August Back-to-School Drive

Transcription

1 Deeds and Opportunities Brentwood Community United Methodist Church 809 Second Street Brentwood, CA Office: (925) Fax: (925) Hyesung Lee, Pastor Website: Brentwoodumc.org Facebook Group: Brentwood Community United Methodist Church Betty Gaughan, Editor: August 2014 Back-to-School Drive Sunday School classes will be holding their Back-to-School Drive thru August 10. On August 10, all the classes will fill backpacks with supplies. These will be donated to local elementary schools in need. Look for the basket to collect supplies in the Narthex. Some ideas for supplies needed: pencils, erasers, notebooks, highlighters, markers, crayons, glue sticks, etc. If you want to donate, we will gladly shop for supplies for you! Thank you from the Sunday School classes (preschool, elementary and youth)!

2 Pastor s Letter Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ! Something NEW has begun in July! In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1) and the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been proclaimed (Mark 1:1). There has been a new appointment, new fellowship between you and me, and a new future that we are making together. I hope and pray that our new relationship resembles the beginning of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ that we may create something beautiful and proclaim good news to our community. My resolution to you as your pastor is to become a FAT disciple of Jesus Christ in my ministry! I don t like the sound of it but it is easy to remember who I am as a follower of our Lord. FAT disciples represent the following characters: F Faithful A Available T Teachable I d like to be FAITHFUL in my ministry of serving you, the Community and God. I pray that I would be faithful and trustworthy in my work, relationships and character. I wish who I am to be consistently reflected in what I do. I d like to be AVAILABLE. If you are faithful but not available, then you cannot serve the Lord. I want to be available to you and to the ministry of the church. This requires time, money and my heart! I pray my heart will be right here for you and thus my resources used for my congregation. I d like to be TEACHABLE. If you are faithful and available but not teachable, you cannot serve the Lord. Teachable means to open our mind to teachings from others. It is our attitude to learn from our mistakes. It is our humble and honest mind to welcome other inputs and even criticisms from someone whom we don t like. Well, these are high standards! But that is always the way with God. We live with high standards! So we ask for God s mercy and help! I keep saying we, because FAT disciples are applied to all Christians. May God help us all! In this D s & O s, I include my sermon schedule for August! I hope this will be helpful to you as is my <Sermon in Your Hands> in the bulletin every Sunday. I have scheduled a trip to visit Korea to see my parents from August 25 (Mon) to September 6 (Sat). My father is 88 years old and my mother is 82 years old. They both are healthy and living with my younger brother and his wife. Thankfully, they are excellent caregivers! Last time we visited them was two years ago to celebrate my mother s 80 s birthday! They don t want to travel to USA any longer, so my husband and I are visiting them. Thankfully our lay leader Julius Lukacs has agreed to preach on the Sunday August 31 during my absence! His passion for the Lord and sincere sharing of God s work in his life will be blessing to all! May your new month be blessed in the Lord Your Pastor Hyesung Lee

3 Sermon Schedule for August Date Liturgical Calendar Sermon Title Key Words August 3, 2014 Eighth Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 14:13 21 (Feeding Five Thousand) Abundant Grace Faith, Sharing, Mission August 10, 2014 Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 14:22 33 (Jesus Walks on Water) Following Jesus in Storm Faith, Courage, Obedience August 17, 2014 Tenth Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 15: (Healing a girl demon possessed) Great Faith Faith, Love for all August 24, 2014 Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 16:13 20 (Peter confessed Jesus is the Messiah) Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Forgiveness, Kingdom on Earth August 31, 2014 Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost Preacher: Julius Lukacs (Pastor Hyesung will be gone to visit her parents in Korea) Paul Slay, Marcie Lee Lukacs and Mari Ward Members of the medical mission team to Guatemala June 29th to August 3rd. PRAYER. STRESS, AND YOUR INNER WOUNDS By Flora S. Wuellner Group study for all UMW women. Starting on Friday, August 1st 10:00 am in Quiet Room. Contact Charlene Dobson at if interested

4 The Youth of BCUMC are quite blessed to be a part of this very supportive congregation! To thank everyone for their generosity during the Envelope Fundraiser, they will host an appreciation luncheon on August 10th following worship. They are looking forward to sharing a look back at this past year and getting your input on the wonderful Spirit-led year of fun activities ahead. To see their awesome schedule, go to If you haven't yet had a chance to pick up an envelope, please see a Youth during Fellowship or contact Jennifer, Paul, Rebecca, Cheryl or Julius. The $100 envelope is gone, but denominations of $3 to $99 are still available. The Youth will be at your service for a donation of $75 or more...what can THEY do for YOU? So if you haven't already, please consider giving a little or giving a lot, and join us for a delicious lunch and review of Youth activities past and future. BCUMC AT GREAT AMERICA JULY 18

5 Merry Methodists Mexican Train Dominoes SUNDAY AUGUST 10 1:15 pm Join Merry Methodists after the Youth Appreciation Lunch Sunday, August 10th at 1:15 for our first Mexican Train game. Trains, is played with dominoes. The object of the game is for a player to play all the dominoes from his or her hand onto one or more chains, or "trains", emanating from a central hub or "station". The game's most popular name comes from a special optional train that belongs to all players. Join us after the lunch for a fun afternoon enjoying a popular, well-loved game with friends new and old. Please Sign Up: Flowers and/or Fellowship It has been a while since our sanctuary has been enhanced with flowers! We are grateful for the weeks of floral arrangements so expertly done by Martin Tucker. I hope some of you have missed them and will be willing to contribute bouquets from time to time. You can provide flowers for vases we keep in the kitchen or donate money to have someone else make an arrangement. Either way, I m happy to help make it happen. Think about celebrating an anniversary or birthday with flowers for worship! Or honor a loved one for any special occasion. The name and/or occasion can be listed in the Sunday bulletin. Please sign up on the flower/fellowship poster on the bulletin board outside the kitchen! ALSO Don t forget to put donations in the Cookie Doughnation jar. OR, bring cookies! For more information, contact Betty Gaughan partgone@sbcglobal or THANKS

6 BIRTHDAYS 1 Jim Collins 2 Nate Ekpemiro 5 Jo Prewett Tennant Ezihe Ekpemiro 6 Miriam Pflum 8 Dolores Hauan Gerald Sorenson 15 Cliff Fortner 16 Ginny Driscoll 21 Connie Azevedo 22 Ethel Badham 23 Justine Joaquin 25 Mike Logan 26 Lisa Slay 30 Jonathan Kurz Jo Merritt ANNIVERSARIES 2 Blanca & Carlos Malagon 15 Julie & Sean Clarke A SUMMER'S PRAYER Joe Kick Oh Holy One - when troubles arise - May I steer the boat of my faith to your safe harbor. As good things happen - May my heart's gratitude fall like a gentle rain On my life - and on those around me. When confusion rolls in with the morning fog - May my seeking mind - like a yellow bird - Take flight - and alight on the leafy branches - Of your tree of wisdom. When grief surrounds my bones - and darkens the sky - May I sink into the embrace Of your all encompassing comfort and love. When fear echoes off the mountains - May I walk in the valley of your peace. Apart from you, dear God - life is empty. One with you, my soul sings with joy. Help me to remember - that You are ever present - Loving us - loving me - always. FINANCE COMMITTEE We are so blessed to have such faithful givers at the BCUMC! We were very pleased to welcome Pastor Lee to our July Finance Committee meeting and appreciate her input, While our 6 month pledges were slightly down, our facility usage and escrip were up. June numbers were: Income $16,057 Expenses 14,449 Giving us a net for June of $1,608. Thank each of you for your continued faithful giving! We are also happy to report that this included our paying 100% of our apportionments. All Committees should submit their 2015 Budget requests to us by August 19 as we develop our 2015 Pledge Campaign. John D. Moore, Finance Committee Chairman CONGREGATIONAL CARE NETWORK (CCN) The Congregational Care Network is a ministry within the Love People Team. Linda Barnhill is the coordinator of CCN, arranging calls and visits to anyone who is in need. This would involve home or hospital visits or phone calls, if approved by the family or patient. We need your input. Without input from the congregation or family members about needs, we won't know of these necessities and our job can't be fulfilled. PLEASE LET US KNOW OF ANYONE WHO COULD USE OUR SERVICES. Call Linda Barnhill or Michael Ann Honea

7 SUNDAY MORNING 9AM BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP RESUMES AUGUST 10TH On August 10th the 9am book discussion group will begin our discussion of "Soul Keeping-caring for the most important part of you" by John Ortborg. John Ortborg is the senior pastor of the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. To quote from the jacket of the book, " In Soul Keeping best-selling author John Ortborg sheds light on the most overlooked, underrated and least understood part of your being. With a workable and relevant approach, he shows how to "live with God" isn't just a good idea, it is the only way to find peace and satisfaction." Sound interesting? Hope you will join us. We meet in the Youth Room. The book is available at Barnes and Noble or Amazon online. I also have a couple of copies. Hope you will be joining us. God Bless, Mel DATE WORSHIP LEADER ACOLYTE CRUCIFER 8/3 Rebecca Feldermann Wren Driscoll John Scott Marks 8/10 Dave Funk Alex Dunn Aidan Dunn 8/17 Jan Schults Jamie Feldermann Sam Lukacs 8/24 Dave Funk Ogechi Ekpemiro Chineyere Ekpemiro 8/31 John Scott Marks Jaylynn Joaquin Justine Joaquin Communion Ministers: Diana Easley and John Scott Marks UNITED METHODIST WOMEN Mission U By Patti Bartlebaugh Saturday July 19th Roxanne Simas and myself attended the Cal-Nev Conference UMW Mission U. For those of you who have been around United Methodist Women for a long time, this used to be called School of Christian Mission. This year Mission U will have three single-day events in Walnut Creek, Clovis and Reno and one weekend event in Sacramento. Three Mission Studies are presented at each Mission U event. Studies are categorized as Spiritual Growth, Social Issue and Geographic. This year s Studies were Spiritual Growth: How goes it with your Souls; The Social issue: The Church and People with Disabilities; and the Geographic Study: the Roma of Europe. Over 100 UMW attended the day at Walnut Creek. I met women from Los Gatos, Sonoma, Davis and Lodi. We had a wonderful time of singing, fellowship, and a delicious lunch, and the day ended with a communion service. Roxanne and I attended the How is it with your Soul study which was led by Rev. Debbie Wetherspoon from Los Altos UMC. It was a great study and we learned practical ways to help balance our Christian life in small groups. I also met up with the Cal-Nev UMW outreach person, Nancy Church, and found out there is a Volunteer in Mission/UMW trip planned for Memorial Day weekend 2015 to the UMCOR Depot in Salt Lake City and an Urban Plunge mission weekend in San Francisco planned for Jan/Feb Next year s Studies will Be Spiritual Growth: The Pursuit of Happiness; Social Issue: The Church and People with Disabilities; and Geographic: Latin America. I hope next year more of my UMW sisters will get to attend this faith building/renewing experience.

8 Statement of Inclusion: Because we believe that no one is excluded from God s love and that all may come who hear the Shepherd s voice (John 10:1-18), so we affirm: In keeping with the spirit and teachings of Jesus Christ and with United Methodist principles, the Brentwood Community United Methodist Church welcomes all persons into our fellowship. Resident Bishop: Warner H. Brown, Jr. El Camino Real District Superintendent: Kristie Olah Pastor: Hyesung Lee; Lay Leader: Julius Lukacs Secretary: Debra Urzua The Mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Brentwood Community United Methodist Church 809 Second Street Brentwood, CA TIME DATED MATERIAL