FEBRUARY VBS REVIVAL NIGHT
February 11th from 5:30 - 9:00PM
Pandmania is back again! Please come join us for more Panda fun on Saturday, Feb. 11 from 5:30 – 9:00 p.m. The cost will be $15 this time (max $50 per family).

REGISTRATION (The online registration is no longer available)
Step 1: Download this form: Adobe reader (pdf) or Microsoft Word.
Step 2: Fill it out and email it here or bring it to the door with you when you come.

If you want to check out a great video from our last revival night, Click here.

Valentine’s Day Breakfast
Sunday, Feb. 12 at 8:30 a.m.
(Fellowship Hall)

Winter Mission Trip
Friday 17th to Canton, Ohio.
We are looking for 16 people to work with the Hammer and Nails organization and do interior work for people in need. We will leave Friday the 17th, stay 3 nights and return the afternoon of Monday the 20th. To express an interest or for more information in this trip please call John Hoffman at 614-876-9450.

Ash Wednesday Service
Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7:00 p.m.
(Chapel)

More Information
For more information about these events or what else is coming up, please download our monthly newsletter!

            So, did you celebrate any traditions during this Advent and Christmas season?

            When I was a child, we had some New Year’s Day traditions that we learned from my Slovak grandmother, many of them centering around food and material prosperity. We ate pork on New Year’s Day so that we would live “high on the hog” that year. We avoided chicken so we wouldn’t be “scratching for money” in the new year. Some families in my neighborhood even ate carrots cut to look like coins!

           The very early Methodists didn’t waste their time with superstitious folklore on New Year’s Day. They were a people focused on linking their daily lives with God’s call to serve. They were far more centered on being faithful, no matter what that might look like. They were focused on surrendering to God’s will, ready to be used or set aside by God. And it was this surrender, and the raw spiritual power that it gave, that God used to plant churches across the frontier.

           Listen to the words written by John Wesley, from part of the covenant service of 1780, celebrated today by many Methodists on New Year’s Day:
             “Let me be your servant, under your command.
              I will no longer be my own.
              I will give myself up to your will in all things.
              I put myself fully in your hands:
              Put me to doing, put me to suffering
              Let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you
              Let me be full, let me be empty
              Let me have all things, let me have nothing.”

           Say what you want about the early Methodists, but one thing that you can’t call them is a bunch of wimps! Our spiritual ancestors, the folks who founded our church, were willing to do anything to which God called them. They were in with both feet!

           On Sunday, January 1, I invite you to come to church at 11am and step in with both feet at a Wesley Covenant Service. Whether this is the first time you’ve been in church for a while, or whether you are with us every week, we need you to do what God has in mind for our church in 2012!

           It seems we begin each year with new hopes and old fears.  This time, let’s step into the new year “old school,” with our spirits centered in God, our allegiance clear, our fears parked at the curb, and our hearts ready to expect miracles happening through us!

Yours in the joy of Christ’s service,
Pastor Steve 

What’s worth $5 to you? How about an investment in the work of God in the world through the Church? It’s true: $5 can have a significant, even eternal impact in God’s economy.

The Finance Team and I invite you to participate in “The $5 Campaign”, which begins February 13 and runs through the end of this year. There are no pledge cards, no three-year commitments, no “campaign speeches”. We simply ask each person to give $5 per week above and beyond his/her regular offering. The money raised will go toward draining, repairing, and resurfacing the southeast parking lot, reducing the mortgage debt on the New Life Center, and if necessary to cover gaps between monthly income and expenses.

Wait, what do parking and debt reduction have to do with the work of God? Our property and facilities provide a “base of operations,” in and from which we share the Good News of God’s love in Jesus with our “neighbors” and world. Also taking the money for the parking lot out of our regular giving and continuing to carry a large debt would/will take money away from other, more direct life-changing ministries. The more proactively we work to raise these funds above and beyond our regular giving, the more we will be able to develop and support ministries to feed the hungry, care for children, engage young people, empower leaders, deepen faith, and inspire hope, while at the same time being responsible stewards of our property.

The enclosed brochure will both inspire and inform you. Please read it, pray about it, and respond courageously and generously. Thank you for all you do and give to participate in God’s work through the Church.

Download a Brochure

Serving with you,
Rev. Steve Putka
Pastor

Bruce Kerr
Administrative Board Chair

Bob Meyer
Finance Team Chair