“Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making oc-curs.” (2012 Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church) The mission of the United Methodist Church

is: “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the

transformation of the world.” The current mission statement of Sand

Springs United Methodist Church is: “Through God’s grace our church

will grow in service and ministry, making and nurturing disciples for

Jesus Christ.” It is clear that our denomination and our local church is

most concerned about discipleship and what that really means in

terms of discerning God’s will and following Jesus’ example.

At our Town Hall meeting this past Sunday I talked about ARISE! This

is an all-church initiative to help us re-focus on God’s mission for this

local church. We will begin our preparation for this process during the

next Church Council meeting at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 21.

As always, everyone is welcome to attend our Church Council

meetings and I want to personally invite you to come that day to hear

more about ARISE and how you might be able to help us.

On Sunday, October 12th, we will devote the entire day to ARISE! We

will begin the day at 9:30 a.m. with a presentation by Mike Wiley

from the Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation. At 10:30 a.m. we

will celebrate worship in a blended service for the whole church. After

this worship celebration we will gather for a pot luck lunch in Fellow-

ship Hall. Following lunch, we will re-convene in the sanctuary to con-

tinue our workshop. We will adjourn no later than 3:00 p.m.

It is important that we have as much participation as possible from

the congregation. We will be talking about and planning for things

that affect the whole church and how we will do ministry into the fu-

ture. We want you to be part of the conversation. However, we real-

ize that not everyone is able to devote 5 hours on a Sunday to this

process. We understand that and want to encourage you to come for

as much of the day as you possibly can. It may seem like a lot to ask,

but we are giving up one day to plan for the future of God’s mission

and ministry through our church; we cannot leave this to chance and

we need to make a significant commitment to the process. Please

prayerfully consider how you may be able to be part of this important

day.

Here is some more information about ARISE! Many of our local

churches are constantly seeking to raise more money and attract

younger families. ARISE will get our leaders and members thinking,

talking, and praying about the future. There are too many churches

struggling weekly to make ends meet, reach their communities, and

turn the declining trends around to be a sustainable congregation for

our children and grandchildren. ARISE will help churches re-discover

their mission and what God has called us to do. ARISE is easy to un-

derstand, contains step-by-step homework and follow-up consulta-

tion. We believe these things set ARISE apart from other church

“programs” we may have tried in the past. This process has been de-

veloped by our Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation staff as part

of their ongoing effort to help the local church be successful in disci-

ple-making. This is not a stewardship seminar and it is not about mon-

ey; this workshop is about prayer, purpose, and people.

We are standing at a crossroad right now. Over the past several years

this church has prayed continuously and worked diligently to plan and

provide for the future of the church. These efforts are beginning to

blossom and bear fruit. It is time for us to nurture this fruit and move

ahead to become all that God intends for us to become. We cannot

do it alone and we are blessed to have the resources of the Annual

Conference to help us. Please join us for this important time together

on October 12th.

Our Town Hall meeting on September 7th was a great success. I hope

you were among those who were able to join us. We talked about

ARISE and we also heard reports from Staff Parish Relations Com-

mittee, Board of Trustees, and Finance. These reports brought us up-

to-date on what has been going on since our last Town Hall meeting in

May. We had a time of question and answer that touched on such

topics as upcoming leadership nominations, the possible sale of the

Main Campus property, legacy gifts and estate planning, and the de-

velopment of our endowment fund. If you have any question about

anything that was discussed at the Town Hall, please feel free to con-

tact me or one of the other church leaders for further information.

We plan to continue the Town Hall meetings 3-4 times each year and

hope that you will be able to join us and stay in touch with what is

happening in your local church.

Have a blessed week! Pastor Don

Sand Springs United Methodist Church

Springs Rev. Don Tabberer September 9, 2014

The

ARISE – OCTOBER 12TH Your leadership team has identified a need to re-focus our church on the mission God is calling us to. It is vital that we consider the best ways to allocate our resources to fulfill this mission. In addition, we are once again looking seriously at the relocation of the church to our south side property. As we consider the future of our church we are looking to a new process to help us identify and implement the changes that need to be made. This process is called ARISE. Please save the date: Sunday, October 12th for this im-portant event. More information will be coming to you soon, but we are asking that you plan to be with us for the entire day that Sunday. We will start the day at 9:30AM. We will worship together and share a pot luck lunch together and then we will work togeth-er to engage the Arise process. The day will be led by Mike Wiley, from the Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation. Please plan to join us.

UMW Library News Efforts are being made to purge our shelves of books too old to qualify for the current reading program cer-tificate. The primary way you can help is to return books checked out as soon as possible after reading them. No firm decision has been made concerning the disposition of these books. Further information will be posted in the near future.

SOMEONE'S PRAYING...... It seems as though we have another NEW BEGIN-NING before us. As summer ends and fall begins, we are excited at the possibilities before us. Our church leadership as been working diligently to bring exciting worship and new opportunities for mission and minis-try. Pray with us for God to be at the center of every-thing we say and do. Let us be a light for those who feel they are in a tunnel right now and can't see their way out. We give thanks for the many volunteers who work so tirelessly to help make SSUMC the church that God wants it to be.

There is much to pray for. Please consider joining us on Tuesdays at 10:00, in the Church Parlor, for medi-tation and prayer. I trust that we will not only see our lives change, but we will see amazing things happen-ing as we come together to worship and to serve.

Virginia

Save the Date Trunk or

Treat Friday, October

31st 6-8 p.m.

4th & Main Campus Sign up sheets and

candy donation boxes coming soon!!

Wedding Shower

For

Sara Schmidt & Brett Ryker

Saturday, September 20

2 p.m.-4 p.m.

SSUMC Narthex

Sara and Brett are registered at Target and

Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Lowe’s gift cards would also be appreciated.

Sunday Volunteers—September 14

Visitors Center & Coffee

Head Usher-11:00 a.m.-Eddy David

Young Disciples Lesson-8:30a.m.-Kingdom Kids

Young Disciples Lesson-11:00a.m.-Kingdom Kids

Child. Church-8:30 a.m.-Kingdom Kids

Child. Church-11:00 a.m.-Debbie S. & Jan D.

Counters-Janie Moore & Kent Warkentin

Sunday Volunteers—September 21

Visitors Center & Coffee

Head Usher-11:00 a.m.-Eddy David

Young Disciples Lesson-8:30a.m.-Jami W.

Young Disciples Lesson-11:00a.m.-Jami W.

Child. Church-8:30 a.m.-Kingdom Kids

Child. Church-11:00 a.m.-Amy & Lauren Miller

Counters-Diana Pond & Jack Vest

Ruth Weaver, Destinee Tackett, Sylvia Johnson, Martha Scudder, Virginia Vice, Unspo-ken requests, Darryl Muse, Tristan Schwartz, Billie Schmidt, Irene Stogsdill, Owen

Johnston, SSUMC, Lance Day, Susan Edwards, Ryan Bulmer, Mrs. Frank Dudek, Kason Tabor, Bob McFall, Paul Waldschmidt, Barnard Family

Sunday Lists

Please Keep In Prayer

Acknowledgements

Thank You…

Thank you so much for the continued prayers and concern for Ryan Bulmer, my son-in-law. He

is much better form the seizure but continues to need prayer for healing from his shoulder sur-

gery and all that comes with healing from such a significant seizure. He is back to work, so

that is a tremendous improvement!

Judy McNeer

Just a Reminder In order to reserve the church Family Life Center, Fellowship Hall or Narthex and Parlor, you must fill out a

calendar request. You can pick one up off Tracey’s desk or better yet, go to the website and use the Calendar

Request Form.

The Awakening The Awakening exists

to… “Teach students to gen-

uinely honor Christ through service, reach-ing out to those around them, and building up a

community based on love for one another”

Upcoming Events September 13th – Laser Quest September 24th – See You at the Pole

Update I hope that you are doing well, enjoying this cooler weather that looks like it may finally be here, and having a good school year. Each month we are going to begin doing an outreach event, this gives the students the oppor-tunity to come to an event, invite a friend, and have fun together as a ministry. Please encourage your students to come to these and to bring a friend. Our first event is this coming Saturday. We will be going to Laser Quest and dinner. The plan is to meet at the Family Life Center at 4:15, drive to Laser Quest, play from about 5 until around 6, go eat some din-ner then return to the FLC afterwards. The cost will be $25 a student, and that includes Laser Quest and dinner. The second thing we have coming up is See You at the Pole. It is happening on September 24th and the students will have the opportunity to gather around their flagpole and pray over their school, teachers, and the year as a whole in the morning. That evening we are having our See You at the Pole rally. It is happening in the Charles Page High School auditorium at 6:30. We are bringing in a speaker and a local worship leader. It will be a fun event, and I hope that your students will come to this exciting event. Your Fellow Servant, Mark

KidZone…

We’ve begun our new

lesson about Jesus

washing the disciples

feet. The Bible point

for the lesson is even

when we don’t under-

stand, Jesus loves us.

Children’s Sabbath is

September 28th. The

children will be per-

forming a musical in both services about

Jonah. Third graders will receive their Bi-

bles from the church that day. Please

check with Ms. Marty, Ms. Debbie or Ms.

Cathy if you have questions.

See You Sunday!!

Do you still have your Web Site for Dummies flier Rev. Don made us? It is full of information of what is available at our website. Did you know you can go listen to a missed sermon or did you lose a newsletter? The sermons and newsletters are archived on the website! Did you also know you can fill out a calendar request to reserve the church for an event? You can even submit a pray-er request! If you lost your flier, come by my office and pick up a new one. We have plenty of extras.

Web Site

for

DUMMIES

Sand Springs UMC 319 N. Main Street/PO Box 336 Sand Springs, OK 74063 918-245-5955 Fax-918-245-2801 Family Life Center: 918-245-3725 www.SandSpringsumc.org

Return Service Requested

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FLC-Family Life Center

*Unsponsored Event Wednesday, September 10 7:30 a.m.-Men’s Breakfast—Crescent Café 10:00 a.m.-Bible Study 6:30 p.m.-The Awakening Youth 6:00 p.m.-Chancel Ringers 7:00 p.m.-Chancel Choir Thursday, September 11 6:00 p.m.-Women’s Bible Study-Home of Janna C. 6:30 p.m.-FLC Yard in use 7:00 p.m.-*Karate-FLC Friday, September 12 No Activities Saturday, September 13 7:00 a.m.-Helping Hands Sunday, September 14 8:30 a.m.-Modern Worship; 11:00 a.m.-Classic Worship 10:00 a.m.-Sunday School; 9:45 a.m. Communion 2:00 p.m.-Nominations Meeting Monday, September 15 6:30 p.m.-Bible Study

7:00 p.m.-Boy Scouts-FLC Tuesday, September 16 10:00 a.m.-Intercessory Prayer Group 6:30 p.m.-Cub Scouts-FLC 7:00 p.m.-Praise Team 7:00 p.m.-Al-Anon-Upstairs Wednesday, September 17 7:30 a.m.-Men’s Breakfast-Crescent Café 10:00 a.m.-Bible Study 6:00 p.m.-Chancel Ringers 6:30 p.m.-Youth-FLC 7:00 p.m.-Chancel Choir Thursday, September 18 6:00 p.m.-Women’s Bible Study-Home of Janna Cheek 6:30 p.m.-FLC Yard in use 7:00 p.m.-*Karate-FLC Friday, September 19 No Activities Saturday, September 20 Winnie Mansfield using F. Hall 2:00 p.m.-Wedding Shower for Sara Schmidt & Brett Ryker-Parlor/Narthex

Questions about SSUMC Women? Priscilla: Trish House-918-245-5508

Ruth Esther: Barbara Fisher (Mrs. Connie)-918-241-9859 Faith: Rita Randall: 918-224-8482

Monday-Thursday 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. CLOSED 12-1 p.m. The offices are now closed on Friday.