2011 summer wrap-up...

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

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5 6 7 7 p.m.—Choir Practice

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11 5:30 p.m.—Experiencing God Bible Study/Youth Fellowship

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14 7 p.m.—Choir Practice

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16 17 9:30 a.m.—Sardis Work Day



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Happenings at Sardis—September 2011

Summit The

Remembering Retha BarrettRemembering Retha BarrettRemembering Retha BarrettRemembering Retha Barrett April 25, 1921April 25, 1921April 25, 1921April 25, 1921————May 31,2011May 31,2011May 31,2011May 31,2011

Volume I, Issue 2 August 2011

Sardis United Methodist Church 3725 Powers Ferry Road NW Atlanta, Georgia 30342

404-237-6060 www.sardischurch.com facebook.com/sardisumc

Pastor: Rev. Blair Boyd Zant [email protected]

Our Mission:

To use our gifts as individuals and as a community to glorify God and spread the

Word of Jesus Christ in the world.

Sunday Services:

10 a.m.—Sunday School 11 a.m.—Traditional Worship

“The Summit” Editor: Amber McMurry

Contact:: [email protected]

In This Issue:

Remembering Retha Barrett

1

A Blurb from Blair 2

Happy Birthdays! 2

New Member Spotlight: Bryan and Sydney

Carpenter

3

Taking Root at Sardis 3

Happenings at Sardis 4

By: Jonathan Quillen

Another one of

Sardis's saints has

moved on to glory.

How we miss her and

her sweet disposition!

My first involvement

with Retha was when I

began teaching Sunday

School. I remember her

being there almost

every Sunday, always

eager and ready to hear

the lesson. Also, she would update

all of us as to what was going on in

our church community and tell us of

anyone who had been ill or out of

town.

You see, Retha didn't leave the

spirit of Jesus at the

doors of the church,

but rather she carried

His love with her

throughout the week as

she faithfully made her

calls to anyone who

had been sick. Then

she would send a card

to all of us with a

birthday or a get well

card to anyone who

had been ill.

I will miss her cards. I will miss

her presence. But she taught me that

faithfulness and genuine caring

Christian love should be a part of

our daily lives, and not just Sunday

conversation.

Sardis United Methodist Church 3725 Powers Ferry Road NW Atlanta, Georgia 30342

The Newsletter of Sardis United Methodist Church

2011 Summer Wrap-up Edition

Above: Retha Barrett with Sardis members Bert Cummings, Paula Heilig, and Lonnie

Simpson at a Sardis Senior Luncheon event in March 2009.

Special Feature: “Summer 2011 Photo Recap”

Insert

Visit www.sardischurch.com

for more information on

upcoming events!

Sardis welcomes new members

Bryan and Sydney Carpenter to the

Sardis Family! The couple joined

Sardis on Easter Sunday, April 24th

2011. Sydney came on transfer of

her membership and Bryan on Pro-

fession of Faith.

We celebrate the ways that Syd-

ney, a local girls soccer coach, is

already becoming active in various

areas of our church fellowship and

worship, and we pray for Bryan who

has successfully finished his basic

training and has now begun Ad-

vanced Training with the United

States Army in Austin, Texas.

The couple celebrated their

one year wedding anniversary

on July 31st of this year.

What do you get when you

combine peat moss, mushroom

compost, loads of fertilizer, the

Sunday Night Adult Bible Study,

the Youth Fellowship Group and

some vegetable seeds? Apparently,

you get a garden full of greens and

new insight into the Christian life.

This past spring, leaders Greg

Guthrie and Pastor Blair Zant,

along with 8 members of our Sardis

church and Youth Fellowship

joined together to study Tri Robin-

son’s book, Rooted in Good Soil.

Robinson considers himself a pas-

tor and a farmer and invites

Christian disciples to consider

what gardening can teach us about

how the Word of God to grow in

our own hearts and lives. The study

focuses on Jesus’ “Parable of the

Sower,” found in Matthew 13:3-23.

As the story goes, a Sower, or

Farmer, goes out into the field and

scatters seeds on four different sur-

faces: a path, rocky soil, soil with

weeds, and good soil. Jesus de-

scribes the fate of each of these

seeds: Those on the path

never took root and were blown

away or eaten by birds; those on the

rocky soil took shallow root, but

were scorched when the sun rose;

those among weeds and thorns were

eventually choked out. But the

seeds in good soil grew and multi-

plied up to 100 times.

The group “dug” into the study by

building raised beds, breaking up

the dry earth, then mixing and

spreading new soil in the beds.

After planting various types of

seeds and seedlings, participants

helped to water, weed, and care for

the new garden for the next few

weeks. They realized that the right

balance of good soil, direct

sunlight, water, and weeding were

essential for healthy growth.

The same is true for the Christian

life. If we want the Word of God to

grow in our lives, we have to break

up our hearts through repentance,

water them with baptism and com-

munion, nourish them with prayer,

Bible study, Christian missions and

service and participation in the

Christian community through the

church. When a person is deprived

of any of these things, the harvest

suffers like the pole beans that

weren’t rooted deeply enough, or

the squash that was denied the

proper amount of sunlight.

Happy Birthday!Happy Birthday!Happy Birthday!Happy Birthday! Aug 1 – Frances Harkey

Aug 7 – Chloe Kovaka

Aug 8 – Carolyn Wade

Aug 10 – Amber McMurry

Aug 12 – George Kirkland

Aug 14 – Simon Fragakis

Aug 21 – Tarrah McNeil

Aug 22 – Brooke Grey

Aug 24 – Paul Grey

Aug 30 – Xan Guthrie

Aug 31 – Bert Cumming

As I dragged myself into the

house last Wednesday evening, I

thought, “SPF 50 is a lie!” After 5

long, hot hours on a tube floating

down the Chattahoochee River with

our church youth group, even

though I was no longer wearing my

life jacket my sunburn pattern made

it seem as though I was still wear-

ing one. Our river adventure was

the latest in our summer-long youth

program, “Wednesday Adventure

Dayz!” Every Wednesday from

June 1st to August 3rd, our youth

ministry set out on various adven-

tures all over North Georgia. In ad-

dition to conquering the mighty

Chattahoochee, we saw the Atlanta

Braves through to victory at Turner

Field; water skied at Lake Chatuge;

petted camels, water buffalo and

even a baby hedgehog at Wildlife

Wonders outside of Dahlonega; at-

tended a session of the North Geor-

gia United Methodist Annual Con-

ference in Athens, cleared tornado

debris down in Manchester, and

even worked a full day at Six Flags

Over Georgia. Twice! I gave my-

self permission to be tired.

Last Sunday, I sat and listened to

Gina Gardner, the new Vice Presi-

dent of our Youth Fellowship, a

rising 8th grader, share with her

Sandy Springs congregation what

her experience of this summer was

like. She recounted with great joy

the various activities that we did,

but with great seriousness, also re-

flected on the greater adventure she

had in the midst – a new sense of

community within the group itself.

You see, our youth ministry is

unique. First, it is actually made up

of kids who don’t actually attend

the same church. While Sardis and

Sandy Springs UMCs are the main

churches in the partnership, within

just the 25 different kids we in-

volved this summer, a total of five

different Methodist Churches were

represented. Friends of youth who

participated represented Methodist,

Catholic, Baptist and Non-

denominational congregations, and

two didn’t yet have a church home.

Because of our location in Atlanta,

most of the kids also attend differ-

ent schools, and if it wasn’t for

Youth Fellowship, would probably

never be given the opportunity to

meet. Ms. Gardner reflected that

part of the fun of the summer was

directly related to the opportunity to

get to know new youth from other

places, and to deepen the friend-

ships she already had.

Ours (Sardis and Sandy Springs

UMCs) was an interesting experi-

ment in Youth Ministry. Kids from

various parts of town, with varying

interests and life experiences are

discovering what makes church so

unique and crucial to our daily liv-

ing as Christians – it’s a family.

You talk together, share meals

together, share common experi-

ences that create shared memories.

You argue at times, and bicker.

You don’t always get along, and

you don’t always get to choose

who’s included. Still, at the end of

the day, you’re family.

Three of our youth members –

brothers - lost their father very sud-

denly a few weeks ago. I sat behind

the lectern at the funeral, racking

my brain wondering what I could

say today and what I could do

tomorrow that might make this any

easier for them. Then I looked up in

the balcony. Seated in the first two

pews were several youth and their

families, and several of our youth

volunteers. All of them had come to

show their support and love. I real-

ized it won’t be me that helps get

these precious boys through this.

It’s going to take us. All of us.

That’s what church is, that’s what

we’re for: to push each other in the

river one day, and keep each other

from drowning the next.

What a blessing it is for me to get

to see this and remember it up close

and personal. As we look toward

the fall, we praise God that we get

to build on some tremendous mo-

mentum. We need volunteers.

Check out our church website, or

information in the narthex to find

out how YOU can get involved in

transforming the lives of our next

church generation. Just don’t be

surprised if you find yourself trans-

formed as well!

A Blurb from Blair Summer Memories

New Member Spotlight: Bryan & Sydney Carpenter

Interested in helping out with a Fall garden? Contact Greg

Guthrie at [email protected]—or check out more

pics of the garden on the Sardis UMC Facebook page.

Taking “Root” at Sardis Sardis members learn to seek God through gardening

2011 summer wrap-up...

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