continue to grow in the way God is calling us, we will need to continue to sharpen our focus on our mission to make followers of Jesus Christ who transform the community and the world through God s love. We will be looking in worship to live into our vision to be a church for all people with more than enough love to go around. Our core values will be honored in our worship planning and our overall ministry as well multi-cultural inclusiveness, grace, accountability, transformation and community. Sermon Series for the New Year January 9 Westbury s Mission for a New Day - Part 2 John 14: January 16 Martin Luther King Jr Weekend Dr. Zan Holmes preaching January 23 Sermon Series: Covenant PRAY (James 5: 13-16) January 30 Covenant: Grow (Luke 6: 43-49) February 6 Covenant: Give (2 Corinthians 8: 8-14) February 13- Covenant: Serve (also Scouting Ministries Sunday) Matthew 25: February 20 Covenant: Witness (Mark 5: 35-43) We closed the year 2010 with many celebrations. Without all the numbers in yet, we do know this we paid more on our Conference Apportionments than we have i 5 years. This is money given to missions and to the work of the United Methodist Church at home and around the world. Many of you responded and gave an over and above gift to apportionments. Thank you. We paid 100% of our District Apportionment for the first time in several years which helps missions and ministry in our Houston area. We saw an increase in worship attendance in 2010 from start to finish, and our Christmas Eve total worship attendance was right at 500! Praise the Lord! God is doing great work through you, the lay people, and the staff of Westbury UMC. See you Sunday, Tommy To hear Rev. Tommy Williams sermons online, go to westburyumc.org or get a CD; contact the church office. Save the Date Please save the date of Saturday, March 26, Westbury UMC will host a More Than Enough Love Day which will be a day of community service. We will invite as many WUMC members as possible to participate in this opportunity to show our community that we love them; by employing our hands and feet to served them. Spreading God s love through service is our goal and we want all to take part. There will be at least five service projects happening simultaneously and work for all age groups and levels of ability. Look forward to more information detailing the projects. Romonica Malone-Wardley Select a date for flowers The year is wide open for you to pick your date to sign up for flowers to honor or memorialize someone you love. Or if you just want to provide flowers on a given Sunday, sign up on the flower calendar in the church office. You may also call the office at Page 2

3 Rev. DeAndre Johnson New Director of Music Ministries After a long process of discernment and searching the Search Committee and Staff Parish Relations Committee have hired the Rev. DeAndre Johnson to lead our Music Ministries. Rev. Johnson was our guest Finck lecturer in September, DeAndre is married to Kelsey and they have two small children. We welcome the Johnsons who are moving from Bryan, Texas in February. His first Sunday at Westbury will be February 20th. More information to come in the next newsletter! DeAndre Johnson Calling all Health Professionals! Westbury UMC is updating its database of our Health Professionals. Even if you are sure we know who you are, please contact us to verify that our information is correct. Here is what we d like to know: Your name and the professional credentials that you use; contact numbers; address; the place where you work or the place from which you are retired; any affiliation with national or local healthcare organizations; and your areas of expertise or interest. This information will be used to contact you for planning community events, and will not be distributed without your permission. To provide or update your information please contact the church office at or Laurie Sturdevant at or llsturdevant@yahoo.com. Thank you for your B.E.A.R. gifts During the Advent Season we participated in the BEARing Gifts program for the second year. BEARing Gifts is the Christmas project of BEAR BE A Resource for CPS Kids, a non-profit public/private sector partnership that supports CPS. All contributions go directly to benefit abused and neglected children of Harris County. Last year we provided many boxes of toys/gifts and 19 bikes were donated by the Houston Police Department through Evelyn Ogbonna. These bikes were in need of repair made by Tommy Berhman, Annie Berhman and David Johnson. This year we are grateful you all out-did yourselves. We almost doubled the amount of gifts, provided 11 brand new bikes and had several Sunday School classes and families sponsor children directly. Thank you WUMC for two great years of sharing God s love with these children and families during the Christmas Season. Romonica Malone-Wardley Young Adult Sunday school at 9:45 on Sundays This is a reminder that a Sunday School group for Young Adults is offered weekly in room 204 upstairs at 9:45 each Sunday morning. All young adults are invited to attend which will include Sunday school, small groups, and opportunities for fellowship and service. It is our goal to empower this generation to use their gifts for the benefit of people and the purposes of God. Come and let s explore together. Music Rehearsal Schedule AGAPE is going full swing as of last Sunday, January 2, Next rehearsal is Sunday, January 16 at 4:00 p.m. Don't miss it! MASTER RINGERS restarted Thursday, January 6, It meets at 6:30 p.m. We are working on the Feb Fest pieces. SANCTUARY CHOIR also started Thursday, January 6, 2011, at 7:30 p.m. SHARP. CHILDREN'S CHOIR restarts Sunday, January 16, 2011, at noon. Come and bring a friend. Thank you in advance for your continued support and faithfulness to these organizations. The Music Program is a vital ministry at Westbury and we urge you to remember and honor your commitment to these groups. I hope your Advent and Christmas season was one filled with many blessings and I pray our New Year gets off to a great start. YOU can help make this happen. Thank you. Sarah Winkel, swinkel@att.net, Page 3

4 True Love Waits is coming to Crash True Love Waits challenges teenagers to make a commitment to sexual abstinence until marriage. Created by Life-Way Christian Resources, True Love Waits encourages moral purity by adhering to biblical principles. This class is offered to ALL to start a New Year Parents with Youth Meeting On Sunday, January 16, 2011 at noon there will be an important parent meeting in the youth lounge area. This meeting will include food so come hungry. At this meeting we will talk about the future of the youth program at Westbury, events coming up, and how to help your teen continue to grow in their faith. The meeting will be approximately one hour and will really help me and our church if all parents with youth are there. Thanks everyone for all that you do!!!! Need prayer? Cody Cruise In time of need you may call the Church Office at of new beginnings for teens who want to live a faithful life to Christ for their future. This class will start on Sunday, January 9, 2011 during Crash at 9:45 a.m. and will go until February 13, We will conclude with a worship service on February 14, 2011 in the chapel. The last day a student can start is January 16, Westubury Prime Timers get together Monday, January 24 December s Westbury Prime Timers meeting was delightful. Each table was decorated with Santa! After a delicious lunch, Westbury Pre-K children sang and had a surprise visit from Santa Claus, with treats for all. The program also featured music students from Parker Elementary School. Violin and cello groups, along with their teachers, presented a variety of beautiful music. Monday, January 24: Westbury Prime Timers will meet in Humphry Hall at Westbury United Methodist Church, 5200 Willowbend Blvd., Houston, TX Mid-Winter is coming! We encourage all teens to come to a special retreat with our conference for youth of all ages. This retreat is March 4-6 at Forest Glen and the cost is $100 (please understand that we have scholarships available for teens who can t afford to pay). The forms and money are due on January 17, For more information on all youth events coming up check out the website at < or contact Cody Cruise is the youth office at (713) EXT: codycruise@gmail.com Membership is open to all persons over 50 years of age, regardless of church affiliation. Dues are only $5.00 per year. Come join us for games at 9:30 a.m; meeting at 11:00 a.m. and pot luck luncheon 11:30 a.m. The program will feature Faithful Paws, part of the Caring Ministries at Bellaire United Methodist Church. This group of volunteers and their pets visit nursing homes and hospitals, providing therapy of unconditional love to patients. For more information about the meeting, call Katie Griffin Pray with us in the Chapel! Each Tuesday at 7 PM in the Chapel we have prayer together calling it The 7:14 Project. This is Westbury s weekly intercessory prayer time. It is a call to prayer. It is an intentional time set aside to lift up others in petitions, intercessory prayer, and to be thankful in this busy time. We invite you to join the pastors, staff, and prayer warriors of Westbury for evening prayer every Tuesday. Parker Elementary Strings played for the Prime Timers Christmas meeting. Page 4

5 Our Shared Ministry Our Sympathy to Mary Crowley whose husband, Jim died 12/8/2010 Sunday School 12/12/2010 Children Youth Adults Total Worship 12/12/2010 8:30 am :00 am Total Operating Budget for 12/12/2010 Budget for Dec...68,584 ;Received Dec ,063 Total Received in Dec...35,593 Operating Budget for 12/12/2010 Apportionments Endowment... 5 BIM Speical Music Sunday School 12/19/2010 Children Youth Adults Total Worship 12/19/2010 8:30 am :00 am Total Operating Budget for 12/19/2010 Budget for Dec...68,584 Received Dec ,841 Total Received in Dec... 46,434 Christmas Eve Services 12/24/2010 4:00 pm :00 pm :00 pm Total Worship 12/26/ :00 am Operating Budget for 12/26/2010 Budget for December...66,920 Received December ,154 Special offerings for 12/26/2010 Endowment... 5 Special Music BIM Apportionments Childrens Ministry Sunday School 1/2/2011 Children Youth Adults Total Worship 1/2/2011 8:30 am :00 am Total Operating Budget for 1/2/2011 Budget for Jan ,584 Received Jan ,041 Total Received in Jan...14,041 Operating Budget for 1/2/2011 Apportionments In Honor of all God s faithful servants who serve in HIS service within and outside WUMC In Memory of Donna Vokaty from J. C. Wentworth Welcome new members Steve and Holly Welty rejoined Westbury United Methodist Church on December 19, 2010, after returning from living in Ohio. Welcome Steve and Holly. Pray for our Soldiers Mavis Arthur, U. S. Navy; Robert Behrman; Clint Caughman, Marine; Caleb Crosby, U. S. Army; Chris Croxson, U.S. Marine Corp; Dale Dumo, U. S. Marine Corp; Cole Estes, U.S. Army; Benjamin Goodhart, U. S. Navy; Christopher Holmes, U.S. Army; Courtney Holmes, U.S. Army ; William LeFiles, US Army; Toni Coleman, U. S. Air Force; Sean Neufeld, U. S. Navy; Michael Palazzotta, U.S. Marine Corp.; Robert Scherer, U.S. Navy; Daniel Smith, U. S. Marine Corp; Ben Steves, U.S. Navy; Eric Swearingen, U. S. Army; Hamal Winkel, U.S. Navy Pray for the returned Armed Forces representatives too, because they have to restart and get their lives back to normal. Changes If you have changed your home address, or telephone number, please call Martha in the office to help us update our records Page 5