Dear Church Family,

First United Church of Gridley

Open Bibles One Another Beautiful FeetSpiritual Growth Authentic Worship

United by common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

May 2014

Inside this newsletter:Pastor Andy’s Letter

Church Leadership CouncilFirst U News

Milestones/AttendanceEaster Photos

Pastoral Staff Andy Huette, Sr. PastorBrett Monge, Youth Director Grant Stauter, Discipleship Pastor

406 W. 7th Street, PO Box 280, Gridley, IL 61744 Phone 747-2299 web:www.1stu.org

Youth GroupsSr. High - Wednesdays 7:30 pmJr. High - Sundays 5-6:30 pm meeting at leader homes

Sunday Worship ServicesMorning Worship 9 am-10 amJ.A.M. (ages 3 - PreK) 9 am-10 am every SundayChildren’s Church (grades K-5) 9-10 am 1st & 3rd SundayCommunion and One Another lunch 4th Sunday

Grace and Peace, Andy

As you may know, at the end of this month, Brett Monge will finish up his fifth and final year as our youth director here at First United. Looking back on Brett’s ministry, I’m thankful for the ways in which God has used him to minister to a number of stu-dents in our church who have given their lives to Christ, who have been strengthened in faith, and who have a deeper understand-ing of God’s Word. I am especially thankful for Brett’s unwavering commitment to teach, preach, focus on, and love the Gospel mes-sage of Jesus Christ. Brett is not fully certain what his next steps in life will be, so please join with him in praying for God’s clear leading and calling as to where and how he can use his gifts for God’s glory in the world.

With Brett finishing up, what’s the plan for youth group? This question is one that the Leadership Council began to consider last fall when Brett informed us of his plans. By the end of January, the Leadership Council de-cided that the best step forward would be to train up people from within the First United family who had already evidenced desire and abil-ity to lead in the youth groups for the pastoral task. In February, Grant Stauter and I began meeting with Seth Foor, Danny Kaupp, Jordan Krone, and Jordan McKinsey to read and discuss material pertaining to character, competency, and calling in pastoral min-istry. Through that, we saw that these four men have a great desire to lead the Jr. and Sr. High youth groups. As the Leadership Coun-cil discussed future plans for the youth ministry, it was evident that we are blessed to have such willing and capable leaders from within the church, and we became increasingly convinced that our next youth pastors were already here.

Our goal, however, is not simply to assign these four men with ministry duties, wish them well, and consider our youth lead-er position filled. Rather, we want to be very intentional about coaching and developing these young leaders in their pastoring of our students. In other words, the goal is not only to have an ef-fective youth ministry program, it’s also to train up pastoral lead-

ers. To this end, the youth ministries at First United will formally be under the oversight of Grant Stauter, but his role will be to pastor the youth pastors. Grant will bear the responsibility of the youth groups by reporting to CLC about the progress and vitality of the youth groups and will attend youth groups in order to encourage, coach, evaluate and lead the leaders of the youth groups. Seth, Danny, Jordan, and

Jordan are eager to grow in preaching, teaching, and pastoring, and Grant is ready to encourage and guide them.

In planning this transition, we’ve considered a number of ideas as to what kind of arrangement of responsi-bilities will best serve our students and grow each leader. Beginning the first of June, the plan is to have Seth Foor and Jordan McKinsey serve together as a team to lead the Jr. High, and Danny Kaupp and Jordan Krone will serve together to lead the high school. Each team will work with Grant to divide up

responsibilities and ensure that plans and priorities are marked out for the youth groups. Further, our youth groups will continue to benefit from the investment of a number of other very commit-ted adult leaders, who will assist in the ministry under the leader-ship of Seth, Jordan, Danny and Jordan. Each of these four will begin to receive a small monetary stipend for their basic expenses this summer and as they grow and roles are developed, the Lead-ership Council will reassess compensating each for their labor in ministry.

I am thankful for Brett’s service to our church, and I am also thankful for God’s provision for the next chapter of youth ministry here at First U. Please join me in regularly praying for the growth, wisdom, and leadership of these four men, as well as for Grant, in order that many students may know Him who calls us “out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

Roll out Last day for JHYG: May 18Last day for SHYG: May 21

those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Brunch

Youth Group Leaders: front l-r,Jordan McKinsey, Danny Kaupp, Jordan Krone; back l-r: Alissa McKinsey, Courtney Kaupp, Marqui Krone, Seth Foor.

Pictures removed for web publication

2 3

Attendance & Offering 4/6 280 $6,917 4/13 336 $8,421 4/20 423 $6,864 4/27 289 $7,773

May Milestones Birthdays 1 Teron Fairchild 4 Steve Liggett 5 Susan Buchanan 5 Stacy Ludy 6 John Krone 8 Cory Cooper 8 Max Foor11 Sydney Butikofer11 Todd Palmer12 Paige DeVary14 Cari Schultz15 Brady Sanders19 Collin Buchanan19 Marcia Mool20 Addison Benedict21 Linda Hartzler21 Noah Ludy23 Scott Edwards23 Grant Stauter24 Ian Hall25 Tony Palmer25 Calvin Riggs26 Micah Meiss27 Brad Neal28 Jaykob Kiefer28 Jessica Kiefer29 Logan Mallory31 Mattie Buchanan Anniversaries 4 Kathy & Tom Hany15 Trent & Erin Kaupp16 John & Pat McKey17 Neal & Katie Jeffreys18 Melvin & Ruth Grace27 Michael & Janet Rosenberger28 Todd & Jennifer Morrison29 Charles & Marsha Albritton31 Brent & Traci Kelly31 Ron & Marcia Mool

We enjoyed a visit from Bill, Stacy, and Ivy Allison on April 13. Bill filled our pul-pit with encouragement to grow “juicy and fresh” as we grow older.

In keeping with the Missions’ Team goals to care for and honor our global partners, the team served a brunch for the Allisons following Coffee Fellowship.

Thank you to everyone who warmly welcomed the Allison family.

Stay Juicy & FreshWho’s serving on Church Leadership CouncilThe Church Leadership Council (CLC) consists of seven men and pastoral staff. These men serve on First United’s CLC.

Denny Foor,Secretary

Al Hany, Chair

Andy Huette,Sr. Pastor

John Krone

Matt Wenger

Dave Zeller

Tim Johnson

Grant Stauter

Denny and his wife, Dee, have been mem-bers at First United since 2001. He has chaired our Missions team and leads our Audio/Visual ministry. Denny and Dee are parents of Jake, Seth, and Max. He is the CLC liaison to the Missions Team.

Al and his wife, Keri, have been members at First United since 1999. Al and Keri have helped with youth group and led small groups. Al is pursuing a Masters in Applied Reli-gion from Urbana Theo-logical Seminary.

Matt and his wife, Emily, became members of First United in 2004. Matt led our Jr. High Youth Min-istry for five years. Matt and Emily have four children: Hannah, Will, Marilee, and Matty. Matt is the CLC liaison to Worship and Finance.

Dave and his wife, Chris, became members of First United in 2011. Dave served on the Christian Ed team and, along with Chris, have led small groups. Dave and Chris have four sons, all married, and 10 grandchildren. Dave is the CLC liaison to Christian Ed.

John and his wife, Tonya, live in Minonk and became members of First United in 2007. They have four children: Joshua (Kansas), Jordan (Marqui), Jonna (en-gaged to Jonathon Strauch), and Amanda. John teaches Children’s Church and is the CLC liaison to Local Outreach.

Andy has served as our Senior Pastor since 2009 and had previously served as our Sr. High Youth Director. He gradu-ated from Taylor University with a B.A. in Biblical Literature and a Youth Ministry certificate. He’s currently attending seminary at Urbana Theological Seminary. Andy and his wife, Abby, are the parents of Elly (4), Silas (3), Mercy (3), and Hudson (2).

Grant has served as Pastor of Disciple-ship on a part-time basis since Septem-ber 2013. He oversees Men’s Ministry and our monthly prayer meetings. He also teaches adult Sunday School and attends Seminary classes. He and his wife Jil are the parents of Samuel (4) and Eden (2).

Tim and his wife Susan be-gan attending First United in 2011, and have been members since 2012. They have two adult sons, Zach and Noah. Tim has served on the Finance team and Men’s Ministry.

for VBS in JuneRegister

July 21-25 from 6-8 pm

They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green . . . Psalm 92:14 ESV

You are invited . . . To Brett’s Graduation Party &Appreciation Reception

When: May 24 from 2-4 pm

Where: First U’s Family Center

Why: Brett has received his Masters of Arts in Applied Religion from Urbana Theological Seminary and is leaving his position as First U’s Youth Director

Come and join the celebration!

We are sending a team of 21 who will do construction projects and con-duct two Vacation Bible Schools while in the D.R. July 1-8. The Missions Team is accepting donations towards the Dominican trip until June 8.

Preparing for the Dominican RepublicOur team going to the D.R. in

July spent 3-1/2 hours in train-ing after church on April 27. Sandy Egle from Heart-to-Heart Services has taken two trips to the D.R. with GO Ministries to train pastors on counseling care. She shared her experiences and helped our team understand the cultural differences they will encounter. We have one more training workshop before leaving on July 1.