College Park First United Methodist Church

The Messenger

Volume XIX, Issue 9 September 2016

Sermon Recordings

Sermon recordings are available on our website.

Visit cpfirstumc.org and look in the “From the Pastor” section.

We had a wonderful response to our call for

school supply donations! You were so generous

that we were able to donate supplies both to the

migrant children of Hall County and to Family

Life Ministries to use for children in need right

here in the Tri-cities area. We received:

45 Notebooks 40 Packs of Paper 42 Folders 16 Binders 92 Pens 256 Pencils 38 Packs of Crayons 9 Packs of Markers 33 Glue sticks 9 Erasers 5 Pairs of Scissors 4 School Supply Boxes… and more!

Your generosity will make a real

difference in the lives and educations of these children.

Blessing of the Animals

Join us on Sunday, October 2nd at 5 pm for our annual Blessing of the Pets

service - a worship service celebrating the joy and companionship of our

pets.

This year, the service will be held in Barrett Park (on Rugby Ave between

Conley and Napoleon). All people and their pets are welcome! Pets must be

on a leash or in a carrier. There will be activities for kids, snacks for people

and pets, and an opportunity to have your picture taken with your pet.

Invite your friends and

neighbors as we celebrate our animal companions!

The Learning Academy of College Park Update

Exciting Times for the Learning Academy!

The Learning Academy of College Park is getting ready to move into the Education building! The move will happen the week of September 12, but before then, we can use your help in putting the finishing touches on the building. If you have free time between now and September 11 and are willing to help out, please contact:

Ricci Lewis-Johnson, Director of TLACP, 404-766-9252 (school office) or 678-779-1998 (cell) As TLACP moves into the new space, that also means there is room for more students! Help get the word out about our excellent preschool by picking up a yard sign at the church office or in the Sanctuary on Sunday morning to let our community know about The Learning Academy.

Friends and Family:

Janni Alings, Tyler Brooks, Sharon Coer, Emily Collins, Nellie Crawford, Jenny Dubose, Ellen Evans, Kirby & Debbie Glaze, Jane Hannah ,Louise Hudson, Dwight Oxford, Karen and Al Pardo, Teresa Powell, Carolyn Rowland, Todd Sinclair, Amir Sultan, Jerry Wiley Wilkes, Sandra Williams, James Woods, Clay Zupp, Sr.

Church Members:

Emily Campbell, Tina Donaldson, Bill Freeman, Dennis Matchett, Bob Mayfield, Brenda Nibbs, Tosca Oxford, Carolyn Price

Prayer List

Our Sympathy to

The family of Wanda Adams who passed away August 14th.

September Counters

September 4th- Janet Deorio and Leslie Haskins

September 11th - Mary Bieberstein and Meredith Hodges

September 18th- West Gary and Peggy Morris

September 25th - Kathleen Gulley and Leslie Haskins

Louisiana Flood Relief

Please join us in praying for those affected by the flooding in Louisiana. The United Methodist Committee On Relief (UMCOR) has requested relief supplies for the Louisiana Conference where several churches have been converted to shelters for those who have been displaced. There are two ways we can help right now:

Give funds (Checks should be made out to College Park FUMC and clearly marked NGUMC Fund #4390 or UMCOR US Disaster Response)

Give supplies for health kits (listed below are the contents of each kit):

Hand towels- 15 x 25 inches to 17 x 27 inches

Washcloths

Combs- longer than 6 inches

Metal nail files or nail clippers

Bath-sized soap- individually wrapped

Toothbrushes- individually packaged

Adhesive bandages (i.e. Band-Aids)

One-gallon zip-lock bags

One-dollar bills

We will be collecting donations through September 18th

when we will assemble the kits and prepare them for shipping.

If you have any questions please call the office at 404-766-6294.

Shut-Ins:

Jerry & Juanita Aldredge, Jean Cowden, Zoe Dixon, Skeeter Faulkner, Evelyn Glover, Dot Hale, Harry & Laura Leigh Hicks, Bobbie & Jake Longino, Jewell Moore, Caroline Rowley

September Birthdays

09/04 Juanita Aldredge

09/04 Stephen Brown

09/05 Janette Kelley

09/05 Caroline Rowley

09/05 Christopher Denny

09/06 Susie Hardin

09/06 Clifton Calloway

09/07 Reagan Gary

09/10 Meredith Hodges

09/12 Nathan Harvey

09/15 Zoe Miller

09/16 Dinah Shirley

09/16 Brianna Griffin

09/18 Jane Warren

09/21 Julie Norment

09/26 Stewart Haskins

09/30 Jason Walker

09/30 Matthew Gulley

North Georgia Conference

Special Offering

September 18, 2016

A WORD FROM REV. HINMAN

Back to School – Back to Basics

A few years ago, at back to school time, I did a sermon series at Decatur First UMC that I called

“Back to Basics” (if you are very fortunate, I may do a revival of this series sometime here at College Park

FUMC). Frequently at the beginning of the school year, a teacher will have to spend some time reviewing

the very basics and foundations of their subject before diving into a bunch of new material. The idea being

that, over the course of the summer, some of those fundamentals may have leaked out of the brains of the

students, and they may need a bit of a refresher to get back on course.

The series that I did for the church focused on getting us back to the basics of Christian life. John

Wesley, the father of Methodism, did not intend to start a new church, but he did wish to see a revival in an

Anglican church he felt had strayed away from some of the very basic parts of living the Christian life. His

movement started with small groups of people gathering together for fellowship, discipleship, and

accountability. These groups, which came to be known as the United Societies, were "[companies of people]

having the form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to receive the word of

exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other to work out their

salvation."

The only membership requirement was that those that joined had "a desire to flee from the wrath to

come, and to be saved from their sins." But it wasn’t enough to just say you had such a desire. It was

expected that if you truly sought salvation, it would be evident in the way you lived. Therefore, the United

Societies had what became known as The General Rules – basic patterns of life that would demonstrate that

members were in fact seeking to live the life that God had called them to.

The General Rules are simple, as basic as they come:

First, do no harm

Second, do good

Third, attend upon the ordinances of God (worship, prayer, scriptural study, communion, fasting)

Even though they are simple, they are not easy. The descriptions of the General Rules provide some

exposition on ways that one may avoid doing harm, do good, and attend upon the ordinances of God (see

http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/general-rules-of-the-methodist-church for the full text of the Rules),

but even so, when you really start to apply the Rules in your own life, you find that it is a lot more difficult

than it sounds.

It is sometimes easy for us to get caught up in the “business” of the church and our lives – attending

upon the ordinances of day-to-day life if you will – and lose sight of the very basics. We do little bits of harm

without even noticing (treating others with dismissal or disrespect, holding on to anger); we miss opportu-

nities to do good (not checking in on our elderly neighbor, passing on the other side of the street from the

person looking for a meal); we neglect the “ordinances” (letting devotional or prayer time slide, missing op-

portunities to worship and fellowship together). These usually aren’t intentional, but that’s the problem –

we must be intentional about these very basic things.

Living the Christian life can be more challenging than we give it credit for. Sometimes, we need to go

back to the fundamentals. So as the summer comes to the end, why not give yourself a refresher course in

the basics? Take some time to think about how you can be intentional about following these simple (but not

easy) rules:

Do no harm Blessings,

Do good

Attend upon the ordinances of God

Jayde Rasband

We are so delighted to welcome Jayde Rasband to

our College Park First UMC family. Jayde will be

serving as our intern this year.

Jayde is originally from Anchorage, Alaska, but

more recently hails from Montgomery, Alabama,

where she attended Huntingdon College and studied Christian

Education and Religion. She is a member of the Alabama-

West Florida Conference and plans to pursue

ordination as an elder in the United Methodist Church. She is

a second year student at Candler School of Theology at Emory

University, and once beat Charles Barkley’s niece in a

half-time basketball shootout during triple overtime.

Please make sure to introduce yourself to Jayde and welcome

her when you see her around the church!

It has been a hot summer and activities have been correspondingly heating up at College Park First United Methodist Church. We are happy to have our new minister, Rev. Katy on board, and the Learning Academy about to move in to the renovated education building! While we hope that the weather starts to cool down soon, activities with the church will continue to pick up as we plan fall opportunities for more congregational connectedness and engagement with the community. This month we have enjoyed Sunday hospitality following church service. Thanks to Lisa Baker for providing lemonade and freshly made cookies. In September, we will have a church wide picnic on September 18 that will focus on kicking off the fall school year with our youth. Then in October, we plan to have The Blessing of the Animals at Barrett Park with more fun and festivities. From a business perspective, the church continues to do well despite slightly lower Learning Academy at-tendance and members being away for the summer. Member giving has increased by 13% and hopefully we will be able to increase our population of students at the Academy from 39 to 45 in the next month or two. We have had 11 families move away over the course of the summer. Y'all remember that The Learning Academy of College Park is our best ministry to the community and a wonderful way to engage people with the church. In fact, Jason, Anna Kathryn and I joined the church as a result of our involvement with the Learning Academy 15 years ago. Speaking of the Academy, we would like to welcome Amy Underwood and Ginger Blackstone to the LA Board. They are taking the places of Kim Mulkey and Donald Spainhour who have also moved away. The future looks bright ahead. I pray that your fall is a good one and that you find ways and opportunities to connect with our congregation in a meaningful way. Meredith Hodges

Bill and Anna Kay

Walker

Anna Kay transferred her

membership from

Germantown UMC in

Germantown, TN.

Bill is an ordained elder and member of the

Memphis Conference of the United

Methodist Church.

They are the proud grandparents to

Anna Kathryn Hodges.

Welcome

We’re on the Web: www.cpfirstumc.org

The Messenger

Published by

First United Methodist Church of College Park

3726 East Main Street

College Park, Georgia 30337-3708

S u n Mo n Tu e W ed Th u F r i S a t

1 2 3

4 -11am Worship -Choir Practice

5 6 7 -Nominating Committee 7pm

8 9 10

11 -11am Worship -Choir Practice -Youth Starts

12 13 14 -SPR Meeting 7pm

15 16 17

18 -11am Worship -Choir Practice -UMCOR Donation Deadline -Church Picnic -UM Children’s Home Offering

19 -TLA Council Meeting 6:30pm

20 21 22 23 24

25 -11am Worship -Choir Practice

26 27 28 -Lifeline Screening - Church Council 7pm

29 30

September 2016