A Periodical from First United Methodist Church in Temple, Texas

February 2009

The WordThe Word

Inside This EditionInside This EditionCall It Risorgimento•

Putting Words into Actions•

2009 Confi rmation Class•

Construction Pictures•

June-July 2009y

You are the light of the world... You are the light of the world...

let your light shine before otherslet your light shine before others

Matthew 5:14-16Matthew 5:14-16

The Word from Pastor TomThe Word from Pastor Tom

A few months ago, Shannon and I were eating a Saturday morning breakfast at a Mexican food restaurant here in Temple. After I ordered, I looked across the restaurant and saw a member of our congregation. She was staring at me with intense concentration and I said, “How are you doing?” She said, “I thought that was you but I wasn’t sure because this is the fi rst time I’ve seen you in clothes.” At that moment I realized there was no noise. Everyone in the restaurant had stopped eating and staring at us. Luckily Shannon knew what she meant.Have you ever thought you recognized someone but you weren’t really sure? This happens to me on a fairly regular basis. I see people and I am not sure if I should know them or not.I think the same thing can be said for my spiritual life. There are times when I think I encounter Jesus but I’m not sure. When a homeless man asks for money; when a child is hungry; when an old man is sitting alone in a nursing home – Jesus is always there. But how often do we recognize him?In the 25th chapter of the gospel of Matthew Jesus says that whenever we reach out to another person in need, we are actually reaching out to him. So the way to recognize whether or not you are seeing Jesus is very simple. If there is a person in need, Jesus is there. My prayer is that we see him.

God Bless,Tom

Worship With UsContact Us

First United Methodist Church102 N 2nd StreetTemple, TX 76501254-773-5269contact@fumctemple.orgwww.fumctemple.orgMail: P.O. Box 773 with zip 76503

PastorsRev Tom Robbins - Sr. Pastortom.robbins@fumctemple.org

Rev Jane Woodward - Assoc. Pastor/Music Ministerjane.woodward@fumctemple.org

Rev Hubert Austin - Assoc. Pastorhubjan1929@att.net

Rev Tim Wilson - Assoc. Pastortim.wilson@fumctemple.org

TraditionalMain Sanctuary8:30am & 11:00am

ContemporaryDennis Hall9:00 am

Wednesday ChapelChapel10:30am

Sunday School10:00am

SermonsRadio Broadcast KTEM 1400 AM Sunday 9:30 amwww.fumctemple.org/content.cfm/sermons

Special EventSpecial Event

Third Annual Patriotic Concert“An American Hymn Festival”

Sunday evening, June 28th 7 p.m.

Submit your “Top Six” hymns to Pastor Jane in either of the following ways: 1. e-mail jane.woodward@fumctemple.org 2. Write down and place designated box outside Sanctuary on 2nd fl oor or in foyer of Dennis Hall

The six hymns which receive the most total votes will be sung during the Hymn Festival.

Special Music for the evening includes:Chancel Choir - “An American Rhapsody” by Randall Stroope and other

American Hymn Anthems.Dr. Bradley and Mrs. Becky Bradley offer organ/piano Hymn duets.

Military Personnel will be recognized and Boy Scouts will post the colors.WEAR RED, WHITE, and BLUE

FUMC Event CalendarFUMC Event Calendar

Call It RisorgimentoCall It Risorgimento

by Bill Horick - Retired Pastorby Bill Horick - Retired Pastor

Risorgimento. I discovered that lovely Italian word some years ago when I researched the life of Giuseppe Garibaldi for a short story I wrote. He has always been an honored name in European history. Garibaldi is known as the 19th century patriot statesman who transformed several paperweight Italian states into a single, unifi ed country. Thus the word risorgimento aptly means renewal or resurgence. Not to be overly glib, but I think of the word each time I dine at The Olive Garden. It reminds me of all those delicious menu items.

It would be a grand word to describe how our church maintains a healthy cadence with progress. Risorgimento is a fresh and stimulating term. I much prefer it than hearing that our church has a “new lease on life.” In fact, I hate such trite, hackneyed phrases. For example, when I hear a coach say “We’ve certainly got our work cut out for us”, I cringe in horror. Now our Central Texas Conference is preparing to call the seven districts---Brownwood, Weatherford, Fort Worth, Mid-Cities, Waxahachie, Waco, and Temple---into risorgimento at its annual conclave to be held this year at the prestigious White’s Chapel United Methodist Church in the city of Southlake, one of those mushrooming communities in the Fort Worth area. With our new bishop,

Mike Lowry, presiding, the Conference will offer a number of changes from past years that are sure to invigorate the daily business sessions and worship services. One of those innovations includes a fellowship night at the Arlington Ballpark with the Texas Rangers. How’s that for risorgimento? But it will surely also be felt from the opening session on Sunday evening, June 7th to the closing ceremony on the June 10th Wednesday afternoon with the reading of the clergy appointments and the Sending Forth by Bishop Lowry. And hopefully, that sense of renewal and resurgence will manifest itself in every church of the Central Texas Conference. It does happen, you know. Just look how that risorgimento shaped our church when Tom Robbins became our Senior Pastor through Methodism’s appointive system.

Putting Our Words into ActionPutting Our Words into Action

by Jane Woodwardby Jane Woodward

The Holy Spirit is moving in our Church. It is moving our people to put faith into practice. This is evident through the good works of Joshua Stegall and his ministry of collecting soccer balls and sending them to Haiti, Brookie Martin’s ministry of selling hand-made bracelets to raise funds for fresh, clean water for the children of Haiti, and Kimberly Rankin’s ministry for God’s earth by collecting items for recycling. What follows is yet another example of how God is working through us to bring the Kingdom of God upon the earth.

In early 2006, Melanie Morrow and her sister, Donna Stoa, had a dream. They created what they called Lavender Girls Farm on the land owned by their parents, called Circle F Ranch, located off of Elm Grove Road, outside of Belton. It was a four-acre plot of land to be devoted to raising Lavender. These sisters educated themselves about Lavender and all things lavender. Species, climate, topography, disease, pests were researched. Products were explored. Costs

were calculated. Trips to lavender festivals, farms, book stores, and the internet served as learning tools. So, in the early Spring of 2006, Melanie came from Albuquerque and Donna came from Houston to put in the fi rst 50 plants, purchased from Martha’s Bloomers Nursery in Navasota. After beds were planned (and re-planned), measurements were taken, sand was purchased, and soil was tilled, the 4” plants were placed in their new homes, thanks to the help of family and neighbors. Then, Melanie, who had lived in Albuquerque, relocated to Temple, bought a house, joined First UMC Temple, and began a new phase of life. Consequently, the Farm was expanded in 2007 to house over 600 plants. But then things began to change dramatically.Because of rain and ensuing fungus, 50% of the plants were lost. Sadly, it was decided that lavender would not be re-planted. Lavender Girls Farm became, instead, a garden planted with produce and herbs for family use. Tomatoes, peppers, okra, squash, and watermelon all thrived. The crop was abundant, more so than they would have ever dreamed.

At Christmas of ’08, as family members gathered to celebrate the birth of Jesus, they planted 1800 onions – six times as many as before. All 1800 onions survived - 700 pounds worth! Drying tables were built. Onions were put in bundles and hung for storage. The problem was that they certainly didn’t need that many onions for themselves. There was no buyer, nor was there any way to distribute all these onions elsewhere, anyway. The question was, “What are we going to do with all these onions?” After several sleepless nights, the vision began to unfold. The vision was very simple, but it was not at all what was originally intended for Lavender Girls Farm in 2006. That is to say it wasn’t what Melanie and Donna had intended, because God had a plan for this land that was much greater. Give the food away. After that decision was made, things began to happen, and problems began to be solved. Within only 10 days, Donna happened upon a wholesaler at a farmer’s market who agreed to buy 40% of the onions, sight unseen. This amount of cash would cover costs for replanting. The remaining 60% of the harvest went to Capital Area Food Bank of Texas-Austin (which brought a big truck to pick up 225lbs worth!). Helping Hands Ministry of Belton and Martha’s Kitchen of Temple received the rest. The end result is that Lavender Girls Farm is now not just a dream shared by two sisters. It is a ministry. It is one which they hope to expand beyond simply fi nding a place for 700 lbs of onions.As Melanie and Donna put it, “Our onion beds are empty. Our drying beds are empty. But, our hearts are full. We are moving on to the next adventure. We now know our mission. We are going to help feed America.”As to how this ministry will expand, well, that remains to be seen. There are costs for materials and equipment. But, they believe that God will provide. The truth is: God will bless our efforts when we give back that which we have been given. For more information regarding Lavender Girls Farm, and how you might be able to be a part of their mission to “help feed America”, contact mfmorrow@gmail.com

“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.”

Confirmation Class of 2009Confirmation Class of 2009

Caroline Elise Arthur

Hannah Cruzan Avery

Tristen Alexandra Coffee

April Elizabeth Fowler

Remington Anderson Kent

Snowden Marie Kent

Trevor Wells Kortz

Grant David Laughlin

Zoe Marie Mischtian

Rachel Ann Moger

Meredith Ann Norton

Grace Vallecillo-Drews

Brett Michael Wilson

Kaley Mariah Zett

We believe in one God, the Father of all nations, the source

of all goodness and beauty, strength and love; whose mercy

is over all His works.

We believe that God is large enough to fill the whole

world with His love, yet small enough to reside in our

hearts.

We believe in God, the creator of all things, who continues

to create in our lives every day.

We believe in Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God,

Who was eternally begotten of the Father, born of the

Virgin Mary and became truly human.

He was crucified on the cross on Good Friday for our sins,

and was resurrected from the dead three days later on

Easter Morning in victory over death. He ascended into

Heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.

We believe in the Holy Spirit which is God’s continual

presence in our lives which helps us and guides us along

our Christians path of faith and gives us comfort and

strength in times of need.

We believe that the Church is not a building but a group

of people who have come together for the purpose of

worshipping God. We believe that the church exists to help

us further our relationship with God and to spread God’s

love to all the corners of the earth.

We believe that we are called to be loyal to the church

and honor it with our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and

witness.

We believe that the Bible is God’s love letter to us and serves

as our road map and compass to God. It is the holy, inspired

word of God.

We believe that Christ will come again in final triumph over

sin and death to judge the living and the dead and that all

who believe in Him will have everlasting life.

Amen

2009 Confirmation Class Creed2009 Confirmation Class Creed

FUMC YouthFUMC Youth

FUMC YouthFUMC Youth

Jeff StegallJeff Stegall

June 21st, July 19th, Aug 2nd Swim Party 5:00-7:00pm TBA

June 28th Frisbee Golf Lions Park 5:00-7:00pm

July 7th & 8th - Schlitterbahn

July 12th - Paintball

All youth are needed to help at VBS June 15-19. Let Jeff know if you are planning to help so we can give you a job assignment.

Summer Concert Series Wednesday June 17th, July 15th, and August 19th at 7:00 PM

This summer is fi lled with lots of fun activities for all our children! Take a look at the calendar on the next page. VBS will defi nitely start out our summer activities. Kim Myers and her team are working very hard on putting this year’s VBS together. The theme for this year is Rome and we will have many educational and fun activities. The children will be divided into “families” of 10 which is a nice size group to lead to the different events. There will be a market place were the children can explore some of the skills, trades and foods that people in Rome were accustomed to during the Bible times. We will have lots of music, games and tons of other activities to make this a week to remember!

Terrifi c Thursdays always are fun; we leave the church at noon and take mini fi eld trips to various places in Central Texas. Terrifi c Thursdays are open to all children ages 1st grade thru 5th grade.

We will once again have 2 trips to Glen Lake Camp; this is our Methodist Summer camp in Glen Rose, Texas and is just a beautiful place. You can fi nd more information on there various camp opportunities on their web site www.glenlake.org. We will go together as a church group for a weekend camp on the 17th – 19th July and for a week long trip on the 27th -31st of July.

The summer will wind down with a Bible presentation on the 16th of August for all our upcoming 3rd graders. Promotion Sunday is on the 23rd of August, the offi cial start of the new Sunday school year .

The children will still continue to recycle during the summer to collect funds for care packages for our soldiers.

Have a great summer and I hope that you will join us on our fun activities planned for the summer!

FUMC ChildrenFUMC Children

Iris RankinIris Rankin

FUMC KIDS SUMMER ACTIVITES

June15th – 19th VBS – Rome, Paul and the underground Church, ages 4years to 5th Grade. 9am – 12:00pm

15th – 18th Praise Camp (Music Camp) ages 1st grade – 4th grade

25th Terrifi c Thursday Kick off, trip to Waco Water Park, ages 1st grade through 5th grade.

July 2nd Terrifi c Thursday trip to Bowling in Waco ages 1st - 5th grade 9th Terrifi c Thursday trip to Ice skating in Austin ages 1st - 5th grade 16th Terrifi c Thursday trip to Nifty’s 50’s (burgers, putt putt and Karaoke) ages 1st – 5th grade17th – 19th Glen Lake weekend camp for all 3rd – 4th grade students registration with www.glenlake.org required.23rd Terrifi c Thursday trip to Summer Fun USA ages 1st – 5th grade27th – 31st Glen lake week summer camp for all 5th – 6th grade students Registration with www.glenlake.org required.

30th NO TERRIFIC THURSDAY TRIP, WE WILL BE AT GLEN LAKE

August6th Terrifi c Thursday trip to Chuck E. Cheese & Boulders in Killeen ages 1st grade through 5th grade13th Terrifi c Thursday trip to Austin Park & Pizza 1st - 5th grade14th Parents Night Out 6- 10PM, registration required, dinner, games crafts and lots of other fun activities offered.

Your Money at Work2009 2nd Quarter Operations Income Goal: $394,250June 7, 2009, Operations Income Received: $290,364June 7, 2009, Organ Note Balance: $257,463June 7, 2009, New Construction Loan Balance: $674,917Total Building Campaign Pledge to Date: $2,962,006Total Building Campaign Pledge Paid to Date: $1,541,024Total Remaining Building Campaign Pledge Outstanding: $1,420,982

MARCH MEMORIALS & HONORABLYMARCH MEMORIALS & HONORABLY

APRIL 27-MAY 28THAPRIL 7 MAY 8TH

Memorial Fund:IN MEMORY OF HARVEY DAVIS:Tim & Yvonne Morris

IN MEMORY OF LOUISE HACKER:Gail Campbell

IN MEMORY OF MRS. J.H. MYERS:Lorene Myers Carver

IN MEMORY OF E.P. SPURLIN:Walt & Doris Tomlin; Carol & Michael Clements; Dorothy Jane Pace Ham; Sam Farrow

IN MEMORY OF CLAIRE WELLS:Wayne Matthews & Sandra Oliver; Jeanette Gregory; Stephen & Alicia McQueen

IN MEMORY OF GEORGE YOUNG:Wayne Matthews & Sandra Oliver

Organ Fund:IN HONOR OF ALL PARTICIPANTS OF THE EASTER TENEBRAE SERVICE:Anonymous

Building Fund:IN MEMORY OF ALLEGRA BARNES:J.W. & Ruth Perry; Ethel Venable; Mr. & Mrs. O’Gene Barkemeyer; Lavelle Parsons; Mary Ann Mitcham

IN MEMORY OF ERMON MILLER:Ethel Venable; Mr. & Mrs. O’Gene Barkemeyer

IN MEMORY OF CLAIRE WELLS:Bell County Gunslinger’s Riding Club; The Central Texas Council of Governments; Jeanette Mundell; DiAnne Allison; The David Hanson & Jeff Hanson Families; JoAnn Wells; John Versie; Jeanie Underwood; Janice Wright; Mr. & Mrs. Glenn Cathey, Sr.; Ralph & Debbie Sheffi eld; Joan Welch; Wallace & Sue Lowry; John & Bonnie Asbury; Cynthia Radle

IN MEMORY OF JACK JAVENS:Mr. & Mrs. O’Gene Barkemeyer

IN MEMORY OF LOUISE HACKER:J.W. & Ruth Perry

IN MEMORY OF E.P. SPURLIN:Olga Christy; J.W. & Ruth Perry

IN HONOR OF TIM & SHERRIE WILSON:John & Janet Epperson

Latest Construction PicturesLatest Construction Pictures

FIRSTUnited Methodist Church

102 N 2nd StreetTemple, TX 76502

Non-Profi t Org. U.S. Postage

PAID Temple, TX

Permit No. 123

Devotional by Hubert AustinDevotional by Hubert AustinFrom God’s Little devotional Book by Honor Books

On a Friday evening, just as the light turned green, his car stalled. All his efforts to start it again failed. A chorus of honking instantly arose from the cars behind him. Feeling just as frustrated as everyone else eager to get home for the weekend, he finally got out of his car and walked to the car behind him. He waited for the driver to roll down his window, then said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t

seem to get my car started. If you’ll go up there and give it a try, I’ll stay hear and blow your horn for you.” A person who is chronically impatient rarely makes anyone else go faster or arrive earlier. Instead, the effects are usually negative – affecting the impatient person as well as others. Accidents occur more frequently when we are in great haste. Ulcers, headaches, and other health problems quickly develop, and relationships become more strained. To battle your impatience, try giving yourself ten extra minutes everyday. Get up ten minutes earlier in the morning. Leave ten minutes earlier for work, and so forth. You will arrive at the end of the day feeling much more clear-headed and relaxed.

Patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:8-9