Waterville UMC Ambassador

May 2022

Dear Church Family,

May the blessings of our Lord Jesus be upon you.

I love this time of year. As the flowers begin to bloom, the grass and trees become green again, the birds and animals are caring for new borns and it is becoming warm again. This season reminds me of what Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

The writer of the letters to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul is trying to teach this fairly young group of believers how to live in Christ and how to avoid temptation and sin. Paul then shares the reminder in the scripture above that for everyone in Christ there is a new beginning. We are in the process of learning to live in our new beginning.

The Holy Spirit is speaking through Paul not only to the Corinthians so long ago but to us today. When we are in Christ we have become a new creature, transformed form the old sinful self into a new creature, a new being, a person set free from the power of sin.

We who have accepted Christ as our savior have had a new beginning. Everything is fresh and new. The light of Christ has overcome all the darkness within us.

Just like everything new at times we become tarnished by the world and by personal choices. We then need the tarnish removed. Anyone who has cleaned brass or silver knows that it sometimes takes a lot of hard rubbing to get the items clean and shiny once again.

This is true for us as well. Sometimes the Holy Spirit has to do a lot of “hard rubbing” before we are willing to follow the Holy Spirit again. Letting the light of Christ shine through us. The good news is that God provides for us the grace to start over when we become tarnished.

Just like brass and silver if we use them often we will polish them each time they are used. They stay bright and shiny. One of the ways we can avoid the tarnish of this world is to stay in touch with God as much as we possibly can. As we stay close to God, God promises to stay close to us. How shiny are you at this moment?

Let God remove the tarnish and receive God’s blessings as we stay close to God.

Pastor Mike

Praises to the Lord!

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

Do you have photos from the Church dedication? Maundy Thursday? Easter Sundy Sunrise Service? Easter Service? We would LOVE to see them!

Please e-mail to: wumc@watervilleumc.org

Good Friday Crosswalk

First Easter Sunday service at the New Beginnings site

Easter Lillies

Ministry of Construction Report

It has been our privilege to serve as Ministry of Construction leaders. Our team, consisting of Melva Robinson, Charlene Monroe, Dan Breen, Karen Wiggins, Barb Crandall, and the office staff, were of great help throughout the building process. Prayers were offered, gift bags and notes of encouragement were given to the workers, publicity was sent out, weekly hospitality and then lunches twice a month were wonderful, and announcements were made. Thank you to the team leaders and ALL THOSE WHO helped in any way.

It has been wonderful to worship in the New Beginning building and the dedication on April 10 and Easter Sunday were awesome. To see so many people worshiping our Risen Savior was wonderful! Even though we've all worked together, some of you for many years, to get to this point of a new building, our work personally has only been more recent. When Pastor Mike asked us to coordinate Ministry of Construction, we took the leap to help in any way we could. It has been a great experience to get to know so many people and we've been very blessed with new friendships. That is what church is about, building relationships, first with Jesus as our Savior, and then with each other. If you haven't had a chance to work for the church to help share, celebrate, and teach God's love, look around for opportunities or ask Pastor Mike or anyone in leadership. There are plenty of ways to serve the Lord and our community as we serve, love, connect, and give TOGETHER.

Easter blessings,

Paul and Cherl

Thank you to all who helped with the Community Open House on Saturday, April 23. About 30 people enjoyed walking around our new building and the refreshments you all supplied.

Our thanks to Pam Cook, Char Pritchett, Char Monroe, Robin Lipinski, Delores Young, Pam Denman, Bobbie Westfall, Barb Page, Amy Hankins, Cherl & Paul Matla, Holly & Joel Sobecki, Yvonne and Glen Lammon, Don & Lois Brandi, Karen & Tom Wiggins, Jerry & Melva Robinson, Stephanie Shelton, and Cindy Box for the delicious cookies, fruit snacks, potato chips and water.

Those who helped the Open House Committee were their families, Pastor Mike, Steve and Barb Crandall (hospitality) and Adam and Stephanie Shelton (youth ministry).

People enjoyed seeing the beautiful building and some are interested in attending church here. We look forward to planning future events for our New Beginnings building.

Open House Committee:

Amy Hankins, Cherl Matla, Char Monroe, Holly and Joel Sobecki

Mark your calendars for a Humanitarian Aid Concert for Ukraine on May 22, 2022. Details are below.

We are looking for donations of cookies and water for refreshments along with greeters for this event.

If you are interested in helping with this event, contact Char Pritchett, 419-878-2696

Volunteers needed! We have a perfect opportunity to share your time and service by helping with the clean-up of the old church building.

The project has 3 phases:

(1) sort good / trash,

(2) prepare items and help with the Community Garage Sale, (June 4th)

(3) final clean-up.

If you are able to help, there is a sign-up sheet in the narthex or contact Tom Wiggins, Jim Page or Cherl Matla (Garage Sale). Additional information, including dates and times will be available soon.

WANTED PICTURES

Who? YOU and your family

Why? Updating the Directory and because we like you

How? Send a picture (jpeg) to Charlenehansen88@gmail.com by

May 15, 2022 to be included or see Char after service to have your picture taken.

We are looking for a Volunteer (or two) to be our unofficial church photographer!

No fancy cameras needed! Cell phone pictures are fine!

We want to make sure that we have pictures commemorating those special events at our wonderful new church building!

Click for Youth Alive Schedule

The children enjoyed an egg hunt on Sunday, April 10th!

Fun was had by all!

Easter Sunday's Children's Moment with Pastor Mike

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Missions Committee Focus for MAY 2022

The mission focus for May is feeding the children during the summer months.

Additional information will be provided soon!

The Missions Jar will be available each week for members convenience. The fourth Sunday will still emphasis the monthly mission.

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

APRIL ATTENDANCE

April 3: 159

April 10: 209

April 17: 291

April 24: 221

May Card Ministry Liaison is Char Monroe

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Please reach out to her at charlenehansen88@gmail.com if you know of someone who needs an encouragingwords 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!)

George Welker May 1

Jase Studer May 2

Eliza Atherine May 3

Justin Hires May 6

Bill Gregory May 7

Ayden Rozelle May 7

Jacob Varner May 7

Tom Przybylski May 9

Ed Golding May 10

Josh Hankins May 11

Ed Thompson May 13

Bandon Vernon May 13

Julie Croy May 14

Lynn Harter May 17

Mia Przybylski May 18

Alexa Galton May 22

Anthony Westfall May 22

Paul Buskey May 24

Margaret Sobecki May 24

Caroline Varner May 24

Kaitlin Warner May 26

Brody Varner May 27

Adam Shelton May 29

Independent Bible Study and Activities

CLICK HERE FOR THE MAY 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 May 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.