From the Pastor. Office hours are: Monday thru Thursday 8:00am till noon & 1:00pm till 4:00

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1 1 Cheynne Burkhart 1 Hayden Green 2 Gina Hudkins 2 Earl Neel 3 Mitch & Allyson Hanson anniv. 4 Brian Bobo 5 Bobby Hart 8 Bob Dillard 11 Tommy Montgomery 11 Don Kennemer 11 Blane Tuttle 13 Virginia Gardner 15 Hunter & Kristin Price anniv. 15 Chuck Zimmerman 16 Leon & Myra Prince anniv. 16 Janis Porterfield 17 Ronnie Burke 18 Lydia Bobo 19 Brenda & Jerry Rothwell anniv. 20 Caleb Perkins 20 Judy Flowers 20 Libby Tyson 23 Kenneth Switzer 23 Nate Carter 24 Suzy Salisbury 30 Makenzi Hamilton From the Pastor This month in worship you will be hearing more about the S word. I m referring to stewardship. Some people dread this word, thinking, Oh no, the church is meddling with my money again. Yet stewardship involves more than just money. Stewardship means wisely managing all that God has entrusted to us. In fact, the first command to be good stewards was for Adam and Eve to have dominion over God s Creation. This didn t mean they should abuse it; rather, they should take care of the earth and its creatures. So should we. Ephesians 5:15-17 implores us to live wisely, making the most of our time according to God s will. Do we prioritize the Lord in the use of our time? Do we use our time and talents to serve others? Another aspect of stewardship is glorifying God in our bodies because they are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Do we take care of ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually? I hope we view stewardship holistically. Having said that stewardship includes more than money, it does also involve the use of our money. Therefore, beginning on October 21, I will begin a sermon series on John Wesley s rules for stewarding our money, commonly known as earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can. In conjunction with the sermons, I ll be leading a on these rules on Wednesday evenings at 5:30 pm beginning on October 24th. You can sign up for the on the table in the mall hallway. Let s learn to be good stewards of all the good gifts God has given to us. Pastor Steve Office hours are: Monday thru Thursday 8:00am till noon & 1:00pm till 4:00 October 7-Wright 14 Gagnon 21 Tyson 28-Available November 4-Montgomery 11 Beaty 18-Tyson 25 Available Flowers are $68.00, please sign up on the calendar by the church office. Quick Reference Guide Page 1- Pastor s Notes/Birthdays Page 2 Budget, memorials Page 3 October calendar Page 4 Breakthrough Prayer Page 5 Stewardship/ The Call Page 6 Upper Room Page 7 Youth news Page 8 Children s news Page 9 Book / UMCOR Page 10- Preschool news 1

2 **************************************************************************************** In memory of Lorene Harper by: Mr.& Mrs. Jerry Pruden Judy Duke In memory of Henry & Lynn Burke by: Mr.& Mrs. Mark Burke Mr. & Mrs. Ken Burke In memory of Lynn Burke by: Mr. & Mrs. Joe Watkins Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Pruden Alicia McDowell Margaret Parham Mr. & Mrs. Ned Ray Purtle Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Rothwell Memorial money is used by our Trustee committee to maintain our church facility. Pleases designate on your check who the Memorial is in memory of Budget: $416, September 2 offering: $5, September 9 offering: $4, September 16 offering: $4, September 23 offering: $7, E-giving received thru September 25th:$63, Pastor s Fund On Communion Sundays, any money placed on the altar rail is allocated to our Pastor s Fund. This money is used for helping out individuals/families in need thru the discretion of our pastor. In memory of Johnny C. Burke by: Mr. & Mrs. Joe Watkins Carolyn Crockett Mr. & Mrs. Mack McLarty Kenneth Paddie Alicia McDowell Judy Duke Mr. & Mrs. Ned Ray Purtle Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Rothwell He made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed. Psalm 107:29 Check out our website! and on Face 2

3 October 2018 Sun Sun 1 Mon Mon Tue Tue Wed Wed Thu Thu 12Staff mtg. 8:45am 23The Call train- 3410am/5: Great Hours of Sharing Springhill The Calltraining 129pm Adult Discussion classroom 87 8:45am98 Worship commit- ing-adult Discussion 1:30-staff mtg. 6:30pm-UMW 6:30 UMW 6:30 Mtg. How to Read the Bible Worship committee mtg. 8:45am 6 Great Hours of Sharing Hinton :30-Finance. 7pm Admin Finance mtg. 6:30 Board mtg Admin Board 7pm Spring Break 5:30 handbells M&Ms /youth 6:30-choir practice 5:30 M&M s am/5: pm-revival 6:30 How to Read the Bible :30 How to Read the Bible Great Hours of Sharing Washington UMC 6:00Companions mtg 6pmCompanions mtg. Wednesday Fall Schedule M&M s & Youth: 5:30pm Handbells: Wednesday 5:30pm Chancel Choir: Wed. 6:30pm :30 How to Read the Bible 9amChapel 10-Book 9am Chapel 10-Book 5:30pm M&Ms/ 5:30pm youth/handbells M&M s 6:30pm-choir practice 13126:00-Men s 6:30-Men s Office closed 6:30-Which Way Lord? 20196:00-Men s 6:30-Men s :30-Emmaus reunion group mtg. 6:30-Which Way Lord? 25 9-Chapel :30 M&M s 10-Book 10am/5:30 pm5:30-m&m/ Revival youth/handbells 6:30pm-choir 5:30-Earn, Save, Give 66:00-Men s 5 6:30-Men s 7 6 6:30-Which Way Lord? 6:30 Philip Yancey 6:30 How to the Bible Read Emmaus mtg. 5:30pm Sat Sat Office closed 11 10am/5: pm-revival begins.. 6 Great Hours of Sharing here at FUMC 5:30 handbells 5:30-M&Ms 5:30 M&M s / youth 6:30-choir practice 10 9 tee mtg. 6 Great Hours of Sharing Blevins pm-revival 9am Chapel 10-Book Fri Fri. Office closed :00-Men s 6:30-Men s :30-Which Way Lord?. Office closed 31 9-Chapel 10-Book 5:30-M&M/ youth/handbells 6:30pm-choir 5:30-Earn, Save, Give Special Reminders: An attended nursery is available on Sunday mornings from 9:30 till 12:00. It is also available for special evening events throughout the week. Please contact the church office to coordinate the nursery schedule. Sunday Schedule 9:30 am Mall Fellowship 9:45 am Sunday School 10:50 am Morning Worship Monthly youth meeting 3

4 Breakthrough Prayer Initiative-October But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33). It delights our Heavenly Father to answer our prayers. He takes great pleasure in giving us the desires of our heart. But, so often the things we ask him for are selfish, or temporary and earthly. I ll give you an example. I lost my wedding band, and I cried out to God to help me find it. I knew even then that my ring was just stuff, and it didn t make any real difference to my life or my marriage, and certainly made no difference in my relationship with God. Yet, God led me to that ring. And, I knew he did that just because he loved me. But, imagine that you are a parent and your child only comes to you to ask for stuff, but they never really spend time with you, attempt to know you or what gives you joy. Maybe they fail to listen to your advice or seek your counsel. I imagine some of us have treated our parents in just such a way. Our Heavenly Father wants to have a relationship with us in which we wholeheartedly give our selves to him and follow after him and make him the Lord of our lives. He wants to spend time with us and reveal himself to us. But, we spend most of our time with him with our hand out asking him for something that has nothing to do with our spiritual health or the furthering of His Kingdom. There is a song being played on Christian radio right now that says, Help me want the Healer more than the healing; help me want the Savior more than the saving; help me want the Giver more than the giving. Help me want you, Jesus more than anything. I heard a pastor once say that those of us who call ourselves Christians often seek only God s hand and not his face. I think these two thoughts are expressing the same thought. If we are going to grow in our faith, it is necessary that we move from only asking God for things and stuff the world values, and move to asking God to help us mature spiritually, help us to be transformed into the image of Jesus, and help us be disciples who follow Jesus so closely that the Kingdom of God is advanced. We need to quit being baby pray-ers, who only ask for things with no eternal value. Yes, we still need to bring our needs to God prayers for our needs to be met, and for healing for our friends and family, and for his will to be done in our lives. But, we also need to ask God to help us seek him, and his desires, and his will, and how I can be part of his plan to save the world. So, our prayer focus for this month is to pray for things that have eternal value. Spend time with God without asking him for anything. Or, spend time with God and only tell him what you value, love and appreciate about him. Ask God to help you to grow up as a Christian, one who bears the image of Christ. Operation Christmas Child: National Collection Week November 12 thru 19th. Watch for the shoe boxes and suggestions on what to pack in each box. 4

5 Speaking of Stewardship We are stewards of the blessings of God, and our goal is to determine what God wants us to do with the resources we have at our disposal. Obviously, many of our resources go to take care of our needs. Certainly God expects us to have shelter and to eat and to take care of our children. So a large portion of what we have is to be used for those things. God also wants us to enjoy our lives, not to live in poverty. Nevertheless, God expects us to do more than focus only on ourselves. So the Scriptures teach us that we are to help the poor and give to those in need; and when we do, we are blessed. The Scriptures also teach us that we are to return a portion of our livelihood to God. -- Pastor Adam Hamilton in his Enough Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity The Launch The CALL in Hempstead County will launch on October 28 at 2pm at Hempstead Hall. We appreciate all of your prayers and donations that have helped make this possible. The CALL mission is to educate, equip and encourage the Christian community to provide a future and a hope for children in foster care in Arkansas. We believe the church is the answer and Hempstead County will be the 47th county to be mobilized to love foster children with the extravagant love of Christ. We believe the church should be first in line to take care of these children and families. Everyone is invited! Walk to Emmaus 2018 Women s Walk #190 Thursday, Oct. 18 Sunday, Oct. 21st The walk to Emmaus is an experience of Christian spiritual renewal and formation that begins with a three-day short course in Christianity. It is an opportunity to meet Jesus Christ in a new way as God s grace and love is revealed to you through other believers. 5

6 ************************************* Sunday morning.. The Elephant In The Offering Plate READ 2 Corinthians 9:10-15 Everyone should give whatever they have decided in their heart. They shouldn t give with hesitation or because of pressure. God loves a cheerful giver. Corinthians 9:7 (CEB) Thought For The Day All my gifts come from God, and I will share them with others. The organist played and everyone stood to sing. The ushers processed slowly to the front of the church, carrying the offering plates. Everything was just as it should be except one thing. A fuzzy stuffed elephant sat on top of one of the offering plates. The sight of the stuffed elephant combined with the serious faces of the ushers and minister almost make me laugh out loud. The minister prayed, offering the gifts to God, I sat thinking about that elephant and have thought about it since. What if it were the only thing that the giver had to give? It could have been something valuable to that person, a personal sacrifice. Our gifts are not just our money but also our possessions and time, our talents and abilities, our love and care, our energy and passions. We are each unique in what we can offer to God. Who am I to laugh at an elephant in an offering plate? Something I offer might surprise someone else. But it doesn t matter because the gifts are for God, who cares less about exactly what gifts we give than about our attitude as we give them. Prayer: Dear God, help us to be cheerful givers every day pleasing you with our generosity and joy. Amen. From the Upper Room, Tuesday, August 14, The current Upper Room is available for everyone and can be picked up in the church. We are now using our ceramic church mugs for the coffee so we can save some expense by not using styrofoam cups. Also, we are asking that you make a small donation into our donut box so we can continue to have this treat every Sunday morning. By these small changes, we continue to be good stewards of God s beautiful world and His money. Our former church member, Diane Sharpe, came by last week and spoke to the Preschool classes about alligators and snapping turtles. She even brought two turtles for the kids to see! What a treat for the students. 6

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9 Book Study offered John Wesley believed money was important as a way of expressing and living out Christian faith. This essential little presents Wesley s concepts and beliefs in plain, useful language, suitable for individuals to grapple with and groups to discuss and act upon. This 4 week will begin on Wednesday, October 24th at 5:30pm. Please sign up on the sheet in the mall area or call the office. 1. Pray for those whose lives have been impacted by this disaster. Please also pray for Early Response Teams, disaster coordinators and the many volunteers who are working tirelessly to provide relief. 2. Make relief kits. Download the packing list and shipping label at umcor.org/umcor/relief-supplies. 3. Give to UMCOR s relief and recovery efforts at umcor.org/ donate (U.S. Disaster Response, Advance #901670; International Disaster Response, Advance #982450; Undesignated, Advance #999895). 4. Donate requested items only. To keep relief supplies in stock, give to Material Resources, Advance # at umcor.org/donate. 5. Please wait for an invitation to volunteer. The United Methodist Committee on Relief is grateful for your prayers and support. Text to Give: UMCOR to umcor.org 9

10 First United Methodist Church Pastor: Steve Johnson 2300 South Main Street PO Box 400 Hope, AR Office: Fax: October 2018 The preschool year has finally begun and everyone is settling into their routines. I would like to thank all the hardworking men and women who donate their time to keep our church grounds looking so nice. Everything looked great for our first day of school. October will be a busy month as we have the fire truck coming, Pink-Out day, a field trip to Miracle farms and our fall costume parade. 10