From the Senior Pastor

September 2018 Vol. 6 Issue 9 From the Senior Pastor Rev. Robert Sparkman Friends, I sit here with coffee in hand thinking about our first six weeks of ministry here at Latham. It has been a great start you would almost say a blessed beginning. So I began to think: What can we do to protect the great atmosphere of enthusiasm we now have? What can we do now to give the church positive momentum some tangible things? Several things come to mind: 1. Continue to pray. I feel the Holy Spirit very active in our ministry. None of us can do much without that spiritual power of God. We speak of this as a movement of the Spirit. In every time of positive ministry in churches I have served, I felt that I was being carried along on a current of the Holy Spirit. There will be people and things which test any movement of the Spirit, and we have to be together in prayer, and together in love, to continue with the vision God has for us. If we are to participate with God in a powerful ministry, it has to be surrounded and protected by prayer. 2. We can gather in worship and strengthen our faith in the next three Sundays of Step into Faith series. Last Sunday I used a philosophical argument for faith in God, and exploration of scripture as well, which I believe strengthens faith and helps people to regain lost faith. This Sunday, September 2nd, we will talk about the necessity of faith in Jesus as Christ. On September 9th, the message revolves around the way other people have found faith. The last Sunday, September 16th, the scripture verse is Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is not just an intellectual exercise, but entails mystery, beauty, and a step of faith. 3. Invite a family member or a friend. On August 19th, I talked about a time when I lost my faith. I found it again through the prayers of family and friends and church, and a dramatic time when God spoke to me. You might be that praying family member or friend who helps someone find their faith again. Pray about it and invite and take them out to lunch afterward. This is a great start. Now let s make it a life-transforming, church strengthening, movement of the Spirit! Robert

P a ge 2 From the Associate Pastor Matt Jones Who is that guy? I will never forget hearing that question. It was about my 3rd or 4th Sunday at Latham and I was in the 9 am service at the time. As Mike began to preach, I moved to the back of the room and overheard that question. I was the new Associate Pastor, and assumed they were asking about me, but I quickly realized that they were actually asking about Mike - (who was NOT new) - and not about me the new guy. Apparently, we had done a very poor job of introducing ourselves. Also - length of time in a place doesn t mean people know who you are! It s always important to extend a warm welcome to everyone when we are at church. Latham is really good at doing that so keep up the good work! We are not quite as good at taking the time to introduce ourselves to people at church. Maybe we are afraid that we have met before, or that we will make someone uncomfortable in some way. That rarely actually happens. I can t think of anytime that I have been bothered by someone saying Good morning! I m Bill James and I am glad you're here today! I appreciate the effort to help me feel connected. One of the best responses I have heard went like this: Good morning! I m Bill James and I am glad you're here today! Yes, Bill. We met before and I remember who you are. Great! As much as I forget things these days, I am glad I got my name right! Be willing to step out and take a moment to make everyone feel welcome at Latham, It matters! Matt

P a ge 3 Trustees Update Jeff Langhout BUS REPAIRS Our white bus is undergoing repairs from the accident it was in back in June. It was a minor accident and there were no people on the bus other than the driver and there were no injuries. The roof of the bus was not as lucky... So it will likely be mid September before we have our bus back in operation. LED S UPDATE We are making slow but steady progress on replacing parking lot lights with LEDs. If you are at church after dark, you can see that the LED s make a big difference. SECURE DOORS AND SECURITY We are very pleased with the new doors that have been installed to support the CDC and the last step in completing their 100% compliance with DHR policy. We are blessed to have Bobby Lee of Lee Builders who constantly bends over backwards to help our church with construction projects. For these door installations, there was a lot of red tape he had to navigate to ensure it was up to code and supported by DHR. On top of that, our CDC is a full time operation, thus Bobby and his team could only work on Saturday or overnight. And then there were some Saturday s he wasn t allowed to work due to weddings and other things. Yet he happily does the work for our church. HOW YOU CAN HELP There are so many other things your trustees take care of... almost all of it goes unnoticed and is done when no-one is around. It s a very rewarding service to our Lord and if you want to become a trustee, we would love your help. Please let our pastors know if you feel called to support this type of work at Latham. You will be joining a great group of stewards including: Jeff Langhout Wes Smith Candy Trowbridge Sandy Ekstrom Richard Peters Latham s New Members WELCOME OUR NEW MEMBERS Andrew Staton SAVE THE DATE Saluting Our Military (a musical salute to our veterans) Sunday, Nov. 11th 4:00 p.m. In the Sanctuary

P a ge 4 Family Ministries Lauren Stiles, Jennifer Barger, and Mary Cope Children s Cooking Night Our children at Latham LOVE to cook and be in the kitchen! In August our special Sunday night event was cooking with Frank Barger! Frank taught the children how to make pepperoni and bacon pizza braids, fresh salad topped with fruit and homemade dressing, and gooey chocolate butter cake with vanilla ice cream! We even had a friendly boy vs. girl pizza construction contest! We had such a great time preparing and eating our dinner together as a group, and we also talked about how the Bible is the ultimate recipe that we have in our lives to follow. We can find the ingredients that we need to be like Christ such as love, devotion, faith, confidence, trust, and many other qualities that the Bible gives us for the recipe that we need to become more like Christ. A big thank you to Frank for sharing your talents with our children! Back to School! The month of August brought with it a new school year and new beginnings for so many of our children and students! We have several children who started Kindergarten this year, several who started middle school, and also ones that have started high school! We also have graduated seniors who are starting a new adventure in college life. This is such an exciting time watching our children and students grow and experience new beginnings with this school year. We want to invite our church to join us in prayer for all of our children, youth, college students, and teachers/administrators that we have in our church family! We pray for a wonderful school year of growth, wisdom, and that everyone will experience God s presence even more!

P a ge 5 Meet A New Member... Liz Hall Zeman Christie Thompson is a rare species ~ a Huntsville native. She grew up with her three sisters in Blossomwood, graduated from Huntsville High School and U.A.H. (with a business degree). She retired in 2015 after a 43 year career! After 15 years in banks and credit unions, she worked for the government for 28 years in the Security Assistance Management Directorate in foreign military sales. Thanks to this experience, Christie was thrilled to travel to Germany, Istanbul, and Italy (her favorite). Her current life is full with her dog, Lexi, and her garden where she laid a flagstone patio all by herself! Her flowers come primarily from clippings/roots from family members and friends so she walks through her memories when she walks through her garden. She has one son who is an engineer who lives in Huntsville. He and his wife will soon make Christie a first-time grandmother with a grandson. Christie has taught Sunday School to children, is a substitute deliverer for Meals on Wheels, has been a circle co-chair and participates in Bible Study Fellowship at Southwood Presbyterian Church. Christie s favorite memories of old Huntsville include never having to lock the doors, and looking for tadpoles in the creek by Blossomwood. She remembers when the Huntsville Airport was on Airport Road and seemed really far from her home when the family went to pick up her dad from business travel. Christmas decorations in the store windows around the square are another sparkling memory for her. Today the mountains (hills?) around Huntsville are special to her. Thanks for the memories, Christie, and welcome to Latham! Latham United Methodist Women - Caireen Martin Honduras Boxes After taking a little time off over the summer, the Latham UMW is back in action. We are currently filling boxes for children in Honduras and would like to invite everyone at church to participate, too. If you are led to help, the boxes are located in the Sunday School office. You choose whether your box is for a boy or a girl and then choose an age group. There are suggested items on the box if you need ideas what to buy for the child. They ask that each box contain a pair of flip flops and that any liquids such as shampoo be placed in a zip lock bag. Also do not include candy or any type of gum. The Dollar Tree is a great place to find items for these boxes! They ask that you fill the box with items, but don't over fill it and be sure to fill out the manifest form on the box listing all the items in the box. The boxes need to be returned to the Sunday School office by Friday, September 14. If you don't want to fill one of these boxes, we can always use donations to help with the cost of shipping. Any donations can be given to me or to Donna Whitacre and checks can be made out to Latham UMW. Any questions? Please call me! Cairenn Martin 256-882-2471

P a ge 6 The Sound of Music at Latham Tyler Henderson It s an exciting time at Latham United Methodist Church. In my first year as the Music Director of the Traditional Services at Latham, I ve had an immensely joyful experience getting to know you all and finding my place in this wonderful community of faith. Music has always been the strongest way I personally connect with worship, and I m more than thrilled to be able to work towards that experience every day. We have some big plans for the coming year and would love for you to be a part of it. Starting in the Fall, Chancel Choir rehearsal will return to its normal time of 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday evenings. We re excited about the direction that the Chancel Choir is taking, and we were excited to recently join the 9:00 a.m. Orchard Service one Sunday to show that congregation what we re doing as well. Starting in the fall, we ll begin preparations for our annual Christmas cantata, and we would love to have you lend your voice to this wonderful holiday tradition. We have a wonderful group of supportive and collaborative singers. We work on challenging music and have a great time while we do. If you love to sing and enjoy being around friendly and talented people who love to as sell, come and join us! We d be thrilled to have you. In addition to Chancel Choir, we re working on plans for a Hand Bell Choir that will find a normal time to rehearse and participate in worship. We have many new exciting things to come in the Traditional Music Department. If experiencing worship through music is your passion, I hope you ll come and join us.

P a ge 7 Memorials & Honorariums Given by Mr. & Mrs. Gene Crane to the Buchanan Scholarship Fund in memory of Mary Jen Green Crane & John Hauer. Given by Jane Smith to the Electronic Sign Fund in memory of Charles W. Slamp (father of Bob Slamp). Given by Clyde & Betty Lavender to the Memorial Fund in memory of James Kenneth Scott. Given by Circle 1 to the UMW Fund in memory of Richard Todd Denno. Given by John & Carolyn Glaese to the Buchanan Scholarship Fund in memory of John Hauer (nephew of Ralph & Ginny Green). Given by Bill & Amma Barnes to the Memorial Fund in memory of Cal Blevins. Given by Alice Shipman to the Memorial Fund in memory of Cal Blevins. Given by Tom & Kim McFadden to the Electronic Sign Fund in memory of Cal Blevins. Given by Herschel & Judy Moore to the Memorial Fund in memory of Cal Blevins. Given by Wes & Gina Smith to the Electronic Sign Fund in memory of Cal Blevins. Given by Jim & Mary Jane Williams to the Electronic Sign Fund in memory of Cal Blevins. Given by Bill & Rita Friday to the Memorial Fund in memory of Cal Blevins. Given by the Kairos Sunday School Class to the Pastor s Discretionary Fund in memory of Richard Todd Denno (son of Norma Jean Denno). Small Groups - Marty Bryan The small group team has met and we are still trying to get a few groups going for the fall. Those are listed below. We are also working on groups for the winter. COMPUTER CLASS This will start August 28 th and meet in the Welcome Center. Time: 6pm. You will need to bring your lap top. Sue Campbell will teach this class with Gina Smith as her assistant. It will cover basic computer skills. BUNCO- We are still having people sign up. We need 12 people to have a group to play. So please let us know if you are interested by signing up in the welcome center at the kiosk. We will get back with you about this group. Groups we are still working to get started this fall: Yoga Self Defense Day Time Bible study Meal Preparation COMING ATTRACTIONS IN JANUARAY GAME NIGHT- This will start in January/Feb. We just need someone to lead this group. Please contact us if you are interested. PHOTO CLUB Taught by a visiting member of our church, Waldy Cuevas. This course is for anyone who likes to take pictures and share them with others. An informational meeting will be held in November (date & time to be announced later). This small group will start in January and will meet 8 times a year. Small Group committee: Windy Geisinger Lori Hazelrig Cheryl Clausen Elizabeth Cantley Marty Bryan Please keep your eyes and ears open for more to come.

P a ge 8 Reaching Children All Over the World Liz Hall Zeman The Ministry This article is an early heads up about a Christmas tradition that many of us enjoy. I am writing about the Samaritan s Purse Operation Christmas Child. The Christmas Boxes are regularsized shoe boxes, filled with goodies and distributed to children all over the world. It s not too soon to start stocking up on items to be put in the boxes (crayons, small toys, soap, socks, toothpaste, small stuffed animals or balls, etc.). More information on when they will be due and where to take them will be in future issues of the BRANCH. The History Operation Christmas child is celebrating its 25th year of operation this year. Its first year was 1993 and the boxes that year went to children in Bosnia, at the time in a civil war. The first congregation to pack the Christmas boxes was the congregation of Calvary Church in Charlotte, NC. Last year, in 2017, 11 million boxes of gifts were shipped to 114 countries and territories! In addition, 2.7 million children graduated from the Greatest Journey Course, a Bible study course available to the communities receiving the boxes. So when you prepare one or more Christmas boxes you are participating in an amazing outreach ministry! More information in the October Branch The Methodist Corner...Did you know? United Methodist trust free inquiry in matters of Christian doctrine. Our faith guided by Scripture, tradition, experience and reason. Of paramount importance is Scripture. For United Methodists, the Bible is the record of God s people living out God s promise.

P a ge 9 Latham Child Development Center Traci Harris, Director The NEW LUMCDC entrance on the west side of the church building has been a positive transition for the families and most importantly added security for our children! Thank you to the Trustees for their help and support coordinating the facility updates. Thank you to all the LUMC members, Farmers Market committee, and patrons for their patience and understanding during this time of change. With these facility updates complete we are now ready to begin the 3 month process of becoming DHR licensed. I was recently told that the UMC now desires all of their day cares to be fully licensed so I am pleased we are already moving in the right direction! Monday, August 6, 2018 was our 1st official day of the new school year. We are blessed with 53 children (26 full-day / 27 half-day preschool). We are excited to reopen our full-day PreK classroom and add a half-day preschool class for 18 month old children. Carmen Hale joined us in June as our new Assistant Director and is already a blessing to our school. LUMCDC has 20 loving staff and teachers blessing lives each day. LUMCDC was invited by the Food Bank of North Alabama to be a part of a pilot program called the Farm Food Collaborative. This program enables early child care and education providers to engage in farm to preschool activities. Each week our school has the opportunity to order fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers to integrate in to our snacks and lunch each day. Many of these items will come straight from the farmers who participate in the LUMC market on Tuesdays. This program also provides teachers with hands on learning activities and parents with newsletters and recipes. We are excited to be apart of this program. It's great to eat fresh foods! LUMCDC is the place to be! Most of our classrooms are full, but we do have some openings in both our full-day and half-day preschool programs. If you know of anyone who would like to know more about our program and tour our facility please send them in our direction. We love to welcome new friends!

P a ge 10 Family Ministries Lauren Stiles, Todd Sutherland, Sandy Ekstrom, and Justin Stiles Motion Worship Conference Right before school started our youth and adult chaperones had the blessing of attending Motion Worship Conference in Birmingham at the BJCC arena for the fourth year. Motion Conference is a wonderful, three-day conference that is packed with popular and wonderful worship bands and leaders, speakers and pastors from all over the world, and small groups for into their schools with an even stronger faith in Jesus Christ and they are able to share that with their friends at school. Thank you to our pastors and church staff for covering us in love and prayer for this wonderful experience. our students to experience. Our youth always look forward to this event. Each year we grow, adding more people to our group who attend because it is so meaningful. Motion gives our students the opportunity to experience God s presence through worship and His word like never before, and everyone leaves forever changed with a new imprint on their heart of God s presence. Having the opportunity to take our youth to this conference at the end of the summer and right before school starts is such a wonderful benefit because it fuels them with the confidence to go

Page 11 Grissom Outreach Edith Pickens Our Back to School wave brought many smiles to people passing by Latham on Weatherly Road. Latham UMC members celebrated the start of a new school year by cheering and waving as students, parents and staff headed to school. Thank you to those who came out to wave and to those passing by who gave a friendly honk! We plan to have another wave on a football Friday during cooler weather. We will continue our Grissom Outreach this year with a new focus! As Latham continues our focus on prayer, our primary method of supporting Grissom will be through ongoing prayer. We ask that you keep the students, parents, staff and others in your ongoing prayers. While we will not adopt departments as we did this year, it would be great if you would call out the department your group adopted in prayer. If your Sunday School classroom has a prayer list, please keep Grissom and all local schools on your prayer list. Grissom has a new principal, many new teachers/ staff and an entire class of new students who, in addition to the familiar faces, can use our support. I know everyone in the Grissom community will be blessed by Latham members wrapping them in prayer. As we are made aware of specific prayer needs and other needs, we will share those with you. At a future date, we will provide refreshments for a faculty meeting. We hope to do this several times this year. I will be asking for help with providing refreshments and encouraging notes when we have the date established. Thank you for all you do to support our local students at Grissom and in many other schools.

P a ge 12 Member s Moment Judy Gillespie Cathy and Gordon Trowbridge are not related to Candy and Howard Trowbridge but have met them and admit it would be nice if they were related. Gordon was transferred to Huntsville in 1977. Cathy was living in Decatur when they met ten years ago. They were both widowed and Gordon s daughter, who worked with Cathy, introduced them. They have six children and eight grandchildren together. They all live within three hours of Huntsville. When Cathy and Gordon first started attending Latham, they attended the 8:30 service because they liked having Communion every Sunday. They are now attending the 11:00 service as they feel very blessed with the choir and organ/piano. They both are big music fans. They find the attendees of Latham to be welcoming and friendly. They were both happy to hear Matt will continue to be with us. They are very excited with the messages Rev. Sparkman delivers each week. A big coincidence is that Gordon and Eleanor Hollobaugh retired from the same company different states but this has given them a connection. Gordon is an avid sailor, growing up on the shores of New Jersey. He continues his love for sailing on Guntersville Lake in his sailboat Slow Motion. He graduated from the historical Bulova School of Watch Making in the 1960 s. He currently repairs mechanical clocks. Cathy adds that Gordon is a wonderful cook, especially grilling. He likes to always be busy! Cathy enjoys traveling, antiquing/finding treasures, and trying new recipes especially cakes of all flavors. She owned a catering business for 25 years. Maybe that is how she got to be known as the Cheese straw lady. She also owned her own daycare. She loves seeing the joys of pre-school children as they have their first time experiencing new things. Both of these ventures allowed Cathy to have her two daughters with her when they were growing up. Gordon and Cathy enjoy the Huntsville Symphony, Broadway plans and spending time with family and friends. They both say they are foodies and enjoy trying new restaurants and challenges of new recipes. It was a delight to get to know Cathy and Gordon!

P a ge 13 Farmer s Market Kim McFadden Youth Led Worship We want to thank everyone at our three Sunday Morning worship services for having our youth included in leading worship a few weeks ago! Our students led special musical pieces in the 8:30 and 11:00 services, and our youth praise band led all of the musical worship in the 9:00service. We had youth who were the ushers and greeters as well as led the congregation in prayer and the announcements. Pastor Robert invited two of our graduated seniors Christian Sutherland and Andrew Staton to help him deliver his message as well. Both of these young men have a strong calling from God to serve in ministry in their future, and seeing them being a part of Pastor Robert s message was a real blessing. Thank you to everyone who helped make this youth-led Sunday worship experience happen for all of our services!

P a ge 14 Happy Birthday! 1 Mickey White 3 Donald Kenyon 4 Andrew Cope 5 Roger Gray 6 Erin Helms Harold Johnson John Glaese 7 Robbie Robinson 8 Hank Hagler 9 Jessica Martin Adrionna Marshall 10 J.T. Leiner Marion Lytle 11 Eva Patterson 13 Amma Barnes Joan Williamson Liz Flynn 14 David Conley 15 Gail Ayres 16 Arjun Tulloh Mennon Tulloh 17 Andrew Staton 18 John Childress 19 Carol Sinopole 21 Juanita Hardin Janet Ingleright Jenna Hazelrig 22 Chris Hazelrig 24 Mary Green Savannah Sumner Eve Plemons 25 Laurel Finlen Celia Seay Pat Purushotham Edna Booth Nathan Beck 26 Suzanne Wear Ray Cogburn 28 Walt Whitacre Malcolm Berry 29 Robert Zimmerman Gloria Lewis Ben Stone 30 Curtis Putnam

September 2018 P a ge 15 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SUNDAY SERVICES 8:30a Holy Communion Service 9a Contemporary Service 10a Sunday School Small Groups 11a Traditional Service 1 2 UMM Breakfast/Program 10a Short Term Study 5p Youth Group 3 Labor Day! Church Office & Day Care Closed 4 10a Alzheimer s Support Group 3p Farmer s Market 7p Tutoring 5 11:30a Bible Study 1:30p Wesley Singers 6p Bible Study 6p Boy Scouts 6p Council on Ministries Meeting 6:30p Bible Study 7p Chancel Choir 6 8:30a Bend & Stretch 8:30a Elderberry Trip 6p In Stitches 7p Praise Band 7 8 9a Latham Hiking Club 10a In Stitches 9 Food Pantry Sunday 8:30a Blood Pressure Checks 10a Short Term Study 5p Youth Group 10 8:30a Bend & Stretch 2p Jo Walton Literary Group 11 9:30a Circle 3 Meeting 1:30p Circle 1 Mtg. 3p Farmer s Market 7p Tutoring 12 11:30a Bible Study 1:30p Wesley Singers 6p Bible Study 6p Boy Scouts 6p Lay Leadership 6:30p Bible Study 7p Chancel Choir 13 8:30a Bend & Stretch 7p Praise Band 14 15 Deadline for the Branch Articles 16 10a Short Term Study 5p Youth Group 17 8:30a Bend & Stretch 18 10a Circle 4 Mtg. 3p Farmer s Market 7p Tutoring 19 Circle 2 Meeting 11:30a Bible Study 1:30p Wesley Singers 6p Bible Study 6p Boy Scouts 7p Chancel Choir 20 8:30a Bend & Stretch 11:30a Elderberry Luncheon & Program 6p In Stitches 7p Praise Band 21 22 23 10a Short Term Study 5p Youth Group 24 8:30a Bend & Stretch 6p Circle 7 Meeting 25 LUMCDC Fall Picture Day 10a In Stitches 3p Farmer s Market 7p Tutoring 26 9a UMW Board Mtg. 11:30a Bible Study 1:30p Wesley Singers 6p Bible Study 6p Boy Scouts 27 8:30a Bend & Stretch 7p Praise Band 28 29 6:30p Bible Study 7p Chancel Choir 30 10a Short Term Study 5p Youth Group

Latham United Methodist Church 109 Weatherly Road Huntsville, AL 35803 Phone: 256-881-4069 Fax: 256-880-0305 On the web: lathamumc.org Connect with the Staff Rev. Robert Sparkman, Senior Pastor Matt Jones, Associate Pastor Tyler Henderson, Music Director Children s Ministry Youth Ministry Lauren Stiles, Admin/Children & Youth Jim Geisinger, Associate Music Director Marvene Borntrager, Admin/Congregational Care Anita Banks, Business Administrator Traci Harris, Director of Child Development Center Eleanor Hollobaugh, Pianist Rachel Misheff, Organist Michael Bryant, Custodian rsparkman@lathamumc.org mattjones@lathamumc.org tylerhenderson@lathamumc.org lathamchildren@gmail.com lathamumcyouth@gmail.com lstiles@lathamumc.org jim.geisinger@yahoo.com office@lathamumc.org admin@lathamumc.org lumcdc@lathamumc.org elhollobaugh@gmail.com rachelmisheff@gmail.com Submit articles to: office@lathamumc.org Deadline for the next issue of the Branch is the 15th of each month. Elderberries Sherri Ryan The Elderberries, or our OVER FIFTIES and FABULOUS, group as I like to call us, is made up of anyone who is over fifty and would like to get out one Thursday a month for awesome fellowship, a delicious lunch, and entertaining and informative programs. We meet from 11:30-1:00 on the third Thursday of each month in the Fellowship Hall. You do not have to be a member of Latham and we encourage anyone from the neighborhood and other denominations to join us! We take occasional outings to plays, concerts etc. and have a great fun! On September 20th, the Fahrenheit Five, will entertain us. This group is comprised of local firefighters that have wondered barbershop style harmony. Please, mark you calendar and join us on September 20th. Meeting is at 11:30, lunch at noon and entertainment at 12:30. Join us for lunch by reserving your place by calling Dot Coombe or Sherri Ryan, at 256-656-0156. If you can t eat with us, just come and be entertained. We look forward to seeing you there. Blood Drive Latham will host a Blood Drive for Life South on Sunday, October 7th, 8:00 Noon in our parking lot. Please stop by, give blood, and help save a life.