Mt. Hope Messenger August, 2014

Transcription

1 Mt. Hope United Church of Christ Mt. Hope Messenger August, Mt. Hope Church Rd. Whitsett, NC Office: Fax: website: church pastor Rev. J. Lloyd Spencer Cell: Home: Office Hours: 9:00 a.m.-noon church secretary Shirley Connor Office hours: Wednesday, 8:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. Thurs. - Fri., 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. consistory president Lloyd Gilliam choir director / organist Tim Hucks custodian Brenda Currie My family was going to visit relatives on the other side of the state. We were tired and thirsty, so Dad stopped at a little country store so we could get something to drink. We d been given some spending money and I wanted to make mine count. At age 7 hunger was stronger than thirst for me, so I decided to get something to eat. On the counter were some of the nicest looking brownies that I d ever seen. I picked out the biggest one I could find, paid my money, and walked out. As we drove on and the drinks were all gone I pulled out my brownie and took a big bite and swallowed. Maybe it was the gagging and moaning or one of the other sub-human noises that I was making that caused Dad to stop the car. He got me out before we were all sorry, and, sure enough, my brownie made its reentrance into the light of day. That s when I discovered that my brownie was really a plug of Brown Mule chewing tobacco. I spent my money for the privilege of being very, very sick. Are we getting what we expect out of life? There are so many things calling for our time, talents, and resources that we often make decisions based on what looks best. Sometimes it doesn t take long to realize that looks can be deceiving. In the 1950 s many people would sell anyone anything as long as they had the money. Maybe he thought that I was buying it for my Dad. Either way I was buying something that looked really good to me but was actually going to be something that would separate me from my lunch. There s no doubt about it, we have decisions to make for our lives. To make the most of our lives we have to be willing to look beyond the surface and beyond the wrapper to understand what s really important for our lives. Our friends in the church can be there to help us in that quest. Get involved and find out the difference that it can make. Lloyd

2 We look forward to hosting the Guilford/Randolph District meeting of UCC Church Women on August 10 th from 3:00 until 5:00 in our New Fellowship Hall. We will be doing the devotions and providing light refreshments at the close of the meeting. This is always a good time to meet women from some of the area churches and to find out what is going on in their women s groups. I hope most of you will be able to come. Although we are not meeting officially until September, the women of the church are always busy! As the bounty from gardens arrives in our kitchens the Mt Hope Picklers have been at work putting up cucumber and beet pickles and other goodies. Thanks to all those good people who have donated time and produce to assist with this effort. Remember that all these items, including jams, jellies, chow-chow etc. sell very well at our bazaar in November. In addition, the quilting group continues to meet regularly and always have ongoing projects. We give thanks for all our creative and productive women! Continue to enjoy this special time of year. Love and blessings, Elizabeth Craft Greensboro Urban Ministry: The children are out of school and Urban Ministry needs our help! Our August collection dates will be Sunday, August 3 rd, and again on Sunday, August 10 th. Let s all donate a can or two or a jar of peanut butter and jelly to help build up the food bank. Sharing what we can will help to make a difference in the lives of others. On Friday, July 25 th, Jim and Nancy Wimbish delivered 117 pounds of food to Urban Ministry. As always, they were most appreciative. For your convenience a basket has been placed in the Narthex for your donations. If you can t get to the store to buy something a container is there also for any monetary donations that you may wish to share. There are also containers in the breezeway. We pray God s blessings on all of us as we support this much needed ministry. Report on Hot Dog Lunch July 19 th, 2014 We are pleased that the July Hot Dog was so well attended. People donated money, checks or cash, made donations at the event, cooked, cleaned up, purchased supplies, but refused reimbursement for each and every donation. It was good food, fellowship, catching up on news, and saying hello to a number of members along with some whom we have not seen in a while. To all of you, we thank you for your support for our church. We had the ardent participation of our Stewardship Committee members, Gloria Apple, Becky Stafford, Bennie Gerner, Cathy Gossett, Cliff Greeson, Lloyd Gilliam Simon Clark, Brenda Currie, and Bill Craft along with, as appropriate, our spouses. As of this date, we have deposited $ based on the sale of 240 hot dogs, and a related number of soft drinks, sides, and desserts including peach cobbler and a number of Mount Hope s famous home-made desserts. The Stewardship Committee is a standing committee of our Consistory responsible for teaching the Christian principles of stewardship, selecting and promoting special offerings, and assisting the Consistory in raising the funds necessary for the church budget. Finally, as a quick reminder, we plan to host additional hot dog lunches, all on the third Saturdays from August through October (August 16, September 20, and October 18 from 11 AM through 2 PM). Again, thank you for supporting the work of Mount Hope. Submitted by Brenda Currie, event organizer There will be a Safe Church Policy Training held on Monday August 11th and Monday, August 18th from 7:00-8:00 PM in the choir room. The following persons should make every attempt to attend ONE of these training opportunities: the pastor, consistory president and consistory members, safe church policy committee, youth Sunday school teachers, and all youth leaders. Prior to the training please obtain a hard copy of the Safe Church Policy from the church office for your review. Please notify Sharon Moore smsharon4@aol.com regarding your plans to attend the training. Also, prior to the training, please submit in writing, any questions you have pertaining to this policy to Sharon. Thank you!! Sharon Moore and Dee Greeson

3 Many thanks to the Disciples Class and the Youth! On Sunday, June 29 th, the Disciples Sunday School Class took charge of the worship service. Tracy Brady was the speaker, Dora Moore led in prayer, music was led by Tim Hucks, Bennie Gerner, Judy Gerner, Sue Roush & Jeff Holt; Barry Bradsher read scripture, Gloria Apple was responsible for offering, and Simon Clark had the children's moment. Elizabeth Craft presented certificates of appreciation provided by the women's circles to: Carolyn Simpson, Mary Reece, Pat Huizinga, Lloyd Gilliam, and Jeryl Apple The Youth who participated in the opening of Sunday School included: Emma Strouth, Kraven Webb, Colby Arrington, Kaitlyn Webb, and Carmen Cox. Also, our ushers were Peggy Kilby, Kraven Webb, Garrett Bradsher and Josh Apple. Our acolyte was Stan Buff. Greeting Guests Certificates of appreciation were presented to Carolyn Simpson, Mary Reece, Pat Huizinga, Lloyd Gilliam, and Jeryl Apple Brianna Chapmon and Casey Ellis Opening: Kaitlyn Webb, Carmen Cox, Colby Arrington, Kraven Webb & Emma Strouth Mr. J.H. Neese received a special Thank You

4 The Quintet prepares to sing The beautiful children Choir Reminder: There is a choir rehearsal scheduled for Wednesday, August 13th, at 7:30 p.m. Regular weekly rehearsals will resume at this time. The Quintet includes: Tim Hucks (hiding behind the piano), Sue Roush, Jeff Holt, Bennie Gerner and Judy Gerner MT. HOPE UCC HOT DOG LUNCH 2400 Mt. Hope Church Road Whitsett, NC EAT IN TAKE OUT August 16, 2014 September 20, 2014 October 18, :00 am 2:00 pm $5.00 Luncheon Special 2 hot dogs snack bag of chips canned drink desserts (homemade peach cobbler) Simon Clark during the Children s Moment

5 Many thanks to Carmen Cox for all her hard work in the planning and heading up of our Vacation Bible School this year. Weird Animals VBS - Where Jesus' Love is One-of-a-Kind God filled the world with a lot of crazy creatures...including you! When you feel weird, different, or even lost in a crowd nothing compares to the extraordinary love of Jesus. July we had our three day Vacation Bible School and we all had a great time. 25 kids attended throughout the three days. There were also great volunteers. We asked for help and there they were willing to do whatever they needed to do, whether it was coming to decorate before VBS or be a leader of a certain area and clean up afterwards. The main emphasis of the Weird Animals VBS program was Jesus love for all people, no matter how different they may be, this was the focus of activities, music, and storytelling. Children learn that even when they feel left out, different, afraid, or when they don't understand or even do wrong things, Jesus still loves them. Story time was an exciting time as they learned about Zacchaeus, Blind Bart and the Good Samaritan; this included the story and an activity. Even the snack reinforces this theme, we had animals crackers, caterpillars made out of grapes, palm trees made out of fruit. Our craft time brought several animals to the spot light. The 2 & 3 years old did several crafts - handprint owl, painted a lion and a paper plate fish. The older groups made glowing lighting bugs, a sneaky chameleon and a door hanging lizard. The kids loved music time. They learned Zacchaeus was a Wee Little Man, Jesus Loves Me and Arky Arky. All of these songs connected to the theme. During game time, there was a review game about the story they had heard during story time, plus a marble race game and a toss game. Everyone won a prize. But the thing the kids seem to keep asking for was the Crazy Zoo Keeper that came to visit; he had lost his animals and showed up at Mt Hope Bible School to see if we could help him find them. Watch for him, he may show up again one day!

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8 We had a great time with our young people learning about stories in the Bible, learning new songs, and being creative during activity time. It was so much fun and good fellowship time! Thanks to everyone who helped make this a delightful Bible School program with great Bible lessons for the kids. Thanks to Carmen Cox and her team for planning and arranging our program Sharon Moore for leading story time Tim Hucks and Linda Shue for music instruction To all of our leaders who registered the students (Gloria Apple, Linda Shue, Chelsey Cox and Shannon Cox Kim), assisted our young people grow in their knowledge of the Bible, enjoy crafts (Carolyn Simpson & Elaine Layton), and game time (Shannon Cox Kim). Thanks to all those who assisted with snack time (great every night) (Judy Gerner, Linda Miller, Cheryl Royal, Janet Ellis & Ashlyn Chapmon). Thanks to the Zoo Keeper who searched diligently for all the animals. Thanks to all of the volunteers that took time to help during the week.

9 Time for school!! Guilford County kids go back to school on Monday, August 26 th. Enjoy the remaining days of summer vacation!! Youth Retreat 2014 "Spreading The Word" The High School Youth went to North Myrtle Beach for this year's retreat from July 24-27th. This year's theme was Spreading the Word. The youth wrote Bible Verses, inspirational words, and our church name on sea shells and spread them on the beach for people to find. We also wrote Bible Verses, inspirational words and Mt. Hope on labels and placed them on bottles of water and iced them down and passed them out on one hot afternoon. We will be sharing our experiences with the congregation. You won't want to miss it. Here are some photos from our trip. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

10 FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT: SEPTEMBER 12, 2014, at 7:00 pm. Pop corn and drinks will be available. A really great movie will be shown, 'Heaven is for Real.' Presented by the Fellowship Committee. VBS Presentation: The Vacation Bible School presentations took place on Sunday, July 27 th, during the morning service. The children sang the

11 songs that they learned and the Zoo Keeper made an appearance. Check out the photos below: Everyone is invited to come and join Cliff Greeson, Bennie Gerner, Sue Roush, and Jeff Holt at a special event hosted by the: High Lonesome Strings Sunday, August 24, 2:30 pm Mt. Hope United Church of Christ 2400 Mt Hope Church Rd Whitsett NC Present our very special guests: NuHiWay presents a newly formed, all acoustic Bluegrass band consisting of familiar faces, with 150+ years of combined performing & recording experience. They were founded in 2007 by guitarist and vocalist, Joe Mahaffey. When he joined the popular group Sons of the South in 2010, Joe

12 continued NuHiWay, primarily to perform Bluegrass Gospel events separate and apart from his regular gig with Sons of the South. When Sons of the South banjo player Michael Souther moved on to other projects in December 2013, NuHiWay became the full time endeavor of the remaining four members from Sons of the South; Mahaffey on guitar, Tom Isenhour on mandolin, Rick Lowe on fiddle and Jim Connell on bass. Collectively, these members bring more than 150 years of experience performing and recording Bluegrass music, from highly traditional to moderately contemporary. Mahaffey and Connell were both founding members of Blue Denim in 1972, a band molded in the likeness of the most cutting edge Bluegrass group of that time, The Seldom Scene. They toured and recorded with Blue Denim throughout the decade. Following the breakup of that group in 1978, Mahaffey continued to work with Blue Denim founder, R. C. Harris, into the eighties, as well as with other groups over the next two decades. Connell went into semi-retirement from the Bluegrass scene, playing occasional gigs into the early nineties, then retiring to Myrtle Beach SC. He came out of retirement to join Sons of the South in 2011, and now moves on with Mahaffey and the guys to NuHiWay. Jim lives in Statesville NC, is single and retired, while Joe resides in Olin NC, just north of Statesville, with his wife Marilyn. They operate an independent insurance agency. Tom Isenhour is possibly the most award winning mandolin player ever in the Carolinas, with sixteen world titles to his credit, as well as many others. He has worked and recorded with many groups over the years, and is best known for his Monroe-style playing, his vast collection of acoustic instruments, and his knowledge of Bluegrass history. Tom hails from Salisbury NC, where he maintains a 1,000 square foot museum of vintage instruments and artifacts from the fifties, sixties and more, right in his home. Apart from maintaining the museum and pickin' Bluegrass, Tom is retired and lives with his wife Cathy, and daughter Laura. Rick Lowe has lent his fiddle, mandolin and vocal work to many groups and projects over the last forty years, most notably the popular Atlanta based band, Gritz, the Stoney Creek String Band, Boot Hill, String Fever and more recently, Rockford Express. As far back as the 1970's, Rick also played with back up bands for Bluegrass greats, including Mac Wiseman, Josh Graves, Chubby Wise, Carl Story and Snuffy Jenkins. He has several championships to his credit, and in 2007 he played fiddle with the Deer Creek Boys at the Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax VA, where the band succeeded in winning the First Place Bluegrass Band honors. After a successful professional career as a corporate executive in the insurance and financial services industry, Rick is now retired and devotes his time to NuHiWay, and to traveling as much as possible with his wife, Marty. They make their home in Winston-Salem NC. On another note, these days Rick may be best known as the Father of banjoist Andy Lowe, a former Galax World Champion banjo player himself, and a frequent guest player with NuHiWay. The group is highly versatile in its performances, with vocals from all its members. Lowe is featured on both fiddle and mandolin, while Isenhour can be seen on mandolin, guitar and banjo. Mahaffey and Connell keep the timing rock solid on guitar and bass. The band's repertoire includes traditional Bluegrass material from the 1950's, more contemporary flare from the '60's and '70's, as well as tunes taken from other genres and rearranged to become solid Bluegrass favorites. And, you can always count on hearing some Bluegrass Gospel selections during every performance. Directions to Mt. Hope Church From I40/85: On I40/I85, take Mt Hope Church Rd exit, head south for 4.2 miles to church on the right From Hwy 62 in Julian: Head north on Old Julian Road for 7.8 miles, then left on Mt. Hope Church Rd to church on the left Thank you: Thank you to everyone for all the prayers, cards, & visits during my illness. The boys & I are blessed to be part of such a wonderful church family. Lorie, Colby, & Jacob Arrington Thank You: Thank you to Mt. Hope for all the cards, visits, and prayers I received during my recent surgery and recovery. Pam Greeson Thank You: A special Thank You to our Mt. Hope Church Family for all the prayers, calls, visits, and cards for Mom (LuEller Ingold) during her surgery. She made it through very well and is recovering

13 nicely. Also, Thank You for your prayers, cards, and visits to Robert Ingold at Clapp s Nursing Home. As you know, he had had a hard time adjusting to the move. He likes to get mail, have visitors and sometimes a balloon seems to brighten his day. With your continued prayers and support, hopefully both Mom and Robert will soon be better. Thank you all Linda Ingold Kirkman August Birthdays 2 nd Alayna Woollett 5 th Tiffany Needham, Clay Warren 6 th Bernice Shoffner 7 th Donna Cauthren 9 th Josh Anzaldua, John Deaton, Bob Lane III, Colton Underwood 11 th Colby Arrington 12 th Kim Sheffield 14 th Jeanne Ingold 15 th Lu Eller Ingold 16 th Trevor Bolton 17 th Mary Frances Jones, Susie Simpson 18 th Greg Greeson 19 th David Levens 21 st Sylvia Gilliam, Tim Hucks, Linda Neese, Penny Perkins 22 nd Michael Craft, John Dickson, Peggy Eller, Casey Ellis 23 rd Jo Ann Gauldin, Richard Knowles, Dalton Paul 24 th Rachael Gossett 25 th Glenda Slayton, Landon Woollett 26 th Jaime Owen, Catherine Priesmeyer 28 th Alan Michaux 29 th Sara Shue 30 th Larry Greeson 31 st Karen Kirkman Donald & Linda Slayton 20 th Carl & Betty Tucker 27 th Cliff & Barbara Greeson Gary & Brenda Greeson 28 th Brian & Emily Neal 31 st Michael & Faith Oakley 3 rd Collecting for Urban Ministry 9:45 a.m., Sunday School 11:00 a.m., Worship 5 th 7:00 p.m., Stewardship Committee 6 th 9:00 a.m., Quilters Meet 10 th 9:45 a.m., Sunday School 11:00 p.m., Worship 3:00 p.m., District Women s Meeting 11 th 7:00 p.m., Safe Church Policy Training 13 th 9:00 a.m., Quilters Meet 7:30 p.m., Choir Rehearsal 14 th 7:00 p.m., Consistory 16 th 11:00 a.m., Hot Dog Sale 17 th 9:45 a.m., Sunday School 11:00 a.m., Worship 18 th 7:00 p.m., Safe Church Policy Training 19 th 7:00 p.m., Evangelism Team Meeting 20 th 9:00 a.m., Quilters Meet 7:30 p.m., Choir Rehearsal 24 th 9:45 a.m., Sunday School 11:00 a.m., Worship 27 th 9:00 a.m., Quilters Meet 7:30 p.m., Choir Rehearsal We must live with some people part of our lives. We must live with a few people most of our lives and we must live with ourselves all of our life. But we must live with God forever. August Anniversaries 4 th Haywood & Peggy Levens E.C. & Inez Thornburg 11 th Jerry & Nancy Bartenfield Greg & Lisa Moser 14 th Dewey & Jean Greeson 17 th Max & Elaine Layton 19 th Roger & Patty Coble

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