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The Light of Love and Hope in Our CommunityThe Light of Love and Hope in Our CommunityThe Light of Love and Hope in Our CommunityThe Light of Love and Hope in Our Community August 2016 A Publication of Bright Star United Methodist Church, Douglasville, Georgia 30135-3223 Volume 29, Issue 8

Welcome Recepon on July 10, 2016

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. . . From the Pastor. . . From the Pastor. . . From the Pastor. . . From the Pastor

A PRAYER FILLED JOURNEY

So, how’s your prayer life? Have you been able to keep up with the forty-day prayer challenge that I put out there on July 3rd or have you decided not to join the adventure because for you it is a mission impossible?

I know that prayer is one of those things that a lot of individuals, for one reason or another, are just not able to get their heads and hearts around. Perhaps because it seems so unfathomable and nebulous. And we are not alone because the scripture seems to suggest that even the disciples yawned every time Jesus seemed to mention the word prayer. As a matter of fact, we always seem to find them sound asleep whenever Jesus was out there in prayer.

And yet, one of the hymn writers says that “Prayer is the soul’s sincere desires, uttered or unex-pressed the motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast”. In other words, prayer is the soul’s longing to be reconnected to its pri-mary source. To that tower of power beyond its own source and resource.

Therefore, to my way of thinking, prayer is some-thing we all do, all the time whether we know it or not or whether we call it by that name or not. And so, making that assumption, I want to encourage all of us to stay the course and to keep the fire of our prayers alive because we have so much to pray for right now.

First, I would like to encourage all of us to continue to pray for ourselves and for our families because, as we can tell, the world we live in is not one that is safe and secure. Second, let us stay vigil in our prayer life about the upcoming election because we need good and wise leadership. Third, let us pray for a $1.6 million dollar miracle so that we can eliminate the church debt. Fourth, let us pray for the growth of our church and for God’s call on our lives to serve the present age. And last but not least, that we may continue to do whatever we have to do to build each other up until we all attain whatever God has blessed us to do and be.

And the people of God said?

Prayerfully Yours,

Edwin

Just a reminder to let any member of the Sewing Ministry know when you would like a prayer blanket for the altar. Members are Connie Tallant, Cookie Glover, Joann Murdock, Pat Farrell, Deborah Owensby, Linda Gardner, Bea West.

We would like to encourage others to join us. We have a beautiful new room for our work. Thank you so much, Bright Star, for that wonderful gift. The invitation is not just for women, guys. Remember, a sewing machine is a power tool and we even play with knives!!! They are called rotary cutters!!!!

In Christ, Bea West

Sue Haupert-Johnson Assigned as

Bishop of the North Georgia

Conference The Southeastern Jurisdiction Committee on Episcopacy announced Thursday, July 14, that Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson has been assigned as the next bishop of the North Georgia Conference. The assignment begins September 1.

Haupert-Johnson, 54, was elected bishop Wednesday, July 13, at the jurisdiction’s quadrennial meeting at Lake Junaluska. On

the tenth ballot, she received 230 of 375 votes cast.

I hope you will go and spread a table "with a sumptuous gos-pel feast," she bid the delegates. In her introduction address on Tuesday, Haupert-Johnson stressed the need for the church to have room for everyone at God's table. Haupert-Johnson was the fifth bishop elected by the 376 dele-gates, an equal number of United Methodist clergy and laity, from the nine states that form the Southeastern Jurisdiction (SEJ).

Haupert-Johnson, nominated by the Florida Conference, is the current district superintendent of Florida’s Gulf Central Dis-trict, overseeing a church landscape of large and small congrega-tions in a mix of urban, suburban and rural communities. The district’s demographics are diverse as well.

She previously served as pastor of churches in Tampa, Cape Coral and Ocala, and was an associate pastor at First UMC, Lake-land. She holds a law degree from the University of Florida and was a litigator with a Tampa law firm before answering the call to ministry and graduating summa cum laude from Emory Universi-ty’s Candler School of Theology. She was ordained a deacon in 1996 and an elder in 1998.

Haupert-Johnson has had numerous leadership roles in the Florida Conference and has represented the Florida UMC twice at General Conference – serving as Judicial Administration Legisla-tive Committee chairperson in 2012 – and three times at jurisdic-tional conference.

Her assignment in our conference is for a four-year term and begins September 1.

Article reprinted from the N. Ga. Conference website

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CHILDREN’S CONSIGNMENT

SALE

There is still time to sign up as a Consignor or a Volunteer! See

Becky Porter or call the church

office.

BACK TO SCHOOL

SPLASH

Hey kids! Come have some fun with us before you go

back to school! Bring your water gun &

sunscreen.

HOLIDAY BAZAAR

Now taking vendor applications for the Holiday Bazaar. See Melba Brock or Pam Landers or call the

church office.

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VBS 2016

VBS 2016

VBS 2016

VBS 2016

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AUGUST ANNIVERSARIESAUGUST ANNIVERSARIESAUGUST ANNIVERSARIESAUGUST ANNIVERSARIES

6 Tom & Trannell Stanford

15 Ken & Becky Porter

26 Larry & Sherry Kichline

AUGUST BIRTHDAYSAUGUST BIRTHDAYSAUGUST BIRTHDAYSAUGUST BIRTHDAYS

1 Kay Green

2 Dustin Jones

3 Jim Mackey

4 Carolyn Westbrook

9 Betty Graham

12 Ellie Munday

13 Don Graham

14 Bryson Tallant

15 Terri Rubino

16 Peggy Helton

16 Ivan Winslett

20 Brad Gardner

21 Thomas Musser

21 Randy Duncan

22 Clyde Hopkins

25 Cindi Winstead

27 Bryan Gardner

29 Barbara Farrell

29 Joel Fields

30 Andrew Vick

Were you able to come to the Prayer Party? It was fantastic! Thank you, Pastor Edwin, for helping us to refocus

on our prayer life!

Please continue to pray each and every

day!

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask

in prayer, believe that you have

received it, and it will be yours.”

Mark 11:24

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WHY WALK OR SUPPORT A WALKER?

PRC Medical provides ministry and FREE pregnancy tests, limited ultrasounds, information on abortion and its risks, STD testing and treatment, parenting lessons, sports physicals, and post abortion care to women in our community. PRC Medical gets ALL of its support from churches, busi-nesses, and people like our Bright Star family to reach women the only way that really works – through the “truth that only comes from God.”

Please consider joining “Team Bright Star” for this year’s Walk for Life. Last year we had six team members and raised over $2,800 for this very important fund-raising event.

Contact our church liaison, Laura Frank, to be a part of the team or watch for opportunities to support the Bright Star Team through your donations.

Douglas County Pregnancy Resource Center 3030 Chapel Hill Road, Douglasville, 30135

www.partnersofprc.com volunteer@partnersofprc.com

AUGUST 6TH at GOLDEN UMC

We are inviting Bright Star and other churches to stand with us and love those in our community. Won’t you please join us Saturday, 9/10 from 8:30-

4:30 for the 2nd annual #LoveDouglasville event? We will have various projects ranging from lawn care, painting, home repairs, clean-up, sorting & organization, and remodeling for non-profit organizations and individuals in our community who need our help. Contact Rev. Heather Jallad at 770-942-3146. www.douglasvillefumc.org

SEPTEMBER 10TH at DOUGLASVILLE 1ST UMC

EVERY 4th THURSDAY at DOUGLAS COUNTY LIBRARY

Douglas County Kinship Care Support Group

Are you Grandparents Raising Grandchildren or a Relative Raising Related Children?

Support Group will meet every 4th Thursday of each month at the library 10:00 am -11:30 am. 6810 Selman Road, Douglasville, GA 30134

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact

Yolanda Vinson, Kinship Navigator dckinshipcaregroup@gmail.com or you can

also find us on Facebook Douglas County Kinship Care Support Group

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Have you remembered Bright Star United Methodist Church in your will?

Finance/Stewardship

Monthly Operating Budget Required:………….$33,885 Fiscal YTD Operating Budget required thru July:………………………...$33,385

Report for July 2016

Operating Budget Received MTD:……………..$31,090 Operating Budget Received Fiscal YTD:…...….$31,090 Average Sunday School Attendance ...……………….42 Average 9:30am Worship Attendance ……..…….......34 Average 11:00am Worship Attendance ……..……....123

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU

Una and I would like to say a very sincere thank you to all of you for all of your words of welcome. The lovely flowers, the delicious fruit basket, and the room prepared for us when we arrived at the parsonage were indeed a treat.

We have also enjoyed getting to know you and joining several of you at various lunch or dinner events. If truth be told, the gift cards to Sea Breeze and Red Lobster were a delight. And yes, one of us did try some grits and catfish.

We also thoroughly enjoyed and deeply appreciated the wonderful welcome reception. We were not always sure what exactly it was that we were eating, but whatever we had was always so good that we had to go back for more. Therefore, we are now looking forward to the Wednesday Night Suppers.

Last, but not least, we want to thank all of those who worked behind the scenes to make all of these wonderful things happen. We are so delighted to be here with you and we are looking forward to what God has in store for all of us.

Once again, a very sincere thank you.

God bless, Edwin and Una

Bright Star UMC,

We would like to thank all the members of your church for helping to install a wheelchair ramp at our home for Albert, a WWII veteran, 96 years old.

I don’t know who had the most fun in those six hours, your members with each other, or Albert and I watching the results of a beautiful well-built ramp.

Again, let me say – Thank You.

Sincerely, Annette & Albert Lee

My wife, Cindy, and I would like to make a contribution to the Josiah Project in honor of Becky Porter and her group of volunteer “Wedding Saints” that prepared food, decorated, served at the wedding reception, & helped with the set-up & related clean-up of Hunter Hall for our daughter, Kelly Ferrill, and Hunter Bowman on July 4, 2016. Becky & her team are indeed saints and miracle workers.

Let me take a moment to share a few words about the wedding reception. Wow, wow, and wow! The reception was absolutely spellbindingly, stunningly beautiful, a memory of a lifetime, awesome, “take your breath away” gorgeous and captivating. I let Becky know that she and her team put on a gala fit for a king. And rightly so, because God was there as we celebrated Kelly and Hunter uniting and starting their life together. Cindy & I want to say a very sincere heartfelt thank you to the church for its outstanding facilities, Becky, and each member of her “Wedding Saints” team. Each of them went over and above to give Kelly, Hunter, us, and our guests a wonderful wedding reception brunch. The food was superb and simply “out of this world” good. We think Becky & her team could open a restaurant and/or an event center.

The team members were as follows: Becky & Ken Porter, Judy Strickland, Connie & Richard Jacobus, Ron Robinson, Laura & Greg Frank, Cassia & Jason Milhollin, Danielle Milhollin, Bev Vaughn, Connie Tallant, Barbara Cochran, Kim & Cliff Daniels, Pat Farrell, Riker Winstead, Doug Hintz along with his sister-in-law, Matt Holloway, Pam Landers, Tim Plumley, Michelle & Randy Bowman & family.

It has been a blessing and a joy to work with such kind, caring, and loving people. Again, thank you.

Blessings, Andy Ferrill

The Finance Committee is working to eliminate certain desig-nated funds (money allocated to be used for specific purposes) that are no longer viable, either because the purpose has been fulfilled or the account has stagnated and the money is unlikely to be used as designated. Where these funds have been donated, it is necessary to obtain permission from the donor(s) if possible, to use the money elsewhere. Please contact Kim Daniels in the church office if you have in the past donated money specifically for any of these pur-poses:

• Mission Trips

• Ministerial Scholarships

• Handbells

• Prayer Garden Fountain This notice will be published for 60 days, throughout August

and September, after which the Finance Committee will make its recommendation to Council for disposition of the designated funds in question.

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PRAYER REQUESTS Homebound:

Dot Driskell June Hinson Marvienne Pinder Peggy Helton

Requested:

Deena Canup Janice Howell Danny Tanner

AUGUST 8/2 Trustees-7pm 8/5-6 Consignment Sale 8/6 Back to School Splash 8/8 School starts 8/9 Staff-6:30pm 8/11 WNS mtg-7pm 8/11 Finance-7:30pm 8/23 Staff-6:30pm 8/28 Council Planning Session-noon SEPTEMBER 9/6 Staff-6:30pm 9/6 Trustees-7pm

9/7 WNS begins 9/8 Finance-7pm 9/17 PRC Walk for Life 9/18 Undie Sunday 9/20 Staff-6:30pm 9/24 Private Party-HH 9/25 Council-noon OCTOBER 10/4 Trustees-7pm 10/13 Finance-7pm 10/18 Staff-6:30pm 10/22 Scouts-gym 10/23 Council-noon

What a blessing for God to send Rev. Jimmy Moor at a

"me when we needed him so! A bi&ersweet goodbye was

said to Jimmy and his wife, Julie. We are so grateful for

them and their help through our grieving process. Thank

you, Jimmy and Julie!

Bright Star is Partners in Educa"on with Bill Arp

Elementary. For the month of July, we chose to

focus on collec"ng school supplies. While the tally

is not yet in, the response has been overwhelming.

Thank you!

In August, we will help with their Teacher

Welcome Luncheon . We will also be collec"ng

supplies for their clinic. A group is being gathered

to do prayer walks throughout the school as well.

This is such an exci"ng endeavor for Bright Star

and we hope you choose to be a part of it. If you

would like to volunteer in any

capacity, please see Cindi

Winstead, Becky Porter, or

Barbara Cochran.

Thank you, Bright Star!

Bill Arp Elementary A Ministry of Bright Star UMC

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BSUMC is a Stephen Ministry congregation

The Bright Star Beacon Published monthly by

Bright Star United Methodist Church

3715 Bright Star Road

Douglasville, Georgia 30135

(770) 949-2555 FAX: (770) 949-9956

e-mail: office@brightstarumc.org brightstarumc.org

BRIGHT STAR STAFF - READY TO BE OF SERVICE TO YOU!

OFFICE HOURS:

Monday - Friday

8am - 12pm

Sunday School and Worship

9:30 - 10:30 “Generations” Worship Service 9:45 - 10:45 Sunday School 10:30 - 11:30 after “Generations” discussion groups 11:00 - 12:00 Traditional Worship Service

(770) 949-2555

Rev. Dr. Edwin Jones, Pastor Kim Daniels, Office Manager Don Allen, Custodian Sara Denham, Nursery

Kim Kreider, Children’s Director

Katie Plumley, Director of Music/Drama Andrew Vick, Youth Director Ivan Winslett, Assoc. Director Of Music Richard Jacobus, Stephen Ministry Referrals

OUR PURPOSE

As a beacon of light, we will bring people

to Jesus Christ, create disciples, share

and develop our spiritual gifts, and

live a life that magnifies God.

Be sure to check out our newsletter in FULL COLOR online at www.brightstarumc.org

NEWSLETTER DEADLINE The deadline for the next newsletter is

August 20, 2016