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Office Hours

Mon-Fri 9am-3pm

Phone: 765-778-8074

www.pendletonfirst.org

First United Methodist Church Ministries, Inc. Pendleton Campus

225 W. State Street—Pendleton

Worship: Sunday @ 9:45 a.m.

Adult, Children & Youth Sunday School: Sunday @ 11:00 a.m.

Ingalls Campus 301 N. Alfonte Street—Ingalls

Worship: Sunday @ 10:30 a.m—Sunday School @11:30

Connect—Grow—Commit—Serve July 2017

—Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the World

Inside this Issue:

Camp News & Pics—pg 4

Church Council Notes— pg. 5

Dominican Republic Trip—pg 4

Food Pantry Donations— pg. 6

Ingalls Bible Study— pg. 6

Monthly Calendar—pg. 8

Online Giving— pg. 3

Pastor Doug’s Note—pg. 1

Special Events—pg. 7

Stephen Ministry— pg. 6

Vacation Bible School— pg. 3

July Special Events: July 2—Holy Communion

July 4—Independence Day

Offices Closed

July 7—First UMC Sponsors

Pool Party —FREE Swim

at Brown Pool

July 9—Decorate for VBS

July 10-14—Vacation Bible School

July 12—Anita’s Fundraiser

July 12—Romans Study at Ingalls

July 14—CREW Pool Party

July 16—VBS Celebration Worship

July 17—Bob Evans Fundraiser

July 22—UMM Golf Outing

July 22-19—Mission Trip to

Dominican Republic

Continued on page 2

Special Sunday

In preparing for The Sunday before the 4th of July Holiday, I found

this interesting article: America’s True History of Religious

Tolerance: “The idea that the United States has always been a

bastion of religious freedom is reassuring—and utterly at odds with

the historical record,” by Kenneth C. Davis, ‘Smithsonian Magazine’,

October 2010, found at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/

americas-true-history-of-religious-tolerance-61312684/.

From Pastor Dave: The bible tells us that “We are God’s

workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which

God prepared in advance for us to do.” —Ephesians 2:10

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In the article, Davis describes what really happened before the Constitution was written, and there was

much religious intolerance between the Protestants, Catholics, and non-believers. Davis writes, “In newly

independent America, there was a crazy quilt of state laws regarding religion. In Massachusetts, only

Christians were allowed to hold public office, and Catholics were allowed to do so only after renouncing

papal authority.”

Some of early founding fathers were successful in separating church and state. As a Christian, James

Madison (future fourth president) also noted that Christianity had spread in the face of persecution from

worldly powers, not with their help. Christianity, he contended, “disavows a dependence on the powers of

this world...for it is known that this Religion both existed and flourished, not only without the support of

human laws, but in spite of every opposition from them.”

It was in Virginia that Thomas Jefferson helped pass the first separation law, called the Virginia Act for

Establishing Religious Freedom, in 1786, where he wrote that the law “meant to comprehend, within the

mantle of its protection, the Jew, the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the Hindoo and Infidel of

every denomination.”

Davis further writes:

Madison wanted Jefferson’s view to become the law of the land when he went to the

Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. And as framed in Philadelphia that year, the U.S.

Constitution clearly stated in Article VI that federal elective and appointed officials “shall be bound by

Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution, but no religious Test shall ever be required as a

Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

This passage—along with the facts that the Constitution does not mention God or a deity (except for a

pro forma “year of our Lord” date) and that its very first amendment forbids Congress from making laws

that would infringe of the free exercise of religion—attests to the founders’ resolve that America be a

secular republic. The men who fought the Revolution may have thanked Providence and attended church

regularly—or not. But they also fought a war against a country in which the head of state was the head of

the church. Knowing well the history of religious warfare that led to America’s settlement, they clearly

understood both the dangers of that system and of sectarian conflict.

It was the recognition of that divisive past by the founders—notably Washington, Jefferson, Adams and

Madison—that secured America as a secular republic. As president, Washington wrote in 1790: “All

possess, alike, liberty of conscience and immunity of citizenship. ...For happily the Government of the

United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they

who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens.”

So, according to Davis, The United States of America is a secular nation that has groundings in the

Christian religion along with its tenants. This nation also is bound to protect the freedom of all peoples

and religions whether they are Christian or not. It is freedom from government as well as no preferential

treatment to any one religion by the government.

So, for us, we Christians need to be good citizens and continue our tolerance and love for all as well as

telling what Jesus has done for us since that is a greater freedom, when compared to the freedom that

any government can give.

Enjoy your freedom and share it.

We, the People (continued from page 1)

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We will have a volunteer dinner on July 6th at 7:00 pm in the atrium. This is a chance for volunteers to meet the other volunteers, get their t-shirt and learn more about this year's VBS. On July 7th we will be sponsoring a community swim at Brown Pool. Our Praise Band will be there, we will be registering kids for VBS and have a give-away for

the kids. Please join us and bring a friend!

It’s the BEST week of the Summer!

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL July 10th—14th, 6:00-8:00 pm

VBS is right around the corner! If you haven't registered you can sign up on line at our website www.pendletonfirst.org or

sign up at church, forms are available in the atrium.

First United Methodist Church of Pendleton and Ingalls wants to remind you that

we offer electronic giving as a way to automate your regular weekly offering.

Electronic giving offers convenience for individual congregation members and

provides much-needed donation consistency for our congregation.

—Direct Debit Giving is used to automatically transfer funds from your checking

or savings account to the church’s bank account.

—Credit & Debit Card Giving allows you to make offerings automatically on a pre

-determined schedule using a credit or debit card.

—Online Giving allows you to go to pendletonfirst.org at any time to set up an

automatic donation plan, change your donation plan, make a one-time donation

or view your online donation history.

—You can also access the electronic giving through a phone app: Give+

We have had about 10-15 families already enjoying the convenience of our electronic giving. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Pastor Doug, Donna Wood, or Matt Walker (for technical issues).

ENJOY THE CONVENIENCE

OF ELECTRONIC GIVING

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Church Camp News Camp Adventure Camp Lakewood

Mission Trip to Dominican Republic

Seven Jr High students attended Camp Adventure the last week of June: Bryce Axel-

Adams, Kate Deaton, Kaitlyn Prickett, Dean Erwin, Will Kaster, Sophie Kaster and

Ethan Childers. I served as a camp director that week and Matt Clark, who attends Sr.

High youth on Wednesday and Sunday nights, served as a counselor. Everyone had a

great time, with a large variety of activities while we were there. A few of our students

either shared their testimonies or shared scripture in front of the rest of the campers

throughout the week, which was awesome to see! In Him, Dustin Ritz

From July 22nd-29th, Susan Barrett and Dustin Ritz will accompany 4 of our high school students

on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. The volunteers from our church will join 12 students and

adults from Trinity United Methodist Church, in Lapel, for this trip.

We are in need of new youth and adult t-shirts. We will be taking these shirts with us on the

mission trip and donating them to an orphanage that we will be serving. They can be any color and have

designs/logos that are appropriate. There will be a suitcase in the atrium that you can help us fill with

t-shirts to be a blessing to others!

It's hard to believe but our time at Camp Lakewood is over for the summer. Again this year, Cherie Reeves and I were on the Director's team. Maddie Barrett and Grace Kistler were returning counselors and Anna Childers and Jason Doudt counseled for the first time. It is difficult to explain the impact our youth leaders have made in the lives of the children they were with. They loved on these children, cared for them physically, emotionally and spiritually, and made sure that they had a great time. The impact was most evident at Vespers on Tuesday evening. This is the time that we invite the children to come forward if they would like to make Jesus their forever friend. After offering the invitation to come forward I was able to stand back and watch our youth come forward and pray with their campers, God was certainly moving at Camp Lakewood and in the lives of our counselors. Cherie deserves extra praise, she not only fulfilled her role as a director but she stepped up and became a counselor again since we were short on volunteers! In August we will be having a pizza fundraiser for camp. These fundraisers not only help with the cost of sending kids to camp but allow us to bring supplies for the entire camp. You can donate to our camping ministry at anytime! Blessings, Susan Barrett

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First United Methodist Church Ministries

Pendleton and Ingalls Church Council Happenings

June 14, 2017

7:00 Devotions (5 Min.) Sunni Manges gave devotions

Acceptance of (10 min.)

Minutes/ Happenings

Reports sent (possible list): Trustees/ Facilities; SPRC; CONNECT/ Evangelism; GROW/

Education; COMMIT/ Worship; SERVE/ Missions

Finance

>> All reports approved.

Tithe payment: Church Council authorized Donna to pay $1673 at the beginning of every month. This

is the amount saved each month by the new mortgage.

7:30 New Items Music and Art Festival hosted by Studio 3 ( a non-profit group) has asked us to have a kid friendly

booth. Church Council is not against it, and Jen and Kelsey will investigate.

Old Items

Update on Electronic Giving —Give+

7-8 people have signed up;

added categories for giving

General Operating

Ingalls Campus

Missions

Special Fund (to be designated at times)

DRT/ Capital Campaign

Capital Campaign Feasibility Study: Started June 7, 2017; some appointments made

New & Better Vision for the Church; UPDATES:

Sanctuary update - done !!!

Video streaming next

Project Update: Jen & Kelsey

Money and pledges met goal

Painters will start in August

Pocket Park will continue to be designed and discussed, but will not be made

“open to the public” or use public funds. Nor will we run off people for

using the park, unless they are abusing the park.

FYI: Upcoming Events

June/ July Preaching & Sunday School curriculum: Moses by Adam Hamilton

August Preaching Series: Trusting God: True Stories. Individuals from our

congregation will give testimonies each week with their scripture basis, and then

Pastor Doug will preach on that scripture.

Charge Conference is: Nov 5, 2017, from 3 to 5 PM, at Noblesville HS

7:35 Adjourn Next Regular Meeting: Wednesday, July 12, 2017 at 7:00 PM (2nd Wed of each month)

During VBS

Devotion sign up: Jul _Randy____

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UPDATES ON OUR YOUTH

PROGRAMS AT PENDLETON FIRST

UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Here is an updated list of foods we need.

When possible, please choose low salt,

low sugar or fat-free items.

A & B Canned soups

C & D Canned beans/tomatoes

E & F & G Cereal & Oatmeal

H & I Canned or Box meals

J & K & L Pasta & Pasta Sauce

M Potato sides

N & O & P Pancake mix & syrup

Q & R Cornbread & muffin mix

S Rice mixes/dry beans

T & U Canned meats/tuna

V & W Peanut butter & jelly X & Y & Z Canned or dried fruit

If you feel moved to contribute toiletries, we

would appreciate shampoo, toilet paper,

facial tissues, bar soap, feminine hygiene

items, dish detergent, toothpaste/brushes.

Thank you for your support!

Thanks to all who came to the Blood Dive in June! The blood drive had 23 people check in but only 17 were able to donate. Everyone has LOW iron!! The Red Cross reported that our goal is 19 for the next drive, which will be Sept. 18

Please go by the FIRST

letter of your LAST

name to learn your

suggested donation.

Roger Wills has moved; his new address

is as follows:

Roger L. Wills, Room 124 A

Kindred Transitional Care & Rehabilitation

200 Green Meadows Drive

Greenfield, IN 46140

STEPHEN MINISTRY

Stephen Ministers provide one-to-one,

Christ-centered care to help your pastor

ensure that hurting people receive the care

they need. One way to keep our Stephen

Ministry vibrant and healthy is to train

additional leaders at a Stephen Series

Leader's Training Course. We ask the

congregation to pray for Sherri Doudt and

Jason Resler, who are called to attend training

July 30-Aug. 5, to become Stephen Leaders.

Their accepting God’s call will ensure that our

Stephen Ministry program remains strong. If

you or someone you know is hurting, find out

more about Stephen Ministry by talking with

one of our Stephen Leaders: Tammy McKean,

Dick Smith or Pastor Doug. Walker.

We will begin a new Bible Study, focusing on the book of Romans, on

July 12 at the Ingalls Campus (301 N. Alfonte Street). The group will

continue with weekly meetings on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm, and will be

led by Mary Cloud.

All you need to bring is your Bible—all other printed materials will

provided. Please let us know if you plan to attend, by contacting the

church (765-778-8074), so we prepare enough copies. All are welcome!

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To receive future e-mails from First UMC Ministries, please contact the church office—765-778-8074 or dwood@pendletonfirst.org.