BETHEL BELL FAMILY NEWS

JUNE 2020

John XXIII, Bishop of Rome

1881 Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born at

Sotto il Monte, Italy on November 25

1904 ordained a Roman Catholic Priest

1953 became Bishop of Venice

1958 elected Pope, the Bishop of Rome

1962 convened the Second Vatican Council

1963 died in Rome (June 3)

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Christ,

On June 3rd every year Lutherans join Roman Catholics in the commemoration of a be-

loved Pope. John XXIII only served as Pope from 1958 until 1963, but he made a huge im-

pact in the world. It’s amazing when someone serves as Pope for such a short time and has

so many Christians remember him on the day he died! He reshaped the Roman Catholic

Church when he convened a huge meeting called the Second Vatican Council. In that

Council, earth shaking reforms were begun and Roman Catholics opened dialogs with

Protestants and Orthodox (Greek, Russian, others.)

This gentle loving man has been an inspiration to me in my ministry and my personal

life. He is an example for Christians to work for unity in the church and peace in the world.

Pope John was a bishop for 10 years and Pope for five years and he used those church offic-

es well. He inspired the whole church with his humble approach to ministry, his insistence

on essential catholic reforms, and his encouragement for unity.

Pope John XXIII took Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer seriously. Jesus prayed:

“I ask not only on behalf of these (his disciples,) but also on behalf of those who will be-

lieve in me through their word, that they may all be one.” John 17:20,21

Here’s one of his quotes. It gives us insight into his relationship with God.

“What am I set in this world to do? To serve God. He is my supreme Master because

he has created me, because he preserves my life, and so I am his servant. Therefore

my whole life must be consecrated to him, to carry out his wishes, in all things and at

all times. I am a pilgrim here on earth. I look to heaven as my goal, my homeland,

my dwelling place.”

On June 3rd, and for the rest of the month we would do well to think about working for

unity in Christ’s church. This Covid-19 Pandemic situation has separated the church even

more. We could not worship together. We could not come to the Lord’s Table. We’ve had a

hard time deciding when to open our churches again. We should do what John XXIII did.

We need to do all we can in our circles of influence to help bring the church closer in fellow-

ship and working together in witness.

Take care and stay well,

Pastor Norris

Another thought……...

As of this printing, we are not clear about the Synod Council guidance regarding worship in

June. The executive committee and congregation council will be meeting soon to plan for

June and beyond. We will continue to be careful and cautious.

You Are Invited

to the Wedding of

Cody Ray Trexler and Amber Lorene McDowell

June 20, 2020 at 2 pm

The Wedding will be held in the outdoor theatre with Reception to follow

in the Church Fellowship Hall.

Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church Bethel Lutheran Executive Committee Meeting April 29, 2020 at 9:00 AM

The Executive Committee met to discuss 7 important items that required immediate action. Those attending the meeting were Todd Lingle, Council Chair, Judy Hoffman, Council Vice-Chair, Perry VonCanon, Bethel Treasurer, Butch Williams, Council Secretary and Pastor Darrell Norris.

#1. We have had positive feedback from many of our people on the worship service placed on the church website. We appreciate Justin Faris making this happen and doing this for our church. We have averaged between 50 and 60 views so a lot of our people have worshiped in their homes using this state of the art method.

#2. Our church is doing OK financially thanks to those who have been supporting our mission even when we have to worship at home. Please continue to contribute to Bethel as the bills must be paid. We believe that we will be able to worship together again, hopefully soon.

#3. Our copier lease is running out. We had a proposal from Xerox in March 2020. Their proposal was for a new state of the art Xerox copier Model C8055 for $214/month. We told their representative that we were going to talk to another copier manufacturer and would get back with them. Since then we have looked at a proposal from Modern Impressions for a Lanier IM C4500 copier for $193.60/month. Since re-ceiving their proposal, Xerox lowered their price to $193.02/month. A motion was made by Todd Lingle to go with the Xerox proposal. The motion was 2nd by Butch Williams and the motion carried unanimously.

#4. Our Bethel church property insurance is due and we have received a proposal from our current insurer, South Mutual Ins. Co. We increased the contents coverage for our church building from $350,000 to $500,000. We also decreased the Parsonage coverage to $100,000. We also increased the Tombstone cov-erage to $10,000. We also added coverage on our sign out front to $10,000. The total cost of our insurance for one year increased $176/year from $6,613 to $6,489. A motion was made by Perry VonCanon to renew at the 2020-2021 amount. Todd Lingle 2nd the motion and it passed unanimously.

#5.Parsonage: E.J. and Kirsten have encountered a problem due to the current economic situation. We were in favor of letting them remain at our Parsonage until the end of August unless they find housing be-fore then. We are also asking them to compensate our church during the next 3 months.

#6. Our 2 Preschool teachers, Cindy and Jennifer, lost a months pay since the schools closed for the Pan-demic. We discussed the situation and agreed to pay them a total of $1,200 each for April even though the children are not here. We are financially able to help them out during this Pandemic.

#7. Our Custodian is also out of work both at her job at Food Lion and here at Bethel. We will ask Jody to come in and do some specific cleaning for us in order to help her during this trying time.

Submitted by

Butch Williams,

Bethel Council Secretary

Rowan Helping Ministries …”Our mission is to serve, through cooperative community action, our neigh-

bors in Rowan County who are in crisis, by providing essential life needs and educating and empowering them

to break the cycle of crisis.”

Please remember to put a few additional items in your family grocery cart each week to help others in need.

There is a cart in the narthex where we will collect these items.

SUGGESTED ITEMS for the food panty for June are: Canned fruits and vegetables; these items are only

suggestions, any/all items are welcome.

Additional areas of need are the clothing center and the shelter. Clothing center is in need of underwear for

adults and children as well as children's socks. For the shelter; pillows, blankets, ear plugs and deodorant are

needed.

Any of these items you can help with will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your continued support of Rowan Helping Ministries .

The pictorial directory got off to a great start but was derailed early on with our social distancing directives. Please know that as soon as we can safely do so, we will resume this project. A directory wouldn’t be very helpful if everyone had to wear a mask!

Temporarily Derailed!

Anniversaries

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Smith 6

Mr. & Mrs. Josh Dunn 7

Mr. & Mrs. Todd Hayden 7

Mr. & Mrs. John Hoffman 14

Mr. & Mrs. Gene Plummer 21

Baptisms

Vickye Sloop 1

Rayland Anderson 1

Olivia Hammil 2

Patrick Hillard 3

Patricia Abernathy 5

Abby Smith 8

Chloe Mowery 10

E.J. Paustian 11

Joseph Shock 12

Hailey Thomas 13 Charles Shuping 17

Sefton Lindley 14 Kristen Paustian 19

George Fisher 15 Anna Lingle 23

Charles Fisher 15 Barbara Corriher 28

Scott Swicegood 15 Christopher Smith 30

Billy Hillard 5

Linda Beck 8

John Hoffman 11

Todd Lindley 13

Shane Clancy 14

Anita Vinson 14

Dakota McDowell 16

Jeff Grubb 23

Chad Harrington 25

Lee VonCanon 25

Todd Hayden 28

Billy Marsh 30

June Celebrations

Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church

355 East Ridge Road

Salisbury, NC 28144-9404

Non Profit Org.

U.S. Postage

PAID

Salisbury, NC

Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church

355 East Ridge Road Salisbury, North Carolina 28144 Phone 704 636-0331

Sunday School 9:30 a.m. Worship Service 10:30 a.m.

Email- bethel355@bellsouth.net Website - bethelsalisbury.org

Like Us on Facebook

Interim Pastor— Rev. L. Darrell Norris Organist— Cathy Williams

Choir Director — John Hoffman Church Secretary — Martha Graham