FUMC Newsletter - Sterling City, Texas 76951 Church Services Sunday School- 10am Worship Service-11am Issue includes: Prayer List Pastoral Letter Monthly Celebrations Monthly Calendar Please look through this newsletter, attend, worship, and follow us @ www.sterlingmethodists.com or check out or Facebook page Sterling City First United Methodist Church
Prayer Request Grace Copeland Kiely Johnson Cynthia Browne Lupe Escobar Susan & Tommy Wyatt Bill Eubank Rosemary Rodriguez Shawna Walker Sam Lucero Florence Bodine Emery Holt Hunsley Strickland Haley Stallings Ramone Navaro Kent Beard Carol Brown John Blackstock Grover Johnson James Thompson Wade Jones Jim Gerner Adela De Hoyos Anna Robledo Christy Wright Jim Wright Albert & Phillip Estrada Mary Rodriguez Jere Thomas Ronnie Kilpatrick Dr. Pat Moore Bill Jones Bitsy Durham Dolly Rauch Luke Allred Eileen Sonberg Skeete Foster Chad Kane & Family Ollie Schneemann Jo Foster (Nana) Mike & Jaynell Bodine Beverly Pruitt Donnie Hinderliter Donna Parker
A Prayer for the New Year Lord, Whether we re leaving behind a year of joy and blessing or trials and difficulties, we pause to give you thanks. We thank you that you are always with us every single day of every single year. Please remind us of Your presence in the year ahead, even when life is busy. We are so thankful that we serve a God who makes things new and gives us the grace of fresh starts and new beginnings. Be glorified in our lives this year. In Jesus name, Amen!
January 2 nd, 2018 Pastor s Pen Christmas Is Not Your Birthday! I m so proud of you, church! Our Christmas Is Not Your Birthday campaign raised $8,000! Half will go to fundraising at the amazing Lydia Patterson Institute in El Paso and half will go to the UMC Microfinance Connection. Both of these ministries bear incredible fruit amongst some of the poorest people. Well done! I plan on doing this again next year! Leadership Training You will see in the district portion of this newsletter that there is a leadership ministry training in San Angelo THIS Saturday. Although I will be out of town, if you are in leadership of FUMC SC, you are encouraged to attend. Anyone is welcome! Please contact Amy Moore in the District office if you can at 325-486-1500. Great information is presented and there is no cost. Upcoming We will have our first meeting of the new council and a pot-luck meal on February 4 th after worship. I ll be getting information to the folks on our leadership council soon. Please come if at all possible! I ve also sketched out a tentative sermon schedule through Easter. I m hoping to have some cards printed out with this information before Sunday if our water is restored soon and we can regain some sense of normal around here! :) 2018 FUMC Sterling City Upcoming - 1st Quarter January 7 th Justin DeLoach January 14 th Ross Copeland Exodus to Identity January 21 st The Miracle at Marah January 28 th Whatchamacallit February 4 th Water of Life February 11 th The Lord is My Banner! February 14 th Ash Wednesday & Valentine s Day February 18 th 1 st Sunday of Lent - Due Delegation February 25 th The Mountain of God Jesus Before His Arrest March 4 th Jesus Ate March 11 th Jesus Served March 18 th Jesus Prayed March 25 th Palm Sunday Jesus Wept April 1 st Easter Sunday Jesus Conquered!
Pastor s Pen Litany of Thanksgiving We had to cancel service on New Year s Eve due to inclement weather. We were scheduled to do a modified Wesleyan Thanksgiving service. I include below the Litany of Thanksgiving (changed to first person) and the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer. Perhaps you could put these up, print them and put them in your Bible, or in some other way repeat them daily for a week, or a month, or as long as you wish. They are tremendous prayers! Litany of Thanksgiving I give thanks for all of God's mercies. O God, you have been gracious to me through all the years of my life. I thank you for your loving care, which has filled my days and brought me to this time and place. You have given me life and reason, and set me in a world filled with your glory. You have comforted me with family and friends, and ministered to me through the hands of my Christian sisters and brothers. You have filled my heart with a hunger after you, and have given me your peace. You have redeemed me, and called me to a high calling in Christ Jesus. You have given me a place in the fellowship of your Spirit and the witness of your Church. You have been light in darkness and a rock of strength in adversity and temptation. You have been the very Spirit of joy in my joys and the all-sufficient reward in all my labors. You remembered me when I forgot you. You followed me even when I tried to flee from you. You met me with forgiveness when I returned to you. For all your patience and overflowing grace: The Covenant Prayer I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me where you will, put me to work, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you or set aside for you, exalted for you or demoted for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things or let me have nothing. I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now God, Father, Son, and Spirt, you are mine and I am yours. So be it. And let the covenant made now on earth be ratified in heaven. Amen! It is a privilege being your pastor! Stay tuned to all the great happenings in this new year! Rev. Jim Noble
2nd LaNae McClure 4th Margaret Ann Foley 5th Greg Peters 5th Shanna Bynum 5th Rowdy Ferguson 6th Lynn Gotcher 6th Tristan Himes 8th Martha Lawson 9th Lorrie Bratton 10th Kody Horwood 16th Aiden Louder 17th Jo Foster 23rd Judie Williams 25th Heather Gotcher 26th Betsy Thompson 28th Ashley Glass 31st Denise Parham 1st David & Bettie Foster 5th Wesley & Karen Hodges 6th Bill & Melissa Orsak 6th Roger & Judie Williams 8th Mike & Jaynell Bodine 22nd Ray & Linda Sparks 25th Gary & Cindy Foster 28th Aaron & Cari Hart 28th Ross & Meredith Copeland
Women s Bible Study will resume January 9th. Ross Copeland will be presiding January 14th. January 14th - Youth will be going to San Angelo to meet with FPC Youth for bowling, pizza and fellowship. We will be meeting at the church @ 3pm and leave from there. Please let Kim know if you will be going and if you can be a driver. Men s Bible Study Breakfast will resume January 17th. February 4th - Potluck and council meeting after worship in the FLC. **Keep an eye out for the West District Newsletter via email. Lots of information and important dates!** Please notice the information regarding the Leadership Training all are welcome! December Financial Report will be sent out in separate email.