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In warmer weather, Keri and I frequently take walks together. It is most-ly for exercise, but it is also “our time.” It is time to talk about our day, plan for the coming days, and dream about the future. It is time to re-discover one another in some measure, and to deepen our relationship – even after knowing each other for some thirty years.

To walk with someone is, at some level, a sharing of lives – heart and mind and soul. When we talk about caring for and supporting someone whose life is in upset, we talk about “coming alongside of them.” Walk-ing with someone is to come alongside of that person, and to have that person come alongside of you. There is a word in the New Testament that means “coming alongside (of someone):” it is parakaleo. When the writers of the New Testament want to describe the Holy Spirit, they talk about The Holy Spirit as paraklete – “the One who comes alongside.”

Maybe that is why the image of walking with someone is so vivid for me. For me, walking with someone means getting to know him or her better; to understand him or her at a deeper, more personal and inti-mate level. When I am walking with someone they have my undivided attention. (Okay, nearly undivided attention – I am also looking ahead for rocks and roots and cracks in the pavement.) During the weeks of Lent, we will be walking with Jesus through the passion narratives of The Gospels; what our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters would call, “The Stations of the Cross.” While there are fourteen Stations of the Cross, we will only visit about half of those. The idea is that we want to take a close and sober look at how Jesus was treated and what he endured for our sakes for no other reasons than He loves us. Our scriptures for Lent will mainly center on The Gospel of Mark, chapters fourteen and fifteen, and The Gospel of Luke, chapter twenty-two. You may find it enriching to read these chapters devotionally dur-ing the weeks of Lent. My prayer is that, during the weeks of Lent and walking with Jesus through the passion narratives, we will not only gain a deeper and richer appreciation of the love of God in Jesus Christ, but that we will also be shaped by how Je-sus responds to the events and the peo-ple of the passion.

And, as always, I am proud to be… With you on the journey, Jeffrey L Jaggers

February/March Edition

A Note from Pastor Jeff

F e n t o n U n i t e d M e t h o d i s t C h u r c h

Mainspring

Join us for worship on Sunday morning as we seek to align our lives with God’s purposes.

Traditional Style Worship

9:30 & 11:00 AM Sanctuary

Contemporary Worship

11:05 AM Family Life Center

Nursery provided at all three worship services.

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Stephen Ministry is YOUR ministry.

All members need to be watchful for individuals who need one on one care. Things to remember about the care Ste-phen Ministers provide: Individual care is available for people who are grieving; in a crisis; in need of long-term care; dying; are or have been hospitalized; divorcing or separated; experiencing losses as they age; related crisis of

childbirth, and possibly family and friends of people in crisis.

Test Your Stephen Ministry Knowledge

1. A person needs to specifically request a Stephen Minister. (It would be pushy or intrusive for us to approach

someone and suggest it.) TRUE or FALSE

2. Only congregation members can be care receivers. TRUE or FALSE

3. We should simply ask potential care receivers, “Would you like a Stephen Minister?” TRUE or FASLE

4. When a person indicates they are interested in accepting a Stephen Minister—you should tell them to call the

church office to get the ball rolling. TRUE or FALSE

Find the answers on Page 7.

LENT SPECIAL WORSHIP SCHEDULE

Ash Wednesday—February 14

Chapel Service at Noon

Full Worship Service at 7:00 PM

Palm Sunday—March 25

Worship at 9:30, 11:00 and 11:05 AM

No Worship Experiment in the evening

Maundy Thursday—March 29

Worship at 7:00 PM

Stations of the Cross open 8-9 PM—Truran Hall

Good Friday—March 30

Ecumenical Worship Service at Noon

FUMC Worship Service at 7:00 PM

Stations of the Cross open 1-2 PM & 8-9 PM—Truran Hall

Holy Saturday—March 31

Community Easter Egg Hunt at 11:00 AM

Easter Sunday—April 1

Sunrise Service at 6:30 AM

Easter Breakfast at 7:30 AM

Worship Services at 9:30, 11:00 and 11:05 AM

No Worship Experiment in the evening

The Joy Circle would like to thank everyone

who filled shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse, Opera-tion Christmas Child. You are impacting eternity by reaching children all over the world with the good news of Jesus Christ and His offer of salva-tion. This year we collected 100 shoeboxes, which is a new high total for us. Thank you so much for your support. Please pray for the child who received your shoebox that through your gift they may come to know Jesus as their Lord and

Savior.

The Fenton Kiwanis Club and the Fenton High School Key Club would like

to thank the FUMC Food Pantry participants for the extra food donated for the Christmas food baskets. We appreciate your contribution and blessings to

all the families.

Praise the Lord for the gift of Jesus! Submitted by Gideon’s of FUMC

Thank you for your support for Jesus initiative with your prayers and donations during the Christmas season! Your offerings will provide for 302 Bibles to be printed and distributed to waiting hands to a person hoping for a Bible somewhere around the world. This gift of a Bible will change a life. May God add his blessings to this Gideon program.

Mainspring

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There is a song, some of you might know titled, Snow.

The song is a classic from 1954. I heard it for the first-time last year a week before Christmas. I laughed out loud to myself thinking oh my gosh, there are others that like snow as much as I do. The refrain says; “snow, I want to wash my hands, my face, and hair with snow.” For me, there is a mystical, stunning aspect of snow. The beautiful covering of snow hides imperfections.

After King David had been intimate with Bathsheba, Nathan the prophet addressed his sin, and he was remorseful. David knew in his heart that God would set things right by forgiving him. God would establish justice by showing David grace. He asks God to purge him with hyssop and then he shall be clean. David says, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7)

Like King David, we all fall short of God’s glory. We struggle daily with our shortcomings. However, the beautiful part of our iniquities God knows our sin and washes our hands, face, and hair, every crevice of our heart with snow. Similar to snow, the blood of Christ covers our imperfections and makes us as stunning as the first snowfall.

As we welcome in 2018, we ought to remember that every day is a new beginning in Christ. Celebrate each day knowing God’s grace is sufficient and, you are a beautiful, unique snowflake that glistens in God’s eyes.

Your servant in Christ, Pastor Michelle

February/March Edition

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My first “official” month as Youth Ministry Director has been very ex-citing! My husband Matt and I feel honored to be apart of this church family. I would like to share a little bit about our family, in hopes that it lets you get to know us a little better. My name is Ashley Bach (Bittinger); I have grown up in Fenton my whole life and am a long time member of Fenton United Methodist. My husband Matt and I currently live in Grand Blanc with our Red Lab, Rhubarb (Rhu Rhu). We love spending time with our family, all things MSU, and being outside. We also enjoy volunteering as Younglife leaders of Genesee County, a non-denominational high school ministry. We truly believe in the mission of helping youth grow in their faith and feel so blessed that this is my new position in the church. We look forward to this new adventure and getting to know all of you better!

December Recap: We had a great turn out of Youth that served two shifts to raise money for Salvation Ar-my Bell Ringing. It was the VERY FIRST TIME our Youth had ever raised money for Salvation Army! In the same night we did “Random Acts of Kindness” blessing people unexpectedly with gift cards in hopes to make the holiday season a little easier. It was a great night giving back to our commu-nity and raising money to help those in need. The weather was cold, but our kids brought so much joy and truly showed Christmas spirit and what Christmas is all about!

In the past month our Youth has been busy and we are looking forward to exciting things to come!

Wednesdays

6:30 PM

Mainspring

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6:30 PM

Our Youth Ministry is starting to plan out what the next few months will look like, as well as sum-mer trips. YMAC has forms to lock in your spot for the Mission Trip to Iowa July 8th-14th and there is no deposit needed. The Iowa Mission Trip is for 8th-12th graders and 6th & 7th grade will have their own ser-vice project or trip during this week.

Upward is starting this month and is a great way for youth and parents to volunteer, serve the church, and raise money for the mission trip. The Youth is still selling Script Cards, please call the church office if inter-ested or see me on Wednesday’s or Sunday’s for more information!

There will be a “New Volunteer Meeting” on January 28th in the Youth Cafe at 12:15pm. If you are a par-ent, or interested member of the church looking to volunteer with our Youth we would love to have you for a lite luncheon so you can hear all about this rewarding opportunity.

Join us for Winter Jam!... a concert with multiple Christian Artists Sunday February 11th, 5pm at Little Caesars Arena

YMAC is kindly supplying a charter bus for transportation and tickets will be around $35 each. This includes a T-Shirt, early admission, and reserved seating. This is a great event for families and for kids to invite friends that might not attend our church or a church at all. More information will be sent home in the next month!

Thank you for all the love and support for our youth, we could not do any of this without you!

Give a Little—Share A Lot

In addition to providing gloves to elementary kids who

forgot theirs or never had any, we were able to pass out

gas cards in the hope that they would help those strug-

gling to provide for their families during the holidays.

Often we don’t know the outcome of these random acts

of kindness which are possible through the generosity

oft his church family, but we do know that we were

able to help two moms who came to the FLC seeking

help to provide a Christmas for their children. They

had been to several places without success and we

were able to give them each a gas card which was espe-

cially helpful for one of the moms who needed trans-

portation to hospital and doctor visits because of seri-

ous vision problems. We then were able to connect

them with The Old Newsboys who provided the children

with gifts and clothing in time for Christmas. When we

found that there was an older son coming home from

military service, we were able to have a welcome home

pizza and pop celebration for the families together.

Blessings to you our church family for helping spread

both known and unknown joy outward to our neighbors.

February/March Edition

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6:30 PM

Mainspring

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6:30 PM

2018 Resolutions to Help Your Pastors Submitted by the Fenton United Methodist Men

At the January 6 meeting of the Fenton United Method-ist Men, the following item was a portion of the devo-tion. The men thought it was worthy of sharing with the congregation. The item came from the Christ UMC in Burton, MI.

1. Pray for them regularly and build their spiritual power.

2. Speak well of them and build their reputation. They have weak and strong points. Their influence will depend upon which of these you stress.

3. Resolve to encourage them and build their morale. 4. Listen to them and help build their pulpit power.

Full pews challenge a pastor to prepare and deliver great sermons. Empty pews discourage him.

5. Resolve to cooperate with them and thus build their leadership.

6. Follow God’s plan of church financing...tithing… and build the church treasury. (It is much easier for your pastors to minister when the financial report is not in the red.)

7. The greatest resolution for you and your pastor is to resolve to follow the Christ he preaches by the Holy Spirit.

Answers for Stephen Ministry Knowledge

1. False—one of the most caring things you can do is to proactively seek the person out and offer them Stephen Ministry.

2. False—Care receivers can be members or non-members. 3. False—Instead of asking if someone would like a Stephen Minister, a more effective approach would be to say

“Let me connect you with a Stephen Minister.” 4. False—let the potential care receiver know that you will contact the Stephen Ministry. Then promptly follow

through.

Family Promise Update Submitted by Denise Simmerman

There are simply not enough words in any language to THANK YOU for all of your support during Family Promise this past year! Whether you are a member from FUMC, Transfiguration Lutheran Church or Ty-rone Community Presbyterian Church (our 2 support churches) or you made a meal, brought in food or goodies, spent the night, volunteered as hosts, helped with laundry, set up , tear down, or offered a simple prayer to make our weeks run smoothly, every action had a positive and lifelong reaction for our guests. We are blessed! We hosted for 5 weeks this year which included Easter and Christmas and we did it RIGHT!! Each holiday was made beautiful with “special details” added to the tables, the room doors (Ms. Mallory), the Easter baskets, the Christ-mas trees, and the Christmas stockings that were hung with care. We celebrated birthdays, new jobs, new babies, and new homes!! When you look at 5 weeks that means 35 safe and warm nights, 40 warm meals, 35 lunches and breakfasts, 35 days of laun-dry, (5 days of Ross Green making sure the trailer gets to the next church in any weather), and the list goes on. I honestly could not have done all of this without your help!! You come in with joy in your hearts, your beautiful servant hearts. You listen, you make friends, you love on the children, you guide, you pray, and you help to find resources. You, my friends, are the true hands and feet of Je-sus!! I can’t forget to thank my own family! My hus-band, Brian, and my sweeties, Arlo and Zoe. They show unbelievable support while I spend some nights, while Brian meets the trailer on Sundays, they set up and tear down, and throughout the whole week. They get it, they are my rock and I love them with my whole heart!!!! To my entire church family-Thank you, I love you, and I hope you have a blessed 2018!

Community Outreach Submitted by Denise Simmerman

Come one come all to join in with your GIANT servant hearts to

help with our Community Outreach Activities- the annual East-

er Egg Hunt, 4th of July activities, “A Night So Good It’s Scary”,

and Jingle Fest!! Whew-that’s a lot of volunteers but I know

we can do this together! Please keep an eye out for these vol-

unteer opportunities. By the way, this just isn’t for adults, we

would LOVE to have responsible teen-agers (who might need

volunteer hours, HINT-HINT) to join in the fun! They are be-

hind the scenes, right up front, and kitchen spots for every-

one!! Our Community Outreach team which includes, Nicole

Baxter, Kim Forsberg, Denise Simmerman, and Michele Wind-

sor, are looking forward to helping you find “your spot” to vol-

unteer. We can’t wait to see you and Thank you!!!

February/March Edition

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New issues of the Mainspring are released every other

month. Submissions are due by the 15th of the month

prior to a new issue. If you would like to include an

article into our newsletter, please send your request to

Kathy at fumc.kathy@gmail.com.

119 S. Leroy Street

Fenton, MI 48430

(810-629-2132) www.fentonumc.com

Fenton United Methodist Church

Find us on Facebook!

“Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the trans-

formation of the world.”

Reaching upward to God

Reaching inward to each other

Reaching outward to our neighbors

So that all can find wholeness

in Jesus Christ.

Our pastors want to reach out to the members of our con-

gregation who are sick, in the hospital or whose lives are

otherwise in upset. Most of the time, hospitals and family

members let us know about illness or surgery, but not al-

ways. If you know of a member who needs pastoral care,

please call the church office. It is better to hear about a

need from twenty people than from no one.

Fenton United Methodist Church

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. Postage

PAID

Fenton, MI 48430