(Fiscal year, 2006-2007)

· 245,770 meals served.

· 46,828 pounds of groceries delivered.

· 1,046 clients receiving services at year-end

· Three new routes added.

· 214 new volunteers recruited and trained.

· 681 new clients added this year.

Isn’t it interesting to think that the Brookstown UMC volunteers for Meals on Wheels are just a very small part of this wonderful ministry? Volunteers are always needed. Our route is looking for more drivers. Could you/would you help? In terms of time, it’s just one day a month for only 1½-2 hours. The rewards are so great! You won’t regret it!! Call the church office to sign up.

ATTENTION: all volunteers. You are invited to the Senior Services Center on November 1 from 12:30 to 2:30 PM for the Annual Volunteer Reception.

BROOKSTOWN SUNDAY AT SUBWAY

That’s right! Brookstown will have its very own special day @ Grandview Subway on 11/25/07 from noon to 10pm. All we have to do is bring the church bulletin for that day and purchase our favorite subs, chips, drinks and cookies. Grandview Subway will give back to Brookstown 10% of our total purchases for that day.

So, make your lunch or supper plans (or both) for Grandview Subway on 11/25/07 to support our church and be filled!!! What a deal! Any questions, please call Wayne Biddix at 354-9186.

WANTED: pianist for children’s choir.

NEEDED: Sunday School teachers for a 3rd-4^th grade and the 6th-7^th grade classes.

Call the church office at 945-3029.

COMMUNITY THANKSGIVING SERVICE-Wednesday, NOV. 21

7:30 PM Brookstown UMC

A CHARGE TO KEEP

"A charge to keep I have,

A God to glorify;

A never-dying soul to save,

And fit it for the sky."

So goes the first verse of this hymn by Charles Wesley. We all have a charge to keep. How do you bring God glory? Your presence here matters for you help to fit a soul for the sky.

Dear Congregation, thank you for all you do to fit my soul and those of my family for their place in God's kingdom.

With much love, LouAnn DiMarco

A PARENT’S PRAYER

Oh heavenly Father, make me a better parent. Teach me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say, and to answer all their questions kindly. Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting them. Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me. Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes, or resort to shame or ridicule when they displease me. May I never punish them for my own selfish satisfaction or to show my power.

Let me not tempt my child to lie or steal. And guide me hour by hour that I may demonstrate by all I say and do that honesty produces happiness.

Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me. And when I am out of sorts, help me, Oh Lord, to hold my tongue.

May I ever be mindful that my children are children and I should not expect of them the judgment of adults.

Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves and to make decisions.

Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their reasonable requests, and the courage to deny them privileges I know will do them harm.

Make me fair and just and kind. And fit me, Oh Lord, to be loved and respected and imitated y my children.

Amen

Author unknown. (This prayer was found in an old family Bible.) Mike Hayes shared it with us at the Say What?! workshop/seminar.

Dear Church Members,

Thank you so very much for all the help you are giving me during my move. I appreciate the money, the kind words, the physical labor and the prayers more that you will ever know. You and my dear Garrett have been life-savers for me.

I love you all,

Lynda Stewart

Many thanks are extended to Roland Barnhardt for donating his father’s videos to our library.

The Superbook Video Bible Series is for elementary aged children. Join Christopher, Joy and their robot, Gizmo, as they travel through time to experience great events in the Superbook Bible.

For general family viewing, enjoy the The Greatest Story Ever Told with such actors as John Wayne, Telly Savalas, Angela Landsbury and Sidney Poitier.

These wonderful additions to our library can be found on the lower portion of the white shelves across from the nursery and beside the Education closet on the second floor.

LouAnn DiMarco

YOUTH DIRECTOR OPENING

Our Youth Director, Denise Yost, has submitted her resignation effective no later than the end of the year. The PPR Committee has accepted her resignation reluctantly, acknowledging her devoted service. She is leaving due to the demands of her family and growing business interests.

We are anxious to fill this position as quickly as possible with someone who is energetic, creative, and dedicated to the spiritual and faith-based development of our young people. If you are aware of someone who may be interested in applying for this part-time position, please contact me, Roland Barnhardt, or leave word with Kay in the church office.

Our youth are more than deserving of our investments of time and finances. Please help replace this critical staff position with your prayers and your networking.

Stan Crews,

Chairman of Pastor-Parish Relations Committee

SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS

Sunday School is exciting with our new LIVE BIG curriculum. There is a short DVD section, song and fun games to make our Belief In God grow. The elementary age through middle school students are enjoying this.

Our youth, 8th-12th grade are enjoying previewing movie clips and applying God's word to what they see. Please join us upstairs for all the action!

LouAnn DiMarco

WILL YOU HELP?

Share your love for Jesus with our children. We need a teacher for the 3rd/4th grade class and one for the 6th/7th grade class. We have a wonderful curriculum to follow and your time in the class would rotate approximately every 6 weeks so you could enjoy the adult sessions, too.

Thank you so much! Please contact LouAnn DiMarco at 945 or email her at dimarcodav@aol.com

LAY LEADER LINKS

Grace and Peace to all from our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen!

As we pass from the changes of October to the Thanksgiving season of November, Psalm 118:29 shouts “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” Grace and Peace should be at the top of our list when we give thanks to God. Grace always comes before Peace. We will never have God’s Peace without first accepting God’s Grace. God’s Grace gives us what we do not deserve which is everlasting life through Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24). Once we accept God’s Grace, we have Peace with God and Peace in God. We have been reconciled. Harmony now exists between God and us (Romans 5:1). If all our earthly possessions are taken away, God’s Grace and Peace are sufficient reasons to give Him thanks and praise.

God is good all the time and surely we want to continually thank Him for all His blessings. We can do this in prayer, our conduct and deeds and in our praise and worship.

It is my prayer for all to come closer to God (Matthew 7:7-8) and make giving thanks to God a lifetime commitment (Psalm 100).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grace and Peace,

Wayne Biddix, Servant

CAN YOU PROVIDE A GIFT?

The Hispanic Ministry in our district has a worship service and Christmas celebration for the Hispanic congregations from Oak Summit UMC, Marvin UMC, and Green Street UMC in December. As part of the celebration, there will be a party with a piñata and gifts for approximately 150 children served by the ministry.

Our Hispanic congregations are experiencing financial hardships and do not have the funds to help purchase Christmas gifts. This is our opportunity to help! The church office has received a request to provide gifts for 10 children: 4 boys, age 8 years, 4 girls, age 10 years, 1 boy age 16, and 1 girl age 15. No more than $20 is to be spent on a child. Each gift is to be wrapped and labeled with the gender and age and should be returned to the church office by Dec. 2^nd.

Call the church office to let me know you will help! Kay Lasley at 945-3029.

A SPIRITUAL GIFT-BASED MINISTRY

Colorful leaves and cooler weather tell us we are nearing the end of this calendar year. This is a good time for us as individuals and as a community of faith to reflect on the stewardship of our Christian life. Rather than speak of the financial responsibilities of stewardship, which I will address in a later writing, I write to you instead about how we as stewards must protect and promote a gift-based ministry at Brookstown.

The Apostle Peter tells us “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you have received" (1 Peter 4:10). As stewards of our Christian faith, we must live our spiritual gifts for service to each other and our community. Our mission and focus should be determined by our spiritual gifts. It's not a question of "do we have gifts?" but rather "what gifts do we possess, and how shall we live them?" We can protect and revitalize our faith through a gift-based ministry.

Our congregation provides the perfect place to not only discover our gifts, but also to develop, improve, and link them. The spiritual center of the steward is God. To be a church, to grow as Christian disciples, and to live as Christian stewards requires us to set aside the "I" from time to time to become the "we" that God most deeply desires. If grace is where we encounter God, then as stewards we need to manage wisely and well those blessings given to our congregation and community that allow us to know, love, and serve God better. These graces create sacred space where God can be met, known, adored, and served. Stewards have an awesome responsibility to protect and defend them.

At Brookstown we flourish in these graces such as worship, communion, festival, and the tithe. Brookstown provides us with worship. A time to offer thanks, adoration, and praise to God. Brookstown provides us with communion, a time to sacrifice our sense of entitlement to share God’s grace with all, including those we may not like or with whom we may disagree. Only as faithful stewards of our communion will we build something that provides the world a positive witness of the transforming power of Jesus Christ. Brookstown provides us with festival. Our festivals remind us that God can be fun. Festivals bring us together where we are all guests and God is the host. Finally, Brookstown provide us with the tithe, a symbolic act of our covenantal relationship with God. Tithing is not about supporting the work of our Church; rather it’s our celebration and recognition of God’s communion with us.

I close with asking your support for Brookstown. Not because we have bills to pay, but because God has given us a sacred blessing of each other joined to form a body of Christ. My faith has grown during my seven years here, yet I still have much greater faith ahead of me. I can’t imagine growing in my love for God and friends anywhere other than Brookstown. As good stewards, let’s all commit to a rich gifts-based ministry that will serve all of us, our community, and future generations.

November 18, 2007, is Stewardship Sunday. Please join us as we begin to prepare for a new year filled with Christian love and fellowship.

John Jameson

Chairman of Finance/Stewardship

WE EXTEND OUR DEEPEST SYMPATHY to the family of Elva Mae Needham, who died on September 30.

10/23/07 COM Highlights

Evangelism

Thanks to everyone who helped make our first “Arts and Faith” Festival a success. Please give Benita ideas for future festivals.

The Enrichment Center dancers will be here on November 11 at the 11:00 am service.

The Bell Choir from Beck’s Baptist Church will be in concert here on December 9.

Potential events include a revival, a Christian Comedy Night, and a ‘Coffee House’ or

‘5^th Quarter’ event for youth.

Worship

A more prominent notice of our SONrise Worship Service on the lighted sign is in the works.

Subcommittees have been created for the SONrise Worship Service and for the Traditional Worship Service due to the different nature of these two services.

Concerns about our traditional worship service are being addressed.

Missions

A Chicken Pie Workshop is scheduled on November 15. Everyone’s help is appreciated.

A Missions Director could help us be more directly involved in mission opportunities.

Education

The Women’s Bible Study at 4:30pm on Sunday in the Ola Apperson classroom is going well. Everyone is invited.

A Christmas program involving our children and youth is being planned.

Lay Leader

Doris Biddix led a Spiritual Gifts Workshop on October 27.

The Subway Restaurant (Grandview) will sponsor a “Brookstown UMC” Day on November 25. 10% of the sales to our members who present our bulletin will be given to our church.

Adult Coordinator

A work day for cleaning up the church yard is scheduled for Dec. 1.

Family Life

Camp Elk Shoals planning for next summer is underway. Camp sites and rooms in the Volunteer Inn are available for August 8-9-10 and September 12-13, 2008 for families and singles. Contact Teresa Apperson for details and reservations.

Youth

Collecting money for UNICEF and working at the Children’s Home are the service projects for October and November.

They will begin a study of different denominations with guest speakers soon.

Denise Yost is resigning as youth director due to her work schedule. She has agreed to stay until the end of December to help with the transition time. A HUGE thank you to Denise for all the amazing work and love that she extends to our youth in their spiritual journey. Those interested in applying for this position should contact Stan Crews or the Pastor Parish Committee.

Pastor

Our new church directory is well underway.

The membership roll has been audited by Kay Lasley and Julie Hayes.

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Our annual Charge Conference went well. Thanks to all who helped prepare reports and to all who attended.

Addendum to meeting: At this meeting we DID NOT discuss the budget, although there is no doubt that the entire meeting could have been this topic. As the COM chair, I feel that these needs and concerns will be addressed as they arise, and bringing them to the forefront will result in energy spent on issues that we know exist and cannot solve overnight. I continue to pray that as a congregation we will respond to His call, reaching out to members of our church to minister to them, and continue to pray about how we can be the hands and feet of Christ in our own church as well as in our community and the world at large.

Benita VanWinkle, Chairperson

DONOR SABBATH

Faith based communities around the country observe Donor Sabbath as a way of bringing attention to the critical need for life-saving organs and tissue for transplant. Brookstown will observe Donor Sabbath on November 4^th. Every major religion in the United States supports organ, eye and tissue donation as one of the highest expressions of compassion and generosity. You have the power to change someone’s world by being a donor. It’s about living. It’s about life.

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CHICKEN PIE WORKSHOP

A chicken pie workshop will be held Thursday, November 15^th.

Dough rollers are asked to come at 9 AM.

De-boners, choppers, and assemblers are requested at 11 AM.

Kitchen clean-up is set for Wednesday, Nov. 14^th, at 6 PM.

Please contact Kay Lasley or Pam Steppe to sign up to help. Each worker may purchase up to 3 pies that day. This will be the last workshop this calendar year.

Kay Lasley