The Evangel

Church

News and Upcoming Events

2

April Birthdays and Anniversaries

3

Serving our Lord in April

3

Prayer Concerns 4

April Calendar

5

Inside this issue:

Watseka First United Methodist Church ‘Moving with Jesus into the community to share God’s Love’

Pastor’s Note . . .

Over the past several weeks we have been talking about the book The Unstuck Church. I asked the Church Council members to read the book. Then the Conference asked Staff Parish Committees to read it as well and complete an assessment of their church based upon the book’s description of a church’s life cycle. The Staff Parish Committee then decided it would be helpful to have the congregation complete the assessment which we did on March 10. A week later we came together to discuss the results of the assessment and to consider what the church might do to move from its current reality to become a more healthy congregation.

The church’s conclusion is that we are currently in what is called the “preservation” phase of our life cycle. Some of the signs of this phase are: the desire for a caretaker rather than a leader; declining worship attendance and active participa-tion in the church’s ministries; an inward focus (it’s about me/us); a lack of commit-ment to the mission; a strong resistance to change; little life change; people are not inviting people; a significant decrease in financial resources to support the mission and ministry of the church.

A good conversation has begun to help move the church toward the sustained health phase. This type of turnaround and transformation is not easy. It requires a commitment by the church family to: ongoing personal and gathered prayer; have a deep desire to see the mission fulfilled over personal preferences and comfort; have courage and boldness to be willing to risk change for the sake of those who need Christ; be permission-giving to allow change to happen; sacrificially give of its re-sources to support the mission and vision of the church.

Our response to this might be “Impossible!” However, Jesus tells us that with God all things are possible! I want to encourage you to prayerfully consider all that is before the congregation. We will be celebrating Jesus’ resurrection later this month. If God is able to raise Jesus from the dead, he is certainly able with our part-nership to turn our church around and to continue to work his mighty power and grace in and through us. Let us hold fast to our faith. Let us be open to the Spirit’s leading. Let us proclaim to the world, “Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!”

With you on the Journey

Bob

April Worship Schedule April will provide us with several special services. We will continue our series, “The God We Can Know” through the first three Sundays. The first Sunday, April 7, we will be blessed by two baptisms, the Fourth Street Ringers and communion. April 14, Palm Sunday, the choir will be presenting a cantata in the 10:30 service. We will be darkening the sanctuary in the early service that day. Then on April 21, we will celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Our last Sunday of the month we will celebrate our food pantry and recognize all those who serve through this vital minis-try. Please plan to join us for each of these services. Bring a friend with you. (Continued on Page 2)

April 1, 2019

Special points of interest:

▪ Chapel open on Good Fri-

day—See Page 2

▪ Parable Bible Study re-

sumes—See Page 2

▪ Save the dates —See Pag-

es 2 and 4

May

Evangel Deadline Articles for the May Evangel

need to be emailed to: news-

letter@watsekafumc.com or

brought to the church office by

noon, Tuesday, Apr. 23.

Page 2 The Evangel

Church News . . . April Worship Schedule (Continued from Page 1) April 7: Foundational Scripture: John 15:1-8 Theme: I Am the True Vine April 14 (Palm Sunday): Foundational Scripture: John 14:1-9 Theme: I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life April 21 (Easter): Foundational Scripture: John 11:17-26 Theme: I Am the Resurrection and the Life April 28: Foundational Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46 Theme: Caring For Jesus by Caring for Others

Chapel open on

Good Friday

The church will be open on Good Friday (April 19) from noon to 6:00 p.m. for those who would like to pray in the chapel.

2019 Round Robin Lenten Services

The remaining Round Robin Lenten Services will be held as follows: Fifth Sunday of Lent- April 7: Church: Onarga UMC; Pastor: Rev. Angie Lee, District Superintendent Palm Sunday- April 14: Church: Sheldon UMC; Pastor: Pastor Liz Reis, Onarga UMC

Parable Study to resume in April

The Chapel Sunday School class will resume

its study of the parables of Jesus on Sunday, Apr.

28.

Anyone is welcome to come to

this class on Sunday morning at

9:15, even if they did not partici-

pate in the earlier sessions about

parables. The class will have a

“Parable Wrap-up” on May 19 and then not meet

again until September.

If you have questions please contact Diann

Peabody at diannpeabody@yahoo.com or 815-683

-1004. This study has provided insight and good

discussion about such stories as The Good Samar-

itan, The Prodigal Son, The Lost Sheep, and The

Unforgiving Servant.

Save the Dates . . . Come be blessed and be a blessing to others

by serving in one or both of the following witness

events to our community:

Saturday, May 18:

Lakeview Park People needed to help

Sunday, May 19:

Taking Carnations and Chocolates

to the staff at area

nursing homes and resident homes.

To help with either of these witness events

please contact: Kim Onnen, Tony Norrick, Soni

Knapp, or Allison Naese

WUMC General Fund Report:

(January 1– February 28, 2019)

General Fund Income and Expense Summary February Y-T-D Income $13,520.36 $35,971.21 Expenses $16,122.35 $33,113.21 This does not include $5,730.00 in 2019 appor-

tionments that have not been paid.

Thank you for your monetary support which

allows us to share Jesus’ story and love, ful-

filling the mission and vision of our church.

FREE

Page 3

4-1 Sandra Bohlmann Timothy Knecht 4-3 Ashley Butt 4-4 Whitney Kingdon Robin Warren Janice Williams 4-5 Doug Custer Brian Kingdon Katie McCann 4-7 Jackson Dickte 4-8 Rigby Scott 4-9 Ruby Arseneau Amanda Lange Brenden Rose Matthew Thomas 4-10 Kaylee Gilmore Robin Hasselbring Kelsey Lane Joey Lesage 4-11 Martha McClatchey 4-12 Erica Carlson 4-13 Calie Both Scott Mueller Madisen Sailors 4-14 Carol Christy Rheta Norrick Sharon Ward

4-15 Jakob Henneike 4-16 Stacia Galloway 4-19 Emily Bunting 4-20 Taylor Copeland Cindy Seemann 4-21 Blake Littlejohn Ali Zack 4-22 Beverly Kofoot Nathan Nasers 4-23 David Drollinger 4-24 John Sumner Mylee Valentine 4-25 Joseph Kunce Jessica Stone Jerzie Waltz 4-26 Ross Sumner

4-2016 Alye & Scott Watts Jr. 4-1-2001 Joanne & Howard Wheeler 4-2-2016 Reilly & Matthew Cook 4-7-1984 Jeanne & Wayne Brown 4-11-1992 Lori & Robin Hasselbring 4-18-1985 Susan & Fred Butt 4-25-1997 Kathy & Robert Cain 4-27-2004 Rachel & Joshua Bailey 4-28-1967 Rinda & Wes Osborn 4-29-2018 Helen & Joseph Swigart

Sunday School perfect attendance -

Those achieving perfect attendance for the month of February were:

Pre-school– 5th Grade: Cara Petersen, Abigail Neukomm (Polly Neukomm).

Choir: Helen Gerber, DeDe Yenerich, Hannah Mitchello, Lauri Zumwalt, Ruth Storm, Charles Leitz, John Zumwalt, Lyle Kofoot, Bob Burd, Ben Light, Sherrill Stichnoth, Jessica Fehland.

Chapel Class: Carol Christy, Rhonda Leitz, Lea Sieveking, Joanne Wheeler.

Serving Our Lord in April

Children’s Message:

April 7: Debi Custer

April 14: Kim Onnen (8 a.m.)

Amy Dickte (10:30 a.m.)

April 21: Jeanne Brown

April 28: Robin Shuda

8 A.M. Service

Ushers/Greeters:

April 7: Diann Peabody, Dee Montgomery

April 14: Velanne & Craig Gocken

April 21: Kim & John Onnen

April 28: Doug & Debi Custer

10:30 A.M. Service

Ushers/Greeters: Carol & Wendell Drew

Liturgists:

April 7: Helen Gerber

April 14, 21, 28: Amy Dickte

Acolytes:

April 7: Cara Petersen

April 14: Abigail Neukomm

April 21: Natalie Petersen

April 28: Maggie Dickte

Radio Broadcast Support:

April 7: Wayne & Jeanne Brown in honor of their

35th wedding anniversary

April 14: John & Kim Onnen family

April 21: Allison, Shelby, Jack, & Jace Naese in

memory of Ron Storm

April 28: Adam & Deena Knapp in memory of

Melissa Brassard’s 34th birthday

Nursery Attendant Support:

April 7: Ruth Storm

April 14: Jeff & Ashley Clifton

April 21: Bill & Carol Christy

April 28: Paul & DeDe Yenerich

April Anniversaries

April Birthdays

In Our Prayers - Rolland Maddin, Eric Witkowski (Tony & Kathy

Norrick’s son-in-law), Norman DelRosso (Eldon

DelRosso’s brother), Eldon

DelRosso, Brian Woods

(nephew of Gloria Tensley),

Victor Tensley, Jennifer Red-

man (Dorothy & Joel Koonce’s

great niece), Ralph Johnson,

Gloria Tensley, Pastor Kevin &

Mary Nourie, Florence Nimz,

Earnie Bailey, Pat Ferguson

(cousin of Shirley Pearson), Presley Carman, Anna-

bel Iliff (friend of Janice Johnson), Barbara Newell,

Sheila Siebert

Military Personnel: Master Sgt. Austin Cox, PV2

Garrett Coney (nephew of Pam Thurston), Molly

(Clatterbuck) Smith (niece of Pam Thurston and

granddaughter of Herb Clatterbuck), Dakota

Copeland, Mark A. Dominguez, Cpt. Jeremy

Willoughby, Jared Swan, SGT James K. Redman,

AB David J. Leitz

Watseka Area Food Pantry -

Mrs. Tammen’s Special Ed Class visited again

Wednesday, Mar. 10 and bagged up snacks and

toothpaste for the food pantry. A

fun group!

In February, we served 127

families—289 adults and 139

children.

The special items for April are

canned and dried beans—

especially pork & beans. We have ample vegeta-

ble and flower seeds for our clients this year.

Delivery from Eastern Illinois Foodbank will be

Tuesday, Apr. 2 at 8 a.m. Items from the Midwest

Foodbank will come in on Friday, Apr. 12 around

11 a.m. Once again, all those who volunteer are

much appreciated.

Save the Date!

Annual Mother-Daughter Evening

May 8 - 6:00 p.m.

Potluck dinner!

Exciting entertainment! Table service will be provided.

All ladies are invited!

Please bring a friend or

a bunch of friends!

More information to come.

Page 4 The Evangel

Bible

Quiz

After Jesus raises Lazarus from death, what does his

family do to thank Jesus?

A. They host a dinner for him.

B. Martha serves the meal. C. Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with an extravagant amount

of expensive perfume.

D. All of the above.

Tomb, thou shalt not hold him longer;

Death is strong, but life is stronger.

Stronger than the dark, the light;

Stronger than the wrong, the right.

Faith and hope triumphant say,

Christ will rise on Easter Day.

—Phillips Brooks

Clip & Save -

Remember to clip your Box

Tops for Education which are

given to the Unit Nine grade

schools. Money received from

them is used to purchase needed

school supplies.

Also, postage stamps that

are clipped from letters (1/4” around all sides) are sent to

a mission that uses the funds from the sale of the

stamps to ship needed supplies to 3rd World Countries.

Stamps and box tops may be deposited in the wooden

box located under the stairs in the office hallway.

Answer: D (See John 12:1-3.)

Page 5

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Our Mission: Make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Our Vision: Moving with Jesus into the community to share God's love.

Watseka First United Methodist Church

301 South Fourth Street Watseka, IL 60970

Pastor--Rev. Bob Sabo Phone: 815-432-4903 Fax: 815-432-5070 Church Website: www.watsekaumc.com Church Email: melinda@watsekafumc.com Rev. Bob Sabo Email: bobsabo@watsekafumc.com Evangel News Email: newsletter@watsekafumc.com Office Hours: 8:30a.m. - Noon and 1 - 4:30p.m. (Mon. thru Fri.) Sunday Worship Times: 8:00 a.m. Informal Worship 10:30 a.m. Traditional Worship

"Go Make Disciples of All Nations" Matthew 28:19

First United Methodist Church Watseka