The Messenger March 2014

First United Methodist Church Wellsville, NY

God’s love grows here . . . Through Worship, Bible Study, and Service W

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Our Staff:

Pastor ………………………………………….Rev. Burton Smith

Office Manager ………………………………Mrs. Kim Smith

Music Director ……………………………….Mr. Evan Farley

Organist ……………………………………....Ms. Joy Caldwell

Church Custodian …………………………...Mrs. Mary Brown

First United Methodist Church of Wellsville

Regular Worship Services 8:30 & 11:00 am

Sunday School 9:45 am

Phone (585) 593-1860

Fax (585) 593-1889

E-mail: lovegrows@wellsvilleumc.org

Web Page: www.wellsvilleumc.org

Serving Christ and Community

Since 1852

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Sunday, March 2 — One Worship Service with Holy Communion, 9:45 AM Monday, March 10 — Team Meetings 6:15 PM; Adm. Council 7:30 PM Sunday, March 16 — Men’s Breakfast, 7:30 am Tuesday, March 25 — Naomi Circle, 3—4:30 PM Tuesday Mornings — Women’s Bible Study @ 9:15 AM in the Welcome Room/Library. Friday Mornings — Men’s Bible Study @ 9:00 AM in the Welcome Room/ Library

Mark Your Calendars:

We will be having One Worship Service with Holy Communion the First Sunday of each

month through June at 9:45 AM

See you there!

OUTREACH/MISSION NEWS

Your Outreach/Mission team continues to look for ways to glorify our Lord and Savior and spread the joy and light of his message throughout our community, state, nation and world.

We are supporting Greg Lewis’ medical mission to the Philippines to address the suffering associated with the recent typhoon there. A donation of $500.00 is being sent to help fund that effort.

Our church is supporting the efforts of local churches to encourage the management of the Grand Theater to bring the Christian movie, “Son of God” to Wellsville for what we hope will be a lengthy engagement. The primary effort to make sure this happens involves the purchase of enough advance tickets to ensure a sold-out theater. The evening of February 27th has been selected as the date for this showing. First United Methodist Church will be purchasing twenty-five tickets in support of this effort and distributing them to members of the congregation free of charge. We are also planning to host a “soup and sandwich” meal prior to the showing on the 27th. We hope that some of you reading this article were fortu-nate enough to take part in these activities. If not, we urge you to purchase your own tick-ets and attend this wonderful film. If the number of persons attending this movie is large, you can be sure that the theater management will get the message about our community’s desire for more movies of a religious/spiritual nature.

The May collection of donations for the Bath VA Center is right around the corner. Please look for further information about appropriate items to donate and join with others from the congregation who have made this collection one of our most popular and successful ministries.

During the recent Christmas season, it became clear to members of the Outreach team that many of our church’s shut-ins are hungry for contact with this church and its members. We need to keep them in mind and visit or call them on a regular basis. Toward that end, I note that there is always a list of homebound or shut-in members posted on the bulletin board in the welcome area of the church. To the names already listed there, you can add: Gertrude Cornell and Hope Dickerson. It you are able, please reach out a kind and friendly hand to these members of our church family. Bryan Caldwell

Grace and Peace to all in the name of our

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Very soon the Lenten Season will begin for

the Christian Church. Let me share a brief

story with you regarding this holiest of sea-

sons. This story appeared in a book entitled,

“Embrace Your Renewal” by Harold A. Bue-

tou in 2004.

A priest was coming home to his rectory one

evening in the dark when he was accosted

by a robber. He pulled a gun and demanded,

“Your money or your life!” As the priest

reached into his coat pocket he noticed the

priests collar and said, “I see you’re a priest.

Never mind, you can go.” The priest tried to

reciprocate by offering the robber a candy

bar that he remembered he had in his

pocket. The robber responded, “No thank

you father, I don’t eat candy during Lent!”

The reality is that the robber, just as too

many people, think Lent is about giving up

candy, cake, cookies, etc., when it really is

about giving up those things which separate

us from God and our fellow human beings.

Giving up cake, cookies, etc., is in and of it-

self a good thing, however it is not what the

psalmist is talking about in Psalm 51 (New

International Version):

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to

your unfailing love; according to your great

compassion blot out my transgressions.”

“Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me

from my sins.” (vs. 1 & 2).

“Create a clean heart in me, O God, and re-

new a steadfast spirit within me.” (vs. 10)

The world wants to cloud the real meaning

of Lent with the things of the world. To us as

Christians it is all about US and our relation-

ship with God.

May your Lenten Season be a journey of

loosing “baggage” and centering on your

relationship with God!

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Burt

FROM OUR PASTOR — MARCH NEWSLETTER

An Encouraging Note from Dot James...

One of my most humble experiences of walking with God was my trip to the Island of Cuba in 2000. I arrived in Havanna and was met by a man from the church where I was to minister for a week. We started to his town after dark. About half way the police stopped us. They wanted to know what was going on. He told them I was going to hold healing services for a week at his church. They wanted the key to the trunk to open up and look inside my suitcase. Everything checked out okay and we were on our way again!

I was surprised when we passed so many bicycles and some without any lights on them. He ex-plained they were going home from work—couldn’t afford cars, so they rode bicycles.

We arrived in the middle of the night in a town some miles from Havanna. The minister and his family lived on the 2nd floor of the church and my bedroom was on the 3rd floor of the church. They had heard that I didn’t like heat over 75 degrees, so someone had given them an air condi-tioner to use for me during the night. It was quite old and when the minister turned it on, it wouldn’t start. He tried to start it for around 15 minutes. Finally, the Lord spoke to me. “Do you remember when your refrigerator had quit and you and Sid were about to go out the door for vacation?” Sid tried to start it and it wouldn’t start. So he said “I think we better stay home and buy a refrigerator!” At that time I was reminded when we were on a bus tour around the Char-lotte, NC, area. A lady on the bus was talking about her and her Dad being professional violinists. She was on her way going to her concert to play the violin. She arrived there, got out of her car, opened the back door, grabbed the violin and it slipped out of her hands onto the pavement. A few strings broke and some of the wood scratched! The violin was a mess! She didn’t have time to look for a music store to purchase another violin, so she prayed as best she could. All of a sud-den she would hear the strings popping back into place and the wood going back together on the violin! I’m sitting in there completely amazed. I had never heard of laying on of hands on items for healing, except on humans and pets. So I said to Sid, “No we don’t!” I walked over to the re-frigerator and prayed and asked the Lord to start it and it started! After I remembered that inci-dent, I walked over to the air conditioner and asked the Lord to start it, it took off and that’s how the minister introduced me the next day in church. Because the minister witnessed the miracle, people believed and many healings happened.

Ministering in the church early evening and then hopping on a large dumptruck in the open back and sitting on a wooden bench on the side, I went around the town to other towns a few miles away. Some towns had no electricity or water. When I arrived back home, I told Sid money was sent to drill a water well for this town.

Another thing that happened was dinner at Willy Santiago’s home. I could see beef was going to be served in small shaven pieces. They probably paid a lot for it as the Cuban people were to save beef for dignitaries and they weren’t to buy it. Of course, being a guest, they served me first and I took the thinnest, smallest piece there was so they could enjoy it!

UNITED METHODIST MEN

Greetings from The United Methodist Men. If you have not heard by now the Valentine’s Ban-quet was a very nice event. Thanks to all who helped with organizing and set up. Special thanks to Joy and Eila for the music program.

Our next breakfast will be Sunday, March 16th at 7:30 am. Jerry Levitt, Chuck Brocious, and John Lewis will be cooking. UMM, where all men and boys are welcome.

Alan Forsberg/Bryan Caldwell

NAOMI CIRCLE NEWS

We were pleased to have 21 women present for our kick off meeting in January. We were grate-ful to Pastor Burt for his informative and inspiring testimony. The new 3-4:30 pm time slot seemed to have been well received and we hope to see even more of you at our Feb 25th meeting.

Looking ahead, at our Tuesday, March 25th meeting, we will begin planning for our annual Rum-mage Sale, to be held in May and we are looking for some fresh approaches to this community wide sale. This event is our primary fund raiser in support of our charitable missions. We will also be conducting a work bee in fulfillment of our commitment to the Church. See you there!

Diane Forsberg/Sue Sweeting

(continued) Sometimes the wind of a hurricane blows the tile roofs off and the people put large tarps over their house as it may take a few years to have enough money to buy new tiles.

The minister’s wife was eight months pregnant and before I left I told her to pick out $50 worth of goods at a store down the street. She chose a maternity dress, a baby outfit, salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, pickles and olives—things that we take for granted, and she cried a lot when I was paying the bill. I called on a lot of sick people and noticed there was no glass in a lot of win-dows and flies were flying in and out of the buildings! This church boils a chicken twice a week and delivers the pieces to the ill.

As I arrived home, I took a good look around my house and realized we were blessed. Later I was invited to go to Olean to the Ponderosa. I filled my tray, sat down to eat, thinking of the little food the Cubans have to eat a day, buying them double dipped ice cream cones was a “big deal” for them. It truly humbles you to be a missionary, even if it’s just for a week!

In Agape Love, Dot James Matthew 19:26 P.S. Please read Revelation 13:16-18

FUMC MARCH PRAYER LIST:

1 — Pastor Burt 2 — Pastor’s Wife & Family, Shut-Ins 3 — Youth for Christ 4 — Women’s Bible Study 5 — Jail Ministry (Ron) (Jessie) 6 — Worship Services 7 — Men’s Bible Study 8 — Pastor Burt 9 — Pastor’s Wife & Family, The Hospitalized 10 — Team Meetings; Adm. Council Meeting 11 — Welcome Room Volunteers 12 — Jail Ministry (Max/Stan) (Diane) 13 — Gil’s Hills 14 — Office Manager (Kim) 15 — Pastor Burt 16 — Pastor’s Wife & Family, The Sick 17 — Music Director (Evan) 18 — Choir & Praise Team 19 — Jail Ministry (John) (Eila) 20 — AA, NA, ACA 21 — Church Volunteers 22 — Pastor Burt 23 — Pastor’s Wife & Family, The Unemployed 24 — Organist (Joy) 25 — Custodian (Mary) 26 — Jail Ministry (Ron) (Ruth) 27 — Healing of Broken Relationships 28 — Children’s Ministry Volunteers 29 — Pastor Burt 30 — Pastor’s Wife & Family 31 — Evangelism (Inside & Outside Church)

Food Pantry

Please bring in your nonperishable grocery donations for the Salvation Army food pantry

on the 1st Sunday of each month; the collection box is located just inside the sanctuary to

the right. Giant register tape & Campbell Soup label (UPC barcode only) collection bin is

located in the Welcome Room. Thanks for your continued help!

Altar Flowers

To purchase an altar flower arrangement, please sign up on the flower chart by the bulle-tin board. Choose an available Sunday; be sure to write In Honor, In Memory or In Cele-bration of, and the person’s name, along with your name in the “given by” space. We order from Hannigan’s Florist in Belmont. The cost is $15 each. You may pay with cash or a check made out to FUMC. Place it in the offering plate in an envelope marked ’Altar Flowers’ or you may bring it to the Church Office, Mon.-Fri., 9 am—3pm. You may take your arrangement after the 11 AM Service. Thank you for helping to provide beautiful flowers for our Sunday Services!

March Altar Flowers

March.2nd — In Loving Memory of Lavern “Bemus” Palmiter

March 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th are currently available, order yours today!

March Greeters — Gloria & Bill Hamlin

March Counters — Michelle Barry & Barb Stormer

April Messenger

Newsletter deadline for articles is Monday, March 17th

LIBRARY NEWS UPDATE – FEBRUARY By Sue Browning

During the year-end to February, we received 8 Memorial Donation of books “In Memory of”:

“ Opening The Gates of Heaven” In Memory of Clinton (Sid) James Given by Dot James “Guidposts Touched by Heaven” In Memory of Beverly Grantier Given by Dot James “The Search of the Real Spirit of Christmas” In Memory of Beverly Grantier Given by Barbara Stormer “The Christmas List & The Blessing Jar” In Memory of Florence Sweet Given by Star of the East Chapter #109 “The Wonder of His Love” In Memory of Lillian Fox Given by Barbara Stormer “More Glimpses of Heaven” In Memory of Lillian Fox Given by Dot James “The Price to Pay” In Memory of Lillian Fox Given by Connie Brandes Over this time period, 41 books were added to the Library. 24 of those were donated by indi-viduals. ***For a complete list of new books, see list posted in the Library.*** Some of these were given by Linda Austin, Rita Borne, Children's Ministry, Dot James, Eila Shea, Barb Stormer, John & Cathy Lewis & Judy Winslow. My heartfelt thanks to the people or persons that have left books on my desk to be placed in the Library to be shared and enjoyed by others.

During the Christmas Season, over twelve DVD's were donated. They were some of the best stories and music. If you would like to see them, they are still available. This last year, the Library has grown in many Books, DVD's, CD's, Audio's & a new shelf of Study Guides. During our church inventory we counted 1,513 in September. Now we are over 1,600 items on display (pushing 1,700).

REMINDER: Prayer Bears are still available for people who are going through difficult and/or medical situations. This can be a family member, a friend or a special person you might know. Please contact any member of the Tuesday Bible Class or Sue Browning. We have received 5 new bears that have been donated to be added to the family.

Welcome Room: Looking for a great place to have fellowship on Sunday? Stop in and have a cup of coffee and a snack with good conversation before and after church. A THANK YOU to all those who have helped provide snacks & supplies. To those who have cleaned up, it is greatly appreciated.

SERVICE OPPORTUNITY

In order to comply with generally accepted accounting prac-tices, we are looking for members of the congregation to help count the weekly offering.

Counting the offering requires approximately 30-45 minutes immediately following the 11:00 service. The counting is done by a team of two unrelated persons every Sunday for a month. Counters rotate months, ultimately counting approximately three months in a year.

An accounting background is not required, although basic math skills are important. Please be in prayerful consideration as to whether the Lord is leading you toward this opportunity and contact Pat Barry to express your interest or to get more details.

MEN’S BIBLE STUDY

Due to not receiving material ordered three weeks ago, our topic of study will be on the meaning of friendship instead of on forgiveness. Some of the topics of this study will include needing friends, forgiving friends, a father and his son, loving friends, and for-ever friends. We meet at 9 am on Fridays in the Welcome Room/Library and encour-age all men who are free at this time to come and join us.

WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY

Beginning Tuesday, March 25th, we will be studying “Cameos of Courage” studies in Ezra, Nehemiah & Esther. We meet in the Welcome Room/Library at 9:15 AM on Tues-day mornings. Contact Connie Brandes for more information or to purchase a study book for $5.00. All women are welcome!

January 2014

Operating Budget Income $ 14,564 Expenses: Pastor’s Package $ 1,667 Other Staff $ 4,317 Maintenance & Supplies $ 1,102 Teams $ 429 Ministry Shares $ 2,622 All Other Expenses $ 220 Total Expenses: $ 10,357 Income less Expenses $ 4,207

MARCH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Susan Hunt 1 Annamae Wilson 6 Bill LeBeau 8 Brian Brandes 9 Heather Austin 10 Katie Allen 11 Loretta Lovel 13 Marla Greenman 14 Tom Peterson 17 Nicholas Brown 17 Michael Welch 19 Pam Rohrabacher 23 Morgan Elliott 26 Charlotte Smith 27 Linda Ward 30 Llian Shoup 31

Gary & Theresa Brown 24