Happy New Year! DUNLAP UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

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1 Happy New Year! People Serving People In the Spirit of Christ. January, 2019 DUNLAP UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Early Worship : 8:30 am Sunday school : 9:30 am Worship: 10:30 am Inside this issue: Pastor s Message January Calendar Christmas Photos Announcements and SCFC Photos Message from Finance Committee Christmas VPS Photos Photos of Christmas Activities More Christmas Photos!! Special Recognition 10 Prayer Concerns January Volunteers Weekly/Monthly Events Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. 2 Corinthians 13:5 The New Year is a great time to take stock of Pastor Leslie Daniels ourselves. It is a chance to begin anew. To start over with some areas of our lives. I was reading a list of resolutions that people make, and some of them are really good: Like; Be less grumpy this year, or spend time with my family more often, or pray more often. We make goals in our working lives, and in our personal lives, (the number of pounds or inches we want to lose, or to get the house cleaned and organized). Having goals keeps us accountable and on track to improve and move onward. And, so, spiritual goals are a really good idea as well. Make sure you can measure your outcomes so that you can know if you have met your goals. I would suggest including God in your goal making and in carrying them out. He is there to help! Sometimes the first step is to admit the state that we are in. Then we can clearly see where we would like to improve and grow. This goal-making activity can be done as a church as well. The survey we took last year was a good tool for assessing where we were as a church and to get feedback on where we would like to be. It is time to move onward, and to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God. Through a lot of prayer and discussion, the Vision Team for the Church has been setting some short-term goals. We believe, with God s help we can see more people come to know His love in this coming year. We want to see them grow in faith and be baptized. We want to offer help, hope, healing, and a sense of home, to all those we meet. And, we want to foster a culture of Thanksgiving and Celebration God has been so very good to us! May we all keep growing up as disciples of Jesus our Savior. God s blessings on your journey, Pastor Leslie

2 Page 2 BIRTHDAYS BIRTHDAYS ANNIVERSARIES Shereen Stewart (1) Kristi Shepherd (14) Leslie & Robert Daniels (4) June Silver (2) Jaden Barger (21) Michael & Eleanor Adicks (17) Dominic D Apice (4) Sonny Lane (22) Jack & Marsha Talley (28) Phyllis Cady (5) Mason Layne (28) Ruth McDonald (8) Olivia Hickman (29) JoAnn Barker (9) James Seals (30) Judy Layne (13)

3 January, 2019 Page 3 December 2, 2018 Hanging of the Greens! Festively clad JoAnn and Bobby Shepherd lit the Advent Candle on December 9 for the 8:30 a.m. service. Love this picture!

4 Page 4 DUNLAP UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Wednesday Night Live will begin again January 9 th. We will have our covered dish meal, followed by a brief introduction to the new 6 week study called Befriend. In our current world, true friendship is hard to find. How can we overcome the isolation that many feel in a world where it is hard to trust others? Let s find out! Middle School confirmation will begin again on January 13 at 5:30 pm. We will be having a Town Hall Celebration on January 20 th at 4:30 pm. in the Church Fellowship Hall (Gym). It is hoped that everyone will come out to celebrate the great things that God did among us in the past year. Each Leader in a ministry area will give a report. We will also hear from the Vision Team about the goals for the New Year, and they will share our new Vision Statement. If you have questions for the Pastor you can submit them to her in writing before the meeting takes place. The Sequatchie County Fellowship of Churches took Christmas lunch to the inmates of the jail on December 20: Pictured here are (upper left, clockwise: Denise Kell, Treasurer of the SCFC, Annabelle Daniels and Melissa Tibbs worked with other community volunteers to prepare the boxed meals. Pam Kiper and Brandon Gates, Pastor of the Church of God, also participated. This wonderful outreach mission served more than 150 meals to those at the jail. God s people at work! Many thanks to the choir for your generous Christmas gift. I appreciate each and every one of you!

5 January, 2019 Page 5 MESSAGE FROM THE FINANCE COMMITTEE As we strive to put together a workable budget for the DUMC for 2019, we need to look at 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15 and review the 10 reasons Paul said to give generously: Giving is the best investment one can make. The farmer will reap far more than he sows. This applies to everything in life. (v 6) Giving should be fun. God loves a cheerful giver. (v 7) Giving takes away the burden of financial worry. (v 8) Giving enriches one. Thus, you will be enriched in all things and in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion. (v 10) Giving transforms your character. Your character will be enriched. Paul speaks of the harvest of your righteousness. (v10) Giving inspires others. People will praise God through thanksgiving. (v 11) Giving meets people s needs. Generous giving blesses other people and supplies the needs of God s people (v 12) Giving is evidence of real faith. Generous giving is an act of obedience. Giving is an act of trust. (v 13) Giving make you a stakeholder in the church. (v 13) Giving is a response to God s gift to you. Our giving is a response to God s amazing grace and His indescribable gift. ( v 14/15) Since 2016, we have had 11 donors, whose contributions were over $75,000 over that time, leave the church for various reasons (death, moved to another city, changed churches, or illness). This has left a void in our contributions and reduced our budget. Hopefully we are climbing back up the ladder and better days are ahead. The Finance Committee asks that you pray faithfully about your 2019 giving and return the Faith Promise Card so we can finalize the 2019 budget. Thank you CHRISTMAS VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

6 DUNLAP UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Page 6 More Christmas VBS 2018

7 January, 2019 Page 7 and more Christmas VBS

8 PAGE 8 DUNLAP UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 2018 CHRISTMAS CANTATA YOUTH C H R I S T M A S P L A Y 12/16/28

9 January, 2019 Page 9 January 23, 2018 (Above) Victoria Maxwell (Below) Children s Bell Choir (Right) Christmas Eve Candlelight Service Melissa Tibbs and Howard Hatcher light the Christ Candle.

10 Page 10 DUNLAP UNITED METHODIST CHURCH SPECIAL RECOGNITION: GENE HIXSON Gene Hixson was born in 1927 in Dunlap to Stephen and Era Kelly Hixson. In 1939 Gene and a group of about a dozen youth (including Mildred Land) were in Reverend C. W. Taylor s membership class at what was then called the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He was baptized by Reverend Taylor. In June, 1945, Gene graduated from Sequatchie High School and headed to Tampa, Florida for a vacation. There he spied a Naval Air Station. Intrigued at becoming a Navy pilot, he went inside. When they realized he was only gathering information, they suggested he stop at the Atlanta Officer Procurement Station on his way home. Gene agreed. When the lady in Atlanta heard he was interested in flying, she immediately led him upstairs where a bunch of hopeful young men were about to take a test for admission. Gene took the test and when it was graded, he was told a bus would be there in 30 minutes to take him to pre-flight school! Gene put the brakes on hard. Eventually he decided against becoming a Navy pilot, a decision he still thinks about to this day. He did join the Navy, though, and in 1945 was sent to upstate New York and assigned to the medical corps. That wasn t for him, so he transferred to the commissary butcher shop where his commanding officer was Bear Bryant. Gene wasn t thrilled to be in upstate New York. One day, by chance, he ran into a boot camp buddy in New York City s Grand Central Station. This fellow had connections and got Gene transferred to the Millington Naval Air Station near Memphis where he was in charge of medical supplies. He did occasionally fly as a crew member while there. In 1947, Gene was discharged from the Navy and returned to Dunlap where he worked for a time at his father s grocery store, and took classes at Tennessee Tech for a year and a half. In 1948, he married Vivian Kell and shortly thereafter opened a Western Auto Store on Rankin Avenue just north of what was then the Community Center and is now City Hall. Folks at the time were dubious about his location. You re gonna go broke building that place plumb out of town! Thirty-five years later, he closed the store and retired. Gene and Vivian had one daughter, Valerie, who married Mike Greer, two grandsons and three greatgrandchildren with a fourth on the way, due in April of Gene has served on the Board of Directors of Mountain Valley Bank for 52 years. When he joined Mountain Valley, they were only bank in town and named Sequatchie Bank. They were located on the corner of Rankin Avenue and Cherry Street and the name is still etched into the stone above the entrance. I asked Gene what kind of positions he had held at Dunlap United Methodist and he told me he was the Chairman of the Finance Committee during the years funds were raised to build the current building. He also admitted that he tried to teach Sunday School for teenagers but, like the medical corps in upstate New York, teaching teens wasn t for him. Have you ever tried that? he asked me. Vivian passed away in After a bit more than a year, Gene married long-time friend Linda Barker. He told me he feels very blessed to have had two wonderful wives.

11 December, 2018 Page 11 PRAYER CONCERNS If you have an ongoing concern you wish to include in this list, please fill out a prayer card found in the sanctuary pews or contact the church office at ONGOING PRAYER CONCERNS: Our Pastoral Family Don Martin Alex Allen Phyllis and Randy Cady Becky Hatfield Card (leukemia) Bill & Linda Varnell Howard Hatcher Mike Vestal Curtis Smith Roland Lowery Robert Robison David Barker Darlene Hobson (Debbie Shepler s mother) Jamie Rawson (Charlotte Cain s nephew) There are Prayer Request cards in a basket on the southside sideboard in the Narthex. If you have a prayer need, please pick one of these up and fill it out with your request(s), and then leave it with the Pastor, or give it to Margaret to give to Pastor Leslie, or place it on the altar rail. Prayers will be offered in church and during the week as requested. Thank you. AT HOME: Shirley Blevins BROOKDALE HIXSON ASST LIVING: Mildred Land VALLEY VIEW, WHITWELL: Willavene Dunn January Volunteers Acolyte Greeters Lay Reader 1/6 Alyvia Boyer Betsy Hatfield & Leslie Hickman Bruce Walker 1/13 Patrick Mackey Maggie Greene & Donna Land Howard Hatcher 1/20 Kenny Coulson Betty Morgan & Claude Lewis Cindy Widick 1/27 Brylee Dishman June & Shawn Silver Curtis Smith Children s Sermon Nursery Worker 1/6 Communion Tricia Barger 1/13 Hank Widick Donna Land 1/20 Kendra Dishman Denise Kell 1/27 Bruce Walker Leslie Hickman January Usher: Bert Esslinger Announcements: Margaret Lane January Communion Helpers: 8:30 Linda Tate 10:30 Margaret Lane, Betsy Hatfield, Keith Maxwell

12 People Serving People in the Spirit of Christ DUNLAP UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Pastor Leslie Daniels 1958 Main Street Dunlap, TN Office: (423) Return Service Requested We re on the Web! CALENDAR OF WEEKLY & MONTHLY EVENTS UNITED METHODIST MEN UNITED METHODIST WOMEN Fourth Sunday each month 8:30 Third Monday of each month 8:30 a.m. in Fellowship Hall 12:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall CHOIR PRACTICE CHILDREN 6:00 p.m. each Sunday in Sanctuary 3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays (when school) is in session. BOY SCOUTS 6:00 p.m. in Sanctuary & Gym Church Dunlapumc@bledsoe.net COVERED DISH SUPPER Second Wednesday of every month 5:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall after prayer group and followed by Adult Study Class. PRAYER GROUP & WEDNESDAY NIGHT LIVE 5:00 Prayer Group, 5:30 light supper, Adult Study Class. JAIL MINISTRY Last Thursday of each month at 5:45 p.m. BABS Second Monday of each month 10 a.m. in Fellowship Hall Be a friend on Facebook!: Dunlap United Methodist Church WOMEN S BIBLE CLASS Mondays at 9 a.m. in the library YOGA Tuesdays & Fridays 4:45 to 6:00 p.m AA MEETINGS Tuesday: Open Meeting 5 to 6 p.m. NA Meeting 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday: Open Meeting 5 to 6 p.m.; 5 p.m. (in library) Saturday: Open Meeting 9 to 10 a.m. Church office hours are 11 am to 4 pm, Monday through Thursday.