101 E. Barbour Street

P. O. Box 72

Eufaula, AL 36072

(334) 687-8227

(334) 687-8285 FAX

fumc@eufaula.rr.com

www.fumceufaula.org

VOLUME XXXIII

NUMBER 34

August 30, 2017

Pastor

Dr. Alan Cassady

Youth/Missions Director

Britt Martin

Music Director

Billy Wilbourne

Office Staff

Jodi Stockberger

Pam Hunter

First United Methodist ChurchFirst United Methodist Church

All men are invited to join us on

Wednesday, September 6, at 7:00

a.m. in the fellowship hall for our

monthly Men’s Breakfast. You’ll

enjoy a delicious meal for $5, a

brief devotional and wonderful

fellowship. Kent Thomas from the

Family Service Center will be our

devotional speaker. Please join us!

The family of Lillie Moorer

wishes to thank her church

family for the many kindnesses

shown to her over the years. Special

thanks go to the Care Team for their

many remembrances and to Ann Smith

and Paula Irby for their communion

ministry.

We are also grateful to Dr. Cassady,

Ann, Billy, and the choir for their con-

tributions to the service celebrating

her life. We will always appreciate

the wonderful meal prepared for and

served to us after her service, along

with your prayers, cards, and memori-

als given to honor her. You have

blessed her and her family beyond

measure.

From the Mail . . .

September Meetings ►Hospitality Team

Sunday, 9/10, 5:00 p.m.

►Office Staff

Monday, 9/11, 9:30 a.m.

►Missions Team

Monday, 9/11, 11:00 a.m.

►CARE Team

Tuesday, 9/19, 4:30 p.m.

►Discipleship Covenant Team

Tuesday, 9/26, 5:15 p.m.

Pastor Alan will lead a Bible study

on the book of Philippians during

Recharge. Please read the book

ahead of time and bring your

Bibles with you!

Wednesdays @ 5:45 p.m.

beginning September 6

Office Closed Please note that the church office

will be closed on Monday, Septem-

ber 4, in observance of Labor Day.

We’ll re-open Tuesday, September 5.

Calendar of Events

►Sunday, September 3

Worship 8:30

Sunday School 9:45

Worship 11:00

►Monday, September 4

Office closed for Labor Day

►Tuesday, September 5

Worship Team 9:00

►Wednesday, September 6

Men’s Breakfast 7:00

Children’s Choirs 4:30

Supper 5:00

Adult Bible Study 5:45

Elevate Next Level 6:00

Handbells 6:00

Chancel Choir 7:00

September 3 Volunteers

►Acolytes

11:00 —John Adams Gray

Bramlette Gray

Davis Wingate

►Sacristy Prayer Leaders

8:30 — Alice Kay Shoemaker

11:00 — Pierce Hodnette

►Ushers

8:30 — Morris Whitfield

Toni Davidson

11:00 — Charlie Schaeffer

Brandon Coates

Charles Irvin

Lamar Lee

►Lay Readers

8:30 —Cindi Hall

11:00 — Carolyn Tweddell

►Greeters

8:30 — Bob Powers

11:00 — Paige Smith

Betty Milldrum

Hey FUMC Family,

Here's this week's Elevate Top 5!

1) Last Sunday we kicked off our Fall Semes-

ter in style with our 2nd Annual Hootenanny!

We rode bulls (mechanical ones), chased

chickens, and did other things you may find

yourself doing at an event called a Hooten-

anny! We also had a chance to tell our stu-

dents about all the awesome changes and

happenings this fall as well as see several new students sign up for Life

Groups.

2) There will be no Elevate this Sunday as we recognize Labor Day, but get

rested up because we're hitting the ground running with Elevate next

week! We'll be starting off with a series called Squad where we look at

how we choose our friends. This year's Elevate is going to be better than

ever!

3) Have you signed up for a Life Group yet?

Life groups are groups that will meet outside

of our regularly scheduled "Elevate" times.

These groups will focus on growing closer

together and closer to God through honest

conversation and genuine community. We've

got the best leaders recruited and are excit-

ed about these groups. We'll have a Life

Group Kickoff on September 13.

4) Have you been feeling led to pitch in and volunteer with our youth? We

have several areas where we're looking to plug in new partners for our min-

istry to youth. If you've been feeling like this is an area where you can fit

in, please let me know! I'd love to have a conversation about where we

can get you plugged in. I'm certain any of our volunteers would tell you

they get as much (or more) out of it than the kids do!

5) I'm EXCITED about our fall retreat

this year! We'll be heading to Camp

Chandler in Wetumpka September 29 —

October 1 to get away for a weekend.

This is an AWESOME place to retreat!

They've got tons of lake-related activi-

ties like boating, kayaking, and "the

blob". They also have archery, ropes

courses, and much more! We'll be

spending the weekend talking about what it really means to worship with

an awesome band and speaker. The cost for this retreat will be $100,

HOWEVER, if you register before September 1 you can do so for the early

bird rate of $85. Register today by clicking the link https://goo.gl/forms/

mJxRu74PFJzJrxpL2

That's all for now!

God looks good on you—

Britt

Prayer List

New concerns:

*Marcia Worrell

*Jane Pody

*Will Slade

Herbie Weaver

► Continue to pray for:

Alison Haas

Jim Roberts

George Williams

*Louise Trammell

Mary Sellers

Linda Dudewicz

Cruz Rios

*Mel Stephenson

*John Hagood

*Louise Britt

*Betty Searcy

Walter Harmer

*John Jenkins

Bobby Gray

Kathy Armstrong

*Taylor Washington

*Jeff Richards

*Brian Devlin-Meagher

Mary Lindsey Hannahan

*Richard Boyette

► Prayer list guidelines:

If you would like to place someone’s

name on the list, please ask that

person’s permission before calling

the office. Names remain for 4

weeks unless requested to remain.

* denotes church members.

A Look at August 27 Sunday School .................. 80

8:30 Worship ................... 32

11:00 Worship ................. 104

Total Worship ................. 136

Offering received ......... $3,793

YTD received ........... $297,694

BTT balance ............ $361,000

The Pastor’s Page Live Worthy of our Calling

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the

calling to which you have been called… (Ephesians 4:1)

Twice every year for the past five years I have worked with people in our

Annual Conference who are trying to discern a call to ministry at our bi-

annual Candidacy Retreat. At that retreat, we help people begin to discern

a call to ordained Elder or Deacon, Licensed Local Pastor or as a committed

lay person in the church. Some might wonder how being a committed lay

person is a calling.

In the passage quoted above (and more besides), Paul reminds us that we

have all received a calling. Echoing this idea, the Protestant Reformation

affirmed the priesthood of all believers. Martin Luther thought that “we

are all consecrated priests through Baptism.”

If then, we are all priests by virtue of our baptism, who do we live worthy

of that calling as we pursue God’s mission? I think the essence of our wor-

thiness lies in what the Apostle Paul says in the rest of Chapter 4 and in the

membership vows we take when we join the United Methodist Church. We

will explore that on Sunday.

Pastoral Roles

Included in this week’s Newsletter, you will find an insert entitled “Pastoral

Roles Multi-vote.” On the sheet are listed some roles a pastor may fulfill

(be sure to read the descriptions carefully). Take some time to vote for the

functions you think are most important. You have 12 votes to distribute any

way you like. You could use all your votes on one item or divide them and

place four votes on one item, three on two other items and the last two on

a final category. This feedback will help me see your expectations of me

and then help me discern the best place to focus my time. If you have al-

ready filled out one at a listening meeting, you do not need another.

Please fill it out and bring it with you to worship on Sunday or drop it by the

office during the week. I will receive the forms until Wednesday, Sept. 7th.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Alan

“The heavens declare the glory of God…”

This past week, we were witnesses to an amazing phenomenon. The solar eclipse that

occurred on Monday was of great interest to all of us. Cathie and I were so interested in it

that we took advantage of an eclipse package that The Lake Junaluska Assembly offered.

We spent 2 nights there and enjoyed a 99% coverage of the sun. The entire area was

darkened as if it were early evening. But I was still intrigued that even the 1% remaining of

the sun was enough to light up the area enough to be able to see well. The sun’s light is

that powerful.

After we crossed over into North Carolina, we begin seeing signs (like those political signs

that people place in their front yards) which said “the heavens declare the glory of God.” In all the excitement of

looking forward to the event, I had not actually put it all in the proper perspective. I was glad that someone had

made these signs to remind us that this was another sign of God’s glory. This quote from Psalm 19 was just what I

needed to appreciate this event even more.

I have a little plaque on which someone painted a sunset that says “Peace is seeing a sunset and knowing who to

thank.” I have always liked that plaque as it puts things in perspective. I hope that I will always be amazed at

God’s creation.

We won’t get to see another solar eclipse until 2024 but that doesn’t mean that we don’t see amazing things every

day. I have mentioned the hymn, “Earth and All Stars” in a previous article but I want to revisit it for a moment.

The first verse says, “Earth and all stars, loud rushing planets sing to the Lord a new song.” How appropriate for

our recent event. The hymn goes on to talk about how ordinary things can actually praise God . Unfortunately, the

hymn is not in the United Methodist Hymnal but you can Google the rest of it if you are interested.

The Chancel Choir sings an arrangement of Psalm 19 every now and again. It is written in a very uplifting way and

we enjoy offering it. As it is not slated for the near future, I will play an organ arrangement of it on Sunday (as I am

going to fill in for Ann). I hope when you hear Sunday’s prelude, you will remember that there is a world of wonder

out there, all created by our loving God. I look forward to seeing all of you on Sunday.

God bless,

Billy

The mission of First United Methodist Church is

to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the

transformation of our church, community and world.

Birthdays Wednesday, September 6

► Rhodes Bennett

Catie Reed Wilbourne

Contact Us

Alan Cassady: Britt Martin:

alan@fumceufaula.org britt@fumceufaula.org

334-689-5282 678-953-4602

Recharge Menu Wednesday, September 6

Baked Chicken, Rice & Gravy, Green Beans,

Rolls, Dessert

$5 adults $4 children $16 max. per household