F I R S T U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T C H U R C H 3 0 6 PA R K A V E. F O RT L U P TO N, C O 8 0 6 2 1 303-857-2257 FA X : 3 0 3-857- 2 8 1 4 E M A I L : O F F I C E @ F U M C - F O R T L U P T O N. O R G W E B S I T E : W W W. F U M C - F O R T L U P T O N. O R G Circuit Rider From the Pastor May 2014 Dear Friends: What a wonderful first four months of the year we have had here at the First United Methodist Church in Fort Lupton! We had a meaningful Lenten season including: a study about walking in the footsteps of Jesus, inspiring weekly worship, and touching special worship services. We have inspired our youth through weekly youth group and Sunday School activities. Our children have been learning through our Christian Life Club (CLC) and Sunday School. We have baptized adults and children. We have welcomed new members into our congregation. We have served those in need through Blessings in a Bag and Adventures in Christian living. and the list goes on. The ministries of this church have continued to grow and to thrive over the last 151 years because of your involvement. You are the ones that make the ministries happen. Pastors have come and pastors have gone many times in the last 151 years, yet the ministry of the church continues. And so it will be that as one pastor leaves and a new one comes, the church will go on. As I have said to many of you, I was surprised to hear that the Bishop and the District Superintendents (known as the Cabinet) were intending to appoint me to serve as the new pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Pueblo as of July 1 (as their pastor, Rick Calhoun retires). I really thought that I would have the privilege of serving here in Fort Lupton with you for another few years. But, that is not to be the case. I am confident that as you get to know your new pastor, Kay Marsh, that you will feel blessed to have her as your pastor. I have known Kay for many years and have every confidence in her. As of July 1, I will no longer be your pastor. Rev. Dr. Kay Marsh will be your new pastor. As of July 1, I will not be initiating phone calls or text messages to you or e-mailing you or sending you Facebook messages because I need to allow Kay to be your pastor. But just because I am not in contact with you, don t think that I have forgotten you. Each of you has made an imprint in my heart. A piece of my heart will stay here in Fort Lupton, always. M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 4 As I move to Pueblo, I need to be focused on being the pastor of that congregation. Be assured that Pastor Kay will be focused on being your pastor. If you need something after July 1, please don t hesitate to contact her. As we go through this time of transition, I ask that you pray for Tom and for me as we get ready to move; I ask that you pray for Kay and Rich Marsh as they prepare to move here; I ask that you pray for our church to continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this community and beyond. It has been my privilege to be your pastor. I look forward to continuing to work with you over the next two months. Most importantly, don t forget to be the church. Don t stop doing what you are doing because a new pastor is coming. In fact, it is up to each of you to continue the work that you have begun and to share that work with Pastor Kay as you continue to share the love of Jesus. God bless you, Pastor Kirsten There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens Ecclesiastes 3:1
P A G E 2 What s Coming Up. National Day of Prayer Join members from our congregation and all throughout our community as we pray, sing, and share scripture on this national day. Our praise team will be sharing some music and our pastor will be offering a prayer. Thursday, May 1, 2014 6:30 8:00 pm Fort Lupton Recreation Center Confirmation Students Join The Church Join us in worship as we welcome our 2014 Spring Confirmation Students into full membership in the United Methodist Church. Sunday, May 4, 2014 9:00 am Celebration of Mother s Day During Worship All women will receive a special gift. Sunday, May 11, 2014 9:00 am Recognition Sunday All high school graduates, scholarship recipients, Sunday School children, and Christian Education volunteers will be recognized during worship. Sunday, May 18, 2014 9:00 am Community Memorial Day Service Featuring a community choir under the direction of Marilyn Bangert 9:30 am, Monday, May 26 Hillside Cemetery Fort Lupton Celebration of Father s Day Join us as we celebrate the role of fathers during worship. Sunday, June 15 9:00 am in the Sanctuary Vacation Bible School All children age 4 through 5 th grade are invited to participate. Monday through Thursday 9:00 am 11:30 am, June 16-19 Vacation Bible School Children Sing Our VBS kids will share their music during worship. Sunday, June 22 Children s Summer Sunday School Sunday School for children will be during the 9:00 am worship service. (Child care available during the Adult Sunday School hour from 10:45 11:45 am.) Sundays beginning June 1 Adult Summer Sunday School 10:45 11:45 am all summer location within the church and topics may vary
P A G E 3 Changing of Pastors Sunday, May 25th Open House from 2:00-4:00 pm. There will be an open house for the community to wish Pastor Kirsten and Tom a fond farewell on Sunday, May 25th from 2:00 4:00. It will be in the Fireside Room. Come and wish them well on their new journey. Sunday, June 15th Refreshments with Pastor Kirsten & Tom following Worship Service This will be Pastor Kirsten s last Sunday to preach. Staff Parish will have refreshments in the dining hall following Worship Service. Sunday, July 6th Potluck for Pastor Kay Palmer Marsh Come and welcome our new Pastor, Kay Palmer Marsh with a potluck following Worship Service. Interfaith Homeless Coalition A group of concerned people from Fort Lupton churches and individuals have been meeting for over a year to find a solution for the homeless in Fort Lupton. As the knowledge expands on what needs there are, we are moving forward. We have finished with a site plan and are ready to present it to the city officials for approval. The next step is fund raising for the sprinkler system needed. Grants are being written, our 501-C3 is being applied for. God is with us in this endeavor as He is opening doors for us. Please pray that by the time cold weather hits next fall, the Hope @ Miracle House with be open for needy families. Fort Lupton Homeless Coalition Blessing in a bag, Back Pack Program We continue to serve 98 children each week with bags of food for the week end. The holidays are always celebrated with a special treat. Rhonda Thiesen uses her creativeness to make crafts along with notes that make each child feel that they matter. We add flyers from National Dairy Council, National Egg Council, etc. For Easter each child received a stuffed animal along with a bag with stickers, pencil, eraser, a tootsie pop and an egg with a treat in it. Of course the main items in the bags are protein, grain, dairy, fruit and veg. We are always looking for good buys on these items. We are partners with the Weld Food Bank and are able to buy items at reduced prices, for example we bought almonds for 18 cents a pound, they very high in protein, with 66 grams. Jeanette Thiesen and Donna Howard are great shoppers finding the best for Fort Lupton s at risk children. This school year we have been blessed with receiving grants from: Trappers Roll In Bike & Car Show $3,222.00, United Power $2,000.00, Platte Valley Medical Center- CHIP $2,500.00, Bank of Colorado $2,000.00. We have received generous donations from local organizations; Optimist Club, Odd Fellows, Country Circle, Wal-Mart donating plastic bags and the wonderful people who have a heart for hungry children. We have been able to have a good school year 2013-2014. The Fort Lupton Fire Department is delivering the bags each week to the two schools. This is an immense help to us. We can t THANK them enough. Thank you for all who contribute to the Blessings in a Bag Program. Our wonderful volunteers who are so faithful to be at the Miracle house every Tuesday morning to pack the bags are Rhonda Thiesen, Jeanette Thiesen, Donna Howard, Chris Heiser, Melanie Newton, Penny Rankin, Kathy Trostel and Terri Velasquez, they help so much. Jan Brown, a board member, has the important job of writing our thank you cards, she does an excellent job. Thank you Lord for these ladies help, bless each one of them. Please continue to pray for these children that live in food insecure homes.
P A G E 4 United Methodist Women The UMW Spring Brunch was successful. We had around 60 people attend. The entertainment was Robin Jo Leady who sang gospel, pop, & country songs. We asked for donations for the Fort Lupton Homeless Coalition and collected $247.00. In March, we served funeral luncheons for the families of Dorothy Cummins, John Martin, Forrest Schmidt, & Avis Colgrove. In April we served a funeral luncheon for the family of Edna Payne and provided desserts for the funeral luncheon for the friends of David Norcross. The music storage room needed a new copier & UMW voted to pay for the new one. Nonnie Hunziker has started a Facebook page for us. Those who use Facebook should take a look & if you have any suggestions for her let her know. Thank you Nonnie for taking this on for us. The plan is to link it to the churches web site. We voted to give $100.00 to the church mission trip in June. The UM- COR project for this year is being discussed. We hope to make a decision by May so that any church members who want to participate can do so over the summer. Mary circle put 12 May baskets together to give to our senior citizens, shut ins, inactive members & some other special people. Marilyn Bangert replaced the stove in her home & donated the older one to the church. It is newer than the one that was in the kitchen, so will be a nice replacement. Thank you to the Bangerts for their donation. Laurie McCartney I'm where yesterday follows today, and tomorrow's in the middle. What am I? (see page 7 for ansnswer) Walk to End Alzheimer s Barb Floodeen is looking for people to support the Walk to End Alzheimer's" in September. If you are interested in joining the team or giving a donation, please contact Barb. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. A huge and heartfelt thank you to all who have prayed for, cared about, and inquired about my great niece, Devyn, and my sister, Kathie, and their family. We would ask for you to continue those prayers. Devyn is making great strides and my sister, with hope, is just in the beginning stages of her journey working toward healing from her cancer. I am blessed to have such a caring church family and I dearly love all of you! Barb Irsik Thank you C I R C U I T R I D E R
P A G E 5 M i s s i o n : T h e m i s s i o n f o r M a y N o M o r e M a - l a r i a a n d F o r J u n e i s M i n i s t e r i a l A l l i a n c e So far this year we have given our 1st quarter giving: Fort Lupton Food and Clothing Bank $50, Robyn Taylor GCM, $25, Ministerial Alliance $50 and The Paden s missionaries in Argentina $150. Total 1 st quarter is $275 to missions. Mother s Day campaign helps fight malaria. In 1870, Julia Ward Howe called for an International Mother s Day to honor mothers, especially those who lost sons in the Civil War,. More than a century later, families in the United States are still celebrate mothers and other nurturing women on the second Sunday of May. MALARIA PREVENTION We celebrate UMCOR s strides in the vital work of malaria prevention through the Imagine No Malaria (INM) initiative and thank you for lifting up the work of UMCOR in your prayers. Since 2008, UMCOR, through INM, has worked tirelessly in the fight against malaria. By educating communities and training some 11,600 people about malaria prevention, these local communities are paying it forward, by reaching and teaching other communities about ways they can protect themselves from this preventable disease. Through this initiative, UMCOR has distributed about two million bed nets across Africa, trained 7,000 community health workers, strengthened The United Methodist Church s health networks which includes more than 300 hospitals, rural clinics and health posts and renovated several medical facilities. UMCOR has also organized and trained 13 annual conference health boards spanning 16 countries in Africa, and worked with Eglise Methodist d Haiti to establish a new health board in Haiti. Since the program began awarding funds in 2010, grants totaling an estimated $6 million went to Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, DR Congo and other countries for programs such as health facility revitalization, pharmaceutical and medical supplies and mosquito net distributions. Please continue to pray for the work of UMCOR, as it continues to educate communities on the use of insecticidetreated bed nets and other means of prevention. The Rocky Mountain Conference this year is again focusing on No More Malaria as the project. A collection will be taken in May for this cause. Easter this year was celebrated with the Ministerial Alliance participating in a combined service at the Fort. The collection taken is to be given to the Ministerial Alliance at the end of the 2 nd quarter. We will also have a collection at church in June. Thank you for your support.
P A G E 6 Fort Fireplace Story By Jan Brown Incredible as it is to comprehend, the Thiesen men, Lloyd, son Ron, and brother Larry, have just recently completed the eighth fireplace within the Fort property. Seven are within the Fort rooms, and the newest one at the remodeled and re-stabilized Trappers log cabin. Each fire place is unique and various sizes, and all beautiful. The word incredible is the key word here because, the truth is, the collective ages of these awesome brick layers and stone masons is 216 years!! Not only age, but infirmities such as severe arthritis and Parkinson s disease has not stopped these men from accepting the task of building these eight fire places in just the last few years as the Fort progressed. What an amazing legacy these gentlemen, all from the Fort Lupton area, have left for everyone to enjoy, as they tour the Fort buildings. Now, a little background about the Thiesen family and how it all started years ago. Lloyd was born and raised on a farm in Kansas. He joined the Navy and served until 1954. During this period he met and married his wife, Iva Oleson. After he was discharged he chose to apprentice with Iva s uncle, who was a job superintendent on a Lutheran Church building project in Fairberry, Nebraska. Hence, a new career began and has flourished even until this day. Lloyd and his crews built Post Offices and churches all over Colorado, Mississippi and Wyoming (including Fort Lupton, Brighton, Brush, Gilcrest, Windsor and Red Feathers, to name a few). He also bricked houses and garages, city buildings in Fort Lupton, the old Fire House at 11th and Denver Avenue and the brick fence around Independence School along with their addition. Brother, Larry, had a 39 year career with Public Service Company of Colorado but had also apprenticed with Lloyd back in 1961, working with him periodically all through the years. Lloyd s son, Ron, began learning the business while quite young. Ron s interest was also in music and he started piano lessons during 5th and 6th grade and joined band in Middle and High School, playing drums and other instruments. Ron has continued to play in various bands throughout the years and enjoys jamming to this day. He was diagnosed with Parkinson s disease two years ago but continues to work with Lloyd when needed and enjoy his music always. The original Fort building superintendent, Arnie Hubert, had approached Lloyd a few years ago and asked if he could build seven to eight fireplaces in the various Fort rooms. Lloyd, being retired, declined. Several years later, new building superintendent, John Everson, asked Lloyd if he would consider acting as advisor and supervise the volunteers to build the fireplaces. Lloyd went home and thought about it for a while and eventually agreed to do the job after all. And what a job he and Ron and Larry did! The Thiesen s comment was they had so much fun and genuine camaraderie with the volunteers, the next thing they knew they had finished eight fireplaces, large and small, in the next few years. They always had an audience and lots of positive feedback and teasing for every project. Everyone was amazed at the efficiency they displayed as each fireplace was accomplished. Huge thanks to the Thiesen gentlemen for their willingness to help, for their time spent in the building process, and their friendship and care to everyone in the South Platte Valley Historical Society
May Birthdays 05/01 Sharon Fehrn 05/03 Janet Lee 05/03 Stacey Thieman 05/04 Randall Powell 05/04 Marcet Evens 05/06 Sam Duarte 05/07 Caroline Suppes 05/08 Jim Edens 05/08 Shawn Ryan 05/10 Paige Gaul 05/11 Fred Patterson 05/11 Dawn Ceretto 05/12 Genevieve LeBlanc 05/13 David Wamsley 05/15 Tom O'Neil 05/17 Tanya Marrs 05/17 Elise Ceretto 05/18 Floyd Robley 05/18 Claire Kokoszka 05/19 Ann Porcelly 05/20 Blaine Minatra 05/21 Joni Purifoy 05/22 Pat Garrett 05/22 Megan Anders 05/22 Neena Hagans 05/23 Jeremy Olson 05/23 Samuel Powell 05/24 Corey Dale 05/24 Devin Cummins 05/25 Lori Hatchell 05/28 Nonnie Hunziker 05/29 Answer Piper to riddle Wallingford 05/30 A dictionary Brandon Edgar June Birthdays 06/01 Josh Edens 06/01 Laila Solano 06/02 Courtney Bucher 06/02 Mary Freitag 06/03 Angel Gross 06/03 Ashley Gross-Bueker 06/04 Josh Pelis 06/04 Jerry Olson 06/04 Steve Dickinson 06/05 Yvette English 06/08 Jason Ryan 06/09 Cameron Payne 06/11 Mary Lou Stieber 06/11 Wendy Sarazen 06/12 Gwen Ceretto 06/12 Krista Payne 06/13 Traci DeBlieck 06/14 Mike Ceretto 06/15 D'Nay Castilleja 06/17 Kolton Johnston 06/17 Todd Cullum 06/17 Jenae Taylor 06/18 June Dailey 06/18 Charlotte Fike 06/20 Kira Norby 06/20 Jim Bangert 06/21 Jacque Kerr 06/21 Ian Bissell 06/22 Carol Duarte 06/22 Shawn Johnston 06/23 Merle Mullet 06/29 Vicki Schniepp 06/29 Ed Button 06/29 Amanda Reid 06/30 Jordan Sarazen Anniversaries 05/24 Dave and Vicki Wamsley 05/26 Todd & Audrey Schroeder 05/30 Ricky and Mindy Bucher 05/31 Tom and Kirsten Barlow 06/02 Lee and Sandy Amato 06/05 Merle and Verna Mullet 06/06 Ron and Jeanette Thiesen 06/07 Mike and Marilyn Bangert 06/07 Jeff and Becky McClure 06/08 Mickey and Lori Hatchell 06/11 Marty & Carol McDermott 06/17 Richard and Janet Lee 06/20 George and Babe Breickler 06/20 Fred and Cheryl Patterson 06/21 Ed and Rhonda Button 06/22/1969 Bud and Nada Fehrn 06/29 Sean and Heather Gross 06/29 Jim Jr. and Keri Roedel 06/30 Tom and Sherrie O'Neil New Address Margaret Walter c/o Bryce Walter 545 E. Catherine Street Chambersburg, PA 17201 Mission trip June 2014 People helping people! That is what a mission trip is all about. Rapid City, SD, here we come. We are so excited about this trip. The children we will be doing Bible Fun each morning with our Native American children that have never had Bible Fun. The curriculum we will use is Fruits of the Spirit. If you want to join us let Gwen know. We have 19 people going at this time. There will be a menu shared with the congregation, if you would like to donate food and also other fund raisers. Please keep this trip in your prayers.
May 2014 June 2014