Champaign County Yada Yada Prayer Group Meeting

Six area churches of various denominations (Savoy UMC, Glory Center, Living Hope, First Christian, Stone Creek and Homer UMC) came together for prayer, worship, praise and fellowhip this morning. This group was formed after a Yada Yada conference at Savoy UMC and is loosely modeled after the prayer group in the Yada Yada book series by Neta Jackson. (These books are available in our church library.) The group meets monthly at various churches in Champaign County and is open to all women for prayer, nurturing and fellowship. The next meeting of the Champaign County Yada Yada Prayer Group will be decided and announced soon.

KIC Earth Day Outing

The Kids In Christ (KIC) celebrated Earth Day with an outing to Homer Lake. Stacey Clementz, director of environmental education, greeted the group and explained some of the work that Champaign County Forest Preserve does at Homer Lake. Then, before we took off on a hike, she supplied each student with a plastic bag and gloves so that they could help out by picking up trash and other potentially harmful items along the trails. The kids had a great time discovering animal tracks, identifying various kinds of plants and fishing trash out of the lake. Half the fun was seeing how close they could get to the lake without getting wet. We all had a great time. Many thanks to Stacey for sharing her wealth of knowledge and making our Earth Day outing so much fun.

Chicken Noodle Dinner

The annual chicken noodle dinner and silent auction was a huge success. Many thanks to everyone who participated, donated and/or attended. All the proceeds will be used to fund the mission trip to Henderson Settlement in Frakes, KY June 6-12, 2010. 13 missionaries from HUMC will be building a room addition for a family in Chenoa, KY.

Church Library/New Materials/April

The following books have been added to the church library and can be found on the recent acquistion table.

The Daniel's Fast Cookbook by Grace Bass
The Daniel Fast for Spiritual Breakthrough by Elmer L. Towns
How to Pray with the Bible by Page McKean Zyromski
In the Land of Believers by Gina Welch
The Parables for Today by Alyce M. McKenzie
Unbinding Your Church by Martha Grace Reese
Unbinding the Gospel by Martha Grace Reese
Unbinding Your Soul by Martha Grace Reese

Palm Sunday - Lenten Fair

As the crowd in Jerusalem welcomed Jesus into the city over 2000 years ago, HUMC children led worship this morning bringing their palm branches into the sanctuary and leaving them at the foot of the cross. Following worship, the kids and adults together celebrated the annual Lenten Fair, with:

egg
painting

palm
crosses

foam
crosses

rainbow
keychains

and the best ever, freshly baked pretzels!

KIC St. Patrick's Day Party

We had a beautiful Spring day for our Kids in Christ St. Patrick's Day party. The 2nd - 5th graders had a great time and enjoyed delicious after school snacks, played outside games, made a St. Patty's craft, learned about St. Patrick and the meaning of the shamrock. In worship they talked about different ways to praise and worship God and then, made a joyful noise with rhythm instruments. (In hindsight, I'm thinking that may not have been the wisest choice.) They also learned how to catch a leprechaun who taught them that not all wishes bring true happiness. The last KIC for the semester will be on April 21. We will be taking the church bus out to Homer Lake for an Earth Day program.

Pancake & Sausage Breakfast

Today the United Methodist Men prepared their annual Pancake & Sausage Breakfast for the community.  Those attending enjoyed good food, good fellowship, and this year's featured blueberry pancakes (see photo), which were delicious and much appreciated by all.  The men served over 150 breakfasts, raising money for a variety of church and outreach projects this year.  Thanks to everyone who attended, and if you missed it - kind of like the Cubs and spring training - there will be another chance next year!