Four times! Only four times throughout scripture does God lead God’s people or tell God’s people to go somewhere other than where they are now. 

The first time was when God invited Abram (Abraham) and Sarai (Sarah) to follow him to a new land, the Promised Land. The final time was when Jesus told his followers to spread out from the Promised Land and go out to the world, the ends of the earth, all the other lands and share the good news. Another time was when God warned Mary and Joseph that Herod would kill their child, so they took baby Jesus and fled to Egypt. Yet, the most well known is when God led God’s people out of Egypt back to the Promised Land. This was called the Exodus. 

The second book of the Bible, Exodus, tells us this miraculous and powerful story. It is probably the most influential book in the story, faith, and theology of the Jewish people. Likewise, it is a powerfully informative book to our faith and theology as well. 

We all have stories. We all have histories. For some, it’s a personal history. Yet, for many of us, our story is part of the bigger history of our people. Let’s think about this as Americans. Major events shaped the ethos of our republic. This includes the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War. There was also the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Another was World War II and the formation of the United Nations. Each of these events help define us as Americans that still influence how we see and conduct ourselves in relation to the world. 

As Christians, our roots can be found deep within the history of ancient Judaism. What influenced them informed the early church and still informs us today. It still shapes who we are today. 

Exodus is a key component in our faith formation. The book of Exodus demonstrates the character of God and the character of humanity. It shows us who God is in our time of need. It shows us who we are in our time of trial and desperation. It shows us again who God is despite who we are in our worst moments. 

I invite you to explore the depths of God’s character with me. Let’s learn how we can better respond and better live with ourselves and our neighbor in light of who our God is. Together, let’s discover how in the face of disaster, we have a new hope thanks to God’s character of love found through Jesus Christ.

In June and July we will focus on the book of Exodus during worship. To help you know the story, we’re including a daily reading list. It’s here in the newsletter and we’ve made bookmarks, too! We will read the entire books of Exodus and Numbers and parts of Deuteronomy during this series. As we get to the roots of some of our faith and theology, I know this will help you grow and deepen your own personal faith.

Grace and Peace, 

 Pastor Daniel 

It’s summer time! We’re here for you. We will continue having worship every Sunday and sharing the gospel in beautiful and meaningful ways. We will continue to be a resource of good news to the community. We will continue to find ways to help you grow in your faith and walk alongside you in this faith journey. So, as you’re vacationing and boating at the lake or floating on the river, remember us. Take some time to be here for us and with us in worship, in giving, in serving God’s Kingdom. We’re doing God’s work. Let’s do it together. 

Join us for our new worship series is called “Exodus -Journey to Freedom."  We’ll learn about The Exodus Story – an escape from slavery to finding freedom and how the book of Exodus shapes our understanding of God.

Stewards
Vicki Kauth
Christine Valenti

9:00 servers
Ruth Greer
Jeff & Olivia Clements

11:00 servers
Margaret Schmidbauer
Bruce & Marilyn Loveless

You may have heard that First United Methodist Church Mountain Home has joined relief efforts by providing showers and laundry facilities for those affected by the tornados that hit our area. Thank you to all those who answered the call by providing towels and other supplies for this ministry. Pleasse continue to pray for all those who were affected by this latest disaster.

“The Chosen” Season 2 Watch Party! The Watch party kicks-off June 3rd and continues every Monday night at 6:00 PM in The Seekers Classroom. We will have popcorn, bring your own drinks. For eight weeks beginning we will continue the saga of Jesus and his disciples. You can catch up and watch season 1 of The Chosen on most streaming services or for free at thechosen.tv.

For years I have quietly muttered Christian TV and movies have got to do better. So much of what’s labeled as Christian entertainment is cheesy at best if not cringe worthy. The Chosen is an answered prayer. Hesitant and skeptical at first, I was delighted to find this wonderful adaptation both artistically creative yet scripturally faithful. 
Overall, it is well done – especially for a crowd funded project. This is why I’ve been passionate about bringing The Chosen watch party to you. Each week we will watch an episode and then follow it up with a short discussion. It’s great for the whole family. I hope to see you there. 

Shelves of coral reef clothed in the vibrant colors of diverse sea creatures bring a new meaning to the concept of living water. Scuba Vacation Bible School will light up our church with glistening water and colorful undersea beauty. At Scuba VBS we will take kids deep into an amazing undersea adventure where they’ll experience the ever-flowing, never-ending love of God. Kids will launch into rotations that reinforce relevant Bible Points and immerse them in new adventures. They will love the catchy Scuba VBS music! And at Imagination Station, kids will experience faith-building, eye-popping experiments in a hands-on way. At Scuba VBS, kids will be immersed in the Word and discover what living water is really all about!  

We need many volunteers for this awesome under the sea adventiure!  If you can help, please contact Laura Law at llaw@fumcmh.org

With the school year ending this means that our Summer Feeding program is about to kick back up in full gear. We are in need of volunteers to help hand out the boxes of food when families come to collect. Summer Feeding distributes boxes of food every Monday from 11:00 am-1:00 pm with volunteers arriving at 10:30. Please email Shannon Wescoat using the button below or contact Hollye in the Church Office.

On Sunday, June 16th we have donuts available in the UMAC (United Methodist Activities) commons before and after services to celebrate dads and all the men who are influencial in the lives of others.  Don't forget to stop by the the photo wall in the commons for a Father's Day Photo Op!

The Annual Conference of the Arkansas United Methodist Church will take place June 19-21 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The theme this year is “Finding Home.” As every year, we will spend time in worship, learning, and consider conference business including ministry reports from college campus ministries, seminaries, and para-ministry Organizations such as Methodist Family Health, 200K More Reasons, and more!

Bishop Laura Merrill’s letter to us about the conference stated:

Our theme will be “Finding Home,” and we will be celebrating all the ways we find our home in God, in the church, and in the lives of the people around us. One highlight of annual conference is always worship. The first day of this year’s conference will fall on Juneteenth, and we will celebrate with Bishop Dee Williamston of the Louisiana Conference preaching  for our opening worship service. The Service of Ordination and Commissioning will be held on Thursday at First UMC in Hot Springs, with Reverend Brittany Watson as our preacher. Worship on Friday will include our Service of Remembrance, with Reverend Dr. Ulysses Washington preaching, and a renewal of our covenant together, as we fix the pastoral appointments for the coming year.

There will be four representatives from our church. Reverend Tom Frase and I will be there as clergy. Jeff Quick and Debby Bodenhamer will be there as laity.

Congratulations to this year's scholarship recipients, Isaiah Merry, Abby Green, Kraigen Partee and Kylie Andrews!

We are pleased to welcome our newest members, our 2024 confirmands!

Max Bryant    
Eli Jones     
Maggie Norcross

We had a fabulous time celebrating the start of summer with our Last Blast! We even got to see Pastor Daniel and Ms. Bonnie Elders go down the water slide! You can see photos with the link below.

If you have not already done so, please take a minute and fill out the online form (one profile per family member). We want to make sure the contact information we include in the directory is up to date.  INFO UPDATE FORM

Photo appointment slots are filling up so use the button below to schedule yours!

The flip flops are flopping.  The sunscreen is lathered.  The baseball hats and sunglasses are on. Summertime is one of my favorite times of year!  We are so blessed to live in a place where the beauty of God's creation is all around us. With the rivers, the lakes, the hiking trails and so much more we have endless opportunitoes to enjoy the many things made by God's hands.  The lake is truly my happy place. Topping the list, without exception though, is time spent with family and friends.

Relaxed summer schedules afford us the opportunity of taking time to create memories.  It’s a chance to live out faith on the road, towards new destinations and old stand-bys. A huge component of living out what we believe, is allowing Scriptures to come alive in the midst of our journeys.  We want our kids to be immersed in the Word, just as they are immersed in the many summer activities they will experience. 

Here's the thing - it's not hard to incorporate the Bible into many of those summer activities. Here are a few exaples/suggestions: 

1.  The Zoo: A showcase for God’s creativity.  Hunt for five of the most bizarre animal facts.  Discuss God’s purpose in His specific design of each animal.  Try to find an animal for each letter of the alphabet. Make an A to Z book. Talk about Adam’s job to name the animals. What names would you have chosen? Discuss Noah’s faith in building the ark.  Eat animal crackers. Upon your return, make monkey bread or decorate cupcakes to look like animals.  Play a game of animal charades or animal races (hop like a kangaroo, slither like a snake, or walk like an elephant.)

2.  The Beach: Another display of God’s handiwork.  Build a sandcastle near the tide, on the sand.  Build another one on a rock on higher land.  Discuss the wise man and the foolish man.  How does that apply to us? Fill a small container with sand.  How many granules would you estimate are in there?  Talk about Psalm 139:17-18, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.” Go on a hunt for seashells.  Challenge them to find two that are exactly the same. Find a recipe for a “sand dirt dessert” and make it when you get home.

3.  The Backyard: Go cloud watching.  Read Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”  Replicate the clouds with a cotton ball art project.  Read It Looked Like Spilt Milk, by Charles G. Shaw. Plant a vegetable or flower garden.  Take care of it daily.  (Even dead plants are a great object lesson if things don’t work out!)  Read Mark 4:30-32, the Parable of the mustard seed. Play games, have fun, and be silly.  Jesus promises us life to the full.  What does that mean? Hunt for bugs.  Find a caterpillar and a butterfly.  Discuss 2 Corinthians 5:17. At night, chase fireflies.  Notice how they stand out in the darkness.  Play flashlight tag. Sing, “This Little Light of Mine.”  Search for constellations.

Clearly, this is not an exhaustive list.  What are some of your favorite places to go with your children?  What are some of your favorite things to do as a family?  How can you incorporated God’s Word into your own travels and activities?  

We are hoping to have a few activities for the kids throughout the summer. Activities and dates will be nailed down soon for summer events so keep watching for that! Registration is open for VBS. Our theme this year is SCUBA! If you have not registered your kids/grandkids, get them signed up using the button in the VBS section of this newsletter!  Remember that we can pick up at the daycare centers for VBS as well. A BIG THANK YOU to those who have volunteered to help with VBS. We still need a few more volunteers. We hope to make this an awesome experience for all the children, youth and adults who participate!

There are only 18 summers in childhood.  How will you make this one count?

Blessings to all of you parents and kiddos! Have a wonderful summer!

Laura Law

Possible Summer Activities
VBS (June 17-20 • 9:00am-11:30am)
Ice Cream Social 
Bowling
Movie Matinee (Sun Valley Cinema)
Back to School at the Pool 

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Hello 605 Friends, Students, and Families, 
 
The month of May has been a crazy time. We have wrapped up our school year, spent time saying thank you to all of those that have made this school year possible, celebrated our year of Wednesdays at Last Blast, and taken time to celebrate all of the accomplishments of our Class of 2024! 
 
Congratulations again to our seniors and we are so proud of all of the hard work you have put into to high school and wish you the best of luck in what comes next for you! 
 
While May was the wrapping up of so many things, June brings us into a new season and the start of so many wonderful things for the church, our students, and 605 Student Ministries. I am excited for all that we have planned for this summer and all of the doors that will be opened for our future during this season. 
All of our current youth families as well as our upcoming 6th grade families should have received a 605 Student Ministries Newsletter in the mail or from Kyra at Last Blast. This newsletter lays out all of the awesome opportunities available to families and students throughout the summer. Please reach out to Kyra in the church office or send her an email if you did not receive one of these newsletters! 
 
Here are some of the amazing things that we have coming up in the month of June: 
 
June 2nd- During the Sunday school hour we will be having our first Dreaming session. Parents, volunteers, students, and anyone who wants to hear more about 605 Student Ministries is invited to join Kyra in the Junior High room, in the UMAC, to talk about our student ministry and what we are all hoping and dreaming of it to look like, how to better the ministry, and just dream about the wonderful things w have for our students. I would love to have you there! 
June 7th- Bible Study from 9:00AM-10:00AM at Cove Coffee. We will be looking at 1 John in the New Testament. 
June 8th- Food Box Packing at the Food Bank from 9:00-12:00. Join us to get some service in this summer and it is an awesome opportunity to help people in our community. 
June 9th- We will have open gym for students to come hang out and play some games, etc. from 2:00-4:00PM this Sunday! Parents come hang out with us too, I would love to get to spend time with you all. 
June 15th- We will be taking a float trip this Saturday. We will meet at the church at 9:00AM and be back hopefully around or before 4:30PM. Please let Kyra know if you can make it and if you have canoes and kayaks we can use for the trip by June 9th at Noon! 
June 16th- Another Dreaming Session during Sunday School Hour. 
June 17th-20th- VBS from 9:00-11:30AM Daily. Students are encouraged to let us know if they would like to help and we would love for them to join us during the week to pour into our children! 
June 19th- Open Gym from 2:00-4:00PM! Come hang out with us! 
June 23-28th- Kyra and some leaders and students are headed to OMP this week. Please be in prayer for us as we are working to help folks throughout Arkansas during this week! 
 
Blessings and Happy Summer! 

Kyra Anthony

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GENERAL FUND
In memory of Zo Holley
Marjorie Haberer & Ann Calaway
In memory of Roxy Koop
Tom & Deborah Knox
Margaret Schmidbauer
Marilyn Allen
Bonnie Elders
In honor of Eli Jones
Charles & Betty Barnett

BUILDING FUND
In memory of Calvin & Sissy Czeschin
Doug & Angie Van Dolah

WESLEY KITCHEN
In honor of Shirley Poynter & Terre Ware
Doug & Angie Van Dolah

TECHNOLOGY (A/V) 
In memory of Roxy Koop
Cynthia Peterson

BACKPACK FOOD 4 KIDS
In memory of Bob Jones
Steven & Susan Rogers
Homer & Jo Jean Jones
In memory of Roxy Koop
Judy Recer

If you wish to add a concern to our list, please contact the church office at 425-6036. You can also submit prayers to the prayer wall on the church app.