g{x `ÉÇ àéü St. Matthew s United Methodist Church 2738MacArthur View, San Antonio, Texas 78217

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1 g{x `ÉÇ àéü January 2016 St. Matthew s United Methodist Church 2738MacArthur View, San Antonio, Texas The Gift That Keeps On Giving I remember the time when I switched from looking forward to getting gifts to looking forward to giving gifts and seeing joy and delight on people s faces. I wish I could say that every gift gave people smiles but I missed more than I hit the target. Over the years I learned how to be a better gift buyer. But there was a second stage I went through. I wanted to find a gift that would be used and appreciated more than once. I felt an excitement when I saw my mom wearing the earrings in March that I gave her at Christmas. I felt pleased when I saw my little brother playing again and again with the toy I bought him. Have you felt those feelings? There were many gifts I received that I was excited to get. Where are they now? There were gifts that I bought others that were very appreciated. But, where are they now? The reality is that things of this world don t last. Case in point, the golf balls my daughter bought me are in the lakes and woods and, hopefully, found by other golfers and reused. Nothing of this world lasts. So, why are we so focused on worldly things? Things in the world are experienced by our five senses. We have honed those senses since we were born. Things of God s Kingdom are spiritual in nature. They are only recognized by our spiritual sense. Unfortunately we haven t honed that sense very well. Just as it takes a baby years to learn to interpret the worldly senses, it takes adults years to interpret the spiritual reality of God s Kingdom through prayer, bible study, fellowship, worship and service. Page 13 UMW The greatest gift that we have received is God s forgiveness through the Page 14 Prayer List cross of Jesus Christ. That is the gift that keeps on giving. It is all about relationships. One of the greatest gifts that we can give is also the gift of Page 15 Welcome/ Thank forgiveness. If we make the choice to reach out to someone we are estranged from and they respond, we will be a reflection of God s gift to us. It will be a gift that will keep on giving. God s gift of forgiveness and reconciliation is with us every day. The Holy Spirit reminds us of God s work of redemption in our lives. God went to the junk yard of this creation and reclaimed us by the power of the cross. The Holy Spirit is teaching us to be more sensitive to God s movement in our lives. We grow as Disciples when we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit into areas that seem to be uncomfortable. Once we make the decision to follow, we find that the place we thought would be uncomfortable turns out to be a place of great blessing. As 2015 leaves and 2016 enters, lets make a resolution to follow the Spirit into whatever areas of life God wants us to be in. If we say no and turn back to the world then nothing changes in our lives. But, if we say yes and obey, there will be great blessings waiting for us. Alan In This Edition: Page 1 Pastor Article Page 2 Information, Admin Board, Attendance Page 3 Sunday School Classes/ Monday Night Bible Study Page 4 PNO / Keep Wednes day Night Free Page 5 Huggers/Rockers, Fellowship Time, XYZ Page 6 Day School Page 7 Agua Viva Ministry Page 8 Calendar Page 9 /10 Children s Christ mas Program Page 11 Events Page 12 Angel Tree/ St. Matthew s Memorial Fund 1

2 WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES Sunday Morning Worship 8:30 a.m. Traditional Worship Service/ Sanctuary 11:00 a.m. Blended Worship Service/ Sanctuary Sunday School 9:45 a.m. CHURCH STAFF Pastor Alan Delafield Associated Pastor of Agua Viva Veronica Harvey Business Administrator Hermy Rudloff Children & Family Ministries Director Judy Langford College/Youth Ministries Director Tim Diemert Day School Director Nikki Irving Secretary Diane Garza Music Director David Cain Organist Irwin Witebsky Handbell Director Susan Collins Nursery Coordinator Annalie Tamez Pastor s Office Hours Bible Studies at St. Matthew s Monday: Monday Night Bible Study, 7:00 pm, Room 105 (will resume January 11th) Tuesday: Women of Faith, 8:00 am, Room 105 Tuesday Morning Bible Study, 9:30 am, Room 105 Wednesday: Keep Wednesday Nights FREE Study for Adults, Youth, Children, and nursery for the little ones ( will resume January 13th) Agua Viva Woman's Bible Study 10:00 am, Fellowship Hall Administrative Board 2016: Chairman Eugene Hileman Vice Chairman Ralph Pipes Lay Leader for 8:30 am Jo Reinschmidt Lay Leader for 11:00 am Anne Verner Conference Delegate Carolyn Twyford Conference Delegate Alternate Jo Reinschmidt Treasurer Mike Verner Secretary Jeanie Etter COM Chair Steve Shrader Finance Chair Fred Long SPRC Chair Bill Twyford Month Church Sunday School Small Groups October November December 224 (only 2 Sundays) 125 Church Office Hours Monday-Thursday 9:00 am to 4:00pm Friday - 9:00 am to 12:00 pm Phone: (210) Fax: (210) Church Address Information@smumcsa.org St. Matthew s Website St. Matthew s Day School Phone: (210) Average Church and Sunday School Attendance October 2015 Through December

3 SUNDAY SCHOOL FOR ALL AGES 9:45 AM Preschool 3-4 year olds meet in room 606. Contact person: Judy Langford ( ext. 105) Kinder through 1 st grade - meet in room 604.Contact person: Judy Langford ( ext. 105) Grades 2nd through 5 th grade explore the Bible using music, art, science, games, story, and cooking. They begin each session in room 611. Contact person: Judy Langford ( ext. 105) Teens and Tweens meet in the Youth Building. Contact Youth Team: Tim and Kelli Diemert ( ) Come and See Class: (All Ages) Meets in room 301 (Deats Bldg). A discipleship class on knowing Christ and making him know. Studying Romans Contact person: Jim Humphries ( ) assisted by John Shero. New Seasonings: (Middle Adult) Meets in room 603. Studying Living the Questions, The Church s Hidden Strength by Barbra Wendland. Contact person: David Mack ( ) Son Shine Class: (Senior Adult) Meets in room 605. Studying the Book of Galatians. Contact person: Marsha Humphries ( ) Voyagers: (Senior Adult) Meets in room 601. Adult Bible Study. Contact person: Frank Tyk ( ) Friends of Faith: (Young & Middle Adult) meets in the Fellowship Hall. Contact person: Greg Klaerner ( ) Covenant Believers: Meets in the Abel Chapel (Middle Adult) Contact persons: Anne Verner or Judy Langford Monday Night Bible Study 7:00 PM - Room 105 Will resume January 11, 2016 You are invited to join our group on Monday nights at 7:00 pm in the Conference, in the Church Office Building, Room 105. We invite all ages, from youth to adults. We are currently studying the bible by including religious videos from various groups, such as, National Geographic, International History and other historic educational research material. If you have any questions regarding this class, please contact Ken Lingle at 3

4 Wednesday night F. R. E. E. January 13, 2016 F ellowship R elationship E ducate E nergize Supper, worship, study for children, youth and adults 6:00 6:30 Supper 6:30 6:45 Worship 6:45 7:45 Study for all ages Elementary ages: Kindergarten - 4th grade Tweens: Fifth and sixth grade NO PARENTS NIGHT OUT IN JANUARY Will resume February 5th 6:30 9:30 PM Ages 12 months to 5th grade Volunteers are always needed for our monthly Parent s Night Out Ministry Scheduled on the first Friday night of each month. Getting involved is such a blessing to the children. The children arrive at 6:30 pm for play, dinner, story, crafts, and games and stay till 9:30 pm. We are using our Power Xpress Sunday School curriculum as a basis for planning each month s activities. It s a blessing to reach children with the Good News of Jesus Christ. This outreach is a living expression of the vitality of this church. Please contact Maria Cantu at If you have any questions 4

5 Thank you to volunteers who are making a difference with our youngest St. Matthew s family members. It s never too late to join this wonderful ministry which happens at 11:00 in the nursery every Sunday morning. For more information contact Judy Langford at Hugger and Rocker Schedule January 3 Cindy & Shelby Campbell January 10 Steve & Carolyn Schrader January 17 Debbie Barrow January 31 Deborah Aelvoet SUNDAY FELLOWSHIP REFRESHMENT TIME January February March New Seasonings Friends of Faith Come and See XYZ ADULT FELLOWSHIP will meet on January 13th at noon in the Fellowship Hall. Lunch will be provided. Join us for fellowship and interesting conversation. question 5

6 St. Matthew s Day School, with the blessing of God we are continuing to grow. We have over 77 students enrolled; several more babies that God has blessed parents with are on our waiting list. God is truly showing St. Matthew s that when you re faithful and patient, His work is abundant! The kids, staff, and parents had a blast at the St. Matthew s Family Feast on November 20th, This month, we will have a lot of fun, stories, and games played that will be amusing and enjoyable to all children, parents, and staff. The Christmas spirit is spreading around at St. Matthew s have you seen our Christmas tree? We have a lot planned this month on December 11 th we will have our pancakes with Mrs. Claus. You don t want to miss the excitement and joy that the kids have with Mrs. Claus as they have pancakes, take pictures and ask her all about her jolly ol husband. On December 11 th at 6:30 pm we will hold our annual Christmas program, everyone is welcome to attend. Come and join us as we give thanks to God and show the true meaning behind Christmas. That following week on Friday, December 18 th, we will have our Happy Meals with Santa. Santa comes to each class at St. Matthew s and shares some delicious chicken nugget happy meals with the children to be sure they are all ready for his arrival on Christmas morning. On Wednesday, December 23 rd, the school will host its annual Reindeer Games activities in the gym. We can always use volunteers that are willing to help the teachers when it is their selected time to participate in the Reindeer Games. To end it all, that Wednesday the teachers will prepare classroom parties for their classes. The teachers have requested that each child brings a wrapped book, labeled boy or girl so the children can do a book exchange amongst their class. The books do not have to be new book, or purchased, but in good condition to do an exchange within the class. Nikki Irving and Staff St. Matthew s Day School dayschool@smumcsa.org Phone Website 6

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9 A big thank you to all those that made our Children s Christmas play such a success. A huge thank you to Maria Cantu, Kelli Diemert and Heather Mason, our fearless directors. It was a great evening and a blessing to us all. The chili cook-off raised $89.96 for our children s account. The winners this year were: Chili Desserts 1st place Tim Diemert 1st place Heather Herrmann 2nd place Jack Hoover 2nd place Pat Howell 3rd place Judy Langford 3rd place Annelie Tamez Thank you to all who made chili, attended the program, prayed for the event and helped with costumes. Check out all the great pictures on our website under the Children s Ministry page thanks to our excellent photographer, Gene Hileman. 9

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11 Emmaus Community Kickoff Gathering for 2016 *****Everyone is Invited***** Please join us for the first gathering of the Emmaus Community for 2016 on Tuesday, January 12 th at 6:00 pm. We will begin with a potluck in the Fellowship Hall, so bring something you want to share. After eating we will move into the sanctuary to enjoy music, more spiritual fellowship, 4 th Day Talk, Communion, more music, prayer time, more music you get the picture. We have a wonderful time sharing love, hugs, and above all---- the true Love of Jesus Christ. This invitation is extended to everyone --- so please come and see what the Emmaus Community Gathering is all about. We guarantee you will have a wonder experience. You do not have to have been on an Emmaus Walk. Looking forward to seeing everyone!!!!! Questions call: Steve Schrader or Carolyn Johnston-Schrader or December 27, 2015 Sunday School at 9:30 11

12 Thanks to the generosity of the St. Matthew s United Methodist Church congregation, 73 children (24 families) received Christmas presents this year. We were able to provide a small family gift, as well as the children s this year. Thank you all for the purchasing, organizing, wrapping and delivering of presents this year. A special thank you to Tim and Kelli Diemert who purchased and wrapped multiple presents for about 8 children with the cash provided by the congregation. Are you aware of the Memorial Fund at St Matthews? This fund is used to provide Memorial Gifts or Honorariums. These gifts are funded by contributions over and above a person s current commitment to the Church. They may be designated for specific items or projects or may be directed to the General Memorial Fund. Previous funds have been used in building projects, purchases of equipment to help run the church and Day School. The funds come in many forms including cash, securities, personal property or bequests by a persons will. We encourage you and your family to consider donating to the Memorial Fund to honor a loved one. Please contact Hermy Rudloff at (210) x 102 if you have any questions. 12

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16 The St. Matthew s Messenger This is a new article page that will be available for anyone to: express joys, announcements, celebrations, special needs of jobs or articles you need in your home, sharing your talents or gifts, thank you s, and other sentiments. Please call Diane at or to information@smumcsa.org by the 3rd Friday of each month, which is the monthly Monitor article dead- Synthia Collins is a Certified C.N.A and does home health care on weekends. If you know of someone needing a loving, caring provider, please contact her at Anyone needing a ride to the doctor, or grocery shopping or picking up prescriptions our Nurture Ministry can help you, so please call the church office and let them know. REMINDER: We do not have up-to-date information for 40% of our church family. Please notify us of your new or updated home phone number, cell number, work numbers, change of address, and addresses and changes. We receive phone calls every day where members are trying to reach other members, and we can t help them, because our information is not up-to-date. We still have work numbers for people who retired 20 years ago. Please help us!!! Diane Garza, Secretary To everyone that made it out to Church Work Day We couldn't have done it without you!!! 16

17 fàa `tàà{xãëá United Methodist Church 2738 MacArthur View San Antonio, TX Address Service Requested- Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID San Antonio, Texas Permit No January 2016 St. Matthew s is all about FAMILY!!! Come see what God is doing at St. Matthew s!!!! Check out our awesome website at - Piano Lessons by Comfort-Air Engineering, Inc. Irwin Witebsky - St. Matthew s organist Expert instruction for a reasonable fee Please call (210) A New Generation of Comfort! Robert & Georganne Freund St. Matthew s members since 1984 Commercial / Residential / Sales & Service Jones Maltsberger / / Phone: