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5 6 7 7 p.m.—Choir Practice
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11 5:30 p.m.—Experiencing God Bible Study/Youth Fellowship
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14 7 p.m.—Choir Practice
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16 17 9:30 a.m.—Sardis Work Day
18 5:30 p.m.—Experiencing God Bible Study/Youth Fellowship
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25 5:30 p.m.—Experiencing God Bible Study/Youth Fellowship
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Happenings at Sardis—September 2011
Summit The
Remembering Retha BarrettRemembering Retha BarrettRemembering Retha BarrettRemembering Retha Barrett April 25, 1921April 25, 1921April 25, 1921April 25, 1921————May 31,2011May 31,2011May 31,2011May 31,2011
Volume I, Issue 2 August 2011
Sardis United Methodist Church 3725 Powers Ferry Road NW Atlanta, Georgia 30342
404-237-6060 www.sardischurch.com facebook.com/sardisumc
Pastor: Rev. Blair Boyd Zant [email protected]
Our Mission:
To use our gifts as individuals and as a community to glorify God and spread the
Word of Jesus Christ in the world.
Sunday Services:
10 a.m.—Sunday School 11 a.m.—Traditional Worship
“The Summit” Editor: Amber McMurry
Contact:: [email protected]
In This Issue:
Remembering Retha Barrett
1
A Blurb from Blair 2
Happy Birthdays! 2
New Member Spotlight: Bryan and Sydney
Carpenter
3
Taking Root at Sardis 3
Happenings at Sardis 4
By: Jonathan Quillen
Another one of
Sardis's saints has
moved on to glory.
How we miss her and
her sweet disposition!
My first involvement
with Retha was when I
began teaching Sunday
School. I remember her
being there almost
every Sunday, always
eager and ready to hear
the lesson. Also, she would update
all of us as to what was going on in
our church community and tell us of
anyone who had been ill or out of
town.
You see, Retha didn't leave the
spirit of Jesus at the
doors of the church,
but rather she carried
His love with her
throughout the week as
she faithfully made her
calls to anyone who
had been sick. Then
she would send a card
to all of us with a
birthday or a get well
card to anyone who
had been ill.
I will miss her cards. I will miss
her presence. But she taught me that
faithfulness and genuine caring
Christian love should be a part of
our daily lives, and not just Sunday
conversation.
Sardis United Methodist Church 3725 Powers Ferry Road NW Atlanta, Georgia 30342
The Newsletter of Sardis United Methodist Church
2011 Summer Wrap-up Edition
Above: Retha Barrett with Sardis members Bert Cummings, Paula Heilig, and Lonnie
Simpson at a Sardis Senior Luncheon event in March 2009.
Special Feature: “Summer 2011 Photo Recap”
Insert
Visit www.sardischurch.com
for more information on
upcoming events!
Sardis welcomes new members
Bryan and Sydney Carpenter to the
Sardis Family! The couple joined
Sardis on Easter Sunday, April 24th
2011. Sydney came on transfer of
her membership and Bryan on Pro-
fession of Faith.
We celebrate the ways that Syd-
ney, a local girls soccer coach, is
already becoming active in various
areas of our church fellowship and
worship, and we pray for Bryan who
has successfully finished his basic
training and has now begun Ad-
vanced Training with the United
States Army in Austin, Texas.
The couple celebrated their
one year wedding anniversary
on July 31st of this year.
What do you get when you
combine peat moss, mushroom
compost, loads of fertilizer, the
Sunday Night Adult Bible Study,
the Youth Fellowship Group and
some vegetable seeds? Apparently,
you get a garden full of greens and
new insight into the Christian life.
This past spring, leaders Greg
Guthrie and Pastor Blair Zant,
along with 8 members of our Sardis
church and Youth Fellowship
joined together to study Tri Robin-
son’s book, Rooted in Good Soil.
Robinson considers himself a pas-
tor and a farmer and invites
Christian disciples to consider
what gardening can teach us about
how the Word of God to grow in
our own hearts and lives. The study
focuses on Jesus’ “Parable of the
Sower,” found in Matthew 13:3-23.
As the story goes, a Sower, or
Farmer, goes out into the field and
scatters seeds on four different sur-
faces: a path, rocky soil, soil with
weeds, and good soil. Jesus de-
scribes the fate of each of these
seeds: Those on the path
never took root and were blown
away or eaten by birds; those on the
rocky soil took shallow root, but
were scorched when the sun rose;
those among weeds and thorns were
eventually choked out. But the
seeds in good soil grew and multi-
plied up to 100 times.
The group “dug” into the study by
building raised beds, breaking up
the dry earth, then mixing and
spreading new soil in the beds.
After planting various types of
seeds and seedlings, participants
helped to water, weed, and care for
the new garden for the next few
weeks. They realized that the right
balance of good soil, direct
sunlight, water, and weeding were
essential for healthy growth.
The same is true for the Christian
life. If we want the Word of God to
grow in our lives, we have to break
up our hearts through repentance,
water them with baptism and com-
munion, nourish them with prayer,
Bible study, Christian missions and
service and participation in the
Christian community through the
church. When a person is deprived
of any of these things, the harvest
suffers like the pole beans that
weren’t rooted deeply enough, or
the squash that was denied the
proper amount of sunlight.
Happy Birthday!Happy Birthday!Happy Birthday!Happy Birthday! Aug 1 – Frances Harkey
Aug 7 – Chloe Kovaka
Aug 8 – Carolyn Wade
Aug 10 – Amber McMurry
Aug 12 – George Kirkland
Aug 14 – Simon Fragakis
Aug 21 – Tarrah McNeil
Aug 22 – Brooke Grey
Aug 24 – Paul Grey
Aug 30 – Xan Guthrie
Aug 31 – Bert Cumming
As I dragged myself into the
house last Wednesday evening, I
thought, “SPF 50 is a lie!” After 5
long, hot hours on a tube floating
down the Chattahoochee River with
our church youth group, even
though I was no longer wearing my
life jacket my sunburn pattern made
it seem as though I was still wear-
ing one. Our river adventure was
the latest in our summer-long youth
program, “Wednesday Adventure
Dayz!” Every Wednesday from
June 1st to August 3rd, our youth
ministry set out on various adven-
tures all over North Georgia. In ad-
dition to conquering the mighty
Chattahoochee, we saw the Atlanta
Braves through to victory at Turner
Field; water skied at Lake Chatuge;
petted camels, water buffalo and
even a baby hedgehog at Wildlife
Wonders outside of Dahlonega; at-
tended a session of the North Geor-
gia United Methodist Annual Con-
ference in Athens, cleared tornado
debris down in Manchester, and
even worked a full day at Six Flags
Over Georgia. Twice! I gave my-
self permission to be tired.
Last Sunday, I sat and listened to
Gina Gardner, the new Vice Presi-
dent of our Youth Fellowship, a
rising 8th grader, share with her
Sandy Springs congregation what
her experience of this summer was
like. She recounted with great joy
the various activities that we did,
but with great seriousness, also re-
flected on the greater adventure she
had in the midst – a new sense of
community within the group itself.
You see, our youth ministry is
unique. First, it is actually made up
of kids who don’t actually attend
the same church. While Sardis and
Sandy Springs UMCs are the main
churches in the partnership, within
just the 25 different kids we in-
volved this summer, a total of five
different Methodist Churches were
represented. Friends of youth who
participated represented Methodist,
Catholic, Baptist and Non-
denominational congregations, and
two didn’t yet have a church home.
Because of our location in Atlanta,
most of the kids also attend differ-
ent schools, and if it wasn’t for
Youth Fellowship, would probably
never be given the opportunity to
meet. Ms. Gardner reflected that
part of the fun of the summer was
directly related to the opportunity to
get to know new youth from other
places, and to deepen the friend-
ships she already had.
Ours (Sardis and Sandy Springs
UMCs) was an interesting experi-
ment in Youth Ministry. Kids from
various parts of town, with varying
interests and life experiences are
discovering what makes church so
unique and crucial to our daily liv-
ing as Christians – it’s a family.
You talk together, share meals
together, share common experi-
ences that create shared memories.
You argue at times, and bicker.
You don’t always get along, and
you don’t always get to choose
who’s included. Still, at the end of
the day, you’re family.
Three of our youth members –
brothers - lost their father very sud-
denly a few weeks ago. I sat behind
the lectern at the funeral, racking
my brain wondering what I could
say today and what I could do
tomorrow that might make this any
easier for them. Then I looked up in
the balcony. Seated in the first two
pews were several youth and their
families, and several of our youth
volunteers. All of them had come to
show their support and love. I real-
ized it won’t be me that helps get
these precious boys through this.
It’s going to take us. All of us.
That’s what church is, that’s what
we’re for: to push each other in the
river one day, and keep each other
from drowning the next.
What a blessing it is for me to get
to see this and remember it up close
and personal. As we look toward
the fall, we praise God that we get
to build on some tremendous mo-
mentum. We need volunteers.
Check out our church website, or
information in the narthex to find
out how YOU can get involved in
transforming the lives of our next
church generation. Just don’t be
surprised if you find yourself trans-
formed as well!
A Blurb from Blair Summer Memories
New Member Spotlight: Bryan & Sydney Carpenter
Interested in helping out with a Fall garden? Contact Greg
Guthrie at [email protected]—or check out more
pics of the garden on the Sardis UMC Facebook page.
Taking “Root” at Sardis Sardis members learn to seek God through gardening