June 2019

June Events

Dear Sisters and Brothers of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church,

Greetings in the name of the One who wouldn’t stay behind a closed door! It was a joy to meet your leadership team last Thurs-day. While this appointment was a complete surprise, it is also a deep joy. Our family has always lived the intersection of gender, race and sexual orientation and it is a huge gift to be appointed to a community that does the same. Like you, I was greatly disap-pointed by the actions of the Special General Conference. Like you, I have been reconsidering what my relationship with the Unit-ed Methodist Church is and should be in order to have personal integrity. I believe that there is much unfolding still to come - we are in the process of visioning and creating a new path. It will be a long journey over the next couple of years, both scary and excit-ing. I look forward to being with you as we take time to thoughtful-ly explore both what we are ready to leave behind and what we wish to move toward in the future. As Christians our faith is root-ed in the belief that death, disappointment, fear, hate, and vio-lence never win — God is always pulling us out of the dirt into the light of love, joy, peace, wholeness and healing. I look forward to meeting all of you, getting to know you and your families and hearing your stories. The Holy Spirit has great things in-store for all of us together as a church, we are so grateful to be a part of it with you! Please pray for us in our packing and saying good-bye, we will be in prayer for you and Pastor Sean as well.

Peace be with you,

Pastor Sarah

1 United Methodist Men

4 Grayye Matters

16 Pastor Sean’s Farewell

18 Good Lunch Bunch

18 Executive Council

20 Chicken BBQ

23 Hymn Sing

See inside for more

details.

Upcoming:

July 14-18: Vacation Bible

School

ST. MARK’S

MATTERS

Rev. Dr. Sarah J Rohret

Rohret rhymes with parrot, carrot and ferret but not spelled like any of them - just call me

Pastor Sarah

Personal mission statement: Creating communities of Love & Grace where Christ

is known and the Holy Spirit is followed for the healing of individuals and the

transformation of the world.

Senior Pastor, First United Methodist Church in Independence, Iowa 2018

* Started a youth group and a teen “club” called The Loft

* In process of training Finance Team and creating healthy processes

for decision making and financial accountability

Pastor, Calvary United Methodist Church in Arnolds Park, Iowa 2005- 2018

* Led congregation in a 6 year vision & discernment process resulting in

two major capital campaigns for the purchase of land and the building of a

new $1.5 million church completed in 2017

* Started an Afterschool program and Youth Group

* Led youth and adults on mission trips to Minneapolis, Detroit, Omaha and

Des Moines

Pastor, Grace United Methodist Church in Mason City, Iowa 2001-2005

* Created a Shalom Zone ministry to serve the local neighborhood dealing

with issues such as addiction and family violence

Student Pastorates less than full-time:

Floyd & West St. Charles UMC 2001

Greene UMC 2000

Iowa Falls First UMC, Associate, 1999-2000

Center Pointe-Alice-Urbana UMC’s, Associate, 1997-1998

My Passions for

Ministry:

Preaching & Worship

leader

Comfortable with all styles

of worship, high church,

Taize, and contemporary

praise. I have a passion for

taking worship outside the

building.

Teaching

I enjoy making scripture

come alive for old and

young.

Mission & Justice

I have led numerous

mission trips , my goal is to

help youth and adults

serve, understand root

causes of poverty,

transform the community

and be transformed by

Christ. I have taught on

mission and social justice

topics for Lay Servant

School and School for Lay

Ministry

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH-ERN IOWA

BA Religious Studies

1997

Wesley Foundation

Student Ministry

Peer Minister

UNIV OF DUBUQUE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Master of Divinity

Focus on New

Testament Studies

2001

Exchange student to

Trinity Seminary Ghana

UNIV OF DUBUQUE THEO-LOGICAL SEMINARY

Doctor of Ministry

Art & Spirituality I have painted Icons for years and have been

exploring Soul Collage

2007 and other ways art can

lead us to a deeper

Church Administration connection to God.

& Pastoral Maturity

Our family at our wedding July 1, 2018.

Starting at Left: Isaac, Catherine, Sarah, Sam,

Stuart, Ken, & Sampson

SARAH J ROHRET

at McDonalds, lives in Marcus

OUR FAMILY

Stuart Vander Vegte: MDiv

from UDTS 2015 Currently

working at Four Oaks in

Independence, will be

transferring to Marion or Iowa

City Four Oaks.

Stuart has served as a UCC

pastor and is restarting the

ordination process in the

UMC.

Ken Odoom: Chef in Ames

Sam Vander Vegte: Manager

Catherine Rohret: graduates Cedar Falls HS May 26th - will be attending Univ of Chicago

Isaac Rohret: currently a sophomore, runs track and plays basketball

Sampson Rohret: currently a freshman, plays basketball

We love animals - we have three cats: Milo, Sango and Buddy. And we have a dog, Sarge.

We love movies (we recently went as a family to the opening midnight showing of

Avengers Endgame- loved it). We love board games like Ticket to Ride, Scrabble and

Sequence. We love music, often our family gatherings include jam sessions. We look

forward to exploring Iowa City looking for karaoke, mom and pop restaurants, and places

to hear local music groups.

Conference Leadership

Iowa Board of Camps & Retreat

Centers 2017-present

Iowa Board of Church &

Society 2004-2015

Chair 2012-2015

Board of Youth Ministry &

District Youth Leader

2001-2004

Community Service

Beginning Experience Healing

Retreat for Widowed &

Divorced Leadership Team

2015-present

Rotary Member 2017- present

Clergy Leadership

Iowa Women in Ministry

leadership team 2000-2006,

2016-present

Organizer of Lakes area

subdistrict 2007-2009

Teacher for NW District Lay

Servant class and

School for Lay Ministry Cornell

March 2016 and Morningside

April 2018

Grayye Matters is a book

group that meets at 9:30am

the first Tuesday of every

month. This month, we’ll be

meeting on Tues., June 4,

at the Pizza Ranch, 171

Hwy. 1 West. At this meet-

ing, we will be discussing

“Educated” by Tara Westov-

er. The book is a memoir

about growing up in a Mor-

mon fundamentalist family.

Contact Barb Fisher-

Krueger for more infor-

mation.

Good Lunch Bunch

Will meet on Tues., June 18

at 11:30am

at The Pizza Ranch,

171 Hwy. 1 West,

Iowa City

HYMN SING

Sunday, June 23

The Hymn Sing will be held on the

fourth Sunday this month instead

of the fifth. UMM will serve

pancakes and sausage as usual!

54th Chicken BBQ News Save the date June 20 Ticket sales start with your enthusiasm to make this St. Mark's BBQ the best ever!!!

Get organized-- Call on people where you do business – your bank, your dry cleaner, a favorite store, your insurance agent, your car dealer, etc. Contact neighbors, friends and family.

Start your conversation by asking them "How many tickets would you like?"

For business places, have a group of ten tickets stapled together. Mention the special price of $90 for 10 adult tickets instead of the regular price of $10 per ticket. When selling to a business allow them to pay when convenient. Leave the tickets with them and ask them to mail you a check. Provide an envelope with your address written on it to mail the check or unused tickets back to you.

Sell friends and family the Family of 4 special for $30 (2 adult and 2 child tickets)

Hype the carry-out lunch – your coworkers will love this alternative!

Remember it’s a great meal and a good summertime event. You are providing a real value. Be sure to comment on how we do the cooking and that the food is wonderful.

If someone wants to buy but cannot use the tickets suggest to them they (or you will) donate the tickets to a person or organization in need.

Remember to say thank you and to remind the purchaser of the times for lunch and dinner.

Be sure they know their purchase is helping to support our local mission work here in the Iowa City area and beyond.

If you need more tickets please call (337-7201) or stop by the church office Monday –Thursday 9-12 or 1-4, Friday 9-12 or pick some up Sunday morning.

Ice chests/coolers needed…LOTS of ice chests/coolers are needed to store beans and coleslaw for the carry out. If you have an ice chest/cooler that we can borrow for the day please make sure your name is clearly on the cooler and drop them off the morning of the BBQ. Ice chests that have lids that come completely off work best but we will take whatever you are willing to loan. They will be available to be picked up any time after the BBQ.

Time to bake a cake…Not only do people come for the chicken they come for the homemade desserts. Don’t forget to dust off those old recipes and bake a cake, brownies, or bars. We are selling over 1600 meals and everyone wants a dessert! Please drop them off the night before or the morning of the BBQ

Youth and children Involvement...A lot of the jobs like packaging and both lunch and dinner drive though are great places for youth and children to help out. Children are more than welcome to work a long side their parents. If youth are looking for volunteer hours, church members or not, contact me and we will sign vouchers documenting their time of service.

Posters available…pick up a BBQ poster to display at your place of work or any place you fre-quent. Help spread the word throughout the community about our yummy BBQ!! Posters are on the table in Fellowship Hall by the sign-up sheets, or in the church office.

Sign up to help…Don’t forget to sign up and help out. Signing up in advance really helps us plan a successful event. If you normally work during the day, please consider taking a day off from work to help all day.

Cory Berwald (338-9812) and Randy Krutzfield (337-9311), Chicken BBQ Co-Chairs

Executive Council Report The St. Marks' Planning and Response team shared the results of the April survey of 3 questions and overall observations that people are committed to St. Marks as a church family and that they have concerns about how this will work financially. The judiciary ruled that the Traditional Plan and the dissociation plans are both legal. There will be a church potluck on May 19th to discuss the future of St Mark’s going forward. Financially, St Mark’s is having low offerings but as of now, are in the black. Kay Seagren is learning the financial secretary position from Ed Pierson. Special thanks to custodian Tim for fixing the folding wall divider in classrooms 108/109 which saved our church a great deal of money. Rev. Sarah Rohret will be the new minister at St Mark’s. Pastor Sean's last Sunday of preaching will be June 16th. Next council meeting: June 18

Finance Report In April we had income of $26,980.48 and expenses of $28,452.37 which created a shortfall of $1,471.89. As you can see, we continue to eat into the January surplus and continue to be concerned. The Finance team will continue to monitor our finan-cial situation.

Since I have resigned my position as the church Financial Sectary I would like to express my great big

THANK YOU!!!! to those intrepid souls who week after week gather to count, form up a deposit and com-

plete the needed paper work for me that helps generate the records used in contribution statements to all

of you. These include (in no particular order):

Gene Matthews, Larry Fountain, Bob Kesselring, Sally Hoelscher,

Counter Emeritus Janet Plumer, Alternates Maggie Elliott, and Donna Higgins.

These kind souls show up every Monday morning, whether sunshine, rain, snow or just a bitterly cold day

to process the prior day's receipts then take it to the bank for deposit.

Ed Pierson

United Methodist Women

UMW will not meet in June.

United Methodist Men

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the first Saturday of every month at 7:30 a.m. for good food and great fellowship with St. Mark’s United Methodist Men! We are here in a ministry of service and presence in furtherance of the missions and outreach of the United Methodist Church. The next meetings will be on June 1, July 6, and Aug. 3.

At our meeting this month, Deb Streff will be giving a program on recycling.

1 Ana Cassady, Jim Preslicka, Linda Schrock

2 John Melby-Oetken

3 Jean Skog

7 Samantha Lage

8 Mary Ann Askelson, Helena Magalhaes, Amy Sanders

10 Rose Marie Nkumu

12 Emily Fosse, Juliana Stewart

13 Diana Jens, Amanda Goodrich

14 Grace Kohler

15 Clark Christensen

16 Emily Bywater

19 Bob Elliott, Nancy Thuma

20 Julie Brock, Mary Frantz, David Freeman

22 Bill Thorne

23 Alexia Stevens

24 Nora Gibson

25 Andrew Cheatum, Chris Cheatum, Jane Dohrmann

26 Sam Yeates

27 James Goodrich

28 Judy Ellsmore

29 Cindy Opitz, Chris Rutt, Avery Goodrich, Ethan Goodrich

30 Jane Berwald, James Brown Ackerson, Maggie Elliott, Donna Tjaden

JUNE BIRTHDAYS Hap

py

Birth

day!

Financial Secretary Transition

For the past five plus years it has been my pleasure to serve St. Mark's as the church Financial Secretary.

With Judy and my move to the retirement community of Grand Living at Bridgewater and it's available ac-

tivities we have decided that it is time for me to pass the position on to the next responsible person. Kay

Seagren has graciously accepted the role and has begun functioning as the financial secretary. I'm sure

that this transition will be smooth as Kay was already familiar with some to the functions.

Please begin contacting Kay with your questions and requests. She may be reached by email at aland-

kayseagren@msn.com or by calling 319-351-4877. I will continue to work with Kay for a brief time as she

familiarizes herself with new role and it's access with our church software.

Once again it has been my pleasure to serve in this capacity and confidentiality and I know Kay will main-

tain the same standards.

Thank you St. Mark's family

Ed Pierson

8:30 AM

10:45 AM

Lead Usher 6/2: Jeremy Showers 6/9: Jeremy Showers 6/16: Randy Krutzfield 6/23: Katie Freeman 6/30: Bob Kesselring Greeters 6/2: Don & Donna Tjaden 6/9: Gwen Hoffmann, Pam Bleckwenn 6/16: Bob & Maggie Elliott 6/23: Carolyn Brown, Barb Fisher-Krueger 6/30: Eleanor Carthey, Traci Huffman Ushers 6/2: Bob & Diane DeWitt, Pam & Tony Freund 6/9: Jerry & Patti Mitchell, Bill & Janice Thorne 6/16: Jeff & Dianne Wasson, Barb Smith, Pam Bleckwenn 6/23: Randy Krutzfield, Carolyn Brown, Pam & Tony Freund 6/30: Lavon & Nancy Rutt, Mary Brown & Tom Shepherd Reader 6/2: Janice Thorne 6/9: Rebecca Weatherford 6/16: Gwen Hoffmann 6/23: Bob Elliott 6/30: Mary Brown A/V 6/2: Derek Lewis 6/9: Cory & Kaitlynn Berwald 6/16: Derek Lewis 6/23: Cory & Kaitlynn Berwald 6/30: Derek Lewis Communion Servers 6/2: Jeremy & Ann Showers, Barb Smith, Jan Soboroff, Nancy Thayer, Angie Bywater

Lead Usher 6/2: Greg Jansen 6/9: Greg Jansen 6/16: Greg Jansen 6/23: Greg Jansen 6/30: Greg Jansen Greeters 6/2: Marsha Lowe 6/9: Phillip Mitchell 6/16: Marsha Lowe 6/23: Phillip Mitchell 6/30: Marsha Lowe Ushers 6/2: Laura Lage, Carol Reddick 6/9: Sue Brenneman, Shirley Green 6/16: Laura Lage, Carol Reddick 6/23: Sue Brenneman, Shirley Green 6/30: Laura Lage, Carol Reddick Reader 6/2: Marsha Lowe 6/9: Brenda Mayer 6/16: Lowell Fenner 6/23: Cheryl Davis 6/30: Jenni Bounds A/V 6/2: 6/9: 6/16: 6/23: 6/30: Communion Servers 6/2: Marsha Lowe, Peg Horn 6/9: Carol Reddick, Brenda Mayer 6/16: Sue Brenneman, Peg Horn 6/23: Cheryl Davis, Brenda Mayer 6/30: Bob & Liam Gilroy

WORSHIP SERVANTS

St. Mark’s United Methodist Church (319)337-7201

office@stmarks-umc.net stmarks-umc.net

ALL ARE WELCOME

St. Mark’s United Methodist Church

2675 E. Washington Street

Iowa City, IA 52245