July 2017 GRACE NOTES

Grace United Methodist Church

601 N. 4th St . Pekin, IL. 61554

www.pekingrace.org

309-347-7131

Grace Café

July 29, 2017

(Always last Saturday of

the month.)

11AM-12:30 PM

Food Pantry:

July 13, 2017

4-5 PM

Pastor’s Note 2

Radical 3

Christian Education 4

Vacation Bible School 5

UMW 6

Prayer Shawls &

Fall Bazaar 7

New Forms 8, 9, 10 , 11

Prayers, News 12

Pekin Park Concert,

Windows, Committee

Information 13

Bible Readings 14

Birthday Calendar 15

Events Calendar 16, 17

Inside this issue: (Page #s Listed)

Printed

June 27, 2017

FRIENDSHIP CLUB

Friendship Club will not meet

in July.

With summer fully underway, our Radical group has had many ex-citing things going on! We have begun a new series for the summer on prayer, had a Pekin-wide youth dodgeball tournament, taken a trip to Noah's Ark waterpark in the Wisconsin Dells, and served at the Housing Authority for our annual Kids Club service project. It's a great time in our youth ministry calendar, and there are many more great things in store for us this summer! (See Page 3) We hope to make many memories while having some fun but more importantly want to connect with Christ this summer in a variety of ways.

Our destination for the 2017

Radical Youth Mission Trip!

Please keep us in your

thoughts and prayers as we

serve God during the week of

July 15-22nd.

Thank you for all your support!

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JOURNEYS WITH JOEL

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every thing, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

The new window coverings are obviously a good thing, but I have been surprised by the the way they have improved my attitude. The increased light and ability to bet-ter see our beautiful windows gives me a boost every time I enter the sanctuary. In so many ways this project has increased the positive architectural and artistic impact our building has in our community. I am reminded of a sermon, “Is Your Window Clean?” The message was that as Christians having our windows clean (living as a positive representative of Jesus) impacts how we see the world and how the world sees Christ through us. Every time I look at the new, clean windows I am reminded of how im-portant clean windows are.

As God is cleaning my windows I am seeing that the Lord wants “arts based min-istries” to be one of the foundations of God’s vision for our future. God is confirming this in many ways and levels. God is opening all kinds of ways for us to cooperate with the Pekin Area Fine Arts Academy to provide wonderful opportunities to reach our com-munity through the Arts. People are coming out of the woodwork who have artistic tal-ent and are anxious to help. We hope to work with with a local Social Service organiza-tion to provide Arts experiences for special needs kids and adults. Awesome! That is really good, but stressful because there is so much planning and work needed to make it all happen. Let Pastor Joel or Rev. Donna know if you want to help. More is coming on this soon.

As God is cleaning all of our windows we are seeing how Prayer is the basis of everything. We are are putting a renewed emphasis on prayer with a 7:30 A.M. Prayer Power meeting in the Chapel every Wednesday. There you can join your pastors in praying for our church, community, leadership, etc. Everyone is urged to come. We also are turning the closet between the second and third floors into a prayer room or “War Room” where the prayer concerns of the congregation will be posted and all of us can go to pray alone or with others.

The best news is we have a loving, almighty God who hears and answers our pe-titions and “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” I need to keep my window clean to see the great-ness of God all around me and so others will see Christ in me.

We are so blessed! As always, it is a privilege to be your pastor. Pastor Joel

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Trent Moberly

Coordinator of Youth Ministries Grace United Methodist Church tmoberly@pekingrace.org (309) 347-7131

What are we learning?

We have begun a brand new series for the weeks we meet together this summer for our nor-mal Radical program. In the spirit of a renewed emphasis on prayer throughout the Church we de-cided to take a fresh look at prayer and commit to growing in our prayer lives this summer as we ex-plore a video series on prayer with teachings by Francis Chan and many testimonies from youth who have seen their lives and faith transformed by prayer. As for Sunday school, we are adapting to a new set-up that is very conversation based. We provide opportunities for everyone to share what has been going on lately in their lives and then find ways to tie scripture and a Biblical lesson into our real-life situations. It does take some re-directing the conversation at times, but overall we hope it is worth it as our students try to bring God into their everyday conversations and trials.

Radical Recent and Upcoming Events

6/28 - Pekin Youth Event Paint Wars at Mineral Springs North Park by 4H Building from 6-8pm. Drive by along Broadway and check it out!!

7/12 - Final Mission Trip Meeting and Cookout at Presleys from 5-7:30pm 7/15-7/22 - Youth Mission Trip to Bayou la Batre, AL. Please be praying for our group as

we encounter Christ through serving the community of Bayou la Batre!

Photo: Pekin Area Youth Dodgeball

Tournament held here at Grace UMC!

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Christian Education News

Block Party, for all ages, from 2:00-5:00pm on July 23.

Please plan to attend and welcome our neighborhood. Bring

kids and grandkids, if available. They will enjoy the inflata-

bles and all will enjoy our band’s music.

VBS is July 24-27. We will eat dinner together at 5:00, and

VBS is from 5:30-8 every day. Registration forms are in the

office. We are “visiting” Thailand to learn about God’s love and forgiveness this year.

There are great crafts, Bible lessons, music, and Thai cultural lessons planned.

If you have old bed sheets (preferably blue, white, grey, or black, but we can make any

sheets work) you would be willing to part with, I need them for VBS backdrops. We

could also use a few more empty, clean plastic milk jugs, a couple of open pieces of rain

gutter (for boat races), and a kiddie swimming pool.

Please let me know if you can help with this.

Thanks for all you do!

Judy Kennedy

August 27th Combined Service at 10:30am Rally Day & Potluck

September 16th Family Bonfire at McKenzies

Located At: Mason Bldg. 1st Floor

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GRACE UNITED METHODIST WOMEN

The next General UMW meeting will be Thursday,

September 14 at 1:00pm. The program is “Walk in My

Shoes” with panel discussion speakers, Nurse—Janet Ray,

Law—Brenda Nelson, Clergy—Judy Kennedy, and Educa-

tion—Gloria Ranney. Please come and bring a friend.

Our June 8th General Meeting program was pre-

sented by Pat Moser. She shared experiences

from her family’s time spent in Turkey when

her husband was stationed there in the Air

Force. Especially interesting were their experi-

ences living off base interacting with their Mus-

lim neighbors as they learned about their Mus-

lim Faith and their kindnesses. Her story of

the Good Samaritan stopping to help her family

was very like the story we all know.

More information about Day Apart to be held

on August 14 at Dayspring Native American

United Methodist Church, East Peoria

will be coming soon.

Illinois Great Rivers Conference UM Women are again hav-

ing Mission U in Springfield, August 4-6 or another session

August 6-9. UMW Faith, Hope, Love, in Action is reflected in

the sessions which include Geographic Study: an overview of

the three missionary conferences in the Methodist Church

including the Alaska UM Conference, Red Bird Missionary

Conference, and the Oklahoma Indian Mission Conference.

Current Issue Study: Climate Justice; Call to Hope and Ac-

tion—and in Mission Together: A Study of Youth.

Mission U also includes young women entering Grades 7-12.

They are invited to attend. See Connie Disney for more de-

tails. For first timers Grace UMW can help with fees.

Book bags for the

kindergartens at CB

Smith are being

made this summer.

The Nominating

Committee will be

meeting soon to get the

slate of officers to be

elected in September

and to take office in

January 2018.

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What are prayer shawls?

A prayer shawl is a soft, warm shawl, knitted or crocheted by loving

hands, which is given to persons who are ill, have suffered a loss, or are in

the midst of a crisis. The shawl or blanket is prayed over as it is knitted

and when it is finished. Our prayer shawls are made by women of our

church.

Grace UMC has shawls in the church office, and if you know someone in need of comfort,

please pick a shawl up and deliver it to them. We have shawls for both women and men. To

keep track of who we have shared with there will be a clipboard by the shawl boxes for you to

sign your name and the person you are sharing with which allows Tammy to keep a master list.

There also will be a folder with printed prayers that you may want to deliver with the shawl.

At this time no one is officially in charge of giving them away. If you would be interested

in coordinating this ministry, please let Tammy know.

“Part of the journey of Prayer and Faith is to recognize that we may never know how our

love and care will touch or change another person’s life. Instead, we are invited to offer others

our compassion and let whatever needs to happen.

There is an old saying: “Our hands are God’s hands.”

Our bazaar planning committee has met once and will meet again

August 8 at 1:00 in the hospitality area. We have decided to have

silent auctions on baskets filled with various items. I will supply

only the baskets, and now we’re looking for volunteers (ladies and

gentlemen) to donate items to fill them. I have a list of sugges-

tions for the baskets. If you wish to use something other than

baskets, these will not be supplied. Some examples are:

Garden items, sundae items, blue/pink baby items, letter items,

kids coloring items, cookie basket, movie night items, pedicure

items, car wash items, kids beach items, toys for kids, Christmas

decorating items, books for kids. The Susannah Circle will be fill-

ing a basket with kitchen items.

If you decide to take a basket, please let me know, and I will get you one. You need to

keep a list of what you put in the basket and the approximate amount it costs for that we know

how to start the bids. After filling the basket, you can cover with cellophane and tie a ribbon at

the top.

This is a chance to help the United Methodist Women raise money to support our pro-

jects. Some examples are: Cunningham Home, Cunningham Guardian Parent, LBD Neighbor-

hood House, LNDNH Day Care Scholarship, Youth Mission Trips, CWU Pledge, JAM Time

Meals, Church Nursery and Kitchen Supplies.

Thank you for your consideration and participation in the bazaar. (And we’re always

looking for volunteers to help at our bazaar which is November 11).

Carol Booth, Chairperson

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Does motherhood sometimes feel more like mania and misery than magical

moments? It is those feelings which led to the creation of our new "Momming with

Moxie" group. Together, we will eat and connect while discussing topics meant to cre-

ate space for lots of laughter and even tears at times. We have a promise: YOU are not

alone.

We will meet monthly every 2nd Friday at 10:00 am at Pekin 1st United

Methodist Church (Corner of 14th & Court) to share the journey of parenting.

Our first topic will be Pressures of Parenthood (Pinterest, I'm looking at

YOU). We are discussing the pressures of being the World's Best Mother while the

world seems to be watching!

“Momming with Moxie” Friday

July 14th

10:00am

Come check out the new mother’s group...

Building Usage Form: (See attached)

Congregation, I want to take the opportunity to share that as trustees we were asked to create

a Building Use Policy. We spent 8 to 10 months last year creating this policy. We made and

changed the policy several times as it was reviewed, and more changes were made. We wanted

to be sure that the building was being used properly and that we are taking care of what God

has given us. The policy spells out the use of the church and what is expected when using the

church. The policy is several pages long and is available at the church office on request.

We also put together the “Building, Kitchen and Gary Ford Life Center Request Form”. This

form explains the procedures in place to use the facility. As of May 2017, the form changed and

it now explains that anyone using the building is asked to pay fees. Members pay half the

price of non-members, and the form explains the cost that will be paid depending on the rooms

needed. We have to pay monthly bills for lights, heat, air conditioning, cleaning of the building

etc. The charge is to help off set those monthly costs. These forms are available in the church

office or on our website at www.pekingrace.org.

Please feel free to talk with the office staff, myself, or a Trustee member with any questions on

the policy or Church usage form.

Thank You,

Greg Ranney

Trustee Chairman

WANT TO START A MINISTRY AT GRACE??

Just fill out the “New Ministry Form”. (See Attached)

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Please keep the following Grace members

and friends in your prayers:

Pat Moser & son Jeff Helen Beard Amber Arlen Booth Norma Anderson Dorothy Vanderheyden Vera Byrd Julie Wallace Charlene King Janice Scherer John Betlz, Donna Sassman’s father Fred & Ann Vogt Joe Parish Asher Moberly Brenda Nelson Jenni Matheney Neal Johnson Tracy Turner

Tammy Runyon & Family Cyndy Campbell & Family

2017 Grace Notes Dates

Articles Due Print Date

July 19 July 25

August 16 August 22

September 20 September 26

October 18 October 24

November 15 November 21

December 13 December 19

Thank you for all the prayers and

cards on the passing of my brother-in-law,

Jerry Giddens. Your compassion and sup-

port mean everything to the entire family.

I thank God for my church family,

Jane Giddens and Family

The Beverage Family would like to

thank those who have prayed for Don

during his hip surgery and recovery. He

is doing well.

Linda Beverage

Dear Grace,

Thank you so much for the prayer

shawl. I am currently battling breast

cancer and will take my prayer shawl

with me throughout my chemotherapy

treatments. It is soft and warm, just

like the people who made it. It will re-

mind me of our dear Savior who will be

with me during this journey.

Many thanks!

Julie Wallace

NEW Drop Box:

We have put a drop box to the left of

the office door. Please use this box for:

Donation Envelopes

Paperwork for Office

Money Collection Keys

Positive Feedback (Paper Provided)

Grace Men’s Softball Schedule:

(All Games Played on Diamond #2 at Pekin Park)

6/27 Tues 7:00pm

7/04 No Games

7/11 Tues 8:00pm

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Come out to the park and enjoy an outside band concert!!!

Pekin Park Concert Band Steve Skinner, Director

2017 Summer Concert Schedule

Pekin Mineral Springs Park by the Pavilion

June 25, July 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30, August 6 & 13

Sunday Evenings at 7:30pm

Rain Location is the Miller Center

Delavan Veterans Park

June 27, July 11 & 25, August 8

Tuesday Evenings at 7:00pm

Rain Location is Delavan Methodist Church

All concerts are FREE to the public, and attendees should

bring lawn chairs. Concession stands are available in Pekin. Handicapped accessible.

THANK YOU! I want to take this opportunity to thank all that helped with the window project. It is com-plete and the beauty of that stained glass is amazing. Please, if you have not yet had a chance, take the time to walk around the church and look at those windows from the out-side. On a sunny day it looks like the lights are on in the sanctuary when they are not. It was a great project, and we are fortunate to have such caring members that were willing to share and to help bring back the beauty of the stained glass. This is a project that will help to share the beauty of that stained glass for decades to come. Again I want to thank you all for your generosity and being part of the amazing window project. Sincerely, Greg Ranney & Trustees

Staff-Parish Relations Committee. It works closely with the pastor and staff concerning

their relationship with the congregation and the entire work of the church. This com-

mittee is in essence the personnel committee of the pastoral charge. The committee is

to be sensitive to the opinions and concerns of the congregation concerning the pastor

and staff. It is to confer with the district superintendent or the bishop concerning the

appointment of the pastor for the church. The committee recommends the salary for

the pastor to the Charge Conference. It consists of from five to nine members of the

pastoral charge.

YOU ASK; WHAT DO THE GRACE UMC COMMITTEES DO? Each month we will feature a description of a committee

and the volunteers that serve on that committee.

Nancy Ridgeway naridgeway@gmail.com Brenda Nelson neldaba90@comcast.net

Don MacGregor staggonsag@comcast.net Judy Streid 309-346-8308

Harry Emerson emerdaddy@hotmail.com Dennis Green dgreen1901@yahoo.com

Katelyn Tassart kkegley22@gmail.com Sara Bergstrand sbergstrand@eureka.edu

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FROM THE UPPER ROOM:

Week of July 1

1 Corinthians 12:12-25 God can help me use every skill I have to serve others.

Week of July 2

Proverbs 3:13-18 When we are with God, we are always home.

Isaiah 40:27-31 When we stumble, God is there to catch us and give us strength.

Matthew 21:18-22 God is always listening to me.

Acts 8:26-38 Today I will pay attention to where God is leading me.

Matthew 25:1-13 How prepared am I to receive Jesus when he comes again?

John 15:1-10 Today I will stay rooted in God’s love.

1 Peter 3:13-16 God can help me share my faith in any situation.

Week of July 9

Psalm 103:1-5 I will praise God for the beauty and blessings of each day.

Luke 6:12-19 Prayer prepares me for the road ahead.

Romans 14:7-9 My greatest trophy is God’s sustaining love.

John 2:1-11 Where have I seen God’s small miracles today?

Ezekiel 34:11-16 When I lose my way, God will always lead me home.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 I can always make time to spend with God.

Romans 12:10-18 “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39).

Week of July 16

Genesis 50:15-20 God can transform our brokenness into something beautiful.

Colossians 3:12-17 Who might need to know Christ through my words or actions today?

Judges 6:11-18 God gives me courage to do new things.

Matthew 5:13-16 I will follow God’s nudge to help where I can.

1 Timothy 6:6-12 Who has shown me how to live faithfully?

Ephesians 3:14-21 With each loss, God provides an opportunity for new growth.

Hebrews 2:14-18; 4:14-16 Like me, Jesus has been tempted, and he understands my struggle.

Week of July 23

Exodus 4:1-12 Even with all my doubts and fears, I can bring others closer to Christ.

Psalm 18:1-6 Christ is my strength, today and every day.

John 4:7-15 God’s living water quenches my thirst.

Philippians 4:4-9 God’s timing is always perfect.

Daniel 3:13-18 I can trust and obey the Lord wherever I am.

1 John 4:7-18 How can I share God’s unconditional love with others?

Deuteronomy 31:1-8 God’s caring presence gives me freedom.

Week of July 30

Job 1:1-21 I will praise God in both my sorrow and my joy.

John 12:44-50 God calls me to reflect the light of Christ to the world.

2017

Grace Café Food Pantry

July 29 July 13

August 26 August 17

September 30 September 14