St. Mark United Methodist Church

Vol. 4 No. 37

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. Postage Paid

GREENWOOD, SC

Permit # 190

St. Mark United Methodist Church

550 Hwy. 72 By-Pass NW

Greenwood, SC 29649

http://www.stmarkgreenwood.com

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

St. Mark Staff

Senior Pastor Barrett Alewine

Associate Pastor Ryan Spurrier

Minister of Children and Youth Julie McLaughlin

Assistant to Minister of Children and Youth Dena Campbell

Music Director Carol Jones

Director of Sunday Morning Blend and Youth Bands Josh Campbell

Organist/Accompanist Harriette Brewington

Administrative Assistant Paige Holley

Financial Secretary Sandy Smith

Custodian Joe Harris

Congregational Nurse Wilma McCall

Director, KIDS’ World Margaret Martin

Church Phone: 864-229-5416 KIDS’ World Phone: 864-227-2776

September 20, 2012

The Witness

Inside this issue:

Record of Our Faith-

fulness

2

Sermon Information 2

Upcoming Meetings 2

Birthdays 3

Pancake Breakfast 3

Disciple Classes 3

Men’s Monthly

Community Prayer

Breakfast

4

Anniversaries 4

Women’s New 4

Assisting in Worship 5

Stop Hunger Now

Update

5

Party in the Patch 5

Barrett’s Bits

Believe it or not, Christians

sometimes disagree. Disagreement

started early on in the life of the

church. The Greek-speaking Jews and

the Hebrew-speaking Jews contended

about the inequality of the daily distri-

bution of food to the widows from

each group (Acts 6:1-4). The first re-

corded conference of the church took

place in Jerusalem to resolve a dis-

agreement over the admission of Gen-

tile Christians into a church largely

comprised of Jewish Christians (Acts

15:1-35). Even Paul and his mentor,

Barnabas, went their separate ways

over the question of including John

Mark in a second missionary journey

(Acts 15:36-41). Paul chastises the

church in Corinth for quarreling about

who the best leader of the church

might be (1 Cor. 1:10-17) and about

spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12-13). We

could list many more.

What are we to do when dis-

agreements arise within the church,

the Body of Christ? We Methodists

would call it “holy conferencing.”

Father John Wesley, our founding

father, included holy conferencing

along with prayer, Scripture, fasting,

and the Sacraments as a means of

grace for experiencing God’s love.

Holy conferencing is coming together

in the spirit of unity to seek resolu-

tions of those things that might divide

us.

Bishop Sally Dyck of the

Chicago Area has offered what she

calls “Eight Principles of Holy Con-

ferencing” in the September/October

2012 edition of Interpreter, a journal

for church leaders. I believe if we

model these behaviors in our church

and in our places of influence in the

community our whole world will

benefit. These are the eight principles

along with Scripture references for

each:

Every person is a child of

God. (1 John 4:20-21)

Listen before speaking.

(Romans 14:1)

Strive to understand from

another’s point of view.

(Philemon 2:8)

Strive to reflect accurately

the views of others. (Matthew

12:36-37)

Disagree without being dis-

agreeable. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Speak about issues; do not

defame people. (Matthew

5:22)

Pray, in silence or aloud, be-

fore decisions. (Luke 6:28)

Let prayer interrupt your

busy-ness. (1 Thessalonians

5:17)

Continued on page 2

September 20, 2012 The Witness page 2 September 20, 2012 The Witness page 5

Sermon Information 8:45 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.

Series: “Living a Life That

Matters:

Sermon: Put It All On The Line”

Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30

Bottom Line: Trust God; be bold;

never quit!

Assisting in Worship This Sunday

8:45 am Service at BPC 11:00 am Service at

BPC

11:15 am Service at

RSC

Trustee on Duty Kristi Boggs Kristi Boggs Kristi Boggs

Acolyte Jasmine Creswell Grayson Addy Mary Greer Mullikin

Crucifer Steven Crowder Robert Addy

Sound Tech Dubie Brown Dubie Brown Harley Moore

Children’s Church Vol-

unteers

Jennifer Creswell Paige Hodges Taylor Crosby and

Kensley Cobb

Nursery Volunteers Betsy Talcott Lara Hudson and Haley

McLaughlin

Liturgist Volunteers Yvonne Hill Ray McCoy

Usher Volunteers Stan Smith, Wayne

Blackburn, Tom Miller,

Kevin McLaughlin and

Randy Smith

Waddy Babb, Larry

Finney, Billy Joe Lind-

ley, Roger Skeen and

Tom Watkins

Judie Braxton, Chris

McCoy, Christy Ste-

vens and Cathy Trevino

Communion Volunteers Pastor and Tracey

Burke; Judie Braxton

and Paige Holley;

Robby Bentley and

Chris McCoy; Stacie

Westmoreland and

Melissa Moore

Record of Our Faithfulness

Year-to-Date

General Fund Balance $183,019.62

Contributions Year to Date $643,022.72

Expenses Year to Date $626,946.14

Net $16,076.58

Contributions - September $52,464.50

Expenses - September $35,078.23

Net - September $17,386.27

Capital Accounts

Master’s Plan Year-to-Date from contributions, interest and Budget

$133,776.24

Master’s Plan (Month-to-Date) from contributions and interest

$7,605.00

Master’s Plan Total $59,203.49

Sanctuary Fund Total $65,530.47

Sanctuary Fund Month-to-Date from Contributions

$535.00

Chancel Furnishings Fund $240,081.40

Total $364,815.36

Attendance September 16, 2012

8:45 Service 184

11:00 Service 165

11:15 Service 210

Total in Worship 559

SUNDAY SCHOOL 251

KREW 125

UMYF 121

We have

raised enough

money for

74,296 meals.

Now we need

volunteers to

help to pack-

age all of the meals on Sept 29th.

Sign-up sheets are located in the nar-

thex, education wing and welcome

area.

The Knit Wits will meet on Friday, Sept 28th at the BPC in Founders Hall at 1:00 pm.

Upcoming Meetings

Kids’ World Committee will meet on

Wednesday, Sept 26th at 5:30 pm in the

Fellowship Classroom of the BPC. Enter

through the double doors on the side of the

Education Wing.

Party in the Patch will be Saturday, Octo-

ber 13th at the BPC

from 4:00 pm to 7:00

pm. Barbeque Sandwich plates with

slaw, chips, baked beans and tea will be

sold for $5 adults $3 for children 10

and under. Tickets for plates can be

purchased in advance. Proceeds benefit

Relay for Life.

As we at St. Mark enter a time of deci-

sion making for our church, a time of setting

priorities and goals and budgets, let’s commit

ourselves to holy conferencing. The Holy Spirit

acting in and through us can change the world!

Barrett

Continued from page 1

The Pastors and congregation extend Christian Sympathy to Har-riette Brewington and her family at the death of her father Lewis Cantrell on Tuesday, September 18th.

September 20, 2012 The Witness page 4 September 20, 2012 The Witness page 3

Happy Birthday! Sept 23: Russell Parkman, Robin Templeton, Daniel Bouknight, Jacob Davis

Sept 24: Dinah Smith, Steven Lyles

Sept 25: Marvin Christenson, Ted Strick-land, Barb Brogan, Peter Manning, Kristy McKellar

Sept 26: Kevin Jolly, Jamie Staley, Sharyl Connor, Matthew Bishop, Blake Beauford

Sept 27: Junior Arnold, Brad Knott, Bryan Howell, Rhett Templeton, Lauren Powell. Ella Cate Moeller

Sept 28: Trey Garland, Molly Nichols

Sept 29: Audrey McDaniel, Richard Ball, Steven Crowder, Danny Ball

Happy Anniversary! Sept 25: Joey and Marissa Hazel

Sept 26: Beth and Jeff Young

Sept 27: Elbert Bobbie Bowers

Sept 28: Carroll and Deb Burch; Kenny and Paige Walden

Sept 29: Tom and Paula Stanton; Mark and Kim Koncki; JJ and Lara Hud-son

WOMEN’S NEWS Austin-Friendship Circle will meet Sept 25 at 7:00 p.m. at the home of Dale Campbell. Fran Brown will have the program. Mission for the month: Food for the Food Bank and United Ministries. The JOY! Circle will meet on Wednesday Septem-ber 26th at noon in the home of Martha Hoole 2939 Ninety Six Highway. This will be a salad luncheon with member bringing an ingredient for the salad (hostesses will provide salad greens, beverage and dessert). Please RSVP to Martha by phone 543-9943 or email mhoole@embarqmail.com by Sun-day September 23rd.

Missing Books The following books are missing from the

UMW Reading Shelf in the library:

Amish Grace

The Undertaker’s Wife

The Gift of Change

Three Cups of Tea

Send Me, The Story of Salkehatchie

Summer Services

Please call Sandy Wilson 223.4739 if you

have these. For future reference a sign-out

sheet is located on the reading shelf.

New Disciple Classes Disciple III will start on Wednesday, Sept 26th and will meet from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Email Russ Fitzgerald (russ.fitzgerald@gmail.com) if you would like to sign up for either class.

Southern Christmas Show When: Thursday, November 15, 2012 Where: The Park Expo & Conference Cen-ter in Charlotte Who: Greenwood County Family & Com-munity Leaders (FCL) Cost: $40.00 per person Reserve your seat on the charter bus with a check issued to Greenwood County FCL and mailed to 106 Clark Avenue, Green-wood, SC 29649. The fee includes your ticket to the show, charter bus transpor-tation and light refreshments on the way to Charlotte. Call 554-4740 for more in-formation.

MEN’S MONTHLY

COMMUNITY PRAYER

BREAKFAST Friday, Sept 28th, at 6:30

AM at RSC in the Multi-

Purpose Room. The cost for breakfast is

$3. Rev. Ryan Spurrier is the guest

speaker.

St. Mark is going pink

on Sunday, Oct 21st.

Wear pink to help

show your support

for Breast Cancer

Awareness.

Barrett will be

leading a revival

at Lowell Street

UMC Monday,

Sept 24th

through Wednesday, Sept 26th at 6:30

pm. Everyone is invited.