Wesley United Methodist Church 2200 Phoenix, Fort Smith, AR 72901 www.Wesleyumcfs.org February 2019 Newsletter
From Pastor Zeke Page 1 From the Desk of Pastor Zeke Reorienting Life 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! - 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 Often times, if I’m honest with myself and others, I run on anxiety. In ministry there are always things left undone. In my entire life of ministry, I cannot ever remember leaving church with the assurance that everything is complete and good. Such is life not just in church but in all things. Honestly, running on anxiety is not a very Christian attribute. It is something I am always working on. These verses from 2 Corinthians are ones that I strive towards. Understanding life, through the lens of faith, can transform your perspective. The call of Christ is one which denies the human view of life to be the ultimate concern. Faith believes there is always more at play. We have this great advocate, we know as the Holy Spirit. It is the presence of God as plentiful in our lives as the very air we breathe. In 2019, I am challenging our church and each of you to not operate from a place of fear, rather, to operate from a place of hope and gratitude. I believe that we are at our very best when decisions and directions are made from a place of hope and gratitude. This is not a new orientation of church and life. It is, a place from which I believe we can thrive as a church. I invite you all to be in prayer for our church and its leaders. Likewise, I invite each of you to do some personal inventory work. Spend some time making two lists. First, what are you truly grateful for. Second, without working out all the details, dream and hope for our church. Invite God to align our church with God’s own will. I believe these are our next steps for our church. I believe this holds the potential to transform our vision and hope for our church. I also believe, this is how we reorient church and life. Yes this takes work but what in life that is worth much doesn’t take work? Come join us, together we can experience the world anew. - Keep the Faith Strong, Rev. Zeke Note: Our theme for 2019, is that we will “keep Jesus the main thing”. This is something all of us can remember and something all of us can strive towards. Wesley UMC Newsletter February 2019
UMW News Page 2 United Methodist Women FAITH · HOPE · LOVE IN ACTION NEWS & ACTIVITIES The United Methodist Women will have a unit meeting Saturday, February 2, at 9:00am at the Rock House. An Evening with Evening Stars All women of the church are invited to join Evening Stars on Monday, February 11, at the Rock House. Ashley Fitzhugh, Director of Development of the Children’s Emergency Shelter will speak. The Shelter has provided a safe home to more than 3,752 abused and neglected children of our community. Dinner will be served at 6:30pm. We look forward to spending the evening with you as we learn about this vital mission. Morning Glories will meet on Tuesday, February 19 at 10:00 a.m. in the Rock House. Iris Hightower will give the Devotional, Ellen Brown will present the Call to Prayer Program and Etta Jensen and Wanda Karnes will be the Hostesses for the Salad Pot-Luck Luncheon that will follow the Program and Business Meeting. Members of the group - please remember that we give an offering at this Call to Prayer meeting. We welcome you to visit us in our meeting and learn about our mission projects of United Methodist Women and to enjoy the fellowship and food with us. God bless you! A ‘Thank you’ for the donations of hats, gloves, and scarves for the fence. 60 gloves, 28 hats, and 28 socks were divided and delivered to Carnall Elementary and Cavanaugh Elementary. Upcoming Events: UMW Sunday is February 17 Spiritual Growth Study at Clarksville FUMC on Saturday, April 6. More information to come. Wesley UMC Newsletter February 2019
Music Ministry Page 3 Greetings!!! Wesley UMC Family, I am so grateful to all of your for the continued comments that my choir and bell ringers are receiving over the music that they have been making. This support is so meaningful for a group of volunteers - to hear that their work is having a positive effect on our church and our congregation. It has been and continues to be my sincere prayer that everything we do will be for the glory of God and will minister to the needs of our church body. I personally had a good time at the One Council retreat last Saturday. I had several important takeaways from that meeting, especially in learning about the Home Depot model for leadership. Concurrent to that, I would like to say a sincere THANK YOU to a special church member, Bruce Spencer. Bruce, I love to see your heart for music and for choir. You always say something encouraging and are quick to let the church know of your joy and the exciting things that happen in our music program. I love your hard work, your humble spirit, and that you always think to bring me that bottle of water to rehearsal each week! You are a valued member of our choir, and I am thankful for you! I am thankful for all of our choir and bell members. We always have such a great time together. We sing, we laugh, we pray. Sometimes, we fuss, too, but that is all part of the experience of growing and sharing together. We are a musical family, and I continue to be grateful that I get to work with you all. We are lining up our bell, choir, and solo music for the Lent and Easter season. If you have been enjoying the music here and think you would like to be a part of it, feel free to come and sit in on a rehearsal and decide what you think. We would love to have any of you!!!! Yours in Christ, Shane Sanderson Wesley UMC Newsletter Lenten Service on March 25 @ Vietnamese UMC February 2019
Rent House, Facility Notes, CRM Rent House Page 4 Wesley’s rent house at 2120 Phoenix Ave. will be available for rent about March 1st. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, large living room, kitchen/dining/den combined, enclosed garage, central heat and air, fenced back yard. $700.00/month, $400.00 deposit. If you know someone interested they may call Harley at 479-646-9329 or the church office at 479-646-9702. FRIENDLY REMINDER If you use the kitchen, please wash and put away anything you use before leaving. UPDATE ON SECURITY POLICY The Sanctuary doors are locked during worship service. We now have an alarm system installed on the sanctuary doors. The greeters, ushers and Ron Fulbright are designated to check the doors if anyone approaches after they are locked. We ask your cooperation that if you see someone at the doors after they are locked, get one of the designated persons to check it out. Please, do not check it out yourself. Wesley UMC Newsletter The Community Rescue Mission has been functioning without a cook for quit a while. They are interviewing for the position and will hopefully find the right person soon but in the mean time they are needing assistance. They are beginning a Casserole Ministry to help relieve some stress off the meal prep everyday or when a cook is not available. They are also inviting churches to come and prepare the evening meal for the residents on occasion. Doing this would take an enormous amount of stress off of the mission’s staff. If anyone is interested in preparing casseroles or cooking a meal at the Mission, please let Carrie Miller know and she will get with Kathleen Halliburton for further details and instructions. We had a wonderful One Council Retreat on January 26. A lot of good information was given and shared along with some wonderful fellowship. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for Wesley in 2019. We are small but mighty. February 2019
One Council, Cub Scouts Page 5 ONE COUNCIL Leadership according to Jethro is a good model to follow. Do you remember who Jethro was? Pastor Zeke introduced Jethro at the One Council Retreat on Saturday, January 26. I challenge you to find him in the Old Testament section of the Bible, Exodus 18:13-27. I believe you will agree that Jethro gave some wise counsel to Moses, advice that Wesley UMC can benefit from during 2019. Wesley’s theme for this year will be “KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING – JESUS CHRIST.” The One Council will have their first regularly scheduled monthly meeting for 2019 on Thursday, February 7, 6:30 p.m., in the Gleaners Classroom. If there is business that needs to come before the Council, please email Blanche West, Chair, immediately. Greetings from Cub Scout Pack 19. Pack 19 has kicked off 2019 with a full schedule of learning and adventures. We have 38 children registered in the pack at this time. We have scheduled several field trips and camping adventures in addition to our weekly meetings to earn advancement awards. Pack 19 is a year round group with activities through the summertime. This month we will participate in Scouting for Food on February 2nd for distribution of bags and the 9th for collection. Please help support this initiative when you receive a bag in your own neighborhoods. February 10th is Scout Sunday at Wesley. Scouters will help with many aspects of leading morning worship. Coming up on March 2nd is one of the biggest days on the Packs calendar; The Pinewood Derby. The Derby races are an exciting time for the Pack and brings many dozens of family members into the walls of Wesley. Justin P. Cates Pack Committee Chair Wesley UMC Newsletter February 2019
the Experience The Experience, Wesley in Worship The Experience had a nice worship service and then shared in a delicious meal and fellowship. Page 6 Wesley in Worship Wesley had many beautiful worship services this past month. We remembered our baptisms, had a wonderful prayer service, and as always enjoyed some amazing music. Wesley UMC Newsletter February 2019
February 2019 Feb 2 Sat. Feb 6 Wed. UMW Unit Mtg, 9:00am, Rock House Bible Study begins at Wesley, 6:00pm, Gleaner’s Room Feb 7 Thurs. One Council Mtg, 6:30pm, Gleaner’s Room Feb 10 Sun. Feb 11 Mon. Feb 17 Sun. Feb 19 Tues. February Prayer Service, 6:00pm, Sanctuary Evening Stars, 6:30pm, Rock House UMW Sunday, 9:30am Morning Glories, 10:00am, Rock House Feb 21 Thurs. Young @ Heart, 6:00pm, Fellowship Hall Anniversaries 1 - Jerry & Lois Wade February Birthdays 5 - Wanda Clark 7 - Leslie Hayes 10 - Scottie Nichols 11 - JoAn McMullin 15 - Rhonda Hamm 23 - Natalie Nichols 26 - Taylor Dunn February Liturgist Schedule 3 - Donna Moreton 10 - Mike Gibson 17 - Clyde Bates 24 - Patsy Hendrickson Zeke’s Office Hours Mon - 8:30-9:30 @ Miss Anna’s 9:30- 12:00 @ Wesley Tues - 9:00-12:00 @ Wesley Wed - 8:30-9:30 @ Lewis’s 9:30-12:00 @ Cavanaugh Wesley UMC Newsletter The Wesley UMC Newsletter goes out at the first of each month. If there is anything you would like submitted in the newsletter, please send the information to Carrie Miller or the church office at Wesleyumcfs@yahoo.com February 2019
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