Volume 48
Issue 24
June 14, 2018
              
6th & 7th Grade Mission Trip
Last week over 30 of our sixth and seventh graders served at the Upper Sand Mountain Parish. The USMP is a collection of United Methodist Churches committed to serving and supporting the impoverished communities on Sand Mountain. They provide counseling services, a food bank, and build homes for low income families. This was the first trip of its kind for our church and everybody had a blast.

During the trip our students baled over 2,200 pounds of clothes to ship overseas, sorted, catalogued, and priced hundreds of clothes for the community thrift stores, painted, and created crafts for local children. There were so many God moments during the trip where we all learned so much about being the hands and feet of Christ and what it means to be sons and daughters of God.

We also want to thank Trinity UMC and Robertson's Chapel UMC in Rainsville, AL for hosting and providing meals for us. What an amazing way to see the connectional UMC at work! For more information about Thrive Student Ministries and how you can get involved with our mission trips and other events contact Juli Hansen (jhansen@vhumc.org).
Three On A String Sunday
Join us in worship on Sunday, July 1, as Three-On-A-String leads us at both the 8:30 and 11:00 am services in our brand-new Tyson Hall. You won't want to miss this exciting Sunday in the life of our church.
The Power Will Go Out
Most of us are accustomed to losing our Alabama Power connection this time of year due to summer storms. Everyone needs to know that most of our facility will be a week without power in July. Please read the Growing Pains article below for information.
Honduras Mission Trip
Two weeks ago members from our church, as well as others, traveled to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to work with the Forgotten Children's Ministry. During this annual family mission trip, our team hosted a soccer tournament, provided food to surrounding community families, visited children in the hospital and did so much more. It is an amazing experience to serve God in another country with your family! Click the link below for a quick snapshot of the week. If you would like more information about this trip, contact Bo Kirkpatrick (bkirkpatrick@carrallison.com).
Welcome New Members
Please welcome Ralph and Brittany Norman to the VHUMC community of faith. They typically attend the 11:00 am worship service in the Fellowship Hall. We look forward to getting to know them and joining them as our discipleship grows.
Come Join Us at VHUMC
If you'd like to join our community of faith, we will host an Informal Joining Service on Sunday, June 24, at 12:15 pm, in the chapel. We will gather and Bill will read the membership vows before we all gather to eat a brief lunch together. Please contact Suzanne Scott-Trammell (sstrammell@vhumc.org / 769-0136) for more details.
Farewell to Ruth Grissom
Rev. Ruth Grissom will become the Pastor of Children's Ministries at Canterbury UMC on July 1. We are sad that she is leaving us, and we want to thank her for more than a decade of faithful service and leadership in our church. Please plan to say thanks to Ruth at a farewell reception this Sunday, June 17, at 9:15 am, during our Coffee Hour in the Fellowship Hall.
Fidget Mat Sewing Bee
Thank you for your wonderful contributions of placemats, dishtowels, fabric, and objects! Keep them coming! We still need placemats, dishtowels, big buttons, zippers, emblems, old belts, ties, and virtually anything with a hole that will fit on a mat! If you want to help assemble mats, come join our Sewing Bee on Tuesday, June 19, between 10:00 am - 2:00 pm, in the Fellowship Hall. Snacks and drinks will be available. We want to create sensory/tactile mats that help those with Dementia to stimulate their minds. We want them to be able to stretch, clip, button, move, squeeze, slide, and remember. Please contact Peggy Patton (p_patton@bellsouth.net / 982-5997) if you have any questions.
Sunday Evening Worship
Come as you at 5:00 pm in the Rutland-Memorial Chapel this Sunday as Mike Harper preaches on "A New Creation" from 2 Corinthians 5:14-17. Also, mark your calendars for June 24 with Ted Leach, as well as July 1 with Sherry Harris.
Discovery Weekend 2018
Discovery is coming up on August 3-5 and is a jam-packed three-day weekend of messages, worship, small group discussions, and activities designed to jump start the school year and help our students continue to make their faith their own. It is designed for high schoolers to develop leadership skills and pour into middle schoolers by leading D-Groups, sharing in messages, and in worship. Discovery is the most exciting, spirit filled, and fun weekend your student will attend all year! Make sure to register today by clicking the link below. Registration deadline is June 20!

VHUMC has a long running history of amazing Discovery Weekends and we are excited for another year! To make it happen we need lots of volunteers in lots of roles: housing students, staying overnight, co-leading a small group, bringing snacks, sponsoring a meal, serving and/or cleaning up a meal, etc. If you are interested in helping in any way, please contact Juli Hansen (jhansen@vhumc.org).

Upward Flag Football and Cheer Registration
Upward Football and Cheer sign-ups are here! Sign up for Early Registration ($95 a child) before June 22. Regular registration ($105 per child) will be open until August 28. This league will be for boys and girls ages K4-4th Grade. The season will begin the week of September 3 and end on November 3. Games will be on Saturday mornings with practices once a week on Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday evenings.

Registration can be done in person at the VHUMC Lighthouse or online! Any questions can be directed to Miles Erbe (merbe@vhumc.org / 769-0134).

Elementary Awards Assembly
We had our Year-End Elementary Awards Assembly this past Sunday. Congratulations to the following children who won awards for high Sunday School attendance this school year: Charlotte Watkins, Allie Meeks, Jay West, Ivy White, Haines Bridges, John Dawson Watkins, Emily Meeks, Owen McGriff, and Ellie Robicheaux. Special congratulations to Charlotte Watkins who also won highest overall Sunday School attendance! Jay West and Ivy White were our memory verse winners and they got to take home bungee swings!
Help Around the House
Vestavia Hills is hosting its 4th annual Helping Hands in the Hills day of service to assist our residents (sr. citizens, disabled, etc.) with minor projects around their home. If you have anything that needs doing and would like to have a team work for you on Saturday, September 8, please let them know soon. Click the link for a form to submit. The deadline for requests is August 3. For more information, please contact Suzanne Scott-Trammell (sstrammell@vhumc.org / 769-0136).

Urban Kids/WE Learn Summer Partnership
Urban Ministry and VHUMC are partnering together this summer to provide lunches for WE Learn summer field trips. If you are interested in participating with either your SS class, family or small group, please contact Rebecca Wadley (919-9184). She is coordinating the lunches. Click the link for a schedule of the field trips for the summer. The July 13 trip is still being planned, but information will be provided as soon as it is confirmed. Thank you for your help in making Urban Kids summer extra special with lunch and learning opportunities.
Growing Pains: Renovating for Our Future
Our renovations in nearly all areas of the church have been exciting. We feel that everyone has welcomed the changes and tolerated the dust and inconveniences well. Thank you. We have a major inconvenience on the horizon and wanted to give you plenty of notice.

In our discussions with Alabama Power about connecting the new air conditioning chillers, they let us know that they were going to require the placement of a new transformer on our main power line - between the parlor and the parking lot. They are paying for the transformer replacement, but we are then forced to upgrade some of our 54-year-old breakers and switching equipment.

Thankfully we have just enough buffer in this project to cover the cost, but the transition will require a week without power to most of the church. The Lighthouse will function as usual since it is fed from a different transformer. We have also arranged to rent a generator that will keep the electricity going for the Day School to operate. Most all of our other programs will be cancelled for a week.

Our target date for the power outage is July 15-20. Power will be cut off just after noon on a Sunday. Our back-up dates are July 22-27. We have scheduled this during weeks where we have minimal programming scheduled, but we know that many of you will be affected either way. Please bear with us as we make these changes that will improve our facilities.

Our landscaping will also change in the affected area. We will be cutting down one of the large trees and several of the bushes. These are big losses (and we fought hard to try and keep the tree), but they have to go to make room for the new equipment. We are already planning for new trees and landscaping in the area once the work is complete.

As always, if you have questions about these items and how it will affect you and the church, feel free to contact Gary Wyatt (769-0108 / gwyatt@vhumc.org).

Ongoing Outreach
Food Pantry
The Food Pantry needs quart size Ziploc bags for our larger treats from Panera Bread. We also need tote bags for packing fruits and veggies for our families from the Farmers Market. Thank You to the Becomers Class for getting started on the church gardening by supplying us with potatoes this week. 

Oak Mountain Mission
Oak Mountain Mission needs toiletries. Please clean out your small sized items, bag them, and put them into the three wooden bins around the church.

Urban Ministries
Urban Ministries can use plastic cutlery for their cafe. If you have any of the packets you receive from restaurants, please bag those and put them into the wooden bins around the church. Some of our church members who tutor the students will deliver the cutlery.
Worship This Sunday 

8:30 am         Traditional Service
Jonah 3:10-4:11
"A Whale of a Tale"
Bill Brunson

9:45 am         Service of Word and Table
Jonah 3:10-4:11
"A Whale of a Tale"
Sherry Harris

11:00 am         Traditional Service
Jonah 3:10-4:11
"A Whale of a Tale"
Bill Brunson

11:00 am         Contemporary Service
Jonah 3:10-4:11
"A Whale of a Tale"
Kipp McClurg

5:00 pm         Sunday Evening Worship
2 Corinthians 5:17
"A New Creation"
Mike Harper
Our Time and Resources
 

Donations this past week

July 2017 - April 2018
Donations
Other Income
Total Income
Actual
$61,050


$3,282,380
$104,228
$3,386,608
Targeted  
-$1,370


-$92,564
+$312
-$92,252
 
(+) Better or (-) worse for the church than our target
   Attendance for last Sunday:  729
Care and Support
Congratulations, hospitalizations, and sympathies

Prayer Requests
Please be in prayer for the following persons: