the bethlehem starthe bethlehem star - clover...
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The Bethlehem Star is published 6
times/year by Bethlehem United
Methodist Church, 4 Westtown
Road, Thornton PA 19373, (610)
459-3482, www.bethmeth.com,
Deadline for copy: the 7th day of
the month prior to publication.
Editor reserves the right to edit for
content and space. Unsolicited
material is welcome!
Bethlehem
United Methodist Church
PO Box 57
4 Westtown Road
Thornton, PA 19373
P: 610-459-3482
F: 610-459-0811
www.bethmeth.com
KENYA UPDATE 1
COMMUNITY DAY 2
FAMILY TABLE MINISTRY 3
DVD LIBRARY 3
GETTING TO KNOW YOU 4
SAVE THE DATE 4
Inside this issue:
The Bethlehem StarThe Bethlehem Star May/June 2016
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my
witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Jesus – Acts 1:8)
This is essentially Luke’s version of the Great Commission which we commonly refer to
from Matt. 28:19-20. Matthew tells us to, “go and make disciples of all the nations” and
Mark tells us to, “go into all the world and preach the Good News”, but only Luke
actually gives us a ‘game plan.’ His plan is to start in your home town and then spread
from there, eventually to the “ends of the earth.”
One of the things I truly love about BUMC is how we take the great commission seriously
and literally. It is a healthy view of mission when we are active in all the ‘circles’ that
Luke mentions. For instance, we have ministry outreaching into our local neighborhood
through Hands on Homes, and various service projects. We extend a little further out
with Good Works, Women’s crisis pregnancy centers, the Frederick Douglass School and
other places. From there we are involved with Samaritan’s Purse on a national level
wherever help is needed and finally we have the furthest circle which for us is our
international outreach to Kenya.
This year will be our fourth trip and we have a record number of people going at 30! In
all, so far, we will have taken over 40 people from BUMC to Kenya, 8,500 miles away!
This is truly phenomenal if you think about it. This number represents almost 20% of our
congregation and speaks loudly to the priority of mission in our church.
As many of you know, we are involved in various activities and projects when we are
there including several water filter distributions. This year there is a massive filter
distribution taking place in the city where we stay. The goal is to distribute
approximately 30,000 filters! There has never been a distribution of this magnitude and
we are blessed to be able to participate in this endeavor.
As you can imagine, a distribution of this size also has a huge cost and that is why we are
trying to raise an extra $20,000 this year. We are well under way with our fundraising
but want to remind you how important your contributions are. We could never make
this trip without your help. Giving and prayer are the two greatest ways to make this
mission truly a church-wide project.
At whatever level you participate, thank you for helping make BUMC a place that
truly puts feet to the fulfillment of the Great Commission!
Go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28:19
KENYA — AGAIN? By Pastor Tom Wolff
2
Our annual Community Day is an opportunity to
invite our community to a fun afternoon on our
beautiful church grounds. Such a big event takes a
lot of leaders to make it happen.
In her third year as chief organizer, Kim Gehrke has
brought fresh ideas as well as a depth of experience
from the corporate world to make Community Day
an event that we look forward to all year. Her
emphasis has been to make this an event for young
families.
Pastor Christie Kelly has been organizing an
afternoon of live music. It starts with kid-friendly
“Makin’ Music, Rockin’ Rhythms” followed by our
own kid’s choirs. Next up is the pop-soul sounds of
“Rad and Kell” and wrapping up the day (put on
your dancing shoes) is “The FlipSidez” with their
covers of 60’s, 70’s & 80’s hits.
Albert Cochrane is lending his multi-year experience
to the food court. Providing great food at an
affordable price, this year’s menu features the $5
meal deal with choices of hamburgers, sausage,
pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs, and nachos.
Dale and Debbie Plummer are new to their role as overseer to the Kenya Auction. The auction is a great way to help finance the trip as well as reach the goal of $20,000 extra this year to fund additional water filters. Donations of gift items and services are going well (more are welcome!), but they are challenged in getting people to help the day of the
event as it is Mother's Day weekend and they will be out of town. If you can help for an hour or two, please contact Dale at [email protected] Amy Yannelli is our fabulous veteran bake sale
coordinator. This year’s theme is “Tastes of the
World.” What does this mean? Do you have a
special family recipe with a history or ingredients
from another other country, state, or culture?
Examples: Jewish apple cake, banana bread with
bananas from Costa Rica, or Georgia pecan pie.
Have fun with this! BUMC has the best bakers!
What can you do? Most importantly, plan to be
there! Tell your friends, neighbors and family!
Please help if you are able. Sign-up sheets are
available after each church service on Sunday.
Save the Dates for Our Other Outreach Events…
Saturday, June 11, 5 – 9 pm-- Thornbury Township
Founder’s Day at Thornbury Park. We will be there
showing off our Kenya-bound water filters and
giving away Rita’s water ice. Stay to enjoy the
fireworks.
Monday, July 4th -- Join us as we march in the
Thornbury Township Parade from the church to the
park.
Saturday, September 24th -- Annual Chicken BBQ
and flea market
COMMUNITY DAY—MAY 7 12—5 pm By Janice Butterworth
3
ALL ABOUT CHICKEN “Natural” means no artificial ingredients, however, chicken could be fed a diet pumped with antibiotics and/or injected with broth/brine. Labeling has very little meaning when it comes to "natural." “Organic” refers to how the animal was raised. The chickens eat only organic food and NO antibiotics.
Remember that it is very important to keep all areas in your kitchen, along with your hands, perfectly clean when working with poultry. Poultry should ALWAYS be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
PERFECTLY POACHED "JUICY" BONELESS CHICKEN BREASTS
Poached white meat chicken is called for in many recipes. It is easy to poach your own perfectly, by following this simple technique:
place chicken in deep-sided fry pan
Cover chicken with water
Bring water to a gentle boil—immediately turn to simmer
Partially cover pan with lid and poach 15-20 minutes to an internal temperature of 165 degrees
Family Table Ministry By Janet Samuelian
Library corner By John McGrath
DVD Library
We are in the process of implementing a new pro-
gram of adding selected DVDs to our library. There
are basically three categories of DVDs we will be add-
ing to the library. The first will be DVDs of bible study
or reference type programs that you are familiar with
from Sunday School or small group studies. An exam-
ple of this type would be Bill Hybels’ “The Power of a
Whisper” DVD that goes with his book. The second
category is entertainment videos such as the “Son of
God” movie produced by (Touched by an Angel star)
Roma Downey and her husband. We will also in-
clude other “Hollywood” movies that have a strong
Christian message, such as “The Blind Side.” The
third category is children’s videos, strictly for the
young, such as the Veggie Tales videos.
All these videos can be found in the cabinet with the
glass door at the rear of the library.
Because of our limited budget, we will be relying on
the congregation for donations in order for the library
to grow. We are indebted to Jan Samuelian for
getting us started with a number of DVDs from her
personal library. So if you have any Christian DVDs at
home that you think others in the congregation
would enjoy, please consider donating them to the
library.
I know that with Netflix and other streaming services,
it is easy to find and view a huge range of movies and
videos at home. But the purpose of our library is to
make available Christian and family DVDs that may
not be on Netflix and to make DVDs available to those
in the congregation who do not have access to Netflix
or a similar service.
The DVDs are being cataloged in the same way as the
books in the library, so you will be able to search the
database to see what is available. DVDs may be
checked out in the same manner as books. But we
request that DVDs be checked out for no longer than
one week.
4
MARK YOUR CALENDAR:
Sunday, May 1 -
Communion Sunday
Saturday, May 7 -
Community Day
Sunday, May 8 - Amnion Baby
Bottle Collection
Friday, May 20 - Men’s
Campfire in the Grove: 7:30 PM
Sunday, June 5:
Confirmation and
Communion Sunday
Tuesday, June 7
Volleyball- 6:30 PM - held
every Tuesday evening thru
August 30.
Friday, June 17 - Men’s
Campfire in the Gove: 7:30 PM
Sunday, June 19 - Softball at
Thornbury Park: 6:00 PM
Friday & Saturday, June 24 &
25 - Bethlehem Praise Dance
Workshop
Sue Winterode, Service Chairperson
Sue did the sharing at the services on Sunday, April 3, is in a small group, and often enrolls in the women’s Bible studies
Elmi: What question would you like me to ask you?
Sue: “What is my favorite book?”
Elmi: OK, what is your favorite book?
Sue: I can easily say “the next one.” I love reading and my house is filled with books. Wall to wall. But the book that had the strongest influence on me as a child was The Little Engine That Could. I used the line “I think I can, I think I can…” when I was in doubt when doing something for the first time. After-wards the line “I thought I could, I thought I could…” would come to mind.
Now, my most influential book is the Bible and my emphasis has changed to “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phi 4:13).
Most of my memory verses are from the KJV, but my favorite translation is the NIV.
I am actually in the process of writing a book, with the help of Dee Dee Cass and a friend who is a missionary in the Philippines. It will be a devotional with tips for caregivers.
Elmi: How did you happen to come to this church?
Sue: I was relatively new to this area. I drove past the church when taking a
back road to work and saw a catchy sermon title on the sign board that piqued my interest. I was attracted by the humor in it. I came to the service and have been part of the family ever since. It has been years.
Elmi: What are your plans for your ministry?
Sue: I noticed that about 20% of the people do all the work in this church. In the service ministry we need more people to help with making and delivering the occasional meal as encouragement to people that are, for instance, care givers. Well, I am coming for the 80%!
GETTING TO KNOW YOU By Elmi Cochrane
Editor’s note: This is the first in a new series designed to
get to know other BUMC people better.