Willowbrook United Methodist Church

“Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors” 19390 North 99th Avenue Sun City, AZ 85373-1102

Office Hours: 8:30 a.m.—4:00 p.m. Monday thru Thursday 8:30 a.m.—Noon Friday

(closed 12 - 12:30 p.m. for lunch)

(623) 974-5637 FAX: (623) 933-5466 Internet: http://www.willowbrookumc.org E-mail address: bev@willowbrookumc.org

GOOD NEWSGOOD NEWS August 2017 Issue

WORSH

IP SUND

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9:30 a.m

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0 a.m.

SATURD

AY at 5

:00 p.m

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WILLOWBROOKWILLOWBROOKWILLOWBROOKWILLOWBROOK

UNITED METHODIST CHURCHUNITED METHODIST CHURCHUNITED METHODIST CHURCHUNITED METHODIST CHURCH

19390 19390 19390 19390 NORTH 99TH AVENUENORTH 99TH AVENUENORTH 99TH AVENUENORTH 99TH AVENUE

SUN CITY AZ 85373SUN CITY AZ 85373SUN CITY AZ 85373SUN CITY AZ 85373----1102110211021102

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID PERMIT #75

SUN CITY, AZ 85351

WEEKLY PRAYER & STUDY GROUPS

MON Intercessory Prayer 2:00 pm—Library Lounge WED New Beginnings 9:30 am—Library Lounge WED Art & Soul 9:30 am—Wilson Fellowship Hall

Willowbrook United Methodist Church OUR MINISTRY TOGETHER

The ministers of this church are its members; those who assist them are:

Dedicated Lay Ministry—Stephen Ministry Gary Kennedy—Senior Pastor

Sande Kimbel—Associate Pastor Steve Marshall—Associate Pastor Rev. Jon Ierley—Pastor Emeritus Dr. Robb Butler—Music Director

Shara-Dawn Chambers—Organist Loretta Nash—Sabbath Musician

Russ Koan—Lay Leader

DEADLINE FOR the SEPTEMBER, 2017 Good News is AUGUST 7, 2017

WORSHIP SCHEDULE

Saturday Sabbath Celebration 5:00 p.m.—Chapel

* * *

Sunday Worship 9:30 a.m.—Sanctuary

* * *

Sunday Mosaic Worship 11:00 a.m.—Chapel

www.willowbrookumc.org

OFFICE HOURS

Mon-Thu—8:30 a.m.—4:00 p.m. Fri—8:30 am—Noon

Closed for lunch—12:00-12:30 p.m.

WILLOWBROOK BOOK CLUB We've been having some interesting, fun discussions at Willowbrook Book Club, and we'd like you to join us (You too, MEN!)

Our next meeting will be Thursday, August 24 at 1:00 in the library. This will be an informal discussion of books we have been reading over the summer. Come! Share your thoughts about your latest reads.

Here is a list of books we have chosen for discussion in the coming Fall and Winter: Sep. 28 "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson Oct. 26 "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens Nov. 30 "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer Dec. 28 "A Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood Jan. 18 "Beloved" by Toni Morrison Feb. 22 "The Light Between Oceans" by M.L. Stedman

You may want to get a start on reading them this summer! They are all available at the Maricopa County and Peoria libraries. You are welcome to come to any or all of the meet-ings. We meet the 4th Thursday of the month (with the excep-tion of Rummage Sale week in January) at 1:00pm in the church library.

Questions? Call Karen Gurian 480-371-6980 or Barb Christie

623-376-7941.

Willowbrook United

Methodist Church

Concert Series 2017-2018

Sunday, November 5, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. AZ Swing Kings Orchestra “Swing is the Thing”

Sunday, November 26, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. Desert Brass Band

“Christmas Goodies”

Sunday, January 14, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. Dan Reed’s Dixieland Hotshots

“Dixieland ala New Orleans”

Sunday, February 25, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. Sun City Chamber Orchestra

Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. The Desert Brass Band “Spring is in the Air”

Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. Sun City Women’s Chorus “The Best of our Year”

Tickets are $5.00 per person available at the

door. (12 and under free) Call 623-974-5637 for more information.

19390 N 99th Avenue, Sun City AZ 85373 623-974-5637

3RD ANNUAL HOLIDAZE CRAFT FAIRE!

COMING SOON!

The 2016 Holidaze Craft Faire far exceeded our ex-pectations, so we are busy with preparations for another great Faire on Friday, November 3 and Saturday, November 4. All the booths in Wilson Fellowship Hall have been rented by vendors and artisans. The booths on the patio are rapidly filling up.

Our very own Kris Krafters are busily working on items to sell in their area. If you are interested in joining them, they meet at 9:00 a.m. on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month in Wilson Fellowship Hall.

We need lots of volunteers and extra help for plan-ning, set-up, baking, lunch preparation, raffle sales, etc. Mark your calendars now and watch for more details to come! If you have any questions, please contact Barb Christie at 623-376-7941.

PRAYERS FOR WEST

DISTRICT CHURCHES

Pray for these West District churches in AUGUST:

Maranatha UMF, Phoenix Mission Bell UMC, Glendale

Mountain View UMC, Cottonwood New Song UMC, Surprise

Each month as part of the West District in the Desert Southwest Conference, we join other churches in prayer for one another.

Monday—Thursday

8:30 a.m.—4:00 p.m.

Friday—8:30 a.m.—Noon

Closed 12:00—12:30 for lunch

GROWTH AND VITALITY

The Desert Southwest Annual Conference adopted an Initiative for Growth and Vitality at its last session in June. Willowbrook United Methodist Church is a part of this group of churches from the three states of Arizona, Nevada and California. Together we voted to strive to grow with vitality. This emphasis is actually not entirely new. Scripture commissions us in Matthew 28:19 to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” This passage of scripture calls us as churches to be always on the lookout for folks that we can invite to church so that they might experience the love of God as experienced in worship and through the fellowship of loving people of faith. The focus of the Initiative is on spiritual growth of individuals within the church and for congregations to grow in resolve and courage in being a vital church of faith within our communities and unto the whole world. The understanding of the initiative is that an individual congregation can do great things and together with other congregations we can do many more great things. The phrase for this collective ministry is “connectional” – con-nected to other churches who also want to “make disciples of Jesus Christ,” so that we can work together to transform the world. According to scripture, Jesus Christ is Life! The spirit of the church is to bring the fullness of Life to individuals and communities. This is vitality! As a vital church, we are better equipped to deal with the tough issues in life as well as to live in joy as we do. I believe that this initiative can inspire churches back to their focus on bringing hope into the world. When con-gregations get off track and only focus on having a ministry that only looks inward to serve itself or only on one aspect of church work, like social work or politics, they will grow frustrated. This initiative calls for “connectional” focus on growing in Jesus, having vitality in purpose, and then transforming the world one changed life, one changed heart, one person of hope, at a time. Doing this, lasting transformation can occur in communities. Focusing anew on Christ, we will grow! We will be vital as well and we will be the courageous church that this world has been waiting for. Too many congregations are shrinking and losing spirit as they lose members. It’s time to reverse that as we work with others in ways that bring growth and vitality. Willowbrook UMC, it’s time to jump on board and share stories of our own growth and vitality. We can learn with each other and accomplish what God calls us to do to grow as we strive to make new disciples and be vital as we see God use us to transform the world. The initiative invites us to be:

• Loving like Jesus. • Acting for Justice. • United in Hope.

Next month we will focus on the vision for Willowbrook UMC as seen through the lenses of our own church council.

See you at church,

Gary Kennedy

AUGUST BIRTHDAYS (We celebrate 90 years or more)

4 Lucille Jacobson 5 Alice Wilber 9 Don Rees 10 Novoline Shwen 11 Glennis Fuller 12 Ruth Meinke 12 Robert Nelson 14 Virginia Vandenberg 18 Milton Adams 25 Eleanor Patterson 27 Olive Crowthers 28 William Shackelford

AUGUST ANNIVERSARIES (We Celebrate 50 years or more)

1 Chap & Mary June Fisher 58th 2 Phil & Sally Wendell 59th 12 Gale & Peggy Schauerman 61st 15 Rev. David & Arlene Liscomb 62nd 17 Tom & Marty Holler 55th 17 Paul & Murt Meierhenry 59th 18 Bill & Trudy Merle 55th 20 Ben & Patricia Stark 68th 23 Daryl & Betty Johnson 65th 23 Gilbert & Esther Ortega 70th 23 Dick & Jean Preisendorf 59th 24 Jack & Nancy Little 65th 25 Dean & Jody Edwards 61st 26 Dale & Sharon Bachler 56th 28 Dr. James & Lucille Jacobson 69th 29 Richard & Mary Belle Wright 63rd

The first weekend of each month we collect non-perishable food and/or cash for the food bank and Salvation Army.

IT’S HOT! REMEMBER BOTTLED WATER!

August 5 & 6 2017

SEND PRAYER REQUESTS TO:

prayerchain@willowbrookumc.org

www.WillowbrookUMC.org Listen to recordings of recent Sermons by our pastors and guest speakers. See news, videos, pictures and much more.

SUMMER GRIEF GROUP New Beginnings is an informal grief-sharing group at Willowbrook UMC, 19390 N 99th Avenue, Sun City. Under the leadership of Pastor Sande Kimbel, Jean Preisendorf, and Diane Nelson the group supports people who have lost family members or friends through death. This group’s goal is a celebration of life, spiritual growth, personal reflection, stress relief, and an increased capacity toward happiness following loss. New Beginnings meets at 9:30 a.m. each Wednesday July 19 through August 30 in the Library Lounge. The regular GriefShare group sessions including videos will resume Wednesday, September 6.

LET’S CELEBRATE! Troy Sanchez, Marilyn Burmeister’s grandson and member of Willow-

brook Church graduated from high school in May. He plans to attend Grand Canyon University. You are invited to attend a reception in honor of Troy between worship services, Sunday, August 20 during Coffee Hour.

Remember or honor a loved one with the UMW Mission Candle. Make your donation to missions by using the special envelope in the pew pocket and placing it in the offering plate.

HOT IN SUN CITY? COME CHILL WITH

UNITED METHODIST WOMEN THIS SUMMER!

SUMMER LUNCHEONS

August 21—Tivoli Gardens—12535 W Bell Road, Surprise—11:30

Contact Dolores Pagan or Margie Barton for information.

Sign up 2 weeks prior to the lunch.

Hello to all Willowbrook United Methodist Men, wives, and friends. Some of you may already know changes have taken place

within the men’s organization. I (Richard Meyer) have been elected as the president replacing Mr. Loren Little-field. It took no time at all to realize these are mighty big shoes to fill. When you see him, thank him for his dedi-cation and selflessly giving of his time and energy in bringing energy and vitality to United Methodist Men and other worthy programs. To you, Loren, I and the committee thank you for a job well done. You are one reason Willowbrook is great! The committee has been asked by Bishop Robert Hoshibata and Pastor Gary to look at how we measure up to the District, Conference, the General Commission of United Methodist Men, as well as compliance with the Book of Discipline. From the top down new goals are being put into place. Membership levels are down and efforts to turn that around are being implemented. We are receiving help from the General Commission of United Methodist Men, but our greatest help will come from within Willowbrook United Methodist Church. Our spirit of unity and group support has always been the hallmark of Willowbrook, so, as this new season ap-proaches search your heart and see if you find room for growth in this powerful ministry.

Supporting Willowbrook,

Richard Meyer

YOUTHFUL SENIORS ACTIVITIES: Ice Cream Social & Bunco—Fri, 8/18, 6:00pm, $2. Forget the heat and take comfort in ice cream, sweet toppings, and fellowship. Tickets on sale at the Youthful Seniors table or contact Nancy Prevost at 623-476-5277. METHO TRAVELERS TRIPS: OdySea Aquarium—Wed, 8/23, $64. Price in-cludes admission, transportation, and gratuity. Experience a journey to Rivers of the World, Otter Banks, Penguin Point and funnels over to the “control the flow” water table. Ride the Underwater Escalator to venture through to Bizarre and Beauti-ful. The Living Sea Carousal is a one-of-a-kind voyage that you’ll have to experience to believe. For information or to sign up contact Kay Hardy at 602-316-4693, pinetopgal74@gmail.com or Sha-ron Gruhn at 602-291-7164, rishgruhn@msn.com. Panama Canal Cruise—Wed-Sun, 3/7-18, 2018, as low as $2,590. Includes airfare, hotel, transfers, FL excursion, taxes and tips. Ports-of-call: Ft. Lauderdale, Bahamas, Columbia, Panama Canal, Panama, Costa Rica, and Grand Cayman. Alaskan Cruise—Sat-Wed, 5/26-6/6, 2018, as low as $3,100. Includes transportation, taxes, tips, por-terage. Ports-of-Call: Vancouver, Ketchikan, Ju-neau, Skagway. Includes Whittier to Denali by rail plus other land touring. For information or to sign up for cruises contact Helen Fisher at 602-697-5361, hfisher6@cox.net.

DIGITAL AND GIGANTIC

Our Church Council at Willowbrook United Meth-odist Church has approved a new resource to provide a wealth of media resources to all our church programs. Rightnow Media partners with congregations to make available resources that include 15,000 Bible studies, written and media resources for committees, families, small groups, and individual members from over 250 top Christian publishers. It is useful for leadership develop-ment, individual spiritual growth, group studies or simply for some good Christian entertainment.

This media resource library will be made availa-ble to any member of the church at their request. We will have training events to instruct church folks in using the resource. The church staff will be trained as well. Through the generous gift of a couple of our church members, our church will be able to utilize this resource for private as well as outreach purposes. Members will need to request access to this resource through a church e-mail offer. It will not be made available unless it is specifically requested. Programs and training can be uniquely designed just for our church purposes. So far up to 15,000 churches have begun to use this pro-gram. Its use fits into our plan to reach out to new peo-ple through our Vision 2020 and provide some great Christian resources. A special thanks to those who made this available.

Our condolences to family and friends on the death of the following Willowbrook members & family & friends:

• Vern Laun on June 20 • Rev. Dr. Bill Griffith on June 30 • Dennis Lapic’s brother, Paul on July 2 • Betty Slezak’s husband, Bill on July 10

in Holland MI

My sincere thanks to Pastors Kennedy and Kimbel for their visits and prayers during my stay at Banner Hospital. I am

especially grateful for the dedication of Rev. Ken-nedy who came and prayed with me at 5:30 a.m. the morning of my surgery.

Lucille Jacobson

THE MASTER PUZZLER

In Laughing in the Dark (Howard Books), Christian comedian Chonda Pierce calls God the Master Puzzler,

because “in him all things hold togeth-er” (Colossians 1:17). In his infinite wisdom, God “can organize the colors better than anyone (Have you seen a sunset lately?) He knows where to fit every shape and size (Have you seen a mountain range?).”

Until God places the last piece, the final picture is a mystery to us. But in the meantime, God offers order and purpose, providing his law as the puzzle’s edges.

Pierce encourages people to let the “Master Puzzler” take over when life gets messy. Like the prophet Jeremiah, we can cry, “GOD, pick up the pieces. Put me back together again. You are my praise!” (17:14, The Message).

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

1:00 pm Spiritual Enrichment—CR

2

9:30 am New Beginnings—LL

9:30 am Art & Soul—WFH

3

9:00 am Kris Krafters—WFH

4

5 FOOD COLLECTION WEEKEND

5:00 pm Sabbath Celebration—CPL

6 HOLY COMMUNION

9:30 am Worship—Sanc

10:30 am Prayer—PR

11:00 am Mosaic Worship—CPL

7 GOOD NEWS DEADLINE

2:00 pm Intercessory Prayer—LL

8

2:00 pm Pastor Academy—WFH

9

9:30 am New Beginnings—LL

9:30 am Art & Soul—WFH

10

1:00 pm Nominations—CR

11

12

5:00 pm Sabbath Celebration—CPL

13

9:30 am Worship—Sanc

11:00 am Mosaic Worship—CPL

14

2:00 pm Intercessory Prayer—LL

15

16

9:30 am New Beginnings—LL

9:30 am Art & Soul—WFH

1:00 pm Touches of Love—CR

17

9:00 am Kris Krafters—WFH

18

6:00 pm Youthful Srs Ice Cream &

Bunco—WFH

19

5:00 pm Sabbath Celebration—CPL

20

9:30 am Worship—Sanc

10:30 am Prayer—PR

10:30 am Troy’s Reception—WFH

11:00 am Mosaic Worship—CPL

21

12:00 pm UMW Lunch—Tivoli Gardens

12:00 pm Good News Prep—CR

2:00 pm Intercessory Prayer—LL

22

9:00 am Church Council—WFH

2:00 pm Pastor Academy—WFH

23

9:30 am New Beginnings—LL

9:30 am Art & Soul—WFH

24

1:00 pm Book Club—LL

2:00 pm Worship—CR

25

26

5:00 pm Sabbath Celebration—CPL

27

9:30 am Worship—Sanc

11:00 am Mosaic Worship—CPL

28

2:00 pm Intercessory Prayer—LL

5:00 pm Stephen Leaders—CR

6:00 pm Stephen Ministers—WFH

29

2:00 pm Pastor Academy—WFH

30

9:30 am New Beginnings—LL

9:30 am Art & Soul—WFH

31

COMING IN SEPTEMBER

4—LABOR DAY

7—Choir rehearsals begin

9—Newcomers Orientation

17—UMW Sunday

22—Kitchen Seminar

22—Autumn Begins

Sanc - Sanctuary LL - Library Lounge

CR - Conference Room WFH - Wilson Fellowship Hall

MR - Music Room PR - Prayer Room CPL - Chapel CT—Courtyard

PL—Church Parking Lot