LITTLE UTICA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH A Member of the Upper New York Conference, Bishop Mark Webb and Crossroads District DS Nola Anderson September 2016 Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ Where has the time gone? It s doesn t seem possible that it was almost three months ago I wrote you about how excited I was to begin our time together in ministry. Now I have already had the privilege of being your pastor for two months! You have made me feel so welcome! I thought I had left my church families in New Jersey and Florida, but instead, I have been given another branch of God s family to live among, to share His love, and do His work. It has been wonderful getting to know you and seeing Christ at work in Little Utica UMC and the surrounding community. Your work and commitment to this church, and in ministry beyond our doors, is such a reflection of Christian love. It seems that day-by-day I learn of more outreach ministry done by this church. Add to the mix the combined efforts of churches with whom we are partners in ministry, and we are seeing great things being accomplished to help so many. With such commitment, once again it will be proven that nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). As you look through this newsletter you ll read of so many activities and events Little Utica UMC has planned over the next couple of months. I m looking forward to having the opportunity to spend time with all our members and friends, getting to know you, sharing time in worship and prayer, working on mission projects, being the people God has called us to be doing what He calls us to do. In a couple of weeks the leaves will be turning the glorious colors of fall. It won t be long after that we will celebrate Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for! No sooner is Thanksgiving over and Advent begins. I am looking forward, with so much anticipation, our journey toward Christmas! That being said, let s remember to enjoy every moment as we make that journey. A journey begins with one step. Each step is important and adds something special. As we make this journey together fall, Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and the beginning of a new year, may each step we take lead us on a faith journey that strengthens our commitment to accomplish great things, grow in our relationship with each other and the Lord, and live the faith we profess as we follow where God leads us. May each day bring you blessing upon blessing. Grace and peace, Pastor Judy In This Issue Greetings from Pastor Judy Todt Lay Leader s Desk Upcoming Events EJ Thomas Cluster Update Women s Page Men s Page 1
From the Lay Leaders Desk We have been so blessed, thank you Lord for this beautiful summer. Our church has been so busy this summer with our ongoing missions. I ll share with you what has transpired at church since our last newsletter. Change is the key word for 2016. We said goodbye to Pastor Michaela and welcomed our new pastor, Judy Todt. Pastor Judy is just a perfect fit for our small, but very active church. Our trustees have been very busy getting our parsonage in great shape so it can be rented. What an undertaking that has been. The whole house, including the basement, was professionally cleaned, including all the air ducts. Areas of the flooring replaced, walls spackled and repainted, new light fixtures, and flowers planted. I am so grateful to those hard working folks. They made the parsonage look like a new home. We are celebrating the ministry of Pastor Judy by having two meet & greet events at church. Our first meet & greet was on a hot July Friday night, with free pizza & beverage. Several people attended, including young adults and a Journalism student from Syracuse University s Newhouse School. She saw our notice in the local paper and wanted to see what a meet & greet was all about at a Methodist church. Our next meet & greet will be a free breakfast on Sunday,September 11, at 8:30 am with our regular service at 9:15. Pastor Judy is working on her outreach ministry to our community. This is so needed and we are so pleased she is excited about doing this. Our UMW, UMM and E.J. Thomas Cluster have been very active on their mission work for Jesus. Please read their articles for all the information. Please check out this list of upcoming events that will be taking place at our church this fall. Sunday, September 11th at 8:30 Meet & Greet our Pastor Breakfast Service at 9:15 Sunday,September 18th. Advanced & Basic Lay Servant Classes begin. The classes are both 5-weeks long and 2 1/2 hours each Sunday 1-3:30. Thursday, September 22nd at 6pm. Holy Land Tour Information Night Friday, September 23rd, Our Fall Spaghetti & Meatball take-out Dinner 4-6pm. $7 Saturday, October 15th United Methodist Men s Fundraiser for the DAV Van Fund to be held at Moyers Corners Fire Dept, Clay,NY October 22, 9-2 pm - 18th Annual Craft Fair Saturday New-to-You and Schoolhouse Sale every Thursday morning 9-11 and the First Saturday of the month from 9-11. This is just a partial listing of events that are planned for the next two months. I am so very proud of the people that make up the congregation of Little Utica. We are a church in motion, always moving forward, facing our challenges head-on. Keeping foremost in our minds the vision of Little Utica United Methodist is to grow spiritually through outreach, including all people, as we share the Gospel and create new disciples. Blessings ~ Don Day
Lay Servant Classes Advanced Lay Servant Class Living Together in the United Methodist Connection (United Methodist Polity a required course) The first class of this 5-week course begins on Sunday, September 18, 2016 at 1 pm. Class time will be 2 ½ hours. Attendance is required for all 5 classes. Location is at Little Utica UMC. This class is open to all Advanced Lay Servants and the course instructor is Donald Day. Applications must be filled out and returned by August 31, 2016. You will need to purchase the student book from the Upper-Room Bookstore: The Method of Our Mission by Laceye C. Warner ($23.00). Along with your application please send a check for $10 payable to Little Utica UMC and in the memo write: Advanced Lay Class For more information please call Don Day at 598-6327 or email: dday1@twcny,rr.com Basic Lay Servant Class Little Utica UMC is offering the Basic Lay Servant Class starting Sunday, September 18, 2016. The class is for 5-weeks, 1 3:30 pm and all classes need to be attended. The instructors for this class are Lay Servants, Bob & Elaine Phillips and Doug MacEwen assisting. Please send your application and a check for $20 to: Donald Day, 1 South Granby Road, Fulton, NY 13069. Make checks payable to Little Utica UMC and in the memo: Lay Servant Class.
Information Night Journeys of Paul Cruise Thursday,September 22 at 6 pm, Coffee and snacks served Journeys of Paul Cruise October 6-17, 2017 We are too blessed to be depressed! ~Travel with Educational Opportunities Holy land Tours ~ *Aboard the Royal Caribbean- Jewel of the Seas *Guest Speaker: ~ Adam Hamilton ** This wonderful cruise is booking fast. I am sure it will be sold-out very soon. Your All Inclusive price from NYC starting at $3,498* Post Tour: Vatican City Post Tour - $248* Informational meeting will be held at: Little Utica United Methodist Church 1459 Lamson Road, Phoenix, NY For more information please call Donald Day, 598-6327 or dday1@twcny.rr.com *E.O s brochures have all the details. E.O s web site www.e.o.travel Upcoming Events Meet and Greet Breakfast Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 8:30 am Worship Service follows at 9:15 am Please join us as we enjoy a free breakfast and welcome Pastor Judy Todt to Little Utica UMC. Come and enjoy a light meal as you chat with her about her mission and ministries at Little Utica. Spaghetti Dinner Friday, September 23, 2016 at 4 pm 6pm Generous portions of spaghetti with homemade meatballs and sauce, salad, bread and dessert. The dinners are take-out only and are $7.00 each. No waiting! Drive up pay and drive around and your dinner is brought out to you. Now that s fast food! Call ahead at 315-678-2270 starting at noon on September 23 to reserve your take-out Chili Dinner Take-Out Sunday Sunday Oct. 30. 11am 1 pm Generous container of home-made mild beef chili, corn bread and dessert. Dinners to be picked up at the church and are $7 each This is our 2nd annual football Sunday chili dinner. Pre-orders are requested, but we will have extra on-hand for those that might want an extra container full. Please call Don Day at 598-6327 to place your order by Wednesday, October 26. UMM Disabled American Veterans VAN (DAV) Van Fundraiser Saturday, October 15 from 2 pm to 5 pm Clay Fire Station #1 4383 Route 31, Clay NY 4
18th Annual Holiday Craft Fair Saturday,October 22 from 9 am - 2 pm ~ Homemade crafts ~ Specialty Vendors ~ Holiday Items ~ *****Lunch will be available from 11 am to 1:30 pm EJ Thomas Cluster of Churches Update It has been a very hot summer and many of us are looking forward to the fall. Not only does another year of school start, but the 2017 Cluster season kicks off. Unlike kids dreading this time of year, members of the Cluster are looking forward to another year of fellowship, good food, fun meetings and coming up with ways to help people and organizations. The first meeting will take place at the Martville UMC on September 12th. We are looking forward to the upcoming year as we want to reach out to other small churches in the area to grow our cluster membership and to support more missions. Our Cluster currently consists of Martville, Bowens Corners, Ira, Hannibal Center, Hannibal and Little Utica. Each church will be asked to host one or two meetings during the year. All churches will be asked to pay dues of $10.00 annually to help pay for secretary needs and each church is encouraged to collect and donate to the Dr. Zimmerman Foundation if possible. Our Lenten Season collection is set aside for Campership Scholarships for our church children. As we have money in reserve due to the decline in youth membership, last year s collection was presented to The E.J. Thomas Men s Group for the DAV Van. If you have nothing on your calendar for the second Monday of the month come and join us for a fun afternoon with lots of good food and many laughs. We are looking forward to a great year and to helping where we can. Not only are new members welcomed, but so are new ideas. Hope to see you!!!!! Blessings, Elaine Phillips 5
United Methodist Women UMW continues to be very successful at our New to You/Schoolhouse Boutique which is open every Thursday 9 a.m. 11 a.m. and the first Saturday of the month, also 9 a.m. 11 a.m. New items daily. Winter clothing, fancy dresses, bedding, shoes. purses, pajamas, from birth thru plus sizes for men and women. The schoolhouse features books, records, tapes, toys, handicap equipment, household items, pots and pans, dishes, games, knick-knacks, crafts, baskets, vases, and so much more. Many unique items. Blessings, Carolyn Johnson, President Winter Fuel Fund 2016-2017 Thank you for responding to our fuel fund drive. Our church again this year will hold our Sunday morning worship service in our church parlor for the months of January, February & March to cut way back on fuel usage. With all that we are planning to do to conserve fuel, it will still run about $3500 to heat our church for an entire year. The good news is as of August 29, 2016 we have in our fuel fund $1002.69 and the fuel tanks are full. Blocks may be purchased in Honor or Memory of a loved one on our fuel chart. Each block is $25. That money will be deposited into our Fundraising account and used just for FUEL, as the bills come in. These are the names of members and friends of Little Utica that have donated many have donated several times: Elma Smith, John & Joe Shuba, Barb Harvie, Phyllis MacEwen, Donald & Sylvia Day, Charles & Candy Burtch, Ray & Linda Honicker, Chris Johnson, Corinne McAlister, Bud & Carolyn Johnson, Jeff & Betty Morey, Bob & Elaine Phillips and Donald & Shannon Day, Jr. Please make out your checks to: Little Utica UMC. In the memo please write Fuel Fund and mail them to me. Sylvia Day 1 South Granby Road Fulton, NY 13069. Respectfully, Sylvia Day 6
EJ Thomas United Methodist Men The men s group has had a relatively quiet summer with time spent planning two events for this fall. First, the Brown Memorial hotdog cookout will be on Saturday, September 10, starting at 11 am. This is our third year where we give out grilled hotdogs, drinks and snacks. Last year we gave away 600 hotdogs and had some great conversations with the folks in that community. As many of you know, we ve been raising money for another Disabled American Veterans (DAV) van. The UMM has raised $6,004 of the $16,000 needed for a new full sized DAV van with the goal to place the order by December 2016. The van will be wrapped with this logo: The E.J. Thomas Cluster United Methodist Men Transport our Veterans Dedicated in memory of Cpl. Kyle Schneider. On Saturday, October 15, we re teaming up with the Cpl Kyle Schneider Foundation to put on a fundraising event at Clay Fire Station #1 at 4383 Route 31, Clay NY. There will be a silent auction with many great items to bid on along with food for sale, music supplied by Skip Murphy & The Merry Pranksters and Big D and Friends and a bake sale. The festivities start at 2 pm and go until 5 pm. The high bids of the auction will be announced at 4:30 pm. The DAV Transportation Network delivers tens of thousands of veterans each year to and from appointments at the Syracuse Veterans Administration Medical Center and community clinics. The network requires at least 300 volunteer drivers and over 700,000 miles per year to ferry veterans who live in 13 Central New York counties to the hospital and clinics. We are looking for Guest Table Sponsors. Each table, where people will be eating, will have a theme of one of our sponsors. Table sponsorship is $75. A Love Offering will be accepted at the door and is greatly appreciated. All funds will go to the purchase of the DAV Van. (All checks made payable to: E.J. Thomas Cluster UMM and in the memo: DAV Van Fund) Please come and join us for an afternoon of fun! By doing so you help support our Heroes! They keep us Free and Safe. Blessings, Doug MacEwen 7
Help Yourself To Happiness Everybody, everywhere seeks happiness, it s true, But finding it and keeping it seem difficult to do. Difficult because we think that happiness is found Only in the places where wealth and fame abound. And so we go on searching in palaces of pleasure Seeking recognition and monetary treasure, Unaware that happiness is just a state of mind Within the reach of everyone who takes time to be kind. For in making others happy we will be happy, too. For the happiness you give away returns to shine on you. Helen Steiner Rice Contact Us 1459 Lamson Road Phoenix NY 13135 (315) 678-2270 info@littleuticaumc.org Visit us on the web at www.littleuticaumc.org Little Utica United Methodist Church c/o Carolyn Johnson 39 South Granby Road Fulton, NY 13069 PLACE STAMP HERE