Text Box: Greater Things John 14:12 April 24, 2007 Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church 4809 Bell Hill Road, Bessemer, AL 35022 Fax: (205) 428-6135 Office: 428-4056 Parsonage: 425-5388 FLC: 428-4920 e-mail: Pleasant Hill4809@aol.com Bobby Scales, Minister e-mail:RobtScales@aol.com Cell Phone: 746-4547 Monica Hararger, Student Minister e-mail: PHImpactyouth@aol.com Web Page Address: www.ph-umc.com

 

Text Box: Kid's News April 29 - Kid's Club - we will visit our last stop on our Journey with Jesus Tour of the places Jesus visited. Can you guess where we will go? Hint: It is not a city but a ridge of hills overlooking Jerusalem. It is named for the kind of tree that grew there! Sunday, May 6 - We will be going on the bus to Strike Fore in Pelham to play Miniature Golf. This trip is for 4yr. olds through 5th graders (preschool children must have an attending parent/guardian). The cost is $5 per child, which includes a round of golf, food & drink. We will meet at the FLC at 3:30pm to collect funds and permission slips and leave promptly at 4:00pm. We will be back at the church by 7:00pm. Sunday, May 13 (Mother's Day) - no Kid's Club On Wednesday nights, we are practicing for our Talent Show which we be held on Wed., May 16. There will be a prepared meal and proceeds will go to the Children's Ministry. If your child would like to show their talent(s), please let me know and bring them to our Wednesday night practices, 6:30-7:30pm. Tonya Koll tkoll@comcast.net Text Box: Normal Sunday Morning Schedule 8:45 AM First Worship Hour 9:30-11:30 AM Media Library Open 10:00 AM Sunday School 11:00 AM Second Worship Hour Text Box: Mother—Daughter Banquet Purchase Your Tickets from Any UMW Member or from the Church Office Adults: $10.00 Children: $5.00hildren Under Age 3 Free Text Box: Celebrating 175 years Pleasant Hill will be celebrating her one hundred seventy fifth birthday this year. Do you know what this anniversary is calle? It’s our Terquasquicentennial Anniversary. After asking for a research on the subject, three of our very resourceful members, Stephanie Huffman, Joyce Brown and Vicki Herring each came up with the same term. So I’m sure this is correct. Now the challenge is to learn how to pronounce it. Last Sunday afternnoon, April 15, 2007, the newly formed celebration committee met and sketched out the beginnings of our plans of how we will celebrate this wonderful occasion. Wathc your newsletters, bulletins and other way of announcing upcoming events as we begin to put our plans into action. We will be calling on many of you to help as our plans are developed. For example, a suggestion is that you may have some stories or remembances handed down through the years that you would like to submit for a booklet that we will compile to hand out at the end of the year. Pleasant Hill, along with our Jonesboro members, (Jonesboro united with Pleasant Hill on September 28, 2003), each has a long and rich history and much to celebrate. The goal of the History committee is to create in every member of the church a deeper understanding and appreciation for the church in which we have chosen to serve our God and his son, The Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope and prayer is that it will awaken in each member a sense of family and belonging that reaches back to all those saints that have gone on before us who faced so many hardships and worked so hard to lay a foundation—-and maintain it down through these many years. We have a very rich inheritance so—-Lets’ Celetbrate It—and then do our part to pass it on. Frances Howard, Historian


Text Box: The Media Library is open Sundays 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. & 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m and Wednesdays 10:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m. & 5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. If there are no evening activities at the church on Sunday or Wednesday, the library will be closed.


Text Box: Camp Sumatanga Registration Forms If you have a child who is interested in attending Camp Sumatanga this summer, please fill out your registration form as soon as possible. We are trying to get registered on line before the camps fill up. You can see Monica or Tonya for a form and any questions.


Text Box: AMAZING FREEDOM 2007 Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church Women of Faith Ladies Retreat August 10 - 11, 2007 Atlanta, GA Option #1 Leaving church Friday 1:00 p.m. Returning Saturday 11:00 p.m. Standard Seating + one night hotel Conference $45.00 Hotel $119.00 per room Option #2 Leaving church Thursday 1:00 p.m. Returning Saturday 11:00 p.m. Pre-Conference Package (includes box lunch Friday and Saturday) $119.00 Hotel $119.00 per room Money for conference must be turned in to Susan Blackmon no later than May 27, 2007 Beth Moore, Patsy Clairmont, Luci Swindoll, Sheila Walsh and much more. See “ womenoffaith.com” for more details

Text Box: Joy Circle The Joy Circle will meet on May 21 instead of May 28. Text Box: Sanctuary and Narthex Flowers If you would like to place flowers in the sanctuary or in the narthex for the Sunday worship service in honor or in memory of a loved one, you can sign up on the Flower Calendar, located on the desk in the narthex. The flowers will be ordered for you and an acknowledgement placed in the Sunday bulletin. The cost of sanctuary flowers is $45 for each arrangement. The narthex arrangement is $60. Make checks payable to the Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church and mark it "Flowers". Please place your check in the offering plate or mail your payment to the church at 4809 Bell Hill Road, Bessemer, Alabama 35022, no later than your scheduled date on the calendar. If you have questions call Trish Evans. Text Box: Living Stones Lynn and Larry Sides Lawrence G. Sides, Sr. was mayor of Fairfield when he presented diplomas to the Fairfield High School Graduating Class that included a young woman by the name of Lynn Wright. Neither Mayor Sides or Lynn realized at the time that there was even a possibility that this young woman would someday be his daughter-in-law. Larry (Lawrence G. Sides, Jr.) grew up in Fairfield and also graduated from Fairfield High School but at an earlier time and did not even know Lynn until later. Larry’s great grandparents helped formed Fairfield Methodist Church where Larry attended while growing up. Another one of our church members, Joanie Griffin, lived across the street from Larry at that time. He went to Marion Military Institute Jr. College and then graduated from Montevallo. Larry has one sister, Sally, who lives in Montevallo, but comes from a relatively small family. His mom, Lavinia, was a member of the Lloyd Noland Hospital Auxiliary, which supplies the “pink ladies” that do the volunteer work at the hospitals. Mrs. Sides worked as greeter at the hospital and did not like to see anyone with a frown on their face. She was always saying something to people to try to cheer them up no matter what the situation and was a friend to everyone. Lynn also grew up in Fairfield. Her father was Bill, who passed away in February of 1994 and her mother, Peggy Everett, passed away in 2006. Her step mother, Jean Wright is still living. She has two sisters - Pam, who lives in Sandusky and Jena, who lives in McCalla, and five step-brothers that live in Connecticut. Lynn comes from a large family. Her father had 12 siblings including 3 sets of twins. Lynn was raised in the Baptist Church. Larry and Lynn met at a mutual friend’s house in Lipscomb and dated for a year before marrying on May 30, 1975 (soon to be married for 32 years.) After their marriage they moved to West Palm Beach, Florida for six months and then moved on to the Miami, Florida area where they were living when both of their sons were born, Lawrence G. (Larry), III. now aged 31 and John, aged 28. They moved back to Birmingham when John was one month old and lived in Adamsville for 25 years. During those years they attended the Westwood Baptist Church where they knew Carroll Andrews. Lynn returned to school and attended UAB and Birmingham Southern where she graduated in 1999 with honors with a 3.5 GPA. While at Birmingham Southern she was in several honor societies -Mortar Board, Alpha Sigma Lambda and Omicron Delta Kappa and President of the Human Resources Society BSC Chapter. In her senior year of college both of her boys were also in college. Larry III graduated from UAB in 2000 and John attended Jacksonville State. Larry III married Kelly Richard in June of 2002. Kelly is a second grade teacher at Deer Valley Elementary and has her masters degree - Lynn and Larry are very proud of her. She comes from a family of 6 (5 siblings). Larry III and Kelly live at Russet Woods and are members of Prince of Peace Catholic Church. John is pre-engaged to Lindy Madena who lives in Thailand. In April of 2001, Larry and Lynn moved in with Larry’s mother in Fairfield to care for her. They joined the Fairfield United Methodist Church. Mrs. Sides passed away on Sept. 11, 2001. That is when they decided to move to the country, choosing the McCalla/McAdory area where they could be near Lynn’s sister, Jena. Jena is married to Jason and has two children Taylor and Will and attend St. Aloysius Catholic Church.. They found a house they really liked and purchased it from Carolyn Ethridge Baker, moving in between her parents, William and Coty Ethridge, and her uncle, Curt and Juanita Ethridge. They were not sure how they would be received but said they have been treated like family. They consider it an honor and privilege to live near such wonderful neighbors. They also said they had no choice except to start attending Pleasant Hill United Methodist and they love the church and the people. Larry retired from Alabama Power Company in 2006, where he worked in the Transportation Services as a Traffic Specialist. He now works for his son, Larry III, in the real estate appraisal business. Lynn has been employed fourteen years with APCO plus 9 years part time. She is currently a Marketing Asst. in Residential Marketing. Lynn and Larry both like to travel and have traveled to London, Paris, California, Connecticut, South Carolina and to the beach. Lynn likes to read and spend time with extended family and friends and loves to play dominoes. Larry is an avid deer hunter , likes solo sports car racing and is a short wave radio operator. We are glad that William and Curt invited Larry and Lynn to become members of our church family. They joined on _(I will check date in church records)_____ and regularly attend the Second Worship Service. They are a friendly, outgoing, interesting couple and we are blessed to have them as living stones in our fellowship. -Jean Baswell Text Box: CHANGE OF NEWSLETTER DEADLINES FOR MAY Due to the Memorial Day Holiday on May 28, the two newsletters in May will be mailed out a week early . We will resume regular schedules for June. Also, beginning in May we will go to only one Living Stone article a month so we may have more room to spotlight our anniversary. If you know of someone who you would like to write an article on, please contact me in the church office. Please let the church office know if your class or group has a change in their regular meeting date or time. Thanks, Jean Baswell Text Box: United Methodist Women Mother-Daughter Luncheon Saturday, May 12, 11:30 am PHUMC Family Life Center Guest Speaker – Linda Plowman Fikes Singer and Inspirational Speaker Cancer Survivor With all her heart, Linda seeks to be a vessel that God can use to encourage others to trust Him completely, no matter what. Linda seeks to inspire others to, “Seek and trust Him with all of your heart to enable you to do your purpose.  We can choose to be bitter or better when the trials come; tarnished, or refined as silver in the fire. May we all strive to be more like Jesus, confident that His strength is made perfect in our weakness.” Visit Linda’s website lindaplowmanikes.com to read her full bio. Text Box: Celebration Winds Concert Sunday, May 6 6:00 pm Celebration Winds is a musical group formed in l995 of volunteer musicians from the Birmingham and Atlanta areas. The group is composed of people from many professions- band directors, private music teachers, attorneys, pharmacists, school teachers, bankers and housewives to name a few. Bill Jeffries and Sam Russell from our church are members of this group of talented musicians. Alan Brroks and Robin Russell Davis have also been member s of this group. For the past few years, we at Pleasant Hill have been fortunate to be able to host this group as they present a very moving presentation of both secular and sacred pieces. Visitors come from all around the area to share in the experience. Be sure to invite a friend to join you. True to Methodist tradition, we will have a time of refreshment and fellowship following the concert. Text Box: Youth Thanks to everyone who supported the youth in our annual yard sale. We were able to make $3000 off your ‘treasures.’ This will greatly benefit our yearly trips and mission work. Start saving your discards now for next year!! The church always offers us so much support and please know that we appreciate all your givings…especially your prayers. More times than not when I am sitting in the Impact Café surrounded by our young people, I feel like I am at the primate exhibit of the zoo. Seriously, just watch middle school boys for a period of time and their behaviors are pretty similar to our monkey friends. I so often think to myself, ‘what am I doing here? How am I going to reach beyond their amazement of their bodily functions expose Christ to their spirits?’ As soon as I think there is nothing more I can do, I catch a tiny glimpse of their tender hearts and the person they are growing into. I see them changing, growing, and challenging their thoughts. I see them convicted into action. I see a movement among us. Thank you for letting me be part of the movement. Monica Harbarger




 

Mission News

  Fountain of Love Offering - Sunday April 29 will be the last Sunday we will be receiving gifts to support the United Methodist Homes for the Aged. If you have not already made a gift, I hope you will prayerfully consider making a gift.
  ASP Mission Fund Raisers - Thanks to all who have supported our last two fund raisers. With your help we have raised approximately $2,000. We still have a distance to go to raise the total funds we need, but we know that God is in this mission opportunity and that through you He will provide.
  Flags for Enterprise High School - Our mission opportunity for Enterprise High School, which was destroyed in the recent tornado, is to purchase 40 desk flags at $7.00 a piece. Currently, the students are attending school in the Community High School and cannot put up a flag on the wall of their room. These desk flags will provide them a flag to salute as they pledge allegiance to our flag each morning. Beverly Sublette, Susanne Russell's mother, is Assistant Principal at Enterprise High School. By providing these flags we will be sharing the love of Pleasant Hill UMC with these students. Make your check payable to PHUMC and designate in the "for" that it is for the Flag Fund.
  Gulf Coast Hurricane Relief Mission Trips - Each month there is an opportunity to go and assist in rebuilding homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Each monthly trip leaves on a Thursday at 4:30 pm and returns late Sunday afternoon. There is a schedule on the bulletin board. John Fillebaum is coordinating this mission effort. If you have questions or want to go on a trip contact John.
  Pop Tabs for Ronald McDonald House - Ashley Howard is doing a fantastic job in collecting the pop tabs and taking them to the Collection Center. She recently carried 29 pounds ($19.50) to the collection center. Please continue to bring your pop tabs to the collection box in the Family Life Center. Every pound helps to provide a place for parents to stay that have sick children in the Children's Hospital.
 With Jesus All Things Are Possible
                              Delbra Rivers