PROFILE IN LEADERSHIP

SUE KLOTZ

Altar Guild Chair, Usher Team Chair,

Prayer Shawl Ministry, Office Volunteer

The Blue Review July 2015

8:45 AM

Good Samaritan (Adult)

Covenant Class (Adult)

9:00 AM

Builder’s Class (Adult)

10:00 AM

Worship

In 1992, friends invited Sue for Easter dinner and casually added, “Oh, by the

way, we’re going to church, too!” That was Sue’s first Sunday at Blue Ridge

Church. Her husband, Max, had died in December and her children were in

college, so she accepted their invitation. She became a member the next fall

and has been actively engaged in the congregation for twenty-three years.

Her Michigan childhood included attendance at the Baptist church, unless her

grandmother took her to another church to visit. Her grandmother was adamant

that she experience God in as many ways as she could imagine. In 1961 her

family moved to the small town of Nickerson, KS. They walked to a little

Methodist church and after worship would have lunch at a nearby café. The

preacher’s wife of that little church became her mentor, friend and confidant

from the first year they met and still is today.

She and Max were married in 1965 and had twins in 1967. They moved to

Kansas City in 1969 and were met with huge culture shock. They visited a lot of

churches but nothing felt right, especially to Max. By this time, Sue was an RN

and worked nights, Max was watching the kids during the day and the years

drifted away.

The faith community at Blue Ridge Church has helped her spiritually and

physically through two cancer surgeries and treatments in 2005 and 2007. Her

love of caring for others during a 41-year nursing career has led her into many

areas of ministry, including her most recent interest in hospice care.

I have lived pain, and my life can tell: I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks for the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July and the song of crickets on summer humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives. Ann Voskamp

"Eighty-two percent of the unchurched are at least somewhat likely to

attend church if invited." –Dr. Thom Rainer, The Unchurched Next Door

"Only two percent of church members invite an unchurched person t

church. Ninety-eighty percent of church-goers never extend an invitation.

in a given year." –Dr. Thom Rainer, The Unchurched Next Door

"Most unchurched people would respond to an invitation from a friend or acquaintance (41 percent), their children

(25 percent) or an adult family member (25 percent).” –Scott McConnell, LifeWay Research

“Thirty–five percent indicated that they would be inspired to attend church 'if I knew there were people like me there.'”

Scott McConnell, LifeWay Research

Seven out of ten unchurched people have never been invited to church in their whole lives.

Most people come to church because of a personal invitation.

iInvite

Invite people to church.

Invite people to Jesus.

The Covenant Sunday School Class is beginning a new study by J. Ellsworth Kalas entitled I Love Growing Older but

I'll Never Grow Old. Anyone who is interested is invited to join us on Sunday mornings. Our class is taught by Dwight

and Charlotte Robinson, Bob Downs, and Linda Casebolt. We meet at 8:45 for fellowship and coffee. The lessons begin

around 9 AM. To reach our class take the elevator or stairs down to the lower level, turn left and go past the kitchen and

through the small dining room. We are the first room on the left past the dining room. In mid-August we will start a

study of the book Surprised by Scripture by N. T. Wright. We have a great fellowship plus lots of discussion. Please

join us for a further study of the Christian faith. If you have questions call Charlotte Robinson at 353-4946.

Your new District Superintendent, Jim Simpson, and your new pastor, Tex Sample, in 1981. Tex was Jim’s doctoral advisor and this occasion was Jim’s doctoral commencement.

Blue Ridge Church Friends,

I send you warm greetings in this mid-summer time as the weather heats up! I am enjoying every opportunity

to get to know all of you. If you have not yet done so, I hope you will sign up for the Wednesday afternoon

and early evenings from 3 to 7 pm, when I am meeting and hearing from you. I enjoy these times together

when I get to hear your story. I think we are story-telling creatures, and perhaps you already realize that I am a

bird dog for a good story.

We have also planned a bible study for this summer that will meet on Sunday evening at 6 o’clock from

July 26 through August 23. We will be studying the book of Galatians, one of the best of Paul’s writings in the

New Testament. We will use Galatians as the text for the course, so then we can stay close to the biblical

material. Galatians has only six chapters, and we will study one each session. This is Paul’s great work on

Christian freedom, and it will give us a good opportunity to examine carefully his thinking. The class will go for

an hour each time and you will be out by 7 pm.

Let me also call your attention to the sermons I have set for the coming Sundays:

July 19: Getting the Story Right, Scripture: Jeremiah 32:6-15

July 26: The Call of a Bunch of Clowns, Scripture: Galatians 5:1-14

August 2: Got Burns, Scripture: Romans 8:31-39

August 9: Hope Against Hope, Scripture: Romans 4:13-25

Finally, later in August, I will do a sermon time on “stump the preacher.” That is,

you can bring any question you want to worship that morning and during the sermon

time, you can ask the question. What question has been on your mind about the faith?

Why not see if you can stump me with it. We can have some fun, I think, but we may

also be able to deal with some important spiritual matters.

And, oh yes, invite someone to come with you to church each Sunday.

Grace and Peace,

Tex

The council meeting of June, 2015 was a time of

transition. We said our farewells to Pastors Barry and

Jan and received their final words of wisdom and

blessing. Pastor Barry spoke of his time with our

church and how he will remember the feeling of

renewal from God while here. Pastor Jan left us with

the thought: “strong servant leaders will pull us right

through with the new leadership coming in.”

The Council considered the scripture in John 17:

21-23 that specifies our goal to become one heart and

mind in Christ just as Jesus is one heart and mind with

his Father. We are to give the godless world evidence

of God’s love for them in the life, death and resurrection

of Jesus.

Here are some highlights of the business of the Council:

In our Conference Update, Sandy McConnell shared her

insight and experiences from the Annual Conference. She

shared the details of the conference plan to sell the

church camps. Proposals from Wilderness Camp failed

and ones from Camp Jo-Ota were accepted/passed.

In Mission-focused activities, our Kids on a Mission and

Youth programs are on hiatus for the summer. UMW

circles are assisting in a project to make shoes from old

jeans, milk jugs and fleece to send to Africa. A parasite in

the soil gets into a person through the soles of their feet.

The shoes will help reduce the chances of that

happening.

Pastor Barry challenged us to examine our spiritual

growth by assessing the following:

Where are you in your prayer life?

Where are you in your giving?

Where are you in your servanthood and witnessing?

In Trustees news, the Youth House sale proceeds

($52,000+) have been received and deposited. Deci-

sions on where/how to use it are still being planned.

Various projects around the church (emergency

lights & concrete repair) continue under the capable

hands of our volunteers. Roof repair/replacement

investigation continues.

Endowments reported the processing of the request

for funds to be available for church program use.

Approximately $25,000 is being deposited.

Pastor/Parish has had a busy April-May-June with

pastoral appointment and receptions to handle. The

June 21 Pot Luck for Pastors Barry and Jan

provided a warm send off and the reception on June

28 for Rev. Sample provided the congregation a

chance to welcome him to Blue Ridge.

Generosity reviewed the Giving and Expenses for

May. Overall, giving was up and expenses were

down. We received 98% of the income we budgeted

and only experienced 90% of the expenses we

expected. Our bookkeeper, Sarah Jarvis, and

Generosity chair, Deb “Kennedy” DeMoss, have

been a blessing to the financial affairs of the church.

Our Next meeting will be July 14 at 6:30 p.m.

- Brad Teachman, Council Chairperson

Is th ere a s on g in yo u r h ea rt?God’s People Singing is made up of people who love to sing praise to the Lord! Beginning September 9th, join us for rehearsal on Wednesdays at 7 pm in the music room. GPS will sing each Sunday morning starting October 4th through December 20th. For more info, email Kevin Hershberger at kevinhershberger@blueridgechurch.org or call 913.530.2668.

1. Make of list of specific folks you would like to invite to church over the next two months. Pray and ask God to lay on

your heart friends, neighbors, classmates, co-workers and family members who live in our area whom you can invite

to church. Write down those names. Pray the Lord open their hearts to the idea of visiting church, so they will be open

to your invite when they get it. Next time you go into a conversation with one of these people, get your radar up for

your natural segue into a casual invite.

2. Schedule a place to land for Sunday morning breakfast in town and invite your friends via phone, Facebook or

Twitter to converge there and head to church together. For a mid-week idea, make it dinner and then let them know

everyone is heading to small group afterward and everyone is invited. (Get other small group or Bible study group

members in on this!)

3. Go for the easy visit. The easy visit is small group or an event, such as a women’s luncheon, wild game supper or

concert. It’s less intimidating and they have less fear that anyone is going to ask for money or make them stand up

awkwardly.

4. If possible, invite them into your life before inviting them to church. Asking someone to church that you’ve at least

had them over for coffee increases the odds of a positive response.

5.Invite them to church outside of church. That is, invite them to something your church is doing outside the church

walls (like a barbeque or block party) and then invite them to church at that event after they’ve relaxed a little with your

group.

~Scott Smith, Evangelism Ministries

HOW TO INVITE PEOPLE TO CHURCH

Festival of Sharing

October 17 and 18

On the Fairgrounds in Sedalia, MO

The Festival of Sharing is an interfaith, cooperative gathering of resources in response to world hunger, poverty and

injustice. When people of faith come together, our sharing makes a positive and powerful difference in the lives of

people in need. Join us to experience the joy of Sharing!

Blue Ridge Church will be collecting items to create HEALTH KITS for Church World Service. You

can bring any or all of the following items until September 27. There will be a box in the Blue Café.

Please label your donation Health Kits. Cash donations may be made to the church with Festival of

Sharing on the memo line.

$10 Value

1 hand towel 16”x28” (NO fingertip or bath towels) 1 washcloth

1 wide-tooth comb (remove packaging) 6 standard size Band-Aids

1 toothbrush (in original packaging) 1 bar of soap (bath size in wrapper)

1 metal nail clipper $2 for shipping

MISSOURI ANNUAL CONFERENCE LAY MEMBER REPORT BY SANDY MCCONNELL

For me, the Missouri Annual Conference began on Thursday, June 4, traveling to

Springfield, MO, and meeting United Methodist Women friends for dinner. Dinner

turned out to be ballpark food and watching the Springfield Cardinals vs. the

Frisco Roughriders. Ballpark food has really evolved since the “good old days.”

Friday morning was registration and opening worship beginning with the Centennial UMC Choir. Centennial’s pastor,

Rev. David Gilmore, delivered the message “Can You Handle the All?” The whole is nothing more than the sum of its

parts. In order to fulfill our mission as the United Methodist Church in Missouri, it takes a team and requires total

commitment from every team member.

After opening worship, Bishop Schnase called the meeting to order. Bishop Schnase did a review of the year in

Missouri including the “Imagine No Malaria” program which raised $1,301,391 and saved 130,000 lives. The

Mozambique Initiative has over 250 relationships with Mozambique churches and work has advanced with

women’s shelters, new wells, and micro-lending. “Hydraid for Haiti” continues to grow with 14 teams installing more

than 100 water filters in Haiti. (SERVE days and Festival of Sharing have continued to draw people into ministry.)

This year 87 percent of our apportionments were paid. Several other programs were highlighted and Bishop Schnase

closed with addressing the issue of the vote to be held on Saturday regarding the Camp Board’s recommendation to

sell all four camps. The bishop stressed that despite the emotion people may have about this issue, this is about

being Christ-like and prayerful. Everyone should be respectful.

After the Bishop’s call or order, the first ballots were cast for clergy and laity for delegates to General Conference. No

clergy was elected on this first ballot but one laity was elected. This process continued daily until six clergy and six

laity were elected as delegates to General Conference. The same process was followed to elect six clergy and six laity

as delegates to Jurisdictional Conference. This was accomplished in ten ballots for laity and 16

ballots for clergy.

Camping and Retreat Ministries Board presented the recommendation that the four camps be closed and sold.

Supporters offered three other resolutions:

Alternate Resolution 1: Two year pause in making this decision and reopening the camps to full use.

After much discussion both for and against, this resolution failed by a vote of 425 to 677.

The following day the question was called on the main motion and it passed overwhelmingly.

Alternate Resolution 2: Sell Wilderness Camp to the Wilderness Retreat and Development Association for $1.

After discussion both for and against, the question was called and the motion failed by a vote of 429 to 460.

Alternate Resolution 3: Sell Jo-Ota to an association of the same name. This motion was amended to replace the

$1 price with a price of $120,003 to be paid out over seven years ($1 per first three years, $30,000 for the next

four years.) Jo-Ota Association would make an annual report to the Conference. After discussion for and against,

Resolution 3 passed.

The Annual Meeting also had the usual number of reports from departments, workshops for both clergy and laity,

messages from guest speakers, an ordination service, an inspirational worship service on Sunday morning and the

closing on Monday.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent Blue Ridge Church to the MO Annual Conference. If you have questions,

please contact me at 816.260.8916 or sandysown@hotmail.com

7 THINGS CHURCH MEMBERS SHOULD SAY

TO GUESTS IN A WORSHIP SERVICE

1. Thank you for being here.

2. Let me help you with that.

3. Please take my seat.

4. Here is my email address.

Please let me know if I can help in any way.

5. Can I show you where you need to go?

6. Let me introduce you to ___________.

7. Would you join us for lunch?

Presume your church has two first-time guests a

week. Over the course of a year, the church would

have 100 first-time guests. With most of the mem-

bers being genuinely guest friendly, you could see

half of those guests become active members.

Attendance could thus increase by as much as 50

persons a year.

The DeFeet Hunger 5K, sponsored by the UMC Heartland District, is scheduled for Saturday,

September 12th. Like in years past, the 5K walk/run is only one event happening that day. The

money that is raised from entrants and donations is used to buy non-perishable food from Harvesters

and then volunteers gather after the walk/run and pack the lunches in brown paper bags. Harvesters

then uses them for disaster relief and to give to high school counselors to keep in their offices for

students who are too embarrassed to ask for free lunches.

If you can't walk or run, would you consider giving a donation? Forms should be available in the information center

in mid July. Registration is also open for both walkers/runners and volunteers on the DeFeet Hunger website at

www.defeethunger.com Any questions, please contact Connie Turnipseed at 356-1444 or ctseed@ymail.com

The following items are being collected until August 1

for distribution by REAP. Please place items in the barrels

in the narthex and Blue Café.

Spiral Notebooks

Rulers

#2 pencils

Colored pencils

Markers

Index Cards

Composition Notebooks

KURT SCHUERMANN Gateway Central DS

LINDA HARRIS Gateway Regional DS

JIM SIMPSON Heartland DS

DALE STONE Mark Twain DS

SHERRY HABEN Mid-State DS

CINDY BUHMAN Northwest DS

LYNN DYKE Ozarks DS

FRED LEIST Southeast DS

MARK STATLER Southwest DS

MO CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

BISHOP SCHNASE

EVEning Circle First Monday

Unit Meeting Second Wednesday

Priscilla Circle Third Wednesday

Mission Team Fourth Wednesday

Connecting Hands Fourth Wednesday

For more information, please contact:

Sandy McConnell at 816.224.4603 or

sandysown@hotmail.com

REAP Pantry, 1st Sunday

Prayer Shawl Ministry, Every Tuesday, 10 am

Women’s Bible Study, 1st & 3rd Thursday, 10 am

Hartman Breakfast, 1st Thursday at Ginger’s, 8 am

Council, 2nd Tuesday, 6:30 pm

Book Club, 2nd Tuesday, 7 pm

Golden Key, 2nd Thursday at Noon

Grief Care, 3rd Wednesday at 10 am

ONGOING EVENTS

Special Days and Holidays July 19 National Ice Cream Day

July 26 National Parent’s Day

August 1 Deadline for School Supplies

August 17 First day of Raytown Schools

August 21 National Senior Citizen’s Day

August 30 Board Retreat 3-8 pm

Sept. 7 Labor Day

Sept. 9 New Song Praise Team &

God’s People Singing Resume

Sept.12 DeFeet Hunger 5K

Sept.13 Children’s Sunday School Resumes

National Grandparent’s Day

BRC BOOK CLUB

2nd Tuesday of Each Month

The books for upcoming months are

listed below along with the person leading the

discussion. Everyone is welcome. For more info,

contact Charlotte Robinson at crobin1935@aol.com

or 816.353.4946.

July 14: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Led by Lisa Schwarzkoph-Robinson

August 11: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Led by Sue Klotz

September 8: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Led by Dianne Decker

HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE—THANK YOU so much to

those of you who have shown a servant heart by sharing

food and/or a smile as a greeter on Sunday mornings!

You all have an open invitation to sign up at the Welcome

Center to serve the Lord in this capacity.

JORDAN VOTH, guest piano accompanist

this summer, was raised in Hesston

Kansas. Jordan graduated from Hesston

High School in 2007 and Wichita State

University in 2012. Winner of the 2006 Andersen

Concerto Series and the 2010 Yamaha Young

Performing Artist Piano Competition, Jordan studied

at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in

New York City before completing a Masters degree at

UMKC in 2015. Jordan is currently a doctoral candidate

at UMKC and an accompanist for the Kansas City Ballet.

THE BOOK OF GALATIANS

Led by Pastor Tex Sample

Sunday Evenings: July 26-August 23

Please bring an NRSV Bible

(Read Chapter 1 before July 26)

Blue Ridge Boulevard United Methodist Church 5055 Blue Ridge Boulevard Kansas City, MO 64133

Blue Ridge Blvd. United Methodist Church

5055 Blue Ridge Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64133

www.blueridgechurch.org

Tuesday -Thursday 8:30 am - 4:00 pm

Tex Sample

Pastor

texsample@cox.net

Direct: 816-682-6078

Kevin Hershberger

Director of Worship Arts

KevinHershberger@blueridgechurch.org

Sarah Jarvis

Financial Secretary

sjarvis@blueridgechurch.org

Peggy Simpson

Church Administrator

Church Office: 816-353-1435

Church Fax: 816-353-8770

churchadmin@blueridgechurch.org

Bring your deepest spiritual question for Tex to answer and see if you can “stump the preacher.”

No sermon, just answers.

The KC Bluegrass Music Association

would like to rent space at Blue Ridge

Church one Friday night a month,

Oct.—May, for a jam session. Not only

would this open our doors to the

community (and thus introduce about

200 folks to our church) but would

generate extra income. We are looking

for people that would be willing to open and close the

building, help with set up and break down of chairs, and

show hospitality. In addition, they are also interested in a

light meal, which would be a great fundraiser for a group.

Please prayerfully consider helping with this event. Not only

would you be helping the church, but you would also get to

hear some great Bluegrass Music. Please contact Marge

Fredrickson at 816-373-7124 or mvfredrickson@yahoo.com,

indicate your willingness on the blue attendance card or

contact the church office.