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Newsletter>
The Wesley Voice (Volume 4, Issue 1)
November 15, 2006
A Tisket, A Tasket-
God has filled My Blessing Basket
Submitted by: Dr. Wylene Adwater
Giving praise to the Lord is one of the best ways to
express our thanks to God for His blessings and yet how
many of us do it on a regular basis? Yes, we normaly go
through our routines of thanking God for our food before we
eat, sometimes we even thank Him for the clothes we wear
and praise Him for the sunshine. Around the Thanksgiving
holiday we may even list our blessings and reflect on what
God has done, but do we really “offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually” as our theme verse, Hebrews
13:15, states?
Continual doesn’t just mean once a year or even a day for
that matter, it implies that it is repeated without
interruption. David said in Psalm34:1, “...His praise shall
continually be in my mouth.” He also said, “At midnight I
will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous
judgments.” (Psalm 119:62) When’s the last time we found
ourselves up to midnight thanking the Lord? Later on in
that same psalm David says, “Seven times a day do I praise
thee because of the righteous judgments.” Do we stop seven
times a day to praise God? Do we even stop once or twice to
praise Him?
Now that we know that we need to praise God continually,
how do we do it? If you think that all praising God
involves is sitting in a small group in a quiet place,
whispering quiet praise songs, think again!!! Praising God
is an active thing. The Bible says the following about
praise. “shout for joy” (ps.32:11) “O clap your hands”
(ps.47:1) “sing” (Ps.47:6) “make a loud noise” (Ps. 98:4)
“lift up your hands” (Ps.134:2) “with the sound of trumpet”
(Ps.150:3) “upon the loud cymbals” (150:5) “make a joyful
noise” (Ps.98:4) “with harp” (Ps.33:2) We are not to keep
praising God to ourselves. We are to “...make known his
deeds among people. (Psalm 105:1) in other words if you
receive a blessing—tell someone about it. If we are going
to develop a lifestyle of praise to God continually we need
to put things in perspective. Realize who God is and we who
are not.
USHER BOARD CHURCH ANNIVERSARY
SUBMITTED BY: Simone Morton
On Sunday, August 20, 2006, the Wesley Chapel Usher Board
celebrated the dedicated men, women and youth who
faithfully attend to the needs of members and guests. Each
Usher is committed to making the first impression of our
church positive by preparing for the arrival of worshipers,
making visitors and members feel welcome, handling large
crowds and noisy children, coping with emergencies,
ushering at funerals or serving in any capacity as deemed
necessary for the smooth and orderly flow of the worship
service.
The Ushers have a handbook that outlines various duties
and responsibilities. In it, it describes that even in the
early church, the need for ushers was apparent.
“So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and
said, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry
of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers,
choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of
the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility
over to them and will give our attention to prayer and
ministry of the word’. This proposal pleased the whole
group” (Acts 6:2-5).
Wesley Chapel has had an active Usher Board for decades
and many have served on it faithfully over the years.
During the celebration, three long serving and faithful
ushers were honored with a plaque: Mrs. Ruby Brown, Mr.
Charles Bymes and Mr. Juan Ponder.
All persons who served as an Usher, whether, currently
active or not, were asked to stand for recognition. The
Usher Board ministry continues to welcome new members to
serve our Christian family and would be delighted to have
you join us in serving the Lord in his House. Contact
Albert Rounds (President), Terry McMillian or Simone
Morton.
140TH CHURCH ANNIVERSARY AND
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2007 Submitted by Simone Morton
The History and Archives Committee is planning for Black
History Month 2007 culminating with our celebration of our
140th Wesley Chapel UMC Church Anniversary on Sunday,
February 25, 2007.
During the first three Sundays in February, at both the 8am
and 11am services, a short Black History Moment will be
presented. On the second Sunday, members are encouraged to
wear African attire celebrating our African heritage.
Sunday, February 4, 2007 -- AFRICAN HISTORY
Sunday, February 11, 2007 -- YOUTH SUNDAY – AFRICAN
AMERICAN ART [wear African Attire]
Sunday, February 18, 2007 – AFRICAN AMERICAN HEROES
Sunday, February 25, 2007 – 140TH CHURCH ANNIVERSARY
Members interested in working with the History and Archives
Committee may contact Shebra Johnson, Simone Morton, Katie
Glenn, Evelena Calistro, John Ellis, or Mary Horton.
United Methodist Women
The United Methodist Women have been busy this past
quarter. We have earned the God Unit status for the 2006
year. We had two members from our unit who participated in
the “Minute Women Program.” This is women making
contributions towards the candle burning in memory of
others. The United Methodist women also participated in the
Reading Program, from our group, were Christine Favors,
Annie Hoard, Maudie McCord, and Margaret Rounds. Wesley
Chapel reached the “Goals of Excellence” in Mission Studies
for Children of the Bible for 2006.
We are still looking for volunteers for our “Daughters of
Imani” program for the young ladies of Wesley. We are
looking forward to God leading us in our efforts to
positively steer young girls into adulthood. There is a lot
of work to be done and just think of the satisfaction you
will get, knowing you helped make a difference in their
young lives. Please join us in our guest to develop a
creative support fellowship ministry.
GIFTS ARE MEANT FOR GIVING
Do not neglect the gift that is in you…(1Timothy 4:14a)
“Gifts are meant for giving, so give yourself away.” Those
are the words of Miriam Therese Winter, a member of the
Medical Missions Sisters. Her words ring true, especially
in this Advent and Christmas Season of gifts and giving. In
the middle of the rush toward December 25, take a few
moments to stop, sit quietly and consider how you are a
gift to this world, how God may be calling you to give
yourself away.
Ask yourself this question: What quality in yourself do you
most admire or value? What makes you most surely say of
yourself, “This is who I am”?
Then ask yourself what do you think is your best gift to
your family, your church, your country? Listen carefully to
the answers. God may be calling you to give of yourself in
new ways.
(written by Helen R. Neinast)
HOLIDAY STRESS BUSTERS
BE FLEXIBLE:
The primary cause of holiday stress is unrealistic
expectations. So, take it easy on yourself and others by
accepting that your house, gifts, activities, and food may
not be perfect.
GIVE GIFTS FROM THE HEART:
Instead of blowing your budget, why not please friends and
family members with a simple gesture or token from the
heart? Holiday cookies and decorations, a poem even a kind
word are often the most meaningful gifts of all.
LEARN TO SAY NO:
You don’t have to attend every party or volunteer at every
holiday function. Allow yourself to relax and you’ll get
more done overall. Admittedly, this has been the most
difficult , to put into action. When friends ask for “just
a few minutes of your time”, it really is difficult to say
“no”, but each of us should learn this important tool of
self preservation. As my pastor has tried to teach us, the
jobs were being done before I was born, and they WILL get
done, even after I’m gone.
GET AWAY FROM THAT TV SET OR COMPUTER SCREEN!!!!
If you spend the just the average American’s time at
either, you are robbing yourself and your family of
precious time you will never recover. Why not open that
precious book (Bible) and reread the Christmas story; and
then to put it all in perspective, reread the Easter story
to remind yourself of the most precious gift of all. The
birth of Jesus, God becoming man, is just the beginning of
the story. And if you really want to lift your spirit, keep
reading. Who cares what some Hollywood actor says? Why
allow a mythological character to steal your Christmas? Why
allow the liberal media to do your thinking for you with
alarmist new stories about events not in your control.
SUNDAY SCHOOL AND BEYOND WORKSHOP
SUBMITTED BY RANDY BROWN
Some Sunday School teachers and Bible study teachers
attended the Sunday School and Beyond training at Mount
Bethel United Methodist Church. The training was
interested and informative to those in attendance (Jennifer
Johnson, Margaret Rounds, Lisa Johnson, Greg Guy, Mary
Davis, Christine Favors, Albert Smith, Randy Brown, Lynn,
and Ison Mallory)
Workshops were provided for each grade level/age
group, resource room to purchase materials, representatives
from different companies to discuss resource materials, and
question/answer time with presenters of workshops. During
lunch we had to sit with teachers from other churches that
taught or worked with our age level. This was interesting
because we got a chance to pick up and share ideas with
other teachers.
The workshops proved to be beneficial and the group
came back excited with new ideas, suggestions to improve
the classrooms, and motivation for the students.
Each person in attendance was asked to give a report
to the Christian Education Committee on meeting dates, to
share ideas to other teachers that did not attend the
workshop, and just to share what was learned and how we can
implement ideas in our weekly teaching.
At the end of the workshop each participant was given
a prescription and medication to build a strong Sunday
School. Medication bottles must be brought back on August
18, 2007 for a refill. In the meantime participants were
challenged to use the medication: Green for enthusiasm,
Red for patience, Orange for a sense of humor, Blue for
imagination, and Brown for vision. If you need medication
to improve your class check with any of the participants
from the workshop.
We had a great time and learned a lot about each other
while traveling!
The Nurses Guild submitted by E. J. Johnson, president
The Nurses Guild continues extending their services for the
members of the church and community. The Nurses along with
the Nursery ministry of the church, paid for a member of
the Nurses Guild to become certified to teach classes of
First Aid, Infants, and Adult CPR Heart, to church members
and the community. They also purchased a commercial
changing table for one of the bathrooms and purchased
benches for two entries. They continue to call, send cards,
and visit the Nursing Homes.
The Nurses Guild wishes everyone a blessed Thanksgiving and
a Merry Christmas.
ABOUT THE WESLEY VOICE by: Dr. Wylene Adwater
It has been my pleasure to be the Editor and founder of the
Wesley Voice Newsletter. I have enjoyed serving in this
capacity now, for more than three years. This will be my
final publication.
I hope the time and effort we have given have been
informative and of the quality which represents the Voice
of the members of Wesley. Thanks to all of the members of
the Wesley Voice Committee for your help in getting
articles in and helping to produce a newsletter we can be
proud of. Thanks for the cooperation and support from each
ministry for sharing the work you are doing for the Lord.
If you are interested in serving as chair of the Wesley
Voice newsletter, please notify me, Denise or Rev. Woody
Williams as soon as possible. We appreciate all of the
talent we have at Wesley. God Bless you all and Have a
Happy Holiday Season.
NURSERY STAFF QUARTERLY FELLOWSHIP
The Nursery Staff has a quarterly fellowship away from the
church. If you are interested in working with children,
then look no further, the Nursery and Children’s Ministries
doors swing open on welcome hinges and we gladly invite you
to work with us. Everything is done in love, not about “Me”
or “I”, but “We”. “We” nurture the children trusting in
God for help and understanding for we know that all things
are possible through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord! We
thank the parents for allowing us to nurture their children
through love and the fruit of the spirit, and to Rev.
Williams, the Ministerial Staff, the Wesley Church Family,
and the Nursery Staff for your dedication, love, prayers,
support, and whatever services rendered for the love and
support of our children is our church tomorrow. May God
continue to bless each of you in a very special way. Let us
remember to support our children. If we don’t someone else
will and we may not like the end results. Happy Holidays!
Jennifer Johnson and Staff
Highlights from the Nursery Ministry submitted by:
Jennifer Johnson
The Nursery Ministries reaches out to all children with a
smile and the fruit of the spirit during the 8 and 11:00
worship services, or whenever the need arises during
special events. The Nursery Ministry works in conjunction
with the Children’s Ministry on any attempted projects,
activities, or events. Activities included: Easter,
Universal Circus, Parent’s Day Out, Parade of Fashions,
Back to School Jamboree, Six Flags Over Georgia (gratitude
extended to Mr. David Cloud for donation fifty tickets),
Hallelujah Carnival.
Remaining activities for this calendar year include the
Pajama Praise Party (November) and the Christmas Jamboree
(December). The staff and youth helpers are certified in
CPR and First Aid. Certification and classes were presented
by Alma Albunott (a certifies CPR Instructor). Special
Thanks are extended to Minister Dwayne Palmer for being
supportive, caring, nurturing, and understanding to our
“youth”. He is responsible for the 11:00 worship service
for the youth. Services are available for the nursery,
children, and youth. Children from the ages of three (3)
months of age to 12th grade are encouraged to participate
and attend these services.
A Tribute to Wesley’s Retired Educators
Why God Made Teachers
When God created teachers,
He gave us special friends
To help us understand His world
And truly comprehend
The beauty and the wonder
Of everything we see,
And become a better person
With each discovery.
When God created teachers,
He gave us special guides
To show us ways in which to grow
So we can all decide
How to live and how to do
What's right instead of wrong,
To lead us so that we can lead
And learn how to be strong.
Why God created teachers,
In His wisdom and His grace,
Was to help us learn to make our world
A better, wiser place.
By Kevin William Huff
THE FOOD PANTRY SUBMITTED BY: Min. Phyllis Hatcher,
Assistant Chair Outreach
During the past year, Wesley Chapel United Methoist Church
has really begun reaching out to the community here, in
McDonough. After the tragedy in Louisiana, Wesley’s
outreach ministry immediately began to plan how to reach
out to those evacuees in our community. We drove to all of
the local hotels requesting for anyone needing help and
began planning a sit down dinner for our displaced friends.
The members at Wesley were eager to help and lots of them
made homemade dishes to make the Louisianans feel welcome.
We offered transportation to those who needed it. We held a
dinner in October ,2005 in the fellowship hall following
the 11:00 service. We fellowshipped with each of them and
afterwards prayed with them, and this gave them hope, just
knowing someone cared. Although at that time. The turnout
was not a big as we had hoped for, but it did give us a
taste of how good it felt to reach out to help someone in
need. That was the beginning for us to move forward with
other ideas on how to reach out to the community.
Our next event was much more successful. Wesley’s members
were instrumental in getting food from a source in Atlanta–
Compassion Atlanta. We began to plan to make boxes of food
to give out to the families in need in our community. We
announced the date and the word began to spread fast. In
October, we gave out boxes for over 120 families. People
had to be turned away because we had given out of food. But
not before we got pertinent information about their needs
and contact information for follow-up. This really inspired
us to do one of the most successful events when included
us calling on the members of Wesley for one “Big Feeding”.
This included calling upon other churches in the community
to unite with us to help reach those who were still in
need.
Food Pantry Ministry Collaborates with Shiloh SUBMITTED
BY: Min. Phyllis Hatcher
The Food Pantry ministry held a meeting inviting several of
the neighboring churches. In do so, we found out that there
was a group of men called “Men on A Mission” who had been
doing something similar on their own. After our meeting, we
saw that it was going to be difficult task working with
people who were set in doing things a certain way. After
praying about it, God allowed all of us to put our small
differences behind and to concentrated on the common goal.
We all had to feed God’s people. On November , 2005 at
Shiloh Community Center , we held a memorable
pre-Thanksgiving Dinner. We even gave out 225 boxes of food
to those who needed it so they could prepare their own
dinner on Thanksgiving Day. 835 people were feed that day.
This was the first great success. We give God the glory and
praise. Wesley has joined the Atlanta Food Bank which
allows anyone who would like to purchase food at a very low
cost. In 2006, we have given out 1,500 boxes of food to
this community and surrounding areas. The Health and
Welfare will be giving out free turkey (s) and trimmings”
this Thanksgiving. We give thanks to all of you who have
helped to make this a big success.
A FINAL WORD FROM THE UNITED METHODIST MEN
SUBMITTED BY: Tonja Johnson
Greetings, Men of Wesley, the year 2006 has truly been a
blessed one for the UMM, earlier in the year we began
working on a mentoring program for our young men of Wesley.
After several meetings and workshops we were able to come
up with a program called “One Man One Boy” mentoring
program, which officially kicked off on September 3, 2006,
with an open forum workshop with the mentors, mentorees and
their parents. This workshop was designed to place the
mentors with the young men of Wesley. As of today we
currently have 10 young men
enlisted in our program. After one month of relationship
building, we
decided to take a field trip to Martin Luther King Center
in Atlanta.
Once we arrived we found that a lot of the mentorees were
very well educated on Dr. King and his nonviolence
teachings. This trip turned out to be a great success being
a first for the mentoring program. Also,
we would like to acknowledge three other UMM that are
mentors at Wesley Lakes Elementary in McDonough they are
Solomon Barge, Sr.,
Andy Calhoun, Gregory Guy thanks men for representing the
UMM and the Wesley Chapel Church Family so well.
Finally, after all the work of the mentoring program we
were ready to celebrate and this we did on our Annual Men’s
Day celebration, one of our own spoke at the 8:00am
service Minister Betrand Griffin, Jr. and Rev. Benjamin
Lett spoke at the 11:00am service, thanks to Bro. Rufus
Johnson and Bro. Danny Morton for putting together a
wonderful program and thanks to all the men and young men
that participated in this celebration.
As UMM our purpose is to be a creative supportive
fellowship of men who seek to know Jesus Christ, to grow
spiritually and to seek his daily will. With this thought
in mind Men of Wesley we invite you to join us in this
fellowship as we seek to grow closer to Jesus Christ. We
currently meet twice a month 2nd Saturdays at 9:30am, this
meeting has been dedicated to our mentoring program also we
meet on 4th Sundays after the 11:00am services in the
conference room. Please join us, we are very excited going
into 2007, which we will kickoff in January with our
Annual MLK Breakfast and Parade celebrating Dr. Kings
Birthday. Wesley Chapel church family we thank you for
your prayers and support as we continue to be the men God
has called us to be.
** Continue to pray for the sick & shut-in ** Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church - (770) 957-4728 -- 397 Racetrack Road, McDonough, Georgia 30253
Mailing Address: P.O.Box 1146, McDonough, Georgia 30253-1146
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