It is with great pleasure that I write my first article for the Minneapolis-Ada newsletter.  First of all, I want to thank all of you for making our transition to Minneapolis a relatively easy one.  Your prayers, presence, and gifts before we even arrived have blessed us and placed a fondness for you in our hearts.  You are living examples of the life of Christ with your unselfish giving and caring for those who have experienced loss and are less fortunate.  Deb and I have never wanted to be in the situation that has confronted us for nearly a year, and we desperately want to put the whole event behind us.  Being sent here to serve you as pastor, and with your support, I think we can accomplish that goal to the extent possible.  While we can never forget the event, we can move on and be productive in our ministry here.

Speaking of moving on!  I believe that is what God is saying to all of us.  “ . . . Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize for the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13 & 14, NRSV)  We are by no means unique in our suffering at whatever level it comes, and we must also remember that we are never alone.  So much has happened, not just to us, but also in this church and community.  I can safely say that none of us are the same today as we were nearly a year ago.  There has been disappointment, sickness, pain, suffering, fear, and loss in many of the lives in this church, and the congregation has suffered as a whole because of the events of the past several years.  Just as we cannot bring back the things we lost in New Orleans, nor our jobs with its financial security, or our neighbors and co-workers, neither can we expect to recover everything that has been lost in the life of the church either.  We can, however, pray that God will restore the years that have painfully eroded your hopes and dreams.  The one area most affected is the erosion of the membership.  There are those who sadly have gone to other churches because they felt there was nothing here for them spiritually.  They moved on to other churches, to places beyond these walls and we miss them.  Yes, we would love to have them come back, but we cannot change people’s minds and hearts, only God can do that.  We also can, and will, press on with a renewed faith, with a new sense of hope for a better today and brighter tomorrow.  Of course, a way that leads to the renewal and success we desire is to be a welcoming and inviting community of faith, and we are just that, a community of faith dedicated to living out the theme of Open Doors, Open Minds, and Open Hearts! 

Deb and I are sent here to serve you, to work with you, pray with you, laugh with you, cry with you, dream with you.  On my watch, I will journey alongside you with the expectation that hope will be greater than despair, faith will overcome fear and doubt, and that peace and calm will subside any storm and turbulence that comes against us.  And finally, God’s grace and love covers us all because it forgives us, encourages us, fills us and prompts us to move on, move out, and move up as we serve Jesus Christ and his Church together.  At least that’s the way I see it from my corner.  Let it be so!

See ya in church on Sunday!

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Bob

PASTOR’S PICNIC IN THE PARK

Come to Markley Park on Sunday, August 13^th, to welcome our new pastor, Bob Smith and his wife Debbie!   We have reserved the swimming pool and a “cool” spot in the park for food, fun, fantastic games and fellowship.

Food and table service will be provided; the Bertrand men will be grilling the meat.  All you need do is come and be prepared to enjoy the company of your church family, including our newest members, Pastor Bob and Debbie.

The picnic begins at 4:30 p.m.   See you then!

Thank you so very much for all the hard work and effort you put into getting the parsonage ready.  The furniture is wonderful and so very much appreciated.  The dining room suite with the china hutch and buffet is gorgeous.  We have made the room upstairs with the blonde furniture our Louisiana room.

Please give our thanks and appreciation to everyone who helped and had a part in making this our home.

Sincerely, Pastor Bob and Debbie

WORSHIP COMMITTEE

We met on July 31 to have reports given from the areas concerning worship.  This church is blessed to have faithful and dedicated people to assist with the worship experience, i.e. the greeters, ushers, musicians, liturgists, song leaders, diverse choirs, and their leaders.  Thank you for your service to us.

A few of the items we are working on are:

• Starting up three choir groups; Chancel Choir, Bell Choir, Children’s Choir.
• Scheduling the youth band, Sanctified, on a regular basis.
• Checking into adjusting/improving the sound system so that feedback is minimized or eliminated.  Those needing assistance with the aid of a hearing device will have that service made available very soon.
• We are looking into resuming the recording of our worship services very soon.  Since our Sony 8 mm camera is missing, a borrowed camera will be used for now and dubbed onto the DVD recorder at the same time as the service is recorded on Sunday morning.
• Pastor Bob is preparing sign-up sheets for whole families to volunteer to participate in the worship service as a family, plus we will be given a gift assessment form as well.
• Special services being planed are: Oct 1 World Communion; Oct. 15 Laity Sunday; and October 22 Children’s Sabbath.
• These items and others will be discussed further in our next meeting on August 7, 2006 at 7:00 p.m.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

If you have not gotten a call from Jean King for your birthday or anniversary and if your name is not listed in our newsletter for these special days, that means the office doesn’t have a record of these dates.  Please call, email or send a note to the office giving us this information so we can acknowledge your birthdays and anniversaries. We don’t want to miss anyone!

THANK YOU NOTES TO SUNDAY SCHOOL

Dear Christian Friends,

How thoughtful of you for my decorated basket of hard candies.  Thank you, Thank you!

In HIS Name

Della June Andersen

Dear Sunday School People,

Thank you so much for the lovely picture you made and for the decorated basket of goodies.  I have a collection of angels so I put the picture in the center and have an angel on each side holding it up. It was just what I needed for my collection.  The color is just perfect, too.

Thank you for thinking of me.

Love to Each One of You & God Bless,

Mrs. Felice Paramore

YOUTH ALIVE!

Yes, the Youth Group is alive and well!  This will, no doubt, be a great school year for all our youth.  This will also be a great year for the Youth Group.  Of course, there will be food, music, fellowship, and important faith connections.  Our first meeting for this year will be Sunday evening, September 10 at 5 p.m. in the youth room of the church.  The time between now and then will give you a chance to start the school year and get settled into your schedules.

There are other youth groups in the area that potentially draw you, our church and community youth to them, but, Minneapolis First United Methodist Church deserves to have an active and successful youth program.  Let’s all pray for the youth and their parents as decisions are made for them to connect with this program and then we can say with confidence and assurance to the church family and  the community in general, “Yes, we, the youth, are alive and well!”

Shane and Lori will be helping again this year.  God is good!  We appreciate and love them for what they do.  I, Pastor Bob, will also be involved with the group and look forward to meeting you and connecting with you.  Let’s start, right now, planning on coming and bringing a friend so we can start with excitement and enthusiasm.

A NOTE FROM DEB SMITH

Oh, by the way, to those concerned about Bob owing me, his debt is forgiven.  He doesn’t have to do the ballroom dancing – he bought me a swing for the front porch. 

When its cooler, come by and swing for a spell.  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, ask someone who was at church July 16.

Grapes & Peas,

(Grace & Peace)

Deb

A PRAYER FOR RAIN

By R. Wayne Edwards

VACATION BIBLE  SCHOOL

WOW! What a Fiesta we had at the church in late July!  The VBS attracted 61 children and also several helpers under high school age, which made our count on Wednesday a high of 73 youth.  Our registration table was put together with the help of Gail Eckart. 

The crew leaders keeping the children going the right direction were :  Angie Darrow, Debbie Smith, Deb Nichols, Michelle Baccus and Dustin Lott and Angel Constable and Madi McHenry.  Several younger kids helped these leaders including John Michael Darrow, Weston Penn, Colin Briggs, Jaidyn McHenry, Clara Cross, Mara Pounds, Jordan Pounds, Veronica Campbell, Natalie Saum, Brandy Buchwald, Sean Forte, Connor Nace, Dakota Baccus and Cody Nichols.

One of the stations the children visited was “Sing & Play Ole” where Brooke Eckert, Tacy Pounds, and Chantelle Darrow taught the children some lively songs and actions.  Another area was the Hot Bible Adventure area where Sara Comfort and Chelsey DeWitt told the youth a different Bible story each night.  At the Cactus Crafts area exciting things were made to take home.  Some of the things were: God’s Eyes, maracas, and cross-shaped sun catchers.  This area was led by Tammy Lynn who was assisted by Salem Cairns, Katie Nichols and Mariln Crosson.

The children traveled to the Maraca Munchies area for snacks such as friendship cupcakes which they frosted themselves and many other clever foods which went along with our Fiesta theme.  Ann Kelly led the snack area assisted by Michaela Diercks and Carragan Lynn.

The last station was the Grande Games which Brenda Forte led.  She was helped by Charlie Lynn and Garrett Pounds.

Another person who came up with some terrific ideas and was a huge help at this year’s VBS was Lori Campbell.  She not only organized the decorating of the church, but she also had a few “hit” ideas!  She took individual pictures of all the kids, developed them put them on a themed paper and had them laminated.  These photos, along with a CD of all the Fiesta music, were presented to the children on program night.  Lori also painted a board and made lots and lots of chili peppers to display offerings which were given to Love INC.  And, on top of all that, she filled in for the leader in our snack area on Wednesday night, and Lori then ran the sound system for the Thursday Night Program.

The program was a blast!  We had the largest attendance at the program  since I’ve been directing VBS.  None of the success of the VBS could have come about without all the donated snacks and supplies, your prayers and well wishes!  I hope that I have remembered everyone who helped…I’m doing this without notes, and I would really hope I didn’t omit someone because each person was a huge help!

Tamala Lott

FRIENDS OF MEXICO

Just a short note to thank you for praying for us.  We breezed through the border and made it to Valles.  As soon as we arrived here, Abram from Nexcuayo arrived and we had a joyous meeting with the Delphos team and the pastor of their "sister" Church.  

We brought 80 New Testaments down here.  I have 5 left after one afternoon.  We are going to Tamazenchale to buy more.  Everyone is having a great time, and Shawna is giving the Delphos team various tours of the area.

The Lord Bless You, DeMerle 

(Editor’s Note:  Gail, DeMerle and Shawna should be back home by the time you read this newsletter.)

LOST

The loss of the camera that we use to tape our services is as mystifying as the TV program “Lost.”

The camera is a Sony mini 8 mm with a tripod shoe on it.  It’s in a black bag.

If you know anything about the missing camera, please contact the office.

As of this writing, the fair is over, the last dish is washed, the bills are paid and the receipts are totaled.  The fair stand sales exceeded all expectations.  God continues to bless us!  The shifts were filled with high spirited and energetic people who oversaw the tremendous task of feeding the fair visitors.  Beautiful homemade pies arrived daily.  And the chairmen of each shift made sure that the sessions ran smoothly.  Can you believe that we sold over 200 bierocks, 200 meal-in-ones, 125 bratwurst, 850 hamburgers, 320 hot dogs, 80 sub-sandwiches, and 500 pieces of pie!

Thank you to anyone who made this experience enriching for the church community.  We especially appreciate those who stepped in when shifts were short of help or relieved workers needing a break.

The following is a report of the 2006 fair stand daily receipts and expenses.

We have come to the end of a tiring week but through Christ we all have been refreshed by his love and the support of our church community.  What a wonderful privilege!  May God give us wisdom as we ponder Fair Stand 2007.

Mary Ann Tasker and Colette Henderson

ORCHIDS TO:

ALL OUR HELPERS AT THE FOOD STAND

I was approached recently by a gentleman who gave me this observation –

“I ate at your food stand every meal when I was at the fair (he was there every day).  Yes, the food was good, the pies were great, but I ate there because all the workers were so friendly and kind!

Kathleen Wedel

PRAYER FOR RAIN

God of grace and mercy, you are the one we turn to at this time of need, knowing that you promise to provide for us all things necessary to sustain life.  You know that our rivers, streams, wells, ponds and lakes are either very low or drying up due to the intense heat and lack of rain.  We do thank you for providing what we have including any rains received in the past, and now we humbly ask for an abundant and gentle rain to fall on the parched earth, especially in the most affected areas, for our neighbors around us and for us.  We know that you are able to break the intemperate conditions and refresh us with nature’s sustenance.  We ask because you care for us! And in faith, believing in your power to bless, and with great expectation for the rain to fall, we pray in the name of Jesus, Amen!