A M e s s a g e f r o m P a s t o r S a m

A M e s s a g e f r o m P a s t o r S a m

Dr. Samuel (Sam) Moore, Jr. Senior Pastor

September 2019 I celebrate that we are ending another vacation, Summer season at Hickory Grove United Methodist Church. I celebrate because we survived the season and no one suffered major injuries. We are beginning a new school year and another fall season of ministry. I will use this article to share some of our plans. First, we have made a few changes in our worship services. We are attempting to embrace and make use of technology. After our corporate prayer, we are going to text the five people who we have been praying for since spring. I am also exploring ways that I can use movie clips, songs, and other medium in my sermons. We are exploring other uses, so please bring your cell phones, and your smartphones to worship so that we may use them to reach out to others. Secondly, we are going to “dig down” with some of our outreach ministries. The Discipleship Team is exploring ways that we make a greater impact with these ministries. We will be contacting you through your Sunday School Classes, small groups, book and Bible studies to ask for your assistance. These ministries will bless others, and they will bless us. We will be blessed by them as we share. Thirdly, we are moving toward putting things in place for refinancing the mortgage on the Family Life Center. The Finance Committee has an article in which they give us an update on our Building Fund Drive. We will also hold a special Charge Conference on Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 10:40 am. This Conference will be in the Sanctuary and its purpose is to vote on the refinancing of the loan on the Family Life Center. Fourthly, Preciouse and I will finish the Faith sermon series on Sunday, September 1, 2019. This has been difficult for me, but I hope I have grown as a preacher. I pray that you have been blessed by it. On Sunday, September 8, 2019, we will begin a series on “What Disciples of Jesus Do!” This series will carry us to the Advent Season. I believe that it will bless us and will challenge us and help us to grow as disciples of Jesus. Finally, I want to remind everyone that we will not have a joint Fifth Sunday Service on September 29, 2019. All the venues will worship in their spaces at their worship times. We will have a combined worship service on World Communion Sunday, October 6, 2019. Worship will begin at 9:15 am in the Sanctuary, and Bishop Paul Leeland, who serves the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church will be our preacher. I hope that you will plan to attend this special time of worship. Not only will our Bishop be our preacher, but we will be joining other Christian communities as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Thanks, Sam

Hickory Grove United Methodist Church 6401 Hickory Grove Road Charlotte, NC 28215 704-537-4686

http://www.hickorygroveumc.com Office Hours: Monday - Thursday 8:30am-4:00pm and Friday 8:30am - Noon

September 2019

The Grove Echoes

Church Staff

Dr. Samuel (Sam) Moore, Jr. Senior Pastor

smoore@hgumc.com Cell: 336-613-2009

Parsonage: 980-430-5544

Rev. Candido Albino Assistant Pastor

calbino@hgumc.com Cell: 704-995-2302

Minister Alex Kwiagaye Minister of African Venue and Recreation

akwiagaye@hgumc.com Cell: 401-632-8068

Rev. Preciouse Wilson Assistant Minister and African Venue Administrator

pwilson@hgumc.com Cell: 704-756-6553

Andrew Cumbow Music Director acumbow@hgumc.com

James (Jim) Lowery

Organist jlowery@hgumc.com

Courtney Boger Director of Christian Discipleship

cboger@hgumc.com 704-537-4686, Ext. 21

Sharon Freeze Preschool Director

preschool@hgumc.com 704-537-4686, Ext. 25

Matthew Baucom Maintenance

maintenance@hgumc.com 704-537-4686, Ext. 18

Gail Reynolds Office Administrator & Finance Secretary

greynolds@hgumc.com 704-537-4686, Ext. 11

Jennifer Stribling Nursery Coordinator

jstribling@hgumc.com 704-617-2520

Sunday Morning Worship Services: 9:15 am Traditional Worship, Sanctuary 10:20 am Sunday School, Various Classrooms 11:11 am Contemporary Worship, Family Worship Center 11:30 am Mini Church, Learning Center 11:11 am African Ministry Worship, Sanctuary 11:11 am Servicio Hispano, Chapel Nursery is provided in the Preschool Area every Sunday from 9:15 am - 12:30 pm for children 5 years of age and younger.

The Grove Echoes is a monthly publication of Hickory Grove United Methodist Church.

Nursery Volunteers: We are in need of volunteers with a heart to love and serve our little ones. Please contact Jennifer Stribling for more information. 704-617-2520 / jstribling@hgumc.com or come and find her in the Preschool Area Room 103.

H i c k o r y G r o v e U n i t e d M e t h o d i s t C h u r c h

1 3 t h A n n u a l B l u e g r a s s F e s t i v a l

Sponsored by the United Methodist Men

Saturday, September 14, 2019

from 4PM to 7PM+ Tickets - $15

This year our feature bands will be

Amantha Mill, ShadowGrass, and

A Deeper Shade of Blue.

And back to help lift the event our very own

"Don't Quit Your Day Job Band".

Doors open at 3:30 with feature bands starting at 4:00.

Food and soft drinks available for purchase.

Desserts available from the United Methodist Women.

The Wednesday Morning Bible Study Group will resume on Wednesday,

September 11 in Parlor B. All are welcome!

Please help us update our Prayer List by contacting the Church Office and letting us know whether you would like to have your family/friend's name remain on the list. The

updated list will begin on Sunday, September 15. We will resume listing our requests for 4 weeks unless you have contacted the office. All of our homebound members will remain a part of our Prayer List. Thank you.

African Venue The African Venue continues to grow in membership. There were two new members added in the month of August and a returning member. We are working toward increasing our membership through urging members to bring a friend or relative. The leaders of our Venue are working with the Choir to improve their productivity. Our goal is to have a productive and viable music ministry. We have decided to cancel the choir concert which was scheduled for September or October. We will continue to help the choir reach their goal. They will have two concerts in November and a Song Service during our regular Sunday Worship Service. The African Venue also had a successful FOOD SALES FUNDRAISER on August 24, 2019. We were able to raise money for the Building Fund. The Women and Men’s Department of our venue and the Liberians were very helpful in raising this money. We intend to have another food sale or another fund raiser before the November deadline. We will continue to strive in making disciples for Christ and improving our services and our church. We will continue with our youth services on the last Sunday of each month and we appreciate Courtney and her able lieutenants for the work they do with our youth. Yours In Christ, J. Alexander Kwiagaye, Jr. Minister-African Venue HGUMC akwiagaye@hgumc.com Cell: 401-632-8068

A Wonderful Opportunity for Growth

Are you looking for ways to better serve your church and your community? A way to enrich your Christian walk? If so, I would love to share with you some information about the role of a Certified Lay Servant. Each year the Metro District offers classes. They offer a basic class and an advanced class. If this is something you would like to ask questions about or explore deeper, please contact Star Howell at starhoell@gmail.com or call me at 704-277-5543.

In August, we helped 20 families which included:

Children 0 to 18 20

Adults 19 to 64 29

Seniors 65+ 10

We Care Food Pantry Saturdays, September 14 & 28 / 10:00 am - Noon / WeCare House

We Care September Needs: cans of soup, mixed vegetables, and potatoes (canned or dry)

THANK YOU, Thank You, thank you!!!

Thank you to all who came out and supported the Second Annual Hickory Grove UMW

Trivia Night. The night would not have happened without the wonderful ladies of the

UMW, Thank You Ladies! Thanks to the fabulous bakers of the UMW for delicious

desserts and fabulous snacks! The desserts were amazing, and the snack mix was the

perfect blend of salt for the rich cakes and pies! Thanks to Jennifer Scoggins for

customizing our first-place prizes, again! Thanks to Sandy Goodwin for converting the

Trivia Questions to PowerPoint and setting up the computer for presentation. Thanks to

Mary Wyant and Kim Long for the PowerPoint presentation and Mary for the second-

place prizes. Thanks to Lisa Brooker from the HG Quilting Ministry for being our

scorekeeper, again! Thanks to the set-up and the clean-up crews.

And a special thank you to all our contestants, thank you for participating and thank you

for those who stayed to help clean up!

Thank you to Marva Moore for taking pictures throughout the evening for this fun event.

Please check out the pictures on Facebook.

Our goal for the evening was to have a few rounds of trivia, to award one team the

bragging rights of being the 2019 Trivia Champ, raise some money for missions of the

UMW, and have fun and fellowship with family and friends. Thank you to all who made

this happen.

Our Winners:

1st Place – Secret Santas Royster Family and Friends

2nd Place – Team Fox Foxes and Friends

3rd Place – HGUMC Brain Trust The Haglers and the Catheys

Other participants were two teams from the Pathfinders Sunday School Class, Path

Finders 1 captained by Marie McNeil and Shakers and Movers captained by Kim Long,

Dear Friends captained by Channing Kirkpatrick, (whose team member actually knew

the correct response to our tie breaker, impressive!), Jones/Stein/Moyer team captained

by Heather Jones Stein, and the Wyant team captained by Mary Wyant.

Start studying now and get ready for next year! Lots more Trivia to come! We might have

more movie sound bites and/or movie clips, some more history rounds, we had a request

for a sports round, and of course we have to keep our Biblical knowledge up with another

round of The Good Book Trivia! Please let me know your suggestions for next year!

Kindest regards,

Kim Bucklin

News

The staff and I are gearing up for another great Preschool year. When school begins Tuesday, September 3, the Preschool will be opening its doors to begin our 61st year! Thank you HGUMC for this ministry!

This year’s staff includes the following ladies:

Claudia Tourn, Lindsay Perrotto - One Year Olds

Kim Rogers, Latesha Booker - Two Year Olds

Jane Long, Cindy Scavotto - Three Year Olds

Donna Earl - Four Year Olds

Patty Smith - Music There are several ways you could support us this year:

We covet your prayers for our staff, children and their families.

We have several families from our community who need financial assistance. If you are able to help this way you can simply designate that to Preschool Scholarship Fund.

We would love for you to also support us by linking your Harris Teeter card to our school. You may link (or relink) your Harris Teeter card when you checkout OR at www.harristeeter.com. The code for our preschool is 6274. This is a great way for our school to receive extra funds.

We are so thankful for all those who helped spread mulch on the playgrounds. Many hands surely made the work go fast and the fellowship great! Please contact Sharon Freeze at 704-537-4658 or preschool@hgumc.com if you have any questions.

Many thanks to those who came out to help spread mulch on the playgrounds!

Your hard work and faithfulness is truly appreciated!

The Finance Committee would like to update everyone on our special offering request in addition to our regular giving through November 30, 2019. We are attempting to pay down the mortgage monthly payments. Our ultimate goal is to pay off the mortgage on the Family Life Center. Once we accomplish this goal, we will redirect some of the funds that are being used for the mortgage to mission, ministry, and the upkeep of all of the buildings. We received approximately $6,800 in June and $1,500 in July for a total of $8,300 towards our $100,000 goal. We only have four months to raise the remaining $90,000. Thank you for your support, and please continue to lift this needed support in your prayers. So that we may monitor our giving, clearly mark your offering envelope for Mortgage Fund Drive. Please also remember to continue your tithes and offerings so that we can continue to meet our financial day to day obligations. Our mortgage, power, insurance and other bills do not stop at church, like home because we take a vacation. Just like volunteering, it takes all of us working together to make our church thrive. Thank you for your generosity, Finance Committee

Together in Education

Our Preschool has proudly joined Harris Teeter’s Together in Education Program to help raise funds for our school. It’s easy and it’s FREE. Simply give the cashier our code, 6274, and your VIC card when you check out and your card will be linked for the entire school year. That’s it! You only have to link your VIC card once each school year. Once your card is linked, we will receive a percentage of your Harris Teeter brand (Harris Teeter, H.T. Traders, Harris Teeter Organics, HT Farmers Market and purchases in the HT Pharmacy) purchases credited back to our account. This program does not interfere with your VIC savings or cost you any

money! Also you can register for up to 5 different schools or programs with one VIC card. There are several ways to link your VIC card:

Customer Service desk at Harris Teeter - use code 6274

Online at Harristeeter.com – clink on the Together In Education box and

follow the prompts

Email your 11 digit VIC card number and your Last Name

to preschool@hgumc.com and we will link your card for you. Thank you for your support!

M e m o r i a l s a n d H o n o r a r i u m s

AUGUST MEMORIALS MARTHA & TOM DULIN AND DAVID DULIN Building: Leon and Anne Dulin Joyner AUGUST HONORARIUMS Mary Grosz General: Cokesbury Class Sam Moore Snack Pack: Jeff & Channing Kirkpatrick Randall Bunnell General: Rachel Hughes Kathleen Robinson General: Epworth Class

Giving Aug. 4 Aug. 11 Aug. 18 Aug. 25

Received - General Fund $11,548.07 $6,799.50 $8,183.28 $7,598.40

Received - Building fund $3,259.00 $1,373.50 $3,278.00 $1,587.50

Received - Special $478.00 $20.00 $30.00 $24.00

Received - Apportionments $680.00 $30.00 $375.00 $40.00

Total Received $15,965.07 $8,223.00 $11,866.28 $9,249.90

Needed for General Budget (per week) $11,250.00 $11,250.00 $11,250.00 $11,250.00

Needed for Building Budget (per week) $3,000.00 $3,000.00 $3,000.00 $3,000.00

Attendance

9:15 Traditional 96 79 92 88

11:11 Contemporary 49 44 64 56

African 85 94 65 48

Latino 48 42 29 34

Mini Church 9 8 No Report 12

Nursery 8 6 4 5

Total 295 273 254 243

Sunday School 106 85 128 104

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Amazon Smile: When shopping on Amazon, go to smile.amazon.com, choose Hickory Grove United Methodist Church, Charlotte, NC. You get your product for the same price and Amazon donates money to the church!

We received $15.02 as a result of the AmazonSmile program activity between April 1 and June 30, 2019.

Upcoming Events September 1-30, 2019

Quilting Ministry Tuesday, September 2 / 5:00 pm / Agape Room Saturday, September 7 / 9:00 am / Agape Room Tuesday, September 10 / 5:00 pm / Agape Room Tuesday, September 17 / 5:00 pm / Agape Room Saturday, September 21 / 9:00 am / Agape Room Tuesday, September 24 / 5:00 pm / Agape Room African Venue Men’s Meeting Sunday, September 1 / 4:00 pm / Gym Family and Friends Sunday, September 8

Youth Worship Services Sundays, September 8 & 22 / 11:11 am / Gym (for rising 6th graders—12th graders)

Discipleship Council Sunday, September 8 / 6:0o pm / Parlor B

Trustees’ Meeting (No meeting in September). Next meeting will be Sunday, October 6.

Group Lydia Monday, September 9

Chick Fil A Night for Snack Pack Monday, September 9 / 3:00 pm – 8:00 pm / Albemarle Rd.

Group Tabitha Monday, September 9 / 6:30 pm / Trinity Room

Bluegrass Festival Saturday, September 14 / 4:00 pm / FLC

We Care Food Pantry Saturdays, September 14 & 28 / 10:00 am - Noon / WeCare House

Charge Conference Sunday, September 15, 2018 / 10:40 am / Sanctuary (to discuss refinancing the FLC)

Group Naomi Sunday, September 15 / 1:00 pm / Bride’s Room

UMW Executive Board Meeting Monday, September 16 / 6:00 pm / Parlor B

Epiphany Team Saturday, September 21 / 8:00 am / Parlors

United Methodist Men Monday, September 23 / 7:00 pm / Family Life Center & Trinity Room

Day of Fasting and Prayer Service Friday, September 27 / 5:15 pm / Sanctuary

Grove Echoes Deadline: Friday, September 20 (Please email Word or Publisher documents.) Weekly Sunday Activities * Not a HGUMC event/group

9:15 am Traditional Worship (Sanctuary) 10:00 am Latino Bible Study (Parlors & Conference Room) 10:20 am Sunday School 11:11 am Contemporary Worship (FWC) 11:30 am Mini Church (Learning Center) 11:11 am African Ministry Worship (Sanctuary) 11:11 am Servicio Hispano: (Chapel) 3:00pm Latino Venue (FLC) St. Gabriel Worship (Epworth Bldg.)* 8:00 pm Alcoholics Anonymous (Epworth)* Weekly Monday Activities 7:00 pm Boy Scouts (Epworth Building)* Weekly Tuesday Activities 7:00 am Prayer Breakfast (Epworth Bldg.) 8:30 am Arts & Crafts (Epworth Bldg.) 3:30 pm Staff Meeting (Conference Room) 6:00 pm Girl Scouts (2nd floor Susanna Wesley Bldg.)* 7:00 pm Latino Worship Practice (Chapel) Weekly Wednesday Activities 10:00 am Wednesday Morning Bible Study (Parlor B) Resumes September 11 8:00 pm Candlelight - Narcotics Anonymous (Epworth)* Weekly Thursday Activities 7:00 pm Cub Scouts (2nd floor, Susanna Wesley Bldg.)* 7:00 pm Praise Band Practice (Family Life Center) 7:00 pm Sanctuary Choir (Choir Room) 7:00 pm Latino Worship Practice (Chapel) Weekly Friday Activities 6:30 pm Girl Scouts (2nd floor, Susanna Wesley Bldg.)* 7:30 pm Latino Venue Rehearsal (FLC) Weekly Saturday Activities 10:00 am African Ministry Basketball (Gym) 11:30 am Girl Scouts (2nd floor, Susanna Wesley Bldg.)* 4:00 pm St. Gabriel Worship Set Up (Epworth Bldg.)* 5:00 pm African Choir Rehearsal (Sanctuary)

Yoga Classes have been cancelled.

A HUGE Thank You to the Epworth and Pathfinders Sunday School Classes for accepting the Mission Possible from the HG Quilting Ministry. Thank you very much for your generous donations to the Hickory Grove Quilting Ministry. The funds donated will be used to reimburse the ladies for the purchase of some beautiful fabrics for our Quilts for a Cause - “WOUNDEDWARRIOR WEEKEND.” We are once again donating our beautiful quilts to the Charlotte Chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Hearts. We will actually present some of our courageous veterans with the quilts at one of their meetings in the winter. Very emotional and fulfilling event! We will have a Blessing of the Quilts on Veteran’s Day Sunday, November 10th. Please join us for the Blessing as you have a vested interest in the quilts. We still have two more “Quilts for a Cause” events this year! Our next one is in September. We will be making quilts for Chemo patients, so warm quilts can accompany cancer fighters at the sometimes cold infusion centers. Later this fall, we will have our 3rd Annual Quilts for Comfort for Children in Crisis. As you can see, we have a busy rest of the year planned. Please stop in and see us anytime! Kindest regards and heart felt gratitude, The Ladies of the Hickory Grove Quilting Ministry

Mitzi Morris with WCNC did a story about Officer Ashley Brown and our Quilting Ministry, it is a featured story on WCNC's web-

page (WCNC.com): https://www.wcnc.com/article/features/there-is-love-that-goes-into-the-quilt-cmpd-officer-sews-away-stress-donates-finished-pieces-to-charity/275-d730b4e0-09e4-4e0e-8b28-06c2667ba6de

JOIN US FOR Hickory Grove United Methodist Church

Snack Pack Ministry Night at

®

Albemarle Road Monday, September 9, 2019

3:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Take 2 cans of Chicken Noodle Soup to Chick-Fil-A and you will receive a FREE chicken sandwich. The cans of soup will be donated

to our Snack Pack Ministry.

We will not be receiving a percentage of sales that evening, so your cans of soup will be the only way to support Snack Packs at this event. Thank you!

Come have fun and eat GREAT food!