The Bethlehem Star is published 6

times/year by Bethlehem United

Methodist Church, 4 Westtown

Road, Thornton PA 19373, (610)

459-3482, www.bethmeth.com,

Deadline for copy: the 7th day of

the month prior to publication.

Editor reserves the right to edit for

content and space. Unsolicited

material is welcome!

Bethlehem

United Methodist Church

PO Box 57

4 Westtown Road

Thornton, PA 19373

P: 610-459-3482

F: 610-459-0811

www.bethmeth.com

KENYA UPDATE 1

COMMUNITY DAY 2

FAMILY TABLE MINISTRY 3

DVD LIBRARY 3

GETTING TO KNOW YOU 4

SAVE THE DATE 4

Inside this issue:

The Bethlehem StarThe Bethlehem Star May/June 2016

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my

witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in

Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Jesus – Acts 1:8)

This is essentially Luke’s version of the Great Commission which we commonly refer to

from Matt. 28:19-20. Matthew tells us to, “go and make disciples of all the nations” and

Mark tells us to, “go into all the world and preach the Good News”, but only Luke

actually gives us a ‘game plan.’ His plan is to start in your home town and then spread

from there, eventually to the “ends of the earth.”

One of the things I truly love about BUMC is how we take the great commission seriously

and literally. It is a healthy view of mission when we are active in all the ‘circles’ that

Luke mentions. For instance, we have ministry outreaching into our local neighborhood

through Hands on Homes, and various service projects. We extend a little further out

with Good Works, Women’s crisis pregnancy centers, the Frederick Douglass School and

other places. From there we are involved with Samaritan’s Purse on a national level

wherever help is needed and finally we have the furthest circle which for us is our

international outreach to Kenya.

This year will be our fourth trip and we have a record number of people going at 30! In

all, so far, we will have taken over 40 people from BUMC to Kenya, 8,500 miles away!

This is truly phenomenal if you think about it. This number represents almost 20% of our

congregation and speaks loudly to the priority of mission in our church.

As many of you know, we are involved in various activities and projects when we are

there including several water filter distributions. This year there is a massive filter

distribution taking place in the city where we stay. The goal is to distribute

approximately 30,000 filters! There has never been a distribution of this magnitude and

we are blessed to be able to participate in this endeavor.

As you can imagine, a distribution of this size also has a huge cost and that is why we are

trying to raise an extra $20,000 this year. We are well under way with our fundraising

but want to remind you how important your contributions are. We could never make

this trip without your help. Giving and prayer are the two greatest ways to make this

mission truly a church-wide project.

At whatever level you participate, thank you for helping make BUMC a place that

truly puts feet to the fulfillment of the Great Commission!

Go and make disciples of all

nations, baptizing them in the

name of the Father and of the

Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 28:19

KENYA — AGAIN? By Pastor Tom Wolff

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Our annual Community Day is an opportunity to

invite our community to a fun afternoon on our

beautiful church grounds. Such a big event takes a

lot of leaders to make it happen.

In her third year as chief organizer, Kim Gehrke has

brought fresh ideas as well as a depth of experience

from the corporate world to make Community Day

an event that we look forward to all year. Her

emphasis has been to make this an event for young

families.

Pastor Christie Kelly has been organizing an

afternoon of live music. It starts with kid-friendly

“Makin’ Music, Rockin’ Rhythms” followed by our

own kid’s choirs. Next up is the pop-soul sounds of

“Rad and Kell” and wrapping up the day (put on

your dancing shoes) is “The FlipSidez” with their

covers of 60’s, 70’s & 80’s hits.

Albert Cochrane is lending his multi-year experience

to the food court. Providing great food at an

affordable price, this year’s menu features the $5

meal deal with choices of hamburgers, sausage,

pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs, and nachos.

Dale and Debbie Plummer are new to their role as overseer to the Kenya Auction. The auction is a great way to help finance the trip as well as reach the goal of $20,000 extra this year to fund additional water filters. Donations of gift items and services are going well (more are welcome!), but they are challenged in getting people to help the day of the

event as it is Mother's Day weekend and they will be out of town. If you can help for an hour or two, please contact Dale at ddplummer@aol.com Amy Yannelli is our fabulous veteran bake sale

coordinator. This year’s theme is “Tastes of the

World.” What does this mean? Do you have a

special family recipe with a history or ingredients

from another other country, state, or culture?

Examples: Jewish apple cake, banana bread with

bananas from Costa Rica, or Georgia pecan pie.

Have fun with this! BUMC has the best bakers!

What can you do? Most importantly, plan to be

there! Tell your friends, neighbors and family!

Please help if you are able. Sign-up sheets are

available after each church service on Sunday.

Save the Dates for Our Other Outreach Events…

Saturday, June 11, 5 – 9 pm-- Thornbury Township

Founder’s Day at Thornbury Park. We will be there

showing off our Kenya-bound water filters and

giving away Rita’s water ice. Stay to enjoy the

fireworks.

Monday, July 4th -- Join us as we march in the

Thornbury Township Parade from the church to the

park.

Saturday, September 24th -- Annual Chicken BBQ

and flea market

COMMUNITY DAY—MAY 7 12—5 pm By Janice Butterworth

3

ALL ABOUT CHICKEN “Natural” means no artificial ingredients, however, chicken could be fed a diet pumped with antibiotics and/or injected with broth/brine. Labeling has very little meaning when it comes to "natural." “Organic” refers to how the animal was raised. The chickens eat only organic food and NO antibiotics.

Remember that it is very important to keep all areas in your kitchen, along with your hands, perfectly clean when working with poultry. Poultry should ALWAYS be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

PERFECTLY POACHED "JUICY" BONELESS CHICKEN BREASTS

Poached white meat chicken is called for in many recipes. It is easy to poach your own perfectly, by following this simple technique:

place chicken in deep-sided fry pan

Cover chicken with water

Bring water to a gentle boil—immediately turn to simmer

Partially cover pan with lid and poach 15-20 minutes to an internal temperature of 165 degrees

Family Table Ministry By Janet Samuelian

Library corner By John McGrath

DVD Library

We are in the process of implementing a new pro-

gram of adding selected DVDs to our library. There

are basically three categories of DVDs we will be add-

ing to the library. The first will be DVDs of bible study

or reference type programs that you are familiar with

from Sunday School or small group studies. An exam-

ple of this type would be Bill Hybels’ “The Power of a

Whisper” DVD that goes with his book. The second

category is entertainment videos such as the “Son of

God” movie produced by (Touched by an Angel star)

Roma Downey and her husband. We will also in-

clude other “Hollywood” movies that have a strong

Christian message, such as “The Blind Side.” The

third category is children’s videos, strictly for the

young, such as the Veggie Tales videos.

All these videos can be found in the cabinet with the

glass door at the rear of the library.

Because of our limited budget, we will be relying on

the congregation for donations in order for the library

to grow. We are indebted to Jan Samuelian for

getting us started with a number of DVDs from her

personal library. So if you have any Christian DVDs at

home that you think others in the congregation

would enjoy, please consider donating them to the

library.

I know that with Netflix and other streaming services,

it is easy to find and view a huge range of movies and

videos at home. But the purpose of our library is to

make available Christian and family DVDs that may

not be on Netflix and to make DVDs available to those

in the congregation who do not have access to Netflix

or a similar service.

The DVDs are being cataloged in the same way as the

books in the library, so you will be able to search the

database to see what is available. DVDs may be

checked out in the same manner as books. But we

request that DVDs be checked out for no longer than

one week.

4

MARK YOUR CALENDAR:

Sunday, May 1 -

Communion Sunday

Saturday, May 7 -

Community Day

Sunday, May 8 - Amnion Baby

Bottle Collection

Friday, May 20 - Men’s

Campfire in the Grove: 7:30 PM

Sunday, June 5:

Confirmation and

Communion Sunday

Tuesday, June 7

Volleyball- 6:30 PM - held

every Tuesday evening thru

August 30.

Friday, June 17 - Men’s

Campfire in the Gove: 7:30 PM

Sunday, June 19 - Softball at

Thornbury Park: 6:00 PM

Friday & Saturday, June 24 &

25 - Bethlehem Praise Dance

Workshop

Sue Winterode, Service Chairperson

Sue did the sharing at the services on Sunday, April 3, is in a small group, and often enrolls in the women’s Bible studies

Elmi: What question would you like me to ask you?

Sue: “What is my favorite book?”

Elmi: OK, what is your favorite book?

Sue: I can easily say “the next one.” I love reading and my house is filled with books. Wall to wall. But the book that had the strongest influence on me as a child was The Little Engine That Could. I used the line “I think I can, I think I can…” when I was in doubt when doing something for the first time. After-wards the line “I thought I could, I thought I could…” would come to mind.

Now, my most influential book is the Bible and my emphasis has changed to “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phi 4:13).

Most of my memory verses are from the KJV, but my favorite translation is the NIV.

I am actually in the process of writing a book, with the help of Dee Dee Cass and a friend who is a missionary in the Philippines. It will be a devotional with tips for caregivers.

Elmi: How did you happen to come to this church?

Sue: I was relatively new to this area. I drove past the church when taking a

back road to work and saw a catchy sermon title on the sign board that piqued my interest. I was attracted by the humor in it. I came to the service and have been part of the family ever since. It has been years.

Elmi: What are your plans for your ministry?

Sue: I noticed that about 20% of the people do all the work in this church. In the service ministry we need more people to help with making and delivering the occasional meal as encouragement to people that are, for instance, care givers. Well, I am coming for the 80%!

GETTING TO KNOW YOU By Elmi Cochrane

Editor’s note: This is the first in a new series designed to

get to know other BUMC people better.