June 2012 Vol. 13, Issue 6

A Message from James C. Sprouse, Senior Pastor

On the Road Again...

The Spire

Education 2

Church & Society 2

Membership Update 2

Trinity Round-Up 3

Youth 4

Calendar 6

Inside This Issue:

The Virginia Conference lists about 636 Elders under appointment, full and part time. We have 277 Local Pastors appointed, full or part time. Together we serve the 1,200 churches throughout the state. On Wednesday, June 27, 197 clergy and their families will load all their personal belongings into a moving van and travel to their next pastoral appointment. Some will travel to large, multi-staff church communities, others to rural congregations; all go in hopes of joining Christ in faithful ministry. Forty-six of our clergy will try to adjust to being retired and will feel a bit strange when Sunday rolls around and they find out what life is like in the pews… again.

This year about 20% of the churches in the Virginia Conference will receive a different pastor. On the aver-age, congregations in our conference adjust to new clergy in the pulpit every three to four years. National studies compiled by various church institutes assert that the most effective years of pastoral leadership occur after year ten. Sadly, the marriage of most clergy and their congregations doesn’t last long enough to experience the bene-fits of long-term, committed relationship and shared ministry through discipleship. On Sunday, July 1, eleven new pastors to the Arlington District will arrive in their churches prepared to work at making disciples for Jesus Christ. Those eleven churches will swell in attendance as active and inactive mem-bers turn out to check out the new pastor. Keep those congregations in your prayers this month. As you know, Erin Van Kirk and her husband will be moving to Dallas, TX, this month. Erin served Trinity well over the last year, and now she moves on to the next great adventure in her life. We are deeply appreciative of her compassionate work with our youth. We will always think of Erin and Grant with love and admiration and wish them all the best in big “D.” Keep their travels and relocation in your prayers. Thank you, Erin & Grant! You may not know that our Children’s Ministries Director, Carol Brunner, is stepping down. Carol stepped in and got our Children’s Ministries and Children’s Sunday School teaming with young minds and hearts. She intro-duced Trinity to Movie Night and other fun activities for our children. She’ll still be around Trinity working as a vol-unteer. Thank you, Carol, for all your great work! Trinity is proud to announce the arrival of Ellen LaCroix as Trinity’s Interim Youth Pastor. Ellen is a student at Louisiana State University. She comes to Trinity with a strong United Methodist background and experience working with United Methodist youth. Welcome, Ellen! Eileen Gilmer is also a new staff person at Trinity. She will be our new Director of Membership and Congrega-tional Concerns. Eileen will be welcoming our guests and visitors each Sunday, convening our new member Dis-covery Class each quarter, and serving in other leadership areas at Trinity, including wedding hostess. Welcome aboard, Eileen! On another joyous note: Gretchen Miller retires as a United Methodist pastor this June. We are very grateful for all the time Gretchen has given Trinity as our Congregational Care Pastor. She will still teach a class for us when her schedule permits. I am very glad that Amy, Eileen and Ellen are spiritual leaders with me in pastoral ministry at Trinity. We are joined by Evan, Gretchen, Harriet, Jerry, Thoung, our lay leaders Leslie Vorndran and Scott Keough and, of course, all of you. We make a great team. All of us dedicated to making disciples for Jesus Christ. Shalom,

PAGE 2 Responding to God’s Grace THE SPIRE

On June 3, our confirmands reaffirm their baptismal vows, professing their faith in God and declaring their intent to actively participate in the ministries of the church. As I look back on their journey through this confirmation proc-ess, I am proud of them. When we started, the basic under-standings of our faith were unknown or confusing to them. But I have watched them grow and develop in their faith, understanding, and relationships with God and one another over our six months together. They have come into their own and are ready to embrace God for themselves. The confirmation journey is always an interesting one. During Confirmation, the confirmands are seeking to learn more about God, about God’s creation, about the Church, and about themselves in relation to all of the above. It’s difficult because God is a mystery. A mystery, by definition, is not solvable. We cannot apply our scientific knowledge to our inquiry and search for understanding. God, as mys-tery, is never within our grasp. We can never quite figure God out. It seems as soon as we are gifted with a revela-tion, the horizon of our understanding moves (yet again) just beyond our reach. As these confirmands complete their journey and are confirmed on June 3, I hope they (as well as all of us) em-brace the truth that faith is a life-long journey. It takes a lot of trust in God. But it also involves a confidence that even

though we might never fully grasp God in God’s entirety, God loves us beyond all under-standing and is always with us on the journey. So keep on searching and grasping at those horizons as you seek after the mystery that is God.

God Bless Confirmation Class of 2012!

Alex Brunner

Grant Cormany

Anna Harris

Logan Horan

Ashley Long

Meg Lord

Caroline Motley

Owen Russell

Tori Sandelli

Landon Sawyer

Katie Slade

David Todd

The Confirmation Journey by Amy Crisp, Director of Christian Education

June Collection Drive During the month of June, we are collecting items for Langley Residen-tial Support Services, a non-profit that serves adults with intellectual dis-abilities in Fairfax County. Trinity is offering support by collecting kitchen items for their housing. All items must be new. They are in need of pots, pans, can openers, toasters, kitchen utensils, pot holders, meas-uring spoons, etc. Please place the items in the bins located in the church Narthex or Fellowship Building. Gro-cery and pharmacy gift cards are also welcome and can be dropped off in the church office. Martha’s Table Thanks to the many volunteers who continue to help out on Martha's Table Sundays. Slots are still available to buy bread and bologna and cheese, deliver the sandwiches or be a kitchen helper. Look for the sign-up sheet in the Fellowship Building.

DC Scholars at Stanton Elementary School The end of the school year is fast approaching. Many thanks to tutors and Trinity members who donated time, skills, patience and supplies to the students of DC Scholars at Stanton Elementary School. The fifth grade class will graduate from Stanton in June. We’re present-ing a copy of Merriam Webster’s Stu-dent Atlas to each rising sixth-grader. Our summer reading program con-tinues. To encourage the children to read over the summer, we’ll be distrib-uting hundreds of books throughout all grade levels. Again, thanks to all of the Trinity family for your donations, encouragement and support of Stanton. It was a successful school year!

Church & Society by Eileen Gilmer Membership Update New Members Robert Begotka & Ignacia Mo-reno Tim Birdsell & Traci Comeau Jeremy & Andrea Dusina

Baptisms Owen Michael Deutsch Luke Matthew Schuyler Violet Love Schuyler

Deaths Charles Strickler

Address Change Barry & Ginny Garelick 559 Mimosa St #1 Morro Bay CA 93442

Len & Lee Holmberg 21105 Cardinal Pond Terr #214 Ashburn VA 20147 703-729-4525

Kent Sholars 1605 Cornerstone Ct #1202 Beaumont TX 77706

Bob Ward 2933 Deepwood Dr #7109 Burlington NC 27215

THE SPIRE Love ■ Serve ■ Give PAGE 3

Trinity Round-Up

The Trinity Book Chat is on vacation until September! In the meantime, we're planning the coming season--and need your ideas. Please join us for coffee at Star*Nut Gourmet (1445 Laughlin Avenue, McLean) on Satur-day, June 9, at 10 a.m. Can't make it? Just

email your book suggestions to Kathy Maher (Kathyngs@gmail.com) by Sunday, June 10. Thanks! The Broadway Light concert has been rescheduled for Friday, September 21 at 7:30 p.m.

D id you know? The Sunday worship bulletin is e-mailed each week (usually on Thursday after-noon). Included in that e-mail is also a link to the

Membership Directory, so if you didn’t download it when it was published, you can always find it in a recent e-mail message. The weekly e-mail also includes who is serving in worship for the next two weeks, upcoming events, and special notes about events for the week. If you aren’t receiving these messages, please send your e-mail address to umtrinity@vacoxmail.com to be added to the list. Summer office hours: The office closes at 12 p.m. on Fridays during June, July & August.

Shelter blankets, comfort pillows, sur-gery dolls, adult bibs and clothing protec-tors are just a few of the more than 100 items Trinity's Crafts for a Cause made recently for patients at local hospitals and for residents of the Northern Virginia Training Center. The group also sent 100 hand-stamped cards for U.S. troops to send to loved ones. Last month, several Crafters attended the Teddy Bear Brunch, where Fair Oaks Hospital paid tribute to all the volunteers who donate handmade bears and other items to hospital patients. Trinity's Crafters are now com-mitted to providing at least 15 comfort pillows per month for chemotherapy patients, along with bears, dolls and newborn caps. Crafts for a Cause is open to anyone interested in lending a hand with stuffing bears, dolls and pillows; cut-ting and sewing fabric; hand-stamping cards; and making no-sew fleece shelter blankets. The craft sessions are held on every other Monday night at 7 p.m. in Room 122. This month, the sessions will be on June 11 and June 25. We also have patterns for crocheting, knitting and sewing projects at home. For more information, contact Molly Sprouse at mollysprouse@gmail.com or 703-356-4896.

Graduate School Plans for Fall Hardy Cox McLean High School University of Missouri Andy Gilmer McLean High School Christopher Newport University Elizabeth Lord McLean High School Samantha Mastrostefano Holton-Arms School Virginia Polytechnic Institute Cabell Sawyer McLean High School University of Virginia Victoria Todd The Maderia School Christopher Newport University Kendal N. Cormany University of Advanced Technology Cassandra Mastrostefano Brown University Emily Sprouse George Mason University Catherine Wethington Catholic University of America Catholic University of America Have a graduate in the family who is not listed here? Send the name, school fu-ture plans, a recent photo and a baby photo to Ellen LaCroix. Graduates will be recog-nized during the 10:30 service & Fellowship on June 17.

If you are interested in joining the church, scheduling a baptism or learning more about our ministries, please contact a pastor or the church office.

Are you moving? Please send your address to the church office. (umtrinity@vacoxmail.com, 703-356-3312 ). This will ensure that we have all the correct infor-mation to send news and con-tribution statements to the correct address. The next membership Directory will be published and distrib-uted electronically during the first week of July.

PAGE 4 Responding to God’s Grace THE SPIRE

But Not Farewell By Erin Van Kirk, Director of Youth Ministry

About a year ago, Grant and I thought we were just "church shopping" when we stumbled upon Trinity. Little did we know what God really had in store. In no time, we felt welcomed into the Church family here- and I found my-self employed! Director of Youth Ministry- my first job out of college! I was excited and more than a little nervous about entering the "working world." My college friends and I would compare notes about our new "grown up lives," and I quickly realized that I didn't have just any normal job. In fact I wouldn't even call it a job, but a life-changing ex-perience that I will never forget. In the past year, I have learned more about faith, church, and what it means to be a community than in my previous 22 years. In fact, I would like to share with you just a few of the many things that I have learned:

1. God is awesome. There are times in my life that have made me question aspects of my faith, but not a day goes by without further proof of God's awesomeness.

2. Youth are awesome (at least the ones here at Trinity). They are driven, dedicated, and loving. They care about the world and have the talent and desire to make some great changes. They are living proof of God's greatness.

3. Church is awesome. And it is about more than what goes on during "church." It is about form-ing relationships, nurturing one another, contin-ual learning, growth, and giving of ourselves to our entire community.

4. You are awesome. Each and every one of you has impacted this church and this community, and in doing so you have touched more lives than you know. Even if we never met face to face, your involvement has impacted me, taught me, and helped me grow. I thank you.

There is a lot going on at Trinity, and I will miss so much of it, but mostly I will miss the people, for you all are what really make Trinity a great church. What a wonderful congregation to grow along-side! I speak for myself and Grant when I say thank you for welcoming us into your church family for the past year. Thank you for your love and support. Thank you for your friend-ship and guidance. We will never forget Trinity. We will be back to visit, but in the meantime we would like to leave you with this poem by Michael Hughes:

Farewell my friend, but not farewell, What do I know of our tomorrows?

Our lives held securely in our Lord's hands, But still inside I feel this sorrow,

Will we meet again in this brief life? Our hands clasped in brotherly love, Our Savior knows, in whom we trust,

If not here, it will be up above, So farewell my friend, but not farewell,

For there is one thing we have together, The love of our Father and our Savior above,

With this love we will worship our God forever. While we are sad to say good-bye, we have faith that God has great things in store for us in Dallas. We are blessed to be taking your prayers and support with us. Our home will always be open to any Trinity folk visiting Texas!

My name is Ellen LaCroix, and this summer I will be serving as the Interim Youth Director. I am currently a senior at Louisiana State University where I am pursuing my bachelor’s degree in psychology and religious studies. I was born and raised in the small town of Alexandria, Louisiana, where it takes less than 15 minutes to drive all the way across town in “rush hour” traffic. Needless to say, it has been a bit of a transition coming to McLean, but I could not have asked for a better faith family to help with this transition. The United Methodist Church has been a

cornerstone in my life. It has fostered my personal faith, given me true broth-ers and sisters in Christ, and provided the guidance and affirmation to explore my own call to ministry. My high school youth group played a major role in my spiritual develop-ment. This summer I hope to offer that same experience to the youth group here at Trinity. Summertime has al-ways been my favorite time in the church. It is a chance to grow in rela-tionship with each other, have a few crazy adventures, and dive deeper in personal spirituality. From mission trips

and lock-ins to late night movies or just relaxing with friends at the church, the possi-bilities for the summer-time are vast. My hope for the summer is sim-ply to walk with this youth group as they discover what Christ has in store for their future. Trinity UMC and the youth at this church have been on my heart and in my prayers for many months now. I look forward to the ad-ventures before us, and to becoming a part of this faith community.

An Introduction By Ellen LaCroix, Interim Youth Director

THE SPIRE Love ■ Serve ■ Give PAGE 5

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Suzanne Watts Tom Horan & Peggy Fox Scott & Erika Keough

2 Kate Motley Peter Nance

3 Dan Aronowitz Davis Barney Kathy Rasmussen

4 Jean Gililland Kyra Macomber Colin Montgomery Josh Smith

5 Jim Wallace

6 Dara Laughlin Phuong Nguyen Andrew Wegrzyn Andy & Karen Briscoe

7 Allison Boyle Carol Bruce Katie Wise John & Julie Smith

8 Joel Lewton Reba Page & Behram Shroff Becky & Tom Sawyer

9 Rahn Kim Katie Slade Sally Swanson Robin & Harold McConnell

10 Martha’s

Table Sandwich Sunday Teacher

Recognition

Caty Benson Caroline Danner Krista Gehring

11 Bill Arthur Karen Hunt Dianne Martin

12 Matthew Boyle Susie Coston Karen Taylor

13 Ruth Circle Suzanne & Jim Hamilton Ed & Phyllis King

14 Colton Horn Sedina Tsikata Doug & Sally Swanson

15 Clara Danner John Eames John Kim Mark & Janet Robinson

16 Isabel Barney Kathy Maher Natacha Moore Stacie Steinke Jay & Anne Arnold

17 Graduate Recognition

Brad Duty

18 James Betts Palmer Robeson Roy Saunders Earl & Mary Lou Griggs

19 Kevin Boyle

20 Jack Deutsch Aislin Mitchell Chris Todd

21 Norb Wegrzyn Stan & Doris Harrison Dan & Chris Moore

22 Ashley Long

23 Couples Social

Allen Harris John Lea Cabell Sawyer

24 Johnnie Saunders Carol Wessel Tom & Jewel Myers

25 Joseph & Susan Horn Eric Song & Heather Weger

26 Martha Bowden Griffin Hover Olivia Hover Nancy & Richard Pierce

27 Betsy Bluey Andy Briscoe Sarah Robinson Nancy Umstott

28 Gabriel Brooks Jackie Coston Emily Sprouse

29 Cassie Christy Robert & Krista Gautney Doug & Leslye Wakefield Lynn & Mike White

30 Davis Bruning Laurie Skipper John Smith David & Ann Case Matt & Arista Maher

June 2012

Men’s Retreat

Annual Conference, Roanoke VA

Trinity United Methodist Church Sunday Morning Worship Services

at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday School Youth & Adults — 9:30 a.m. (Sept—June)

Children's Sunday School—10:30 a.m. (Sept—June) Wednesday Communion and Healing — 12 noon

Here to serve Christ and you: James C. Sprouse — Senior Pastor

Gretchen Miller—Pastor of Congregational Care Amy Crisp—Director of Christian Education

Erin Van Kirk—Director of Youth Ministry Ellen LaCroix—Interim Director of Youth Ministry Scott Keough and Leslie Vorndran — Lay Leaders

Jerry Rich — Director of Music Evan Ayars — Children/Youth Choir Director

Harriet Latta — Office Manager Thuong Van Nguyen – Custodian

Karen Jester — Director of Parents Day Out

Office Hours:

Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Phone: 703 356-3312

Fax: 703 356-9119 E-mail: umtrinity@vacoxmail.com

Web Site: umtrinity.org

Please Note: The next Spire deadline is the 15th of the month. Spire Editor: Harriet Latta.

Submit articles to umtrinity@vacoxmail.com.

The Spire

A Monthly Publication of Trinity United Methodist Church 1205 Dolley Madison Boulevard McLean, VA 22101-3099 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID McLean, VA

PERMIT NO. 13

Sent In Prayer To:

The Mission of Trinity United Methodist Church is to be a vi-brant, growing church home for all who seek companionship, direction and inspiration in their lives as they develop a personal, relevant rela-tionship with God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. We are anchored in Scripture and energized by congregational commitment. Trinity Church fosters the Christian values of joy, faith, service, hope and love. Trinity extends the opportunity to experience the Grace of God through worship, discipleship, study and fellowship in the traditions of the United Methodist Church.

mailed May 30, 2012

Vacation Bible School

August 20-24,

Ages 3 to rising 4th Grade

Registration forms are avail-able in the Nar-thex, Fellowship Lobby and on the website.

Volunteers Needed!

Please contact: Jen Fuqua-Calsyn, jenfuqua@gmail.com, 703-447-2492 or Lizzy Conroy lizzy@emeryann.com, 202-441-3630