First United Methodist Church

What feeds your soul? Irenaeus of Lyon talked about things that give life or feed our soul and things that that drain life or drain energy from our soul. The difference between these two are things that energize us for ministry and things that drain and hinder us in our ability to do ministry.

Think of it like the introvert-extrovert paradox. Introverts get energy to do life by spending time alone. Solitude often recharges them. Extroverts get energy to do life by spending time with larger groups of people, they recharge through others. Then there are those of us who are ambiverts that do well with small groups or a few people, but sometimes we need to be alone and sometimes we need a larger group.

When it comes to feeding your soul, there are certain ways that we experience God that rejuvenate us; they give us a joy. These energize us for life to do more for God or to experience God in profound ways. For example, some people experience God and find life-giving activities by doing something to help others, whether that’s serving a meal like in Wesley Kitchen, working with the homeless, or helping people who struggle with addiction find their way to recovery.

Others are energized through reading, teaching, preaching, or some other way in which they are engaging their mind with people to help them experience the love and grace of God. Then, there are those of us who find nourishment for our soul and energy to share God through a particular type of worship that appeals to them. Maybe it’s a concert that shakes your whole body with music pulsing through you, and it’s like it’s pumping your blood and energizing your soul. While others find their soul nourished through some type of meditation, meditation, or worship where there are singing verses in Taizé, chanting, reciting psalms to God, and praying for God’s mercy.

Some of us simply find the sense of rejuvenation in solitude, perhaps in a quiet room, or out in nature, or perhaps at their favorite place where they can appreciate the beauty of God’s creation. Perhaps in a place where they can simply pray in solitude, where they can just simply be, be themselves in the moment, simply be as God created them without worry of trying to meet someone else’s expectation.

And yet for some people, it’s something else completely different. We all have ways that we experience God that give us life. We all have ways that we experience God where we are naturally tuned to God’s requirement of obedience, we do what we should and are happy to do it.

Psalm 119:25–32 the Psalmist confesses and cries out to God for new life through following God’s ways. What do you cry out to God for? What is God requiring of you? What helps you to live into that model of life? What truly feeds your soul?

For me, I love a good worship, jam session, and it blesses me to be a blessing to others through serving, teaching, and preaching. Yet, what feeds my soul most is when I am learning about God. When I’m learning new things about God, about scripture (the written word of God), about ways to look for, see, and experience Jesus. When my soul is fed, I get excited to live it out and share it. My heart and mind race to assimilate new things ways of experiencing God into my life and then help others have those “Aha! Moments” where they see and experience God in a new way, too.

Take an audit of your heart and share with me, what feeds your soul. What about God or what ways of encountering God gets you engaged and encouraged for ministry? How can we at FUMC Mountain Home help you make life better and others better at life through Jesus Christ?

Let me know.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Daniel

Hello church members! My name is Hollye Lee and I am your new Congregation and Community Care Coordinator at FUMC-MH. While I am recently new to this position I am far from new to this church. I am a proud Mountain Home native and have been a member of FUMC-MH since I was a baby, way back in 1989. For those that may not know me personally yet, I am the daughter of Mike and Kellye Cannon. I attended MH Public Schools from K-12, graduating in 2007. I then attended Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, gaining my BS in Health Information Management. After graduation from ATU I landed in Little Rock for the next almost 5 1/2 years working at Arkansas Heart Hospital before moving back to Mountain Home. I have been at Baxter Health (formerly BRMC) since April 2017 working in the clinic system in different capacities before changing careers and coming to join the fantastic team at FUMC-MH. Before coming on as a full time staff I started working as the Nursery Coordinator and have loved getting to spend time getting to know our littlest members of our church.

I have one son, Cannon Lee, who is 7 and in 2nd grade at Nelson Wills Herron. I am so proud for him to carry on the Bomber tradition in our family. We have one sweet 12 year old dog named Pepper, a Schnauzer/English Bulldog mix. Cannon is involved with the Children’s group here at the church and loves coming to Sunday School with Ms. Laura and Wednesday afternoon, First Kidz. Within the community I am very involved in our local Rhea Lana Children’s Consignment Sales that happen twice a year.

I am excited to dive in and get to work with all the different ministries that we actively have going on in our church. While I know about each one I will be excited to learn more in depth about how each ministry works within our church and out in the community.

We are so pleased to welcome Hollye Lee to our ministry team here at First United Methodist Church Mountain Home! We love that Hollye has been part of our church family her whole life and believe she is the perfect fit for this position!

Hollye began her new position with us officially on August 21st. We had a welcome reception for her courtesy of the SPRC on Sunday August 27th. If you were unable to attend, please be sure to welcome Hollye when you see her or send her a welcome email.

People in the disaster relief community do not ask the question “IF” they ask the question, “WHEN.” Our community and the surrounding areas can certainly attest to that reality. We have had ice storms, tornadoes, floods, fire and a whole host of other disasters. Our community has answered the call to help our neighbors recover from minor to major disasters each and every time. We are at our very best when we join hands as a united front.

One thing we can do to help prepare for the “when” is to collect vital ready- to- go supplies. All supplies gathered will stay in the Twin Lakes Area and will be housed at the Food Bank of North Central Arkansas. This year we are broadening our plea and asking not only our own church but other area churches, businesses and individuals to focus on collecting the following items.

Cleaning Buckets:
One five-gallon round bucket with re-sealable lid (14.35” h x 12.19” w x 12.19” d)
No screw lids
May be used, but must be free from all residual product
Advertisements on the outside acceptable
One 32-64 oz. bottle liquid laundry detergent
One 16-40 oz. bottle liquid concentrate household cleaner
No spray cleaners
One 16-34 oz. bottle dish soap
One 4-8 oz. pump spray air freshener (liquid, not gel)
One 6-14 oz. pump spray insect repellent (pack of 10-20 wipes also acceptable)
One scrub brush
With or without handle
18 re-useable cleaning wipes
No terrycloth, microfiber or paper towels
Remove from packaging
Five scouring pads
No stainless-steel pads with soap in them
Remove from packaging
36-50 clothespins
One 50-100 ft. clothesline (cotton or plastic line)
24 roll of heavy-duty trash bags (33-45-gallon sizes)
Remove from packaging
Five N95 particulate respirator dust masks (1-3 mm thickness) No surgical masks
Two pairs kitchen gloves
Durable for multiple uses
Remove from packaging
One pair work gloves
Cotton with leather palm or all leather

Hygiene Kits:
• One hand towel (15 x 25 –17 x 27 inches) No kitchen, cleaning, or microfiber towels
• One washcloth No kitchen, cleaning, or microfiber
• One sturdy comb with at least 4-7 inches of teeth. No pocket combs or picks.
• One toenail or fingernail clipper No emery boards or metal nail files
• Bath-size soap (3 oz. bar or larger in wrapper) No Ivory or Jergen’s soap
• One adult toothbrush in original packaging
• 10 adhesive bandages (¾ by 3 inches)
• One one-gallon size re-sealable bag

Menstrual Hygiene Kit (Period Pack)
One one-gallon size re-sealable bag
Two 2 oz. bottle hand sanitizer
Three 4-gallon bathroom trash bags
One travel pack of wet ones
10 Tampons (5 regular and 5 super absorbency)unscented
10 Sanitary Napkins unscented long super ultra-thin
Bath-size soap in packaging (3 oz. bar or larger) No Ivory or Jergen’s soap
One pack of flushable wipes (42 count) unscented
Six laundry detergent sheets (in a small plastic storage bag)

Other helpful items for tornado relief:
Ziplock Bags for retrieval of personal items
Tarps for roofs
Plastic Tubs for victims to put belongings in

If we all come together now to prepare for disasters we can then focus on responding “WHEN” it happens. The Twin Lakes Area is by far the best place to live with the best people. We all have our own belief systems but one thing that we all have is the ability and the drive to care for our neighbors. When one hurts we all hurt. Let’s make this happen- we welcome other ideas and supplies so please share!