101 E. Barbour Street

P. O. Box 72

Eufaula, AL 36072

(334) 687-8227

(334) 687-8285 FAX

fumc@fumceufaula.org

www.fumceufaula.org

VOLUME XXXIV

NUMBER 37

September 12, 2018

Pastor

Dr. Alan Cassady

Youth/Missions Director

Britt Martin

Music Director

Billy Wilbourne

Office Staff

Jodi Stockberger

Pam Hunter

First United Methodist ChurchFirst United Methodist Church

Flower Calendar Please call the

church office if

you are willing to

place flowers in the

sanctuary on October

7. Thank you!

We offer our deepest sympathy

and heartfelt condolences to

Sylvia Acosta, Alexandra Conniff

& family following the death of

Yamandu Acosta. Please pray

for the comforting presence of

God’s Holy Spirit to surround this

family in Christ.

Let’s Play Dominoes!

The Discipleship Team

will lead a game of

Mexican Train Domi-

noes on Saturday,

September 15th, at 2:00 p.m. at

Brickstone Burgers. Join us, and

invite your friends!

Town Hal l Meet ing Bishop David Graves invites all interested United Methodists, both lay and

clergy, to attend a town hall meeting in their district. Our meeting will be

on Sunday, September 30, from 3—5 p.m. at Dothan FUMC (1380 W. Main

Street). The purpose of these gatherings is to bring clarity and answer

questions around the three proposed plans coming from The Commission

on A Way Forward to the 2019 General Conference. The proposed plans

include The One Church Plan, The Connectional Conference Plan, and The

Traditional Plan. The meetings will begin with a time of spiritual reflec-

tion and centering. A video will then be shared highlighting the specifics

of each of the three proposed plans. There will then be a question and

answer time with Bishop Graves moderated by the district superintendent.

Visit www.awfumc.org for more information and answers to frequently

asked questions.

Meals for COT If you (and/or your group) are will-

ing to help provide a meal for

Communities of Transformation

class participants in the next few

months, please call Brenda Parker

at 687-3891 or 355-1887.

Sunday, October 14

12:30 p.m. Join us for a picnic on Sunday, Oc-

tober 14 at Lakepoint State Park!

We’ll begin with a kickball game

and socializing at 12:30, eat lunch

at 2:00, then enjoy a talent show

at 3:00! The church will provide

pulled pork sandwiches, hotdogs

and PB&J for the kids, bottled wa-

ter, disposable tablecloths and

paper goods.

We ask you to bring:

► $4 per vehicle entrance fee

► Serving spoons

► Drinks other than water

► Chairs

► Games/sporting equipment

Also, please bring the following

according to the first letter of

your last name:

► A—H: Side dish (warm)

► I—P: Dessert

► R—Z: Side dish (cold)

LIKE US!

First United Methodist

Church — Eufaula

September 16 Volunteers

►Acolytes

11:00 — Jackson Mitchell

Taylor Washington

►Sacristy Prayer Leaders

8:30 — Janet Wills

11:00 — Caty Richardson

►Ushers

8:30 — Morris Whitfield

Toni Davidson

11:00 — Charlie Schaeffer

Charles Irvin

Lamar Lee

Karen Bradford

►Lay Readers

8:30 — Buck Earnest

11:00 — Pam Hunter

►Greeters

8:30 — Pam Wilkes

11:00 — Ben Tye

Alison Tye

Calendar of Events

►Sunday, September 16

Worship 8:30

Sunday School 9:45

Worship 11:00

Elevate 5:30

►Monday, September 17

Office Staff 10:00

Missions Team 11:00

►Wednesday, September 19

Children’s Choirs 4:30

Adult Bible Study 6:00

Handbells 6:00

Next Level Bible Study (youth) 6:00

Chancel Choir 7:00

Hey FUMC Family!

Here’s this week’s Elevate Top 5!

This week I want to share with you the

Top 5 ways you can be involved with

our youth program.

1) We need help on Sunday nights!

We call this role a “Youth Connector”

and that’s exactly what we’re looking

for — people that will come on Sunday

nights and connect with our students!

You don’t need any special skills. You

just need to love teenagers, and love

to have fun! Youth connectors have conversations with kids during dinner,

hang out with kids throughout the night, help with crowd control, and eve-

ry now and then you’ll facilitate a discussion group. (If we ask you to lead

a discussion, we’ll give you all the materials you need to feel prepared.)

2) Throughout the year, we take various trips. We love to travel. We love

to have fun. And we LOVE adventure! We’re always looking for adults to

join us on our adventures because it can’t happen without adult partners!

This fall, we’ll be doing a middle school Road Rules trip (which is a desti-

nation–unknown trip that the kids really enjoy) and a high school ski trip!

3) Sponsor a kid to go on a trip! We never want money to be an issue for

kids experiencing God in the environments we create on our trips.

4) If you’re looking for a more in-

depth connection with kids, you can

lead a life group. Life groups are

the small group element to our pro-

gram. They meet 3 times a month

and grow spiritually together. This

isn’t a Bible Study group. This is a

group that lives the Christian life

together through prayer, accounta-

bility, and support. We started life

groups last year and several of them

are still going. As students that

aren’t in a group want to start one,

we need leaders to pair them with.

5) PRAY! Our students are going through all sorts of issues in life.

They’re busy with school. They all have family drama. They’re deciding

where they’ll go to college. They’re figuring out who they are. You

remember those years! If you would, take a moment when you think of it

to pray for our students!

There are many more ways to plug

into our ministry, but these are 5 of

them.

That’s all for now.

God looks good on you —

Britt

I Promise

We live in a day when promises don’t mean much. Whether it is a promise

to take the kids fishing or a promise to pay back a loan, we can always find

ways to get out of it. It used to be that to promise to do something

amounted to giving your word. When you made a promise, your reputation,

character, or integrity was the collateral. Sadly, those days are behind us,

even when it comes to the promises we make to God.

Vows are promises. When we joined the church, we made promises to God.

Here is the way those are stated in our Covenant of Baptism and Member-

ship:

First, we renounce spiritual forces of wickedness, the evil powers of this

world, and repent of our sin. Second, we pledge to resist evil and injus-

tice. Third, we confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and pledge to serve

him through the Church. Fourth, we promise to remain faithful to Jesus

and serve as his representatives in the world. Fifth, we pledge our loyalty

to the United Methodist Church and work to strengthen its ministries. Fi-

nally, we promise to faithfully participate in the church’s ministries by our

prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness.

These are the promises we make to God. Also, each time someone is con-

firmed, or a new member is welcomed, we reaffirm these promises.

So, how are you doing with your promises? The next sermon series will give

an opportunity to reflect on our promises and evaluate our faithfulness.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Alan

Prayer List

► New concerns:

*The Yamandu Acosta family

Robbins Sims

► Continue to pray for:

*Jackie Devlin

*Kirven Gary

Barbara Whitney

*Josh Jones

Mitzi Tzerman

*Jane Pody

Jim Roberts

George Williams

Mary Sellers

Linda Dudewicz

Cruz Rios

*Mel Stephenson

*John Hagood

*Louise Britt

*Betty Searcy

Walter Harmer

*John Jenkins

Bobby Gray

Kathy Armstrong

*Taylor Washington

*Jeff Richards

*Brian Devlin-Meagher

Mary Lindsey Hannahan

*Richard Boyette

The Pastor’s Page

A Look at September 9 Sunday School .................. 77

8:30 Worship ................... 37

11:00 Worship ................. 103

Total Worship ................. 140

Offering received ......... $5,588

YTD received ........... $298,231

BTT balance ............ $263,041

► Prayer list guidelines:

Names remain for 4 weeks unless

requested to remain.

* denotes church members.

Accident…. Serendipity.…

Luck….

So many times in our lives, we have ascribed many situations to luck. Sometimes we might

say, “quite by accident, I was able to…” Now I’m not saying that sometimes things don’t

happen that make things go our way. Yet sometimes, I know that many things we refer to as

accidents are actually “God sightings.” In other words, God had a hand in making a certain

situation happen. Many groups at church these days begin their meetings with current God

sightings. I know that we do this in staff meetings as well as in worship team meetings. This

activity reminds us that God is present in our world and in our lives.

I am writing about this particular occurrence because of a most recent God sighting. Recently, a good friend passed

away. When he first lost consciousness, his wife went immediately next door to get help from her neighbor. Now

this in itself is a good Samaritan story as the neighbor did help with CPR and in helping to call the proper people.

But here is the God sighting; the neighbor was moving from town the following day and so this was her last night in

town. I feel that this was directed by God. It was truly a “God sighting” that she was still there when needed.

We have all heard stories of other events which could only be referred to as miraculous. These types of stories

remind us that God is with us. I have said before, we are reminded daily of the reality of God’s presence through all

the amazing gifts that God has given us.

God sightings bring to mind a favorite hymn entitled, “We Plow the Fields and Scatter.” This hymn is not in our

present hymnal so we don’t sing it. But the chorus of the hymn says this: “All good gifts around us are sent from

heaven above. So thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love.” We must remember that our God is a gracious

God. He continues to give us gifts daily. Unfortunately, we take some of these gifts for granted. We would do well

if we remembered the words of this hymn which I have just quoted and be sure to thank the Lord for all his love.

One other things friends… I hope all you folks who enjoy singing will join us in our first rehearsal for Christmas Choir

on October 3 at 7:00. I know that it is awfully hard to add something new to an already packed schedule. But if you

will do this, I think that you will receive a blessing and a bright spot on Wednesday evenings to boot.

The mission of First United Methodist Church is

to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the

transformation of our church, community and world.

Birthdays

Friday, September 14

► Jay Jaxon

Monday, September 17

► Summer Orr

Ed Richardson

Tuesday, September 18

► Candy Fretwell

Ann Smith

Wednesday, September 19

► Asa Grey Coates

Jan Taylor

Tylin Wilbourne

Thursday, September 20

► Cynthia Davis

Contact

Us

Alan Cassady:

alan@fumceufaula.org

850-418-3303

Britt Martin:

britt@fumceufaula.org

678-953-4602

We now have the capability to

accept online giving. You may

visit www.fumceufaula.org and

click the green “GIVE” button,

or visit Tithe.ly. You may also

download the Title.ly app for

your phone. In addition to regular giving, you may

also submit registration fees for youth events or Mom

Tribe, donate to Kanz for Kids, etc.

Hymnals Available We found several old United

Methodist Hymnals in a closet in

the church office. If you would

like to have one, please pick it

up in the church office in the

next week.