A Newsletter Published by First United Methodist Church – Emporia, KS

September 11, 2008                                                                                   Volume LIV – Issue 16

Preschool News

Things are busy at Friends Together Preschool. For the month of September we will be exploring the theme of the Farm and Apples.  We have already discussed animals one would find

on the farm and the sounds they make, comparing them to the ones listed in the book Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming.  We followed that up by singing on our way “Down to Grandpa’s Farm”.  We will be doing lots of things with apples – comparing and graphing, tasting, cooking, and painting just to name a few.  The four year old class will be visiting The Orchard on Wednesday, September 17 to compliment their study.  We will also be talking about the letters C, D, and E, the numerals 0-3 and their quantities, and the circle and square shapes.

     The preschool will be having a ‘Get to Know You’ potluck dinner for its families on Monday, September 22.  This will be a great time for families of preschool students to meet each other and get to know one another a little better.  It should be fun!

     Come by the classroom and check out the picture board of this year’s students.  They’re some great kids!

                        Jenny Olsson, Preschool Director

Fill Our Pantry

Our food pantry is almost bare!  There has been a huge increase in persons needing food.  Many of these people, one or two every day, come to our church for help.  Please consider this mission and bring your non-perishable food items to the church for donation.

Luke 3:8a, 10-11 — “ ‘Produce fruit in keeping with repentance ...’ ... ‘What should we do then?’ the crowd asked. John answered, ‘The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.’ ”

Be A Part Of Our Visioning Process

Beginning on October 12 and continuing for five weeks, all adult and youth Sunday School classes and all committee members are invited to Fellowship Hall during the Sunday School hour to be a part of the visioning process that is happening at FUMC.  We are using a book and DVD series entitled "Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations" that will guide the visioning committee and all of you in making recommendations for the direction our church needs to be moving in during the next 3-5 years.  The visioning committee has already begun its work and then wants to hear from you beginning October 12.  This series will also be the basis for our stewardship campaign during the same time, which will culminate with our Consecration Sunday and big Thanksgiving/Consecration dinner on Sunday, November 23.  On December 14, at our annual church conference, the visioning committee will present its recommendations to all of us to be voted on that day.  Then it will be up to the new 2009 committees to begin thinking about how those might be implemented into the church programming and mission. Just to entice you a little, the five practices include Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-Taking Mission and Service, and Extravagant Generosity.  We are moving in the right direction in several if not all of those areas, but like any church, we can be doing all things better!  So please plan to join us beginning October 12!

Your Visioning Committee

Chairpersons - Kevin Kienholz and Ann Coulson

Thank You  Thank You  Thank You

    Sunday School

         Teachers

Preschool/Kindergarten

Sara Schwerdtfeger

Jennifer Sauder

Jennifer Williams

Lori Moore

Grades 1-3

Dede Thomas

Connie Call

June Coleman-Hull

Grades 4-6

Dana Roemer

Karen Flood

Youth News

Half-Time and Youth Choir

Half-Time and Youth Choir have begun, but it is not too late for you to be involved!  We would love to have you join us.  Half-Time begins at 5:30 with dinner, followed by activities at 6:00 and then Youth Choir is at 7:00.  Come for all or just part of the evening.

Breakfast Clubs 

Breakfast Clubs meet at Coburn’s at 7:00am on Tuesdays for high schoolers and on Thursdays for middle schoolers.  All youth are invited to join us for a brief devotional time and discussion.  We will begin AT 7:00, so if you want to order breakfast, please arrive early.

Football Friday Fun

Each Friday that Emporia High plays football at home, we will be opening up the Youth Area following the game.  Snacks, games and movies will be available.  Invite your friends and come enjoy a safe place to hang out.  This is a great community outreach opportunity, but adult help is critical to the success.  If you are screened and trained and would be interested in helping on a Friday, please contact Barb or sign up on the bulletin board.

CIA

CIA or Christians In Action is a conference sponsored event where youth from around our conference gather together for a day of service and fellowship.  This year, CIA will be held here in Emporia on Saturday, October 11.  We are the host church.  If you are interested in being involved in this event, please sign up on the bulletin board.  Registration deadline is September 21.

Children’s Corner

Fall Half-Time  

Wednesday evening Half-Time is now in session until October 22.  A family dinner is served at 5:30 followed by classes for all ages from 6:00-7:30pm.  Children, ages 3 through sixth grade, will explore FRIENDSHIP.  The traits we need to be a good friend, the many ways friendships enhance our lives, and how Jesus is our forever friend.  Come join in the fun and bring a pal.

Celebration Choir 

What a joy it is to sing for the Lord!  Our children’s choir, grades 1-6, has begun practicing during the Half-Time program beginning.  We will then be singing on the third Sunday of each month.  Let us make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Attention 3rd – 6th Graders

     We invite you to be a part of the Acolyte Program here at First United Methodist Church.  The acolytes carry in, and bring out the light for Sunday morning services.   This is a great way to be a part of the ministry of this church.  We will be having a training session at the church on Wednesday, September 17th, at 4:30pm, (before Half-time).  If you would like to be an acolyte you need to attend this meeting with a parent or guardian.  Those wishing to become acolytes will be dedicated on Sunday, September 21.  If you have questions, please contact:  Donita Shafer at 342-1963 or by email at shafe@sbcglobal.net or Bonnie Fowler at 342-4262 or by email at bonniefowler2006@yahoo.com.

A Friend in Need

   In times of trouble, we look to caring Christian friends to listen to us while we work through our feelings.  A Stephen Minister can be such a friend, either to you or to someone you know.  This week our Stephen Ministers will meet together as they continue to learn ways of caring for people with needs.  If you or someone you know could benefit from the trained, caring, presence and listening ear of a Stephen Minister, leave a message for Jayne Duncan at the church office: 342-6186.

Our Bibles

        Information about what’s available in our church library certainly can’t overlook our Bibles!  A new catalog contains fifty pages of versions of the Bible. We don’t have that many, but just briefly, here’s a sampling of what’s in our library:  The Holy Bible in Four Translations; The Jerusalem Bible (including the Apocrapha); The Guideposts Parallel Bible (comparing the King James, New International, Living, and Revised Standard Versions); the Senior’s Devotional Bible (King James Version); the Women’s Devotional Bible, and a large print New Revised Standard.

     In the event you want a deeper understanding of the Bible, there’s a twelve volume set of The Interpreters Bible (with over 1,000 pages in each volume), a 24-volume set of Cokesbury Bible Commentaries, and a twenty-one volume set of Barclay’s Commentaries on the Old Testament.  And of course we can’t overlook the various dictionaries of the Bible, and a five-volume set of the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. 

     How many excuses do you have for not having read the complete Bible?  None of them are valid anymore because we now have Walter Wangerin’s The Book of God, The Bible as a Novel, in which Wangerin recreates the high drama, low comedy, gentle humor, and awesome holiness of the Bible story.  Meticulously researched, this book offers a sweeping history that stretches across thousands of years and hundreds of lives, in cultures foreign and familiar.  A short quote from this book proves its readability:  “Mary rode slowly toward Bethlehem.  Joseph led the donkey, but Mary’s condition controlled its speed; the beast walked with a long bobbing of its head.”  And later in the book:  “His body hangs heavily from the extended arms and the metal spikes at the end of them…”  The epilogue to this book reads “This then is the story that was told through the years and will be for the millennia to come.

                                               --Jean Brown, Librarian

Super Sunday Reminder

The next Super Sunday is September 14.  Committees will have lunch in Fellowship Hall and meet directly afterward.  Worship Committee will meet during lunch.

From the Finance Committee

Pledge Income Budgeted for August 2008

$48,537.50

Pledge Income Received for August 2008

$40,132.38

Shortfall of: $8,405.12

Please help us make this up!

Bridges to the Future

Have you ever wanted to visit Camp Chippewa?

Please join us on the church bus to attend the 50th Anniversary “Open House” on September 27.  The bus

will leave at 11:00am.  There will be a sign up sheet at the church or you may call the church office to sign up.  This will be an exciting day filled with lots of activities…….

Camp Chippewa is one of the three focuses of the Bridges to the Future Campaign.  The others are Campus Ministry, and Revitalization and Growth of churches.

Our church has pledged $64,000 to the Bridges to the Future campaign over the next three years.  We have pledges of only $14,000 to date.  Meeting this promise will influence lives for Christ.  We are hoping that you will give this prayerful consideration and ask yourself how you can be a part of His plan.