The Bethany BeaconThe Bethany Beacon

Bethany Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Arapahoe, North Carolina 28510

Bethanyarapahoe.org

“Finding the Way of Christ at the Crossroads.”

PO Box 156

Arapahoe NC 28510-0156

NON-PROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U.S. FEES AND

POSTAGE PAID

ARAPAHOE NC

28510

PERMIT NO. 1

June

2012

Watson’s Word By Merritt Watson

In the Life of the Church

JUNE

3 Sunday School Picnic at

Camp Caroline 2:00

10 Graduation Sunday

13 Quilt Group 7:00

17 CWF/CMF meeting 6:00

Fishes and Loaves Offering

20 Quilt Group 7:00

21 Worship Committee 7:00

Card Game Night

24 Communication Com 12:15

25 Youth Group 4:00

27 Quilt Group 7:00

JULY

19 Board Game Night 7:00

Worship Committee 7:00

22 Watermelon Social 7:00

Communication Com 12:15

29 5th Sunday Dinner

FLOWER CALENDAR

June

3 Hal Gordon

10 Pam and James Hardison

17 Sandra and Floyd Hardison

24 Emily and Eric Harper

July

1 Margaret Harrell

8 Mac Harris

Becky Badger

Paula Bangle

Lea Banks

Wendy Bass

Evelyn Beeman

Albert Belangia

Tembra Bennett

Velna Bennett

Donnie Bishop

Regnld/Wilma Boyd

Betsy Bratcher

Donna Bridges

Linda Lpton Brinson

Becky Cahoon

Gladys Cahoon

Claud Carawan

Eddie Cowell

Hannah Cowell

Rebecca Cowell

Harley Davis

Brenda Denton

Darlene Ensley

Hal Gordon

Diane Greene

Pat Griffith

Dorothy Hardison

Lena Ruth Hardison

Gerry Harper

Betty Ganus Hill

Michael Hodges

Pete Holt

Audrey Humphrey

Ted Jennings

Libby Kern

Cecila Kibbe

Harold King

Clota Lassiter

Elbert Lee

Russel Lee

Pete Lozica

Angela Lupton

Alfred Mayo

Melanie Mills

Betty Morris

Dan Oliver

Lucille Parker

Sue Ann H Pezzella

Peggy Potter

Louis Puckett, Jr.

Radford Reel

Jerry Rossi

James Rowe

Please Remember in

Your Prayers:

At the Crossroads 8126 NC Hwy 306 S Arapahoe, NC 28510

REGULARLY SCHEDULED

ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS

Weekly Sunday: Sunday School, 9:45 am; Wor-

ship, 11:00 am

Tuesday: Chancel Choir—7:00 pm,

Jericho Ringers - 7:45 pm

Monthly 1st Sunday: Elders, BH, 7:30 am; Offi-

cial Board, FH, 7:00 pm.

3rd Sunday: CWF/CMF, FH, 6:00 pm.

5th Sunday: Covered Dish Dinner, FH,

following worship service.

*Any changes to regularly scheduled ac-

tivities and events will be noted in the cal-

endar below.

BH=Bethany Hall; FH=Fellowship Hall;

PL=Parking Lot; S=Sanctuary

June Birthdays

“but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live”

6 Kelly Jones

7 Donnie Ensley

9 Casey Harper

11 RJ Ward

12 Bethany Cahoon

Guy Cowell

Barbara James

13 Naomi Cahoon

Clara Banks

20 Doug Cahoon

Floyd Hardison

Dot Jennings

24 Melissa Watson

27 Meredith Beeman

29 Amy Brennan

30 Parker Watson

Kathy C Shomo-

roch

Chris Sides

Franklin Simpson

Family

Mary Spruill

Emmett Sugg

Katie Troxler

Keith Urban

George Vendrick

Ann West

Gary Whorton

Military

Brandon Bennett

June 2012

In our last newsletter I appealed to you to give a generous offering to help

provide food for those coming to work with Eight Days of Hope. I expect you

want to know the results of that appeal. The response was very generous. I had

hoped for an offering of around $1500 because that is what we expected it would

cost to feed the workers one meal. The offering we received was twice that--

$3049.00. Some of you who no longer live in our community responded because

you read about it in the newsletter. We thank you for that and we give thanks to

God for the generous gift Bethany Christian Church was thus able to give to this

effort.

But I expect you want to know more about how the effort with Eight Days

of Hope turned out. I don’t know the exact count of people that came from some

48 states across our nation. The paper reported that there were 1700 volunteers

that came and that of the nine disasters so far that Eight Days of Hope has re-

sponded to, this was the largest response. Most of the workers stayed very near

our church at Camp Seafarer. They began their work on a Saturday and were en-

couraged on Sunday to attend worship at local churches. We had 40 or 50 of them

with us on Pentecost Sunday. We were truly blessed by their presence.

On Tuesday I was able to personally experience what was being done

through Eight Days of Hope. I was there for their breakfast meeting in the huge

dining hall at Seafarer. It was filled with people, with many standing around the

outside of the room. It was like a cheering rally at a school. People were encour-

aged and built up for the day’s work, and then sent out. I attended an orientation

where we were given instructions about what to do and how to become a part of a

job crew. I went with some carpenters to a job in Vandemere. Our assignment

was to repair two doors and a threshold, which we were able to do by lunch time.

Other crews came to the same job site, some to paint the handicapped access and

porch. Some came to work on the roof and some to work on repairing the bath-

room. I wanted to give a full day’s work so I left to go to another job site. There I

worked with a crew putting plywood on the floors throughout the house. While

we were inside doing that there were about 7 men on the roof putting on new

sheathing and shingles.

At the job sites we began with prayer. Everyone working was a commit-

ted Christian doing what was done to the glory of God. When the home owner

did not have building materials for repairs, those materials were supplied by Eight

Days of Hope and by the Pamlico County Disaster Recovery Coalition. At the

end of the week some 60 or 70 houses had been worked on and repaired. Others

had work begun that will still have to be completed in the near future. Hundreds

of thousands of dollars in work hours and materials were given for recovery and

all in the name of the Lord. All of this was done in spite of one day of hard rain that prevented a full day’s work being completed. We truly mean it when we say

thanks be to God for the gifts of his people!

Merritt

June

Nursery 3 TBA 10 Tiffany Watson 17 TBA 24 Amanda Bailey

Serving in

June July

Elders Chris Watson John Beeman Doug Brinson James Hardison

Deacons Melissa Watson © Christine Beeman (C) Guy Cowell Tommy Banks Renee Midyette John Cannan Annette Aldridge Terry Cannan Rebecca Cowell Janci Cahoon Avery Schmidt Parker Lee

Deaconess Renee Midyette Melissa Watson

Acolytes Parker Watson Erica Morris Katie Bennett Kelly Tijernia

Chirs Holton

David Epperson

John Kistler, III

TJ Zahm

June 3, 2012

The official board of Bethany Christian Church met at Camp Caroline, follow-ing the Sunday School picnic, on Sun-day, June 3, 2012 at 7:15 in the eve-ning with 12 members present and one guest (Dave Bailey).

Chairman, Mac Harris, called the meeting to order and Reverend Wat-son lit a candle representing God in our midst, followed by comments and prayer.

The clerk read the minutes of the May 6, 2012 meeting. There was one cor-rection to the minutes. The minutes should have read “the Budget Com-mittee will meet in June to review the budget and present the results at the July Board meeting.” The minutes stood approved as read with the men-tioned correction.

Treasurer’s Report

The treasurer’s report (attached) for the month of May was distributed to those in attendance. It was pointed out the $3,049 under Pamlico Disaster Relief Coalition was the amount col-lected on Sunday, May 20

th to help

feed the “8 Days of Hope group that came to our county to help those who suffered damage to their homes from hurricane Irene. It was also pointed out the $1,117.44 amount on the Property Line Item Detail sheet paid to Diversified Auto and Tire was to repair the heating and cooling unit of the church van. The financial report was accepted as presented.

Elders Report

Doug Brinson reported the elders had a good meeting this morning. He noted the prayer list is the longest he remembers. He reminded the board members of the upcoming transforma-tional process and the commitment needed by them and the congregation for this to be successful. The process will begin around late August, or first part of September.

Scholarship

Reverend Watson attended the Pam-lico County High School graduation

and presented certificates to our graduating seniors. Next Sunday the scholarships and gifts from the church will be presented to these seniors.

Communication

The Communication Committee has been working to get our sound sys-tem working properly. They have had setbacks and will continue to work on the problems.

There was no old business to con-duct.

New Business

Chris Watson presented a request from Arapahoe Charter School to use our fellowship hall and pavilion on Monday, June 8

th for a luncheon

for the teachers and staff. A motion was made by Chris and seconded by Doug Brinson that the request be approved. The motion passed.

Gladys Lee requested a list of the committees and those who serves on those committees be made available to the church. Chairman Harris said he is presently working on providing that information.

Reverend Watson presented his min-ister’s report (attached).

There being no further business to conduct the meeting was adjourned with a prayer circle and comments by Reverend Watson.

Respectfully submitted,

Mac Harris, Chairman

Linda Watson, Clerk

Board Minutes (unapproved until July 1,2012)

Minister

Merritt Watson minister@

bethanyarapahoe.org

Board Chairman

Mac Harris

Secretary

Renée Midyette

Choir Director

The Bethany Beacon

Published on the first Thursday after the first Sunday of each month by Bethany Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ) Post Office Box 156, Arapahoe, NC 28510

Vision and Mission Statement

Our highest aspiration is to love God with our

whole being and to love our neighbors as our-

selves.

Our mission is to enable people to know Christ

and to strengthen their personal relationships

with Him.

Sara Spalding

Bell/Chime Choir

Director

Sara Spalding

Communications

Director

Mac Harris communica-

tions@bethanyarapa

hoe.org

Bethany Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)

www.bethanyarapahoe.org

Page 2 Page 3

Bethany News and Views

Bethany office phone number 252-249-0266 Office hours

Tuesday—Friday 8-12:00 Renee—Thurs. 9-4:00

Jennie Adams just finished a book that she wants to share with everyone at Bethany. “It would be such a great book for us to use in a Discussion Group this summer.” The name of the book is The Search Committee by Tim Owens.

“I Googled ‘North Carolina Authors’ one day and found this book from an author I’d never heard of. It’s his first book. The title was intriguing so I downloaded it onto my Kindle”. I could-n’t put it down, I enjoyed it so much. It’s the story of a small North Carolina church’s search committee, looking for a new minister, traveling in a van much like ours, and interacting with each other. The description from the Kindle site reads,

A mismatched team of seven hit the

road in an Econoline church van on a mission to find a new pastor. They

don't agree on much other than the

stops at Hardee's for coffee and a bis-cuit. But they stick to the call, trying to

slip undetected into worship services across the Southeast—all in hopes of

stealing a preacher for their congrega-

tion. Each member is wrestling to balance

their own busy life and personal strug-

gles. And they're trying to keep their

Merritt and Linda Watson relax in their porch swing, remembering and enjoying the memories of their wedding on June 6, 1964 in Portsmouth, Virginia. Linda’s smile is really large because Merritt surprised her with

a dozen red roses. Smart man!

Happy 48th Anniversary The title is catchy sounding, isn’t it? Catchy enough to grab the attention of Bethany’s youth? Christine Beeman and Melissa Watson hope that the title, along with the content, will add a summer spark to the Sunday School experience of our young peo-ple.

The new approach will be officially called Work-shop Rotational – Bible Quest. The youngsters will be divided into two groups – THE SEEKERS – Kin-dergarten through Third Grade, and THE EXPLOR-ERS – Fourth Grade through Seventh Grade. Each Sunday the youth will discover new lessons and ideas about the Bible using different senses. Shepherds (Tiffany Bennett and Kelli Bailey) will guide the students to each class.

For example: The SEEKERS will go to the Illustra-tion Station on June 10

th and learn with Emily

Harper’s art and visual lesson. At the same time, The EXPLORERS will visit Brenda Hardison in the Recreation Station and learn about the Bible through the kin-esthetic senses and movement. On June 17

th, the groups will

switch lessons.

Classes on June 24th will allow

Linda Watson to present the Bethany Bakery format in the Taste Sensation Station while Christine Beeman prepares for the Science connection in the Exca-vation Station. (Have you noticed t h e alliteration for the stations yet? Christine worked hard for those.) During the month of July “Breakfast on the Beach” will be the drawing title.

The beginning of “Dig Into The Bible” began at the Sunday School picnic on June 3

rd when

Joy Carawan wore a Story Teller’s Hat. Young ones, sitting at her feet, chose an item or an icon pinned to her hat. Joy then told a Bible story linked to the item. This initial station was called Bethany Corner’s Narration Station.

Is your interest peeked? Hopefully the Creation of this new kind of Bible-Study Station will result in the Culmination of excited youngsters.

“DIG THE BIBLE”

the

issues to themselves. Forced to spend countless hours together, these very

different personalities from different generations begin to bond. And their

lives are profoundly changed as they love and support each other through

the difficulties in each of their lives.

Tim Owens is the son of a preacher who grew up in eastern North Caro-lina. He’s an environmental engineer by profession, but he loves working on his tractor on his farm in South Carolina. He has captured the es-sence of churches and the love of God in the South. Immediately the reader can identify with the characters in the novel and make an associa-tion with someone in his/her church. Each chapter was balanced with scripture and excerpts from sermons that the search committee heard on their Sunday trips. They even went to two churches in one Sunday; early service in Jacksonville and the 11:00 am in Havelock.

“While I was reading in-between judging rotations at a gymnastics meet, I would alternate between laughing out loud and literally dripping tears at the situations of some of the characters. One of the coaches came up to me to see if I was ok when I teared up one time.”

What do you think? Would anyone like to give it a try? The Kindle price is around $9.00. The pa-perback price is about $10.00 and we can order a few copies from Amazon.

Read a Good Book cont.

Read A Good Book Lately?

The Bake Sale for Bethany’s Youth on May 20th netted over $700, enabling five children to go to Camp Caroline this summer. Katie

Bennett will attend the Horse Camp, Johnna Cahoon, Casey Harper, and Marcus Tyson will attend regular camp sessions. And Luke

Bailey will attend a three day Day Camp. His mother, Kelli, will be able to experience the Caroline experience along with them.

Please ask in your prayers that all will be safe, make long-lasting friends, learn a lot and enjoy themselves while at Camp Caroline.