First United Methodist Church109 S. HarperPoteau, OK 74953

Non-Profit Org.

Permit No. 40

Poteau, OK 74953

Address Service Requested

VOLUME 18 NO. 5 MAY, 2010 Serving God 117 Years

Weekly Communion9:10 A.M.

Sunday School9:30 A.M.

Morning Worship10:30 A.M.

Church Calendar ................... 2Sympathy Note ..................... 2Card of Thanks ..................... 2Children/Youth ...................... 3UMW ....................................... 4Summer Sermon Series ....... 4Newcomer Orientation ......... 4Clinic Volunteers Needed .... 4Birthdays, Anniversaries ..... 4Preschool Report .................. 5Confirmation Class ............... 5Leadership Study ................. 5Meet the Team ....................... 62010 Seniors ......................... 6

What’s Inside

The United Methodist News

My son, keep your father’s commands and do not for-sake your mother’s teach-ing. Bind them upon your heart forever . . . for these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life.

Proverbs 6:20-23

The past year has been filled with great memories and hope for the future. We continue to plan for the new sanctuary and new ministry opportunities in the neighborhood and community. And while this new space gives room for growth, it is the ministries and connection points made with others that create new disciples. Our commitment continues to be the reaching of more people in the name of Jesus Christ and then helping all of our members grow stronger in disciple-ship.

At the Church Conference last Sunday, the congregation accepted the bid of $1.8 million from Williams Construction in Muskogee, OK. The conference also accepted the proposal of the Finance Committee to have 20% of the cost of the bid in hand before beginning the project as well as utilizing a line of credit through both Central National and Community State Bank for the balance. Both of these actions were approved unanimously.

At the end of May the Oklahoma Annual Conference will hold its 167th session. The tradition of the past few years is that local congre-gations collect a special offering that is brought to conference. This year’s recipients of the offering are “Imagine No Malaria” and Cookson Hills Ministry Center. “Imagine No Malaria” is supported by United Methodists around the world working to eliminate the disease in Af-rica by the year 2015. Cookson Hills is our United Methodist Ministry for Native Americans and others who are in need of social, physi-cal, educational, and spiritual services. We will collect our offering on Sunday, May 23 during worship.

As this Annual Conference year approaches, I am looking forward to returning for the next year. God has a great future in store for Poteau UMC, and I am glad to be part of it.

Grace & peace,

REV. DR. GREGORY J. TENER

PASTOR TO PEOPLE

Happy Mother ’s Day!

MAY CHURCH CALENDAROur SympathyWORSHIP BULLETIN DEADLINE:

10 a.m. each Thursday

NEWSLETTER DEADLINE:Third Friday of each month

PAGE 2 MAY, 2010

THE UNITED METHODIST NEWSPublished by the Communications Committee

Carol Baker, Communications Coordinator/EditorFIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

109 S. Harper, Poteau, OK 74953Telephone 918-647-2217

e-mail: rogers2006@windstream.netwebsite: www.poteaufumc.com

Sunday School 9:30 – Morning Worship 10:30Bishop Robert E. HayesDistrict Superintendent Darrell CatesPastor Rev. Dr. Gregory J. TenerYouth & Children’s Director Kimberly HardawayMusic Director Steve ClarkChurch Secretary Brenda FergusonLead Nursery Attendant Jayla CraigOrganist Wendy KellyCustodian and Door Opener Ted Kilgore

District web page: 222.gbgm-umc.org/mc-dist/

MORNING WORSHIP GREETERS

ACOLYTES

2 Tabitha Zabala 9 Baleigh Quarry16 Kyson Hardaway23 Jaydon Bandy30 Versile Johnson

9 Rachel Ware16 Josh Graham23 Zachary Harreld30 Tatum Shelton

• SUNDAY •Weekly Communion, 9:10 a.m., Sanctuary

(Except on regular communion Sunday)

UMYF, 5:00 p.m.

• MONDAY • Boy Scouts, 7:00 p.m., CFLC

• TUESDAY •Cub Scouts, 6:00 p.m., CFLCDaisy Scouts, 6:00 p.m., F.H.

• WEDNESDAY •Celebration Choir Rehearsal, 6:00 p.m.

• THURSDAY •Girl Scout Troop #4034, 5:30 p.m.

(First and Third Thursday only)

• FRIDAY •Mother’s Day Out, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

2 Seeing Gray in a Black and White World, 9:30 a.m.; Talent Show, 7 p.m.

8 UMM Breakfast Meeting, 8 a.m., CFLC10 Leadership Discernment and Study, 6 p.m.16 Seniors’ Brunch, 9:30 a.m.; Baccalaureate

at 8 p.m., Bob Lee Kidd Civic Center18–20 Preschool End of Year Celebrations19 Membership Care Meeting, 1 p.m., CFLC21 High School Graduation, 8 p.m., Stadium26 VBS Meetings for Helpers, 6 and 7 p.m.,

First Christian Church (see page 5)Vacation Bible School – June 1-4

First Christian Church

Poteau F.U.M.C. Report for March, 20102010 Average Attendance Figures for March: 184

2010 Budget Requirements: $326,272.00Needed for Budget Each Week: $6,274.47

Needed through March: $75,293.64March Receipts: $33,322.33

March Expenditures: $35,153.47

Card of ThanksI would like to thank everyone who took part

in the Membership Care Committee’s Easter greeting card project. The cards I received were such a delight.

Ann Vaughan

The Membership Care Committee meets on the third Wednesday of each month (May 19) at 1 p.m. in the Christian Family Life Center. They reach out to those who are homebound or are dealing with health issues or bereavement. They make a phone call, send a card, or visit in the home and share God’s love with someone.

If there is anyone who could benefit from a vis-it, a phone call, or a card, please let us know.

For more information, call Virginia Stanley (647-2618) or Kay Thomas (647-3491).

Membership CareCommittee

2 Shannon and Amy Stubbs 9 Curtis and Dorothy James16 Melvin and Sue Travis23 Jerry and Mary Ford30 Brian and Katie Shore

Our sympathy is extended to the family of Robert Marion Allen who passed away April 18.

LITURGISTS

H H

MAY, 2010 PAGE 3

News of Children and YouthBy Kimberly Hardaway

UMYF (C.H.A.O.S.)CHAOS meets Sunday evenings from 5 to 7

p.m. for all youth 6th through 12th grade.

May 2 No C.H.A.O.S. tonight. 7 p.m. Church Wide Talent Show 9 CHAOS 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. 16 Senior Brunch, 9:30 a.m. Baccalaureate in

the evening23 Youth Council meeting and luncheon fol-

lowing morning worship CHAOS 5:00 - 7:00 p.m..1 VBS Mission night. Help set up VBS at First

Christian Church, 6 p.m.June 6 – Welcome Night for our incoming 6th

graders, 5 to 7 p.m. (Wear old, play clothes – and be prepared!).

• • • YOUTH FORCE

We will be hosting Youth Force once again this coming summer from July 18 to 23. We would like to encourage ALL of our youth going into 7th through Graduation to consider attending this year’s event. At a much reduced rate of $50 for the week, the youth offer a powerful service and witness by being a part of this local camp event. Many homeowners have already submitted needs and over 80 youth and adults from other Methodist congregations have already enrolled. The design team has already gotten underway with planning. Please make plans to be a part of this life-changing experience. For any ques-tions, contact Kim at 647-2217 or 721-4901.

• • •Monthly Food Drive

The monthly food drive for the backpack food is over for this school year. It will resume in Au-gust. Thank you for your unceasing generosity.

• • •Mother’s Day Out

Mother’s Day Out will not be held during the summer. It will end after May.

Mother’s Day Out is for 1 to 4 year olds on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the nursery rooms. Cost is $10 per visit.

Participants need to provide a snack sack and a diaper bag with diapers and wipes.

• • • Liturgists Schedule

The liturgist schedule will consist of youth

who read the scripture for every Sunday except communion Sunday. 9 Rachel Ware16 Josh Graham23 Zachary Harreld30 Tatum Shelton

• • • Summer Camp Dates

•District Camp for 7th-12th, June 21-25, $225•Sixth Grade Camp, July 13-17, $206•Third–Fifth Grade Camp, July 13-15, $118•First–Second Grade Camp, July 25-26, $45•Youth Force at Poteau 6th-12th, July 18-23 (housed at CASC), $160. ($50 for any member of our youth group.) The church covers half the cost of all camps for our kids. All camp registra-tions must be in by May 3 with the exception of Youth Force.

• • • YARD SALE TO HELP NEW CHURCH

The youth sponsored yard sale to benefit the building campaign was held Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1. This is the largest collection of yard sale items that have ever been collected by the youth to sell. They are donating 100% of the proceeds to the building of the new church.

• • •VBS IS COMING

All children are invited to GALACTIC BLAST: A COSMIC ADVENTURE PRAISING GOD! Vaca-tion Bible School. Board the starship Galactic Praise to see our awesome universe – and our awesome God – in a whole new way. The fun begins June 1 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and ends June 4 at First Christian Church at 208 N. Witte. We are holding Bible School once again there due to possible construction at ours.

To be a part of all the excitement at GALACTIC BLAST, you can pre-register May 2 through May 30th at the church office or in the ramp entry-way of the sanctuary.

If you are interested in donating supplies for this year’s Bible School, there will be a “Star-board” with donations needed located near the registration table.

There will be VBS meetings Wednesday, May 26 at First Christian Church for Leaders (adults) at 6 p.m. and Mission Pilots (teen helpers) at 7.

Five-Week Sunday School StudyRev. Tener will be leading a five-week Sunday

School Study based on Adam Hamilton’s book, Seeing Gray in a Black and White World. The study is video based and begins May 2 at 9:30.

PAGE 4 MAY, 2010

1 Cindy Stoughton 2 Kendrick Hardaway 3 Jessica Bridgman 4 Sarah Mixon 5 Steve Clark and Shirley Blackshare 6 Ryan Neurohr, Nikole Preston, and Makali Kemp 7 Jeff Mixon and Jerry Kemp 8 Mandy Wilson and Kennedy Whitefield11 Robert Reed and Libby Bridgman13 Gianna Reid14 Nicholas Roberts15 Tucker Garrett and Austin James19 Jenci Quarry20 Hayley Redhage21 Emily Norgeot22 Rhett Garner25 Cash Balentine, Burke Perry, Brady Perry26 Kade McMillin and Katie Rust27 Freda Ogle and Kawika Santos28 Joey Hall30 Charley Clark, Daz DeCamp, Cora Rolens,

and Warrick Quarry

May Anniversaries

May Birthdays

4 Will and Kela Miller14 Jim and Ruth Ann DeCamp Pete and Susan Norgeot15 Jerry and Mary Ford19 David and Lisa Barnes20 Chad and Jennifer Cravens22 Greg and Judy Tener24 Scott and Jennifer Miller28 Jerry and Jan Thompson29 Bob and Deanna Reed31 Jarrod and Alison Garrett

As I come to the end of my service as Presi-dent of UMW, I am very proud of our unit for the things we have accomplished. I am so thankful for the support of our church family in our Fall Festival efforts. Most of the money we are able to donate comes from Fall Festival.

UMW had a great meeting on the evening of April 22, with 13 present. After a dinner of bris-ket, sides and dessert, the program was pre-sented. B.J. Barnes, Asst. Director of LeFlore County Youth Services, did a Powerpoint pre-sentation on Child Abuse. Our county receives around 60 reports of abuse each month.

UMW has supported Youth Services for many years. We also give money on a regular basis to the Women’s Crisis Center, Ministerial Alliance, and the Christian Free Clinic. Other donations during my period as President have included Cookson Hills Mission, Circle of Care, New Day Camp, and NSO. All these programs serve our state of Oklahoma. We have also supported var-ious local church programs, such as handbells, kitchen equipment, and our latest - $1,500 for the new church building fund. The latter was made possible by donations for a quilt by Grace DeHart.

I’m a little sad to have my time as President end, but look forward to getting involved in some other mission areas, too. I’ll still be a United Methodist Woman!

United Methodist Women

Summer Sermon SeriesQuestions of Faith – Questions for Life

Beginning on Sunday, May 30 and throughout the summer months, the sermons will be based upon “Questions You Have Always Wanted to Ask a Preacher.” There will be bulletin inserts on which you can submit your questions or you can bring your questions by the church office. Remember, every question is a good question.

Newcomer OrientationA newcomer orientation luncheon will be held

on Sunday, June 6th after worship. Recent new members or persons interested in becom-ing members of Poteau First United Methodist Church will hear about the many programs and opportunities for ministry. There will be a time for questions and to offer feedback about the church. The pastor and youth minister will be providing the leadership.

Christian Free Clinic Volunteers NeededMay is our church’s month to provide vol-

unteer receptionists for the Christian Free Clinic. Two volunteers are needed for each Tuesday in May. Please call Brenda imme-diately to sign up so a list of names can be provided for the clinic. Volunteers should be on duty by 5:15 p.m. on their assigned night.

It is the Christian concern and caring of the volunteers that allows the clinic to con-tinue its work.

Thank you.

MAY, 2010 PAGE 5

ByTracey Gilliam,

PreschoolDirector

May brings the end of the school year for Preschool. We have had a great year.

May themes are Ocean Animals, Farm Animals, and End of the Year Celebrations. We will be visiting Poteau Pets and Ms. Tracey’s farm this month.

The end of the year celebrations are planned for May 18th through May 20th.

A big thank you to everyone who has helped with Preschool this year: Pastor Greg and Kim Hardaway for Message Time; Ms. Brenda for answering phone calls; Mr. Ted for repairs; Mrs. DeSpain for organizing refreshments for our celebrations; and to all who have donated sup-plies.

The Preschool is a great ministry to the com-munity. Have a wonderful summer!

Leadership Discernment and StudyAt the recent Raising the Roof workshop,

the pastor and youth minister participated in a shared learning experience that they wish to utilize with the leadership of the church. The various exercises offer opportunities to discover themes that have run throughout the history of the congregation’s life, openness to change, and barriers to growth.

The sessions will be on Monday evenings at 6 p.m. in the large classroom in the CFLC begin-ning May 10 and ending June 7. (No session on Memorial Day.) The sessions are open to all, but especially for those who serve as committee chairpersons or on the Church Council. If you have any questions, please contact the office.

Presentingthe

2010ConfirmationClass

Our 2010 Confirmation Class was received into full membership on Sunday, April 18th. These youth participated in a series of classes which helped equip them to make their own faith decisions.

During the classes, each was paired with an adult faith partner mentor and together they read, studied and discussed scripture, and had

faith building group activities.Mentors and their partners were: Mike Lee

and Kanaan Hardaway; Dana Lee and Tatum Shelton; Martha Renfro and Makali Kemp; Peggy Talley and Keely Carsello; Lloyd Lee and Kade McMillin; Patty Wright and Josie Garrett; Liz Perry and Taylor Darneal; Kay Thomas and Maci McMillin; Keith Thomas and Sam Shore; Joe Renfro and Connor Matos; Keith Wright and Jesse Barnes.

Front row, left to right are: Josie Garrett, Taylor Darneal, Maci McMillin, Sam Shore, Connor Matos, and Jesse Barnes; back row: Rev. Tener, Kanaan Hardaway, Tatum Shelton, Makali Kemp, Keely Carsello, and Kade McMillin.

Remember weekly communion every Sun-day morning at 9:10 except the first Sunday of the month. Dismissal is in time for Sunday School.

PAGE 6 MAY, 2010

Mike LeeCo-Chair “Mustard Seed”

Susan Mixon

Lloyd LeeCo-Chair “Mustard Seed”

Dee KempChair of “Loaves and Fishes”

(Photo Not Available)

Terri MartinRobert Reynolds Louise ReynoldsTeam Coordinators

Meet the rest of the Capital Campaign Task Force Leaders

Living Cornerstones for Ministry

YourChurch Newsletter

by EmailThe time has come! Beginning with the June

newsletter, you can receive your newsletter by email if you wish. You will be able to get your newsletter as soon as it is prepared instead of waiting for mail delivery, and you will see color photos and color artwork that doesn’t show up on the mailed black and white version.

If you would like to receive your newsletter by email instead of regular mail, all you need to do is let the church office know and provide your email address. So if this interests you, call the church office at 647-2217 to get on the email list.

And in Case You Didn’t KnowThe church newsletters are also on the

church’s website www.poteaufumc.com along with lots of other information about our church as well as other sources for information beyond our local church.

To see the list of newsletters, click on “Info Center” at the top of the home page and pull down to Church Newsletters.

We wish to congratulate all our graduates of 2010. On May 16th at 9:30 there will be a Brunch in the CFLC during the Sunday School hour honoring the high school seniors. Come and congratulate them.

They are Keely Redhage, Rachel Ware, Kawika San-tos, Josh Graham, Hieu Le (exchange student living with Terri Martin), Patrick Harman (Nina Ritchie’s grandson), and Amanda Hall (Robin Reed’s daugh-ter.)

Baccalaureate is on May 16 at 8 p.m. at Bob Lee Kidd Civic Center.

Graduation is May 21 at 8 p.m. at Costner Stadium.

Advance Team