be first" (Matt 19:30 CEB). Jesus was teaching his disciples a lesson about what it means to follow Him,

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1 This past Sunday, a group of us gathered during the Sunday School hour to begin our 5-week Advent study called "A Different Kind of Christmas." Each week will be led by a different leader over the course of the Advent season. Doris Aldridge led our first session, and she did an outstanding job. I told her that she had set the bar mighty high for those of us whose turn at leading this study will come soon! If you did not make it to the study this past Sunday, you missed a real treat. But it's not too late. Come and join us this Sunday morning at 9:30 in the Upper Room Sunday School classroom. You'll be glad you did! At one point, Doris asked us to think back to the traditions of our own childhood Christmases. The question was meant to remind us of simpler days and perhaps encourage us to borrow from those days to enrich this season's celebration of Christmas. One of the traditions in my home had to do with the way in which my two older sisters and I moved from our bedrooms into the living room where Santa had so graciously left us our Christmas presents. We would line up in the hallway with the shortest child in the front and the tallest child in the back, and we would walk into the living room singing "Silent Night." Of course, our pace was quick, and we rarely even finished one half of the first verse before our singing.. remind us of simpler days and perhaps encourage us to borrow from those days to enrich this season's celebration of Christmas. changed into shouts of joy as we spied the unwrapped gifts that Santa had left for each us under the tree. It's a memory I will never lose, particularly the Christmas when I finally outgrew my two older sisters and had to be at the end of the line. This was the one and only time in my childhood that I wanted to be shorter than my sisters! This reminds me of something Jesus said. "But many who are first will be last. And many who are last will be first" (Matt 19:30 CEB). Jesus was teaching his disciples a lesson about what it means to follow Him, and that was to go to the back of the line... to put others' needs before your own... to let go of the desire for things of this world and put Him first. Sounds like pretty good advice for the Christmas season, doesn't it? Let's stand tall in our faith this year and go to the back of the line. Let's put the needs of others before those of our own. Let's put Jesus first this year. And let us be reminded as Doris reminded us this past Sunday, "Christmas is not your birthday!" O come, let us adore Him Pastor Jim Memorial United Methodist Church 1100 West C Street Kannapolis, NC jbbrookshire@yahoo.com

2 P a g e 2 M e m o r i a l M e s s e n g e r Remember you can access our pictorial directory on-line. Memorialunitedmethodsitchurch.org. Contact the church office or the webmaster for the password. This n That Stay current with happenings in the church: Be sure you are on the calling tree and the lists! Call the church office for details. New Recycle bins! New green bins in the kitchen, fellowship hall, upstairs classrooms, and the Upper Room Classroom. Recycle most anything: paper, plastic, metal, cardboard, etc. It s the right thing to do! WEATHER CLOSINGS. In case of REALLY bad weather, tune in to WSOC-TV and TV64, or check WSOCTV.com, or sign up to receive FREE and text alerts. For more information about these services, please visit WSOCTV.com/CLOSINGS. Quotes from a few of the more than 500 who were here for Trunk or Treat! We should have come to this church first. This is good for our community. This place is awesome!

3 P a g e 3 M e m o r i a l M e s s e n g e r Due to a drop in participation, The United Methodist men have decided to suspend our monthly meetings. We will continue to maintain our charter with The United Methodist Church for the coming year and will prayerfully consider the right and best time to regroup. We are grateful for the leadership of our President, Wayne Anderson, and we thank you all for your support of The United Methodist Men! Pastor Jim Keep in mind that we will be sponsoring our annual soup and sandwich luncheon right after church on January 20, Please mark your calendar and plan to attend. Cost $5.00 adults and $2.50 children. Money will be used for our mission projects. Remember our Christmas celebrations this year--birthday for Jesus on December 22 at 6:00, and Communion service on December 24 at 7:00. Let s all get excited about making 2014 a special year! Doris Aldridge CURRENT NEEDS: Breakfast Items such as cereal, grits and oatmeal Canned Fruit Tuna Canned Pasta with Meat Saltine Crackers Macaroni & Cheese Ramen Noodles Can vegetables

4 P a g e 4 M e m o r i a l M e s s e n g e r Trustees Thanks to the efforts of Steve Lambert, Jerry Carter, Wayne Anderson, and Larry Beaver, we were able to replace our stolen cargo trailer. We found a great deal on a brand new 2014 model and bought it for almost exactly what we collected from the insurance company. Our new trailer worked beautifully during this year's Operation Christmas Child campaign! Mike Morgan continues to do a great job taking care of the church van. Thanks Mike! If you did not know, we are able to rent our parsonage since Pastor Jim and Linda live in their own home in Salisbury. This gives the church a little extra income. A month or so ago, our current tenants vacated the parsonage, but we have new tenants already! They signed a lease to take possession of the parsonage on December 1st. While it was vacant, Jerry Carter and Steve Lambert led an effort for some needed repairs and updates, and it looks great! Our thanks go to Jerry, Steve, and Gwynn Goodman for helping us make all of this happen! Roy Saunders and Pastor Jim worked on the landscaping around the church sign adding new landscaping timbers and gravel. It looks great. Thank you guys! We are in the process of securing bids to replace our aging heating and air conditioning systems. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks. The City of Kannapolis is requiring us to install a backflow valve in order to eliminate the potential of water from our property flowing back into the city's water system. We have no choice but to install this device. It will be costly, but we are working to have this done as reasonably as possible. We will know more in the coming weeks. Our thanks to Steve Lambert who has served faithfully and well as our Board Chairperson in Steve is stepping aside. A new chairperson will be elected in early 2014.

5 P a g e 5 M e m o r i a l M e s s e n g e r Birthdays & Anniversaries DECEMBER WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES Doug & Susie Johnson 1 Ernest & Barbara Brock 23 DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS Sarah Price 12 Phyllis Atwell 14 Adison Brown 16 Holly Brown 24 Dylan Livengood 27 Raymond Owens 30 JANUARY BIRTHDAYS Jason Lambert 3 Morgan Brown 4 Kat Overcash 9 Sarah Adcock 10 Jerry Carter 10 Roy Saunders 11 Patti Goodman 12 Kyle Watterson 13 Chris Morgan 13 Kale Sloop 15 Lee Reith 18 Ginny Russell 18 Lisa McCombs 20 Rick Basinger 25 Tracy Caskey 30 (First of) FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS Louise Starnes 2 Cody Livengood 4 Harvie Chisholm 5 Cheryl Lambert 6 Dasha Kouzminova 7 In Memory of Clark Gardner: George & Linda Ward, Ambassador Bible Class, 1st Weslyan Church, Nifty Over Fifty In Memory of Belle King: Nifty Over Fifty In Memory of Joe Fisher: Nifty Over Fifty The Silent Hour Memories come to bear Old friends come and gone Hear their quiet whispers with all their reminders to look upon The record still keeps on playing though it is out of tune As we savor the silent hour for those coming home soon... Kevin Crowley Yes, that's our Pastor Jim, the Pirate! (with Emily Stewart and Patti Goodman)

6 P a g e 6 M e m o r i a l M e s s e n g e r A Word (or two) from the Finance Committee - THANK YOU! +Back in March of this year, Pastor Jim met with the church family and described the state of the church. He spoke of good news at every turn in our church... from membership to confessions of faith... from worship attendance to small group studies... from baptisms to missions and outreach. Each of these categories paints a picture of a very healthy and vital church. Only one piece of the puzzle was missing, and that was that our weekly offerings had not been sufficient to meet our budget. Pastor Jim reminded us of the need to be more generous, not simply to meet a budget, but so we could experience the individual and collective blessings that come by way of being generous givers. He left it up to you to respond, and respond you did! Our weekly offerings are up substantially, and it appears we will meet the needs of our annual budget for Through the end of November, we are well within reach. You have given $132,398 against an annual budget (excluding the parsonage) of approximately $145,678, and we have one month to go. We continue to be blessed by your generosity. Whether you give a little or a lot, we thank you for giving in May God continue to bless you as your giving allows MUMC to be a blessing to others! Merry Christmas! MUMC Finance Committee

7 P a g e 9 M e m o r i a l M e s s e n g e r From the Lay Leadership Committee We would like to thank the following church leaders whose leadership term expires at the end of this calendar year: Beth Harrison, Recording Secretary and Lay leadership Committee Sharon Carter, Lay Leadership Committee Amy Bradoc, Staff-Parish Relations Committee Jerry Carter, Board of Trustees Steve Lambert, Board of Trustees Judy Brown, Board of Trustees Wayne Anderson, United Methodist Men's President We would like to welcome the following as new church leaders for 2014: Emily Stewart, Recording Secretary Jean Anderson, Lay Leadership Committee Patti Goodman, Staff-Parish Relations Committee Allen Milem, Staff-Parish Relations Committee Kale Sloop, Board of Trustees Doris Aldridge, Board of Trustees Jane Measmer, Board of Trustees A very special thanks goes to: Maria Kimrey, Administrative Council Chairperson Janet Heintz, Lay Leader Leeann Barnette, Staff-Parish Relations Committee Chairperson Bill Measmer, Finance Committee Chairperson Denise Reid, Financial Secretary Peggy Lambert, Church Treasurer Wayne Anderson, Delegate to Annual Conference We would like to thank all who served and will continue their service to the church in We are excited about our 2014 leadership team and ask that you include them in your daily prayers!

8 P a g e 8 Special Christmas Events 12/1-29 Christmas is not your birthday - 9:30 hour 12/12 Operation Christmas Child Charlotte 12/13 Walking by Faith Christmas Party 7:00 pm 12/20 Salvation Army Kettle Drive 10am-8pm 12/22 Children s Program and Birthday for Jesus 6:00 pm 12/24 Christmas Eve Service & Holy Communion 7:00 pm

9 OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD Collection Week for Operation Child was very exciting. Our Collection Center total of boxes already sent to Charlotte is 19,320. WOW! This is approximately 3,000 more than was sent last year. Our totals are not complete because some boxes were taken directly to the Processing Center and we will be taking some late boxes when our group goes to work on Thursday, December 12 th from 5-9. We still have spaces available. If you are interested in volunteering, please sign up on the form in the fellowship hall or let Lauren or Dawn know. Thanks so much to the wonderful volunteers who came faithfully and worked long hours as they packed cases and loaded the trucks, typed the drop off information, brought food for the volunteers, greeted the individuals who brought shoeboxes, picked up cases at various relays, and supported this ministry in prayer every day. Jonathan Farmer and his Interact Students Our Collection Center total of boxes already sent to Charlotte is 19,320. WOW! This is approximately 3,000 more than was sent last year. from A L Brown High School helped us again this year. You should have seen those young girls and boys loading those heavy cases five high in the trucks. Will Van Wieren and his youth from Midway United Methodist and Ralph Smith and his youth from Westside Church of the Nazarene were great helps. Thanks to all of you who made donations of money and items for shoeboxes that our youth and children packed. Their total of boxes was 150 plus. Mrs. Carrie s and Nancy Sloop s toboggans and Denise s scarves will keep lots of children warm and let them know that they are loved. We met many new people and heard amazing stories about experiences in packing shoeboxes. Bonny King told us that after the packing party at Catawba College they had a student led prayer over the boxes.

10 Operation Christmas Child, con t One of the days that some of our children had packed boxes, Dawn told them to put their hands on the boxes and asked if one of them would like to pray. Jaxson (age 5) said that he would pray. He prayed for God to bless the boxes and the little children that got them. Then Ava Grace and Allie prayed that God would make sure that the children would get the right boxes they needed. Aren t our children wonderful? A lady came in with many boxes and asked if she could have some of the OCC stickers. She said that her family lived in New York and really didn t need anything and with postage as high as it is that it cost more to mail a gift than the price of the gift. So she made a shoebox for each family member that she normally would send a gift. She would make a handmade card with the OCC sticker on it that would tell them that a box had been made in their honor. Isn t that what Christmas is all about? Sharing God s Love in a Simple Shoebox! A Community Celebration with Franklin Graham will be held at the Processing Center on Friday, December 6 at 2:30 pm. Special guest Governor Sarah Palin will also be speaking at the event. If you are interested in going, please let Wayne know. Wayne & Jean Anderson IT S DING A LING TIME! On Friday, December 20th from 10:00 am 8:00 pm, Memorial will have the opportunity to ring a bell for the Salvation Army Annual Kettle Drive. We will be at Bi Lo again this year. The sign up sheet is on the bulletin board in the fellowship hall. Join us in making ringing the bell part of your family s Christmas Traditions. Linda and I want to say thanks for your generous gifts for Pastor Appreciation Month! We love being in ministry with each one of you and we appreciate your kindness and support! Pastor Jim and Linda Help Wanted: a volunteer webmaster to maintain the MUMC website. This is a great opportunity to serve the church community and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Skills you need: computer literacy Skills you don t need: programming expertise Equipment you need: a laptop or desktop computer with internet access The main duties of the volunteer webmaster are to consistently keep the web site up to date, and to post news, information, photos, and audio files about the congregation. Contact Linda pbfam@yahoo.com

11 MEETINGS AT MT. OLIVET UMC P a g e 11 M e m o r i a l M e s s e n g e r GRADES 6-8 4:30-5:15 DINNER 5:15-6:00 GRADES :00-7:00 PICKUP AT MEMORIAL UMC at 4PM Hear, my son, your father s instruction, and forsake not your mother s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck Proverbs 1:8-9 12/1: Bowling, Bible Study and Cookout 12/12: Operation Christmas Child Please sign up, we need to help at the warehouse in Charlotte and I am sure you need the blessing! 12/15/13: Christmas Party - Mt. Olivet Progressive Dinner 12/22/13: Children s Program and Birthday for Memorial 6:00 12/22 or 12/29/13: No Youth Meetings Youth Director: Dawn Grant dgrant1166@yahoo.com

12 MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 1100 WEST C STREET KANNAPOLIS NC 28081