Covenant Coverage Volume 40, Number 8, August, 2010

OUR MISSION IS TO FOLLOW JESUS, MAKE DISCIPLES, TRANSFORM THE WORLD

Our purpose is to go as one voice to hundreds of people and proclaim new life in Christ Covenant United Methodist Church Non-Profit Org. 6824 Tuckaseegee Road US Postage Paid Charlotte, NC 28214-2734 Charlotte, NC Permit 1760 Return Service Requested

CHURCH INFORMATION David Lee, Pastor pastor@covenantcharlotte.com Wanda Vassey, Administrative Assistant office@covenantcharlotte.com Elaine Potter, Director of Music music@covenantcharlotte.com Juston Smith, Organist organist@covenantcharlotte.com Jill Honeycutt, Youth Director youth@covenantcharlotte.com Covenant United Methodist Church Web Site www.covenantcharlotte.com Telephone Numbers: Pastor: (704) 692-9394 Church: (704) 392-3925 Fax: (704) 393-8900

• Church email: see above or covenantcharlotte@att.net • Office Hours: 9 AM - 1 PM, M–F • Bulletin deadline: Wednesday by 12 Noon • September Newsletter Deadline: August 15, 2010 • To Schedule church facilities, vans, and all activities: Contact office in order to prevent conflicts. • Bulletin Board near office: Check this board often as news and information is posted regularly.

UMC & DISTRICT INFORMATION

• General UMC Information: www.umc.org • WNCC web site: www.wnccumc.org • Lake Norman District UMC Web Site: www.lakenormandistrict.org

• Lake Norman District address: 10115 Kincey Avenue, Ste 190, Huntersville, NC 28078-(704) 948-2307

SPIRITUAL GIFT STUDY

AUGUST 4: 6:00 PM - Last Wednesday to join Pastor David in a Spiritual Gift Study. Hope to see you there! “In the dust of the Rabbi”- a study on the heart and life of a Christian disciple is on summer break until Sept. 8.

FROM THE PASTOR

We’re Going Missional!!

With great power the apostles gave their testimony to

the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was

upon them all. [Acts 4:33]

Our early church fathers‟ testimony was to our

resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. As Covenant UMC, what

are we witnessing to? What would those in our

community say? The Scriptures tell us that „great grace‟

was upon them all after they had testified. Don‟t we

want to experience some of this „great grace‟?

During the Sunday Worship Service at the Annual

Conference this summer, Bishop Goodpaster

announced to us that we are „going missional.‟ Then, he

charted a course for our churches on how exactly we are

to do that. The church is to be an outpost in the mission

field that is the world, he told us. „Missions‟ is not just a

ministry in the church. The church is the mission. The

church is God‟s mission strategy for reaching the world.

If we are serious about God and being „church‟ in our

communities, we have to go missional. The Bishop

touched upon three areas to do just that:

First, “We will engage people where they live.” The

church has outlived the motto, “If you build it, they will

come.” I think we‟ve known that for a while now. Our

community has dramatically changed over the last 50

years. Instead of doing the same things that haven‟t

been working, we must get to know, reach out, seek to

care for, and invite those in our neighborhoods.

Second, “We will expand our horizons.” John Wesley

told us, “The world is our parish.” But sadly, we‟ve made

our parish the world. If we are to be a missional church,

a church that seeks to carry on the mission of Jesus

Christ to the world, we have to push beyond our church

walls, see the needs, and do something. I see our

„Impact Community Day‟ as a step in the right direction –

taking the Gospel into our communities.

Third, “We will get moving.” Nowhere does the Bible tell

us to sit and wait, rather Jesus‟ command is, “Go,

therefore and make disciples…” (Matt. 28:19). Listen,

we may not hit home runs from the get-go, but let‟s do

something this year. I want to experience some of this

„great grace‟ that God has in store for those who give

“their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”

Let‟s get moving!

Pastor David

SPECIAL DATES

Bring-A-Friend Sunday: Special challenge to invite friends to our service on August 1. (See article.) Ice Cream Social: August 28 – 5:00 PM (see article under UMM). Wonderful Wednesdays! (still on break during August) - begins September 8! For all activities: See Calendar Please let Wanda know of your events & changes

OUTREACH MINISTRIES

Back-To-School project

It is that time of the year to minister through the Back-To-School project. We are gathering school supplies for elementary, middle, and high school students, all of whom attend somewhere near our church. Place your gifts in the red tub by the office door. I will collect and distribute these. Remember: everything that we give will be used. Thanks!

– Evelyn Newman, Chairperson

2010 SALES TAX HOLIDAY

Friday - Sunday, August 6 – 8

As in past years, clothing, footwear, and school supplies, computers, computer software & supplies, and recreation equipment will be tax free. Be sure to check your local newspapers, TV, and other advertisements for further details.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

Vacation Bible School was a great success this year averaging 70 to 75 people each night. If you missed it, you missed an opportunity to see our fellowship hall changed into a galaxy complete with our space ship Galactic. A big thank you to the decorating committee led by Linda Smeltzer and Sherry Smith and to all of those who helped in the kitchen, led music, taught Bible stories, did science experiments, and worked in the craft room. Remember that donations to the Bethlehem Center of art supplies, upper level books, or cash will be accepted until the end of July. There is a box near the office for supply donations and if you choose to give a money donation – mark an envelope with your name, amount and “Bethlehem VBS Project” and place in the offering plate (checks to CUMC are okay, but be sure to put Bethlehem VBS on it.) - Glenda Jackson

United Methodist Men

August meeting will be Tuesday, August 10 at 7:00 PM

Annual Ice Cream Social

Sponsored by United Methodist Men Saturday, August 28 at 5:00 PM

All those who can make homemade ice cream (or other goodies that compliment ice cream) are

encouraged to do so and share with those who cannot. Entertainment will follow with the

“NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME” Covenant Players. EVERYONE IS INVITED!!

Mountain Toppers

No August Meeting.

Unique Sisters No August meeting.

From the Choir Director

The choir will begin rehearsing again the first Wednesday in August.

Diversity Youth Diversity Youth will have NO Meeting days in August. We will, however, be participating in the UMM Ice Cream Social Talent Night on Saturday August 28th! We will begin regular Wednesday meetings on Sept. 8 when Wonderful Wednesdays begin. At that time we will begin working on our Fall Retreat, and our Christmas Program! Remember to stay up-to-date with our youth at www.cumcyouth.com Juston & Jill

United Methodist Women

Covenant UMW Unit

During the summer hiatus we can still be involved in UMW and strive to become informed. From the District UMW Monthly newsletter are these suggestions.

“Are you "tuned in" to the many ways that you can be an informed United Methodist Woman? Use this short list as a good place to start!

Subscribe to Response Magazine

Use the Prayer Calendar

Participate in the Reading Program

Read United Methodist Women News

Read the Conference Gram

Visit our Western North Carolina website

Join our email list

Find United Methodist Women on Facebook

Visit the national website for United Methodist Women”

The third quarterly meeting of the Covenant UMW will be Saturday, September 18. This will be a very important meeting as we will be electing officers for 2011. Jean Whitley will be presenting the Pledge Program. We have a fund raising project (for our Unit Pledge) in the planning stage. More details at a later date. May all our members have a blessed summer. See you in September!

United Methodist Women Purpose The organized unit of United Methodist Women shall be a community of women whose Purpose is to know God and to experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ; to develop a creative, supportive fellowship; and to expand concepts of mission through participation in the global ministries of the church. - Submitted by Lettie Witt, UMW President

Willing Workers Circle

No August meeting.

Isabel Lawing/Helen Reames Circle

Isabel Lawing/Helen Reames Circle will continue to be on summer break during August. The next scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, September 14.

Kidz Klub Kidz Klub will not meet in August so we can gear up for some new and exciting plans for our Fall Kidz Klub program. Mrs. Elaine will be with us again this Fall for Bell Choir. Look forward to seeing all children 4 yrs - 11 yrs this September 8, 2010. Have a great rest of the summer.

Operation Covenant Playground Mattox Park, as we all know it, needs to be renovated and brought up to ADA safety standards. The playground equipment as it is does not meet those guidelines. A playground committee, consisting of Tim Cox, Jerry Honeycutt, Linda Smeltzer, Barry Smith, Sherry Smith and Glenda Wallace, have begun enhancing the playground by cleaning vines and tree limbs off the fence. The seesaw, merry-go-round and slide will be taken down, sold for scrap and money added to a designated playground fund. Plans are to have trees in the fence area cut down, fence repaired, swings retrofitted, painted and as funds are available to purchase new equipment. We are working with Playground of the Carolinas Systems to purchase our equipment to retrofit the swings and future equipment. Also, a new park sign will be erected, similar to the entrance welcome sign as you come in the church parking lot. This sign will consist of park name and safety rules. On Wednesday nights Kidz Klub has had as many as 30 children in attendance. These children would love to have a safe place to play after bell practice, crafts, and Bible story time. The children in the community would also have the opportunity for a safe area. Please consider helping with this project with your time, talents and gifts to our designated playground fund. Thank you, Playground Committee

Altar Flowers If you want to give flowers in honor of or in memory of loved ones, you must place your name on the flower calendar (located across from the mailboxes) and let Grace Hrisak or Pat Hatley know the specifics of your request. List the name of the loved one beneath your reservation on the calendar and whether it is “honor” or “memory” so Wanda will know what to place in the bulletin. If you want a bud vase for anyone in the sanctuary, it is up to you to purchase, pick up, deliver, and let Wanda know for who and what it is being presented. Otherwise, it cannot get in the bulletin.

Sunday School Teachers

Thank you to all the Sunday School teachers who have taught our children and youth during the Fall 2009 through Summer 2010. These teachers are: Tiffany Jackson Lettie Witt Melanie Smith Linda Smeltzer Kathy Joy Nancy Roland Virginia Cox Sherry Smith Da Y Jill Honeycutt ( Youth ) We have four children’s classes, 2-3 yr olds, 4,5-6 yr olds, 2nd-3rd grade and 4th-5th grades. These teachers have been rotating in the different classrooms for two month intervals. Tiffany and Lettie teach only the 2-3 yr old class. This rotation keeps our teachers from burn out and also gives them the opportunity to participate in their own adult classroom. If you would like to teach to some wonderful children the stories of Jesus and the Bible using the Cokesbury literature please contact Linda Smeltzer or Sherry Smith. We will gladly add your name to our rotation schedule. Thank you teachers for using your time and talents to teach. We love you very much.

FINANCIALS

Covenant UMC Stewardship Report Offerings designated to budget

June, 2010 2010 Annual Budget $203,317.00 YTD Expenses through June $ 93,067.09 YTD Offerings through June $ 87,937.75 YTD Shortage ($5,129.34)

Average Attendance for June Sun. School-72;

Worship 9AM-39 Worship 11 AM-91

Tidbit . . . Lunch on Sunday If you bring a Worship Bulletin to the

Holiday Inn Charlotte Airport @ 2707 Little Rock Road on Sunday’s, you receive 10% off your total bill.

Witness Update So much has been going on since January to spread

the word about Covenant United Methodist church. The Witness Team’s duty is to be the communicators, advertisers, and promoters of the church and its events. We have been doing so in ?? ways (and many more to come!).

First, in January the Witness team met to come up with a distinctive church logo, so that when people see this logo, they automatically think Covenant UMC, Charlotte. This logo has been placed on all church documents: Bulletins, Newsletters, Calendars, Website, etc… This is called branding, meaning we need associate the church with something people can see, that being the logo; so when people see the logo they understand what it is talking about: Covenant UMC, Charlotte.

Second, It was another priority of the Witness Team to develop a user friendly, interactive website for the church. The website, and branding logo were launched on Palm Sunday 2010. If you have not yet visited the site, I encourage you to do so: www.covenantcharlotte.com On the site you will be able to find the updated church calendar, event pics, bulletin and newsletter downloads, messages from Pastor David, any and all church information. It is a resource I hope you all will stay up-to-date with!

I want to go into a little more detail about the site and give you some numbers and break it down for you. Every time someone goes to our website we get what is called a “Visit.” Within this “Hit” the hosting service our website is with details to me if they are a repeat visitor or a new visitor (this is reset each month). I am also give the IP Address of the computer, I can then take that IP Address and search where this person is located (not actual home address, but their city or state location), and I can also see how many people are finding our site by searches through google, yahoo, bing, etc.

So here are the numbers: April 2010- Total Visits: 78 New Visitors: 53 May 2010- Total Visits: 146 New Visitors: 90 June 2010- Total Visits: 181 New Visitors: 105 Total Visits- 405 Visitors Each Month- 248 What does this mean? Well I am looking at the

number of new visitors each month, this will give me an accurate representation of actually how many people are visiting the site. So as you can see, we have doubled the number of computers visiting the site since April- from 53 to 105 in June.

I encourage you to continue to help this number to grow…Why? Because there are so many neat things being added to the site daily, which goes in to the number three way in which we have been trying to grow our name.

Third, we have begun recording our services on to digital media cards. This is allowing for us to have a more clear recording that can be burned to an audio CD, and can be added to our website. Yes, you can now go to the website and listen to Pastor David’s sermons. They are uploaded to the site every Monday morning after he delivers the sermon! This will allow people to become more familiar with the

church’s pastor. Just go the main page of the website and click on the black box that says “SermonCast.”

Fourth, we have our own Facebook Fan Page! Want to be our fan on facebook? Go to the main webpage: www.covenantcharlotte.com and click on “Facebook Connect.” This fan page is now up to 33 members. On this page we will be updating current church information and are also in the process of uploading church event pictures.

Fifth, when we purchased the website, we were given advertising credits to be used on Facebook, Google, Yahoo, etc. Currently we have had an ad running on Google (which is about to expire), and currently we have an ad running on Facebook. These ads will come up on pages when people search certain words, even as small as “Methodist,” our church webpage ad will be displayed for them to be able to click and learn more about Covenant. On Facebook, our church ad has been clicked 7 times, that takes them directly to our website. We have the potential of reaching almost 87,000 people with the ad on Facebook. We will begin using the other ad credits toward the end of the year.

To conclude, there is so much going on within the Witness area of the church to better improve our communications within the community. It is our duty to all be witnesses not only of the church but of Jesus. There are ways in which you can continue to reach people and tell them about Covenant Church.

1. Tell people about the website, direct them their for information and upcoming events.

2. A new Business Card campaign, which is already going on. How it works: Everyone in the congregation is given a church business card. It list our phone numbers, fax numbers, email address, web address, and physical address. The back of the card is blank, this is where you come in: Take the business card, write your contact information on the back of the card and give the card to anyone: a stranger, friend, co-worker, etc…Tell them to contact YOU to learn more about why YOU worship at Covenant and why YOU would love to have them worship here. This is not only a good way to learn more about the church and its events, but also being a witness and telling others about the good things going on at Covenant. I encourage you all to participate…Just think if we have a Sunday attendance of 80 and all 80 take a business card, we are reaching 80 people. This campaign will go on till all business cards are gone!

Thanks for all you do and continue to pray for and support your church…Many more and exciting things to come from your witness team! Sincerely, Juston Smith

Witness Team Chair

Service Recordings

Beginning June 20, we have started to record our worship services onto digital media. This means that we will only be able to record to a Cassette Tape by request. All of Pastor David's sermons will be posted onto the website thanks to this new technology and you can listen there. If you would like to request a Sunday service, there are request forms located at the sound board in the Sanctuary and on the Choir Room door. Please indicate if you would like a CD or Cassette Tape (the whole service may not fit onto the Cassette Tape). There is no charge for either, but a donation to the church for materials would be appreciated. If you would like to be placed on a list to receive either a CD or Cassette Tape every week, please email Juston Smith at organist@covenantcharlotte.com or send a request with your name, address, and if you either want a CD or Cassette Tape to the church office C/O Juston Smith. Again, there is no charge, but a donation to the church to cover materials and/or postage will be appreciated. Any questions, please see Juston Smith.

UMC Prayer Chain

The prayer chain is a special ministry for those with crisis or chronic needs. If you wish to activate the prayer chain, call David Lee, Grace Hrisak, Joyce Gorman, Carolyn Helms, or Wanda Vassey

Prayer List

Flo Jarrett, Margaret Nance, Christine Sexton, Wanda Hilliard, José Bazan, Harold Faggart (brother of Hallie Rowe’s), Hallie Rowe, Jim Coates, Johnny Brown (Linda Efird’s brother), Laurie Auten (son-in-law of Katherine Moyle), Wayne Lawing, June Hurley, Margaret Newton, Bob Murphy (brother of Gayle Mull), Gayle Mull, Sarah Blevins, Bruce Aiken (father-in-law of Michael Wallace), Phillip Bruzgis (Andrew Bruzgis’ father, Sam Carlisle’s son), Billie Sharpe, Dean Gayle, Linda Mullis, Judy Goble, Joan Beacham, Jean Earnhardt (Elaine Potter’s mother) TThhee pprraayyeerr lliisstt iiss ffoorr rreecceenntt aanndd lliinnggeerriinngg iillllnneesssseess,, aanndd lliiffee ccrriisseess.. TToo aadddd oorr rreemmoovvee aa nnaammee ffrroomm tthhee pprraayyeerr lliisstt,, ppllaaccee aa nnoottee iinn tthhee ooffffeerriinngg ppllaattee,, iinn tthhee ooffffiiccee mmaaiillbbooxx;; ccaallll oorr ee--mmaaiill WWaannddaa..

Homebound Members

Luella Behr, Sarah Blevins, Billie Glover, Judy Dotson, Mary Huggins, Dorothy Jones, Buford & Margaret Nance, Betty & Buford Williams, Christine Sexton, Sarah White

Long Term Care

Alexander Place, Gastonia: Edward Smeltzer, brother

of Jim Smeltzer

Alamance Rehabilitation: Danny Newman, son of

Evelyn Newman

Genesis Health Care, Salisbury: Harold Faggart,

brother of Hallie Rowe

The Place at Southpark: Sarah White

Sunrise Living Center, Rea Road: Dorothy Jones

Old Knox Commons: Dean Gayle (Re-hab)

COVENANT UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Declares National Friendship Day “Bring-a-Friend Sunday”

Sunday, August 1 We are, by nature, very social beings and have always valued the importance of friends in our lives. To celebrate this fact, a proclamation was made by Congress in 1935 declaring the first Sunday of August as a holiday to honor friends. Since Sunday, August 1 is National Friendship Day we ask that you bring your friends to Covenant. The purpose of Bring-a-Friend Sunday is: •To motivate each member of our congregation to bring an unchurched friend, relative, acquaintance, or neighbor to morning worship; •To introduce persons to Jesus Christ and the community of faith that bears his name; •To continue this process of reaching and receiving on an ongoing basis in our church. •To invite members of our church family who have not been active lately. Let us prayand ask God to help us identify that person or persons to whom we want to reach out and invite to church. We can bring our friends to Sunday School and worship as a way of letting them know the significance of our relationship. Hope to see you and your friends here on August 1!

Church Sign See Ralph Percival to sign up to change the sign at the front of the church.

Body and Soul Exercise Classes Body and Soul Senior Fitness meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10 AM. Cost per month: $20.00. For information: call Kathy Joy: 704-277-3267.

Bottle Caps Collection

Ray & Barbara Stevanus are collecting plastic bottle caps to help a little girl who is having dialysis. Bring caps and give to Ray or Barbara or place in the box marked for this collection near the office.

Words of Thanks

Thank you Covenant for the use of home health equipment during the recovery of my back surgery. You will never know how much it was appreciated. I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers during this time. Thanks again, Ginny Patrick

Thank You

Thank you church family for being there for me during the loss of my Mother. I really appreciate all the prayers, cards, and telephone calls received from so many of you. A special appreciation goes to the “Covenant Master Chefs” Jean & Pete Whitley, June & Houston Crane, Billie Bass, and Polly Wright for preparing lunch for my family. The food was wonderful as always and was really appreciated by each of us. - Judy Lowe

LAKE NORMAN DISTRICT CALENDAR August 2010

1-4 ―The Jazz of Preaching‖—Lake Junaluska, NC

5-7 Central Carolinas Emmaus Community ―Fourth Day

Retreat Camp Caraway, Asheboro, NC

9-10 Cabinet Leadership Retreat

10-12 Joint Cabinet Retreat Lake Junaluska

14 Disciple Bible Study Leader Training @ Williamson’s

Chapel UMC—Mooresville, NC 8:30am Registration

13-15 Gathering of the Laity — Lake Junaluska, NC

21 Called Conference @ Lake Junaluska for all

Delegates/Clergy

26 Lake Norman District Clergy Welcome—Central UMC,

Mooresville, NC

28 Lake Norman District Lay Leader Training—―Making

Disciples—The Role of the Lay Leader‖

29 Lake Norman District UMW Annual Meeting—2:30pm—

Huntersville UMC, Huntersville, NC

Missionary Birthdays for August

1 Min Yang; 2 Virginia Moore; Grace Vega; Geneva Williams; 3 Eric Banks; Lilian Hunt; Juan Jara; Merrillyn McNary; Victoria West; 4 Jody Campbell; Margaret Campbell; Daniel Heiner; 5 Timothy Boyle; Lara Chishti; Anne Kolbe; Gwendolyn Pew; 6 Nancy Augusta Carew; Efren Celiz; James Dwyer; Seija Terry; 7 Jeanne Ntambo; Rosanna Rosado-Baez; 8 Mary Danner-Smith; Nkemba Ndjungu; 9 Lois Blankenbaker; Barbara Brooks; 10 Jamison Brunk; James Dustin; Katherine Twilley; 11 Luis Garcia; William Rhan; Yugo Suzuki; Lydia Templeton; Patricia Wise; 12 Marcia Florkey; Sarah Baker; Perry Newbury; Keith Paxton; 13 Amy Berg; 14 Wendy Chun; Christopher Kong; Rebecca Peckham; Jean Saul; Kilembo Shakikupe; Robert Terhune; 15 Douglas Cook; 16 Harriett Byansi; Carter Clem; Duk Kyu Kwon; Adline Mudibo; 17 Seung Ho Baek; Milika Finau; Nancy Garrison; Kimberly Kobersmith; Liwliwa Robledo; 18 Allison Blount; Mary Haggard; Lloyd Woodworth; 19 Lucile Barton; Bong Jo Lee; Karen Ujereh; 20 Diantha Hodges; Henry Jusu; 21 Honorine Mwad; Rachel Small; 22 Dan Griffiths; Mutombo Kayij; 23 Raggatha Calentine; Sally Wissner-Ott; 24 John Yambasu; 25 Mark Smallwood; 26 Charity Chibwindi; Victor Gonzalez; Lamberto Valino; 27 John Emberson; Jose Rivera; Susan Wersan; 28 Gladman Makwenya; 29 Jerald Scott; Barbara Wheeler; 30 Catherine Akale; Pacita Delamen; 31 Marlies Mittwollen; Hortense Tyrell

'Impact Community'

(See full article)

Covenant pictures from IMPACT Day:

Thousands turn out to 'Impact Community' A UMC.org Feature By Barbara Dunlap-Berg

6 p.m. EST June 8, 2010 | CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Rev. Mark Barden tried to cover all his bases when contacting event coordinators in charge of making a day of community service happen. The communications director for the United Methodist Western North Carolina Conference also warned the coordinators to expect the worst: “What if volunteers show up and there is nothing for them to do?” He need not have worried. Plenty of volunteers showed up—some 14,635 people participated, and they touched the lives of more than 629,639 people, according to conference figures. The June 5 “Impact Community” event was such a success that participants already are asking when the conference is going to do it again.

The day was “a defining moment in the life of the church an experience I will never forget,” said the Rev. Gregg Plott, a pastor in the North Wilkesboro District.

Putting faith into action Impact Community is an extension of The United Methodist Church’s Rethink Church campaign, which emphasizes “church” as a verb—requiring transformative, collaborative action—rather than simply a place where people worship on Sunday. “Rooted in the teachings of Methodism’s founder, John Wesley, who maintained personal faith and social action were essential to Christianity, Impact Community is an effort to transform society in local settings by addressing its needs,” Barden explained. The Saturday event was the first large-scale, conference-wide, single-day Impact Community effort in the denomination. The conference includes 1,123 churches with 292,824 members covering 44 counties. All 15 districts participated. People in 72 communities—from Asheboro in central North Carolina to Hayesville in the mountains of the west—got involved. They cleaned parks, delivered meals, conducted health screenings, led a children’s basketball camp, participated in an “Amazing Race” around a speedway to raise funds, planted trees, repaired homes, spruced up school grounds and worked on Habitat for Humanity construction. Those were just a few of the activities.

Nourishing body and soul Anna Murdock, a member of Broad Street United Methodist Church, Statesville, participated in the food distribution sponsored by her church. She described the day as “amazing.” “I had absolutely the best job,” she said. “I greeted and welcomed people. My first thoughts were that in addition to a food need, these people had a hunger to be treated with dignity and love. I looked into eyes, touched shoulders, smiled and shook hands. “I began to notice something. People had to lift their heads to see the smile and for our eyes to meet. I wondered how long it had been since some had been touched, much less had another person extend their hand to them.”

“In our three counties,” said Mary John Dye, Statesville District Superintendent, “we distributed 2,250 bags of food. We had 517 volunteers and served at least 2,354 people in the food distribution. People of all ages participated, and most of them had never done anything like this.” “It was a good day—tiring, but worth it,” said the Rev. Eileen Ayuso, part-time local pastor serving Green Street United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem. “I really enjoyed seeing our lay people from different churches coming together and working alongside one another.” ‘The body of Christ’ at work The Children’s Home in Winston-Salem got a facelift to buildings and grounds, thanks to more than 75 volunteers. Linda T. Coleman, volunteer coordinator at the ministry, expressed thanks “for helping The Children’s Home grow healthy futures for children and families.” She added, “Please know your volunteer efforts are welcome here at any time.” Members from throughout the Greensboro District collected canned food items and packaged meals to send to Kenya. They also worked with local grocery stores to restock local food pantries. "Working together, we can do a whole lot more than we can individually,” said the Rev. Benjamin G. Carson, Guilford College United Methodist Church. “We believe that churches together are the body of Christ working together, so it’s a big part of what we're doing." Volunteers set a goal of packing at least 60,000 bags and collecting enough food donations to restock the shelves at the Greensboro Urban Ministry. The district drawing the most volunteers was North Wilkesboro with 1,810, according to Plott, who serves a three-point charge— Warrensville, Smethport and Clifton. “We had 1,601 initial registrations,” he said. Walk-up volunteers filled many of the “no-show” spots. “Many 'walk-ups' carried in the postcard they received, and many more mentioned that the TV spots had caught their attention and got them interested in coming—as one person said—‘to check out the new church.’” He estimated about 25 percent of the volunteers would be considered unchurched. At the conclusion of the workday, many locations sponsored closing celebrations, featuring food, live music and fellowship. ‘I was hungry...’ Bishop Larry Goodpaster expressed enthusiasm for the opportunity of “sharing the gospel, living the gospel (and) modeling the gospel of Jesus Christ in communities all across the conference.” “I heard repeatedly that many wanted to do this again,” Ayuso remarked. “A fellow clergy person said that if we want the world to know The United Methodist Church is intentional in its Christian service, we should ‘Impact Community’ four to six times a year.” Back at Broad Street Church in Statesboro, Murdock said she saw Jesus. With only 20 bags of groceries remaining to give away, Murdock recalled, a young man walked into the room. A volunteer embraced him. As he was leaving, Murdock said, "God bless you." “He stopped and turned to look at me,” she said. “I looked into one of the most beautiful faces I had ever seen. His eyes were gentle. His smile was beyond words. There was a countenance about him. At that moment, I knew I was looking into the face of Jesus. If he had said any words at all, I would fully have expected them to be, ‘I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat.’"

*Barbara Dunlap-Berg is internal content editor

for United Methodist Communications.

Contact: Barbara Dunlap-Berg, Nashville, Tenn.,

(615) 742-5489 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

[Original Story at umc.org]

Impact Community volunteers in the Lake Norman District of the Western North Carolina Conference helped elderly neighbors with yard work. A UMNS photo by James Carpenter.