A monthly publication of the First United Methodist Church

The Voice Rev. Cassie Wade, Pastor

Rev. Ricky Harrison, Associate Pastor

(940) 627-3362; info@decaturmethodist.org

Issue 11 of 12

November 1, 2019

Children: Ashley Craven Youth: Patrick Steil Secretary: Ann Piña

Administrator: Bonnie Wohlleben

Light in the Darkness The cooler weather serves as a reminder that we are approaching one of the richest and yet most stressful times of the year - the holiday season! Activities at the church increase, holiday parties begin to show up on the already full calendar, and plans for family gatherings begin to make demands on our time. If we add a layer of grief to this years activities, it can be overwhelming! There is no single formula for navigating a holiday season during a time of grief. Every person and

every scenario is different. And while the following events are scheduled with those facing a difficult year in mind, they can bring meaning to others as well. Blue Christmas services are designed to acknowledge the darkness of loss, grief, and fear during a season of deck the halls. The following two services are open to all people who want to seek meaning during a sad time. I encourage you to consider attending one or both of these two events as a means adding light to your Christmas season. Details on both events appear elsewhere in this newsletter. The first event, Hope through the Holidays, is sponsored by Wise County Christian Counseling Center. This two hour workshop is an event filled with tips for navigating the holidays when you don't feel much like celebrating. It is scheduled for Monday, November 18th, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, at the Decatur Church of Christ. RSVP(940-637-1618) for this event is requested so they can plan to have plenty of resources on hand. Then on December 6 @ 6 pm, FUMC Decatur will host a Blue Christmas Service. This is a service of hope and acknowledgement during the holiday season. A selection of Biblical readings, responsive readings, and music will accompany the opportunity to seek light in the midst of sorrow and sadness. This service is open to everyone and will be held at Asbury Hall in the MAC. It's a small offering, to be sure. Two simple events will not fix our problems and may not even drive the pain away. But when the darkness seems to be everywhere, it helps to spend an hour or so in the presence of the light of the world. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." ~ John 1:5 See you on Sunday, Cassie

All are invited to join in a church wide Thanksgiving meal in the

fellowship hall on November 24th following late worship and

Great Day of Service activities.

Please bring a side dish, salad, or dessert for this annual

fellowship event.

Dishes may be brought ahead of time and left in the kitchen or you can bring the day of the meal.

Decatur Cares Mobile Food Pantry

Saturday, November 2 7:30 am, FUMC Parking Lot

All Saints Sunday Sunday, November 3

Wise County Methodist Men Tuesday, November 5

6:30 p.m., Oak Grove UMC

Administrative Board Meeting Sunday, November 10 12:00 p.m., Room 100

Charge Conference

Sunday, November 10 3:00 p.m., FUMC Henrietta

Trustees Meeting Tuesday, November 12 6:00 p.m., Room 209

Called Church Conference Tuesday, November 12 6:00 p.m., Room 100

Endowment Committee Meeting Thursday, November 14

5:30 p.m., Room 209

Staff Meeting Thursday, November 21 12:00 p.m., Room 209

Methodist Men’s Breakfast Saturday, November 23

7:00 a.m., Room 100

Church-Wide Thanksgiving Meal Sunday, November 24

12:00 p.m., Asbury Hall

Hanging of the Greens Monday, November 25

6:30 p.m., Sanctuary

Church Office Closed Thursday & Friday, November 28 & 29

CHURCH FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Tim Woodruff, Anna Spann, Chris Sconce, Krisha Pullin, Chris Copen, Robert Copen, Rachel Williams, Betty Carson, Sue Heaberlin, Loretta Vick, Chuck Porter, Terry Gleason, Bobalea Gleason, Aubrielle Pina, Tim McGar

In the Military: Jake Logue, Kolin Rottner, Keygun Beaver, Bryce Dudley, Joshua VanNoy, Nathan Darington, Matthew Roberson,

Chris Hammond

1 - Lahoma Cartwright, Kathryn Highlander

2 - Virginia Caraway, Hannah Walden

3 - Murvelle Chandler

7 - Ronnie Ramsey

8 - Kathy Sisk, Ronnie Walker

9 - Andie Keller

10 - Lillian Laremore, Terry Sanders

12 - Carla Bass

13 - Sherry Henderson

14 - Susan Cocanougher, Scott Rankin

15 - Clyde Holt

16 - Kate Bosworth, Finley Boyd

17 - Debra Walker

18 - Fannin Sewell

19 - Nanci Nellis

21 - Ken Baker

22 - Loraine Burton, Hadley Edwards, Aubrielle Piña

23 - Jason Culpepper, Beth McCurdy

24 - Jasper Benson

25 - Payton Browning, Lex Smurthwaite

26 - Lynn Reuther, Mardell Schaible

27 - Jim Hencken, Ann Williams, Erin Woller

29 - Audrey Buckley

30 - William Bastian, Claire Edwards, Thomas Laird,

James McAlister, Jim Richards

November

November

Birthdays

Donations for WARM

Personal Care Items

Warmth for Wise Coats & Shoes

Sunday Refreshments Volunteers Needed

Guest Follow Up Mardell Schaible

Care Corp

Loraine Burton & Mary Nella Armes, Co-Notifiers Doris Goodwin, Betty Carson, Angela Smith, Mildred Terrell, Kay Lane, RayDell Nabors

November 3rd

8:30 a.m. Worship Service Scripture Reader: Barbara Haley

Communion Servers: Asa Johnson, Ronnie Walker, Sharon Meyer Acolyte:

10:50 a.m. Worship Service Scripture Reader: Sally Rieger

Communion Servers: Fred & Cheryl Renfro, Sally Rieger Acolyte:

Counters: Tobi Cullop, Andrew Sandford

November 10th 8:30 a.m. Worship Service

Scripture Reader: Rita Tucker Communion Servers: Thomas Laird, Penny Holt, Virginia Caraway

Acolyte: Trey Milliman 10:50 a.m. Worship Service

Scripture Reader: Suzanne Hencken Acolytes: Tucker Hammons & Abby Reeves

Counters: Terry Huston

November 17th 8:30 a.m. Worship Service Scripture Reader: Youth

Communion Servers: Youth Acolyte:

10: 50 a.m. Worship Service Scripture Reader: Youth

Acolyte: Alissa Butler Counters: Murvelle Chandler, Ray Brannan

November 24th 8:30 a.m. Worship Service

Scripture Reader: Jack Tucker Communion Servers:

Marcy Perkins, Thomas Laird, Virginia Caraway Acolyte: Audree & Zachary Knox

10: 50 a.m. Worship Service Scripture Reader: Elizabeth Highlander

Acolyte: Lane Craven Counters: Thom Lambert

November Communion Set Up: Unnamed Class

Church Office Closed Friday November 29th

The Church Office will be closed on

Thursday, November 28th and

Friday, November 29th as a part

of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Book Folding Class Makes a great personal gift!

All supplies provided at no cost. There will be an assortment of patterns.

Additional patterns & books will be available for $1 per set.

If you can measure with a ruler & fold paper, you can do this! Youngsters welcome.

Register by Sunday Nov. 17

Trumanell Maples • 817-271-7310

ftmaplesscf@gmail.com

We are collecting coats and shoes

for the children in need of Decatur.

Look for colored tags hanging at the back of the

sanctuary. The foot tag is for shoes & socks and the

teddy bear tag is for coats, gloves & hats. Each tag

will have specific sizes needed as

requested by local school counselors.

(Watch for child, youth, or adult sizing on tag)

Deadline to return items:

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18

Please keep the colored tag with the items when

bringing them to the office for identification.

Great Day of Service Sunday, November 24th

Another Great Day of Service is planned for Sunday, November 24th. The plan is much like last

year’s when we worshipped at the regular worship times and then set out from the church, as an act

of worship to serve our neighbors by showing them some of God’s incredible love. Here are a few of the nuts and bolts of the day

so you can plan how best to help and serve:

8:30 am – Brief worship service and 8:30 worshippers will be invited to take the assigned shopping lists to local stores to purchase

items for our traditional “Thanksgiving Boxes”; items returned to Fellowship Hall for sorting; should have volunteers in the park-

ing lot if you want to pull up and drop off instead of parking.

10:45am – Brief worship service and 10:45 worshippers will gather in the Fellowship Hall to finish sorting returned items; fill card-

board boxes according to content lists; and for those interested, accompany Team Captains to the assigned delivery addresses with

boxes and invitations to Thanksgiving Dinner at the Church

12:00ish – as delivery teams return and others arrive have our traditional Church-wide Thanksgiving Dinner at the MAC

You may attend both services if you would like to help with shopping and boxing and/or delivery

We are pre-ordering the Thanksgiving birds again this year and they will already be in the

Fellowship Hall on the day we assemble and deliver the boxes. We experienced a tremendous

blessing in past years during our Great Day of Service and hope we are blessed again this year.

Come be a part of God’s love in action!

An event brought to you by:

Hope through the Holidays

A workshop for people walking the road of grief

Let’s get together and explore how to navigate through the holidays.

When: Monday, November 18th, 6:30 - 8:30

Where: The Fireplace Room at the Decatur

Church of Christ, 2601S FM 51, Decatur, TX

Please RSVP by 11/14/16 to reserve your spot!

(940)627-1618 or email britt@wiseccc.org

Sunday School Volunteers

November 3rd - Jennifer

November 10th - Jamie

November 17th - Sarah / Debra

November 24th - Barbara

Acolyte Training

Sunday November 17th following

late service, any kiddo interested in

serving as an acolyte is invited to

join in on our fun fill training.

Lunch will be provided.

Children Serving Our Church. What an amazing

job they all did!

Children’s Christmas Song

Starting Sunday November 3rd

during our Sunday School hour, the children’s department will be working on our annual Christmas song.

They will perform for the congregation on Sunday, December 8

th during the

10:50 service.

Join us for our annual thanksgiving box event on

Sunday November 24th. We will connect with fami-

lies in Wise County and distribute a packaged

Thanksgiving feast to those in need. Everyone is in-

vited for this “Great Day of Service.”

Wanna Get Plugged in? I can help!

Contact Ashley anytime at children@decaturmethodist.org

FUMC Preschool

For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm

you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 This is our prayer for not only the

preschool, but also each child that comes through the door. As we enter Thanksgiving we are thankful for

each child and that we get to teach them that God has big plans for them.

~ FUMP Directors - Amber & Katie

December 15 ~ 10:50 am

Children Singing Sunday, December 8 10:50 service Sanctuary

Christmas Eve Candlelight Services

December 24, 5:00 & 7:00 pm Sanctuary

Monday, November 25 6:30 - 8:00 pm

Join us in the sanctuary on Monday, November 25th from 6:30-8:00 pm for an old fashioned, family style “Hanging of the Greens.”

Bring the whole family and enjoy a brief time of worship and listen to some Christmas music while hanging Christmas decorations and enjoying wassail, hot coca, and cookies.

Bring the children! There will be activities for them too!

Blue Christmas Service Thursday, December 5 6:00 pm Asbury Hall

Community Candlelight Service

Sunday, December 22

7:00 pm

(Corner of Trinity and Walnut)

Wise Gives Mobile Food Pantry Saturday, December 7 @ Wise Regional

Decatur Cares Mobile Food Pantry Saturday, December 21 @ FUMC

IN MISSION TOGETHER 50/50 PARTNERSHIP EASTERN EUROPE AND THE BALKANS SUMMIT

October 24 – 26, 2019

I had the privilege of attending the In Mission Together 50/50 Partnership Eastern Europe and the

Balkans Summit in Crestwood, KY representing our Strasnice Church Committee and congregation. This year’s Summit was sponsored

by the Kentucky Conference of the UMC and was held at their Kavanaugh Retreat and

Conference Center. These summits occur every two years and alternate between Eastern Europe/Balkans and the US.

The purpose of an IMT partnership is to develop a healthy and collaborative relationship between people of very different cultures. The

partners commit to have honest and open interaction with one another, carefully listening to each other as equal parts of the body of

Christ. They set aside their own agendas and create a collective vision for jointly sharing in God’s mission. Our partner in IMT is Stras-

nice UMC located in Prague, Czech Republic with whom we have been working since 2000 one of the two oldest partnerships in the

program. The other being McEachern Memorial UMC in Powder Springs, GA.

The Summit attracted IMT leaders, mission coordinators from the member countries and representatives from partnership churches in

the US. Unfortunately, Strasnice’s pastor, Filip Gardner could not attend. I was, however, able to visit with Jana Krizova, the pastor of the

main UMC church in Prague who attended representing the Czech Republic

The theme of this year’s Summit was “I was, I am, I will be.” With introductory and closing video remarks by Bishop Streiff, the Summit

featured worship services with communion and much prayer, singing, and fellowship. Highlighting the event were presentations by each

of the country coordinators describing their countries’ attributes, greatest issues and challenges, and

church activities. With this year marking thirty years since the end of Soviet occupation, the country representatives described how that

as well as the dissolution of Yugoslavia affected their countries and churches. We also met with our partner country coordinators for

discussions of partnership activities.

I came away from the Summit with a great deal of information which will strengthen our mission going forward. I thank the congregation

for your strong support of our partnership with Strasnice UMC in this program.

Yours in Christ,

Dave Eaton

New Year’s Mission Trip Dec. 30 – Jan. 3, 2020

Did you know just on the other side of the border from El Paso, families are living in extreme poverty? Single mothers and elderly grandparents are raising kids on dollars-per-day, living in self-constructed shelters made of wood pallets and chicken-wire. For the past 27 years on the outskirt desert regions of Ciudad Juarez, Proyecto Abrigo (Project Shelter) has been partnering with U.S. mission teams to build con-crete-block homes for these families. With a new home, fami-lies no longer have to worry about their infant children freez-ing to death during the wintery desert nights. With a new home, parents no longer worry about their wood-pallet shelter going up in flames because their children were trying to keep warm near the wood-fire stove. A home not only changes lives, a home saves lives.

This winter, Pastor Ricky Harrison will again be leading a mission team to Proyecto Abrigo over the New Year’s holiday to build a home for a family in need. Ricky has been traveling to Juarez and working with Proyecto Abrigo for the past 22 years, leading teams of all ages from across Texas. This will be the second year FUMC Decatur has taken this trip. This church-wide mission trip is open to people of all ages, but minors must be accompanied by either a parent or designated adult guardian.

An up-to-date U.S. Passport will be required for the trip.

Trip Date: Dec. 30 – Jan. 3, 2020 Where: Proyecto Abrigo (proyectoabrigo.org) Juarez, MX Cost: $200/Adult or $150/Accompanied Minor

If you would like to signup for the mission trip, help fund the building of the house, or have questions, please contact Ricky Harrison (rharrison@decaturmethodist.org).

This year, let’s build a family a home for Christmas.

www.decaturmethodist.org

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First United Methodist Church

104 South Miller Street

Post Office Box 302

Decatur, Texas 76234-0302

THIS NEWSLETTER CREATED ESPECIALLY FOR

YOU!

Wednesday, November 27 8:30 a.m.—Character Builders Classroom

Thursday, November 21 at 1:00 p.m.

We will be honoring our veterans with a slide show, Sunday Nov 10th. Please provide a photo of your veteran, branch of service, and years served.

Email to administrator@decaturmethodist.org or bring to the church office and we can scan it for you. Sunday, November10