Phillips UMC Connection 1 Phillips United Methodist Church Connection A bimonthly newsletter for members and friends / 2015 Issue #1 Pastor Loretta Waughtal Office: 115 Center Avenue Phillips, WI 54555 Church: 715-339-3120 Parsonage: 715-339-4961 Cell: 608-386-1862 Email: lewaughtal@msn.com Upcoming Events Sunday Worship 9:30 a.m. Collection for Food Pantry First Sunday of month Church School Wednesdays, 3:30-5 Worship on Wednesday (WOW) Supper, 5:15 p.m. Worship, 5:45 p.m. Pastor s Sabbath Every Friday 7 Men s breakfast, 7 a.m. Phillips Clergy Assoc., 10 WOW resumes 8 Worship at Pleasant View, 10:15 a.m. and Regency, 11 a.m. 14 Birthday Lunch, 11:30 20 Circuit 4 clergy meeting, Minocqua, 1:30 p.m. 25 Ad Council after worship 4 Men s Breakfast Phillips Clergy Assoc., 10 11 Birthday Lunch, 11:30 12 Worship at Pleasant View, 10:15 a.m. and Regency, 11 a.m. (P) 15 Valentine Dinner (potential date) 17 Circuit 4 clergy meeting, Rhinelander, 1:30 18 Ash Wednesday Continuing the Conversation For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the LORD Jeremiah 29:11-14a We ended 2014 in a good place; we are trying some new ministries along with our current ones and are in very good financial shape at this point. I want to congratulate you for stepping up while facing a big challenge and opportunity becoming a single church. Many days were busy, some were exciting, and if I m honest there were some dark and difficult days. It was very hard to close the Hawkins Church, although it was deemed necessary and I believe it was closed with dignity. Some of our friends from Hawkins have joined us in Phillips, some have found other church homes, and still others are still searching for their place we continue to pray for them all. On the most difficult days I often found the Old Testament prophets speaking to me. I came across the words from Jeremiah more than once and was reminded that the changes that happen around us may catch us by surprise and may disappoint us but they do not surprise God. I was reminded again and again that I (we) need to stay close to God, giving God our concerns, hurts, questions, as well as our joys. We also need to keep our ears and hearts open to receiving God s words of comfort and guidance. God has a plan, but we can t be a part of it if we aren t paying attention to God. If we keep our lives too busy, or if we continually run ahead of God doing our own thing instead of prayerfully searching for God and seeking to join him where he is already at work we will miss out on God s best for us and for our community. I would ask that you all join me in prayerfully seeking God s vision and plan for us and if God puts something on your heart please share it with me and others. A couple of the new ministries we have begun are the bible study at Pleasant View and Worship on Wednesday. These have both been well received and I hope to continue them, but that doesn t mean there isn t room for adjustment. As we continue trying to see God s plan for us evaluation and feedback are always helpful; does there need to be adjustments in the way we are doing things? Are there topics we should be exploring? Should we forgo a meal on Wednesday and just have worship? Is there a better time or day for studies? I could go on, but you may have even better questions, and if you do I would love to Continued on page 3
Phillips UMC Connection 2 Growing in Faith Through missions Would you like to explore a safe way to have an adventure and grow in your faith? United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (VIM) have three trips coming up this winter (to warmer areas of the US). You can find more details online at http://wisvim.org/ (there is link to their site on our church Web site). You can also ask Donna Lind about her VIM experience. Through studies Pastor L will offer the Lay Servant Ministries Basic Course in. Sign up with Pastor so she can get the participant books ordered. God calls you to a life of servanthood as a disciple of Jesus Christ.... Lay Servant Ministries is the first step for many laypersons toward their faith journey as they strive for a closer relationship with the Lord, the authors write in the introduction to the Lay Servant Ministries Basic Course. This is a foundational course designed to equip new church leaders and renew current leaders in The United Methodist Church. It explores personal spiritual gifts servant leadership each leader s role in developing future leaders the importance of consistent spiritual practices the core ministries of Leading, Caring, and Communicating and much more. If you are interested in knowing more about The United Methodist Church this is a great place to start. Cost for the participant s book is $11. Upper Room Devotional When you pick up your Upper Room devotional please remember we are asking for a donation of 50 cents per copy ($1 for large print) to help offset the cost. As Christians, it is good to take a short time each day to read and reflect on the short message and then offer a prayer of thanks and concern. There is a small box near the Upper Room devotionals to deposit your money. Thank you for your cooperation. Churches Web Site Don't forget to check out our Web site from time to time. It can be found at http://phillips-umc.org/. Our church also has a presence on Facebook. Look for Phillips United Methodist Church and "like" it to receive announcements and updates. This is not the same as "friending" the church so no one will have access to your Facebook page, but you will receive updates when they are added to the church page. Worship at Phillips Scripture Readers 4 Judy Bolles, Barb Nyberg 11 Annette Gernaey, Julie Olson 18 Peter Dahlie, Luke Heidenreich 25 Dave Olson, Gail Redmond 1 Steve Willett, Kathy Schilling 8 Kyle Kosmer, Mikala Kosmer 15 Carolyn Mealman, Judy Bolles 22 Greg Potter, Joel Nyberg Ushers/Greeters Gary & Deb Kadlecek Char Taylor Annette Gernaey & Barb Nyberg Altar Committee Prue Alm Peter Dahlie Newsletter Deadline Our next newsletter will come out the first part of March. Please submit your committee reports and others news by 15. You can leave your items in the church office newsletter mail slot, mail it to Sherry Barnet N5723 Hilltop Rd., Catawba, WI 54515, or e-mail dsbarnet@centurytel.net. Your participation is needed for the newsletter to be really useful.
Phillips UMC Connection 3 Happy Birthday! 3 Jacob Lepka 5 Vincent Koci 8 Steve Willett Tim Cress 10 Olivia Caldwell 11 Shirley Cress 13 Sarah Eckert 14 Amanda Gutheridge 20 Keely Gabay 22 Tammie Karpinski 29 Tom Balsis 1 Bryan Mergan 3 Mike Kosmer 11 Lorna Tweedie 16 Mikayla Kosmer 23 Jodie Kadlecek Memorial Committee Report Our memorial fund has received donations in 2014 in memory of Mary Karnosh, Ann Schancer, Char Stevens, Marion Kenney, and Maynard Teigen. As of Dec. 1, 2014 we have in our fund: Designated Tower Fund: $4,415.00 Davis Music Fund: $1,100.00 Kitchen Countertops: $1,997.52 Undesignated: $5,144.64 Memorial Treasurer Continuing the Conversation, continued hear them. God s plan for Phillips UMC is for all of us, not just me or any other individual within the congregation it takes all of us together acting as the body of Christ. 2015 will provide challenges of its own, but I believe God has plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. We just need to commit to prayerfully seeking God and following his plan. One of the things that helped us last year was the small group meetings in people s homes. We were able to ask questions and share concerns as well as doing a little brainstorming. Some ideas were put into action. Open communication is very important, so I would love to see more of those meetings take place throughout the coming year. I am also planning to offer the Lay Servant Ministries Basic Course this month as a good foundation to build on and a way to discern God s plan. God bless you all as we serve together. God bless you as you seek to know and love God fully! Pastor Loretta 2015 Staff Pastor Relations Committee Training Please mark your calendars and plan to attend one of the training sessions listed below if you are on the staff pastor relations committee (also known as PPRC) or interested in what this committee does. Sat. Jan. 17, 2015 Black River Falls UMC, 100 N 4th St., BRF, WI 54615 1:30 pm 4:30 pm. Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 Menomonie UMC, 2703 Bongey Dr., Menomonie, WI 54751 2:00 pm 5:00 pm Sat. Jan. 31, 2015 Medford UMC, 287 E Allman St, Medford WI 54451-1:30 pm 4:30 pm All three sessions will be the same, allowing you to attend whichever one is most convenient for you. All SPRC members are strongly encouraged to attend and learn about their responsibilities. The training materials include duties of SPRC, future vision of the Wisconsin Annual Conference, congregational health and growth, and a time for questions and answers. It is especially important that new SPRC chairs and new committee members attend this event. The content of the day will be different from previous years. This training is open to clergy as well. Please RSVP to Susan Olson which session you are attending 1 week prior to the session you choose to attend. Email at: solson@wisconsinumc.org or call the Eau Claire Regional office at 715-835-5181.
Phillips UMC Connection 4 Phillips Leadership Administrative Council Peter Dahlie Chairperson Brent Edwards Vice chair Prue Alm Recording secretary Finance Secretary Donna Lind Treasurer Connie Trewyn/Duane Barnet Staff/Parish Relations Committee Vicki Lemke 2015 Peter Dahlie 2015 Kyrstin Gabay 2017 Kathy Schilling 2017 Amanda Kadlecek 2017 Sheryl Barnet lay member Donna Lind lay leader Lay Leader Donna Lind Lay Member to Annual Conf. Sheryl Barnet Alternate Member to Annual Conf. Julie Olson Membership Secretary Prudence Alm Trustees Troy Kadlecek 2015 Prue Alm 2015 Nick Gabay 2016 Myron Hrad 2017 Dave Olson 2017 Worship/Outreach Committee Julie Olson Jodie Kadlecek Lay Leadership Nominations Pastor Loretta Waughtal Prue Alm Circuit 4 Laity Team Member open Finance Committee Connie Trewyn/Duane Barnet Peter Dahlie Donna Lind Duane Barnet Christian Education Julie Olson Donna Lind Krystin Gabay Sheryl Barnet Annette Gernaey Memorials and Wills Native American Conference Contact Gail Redmond Archives and History Barb Nyberg As you can see we have one open position. Let Pastor L know if you are interested in filling it. Sign Up for Church Ministries There are signup sheets at church so you can sign up to be a greeter/usher, altar person, acolyte, funeral lunch server, or snow shoveler. You can sign up for weekly or monthly service; there is a lot of opportunity and need. If you are not sure what some of the duties include, there is a description of the duties for altar person, greeters/ushers, and acolytes on the signup sheets.
Phillips UMC Connection 5 Review of Advent 2014 Cookie decorating night Christmas parade Christmas Bazaar Church school Christmas program Christmas Eve service
Phillips United Methodist Church Phillips UMC Connection 6 115 Center Avenue Phillips, WI 54555 Si Thank You Tim and I would like to thank everyone who sent us Christmas cards, letters, and gifts this year. They were all much appreciated and made this busy season brighter for us. I especially liked sitting at the end of day with a warm drink and reading through the cards and letters. This year I again prayed for each family after reading the card they sent. Thank you and God bless you all. Pastor Loretta