|
The Open Door
VOL. 33 NO. 12 Marc Sherrod, Minister December, 2005 
E-Mail & On-Line Newsletter
This holy season of Advent, now upon us – this season of hope that God will grant new creation yet again to us and to our world – is, for us here at Bethel, a time to ponder both God’s future and our future together in ministry and mission. The key piece of preparation we are about is, of course, trying to figure out the best solution to address our building problems and needs. Our vision and prayer is that we can be equipped with safe, accessible, durable, and aesthetically attractive facilities. As the Holy Spirit enables us to accomplish this vision, our practices of worship, service, and fellowship will be enriched and we will be in a better position to be a blessing to others in our community.. Our theological tradition teaches us that the church building is never an end in itself, but a means to bring spiritual transformation to others. But, at the same time, given America’s increasingly competitive spiritual marketplace, we must have facilities that will meet the many expectations of our members and of those seeking a church home. Having just last week toured the magnificent new facility built by the Morrison Hill Christian Church – fully equipped and with seating for over 500 worshipers – I realized anew that Bethel will be “left behind” if we don’t quickly modernize and make ourselves more attractive to new members. Furthermore, the Kingston United Methodist Church, our next-door neighbor, is on the verge of a major building program, yet another “sign,” I believe, that Bethel had best be on the move or our potential to attract new folks will greatly decrease. Here’s the all-important schedule for decision-making that I urge you to cut out and place on your refrigerator at home.
May this season of Advent and Christmas be a time of joy and rebirth!
With Advent upon us, we are in the season that I enjoy the most! I am one of those people that could (and does) listen to Christmas songs all year! This is the season of hope and celebration of our dear Lord’s birth. My families’ celebration will be a little different this year. We will celebrate Christmas on the 25th, and then Danny, Bram and I will head down with the Presbytery’s crew to Gulfport, Mississippi. Kerry will stay with her aunts and uncles in the Elizabethton/Johnson City area. I am so proud of our little church and their efforts to support the Hurricane Katrina work missions. Joining Danny, Bram (drywaller extraordinaire) and I (nurse) are: Chelsea Richmond- experienced youth mission worker, Duie Swicegood- Plumbing Crew Boss, Denise Martin- nurse and Habitat for Humanity expert, Dave Nippert- experienced carpenter, Rachel Dailey-experienced youth mission worker with energy to spare (!) and my friend, “Papa” Bill Carothers (experienced Scoutmaster and Jack of all Trades)- Carpentry Crew Boss. We will be putting up dry wall and roofing as well as plumbing houses in the Gulfport/ Bay St. Louis area. We will be staying at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Gulfport and commuting to work each day. If you would like to donate funds to support this trip, we need money to buy gasoline for the van, dry wall supplies and dry wall, roofing tiles, nails, PVC pipes and various tools (that we can’t borrow). We will be driving down to Gulfport in a 12-passenger van (that we have to rent) with Danny driving his pick-up truck to haul supplies. Please be present at the December 18th luncheon after church services. The money collected at this luncheon will be halved-- half will go to our December mission trip to Mississippi and half will go to the skate park fund. Hopefully, after the December 11th orientation meeting for our mission trip members at 2nd Presbyterian Church in Knoxville (Pat Harvey's church), we will have more news to share about what we will be doing in the Gulfport area. All the Hyders wish you a very joyous and safe holiday season. To your health...
Bethel will host a Christmas Party for the Head Start families who come to Bethel each week. The lunch and kids’ games will be held on Friday, December 16 from 12-2:00 in the Fellowship Hall. Please contact Amy Coen or a member of her committee if you can help that day with setup, cleanup, games, music, cookies, or crafts. Advent Devotional Booklets Advent Devotional Booklets are available now. This year they have been written and illustrated by Bethel members, and the memories and thoughts that they contain are priceless! If you haven’t already done so, please pick up your copy today (they’re in the Narthex), or call the church office and ask to have one mailed to you. Roane Choral Society Roane Choral Society's season begins with the annual Sensational Sounds of the Season on Friday, December 2, 8:00 p.m. at South Harriman Baptist Church, Ruritan Road. The magical warmth and joy of the holiday season will be captured by joining the Roane Choral Society and Orchestra for an evening of carols both old and new. Included in the performance will be traditional seasonal favorites and the audience will join in singing many popular carols. Admission is by donation. Join us as we celebrate this season of Christ's birth!! A Note from your Web Site Editor Hello Bethel members and friends! This is just a note to remind you that we have a great web site thanks to our talented Web Master, Dan McDowell. I want to encourage everyone to check out the site from time to time and see what’s going on at Bethel and in the community (w. We always strive to have up-to-date news on Parish Life activities, Youth activities, sermons, etc. AND, yes, we also have NEW pictures for you to view. Also, check out our new Youth Director’s bio and picture. I am always thrilled to get e-mails from people who have visited our web site. About a month ago, I received an e-mail from Allan Stricklin who is Elmer and Erma Shesler’s grandson. Allan wrote that he was very impressed with our web site and that he plans to visit Bethel next time he is in town. Allan’s parents are Larry and Brenda Stricklin, former Bethel members. One more thing I would like to bring to your attention. We are thinking about adding our Minute for Missions to our site and I would like to ask the MFM presenters to submit their minutes in Microsoft Word to me. I will review the minutes and forward them to Dan. The idea came from Cathy after Dan received an e-mail from Samuel where he mentioned that he saw in the online Sunday’s bulletin that Joe Coen gave a MFM on Grace School. It would have been so neat if Samuel could have read the MFM. Joe did such a great job. So, next time anyone is going to present a MFM, please send me a copy of your minutes, if possible, in Microsoft Word. Thank you very much. Marianne Shadden P.S. In the meantime, Joe submitted his MFM on Grace School—it’s already on our site. Thanks, Joe. Also, check out the MFM from Jane Walsh on Christmas Baskets, 2005. Thanks, Jane. Book Discussion Group Bethel’s Book Discussion group will not meet in the month of December. We will resume on the last Thursday in January, and we will be reading and discussing Play with Fire by Dana Stabenow. Anyone who enjoys reading, good fellowship, and lively discussion is welcome to take part! Host/Hostess for December Fellowships
Christmas Caroling
Our caroling will be on Sunday, December 18. We will meet at Bethel at 4:30 PM. The carolers are invited to The Hettricks’, 200 Lake Street, Harriman (Swan Pond) for refreshments after the caroling. Christmas Dinner and Party Everyone is invited to our annual Christmas Dinner, Pageant and Party on Wednesday, December 21, starting at 6:30 with our dinner. After the dinner we will enjoy the Christmas Pageant in our sanctuary, performed by Bethel’s youth and children under the able leadership of Greg Murr. After the pageant we adjourn to the Fellowship Hall for cookies and punch. Mission Outreach Committee Christmas Baskets As of this writing, Bethel will be giving out 31 Christmas Baskets. Six of these will go to elderly people who have no family and the other 25 will be given to families with children along with the Angel Tree gifts. All of our angels have been adopted but if you would like one or more, please see Jane Walsh. Donations for the Christmas Baskets are still being accepted. Here is the timeline for our activities:
... none reported this month ... Our condolences go out to the family of long-term member Lib Muecke, who passed away on November 27. Her funeral service was held on November 29th. The family requests that any memorials be made to Bethel. From the Evangelism Committee Beginning in January, the Evangelism Committee will sponsor Super Saturdays ~ the first Saturday of each month we will consider some topics of interest for many of us:
We will meet at 9:00 in the Fellowship Hall in a very informal setting, with coffee and some goodies. Come and see.
The new Loaves & Fishes brochure was distributed at the November Presbytery meeting and is also available on line via the presbytery's website. The event is Friday & Saturday March 17-18, 2006 at Maryville College. The keynote speaker is Tony Campolo. There will be 3 training courses (for clerks, treasurers and folks interested in board of pension info) at 4 pm that Friday. Registration will be from 3-7 pm. The event opens at 7 pm Friday with Tony's keynote address and a nice reception afterwards. The next day there is a dynamic worship service (or so it was last year) with Jim Logan this year as our preacher. Then there will be 1.5 hour workshops - Sat a.m., Lunch, another set of workshops and then a closing short worship, concluding at 4 p.m. There will be a nursery and a Kids Kamp at the nearby First Baptist church coordinated with folks from our presbytery. Cokesbury will have a bookstore and displays in the main Wilson Chapel area where we'll be meeting. The workshops will be led by experts in their fields dealing with all sorts of topics. More information will be available in January’s Open Door, or you can see Karen Schall to get a copy of the brochure now. Dear friends, I hope that I have kept you informed of our work at Grace School through the regular Grace Newsletter and the Grace Weekly journal which you can read from our website. The reason for writing is to appeal for emergency support from the Church. The ministry of Grace School is currently sliding to a halt due to financial constraints. We have gone very deep in debt which is very stressful. We are appealing to you as friends and partners to redeem us from this situation. The debt has been mostly incurred in the feeding program and support for HIV patients. It is ironical that the more difficult the work is getting the deeper we feel the encouragement of God's Spirit that we are doing what is in conformity with his plan. We thank you for your continued partnership and the Lord bless you. We are aware that we mostly receive more from the church than its monthly promise. We thank God for this generosity. Hope to hear from you. Have you received the correspondences the children sent? I gave them to a friend who was coming to US to mail it from there. Samuel. ... none reported this month ...
Bethel Family Prayer Calendar - December, 2005  The members and regularly attending friends of Bethel are assigned to elder care groups. Each month in the newsletter for your prayers, we publish the list of one or more elder care groups. The elder’s name and phone at the top of the list are listed as a reminder of their role in nurturing and supporting those who belong to Bethel. You should feel free to contact your elder or the pastor if you have a particular spiritual need or other matter that needs to be brought to our attention. (*Non-member ^Shut-in +Inactive)
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jim Schall