Cross & Tower FELLOWSHIP SUPPER We invite you to join us for Fellowship Supper on Wednesday nights for a great time of fellowship and a delicious meal. This meal takes place from 5:15 6:00 pm in the Community Life Center Gym. First time to eat with us is FREE! After that, cost for the meal is $6 per adult, $4 per child/youth, with a $20 cap per family. So we can have a head count to order supplies, reservations must be made by Monday noon. You can do this by signing up on Sundays in your Sunday School class or on the Church Attendance Pew Pad. You can also email suzanne@fumc-pc.org or call her at 763-6537 ext. 19. The menus for April are as follows: April 4 April 11 April 18 April 25 Baby Back Ribs, Baked Beans, Garlic Bread, Coleslaw, & Dessert Fried Chicken, Macaroni & Cheese, Vegetable, Salad, & Dessert Lasagna, Garlic Bread, Salad, & Dessert Fried Fish, Cheese Grits, Hushpuppies, Coleslaw, & Dessert The Kids Meal is for children under the age of 12. Please indicate at time of sign up if your child will be eating a Kids Meal. This meal is 5 Chicken Nuggets and French Fries. WEEKLY FOOD COLLECTION FOR THE FOOD PANTRY Each week we have a Weekly Food Collection taking place for our Food Pantry. The collected food items are used in the food bags distributed from our Food Pantry on Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 am until Noon. The Items needed in April are Package Spaghetti Noodles, 1 lb. Bag of Rice, 1 lb. Box of Grits, Box of Macaroni & Cheese, and Toilet Paper. These items are assigned by weeks but can be brought any time during the month. Collection containers are located in the lobby of our Main Building and in the lobbies of the Community Life Center. March 2018 Numbers: Clients: 71 Fed in family. 181 New: 21 April Food Items Needed: April 1 Package Spaghetti Noodles April 8 1 lb. Bag of Rice April 15 1 lb. Box of Grits April 22 Box of Macaroni & Cheese April 25 Toilet Paper If you don t have time to shop, money donations designated to the Food Pantry are greatly appreciated! This money is used to purchase much needed food. ATTENTION PLEASE! Respectfully request: Please update your emails if they have changed and take FUMC out of SPAM. Birthday notes, cards of concern and sympathy notes are being written so keep the church office in the know! The word is out: WE appreciate you in many ways! For more information on any program, event or service please remember to check out our website for up to date information: www.fumc-pc.org Join us on Facebook and see great pictures, updated information, encouraging notes and more! Search: First United Methodist, Panama City 903 East Fourth Street Panama City, FL 32401 850.763.6537 Office 850.763.0615 Preschool www.fumc-pc.org Worship Schedule The Bridge at 8:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary Sunday School 9:15 a.m. The Gathering at 10:30 a.m. in the CLC The Sanctuary at 10:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary First United Methodist Church of Panama City APRIL 2018 EASTER The biggest day of the year for church attendance!! Easter provides us with the ability to share Christ s love with a lot of new visitors, members that have been away for a while and our core church family to worship our Risen Savior!!!! Exciting, is only touching the surface of the depth of what energy and worship will be on this amazing day! Starting at 6:00am at McKenzie Park, Downtown, we will begin the day with a Sunrise Service. Our regular worship services will be at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary and 10:30 a.m. in the Gathering in the Community Life Center. (A nursery will be provided and the children will have Children s Church during both of these services). Of course, if you are not able to attend you can watch our services through live stream. To locate live stream, go to our web page at fumc-pc.org and follow the links. I have a very special hope that in the following weeks after Easter there will be many who would like to explore their faith and learn just how to make it through everyday life. I extend to you an invitation to join me as the Facilitator on Sunday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. for a small group study called Starting Point. Starting Point exists to be a safe place to grow, learn, connect, and ask questions and explore faith, Christianity and Jesus. Everything has a starting point your life, your relationships, your education, your career. Sometimes we forget that faith has a starting point as well. For some of us, our faith journeys began in childhood as a set of beliefs taught to us by a parent, teacher, or pastor. Maybe you developed a framework of faith based on personal experience. Or maybe you had no faith at all. Too often, a faith formed in childhood isn t strong enough to withstand the pressures of adult life. But what if you could find a new starting point for faith? If you are interested, please email Terri Legg @ terri@fumc-pc.org so we can get an estimate of how many will be attending. On April 8th at 4:30 p.m. we will meet in the Trinity Center to share an overview of what to expect as we work through the study. Also, beginning on Easter Sunday during the morning worship services, we will be having Children s Church in our chapel. There have been some renovations made in the chapel that will allow more groups and services to be performed with much more ease and technology improvements. The chapel will be used each week now compared to once a month like prior to the improvements. We thank the trustees, church council and the many volunteers that have made this vision come true. I m truly blessed to a part of this great Church and how we together experience the presence of God through our worship, being connected through small groups and how we together serve, share and give of ourselves in the bigger picture of being a part of God s great kingdom!! See ya Sunday!!!!
FUMC Youth News IMPACT Youth Ministries I want to take a few moments to thank everyone who donated money during the Wild Game Dinner &/or the Mary s Circle Dinner to help support our students on their various trips. Through your generous donations those students that helped were able to have a good amount applied to their youth accounts to be used for various trips. One such trip several students used the money they earned was for our Spring Break Mission Trip to Coral Springs, FL. A few of the service projects we helped with were: helping an organization similar to our Rescue Mission where we served food, packaged rice, made to-go bags with various food items, as well as sorted clothes; one crew harvested celery to be distributed to food pantries for low income families; another crew worked at a nature preserve, & we also helped stuff Easter eggs for Mrs. April s Easter Egg Hunt. Our students did an awesome job at the various service projects we had lined up for them, even when things didn t go quite as planned some times. We also had a few fun activities lined up for everyone. The snorkeling in Key Largo was definitely everyone s favorite. Things are slowing down just a little bit in the month of April. We will have a parent/graduate meeting on April 8th @ 4 pm in the Parlor for all parents of graduating seniors to discuss the upcoming Graduate Dinner & Recognition that will take place on May 18th & 20th respectively. Another event that I am really excited about, coming up in April, is our Exile Night that will take place on Friday, April 13th- Saturday, April 14th. This special event will allow students to experience a little of what our exiled brothers and sisters in Christ face every day. They will eat what they eat and sleep how they sleep, gaining a better understanding of the price persecuted believers pay for remaining faithful to Christ. Please begin praying now for our students as they experience this unique event & more importantly, please be praying for those Christians around the world that face persecution on a daily basis.
THE AGAPE CLOTHES AND CLEANLINESS CORNER The Agape Clothes and Cleanliness Corner opens each Saturday as a ministry of the First United Methodist Church Community Breakfast. We are so grateful to all of you who have been contributing to the various ministries of the Community Breakfast. We know that many of you have clothes that you would like to donate to the Agape clothes and Cleanliness Closet. Please bring the clothes only on Friday afternoons during the breakfast set-up (after 4:00 pm) or on Saturday mornings as early as possible (open at 6:45 am) to the Trinity Center, not the Church Office or the Food Pantry. Facilities are only available in the Trinity Center. Hygiene items are also passed out each week. These items are consumable and in demand weekly. They may still be dropped into the black buckets located in the lobby of each building. Items needed are as follows: Small Size Deodorant, Shampoo, Conditioner, Lotion, Kleenex Any Size Soap, Toothpaste Other Items Toothbrushes, Razors, Chapstick, Hand Sanitizer, Combs Monetary donations are always welcome! Check made to FUMC, Memo Community Breakfast Thank you for your many donations. If you are looking for a place to serve please join us in the Trinity Center on Fridays at 4:00 pm for set up and on Saturdays at 7:00 am for breakfast. You will be blessed! STARTING POINT BY ANDY STANLEY WHICH BEGINS SUNDAY, APRIL 8 TH Everything has a starting point your life, your relationships, your education, your career. Sometimes we forget that Faith has a starting point as well. For some of us, our faith journeys began in childhood as a set of beliefs handed to us by a parent, teacher, or pastor. Maybe you developed a framework of faith based on personal experience. Or maybe you had no faith at all. Too often, a faith formed in childhood isn t strong enough to withstand the pressures of adult life. But what if you could find a new starting point for faith? Join our Senior Pastor, Steve Rascoe on Sunday afternoons at 4:30 pm in the Trinity Center as they begin the Bible study, Starting Point. Child-care is available. PURSUING MORE OF JESUS BY ANNE GRAHAM LOTZ FRIDAY, APRIL 13TH The TGIF Bible Study group, (Thank GOD it s Friday) invites YOU to join them as they begin a new Bible Study by Billy Graham s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, Pursuing More of Jesus. If you want more than the bare minimum GOD has to offer you, if you want more than to be an average Christian, then join us on Friday mornings in the Hobbs Center at 9:30 am. We d love to have you join us, bring a friend, the coffee is hot, the fellowship is warm and GOD S love is overflowing; this is a 6 week study and workbooks are $12.00, we d love to have you join us! WHAT YOU DO REALLY DOES MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE Many of you may not be aware that we now have a team that is called the Back-Pack Ministry of our great church. Each week they pack 50 back packs with food for needy children here in our Community. In various locations on our campus, you will find red tubs that say Back Pack Ministry on them. In our informational racks on our property, and listed in Cross and Tower and our Sunday bulletins, you will find lists of items that are in need. On a normal week, we send 5 meals, 2 breakfast, 2 juice boxes, fruit cups, a weekend snack and a bottle of water. When there are longer weekends those numbers are adjusted according to the number of days they have off for the weekend. YOUR help with this ministry is greatly needed and greatly appreciated! If you would like to join this ministry team or have questions, please don t hesitate to contact Terri Legg for more information. terri@fumc-pc.org This month s greatest need: Vienna Sausages, Ravioli and Juice Boxes
March is just about history but it was a good month for the Senior Adults. On the fourth of March we enjoyed the movie Secretariat, one of the greatest race horses that ever raced. He won the Triple Crown, and the last race of the Crown by 31 lengths. On the 8th of March, five of us really enjoyed the Gaither Vocal Band at the 1st Baptist Church. Great music and comedy. When you leave a Gaither Concert you are walking about a foot off the ground. And on the 22nd, 5 of us hungry seniors enjoyed breakfast at the Golden Corral. We had good conversation and good food to go along with it. For April (can't believe it is almost April - pay your taxes) we will be showing the movie, "Let There Be Light," a movie produced by Sean Hannity. This is a truly great movie about faith and how to live your faith and will be shown on Sunday, April 8, at 2:30 pm in the Trinity Center Room 13. I will say this; ladies bring your tissues and guys a clean kerchief would help. Then on the 19th of April we will meet for lunch at 11:30 am at Bayou Joe s, on East 3rd street...good food and good views of the bay and the marina. As always keep our church, its pastors and all members in your prayers, especially those in hospitals, nursing homes and those of our church who are under the weather. Blessings to all, Jim Franko MAKING A HUGE DIFFERENCE A very special THANK YOU goes out to two outstanding Sunday School Classes. To both the Amazing Grace and Asbury Class, the back pack ministry team would like to thank each of you for your continued support of our back pack program here at FUMC. Another special thank you goes out to Jay and Brittany Trumbull for the phenomenal way you have stocked us with Culligan Water! There are also many individuals and couples that go out of their way to help us with donations. Without your help this would not be possible, but let s remember what GOD S word tells us: Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is possible, but with GOD all things are possible. Matthew 19:26 STOCK THE PANTRY IS COMING SUNDAY, MAY 6TH Our church staff absolutely loves it when someone comes to us with an idea to help others! Beginning on Sunday, May 6th we will begin having a STOCK the Pantry Day twice a year. We are proud to have a food pantry here at our church that services many in our community on a regular basis. However, with our society the way it is, the need for food has become greater and our Food Pantry needs our help! On Sunday, May 6th which just happens to be Missions Sunday, we are asking everyone to bring in items that will greatly benefit our Food Pantry. These are items such as: Canned Tuna, Canned Spaghetti Sauce, Canned Fruit and Toilet Paper. These are items we are collecting for families. All-in-one Meals (such as beef stew, chunky soup with meat and vegetables) and fruit cups or applesauce, are items we are collecting for individuals. Please help us as we try to help GOD S people! SPECIAL MUSIC THAT YOU WON T WANT TO MISS! On Sunday morning, May 6th, we will have special guests singing during the 8am and 10:30 Traditional worship services and you don t want to miss their return engagement. The Albany Georgia First United Methodist Middle School Choir known as The Regeneration Youth will be providing special music for us to enjoy during our time of worship. Mark your calendars and invite your friends, these kids are great!
APRIL IS ALCOHOL AWARENESS MONTH Alcohol is the most commonly used addictive substance in the United States: 17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence along with several million more who engage in risky, binge drinking patterns that could lead to alcohol problems. More than half of all adults have a family history of alcoholism or problem drinking, and more than 7 million children live in a household where at least one parent is dependent on or has abused alcohol. Alcohol abuse and alcoholism can affect all aspects of a person's life. Long-term alcohol use can cause serious health complications, can damage emotional stability, finances, career, and impact one's family, friends and community. Alcoholism has little to do with what kind of alcohol one drinks, how long one has been drinking, or even exactly how much alcohol one consumes. But it has a great deal to do with a person's uncontrollable need for alcohol. Most alcoholics can't just "use a little willpower" to stop drinking. The alcoholic is frequently in the grip of a powerful craving for alcohol, a need that can feel as strong as the need for food or water. While some people are able to recover without help, the majority of alcoholics need outside assistance to recover. With support and treatment, many are able to stop drinking and reclaim their lives. Staying clean and sober is hard work, and many people have done a lot of damage in their lives -- to themselves, to family, to friends, and to the communities in which they live. But recovery offers a way to turn the pain into progress. Social connections are important in recovery, and throughout the recovery community there are gatherings of all sorts where people in recovery and their family members and friends can relax in a sober social atmosphere and enjoy each other s company. First United Methodist Church hosts a vibrant and well-established Celebrate Recovery ministry each Monday night. Dinner begins at 5, worship and lesson at 6 and small group discussions at 7. We also have programs available for children and youth. For more information about this ministry, or to learn about support and volunteer opportunities within our ministry, please contact Stacy Rodolph, Karen White, or David Reyes. SPECIAL INVITATION TO SINGLE AND WIDOWED WOMEN GET-TOGETHER APRIL 12 TH Hello Ladies, Martha Spiva is going to have a Special Get-Together at her home on Thursday, April 12 th at 10:30am. This is a chance for single or widowed women to get together for light refreshments and fellowship, and a chance to make new friends. Transportation will be provided from the church; please call Terri Legg to RSVP. Life is too crazy to go through alone; here s a chance to meet new people and to meet special women of GOD. For more information, please contact Martha Spiva (874-0308) or Terri Legg (763-6537). A Big MARY Circle THANK YOU For everyone that was able to come out and enjoy the 2 nd Annual Don t Forget the Lyrics, the Mary Circle would like to thank you for coming out and supporting our commitment to missions. We were treated to a lovely dinner prepared by our own Travis and Yvette Herr; once again it was delectable! We also cannot forget to thank the fabulous talent that we had participate this year! We are truly blessed with wonderful people at FUMC, including Ken Knox who once again did a great job behind the scenes. Our MC Henry Hooks kept the night moving with hilarious antics. For a second year the night was wonderful! Thank you once again for all of your support, and also for all of the outstanding door prizes that were given for our silent auction. We are truly blessed here at FUMC, be sure to watch for the coming announcements to hear what the final total raised was! Thank you and GOD Bless!