A place for beginning, becoming, and belonging!

~Menu~ Fried chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn or green beans, coleslaw, and your choice of dessert and drink

~Tickets~ Adults—$9

Kids under 12—$5

See more on page 2!

Fried Chicken Dinner & Bazaar

Saturday, September 12 Serving from 4pm—8pm

WONDERFUL WEDNESDAYS

ARE BACK!

The Fun Kicks Off September 9

Meal—5:30pm

Classes—6:30pm

First day of fall

September 23

Enjoy 3 fun-filled days at

Ramsey State Park with other

Sugar Creek Campers. Contact

Shirley Rickman (217-691-

5039) if you plan on joining

us, or for more information.

Ramsey State Park—September 25—27

The Church Office will be closed on

Monday, September 7 in observance

of Labor Day. Enjoy the holiday!

“And people should eat and drink and

enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these

are gifts from God.” Ecclesiastes 3:13

“God’s love is unconditional,

unlimited and complete!”

All ladies are welcome to join us on Saturday,

September 19 from 9am to 11am for a time of

fellowship, devotions and brunch. This a perfect

opportunity to invite someone to Church!

25—Cakes

120—Pies

100 lbs—Sugar

50 lbs—Flour

8 lbs—Bacon

15—Loaves of White Bread

10—Loaves of Rye Bread

10—Loaves of Wheat Bread

20—Gallons of Whole Kernel Corn

30—Gallons of Cut Green Beans

8—Gallons of Brown Vinegar

5—Large Onions

10 lbs—Coffee

5 lbs—Decaf Coffee

20—Cans of Kool-Aid

30 lbs—Stick Butter

JOIN THE FUN AND FELLOWSHIP! We are in need of volunteers who would

like to help with the following:

COLE SLAW DAY

Wednesday, September 9 at 9AM.

SET UP

Friday, September 11 at 6PM.

Clean chicken, setup tables (dining room

and Bazaar), chairs, serving lines, run

dishes through the dishwasher.

PREP

Saturday, September 12 at 1PM

Set up tents, flouring tables and chicken

cooker. Prepare drinks, wrap silverware,

cut and slice desserts, etc.

21st ANNUAL CHICKEN

DINNER & BAZAAR

Saturday, September 12

Serving from 4pm—8pm

DONATIONS NEEDED

YOUR MONEY

FUNDING GOD’S MINISTRY Through your giving you

are a blessing to others!

General Fund

Contributions

Expense

Missions & Benevolence

Conference Obligations

Program Expense

Salaries (Pastor & Staff)

Utilities & Cleaning

Total Expense

Net Income (-loss)

Building Fund

Contributions

Jan—Jul 2015

$178,553

$9,647

$15,447

$30,936

$114,429

$19,896

$190,350

($11,797)

$9,721

July 2015

$22,303

$1,292

$2,206

$6,608

$17,290

$2,649

$30,045

($7,742)

$2,108

Your generous gifts help us to live out the mission of

Sugar Creek Church.

“Remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he him-

self said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Acts 20:35

As you can see, we are running a little behind for

2015! If everyone could increase their giving by 10-

20% of their current giving, we could catch up by the

end of the year. Example: current giving $10 per

week; new giving $11 per week. Current giving $50

per week; new giving $55 per week. This would

allow us to continue our mission, outreach and youth

programs.

Thanks from the Finance Team

1st Kristen Patterson

2nd Barb Hedinger

3rd Phyllis Fairchild

3rd Carolyn Allen

4th Marsha Johnson

4th Dan Sullivan

4th Trent Lael

4th Alaina Brockway

6th Barry Smith

6th Virginia Daugherty

6th Lindsey Koch

9th Shantel High

9th Calen Forbes

11th Mike Finley

13th Steven Chase

15th Jean McClure

15th Tylar Midden

15th Skylar Midden

15th Adam Chase

16th Dave Dickey

17th Christine Young

17th Norman Skeeters

17th Wanda Fernandes

18th Diann Gragg

18th Lynn Bale

18th Laikyn McGuire

19th Emily Stieren

19th Henley Brown

20th Karen Dozier

20th Mimi Horn

21st Tom Hale

21st Milt Miner

21st Scott Parker

21st Andrea Reinwald

21st Aaron Small

22nd Mason Kaylor

22nd Marshall Kaylor

23rd Wyatt House

24th Richard Fanning

24th Kathy Simmons

25th Mason Brockway

26th Carole Finchum

26th Clara Lowary

27th Susan Perko

28th Rick Miles

29th Carol Koch

30th Tim Sullivan

30th Kara Mobley

30th Lauren Godfrey

5th Joe & Jean McClure 6th Bill & Lovell Legg 17th Mark & Dolores Mobley 20th Lyn & Cathy Bale 23rd Wayne & Debbie Sisk 28th Richard & Carolyn Halford 28th Bill & Rachel Shea

Don’t see your name on the birthday

or anniversary list? Please let the Church

Office know. We don’t want to miss

your special day!

The Sugar Creek men

will meet Monday,

September 14, at

6:30pm, at the church.

Dinner will be provided.

All men of the church are

welcome!

SEPTEMBER TEAM MEETINGS

PPRC—Tuesday, September 2 at 6:30pm

Trustees—Tuesday, September 8 at 6:30pm

Education—Monday, September 14 at 6:00pm

Finance—Monday, September 14 at 6:30pm

Nominations—Tuesday, September 15 at 6:30pm

Leadership—Tuesday, September 22 at 6:30pm

Nominations—Monday, September 28 at 6:30pm

Finance—Tuesday, September 29 at 6:30pm

Please keep the families that lost loved ones on September 11, 2001 in your prayers. This month is especially hard for them, and they need our prayers!

Our prayers do make a difference!

Ladies Bible Study on Acts Kicks off Wednesday, September 9 at 6pm

Led by Crystal Matthiesen

Please contact the Church Office if you plan on joining us (office@sugarcreek.org/483.2270).

FALL WEINER ROAST & HAYRACK RIDE

Wednesday, November 4 5:30pm—8:00pm

Come and enjoy a night out by the bonfire, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows. We’ll have hot chocolate, and caramel apples too...yummy! Remember to bring your lawn chairs, and something warm to wear for the hayride. Hope to see you all there!

WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY’S SPOOKTACULAR DINNER

October 28 at 5:30pm The Wonderful Wednesday Kitchen Crew has an extra spooky menu planned, so don’t miss out on the fun! We will have classes at our regular time (6:30pm). Invite a friend...if you dare!

Sunday, October 25 5:30pm—7:30pm

This is a fun and exciting event not only for our kids, but for our creative adults too! We would like to have 25 trunks for this event, so start planning now. Look for the sign up at the Infor-mation Desk in the Church Foyer.

USED BOOKS & CD SALE Saturday, November 28

10AM—3PM

The Sugar Creek Student Ministry is once again collecting books for the Vendor Fair. If you have gently used books or cds you would like to donate, please bring them to the Church before Sunday, November 22.

Mark your calendar, and plan now to attend the Vendor Fair on Saturday, November 28 from 10am—3pm. More details coming soon!

Making the Difference!

Junior High Students Kicks off September 9 at 6:30 pm

7th & 8th grade students

Senior High Students Kicks off September 13 at 6:00 pm

9th through 12th grade students

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2015

Dinner—5:30pm (free will offering)

Registration—5:30pm to 7pm

Trivia begins at 7pm—$5/person

There will also be a silent auction and bake sale to help support Youth Missions at Sugar Creek.

Please call the office or email Emily (eosterbur@sugarcreek.org/483-2270)

to register your team in advance!

Sugar Creek Volunteer Day Midwest Mission Distribution Center

Are you interested in being a part of a mission experience, but don’t have the time to take a trip? Well we have great news for you! Did you know that Sugar Creek Church has a volunteer day at the Midwest Mission Distribution Center, and that the Center is located just next door to the Church?

The Center is the perfect mission experience, because they not only impact those in need locally, but nationally, and around the world. How are they able to do this? Because of volunteers just like you!

Sugar Creek volunteers the third Friday of the month, why not join us on Friday, September 18 from 9am to noon to see what a valuable part you can play in this vital outreach. Want more info? Check out their website at www.midwestmissiondc.org.

I alone can not change

the world, but I can

cast a stone across

the waters to create

many ripples.

Mother Teresa

We spend some time in our lives navigating fault lines. When we navigate our way through some-

thing, we make our way – not sure of where we’ll end up. We take a Colombo approach – ask ques-

tions to better understand and feel our way through a situation. The idea of fault lines has been in

my head for a little while. A fault line is the edge of an earthquake, and the fault line’s in the middle.

But I needed more to go on. So I asked Austin, my son. Austin told me that a fault line is the place

where tons of earthquakes hit. And, he told me that a fault line is where an earthquake hits and the

ground changes. And then Austin told me to look up Geology and go back to school! That’s when

Austin was younger. Oh Austin… So, I have this idea of what a fault line is, and Austin’s idea, and

then I looked in the dictionary. à The dictionary defines a fault line as a fracture in the earth’s crust

accompanied by a displacement of one side of the fracture with respect to the other side of the frac-

ture (and in a direction parallel to the fracture). A fracture marks where something is torn or bro-

ken.

The more I think about it, we navigate fault lines all the time. As we work through fault lines, we

easily place ourselves in either more conservative camps, or, we place ourselves in other camps.

Consider the following fault lines – the great dividing points: The fault line of Immigration. On one

side of the fault line, let’s send all the illegals home. On the other side of the fault line, let’s com-

pletely open our borders. As you can imagine, there are strong opinions on both sides of the issue.

The fault line of Global Warming. On one side of the fault line, do nothing – the planet will work it

all out. On the other side of the fault line, go green, go green, go green. Buy hybrid cars. Recycle like

there’s no tomorrow! Which really doesn’t make sense – if there’s no tomorrow, why recycle?

Hmm… The fault line of War. On one side of the fault line, there is support of war. On the other

side of the fault line, there is opposition to war. The fault line concerning Animals. On one side of

the fault line, there is PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA folks want to ap-

preciate ducks. They give speeches about ducks. On the other side of the fault line, equally vocal,

there is the NRA – the National Rifle Association. NRA folks fuel hunters everywhere with their

platforms in magazines like Field & Stream and The Outdoorsman. NRA folks tend to shoot ducks.

The fault line surrounding Baseball. You cheer for one team, you’re on one side of the fault line. You

cheer for another team, you’re instantly on the other side of the fault line. Think: St. Louis Cardinal

fans against Chicago Cubs fans. Or toss the Chicago White Sox fans in there. Truth be told, this is a

fun fault line.

(Continued on back)

There are fault lines everywhere! There’s the fault line of whether you pull yourself up by your own

bootstraps, like our Builder generation with us (folks born between 1910 and 1930) – pull yourself by

your own bootstraps – or people receive welfare. A fun fault line: the Greatest Musical Artist of All

Time: Elvis vs. Conway Twitty. The Debate rages on! OK, in my mind… Fault lines are everywhere.

In Scripture, the early Christians need help – some guidelines on how to navigate fault lines and

some direction on how to live as a community of faith. And we need help, too. So, identify fault lines

– know what you’re stepping into, know the issues that you face. Then, navigate fault lines – make it

through what you’re stepping into. Work your way through conflict, and arrive at conflict resolution.

A reading of Acts 15 in the New Testament of the Bible reveals that as we join in on the first ever

church board meeting, there is disagreement in the first ever church board meeting. A glaring fault

line is identified in that meeting. That should comfort us during the times we come across heated

disagreements in church meetings!

Even in the midst of disagreement at that first church board meeting ever, unity will be achieved!

The two sides in the church will come together. Like it or not, life periodically is about assessing

changes, noticing the shifts, and then navigating fault lines. Sometimes as we navigate fault lines, we

might have to agree to disagree – and then move on. Different opinions can intensify and create

fault lines. And yet – and yet – we belong to the Lord. He expects us to behave in a certain way –

which encompasses loving our neighbor – caring for one another – in the midst of multiple fault

lines!

Take some time to navigate the fault lines that you, yourself, face in your own life. And may we as a

church, navigate the fault lines that we discover as well. I am available for conversation. Just let me

know. I can’t respond effectively to anything anonymous. Thank you for your support of Sugar

Creek Church and your ability to navigate fault lines.

Pastor Allen

(Pastor’s Pen continued)