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The Open Door
VOL. 33 NO. 11 Marc Sherrod, Minister November, 2005 
E-Mail & On-Line Newsletter
Dedication Sunday for our Time and Talent Commitment Sheets will soon be upon us -- Sunday, November 20. This represents our annual opportunity to review our spiritual gifts, then to walk forward in worship in order publicly to pledge our support for particular ministries of the Church. This special Sunday, however, is but a symbolic ritual of the commission each of us received in our baptism to engage all year in spiritual practices of wise and generous stewardship. Christian stewardship, as one person has defined it, embodies “the practice of systematic and proportionate giving of time, abilities, and material possessions based on the conviction that these are a trust from God, to be used in God’s service for the benefit of all humankind in grateful acknowledgement of Christ’s redeeming love.” Our Ministry Initiative Team on Gifts Discernment has been revamping our old Stewardship Commitment form. We are eager to experience ways in which this new format will stimulate a process of self-examination and renewal of personal devotion. Look to get your sheet this Sunday, then plan to spend some time in meditation and prayer as you ponder what you can offer to build-up the work of God’s people through the various and diverse ministries of the Bethel Presbyterian Church. Is your gift teaching Sunday School? Prison ministry? Sharing the Good News through our many outreach ministries? Serving on a committee or lending a hand in worship by volunteering as a liturgist, usher, or choir member? Bethel is regarded by many outside our congregation as an extremely active church for its size. But that multitude of ministries, activities, and corporate experiences rely to a great degree on your willingness to participate and share the gifts that God has entrusted to you. I know that much of our individual and corporate energy in recent months (and for some of us for several years!) has been consumed with visioning, studying, and discussing the future mission and ministry of Bethel, along with the necessity of addressing the status of our buildings. In seeking a way forward, our stewardship of these buildings and what they represent as vessels for ministry will, at least for a season of time, remain a primary focus of us. To that end, please pray for the four work teams that have been formed and who are now busy compiling information on the four options previously established by the session.
Please mark your calendars for Sunday, December 11 when, following lunch in the fellowship hall, the teams will make preliminary reports to the congregation in order to get your feedback. The session is pointing towards a gathering of the congregation, probably in late January on a Sunday afternoon, to take a series of votes to try and determine which option the congregation feels aligns best with God’s preferred future for Bethel. Session will then take the information gathered and decide which building option will be undertaken. I am grateful that even with the enormous emotional and mental energy required to sort through our building needs, we have been able to maintain a focus on other ministries as well. In part, we can do so because of your generous financial stewardship – it looks as if our giving in 2005 will align quite nicely with our budget of $235,000. Thanks be to God! Let’s keep up the good work! Grace & Peace,
In this month of Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful. First of all, I am thankful for the opportunity to go on mission with Linda Brown, Carolyn McNew and Alf Rybka. We were sent on a medical mission to the Vietnamese community in Bayou la Batre. We did have health checks and a flu shot clinic, but God also had other work for us to do. We spent the majority of our time at the Wesleyan church in Bayou la Batre at the distribution center. There we saw, first hand, the needs of those effected by Hurricane Katrina and were able to help fill those needs. Whether the residents needed food, water, baby supplies, personal hygiene, cleaning supplies or just a kind word or prayer from a caring person; their immediate needs were met. There is much work left to do in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. I pray that we look at our own gifts and see if we can volunteer to be God’s servants in mission. Our next mission trip through Presbytery is November 5-12. Our contact person for the East Tennessee Presbytery Mission Trips is Rick Kuhlman (pronounced Coleman). If you would like to go on this mission trip, please call Rick at 865-250-5479 for your assignment. The December mission trip will be December 26- January 1st. I hope to go on this trip and can coordinate our Bethel members who wish to participate. Both of these trips will be focusing in on the coastal Mississippi sites affected by the Hurricane. All who wish to volunteer must fill out a Presbytery-wide permission/ liability form. I have stocked these forms in our narthex. After filling them out, please bring them to me for two reasons: they need to be notarized and I want to copy your medical information sheet to take with us. I will send all our forms to Presbytery en masse. The December trip promises to be our most popular trip as our youth will be out of school on Christmas Break. Any youth in High School can go on the trip. We will be taking up another offering, as the time gets closer to cover our costs in traveling, food, and other needs. I am very thankful that we have so many willing and gifted people at Bethel to help with mission work. Finally, I am thankful that we will be able to have a flu shot clinic here at Bethel this year. I will go to the Roane County Health Council Meeting next Tuesday, October 25th. In this meeting, we will be discussing sites and times for the distribution of shots. I believe the shots will be $10.00 this year. I’ll send out information on the date and time of the flu shot clinic as soon as I know. As always, to your health
Alicia Webb is compiling an up-to-date list of e-mail addresses. In this day and age, email really is the fastest way to keep informed about prayer requests, funeral arrangements, hospitalizations, meeting changes, etc. If you haven’t already done so, please contact Alicia at the church office by clicking HERE and let her know your e-mail address. Hurricane Relief The following notes were taken from an email from Rick Kuhlman, who heads up Presbytery’s hurricane relief efforts: 1) First and foremost, THANKS for your support! God has indeed blessed us with Presbyterians and Presbyterian Churches that are stepping forward to assist these trips with time, talent and treasure. 2) TOOLS ARE NEEDED - If you have a hammer, crowbar, pair of leather gloves, shovels or other hand tools… If you put your name on the tool we will get it back to you. 3) FUND RAISERS - If your church can organize a creative fundraiser we still need funds to help with our trips and the work they will be doing. Special offerings, fund raising brunch/supper, church yard sale or other fund raisers your church can do will go a long way to help pay for our ministry. The ongoing costs will not end with the Christmas trip. We are being asked by the Synod to adopt a church near Gulfport Mississippi. Their needs and the needs of the church members will be our continuing project and concern. 4) VOLUNTEERS Get your applications from the Presbytery web site home page (or from Deb Hyder here at Bethel) and get them in to the Presbytery office ASAP. We need to know how many people to plan for, not only at this end but down in the areas the trips are headed to. We have lots of room for now but that may change quickly. We have a limit of 50 for the November trip and a limit of 150 for the December trip. 5) RV's - Yes, bring the RV or camper on the November and December trips. We will be staying at a Presbytery Camp and they have hook-ups for RV's and parking spaces much like here at our own John Knox Center. (This may be subject to change but plans for now include the RV's) 6) SPECIAL TOOLS AND SKILLS - Yes we are looking for people with special skills and tools. Doctors and Nurses are needed for the trips. Contractors who know how to tear out and fix-up homes and buildings are needed. Front-end loaders like Bobcats are needed. If you have a special skill call us and we will let you know how we can use you. 7) PRAYERS and more PRAYERS. Pray for our leaders and the students going on this first trip and for each of the other trips and when you're done praying - start all over again. Looking Ahead From Janet Nippert comes this note about the Group Workcamps Foundation: “You are familiar with Group Work Camps, teens who are in Kingston for a week each summer to do painting, building and renovations for folks in our community. In the summer of 2006, we will not have Group Work Camps for the usual one week, but we will have Week of Hope for seven weeks. I am needing phone numbers of folks who may appreciate work in their homes summer of 2006.” Although the Week of Hope teens will not be doing home renovations, they will be available for a large number of household chores, both indoors and out; things like cleaning, window washing, cooking, yard work, closet cleaning, etc. Their services are available to all levels of age and need. For further information, or to sign up, please contact Janet Nippert at 865-717-2701 or jnippert@directway.com . Community Thanksgiving Service Please join us for our annual gathering with other churches in Kingston for our joint Thanksgiving service. It will be on Tuesday evening, November 22 at 7 pm at a church yet-to-be-determined. Marker Dedication On November 6 at the Worship Service there will be a brief dedication ceremony for the Markers that will be placed on the hill to denote where Bethel Church once stood. Following the Worship Service, at 12:30 p.m., there will also be a brief ceremony on the hill where the Markers will actually be placed on the poles - everyone is invited. A group picture will be made and an article will be placed in the Roane County News. Several folks from the Historical Society and from DAR will attend. Thanks to Roger Richmond and Boy Scout Troop 101 for digging the holes and setting the poles in concrete. We are having two separate ceremonies because we realize that it would be difficult for some to go up the hill. Host/Hostess for October Fellowships Fun Lunch, Tuesday, November 8 - The Hettricks Christmas Caroling Sunday, December 18. We will meet at Bethel at 4:30 PM. After caroling, the carolers are invited to the Hettricks for refreshments. Christmas Dinner and Party Our Christmas dinner and party will be on Wednesday, December 21, starting at 6:30 PM. Everyone is invited to the dinner, pageant and party. Church Directory Just a short update: we have received the first Directory Proof Book and had to make a few corrections. The corrected book was sent back to Lifetouch on Thursday, October 20. We anticipate getting the second Proof Book beginning of November and should have the directories ready to distribute in December. Thanks for your patience. Mission Outreach Committee Volunteer Opportunities in Roane County SunBridge needs volunteers to help feed elderly people during the afternoon and evening. If interested, please call 354-3941 Volunteers are needed for simple income tax preparation. There will be a 1 day training session to become certified. Training is scheduled for January (dates to be announced) at one of three locations: Cokesbury in Knoxville, online or at RSCC in Oak Ridge. Volunteers will work in groups of two. If interested, please call the United Way (882-7711) for more details. The Salvation Army in Roane County collected over $14,000 last Christmas season. If you or your group is interested in volunteering an hour or more, please contact the United Way. Look for Salvation Army volunteers at Krogers, WalMart and both Food City stores beginning Thanksgiving weekend. Christmas is coming... The Mission Outreach Committee is busy working with area churches to complete our Christmas Basket and Angel Tree list. Worship Committee Advent Volunteers Needed! The Worship Committee needs a lot of volunteers for the Advent season this year. First of all, we need four families to participate in the lighting of the Advent candles during worship services leading up to Christmas. Please contact the Church office at 376-6340 or Bob Jones at 376-4434 if you are willing to help out with this special ceremony. We also need a multitude of volunteers to contribute to a personalized Advent devotional booklet we plan to prepare for this Advent season. Suggested devotional scripture verses have been assigned for each day through the Advent season leading up to Christmas. We will ask each volunteer to select a day of their choice, then prepare a personal message, of approximately 300 words or less, to share with the congregation in the booklet. The message could be a reflection of the scripture suggested for the chosen day, but it can also be a special Advent memory or other thoughts that would contribute to the devotional purpose of the booklet. We would also like to illustrate this special Advent devotional booklet with drawings having an Advent theme, so we are asking the youth of the Church to share their artistic talents with the congregation by creating drawings that reflect their thoughts about Advent. Parents and Sunday school teachers, please encourage our youth to sign up and provide illustrations for this special booklet. The following list of scripture verses will be posted on the bulletin board at the rear of the sanctuary. Please look over the list and sign up in the sanctuary to provide a message for the day of your choice: Nov 27 – Psalms 24, Matthew 25:1-13 Thank you for helping to make this a very special Advent season The youth group will be meeting on Sunday afternoons from 1-4:30. Christmas is coming... and our youth are already gearing up for this year’s Christmas Pageant on December 21st. Greg Murr is coordinating the production, which is based on the Charlie Brown Christmas story. The first practice session will take place during the first hour of the youth group meeting on Nov. 6th. The first practice is limited to older youth with speaking parts that need memorization. Greg will make an announcement about rehearsals for the whole cast at a later date.
... none reported this month ... Please note the change of email address for Kathy Francis - The following was excerpted from a note from Erma Rayle, daughter of Erma Shesler: Members of Bethel, As you know, my mother, Erma Shesler, a member of your congregation had surgery by Dr. Posman of Oak Ridge last Friday, Oct. 7. The doctor said after the surgery that she really needed this procedure done for carpal tunnel syndrome. The bandages will stay on for 11 days and then there will be therapy for strengthening her grip. If she has a solution to the problem for her left hand, she will also have surgery on the right hand. I haven't had this procedure done but I thought that if your members know of someone who has had surgery...it would be encouraging to her...Do you know anyone who would be able to tell my folks their experience with this syndrome? Thank you for your help. To our Bethel Family: We wish to thank everyone for their prayers and kind words at the time of Jack’s brother Ivan’s illness and death. The Stackpoles, Jack and Fern ... none reported this month ...
Bethel Family Prayer Calendar - November, 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.
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Bettie Shenk