The Bethany BeaconThe Bethany Beacon
Bethany Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Arapahoe, North Carolina 28510
Bethanyarapahoe.org
“Finding the Way of Christ at the Crossroads.”
PO Box 156
Arapahoe NC 28510-0156
NON-PROFIT
ORGANIZATION
U.S. FEES AND
POSTAGE PAID
ARAPAHOE NC
28510
PERMIT NO. 1
June
2012
Watson’s Word By Merritt Watson
In the Life of the Church
JUNE
3 Sunday School Picnic at
Camp Caroline 2:00
10 Graduation Sunday
13 Quilt Group 7:00
17 CWF/CMF meeting 6:00
Fishes and Loaves Offering
20 Quilt Group 7:00
21 Worship Committee 7:00
Card Game Night
24 Communication Com 12:15
25 Youth Group 4:00
27 Quilt Group 7:00
JULY
19 Board Game Night 7:00
Worship Committee 7:00
22 Watermelon Social 7:00
Communication Com 12:15
29 5th Sunday Dinner
FLOWER CALENDAR
June
3 Hal Gordon
10 Pam and James Hardison
17 Sandra and Floyd Hardison
24 Emily and Eric Harper
July
1 Margaret Harrell
8 Mac Harris
Becky Badger
Paula Bangle
Lea Banks
Wendy Bass
Evelyn Beeman
Albert Belangia
Tembra Bennett
Velna Bennett
Donnie Bishop
Regnld/Wilma Boyd
Betsy Bratcher
Donna Bridges
Linda Lpton Brinson
Becky Cahoon
Gladys Cahoon
Claud Carawan
Eddie Cowell
Hannah Cowell
Rebecca Cowell
Harley Davis
Brenda Denton
Darlene Ensley
Hal Gordon
Diane Greene
Pat Griffith
Dorothy Hardison
Lena Ruth Hardison
Gerry Harper
Betty Ganus Hill
Michael Hodges
Pete Holt
Audrey Humphrey
Ted Jennings
Libby Kern
Cecila Kibbe
Harold King
Clota Lassiter
Elbert Lee
Russel Lee
Pete Lozica
Angela Lupton
Alfred Mayo
Melanie Mills
Betty Morris
Dan Oliver
Lucille Parker
Sue Ann H Pezzella
Peggy Potter
Louis Puckett, Jr.
Radford Reel
Jerry Rossi
James Rowe
Please Remember in
Your Prayers:
At the Crossroads 8126 NC Hwy 306 S Arapahoe, NC 28510
REGULARLY SCHEDULED
ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS
Weekly Sunday: Sunday School, 9:45 am; Wor-
ship, 11:00 am
Tuesday: Chancel Choir—7:00 pm,
Jericho Ringers - 7:45 pm
Monthly 1st Sunday: Elders, BH, 7:30 am; Offi-
cial Board, FH, 7:00 pm.
3rd Sunday: CWF/CMF, FH, 6:00 pm.
5th Sunday: Covered Dish Dinner, FH,
following worship service.
*Any changes to regularly scheduled ac-
tivities and events will be noted in the cal-
endar below.
BH=Bethany Hall; FH=Fellowship Hall;
PL=Parking Lot; S=Sanctuary
June Birthdays
“but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live”
6 Kelly Jones
7 Donnie Ensley
9 Casey Harper
11 RJ Ward
12 Bethany Cahoon
Guy Cowell
Barbara James
13 Naomi Cahoon
Clara Banks
20 Doug Cahoon
Floyd Hardison
Dot Jennings
24 Melissa Watson
27 Meredith Beeman
29 Amy Brennan
30 Parker Watson
Kathy C Shomo-
roch
Chris Sides
Franklin Simpson
Family
Mary Spruill
Emmett Sugg
Katie Troxler
Keith Urban
George Vendrick
Ann West
Gary Whorton
Military
Brandon Bennett
June 2012
In our last newsletter I appealed to you to give a generous offering to help
provide food for those coming to work with Eight Days of Hope. I expect you
want to know the results of that appeal. The response was very generous. I had
hoped for an offering of around $1500 because that is what we expected it would
cost to feed the workers one meal. The offering we received was twice that--
$3049.00. Some of you who no longer live in our community responded because
you read about it in the newsletter. We thank you for that and we give thanks to
God for the generous gift Bethany Christian Church was thus able to give to this
effort.
But I expect you want to know more about how the effort with Eight Days
of Hope turned out. I don’t know the exact count of people that came from some
48 states across our nation. The paper reported that there were 1700 volunteers
that came and that of the nine disasters so far that Eight Days of Hope has re-
sponded to, this was the largest response. Most of the workers stayed very near
our church at Camp Seafarer. They began their work on a Saturday and were en-
couraged on Sunday to attend worship at local churches. We had 40 or 50 of them
with us on Pentecost Sunday. We were truly blessed by their presence.
On Tuesday I was able to personally experience what was being done
through Eight Days of Hope. I was there for their breakfast meeting in the huge
dining hall at Seafarer. It was filled with people, with many standing around the
outside of the room. It was like a cheering rally at a school. People were encour-
aged and built up for the day’s work, and then sent out. I attended an orientation
where we were given instructions about what to do and how to become a part of a
job crew. I went with some carpenters to a job in Vandemere. Our assignment
was to repair two doors and a threshold, which we were able to do by lunch time.
Other crews came to the same job site, some to paint the handicapped access and
porch. Some came to work on the roof and some to work on repairing the bath-
room. I wanted to give a full day’s work so I left to go to another job site. There I
worked with a crew putting plywood on the floors throughout the house. While
we were inside doing that there were about 7 men on the roof putting on new
sheathing and shingles.
At the job sites we began with prayer. Everyone working was a commit-
ted Christian doing what was done to the glory of God. When the home owner
did not have building materials for repairs, those materials were supplied by Eight
Days of Hope and by the Pamlico County Disaster Recovery Coalition. At the
end of the week some 60 or 70 houses had been worked on and repaired. Others
had work begun that will still have to be completed in the near future. Hundreds
of thousands of dollars in work hours and materials were given for recovery and
all in the name of the Lord. All of this was done in spite of one day of hard rain that prevented a full day’s work being completed. We truly mean it when we say
thanks be to God for the gifts of his people!
Merritt
June
Nursery 3 TBA 10 Tiffany Watson 17 TBA 24 Amanda Bailey
Serving in
June July
Elders Chris Watson John Beeman Doug Brinson James Hardison
Deacons Melissa Watson © Christine Beeman (C) Guy Cowell Tommy Banks Renee Midyette John Cannan Annette Aldridge Terry Cannan Rebecca Cowell Janci Cahoon Avery Schmidt Parker Lee
Deaconess Renee Midyette Melissa Watson
Acolytes Parker Watson Erica Morris Katie Bennett Kelly Tijernia
Chirs Holton
David Epperson
John Kistler, III
TJ Zahm
June 3, 2012
The official board of Bethany Christian Church met at Camp Caroline, follow-ing the Sunday School picnic, on Sun-day, June 3, 2012 at 7:15 in the eve-ning with 12 members present and one guest (Dave Bailey).
Chairman, Mac Harris, called the meeting to order and Reverend Wat-son lit a candle representing God in our midst, followed by comments and prayer.
The clerk read the minutes of the May 6, 2012 meeting. There was one cor-rection to the minutes. The minutes should have read “the Budget Com-mittee will meet in June to review the budget and present the results at the July Board meeting.” The minutes stood approved as read with the men-tioned correction.
Treasurer’s Report
The treasurer’s report (attached) for the month of May was distributed to those in attendance. It was pointed out the $3,049 under Pamlico Disaster Relief Coalition was the amount col-lected on Sunday, May 20
th to help
feed the “8 Days of Hope group that came to our county to help those who suffered damage to their homes from hurricane Irene. It was also pointed out the $1,117.44 amount on the Property Line Item Detail sheet paid to Diversified Auto and Tire was to repair the heating and cooling unit of the church van. The financial report was accepted as presented.
Elders Report
Doug Brinson reported the elders had a good meeting this morning. He noted the prayer list is the longest he remembers. He reminded the board members of the upcoming transforma-tional process and the commitment needed by them and the congregation for this to be successful. The process will begin around late August, or first part of September.
Scholarship
Reverend Watson attended the Pam-lico County High School graduation
and presented certificates to our graduating seniors. Next Sunday the scholarships and gifts from the church will be presented to these seniors.
Communication
The Communication Committee has been working to get our sound sys-tem working properly. They have had setbacks and will continue to work on the problems.
There was no old business to con-duct.
New Business
Chris Watson presented a request from Arapahoe Charter School to use our fellowship hall and pavilion on Monday, June 8
th for a luncheon
for the teachers and staff. A motion was made by Chris and seconded by Doug Brinson that the request be approved. The motion passed.
Gladys Lee requested a list of the committees and those who serves on those committees be made available to the church. Chairman Harris said he is presently working on providing that information.
Reverend Watson presented his min-ister’s report (attached).
There being no further business to conduct the meeting was adjourned with a prayer circle and comments by Reverend Watson.
Respectfully submitted,
Mac Harris, Chairman
Linda Watson, Clerk
Board Minutes (unapproved until July 1,2012)
Minister
Merritt Watson minister@
bethanyarapahoe.org
Board Chairman
Mac Harris
Secretary
Renée Midyette
Choir Director
The Bethany Beacon
Published on the first Thursday after the first Sunday of each month by Bethany Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ) Post Office Box 156, Arapahoe, NC 28510
Vision and Mission Statement
Our highest aspiration is to love God with our
whole being and to love our neighbors as our-
selves.
Our mission is to enable people to know Christ
and to strengthen their personal relationships
with Him.
Sara Spalding
Bell/Chime Choir
Director
Sara Spalding
Communications
Director
Mac Harris communica-
tions@bethanyarapa
hoe.org
Bethany Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
www.bethanyarapahoe.org
Page 2 Page 3
Bethany News and Views
Bethany office phone number 252-249-0266 Office hours
Tuesday—Friday 8-12:00 Renee—Thurs. 9-4:00
Jennie Adams just finished a book that she wants to share with everyone at Bethany. “It would be such a great book for us to use in a Discussion Group this summer.” The name of the book is The Search Committee by Tim Owens.
“I Googled ‘North Carolina Authors’ one day and found this book from an author I’d never heard of. It’s his first book. The title was intriguing so I downloaded it onto my Kindle”. I could-n’t put it down, I enjoyed it so much. It’s the story of a small North Carolina church’s search committee, looking for a new minister, traveling in a van much like ours, and interacting with each other. The description from the Kindle site reads,
A mismatched team of seven hit the
road in an Econoline church van on a mission to find a new pastor. They
don't agree on much other than the
stops at Hardee's for coffee and a bis-cuit. But they stick to the call, trying to
slip undetected into worship services across the Southeast—all in hopes of
stealing a preacher for their congrega-
tion. Each member is wrestling to balance
their own busy life and personal strug-
gles. And they're trying to keep their
Merritt and Linda Watson relax in their porch swing, remembering and enjoying the memories of their wedding on June 6, 1964 in Portsmouth, Virginia. Linda’s smile is really large because Merritt surprised her with
a dozen red roses. Smart man!
Happy 48th Anniversary The title is catchy sounding, isn’t it? Catchy enough to grab the attention of Bethany’s youth? Christine Beeman and Melissa Watson hope that the title, along with the content, will add a summer spark to the Sunday School experience of our young peo-ple.
The new approach will be officially called Work-shop Rotational – Bible Quest. The youngsters will be divided into two groups – THE SEEKERS – Kin-dergarten through Third Grade, and THE EXPLOR-ERS – Fourth Grade through Seventh Grade. Each Sunday the youth will discover new lessons and ideas about the Bible using different senses. Shepherds (Tiffany Bennett and Kelli Bailey) will guide the students to each class.
For example: The SEEKERS will go to the Illustra-tion Station on June 10
th and learn with Emily
Harper’s art and visual lesson. At the same time, The EXPLORERS will visit Brenda Hardison in the Recreation Station and learn about the Bible through the kin-esthetic senses and movement. On June 17
th, the groups will
switch lessons.
Classes on June 24th will allow
Linda Watson to present the Bethany Bakery format in the Taste Sensation Station while Christine Beeman prepares for the Science connection in the Exca-vation Station. (Have you noticed t h e alliteration for the stations yet? Christine worked hard for those.) During the month of July “Breakfast on the Beach” will be the drawing title.
The beginning of “Dig Into The Bible” began at the Sunday School picnic on June 3
rd when
Joy Carawan wore a Story Teller’s Hat. Young ones, sitting at her feet, chose an item or an icon pinned to her hat. Joy then told a Bible story linked to the item. This initial station was called Bethany Corner’s Narration Station.
Is your interest peeked? Hopefully the Creation of this new kind of Bible-Study Station will result in the Culmination of excited youngsters.
“DIG THE BIBLE”
the
issues to themselves. Forced to spend countless hours together, these very
different personalities from different generations begin to bond. And their
lives are profoundly changed as they love and support each other through
the difficulties in each of their lives.
Tim Owens is the son of a preacher who grew up in eastern North Caro-lina. He’s an environmental engineer by profession, but he loves working on his tractor on his farm in South Carolina. He has captured the es-sence of churches and the love of God in the South. Immediately the reader can identify with the characters in the novel and make an associa-tion with someone in his/her church. Each chapter was balanced with scripture and excerpts from sermons that the search committee heard on their Sunday trips. They even went to two churches in one Sunday; early service in Jacksonville and the 11:00 am in Havelock.
“While I was reading in-between judging rotations at a gymnastics meet, I would alternate between laughing out loud and literally dripping tears at the situations of some of the characters. One of the coaches came up to me to see if I was ok when I teared up one time.”
What do you think? Would anyone like to give it a try? The Kindle price is around $9.00. The pa-perback price is about $10.00 and we can order a few copies from Amazon.
Read a Good Book cont.
Read A Good Book Lately?
The Bake Sale for Bethany’s Youth on May 20th netted over $700, enabling five children to go to Camp Caroline this summer. Katie
Bennett will attend the Horse Camp, Johnna Cahoon, Casey Harper, and Marcus Tyson will attend regular camp sessions. And Luke
Bailey will attend a three day Day Camp. His mother, Kelli, will be able to experience the Caroline experience along with them.
Please ask in your prayers that all will be safe, make long-lasting friends, learn a lot and enjoy themselves while at Camp Caroline.