Month: March 2020

John 13:34 “Love one another, as I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Each Tuesday, let’s take time to bless someone. We can bless our family in fun easy ways that will make them feel special and happy! This week let’s bake!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1C Butter (room temperature)
• 1C Sugar
• 1/2 C Brown Sugar
• 2 1/2 C Flour
• 2 beaten Eggs
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 C Chocolate Chips

First, wash your hands! & preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Use a hand mixer and cream together the butter and sugars. Add vanilla, eggs and water while mixing.

In another bowl, mix the flour, salt and soda. Gradually mix this into the wet ingredients until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop Tablespoons of the batter on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 9-11 minutes, take out of the oven and cool.

If you have leftover Christmas, Halloween, or Valentine’s sprinkles in your pantry, then you may want to make sugar cookies!

Use up your sprinkles, mix and match them and get creative, your family will love them!

Sugar Cookies

• 1 C Butter
• 1 C Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 1/2 teasp Vanilla
• 1 teasp Baking Powder
• 1/2 teas Salt
• 21/2 C Flour

First, wash your hands! & preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Use a hand mixer and cream together the butter and sugar together for about 2 minutes. While mixing, add in the eggs, vanilla, baking powder and salt. Gradually add in the flour while mixing until creamy and smooth.

drop Tablespoons of dough on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake about 8 minutes. take them out of the oven and add sprinkles and let cool.

Place cookies on a plate and add a sweet note to your loved one, they will enjoy your thoughtfulness!

Share with us!

Don’t forget to send us photos of your cookies!  Tag us on social @fumcwp and #FUMCWPonline. You can also email Rebecca DeVane at rebeccad@fumcwp.org.

Do you have a favorite recipe for cookies? Share with us on Facebook!

What: The Gathered in His Name prayer group is planning a “Day of Prayer” in response to the uncertainties and changes surrounding COVID-19. Our hope is to have our church family join us as we pray for our church body, our community, our country, and our world.

Where: Pray from home or wherever you are

How: Choose an hour to pray between 5:00am and 11:00pm on March 27. Email Rev. Gary Rideout at garyr@fumcwp.org indicating the time you as an individual or family plan to pray.

What’s next:  Once you have indicated the hour you plan to pray, you will receive an email with a prayer you may use and prayer topic suggestions.

Below is a recent post from Pastor David’s realm group, “Leadership Matters…”. To join this group, get connected at fumcwp.org/realm.

March 4, 2020

“I have been encountering a lot of confusion about the upcoming vote at General Conference. There is a good reason for this. It’s confusing! Here are a couple of things (I believe) are relevant to the upcoming gathering of United Methodist representatives from around the world.

• General Conference will meet in Minneapolis, MN from May 3 to May 15^th.
• General Conference occurs every 4 years (unless a special session is called as in 2019).
• At General Conference, elected representatives vote on the business of the denomination.
• · This May, one of the items being presented for vote is called Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation.
• The Protocol has been supported by many different groups in the United Methodist Church.
• The Protocol lays out a template for conferences and churches that wish to separate from the UMC to follow.
• You can read the Protocol through this link https://cdnsc.umc.org/-/media/umc-media/2020/01/03/15/48/Protocol-of-Reconciliation-and-Grace-through-Separation.
• There is no guarantee that the Protocol will pass. Or that it won’t be amended.
• There are multiple proposals that will be presented at General Conference.
• We won’t know what will happen with the Protocol until May.
• There will follow a period of months and years for implementation.

Based upon this, it is too early to be talking about any local church vote. We don’t know if there will be a vote. We don’t know what that vote will be about. We don’t know what the options will be for us to vote towards. We will have to address this post General Conference.

In the meantime, I want to focus on how we at FUMC Winter Park can have the one spirit Paul talks about in Philippians 2. What are some ways we as a church can respond to General Conference that build a united heart rather than create winners and losers?

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:1-4

Peace be with you!”

~Rev. David Miller, Senior Pastor

The Marcy Trust continues to believe in the mission and vision of our church; and, for that we are grateful. The contributions from the Marcy Trust allow our church to run special projects and initiatives that are outside the scope of the operations budget. The Marcy Trust just closed their fiscal year 2019/2020 and we are grateful for the $560,691 contribution they gifted our church during that time.

Our church family received gifting for the following 2019 initiatives:

• Matching Grant for the 2020 Stewardship Campaign
• New Stage for the Family Ministry
• Festival Gloria 2019
• Marcy Music Scholarships for UCF & Rollins Students

Our church family received gifting for these upcoming 2020 initiatives:

• Clergy to attend the Preaching Training: For Such a Time as This
• Wall’s Display Coming this Fall
• Stephen Ministry Training
• Landscaping at the Reeves Center
• Matching Grant for the Counseling Ministry
• Exploration of Live Streaming Services
• Festival Gloria 2020
• Leadership Council Project Fund

While the Marcy Trust’s primary beneficiary is FUMCWP, the trust has recently provided funds for projects at Duke University, the Candler School at Emory and the local district. Going forward, requests such as these are going to be submitted directly to the conference so they can help to prioritize them according to the goals and objectives of the conference.