Sunday, February 26th 11:45 a.m.

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1 Couts Countdown Go WEST - Welcome, Equip, Serve, Transform February 1, 2017 Volume 11 Issue 2 Sponsored Worship 10:30 a.m. Sunday, February 26th 11:45 a.m. Categories: Sunday School 9:30 a.m. 802 North Elm Weatherford, Texas Church Office Hours 8am - 5pm Monday - Thursday Closed on Friday Visit us on the Web Chili Cornbread Desserts Sr. Pastor - Matt Hall

2 From The Pastor Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! Couts UMC is off to a great start! We began this year with our More Than We Can Imagine campaign. This twofold campaign asks for commitments for our 2017 operating budget and our 3 year debt reduction commitment. The overall goal is to allow our church to make a difference in our community and our world. By freeing up more dollars for outreach and mission we will be able to feed the hungry and build more relationships to invite more people to come and follow Jesus. I appreciate everyone s patience regarding the water line break we had in December. As of today, the asbestos is abated, new sheet rock is installed, and bids are being sought to replace the carpet, paint the walls, and replace insulation. The Trustees are doing a great job and we owe a big thanks to CCA in helping pay some unexpected cost of insurance deductibles and replacement of heat/ ac units that have gone out during the past 45 days. It is great to have everyone working together. This time of year we have Junior League, CCA events, community events, church celebrations and our week to week activities happening 7 days a week. This place is a safe place where children, youth and adults can come to learn and grow together. Thank you, Couts, for making this possible. As we look toward the future, God s purpose will continue to be revealed as we seek to grow closer to Christ and to one another. Bring your coins to church on Sunday for the Souper Bowl of sharing. The coins will be used to help feed the hungry in Weatherford. On February 12 we will have our First Fruit Offering as a result of our More Than We Can Imagine campaign. Everyone is encouraged to bring their first offering that day to worship. Everyone will receive a letter in the mail explaining the details this week. On February 19, we will announce the results of our campaign. Any offerings made toward the debt should please indicate Debt Reduction in the memo or select Debt Reduction with Vanco. We strive to keep accurate records for the church and for you. If you have questions, please contact the church office. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly for more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever, Amen. Ephesians 3:20. Grace and Peace, Pastor Matt Jan - Dec 16 Jan - Dec 15 $ Change YTD BUDGET Ordinary Income/Expense Income Contributions 527, , , , All Other Sources 28, , , , Total Income 556, , , , Expense Apportionment 55, , , , Church Operating Expense 110, , , , Loans 97, , , Personnel 273, , , , Program Ministry 29, , , , Total Expense 565, , , , Net Income -9, , , , Financial Update December 2016

3 February 2017 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT :30 am-1:00 pm Wesley Foundation Lunch Church 19 Handbell Rehearsal - 6pm Council Mtg. Handbell Rehearsal - 6pm Worship Team 6pm Nurture & Outreach 7pm CCA Board Meeting - 5:30 p.m. - Conference Room Finger Foods and 42 6:30 pm Finance Meeting 6:30 pm Conference Room Emmaus Community Gathering 1st UMC 6:00 p.m CMA Valentine Banquet - F. Hall 11:30 am-1:00 pm Church Office Closed - Presidents Day SPRC 7pm Trustees Meeting 6:30 p.m. Youth Chili Cookoff Handbell Rehearsal - 6pm Regular Wednesday Schedule 2:00 p.m. - Prayer Force 3:30 p.m. - Kidzone 5:30 p.m. - Snack Supper 6:00 p.m. - Youth, Tweens, Bible Studies and Music Rehearsal Page 3

4 The 2017 Confirmation: All classes will meet after the 10:30 service. Sunday Feb 5 Chapel Sunday Feb. 19 Chapel Sunday March 5 Chapel Sunday April 2 Chapel Sunday April 30 Chapel Sunday May 21 Chapel #There are two dates still TBA: -Bishops day retreat with confirmands in the spring; New Discoveries about Young Children s Faith Formation excerpted from Karen-Marie Yust For decades, we have operated with certain developmental beliefs about preschool faith formation. Now, with the advantages of new research methods, it is time to reexamine our assumptions. Paul Bloom studies young children s moral development, and he has noticed that infants as young as three months old exhibit signs of moral sensitivity. Analyzing videotapes of babies and toddlers watching animated and puppet scenarios involving helping and hindering behaviors (e.g. one figure helping another roll a ball up a ramp or one blocking the ball as the other tries to roll it), Bloom realized that young children prefer figures who act helpfully over those who obstruct another s actions. He observed that infants are particularly distressed by negative (hindering) behavior, suggesting that they sense the danger that bad behavior poses to human relationships. He concludes that young children have the capacity to make basic judgments between good and bad, and that their preference for helpers over hinderers shows signs of the same kind of disinterested judgments... that we thought only mature adults make. We can nurture this moral sensitivity as part of faith formation by emphasizing helping and hindering actions in the Bible stories we tell. Many curricula for very young children focus primarily on stories about creation, children or animals, on the assumption that infants and toddlers can only grasp concrete objects. Bloom s work suggests that young minds are already intuitively exploring moral principles, and caregivers can reinforce these nascent moral judgments by acting out with play figures and puppets the wide variety of helping and hindering behaviors that are part of Bible narratives. Page 4 New Discoveries about Young Children s Faith Formation cont d. Bloom also studies preschool ethics. His work with children as young as fifteen months indicates that toddlers have a strong bias toward fairness, defined as equal outcomes for all. However, this natural born egalitarianism is tempered by egocentrism. A toddler is mostly troubled by inequality of outcome when it means they get less of something than someone else (e.g. getting two cookies when someone else gets three) Social networks also affect a child s ethics: toddlers and preschoolers are much more likely to share equally with people they think of as family than with strangers Bloom s work points us toward another noteworthy implication of young children s moral development: If we refer to a woman who is homeless as our sister without a house, preschoolers are more likely to exercise compassion toward that person by looking for a way to share with her. Paul Harris s primary research interest has been in discerning how young children learn from listening to what other people say as well as from sensory explorations.... This means we should be using faith formation methods that encourage children to develop persistent curiosity about the more systematic side of beliefs and practices alongside Godly Play programs...harris s findings remind us that we need to provide regular demonstrations of religious practices as part of young children s faith formation...demonstrations encourage children to develop testimony-based understandings of what Christian people do and say. Preschoolers will be quick to imitate adult faith practices because they trust that adults know what those actions mean even if the child does not.... young children need adult prompting to see God s presence in the world, since God is not a concrete object they can observe. When caregivers offer theological explanations for seemingly inexplicable outcomes (e.g. God, via gravity, explains why balls go up and come down), children imagine God playing with them and feel God s presence. To learn more about their work, check out Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil (Bloom, 2013) and Trusting What You re Told: How Children Learn from Others (Harris, 2012). Karen-Marie Yust is the author of Real Kids, Real Faith and the co-president of the International Association of Children s Spirituality.

5 Newsletter Feb SUNDAY 11:45 CHILI COOK OFF ( YOUTH MISSION TRIP FUNDRAISER) Do you have an award winning chili or cornbread recipe? How about a fantastic dessert? Please bring it to share with our church on Sunday, Feb. 26th and let us be the judge! Bring your dollar bills to place your vote! Sunday School & Service Time Sunday School 9:30 am Service 10:30 am Snack Supper Menu: 2/1 Chicken parmesan /salad 2/8 Meatball sub/salad To receive mobile updates by text message, text keyword coutsyouth to Mark your calendars! 2/1 Wed youth 5:30p-7:30p "Sex and Dating" 2/5 SS 9:30a "Armour of God " Church 10:30a No evening youth 2/8 Wed youth 5:30p-7:30p "Sex & Dating" 2/12 SS 9:30a "Fruits of the Spirit" Church 10:30a 5-6:30- Jon Ball 2/15 Wed youth 5:30p-7:30p "Sex & Dating" 2/19 SS 9:30a "Fruits of the Spirit" Church 10:30a No evening youth Holiday weekend 2/22 Wed youth 5:30p-7:30p "Sex & Dating" 2/26 SS 9:30a "Hot Topic" Church 10:30a **YOUTH CHILI COOK-OFF 11:45A Fellowship Hall 2/15 Potato bar/salad 2/22 Roast potatoes/vegies Check us out at CoutsYouth on the Facebook, and the Instagram. For Questions about Couts UMC Youth Ministry, call the church office at CONTACT INFO Katrina Nager - katrina@coutsumc.org Amy McSwain- amy@coutsumc.org Page 5

6 Souper Bowl Sunday Sunday, February 5th Bring your change or one item of food for people in need Sunday, February 5th, is Super Bowl Sunday and we will have buckets in the Welcome Center to collect change from people to support Souper Bowl of Caring.Souper Bowl of Caring works to mobilize those looking to fight hunger and poverty in their own communities around the time of the Super Bowl football game. In the weeks leading up to or on Super Bowl Sunday, young people take up a collection (many use a soup pot), asking for extra change or one item of food for people in need. They give 100% of their donation directly to the local hunger-relief charity of their choice. Wesley Foundation Lunch Tuesday, February 7 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Couts will be serving the Wesley Foundation Students on Tuesday, February 7th from 11 am until 1 pm. This month we are serving beef and chicken spaghetti with salad, bread and desserts. If you could help with providing spaghetti and/or help serve, there will be a sign-up in the Welcome Center this Sunday or you can call the church office. Mission Team Meetings Tuesday, February 7th Worship Mission Team 6:00 p.m. Conference Room Adult Nurture / Outreach Mission Team 7:00 p.m. Fellowship Hall Children s and Youth Mission Teams are meeting at other times during the month. First Fruits Sunday Sunday, February 12, 2017 During worship on Sunday, February 12th, everyone will be asked to make the first payment, First Fruits on your three year commitment for the debt reduction campaign. There will be blue envelopes available in the Welcome Center to put your First Fruits in to bring to the altar. If you have already given online or previously given at church, please feel free to bring and empty envelope to the altar at the designated time during the service. On Sunday, February the 19th, the results of the debt reduction campaign will be announced. Page 6 Church Council Meeting Monday, February 13th The Church Finance Committee is requesting that the Church Council approve using designated funds from Harvest Festival to pay the recent heat / ac repairs and the deductible for the water damage. Finance is requesting $6,500. The invoice from Nelson Mechanical for repairing the sanctuary heat, replacing the air handler in the gym and replacing the unit in the upstairs east hall is $7,970. CCA is paying $4,000 of that expense. We will also be paying the $5,000 deductible for the water damage in December. CCA is paying for $2,500 of that expense. If you have questions, please contact pastor Matt or Finance Chair, Bill Shatford.

7 New Women s Bible Study Wednesday evenings 6:00 p.m. Beginning February 22nd On Wednesday, February 22nd, all women are invited to be a part of a new Women s Bible Study that will meet in the Chapel. Chris Safford is going to lead the study. Stay tuned for more information on what study has been chosen. Mark your calendars for February 22nd. CCA On The Border Day Tuesday, February 21st February 21st is the third Tuesday and CCA Day at On the Border. Please pick up a flyer at the church on the Sunday before - you can eat there for lunch, dinner or takeout and present your flyer and CCA will get 20% of the price of your ticket has started off great at CCA! We are very happy to announce that we have completed the accreditation process, which included a 300+ page self-study. Our accreditation through TAAPS (Texas Alliance of Accredited Private Schools) will be official in March, and will show to be valid for the school year. We would like to thank all who participated in this process. There were many members of the faculty, CCA families, and church members who have shown support through actions, as well as, prayers. We also give credit to Sarah Jarrell for her many years dedicated to the growth of CCA from Couts Vacation Bible School Monday thru Thursday - July 17th - 20th 9:00 a.m. - Noon a Mother s Day Out to where we are now as a fully accredited school. It is always our goal as a ministry of Couts to share in spreading God s love each and every day. Open enrollment for current families will begin February 8, and for new families on March 8. We encourage you to urge your friends and families to consider CCA for their child s education. If you know of anyone interested in a Christian private school setting with small classes and affordable tuition, please send them our way. Amy Nesler Head of School Youth Mission Trip for Jr. and Sr. High June 18th - 24th And spread the word!! Page 7 Deadline for registration is March 10th. Please go online to to register. The cost for registration is $ No late registrations will be accepted. Scholarships are available - please contact Amy McSwain or Katrina Nager for more infor-

8 Go Welcome, Equip, Serve, Transform Couts Methodist Church 802 North Elm Weatherford, Texas W E RE ON T HE WEB - V I S I T US WWW. C OUTSMETHOD I S T C HURCH. C OM Our Military February Birthdays 2017 Debt Reduction Campaign Special Dates January 8 - Gratitude Sunday. January 15 - Ministry Sunday. January 22 - Celebration Sunday. January 28 - Prayer event. January 29 - Commitment Sunday. February 12 - First Fruit offering. Brad Bishop Billy Burris Matt Couch Warren Crouch Will Dowd Derek Geyer Michael Gilliam Jeff Johnson Cory Jones Blake Hubbard Mike Hebert Hunter Hiett Kali Yarnell Lussier Matthew Mitchell Josiah Sorrells February 1 Richard Safford February 4 Janice Rice February 5 Waymond Torbett February 6 Clenton Collier February 9 Verna Polvado February 10 Crystal Samson February 13 Jean Grant February 15 Kate Jenkins February 16 Roland Real February 17 Kayliegh Bazzell Ean Bazzell February 19 Weston Jester February 21 Cameron Streck February 23 Carol Real February 28 Allene Bielss February 29 Ashley Arthurs February 19 - Announcement Sunday. Doug Yarnell Cody Williams Page 8