twc reflections march 2018 from georgia might explain a fondness for peaches or a desire to do an...
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Monthly Newsletter A Place to Call Home
TWC Reflections
March 2018 Mission: We exist to make more disciples for Jesus Christ. We endeavor to do this by connecting through worship, growing through small groups and serving in community & ministry pro-jects.
Vision: Turnpike Wesleyan Church desires to be a place where you can find HOPE for tomorrow, HEALING from yesterday, and a HOME for today! Check out our web site at:
tpkewc.org
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Contact Information
Address: 2224 Military Turnpike
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
Phone: 518 566-8764
Fax: 518 562-3632
E-mail:
Rev. Norman Mesel
2272 Military Turnpike
West Chazy, NY 12992
Phone: 518 570-0500
E-mail:
Rev. Judy Pribis
(Congregational Care)
124 Trim Road
Morrisonville, NY 12962
Phone: 518 562-0655
E-mail:
If you sift through all the stuff in your life that is-n’t the way you want it to be, the sifting usually turns up one huge spir-itual issue. I would sug-gest that most of us live with an immense spiritu-al blockade that keeps us from being all that God desires us to be. To help us better under-stand this, permit me to share a minister’s story: Several years ago, I was conducting a wedding rehearsal at the Universi-ty of Maryland chapel. The rehearsal had not gone very well. It was mid-summer, and the chapel was beastly hot. We were having heavy afternoon thundershow-ers, so that the humidity and the noise were get-ting on everyone’s nerves. Some of the bridesmaids had come late; some of the
groomsmen had not come at all; the organist wanted to leave early; and the groom said he would much rather be lying on the beach nursing some-thing cool. So the bride and her mother began to fight. About what? About everything. The bride wanted her maid of honor to stand here; the mother said she should be over there. The bride wanted her father to escort her to the altar, give her a swift kiss, and then sit down; the mother wanted the father to stay right there, firmly in place between the bride and the groom, until death do them part. These two women snapped and snarled at each other, while the rest of us vainly tried to smooth things over.
Things came to a climax when the mother slapped her daughter squarely in the face, then turned and ran straight down one hundred and ten feet of chapel aisle, out into a driving rainstorm. Dra-matic stuff! We stood there with our mouths hanging wide open. It was one of those moments in which some-body needs to say some-thing intelligent. “Nice weather for a wedding” doesn’t cut it! There was a very awkward silence. But the father finally broke the silence. He had a word for it. He ex-plained it all. He told me how to interpret what had just happened. His expla-nation of his wife’s bi-zarre behavior, “Well, you see, she’s from Georgia.”
Continue on page 4
Page 2 Turnpike Wesleyan
Ministry Activities & Programs For March 2018
Children’s Worship Center
Weekly Ministries March Activities at a Glance
Our Children’s Worship Center is a ministry for our children that runs during both the 8:45 and 10:30 am worship ser-vices on Sunday. The center will continue their journey down “Route 52” looking at God’s love towards Elijah, Jonah, Daniel and Nehemiah. While the adults are wor-shipping in the sanctuary, our youngsters are also engaged in worship through songs, Bible lessons, activities and crafts … oh, refreshments are also offered (something the adults miss out on). For more information on our Children’s Worship Center and Ministry, check out our web site at tpkewc.org.
Weekly Ministries Sunday: Worship – 8:45 am & 10:30 am Discipleship – 9:45 am Abundant Loaf Café – 8:30 am until 10:20 am Saturday: Men’s Life Group – 8:30 am Praise Team Rehearsal – 8:30 am Mid-Week: Monday Celebrate Recovery - 6 pm Tuesday Life Groups – 6:00 pm Wednesday Youth – 6 pm Thursday Women’s Life Group – 1 pm Thursday WAITS Ministry - 5:30 pm Friday Financial Peace - 7 pm
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Monthly Ministries Men’s Prayer Breakfast – Second Fri-day of each month at 7:30 am (Perkin’s) Best Year’s Fellowship – Second Satur-day of each month at 12:00 pm
March 3, 2018 at
8:00 am
Men’s Breakfast
(Cadyville Wesleyan)
March 4, 2018 at 8:45 & 10:30 am
Baptism Sunday
March 9, 2018 at 7:30 am
Men’s Prayer Breakfast
(Perkin’s Restaurant)
March 9, 2018 at 5:30 pm
Parents’ Night Out
March 10, 2018 at Noon
BYF Gathering
March 11, 2018 at 8:45 & 10:30 am
Communion Sunday
(Turn Clocks Ahead)
March 12, 2018 at 6:00 pm
Nominating Committee Meeting
March 17, 2017
St. Patrick’s Day
March 19, 2018 at 6:00 pm
Finance Committee Meeting
March 24, 2018 at 10:30 am
WAITS Event
March 24, 2018 at 11:00 am
Celebrate the Son Community Event
March 25, 2018 at 8:45 & 10:30 am
Palm Sunday Services
March 30, 2018 at Noon
EMA Community Good Friday Service
(Nazarene Church)
March 30, 2018 at 6:00 pm
Good Friday Worship
Page 3 Hope for Tomorrow, Healing from Yesterday, a Home for Today!
Parents’ Night Out
Our Parents’ Night Out will be held on Fri-day, March 9th from 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. The theme this month is “Movie and Pajama” night. Along with fun games and activities, the staff will be providing a pizza, popcorn, snacks and drinks as well. This event is for children ages 3 through 12 and allows opportunity for parents to drop off their children in a fun, secure and safe environment while they enjoy a few hours of rest and relaxation.
We are planning a Baptism Sunday on Sunday,
March 4th, during both the 8:45 and 10:30 am
worship services. If you have made a decision to
follow Jesus and have received Him as your Sav-
ior but have not yet been baptized, this is the
perfect opportunity to do so.
If you would like more information on baptism,
don’t hesitate to call the church office at 566-
8764.
We will be participating in the Lord’s Supper
on March 11th in both the 8:45 & 10:30 am
worship services. These moments afford us
the opportunity to renew our covenant with
the Lord, to be in remembrance once again of
the cost of redemption and to confess any-
thing that is out of alignment with God and
seek His forgiveness.
Baptism Sunday
On March 24th from 10:30 am until 3 pm,
the WAITS group will be snowshoeing/
trail walking at the Land Trust and enjoy-
ing a chili feed following the hike. Please
contact Brenda LaPoint or Darlene Wells
if interested in participating.
Communion Sunday
WAITS Event
“She’s from Georgia.” That explains everything, doesn’t it? I must confess, that didn’t tell me any-thing. Being from Georgia might explain a fondness for peaches or a desire to do an Atlanta Braves tomahawk chop in the springtime, but just how would it explain slapping your daughter and trotting off into the thunderstorm? That was beyond me. The next day, after we managed to hold the wedding, I got the father off in a corner. He told me more. It seems that the family had moved from Georgia to Maryland eight years earlier so that he could take a new job. His wife had not wanted to come. She had no friends there. She thought it was too busy, too big. She was afraid for their daughter: she might meet the wrong people (like this groom); she might get into bad habits. This woman had never wanted to leave Georgia. And so everything, great or small, in their family’s life, for eight years had centered on this one issue. Every decision had been flavored with, “If we were still in Georgia.” Every problem had been factored with, “If we had not left Georgia.” Every single situation in this family’s life had been blocked with one great spiritual obstacle, one insur-mountable roadblock. And though it might seem trivial to you or to me, it was not trivial to her. It was the stone around which she could not go. It was the blockage she could not resolve. Rolled up against the gate of her life, slapped in place and sealed there, so that nothing worked. Nothing was right. A spiritual defeat. An unbeatable enemy. She was stopped right in her tracks. “She’s from Georgia.” I wonder how many of us are caught behind stones like that. There is that one huge issue in your life, that one defining moment. You cannot get around it. It seems to shape everything. It stops everything. It looms large. It’s a huge, heavy stone, and no one has been able to move it. It may seem trivial to others, or it may be truly immense. But the issue is that it is standing in your way. It is keeping you from being what you could be. It’s a spiritual blockade, standing in the path of spiritual success. Today I want to introduce or reintroduce you to somebody who moves the heaviest and most daunt-ing of stones. I want to introduce you to someone who is able to roll that stone out of your way and give you freedom. I want to introduce you to Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. Because He lives, we too can live. Because He is risen from the dead, He is able to give us life, and life abundant.
Rev. Norman Mesel
Page 4 Turnpike Wesleyan exists to honor God by making more disciples for Christ!
Be sure to turn your clocks ahead one hour on Sunday, March 11th as daylight savings time begins. Also,
Spring begins on March 20th … YEA!
Matt and Sara Bull will continue to facilitate Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University on Friday nights at 7 pm. This 9 week course will run through the month of March and has been a proven source of getting out of debt and getting a better handle of our finances.