T HE C LARION

23606 FM 2100 Huffman, TX Phone: 281-324-1541

www.LakeHoustonUMC.com Email: lhumc1541@gmail.com Volume 32, Issue 3

a p r il , 20 18

Dear Friends,

Greetings in the name

of the Lord Jesus Christ!

We begin April with East-

er Sunday — what better

way to start than with

the celebration of the

Risen Lord! It’s the wit-

ness of Jesus rising from the dead that empow-

ered the early followers, the disciples and oth-

ers, to face the opposition, the rejection, the

persecution, the imprisonment, the beatings and

worse — they were witnesses. They had seen

Him! It is forgiveness he offered — forgiveness

from God, and therefore a freedom to love oth-

ers, to forgive as we have been forgiven.

It is easy to lessen the value of forgiveness. It

is easy to be distracted by the cares and wants

of the moment, of the day, and the deepest

yearnings of our hearts are left unattended, ne-

glected or covered up. Our hearts long for un-

ion with God, for the knowledge, the assurance

that we are loved, we are worthy, and that there

is Someone who knows all, and loves us right

here, right now. The early followers, the disci-

ples and others, knew this love and showed it to

the world. Peter, forgiven by the Risen Christ,

no longer wallowed in self-condemnation for his

denials but moved forward to proclaim the love

of God and the reality of God’s kingdom and to

build a Church.

The people who have walked in darkness have

seen a great light; on those living in the land of

deep darkness a light has dawned. (Isaiah 9:2)

We are called to proclaim that love, that for-

giveness, that light to the world. We proclaim

the incredible healing power of God to a world

sin-sick with desires for a false sense of self-

worth and power, caught up in resentments and

hatreds that eat away our lives.

Here at Lake Houston UMC, we are called for-

ward to build a new Sanctuary, a place of pray-

er, of worship, of proclaiming Christ , of singing,

and a place to send forth into the community

and the world disciples of Christ, sent to make

other disciples to transform the world.

We are in the start of a Capital Campaign with

the goal of fully funding the building of a new

Sanctuary. The architectural team will begin

meeting with the architect this month. On April

22, Don Smith of Horizons Stewardship will at-

tend worship with us and give us the result of

the Feasibility Study they are now conducting.

We are in the beginning stages of what will

shape our future.

This is an exciting and important time in the life

and history of Lake Houston United Methodist

Church. We did not ask to be in a place to have

to rebuild, but here we are, and God is with us

as we are moving forward to proclaim the truth

of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that “whosoever

believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal

life.”

Faithfully in Jesus Christ,

Pastor Frank

The Prayer Corner by Janie Webster

If there was ever

a time when we

needed to be on

our knees, it

must be now -

now, during

LHUMC’s important season of seeking God’s will and pre-

paring for a capital building campaign! Knowing our hu-

man propensity to stray -and to want to do things our way

- God graciously works to grow us up spiritually so we’ll be

more prone to do things HIS way instead! And, HIS way

involves “abiding in Him”, by spending time in His pres-

ence through the reading of His Word and through prayer.

The prayer below is a compilation of several powerful

Scripture prayers taken from Germaine Copeland’s Prayers

that Avail Much. Since it’s a Scripture prayer, we’re en-

couraged to pray it ALOUD. Because when we SPEAK

FORTH GOD’S WORD, 3 wonderful things happen: 1)

our faith grows (Romans 10:17) - our enemy (Satan)

flees (Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13 and 3) God works

(Isaiah 55:11). Oh, the great power of God’s Word used in

each prayer! It’s spiritual dynamite - perfect, power-

packed duo He makes available to each of us!!

So, we encourage you to join our church family in praying

this prayer. Please pray it often - however, when-

ever, wherever, and with whomever the Lord

leads. In so doing, we’ll be laying the groundwork for His

great work within us, since, through the repeated speaking

forth and hearing of His word, “we (begin to) have the mind

of Christ and hold (like a mother holds and cherishes her

child) the thoughts, feelings, and purposes of His heart

(rather than ours).” 1 Corinthians 2:16

_____________________________________

Father, in the name of Jesus, we’re asking You to help us

establish Your priorities in our lives. We confess our

weaknesses of procrastination and lack of follow through.

We desire to know and to walk in Your will for us, for each

of us individually, and for our whole Body of Christ at

LHUMC.

Jesus, You want us to relax. It pleases You when we’re not

preoccupied with getting, so we can respond to God’s giv-

ing. So we purpose in our hearts to seek first Your king-

dom, and Your righteousness, and then all these things

will be given us besides. We believe all of LHUMC’S needs

are met, according to Philippians 4:19. We have everything

we need to carry out Your Great Commission and to reach

Huffman and its surrounding areas for Jesus. Therefore,

we meet the needs of the people who come - spirit, soul,

and body. We ask for the wisdom of God in meeting those

needs. We call forth partners who’ll respond to Your call to

support this church’s ministry prayerfully and financially.

And Father, we thank You in advance for the upcoming

ministry facilities that will more than meet the needs of the

ministries You’re calling us to…..

Holy Spirit, please teach is how to agree (harmonize togeth-

er, together make a symphony) - so that whatever we ask

will be done for us by our Father in heaven. We know You

want us to grow up, Lord, so we pray that none of our peo-

ple will be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by

every wind of doctrine. As the elect of God, holy and be-

loved, we put on tender mercies, kindness, humili-

ty….bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If

we have complaint against another, even as Christ forgave

us, so we also must do. Above all things we put on love.

We speak Your TRUTH in love. And now we will see how

inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out,

not avoiding worshipping together as some do, but spurring

each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

Lord, we commit to pray for one another, keeping our eyes

open and keeping each other’s spirits up, so that no one

falls behind or drops out. Also, we pray for Pastor Frank

and our spiritual leaders, that they will know what to say

and have the courage to say it at the right time. In faith, we

praise You in advance and call these things that may not yet

be, Father, as though they were. We thank you for the vi-

sion You’re giving us, and we pray in gratitude and expecta-

tion, knowing it will come to pass! HALLELUJAH!!

AMEN.

Director of Children’s Ministry: CHRISTEN THIBODEAUX

J.A.M. is Sunday's from 5:30-7:30 ~ We are meeting in the CFC until the children's area is complete. Below is our schedule through July.

Join us for J.A.M. from 5:30-7:30pm on these Sundays!*

April 1st ~ No JAM, Easter April 8th ~ JAM

April 15th ~ No JAM April 22nd ~ JAM

April 29th ~ No JAM May 6th ~ JAM

May 13th ~ No JAM, Mother’s Day May 20th ~ JAM

June 3rd ~ JAM, End of School Year Party at Church (Kids in 5th grade will move up to youth on this date)

Summer Wednesdays begin! 6:00 to 8:30pm

June 6th starts Summer Wednesday’s 6:00 to 8:30

June 13th ~ No Youth or JAM, FUGE June 20th ~ Youth & JAM June 27th ~ Youth & JAM

July 4th ~ No Youth or JAM, 4th of July July 11th ~ No Youth or JAM, Join us for VBS July

9-13! July 18th ~ Youth & JAM July 25th ~ Youth & JAM

Thank you to all the Jam parents that helped us give Tara Harris a baby shower last month. We had a great time watching her open presents, we played some games, enjoyed cake and had breakfast for dinner (that's her favorite)! Tara has been a huge part of Jam and helps a lot with the children's ministry, we all wanted to shower her with love.

How many of you guys keep up with the news every day? The news is very important, it keeps us informed about im-portant things happening in our community, our state, our country, and our world. The news lets us know what our leaders are doing. It lets us know about important changes in the weather. It keeps us informed about things happening right where we live.

The news can tell us fun things. Entertainment news lets us know what cool movies are being made and who will be in them. Sports news keeps us up to date about scores, trades, and everything we need to know about our favorite team. I'm guessing a few of you sports lovers are already following your teams daily, aren't you?

Most of the time, the news is pretty gloomy. The stories that make the top of the news always seem to be bad sto-ries. There's a fire downtown, a business is closing, an acci-dent took place or people were injured. Wars, travel acci-dents, scandals... As important as it is to stay informed, these are the things that make us want to turn the news off!

News is everywhere today, thanks to tablets, smart phones, the internet and Wi-Fi. You don't have to wait for the morning paper or even the evening news to know what's go-ing on. You can bring it up right on your phone. But in Jesus' day, news traveled only by word of mouth. When something happened in one town, it would be weeks before people in the next town heard about it.

Palm Sunday is the day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, prepar-ing to give his life for us. The people of Jerusalem had no idea Jesus was about to die. They were excited he had come and they wanted to see him, to praise him, and to welcome him. One person at a time, word spread around town.

Jesus did everything he could to keep his arrival a se-cret. He arranged for the donkey without telling anyone, not even his disciples, until it was necessary. But by the time Jesus arrived, a crowd of people had already gathered. They sang his praises and waved palm branches, welcoming the one who came to save them. No one knew why Jesus had come. No one knew the secret mission that was about to unfold. Jesus would be arrested, tried, and put to death. The same people shouting, "Hosanna!" would later shout, "Crucify him!" It was all part of God's plan to save us from sin and give us new life.

The Easter story won't be told on the news this week, that's because it's not news.

Sunday is Easter, but the historic moment we celebrate on Easter is now two thousand years in the past. If we want the world - and by the world, I mean our friends - to know what Jesus did on Easter, it's up to us to share that news the old fashioned way.

We all have friends who do not go to church. We all know someone who needs to hear about Jesus' plan of salva-tion. That's why Jesus commanded us in Matthew 28 to go into all the world and share the good news. God doesn't want us to wait for a news story to tell our friends about God; it's not going to happen. He wants us to do the talking.

The kids are learning to pray for their friends, to talk to them about church and invite them to know Jesus like they do. Let them know the fun things we do at church, the mu-sic we sing and games we play and all the excitement. But not to forget the most important thing, let them know what we celebrate on Easter. Tell them that Jesus came to save them! For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that who-ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 (NIV)

We Collect POP TABS

For Ronald

McDonald House I want to say "Thank You" to everyone who so gener-

ously saves pop tabs from soda, soup, etc. cans for Ronald

McDonald House!! (There is a jar for them in the Sanctuary

kitchen and the CFC.) This is a big help for Ronald McDonald

Houses everywhere! They have made many thousands of

dollars from this program to help families who need to stay in

these Houses while their children are

hospitalized near by.

Our church has saved a lot of

tabs to help them throughout the years. It

is an on-going mission of ours. Thank you

and God Bless you for it! Sincerely,

Judy Cox

Usher Help Needed If you like to greet people, give a hug, and

generally be a welcoming member of

Lake Houston UMC -

ushering IS the job

for you. Please con-

tact Ann Whittington

for the 8:30 service

and Fred Baker for

the 10:45 service.

Thank you

Each month LHUMC partners with Huffman First Baptist to provide a food pantry for the community.

Participants are re-quired to reside in the Huffman ISD. They are allowed to go once per month.

The food bank is open Tuesday and Thursday from 9am - 12 noon.

Attention Travelers: The small soaps, sham-poos and other person-al items that you find in hotel rooms are great items to donate to the food pantry. These items are kept in a bas-ket on the counter so that those that need the items can help themselves. If you would bring these items home with you when you travel, then you can donate to the

food pantry. Just a way to help without

spending any addition-al funds.

Our church is re-sponsible to stock the shelves with the following items:

Tuna

Diced Tomatoes

Peanut Butter

Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti Pasta

Jelly

Canned Meat

Soup

Canned Chicken

Macaroni Noodles

Canned Veggies

Canned Ravioli

Macaroni & Cheese

Canned Fruit

Any nonperishable

We just want to

thank you all on be-

half of the Judy

Soto family. We

appreciate all the

prayers, cards and

food that was

brought to our home.

It has been a tough time for the family but I think

it has been a little easier for Jesse and I because

we have all of you!!

A special thank you to P Frank for doing the service,

Ian McGregor for playing the piano, Cassandra

McGregor for making the flyers for the service and

Ann William, Tobe William, Cyndi Burns, Ginny Gun-

trum, Rose Burnett, Mary Ellen Gardner, Robin Colli-

er and Ken Burns for setting out food and working in

the kitchen.

Also thank you to Tommie and Tiffani Whitaker for

setting out the tables. Also thank you to Michele

Jackson for bringing Jelly Beans to Jelly Bean Josie.

You touched my heart!

We LOVE our church and church family so much!!!

Thanks and Love you all,

Jesse and Amy Soto

The C lar ion - Apri l , 2018 General Giving 2/25 3/04 3/11 3/18 General Fund $6,488 $6,300 $7,413 $5,681

Bible Study Literature $110 $15

Youth Food $81

Monthly Budget Needs $34,893 $34,893

Collections Month to Date $25,305 $19,369

Actual Month to Date Expenditures $33,282 $15,838

YTD Budget Needs $69,786 $104,679

Collections Year to Date $50,366 $69,735

Actual Expenditures Year to Date $57,771 $73,609

Attendance 155 137 153 165

We Have a Matching Grant!!!

by Cathy Wilkinson, Finance Chair Praise be to God and with many thanks to The Permanent Endowment Fund of Moody Me-morial United Methodist Church we have been awarded a matching grant for flood re-lief!!! This means that if we can raise $145,000 in donations, we will be given an-other $145,000 for a total of $290,000 to go toward our restore/rebuild and new Sanctu-ary! This grant is in effect through January 25, 2019. Funds raised for flood relief for our Re-store, Rebuild, Transform campaign so far to-tals just $95,671.63. That is not counting the gift from the Texas Annual Conference. We have quite the opportunity before us dear church and isn't it encouraging to know that even the smallest donation of any size will be matched toward our goal of $145,000! The floodwaters that filled our buildings and many of our homes have provided us an op-portunity to see God at work among God's people. As we move forward in our capital campaign to build a new Sanctuary, we are grateful for all that has been given and for the gifts we are yet to receive as we move toward fulfilling our mission of “living to serve, serv-ing to live for Christ.”

Go to the LHUMC web page at http://lakehoustonumc.com/article/sharing-our-best-church-cookbook/

Thank you for supporting this great cause!

HURRY! Recipes are due by April 1, 2018. Bring them in to church or submit online at:

Pre-orders are due by April 10, 2018. Download Order Form and turn in at church or purchase online at Giving page. We are looking to have them for Mother's Day. Cookbooks are $20 each.

Proceeds benefit the restoration of our church.

Questions, contact Tiffani Whitaker at tiffwhit16@gmail.com

The C lar ion - Apri l , 2018

2018

8:30am- Worship

9:45 am - Sunday School

10:45am -Worship 5:30 - 7:00 pm Jam 5:30pm-7:30pm- Youth Sunday Funday

M o n

T u e

12:30pm Bible Study

7:00pm- Prayer

Wed

6:30pm - 8:15pm Youth

T h u

F r i S a t

1

Easter Sunday

7am Sunrise

No Youth or JAM

2

Offices closed

3

Prayer 7:00pm

4 5

UMM 7pm

6 7

8 9

Missions

6:30pm

10

LHCW 10am

Prayer 7:00pm

11 12 13 14

15 16

17

Prayer 7:00pm

18 19 20

21

22

23

24

Prayer 7:00pm

25 26

27 28

29

30

Communion

Rail Offering For April:

Youth Missions

Women’s Walk to Emmaus

The C lar ion - Apri l , 2018

Remember to pray for those in service to our Lord, especially ~ Mike & Jessica

Peggy Baker—Surgery—

Wanda Baker’s request

Meda Beth Bement—

Metastasized cancer, Jay

Jackson’s request

Robin Binnig—Myeloma

cancer, infusion treat-

ments—Carole Binnig’s

daughter

Celeste Brunner—

Surgery to remove skin

cancers pending—Lori

Morris’ mother

Butch—Severe demen-

tia—Cathy Wilkinson’s re-

quest

Carrie—Health con-

cerns—Cathy Wilkinson’s

request

Leslie Clemmons—

Thyroid cancer—Ken &

Daralyn Schubert’s niece

John Coats—Home slow-

ly recovering from severe

food poisoning

Kathy Daniels—Finally

pregnant—Jim Staine’s

daughter

Sarah Davis—Testing

tumor near heart—Harry

Piercy’s request

Aunt Doris—Caregiver—

Cathy Wilkinson’s request

Grace Dowden—Icon

Rehabilitation

Sybil Echeverri—Breast

cancer– Cynthia Adams’

mom

Cordelia Ewell—Home

with Home Health—

Daralyn Schubert’s mother

Aunt Faye—Caregiver—

Cathy Wilkinson’s request

Marvin Franklin—Fell,

bruises & scrapes—

Dorothy Brown’s request

Billy Goller’s Family—

Died 3/4—Dorothy

Brown’s request

Alec Gray—Hosp., ski

accident, serious injuries—

Chips Fountain’s grandson

Tracey Gray—Breast

cancer, poor prognosis—

Chips & Jane Fountain’s

daughter-in-law

Ladonna Guillot &

Family—Father died—Ella

Thibodeaux’s reuqest

Jeff Holloway—Colon

surgery 3/28—Robin Col-

lier’s request

Glinda Jackson—

Cancer—Christen

Thibodeaux’s mom

Peter Jacquot—ER 3/1,

Hernia surgery pending,

doctor visit 3/13

Joceli—Job search—Gary

Jordan’ s request

Stephen Jones’ Fami-

ly—Died 3/15

Christine Jordan—

Injections for sciatica prob-

lem 3/22

Gary Jordan—Seroma

needs to be drained, bron-

chitis

Cindy Knight—Not heal-

ing from surgery—Vanessa

Cascio’s request

Joyce Lloyd—Cancer,

Surgery 3/16 to remove

liver tumor

Ken Lloyd—Retina look-

ing good

Meghann Mason—IVF

Procedure

Madysun Masters—Ken

Burns God daughter

Pamala Messinger—

Back pain

Ray—2 heart attacks—

Cathy Wilkinson’s request

Soto Family—Mourning

Heidi Swanson—Tumor

growing, surgery not an

option—Cathy Frasier’s

sister-in-law

Aunt Vera’s Family—

Died 3/20—Cathy Wil-

kinson’s request

Rich Ware’s Family—

Diked 3/20—Terrie Pell’s

request

Kenny Watson—ICU,

Successful artery replace-

ment surgery—Mike Wat-

son’s brother

Carla Weber—Newborn

with breathing difficulties—

Evette Isbell’s request

Tiffani Whitaker—No

cancer following testing

Ann Williams—Kidney

function decreasing

Jolene Wilson—Cancer,

pending stem cell replace-

ment, eye infection

Ron Wizinsky’s Fami-

ly—Died—Melanie Brat-

ton’s ex

All Flood Victims &

their families

Our Church

Our Nation

Homebound

Jane Allen

Harlan Broeker

Jack Bruner

Sue Groves

Billie Medley

George Messinger

Oma Dell Morris

Carl & Sherrill Poteet

Nita Regan

Jack Sherer

Jerry & Ann Sparks

Anthony Thompson

Doris Wood

Our Armed Forces

William (Brad) Ballard

John L. Belsha III

John V. Brahm

Richard Brahm

Grant H. Bruner

Roger Cassman III

Shailynn Cassman

Marcus Allen Colburn

Michael Stanton Cyr

Ean Davis

Bryan Dodd

Shawn Paul Dyer

Taylor Frasier

Allan Garies

Daniel Garies

Christopher Hall

Devin Haynes

Scott Heavin

Jason Heinrichs

Josh Higdon

Eddie Hillburn

Nate Hoag

Nick Lange

Brian Lilly

Nate Martin

Dustin Matthies

Joshua Matthies

Mike McDermott

Christopher Travis

McGinnis

Alton Moore

Thomas Moreno

Paul Musachia

Chris Neuendorff.

Jesse Neuendorff

Kris Casy Pelley

Chris Pummill

Tony Sharts

Eric Tapp

Jarrod Tatom

Ryan Vollemaere

David Walker

Austin Whittington

Jacob Whittington

Whitt Whitton

Andrew Wickes

Austin Wickes

Jenny Wickes