On February 3, 1999, Bobby Ray will be taking a group to the Holy Land. We will visit the important places in the life of Jesus. We will travel with the organization called Educational Opportunities. This will be a 10-day trip. The cost will be around $2,100. This price includes airfare, all meals and hotel cost. If you would like to be part of the trip please contact Bobby Ray and he’ll be glad to discuss the trip with you. Brochures are available in the hallway behind the Sanctuary.

Be sure to mark your calendar and plan to join us on May 31 when we celebrate our 170^th birthday! There will be special worship services as well as a Celebration Lunch following the second service. For more detailed information contact the church office. More specific information is available in the weekly bulletin.

Many prayer requests have been received for church members, families and friends. Please remember these people in the prayers you lift up this month: Louise Rudder, Frank Joe Sexton, Marvin Drake, Christine Kilgore, Brady Gary, Jimmy Edwards, Kathy Harper, Linda Brothers, Stacey Franklin,
Wyatt Luster, David Reyer, Bryan Wynn, Dan Atkinson, Edith Moring, Joeline Girty, Doris Tidmore, Sam Sides, Charles Howard, Erma & Rex Keyser,
Robin Pettus, Carl Allen Williams, Sheets & Sarah Summerford, Bill Conley.
If you know of anyone in need of our prayers, please contact the church office or Nancy Shade.

If you would like to purchase the altar flowers in honor of or in memory of a loved one, simply sign up on the Flower Calendar posted on the bulletin board.

CONGRATULATIONS:

*To Amanda Hughes, Justin Riddle and Mollie Sanderson for being part of the Discovery Middle School Wind Ensemble that received a "Superior" rating at State Competition at UNA April 18. Good luck at Nationals in Orlando!

*To Christine Shade for being part of a jazz group that won a Gold Award at the DEA Competition in Birmingham on April 18.

FIND AND REPLACE

A pastor I know uses a standard liturgy for funerals. To personalize each service, he enters a "find and replace" command into his word processor. The computer then finds the name of the deceased from the previous funeral and replaces it with the name of the deceased for the upcoming one.

Not long ago, the pastor told the computer to find the name "Mary" and replace it with "Edna." The next morning the funeral was going along smoothly until the congregation intoned the Apostles’ Creed. "Jesus Christ," they read from the pre-printed program, "born of the Virgin Edna"

-Robin Greenspan

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A sign on the wall of a Baltimore estate reads: "Trespassers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. – Signed, The Sisters of Mercy"

May is an exciting month. All the youth look forward to the end of school
with their summer break. Mothers get a day where they are recognized for
their gift of love and nurturing God has given them. And summer, the time
of the year that gives us all the opportunity of having a vacation with sun
and fun, is just around the corner. We also have some exciting special
events that are taking place this month for our youth.
If you would like a calendar of events sent to you, or need more
information please call Kristina, 772-9761.

*All meeting times are 6:00p.m. unless otherwise noted.

JUNIOR MYF ( 5^th – 8^th grade)

May 3rd - Fireside
May 10th - Mother’s Day - NO MEETING May 17th- Nature Day
May 24- Snack Supper
May 31- Pizza night $3/person

SENIOR MYF (9th – 12^th grade)

May 3rd - 5 p.m. - Mystery Dinner
May 10th - Mother’s Day - NO MEETING May 17^th – Senior High Sunday May 24th- Nature Day
May 31st- Pizza Night $3/person

SPECIAL MYF ACTIVITIES:

Remember to register your 5-8th grader in the "Role of Sexuality in Christian Living" Seminar by Sunday, May 3rd. The seminar will be held May 7th from 5:00 -7:00 p.m., May 8th from 5:00-9:00 p.m. and May 9th from 9am-12: 30 p.m. It will be conducted by Bud Precise from St. Paul UMC in Boaz, AL. The cost will be $20/student & $30/2 or more students in the same family. Please see Kristina for your registration forms.

The Jr. & Sr. High will be joining together for a mission day at Camp Sumatanga
on Saturday, May 16th. We will be helping with painting, gardening and
cleaning the grounds as our project. We will meet at the church at 8:30 a.m. and return about 5:00 p.m. Bring a sack lunch and 2 can drinks. Please let
Kristina know if you plan to attend.

We will be recognizing all of our seniors on May 17 for their great accomplishment of graduating from High School. We will begin this special day with a Senior High Breakfast at 7:00 am.
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TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES…..

One day I explained to my 5-year-old daughter that if she chose to disobey me, she would have to live with the consequences. "Oh mommy!" she said with a terrified look on her face. "Please don’t make me live with the Consequences. I want to live here with you!" -Carla Lutz, Tennessee

Check your bulletin for the May meeting schedule for UMW. For additional information please call Luella Mason, day circle (772-3508) or Bonnie McNeely, night circle (772-5796)

The Double Nickels will meet on Sunday, May 3 at 6:00 p.m. at the church.

The United Methodist Men's meeting for May would normally fall on Memorial
Day. We won't have our usual meeting that month, but we will try to do
something special. Watch the bulletin for more information.
Thanks to everyone for making the Easter Morning Breakfast a great success! We raised over $300 toward the purchase of new tables for the Fellowship Hall. Everyone's support was truly a blessing and makes us look forward to doing it all again next year. Once again, Thanks from the United Methodist Men.

AIDS CARE TEAM

The April Care Team meeting will be at 11:45 on Sunday the 24^th. The average amount of time spent by care team members is just two hours per month! If you’re interested in becoming a team member or would like more information, contact Nancy or Bill Shade (650-0116) or just show up to the meeting. "When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you? The King will reply,’I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me!’"

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We know we are growing in our spiritual relationship with Christ when:

1. We become increasingly aware of our sinfulness and inadequacies.
2. Our response to sin is quick and followed by genuine repentance.
3. Spiritual battles are more fierce but we are still rejoicing.
4. We begin to see trials and temptations as opportunities for growth.
5. We begin service to Him as a high honor not a burden.
6. We are able to view everything that happens to us as coming from God.
7. We sense our faith growing stronger.
8. We desire to spend more time in genuine praise and worship.
9. Our desire to obey Him is more intense and sin becomes less and less attractive to us.
10. We are eager to share with others what Christ is doing in our lives.
11. We are experiencing an increasing awareness of His presence.
12. We jealously guard our private time of prayer and Bible reading.
13. We prefer to spend more time with Him above all others.

-Chuck Swindoll

I read a very interesting story the other day from the book, "19 Gifts of the Spirit" by Leslie B. Flynn. I would like to share this with you.

The Carpenter’s tools held a conference. Brother Hammer presided. Several suggested he leave the meeting because he was too noisy. Replied the hammer, "If I leave this shop, Brother Screw must go also. You have to turn him around again and again to get him to accomplish anything."

Brother Screw then spoke up, "If you wish, I’ll leave. But Brother Plane must leave too. All his work is on the surface. His efforts have no depth."

To this Brother Plane responded, "Brother Rule will also have to withdraw, for he is always measuring folks as though he were the only one who is right."

Brother Rule then complained against Brother Sandpaper, "You ought to leave too because you’re so rough and always rubbing people the wrong way."

In the midst of this discussion, in walked the Carpenter of Nazareth. He had arrived to start His day’s work. Putting on His apron, He went to the bench to make a pulpit from which to proclaim the Word of God. He employed the hammer, screw, plane, rule, sandpaper, and all the other tools. After the day’s work when the pulpit was finished, Brother Saw arose and remarked, "Brethren, I observe that all of us are workers together with the Lord."

People of the Madison United Methodist Church, I observe that all of us are workers together with the Lord! Your brother in Christ, Bobby Ray

Each month these volunteers of our church family coordinate the preparing and serving of meals to members of our church family who are in need. If you are in need of a meal or know of anyone who is, please contact them. May’s volunteers are Nancy Sturdivant (772-3717) and Tommie Overcast (772-7331).

On the fourth Sunday of every month our church is responsible for the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen Van. It is a hands-on mission to those in need in our community. Our volunteers for May 24 are Jim and Nancy Sturdivant and Dannie Wilson.