Author: devadmin

Dr. Tony Campolo

Acclaimed author and speaker Dr. Tony Campolo is making a special guest appearance at First United Methodist Church Winter Park. He will speak on being the church for taking care of the poor and oppressed and motivating others to do the same.

Social Justice and the Church with Dr. Tony Campolo from First UMC Winter Park on Vimeo.

His web site is tonycampolo.org if you want some more info about him.

Several new books have recently been added to our church library collection. Like most of our collection, these books were donated by church members. The library committee is happy to accept donated books. Because of space considerations we are not able to keep all the books that we receive. What we can not use is passed on to the public libraries for their book sales.

Here are the titles of our latest additions:

“The Way; walking in the footsteps of Jesus” by Adam Hamilton

“A Heart Like His; intimate reflections on the life of David” by Beth Moore

“Adventures in Missing the Point; how the culture-controlled church neutered the gospel” by Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo

“How to Rescue the Earth Without Worshipping Nature; a Christian’s call to save creation” by Tony Campolo.

Visit the church library/resource room to find these and other provocative and inspiring books.

It’s so exciting to launch our new Disciple Map.

The Disciple Map is a tool you can access that will help you narrow down your gifts and discover some great opportunities here at FUMCWP!

Some opportunities you may find can be small group studies, assisting in our Children’s Ministry, serving on a local or mission abroad and so much more.

It is something you can access many times as well as share!

We hope it helps as a guide in your faith journey.

An enthusiastic group of book-loving women meet in our church library every month. We share our love of reading by discussing a wide variety of books – novels, histories, memoirs, classics, mysteries, nonfiction – we have read them all. Our discussion is always lively and insightful. The value of a book club is that we are exposed to books we may never have considered reading on our own … and then they become some of our favorites. The group consists of church members and non-church members.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, October 12th at 10:00 AM. Our book for this month is “Everyone Brave is Forgiven” by Chris Cleave. It tells a powerful story of courage, love, forgiveness and bravery during World War II. Everyone is welcome!

Take part in these events and learn how YOU can become part of our amazing Panua ministry in Naivasha, Kenya to assist orphans and vulnerable youth:

• “Next Stop Naivasha” Dinner – Monday, October 24, 2016, 6:15-8:15pm, Fellowship Hall. $10 adults, $8 children. Learn more about Panua and meet our Kenyan staff. Register Here.

 

• Current Sponsor Appreciation Event – Thursday, October 27, 2016, 7:00-8:30pm. Check your mail for your invitation and details.

 

• Panua 5K – Saturday, October 29, 2016, 7:30am, Baldwin Park – For more information or to register, visit panua.org/panua5k.

 

• Panua Sunday – October 30, 2016, all 3 services in Matthias Family Life Center. Come hear success stories of the 2016 graduating class, and the plans for the kickoff of the 2017 class!

For more information please logon to panua.org.

“How About You?”

October 2nd will mark the beginning of an exciting new small group opportunity. “How About You?” will provide an opportunity for those in the 9:30 worship service to both connect with one another and have a place for intentional Christian community. After the worship service, still in the gym, we will take 30 minutes to gather in groups and examine how we can better follow Christ in our lives.

In Christ God sees us as saints, HAY will help equip us to be better Christian leaders in our family, relationships, workplace and community. To get there we must first make sure that our own souls are nourished. This self-leadership takes place in community. Hebrews 10:24-25 stresses the importance of intentional Christian community as we seek to live faithfully in the world.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (NIV)

The practice of followers of Christ gathering together to help one another along the journey started with Jesus and the disciples and has continued throughout history. Each time there has been major growth in the Christian faith, these gatherings, or little churches within the big church, have been central. These type of groups were central to early Methodism. John Wesley saw Christianity as impossible alone. In contrast to an individual spirituality Wesley states:

“Directly opposite to this is the gospel of Christ. Solitary religion is not to be found there. ‘Holy solitaries’ is a phrase no more consistent with the gospel than holy adulterers. The gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness.”

But what about…
We understand that there are many things competing for your attention. Because of this we have sought to address anything that might stop you from participating in this transformative opportunity. For you to be able to participate we have made some changes to children’s and youth ministries on Sunday mornings to accommodate them during this time. There will be a space for your children and youth to simultaneously participate in a small group environment so your children will also have the opportunity to grow in their faith and connect with their peers.

Childcare will be provided in the fellowship hall, we just ask that you register. Middle and high schoolers will meet in the youth lounge and participate in their own HAY discussion groups. Food will be provided in both spaces.

We cannot walk this journey alone. Come join us beginning October 2nd. All are welcome.

Those of you who have visited our Panua experience might remember Samuel’s house.  The 10×10 hut shared by Samuel and his 7 siblings is a depiction of where Samuel was living when we learned his story in 2013.  When we visited Samuel today, we saw that he is now living in a 2 room row house, still with all his siblings and but in much better conditions.  While the conditions are not still up to the standards that we are accustomed to, he is doing great and is appreciative of all the assistance that Panua has offered him.

He has steady work operating a water-delivery donkey cart, which provides well for the family.  We were with him as he harnessed his 3 donkeys to the cart – and we learned that donkeys actually recognize their owners, and that’s why, out of the many, many donkeys we’ve seen on the side of the road, each donkey stays with its proper owner. With Florence acting as our interpreter,Samuel let us know that he feels so much love & support from all of Children’s Ministry.

While we were in the neighborhood, we picked up Benson and took him to see his prayer partner, Jennifer, who was with the rest of the team in a planning meeting.  What a great time they had getting to know each other better – and Benson and Spencer (Jennifer’s daughter) enjoyed the trampoline!  A real treat for them both!

After a quick trip to the grocery store, we drove out to Hell’s Gate National Park.  This is the park which inspired the setting for The Lion King.  We were able to meet up with Abraham, a 2016 Panua Graduate, who isworking as a guide at the park.  Our first stop inside the gate was to eat lunch, and after a brief warning from Abraham to watch out for the sometimes aggressive monkeys, we looked up to find a monkey coming into the safari top of the truck!  Before we knew what was happening, that little rascal had stolen popcorn and Sammy’s entire peanut butter & jelly sandwich!  There were a few moments of utter chaos inside the Land Cruiser before Sammy got the roof shut and the critter out. Can’t say we weren’t warned!

Abraham took us into the park and got us through our 8km hike safely, down into the gorge and back out, educating us along the way of all the park happenings and history.  It was beautiful scenery – another good reminder of God’s hand in the creation of this beautiful setting.

Our trip back to town included a stop in Karagita to see Lucy, who is supported by Student Ministries!  Her English is limited, but with Florence translating, she expressed her thanks to the group and was grateful to receive a huge stack of letters from students. Students, be sure to attend Elevate where you will have a short video message from Lucy!

Our blogs of this week would not be complete without mentioning Sammy, our driver, who was definitely part of our team and went above and beyond, shuttling us to neighborhoods near and far.  Spencer remarked that “he felt like a dad on this trip – he protected us, taught us stuff, showed us around and just took care of us.”  He did all that and more.  We thank you, Sammy!

We feel blessed to have participated in such an informative, educational, relational, awesome trip!  We wrapped up our week with a team dinner at the hotel restaurant, where Paul, Patrick, Florence and Ephantus, from the Kenya Office, were able to join us.  It was a nice way to cap off a wonderful week!

Today we attended church at Rehoboth UMC in the DCK neighborhood.  What a great service and a great message to remember to stay as moldable clay in God’s hands so He can continually shape and reshape us as He needs to. The text for today’s service was Jeremiah 18:5-6: “Then the word of the Lord came to me.  He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.’”  What was extra special for us was that Pastor Paul used a mosaic that was completed by one of our graduates, Zach, that said “I ? Panua”. This small mosaic was done overnight from our leftover broken pottery and presented to us the morning of graduation by Zach. He had asked to have the extra pieces and the tools from our larger mosaic project. We were all so surprised by the beautiful work he did so quickly, but even more surprised when the pastor used it in his sermon! It’s now a sermon we will never forget because no matter where we come from we are all the same to God and are all still a work in progress.

DCK – I cannot find the words to express or explain the living or road conditions of this neighborhood on a hill. I will have to let the pictures speak for themselves. They asked us to bring to you their greetings. They are so appreciative of our help for their youth. They also asked us to keep them in our prayers now and during the 2017 Kenyan elections. They are hoping for continued peace in this country.

After the service, we drove a short distance to have lunch, and got to meet a giraffe up close and personal.  That was exciting for everyone, even Sammy our driver, as he had never actually touched one before.  We lunched in a beautiful spot overlooking Lake Naivasha, and then took a drive over to a nearby breathtaking saltwater lake, viewing Kongoni, another of the neighborhoods we will work in next time, on the way there.

Another blessed day for all.

~David Alger