Lawrence Free Methodist Church May 2015

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1 THE UPDATE Lake Baptism & Picnic 6:00 p.m. Sunday, June 28 Come out to the lake to celebrate with those from our church who are making a public profession of their faith in Christ through baptism! There will be a potluck picnic, paddleboating, and swimming. (Parents need to be responsible for their children, as no lifeguards will be present.) It s a great night of celebration and fun for our whole church family! If you or your children would like to celebrate your faith in Jesus Christ through water baptism, we encourage you to contact a pastor to set up an individual or family pre-baptism meeting. Adults & Teens: please contact Larry Baldridge at lbaldridge@lfmchurch.org. Children: please contact Allie Klopenstein at aklopenstein@lfmchurch.org. You ll want to bring insect repellent and lawn chairs, and we also ask that you bring a main dish, a side dish or dessert, and beverages for yourself or your family. (Table service and shade canopies will be provided.) Directions: From Walmart, go south on Iowa St (Hwy 59). Drive 5 miles. Take exit for N 650 Rd/Douglas County 460. Turn left & drive across the overpass. Turn right into the mowed field. (Watch for our signs.) 1

2 Primetimers Sixteen Primetimers (14 regular attenders and two prospective members) dined at Jason s Deli on April 14 before making our way to the Wakarusa River Valley Heritage Museum where Martha Parker provided us with a brief history of the site on which the museum is located. (Part of the museum is the milking barn of J. C. Steele, an early settler in the Wakarusa Valley.) Mrs. Parker also talked us through the exhibits at the museum, one of which deals with the part the area played in the Underground Railroad. It was a very interesting and informative time at the museum! If you were unable to attend, you missed a great experience. Coming up on Tuesday, May 12, is the annual Spring Fling. It will be a catered meal at the church, beginning at 6:00 p.m. The cost of the meal is $10/person to be paid to Wayne Schrock or Ernie Dyer by Sunday, May 10. (Please note: If you wish to pay by Children s Ministry check, please make the check payable to Karen Olson. If you pay after Wednesday, May 6, deliver payment to Ernie Dyer.) We hoped to have the menu printed in this edition of the Update. Unfortunately, that was not possible, but we can tell you the entertainment following the meal will LFMC s Mixed Quartet! This event is open to everyone 50-orbetter! If you need more information, contact Ernie Dyer at (785) , (785) , or epdyer@att.net. 2 Discipleship Ministry / Children s Ministry

3 DU in May There s something about the things that we say that kind of stack up one way. Then there s the way we live, or the reality about certain situations that stack up another way. If both stacks line up, you can build something strong on them. When what we say lines up with what we do, people know they can trust us our words have strength, our lives are built with integrity. Honesty really is a big deal. That s why we re spending the month of May talking about it. Honesty is choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. When we re honest, when our words line up with our actions, people know they can trust us. Our relationships grow stronger. God understands the relationship between honesty and trust. This is something God set into motion in the first place. Since the beginning, God has been in the business of making and keeping promises. God told Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation of people he was. God told the Israelites that He would provide for them in the desert He did. God told Joshua that the wall of Jericho would fall if the people marched around it for seven days it did. God told Mary that she would give birth to a Son, Jesus she did. That baby boy was the answer to a promise God had set in motion from the beginning: God kept His promise to send a Savior. When we were lost, He came through and sent Jesus, the Messiah, the One who in whom we can ultimately put all of our trust. That s really it, isn t it? God is honest. He has proven from the beginning that He can be trusted even to the point of sending His Son. And we re called to reflect the image of God to a world around us that is desperate for people who will live with integrity. We want kids to begin building the kinds of lives that show they can be trusted. Because they know the One who can be trusted above any other. We start the month with Proverbs 10:9, Anyone who lives without blame walks safely. Being honest isn t just about the words you say, it s really about the life you live. Being honest comes much easier when you are an honest person and live your life with integrity. Bottom Line: Being truthful helps you stay out of trouble. You don t have to worry about what will happen to you if you live life with honesty. We hope kids realize that making the wise choice to tell the truth is a great way to stay away from trouble. continued on page 4 Children s Ministry 3

4 In week two we head to Genesis 27 where we find Jacob and Esau. It seems that Jacob was always up to something sneaky. He had already conned his brother Esau out of all the wealth and power he d receive when Isaac passed away. But Jacob hasn t forgotten about the special blessing Isaac has yet to give Esau. He wants in on that too. We ll see what happens when his mom Rebekah gets involved and they scheme a plan to trick Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing. Bottom Line: When you are not truthful, you can hurt the people you care about. We hope that kids realize that when we tell lies, it breaks relationships that should be most important to us. For week three we ll take a closer look at a story in 2 Kings 5 that involves Elisha and his servant named Gehazi. At a moment in time when Gehazi saw Elisha turn down a gift, Gehazi decided that he could take advantage of the situation and take the gift for himself. He went behind Elisha s back, denied his actions, and inevitably lost Elisha s trust. Bottom Line: When you are not truthful, you lose trust. If you continually tell lies and hurt people with dishonesty, eventually you will lose the trust of those around you. We hope kids realize that honesty helps them build relationships with others. In week four, we ll head to the book of Esther. We learn that Haman s just been promoted as the king s most important advisor, but there s one man who won t bow to him: Mordecai. Haman is so angry that he vows to destroy not just Mordecai, but all of his people, the Jews! Little does Haman know that Mordecai has family in high places. Queen Esther risks everything to save her people. Once her plan with Mordecai is set in motion, Haman s dishonesty to hurt others ends up hurting himself instead. Bottom Line: When you lie to help yourself, you hurt yourself instead. Sometimes we have a tendency to lie in order to make ourselves look good. But we can t keep the lie for long. Eventually we ll be found out and our lie will only hurt ourselves. By Dan Scott 2015 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. *Used by permission. 4 Children s Ministry

5 Junior Camp June For kids finishing grades 3-5 this spring Cost: $240 Jr. Camp is a summer camp for children finishing grades 3-5 this spring. Located at Rock Springs Ranch near Junction City, KS, the camp has horseback riding, swimming, canoeing, archery, elective classes like crafts and much, much more! Morning and evening chapel times will provide children with inspiring worship and relevant messages. Jr. Camp is a wonderful, safe environment for kids to begin to explore new hobbies, make new friends, take on new responsibilities, and connect with God on a deeper level. Bethany Harvester will be back as the Jr. Camp Director for the fifth year, and some LFMC parents/volunteers will be cabin leaders! DETAILS Who? Kids finishing grades 3-5 this spring Dates: June 22-26, 2015 Cost: $240 ($100 deposit due with registration form; final payment due by June 7.) Cabin Leaders: Camp is incredibly fun and enriching for the cabin leaders, too! If you are a children's ministry leader, volunteer, or parent who would like to apply to be a cabin leader, contact Pastor Allie. (Note: All cabin leaders must pass a background check.) Download the registration form at lfmchurch.org/ junior-camp. Registration forms are also available in the DU lobby. Questions? Contact Pastor Allie at aklopenstein@lfmchurch.org. May 31 No DU/Club 56 K-6th graders will worship with their families in the Worship Center! Children s Ministry 5

6 Missions & Social Justice Let s Do Something! Through our recent Do Something! campaign, you have had the opportunity to learn about what our church is doing to serve and invest in our community and in our world. The campaign culminates with a Missions Fair on Sunday, May 3. Stop by the Family Life Center (gym) between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to learn about our church s ministry partners and how you can do something to impact our community and the world with the good news of Jesus Christ. Also on May 3, Dana Ortiz will share in the worship services about Family Promise, one of our community partners and explain how you can get involved in helping meet the needs of the homeless in Lawrence. Thanks! Dear LFMC, Family Promise works because of your gifts of service, compassion, financial support and prayers. We are grateful for your investment in the lives of families struggling through a situation of homelessness in Lawrence and Douglas County. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Romans 12:9-10 (NIV) Wishing you a wondrous and beautiful spring! -Family Promise of Lawrence L.I.N.K. Our church has volunteered to provide food for and serve the meal at L.I.N.K. (Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen) on Thurs., May 7. This is an excellent opportunity to serve those in need in our community by cooking, baking cookies, shopping, or serving! Sign up in the lobby or contact the church office today. Dear Lawrence Free Methodist Church, Because of your enormous generosity and support, Heartland food pantry will be able to serve over 100 families in the upcoming month. We are very grateful that you ve chosen to support us and those in need in the community. Thank you once again for your kindness. We truly appreciate your support! Grace and Blessings, Heartland Food Pantry Staff 6 Missions & Social Justice

7 LFMC Web Site changes coming soon Though few may actually remember this, the LFMC Web site experienced a catastrophic crash two years ago this month--the timing of the crash was terrible, as we were hosting the registration site for the TriCon, a 2013 gathering of three Free Methodist Church annual conferences in the midwest. Fortunately, we had been preparing to enter a contract with a Web hosting company to move our Web site to a more robust and secure point of presence, and with a great deal of help from that provider and a furious scramble of late night Web programming, we had a skeleton of a new site up and running within less than 24 hours. The TriCon registrations continued almost without a hitch, and we began restoring content and rebuilding the Web site structure. The design was sparse and simple, but functional, and before too long we had most of our essential Web site functions and content back up and running, and with a view toward improving the appearance and structure of the site, we carried on. For the past two years we ve been trying to find some time to work on a brand-new design, and now, two years later, we are finally able to make some time to do a Media & Misc. more thorough overhaul of our site at lfmchurch.org. We will be freshening the look and feel, implementing a new, simpler way to give online, and improving the ease of use, so you can find what you need with as little digging as possible. There is just one hitch--like any construction project, things can get a bit messy before they are fixed up, and that s going to be the case over the next few weeks as we work on our Web site. There may be some periods of time when the site is unavailable; if those times need to happen during normal business hours, we will do our best to announce those times in advance. There may be times when some specific bit of information you are looking for will not be available. But we ask for your patience in advance as we complete this work, and trust that when all is said and done, you ll appreciate the results. When we are ready to shut down the old site and bring up the new, we will make an announcement of that schedule, detailing (as best we can) any anticipated interruptions in site availability. Doug Heacock Director of Media and Contemporary Worship Relay For Life Friday, June 12-Saturday, June 13, at Free State High School Most of us have been affected by cancer in some way. We have members of our congregation who have battled cancer. Some have won their battle; some have not. The money raised by the American Cancer Society Relay For Life goes toward cancer research. You can help! LFMC is sponsoring a team for the Douglas County Relay For Life. If you are interested in joining the LFMC team or if you have questions, contact Denise Yoder at (785) or deniseyoder@sunflower.com. How can you be involved in this event? 1. Join the LFMC team and walk with us that evening. You do not have to stay the entire time. You may even join our team if you are unable to walk we can always use cheerleaders! The registration fee is $ Purchase a luminaria in honor of a loved one or friend who has battled cancer. The cost of a luminaria is $ Donate to the silent auction happening the night of the relay. If you have something you would like to donate to the silent auction, the amount made by that item would go toward our total fundraising. 4. Donate toward our fundraising goal. Media & Misc. 7

8 Sunday services & programs 9:00 a.m. Blended Worship Nursery for infants and preschoolers 10:35 a.m. Contemporary Worship Nursery for infants through 2-year-olds Programs for preschoolers through 12th graders Bill Bump Senior Pastor Larry Baldridge Pastor of Discipleship Allie Klopenstein Pastor of Children s Ministry aklopenstein@lfmchurch.org Church Office Information Office Hours: Mon-Fri, 8 a.m.-12 p.m. & 1-5 p.m. Phone: Fax: office@lfmchurch.org Bethany Harvester Administrative Assistant office@lfmchurch.org Doug Heacock Director of Media & Contemporary Worship dheacock@lfmchurch.org Vanessa Thomas Director of Choir & Blended Worship vanessathomasvoicestudio@gmail.com Lawrence Free Methodist Church 3001 Lawrence Avenue Lawrence, KS 66047