SUMC Announcements

The United Methodist Women will meet on Sunday, January 17 in the Simpson Room after the 10:45 a.m. worship service. We will have a light lunch followed by a business meeting and the Pledge Service.

Thanks to donations received since the November meeting, we were able to pay all of the 2009 budget items in the Western PA conference agency category as well as the Community Needs category and still have $275 remaining. At our December meeting, we voted to send additional monies to the Ruth M. Smith Center and Bethany House. Our total budget for 2010 is $4,405.

Our congratulations to Pat Leiphart who was elected Coordinator for Spiritual Growth for the Western PA conference UMW.

Back by popular demand, we will be selling tomato knives and vegetable peelers from Rada cutlery. Look for them at the December 3 luncheon or contact Pat Grossarth at 412-741-6208. They make excellent gifts. We will also be selling Christmas items at our table on Dec. 3. Please check your basement or attic for possible donations.

We made $464 at our November rummage sale. Thanks to all who donated items and volunteered the two days of the sale. However, we still need additional funds before December 10 in order to pay all of the missions that we support. If you still owe on your pledge, please get the money to Pat Grossarth.

Our Christmas dinner will be at Pam Wright’s home on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. Please call Pam at 412-741- 9747 by Dec. 1 to make a reservation ($5.00 donation).

“The Yada Yada Prayer Group” series is available in the church library. The author, Neta Jackson, writes these stories with such realism that you feel like you’re sitting in on their discussions and their various life situations. They do some wild and crazy things like Polar Bear swimming on the first day of January in Lake Michigan. The book is written as a fiction story but the life experiences are easily related to our everyday living. Of course as I read this book sitting on the beach in 85 degree temperatures, the snow and cold winter of Chicago seemed to just melt away. This book is an easy read and very enjoyable. Check out these books and many others in our church library.

Hello SUMC friends,

This Sunday, November 1, is your last chance to place an order for your Christmas Wreath or make your payment if you have already ordered a wreath. Checks should be made out to SUMC (’wreath’ in the notes section). If you have any questions, please call Sandra Lane at 412-741-6724.

Blessings,
Sandra

All the children in the church and their friends are invited to go trick-or-treating for UNICEF on Halloween, October 31st. Come in costume and meet in the Simpson Room at 1:30pm. We will finish by 3pm. Parents are welcome to accompany their children. If you are coming, please contact the church office or Barbara Bower (e-mail: blb@sgkpc.com) so that we can get an accurate headcount.

All of the funds collected by the children will go to UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund) to support their programs to provide food, clean water, medicine and education to children throughout the world.

The UMW will hold a fall rummage sale on Friday and Saturday, November 6 & 7 from 8 a.m. until noon both days. Please leave your items in the potato room in the church basement.

The rummage sale in September was very successful, raising over $1,100 for missions serving women, children and youth. Thank you very much for your contributions.

Our next meeting will be Monday, November 16 at 7 p.m. Over 25 shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child were wrapped and filled at our last meeting.

Congratulations to Pat Leiphart who was elected Mission Coordinator for Spiritual Growth at the recent annual meeting of the Western PA conference UMW.

Thanks to all who contributed to the September Rummage Sale. We raised over $1,000 which will support mission projects in our area, our country and around the world. We will have another Rummage Sale Nov. 6 & 7.

Our next meeting will be October 19 at 6 p.m. in the Simpson Room. We will begin with a light supper and following a brief business meeting, we will work on a special project - Christmas Shoeboxes.

I wanted to remind you about the SUMC chancel Choir’s performance this Saturday evening. We are participating in the Sweetwater Center For the Arts Mavuno Gospel Choir festival, along with a few other area church choirs. The concert will be this Saturday evening at 6:30, and it will be held at the Rea Auditorium at Sewickley Academy. I hope you will be able to come and support our choir. See you there.

Daniel Seigfried
Choir Director

The Pittsburgh District United Methodist Women’s annual meeting is Saturday, September 26 at the Coraopolis UMC from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
The cost is $5.00 per person. Call or email district treasurer, Brenda Vogel by Monday, Sept. 21. Her contact info is 412-276-5473 or btvogel44@comcast.net

The United Methodist Women will have a potluck dinner on Monday, September 21 at 6 p.m. in the Simpson Room, followed by a program by the Red Bird Mission Team. They will also be sewing the tote bags for UMCOR school kits. If you have a portable sewing machine, please bring it to the meeting.

The set-up for the Rummage Sale will begin on Tuesday, September 8 and continue throughout the week. Please contact Pat Grossarth if you can help with this. The sale will take place on Friday and Saturday, September 11 and 12 from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. Helpers are also needed these days as well.

The Liturgist’s Breakfast is scheduled for September 26 at 8:30 AM in the Simpson Room. The breakfast and planning of the program for October, November and December will be discussed. If you are interested in being a liturgist, please come to this breakfast or contact Patricia Leiphart or Atleah Grubb. Being a liturgist is a great way to give service to God and to our church family. Our goal is to be all inclusive and to share our talents in public speaking.

For the young folks, we recently bought four new DVDs for the children’s church program. The Veggie Tales series has two new “Heroes of the Bible” disks with great stories of characters of Bible passages. “Larry Boy and the Fib from Outer Space” is waiting for your viewing; watch and see what kinds of trouble Larry gets into this time. “Can the Penguins Save the Planet!” DVD has lots of action and excitement. These DVDs and 37 others are available in our church library for your use. Come check us out.

Eva Houser, Co-Chair of the library, recently purchased a great book called Thirsty, written by Amy Nappa. The story is written on a very personal level, as to a woman’s view point of the “Woman at the Well”. Eva told me that once you start reading the book, you just can’t put it down. By the time I finished reading the book, I understood the meaning of the “living waters” and have a greater respect for that woman whose life was forever changed. Jesus uses all of us to tell his story and I would challenge you to read Thirsty and see a new view of the Woman at the Well.

This book and many others are available in the church library. Stop in and see what is new.

New library hours will begin in September. The library will be open at 8:00 AM until a half hour after the morning worship service each Sunday. The library is available during normal church office hours. Evening hours are during the Wednesday night Bible Study and Thursday evening from 6:00 to 7:30 PM. For more information and access to the library contact Sandra Lane or Warren Kinneer.

Third Graders, Sarah Bollman and Jeremy McCoy will receive their Bibles from the church on September 27th. We wish each of these young people many fine hours of reading and studying their Bible. May God bless you with understanding as you discover new stories and truths in God’s Holy Book.

• Part time position (32.5 hrs a week), paid benefits available.
• Physical examination, drug testing and Act 33 & 34 clearances will be required.
• Occasional weekend events with additional compensation.

Respond to: resumes@sewickleyumc.org

Or mail resume to:

SPRC
Sewickley United Methodist Church
337 Broad Street
Sewickley, PA 15143

I’m pleased to announce the new SUMC Media Gallery now accessible from the website. Flickr never really caught on as a method by which our congregation can share photos. It required that you set up an account, upload your photos, and then share them with the SUMC group. It was too complicated for average folks to bother with. It was also becoming unmanageable as a free account.

So, I decided to switch to a different way of doing things. The new media gallery will allow anyone to post photos and videos. Photos and videos may also be downloaded by anyone. No account is required. You may subscribe to the RSS feeds to be notified when new content is posted. I’ll manage everything to make sure nothing is posted that we don’t want up there.

For starters, you can find photos I have taken at a number of events over the past few years, including the street carnival last weekend. I’ll be adding photos from the Honduras mission trip in the near future, as well as other photos that I still have to post from years past. You will also find video of From Broadway to Broad Street and The Big Broadcast of ’43. Please realize that the video files are quite large and will require a broadband connection and the most recent version of Quicktime. I also recommend that you use the most recent version of your browser, such as Firefox 3.5, Safari 4, Google Chrome, or Internet Explorer 8.

Enjoy, and please share your own photos.

Camp E.D.G.E., our 2009 Vacation Bible School, begins on Monday, July 13th. We need several portable CD players for use throughout the week. Newspaper is also needed. If you can lend VBS a CD player, please contact Martha Boward. I will need the CD players and newspaper by Sunday.

Additionally, we would like to put up two canopies, in order to provide shade and protect the children in the event of light rain. The canopies would remain up all week at Fern Hollow Environmental Center. If you own a canopy and would be willing to lend it to VBS for the week, please let me know. I would need to have those by Sunday, as well (so my husband can set it up on Sunday!)

While we have a number of volunteers, some are unable to help all of the days. We should have two adults with each group of children, so if you have availability next week (evenings from 5:45 to 9:00), and would be willing to help, please contact me as soon as possible so that I can finalize the volunteer schedule.

Thank you.
Martha Boward

We will hold a Rummage Sale on September 11 and 12 from 8 a.m. to noon both days. Please bring your items to the Potato Room in the basement of the church. Volunteers are needed the week of September 7 to sort and price the items. We also need help (cashiers, baggers) on Friday and Saturday of the sale. Please contact Pat Grossarth at 412-741-6208 if you can help. Remember many hands make light work.

Several of our members will be going to Red Bird Mission in Kentucky in August. Donations of bottled water and cash to cover gasoline expenses are needed. Please contact Kristine Swaney for details.

In the June/July issue of Focus on the Family there is an article about internet gambling. Although this type of gambling is technically illegal in the U.S., many people play online. This type of gambler also bets more frequently and aggressively than those who gamble in casinos. The article continues with an illustration of viewing life as a bicycle wheel with God as the hub and your life as the outer wheel. Each spoke is an extension of God - family, work, health, faith, etc. Then the reader is asked to view their life if gambling were the hub. What a sad difference.

In September we will be recognizing our new third graders and giving them their Bibles. As of this printing we have only two students entering the third grade. They are Sarah Bollman and Jeremy McCoy. If your student is not listed, please contact the church office or Sandra Lane, the Church’s Librarian.

The church picnic was a wonderful event with over 125 persons in attendance and great food and great fellowship with our churches’ families. It was a sunny and warm day, and many found the creek a welcome relief and refreshing as they splashed through the water. Thanks to the Nurture Committee and the Library Committee for all their great efforts in making the day a wonderful experience. Most of all, thanks to all the folks who came out, as it was the best crowd our church picnic has had in years. See you all next year.

The church library is following the summer schedule. It is open for use during the normal church office hours weekdays and on Sunday morning from 8 AM to 11:30 AM. Summer time is a great time to read a good book. We offer some wonderful books for your reading pleasure. Stop in and visit us.

Congratulations to all the members of the Class of 2009 upon graduation from your course of study. Missed in our previous newsletter were Christy Foster (bachelors) and David Flaherty (masters in history). Best wishes to all as you pursue your career goals.

I wanted to thank the community for their support over the past 6 months with our fundraising efforts and let them know of our progress. Also to remind them they can follow our daily blog found by a link at our church website: www.SewickleyUMC.org

In an hour and a half we loaded up 13 bags with 50# each of supplies. Some items donated, some purchased with donated funds. Maxed out! We had stuff left over we’re going to try to add to our personal luggage. And we still had time to watch the Pens win the Stanley Cup! What a night.

We were able to purchase 250 spanish bibles (for use in our daily ministry studies), 3 great microscopes (for our “education day” - including watershed, hygiene (Henry the Hand program), science experiments using microscopes to study what’s in their water and glo-germ - a great demonstration how germs are spread using a UV black light. We are also going to be providing the community with 100 clay pot water filters, including 11 for the classrooms at the school and many teacher supplies. On our final day, we will do a community clean up with the students. We will also bring two guitars and a keyboard that were donated for the village - we will use them when we visit churches and sing a few select songs. In addition, we will be doing some painting of the Shoulder to Shoulder (Hombro a Hombro) clinic, a mural at the school and some light construction changing out a squatter toilet for a flush one.

Alisa

Thanks to everyone who donated items for the Spring Rummage Sale. Thanks also to all of those who helped to set up, sell and clean-up. Our profit was over $900. Items for the September sale can be placed in the potato room in the basement.

The Red Bird Mission Team welcomes donations of bottled water and cash to cover gasoline expenses for their trip in August. Please contact Kristine Swaney for details.

Some tips for Going Green and living simply from United Methodist Women and Response magazine. Purchase locally grown and locally produced foods - easy to do with our local farmer’s markets. Bring your own cloth bags when shopping and shop only as needed. Wash clothes in cold water and use a clothesline or drying rack.

Remember to recycle. Bulletins from the Sunday service can be left in the back of the sanctuary. We also recycle office paper. There is a box under the secretary’s desk, a box in the choir room and a beautiful recycling tower in the Simpson room.

The spring rummage sale will be held in the church basement on Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9 from 8 a.m. to noon both days. Thank you for your donations. The potato room is full!

We will be setting up and pricing the items during the week of May 4. If you can help with this please contact Pat Grossarth (412-741-6208) or Pat Leiphart (724-266-5989). The rummage sale is one of the ways we raise money to meet our Mission Giving pledge. It also helps those in the community who are looking for clothing and household items. With the economic situation as it is, more people are shopping at thrift stores and rummage sales. We appreciate your help.

The Celebration of Women dinner will be held Friday, May 15. Look for an announcement in this issue of the Minutes.

Sunday, June 7, 2009
12:30 setup, 1:00 break bread

This picnic brings our church together with our friends from the St. Matthews AME Zion church. Hotdogs, hamburgers, drinks and paper products will be provided. Please bring your favorite side dish to share. In addition to the fellowship, friendship and food there will be games for the kids and adults. Be sure to pack water shoes, towels and maybe a change of clothes for some exploring in the nearby creek!! Please come join us – there will be a signup sheet on the bulletin board in the back of the church.

The production of “The Big Broadcast of 43″ is now available for your viewing on DVD format. Check it out to watch and relive a time from the past. Your church family had a great time in performing and singing songs of the 1943 era. Watch and see ‘Who’s on First’!

Congratulations to the Class of 2009 graduates from our church family. We will be honoring them during the 10:45 AM worship service on May 31.

Following is a list of High School graduates:
Sarah Boward
Cole Alexander
Erik Hess
Doug Zismann
Nick Montgomery
Richard Fairlie
Trey Sterner
Robert O’Donnell
Jeremy Pegher
Sean Bell

Following is a list of the college graduates:
Richard Canter
Katherine Flaherty
Megan Gates
J. A. Ferguson
Laura Kuriger
Ashleah Kuriger
Alison O’Donnell
Brian Gonnella

May God bless the Class of 2009 with much joy, hope and love.

Looking for a job? Ingomar UMC in Franklin Park hosts the Seekers job-search group on the second Tuesday of each month. The meetings are for networking and giving mutual support. The group is free and open to anyone looking for a job. For more information, contact the church at 412-364-3613 or the group’s founder, Bud Longfellow, at budleelo@nauticom.net.

Lenten Fines for Heifer International will be collected on April 19th and 26th. Any other donations are also welcome. Heifer International provides animals to impoverished families so they can have milk, eggs, meat, wool, and more. Excess beyond what the family needs can be sold and they must pass on at least one female offspring to a neighbor, who will then do the same, with the goal that the entire community will become self-sustaining.

We’d love for everyone to experience the joy of belonging to Christ, but it can be difficult to know how to reach out to those around us that we sense are in need of the peace God brings. Our conference has arranged for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to present its Christian Life & Witness Course for just $10. There are two opportunities:

• April 17 & 18 at First UMC in Titusville.
• May 1 & 2 at Lakeside UMC in DuBois.

Classes are 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Friday and 9:00 am – 3:00 pm Saturday. More information will be posted in the back of the sanctuary. Please let Kim Benjamin know if you would like a registration form. It should be mailed by April 6th.

Our next meeting is Monday, April 20 at 7 p.m. We will finalize plans for the Pittsburgh District UMW Spring Day Apart on Saturday, April 25. Nancy Shuluga and Pam Wright are co-chairing the food committee for this event and will be contacting individuals for food donations as well as hostesses for the day.

Please contact Pat Leiphart at 724-266-5989 or leipkin@yahoo.com if you would like to register for Spring Day Apart. Reservations are due by April 12. Cost is $7.00.

The Spring Rummage Sale will be held on Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9. We need your donations as well as help with pricing the items, setting up and selling. Please contact Pat Leiphart or Pat Grossarth if you are willing to help.

Pledge cards and membership information are available from our treasurer, Pat Grossarth. We donated $100 to camperships last month.

Mark your calendars for June 7th. We’ll be having our annual Church Picnic at Walker Park. There will be more details in the May’s Minutes.

God Stories, Inspiring Encounters with the Divine edited by Jennifer Skiff is very interesting reading. It tells of everyday people and their experience with God in their lives. I enjoyed reading some good news for a change and how God’s hand has touched their lives. One of our church members, Eva Houser, is featured on pages 101 and 102 as she wrote, “I asked for a sign”. Not to spoil the book, for you all, please check it out in our church Library. Thank you, Eva, for sharing your book with us.

New arrival in the Library is a CD of Favorite Hymns of Billy Graham sung by Wintley Phipps. Wow, what a great CD for easy listening and wonderful memories of past Billy Graham Crusades. Thanks to Kim Benjamin for the donation.

New to our Library is the 2008 Book of Discipline. This is a book of the law of our denomination. The book describes the job functions of our church council and the different duties of our committees. It is the guide book of our church and why we do things the way we do.

Children check out our DVD collection. We have new VeggieTales and Pond’s series DVD’s. Come and look for what is new.

MANY THANKS to the congregation for their donations thus far for Bethany House! As of Sunday, March 1, we have collected $1257.00 to help Keith Murphy and Bethany House maintain their programs! Our goal is still $2000, but we’re sincerely hoping to “break the thermometer” and go beyond that total by the morning of March 22. (Check out the SUMC for Bethany House thermometer displayed in the hallway between the Simpson Room and the sanctuary). As you heard Keith mention is his compelling messages during our services on February 15, he is currently working without a salary in order to help keep the programs afloat, so every dollar we raise WILL make a difference.

If you missed meeting Keith, he and several of his kids will be joining us for the March 22nd Lenten Dinner and performing a program for us afterwards. We plan to present a check to him (and our Easter Undies*) that evening. Mark your calendars!

* See the bulletin for more information about Easter Undies for Bethany House!

Thank you so much for the birthday surprise of birthday cake, the many cards, gifts and best wishes. You all are such a blessing to me.

Pastor Russel

We will meet on Sunday, March 15 at 4 p.m. Please note the change in date and time. We will be meeting prior to the Lenten Dinner which we will be hosting. Please remember to bring desserts. We will have a business meeting to discuss details of hosting Spring Day Apart for the Pittsburgh District UMW on Saturday, April 25.

Now that the Turkey Dinner is history, it is time to start collecting items for the Spring Rummage Sale which will be held May 8 and 9. Please note that Goodwill Industries will no longer pick up items from the church. The box in the basement hallway is currently full. UMW will go through the box and keep items suitable for the Rummage Sale. The rest of the items will be donated to St. Vincent DePaul in Coraopolis and the collection box will be removed.

If you are interested in going on the Red Bird Mission trip to Kentucky, please contact Kristine Swaney as soon as possible. She is taking the reservations for the August mission trip. Please continue to save the Boxtops for Education which we send to Red Bird. The collection container is now in the hallway between the sanctuary and the Simpson Room or you can give them to Pam Smith.

Our treasurer, Pat Grossarth, has Pledge Cards if you missed the February meeting. Pledges can be made at any time of the year. Our budget is $4280 for the year. In addition to that amount, we donated 10 Bibles for the Honduras mission trip and gave $100 to Bethany House ministries.

Names of the Class of 2009 graduates from our church family. We are looking for those seniors who will be graduating from High School or College. We would like to honor them during a Sunday worship service in June. Please inform the church office or Sandra Lane or Warren Kinneer of any person not listed below who may be a 2009 GRADUATE.

Following is a list of High School graduates:
Sarah Boward
Cole Alexander
Erik Hess
Doug Zismann
Nick Montgomery
Richard Fairlie
Trey Sterner
Robert O’Donnell
Jeremy Pegher
Sean Bell

Following is a list of the college graduates:
Richard Canter
Katherine Flaherty
Megan Gates
J. A. Ferguson
Laura Kuriger
Ashleah Kuriger
Alison O’Donnell
Brian Gonnella

If a name is misspelled please notify us immediately so we can make the correction. Best wishes to all students as you complete this year’s studies.

The next article due date for the March Minutes will be Thursday, February 19th.

I would like to put some pictures from the Turkey Dinner in the Minutes, so if anyone has a
“digital” camera, please bring it with you for the “behind the scene” pictures as well as on the 12th. “crowd shots”

The pictures need to be digital that can be sent to me via email.

For future newsletters, if I can get pictures from the various activities the church does each month, that would be great. Just send them to me and I will try to use them.

Thanks,

Joan/Secretary

Good morning, Friends,
When you have a little time this week (or even next week), please send me your entry for our Lenten Devotional Booklet for 2009. You only have to write down a Bible verse or two that is important to you; add a paragraph or two about it; and a one line prayer. I will not list your name if you choose.

You may wonder what you can write about or how flowery the words have to be???
Well, the best messages are the simplest, from the heart, and strongest. Perhaps you have something in mind from when you were a child; or perhaps some verse that has kept you strong throughout life; or perhaps, even, something that happened to you recently that has made a big difference in your life.

We have 5 entries in, with 35 to go. Let this be your start to Lent this year.
Thank you very much.
Your friend,
Donna Bell
Worship Committee

Our monthly meeting will be held on Sunday, February 15 after the 10:45 a.m. worship service. We will have a light lunch followed by our Pledge Service. In January we adopted a budget of $4280.

We will be hosting the Pittsburgh District UMW on April 25 for Spring Day Apart. We will need hostesses to greet our guests as well as cooks and servers.

WANTED: Names of the Class of 2009 graduates from our church family. We are looking for those seniors who will be graduating from High School or College. We would like to honor them during a Sunday worship service in June. Please inform the church office or Sandra Lane or Warren Kinneer of any person not listed below who may be a 2009 GRADUATE.

Following is a list of High School graduates:
Sarah Boward
Cole Alexander
Erik Hess
Doug Zismann
Nick Montgomery
Richard Fairlie
Trey Sterner
Robert O’Donnell
Jeremy Pegher
Richard Canter

Following is a list of the college graduates:
Katherine Flaherty
Megan Gates
J. A. Ferguson
Laura Kuriger
Ashleah Kuriger

If a name is misspelled please notify us immediately so we can make the correction. Best wishes to all students as you complete this year’s studies.