In this Week's Monticello E-News
Welcome from Pastor Rob Welcome to this week's issue of the E-News, the online newsletter for Monticello United Methodist Church. As we enter the Thanksgiving holidays, many of us will find yourself connecting with family members, experiencing fellowship over dinner, and having some time away from the office. That time to "re-charge the batteries" is so important! But, remember this holiday season to also "re-charge the batteries" in your spiritual life too. I hope you'll join me in planning to be in worship each and every weekend either here, or out of town if you are traveling. It is through that act of worship together that we truly experience God. I hope to see you in church!This Weekend in Worship, November 18 Join us this Sunday as we complete our series entitled, "Reaching In, Reaching Out, Lifting Up." Through this series, we've been exploring what it means to reach into ourselves and be the city on a hill. Then, we reached out and considered what it means to be a Christian in a world of religious and political diversity. On All Saints Day, Pastor Erin challenged us to live into the legacy of those who came before us. And, last week, we thanked those Veterans who serve and reminded ourselves what it means to serve God above all else. This weekend, we'll conclude this series with Consecration Sunday, a day to offer ourselves to God with our prayers, presence, our gifts, and our service. I hope you'll join us!!! Important Youth Event Tomorrow (Saturday, November 17) All youth and their parents are invited to a short meeting at 9:00am in the chapel on Saturday, November 17. We'll be sharing with you some important information about our youth program in 2013. Then, parents can go home (or stay) at 9:30am while our teens stay and work on the new youth room! It's an important day for our youth and parents!!! Read more here Special Thanksgiving Worship & Event Schedule (Sunday, November 25) On Sunday, November 25, our church will celebrate Thanksgiving in an unusual way. We'll be sending a large mission team to Grand Avenue Temple, an inner-city church and homeless shelter from 8:00am until 2:00pm. The team will worship, serve lunch, and spend Thanksgiving weekend with those who have great needs, especially during the holiday season. IMPORTANT: As a result of our mission team being gone and so many out of town that weekend, we will have only one worship service at 10:45am on November 25. The Thanksgiving worship will be a special service of music, scripture, and prayers of Thanksgiving. There will be no children's or youth Sunday School that day as well, so bring your children to worship! Nursery care is still available. Join us for this special Thanksgiving worship! Read more here and sign-up at the Connection Point to serve downtown. Christmas Poinsettias Orders Christmas Poinsettias available for purchase now. The poinsettias will be used to decorate the chancel in Advent. Then, you can take them home on Christmas Eve. Any leftover poinsettias will be taken to local nursing homes. Order yours here. Thanksgiving & Advent Special Gifts Needed There are four opportunities for you to offer a special sacraficial gift above and beyond your regular giving to those in need this Thanksgiving.
Mark the Date--Advent Worship and Event Schedule
New Prayer Chain Begins To offer better care to those in our congregation, we are starting a brand new prayer chain. Pastor Rob will be sending a list of public prayer requests to this new group of "prayer warriors" each week. (Those confidential requests, of course will not be shared on the prayer chain but instead handled by our pastors.) To be on the new prayer chain, just email Cindy at cindy.hedges@getGOD.info from the email you want to use. Let her know you want to be on the new Monticello prayer chain. Dinner with the Pastors Coming Soon As I look back at 2012 as your pastor, I want you to know I am so proud of you as a congregation. But, as I look at my own pastoral leadership, I notice a couple areas that I personally want to improve in 2013. Today, I'd like your help with the first one. In 2012, I spent so much important time on large scale church projects--building, renovating, financial projects, youth program development, and more. All of those were so important, but all of them took away from the time to just build relationships and get to know the most important part of Monticello--the people. So, Pastor Erin and I are starting "Dinner with the Pastors." This is an opportunity to enjoy a light supper with the pastors, to visit, and to connect. Some of those dinners will be at the church while some will be at our home, depending on the number that sign-up. You'll have a chance to sign-up for a date soon. And, the date options will be spread out from now through the late Spring. It's my hope that my wife and I along with Pastor Erin can get together with as many of you as would like to meet sometime before late spring. I want to get to know you better and build stronger relationships. And, my prayer for 2013 is that we build a stronger walk with Christ by developing a stronger relationship between us all. I hope you'll attend one of the small "Dinner with the Pastors". Look for sign-ups to start Thanksgiving weekend. Directory Coming Soon, but We Need you to Do This! As you know, we took photos a while back for the directory. So, where is it? That's a great question. As a team, we are going to give this a ton of effort in the upcoming weeks with a goal to have it to the printer by mid-December. Part of that will rely on you to confirm your name, address, phone, email, and desire to be published in the director! Fill out a confirmation form in worship or at the Connection Point and let us know!! |
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