Faithnews OCTOBER 2018 Jesus Plan of Reaching the World It was in Bethlehem that the Son of God was born. He was born a tiny baby in a tiny manger in a tiny town. That boy Jesus grew up and became a man. At the age of thirty He chose twelve disciples and began His public ministry. For three years Jesus preached, taught, and healed. Large crowds, sometimes in the thousands, gathered around Him. The scriptures tell us that after His death and resurrection He walked this earth for another forty days continuing His earthly ministry. Yet surprisingly, even after all of that, His earthly ministry only yielded about one hundred and twenty believers. You could have literally fit every single one of them into our chapel here at Faith UMC. But the thing we have to remember is that it was never Jesus plan to reach the entire world through those three plus years of public ministry. In John 17:6, 18-21 Jesus is praying to His Heavenly Father and this is what He says, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. You see, it is through the message of Christ s followers that the world will believe in Him. We are His voice. We are His P.R. representatives. We are His hands and we are His feet. It was Jesus who gave His life for us and now we are called to share and live that message so that the world will know and believe. In Christ s Peace, Pastor John Church Events Oct 7 th CROP Walk Oct 13 th All Church Workday Oct 17 th Mobility Challenged Luncheon Oct 18 th Senior Lunch Oct 25 th Jungle Medic Missions Presentation Oct 26 th Trunk or Treat
Discipleship There is still time to sign up for a Life Group this fall! We will begin meeting soon, so don t delay! We have six awesome Life Groups looking for members: Fellowship & Connection led by Tim & Karen Lockhart This small group of couples has been meeting for the last year and is looking for new faces! They meet to connect with one another and with God through study and prayer. If you are looking to be connected and build relationships, this is a great group to do so! This group meets bi-weekly on Sundays after second service at Tim & Karen s home. Young Adults led by Drew & Alison Weaver Veterans led by George Oliver There is something about shared experiences that can lead to deeper connection and understanding. This group of veterans would love to invite you to join their small group. They are preparing to start the American Heritage series, and would like to invite others to join them. This group meets every two weeks on Thursdays. They plan to meet from 7-9 pm at the church this fall. Spiritual Growth led by Glenna Pletcher This small group is a mixture of ages and includes both individuals and couples. They will be meeting this October for a study of All Things New by John Eldredge. Glenna and friends would love to welcome you into their group to deepen relationships and to grow spiritually. This group meets on the 2 nd & 4 th Wednesdays of the month at the church from 7-8:30 pm. This new Life Group is for young adults who want to connect with the church. Whether you are out of college, just beginning to find a career, or are well established, we would love to get you involved. Build connections, learn together and grow spiritually through living life together. This group will meet bi-weekly, on Fridays, 7pm at their home in Elkhart. The first gathering will be Oct. 19 th. Lunch & Learn led by Bev Radeline This new Life Group will be meeting during the day for those who find it easier for their schedule. This group will focus on topics like Biblical characters, founders of the faith, and history, just to name a few! Bring a sack lunch and join for fellowship, study and prayer! This group will meet at the church weekly on Mondays from 11:30-1:30 pm. Moms Connect led by Vanessa Rosenberg Being a mom is a difficult job, and sometimes you just need advice and prayer! Join Vanessa Rosenberg as she walks through Moms Connect: A Year of Blessing. This group will also be an outreach to our Kingdom Kids Early Learning Center, as we will be inviting all moms to come participate as well. If you would like to be a part of this great opportunity for connection, outreach and growth, register today! Breakthrough Youth Fall is here and we are ready to get back into a routine of meeting together. September was a good and busy month for us, but this month, we are back to meeting each Sunday night. We are starting October with a new series called, Base Camp where we ll learn a little bit about some basics of faith. It will be a great opportunity for us to dig in and wrestle with some tough questions together. Here is our schedule for the month! October 7 th, 14 th, & 21 st : Youth 5-7pm October 26 th : Girls Night 7-9pm (At Sarah s) October 28 th : Youth Harvest Party & Photo Scavenger Hunt 4-7pm Kingdom Kids With the support of Faith Church (you), Kingdom Kids will be hosting this year s Trunk or Treat. Last year s event was bigger than it had been in a long time so we are excited to be doing it again! In fact, we had to make some emergency candy runs due to running out. Please donate candy as you are able in the box in the lobby. Trunk or Treat will be Friday, October 26 @ 6:30-8pm. Darth Vader will be here as well as Princess Leia. If you would like to decorate your trunk, please contact Erica at 574-875-5437 or kingdom-kids@hotmail.com. Thank you for supporting this community event! This group will meet bi-weekly on the 1 st & 3 rd Tuesdays starting Oct. 16 th. Touch-A-Truck was a success! Thank you to everyone who volunteered and helped make this event possible. We are going to start practicing for our kids' Sunday Christmas program during Sunday School. Please watch for a hand out and an email with the practice information. Children s Chimes practice begins October 14 @ 9am. All children 2 nd -8 th grade are welcome. We have been working on our Bible in One Year curriculum for breakout. It is going really well. I have noticed that the children are becoming more comfortable navigating the bible to find verses. We have also been working on memorizing the books of the Bible and The Lord's Prayer. I am still looking for two Sunday School teachers and for two leaders for J-Squad. Please let me know if you would be interested.
Stephen Ministry I had many reasons (excuses) why I should not take a week out of my busy retirement schedule to attend Stephen Leadership Training in Pittsburg. However, I awoke one night hearing my Mother s frequent admonition (when I was a teenager facing a difficult decision) saying, You do what you think is right. I didn t always like to hear it back then. But, it just affirmed what I knew I should do. So, I went with some apprehension. Aware of my apprehensions about driving in downtown Pittsburg, Delbert accompanied me for the trip, and made many friends among the attendees at break and the hotel employees. I found myself worshipping and learning with 308 Christian attendees from the US and around the world. A total of 58 congregations were represented for the first time, 142 previously enrolled congregations, 44 pastors, 214 females, 94 males, for a total of 308 participants. Four foreign countries were represented: Canada, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Germany. During the week we had 50 hours of instruction. All the sessions were uplifting, challenging, and inspirational as we shared how we have been blessed through our ministry to another during their need for God s love and forgiveness. The most touching devotional was shared by one of the St. Louis Stephen Ministries Leaders. She spoke of her own need and experience being ministered to by another during a time of loss and a health crisis. She sang the song by Bruce Carroll Who will be Jesus to Them? The song describes life situations any one of us may encounter, then closes the song with the refrain: Who will be Jesus to them? Who ll show the love that s Commanded in His word. Will they see in us the mighty God we serve? Who will be Jesus to them? I don t know if Mr. Carroll knows anything about Stephen Ministry. This song describes well what it means to need a Christian caregiver to walk along beside one who is hurting and in need of Jesus love. The Bible tells us: whatever you have done to one of the least of these, you have done it unto me. This is the blessing one receives when participating in Stephen ministry and/or Stephen Leadership. Submitted by Linda Schrock, Stephen Leader Community Outreach A big thank you goes out to all who donated their time and items for the Community Outreach Project on Melissa Hill's home on September 23rd. We had a large crowd and painted a whole house and put in a fence in just a few hours! It was a great day of service for our neighbor. But the work isn't done yet! After a phone call from Mike Schaffer from Builders of Hope, Melissa would love to worship with us at Faith. This is a big win and step forward in faith for her and her daughter Erica! We are looking for a few volunteers who would be willing to pick her up for church, visit with her, and also a few groups who might be willing to help with odd jobs around the house. This is a great opportunity for a group of people to jump in and show the love of Christ to a neighbor! interested in helping out, contact Pastor Sarah. If you are
More Faith News... Junglemedic Missions Presentation - Please join us on Thursday, October 25 th at 7pm to learn about the organization Junglemedic Missions. The Elkhart County CROP Hunger Walk is Sunday, Oct. 7. Registration begins at 1:30 p.m., the Walk is at 2:00 p.m. The Walk will be held at Island Park in Elkhart. For more information or to make a donation, please see Marv Clark in the Lobby between services. All monies given at Faith UMC will be in Memory and in Honor of Dale & Judy Stickel. Junglemedic Missions provides free medical and dental care to remote Mayan Indian villages and teaches gardening skills that will feed them for a lifetime. The Problem We're Solving: There are over 140 villages in the Rio Dulce Izabal area of Guatemala that have no medical or dental care at all and only subsist on corn tortillas for their three meals a day. Bryan Buchanan, aka the Jungle Medic, provides medical and dental care for Mayan Indians living in remote villages in the jungles, mountains and along the Rio Dulce river in Guatemala. Bryan hosts teams of doctors, dentists and other medical personnel. He also hosts nonmedical teams from churches, youth groups and other short-term teams. If you are interested in bringing a team to help, we would love to have you. Thank you for donating 356 bars of soap to Church Community Services in July & August. We will continue to collect Shampoo & Conditioner through the month of October. Donations may be placed in the cart in the Fellowship Hall. Non-perishable foods are accepted any time in the carts in the lobby. Annual Budget $868, 000 Needed YTD $634, 296 Given YTD $537,693 Has someone been missing from your pew? Give them a call or drop them a note. Reaching out to our Faith family, friends, and neighbors is everyone s responsibility.
Birthdays & Anniversaries 10/1 Karen Bohn 10/13 Callie Miller 10/3 Debra Page Nikki Miller 10/4 Ron & Lori Bowers Mark Szabo Nolan Rasler 10/14 Beth Williams John & Stephanie Szabo 10/16 Don & Sally Dailey 10/5 Dennis Hoover 10/17 Vicki Bridenstein 10/6 Bonnie Shugarts 10/18 Linda Myers 10/7 Ken & Carol Tice Brian Riker 10/8 Dax & Cindi Corns 10/21 Bruce & Connie Neely Kathy Smith Phyl Stiver Tom & Pat Robertson Kathy Yoder Rich Toth 10/26 Rachel Collins 10/9 Connie Ganger 10/28 Teri Birk Mike Wyrick David Bortner 10/10 Justin Ayres Collin Seegert Bob McClane 10/29 Michael Gaff 10/12 Carol Carlson Paul Mishler Dale & Sharon McDowell Hadley Simon Jake Metzler Omar Roa Pastor John Hogsett, Senior Pastor pastorjohn@faithumc.com Pastor Sarah Miller, Youth & Discipleship sarah@faithumc.com Pastor Chuck Waite, Visitation chuck@faithumc.com
October 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 7pm Small Group: Bortner 2 7pm Staff Parish 3 4 7pm Veteran s Small Group 7pm Trustees 5 6 7 10:45am Family Worship 12:30pm Small Group: Lockhart 2pm CROP Walk 5pm Breakthrough Youth 8 9 4pm Stephen Leaders 6pm Stephen Supervisors 10 1pm UMW 11 7pm Ad Board Meeting 7pm Missions Committee 12 13 All Church Workday 14 9am Children s Chimes 9:30am Donut Drop-In 10:45am Casual Worship 5pm J-Squad 5pm Breakthrough Youth 15 7pm Small Group: Bortner 16 4pm World Missionary Press 6:30pm Mom s Connect 17 12pm Mobility Challenged Luncheon 18 11:30am Senior Lunch 6pm Small Group: Miller 7pm Veteran s Small Group 7pm Daycare Committee 19 7pm Life Group: Young Adults 20 21 9am Children s Chimes 10:45am Casual Worship 5pm Breakthrough Youth 22 4:30pm Bazaar Committee 23 4pm Stephen Leaders 6pm Stephen Supervisors 24 25 12:30pm FCJ Committee 7pm Junglemedic Missions Presentation 26 6:30-8pm Trunk or Treat 27 28 9am Children s Chimes 10:45am Casual Worship 4-7pm Breakthrough Youth Harvest Party 5pm J-Squad 29 30 31