A short presentation was made following fellowship time today, covering the ways that Homer United Methodist Church (HUMC) is using email and web sites and services to communicate and inform members of the congregation, as well as to reach out to the community.
Sites and services include:
HUMC Pray (email prayer chain)
HUMC Announce (email announcements and reminders for upcoming activities)
Monthly Newsletter (email distribution by PDF file attachment)
National United Methodist Church "Find-a-Church" service
HUMC web site
HUMC facebook group
HUMC blog
HUMC library "card catalog"
For additional information, including email addresses, see the presentation slides (PDF file, 107 KB).
We are only beginning to discover the ways we can use these, or similar, sites and services to increase communication, build community, and spread the Word. Your participation and, especially, input will make them successful! Let me know if you have questions or comments.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Church Library/New Books/August
This month there have been several generous donations to the church library. The following books have been added to the church library and are ready for check out. They can all be found on the recent acquisition table which is located just outside the door to the adult library room.
Any Minute by Joyce Meyer
Battling Unbelief by John Piper
The Beautiful Story ed. by J.W.Buel
Day by Day by Charles Swindoll
Family Word Finder by Reader's Digest
The Gift of Encouraging Words by Florence Littauer
Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart Songs 4 Worship
God's Best for You by Marilyn Morgan Helleberg
God's Little Promise Book by Word Publisher
Growing as a Christian by Leisure Time
Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets
Irresistible Invitation by Maxie Dunnam
Joy for the Journey by Word Publish
The Lord and His Prayer by N.T. Wright
The Lord's Prayer by Douglas Connelly
Love Adds a Little Chocolate by Medard Laz
Mosquito on an Elephant's Rump by Terry Teykl
Open the Eyes of My Heart Songs 4 Worship
Praying in Color by Sybil MacBeth
Praying in Color: Kid's Edition by Sybil MacBeth
The Principles of Spiritual Growth by Miles Stanford
The Standard Vacation Bible Courses ed. by Florence Waterman
The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary ed. by Merrill Tenney
Any Minute by Joyce Meyer
Battling Unbelief by John Piper
The Beautiful Story ed. by J.W.Buel
Day by Day by Charles Swindoll
Family Word Finder by Reader's Digest
The Gift of Encouraging Words by Florence Littauer
Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart Songs 4 Worship
God's Best for You by Marilyn Morgan Helleberg
God's Little Promise Book by Word Publisher
Growing as a Christian by Leisure Time
Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets
Irresistible Invitation by Maxie Dunnam
Joy for the Journey by Word Publish
The Lord and His Prayer by N.T. Wright
The Lord's Prayer by Douglas Connelly
Love Adds a Little Chocolate by Medard Laz
Mosquito on an Elephant's Rump by Terry Teykl
Open the Eyes of My Heart Songs 4 Worship
Praying in Color by Sybil MacBeth
Praying in Color: Kid's Edition by Sybil MacBeth
The Principles of Spiritual Growth by Miles Stanford
The Standard Vacation Bible Courses ed. by Florence Waterman
The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary ed. by Merrill Tenney
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sunday in the Park
What a beautiful day it was to worship at Homer Lake Park. We all gathered there for Sunday Worship and Communion.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
VBS - Thursday - God Rules
The final night of VBS! What a week of coming together (Harambe!) to study the Lord's Prayer and the wonder of God's love for us. In the opening session, we talked about the kingdom, the power and the glory that comes at the end of the Lord's Prayer. We got to sing together, and then we were entertained by some animal charades.
In craft time, the young kids learned about the power of God's spirit, how it's like the wind: you can't see the wind, but you can feel it, and you can see the effects of its power. They made craft stick windmills to remind them. The older kids made God's Eyes, a symbol for God looking with love on people everywhere.
Recreation time found everyone dealing with an obstacle course, an anology of the obstacles we face in living our lives staying true to God's Word. The kids had to run through a slalom course, up and down the play structures, through a pool of "quicksand" and then into a cave where they found the message "God Rules" which helped them finish the course through the desert and finally reaching the Nile River.
In the closing session, the skit characters took to the stage one last time and wrapped up the story with a confession by Bakari, and an offering of forgiveness by Terry, Jerry and Dr. Doolots. In the end, their working together, and not simply for themselves, demonstrated that God will provide the things that they really need. And so it is for us.
The combined classes sang "Harambe", "The Kingdom of God" and "The Father Loves Me", which really made a lot of noise in the sanctuary with clapping hands, stomping feet, pounding drums and swinging in a tree (whee!). They closed with the Lord's Prayer sung to a beautiful tune. We found out that the donations the kids brought in totaled enough to provide scholarships to ten Liberian elementary school children next year. What a blessing to be able to provide some of what we have that can be of such benefit to people in Africa. Since we had so many children registered for all or part of the week, the two kids who brought the most visitors were able to apply some very strange hair coloring to both co-directors' hair. But everyone left with a sense of friendship as well as excitement about the power of God's love.
For those who are counting, we had 84 kids in attendance for the last night of VBS, with an average attendance of 77 for the five nights, and a total of 113 registered who attended all or some nights. There were fifty adults and youth who volunteered their time and talents to make this VBS a success. As much as those staff members gave, they received in turn, and they offer thanks to the family members who encouraged their kids to take part in this week-long adventure of teaching, learning and love.
In craft time, the young kids learned about the power of God's spirit, how it's like the wind: you can't see the wind, but you can feel it, and you can see the effects of its power. They made craft stick windmills to remind them. The older kids made God's Eyes, a symbol for God looking with love on people everywhere.
Recreation time found everyone dealing with an obstacle course, an anology of the obstacles we face in living our lives staying true to God's Word. The kids had to run through a slalom course, up and down the play structures, through a pool of "quicksand" and then into a cave where they found the message "God Rules" which helped them finish the course through the desert and finally reaching the Nile River.In the closing session, the skit characters took to the stage one last time and wrapped up the story with a confession by Bakari, and an offering of forgiveness by Terry, Jerry and Dr. Doolots. In the end, their working together, and not simply for themselves, demonstrated that God will provide the things that they really need. And so it is for us.
The combined classes sang "Harambe", "The Kingdom of God" and "The Father Loves Me", which really made a lot of noise in the sanctuary with clapping hands, stomping feet, pounding drums and swinging in a tree (whee!). They closed with the Lord's Prayer sung to a beautiful tune. We found out that the donations the kids brought in totaled enough to provide scholarships to ten Liberian elementary school children next year. What a blessing to be able to provide some of what we have that can be of such benefit to people in Africa. Since we had so many children registered for all or part of the week, the two kids who brought the most visitors were able to apply some very strange hair coloring to both co-directors' hair. But everyone left with a sense of friendship as well as excitement about the power of God's love.
For those who are counting, we had 84 kids in attendance for the last night of VBS, with an average attendance of 77 for the five nights, and a total of 113 registered who attended all or some nights. There were fifty adults and youth who volunteered their time and talents to make this VBS a success. As much as those staff members gave, they received in turn, and they offer thanks to the family members who encouraged their kids to take part in this week-long adventure of teaching, learning and love.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
VBS - Wednesday - God Protects
It was favorite animal day at VBS, and the church was filled with pictures of animals, and stuffed animals, and even (in the craft area) a lot of wood snakes.
We were shown an example in the opening skit of how God protects us when we're tempted. Terry and Bakari knew there was quicksand, and they knew it was dangerous, and they knew that they were not supposed to get near it. But in they went, trying to get closer to the blue cheeked bee eater, and just like Dr. Doolots predicted, they got a real sinking feeling. Fortunately, when they realized that they were in too deep, Jerry was there to answer their calls for help and pull them to safety.
Recreation time was spent in one of our favorite pastimes: fishing! There were a bunch of hippos and fish in the water, and we had some special rods and reels we used to catch some and bring them out of the water. The fish were easier to catch than those hippos, though.
We were pretty tired after all that fishing, but we had a great snack which the snack leaders called "mudhole dirt", but we heard other people calling it "quicksand" or "jungle rot". But it still tasted good!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
VBS - Tuesday - God Forgives
Tuesday night already! Our class time made it clear what the important theme was for the evening: forgiveness. We read Matthew 18:21-35 in which Jesus tells the story of the master who forgave a servant who was unable to pay a debt. But that same servant then went out and failed to forgive the debt of a fellow servant who owed him a much smaller amount, and in fact, treated him harshly. When the master heard the story, he was very upset with his servant that he had forgiven earlier. The story instructs us that as our Father in heaven forgives us our sins and trespasses, so too should we forgive those around us who do wrong. In the Lord's Prayer, we ask God to forgive us as we forgive others.
Forgiveness was emphasized in crafts, too, where we watched a demonstration that compared failing to offer forgiveness as a rock that we have to carry around with us. If we collect too many rocks, too many times that we fail to forgive somebody, we can get really weighed down. To symbolize this, we painted a rock to remind us that we can release this weight, give up this rock, by forgiveness.
In the skit, we watched several acts of forgiveness. Terry and Jerry forgave each other, repeatedly. And although it was hard for Bakari to understand, Dr. Doolots forgave Jerry for taking his ladder without permission. When each of them offered forgiveness, it stopped them being mad, and let them continue to be friends and work together.
When we played outside, we found out we could work together to get across a stretch of quicksand. We had two mats and we could place one in front of us, move to it, and then grab the one we had been on and move that one forward. It worked pretty well. We may remember this tomorrow when our safari friends in the skit face some quicksand.
We ate some yummy zebra bars which resembled brownies with white icing. We weren't able to feed the alligators, though, because there didn't seem to be any zebra bars left after the staff found them. So we had to be extra careful around the watering hole, or scooted around it to the table where we could add some messages to the maps of Africa that we will send to Liberia along with our donations in support of elementary school scholarships.
So we all learned that God shows his love for us by his forgiveness. And we can show God's love to our friends by forgiving them. As we sang in "The Father Loves Me", our new song tonight:
Forgiveness was emphasized in crafts, too, where we watched a demonstration that compared failing to offer forgiveness as a rock that we have to carry around with us. If we collect too many rocks, too many times that we fail to forgive somebody, we can get really weighed down. To symbolize this, we painted a rock to remind us that we can release this weight, give up this rock, by forgiveness.In the skit, we watched several acts of forgiveness. Terry and Jerry forgave each other, repeatedly. And although it was hard for Bakari to understand, Dr. Doolots forgave Jerry for taking his ladder without permission. When each of them offered forgiveness, it stopped them being mad, and let them continue to be friends and work together.
When we played outside, we found out we could work together to get across a stretch of quicksand. We had two mats and we could place one in front of us, move to it, and then grab the one we had been on and move that one forward. It worked pretty well. We may remember this tomorrow when our safari friends in the skit face some quicksand.We ate some yummy zebra bars which resembled brownies with white icing. We weren't able to feed the alligators, though, because there didn't seem to be any zebra bars left after the staff found them. So we had to be extra careful around the watering hole, or scooted around it to the table where we could add some messages to the maps of Africa that we will send to Liberia along with our donations in support of elementary school scholarships.
So we all learned that God shows his love for us by his forgiveness. And we can show God's love to our friends by forgiving them. As we sang in "The Father Loves Me", our new song tonight:
I forgive you
'cause He forgives me, too,
And I want His
kingdom to come!
Monday, July 27, 2009
VBS - Monday - God Provides
Tonight God provided us with an abundance of children. We had a total of 76 kids in attendance, including 15 new additions to the safari. The theme tonight was "God Provides", and we learned how God makes sure we receive what we need.
In the continuing skit, Dr. Doolots was really overworked and tired after spending the night dealing with a giraffe with chicken pox, but God answered his prayers for what he needed when Terry and Jerry jumped at the chance to help him by delivering medicine to another sick giraffe at the acacia grove. We wonder if the group will ever get to see that blue cheeked bee eater!
After the opening, the classes studied the bible story of the multitude of people that came to see Jesus. When they became hungry and Jesus and the disciples needed to feed them, Jesus was able to use five loaves of bread and two fish to feed thousands. And they still collected twelve baskets of crumbs and leftovers afterwards. God Provides.
Recreation found the kids running a relay race to collect potatoes by answering bible verse questions correctly. There was quite a bit of searching, but an answer was always provided, and the kids had a lot of fun bringing them back in their baskets.
During craft time the kids learned that when we say "give us this day our daily bread" in the Lord's Prayer, we are asking God to provide us not simply with bread or food, but with all the things that we truly need. The crafty kids created refrigerator magnets by decorating a representation of a slice of bread, and they will keep them visible as reminders that if we ask, God will provide what we need.
The kids had a good time eating "Giraffe Spots" which looked and tasted a lot like cheese puffs. Some were encouraged to feed the alligators around the watering hole so that the alligators wouldn't get hungry and start thinking that the kids stopping there for a drink of water might look like dinner. Maybe those snacks are why there seem to be more alligators around every night!
Everyone learned a new song tonight, "Harambe", singing it through a couple times during small group music as well as "coming together" in song at the closing. The kids certainly followed the lyrics of the chorus tonight!
In the continuing skit, Dr. Doolots was really overworked and tired after spending the night dealing with a giraffe with chicken pox, but God answered his prayers for what he needed when Terry and Jerry jumped at the chance to help him by delivering medicine to another sick giraffe at the acacia grove. We wonder if the group will ever get to see that blue cheeked bee eater!
After the opening, the classes studied the bible story of the multitude of people that came to see Jesus. When they became hungry and Jesus and the disciples needed to feed them, Jesus was able to use five loaves of bread and two fish to feed thousands. And they still collected twelve baskets of crumbs and leftovers afterwards. God Provides.
Recreation found the kids running a relay race to collect potatoes by answering bible verse questions correctly. There was quite a bit of searching, but an answer was always provided, and the kids had a lot of fun bringing them back in their baskets.
During craft time the kids learned that when we say "give us this day our daily bread" in the Lord's Prayer, we are asking God to provide us not simply with bread or food, but with all the things that we truly need. The crafty kids created refrigerator magnets by decorating a representation of a slice of bread, and they will keep them visible as reminders that if we ask, God will provide what we need.The kids had a good time eating "Giraffe Spots" which looked and tasted a lot like cheese puffs. Some were encouraged to feed the alligators around the watering hole so that the alligators wouldn't get hungry and start thinking that the kids stopping there for a drink of water might look like dinner. Maybe those snacks are why there seem to be more alligators around every night!
Everyone learned a new song tonight, "Harambe", singing it through a couple times during small group music as well as "coming together" in song at the closing. The kids certainly followed the lyrics of the chorus tonight!
Let’s get together, harambe.
Let’s praise our Father, harambe.
Let’s sing together, harambe.
Let’s praise our loving God!
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