April 2022 Waterville UMC Ambassador

Please meet Rev. Teresa Wenrick!

I grew up in Maria Stein, OH, a rural German Catholic farming community in Mercer County, where today, my nephew occupies the seventh generation farm. I grew up Catholic as the only daughter of nine children. I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Columbus College of Art & Design and then worked in the publishing industry for over 20 years, ending my publishing career as a publisher of five magazines.  I was married for twenty-two years and have two incredible young men as sons. My oldest, Lukas, lives in Mesa, Arizona and works for the Arizona State University as the Director of Universal Learner Courses. My youngest son, Shaun, lives in Cridersville, OH and teaches 2nd grade at Troy City Schools. I have no pets or grandchildren (yet), but have a number of hobbies that include photography, painting, pottery, graphic design and hiking / walking amongst God’s incredible creation. My greatest climb was to the top of Mt. Sinai in Egypt. God called me into ministry after attending my Walk to Emmaus. I graduated with a Masters in Divinity from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. I was ordained in 2016 as an Elder in the United Methodist Church. I have served at Sidney First UMC, Delta UMC and Lima Forest Park UMC. I am looking forward to serving along side you at Waterville United Methodist Church. As you know, God has great plans in store for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Blessings, Rev Teresa Wenrick

Dear Church Family, May you know God’s peace and presence during this Lenten Season. As we prepare for our Easter Celebration we are reminded of the greatest gift every given, the suffering death of our Lord, Jesus. Jesus’s life and death lead to the changing of our world. During His life the powers to be hated Jesus because they were so invested in keeping the status quo and their power. Nothing was going to stand in the way of God’s plan to save the world from the punishment everyone deserved due to disobedience to God. Yet, we see in John 3:16-17, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” God loves you and wants your life to continually change to become the faithful disciple that God desires everyone to be. This change does not happen all at once. One of the aspects of our human condition is to resist change. We like things as they are. As the Holy Spirit works in your life there will challenges. God will use your challenges if you are willing for His guidance. One of the biggest changes in the life of our congregation in the New Beginnings building. Moving from a building that has been Waterville UMC home since 1914 is a big step. Each step of this journey had its challenges and the evidence of God’s hand upon all the solutions. Let us as a congregation continue to face our challenges and trust God to be with us that God would be glorified. Praise be to God that He is always with us. Let this Easter be a grand celebration of our worship of our most loving God. Pastor Mike

10:30 AM Opportunities to worship and praise the Lord with WUMC: In Sanctuary Park in car near the church and tune to FM 90.5. Live Stream via You Tube at www.watervilleumc.org. Watch the recording of the worship service on-line when available at www.watervilleumc.org. Praises to the Lord!

The Church Office and staff will remain located at the 102 N. 5th Street location until the week of April 18th. Please contact them if you have any needs during the transition.

First service at the long awaked New Beginnings site!! It was a technical service while the AVL and office staff work on learning the new system!

The movers and volunteer movers hard at work! What a Blessing to see the church coming together!

Pictures from the last couple of serving lunch to the workers ministry! Thank you to all who helped! It was a big hit!

Ministry of Construction Report This is it! The baby is about to be delivered!!!  With the excitement of the past 10 months, the baby is a tad overdue but well worth waiting for. We look forward to seeing all of you on March 27th and April 3rd for our soft opening and technical services. April 10th will be the welcome service for the public as we celebrate Palm Sunday.  Praise the Lord! Our many thanks to the clean up crew on March 12 of Dan and Kim Breen, Don Brandi, Casey Kuron, Sherry Hill, Pam Cook, Bobbie Westfall, Josh and Amy Hankins who helped us mop floors, vacuum carpets, clean cupboards, and wash windows. The clean up crew for March 19 was Glen and Yvonne Lammon, Randy and Mary Breymaier, Don Brandi, Casey Kuron, Karen and Tom Wiggins, Robin and Frank Lipinski, Connie Kirkman, and Anne Stevens, many thanks for your hard work! Lunch was served March 10 by Sherry Hill and Pam Cook and the M & M's Bible Study group served lunch March 17. Hospitality was provided in March by Anne Stevens, Delores Young, Charlotte Pritchett, and Barb Crandall. That's all folks, delivery has happened and now we can all welcome and enjoy this beautiful new building for worship, fellowship, and to serve, love, connect, and give.   Showers of Blessings, Paul and Cherl Matla, Ministry of Construction Co-Leaders

We will be taking orders for Easter Lilies until April 13. The cost is $10 a plant. There are envelopes at the registration table for you to purchase or add to your offering envelope.

We are accepting candy donations in the office or Sunday School rooms! Egg-citing News Join us for an Easter egg hunt on April 10th (Palm Sunday) immediately following church. Children through 6th grade are welcome to participate in this egg-citing event. We will need to be flexible on the location & families will be pointed in the right direction at Sunday School pick up. All egg hunters will be awarded a sackful of goodies! Please bring your own baskets (we will have some bags on hand too).

There are a lot of events happening in the life of our church for the month of April especially around Holy Week. May God's richest blessings be upon you this Easter season. Check them all out in the Ambassador and e-Blasts but I wanted to highlight a couple of events - one new and one revised. We will have Maundy Thursday Service including a potluck beginning at 6:30 p.m. Salads, Soups, Sweets and Sacrifice. It will be our first potluck meal in our New Beginnings building. We are asking everyone to bring salads and desserts. Soups will be provided. This year our Good Friday Cross Walk will be the symbolic move to our New Beginnings building as we will carry the cross from our 102 N 5th St. sanctuary to 7115 Waterville Monclova Rd. as we are on a New Beginnings Journey. Arrive at 12:00 p.m. at 102 N. 5th St. Watch for additional information. The Community Sunrise Service will be on April 17 at 7:00 a.m. at the river where the old school used to be. We will celebrate our Risen Savior at 10:30 a.m. at 7115 Waterville Monclova. Please join us and bring a friend!

The Open House committee met and are planning a Community Open House for: Saturday, April 23 from 10-12.   Since the church family will have ample opportunities to see the new church, we respectfully request that we allow the community only to visit on the 23rd and that they have plenty of room to roam around and to park. Please do not attend this event, BUT we do have opportunities for you to help. There will soon be a sign up for cookies (2 dozen each) or cases of water (8 oz. size only). These items may be brought to the new church from 9 to 9:30 AM on the 23rd.  Flyers about our church will be given out and light refreshments will be served to welcome the community.   We look forward to planning more events for our church family and for the community. Charlene Monroe, Cherl Matla, Amy Hankins, Holly and Joel Sobecki

Directory Information Changes? As we are updating the directory, we’d love to know if you have a new email address, family members, missed birthdays, etc that you would like to make sure is included in the new one! Don't forget to send us your pictures! Or have Char Monroe take one for you!

Youth Alive will not be held on March 27th and April 3rd due to Anthony Wayne schools being on Spring Break.

Click for Youth Alive Schedule

Missions Committee Focus for April 2022

The mission focus for April is Group Missions April's mission focus will be Group Missions, the agency though which our youth and adult participants have taken 14 trips. With organized service projects in a Jesus-centered program, the purpose of Group Missions is to help youth and adults grow in their relationship to Jesus. Participants get to be the hands and feet of Christ impacting lives for the Kingdom. Group Missions began in 1990 and since then more than 500,000 participants have committed to serving others in the name of Christ. The Week of Hope trips include an evening chapel service where staff lead relevant, scripture-based teaching. the name is derived from the concept that the youth and all who serve truly become a family, a community, part of something much larger than the individual. Over the past two years, Group's outreach has suffered because of COVID and funds are needed. They are in less than half the places where they previously had served. Let us join in prayer for this worthy organization, one where God's fingerprints can be seen throughout the areas of service.

Visit Group Mission Trips website

Did you know Samaritan's Purse is 'on the ground" in the Ukraine? They work with 3200 churches and just before the invasion, they had sent 660,000 OCC shoeboxes to be given out. The delivery has be interrupted but they are helping in many other ways!

Samaritan's Purse has also set up a field hospital on the outskirts of Lviv! Click the link below to read more about the hospital capabilities, first patient, team members, and much more! Read More Here!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Click here to financially support UMCOR International Disaster Response and Recovery Advance #982450 for Humanitarian Aid in Ukraine. Please also prayerfully support the ten UMC churches in Ukraine, click here to learn more. Our brothers and sisters need our help!  Thank you and God bless. Rev. Scot Ocke District Superintendent

”Not all of us can do great things, but we can all do small things with great love”. Mother Teresa

Did you know about additional ways you can contribute to our church?

Thrivent Action Team - Do you have Thrivent Insurance? Did you know each year you're eligible to apply for up to $250 to kick start a project or help an ongoing mission of the church (Missions, Youth, Outreach, etc.) through completing a Thrivent Action Team application? You need to be a Thrivent Insurance customer to participate. Go to thrivent.com/tmnactionteam for more information.

Amazon Smile by using Amazon Smile and listing our church as the charity, your purchase automatically designates 5% of the purchases to our church. That 5% costs you (the buyer) nothing. Make sure you are using Smile.Amazon.Com and designate Waterville United Methodist Church your charity in your account profile.

Kroger Cares - Waterville United Methodist Church is a charity on the Kroger Community Rewards page. This is linked to your Kroger card and we receive money back from your purchases. All you need to do is register your Kroger card with WUMC via the website, https://www.kroger.com/i/community/community-rewards, and follow the directions.

Quarterly Statements: Your 1st Quarter Giving Statements will be emailed on Monday, April 4th. For those who receive hardcopies, they will be sent via US Mail the week of April 4th. The dates may delayed as a result of moving to the new building. Stewardship: Thank you for your generosity and willingness to share your financial resources. May God continue to bless each of you and this congregation, as we continue working together doing His work of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others. Remember that stewardship is not just about your monetary giving, it’s also about sharing your time and talents. Prayerfully consider where God might be leading you to serve by giving you the answer to the question…………… Lord, what do you want to do through me? Please contact Tom Wiggins, financialsec@watervilleumc.org if you have any questions about anything related to finance, stewardship or special giving.  “Money is an excellent gift of God answering the noblest of ends”                                                                                                            John Wesley

MARCH ATTENDANCE  March 6: 132 March 13: 131 March 20: 130 March 27: 175

April Card Ministry Liaison Melva Robinson ‌

Please reach out to her at 520mlr@gmail.com if you know of someone who needs an encouraging words through a card. Words of love can change a moment and often a life's direction.

Happy Birthday! (If you have a Birthday that isn't listed here, please call the church office so we can add you to our birthday list!)

Brian Snyder April 2 Chris Kirby April 3 Dawn Buskey April 5 Jim Pease April 5 April Snyder April 6 Owen Hildebrand April 10 Alexandra Meade April 10 Bob Spychalski April 14

Steve Crandall April 19 Bob Hires April 19 Craig Varner April 19 Mia Rose April 21 Kate Hildebrand April 27 Megan Gregory April 28 Wyatt Studer April 30

Independent Bible Study and Activities

Click the Holy Week image for a free devotions and companion prayer journal to use during Holy Week Courtesy of FaithGateway!

CLICK HERE FOR THE APRIL BIBLE READING There are also apps through Bible Gateway and You Version to help guide you through this experience. Choose the one that works for you!

The April HomeTouch is another source of reading the Bible. Start today! There are also fun word games that we share in the weekly blast. Click on HomeTouch picture to open. OR...check the bulletin board, we post copies each month...OR if you know someone who may enjoy receiving the monthly HomeTouch in the mail, we do have a mailing list we can add them to.

If you have an immediate need or a Pastoral need, please call Pastor Mike Denman at 419-469-0156 . Office hours are generally Monday through Thursday 9 AM to Noon, but may vary. Please call ahead at 419-878-3645 if you need to visit the office.

LIKE AND SHARE ON FACEBOOK WATERVILLE UMC FACEBOOK PAGE Follow us on Twitter Follow the church and youth on our Twitter pages:  @WUMCTweet (church) and @alivewumc (youth).

Waterville UMC | 419.878.3645| Email Us |  Web  | Twitter | Facebook