August Newsletter Batesville United Methodist Church 106 South Park Avenue Batesville, Indiana 47006 (812) 934-3137 www.batesvilleumc.org batesvilleum@etczone.com Sunday Worship 8:00 A.M. Chapel Service 10:00 A.M. Sanctuary/Children s Time Nursery Available Handicap Lift at the Alley Door #5 Ramp at Door #2 at the corner of Park Street and South Street
SOMETHING NEW... LOVE GROW SHARE SERVE!! Over the last several weeks we have begun to consider what God is calling us to do and be as a church and as disciples of Jesus Christ. The four words we have contemplated are simple but can have a deep meaning in regards to our call as a church and our personal walk with Christ. Each of the new icons have been painted on stones along with a label on the bottom. These stones will be placed around our community, by our members, to encourage and inform our community of what we as a church are about and God s calling in their lives. I have written to the newspaper and would encourage you all to get the word out and encourage people in our community to keep an eye out for these stones. It is my hope that through these simple words and stones we can begin to have new or further discussion with our neighbors and people in Batesville about our church and what God is doing. A Message from Pastor Chris... It is hard to believe it has been a year, as I think back on our move and the warm welcome we received from all of you. The excitement and anticipation I felt, in expectation of what God would do, here, in this new appointment. In just a year I have come to love you, to appreciate your gifts, your willingness to serve, your generosity and your excitement for the things God is now doing. Over the last year we have improved communication within the church, we have updated our webpage, painted, improved our committees, created written
procedures, begun a one year Bible reading, started a Bible Study, provided a Live Stream of our Service and of course continued to serve meals and participate in the many ministries of BUMC. Over the last year attendance is up, giving is up, and there is a general attitude of hope and enthusiasm for the future of our congregation. This is the work of God and we thank God for it. We have recently begun to form a vision around the four pillars of Discipleship, Love, Grow, Share and Serve and a focused ministry of reaching out to our community, with several new things coming soon, including an outreach initiative called welcome home. We also have begun to revitalize our monthly newsletter as a tool of communication and outreach and will hopefully soon be able to provide a podcast of sermons for those who travel and to share as part of an invitation to check out our church, as well as a new video for visitors on our webpage. Most importantly we have grown together, we have seen God at work and heard God s call to be builders of the kingdom as we make disciples of Jesus Christ. It is an exciting time to be a part of Batesville United Methodist Church, and I thank God for the opportunity to be a small part of it and I thank God for all of you. However, with all that has happened we still face many challenges, especially two. The first is a sense of complacency, an attitude that wants to sit back and enjoy the progress we have made. The second is those who would sow doubts and discord, who would deny what God is doing or who would downplay it. It is when God is doing great things that we can face the great challenges to continue on. Let us remember Paul s words in Philippians 1:6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. We certainly face more challenges and changes but it is an exciting time and I cannot wait to see what God has in store. Thank you for all you have done and for a wonderful year! Grace and peace Pastor Chris
OUTREACH NEWS We are currently in follow up status to our potential water purification project. Under Hoagy's leadership, a group of eleven from our church visited a water purification plant in Underwood, In. on June 10. We had a great hands on experience in the safe water production process. Now, we are in contact with Joy in the Harvest Ministries in Tanzania, to determine the feasibility of their usage of the water purification systems. If it is a "go", we will launch a support project. While this is still very uncertain at this time, it is nevertheless quite exciting to think that we we could be a direct link for the work of Christ in providing untold numbers of deprived people in Africa safe, pure water. We are also in follow up status to our Appalachian Service Project (ASP) pizza information gathering on June 25, which was attended by about twenty from our church. Laura Johnson, an ASP Ambassador, gave us info as to how we might participate in a home repair in Appalachia in summer 2018. Our near term need is to assess interest and make a decision as to who may be going. This would be a project lasting a week. In mid July, Outreach sent a check to Red Bird Ministries for $400. This is a regular United Methodist Conference, located in the deprived mountainous region of Southeast Kentucky, with its central location of Beverly, Ky. Over about twenty five years, our church has done some work projects and made many faith promise donations to Red Bird. Total amount of our giving over that time has been in excess of $10,000. Red Bird Mission was founded in 1921. It grew out of a prayerful yearning to God by the deprived people of that area to find a path to a better life with less deprivation and suffering. In 1968, the United Methodist Church became a partner Church and some years later took over the operation as a Methodist "Conference". It's outreach is very broad and substantial, with a health clinic, a pre K - 12 School, Community Center, craft operation, clothing and household item distribution, farming, etc. The outreach basically touches all ares of life. Many people have been helped and many have broken out of the bonds of poverty but the needs remain substantial. Thanks to you, our caring congregation, we are carrying out the work of Christ to help these people.
The SUMMER FOOD PROGRAM has been in full swing, and is now winding down for another successful year. We have been averaging around a 100 kids a week. Not only did the families receive cereal, fruit, soup,milk, bread, and many extras, we added a fresh food item this year thanks to the Michel fund. The hospitality committee supplied a lunch, drinks, and lots of fun for the kids and their families. Each child can choose a couple books to take home and keep. We collected socks and underwear in July to be passed out for the start of school. Local hair dressers donated their time at our last Wednesday for hair cuts to get the kids looking good! Each child also received a cool tee shirt. Representatives from Ivy Tech came in July to talk to the kids and their families about programs being offered. The interested kids and their families took a field trip to Ivy Tech to check things out. We are really excited about this opportunity for them. We continue this program every Wednesday during the summer months knowing God is guiding and providing for us. Thank you for your support with the fruit, socks, under wear and prayers. We appreciate all the donations from our church members and our wonderful community to make this program possible. ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL Starts August 13 at 9 AM by Hoagy Wright & Leo Turchyn With schools starting soon, we will resume weekly Adult Sunday School at 9 AM beginning Aug 13 in the parlor. All are welcome to attend and you can come after the 8 AM service or before the 10 AM service. Our normal format will remain with prayer, scripture readings and a touch of humor (courtesy of Jay) prior to watching a short video and finishing with open comments or discussion on how the session might relate to our personal history or faith journey. We will start a 6 session review of Moses In the Footsteps of the Reluctant Prophet by Adam Hamilton. Adam will take us to several significant sites of Moses life (Egypt, Mt. Sinai, Red Sea and the wilderness) to help us relate to the story of Moses and try to
understand how God works through various people and situations. It is not necessary to attend all 6 sessions to experience meaningful perspectives and fellowship although we certainly encourage attendance every week that you can. If you have any questions or want more information, please contact Hoagy or Leo. Trustee Report The trustees are once again looking at windows. The windows in the chapel are beautiful, have a lot of charm and leak allowing the outside air in. It is always a challenge to maintain an old building but the trustees have risen to the challenge. However we cannot replace the windows without the help of our congregation. We are asking for donations to support this project. The windows in the chapel are large and have some architectural features that we want to maintain. We have found a contractor who will provide windows that look very much like those currently in place. Unfortunately these windows are not inexpensive. Each of the four windows in the chapel will cost $1530 and the two smaller windows in the entrance are $895.00 each. The total needed $ 7,910. In addition to the windows in the chapel we want to complete the parsonage. We have attic windows and basement windows that once replaced will allow us to take a deep breath and stamp complete on the parsonage window project.this effort will cost $2.500.00 The total amount of this window project is $10,410. So dear congregation we are once again asking for your support for these projects. Any amount of money you can donate to these two projects is appreciated. Many thanks to all who have shared in the fund raising effort. Your dedication to maintaining our beautiful buildings is appreciated. One project the trustees have completed with the help of Martha's Helpers is to paint the hall. Beautiful job done by many wonderful volunteers. Pastor Chris reworked the large bulletin board with wood supplied by Les Smith. It is indeed a thing of beauty. We have three large trash carts located outside the building at the top of the basement stairway. One cart is dedicated to
recycle trash. In the near future we will reseal the parking lot, the cemetery and the blacktop around the church. KIDS' CLUB Upcoming events for Kids in August feature our Kids' Club Kick Off on Wednesday, August 30th at 5:30 p.m. with a family dinner (menu to be determined) and a discussion of goals and plans for the upcoming Kids' Club sessions. Because we had VBS late in July, a recap and pictures will be available at a later date. THANKS TO ALL WHO HELPED WITH VBS!!! STAFF PARISH - We are interviewing for the youth coordinator position. This is a part time position, responsible for planning a dynamic program of spiritual growth, education, fellowship and service opportunities for middle school and high school youth. Please contact Pastor Chris or Amy Liter at amliter3@gmail.com for more information. Our Prayer list: Bishop Trimble, Beverly Perry, Pastor Chris and family, Kendall-(Connie Summers) Owen Lewis, Jackie Schaefer (Wrights) Rodney & Tammy Barber (Betty Lou), Don Russell (Summers) Rose Hummel and family (Connie Siefert), Jim Clarke (Heckman) Roland Gudgeon, Kathleen Ward (Mary Reynolds) Mike Dudgeon, Joe Padgett, Joe Lambert, Bobby Bane, Linda Taylor, Nancy Kerns (Fitzpatrick) Ms. Margie L. Pohle (Margaret Wilson), Cody Ryan (Bill Hisrich) Gary Patton, Gary & Dee Dudgeon, Wes Walker (Vergie Sharp), Hank (Virginia Smith) Dot Walsman, Millie Lewis, Bob & Naomi Melia, Les & Virginia Smith, Sylvia Wirth, Abby, Edie & Wilbur Zimmer, Beth West (Hartshorn) Our children and youth, Safe Passage, People in the Armed Forces Irene Fitzpatrick (The Chateau), Ken Nussbaum (The Waters), Gloria Gardner (The Waters) Roselyn Campbell (St. Andrews) We are looking to update our prayer list. If you have any new information, please email the office.
Dear Friends, We are gathering Thursday August 3 @ 10:30 to organize items for the rummage sale on Saturday August 5 from 8 A.M.- 4 P.M. There is still time to clean out your garages and closets and lets make a little extra money for our church! Donations can be placed in the Sunday school classrooms. Remember one person s junk is another person s treasure. So gather your unwanted treasures for our sale! We will take clean and working items, even the kitchen sink. We will have volunteers to pick up items you may need help with. Our sale IS ALMOST HERE! Questions? Please contact Sandi Jester, Susie Rowland, or the church office at (812) 934-3137.
A PURSE, BAG & BASKET AUCTION A Christian women s event to benefit Safe Passage, hosted by St. Mark Lutheran Church and Batesville United Methodist Church Saturday, August 12th 10 am 12 pm Doors open at 9:30 am Salad Luncheon Batesville Middle School Commons Tickets: $8 Proceeds to benefit Safe Passage Contact Mel Jobst/Tickets 812.933.1990