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FIRST THINGS AUGUST 2020

FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

501 Church Street, Sweetwater, TN 37874

423-337-7903

Email: office1@sweetwaterumc.org

Website: www.sweetwaterumc.org

Church Staff:

Rev. Dr. Bradley H. Scott, Pastor Pam Haislip, Administrative Asst.

Crystal Ragan, Associate Pastor Jacqueline Mason, Children’s Minister

Margareth Urias, Music Minister _____________, Organist

Melinda Erwin, Custodian Janet Standridge, First Kids Director

“Glorifying God—Offering Christ

Making Disciples—Serving Others”

How Is It with your Soul? Let’s take stock: we’ve lived through a once-in-a-hundred years global pandemic, we’ve lived through historic race riots and subsequent purging of memorials to histor-ic figures. Back before that we saw our executive leader of the nation be im-peached (only the third such action in the nation’s history). You and I have lived through a most unusual pastoral transition during which we couldn't gather or hold fel-lowship. The daily news is filled with sto-ries that are bombarding us with stressful information. An ancient book says “be still, and know that I am God.” So, let’s take a moment to quiet ourselves and ask the question Methodists used to be content to ask one another in Christian conferencing. “How is it with your soul?” The medicine we are prescribed for our spiritual maladies are these: prayer, fast-ing, scripture reading, holy conversation (Christian conferencing), worship, holy communion, acts of mercy and acts of jus-tice. These are called “means of grace” .

Note from pastor brad Scott

and are used to help us “grow up into the Lord.” All of these are available to us to use whenever we need to. And with all that’s going on, we certainly need to. As your pastor, I invite you to do these things. I’m trying to stay focused on them myself. I find I am calmer and more able to with-stand the onslaught of today’s events when I use these valuable gifts. I am not sure when the world will feel nor-mal again. But I am reassured daily as I meet my creator in prayer and scripture reading that “Jesus Christ is the same, yes-terday, today and forever.” With that assur-ance, let’s be the church wherever we are, until we can gather again, either here or in the “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Thank you for all you’re doing to keep the love of God flowing into our world. Blessings, Pastor Brad Scott Email pastorbradscott@gmail.com Phone (mobile) 276-722-0346

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Message from Miss Jacqueline

Hello friends,

We are going to have a blast with virtual VBS! We’ve had so much fun making the

videos, I think the adults will enjoy watching too!

Thanks to so many people that have helped make this possible: Margareth Urias,

Tammy Cox, Greer Heatherly, Pam Haislip, Tom Caldwell, Kristi Smith, Pastor

Brad and Pastor Crystal.

Kids will pick up baggage (VBS supplies) on August 11th from 5-6:30 outside the

FLC. They’ll have Bible Buddies, Sciency-Fun Gizmos, snacks, and other treats!

And I will get to see them!!

I have seen some kids during the summer. When they run up and say “Miss

Jacqueline,” I want to hug them so bad! I pray for them and the workers at

school for safety . Kids need to see each other I know; I just pray things go well.

TASK will be on hold until we are allowed to have kids’ programs. I wanted to

hold off for a while anyway to see how the school classes go. I would never for-

give myself if a child got covid at TASK. I will have a task class on Facebook each

Tuesday for kids.

When we start back to church, I have each child a bag of things to do, since Kids

Rock will be on hold as well. Put your child’s name on a bag and put back each Sun-

day after church so I can refill each week. They will be located by the Welcome

table.

- Miss Jacqueline

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At Rocky Railway, kids discover through life’s ups and downs that Jesus’ power pulls us

through. Kids participate in memorable Bible-learning activities, sing catchy songs, play

games, engage in fun snack-eating experiences, take part in one-of-a-kind Bible Adven-

tures, collect Bible Memory Buddies to remind them to trust Jesus, and test out Scien-

cy-Fun Gizmos they can play with all summer long. Plus, kids will learn to look for evi-

dence of God all around them through something called God Sightings. Family members

and friends are encouraged to join in daily for this special time!

We will post the link for each day’s event

on our Facebook page:

First United Methodist Church Sweetwater TN

Or on our YouTube channel:

First UMC Sweetwater

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SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GREETINGS SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GREETINGS SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GREETINGS

TO OUR SENIORS BORN IN AUGUSTTO OUR SENIORS BORN IN AUGUSTTO OUR SENIORS BORN IN AUGUST

Aug 1 Mike Young

Aug 3 Ann Seiler

Aug 13 Larry Ruebush

Aug 13 Rosemary Kidd

Aug 20 Teresa Van Buren

Aug 30 Elaine Kunz

Financial Update

Operating

Our operating budget is in fairly sound condition thanks in part to our applying for and receiving a PPP

loan of approximately $58K. We anticipate that the loan will be forgiven and not require repayment. The

PPP loan coupled with our faithful giving has allowed us to remain on firm financial footing, while contin-

uing to meet our payroll obligations and other operating expenses. While our giving is somewhat less

than what I would consider normal for the last 3 months, it has still been surprisingly strong given the

circumstances. Given the current operating budget needs, I expect that we will continue to be able to

meet our obligations for the next few months. However, continued giving from everyone will be key to

our coming through this pandemic in a strong financial position.

Capital

We continue to make remarkable progress on the retirement of our capital debt. Accounting for our re-

cent principal payments and cash on hand, our outstanding debt is less than $130K, which means that

we have retired in excess of $340K since mid-2018. If we continue at our current pace, we will debt free

within the next 1-2 years! What a relief that will be. It will allow us the flexibility to pursue other minis-

tries, as well as, accomplish a more normal planning process for our Operating Budget going forward.

As always, I want to thank everyone for their generous and faithful giving. We all miss seeing familiar

and smiling faces every week, but from my point of view, our church family is still very much together

and working toward fulfilling God’s plan for Sweetwater First United Methodist Church. As always, if you

have any questions about our Operating or Capital budgets, call or e-mail me.

Micky Heatherly

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WHO AM I? These are photos and short profiles that have appeared in the “Who Am I?” column over the past years.

We thought you might enjoy seeing and guessing these again! And we’d love to receive submissions from you

for future issues!

#2 Who Am I?

I am a native Tennessean who grew up during the depression and lived in a log cabin on the

side of a mountain. The picture you see is me with my dog Brownie. I had a brother and two

sisters growing up and my friends gave me this funny nickname…”Dingus”! Dad was a barber

and mom was a homemaker. I started school before there were school buses and everyone

was expected to walk to school even when it snowed! I did a lot of

chores back then and as I grew older carried in firewood for the night

and following morning, fed the hogs, got water from the spring for “wash

-day”. We used rainwater collected in barrels for the wash water. My

favorite music is bluegrass and I remember listening to The Grand Ole

Opry in Nashville on the radio. I was never much into movies but I like

old westerns and Roy Rogers was one of my favorites. Growing up, I

dabbled in construction and electrical work that proved helpful when I

joined the Navy later in life and I became an electrician and served on

the USS Fitch…got to see the Mediterranean and parts of Europe. After

being discharged, I had some jobs but later found one that lasted a life-

time. Looking back, our family has surely been blessed by The Lord.

We’ve done our traveling and much of our time is spent now with

the grand kids. I really can’t tell you what I do with my spare time…but

one thing I still enjoy is sitting in my rocker and rocking. Who am I?

#1 Who Am I?

I was the oldest of seven children in my family. My dad was a res-

taurant operator and mom was a homemaker who later owned

and ran a grocery store. One of the things I remember besides

Ms. Sizer being one of my teachers was that daddy took us every-

where when we were young. After graduating from high school in

Sweetwater, I worked in the food and motel business. My favor-

ite food is fried chicken and my favorite dessert is anything to do

with strawberries. After graduating from high school in Sweetwa-

ter, I worked in the food and motel business. I don’t like any of

the new kind of movies, I like old ones and Clark Gable is my fa-

vorite actor. As for music…I’m into gospel and The Gaithers are

one of my favorite singing groups. As far as hobbies go, I like

making Santa Claus gifts. Lastly, the best thing I like about our

church is the pastor and the services. Who am I?

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#3 Who Am I?

I was born in a neighboring county and lived out in the boonies. Daddy was over twice Mom-

ma’s age when they married. They had seven children (I was the youngest), and there is a 22

year age difference between my oldest brother and myself. We

lived on a big farm that had no running water and I recall fetchin’ wa-

ter from the spring and milking the cows by hand. Mom and dad

never owned a car and we walked everywhere. It was about a mile

and a half into town and, although daddy stayed home on Sunday

mornings to tend to chores on the farm, momma was adamant we

went to church. I do recall that at one point daddy helped build

bridges in the county while momma stayed home and took care of

us kids, gardened, and canned vegetables. I graduated high school

but never went to college. I did participate in 4H and was FFA

queen in my senior year. My favorite color is blue and my favorite

food is chicken (vanilla ice cream is my favorite dessert). I once had

a metallic bronze Plymouth GTX and that was my favorite car. I like country music and Dolly

Parton is one of my favorite singers. I love Westerns! I'm an easy going person but must admit

I get a bit annoyed at people who talk real loud. My favorite part of church is working with sen-

iors and I enjoy making visits to the home bound. I like to hike and I used to ride and show

horses and I love working in the garden. The person I admired the most in my life was my mom

and I was so proud of my daddy when he got baptized at age 90. Who am I?

#4 Who Am I?

Everything about me speaks of Tennessee. I was born

and raised in Monroe County, attended 2 schools in Monroe

County, and my 2 brothers and 4 sisters and I lived with mom

and dad in Monroe County. Mom was a homemaker and

dad...well let's just say I followed in his footsteps career wise. I

attended UT (Go Vols!) and one of my favorite sports figures

was Mack Franklin. Yes, I do like the big orange...but actually

my favorite color is blue. Speaking of favorites, my favorite food

is fried chicken and my favorite dessert is banana pudding. I en-

joy watching James Bond movies and my favorite actress is Lau-

ren Bacall. I also enjoy music...mostly 50''s and 60's. I don't

have many hobbies...I used to play golf and enjoy traveling out

west. One of the people I most admired during my life was L.N.

McDowell and I think one of the greatest achievements during

my lifetime was the invention of the electric car. What I most en-

joy about our church is the fellowship and my favorite scripture is

John 3:16. Lastly, one lesson my dad taught me that I always

remember is to "be honest". I’m the one in the overalls! Who

am I?