300 E. 4th St. PO Box 34

Edgerton, KS 66021

Edgerton United Methodist Church

(913) 882-6735

churchoffice@edgertonumc.org

Website: www.edgertonumc.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/

edgertonumc

August 2017

Our mission: Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Our purpose: Changing lives through

humble service

passionate worship

extravagant generosity

Our vision: A community transformed by God’s grace, for God’s glory.

Edgerton United

Methodist Church

August 2017 Volume 14, Issue 8

“Good News” Letter

Help keep our mailing costs down. If you are no longer interested in receiving the newsletter via

U.S. mail, please notify our church office at churchoffice@edgertonumc.org or 913-882-6735.

E-mail and online copies are also available. Contact the church office for more information.

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Worshipers Date Attendance

06/25 10:00 AM: 37

07/02 10:00 AM: 42

07/09 10:00 AM: 42

07/16 10:00 AM: 52

07/23 10:00 AM: 45

Love's lesson

A new school year prom-ises new adventures, challenges, and friends — as well as new classes, homework, and lessons. But the most important (and simplest) lesson we can learn is summed up by 19th-century hymn writer Jane Eliza Leeson:

Savior, teach me day by day

love’s sweet lesson to obey,

sweeter lesson cannot be,

loving him who first loved me.

VBS: Jesus Is the Light

We want to wish a heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped with Camp Out VBS this year!

Edgerton UMC and Open Table volunteers worked together on Saturday, July 15 to offer a one-day VBS and a tasty free lunch to 30 children.

The children had a great time learning that “Jesus Is the Light” through story, song, crafts, and games.

We appreciate all of the financial donations, all of the decorations, and especially all of those who came and volunteered their time. Everyone had a great time!

— Chris Kerr

Photos by Joy Long, Open Table Community Church

enjoyed my time of service at EUMC and found it very fulfilling. This church family will forever hold a special place in my heart.”

Aug. 27 will be our last Sunday with Jo Steel Kraus as our worship pianist and choir director.

There will be a brief reception for her following worship. Jo has accepted a job at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina. She’ll be accompanying students in the music department.

“Thank you for the honor of serving your church,” she said in her letter of resignation. “I have

Goodbye, Jo!

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Pastor’s pen

Obviously, my weather forecasting skills are lacking. In my July column, I talked about drought and brown grass. But the first half of July turned out to be unusually wet. We’ll see what August brings. My point stays the same. Don’t let summer be a dry season in your spiritual life.

* * *

Church Council approved a new model for church governance last month. It will take effect Jan. 1. Why did we approve it six months early? Because we have to start the process of leadership nomination now so we can have a slate of officers ready for approval at Charge Conference on Oct. 8.

* *

The council also approved some rewording of our mission and vision statements. Why is this important? Because it’s so easy to forget who we are and what we’re about. That is one reason we gather for worship every week — to be reminded whose we are and what we’re about as God’s people.

We’ll rehearse our mission, purpose, and vision statements in worship every Sunday until they “stick” in memory. You may

have heard the saying: “If you aim at nothing, that’s what you’ll get.” We need to perfect our aim!

* * *

If you think I’ve been stuck in a rut on ideas for our monthly noisy offering, you can help by giving me some hints for new things the offering can fund.

* * *

VBS was great fun, and a great success! Note that we did two things differently this year. We did a one-day event, and we worked with Open Table folks to make it happen. Thanks, Chris Kerr, for your initiative in trying something new. Thanks, Open Table people, for working with us. Some of us are already kicking around ideas for new VBS adventures — and maybe not just in the summer.

* * *

If you haven’t heard yet, I am happy to report that I was reappointed as your pastor for another year. I have a colleague who is constantly shouting on Facebook that he serves the greatest church in the world. Naah.

Grace and peace, Jim

Lay leadership 2017

Lay leader’s column

We desire these traits/lifestyle, I believe, because of our Creator. How awesome is God’s creation of our world and humankind!

And, since we are God’s ambassadors, do our words and deeds reflect the awesomeness of God? Who in our lives said a good word, did a good deed that influenced

What makes us “tick”? What is our “battery” or “winds” us? Or, we could ask, what feeds us, makes us grow?

Physically, we know water, healthy foods, exercise, and good habits are essential. Spiritually, prayer, meditation, reading, helping, and listening should be a part of our daily living.

our way of thinking and doing?

Could we even begin to list names, words, and deeds? Each day, our words and deeds are influencing others! This may be a daunting thought; or, a grateful way to live.

May we be the “tick” God would have us be.

— Jean Reynolds, lay leader

Leaders of the Nurture, Outreach, and Worship teams

Lay Leader

Lay Member to Annual Conference

Church Council Chair

Church Council Secretary

(The chair and secretary also could be Lay Leader and/or Lay Member.)

In addition, these ministry teams could always use new members:

Nurture, Outreach, and Worship teams

Children & youth

The Leadership Development Team will soon be making nominations for lay leadership of the church in 2017.

There are 14 to 16 positions on the Church Council, though not all positions will become vacant and open for new nominations. Those positions are:

Three members of the Board of Trustees

Three members of Finance Team

Three members of Staff-Parish Relations Committee

Fellowship & hospitality

Special events

Adult ministry

Community partnership

If you would like to be considered for any of these positions, now is the time to make your interest known. You can do that by responding to a form that will be available during worship, or by contacting a member of the Leadership Development Team. On the team are Pastor Jim, Lay Leader Jean Reynolds, Janet Strack, Chris Kerr, Mary Pritchard, and Virgil Florence.

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Thank yous

United Methodism, it’s a look at how John Wesley envisioned the Christian life.

Wesley spoke of a “practical divinity.” He thought of

We’ll start a new series of messages in mid-September. The series is titled “Change of heart — a Wesleyan spirituality.”

In this time of ferment and discontent among

Christianity not as a body of beliefs but as a distinctive way of life. This way of life is centered on Christ and revealed through a change of heart.

New series of messages

Thank you for the donations of socks and underwear.

We collected 122 pairs of socks and 83 pairs of underwear. We helped eight families at the giveaway on July 15.

The remaining socks and underwear will be

taken to Edgerton Elementary, along with the school supplies.

— Sandy Stone, Outreach Team

This would be a wonderful time to join us to learn more about UMW. Fellowship starts at 8:45 a.m., and the meeting starts at 9 a.m. We hope you can come!!!

UMW

Join UMW on Saturday, Aug. 12, as Margie Davis presents the program on Pledge to Mission.

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Women on a Mission

We will meet on Saturday, Aug.12 after UMW to fill the bags for July. Any volunteers are welcome!

UMW/ Women on a Mission

As we prepare for a new school year, we will have a special

Back-to-School Blessing at our 10 a.m. worship service on

Sunday, Aug. 6!

11:40 a.m. At 1:08 p.m. it will achieve nearly 99% totality in the Gardner-Edgerton area for about two minutes.

It’s a wonder to behold. But do not look at the sun

Look! In the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane. It’s … the 2017 solar eclipse!

At midday on Monday, Aug. 21 you’ll be able to see a near total eclipse of the sun. It starts at

directly. Buy some special eclipse glasses to shield your eyes.

Solar eclipse

A special thanks to Jet.com, at the intermodal facility, who will now be providing monthly donations to the pantry. We were excited to receive our first donations in July.

— Rita Jones

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Roses and Thorns Reading Group

The Outreach Team is collecting school supplies for Edgerton Elementary. Here are the items requested:

Thin Expo dry erase markers

Elmer’s liquid glue

Glue sticks

Water colors

Sandwich baggies with zippers

Small erasers for the end of pencils

We are also collecting sweatpants. Donations should be placed in the box in Fellowship Hall by Aug. 6. Contact Sandy Stone with any questions.

Outreach Team update

tions inviting readers to discern the divine in the ordinary moments of everyday and live an examined life where everything is a form of prayer. She believes the sacred is all around, within finger’s reach here to be gathered, culled, collected, through the simple- yet-complex art of paying attention, of savoring the moment, of cultivating stillness.

Oct. 29 (Note: we will

meet the fifth Sunday in October due to scheduling issues) — “All Creation Sings: The Voice of God in Nature” by J. Ellsworth Kalas. It is increasingly difficult to hear nature’s voice as it is now muted by the sound of traffic or

The Roses and Thorns Reading Group will resume on the fourth Sunday in August, Aug. 27, right after church. We will be discussing a book by Amy Seidl called “Finding Higher Ground.” In looking at climate change as an opportunity to establish new cultural norms, Seidl inspires readers to move beyond loss and offers a refreshing call to evolve.

Other upcoming books are:

Sept. 24 — “Slowing

Time: Seeing the Sacred Outside Your Kitchen Door” by Barbara Mahany. “Slowing Time” is a collection of medita-

assorted electronic devices; intentionally or not we have shut out nature’s sounds. When nature sings, its melody draws us to God, IF ONLY we would listen with our whole being.

We also will need to decide on the books for the remaining months this year. Currently we are only covered thru October. We usually read some fun Christmas book in December, so come join us and bring your suggestions.

Please join us on Aug. 27.

If you have any questions, contact Jackie Walker at 913-708-1253.

Leaders aspire to look like small boys in August. If you raise children or grandchil-dren, you know that by the end of August, they’ve been running around all summer in their shorts, sneakers, and T-shirts. You also know that their knees and their elbows are always skinned, their shins always black and blue, and that they have the marks of the summer's fracases on their faces. A 6-year-old

boy at the end of August is my picture of a leader.

I got that picture from David Hubbard, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. Many years ago he told me that leaders need to learn not to inflict pain, but to bear pain. It seems to me that if you’re bearing pain properly as a leader, whether you’re a preacher, a college professor, a parent, or

a teacher, you ought to have the marks of the struggle. One ought to have bruised shins and skinned knees.

— Max DePree, Leadership Jazz

Skinned knees