Top 5 @ SPUMC
Rev. Kara Heagel was our guest preacher on Sunday, June 29 and her sermon title was "Everyday Discipleship." She talked about her experience of attending the Dakotas Conference of the UMC where she was commissioned on Pentecost Sunday as a provisional Deacon (yay, Kara!) and got to soak in all the good things that she could as a self-proclaimed "Metho-Nerd:" workshops, preaching, worship and more. One of the stories she told was about her Bishop, Lanette Plambeck, who has often been asked during her pastoral career, "Now what is it that you do?" And Bishop Plambeck responds the same way everytime: "I love." She went on to elaborate, "I love people. I teach love. I preach love. I show love. I share love." Kara encouraged us to live with same kind of gritty, down-to-earth kind of commitment as disciples of Jesus where our primary vocation is to be people who can say -- and show -- that we love!
Our ASP team of 52 youth, college students and adults returned from for Davy (McDowell County), West Virginia where they spent a week working on homes and building relationships and hope. You'll want to be on hand on ASP Sunday, August 10th to hear about their powerful experiences of discovering and sharing the love of Jesus in so many ways. Thanks for all of your support of our ASP Team.
Your unused car could change the life of one of the refugee families we have helped settle in the area so they can get to work, shop for groceries, take their kids to the library, etc. If you have a car in good running order just taking up space in your garage or driveway that you’d be willing to donate to our Welcome Home Team, we’d love to talk with you about it. Contact Heather Kraus to learn more about his win-win opportunity.
The Spirit was at work on Pentecost Sunday as we welcomed 18 Confirmands into full membership. Rev. Lee's sermon was titled, "The REAL Mission Impossible" as she playfully talked about the challenges over the last 5 months of drawing these young people into a deeper and more meaningful faith. Each year the youth are asked to describe what they think the purpose of the church is and the one that caught her attention was "to help us remember the stories of God." Thanks to all of the parents, Sunday School teacher, Confirmation mentors and youth counselors who have had a hand in planting seeds of faith in these young disciples of Jesus.
One of the other highlights of the service was class member Izzy Duckett singing "Here I Am Lord" with the congregation joining in on the last verse as the class processed out of the Sanctuary. What a day to celebrate!
Hats off to our 16 SPUMC golfers who took part in the 5th Annual Seeds of Security Golf Tournament this past Monday. We didn’t finish first in scoring (though two of our foursomes quite respectfully finished tied for 4th at 8 under par!) but we took the prize for best represented church in the BWC. You can read more here about this benefit event that supports women and children who are victims of intimate partner violence.
