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THE ST. MARKER

APRIL 2013

St. Mark United Methodist Church 413 Geddes Avenue, Charleston, SC 29407 Church Office Phone: 843-766-5239 Email: mysaintmarkchurch@gmail.com

Rev. Jonathan Holston, Resident Bishop Rev. Patty Parrish, District Superintendent Rev. Scarlett Hester, Pastor Mr. Dale Wilson, Director of Education Ms. Michele Russell, Director of Music Mrs. Libby Massalon, Administrative Assistant

SUNDAY Worship services 9:00 & 11:00

Sunday School 10:00 UMYF 6:30

MISSION STATEMENT

St. Mark United Methodist church seeks to live as a witness to the Kingdom of God through worship, teaching and evangelism. Our purpose is to make disciples for Jesus Christ by reaching up to God in worship, prayer and spiritual disciplines, reaching down into the scriptures and the Christian faith in study and obedience and reaching out to each other and our world in service, witness and friendship. We rely on the guidance, gifts and power of the Holy Spirit as we carry out the mission of this congregation. *********************************************

Our sympathy and prayers are expressed to: Dawn McMillan and her family on the death of her

father, Mike Bennett. George Muckenfuss and family on the death of his cousin Amy McCabe and her family on the death of her father, David Dillon.

Congratulations to: Douglas Williams and Nicole Lynnsy Boofer

who were married on March 23, 2013.

IN OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS Home: Bill & Virginia Swintz, Tim & Nancy Strickland, Jack & Barbara Shaw, Ronnie and Betty Knight, Harold & Dawn McMillan, Jackie Donoho, Roy Baker, Bill Smith, Kenneth Gough, Dean & Lora James, Rocky & Jackie Brinson, Joan McCambridge, George Muckenfuss, Alva Mims, Nelda Gaines, Amy Hobbs, Barbara Blanton, Bob & Maureen Ratcliff, Robert & Mary Jane Scaffe, Leila Shealy, Bernell & Margie Shuler, Ann Smith, Lib Way, Lisa Lockwood, Susan Porter, Ann Willis, Juanita Maranville, Pat & Rex Connor, Rhonda & Newell Cummings, Ron Buchheit, Randy & Neva Atkinson, Buddy & Deloris Elsey & family, Tommy Meacher.

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In Our Prayers – continued Ashley Park – 1451 Tobias Gadsden, C’ston 29407: Betty Beach (Apt. 307), Dot Connor (Apt. 111), Tommy & Margaret Johnson Ashley River Plantation: Shirley Kaiser (P.O. 81133 C’ston 29416) Life Care: Dot Caulder (2600 Elms Plantation Blvd. North Charleston, SC 29406) Hospice of Mt. Pleasant: Gordon (Newt) Cummings Heartland: Thelma Muckenfuss Military & their families: Master Sgt. Jay Piersol, SFC Mark Elsey, Sgt. Maj Chris Barnard & Susan Barnard, LTJG Edward Dawson, LCDR Spencer Baker, Betsy Donoho Roush

APRIL BIRTHDAYS 1 Michele Russell 1 Christopher Brownlee 3 Tony Malone 3 Vicki Davidson 4 Vicki DuBose 4 Amber Fulford 5 Jack Shaw 5 Jarby Brown 6 Bob Duncan 6 Shelley Stinson 6 Eli Richberg 8 Patricia Eddy 8 Kevin Shealy 9 Bunnie Buchheit 10 Norman Meyer Jr. 11 Ellie McCabe 13 Nancy Strickland 13 Linda Curry 14 Dennis McCoy Jr. 14 Kylie Smith 15 Lydia Seel 15 Kelsey Oliver 16 Tommy Massalon 16 Paula Brownlee 18 George Muckenfuss 18 Shirley Kaiser

19 Brandi Seel 20 Michael Motley 20 Hayden Schneider 21 Andy Owen 21 Nathan Collins 22 Amanda Seel 23 Jim Ratledge 24 Thelma Muckenfuss 24 William Jarvis 26 Susan Caulder 26 Zachary Choate 30 Timothy Linker APRIL ANNIVERSARIES 5 Meg & Trevor Capps 6 Al & Jennifer Seel 13 Amy & Emmanuel Leprettre 28 Dean & Lora James 29 Chris & Andrea Dolan

MAY GOD BLESS YOU WITH MANY

MORE Note: If you have a birthday or anniversary and we omitted it, please let us know so that we can correct our records.

VOLUNTEERS Children’s Church Children’s Sermon

April 7 Kerri Weiss April 14 Jandi Withrow April 21 Amy McCabe April 28 Andrea Dolan

Acolyte/Crucifer Schedule April 7 Kaitlin Petersen/Cameron Smith April 14 Claire Withrow/Madison Wilcox April 21 Hayley O’Toole/Emily O’Toole April 28 Moly McCabe/Lydia Capps

Nursery Volunteers: April 7 9-11:00 – Vicki Davidson/Melody Fiddler 11:00 – Vanessa Seel/Jandi Withrow April 14 9-11:00 - Summer Massey/Lisa Richberg 11:00 – Kerri Weiss/Amy McCabe

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(Nursery Volunteers – Cont.) April 21 9-11:00– Jacki Ratledge/Lisa Smith 11:00 – Meg Capps/Shawn Barfield April 28 9-11:00 – Stacey Shealy/Jean Brown 11:00 – Amy Alexander/Cynthia Sunde

Scripture Readers

9:00 11:00 April 7 Peggy Edgerton Renee Wilcox April 14 Elaine Gooch Patty Barfield April 21 Bert Motley Amy McCabe April 28 Gary Shealy Molly McCabe

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED As our search continues for a nursery worker, we need a few more volunteers for the nursery from 9:00 until 12:00. If you have a love for small children, a willing heart AND have received Darkness to Light Training, please consider helping us out in the Nursery with the youngest of God’s children. If you are interested in helping with this ministry, please contact Lisa Richberg at 814-5516 or by email at lisa.richberg@comcast.net, *****************************************************

RELAY FOR LIFE UPDATE I am excited to announce that we have now collected over $1000 towards our goal of $2500. I received two Relay canisters in which some of our youth had collected loose coins and each had over $20 collected, so thank you to those that are using this method to collect. Every penny counts and helps us to reach our goal. Anyone who would like a canister to do the same, please pick one up from the table in the Narthex or ask Cynthia Sunde.

On April 12th, we will host a “Ladies Movie Night” from 6:00 – 9:00(ish) p.m. for all ladies 16 and over. The cost will be $7 per person and will include two slices (or more depending on availability) of pizza, your drink, one bag of popcorn and the movie. Dinner will be served at 6:00 and once all have eaten, the movie will start. Candy will be available to be purchased separately. If you would like, you can bring a lounge/beach chair or the like for more

comfortable seating. We are looking for movie suggestions so please use the insert in the church bulletin to write down the name of an age appropriate movie and place it in the offering plate or give it to Melody Fiddler, Cynthia Sunde or Vicki Davidson. You may also send your suggestions to St. Mark Church’s email address: mystmarkchurch@gmail.com. All proceeds from our movie night will go towards our team donation to Relay for Life.

We will have luminary and track sign forms available beginning April 14th as well as the sign-up sheet for those that plan to walk the track representing St. Mark. Luminaries are $10 each and are in honor or memory of someone and will be used to line the track the night of Relay. If you do not want to decorate your bag, we can do this for you, just let us know when you are completing the form. Track signs are $100 each and are typically gotten by businesses and will be displayed around the track. This is a great way to advertise your business while showing your support. We will also have hearts for $1 in memory/honor of someone, we still have some homemade hand and foot sugar scrub for $10 and hopefully we will have a sample of our team t-shirt. You can also go to the website, www.relayforlife.org to donate directly in our team name. Under Home, type in our zip 29407 and team name St. Mark UMC and you should be able to locate our team for your donation. We ask that all survivors please go to the website as soon as possible to register so that you will be sure to get your free survivor t-shirt. Remember there is a fabulous dinner in your honor the night of Relay with great prizes given away. You then kick off the evening with a walk or ride through a cheer tunnel and then go around the track (they have golf carts available for those survivors that cannot walk the track). This really is a fun evening and a great event supporting a wonderful cause. Please plan to participate in whatever way that you can.

NOTHING COULD BE FINER THAN A CURE IN CAROLINA!

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UMW NEWS

Connie Wieck Circle The circle welcomed a new member at

our March Meeting. Rebecca Munger is now our newest member. Rebecca resides in Waterway South. She is a retired RN, from Roper Hos- pital (Med-Surg), and from Palmetto Behavioral Health. She is the mother of two children: Rebecca Ruth Mitchell and Edward Mitchell, and the proud grandmother of three. She enjoys baking and jogging! We are happy to have you, Rebecca! Our missionary namesake, Connie, keeps in touch with us with newsletters, stories, pictures, and updates via the internet. She has moved to a different location at Luzhou Vocational and Technical College, in Luzhou, Sichuan Peoples Republic of China. One of the ways we help with support is by collecting the following items to help Connie in her work, and we send these to her before the end of each year. If you would like to help please contact our circle. Her wish list includes Educational stickers with words of praise (Good, Well Done, Excellent"), and Christmas Holiday Pencils. We hope to increase our membership. We have a breakfast meeting on Saturday morning at 9:30am. Our next meeting is May 9th. Contact Barbara Shaw at 766-1870 circle chair or Susan Brooks, membership chair at 795-0783. We will be glad to give you a ride to our meeting! UMW is a great way to serve God through missions and a great way to enjoy fellowship with one another!

UMW Ladies work hard to prepare for their Annual

dinner. In back are Jane Morley, Eloise Wooden Gail

McKenna and Susie Seel. In front is Georgia Odom.

UNITED METHODIST MEN NEWS

UMM will be having its Annual Garage Sale

on Saturday, April 20. Not only will there be

the Garage Sale but there also will be several

other events taking place.

Garage Sale ---Starts at 8:00 AM

Boston Butts For Sale-$30.00 for 10 lb.

Boston Butt , being sold in church parking lot

beginning at 9:00AM. (That's $3.00/lb. folks,

unheard of).

1/2 Bar-B-Que Chicken plates—Sold in

church parking lot from 11:00am – 2 pm.

$8.00 per plate, 2 sides, roll, 1/2 chicken.

Proceeds will go to the Salkehatchie

Mission Team.

YOUTH NEWS

MYF stuff eggs for Easter Egg Hunt! Pictured above clockwise from the bottom: Sophie Weiss, Sadie Weiss, friend Maggie, Margaret McCoy, Olivia Donoho.

WATCH IN YOUR BULLETIN… for information about the

Red Bird Mission Trip Fundraising Dinner on April 14.

Good food! Good Fellowship! Great Cause!!!!

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THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

Christian Leprettre wants to say a great big "Thank you!" to all of his Saint Mark family who supported him financially and prayerfully for his trip to Dallas. Christian had a fantastic time and was selected for a solo group for the National Honor Choir Performance! Christian will be traveling with the UMC Spirit Singers again this summer and looks forward to spreading word of our Lord through song! Thank you Saint Markers!

CONGRATULATIONS, AMANDA RUSSELL!

Amanda represented the Girls' Lacrosse Team in the

Miss West Ashley/Mr. West Ashley Pageant, which was held at West Ashley High School in February. Amanda

was the second runner up. Congratulations, Amanda!

ATTENTION: PARENTS OF GRADUATING SENIORS

In the May issue of the St. Marker we will be highlighting our graduating seniors. We would appreciate your sending your senior’s full name, a picture, where he/she is graduating from, plans for the future and any special honors they have received. Please send this information to Jacki (jsratledge@comcast.net) no later than April 20th for inclusion in the May issue.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL Ready for some adventure this summer? Then join us for Vacation Bible School, as we "travel" to Athens to experience "Paul's Dangerous Journey to Share the Truth"!! During the week of June 23, we will meet Paul and hear about his journeys and plans to share the word of Jesus. There will be arena games as well as song time, and everyone's favorite - The Marketplace!! In the coming weeks, we'll be looking for volunteers to help with this wonderful adventure, so please be in prayer for this amazing time for our children and how you can donate your time and your talent to make VBS a success!!

Attention Sunday School Teachers,

Officers and Leaders I have just discovered a great resource

store "Agape", located in Goose Creek on

St. James Avenue (in the parking lot of

BiLo). It is a great store for Sunday School

teachers and leaders. They have a great

inventory for many inspirational uses!

Barbara Shaw

Friends through thick and thin…and Clemson/Carolina rivalry: Kevin Shealy, Ashlyn Shealy, Brittany Ropp, Jessica James, Katie and Matthew Warren.

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What a joy it was to have Morris and Betty Jo Thompson visit with us! Morris was Pastor at St. Mark from 1985-1990. From left: Suzanne Motley, Deloris Elsey, Jim Ratledge, Betty Jo and Morris Thompson.

ST. MARK SAINTLY SLOSHERS

Pictured above are some SMUMC folks who participated in the Water Missions International Walk for Water. From the top: Christian Leprettre, Alex Almers, Amy Alexander, Patty Barfield, Linda Shealy, Lora James, Edie Kent, Ruth Summerlin, Jacki Ratledge, Addison Shealy. Not pictured are Gary Shealy, Michele Russell and Scarlett Hester. The toal amount raised was $453.68.

MISSION OPPORTUNITY

The Outreach/Evangelism/Missions Committee is looking for volunteers to help with planning and setup of our Water Carnival. The Water Carnival will be held the first weekend in August. Please contact Edie Kent at 571-6621 or by email at emk@gel.com.

FROM THE PASTOR Why Are You Looking At Me? I Just Have Down Syndrome is a wonderful children's book written by Lisa Tompkins and donated to St. Mark UMC by her mother, Barbara Gough. The "story is about the life of a child with Down Syndrome that wants to be you friend. Lynn may look different than most children, but she has many of the same likes and dislikes." By sharing Lynn's story, the author hopes to help us all open our hearts and minds wider, that we would "embrace relationships with people who are different." Although the book is labeled for children, I believe it would bless adults, youth and children alike. Sunday schools, parents and everyone is encouraged to read this delightful book. During the month of April, it will be available through Scarlett. After that, it will go to the church library. Easter is March 31. We will rise and rejoice as the sun peeps over the horizon (Sunrise worship is at 6:30 AM, followed by breakfast). All morning, we will sing, praise, and pray as we celebrate that Christ the Lord is Risen! It will be AWESOME in the truest sense of the word. Then what? What do disciples do when the Easter party is over? What's next? The book of Acts tells what happened next, how the disciples found strength and began to live out their faith in the Risen Christ. For us, as a people who know Easter is fun, but there is a day after, the book of Acts serves as a guide for living our own faith. In the month of April we will examine texts from Acts to see what disciples do after Easter Sunday. April 7 Acts 5:27-32 April 14 Acts 9:1-6, 7-20 April 21 Acts 9:36-43 April 28 Acts 11:1-18 May 5 Acts 16:9-15 Happy Easter, Scarlett

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April 2013

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 2 3 4 5 6 7:30 UMW

General Mtg. 10 – Prayer Group

Girl Scouts

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 8 – UMM Breakfast

-Confirmation Class

7:00 – Mission, Outreach & Evan. meeting

10:00 – Louise Massalon Cir.

7:30 – Shawn Ramsey Circle

6:00 Ladies’ Movie Night

9 – Trustee Mtg.

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Red Bird Mission Dinner

-Confirmation Class

10 – Prayer Group 12:00 Good Neighbors

Girl Scouts

8:00 UMM Yard Sale & Bar-b-que

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Education Mtg

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-Confirmation Class

7:00 Church Council

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-Confirmation Class

LOOKING AHEAD: Vacation Bible School - June 23 – 28 Salkehatachie Summer Service – July 12-20 Church Family Rafting Trip - July 26 – 28 St. Mark UMC has a new email address! Prayer requests and other shared information (including the St. Marker) will now be sent out using mysaintmarkchurch@gmail.com. Watch for it and check spam filters, etc.! The St. Marker is published each month and is distributed primarily by email and our website (www.stmarkchurch.info). We mail copies to our shut-ins and provide copies in the Narthex to those who do not have Internet access. Please give us your email address if you have one and are reading a hard copy of this. You may do this by sending your email address to Jacki at jsratledge@comcast.net . Also, if you have any information, pictures or praises to share in our newsletter, please email them to Jacki Ratledge or call her at 843-571-0054.