Text Box: Greater Things John 14:12 January 15, 2008 Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church 4809 Bell Hill Road, Bessemer, AL 35022 Fax: (205) 428-6135 Office: 428-4056 Parsonage: 936-9540 FLC: 428-4920 e-mail: Pleasant Hill4809@aol.com Alan Head, Pastor Monica Harbarger, Student Minister e-mail: PHImpactyouth@aol.com Web Page Address: www.ph-umc.com


Text Box: To place flowers in the sanctuary or the narthex for Sunday worship services in honor or in memory of a loved one, please provide the information requested below and flowers will be ordered for you. Sanctuary flowers are $45 each. Narthex flowers are $60. Please make check s payable to PHUMC and mark “flowers” and place your check in the offering plate. If you have questions, please contact Vicki Herring at 305-0587 or Keith Harless.



Text Box: Baptism of The Lord Sunday The first Sunday after the Epiphany is known as the Baptism of the Lord. This day celebrates the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and public life as He was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. As we observed the day this past Sunday, we also had a special part of the worship service as we remembered our own baptisms. Following the reading of the Baptismal Covenant Service, each person was invited to come to the baptismal font and be marked with the sign of the cross as we remembered and celebrated our own individual baptism. For those who had not been previously baptized, they were invited to do so if they felt so moved. What a powerful and moving service this was! The Holy Spirit moved among us as we were marked with the water and many people were tearful as they were reminded that they are a child of God. The most wonderful part of the service came as ten people were baptized for the first time. Children and adults alike were baptized as Pastor Alan poured water over them from our beautiful font. One person remarked following the service that this was the third time she had been baptized from the font that came from Jonesboro UMC—one when she was christened as an infant, once at her confirmation, and Sunday as she remembered her baptism. Those being baptized for the first time were: Olivia Smith Olivia Gault Brylee Burnette Peyton Sheheane Sydney Snider Isaac DeWitt Joshua DeWitt EmmaTillery Rick McCrary DeniseTurner What a blessing this day was as we celebrated the baptism of our Lord and Savior and remembered that we are, indeed, children of God. “After His baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy.” Matthew 3:16-17 NLT


Text Box: KATRINA MISSION TRIP The next trip is scheduled to leave the church at approximately 4 PM on Thursday, February 7th. We will work that Friday and Saturday and return Saturday night on February 9th, This trip will be to Heritage UMC in D’Iberville, MS. Heritage UMC has been active in helping its community recover since the first days after the storm. After running a distribution center that served over 1,500 persons a day for an entire month, Rev. David Cumbest, pastor, and the congregation switched their focus to long-term recovery, housing teams of volunteers coming to work. Heritage has housed more than 1,000 volunteers - many sleeping in the sanctuary - and logged nearly 50,000 hours of volunteer labor. The church recently built a new classroom addition, which will now be used temporarily as disaster recovery warehouse space. With funding from two UMC Conferences in Indiana, a volunteer dormitory has recently been completed. The new dormitory has eight showers and a kitchen, and is capable of housing up to 50 volunteers at a time. If you are interested in going on the next trip, contact John Fllebaum for additional information or if you have any questions. Work 481-6661 Cell 910-9382 or by email jfillebaum@jwrinc.com


Text Box: Youth News Well, the youth are off to a good start for '08. We brought in the new year with a Watch Night service and fireworks. The lock-in was tolerable for the adults.....thankfully I have six months before I must endure the torture again!!! We are in full swing with our Sunday and Wednesday evening activities. On Sunday nights we will be doing The Life of Christ series where we follow His life and strengthen our foundation of faith. Wednesday evenings are focusing on Christ in our culture where we use various media types to open our small group discussions. If you have never attended these evenings, our doors are always open. We are already looking ahead to the summer and we have a couple of trips scheduled. The Middle School will be going on a week long mission trip to Chattanooga June 8-13. The cost is $50, but space is limited. First come first served. The High Schoolers will be traveling to Washington D.C. July 27-August 2. This will be a great trip and the cost is also $50. Please begin to look into your summer plans and let me know if you will be attending with us. I am in need of some people to provide meals and/or fireside sites for the youth. Fireside: Sunday evening meals: January 27th February 17th February 24th March 2nd March 30th March 9th April 27th March 16th If you are able to help us out, please email me phimpactyouth@aol.com Blessings!! "The youth department is always in need of volunteers. Don't be a hater just because you think teenagers are a bunch of tools. Pleasant Hill actually has a tight group of young people. Holla at Monica if you want to help out." - Monica Harbarger


Text Box: The Woodlands Assisted Living invites the senior adults to join them January 19 for an evening of great music, dancing and light refreshments. Music provided by Woolfgang Moeitz from 6:00 to 7:30.


Text Box: M & M Planning Session Mature Methodist (M & M’s) will meet for a luncheon at the Impact Café, on Monday Jan 21st at 1:00 p.m. to plan our year. Please come, bring your ideas, enjoy the fellowship, and get ready for a fun year. If you wish to contribute a finger food or dessert, or have a question, call me. Thank You Barbara Clinton


Text Box: THANK-YOU Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, We don't know exactly how to express our gratitude for your loving generosity in financing a handicap van for us. We appreciate it more than you could ever imagine. Most people are not aware of the difficulties of being confined to a wheel chair or just how much it takes to go about every day normal life. We have been using our old van with a lift since l984. It is still solid, but not dependable. I believe it has been prayed over and anointed with oil more than I have. Myra and I have been married for 32 years. She had polio at three years old and has been in a wheel chair for 48 years. I have worked almost all my life and have always been able to take care of my family. I was glad to be able to serve my country as a Sergeant in the Marine Corps in Vietnam. But now that I'm getting a little older all that hard work is catching up with me. God has always blessed us and we try to share our blessings with others in more need than we are. I now have arthritis in almost every joint in my body and it is hard for me to work. I think most of us realize how great fixed income retirement pay works - you get just about enough to get by. Like Paul, we have learned in whatever state we are, in this to be content. We had asked God for help and we believe he spoke to you. Again we wish to thank each of you for your love and prayers and this wonderful gift for which we give you our gratitude and to God the praise and glory. Luke 6:38 says, "Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down and shaken together, and running over." With all our prayers, blessings and love, Yours in Christ, R. J.(Willie) and Myra Wilson (Parents of Jerri Lynn Calhoun)


Text Box: THANKS to all the wonderful folks who sing in the Chancel choir for their wonderful commitment to Pleasant Hill, and for sharing their talents with our congregation each and every Sunday as well as special events. I want to thank Sam Russell for the beautiful solo he shared with us last Sunday and Christie Peebles for her solo two weeks ago and of course, my wife, Peggy who bails me out all of the time, for sharing her voice last Sunday on “Down to the River to Pray”. Alan Brooks



Text Box: Kid's News Last Sunday night, we began our new series called, "Jerusalem Marketplace Holyland Adventure: Where Jesus Walked to the Cross", in Kid's Club. From now until Palm Sunday, we will travel back into Bible times and become students in Synagogue school, take part in Bible times games, make Bible times crafts, experience real-life dramas, taste Middle Eastern snacks, hear & sing great Jewish sounding music, learn about the tribes of Israel as well as lots of other things that will bring to life the times and culture in which Jesus lived. It is our prayer that through these activities, the children will learn more about God's love and sacrifice and become better followers of Him. Our Wednesday night children's activities began on Wed., Jan. 16, 6:30p-7:30p. Come join us on for supper at 6pm and fun learning time afterward. Children's church - remember that on the first Sunday of every month it is communion, so the 3-4 year olds will still go out for children's church in the 11:00am service only, but the k-5 and older will remain in the worship service. All the other Sundays, all children 3 yrs. - 3rd grade are invited to come to children's church during the morning worship services. I want to thank Kelli Harless, who teaches the 3-4 year olds each Sunday at the 11:00am service, for the great work she is doing with these little ones. She does need a helper each Sunday, so if you are a parent of a child in this age group, please talk to Kelli about helping out once every few months. I would also like to have someone that takes this group for her occasionally, so please pray about this and let Kelli or myself know. Needed: The children's ministry needs some storage shelfs/cabinets for my storage office. I have lots of supplies that need a place and no place to put them, so if you are cleaning out and have something like this, please let me know. Thanks for the opportunity and the privilege of teaching your children and being blessed by them.


Text Box: EVENING UNDER THE STARS Friday, February 15, 2008 We had such a great time last year at this event, that several of you asked if we could have this event again. Well, I am pleased to announce that the Music Department will again be hosting this event. The Joe Gaiattina Orchestra with Bill Jeffries directing will be our entertainment again this year. The JGO is known for its “big band” swing music. Laura Jean McGhee will be cooking a delicious meal and we will have child care available. This is a wonderful chance for you to plan an enchanting evening with your sweetheart at a very reasonable cost of $12.50 per person. Reservations are going to be limited, so you will need to get your reservation in early! Look for the reservation forms in the next couple of weeks. -Alan Brooks



Text Box: Flower Calendar 2008 Just a reminder to place your order for flowers in either the sanctuary or narthex in honor or memory of someone for 2008. The calendar is available in the binder located on the desk in the narthex. Please fill out all information on the appropriate Sunday for which you would like the flowers to be displayed. An acknowledgement will be placed in the bulletin on that day. Checks should be made payable to PHUMC marked “sanctuary flowers” and placed in the offering plate. Sanctuary flowers are $45 each. Narthex flowers are $60. If you have questions, please contact Vicki Herring or Keith Harless . Thank you for helping to make our sanctuary a beautiful place to worship


Text Box: PLEASANT HILL UMC FOOD DRIVE “BLESSINGS SHARED” In Galatians 6:2-3 the Apostle Paul wrote ‘Share each other’s troubles and problems and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a Nobody.’ Strong words! And what a challenge! These words were written many, many years ago, yet they are so appropriate for today. As expressed in Pastor Alan’s sermon on Sunday we are “children of God”. We have an opportunity to share and help those “children of God” in need by donating to Pleasant Hill’s Food Drive. Starting NOW through February 29th we will be collecting canned foods and non-perishable food items for Urban Ministries and to replenish our church food pantry. A food collection cart will be placed in the Family Life Center for your donations. I hope to unload this cart numerous times during this drive as a means to provide for the need of others. We are a Blessed Church! Share your Blessings with others, don’t be a “Nobody”! Missions Lynn Griffin


Text Box: Message from the Worship Committee As we continue to have special altar settings from time to time we will need a variety of items in order to do this. If you have any of the following that you ae willing to donate to the worship Committee it would be greatly appreciated. You may also consider a monetary contribution to purchase some items. If so, you can make a check out to the church and mark it “ Worship Committee Supplies.” Suggested items are: Fabric remnants in sizeable pieces (solid colors only please) Sheer curtains or draperies that you are no longer using (again in solid colors) Candle holders of any size Bibles Framed religious artwork Crown of thorns Religious statuary such as angels Thank you, Worship Committee