First United Methodist Church

A few years back we invested a lot of time, money, and energy into a church effort called ReNew. This was the collaborative effort between church strategist Tony Morgan, his Unstuck Group, and our own church leadership. Its purpose was a movement for revitalization of our church, the Methodist Church, and Christianity in general.

The basis of us work comes from Matthew 28:16-20, known as “The Great Commission.” Where, just before Jesus ascended, he said:

I’ve been given all authority in heaven, and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you, always, even to the end of the age.

From this focus on disciple making, we developed our mission statement, “Making life better, and YOU better at life through Jesus Christ.” This included our vision, to “Build an environment where all experience the love of Jesus Christ through hospitality, worship, mission, spiritual development, and service both inside and outside the church walls.”

What has become of this effort and energy?

In the time I have been here, we have placed an enormous focus on hospitality. Many of you have grown and adapted to become the most hospitable church in the area. We have learned to welcome people, be more than friendly but to actually engage, connect, and invite people into our church, our circles, and our way of life by living for Jesus. We continue to grow in our practice of hospitality and I am proud of you!

Our worship and mission continue to be central foci of our church. We are known as the church who cares and actually does something in the community. We’re not in it just for ourselves. We’re not a country club church!
We are bearing fruit!

Just as any farmer or horticulturist takes account of their crop, we do too. Just as they adjusts their process and techniques to increase yield, we will too. We want to be fruitful, very fruitful.

A fruitful Christian life is about renewal. Renewal is not about starting over. It’s not always about going in a completely new direction. Though, sometimes it does require a change in direction. Usually, it requires a tweak, a small change, or a small adjustment in technique or training or practice.

For most of us, this will only require some small tweaks in our life, in our process of being a disciple and making disciples. For some of us, it will get really uncomfortable because it will mean a whole change in how we see and treat ourselves and others as we learn to emulate Jesus.

Whether the adjustment is a small tweak or a life altering change, it will be worth it. I invite you to consider how you can be more fruitful as a disciple. This month, as we walk with Jesus through this season of harvest, we’re going to focus on what it means to be fruitful and how we can be more fruitful.

Make sure you worship in person as often as possible to get the maximum experience, and together, we will make life better and you better at life through Jesus Christ.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Daniel

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:
• 1 five-gallon round bucket with re-sealable lid (14.35” h x 12.19” w x 12.19” d)
• 1 32-64 oz. bottle liquid laundry detergent
• 1 16-40 oz. bottle liquid concentrate household cleaner (No spray cleaners)
• 1 16-34 oz. bottle dish soap
• 1 4-8 oz. pump spray air freshener (liquid, not gel)
• 1 6-14 oz. pump spray insect repellent (pack of 10-20 wipes also acceptable)
• 1 scrub brush (With or without handle)
• 18 re-useable cleaning wipes (No terrycloth, microfiber or paper towels)
• 5 scouring pads (No stainless-steel pads with soap in them)
• 36-50 clothespins
• 1 50-100 ft. clothesline (cotton or plastic line)
• 24 roll of heavy-duty trash bags (33-45-gallon sizes)
• 5 N95 particulate respirator dust masks (1-3 mm thickness) No surgical masks
• 2 pairs kitchen gloves
• 1 pair work gloves (Cotton with leather palm or all leather)

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

Menstrual Hygiene Kit (Period Pack):
• 1 one-gallon size re-sealable bag
• 2 2 oz. bottle hand sanitizer
• 3 4-gallon bathroom trash bags
• 1 travel pack of wet ones
• 10 Tampons (5 regular and 5 super absorbency)unscented
• 10 Sanitary Napkins unscented long super ultra-thin
• 1Bath-size soap in packaging (3 oz. bar or larger) No Ivory or Jergen’s soap
• 1 pack of flushable wipes (42 count) unscented
• 6 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!

Wow! It's hard to believe it's October already! Fall is one of my favorite times of year! With the leaves changing color and the cool temperatures, what's not to like? Wednesday afternoons have been amazing! We started a new curriculum called "Dig In" and we are all really loving it! I hope you have been keeping up with the at-home pages we have been sending home every Wednesday. If your child(ren) are not already attending Wednesdays, I urge you to get them signed up. You can register them online using the button below. Thank you to the many Wednesday volunteers who make this possible! You are all rockstars!

And don't forget about Sundays! Our Kidz Connection time is every Sunday from 10:00 to 10:45am. We are using the "Dig In" Sunday School component that goes hand in hand with our Wednesday curriculum. If you are interested in being on a rotation to teach on Sundays, please let me know. If we get enough teachers, you will hopefully only have to teach once a month.

We have some exciting things coming up this month! October 15th is our church wide Missions and Ministry Fair. All our church missions and ministries will have tables set up in the UMAC highlighting their programs. This includes our First Kidz Children's Ministry Program! There will be no Sunday School that day so that all can attend the Fair.

October 29th is our annual Trick or Trunk Fall Festival from 5:00pm to 6:30pm! There will be food, games, candy and more! We hope you will get your costumes out and bring your kids and their friends! This is a huge event in the community and you will want to be a part of it! I'm pretty excited about my costume and my trunk and I csan't wait to see how you all dress up!

As many of you are already aware, we traditionally present bibles to our 3rd graders (as well as any others who are in 4th or 5th grade and have not yet received one) in October and then have a bible explorartion to help us learn how to use them in Jasnuary. This year, we are doinf things a bit differently. We will be presenting 3rgrade bibles in January so that our bible Exploration happens shortly after they have recieved them. Later this year we will set those dates.

Congratulations to our newest acolytes, Connor Lashley, Zane Loftis and Annslee Havens! Thank you to all our acolytes. It's wonderful to see you serving God at a young age. Not only are you carrying the light of Christ in and out of Worship, you are also being the light of Christ by showing your servants' hearts! I am so very proud of all of you!

God Bless!

Laura Law