Central United Methodist Church Courier

V o l u m e 1 1 , Is s u e 1 1

Central United Methodist Church

May 2009

CENTRAL COURIER “Make a difference in the world for Christ by reaching out in love and service and by nurturing spiritual growth.”

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT TEAM REPORT

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Pastor Watts

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Inside Story

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Inside Story

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Inside Story

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Inside Story

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Inside Story

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Inside Story

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By Edy Laverdure

Everyone knows how wonderful and exciting it is to receive a gift. We at Central have been very blessed with gifts lately Many people have given us the gift of their time and talents in the renovation of our sanctuary. Countless people have shared their knowledge and their enthusiasm on this project. Still, today, we continue to receive these gifts from a variety of our members. Planning for the sanctuary windows, the re-building of our parking lots, the replacement of our education building windows and refurbishing the hallways continues, and it amazes me to see how many members of our church have the skills needed to fulfill these projects. Another blessing we have received lies in all the donations made to our church for this capital improvement project. People have donated and are still donating money to purchase pews, windows, air conditioners and the carillon. Others have increased their giving to the capital campaign to make all this happen. Now another wonderful gift is coming out way. One of our members has offered to do a matching gift for the capital campaign. A matching gift Sunday will be held on May 17th and on that day we will be asked to donate an additional amount to the campaign. Our donations will then be matched by this donor! What a wonderful gift this is! Think of all the possibilities we can create with this gift. How blessed we are! During all this renovation and planning for the future, we have not neglected our missions. Mission support has always been a big part of who we are at Central. The one problem we face with all this giving has been finding a neat and attractive way to collect and store all the donations of canned goods, blankets-, coats, baby items, etc. Have you ever passed through the gathering area and wished it could be straightened up somehow? Well, a portion of the old pew front rail was saved during the remodling and has been placed in the gathering area. The Mission Team is going to devise a way to store all of our "collections" behind the rail. I think we will all appreciate the gathering area more when it is completed. But don't let these changes change the way we support our missions. In times like these, our donations mean more than ever to our community. This is our way of giving thanks for all the wonderful gifts we have received.

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A WORD

V o l u m e 1 1 , Is s u e 1 1

FROM

P A S T O R W AT T S

One of the many good things about our congregation is that whenever there has been a need and I have asked you for your help, you have responded generously Whether that need is a new young mother in Pleasantville who just had a baby and has nothing with which to care for that baby, or a family in need at Christmas, or a person battling cancer having a benefit, or Ranch Hope needing to build a new Administration Building destroyed by fire, or People in Pass, MS. needing to rebuild their homes, or orphaned children in Uganda needing someone to build them a home, you have generously responded! And those of us who have had the privilege of taking these resources to these people have been so blessed to see the faces of those to whom these gifts have meant not just Hope, but Life. Many of us have been there to receive heartfelt thanks, often with tears and to see the shine in their eyes. You have been so generous when we needed to care for our immediate facility and property improvement as we entered into the Capital Improvement projects that have renewed our sanctuary. While the economy has caused us to scale back and delay our long term project, there are some projects we continue to move forward on, such as the replacement of our sanctuary windows, the repair of our steeple, air conditioning for our children's Sunday School rooms and for Adams Hall, parking lot improvements, etc. Your gnerous support is helping us make a lasting investment in the future ministries of our church and the children, youth, and young families whom God keeps sending us. I wish you could hear the vibrant energy on Sunday mornings of over 100 children, youth, and teachers in interested and excited conversation about God, leaning bible stories of our faith. I wish you could see the faces of almost 40 youth in our basement on Sunday rights in JYG and UMYF and Confirmation Class having fun and talking together about their faith. I wish you could see- -on Tuesday mornings, our Toddler room filled with young Moms sitting in a circle with Bibles on their laps while little ones crawl and toddle around the room and Moms talk together about God's Word and how it applies to them right now. I wish you could see the faces of 23 people in Bible Study on Tuesday mornings in the Chapel, and 15 at the Beanery in EHT on Tuesday nights, and some 15 in Bible Study the Chapel on Tuesday night, growing in their faith, and so much more. There are 90 adults, youth, and children involved in choirs, praise teams, music classes practice almost every right of the week, and men playing Basketball in Adams Hall on Monday nights, and on and on. I remind you of these wonderful stories of our growing faith family and ministries to also tell you of another need. Sometimes in caring for all the needs of others, we can forget about the needs we have in our own ongoing caring ministries. While we continue to care for all these wonderful needs, our giving to our own ongoing ministry has been struggling. Since January, we have significantly cut back on spending for our ministries, asking each department to be frugal, yet income to our regular ministry has fallen short each month of our expenditures. As of the end of February, we have expended $23,500 more than we have received. Obviously, we cannot continue to spend more than we receive. Fortunately, because of your generous giving in prior years and prudent spending by our ministry teams, and careful investing by our Financial team, we have reserves we have been able to draw upon. I know that for some in our church family, during these last few months, daily family life has been seriously impacted by the potential loss of home, the loss of one spouse's job, and the tightening of belts. We are trying to be a support to the families we know who need us. So in these difficult times, we need your continued faith generous, even sacrificial support where possible. Candy and I, facing our own challenges, like you, but we have purposed to God, we will continue to be faithful to Christ with our tidies and offerings of thanksgiving. God has been so good to us throughout all of our lives. We will continue to stretch ourselves to make a healing difference in this world for Christ through His Church, Thank you for all you are doing and for the lives we are able to touch for Christ because of you.

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