FUMC

PO Box 1466

301 NE 1st Street Mineral Wells, TX

76067

940-325-4707

November 2013

First United Methodist

Church Newsletter September 2015

meets every 2nd second Sunday @ 7:30 am for break- fast with the men of Central UMC. They alternate meeting @ Central or FUMC. Join us for the next meeting Sept. 12 @ FUMC.

Newsletter

Deadlines Just a reminder, we try to send out the newsletter on the first of the month. We would appreciate receiving all news items by the 28th to allow time for editing and layout. E-mail information to Jeri Calcote at mwcalco@yahoo.com

Thank you!

“The Church with a Warm Heart”

Worship on Wednesdays (WoW!) will begin again Wednesday, Sept. 9th. Children’s Coordinator

Vicki Gregory needs volunteers to sign up for providing either meals or desserts. You can cook, bake, order out or provide funding. The excitement begins @ 5:30 pm with our regular Snack Supper in McMaster Hall. The entire congregation and friends are invited to join us for a meal and fellowship. Children’s activities run from 6 - 7 pm. Youth meet upstairs until 7:30 pm with Youth Director Amanda Daniell. Choir practice starts @ 7 pm, backpacks can be packed for BackPack Buddies and Prayer Shawl workers meet on the last Wednesday of the month. Pick an activity to join and have your evening meal provided.

Entries are limited to only 10 acts and are due by Sept. 1st. Audience admission is by donation and a concession stand will offer refreshments for sale during the show. Our own Adam Hull will emcee the event with Perry Leavelle, Carl Turner and Penni B as judges.

This community event is also meant to promote our church in a positive way city-wide. All church members are asked to participate by either working at the event, attending, bringing a friend, and/or making a donation.

Hope to see everyone there! For more information, contact chairperson Sue Overton @ 940-452-6762.

Mineral Wells Idol Mark your calendars for 6 pm Saturday, Sept. 19th, when our church will stage production of this year’s Mineral Wells Idol as a fundraising event for our BackPack Buddies program and other church missions. In years past, other sponsors hosted the popular local event based on the hit TV show American Idol at other venues. This year, participants are invited to showcase their talents in a new entertainment venue set up on the parking lot of White’s Funeral Home just southeast of the church. Groups or individuals pay a $20 entry fee to compete and audience members not only enjoy the show, but get to determine the winner by voting for their favorite act.

Operation Christmas Shoebox

No one can plan too soon for Christmas as it seems to sneak up on all of us. Our church is again participating in the Operation Christmas Shoebox program for children. If you’d like to fill a shoebox, we have some of the official boxes available for use. Just pick one up in the church office. Amanda Daniell is our local coordinator so you can see her for the deadline and a standard list of items usually included in these gift boxes sent to children around the world.

Dominican Republic

Mission Trip

Member Saskia Vaughn, DDS, is

going to the Dominican Republic

for a preventive health care

mission trip Sept. 5-12. They will treat many children so it is always

nice to give them a small toy after treatment. If you would like to

donate small items for this, some examples are girls’ hair bows and ornaments, kid jewelry, kid’s meal toys, small cars, etc. Or, for the moms, things like small toiletries such as soap, lotion or perfume. If you can contribute any of these, drop them off in the church office. Of course, your prayers for this trip

are much appreciated.

“Because hunger does not take the weekend off “

I don’t know what to say except “God is good.” Thank you everyone for your support of Back Pack Buddies. Thank you to this church family and the community at large for their generous gifts for the past few months. Because of this, we were able to pay for food supplies for the new semester. Thank you to all those who helped unload and stock these supplies. Thank you to the ones who helped pack bags for the first weeks of school. Thank you to Jolene Williams, who is coordinating with the schools so we know how many bags to send each week. I would also like to say a special thank you to Sue Overton who has worked so hard on the upcoming Mineral Wells Idol fundraiser. I sincerely appreciate Tammy Crawford who designed the flyers and the banner. Back Pack Buddies has grown to be a very big endeavor, and funding is always a concern, but your generosity of your gifts, your time, and your prayers means that we can continue our effort to eliminate childhood hunger on the weekends. Please continue to pray for this mission and the children we serve. As always, God is answering prayers. With much gratitude, Judy Jackson This program feeds close to 200 children each week at a cost of $3 per child. Food provided includes pudding or fruit cups, dried fruit, Poptarts, cheese crackers (no peanut butter due to allergies), Vienna sausages, or individual snack packages.

Sept. 2 - Travis Novak

Sept. 6 - Connor Jacobson

Sept. 7 - Myra Lawrence

Sept. 8 - Darrell Carey, Kylie Keis

Sept. 13 - Steve Salisbury

Sept. 15 - Mike Cox

Sept. 19 - Christian Garcia, Chad Miller Sept. 20 - Bobby Bateman

Sept. 21 - Belinda Bateman

Sept. 23 - Vicki Gregory, Rick Jackson

Sept. 27 - Robin Fanning

Sept. 30 - Brooke Crawford

Oct. 1 - Miranda Chipps, Robert Freeman

Oct. 2 - Amy Boyd, Brady Huseman, Amy Lovell Oct. 3 - Kenyon Calcote

If any members are missing from this list, let us know!

Mix and Mingle There are lots of new faces at Mix and Mingle! If you see someone you don't recognize, take a minute and welcome that person to FUMC! Take the opportunity to get to know them a little bit. Let them get to know you. That is the whole point of that time...to catch up with those we know and meet ones we don't.

As always, I am grateful for those of you who help with this ministry by faithfully bringing goodies to eat and juice to drink. You are a blessing to me and to all those who gather at that time.

—Cindy Blasor

Our Prayer Shawl group will begin meeting again in September. We meet the third Wednesday of each month, which this month is the 23rd. The workshop is open to anyone who wants to participate. Come and bring a friend. If you can operate a pair of scissors or tie a knot, you can participate! Meet in McMaster Hall at 6 pm or join us for dinner first at 5:30 pm.

Autopsy of a Deceased Church Book Study

This is an interesting fast-read, a revealing “Must Read” book for anyone who is interested in what our church is going through at this time! It leads to great discussion. Anyone who didn’t attend the first series of discussions or missed some sessions now has the opportunity to take part. Discussions begin Sundays shortly after the morning service. Bring drinks or snacks if you want. We discuss a few chapters each week. Books are available at the study or in the church office. If you have a book and are not going to take part in this series, please return it to the church office or pay $5 if you want to keep it. The $5 will be donated to the Back-Pack Buddies Program.

Bell Choir practice will start back up @

7:15 pm Monday, Sept. 14th. Anyone

interested in being a part of this group is more

than welcome to attend! Experience and

music reading are NOT required! Hope to see

ya there! – Adam

Our Healthy Church Initiative Coach Paula Johnson will be here @ 6 pm Thursday, Sept. 24th, for a dinner meeting. Those serving on the various teams are strongly encouraged to be there, but everyone in the congregation is invited to attend. We want to hear progress reports from the teams and keep everyone apprised of what's happening with our congregation. Please let the office know if you will to be there so we can plan the meal accordingly. The Leadership Development Team is made up of Sue Overton, Chair; Troy Huseman, Sharon Garcia and Tammy Crawford. Lianne and Coach Paula Johnson are putting together a workshop and guest speaker for this team. Team members have been in contact via e-mail regarding the workshop. Meanwhile, it has been suggested that this team look at the website Leadership4Transformation and articles by Ken Willard, author of the Healthy Church Initiative.

The Hospitality and Assimilation Team is made up of Cathy Johnson, Mary Zane Dunn, Vicki Tuggle and Kay Brown. This team has met twice and discussed ways to expand greeting guests to our church, build visitor and member relationships, and develop a follow-up plan that will actively engage guests in the life of our congregation.

The Communications Team, made up of Amanda Daniell, David May,

Kenzie Huseman and Bobby Richards, keeps our web site (http://www.fumcmw.org) and our Facebook page (FUMC Mineral Wells) updated with events, encouraging posts, and photos. Their most recent endeavor is recording Lianne’s sermons, uploading them to Youtube and providing links to view and listen. Not only is her most recent sermon available, but the site also archives older messages. Take a look!

The teams are shaping up to do the work that the Healthy Church Initiative study has prescribed. Join us at the dinner meeting Sept. 24th to hear more.

Lianne will be serving as one of the clergy on the women's Walk to Emmaus #409 October 1-4 in Bruceville-Eddy at the Greene Family Camp. She would love for some of our women to experience this wonderfully spiritual weekend. If you are interested (either in this Walk or in Emmaus in general), please contact Lianne. For more information, talk with Peggy Harvey, Sue Overton, Saskia Vaughan, and Jolene Williams who have all attended walks and would be happy to tell you more about what to expect. And lest you feel forgotten, guys, there are

men's walks as well. (Eddie Gregory has

attended!) Check out the Central Texas Emmaus website to learn more at http://www.ctcemmaus.org/index.php and find an application.

Thank you so much for the altar flowers that helped brighten my days as I have been recuperating from total knee replacement and, four weeks later, a broken bone on my knee cap. Thank you for all your prayers and concerns. Love,

Kay Wheeler

Anyone who didn’t attend the youth’s first dinner theater production in McMaster Hall last Saturday missed out on an entertaining evening of local talent with plenty of laughs and audience participation. The event sold out and received such rave reviews they plan to make it an annual event. A downfall of rain began the evening as the young men, dressed in 1920s attire, escorted attendees from their cars under umbrellas to the grand entrance at the “red door” on the south side of McMaster Hall. Reserved seating awaited diners who enjoyed a delicious dinner of casserole, bread and a gourmet salad, followed by dessert. But the main event was a cast of shady characters who had joined the crowd for an evening at the Fox Hole. Owned by Evelyn Morelli (played by the beautiful and elegantly attired Amanda Daniell), the establishment was the site of the murder of musician Elliott Rocco (played by Adam Hull) who died a very protracted and hilarious death in the first scene. Detective Anthony Malone (played by Troy Huseman) took charge of the scene, questioning all involved, including Doris “The Old Fox” Lombardo, local mob boss (played by Judy Myers); her right hand Frankie “The Hammer” Russo (played by Jason Nesmith); Harvey Gambino “The Bookkeeper” (played by David May); and Elliot’s fiancé Rose Napoli (played by Kat Worley). Diners quickly picked up on a few

Murder at the Fox Hole clues in the opening scene and Detective Malone was soon busy fielding questions and gathering evidence from the audience, as well as questioning those onstage. None of the characters admitted to committing the dirty deed, though several were “packing heat” and some had dropped clues throughout the evening amongst the guests about some of the “dirty laundry” and shady dealings going on at the Fox Hole. Detective Malone kept his cool, taking notes and keeping order. Each table was instructed to name their suspect and include a scenario with a motive. Every group had a differing opinion of the motives involved, but several fingered the same suspect. In the end, Rose and Doris were “arrested” for the crime — Rose, for having pulled the trigger, and Doris for spreading rumors that led to the heinous action. Doris kept her cool, but kept the audience laughing with her “tough, old broad” one-

liners throughout the show. We look forward to the next production!

Project 365 House Many of you may have heard of the Mineral Wells Police Department’s Project 365, a year-long targeted clean-up of a designated area of the city. Our youth group and others in the church have participated in the project each year by adopting a house and working with others on various repairs. Shauna and Wes Bradshaw have headed a crew this year, working several Saturdays at a house on NW 3rd Avenue to scrape paint and caulk windows. “We were blown away by the amount of people who showed up with such short notice and can't thank you enough!” Shauna said. “It is such a blessing to be associated with...people who are always willing to ‘show up.’ You people rock!”

Scenes from “Murder

at the Foxhole”