THE CIRCUIT RIDER

Vol. 15, No. 1

January 2015

FROM THE PASTOR

Dear Chamberlayne Heights UMC family,

Although our attendance at this year's charge conference was small in number, it was big in spirit as conveyed in the following report submitted by Carolyn Pendleton as Administrative Council Chair. I hope you will take the time to read her observations, then 1.) give thanks for your church, and 2.) give prayerful thought to the question that was posed to us at this year's charge conference, "If CHUMC were to cease to exist would we be missed?" It's a question worth pondering as we embark on a new year and new opportunities for ministry. Thank you all for your commitment to being the hands and feet of Christ in this time and place. (see letter on page 3)

With joy!

Florence Brooks

This Issue

From the Pastor p.1

Birthdays

Anniversaries

Gra�tude—Family Night

Dinners p.2

Charge Conference Report

by Carolyn Pendleton p. 3

Feed My Sheep p. 4

Seniors Connec�on

District Conference and

Leadership Training Event

p. 5

Garden Pavers

News Around the Church

P. 6

Calendar p. 7

Non-profit Org.

U. S. Postage

PAID

Richmond, VA

Permit No. 1851

Chamberlayne Heights United Methodist Church

6100 Chamberlayne Road

Richmond, VA 23227

JANUARY 2015

IN MINISTRY

Rev. Jeffrey Harlow, Pastor P: (804) 385-8997 E: pastor@chamberlayneheightsumc.org

Janet Holmes, Office Administrator P: (804) 266-3551 E: office@chamberlayneheightsumc.org

Allison Stowers, Choir/Handbell Director P: (804) 266-3551 E: choir@chamberlayneheightsumc.org

P: (804) 266-3551 E: joyringers@chamberlayneheightsumc.org

Patricia Dombroski, Treasurer P: (804) 266-3551 E: treasurer@chamberlayneheightsumc.org

Office Hours M,T,W,TH 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

6100 Chamberlayne Rd. / Richmond, VA 23227 P: (804) 266-3551 Fax: (804) 266-0097 E: office@chamberlayneheightsumc.org

W: www.chamberlayneheightsumc.org F: www.facebook.com/chumc51

If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to our monthly newsle<er e-mail and/or mail, please contact the church office

Our Vision Statement: ALIVE IN CHRIST:

Growing in the Word, Living the Word, Sharing the Word

Words to Digest

“You can never change the past. But by the grace of God, you can win the future. So remember those things which will help you forward, but forget those things which will only hold you back.” -Richard C. Woodsome

7

2

S M T W TH F ST

1

HAPPY NEW

YEAR

2 3

4:45 pm That

Dance Thing

4

8:45 am Worship

9:45 am Sunday

School

11:00 am Worship

5

10:30 Meal Makers

6:00 pm Handbell

Class

7:00 pm Joy Ringers

6

10:00 am Care

Ministry

7

10:00 am Renovare

7:00 pm Glory

Singers

8

5:30 pm A7er

School Tutoring

9 10

11

8:45 am Worship

9:45 am Sunday

School

11:00 am Worship

12

10:00 am ODDA

10:30 Meal Makers

6:00 pm Handbell

Class

7:00 pm Joy Ringers

13

12:00 pm Senior

Luncheon

2:00 pm Kni:ers

& Crocheters

14

10:00 am Renovare

7:00 pm Glory

Singers

15

5:30 pm A7er

School Tutoring

16

5:00 pm RARC

17

18

8:00 am Men’s

Breakfast

8:45 am Worship

9:45 am Sunday

School

11:00 am Worship

19

10:30 Meal Makers

6:00 pm Handbell

Class

7:00 pm Joy Ringers

20

9:00 am—3:00

pm Book Club/

Luncheon

21

10:00 am Renovare

7:00 pm Glory

Singers

22

5:30 pm A7er

School Tutoring

23 24

4:45 pm That

Dance Thing

25

8:45 am Worship

9:45 am Sunday

School

11:00 am Worship

3:00 pm Finance

Mee�ng

4:00 pm Adminis-

tra�ve Council

Mee�ng

26

10:30 Meal Makers

6:00 pm Handbell

Class

7:00 pm Joy Ringers

27

9:00 am Senior

Breakfast

9:30 am Old Ivy

Garden Club

9:30 am LAMB’S

Basket

28

10:00 am Renovare

7:00 pm Glory

Singers

29

5:30 pm A7er

School Tutoring

30 31

JANUARY 2015

Prayer Ministry

Family

Bill & Nelma Short

Carolyn & Emme: Spurlock

Dorothy Grainger

June Carpenter

Louise King

Phyllis Cartwright

Jerry Slaunwhite

Imogene & Quincy Watson

Liz Lowry

Jean Turner

Louise Butner

The Harlow Family

Friends

Pam Butler

Elizabeth Swank

Eydie Vechery

Billy Tatum

Rose:a Harrison

Jackie & Franklin Wade

Jack Su:on

Alonzo Lynch

Mike Adee

Greg Husepth

Dawn & Tim Hawkins

Rae Green

John Pra:

Skeet Best-West

Susan Taylor

Rik Davis

Hazel Buhrman

Jim Broaddus

Karen Harris

Dee Stewart

Ron & Lila Kieselhorst

Danni Brightwell

Jan Anderson Robin Deans

Palmer Lowery, M.D.

Jan Anderson

Emily Cook

Pat Koontz

Dee Carter

Sandy Berry

Susan Brown

Military Personnel

Kevin Morgan

Thomas Muniz

Emme: Spurlock III

Clay Minter

Missions

Sierra Leone: Kip and

Nancy Robinson

UMCOR

Birthdays & Anniversaries January Birthdays

1 Helen Wood 3 Marshall Pendleton 8 Ken Stockman Sr. 9 Britt Smith 10 David Via 14 Richard Walton 15 Charlie Burton 15 Alex Martin 17 Nathan Bellows 17 Sue Long 19 Stephanie Stockman 20 Timothy Long 28 Nelma Short 29 A. B. Jones 31 Jeff Barrett 31 Fred Carpenter

January Anniversaries

19 Diane & Jeff Barrett

Gratitude

Family Night Dinners

It is with a grateful heart that I say THANK YOU to all of my partners that helped make the Family Night Dinners a huge success for 2014. I am grateful for your “CAN DO” attitude and your ready smile when asked to cook, decorate, clean-up, help serve or DO whatever was asked of you. You made it happen. You know who you are! If I name names someone will surely be left out, so I won’t do that. Just know that you are truly a gift from God. Thank you for your service.

Grace upon grace,

Martha Sherrod

Please Note: There will be no dinner during the month of January. Thanks!

Dear CHUMC,

Thank you very much for your generous Christmas gift. Your thoughtfulness, generosity and support throughout this past year is very much appreciated. Thanks again.

Janet Holmes

Addi?onal Informa?on

Our congregation at Chamberlayne Heights UMC remains committed to the goals of a Vital Congregation.

Our worship attendance remains stable, with an average of 83 folks attending our two worship services. Our services are worshipful and our music is often "breath-taking". We are blessed with a choir, bell choir, and a director who shares her many musical gifts and talents with our congregation. We have had His Handmaids return as part of a worship service and often members from the Bell Choir at Shady Grove UMC join our Bell Ringers.

We have had no transfers of membership nor new members join CHUMC during 2014. We do, however, have several new church-community families worshiping with us and our hope is they will become members in the near future. We are excited to be on the registration list for the "Reaching New People" event scheduled for February, 2015!

Small group activities are our mainstay. Our Wednesday Night dinners are held the first Wednesday of each month (September through May) with an average attendance of 45 folks. Our Seniors also meet on a monthly basis and approximately 35 people are present for field trips, excellent programs, delicious luncheons, and just good fellowship. Our Adult Sunday School Classes came together during the summer to study "I Love Growing Older but I'll Never Grow Old" by J. Ellsworth Kalas. We averaged 40 "students". Advent has brought us together once again for the study of "The Journey: Walking to Bethlehem". Our UMM and our UMW groups are active. The men have prepared delicious dinners for four of our Wednesday Night suppers, and have had two Brunswick Stew Fundraisers. They also cooked for our annual picnic and our breakfast following our Easter Sunrise Service. An average of 13 of our men are involved in these activities. A men's breakfast and meeting are also held on a monthly basis. Our women continue to make approximately 1,000 Easter eggs as our major fundraiser. This is a three-day project and a total of 45 people were involved. The majority of the monies raised is given to mission projects. In addition to hosting a cookie social at the Hermitage (12 folks attended), and making kits for conference, 80 pillowcase dresses were made and sent to Haiti. This project included 20-25 people per day. Our ARC Sunday School continues to be well attended (15 students) and a RARC dance is held once a month in our fellowship hall. This is a "standing room only" event. Our church is extremely blessed to have this group as a part of our ministry. Other small groups include a weekly Meal Makers group of 9 women who prepare 12 meals for those in our church family; Renovare, a prayer group of women who meet weekly; our Knitters and Crocheters/Home to the Heart includes a number of folks who meet on a monthly basis to make hats and blankets for cancer patients at VCU Medical Center and other local hospitals.

Our on-going mission theme "Feed My Sheep" is demonstrated in so many ways. We have begun our 10th year of tutoring students at Chamberlayne Elementary School. 20 folks, including 8 from First Mennonite serve as tutors. Suppers are also prepared by church members for our students. We had 25 volunteers for the STOP HUNGER NOW! meal packaging event in September and, we always have 5 to 6 volunteers a month to work at the LAMB’S Basket. School supplies were donated to CES in September and items for food boxes were purchased and packed by our members for families at the school for Christmas. We also collected three large baskets of hats and mittens for the Henrico Christmas Mother.

In closing, we continue to financially support a large number of missions locally and globally. This giving is facilitated by our missions committee.

Respectfully submitted,

Carolyn Pendleton

3

News around the church

6

‘Pie Girl’ uses pastries to fund missions

OCEAN CITY, N.J. (UMNS) — Behind the cute nickname and sweet pastries that Cat Gleason makes and sells is a commitment to the ministry of St. Peter’s United Methodist Church. So far, she has raised more than $20,000 for the church’s missions. Jeff Wolfe has the story for the Greater New Jersey Conference

United Methodists share stories of beloved Nativity scenes NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — Christians cherish and adore Nativity sets made from the likes of olive wood, felt, clay, paper-mâché, porcelain, plastic and carved stone in a variety of shapes and sizes. The United Methodist Church’s official Facebook page asked readers to send in stories and photos of their favorite crèche scenes. Crystal Caviness shares some of the highlights.

For more information on these stories and others, please visit http://wmns.umc.org or more directly http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwl.4KnN1LtH/b.5259667/k.612F/News_News_Summaries/apps./nl/newsletter3.asp

Evangelist: Traveling the world to spread gospel NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — The Rev. H. Eddie Fox was born in the Appalachian foothills and never saw an ocean until he was 21. But as head of World Methodist Evangelism, he traveled millions of miles to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ on every inhabited continent in the world. Tom Gillem has the story for United Methodist News Service. Giving Tuesday raises $2.5 million for mission work NEW YORK (UMNS) — On #GivingTuesday, United Methodists donated more than $2.5 million online through The Advance to support denominational mission and ministries around the world. The Board of Global Ministries matched the first $1 million in gifts

Garden Pavers The Memorial Garden at Chamberlayne Heights United Methodist Church established in memory of Ruth Armour by her family.

Here’s an opportunity for you to purchase a brick paver(s) in memory of a loved one. The brick paver will be inscribed with the name and date of someone you would like to remember. The cost of the pavers: 2 lines with 12 Characters per line (counting spaces) $125.00 3 lines with 12 Characters per line (counting spaces) $135.00 Order forms are available in the narthex or from the church office. Also, contact the church office, Joyce Paschall or Phin Wood with your questions or for additional information. Plans are being made now to lay new brick pavers with inscription. This is a special way to remember those we love and those who have loved CHUMC during their lifetime.

ADOPTED CHRISTMAS BOXES

A “baker’s dozen” filled boxes for needy families in the Chamberlayne Elementary School population was adopted by our church family members! The food boxes were picked up on December 15th for distribution. Muriel Brinkley, principal, was overwhelmed by our generosity. Several families will be touched by our efforts. Thank you for those who shopped for these items!!!

PAWS-SUPPLIES IN NEED OF REPLENISHING

Our back-to-school collection of supplies for students at Chamberlayne Elementary now needs to be “refreshed.” Most needed are crayons and glue sticks. When you are out shopping, consider picking up some of these items which are used daily by these youngsters. A collection box resides in the narthex for your donations. Thank you!

OUR MISSIONARIES – AN UP-DATE…

We con�nue to support our missionary couple with $1,000.00 annually as we’ve pledged for their Covenant Support. Kip and Nancy

Robinson remain in their home in Lakeside where they wait for informa�on from the General Board of Global Ministries for clearance for

their return to Ebola-torn Sierra Leone, Africa. They con�nue to be in touch with contacts there, and hope to share with us soon about

how sanita�on and school-building projects are progressing. Before students can return to classes, each facility will have to be thoroughly

cleaned and sani�zed.

THE MISSION COMMITTEE NEEDS YOU!!!

Our first mee�ng of the year will be Sunday, January 11th

, immediately following the 11:00 worship service. We meet in the parlor for

about an hour. At this next mee�ng we will map out plans for distribu�ng your gi7s and pledges for 2014 to our 12+ mission partners.

Throughout the year, this commi:ee is involved in several projects which impact our community as well as interna�onally in posi�ve ways.

How about joining with us in this important ministry of the church??? Call Helen Wood to say: “I’d be delighted to serve on this

commi<ee!”

262-8907 or helenphinwood@comcast.net

FEED MY SHEEP – MISSION EMPHASES

JANUARY 2015

4 5

Senior Connections—The Seniors enjoyed a special Christmas luncheon on December 9. We thank A.B. Jones for volunteering to prepare our delicious meal. We also thank Pat Jones and Shirley Nixon for their creative decorations. And, we thank Florence Brooks and her “fantastic five” children for our program.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, January 13. We will have our annual Bingo program, so remember to bring all your “white elephants” to be used as prizes. If you don’t want to participate in the Bingo activity, bring some board games, and we can set up some special tables for them. (This is an activity that many Seniors have said they would be interested in.)

Remember to bring your own “bag lunch”. Dessert and beverages will be provided.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our CHUMC family and make a New Year’s resolution to come join the Senior Connections for fun and fellowship.

The District Conference and Leadership Training Event will be January 11 from 1:30 to 5:00 pm at Trinity UMC. A brochure of the day’s events and with a registration form is available in the narthex. If you have a leadership role in the 2015 year, please consider attending. Thank you!