Room In The Inn Page 1
Room in the Inn begins this year on December 1 st. This will be our 21 st year to participate with the churches in Charlotte to provide shelter and food for homeless people during the winter months, December 1 March 31. We offer a warm, safe place to sleep, serve three meals (dinner, breakfast and bag lunch) and then return our guests the following morning to uptown Charlotte. The basic goal is to keep homeless people from freezing on cold winter nights. A greater goal is to provide a more personal relationship to homeless people, at least for a night. The concept for the Room In The Inn actually originated with Terry Shipton, a member of the AMF congregation in 1996, who wrote his Master s degree thesis on Homelessness. With the help of our Pastor, Terry worked with Urban Ministries and patterned the Charlotte s RITI program after a similar one in Nashville, Tennessee. AMF became one of the first churches in Charlotte to participate in the program. Since then, the program has grown to 132 participants including churches, YMCA s and schools and in 2016 provided a total of 16,834 overnight accommodations to 1,490 different people here in Charlotte. From the very beginning, John and Sharon Johnson have organized our teams of people. We bring six homeless individuals (usually men, but sometimes families with children), to our Fellowship Hall on a Friday evening and provide food, friendship and warm place to stay overnight. John and Sharon received more than 30 responses back from their RITI questionnaire, with the majority asking to continue the four nights a month schedule for this coming year. Here are the team dates for this year: Team # 1 Team # 2 Team # 3 Team # 4 12/01/17 12/08/17 12/15/17 12/22/17 12/29/17 01/05/18 01/12/18 01/19/18 01/26/18 02/02/18 02/9/18 02/16/8 02/23/18 03/02/18 03/9/18 03/16/18 03/23/18 03/30/18 If you re not currently on a team and would like to help, please contact John at 704.572.8182 or email him at jjjohn@bellsouth.net. Page 2
Pastor s Note ADVENT OPPORTUNITIES The season of Advent is fast approaching. It is a time when worship invites us to wait with expectation for the coming of the Christ child. In our daily lives, we can use this anticipation to help encourage us for righteous living. I will be challenging AMF to be curious about others. What are their faith stories? How do they see God? Who are those that are hopeless? How can we pray and share the hope we have? Do we need hope? Where does our hope come from? Hope Midweek Advent Noontime Devotions: Dec. 6, 13, & 20 11:00am 12:00pm in Lyerly Class SATURDAY DECEMBER 2 ND 10:00AM 12:00PM: AMF HISTORY EXERCISE I will be leading the congregation in a history exercise that will help us celebrate the rich history of AMF and plan for the future. Every member of the congregation is encouraged to prioritize this first opportunity for me as interim to work with the entire congregation. (Lunch will follow). After the history exercise for those willing to stay, Doug Wells will be coordinating us through the Hanging of the Greens. In Christ s Service, Pastor CeCee Council Meeting Update AMF Council met on Sunday November 12 following the AMF Fall Congregational Meeting. ROOM IN THE INN We are grateful to John Johnson for continuing to organize our Room in the Inn Outreach program. Our team leaders are Gus Kretschmer, Beverly Foster, Becky Wardwell and Rick Rozzelle. Please sign up for meals on the sign up sheet in the Narthex and connect with the team leaders to give them any additional support you can provide with set up, clean up, and transportation. We begin this ministry December 1, 2017. Page 3
WELCOME NEW COUNCIL MEMBERS The fall congregational meeting was held on Sunday, November 12, 2017. During this meeting we approved our 2018 budget (which was included in our announcements) and elected two new Council Members: Rick Rozzelle and Mary Lautensleger. Council greatly appreciates all the hard work of Diana Graham and Terry Saunders whose terms end December 31 st. Terry will remain as the ex officio treasurer. IMPORTANT DATES December 2 10am 12noon History Session with Pastor CeCee (lunch is being coordinated by Parish Life) December 2 1pm Hanging of the Greens led by Doug Wells December 10 After Sunday Worship Next Council meeting after worship (Election of Officers for 2018 and Ministry Site Profile) New Council Members are Invited. Council will convene at J Peters in Mt. Holly for an End of Year Celebration after Council Meeting. December 17 Annual Christmas Cantata followed by soup luncheon December 24 10am Worship December 24 4pm Christmas Eve Service no service on Dec 25th January 13 10am to 1pm Council Planning Retreat Conference Room January October Financial Report: NEW PICTURE DIRECTORY Budget ($) required for October $16,527 Received in October $12,938 Expenses in October $11,063 Budget ($) January October $142,121 Amount received thru October 31st: 123,176 Expenses YTD through October 31st: $102,504 Casey has volunteered to take AMF member photos. She will be set up on Saturday, January 14 th, Saturday, January 20 th, and Sunday, January 21 st. A sign up sheet for appointments will be Narthex beginning in late December. Upcoming Council Meetings (after worship): December 10, 2017 January 13, 2018 Page 4
God s Global Barnyard, supported by the children of AMF and WELCA, has already raised enough money to help families in need of food to buy: 5 chicks $50 A beehive $20 1 pigs $30 3 fruit trees $30 Share a Cow $50 We will continue this ministry through December and you will see a childrenʹs Christmas tree in the Narthex in support as well. The tree will have ornaments which can be shared with others to explain this mission. Here are the lessons for the coming weeks: Nov. 19 God s Global Barnyard Fruit Trees Nov. 26 God s Global Barnyard Water Filter Dec. 3 God s Global Barnyard Children s Narthex Tree An Opportunity to Support Our Incarcerated Brother in Christ Tony Long Several AMF members make routine prison trips to visit Anthony Long, who is serving a life sentence. Tony has become a man of great faith and wisdom while incarcerated. Unfortunately he has very little interaction with his family. We would share a photo of him, but we are not allowed to take any phones or cameras when we visit him. During this holiday season, you are invited to send encouragement and Christmas wishes to Tony. He has recently been moved to Piedmont Correctional Institution in Salisbury. Please do not send money or gifts as they are not allowed via mail. If you wish to give him a gift of love, the Lyerly Sunday School class is collecting money that will be deposited into Tonyʹs inmate account for Christmas. This allows him to buy some snacks and supplies not provided by the prison. Itʹs important that Tony knows he is not forgotten. God loves Tony and so do we. If you are interested in helping, please give your donation to JoAnn Dimmer or Terry Saunders. Anthony Long 0247318 1245 Camp Rd Salisbury, NC 28147 Page 5
THE HEAT IN THE WORSHIP SPACE HAS BEEN RESTORED After both HVAC units for the worship space malfunctioned Sunday, Dwayne Graham brought in his preferred HVAC repairman after the council meeting. Both systems were successfully repaired. In addition, we have had our Sanctuary and Chancel area thermostats upgraded. Everything is working well and the church is expected to be nice and warm for this Sundayʹs worship. These high tech thermostats will help us regulate the optimal temperatures throughout the week and save money on our heat and AC bills! Thanks Dwayne! Memorial: Memorial donations for Corky Bolton, father of Susan Mundell, our church custodian for many years, can be made to AMF according to Susanʹs wishes. Please indicate his name and memorial at bottom left of your check. Charlotte CROP Hunger Walk: AMF gathered its team once again for this year s community wide 5K walk on Saturday, October 14, 2017, coordinated by Sharon Johnson. The Charlotte CROP Hunger Walk donations are used to support hunger and poverty relief programs, including Crisis Assistance Ministry, Loaves & Fishes and Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina here in Charlotte. Coming Events: Time to spruce up: We are planning to meet on Saturday November 25th at 9 AM. At that time we will prepare the Fellowship Building for Room In The Inn, which begins the following Friday. We will also be doing some general clean up and maintenance, such as cleaning out the ice machine. Any and all are welcome. Please mark your calendar for the Hanging of the Greens. This will take place on Saturday, December 2nd at 1 PM. Help get AMF decked out for the Christmas season. With many hands, this will take only an hour or so. Please be a part of this fun annual tradition at AMF. There ll be a Soup Luncheon after the Cantata on December 17 th, sponsored by the women of A Mighty Fortress. Page 6