1

g{x `ÉÇ|àÉÜ St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church

2738 MacArthur View, San Antonio, Texas 78217 April 2016 www.smumcsa.org

Moving On To Perfection

John Wesley used this statement to describe the lives of Christians as they grew in their Christian faith. The Christian life is not a destination, but a journey. We haven’t “arrived” when we accept the forgiveness of the cross, we have just be-gun! A journey indicates movement from one place to another. The questions for each individual are “Where am I?” and “Where am I going?” as a disciple of Jesus Christ. The seminar “Membership to Discipleship” on April 2, 9-3, can answer those questions for each person individually. For years I have searched for a way to understand how to grow as a disci-ple. I have learned how to pray and study the Word. I have accepted God’s chal-lenges and, most of the time, have responded to the leading of the Spirit. But in the back of my mind I kept asking, “Is there more?” I am excited to say that I know where my areas of growth need to occur as I become the disciple God is calling me to be. Wouldn’t you like to know where you are?

Phil Maynard has developed an easy to understand model of discipleship growth. Instead of a “one size fits all” approach, the life of a disciple is broken down into 6 key areas. Each area allows a person to judge for themselves where they are on a “beginner to mature” scale. It becomes clear when using this model what our next steps to discipleship growth are. Each person, then, develops their own “blueprint” for growth as a disciple.

I have spent thousands of dollars and countless trips going to different seminars looking for a way to understand my own discipleship journey. I am ex-cited to say that I have found what I have been looking for and it is being offered to you without traveling and for the lowest price ever of $15. I don’t think God can make it any easier than this.

So what are you waiting for? Call Diana at the office and register for the “Membership to Discipleship” seminar today. We need to know if you are coming by March 29, Tuesday. Leave a message on her line if she isn’t in. You can drop a check in the collection on Easter Sunday or bring it by the office at your convenience.

To make it even easier, we will provide nursery care and children get to eat free. Blessings, Alan

In This Edition: Page 1 Pastor Article

Page 2 Information, Admin Board, Attendance

Page 3 Sunday School Classes/ Fellowship Time

Page 4 Monday Night Bible Study Page 5 Keep Wednesday Night Free/ PNO Page 6 UMM/Church & Soci ety Ministry Page 7 Events Page 8 Day School Page 9 Prayer List Page 10 Calendar Page 11 Day School Pictures Page 12/14 UMW

A New Addition to Worship

On Easter you will see something new in the sanctuary. A gift has been made to the Memori-al Fund to purchase professionally done banners. This is something new and I know with new things there is always resistance. Lets wait a month before we make a decision about whether they add to the overall worship or if we should move them to a different part of the sanctuary or stop dis-playing them all together. Thank you for your understanding, patience and love.

2

Average Church and Sunday School

Attendance November 2015

Through January 2016

WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Sunday Morning Worship

8:30 a.m.—Traditional Worship Service/Sanctuary

11:00 a.m.—Blended Worship Service/Sanctuary

Sunday School—9:45 a.m.

CHURCH STAFF

Pastor Alan Delafield

Associate Pastor of Agua Viva Veronica Harvey

Business Administrator Hermy Rudloff

Children & Family Ministries Director Judy Langford

College/Youth Ministries Director Tim Diemert

Day School Director Nikki Irving

Secretary Diana Garza

Music Director David Cain

Organist Irwin Witebsky

Handbell Director Susan Collins

Nursery Coordinator Annalie Tamez

Custodian Raul Menesess

Church Office Hours

Monday-Thursday 9:00 am to 4:00pm

Friday - 9:00 am to 12:00 pm

Phone: (210) 822-0252 Fax: (210) 828-2195

Church Email Address Information@smumcsa.org

St. Matthew’s Website www.smumcsa.org

St. Matthew’s Day School Phone: (210) 826-4850

Bible Studies at St. Matthew’s Monday: Beth Moore Bible Study, 6:30 pm, Abel Chapel

Monday Night Bible Study, 7:00 pm, Room 105

Tuesday: Women of Faith, 8:00 am, Room 105 Tuesday Morning Bible Study, 9:30 am, Room 105

Wednesday: Keep Wednesday Nights FREE—Study for Adults, Youth, Chil-dren, and nursery for the little ones

Agua Viva Woman's Bible Study 10:00 am , Fellowship Hall Agua Viva Spanish Discipleship Class, 6:00 pm, Room 605

Administrative Board 2016: Chairman Eugene Hileman

Vice Chairman Ralph Pipes

Lay Leader for 8:30 am Jo Reinschmidt

Lay Leader for 11:00 am Anne Verner

Conference Delegate Carolyn Twyford

Conference Delegate Alternate Jo Reinschmidt

Treasurer Mike Verner

Secretary Jeanie Etter

COM Chair Steve Shrader

Finance Chair Fred Long

SPRC Chair Bill Twyford

Month Church Sunday School Small Groups January 180 117 February 207 120 March 176 (Only 3 Sundays) 108

3

SUNDAY SCHOOL FOR ALL AGES 9:45 AM

Preschool 3-4 year olds – meet in room 606. Contact person: Judy Langford (822-0252 ext. 105) Kinder through 1st grade - meet in room 604.Contact person: Judy Langford (822-0252 ext. 105) Grades 2nd through 5th grade explore the Bible using music, art, science, games, story, and cooking. They begin each session in room 611. Contact per-son: Judy Langford (822-0252 ext. 105)

Teens and Tweens meet in the Youth Building. Contact Youth Team: Tim and Kelli Diemert (940-594-8633)

Come and See Class: (All Ages) Meets in room 301 (Deats Bldg). A disciple-ship class on knowing Christ and making him know. Studying “Romans” Con-tact person: Jim Humphries (494-0112) assisted by John Shero. New Seasonings: (Middle Adult) Meets in room 603. Studying “ Living the Questions”, The Church’s Hidden Strength by Barbra Wendland. Contact per-son: David Mack (654-0162)

Son Shine Class: (Senior Adult) Meets in room 605. Studying “ Seeing Jesus in the Old & New Testament. Contact person: Marsha Humphries (494-0112)

Voyagers: (Senior Adult) Meets in room 601. Adult Bible Study.

Contact person: Frank Tyk (655-2324)

Friends of Faith: (Young & Middle Adult) – meets in the Fellowship Hall. Contact person: Greg Klaerner (402-3711)

Covenant Believers: (Middle Adult) – Meet in conference room 105. Starting

a new study “To Live is Christ, to Die is Gain” a study of Philippians. Contact persons: Anne Verner (655-7380) or Judy Langford (822-0252 ext. 105)

SUNDAY FELLOWSHIP REFRESHMENT TIME - 2016

April Sonshine May Voyagers June Covenant Belivers

4

Monday Night Bible Study 7:00 PM - Room 105

The Monday Night Bible Study will resume on 11 January at 7:00 p.m. Studies on the first two nights in 2016 will use a DVD titled

“The Star of Bethlehem.”

This DVD has been described as . . . “fascinating and meticulously researched,” and “wide ranging and insightful scholarship.” It involves astronomical examination of the stars during the period when

Christ was born. A very good and thought provoking video.

Although our Bible study uses DVD’s to inform participants and stimulate discussion, the playback of topic material can be stopped by anyone attending.

We plan for the study sessions to last one hour. Bottom line is that we maintain flexibility as to the session ending time but the latest

we have run in the past was about 8:15 p.m.

During our first two sessions in 2016 we will vote on topics to follow “The Star of Bethlehem.” Choices include but are not limited to those

listed below. MANY MORE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE

“Ancient Roads from Christ to Constantine” presents the first three hundred years of Christian faith. Six hours of material “Birth of a Faith,”

“The Great Missionary,” “Age of the Apostles,” “From Apocalypse to Heresies,” “Pagans and the Cult of Martyrs,” and “Constantine.”

“The Lost Tomb of Jesus” 105 minutes by Simca Jacobovici.

Controversial topic.

Old Testament “Bible Battles.” 100 minutes. “. . . explores the biblical world from a military perspective from the time of Abraham to David’s

ascension to the throne.”

“Bible Stories for the Whole Family.” Will take between 12 and 14 sessions to cover all ma-terial or we may choose individual topics. Disks include

“Esther and the King,” “Joseph and His Brethren,” “The Power of the Resurrection,” “The Great Commandment,” “Hill Number One,” “I Beheld His Glory,” “Martin Luther,”

For questions: Call Ken Lingle, (210) 655-8539. Oh yes, we meet in the

Conference Room, Room 105. Hope to see you there.

5

April 1st

6:30 – 9:30 PM Ages 12 months to 5th grade

Volunteers are always needed for our monthly Parent’s Night Out Ministry Sched-uled on the first Friday night of each month. Getting involved is such a blessing to the children. The children arrive at 6:30 pm for play, dinner, story, crafts, and games and stay till 9:30 pm. We are using our Power Xpress Sunday School curriculum as a basis for planning each month’s activities. It’s a blessing to reach children with the Good News of Jesus Christ. This outreach is a living expression of the vitality of this church.

Please contact Maria Cantu at 270-505-3578

Wednesday night F. R. E. E.

F ellowship R elationship E ducate E nergize

Supper, worship, study for children, youth and adults 6:00—6:30 Supper 6:30—6:45 Worship 6:45—7:45 Study for all ages

Elementary ages: Kindergarten - 4th grade Tweens: Fifth and sixth grade

6

Got up early on Sunday, March 13th (First day of daylight savings time) for breakfast and meeting with Tim Diemert on St. Matthew’s Youth Program. We got better informed on what all is going on from Tim’s role as a Youth Director, and I think that we can be proud of this outreach. Thanks Tim! We also heard from Abel Tamez on the status of the flag pole installation by the Scout Building. This is going to be an Eagle Scout project and will begin soon since the pole and rigging are already purchased. The UMM voted to continue it’s $600 per year combined support to St. Matthew's Boy Scout, Girl Scout and Cub Scout programs. We also voted to contribute $500 in two installments to the Day School for playground im-provements. Remember, UMM meet on the second Sunday of each month.

U.M.C. General Conferences

The United Methodist Church (UMC) will have its 2016 General Conference, May 10-20, 2016 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. There are several major and contentious matters that will come before the delegates, including; same sex marriages, homosexual practices, accountability for those who defy the church’s teaching on conduct-ing same sex marriages, gender purity, climate change and others.

Like most “living” things, the UMC finds itself in the midst of change and is in need of prayers – your prayers. The delegates will study and decide many issues that will have consequences for years to come. All of us probably have our opinions on many of the issues but our main job is to support these delegates with our prayers and concerns. What a responsibility they have! Regardless of the outcome, there will be sadness, disappointment, perhaps anger and hostility. But our only consolation is in the Lord. So take the time and effort to pay atten-

7

XYZ ADULT FELLOWSHIP will host a trip to the Botanical Gardens on April 13th. We will meet at the church at 11:30 to car pool. After

spending sometime in the gardens, we will have lunch at the Carriage House (there in the gardens) Please rsvp to Leila Hileman at 210-646-9003 or Judy Langford at 210-822-0252.

ALL ARE WEL-

COME

Discipleship Training

Saturday April 2nd from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

in Fellowship Hall Speaker Gini Christianson.

We will provide nursery care and children eat free.

8

Nikki Irving and Staff St. Matthew’s Day School dayschool@smumcsa.org

Phone—210-826-4850 Website www.smumcsa.org

As the saying goes, April showers bring May flowers, we are rejoicing in the showers of the bless-ings that the lord is continuing to pour on to St. Matthew’s UMC Day School. Our enrollment is blossoming and we are finding it hard, but a blessing to have to place families on our waiting list. Most of our class rosters are already full for the fall 2016-2017 school years. A favorite saying is, if it’s a problem to have, at least let it be a good problem. Last month’s Trike-A-Thon was such a success; we were blessed and excited at the opportunity to bless others as we have been blessed. It was fun to see the kids raising money for other kids. We would like to thank everyone that was able to participate in the Daddy and Me dance we had such a great time and event was exciting and fun. It will be talked about for years to come. This month is an exciting and interesting month. We have so much planned in April. This month, during school and church we will be celebrating Passover. Daily Bible lessons about the meaning of Passover will be taught during the week of Passover, starting April 22rd – April 30th. Earth/Arbor day, April 22nd, the children will be indulging in all sorts of activities that promote making our world a better place. They’ll be learning about the water cycle, gardening, plants and their parts, and even photosynthesis! Be sure to check us out this week there just maybe a new tree planted, dedicated to the 2015-2016 St. Matthew’s Day School students. Be sure to take a look in and around the garden at all the learning and fun that the children will be having this week. If anyone participates in recycling their compost with the city; you are entitled to free mulch. We will need some for planting, so please share. Starting on the 18th of the month we will celebrate Fiesta with fun days leading up to our parade at the end of the week. Monday 18th will be wear your favorite Fiesta clothes, Tuesday 19th, crazy shoe day, Wednesday 20th, crazy hat day, and Thursday 21st wear your favorite crazy socks to get you ready to march in the parade! The St. Matthew’s annual Fiesta Parade will take place on April 21st at 10:00 am on the playground , come out and enjoy the parade as we show off our hard work and dedication that our families and teachers put into their floats. St. Matthew’s Day School will be closed in honor of Battle of Flowers on April 22nd. It’s that time again St. Matthew’s UM C Day School Breakfast Taco Fundraiser. On April 22rd we will host our fundraiser breakfast, come out and enjoy a taco to help support the school in obtain-ing class specific items that they currently need. Place an order in advance, take some extras home, share with your friends, or even grab breakfast for your co-workers. The more tacos that we

9

10

St. Matthew’s UMW General Meeting Thursday, April 7

6:00 Dinner provided by Sarah/Lady Bug Circles 6:30 program

The mission of Jireh House is to serve the spiritual, physical, and societal needs and to develop the life skills of residents of Cassiano Homes public housing project,

by providing a daily presence of support and ministry to all those in need. Come hear more about the programs and serves of Jireh House

from our guest speaker Alicia Leyva.

Judy Langford will also give us an update on Jenny and Sean Nuccio’s work in Kenya

UMW Business Meeting will follow

(childcare can be provided, please notify church office)

H.O.P.E.- Tuesday, April 12, 6:30, Youth Bldg, contact Annelie Tamez Lady Bugs- contact Kelli Diemert

Lydia- Thursday, April 21, 10:30, room #105, contact Carolyn Twyford Sarah-Saturday, April 16, 10:00 at Jackie Ledford’s

Eve-Thur, April 28, 7:00, at Lesley Rice’s

11

Adele Spencer Scholarship Applications are due

Friday, April 3

UMW Book Nook We meet on the third Wednesday each month to discuss books on the

UMW Reading List. Bring a sack lunch and join us, April 20 at 11:30 in room #105.

Check the books in the Fellowship Hall for good books to read. This month’s books are:

Cured But Not Healed: How to Experience Deeper Faith

on Your Journey with God

by Kymberley Clemons-Jones

Coffee, Tea and Holy Water: One woman’s Journey to Expe-rience Christianity Around the

Globe

UMW Spring Fling Saturday, April 30th More informa on

Coming soon!

12

Check with a circle to see how you can be involved.

In some countries, children don't have books or school supplies. Many have no schoolrooms; classes are held in inadequate or half-destroyed buildings, tents, or even the open air.

School kits may be these children's only educational resources.

School Kit Materials

1 pair blunt scissors 3 pads of paper

1 hand-held pencil sharpener 1 30-centimeter ruler

6 unsharpened pencils 1 2-inch or larger-size eraser

1 24-count box of crayons 1 14x16

inch

13

14

2016

15

The St. Matthew’s Messenger This is a new article page that will be available for anyone to:

express joys, announcements, celebrations, special needs of jobs or articles you need in your home, sharing your talents or gifts, thank you’s, and other sentiments. Please call Diane at 822-0252 or email to information@smumcsa.org by the 3rd Fri-day of each month, which is the monthly Monitor article dead-

Synthia Collins is a Certified C.N.A and does home health care on weekends. If you know of someone needing a loving, caring provider, please contact her at 210-902-6557.

Anyone needing a ride to the doctor, or grocery shopping or picking up prescriptions—our Nur-ture Ministry can help you, so please call the church office and let them know.

REMINDER:

We do not have up-to-date information for 40% of our church family. Please notify us of your new or updated home phone number, cell number, work numbers, change of address, and email address-es and changes. We receive phone calls every day where members are trying to reach other mem-bers, and we can’t help them, because our information is not up-to-date. We still have work num-

We wish to express our sincere appreci-

ation to all of the St. Matthew’s family

for your condolences, kind words, cards

and expressions of sympathy at the

passing of Wes’ mother, Kathleen

Dorsett. She loved this church and

shared in prayer concerns of the congre-

gation for many, many years.

Sincerely, Wes, Marianne & Family

16

fàA `tàà{xãËá United Methodist Church

2738 MacArthur View San Antonio, TX 78217-4503

Piano Lessons by

Irwin Witebsky - St. Matthew’s organist Expert instruction for a

reasonable fee Please call (210) 690-2188

Comfort-Air Engineering, Inc.

“A New Generation of Comfort!”

11403 Jones Maltsberger / www.comfort-air.com / Phone: 210-494-1691

Robert & Georganne Freund St. Matthew’s members since 1984

Commercial / Residential / Sales & Service

St. Matthew’s is all about FAMILY!!!

Come see what God is doing at St. Matthew’s!!!!

April 2016

Check out our awesome website at - www.smumcsa.org