Alleluia Hangover
By Reverend Robin Roderick

Although it has been a few weeks by now, our wonderful dinner theater deserves its own round of applause!

On May 1-3, The Gospel According to Walt had audiences laughing and pondering the deeper connections of our faith with clever dialogue, music and acting. At the performances the audience seemed engaged and truly enjoying the show and the message. The focus stayed on Jesus as individuals each did their part.

Thank you to Nancy Cooper, Paul and Becky Lancia, Anne Brown, and all the others adults who make this possible.

Special thanks go to our youth who in their acting became invisible so to speak and let the Gospel of Jesus shine through. The comments were many and very positive!

What a wonderful mission and ministry for all. Thank you to the youth who are faithful, positive and helping to focus and grow our strong youth program. Congratulations!

For Sponsors of Church Activities & Events

How do we involve/ include people in the community? One way to do that is to invite them to our events. How do we become inviting? While one-on-one contact is the best approach, another effective approach is to advertise what occurs at the church.

As an office staff, we are going to be reviewing announcements that go in the bulletin and in the Spire for possible advertising opportunities. The problem with that approach is that we usually do not get sufficient time to get items out to some media that would improve our visibility as an active church.

We want to use print and Internet advertising and even broadcast media in addition to the church sign, flyers, and word of mouth. In order to effectively do that, we need six weeks notice. This ensures that we can review with you the appropriate media and message to use.

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

When we don’t get the word out, or only advertise within the body of the church, we are lighting our lamp and putting it under a bowl. All people need to see what we are doing, so that God can be praised by all. Consider advertising as you plan events, and plan enough in advance that we can become effective communicators. God calls us to do this.

What do we need from you in order to get started? At least six weeks notice is a good start. We need the name of the event, the date and time it will occur, cost (if applicable), who the event is targeted for, and other particulars about the event.

Mission Briefs

ANNUAL CONFERENCE OFFERING

This Sunday (May 31) is the last day for making a contribution for helping to complete construction of churches in Mozambique. We are focusing on assisting Nazareta UMC. They began in 1978 with 17 people worshiping under a mango tree. Today, they have ~600 members worshiping in an unfinished chapel that needs a roof, plastering, paint, windows and doors.

Pastor Robin will take our offering to Annual Conference on June 5. Thanks to everyone for your support for this needful project.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR HABITAT HOUSE

On June 14, a coalition of Methodist Churches in St. Charles County will come together to break ground for a Habitat House. Construction will begin on the house, located in St. Peters, on June 22.

Each church is asked to provide four volunteers each Saturday until completion. We hope to have enough volunteers so that each person would work no more than one Saturday per month. A sign up table for volunteers will be in the Atrium on May 31 and June 7. Volunteers may also contact Arnie Dorrell at 723-3776 (amdot50@sbcglobal.net) Anyone 16 years of age and older is welcome.

This is a great opportunity for outreach and fellowship. Come join us in this most rewarding hands-on experience.

Vacation Bible School

Some of you may have heard, and perhaps some have not--Dr. Wallis has been successful in his search for a college position and will be leaving us for the great state of Texas to McMurry University in Abilene. The quality of the vocal music and his leadership with the choir has been remarkable, and he will be missed. We are all in agreement in saying that we are also thankful that he has found a challenging and fruitful position.

Dr. Wallis will be with us through July 19th, and you will hear more about a farewell for David, Jenna, Abby, Sarah and Abe.

Also be in prayer but not panic as we search for another music director. Knowing Dr. Wallis would most likely move out of our area your Staff Parish Team is already at work. They need your prayers and your continued financial support of the church to be faithful in their search. Plans at this time are to have as seamless a transition as possible. If you or someone you know is interested in the position please have them contact Rev. Robin Roderick.

God bless the Wallis family in this time of new beginnings!

New Members

Summer Sunday School will be here in two weeks and we still have over 60 spaces to fill with teachers. Safe Sanctuary training is available on June 9 or online. There will be a Summer Sunday School teacher training on June 4.

Please consider that our children receive the message of Jesus' love from wonderfully talented and loving teachers for three-quarters of the year. They would greatly appreciate your gift of time, be it if you can only be here for a couple Sundays or can be here for all of them. It takes many hands to build relationships with our kids. Won't you offer yours?