Welcome to St. Matthew s 1520 Oak Rd, Snellville, GA 30078 July 16, 2017 The Sixth Sunday After Pentecost Our Guests of Honor at this service are our visitors. We sincerely hope you will meet the Lord in this place today, that you will assist us in exalting Him, and that you will return to worship with us soon. Please help us welcome you by giving us the opportunity to make your acquaintance. If this is your first visit with us, please fill out a Visitor Information leaflet or sign the guest book. If you are interested in becoming a member of St. Matthew s Parish, please speak to Mother Liz or one of the greeters. Newcomer classes are held several times throughout the year, and announcements can be found in the Sunday bulletin. We invite you to join us for continental breakfast in the parish hall at 9:00 a.m. Sunday before the service.. Name Tags: We encourage you to wear your name tags to church events including worship each Sunday. If you need a name tag, please sign the sheet in the narthex. Be sure to print clearly. Temporary stick-on tags are available in the same location. Medical Equipment Available: For the safety of our people, our building is equipped with an AED; we also have a wheelchair for your convenience. Please see an usher for assistance. A Crying Room is available in the back of the sanctuary with speakers, so you can clearly hear the service. Continental Breakfast in the parish hall today at 9:00 a.m. hosted by the Fellowship Committee. Altar Flowers today are given to the glory of God by Bob & Anita Genung in celebration of Kim Schmidt s birthday. PRAYERS Please pick up your copy of Prayers For The People on the shelf in the narthex to use during your personal devotional time. Birthdays (July 16 - July 22) Sylvester Bassey, Will Jones, Keira Roney, Jerry Day, David Mitchell, Kim Schmidt, Molly Bowden, Elizabeth Chandler, Lawrence Dockery, Jane Maina, Bill Shelton, Iris Camden Anniversaries (July 16 - July 22) Herb & Shirley Brown, Beth & Michael Thornton 1
Big Thank You s are in order... A special thank you to the church and all the lovely volunteers for their help during this summer's Hero Central VBS. We had around 100 kids on campus and they had a blast! From Charmaine helping me with the color printer to ensure the perfect name tags to Oscar, Sylvia and the youth moving the Fellowship Hall dividers to the sanctuary to create our "cityscape", VBS has truly been a work of love. Through this week, I've watched the volunteers holding hands and comfort crying kids as well as helping them create art and explore what it means to be a true hero in God. For me, it was easy to see what a hero was because any group of people who give up time--our most important nonrenewable resource--to help foster God's love in our youth are heroes in the truest sense of the word. A heartfelt thank you to all of you, especially the center leads who spent many hours preparing their center - VBS would be nothing without you. You are all heroes! Kira Coates Thank You! The Fellowship Committee would like to thank everyone who signed up and attended our Picnic last Sunday. We had 142 sign up (Many Thanks!) and we served over 156 people lunch. The food was outstanding! Thanks go out to everyone for donating a side dish and to all who helped out. A special thanks to all our food judges especially for their years of service protecting us. A heartfelt thank you to all our service men and women in our congregation for their duty and sacrifices from their loved ones to protect us! Peace to all and God Bless. Next Fellowship event is Karaoke Night on Friday, August 18th. Nancy Drury and Oscar DeLeon Thank You to all who participated in the Red Cross blood drive last Sunday on July 9th. Our goal was thirty pints and we surpassed it we were able to collect thirty-four pints! Our next blood drive is scheduled for October 15th. Mark your calendars! Amanda Livermont 2
A note from Mark DiGiovanni - Finance Chair Last year, through a bazillion surveys, forums, etc., you told us what you wanted for St. Matthew s that would help the parish grow and flourish. The vestry prepared a budget based on your input, which fully funded the budget requests for the six key areas you identified as most important, but increased projected expenses 9.2%. Making our plan happen means giving must go up 9.2%. It hasn t; it s up.03% ($76) through June. What can you do? Simple give three bucks a week more. If every giver gives three bucks a week more, the gap between what we are doing and what we want to do will close. And if you re not yet giving regularly, you ll never have a better time to start. Three bucks a week more to fulfill the mission you ve set for your church. Simple. SERMON ON THE AMOUNT THROUGH JUNE 2017 Actual Year to Date Budget Year to Date Contributions $247,071 $268,764 Expenses $260,564 $274,787 Surplus (Deficit) for 2017 $ (13,493) $ (6,023) GUY S NIGHT OUT Wednesday, July 19 At 7:00 p.m. McCray s Tavern 100 North Perry Street Lawrenceville, GA 30046 Contact: Levi Livermont at llivermont311@gmail.com Come on out for men s fellowship on the Third Wednesday of each month. RESTAURANT FOYERS Friday, July 21 7:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m. SUMMIT S WAYSIDE TAVERN 3334 Stone Mountain Hwy Snellville, GA 30078 Come enjoy good food, fellowship and fun! Please contact Becky Olbon at: beckyolbon@yahoo.com if you plan on attending or for additional information 3
CAR SHOW ORGANIZING COMMITTEE BEGINS PLANNING Planning for the seventh annual St. Matthew s car show began on June 13, with the first meeting of the organizing committee. During their initial meeting, in support of one of the new six focus areas of St. Matthew s, the committee voted to go in a new and exciting direction for disbursement of the income generated from the car show. Jack Denton, St. Matthew s senior warden and chair of the committee, shared that this year, 100% of profits generated will go to an out-reach organization known to the St. Matthew s Out-Reach committee. In talking with Jack, he said that this had been a longterm goal of the committee for several years and fits well with our new direction. Jack began to work with the out-reach committee to select a charity and the decision was recently made to direct the funds to Place of Seven Springs, a local charity here in Snellville (http://www.placeofsevensprings.com/). Seven Springs is a non-profit, Christian organization committed to helping those in our community, while encouraging self-responsibility, personal and spiritual growth. The out-reach committee has been supporting Seven Springs for several years, and the organization s director, Debbie Dowden, has spoken at length with Jack and with Ralph NeSmith, vestry liaison to the Long Range Planning Committee. Both Jack and Ralph see Seven Springs as an organization who offers a sustainable business model for helping families in need, and as such, brings valuable support to families in need in the Snellville area. It is the hope of the out-reach committee that St. Matthew s can develop closer ties to Seven Springs, enhancing the opportunities for parishioners to engage in hands-on ministry with the clients served by Seven Springs. More information can be found on their web site (above) and will also appear in a future edition of the Friday e-letter. 4
Flooring work at St. Matthew s NOTICE: The Building and Grounds committee is working on getting floors in some of our high traffic areas replaced or refinished. Please note the following areas to be done, and the planned schedule: Week of July 24 - Replacing the floors in the hallways in front of the office to the parish hall and leading to the Christian education building. Week of July 31 though August 4th - Stripping and waxing of the floors in the entire preschool area. August 21 and 22 - Refinishing the floors in the parish hall (strong odor expected). Please be cautious during the mentioned dates as you enter and exit the building. You may also reach Charmaine during the day by calling 770-979-4210 or via email to stmatts@bellsouth.net. Thank you for your patience during these improvements, and we apologize for the temporary inconvenience this may cause. Family Promise Family Promise is a program that brings shelter, meals, and support services to homeless families. Each family goes through an application process to make sure that they and the program are the right fit for each other. Family Promise of Gwinnett is made up of 30 host churches and 14 support churches. St Matthew s is currently serving as a support church by providing day center coverage on the first Sunday of every month from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. The shifts are broken down into two shifts 9-11 and 11-1. If you would like to volunteer or would like more information about Family Promise please contact Becky Olbon. 5
Stephen Ministry Needs You A couple of weeks ago, Mother Liz talked about ministries in her sermon. She said, Just Go! We are approaching our first deadline for applications (and the deadline will be extended) and want to encourage you to pray and consider becoming a Stephen Minister. You don t need to know how to do it because the training sessions teach you everything you need to know. We are looking for a few (at least 5 or 6) good men and women to start a class at St. Matthew s in September. If we don t have enough, we will again partner with UMC of Lawrenceville and combine our classes, which is great, BUT we want to start establishing our own St. Matthew s identity as a Stephen Ministry Congregation. So Just Go! to the St. Matthew s website, click on Ministries - Stephen Ministries and scroll to the middle. Complete the application and send it in. You may also find printed copies of the application on the notice board in the hallway. If you have further questions, please see Mother Liz, Susan Jung, Priscilla Trescott, or Ted Sawyer. The Epiphany Choir will join us next Sunday, July 23rd at our 9:30 a.m. service. We will also welcome back The Reverend Dr. Harold Lockett as our guest celebrant and preacher. SUMMER SERVICE SCHEDULE CONTINUES THROUGH THE MONTH OF JULY During the month of July, we will continue our summer worship with one combined Eucharist service at 9:30 a.m. We will resume two services on Sunday, August 6, with the Blessing of the Backpacks at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. 6
St. Matthew s Preschool & Kindergarten SCOOPS NIGHT! When: Wednesday, July 19 Where: 2324 Scenic Hwy Time: 6-9pm All money raised will go to the Preschool & Kindergarten Thank you for your Support! 7
VPOD: EMs Althea Benton/Ralph NeSmith 9:30 Waylee George, Eudora Gardiner, Lynne Ulmer Lectors: 9:30 Mark DiGiovanni, Mona Livermont Verger: 9:30 John Williamson Ushers: 9:30 Cathy & Michael Chapman Acolytes: 9:30 **Stacey C, *Blair R., Morgan P, Liz C., Lily C., Anna C., Rachel M. Greeters: 9:30 Caroline Tyler, Minette Brown, Jimmy Piechowiak Altar Guild: Flower Guild: SERVING TODAY Diane Croft Doane, Nancy Piechowiak, Mutty Dixon, Vicki Conway, Beth Still, Mary Vore Tammy Pearson Nursey: 9:15: Kira Coats, Elizabeth Livermont, Katie J., Jessie H. Communion Bread: Vicki Conway **M.O.M.S *Senior Acolyte THIS WEEK AT ST. MATTHEW S Sunday, July 16: 9:00 am Breakfast 9:30 am Holy Eucharist 11:00 am Christian Formation Mtg. Monday, July 17: 7:30 pm Epiphany Choir Practice Tuesday, July 18: 6:00 pm Centering Prayer 7:00 pm Al-Anon 7:30 pm AA Wednesday, July 19: 10:00 am Healing Eucharist 7:00 pm Guys Night Out Thursday, July 20: 10:00 am Knit, Purl & Pray Friday, July 21: 7:00 pm Restaurant Foyers Summits Tavern 7:00 pm Al-Anon 7:30 pm AA Saturday, July 22: 8:00 am Brotherhood 9:00 am Altar Guild 10:00 am Flower Guild 4:00 pm Delmar Gardens Tel: 770-979-4210 Fax: 770-979-4211 Email: stmatts@bellsouth.net www.stmatthewssnellville.org 8