Allegan United Methodist Church 409 Trowbridge Street

Allegan, MI 49010

Office Hours: Monday – Friday 8:00-12:00 p.m. Pastor’s Office Hours: Monday – Friday 8:00-12:00 p.m. or by appointment

Phone: 269.673.4236 ● Fax: 269-673-8856 ● Email: secretary@allumc.org ● Website: alleganumc.org

Allegan United Methodist Church – January 2020

NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 144 ALLEGAN, MI 49010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pg. 1 “From the Heart of the Pastor” Birthdays Pg. 2 January Sermons Window to the World Pg. 3 Kids Hope Mission Moment Pg. 4 New Year Inspiration Coloring Page Pg. 5 Calendar Pg. 6 News from the Pews Pg. 7 Food Pantry UMW Pg. 8 Ad Board Report Pg. 9 Expenses

Our God is a “with us" God. On the heels of the celebration of the birth of our King, that reminder has

the power to carry us right into a fresh, new start. He is Immanuel, God with us.

And though things and people around us shift and change, our God never changes.

Help us to be known as great givers,

help us to be generous and kind, help us to look to the needs of others

and not be consumed by only our own.

4 – Diane McElwee 7 – Hunter Weeks 9 – Morgan Foune 10 – Don Forster 11 – Adriana Brink Chase Milbocker Beth Van Wagoner 12 – Al Nielsen 14 – David Oetman 16 – Mark Heather 17 – Alex McQuaid-Norton 18 – Janelle Adams-Corke 20 – Beth Ann DeLaet 22 – Jim Sebright 23 – Kayla Lynch 25 – Logan Thiel-Malling Lydia Walsh 26 – Lisa Campeau 28 – Memphis Fontanez 29 – Margaret Pierson 31 – Leslie Ballard Ed Garvin

13 – Tim & Lori Dickinson

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

Arthur Ashe

Also, I would like to thank everyone for all the cards and gifts.

- Rev. Robert Lynch

Sermon Themes

January 5, 2020 The Fault in Our Stars Matthew 2:1-12 We know about the problem of artificial light pollution. An added concern is that this light pollution is not just coming from Earth — It’s coming from the sky itself! Long ago, the magi saw a light in the sky — not pollution, but the portent of a royal birth. January 12, 2020 What’s Your Why? Isaiah 42:1-9 Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, has a personal mission statement and it is “to have fun in [my] journey through life and learn from [my] mistakes.” This is what drives him. What drives us? The ancient prophet Isaiah has some suggestions. January 19, 2020 Alexa and Adonai Psalm 40:1-11 Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, digital assistants like Alexa and Siri may soon be able to add psychotherapy to the benefits they offer. Thing is, though, that no matter how sophisticated the algorithm becomes, your digital assistant will never replace what God can do for you.

Simon Peter was an ordinary fisherman who transformed into a follower of Jesus. He was faithful, yet flawed. Peter was the first to profess Jesus as the Son of God, yet he later denied knowing him. Peter

went on to give his life for the sake of his call. In this series, we take an in-depth dive into the life, faith and character of Simon Peter.

. January 19, 2020 “The Call of Simon the Fisherman”: Luke 5:1-11: Peter is asked to leave his fishing business and join Jesus’ mission “fishing for People”. January 26, 2020 “Walking with Jesus through the Storms” Matthew 14:22-34 Like Peter, when we are beset by storms and sinking we can task Jesus’ hand and be rescued.

Thank you for all the helping hands who helped pre-decorate the Sanctuary for the Hanging of the Greens. To all who participated in the Hanging of the Greens service, I appreciate your being readers very much. For those who have taken part in lighting the Advent candles, week after week, you did an amazing job. Special thanks to the Armintrout family for the wreathes that adorn the front doors and the cross in the parking lot entryway, your support year after year is greatly appreciated. – Judy Jennings, Worship Committee

THANK YOU! To each of you who sponsored a family for this year's Christmas Baskets. Your generosity and kindness is greatly appreciated. As in the past you have helped to brighten the lives of 13 families who were very happy and emotional on receiving the bounty. The Middle School Student Council helped in purchasing toys for some of the children; we can't thank them enough. Village Market was a great help again this year in preparing the food baskets. I want to say a great THANK YOU to Chris Jurkas. We really appreciated her help, input, willingness in so many ways. God Bless you Chris! To all of you we hope that you have a very BLESSED NEW YEAR!

- Leah VanOrder

Joys: Congrats to Mike & Lindsey (Curry) Ross at the birth of their daughter, Maddy, on November 29th. Prayers have been answered for Kim Leslie, as she received news that she’s in remission.

Health Concerns: Continued prayers for Norm Pierson, Judie Randels, and Kim Leslie, Bobby Tremaine, Tori Lindsley, & Joy Masek. Prayers for Greg Gibson for his health. Prayers for Sara Ramaker and Trevah Dalrymple as they both recover from surgery.

Prayers for our military: Those connected with this congregation: John Barber, Alyssa Chamberlain, Sadie Clark, Zachary Cooke, Andrew Cowen, Matt Fullam, Stephanie Hadley, Isaiah Hadley, Aaron Maule, Gregory McIntire, Chelsea Reed, Mara Ruiz, Jason Star, Dai Wessman, and Dan Wrobleski.

Continued prayers for those battling cancer or having treatment: Jane Allen, Tom Arlington, Evelyn Bierlein, Terry Brink, Ed Bronson, Paul Buckler, Denise Cherry, Jim Conlon, Stacy David, Jessica Green, Bud Harney, Vic Hitchcock, Ryan Howrigan, Lesley Kibiloski, Kim Leslie, Lyn McQuaid, Bruce Mejeur, Philip Nicolai, Michele Randal, Judie Randels, Terri Stapleton, Toby Star, Judy Stark, Jackson Stout, Florene Stultz, Mindy Sturman, Deb Stutzman, Cessily Wotring Thackler, Nola Thole, Danny Truong, Jenny Walsh, Jen Wessman & those known but unnamed.

Concerns & Sympathy: Prayers for the family & friends of the Grigsby family (friends of Amanda Blom) at the loss of one of their newborn twins. Continued prayers for those unnamed, having health problems, or have suffered loss.

Church and Parsonage Expenses - November 2019 Income $ 16,047.77 Church Expenses

705 Administrative Misc. $ 557.43 602 Charter (Internet,Phone) $ 192.33 602 City of Allegan (Water,Sewer) $ 519.64 602 Consumers Elect. $ 602.99 709 Machine Maintenance (Konica Minolta) $ 248.74 602 Michigan Gas $ 182.14 702 Office Supplies $ 42.98 703 Postage $ 130.00 505 Professional Reimbursement - Pastor Bob $ 134.88 602 Republic Services (Garbage/Recycle) (Church & Parsonage) $ 81.40 504 Travel - Pastor Bob $ 348.00

Wages $ 10,101.22 West Michigan Conference & Insurance $ 3,818.42

903 Worship $ 90.49 Total Church Expenses for November 2019 $ 17,050.66 Parsonage Expenses

603 Charter (Phone, TV, Internet) $ 222.47 603 Consumers Electric $ 229.27 603 Michigan Gas $ 31.91

Total Parsonage Expenses for November 2019 $ 483.65 (Non-Audited) Total $ 17,534.31

Donations: November: 6 cans of vegetables, 22 boxes of stuffing, 7 peanut butter, 3 pasta, 5 cans of beans, 2 cereal, 13 misc., Village Market-135 bread, 23 desserts, 20 bakery, 1 cereal, 1 4 lb. bag of sugar, 7 pies, 115 misc. Desperate plea for volunteers: Our food pantry has been helping those in need for years and we are now in a situation that we may need to cut our hours if we do not find more volunteers. Can you help? Please contact Mary Anderson at 269-673-5828 if you are willing to help those in need. Thank you. Donation requests for January: Peanut Butter & Cream of Mushroom Soup

Umbrella Campaign: Village Market is sponsoring our pantry in January. Umbrellas will be displayed with posters and flyers up. Just drop your loose change to support your Hands of Grace Food Pantry.

Month 2018 Visits

# of People

2019 Visits

# of People

# of Kids

Jan-Oct 918 3,005 1,232 3,962 1,469 November 88 293 111 338 112

Dec. 82 275 102 308 94 Total 1,088 3,573 1,394 4,515 1,649

United Methodist Women I think our bazaar was one of the nicest bazaars in the area. Thank you to the church family for supporting the United Methodist Women. This is the main source of our budget for 2020. Thanks to those that donated new items and second- hand items. Thanks to those who donated food and craft items. Thanks to all the gals who gave their time setting up, working, and cleanup of this event. Please share your thoughts/opinions so that next year can be just as good.

Did you check out the shiny new stoves in the kitchen? Sandy Oetman led the way to have the big old, rusty stove removed. They have been replaced with two shiny new stoves. One has a conventional oven and the other a modern convection oven. Take a walk around the kitchen.

ITEMS OF THE MONTH

AD BOARD REPORTS 12/19/19

Food Pantry – Chris Jurkas – Financial: The pantry currently has $20,041.83. The Mignon Sherwood DeLano Foundation, Inc.: Our pantry received $9,200.00 from the Foundation. $6,000.00 for non-perishable food and $3,200.00 for personal care items. Memorial Fund: Our food pantry received $1,145.00 from the Harry Tibbitts Memorial. Turkeys: Our food pantry received 16 turkeys from Family Video. We used 10 of those turkeys for the Christmas Baskets. Some we handed out during Thanksgiving. School Donations: Our pantry received numerous non-perishable food donations from Dawson, North Ward and West Ward Elementary Schools. We certainly have been blessed. Kids Hope – Judy Curry – Membership - Judy Jennings – Membership at 295. Missions – Trevah Dalrymple – Pastoral Care – Barb Gibson – the committee met this week to assure that every person on our list of 30 received at least one Christmas card this season to let them know they are loved. We also made holiday visits, delivering special cookies to those who are shut in. We had additional assistance from Jackie Thompson and the "nursery kids" as well as 2 Girl Scout troops. Scouting – Joan L. Rininger – Thank You messages to the Allegan United Methodist Church Administrative Board and the Finance Committee were received from Girl Scout Troop 80500 and Scout Troop 91/191 for their financial generosity and the continued support given to the scouting programs. All the Allegan United Methodist sponsored scout troops are being very active. They are all working on their 2020 calendars for future activities. Troop 91/191’s “Pancakes with Santa” fund raiser on December 14 went well. Trustee – Sandy Oetman – The tree at the parsonage has now been removed and carpet in Fellowship Hall cleaned. Exit maps for Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall are posted. On a personal note, my time as Trustee Chair is coming to a close. Thanks to those who worked alongside me this year and for giving me the opportunity to serve on the Board of Trustees. UMW – Cindy Thiele - The bazaar was successful in bringing funds for our 2020 budget. Many thanks to the church family for the many ways of support to this event. We will be selecting the areas/groups for mission giving in the new year. SonShine circle has disbanded leaving one circle, Sarah. Coffee hour has been scheduled and hosted by UMW and will now be seeing changes in 2020. Worship – Judy Jennings –

It has been a busy time for all of us, but especially for the mentors and volunteers involved in the KIDS HOPE program at North Ward School. The season started out with our Thanksgiving bags for each one of the students. Again, thank you to everyone that donated and volunteered to help with those and to Emmie Babcock for her expert shopping. Our Kids Hope Christmas Party was held on December 12th in the Fellowship Hall. This event takes several helping hands. I can’t even begin to mention all the volunteers. A BIG thank you to all that donated and served food, those who decorated, those that planned activities and of course all the mentors/prayer partners that attended. We decorated cookies, painted Christmas sun catchers, Mrs. Corbett read a Christmas story, a visit from Santa and Don Forster took awesome pictures. Our Kids Hope volunteers also donated their time to help North Ward students decorate cookies. This is something that is very rewarding to me because we get to interact with the entire student body. This activity always brings smiles to the students’ faces and warms our volunteers’ hearts. As always thank you all for your continued prayers and all that do for the Kids Hope program here at AUMC. This program would not be what it is without all of you. Together we can accomplish great things in the lives of each child. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM MY HEART TO YOURS, Judy Curry, Director Kids Hope USA - AUMC

Mission Moment

The mission selected for the month of January is UMCOR -Refugee Relief. 258 million people are currently part of the largest migration in human history. Migrants are fleeing war, civil unrest, chronic poverty, climate change and disasters resulting from natural or man-made events. Many, over 40 percent, are women and more than 50 percent of the world’s refugees are children. UMCOR works with partners to ensure the four rights of migrants: right to stay, right to safe passage, right to welcoming and belonging, and right to return. The overview of UMCOR’s global migration work includes places of welcome, food for body and spirit, education, legal help and many more ways that United Methodists support migrants around the world. Won’t you please help us support this program in very urgent need? .

NEWS FROM THE PEWS

THOSE WHO SERVE IN

January 2020

WHAT DO WE COLLECT? CHECK OUT THE ROUND

TABLE OUTSIDE THE OFFICE!

ACOLYTES

5 – Alex & Morgan Foune 12 – DeLaet Children 19 – Audrey Brink 26 – Alex & Morgan Foune

NURSERY

5 – Abby Hall 12 – Jo Anne Giles 19 – Lisa Campeau 26 – Beth Ann DeLaet

Box Tops for Education for North Ward Elementary Lions Clubs – Glasses Loose Change/Pennies – Missions Pop Tops from cans – Burn Center in Chicago

COMMUNION SERVERS

5 – Nancy Armintrout Ireland Armintrout

Tim & Elizabeth Closson

FELLOWSHIP TIME

PIANISTS

5 – Wende Wood 12 – Amanda Blom 19 – Susan Thiel 26 – Ireland Armintrout

SOUND 5 – Willard Jennings 12 – Ed Garvin 19 – Jon Brink 26 – Hanford Brink

REMiNdERS

GREETERS

5 – Hanford & Eilene Brink 12 – Ginny Borgman 19 – Joyce Brink 26 – Lisa Campeau

LITURGIST

5 – Joan Rininger 12 – Joan Rininger 19 – Tita Balgoyen 26 – Scott Dangremond

TV MEDIA

5 – Ireland Armintrout 12 – Rod Rambadt 19 – Nathan Parrish 26 – Alex Foune

USHERS

5 – Joshua & Amanda Blom 12 – Tim Borgman Joyce Brink 19 – Tim & Elizabeth Closson 26 – Cindy Thiele Ed Garvin

VIDEO

5 – Barb Gibson 12 – Bobby Tremaine 19 – Clyde DeLaet 26 – Jon Brink