Minerva United Methodist Church 204 N. Main St., Minerva, OH 44657

Church 330-868-4940, Fax 330-868-4825 e-mail: minervaunc@frontier.com, website: minervaumc.org

Pastor Harley Wheeler

From the Pastor’s Pen

Minerva Messenger

Light for the World John 8:12 “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will

have the Light of Life.” “It’s getting dark earlier.” That was the comment in our house this evening. It has really been a wonderful summer for weath-er – in Ohio, that is – and we have tried to enjoy it by being out in it as much as we could. The fall and winter darkness is fine. It’s an excuse to actually relax, to stop the restless busy-ness. We can imagine that before the invention of electric light, there was real rest on those long nights. The great outdoor dark is friendly to me, and I kind of like it. There is another kind of dark. Think about a spot way behind the car motor where you can’t see the part you are trying to reach, or the dim place in the room where you can’t read or see to do crafts. This is why darkness can symbolize sin and confusion and death. Jesus says He is the Light. Where sin has boxed you in, He shines a light on the way out. Where all is confusion, He will send wisdom. There is no dark corner in your life that the Love of Christ can’t reach. Jesus does not say, “of many Lights, I am one.” He has declared He is The Light. He doesn’t say, “maybe it will get brighter for you, He says we will never walk in darkness. Come to His Light, Pastor Harley

Worship in October Prophets, Seers and Singers-Sermon Series Oct 1 Part 1 “Shemaiah, The One Hit Wonder” I Kings 12:21-24 World Communion Sunday Oct 8 Part 2 “Amos, Just a Country Boy” Amos 7:10-17 Oct 15 Part 3 “Habakkuk Sings the Blues” Habakkuk 1:12-2:1 Oct 22 Part 4 “Micah, the Angry Rocker” Micah 3:1-12 Oct 29 Part 5 “Hosea Sings Love Songs” Hosea 2:14-20

Bible Study In October we will finish with the final chapters in the

Book of Hebrews. Why are there so many churches named Mt. Zion? Do people ever entertain angels without knowing it? If there are a myriad of myriads of people worship-

ping God, how many is that? Its all there, come and hear Tuesdays, 10:30am.

Nursing Home Worship will be held with our indoor friends at St. Luke’s Assisted Living, Wednesday, Sept 25, 10:30am, and at Eldercare, Thurs., Sept 26, 930am and at the Arbors, 1030am These are simple half-hour services that you can enjoy with the community, and assist in the singing. Tell Pastor Harley you want to ride along with him, or simply meet us there.

All Saints Observance All Saints Day will be observed Sunday, November 5

th.

We will recognize those who have passed away in the last year, and offer prayer for families and friends.

Christians live in the firm conviction that those who have died before us are not lost to us, but that person’s “life is now hidden with Christ in God” Colossians 3:3.

It is a time of grief, but also of recognition of our final victory. Come to unite in hope and

prayer. Deadline for the November Newsletter

is October 17th. Please have your newsletter infor-mation turned in to the office before that date.

As we recognize the loss of another of our church’s dedicated/faithful mature generation, it’s time to take a look at ourselves…... Those who have been here for many, many years see the significance in each of these losses. Are we prepared to step into their shoes and bring this church to the forefront in our lives as they did? Invite someone to come to church, invite someone who has been missing to come back, help build our congrega-tion back up, pray constantly, get involved, be a family, spread the light of Christ wherever you go. Give of yourself: To God To your family To your church To your community To your country Work tirelessly...keep working….till your days are done.

Condolences to: Family of Betty Hawk,

who passed away August 24, 2017

Family & Friends of Cindy Monroe, who passed away August 24, 2017

Dale & Eileen Cogan & Family,

Dale’s mother, Letha Cogan passed away September 4, 2017

Laurie McClellan and Family

Laurie’s brother, Gary Fry passed away September 11, 2017

The Family of Jack Harsh,

who passed away September 12, 2017

Ruth Felger & Family Carl passed away September 17, 2017

Minerva United Methodist Church, thank you very much for the beautiful flowers. Also for the use of the church and to everyone for the cards and for all the prayers. Dale & Eileen Cogan

PRAYER CHAIN If you wish to have someone put on the prayer chain, please contact the church office and/or Jennie McClellan (330-868-6834) or Barb Brown (330-868-7691) with your request.

Your request will be handled with great care and will be passed along the chains and referred to the church office for email purposes. Blessings to you all.

Prayer Concerns:

Alice & Family, Kelly Berta, Dave Bondurant, Bonnie Booth, Iona Boyce, Barb Bratu, Chloe Bryant, Cindy Cat-lett, Debbie (McClellan) Christian & Family, Bob Cinson, Dale Cogan & Family, Tatum Davis, Jeff Dine, Skyler

Duffie, Gerald Fallot, Ruth Felger & Family, Ruth & Virgil Feiock, Pastor Bracken Foster and Family, Mary Lou Graham, Allen Green, Family of Jack Harsh, Chuck Hart & Family (Hurricane Irma), Family of Betty Hawk, Susie Hawk, Ron Hellyer, Family of John Herstine, Norman Hig-gins, Crystal Hoagland, Harriet Jones, Paul Kail, Kayla & Baby Everett, Karen Kerr, Debbie Kraft, John Kress, Linda, Linda Lanham & Family, Cindy Lanning, Dolly Lowry, Jess Lowry, Glenn Marshall & Fami-ly, Marty, Jennie & Rich McClellan & Family, Laurie & Walt McClellan & Family, Jim McCully, Sally McDaniel & Family, Cindy & Louis Mendozza (Hurricane Maria), Dorothy Middleton, Family of Kasey Mikes, Michelle, Family of David Miller, Ed Miller, McKayla Miller, Richard Miller, Noel & Velma Mills, Sis-ters of Velma Mills (Zeta, Alice, Lucreta), Minerva UMC’s Food Program, Jeff Mitzel, Betty Montgomery, Family of Cindy Monroe, Lucas Murphy, Mike Murphy, Doug Myers, Sharon Nennig, Kaye Nightingale, Ron Nightingale, Matt & Kim Oberholtzer, Amy Pennock, Richard Phillips, Ronnie Phillips, Rachel, Liam Ramsell, Tyler Roach, Greg Rorie, Marie Stauffer-Rossi, Corey Sells, Jennifer Smith, Roland Smith, Sara Smith, Clyde Snider, Abby Stoffer, Lois Threats & Family, Valerie, Mary Vaughan, Sandi Wagner, Steve Warth, Jerry Weber, Jean Wheeler, ReeAnn Whitacre, Family of Mitchell Williams, Family of Sara Wolf, Kendra Wriston, Pastor Frank Zugara & Family, Norma Zwahlen

Our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen & Marines–Jesse Clark (Texas), Lewis Gibson (Korea), Aaron King, Dan Lutz, Eli Maurer (Coast Guard), Josh Miller(USS Mercy, Pacific Ocean), Russell Nero (Air Force Re-serves), SA Devin Pennock (Great Lakes, IL; Navy), Kevin Price (California), Mitch Soles (Fort Sam Hou-ston, TX; Navy), John Stehulak (Afghanistan), Justin C. Zeedrich

Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear, an The upward glancing of an eye When none but God is near. James Montgomery

Thank You

New Birthday Olivia Isabella Mae Anderson

Was born on September 7, 2017 Olivia is the daughter of

Sara Stillion and John Anderson and sister of Elliot & Nick Anderson.

Proud great-aunt is Beth Brawley

Welcome and Happy Birthday, Olivia!

Congratulations to Daniel Kienzle and Alyssa VanMeter

Married on September 16, 2017 Friendship Hour Schedule January None February Advent / Cross trainers classes March Education Committee April Youth Group May Worship Committee June Choir July VBS August None September Men’s Class October Searchers Class November Open December Kid’s Christmas Program

October Birthdays 2 Diane Binnig, Oscar Marteney 3 Josh Davis, Gerald Fallot 4 Jerry Lewis 5 Bruce Kellogg 6 Ed Felger, Steve G. Warth 7 Kelly Decker 8 Debbie Albaugh, Michael Wadsworth 10 Rachel Vaughan 11 Shirley Warth 12 Andrew McNutt, Harry Cunningham 13 Ayme Hying 15 Larry “Butch” Hawk 16 Martha Gotschall 17 Rod Romano, Donna Neidig 18 Amie Fankhauser, Eric Eddy 19 Walt Miller, Matt Miller 20 Jonathan Fankhauser, Dillon Long, Mary O’Brien 21 Nancy Pearson, Kristyn Sanor 22 Todd Ellis, Roger Dieringer, Kasey Adleman, Shari Courtheyn 24 Diane Granger, Harley Wheeler 25 Cristin Rettig, Sara Felger 26 Kathy Sanor, Ronda Bryan 27 Olivia Rickels 30 Alyxandra Nightingale 31 Ruth Feiock, Angie Wilson, Ken Waseman, Angie Sanor, Andrew Shaffer

October Anniversaries Oct 2 Corey & Marissa Essick Oct 3 Dan & Melia Danner Oct 4 John & Pat Alexander Oct 6 Ryan & Heather Smith Oct 10 Ben & Morgan Albaugh Oct 14 Brody & Teri Hollar Oct 15 Richard & Sandra Cunningham Oct 20 Larry & Mary Ann Hawk Oct 27 Troy & Kasey Soles

October Ushers Tom Freeland, Jerry Haynam,

Dennis Miller, Jim Smith

October Greeters Oct 1 Jennifer Jones Oct 8 Charlotte Davies, Marla Frazier Oct 15 Vernon & Lois Deininger Oct 22 Jim & Deb Albaugh Oct 29 Carol Powell, Geraldine Clark

It’s time to mark your calendar for the Annual Turkey Dinner

Sunday, Nov 5th, after church. Come enjoy a

wonderful turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Operation Orange At 4:45am on Saturday, September 9th, the church van was loaded up with volunteers for Operation Orange at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank! Beth Brawley and I went up early and filled spots in the 4a-6a shift and stayed to work with our folks at 6a. From 6-8am our group worked on packaging dried cranberries & nuts. Lots of music, lots of vol-unteers, lots of product to be sorted, packaged, la-beled, stacked, wrapped, and hauled off to the warehouse. We were part of the 1800 volunteers working 2-hour shifts, who participated in this 24-hour event. Volunteers at this event processed 170,000 lbs of fresh produce (apples, potatoes, or-anges, pears, etc—which we saw at our Septem-ber 14th distribution), and 31,000 lbs of frozen meat. The amount of food that was sorted and packed at this event is the equivalent of 200,000

meals. Amazing to be a part of something so huge and so important! We plan to go again next year. So consider joining us next September! Thank you to Tom Hart for driving the van, Beth Brawley, Pastor Harley, Cheryl Gotschall, Katie Reusser, Dave Miller, Pat Miller, Karen Wilson, Pat Alexander, and Criss Kienzle for participating with me!

Our September 14th Distribution Day blew the socks off any other month we have had to date.

We completed the morning having served 273 families with 814 family members. That is 36 families

above what we have ever served on a distribution day! We received from the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank

such a wonderful semi load of food, and for that we are so grateful. How fortunate we are to be able to serve God and his people in this small way.

All of our volunteers are a blessing to this ministry and to those we serve. Blessings, Cheryl

Here is another opportunity to get involved with the monthly produce distribu-

tion. We are looking for someone to fill a soon-to-be open position on deliveries. If you are available the 2nd Thursday of the month, would like to ride along on deliveries, help carry food to the doors, help with

paperwork and meet some nice folks, let us know ASAP.

Please mark your calendar for Thurs, October 12, 8am for our next Produce Distribution.

Emergency Pantry News After our HUGE Emergency Pantry month in July, August was back to a more normal level for us. In Au-gust we assisted 15 families with 54 family members. So far in September we have provided food to 15 families with 64 family members. After a month of talking to folks that come for food, it weighs on your mind and heart. Sometimes some-one will just need to unload issues or vent about the situation they find themselves in. You listen and hear what they are saying. Do you believe everything you hear? Nope. Do you believe some of what you hear? Absolutely! Do you have any answers that will change their situation? Nope. Is there some-thing in that conversation that you pick up on and see if you can find any kind of assistance that would help? Absolutely! Working with this food program forces you to realize situations / lives that don’t fit in with your comfort zone. We are all different, we all make good and bad decisions, we all have needs, most of us want our lives to improve. Pray for those whose lives, due to choices they have made, are not ok. Blessings, Cheryl

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our busi-ness and, in fact, it is no-body's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will ren-der both ourselves and our neighbors worthy. Thomas Merton

Monthly Food Help is available at these locations:

Mon-Wed-Fri each week 12-3pm

at Salvation Army (old train depot on Valley St.)

1st Tuesday

Monthly Community Dinner at Community Building

2nd Thursday Free Produce Distribution at Minerva UMC

3rd Wednesday 10a-12p

Emergency Pantry at Minerva UMC … also available by phone call or stop by, any day

4th Friday 8am registration begins

Food Distribution at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church

Thank you for your help and support for Family Fun Day. We saw an all-time high of 360 children and nearly all the churches in the community were present at this very successful event.

Hurricane Relief UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief is working in coordination with annual confer-

ences, disaster response coordinators, and volunteers to provide support and relief to those impacted by hurricane Harvey and hurricane Irma. While rebuilding and helping efforts are going on in Florida, and Texas it should to be remembered that many Carribean islands were tragically affected by hurricane Irma. Critical needs for supplies and support in all these areas are being addressed by UMCOR and other hu-manitarian agencies. Gifts marked ‘hurricane relief” may be routed through the church to UMCOR and your dollars will go directly, without any overhead, to help the victims of these disasters.

World Communion Sunday United Methodist churches observe World Communion Sunday on the first Sunday in October.

World Communion Sunday is an ecumenical celebration by people of many denominations in an effort to promote unity among Christians around the world. Started in 1933 by a Presbyterian church, it addressed a time where people felt without hope; they felt divided. The idea that sprang out of this church was, we need a Sunday where all who are Christians gather at a table and remember we are one.

Consider how this celebration came out of a time of hopelessness and fear, and it is not that differ-ent from what we may feel today as we listen to what’s going around the world and gather strength from knowing we are united in Jesus.

Wesleyan Covenant Association The Wesleyan Covenant Association will hold its 2017 Global Gathering on Saturday, October 14,

with simulcasts from its location in The Woodlands, TX. Pastor Harley will be attending the simulcast at Boyce UMC in from 10-4 in East Liverpool that day and you are invited to come along.

The theme of the Gathering is “Move: On Mission With God.” The Wesleyan Covenant Association is committed to igniting a new movement of God among the people called Methodists. You are encour-aged to join in this 2017 Global Gathering as we commit to once again becoming an apostolic movement advancing the Kingdom of God globally. The cost to attend this event is $30, and includes lunch.

Men’s Breakfast Our Church Men will meet for a hearty breakfast and devotions at Holland’s Restaurant, on Saturday, Oc-tober 28th, at 8am. This is a great time to shake up your regular schedule of work with some relaxation and fall fellowship. Come for a great breakfast and godly encouragement!

Annual Charge Conference Charge Conference will be held Tuesday, November 2nd, at 7pm at Simpson UMC, 4900 Middlebranch Ave NE, Canton. This will be a clustered Charge Conference involving about six congregations. Plan to come and hear from our District Superintendent, Rev. Benita Rollins, vote on annual matters and the list of Church Officers and fellowship with our other church friends. The Church van will leave for Charge

Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box Collection

The Outreach Committee and the youth will be work-ing together in October to pack shoebox gifts for Op-eration Christmas Child. Please help us by bringing standard size shoeboxes (no boot-sized) to the youth room during the month of October. Donations of Christmas wrapping paper and also cash to help cov-er the $9 shipping cost for each box would also be appreciated. If you would like to make a box your-self, pamphlets with labels and instructions will be on the table in the narthex soon.

Fall Festival For Children and Families

On Sunday, October 29th, the Children’s Sunday School

will host a Fall Festival for Children and Families

after church. We will enjoy hot dogs, fall treats, pumpkin decorating, have games

and prizes, and a our own edition of an American Ninja Obstacle course.

Plan to stay after church

to enjoy this time together.

Youth News The Youth will be together after church on

Sunday, October 1st,

to watch “The Resurrection of Gavin Stone”. This fun movie follows the story of a washed-up TV star

who takes part in a church Easter Play as part of his community service sentence.

Come and enjoy movie treats and time together.

The Youth will do a

Fund-Raising Lunch after church on October 15

th to help raise money to buy

items for families through the Salvation Army’s Adopt-a-Family Program this Christmas. Stay for a good meal and help us to be able to bless some families this year.

Prayer Shawls Needed! Now that the weather is cooling down a bit, it’s time to break out those crochet hooks and restock the box! Our supply of prayer shawls is getting low. So if you can help restock, it would be soooo appreciated. Thank you

It’s time to start stocking up for the Christmas Food Baskets.

Check the sale flyers and stock up the essentials like:

canned fruits, canned veggies (corn, beans & peas), baked beans, soup,

pasta, pasta sauce, pancake mix, syr-up, peanut butter, jelly, crackers, soaps (face, hand, dish, laundry), Kleenex, toilet paper, toothpaste,

packaged potatoes, flour, etc.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 830a Rethink 915a Sunday Schl 1030a Worship

2 3 1030a Bible Study 6p Meal & A Message Commu-nity Dinner @ Com. Bldg. 7p DAR-parlor

4 7p Harmony Handbells

5 5p Feed the Mi-nerva Lions Foot-ball Team 7p Choir

6 7

8 915a Sunday Schl 1030a Worship

9 10 1030a Bible Study 12p Sr. Gr. Lunch

11 7p HHB

12 8a Produce Del. 9a Produce Distr 7p Choir

13 14

15 915a Sunday Schl 1030a Worship 1145 Youth Group Fundrais-ing Lunch

16 17 1030a Bible Study

18 7p HHB

19 7p Choir

20 ?? Feed the Mi-nerva Lions Cross Country Team

21

22 915a Sunday Schl 1030a Worship

23 24 1030a Bible Study

25 7p HHB

26 7p Choir

27 28 8a Men at Hol-lands 11a-2p SPR meet-ings All Day—Wesley Hall Reserved

29 915a Sunday Schl 1030a Worship 1145a Fall Festi-val-Wesley Hall

30 31 1030a Bible Study

October 2017

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