July Connect Grow Commit Serve. First United Methodist Church Ministries, Inc. Pendleton Campus. Inside this Issue:

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1 h PAGE 1 First United Methodist Church Ministries, Inc. Pendleton Campus Office Hours Mon-Fri 9am-3pm Phone: July W. State Street Pendleton Worship: 9:45 a.m. Adult, Children & Youth Sunday School: 11:00 a.m. Ingalls Campus 301 N. Alfonte Street Ingalls Worship: 10:30 a.m Sunday Connect Grow Commit Serve Inside this Issue: In preparing for The Sunday before the 4th of July Holiday, I found this interesting article: America s True History of Religious Tolerance: The idea that the United States has always been a bastion of religious freedom is reassuring and utterly at odds with the historical record, by Kenneth C. Davis, Smithsonian Magazine, October 2010, found at americas-true-history-of-religious-tolerance /. Continued on page 2 Special Sunday Camp News & Pics pg 4 Church Council Notes pg. 5 Dominican Republic Trip pg 4 Food Pantry Donations pg. 6 Ingalls Bible Study pg. 6 Monthly Calendar pg. 8 Online Giving pg. 3 Pastor Doug s Note pg. 1 Special Events pg. 7 Stephen Ministry pg. 6 Vacation Bible School pg. 3 July Special Events: July 2 Holy Communion July 4 Independence Day Offices Closed July 7 First UMC Sponsors Pool Party FREE Swim at Brown Pool July 9 Decorate for VBS July Vacation Bible School July 12 Anita s Fundraiser July 12 Romans Study at Ingalls July 14 CREW Pool Party July 16 VBS Celebration Worship July 17 Bob Evans Fundraiser July 22 UMM Golf Outing July Mission Trip to Dominican Republic Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the World

2 PAGE 2 We, the People (continued from page 1) In the article, Davis describes what really happened before the Constitution was written, and there was much religious intolerance between the Protestants, Catholics, and non-believers. Davis writes, In newly independent America, there was a crazy quilt of state laws regarding religion. In Massachusetts, only Christians were allowed to hold public office, and Catholics were allowed to do so only after renouncing papal authority. Some of early founding fathers were successful in separating church and state. As a Christian, James Madison (future fourth president) also noted that Christianity had spread in the face of persecution from worldly powers, not with their help. Christianity, he contended, disavows a dependence on the powers of this world...for it is known that this Religion both existed and flourished, not only without the support of human laws, but in spite of every opposition from them. It was in Virginia that Thomas Jefferson helped pass the first separation law, called the Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, in 1786, where he wrote that the law meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew, the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination. Davis further writes: Madison wanted Jefferson s view to become the law of the land when he went to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in And as framed in Philadelphia that year, the U.S. Constitution clearly stated in Article VI that federal elective and appointed officials shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution, but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. This passage along with the facts that the Constitution does not mention God or a deity (except for a pro forma year of our Lord date) and that its very first amendment forbids Congress from making laws that would infringe of the free exercise of religion attests to the founders resolve that America be a secular republic. The men who fought the Revolution may have thanked Providence and attended church regularly or not. But they also fought a war against a country in which the head of state was the head of the church. Knowing well the history of religious warfare that led to America s settlement, they clearly understood both the dangers of that system and of sectarian conflict. It was the recognition of that divisive past by the founders notably Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Madison that secured America as a secular republic. As president, Washington wrote in 1790: All possess, alike, liberty of conscience and immunity of citizenship....for happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens. So, according to Davis, The United States of America is a secular nation that has groundings in the Christian religion along with its tenants. This nation also is bound to protect the freedom of all peoples and religions whether they are Christian or not. It is freedom from government as well as no preferential treatment to any one religion by the government. So, for us, we Christians need to be good citizens and continue our tolerance and love for all as well as telling what Jesus has done for us since that is a greater freedom, when compared to the freedom that any government can give. Enjoy your freedom and share it.

3 PAGE 3 VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL July 10th 14th, 6:00-8:00 pm VBS is right around the corner! If you haven't registered you can sign up on line at our website or sign up at church, forms are available in the atrium. We will have a volunteer dinner on July 6th at 7:00 pm in the atrium. This is a chance for volunteers to meet the other volunteers, get their t-shirt and learn more about this year's VBS. On July 7th we will be sponsoring a community swim at Brown Pool. Our Praise Band will be there, we will be registering kids for VBS and have a give-away for the kids. Please join us and bring a friend! It s the BEST week of the Summer! ENJOY THE CONVENIENCE OF ELECTRONIC GIVING First United Methodist Church of Pendleton and Ingalls wants to remind you that we offer electronic giving as a way to automate your regular weekly offering. Electronic giving offers convenience for individual congregation members and provides much-needed donation consistency for our congregation. Direct Debit Giving is used to automatically transfer funds from your checking or savings account to the church s bank account. Credit & Debit Card Giving allows you to make offerings automatically on a pre -determined schedule using a credit or debit card. Online Giving allows you to go to pendletonfirst.org at any time to set up an automatic donation plan, change your donation plan, make a one-time donation or view your online donation history. You can also access the electronic giving through a phone app: Give+ We have had about families already enjoying the convenience of our electronic giving. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Pastor Doug, Donna Wood, or Matt Walker (for technical issues).

4 PAGE 4 Church Camp News Camp Adventure Seven Jr High students attended Camp Adventure the last week of June: Bryce AxelAdams, Kate Deaton, Kaitlyn Prickett, Dean Erwin, Will Kaster, Sophie Kaster and Ethan Childers. I served as a camp director that week and Matt Clark, who attends Sr. High youth on Wednesday and Sunday nights, served as a counselor. Everyone had a great time, with a large variety of activities while we were there. A few of our students either shared their testimonies or shared scripture in front of the rest of the campers throughout the week, which was awesome to see! In Him, Dustin Ritz Camp Lakewood It's hard to believe but our time at Camp Lakewood is over for the summer. Again this year, Cherie Reeves and I were on the Director's team. Maddie Barrett and Grace Kistler were returning counselors and Anna Childers and Jason Doudt counseled for the first time. It is difficult to explain the impact our youth leaders have made in the lives of the children they were with. They loved on these children, cared for them physically, emotionally and spiritually, and made sure that they had a great time. The impact was most evident at Vespers on Tuesday evening. This is the time that we invite the children to come forward if they would like to make Jesus their forever friend. After offering the invitation to come forward I was able to stand back and watch our youth come forward and pray with their campers, God was certainly moving at Camp Lakewood and in the lives of our counselors. Cherie deserves extra praise, she not only fulfilled her role as a director but she stepped up and became a counselor again since we were short on volunteers! In August we will be having a pizza fundraiser for camp. These fundraisers not only help with the cost of sending kids to camp but allow us to bring supplies for the entire camp. You can donate to our camping ministry at anytime! Blessings, Susan Barrett Mission Trip to Dominican Republic From July 22nd-29th, Susan Barrett and Dustin Ritz will accompany 4 of our high school students on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. The volunteers from our church will join 12 students and adults from Trinity United Methodist Church, in Lapel, for this trip. We are in need of new youth and adult t-shirts. We will be taking these shirts with us on the mission trip and donating them to an orphanage that we will be serving. They can be any color and have designs/logos that are appropriate. There will be a suitcase in the atrium that you can help us fill with t-shirts to be a blessing to others!

5 PAGE 5 First United Methodist Church Ministries Pendleton and Ingalls Church Council Happenings June 14, :00 Devotions (5 Min.) Sunni Manges gave devotions Acceptance of (10 min.) Minutes/ Happenings Reports sent (possible list): Trustees/ Facilities; SPRC; CONNECT/ Evangelism; GROW/ Education; COMMIT/ Worship; SERVE/ Missions Finance >> All reports approved. Tithe payment: Church Council authorized Donna to pay $1673 at the beginning of every month. This is the amount saved each month by the new mortgage. 7:30 New Items Music and Art Festival hosted by Studio 3 ( a non-profit group) has asked us to have a kid friendly booth. Church Council is not against it, and Jen and Kelsey will investigate. Old Items Update on Electronic Giving Give+ 7-8 people have signed up; added categories for giving General Operating Ingalls Campus Missions Special Fund (to be designated at times) DRT/ Capital Campaign Capital Campaign Feasibility Study: Started June 7, 2017; some appointments made New & Better Vision for the Church; UPDATES: Sanctuary update - done!!! Video streaming next Project Update: Jen & Kelsey Money and pledges met goal Painters will start in August Pocket Park will continue to be designed and discussed, but will not be made open to the public or use public funds. Nor will we run off people for using the park, unless they are abusing the park. FYI: Upcoming Events June/ July Preaching & Sunday School curriculum: Moses by Adam Hamilton August Preaching Series: Trusting God: True Stories. Individuals from our congregation will give testimonies each week with their scripture basis, and then Pastor Doug will preach on that scripture. Charge Conference is: Nov 5, 2017, from 3 to 5 PM, at Noblesville HS 7:35 Adjourn Next Regular Meeting: Wednesday, July 12, 2017 at 7:00 PM (2 nd Wed of each month) During VBS Devotion sign up: Jul _Randy

6 PAGE 6 Thanks to all who came to the Blood Dive in June! The blood drive had 23 people check in but only 17 were able to donate. Everyone has LOW iron!! The Red Cross reported that our goal is 19 for the next drive, which will be Sept. 18 Roger Wills has moved; his new address is as follows: Roger L. Wills, Room 124 A Kindred Transitional Care & Rehabilitation 200 Green Meadows Drive Greenfield, IN STEPHEN MINISTRY Stephen Ministers provide one-to-one, Christ-centered care to help your pastor ensure that hurting people receive the care they need. One way to keep our Stephen Ministry vibrant and healthy is to train additional leaders at a Stephen Series Leader's Training Course. We ask the congregation to pray for Sherri Doudt and Jason Resler, who are called to attend training July 30-Aug. 5, to become Stephen Leaders. Their accepting God s call will ensure that our Stephen Ministry program remains strong. If you or someone you know is hurting, find out more about Stephen Ministry by talking with one of our Stephen Leaders: Tammy McKean, Dick Smith or Pastor Doug. Walker. Please go by the FIRST letter of your LAST name to learn your suggested donation. Here is an updated list of foods we need. When possible, please choose low salt, low sugar or fat-free items. A&B Canned soups C&D Canned beans/tomatoes E&F&G Cereal & Oatmeal H&I Canned or Box meals J&K&L Pasta & Pasta Sauce M Potato sides N&O&P Pancake mix & syrup Q&R Cornbread & muffin mix S Rice mixes/dry beans T&U Canned meats/tuna V&W Peanut butter & jelly X&Y&Z Canned or dried fruit If you feel moved to contribute toiletries, we would appreciate shampoo, toilet paper, facial tissues, bar soap, feminine hygiene items, dish detergent, toothpaste/brushes. Thank you for your support! We will begin a new Bible Study, focusing on the book of Romans, on July 12 at the Ingalls Campus (301 N. Alfonte Street). The group will continue with weekly meetings on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm, and will be led by Mary Cloud. All you need to bring is your Bible all other printed materials will provided. Please let us know if you plan to attend, by contacting the church ( ), so we prepare enough copies. All are welcome!

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8 PAGE 8 To receive future s from First UMC Ministries, please contact the church office or dwood@pendletonfirst.org.