wondering what to say. What else can I say about this amazing story that hasn’t been said before.

There really isn’t anything new to say and there doesn’t need to be. Sure, there are little pieces of interesting information that I come across in my reading and study time that I can share with you but what I have come to realize is that I just need to tell the story. That’s what we really want isn’t it? This story is so amazing that we love to hear it again and again.

When Sadie was younger anytime I would do something with her that she thought was fun her immediate reaction was, “Again, Again!!!” If I twirled her around once I would have to twirl her around until my arms ached or my stomach hurt. “Again, Again!”

That’s what we say as we enter this magical Advent and Christmas season. Tell me the story again! Remind me of this great thing that God has done! Remind me that God loved me so much that he was willing to come down from His throne in the form of a little vulnerable baby to show me the way to live, and to prepare the way back to him when I die.

That’s Christmas. And that’s the story I will be telling this Christmas. We will look at it through the eyes of these larger than life characters and hopefully gain some wisdom and have some fun along the way. But really, we are just letting the kid inside us scream, “Again! Again!” in pure joy.

As we rehearse the story again this year, my hope is that when you hear it you will be able to hear the voice of God and respond as Mary did, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me accordingto your word.”

On the Journey with you,

Pastor Jim

I love the Christmas story. We’ve told this story for so long that the characters have become like family to us. They have become larger than life. And as a pastor for a while, Advent and Christmas was so easy to preach. I didn’t have to wonder what I should talk about for a whole month! But now after doing this for 20 plus years I catch myself

What’s Inside

YEAR 26 VOLUME 12 POTEAU, OKLAHOMA SERVing gOd 125 YEARS

The United Methodist News

The United Methodist NewsPASTOR TO PEOPLE

REV. JIM PERKIN

Sunday School9:30 A.M.

Morning Worship10:30 A.M.

Church Calendar .................... 2Prayer List .............................. 2Welcome New Member .......... 3Children’s Ministry ................ 3News of Youth ........................ 3Christmas Eve Service .......... 3Sympathy Note ...................... 4Preschool Report ................... 4Membership Cares ................ 4Cards of Thanks .................... 4Birthdays, Anniversaries ...... 4Staff Love Offering ................ 5Missions Report ..................... 5Church Safety ........................ 6Living Christmas Story ......... 6

FIRST

Office Hours:Monday – Thursday

8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

DECEMBER 2018

Drive ThroughLiving

Christmas StoryDec. 9,

6 to 8 p.m.

Christmas Eve

Services5:30 and 11 p.m.

WORSHIP GREETERS

WELCOME TABLE VOLUNTEERS

DECEMBER CHURCH CALENDARPAGE 2 DECEMBER 2018

THE UNITED METHODIST NEWSPublished by the Communications Committee

Carol Baker, EditorFIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

109 S. Harper, Poteau, OK 74953Telephone 918-647-2217

e-mail: adminassistant@poteaufumc.comwebsite: www.poteaufumc.com

Sunday School 9:30 a.m. • Morning Worship 10:30 a.m.Bishop Rev. Jimmy NunnDistrict Superintendent Rev. Larry BaumanSenior Pastor Rev. Jim PerkinDirector of Youth Ministries Melanie WheatDirector of Music Ministries Mary Lynn PerkinDirector of Children’s Ministries Suzanne KluttsAdministrative Assistant Melissa WardLead Nursery Attendant Jayla CraigOrganist Bill KingFacility Manager Phil Smith

District web page: www.gbgm-umc.org/mc-dist/

2 CHAOS Youth Progressive Dinner, 5 p.m. 3 LifeTouch Photography Sessions, 2 to 9 p.m. Staff/PPRC Christmas Party, 6 p.m. 5 JAM Family Dinner, 5:05 p.m. 9 Oaks Nursing Home Service, 2 p.m. Drive Through Living Christmas Story, 6-8 p.m.12 JAM Christmas Play, 5:00 p.m.16 CHAOS Youth shopping trip to Fayetteville. Leave

as 12:30.17 Membership Cares, 12 p.m.23 Choir’s Christmas Cantata during worship24 Christmas Eve Candlelight Services, 5:30 and 11

p.m.25 Churchofficeclosed

• SUNDAY •Sunday School, 9:30; Morning Worship, 10:30

Bible Study resumes in JanuaryUMYF (CHAOS), 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

• MONDAY • Christian Preschool Monday – Thursday

• TUESDAY •Cub Scouts, 6 p.m.; Boy Scouts, 7 p.m., CFLC

• WEDNESDAY • JAM (Jesus and Me), 3:15 to 5:05 p.m.

Bell Choir, 5:30 p.m.Celebration Choir Rehearsal, 6:15 p.m.

• THURSDAY •Senior Café resumes in JanuaryBible Study resumes in January

2 David McNair and Ted Kilgore 9 David and Lisa Barnes16 Bill and Linda Lancaster23 Mike and Karen Hahn30 Ben and Judy Curtis

2 Debby Puckette and Martha Renfro 9 Jerry and Mary Ford16 Mike and Linda Lee23 Peggy Talley and Jean Whigham30 Randy and Tami Matos

Prayer List (As of November 25, 2018)To add or remove a name call 918-647-2217.

Nursing Home/Homebound: Maxine Nyberg. Health: Janet Allison, Landa Aubree, Don Baetz,

Astarte Baker, Barbie Barnard, Silas Blanchard, Caren Bogart, John Carbrey, Sandy Carbrey, Per-ry Carter, Carol Coggins, Pam Cox, Allen Daniels, Rob Ellis, Mendy Emmerling, Pam DeCamp Ernst, Delana Luman Ester, Alissa Figari, Mary Folsom, Dolores Fuller, Brooke Gardezi, Kay Gardner, Don Goforth Jr., Terry Harrison, Peggy Holstead, Allen and Jane Ann Inge, Donna Jackson, Lorene Johnson, Makali Kemp, Jim Kersh, Jane Kilgore, Colton Knight, Tim Lawrence, Arlene LeMaster, Oleta Little, Lucy McMillin, Maureen McPherson, Keith Miller, Mason Mitchell, Jack Oehlschlager, Patricia Ogden, Janna Owens, Kallie Peck, Deb-bie Piovarchy, Kelli Pitchford, Jean Potts, Jeremy Quarry, William Quarry, Joe Renfro, Lucy Rich-mond, John Scarbrough, Jim Shore, Marilyn Smith, Pat Smith, Randy Smith, Earl Steimetz, Katie Strider, Zander Swithenbank, Doug Tang, Ed Toland, Darlene Ward, Darren Ward, Bar-bara Wheeler, Keith Wright, Lori Yarberry, Jerry Young.

Bereavement: Family of Joe SabatucciMilitary and Law Enforcement:Nathan Berlin, Tyler Berlin, Bailey Hahn, Zack

Hall, Kyle Kinman, Kaigan LeMaster, Kodee Le-Master, and all our military and law enforcement men and women.

Welcome!

Poteau F.U.M.C. Report for October 2018Average Attendance Figures for September: 168

2018 Budget Requirements: $360,000.00Needed through October: $309,666.67Year to Date Received: $360,575.56

October Received: $22,010.73October Expenditures: $30,475.70

Amount Owed on New Building Loan: $249,548.51

ACOLYTES 2 Katlynn Figari and Farah Brem 9 Maggie Wheat and Jenci Quarry16 Avery Snipes and Addison Sockey23 KhiaBrookfieldandMorginShockley30 Gehrig Snipes and Caden Mitchell

To see the worship service, go towww.poteaufumc.com

DECEMBER 2018 PAGE 3

• Children’s Ministry •By Suzanne Klutts

The JAM kids along with Tami Matos and Mary Lynn Perkin have been working on the Christ-mas program, Carol and the Belles. It is a 1950’s drive-in theme with Christmas charm, cool tunes and joy to the world.

Come support the children on December 12 at 5 p.m. as they present the message of Christ-mas. December 12 will be our last JAM for the holidays. JAM will resume on January 9.

DECEMBER JAM SCHEDULE 5 Dress Rehearsal Church Family Meal, 5:05 p.m.12 Carol and the Belles, 5 p.m.

News of YouthUMYF (CHAOS) meets Sunday evenings from 5

to 7 p.m. and is for all youth 6th – 12th grades.

By Melanie Wheat

DECEMBER CALENDAR: 2 Progressive dinner. We will leave from the

church at 5 p.m. and return around 8 or 8:30 p.m.

9 No Youth - we will be helping with the Drive-through Nativity.

16 Youth Shopping Trip. We will leave from the church at 12:30. We will return around 10 p.m.

23 No Youth30 No Youth

I want to thank all the youth that helped with the mission project at the church. It took us 5 hours, but we have the attic cleaned and orga-nized! We had a little fun along the way!

LITURGIST: Laurie Bandy

2 Sadie Perkin 9 Pastor Jim16 Mary Lynn Perkin23 Suzanne Klutts30 Tami Matos

CHILDREN’S MOMENTS

Welcome New Member!We welcomed Gloria Cherry as our newest

member on Nov. 11, 2018. She has attended here for quite some time but we are happy to acknowledge her as part of our church family.

Happy Birthday,Jean Gaylor!

We celebrated Jean Gaylor’s 90th birthday on Nov. 11 following morning worship,

Christmas EveCandlelight Services

5:30 and 11 p.m.There will be two different Christmas Eve ser-

vices.Choosetheonethatbestfitsyourfamily’sChristmas schedule.

We will once again display poinsettias in our sanctuary this Christmas season. If you would like to provide a poinsettia in memory or in hon-or of someone, please have them delivered to the church by noon Thursday, Dec. 13th. Call the church with your information by Wednesday, Dec. 12 to be listed in the morning worship bul-letin. Poinsettias will be displayed in the sanctu-ary through Dec. 31.

Poinsettias for Worship

1 Connie Sabatucci 2 Ted Kilgore, Mike Sullivan, Tatum Shelton 4 Daryl Chastain, Judy Moore, Sam Shore and Adrianna Johnson 6 Jaydon Bandy 7 John Perry 8 Shelley Johnson, Dale DeCamp 9 Sheri Zabala10 Jason Bandy11 Jameson Shackelford, Lenora Williams12 Jo Gee, Curtis James, Cole Forsberg13 Bryan Gilliam, Isaiah Frazier14 David Redhage, Kip Kutts15 Pegee Werline, Sharon Mikkelson16 Julie Lee, Judy Peerson, Kyle Matos18 Justin Hebert, Jarot Garner19 Morgan Bandy20 Riley Sampson23 Donna Kendrick, Bob Reynolds24 Becky Fruen25 Gary Brown, Jr., Seth Garner, Steven Sockey, Heather Emery, Holley Ambriz Johnson28 Jim Skelton29 Jolee Barnhart30 Jerry Thompson31 Rosalind Kendrick, Ronnie Oehlschlager

PAGE 4 DECEMBER 2018

December Anniversaries

December Bir thdays

Help make our birthday and anniversary lists complete. If we do not have your family members’ birthdaysandanniversaries,pleasegivetheofficethat information by calling 918-647-2217.

1 Ed and Cindy Brody 2 Ron and Melissa Ward 3 Charles and Marilyn Meek 4 Marvin and Janet DeSpain14 Fredric and Nina Ritchie17 Brian and Mandy Roberts18 Henry and Rozelle Hardaway19 Kyle and Kimberly Hardaway26 Joe and Martha Renfro

ByTracey Gilliam,

Preschool Director

Merry Christmas!Preschoolers will be singing at the Community

State Bank on Wednesday, Dec. 5th and Thursday, Dec. 6th at 9:15 on both days.

The themes in December are Hibernation, Cooking at Christmas, and the Christmas Story. The memory verse for December is “God’s Son is born for us.” The new color is green and the new shape is the star. Preschoolers will be reviewing the letters A through J, numbers 1 through 5, shapes circle, triangle, square and colors red, orange and brown.

The class Christmas parties will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 19th and Thursday, Dec. 20th at 10:30.

There will be no preschool classes during Christmas break, Dec. 24 through Jan. 4. Preschool will be back in class January 7, 2019.

Our love and sympathy is extended to Connie and the Sabatucci family on the death of Joe and also to the family of Dawn Rabideau.

Our Sympathy

Card of ThanksTo Our Church Family,

This church is most certainly a caring, loving congregation. We give our most humble and heartfelt thanks for the dinner the church and the Masonic Lodges sponsored for us.

With our most loving thanks,Ted and Jane Kilgore

Thanks so much for letting us sing in your beautiful sanctuary. Cavanal Chorale

Many thanks to our church family for helping celebrate my 90th birthday. It was a special joy to have all my family in worship together.

F.U.M.C. has been a blessing to us for over 50 years. We love you and thank you.

Jean and the Gaylor Gang

Thank you to everyone that helped with the Fall Festival. Some helped with bake sale items, some decorated, served, bussed tables and a special thanks you to those that did the cooking or helped with the preliminary things.

Mary Ford

The Women of Faith and the Thursday senior group are planning on having a Christmas Party at Mary Ann Ford’s home, 1806 Witteville, on Monday, December 10 at 12:00 p.m.

Women of FaithBy Mary Ford

DECEMBER 2018 PAGE 5

Membership Care Chistmas CardsThe Membership Care Committee will be col-

lecting your signed Christmas cards the firstthree Sundays in December (through December 16th). We will deliver the cards to the follow-ing persons. You may use your own cards or take cards from the basket in the Narthex. If you take two packets of cards, you should have enough to send a card to everyone. Recipients would really appreciate your taking time to add a personal note.

The Membership Care Committee will meet at 12:00 on Monday, Dec. 17 to distribute the Christmas cards from the congregation and de-liver them before Christmas.

John and Sandy CarbreyPam CoxMary Folsom Jo GeeSam HarrisCurtis and Dorothy JamesVirginia KiddJane KilgoreLloyd LeeCharles and Marilyn Meek

Bessie MorelandJean PottsJeremy QuarryJoe RenfroConnie SabatucciJim ShoreKeith WrightLenora Williams

All Saints Day was observed in November with candles lit for those who passed away since the last All Saints Day.

Those named were Ruby Shore Anderson, Carol Beasley, Brett Blasdel, Ruth Ann DeCamp, Gen-ny Dorsey, Dorothy Hagan, Trudy Mathies, Bob Schlichenmaier, Virginia Stanley, Artie Stivers, Royce Stone, Paul Stottsberry, Brian Thompson.

All Saints

DayObserved

A Future Congregation is SecuredStaff Love OfferingOur church is blessed to have an excellent

staff working hard as a team to bring effec-tive ministry to Poteau First United Methodist Church. Please consider during this Christmas Season a “Love Offering” for our staff as a way to show our love and appreciation for a job well done. Please designate “love offering” on your check or offering envelope.

Blessings, Keith Thomas,

Chair, Staff Parish Relations Committee

December finds the Missions Committee infull swing taking care of the Angels from our Prison Ministry. We still have some Angels (Chil-dren of Incarcerated Parents) unassigned if you, your family, Sunday school or community group would like to sponsor a child.

If you chose to help out by sponsoring an Angel, please seeMelissa in the church officeabout reimbursement for the gifts. We need to have the wrapped gifts brought by Sunday, Dec. 9th so we can organize and get ready for pick up for the following weekend. That date will be Saturday, Dec. 15, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. in the Fam-ily Life Center. Donuts, juice, milk and coffee will be provided. Come join us!

Our Sunday Service at the Oaks Nursing Home will be December 9th. Please make plans to worship if you can. I know the residents love to see new faces.

The next Missions Committee meeting will be scheduled after the start of the new year. As always, please consider joining us, everyone is welcome.

Missions ReportBy JoLynn Dixon

Above: Melissa and Landon Sams with Jonah, and Andrew and Morgan Greutman with Nolan.

Left:Katie and Charlie Gastelum.

Right: Gail Cherry

Ifyouknowsomeonewhowouldbenefitfroma prayer shawl, whether a church member or not, call Cindy Brody at 918-385-1542 or the church at 647-2217.

Prayer Shawl Ministry

PAGE 6 DECEMBER 2018

Pre-Advent ProcessionAt the end of the Nov. 25 service, regular

acolytes on duty for the day carried candles for the Advent wreath and led other acolytes in bringing in other items to begin the Advent season. Advent begins Sunday, Dec. 2.

Morgin Shockley

Pastor Jim and a merry band of volunteers beautifully deco-rated the church in readiness for the First Sunday in Advent. Kyson Hardaway is pictured placing the finishing touch on the tree.

Katlynn Figari

Farah BremKhia BrookfieldAddison Sockey

Maggie Wheatand

Warrick Quarry

Jenci Quarry and

Caden Mitchell

Our church Board of Trustees wants you to know that they take church security and safety seriously. They have been working very hard over the past year to assess the safety of our church and they want you to know some of the things that they are doing to address the issue.

Crash Bar DoorsSoon, the two sets of double glass doors in

the hallway between the Family Life Center and the Sanctuary (Harper Street Entrance) will be modifiedtohavea“CrashBar”systeminstalled.The doors will be unlocked before worship but once worship is beginning they will be locked so the only unlocked entrance will be from the main parking lot on the Walters Street En-trance. However, since they are equipped with crash bars, even though they are locked from the outside you will be able to exit the doors as if they were unlocked. This will allow us to be aware of all persons who enter the building.

ALICE TrainingOne of our Trustees and retired City of Po-

teauPoliceOfficer,JasonBandy,hasrecentlycompleted ALICE training. Alice Training is an “Active Shooter Civilian Response Training” that an instructor leads for various communi-ty groups including schools and churches. On January 27, 2019 at 5pm, Jason will be leading an ALICE training for any in our church who would like to attend but especially for our Ush-ers, Church Staff, and Church Ministry Lead-ers. More information will be provided in the January newsletter and bulletins.

Your church Trustees take security seriously and will keep you informed of the steps they are taking to keep us all safe.

Peace, Pastor Jim

Church Safety and Security Update

Drive ThroughLiving Christmas Story

Dec. 9, 6 to 8 p.m.Mark your calendar and make plans to take

your family to experience our church’s annual Christmas gift to the community. Feel free to drive through as many times as you wish. Turn onto South Walter from Dewey and follow the glowing lanterns. (Note: If you are a character in the drive through, please be present 30 minutes before your shift.