Seminary United Methodist Church 285 N Seminary Street Roanoke, Indiana 46783 260.672.3167 seminaryumc.org seminaryumc@frontier.net To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world November 2016 Volume 13 - Issue 11 Adult, Youth and Children Sunday School 9:25am Worship Service Sunday Announcements 10:05am Service 10:15am Youth Group Sunday 6:30pm Church Office Hours Monday - Thursday 9 to 12 and 1 to 5 Pastor Jim Tormey Cell - 260.307.1282 jimtormey@yahoo.com Change As many of you know, we are on the verge of change. Change in our political world, change in our church, change in our lives. However, we are told not to fear. I do not know about you, but several weeks ago I stopped listening to the political conversation. It just simply got to be too awful to listen to. I was getting depressed, and the conversation was just plain nasty. I discovered my countenance or mental composer was failing. So I decided to stop listening to everyone s opinion about how this person or that person was going to change Washington if they were elected. Enough is enough. I simply have had it. Change by political candidates means nothing in actuality. They cannot, if we are honest, never really change anything. Change only comes through the Spirit of the living God. He is the only one who can foster change in the hearts of men. I believe our election is a reflection of where we are as a nation. We have jettisoned our Christian heritage. If you examine our history as a nation, carefully you will see that our founding fathers sought Biblical principles to help for our constitution and the laws which govern our nation. We as a nation have decided that we know a better way? Well, how is that going for us? Are we better off than we were when we held Christian principles? Look at this election, is this what we want as a society? An election where our vote seemingly counts for nothing. Where the political elite, in essence, decide who will be our next representative? It has created an atmosphere where those who hold Christian principles are told to shut up and sit down because they are wrong, according to those who claim to be tolerant of others beliefs. So what do we do, how do we as believers proceed? First, pray then pray again and then pray again. We need God s guidance now more than ever as a nation. We are called to seek God when in distress and He will give us what we need. Luke 12:31New Living Translation (NLT) 31 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need. Second respond to those whom we disagree, with love and grace. In our opinion, they may be wrong, but God loves them and so should we. Refuse to be nasty about this election. Choose to be at peace. God has everything under control. So turn off the political talk on the radio, TV, and any other media and listen to music, read a good book, the Bible? Most of you know where your vote is going so stop troubling yourself with all this ridiculous information. Get closer to God, and the peace of God will dwell in your heart. Philippians 4:8-9 The Message (MSG) Summing it all up, friends, I would say you ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. I couldn t put it any better than that! ~Pastor Jim
Seminary at a Glance
To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world Hanging of the Greens Please join our church family for the tradition of "Hanging of the Greens", a time of preparation for the celebration of Christ's birth! We will meet at the church at 3:00pm on Sunday November 27 to decorate the inside and outside of the church. In the coming weeks we will be passing around a clipboard for you to sign up if you are able to attend this gathering. We will also be asking for monetary donations to help pay for our traditional fellowship meal. After the church is decorated we will be having a lasagna and salad dinner at approximately 5:00 pm for all the hard workers who attended. If you have any questions please contact Nancy Hartley at 672-8316 or Vicky Eisenhut at 433-6800. Thank you in advance for keeping this tradition of preparing for our Savior's birth! Pastor Parish Relations - Update The PPR committee met on October 18th with Patty Swaidner, Claudia Houck, Carol Johnson and Pastor Jim in attendance, The committee had evaluation of Jim and his re-appointment work sheets to complete and submit to district. We also discussed Christmas morning services because Christmas falls on a Sunday this year. It was decided to have a short service along with the Christmas Eve service. Also the Thanksgiving carry-in was set for November 20th after church. The Interchurch Thanksgiving evening service will be at Brethren Church (Block Church). "Hanging of the Greens" will be November 27th at 3:00pm with Lasagna Dinner to follow. 3 Inter-Church Council Information The Brethren Church is planning a Thanksgiving Community service. More information to follow. The Kiwanis made a generous donation to the food pantry, as their service group is disassembling due to lack of participation. The next meeting is scheduled for November 8th. ~Claudia Houck, Inter-Church Council Member As of November 1st...ONLY 55 Days Until Christmas! If your Christmas shopping isn't all done yet (HaHaHa), we have ideas for you! Scrip gift cards are available for lots of restaurants, bookstores, retail stores like JC Penney, Walmart, Meijer, clothing and gift stores and lots more, itunes (to download music, games, etc.), and the list goes on and on and on! We have the list of available cards every Sunday in the WGR, or you can view the list at https://shop.shopwithscrip.com. You can buy cards directly from us on Sunday mornings, or you can place an order with us an receive your cards within a few days. And remember, you can order Scrip gift cards for your everyday expenses too! Complete an order form, include cash or a check made payable to SUMC and give your order to either Jenny Gross or Vicky Eisenhut. We will be placing Scrip card orders on the following dates: November 6th, 20th, and December 4th and 18th! Additional order dates may be added if needed. All you need to do is order Scrip gift cards through Seminary United Methodist Church and it will benefit missions for children at the same time! It s a win win situation. ~Jenny and Vicky
4 To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world Finance Through 40 weeks, we are running about $4,000 behind last year on the regular giving and our projected expenses are about $1,000 below what we budgeted. Projections of the giving would put us about $5,000 or $6,000 below our budgeted giving goal. The last 12 weeks fluctuate, so these projections could easily be high or low by the end of the year. Country Store Keep checking in to the Country Store as we will soon be displaying our Christmas items for the season. Plan to come in and shop as we have many new items to sell. Christmas in the Village is just around the corner. ~Carolyn Hartley-Johns and Jo DeFord Kroger Community Rewards Program Each of us must enroll annually to continue to have our Kroger and Owens purchases benefit our church. We receive a check quarterly based upon the purchases made by people who have linked their Kroger Plus Card with our church. The money we receive helps support our Vacation Bible School Program which benefits many children in our community. If you haven't re-enrolled yet, or if you have never enrolled, it's very easy. To re-inroll just register online at krogercommunityrewards.com https://www.kroger.com/#/login?redirecturl=https:%2f%2fwww.kroger.com Be sure to have your Kroger Plus card handy and register your card with our organization after you sign up, Or Simply call 1-800-576-4377, and select option 3. Tell the customer service representative that you want to help our church by linking your Kroger Plus Card to Seminary UMC through the Kroger Community Rewards Program. Our church number for their program is 77391. United Methodist Women - Women of Faith Women of Faith met in the Wesley Gathering Room on October 11, 2016 for their monthly meeting. There were14 members welcomed. Muriel Mosher presented a reading on the ritics brothers and read devotions from Morning with Jesus Request of four names were lifted up in prayer followed by the secretary and treasurers report. The final cleaning day of the year for the storage room and kitchen was held on October 15 th. A list of names for the cheer bags were reviewed and altered. If you have someone you would like to be included, please check with Carol Johnson. The cheer bags will be filled for distribution at the next meeting on November 8 th. Also that evening the Thank Offerings will be received. Closing remarks include a reading of Petey the Snake Muriel Mosher presented the program on Prayer Shawls and surprised president Shirley Wolf by wrapping her in a beautiful yellow prayer shawl as a gift. Refreshments were provided and served by Carol Johnson. The next meeting will be November 8, 2016, 7:00 PM at the church in the Wesley Gathering Room. ~Shirley Wolf, President
Sunday 6 10:15am All Saints Sunday Worship Service Communion/Loose Change 6:30pm Youth Group Scrip Orders Due 13 10:15am Worship Service 6:30pm Youth Group 20 10:15am Worship Service 11:30am Thanks Carry In 6:00pm Thanksgiving Cluster Service at Bethel 6:30pm Youth Group 27 10:15am Worship Service 3:00pm Hanging of the Greens November 2016 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Nov. 6 5:00pm Weight Watcher 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 10:00am Crafty Corner Group 5:00pm Weight Watcher 7:00pm Women of Faith 7:00pm Inter Church Meeting - Christ s Church 9 10 11 12 7:00pm Charge Conference at Columbia City 14 15 16 17 18 19 5:00pm Weight Watchers 21 10:00am Crafty Corner 5:00pm Weight Watchers 22 NO Kid s Club 23 24 25 26 28 29 30
Seminary United Methodist Church P.O. Box 40 Roanoke, IN 46783 November 3 November 7 November 8 November 9 November 10 November 14 November 14 November 19 November 19 November 22 Carol Johnson Lisa Nicholson Mike Swaidner Austin Spahr Mary McCave Bill Quickery Steven Spahr Tina Haynes Judy Polzin Cara Vetor November 13 November 14 November 16 November 20 November 27 Sam and Brenda Hamilton Michael and Cara Vetor Keith and Nancy Hartley Jim and Judy Pulver Phillip and Debbie Bouillon If your birthday or anniversary is missing from this list, or if you have just joined our church family, please contact Nancy Hartley at 260-672 -8316 or the church office to have your name(s) added to the list.