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Greetings and peace to each one of you in the name of our Lord and Savior!

I guess that most of you by now have figured out that one of the things that I am

most passionate about in the church is Evangelism. And most churches have some

type of program or committee to carry out their understanding of this aspect of the

church. However, I have found that in the church it is one of the most

misunderstood words that we use, both in conversation as well as action. There are

many that see evangelism as a tool to pad membership and increase the weekly

giving. Others see it as a way to control worship, keep an orderly library or keep up

with church history, among many other things. All of which is well and good if one

is content in those matters. I am not….But what does it really mean to practice

evangelism in the church?

By definition evangelism is the preaching of the Christian Gospel or the practice of

relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others with the object of

conversion. In other words, very simply put it is showing Christ in our church, our

community and the world in order to create disciples.

If you are not aware of it, over the past year here at Friedens we have tried to

revamp our understanding of evangelism by turning the Vitality board into Mission

and Evangelism and have narrowed their responsibilities to meet that change and

challenge. Undoubtedly, you have heard about our efforts to help people in our

community with doing some spring yard work for the elderly and shut ins. It was a

wonderful and rewarding experience for those involved and our efforts were very

much appreciated. Our last project occurred on June 14th , as we stood in the park

and handed out free water during the community yard sale. All we displayed was a

sign that said “free.” At this point we are trying to keep it simple, with no fanfare

or attention drawn specifically to Friedens. In other words we are simply trying to

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be the hands of Jesus in a small way as we learn and gain understanding about

what evangelism is and what it means to give and expect nothing in return.

Since then I have challenged each of our committees to take on one evangelism

project per year. This project is to benefit someone or something and nothing is to

be retained for our church. For instance the Finance Board has stepped forward

with a wonderful idea that the congregation can help with. They will be collecting

coins from July of this year to next July in an effort to help one or more needy

families within our community (depending on how much is collected). I hope you

will support this cause because in a small way it will be a big way of implementing

the Great Commission.

Remember Jesus never said “Go therefore and make new church members”. Jesus

said, “Go therefore and make disciples.” And Folks, that is what it is all about,

creating followers of Jesus Christ. Whether they join our church or not is irrelevant.

However, if we are sincere in our efforts and keep our understanding of evangelism

in its purest form, as the early church did, God’s blessings will be many and in

numerous seen and unseen ways…..By the way, hope you are still doing your

summer Bible reading!

Yours in Christ, Pastor Doug.

If you need a ride to Sunday worship service, call the office at

667-6535 and the church bus will come get you!

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FROM OUR CHURCH RECORDS

Attendance for June

Sunday School Worship

6/1 112

6/8 101

6/15 102

6/22 103

Marriage: Trisha Gilomen and Ryan Williams were married on June 14, 2014. Funeral: Service for Loretta Grimaud was held on June 7, 2014.

Newsletter articles are

due on July 20th

You may:

bring your articles

to the office

e-mail them to:

friedenscircuitrider@hotmail.com

fax the article: 667-6006

July

2 Gladys Bliss

Kelly Grotefendt

3 Kathy Bathon

5 Sue Hoppes

6 Robert Little

8 Wendy Porter

9 JoAnn Longhi

12 Donna Bingham

Warren Spencer

Cami Talbert

16 Wanda Keil

17 Cynthia Smith

18 Thelma Huston

Sherri Gregson

Brandon Spears

19 Kevin Schiller

20 Clarence Adelhardt

21 Kayla Molohon

24 Karly Barker

Abbie Jarvis

Stephanie Williams

28 Brady Waggoner

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Ushers July 6 Otis and Katie Carver

Pat and Jenny Ruger

July 13 Larry Bliss

Lloyd Bliss

Kenny Grotefendt

Ed Whittington

July 20 Ron and Sandy Harbison

John and Carol Deloney

July 27 Julie Loehring

Gladys Huston

Jackie Estes

Sue Hanks

August 3 Rick and Sherry Smith

Fred and Wanda Keil

If you cannot be present on your day,

please call Yvonne, 667-8409

Liturgists July 6 Bill Brown Bill

July 13 Sandy Harbison

July 20 Rick Smith

July 27 Fred Keil

August 3 Joe Smith

The next Hobby Bee is set for July 22,

from 6 – 9 p.m. Join the group for fun

and fellowship. Bring your project

or come and learn something new. If

you have any questions, contact Betty

Schiller at 616-6427

Lloyd Bliss is retiring! He has worked

as a custodian for the Triad School

District for 35 years. He was at the old

high school for 20 years before he

transferred to the new high school,

where he was responsible for 18

classrooms. He plans to spend his

time taking care of his yard, looking

after his mother and possibly doing

some traveling in the future.

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It Happened Here – 35 Years Ago

Softball anyone? Our church has been invited to participate with Troy United Methodist, St. Paul’s Lutheran and Bethel Baptist in a softball tournament for the Troy churches. Men and women who have graduated from high school or in that age range are asked to play. We will be playing on the weekend only and will be required to have at least three women/girls on the playing field. Dig out your old gall’s glove and come join us for some fun and laughs. Women’s Guild News The secretary sent a note of thanks to Howard Hanks for cleaning the carpeting in all entrance ways of the church at no charge. Our thanks go to Joey McDowell, Sue Klaus, Yvonne Kamm and their husbands for redecorating the men’s restroom. It looks very nice. Couples Club On June 16th, 13 couples ate their way through five hours of Saturday evening. They experienced fine cuisine for they had just taken part in the annual progressive dinner. The evening was concluded with a short business meeting. Thanks you to all for preparing such a delicious menu. Is there anything in food preparation

you people can’t do? Those who missed this event will just have to wait till next year, sorry. We have a biggie coming up the month of July: the building of the float for the Troy Homecoming Parade. Be prepared to work hard again this year. Remember that Friedens had the #1 float last year. The Couples Club would like to express their appreciation to each of you for all the help at the Chicken Supper on May 21st. It is sure gratifying to see so many working together which certainly made all our jobs easier and helped to make this supper profitable. Through our efforts, the Church Council has received over $1,500 which will be applied towards the new roof. Repairs Needed Our church needs to repair both chimneys, and have tuck-pointing done. We also need a new roof. This will be an investment of approximately $4,000. To accomplish getting these jobs done this year, we need to go the extra mile when we use our building fund envelopes.

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Greetings Faith Partners,

Today is a beautiful day in the neighborhood. There’s no rain, the birds are singing, the children are playing outside and the cook is grilling hot dogs. I hope each of you is enjoying the many blessings of God’s world, too. My envelope arrived filled with the treasure of labels! I thank you for your continued support and I hope you will continue.

Enjoy and God bless, Brenda Crisp

UniPres Kindercottage

Dear Friends,

A sincere and heartfelt thank you is given for your generous contribution to help less fortunate families in the Troy area. We are so very grateful for you giving out of love to share joy and happiness with others. Because of people like you, we have accomplished many things over the past years. We thank you for your kindness, your commitment and your good heart. May your life be abundant and joyful. Also, thank you

for participating in the Mayoral Prayer Breakfast. God bless you all for helping us to help others.

Betty Cothran, Ministries Unlimited Pantry Administrator

Cakes are needed

for the cake walk

stand at the Troy

Home-coming!

Delight the

chairwoman of the

stand, sign up

before she needs to

make phone calls!

In observance of Independence Day,

the church office will be closed on

Friday, July 4.

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Items collected for

Ministries Unlimited in

June were:

48 cans soda

16 pie shells

102 pkgs. 4 roll toilet paper

15 boxes Hamburger Helper

48 bars soap

6 boxes macaroni and cheese

1 small can soup

3 packages dry pasta

1 can roast beef

1 can tuna

2 boxes spaghetti

1 large box cereal

3 cans tomato sauce

1 box cereal

1 box Jell-o

2 boxes pudding

2 tooth brushes

1 can chicken and dumplings

1 can fruit

2 cans beef stew

1 can vegetables

1 can ham

1 can chicken breast

Thank you for your donation! The

items for July are: pork n beans, jelly,

cereal, macaroni and cheese, and

bath soap.

July 24, 25, & 26 Thursday, July 24th is Family Night

Children’s parade at 6:15 p.m. Friday’s parade is at 7:00 p.m.

Saturday’s parade is at 6:00 p.m.

July 27th

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The youth attending the Regional Youth Event thank you for your support! Pastor Doug Stephanie Williams Katelyn Gebhart Crystal Gebhart Kerstyn Deichmann Kayla Molohon Kellen King Brady Waggoner This group will be headed for Sheboygan Wisconsin on Thursday July 10th and will be returning home on the 13th. Thank you so much for all your help in making this trip possible!

At the time of this writing (two weeks before VBS) there are 33 children registered. We are looking forward to opening up our church to the community and share the love of God with all. Next month I will let you know just how all the new features we brought to VBS turned out. It’s so exciting to see our Youth leaders and young people having fun and making plans for the future! All youth 6th grade and up are welcome to join in the fun! Listen for details during the announcements. If you have any questions see Sean Smith or Aaron Jaconis.

We will be walking in the Troy Homecoming parade. See Donna Bingham for details. The adult Sunday School is going strong during the summer months so join them each Sunday at 9:00 am in the conference room. If you would like to be part of the Fall Sunday School let Stephanie know. We love new ideas and there is room for everyone. This month I will begin to plan our 2014/15 Sunday School year. There is never a down time in Christian Education. My door is always open and I love to hear your ideas. If you don’t find me at church I’m just a phone call away… Stephanie

No Sunday School July 6th

& 27th

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Women’s Guild The Women’s Guild met on Wednesday, June 18, 2014, 7:00 p.m. President Betty Schiller welcomed everyone in attendance and recognized the May and June birthdays. Prayers of concern were offered for our shut-ins, members, and families. Devotions were led by Stephanie Williams, “All About Me”. She passed out note card to each of us and spoke about the importance of staying in touch with friends and acquaintances and mentioned the different ways via phone, snail mail, email, texting, face book and face to face. Taking a few minutes of your time can make such a difference in someone’s life when contacting them. The same importance applies to staying in touch with God with prayer. Gladys Huston reported that the quilt for the annual raffle has been completed, and dates for selling the tickets will soon be ready. Beautiful work ladies! 150 Corelle dinner plates, 150 salad plates, and 100 stoneware mugs were recently purchased for our kitchen. Betty reported that the next Hobby Bee will be Saturday, June 28 and is encouraging all ladies to come.

The guild has volunteered to provide casseroles and desserts for the meal on Thursday, June 26 of VBS week. Camp scholarships will again be offered to any youth that sign up for DuBois camps. The next item was the Homecoming. Mary Emmons is chairing the cakewalk stand at the Homecoming July 25-26th. Gloria and Vickie will be in charge of the quilt stand and everyone agreed to include pecans as part of the sales along with the cookbooks and the quilt tickets. After the business meeting we all enjoyed the delicious earthquake cake and ice cream provided by Audrey, our hostess for the evening. Thank you, Audrey. Our next meeting will be July 16 at 7:00 p.m. Devotions will be led by Sue Hoppes, hostesses will be JoAnn Longhi and Gladys Huston. Our items for Ministries Unlimited are pork-n-beans, jelly, cereal, mac & cheese and bath soap.

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New address? New phone? New email?

Update your contact information with the office.

Campbell’s Soup Labels and Box

Tops for Education- Please help

Kindercottage by saving these and

getting them to the church office.

They are as good as cash for

Kindercottage!

July 10th, 12:30 p.m.

http://friedensucc-troy.org/

You can also find us on Face book.

Be sure to sign up to help at the

Cake Walk Stand!

This booth is so much fun to work –

all those yummy cakes -all those

smiling faces hoping to land on

“the” number - the delighted faces

of the children (and sometimes

even the adults!) as they choose

their prize - exciting music to keep

your feet moving!

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Stewards in Covenant: Walking Together in All God’s Ways

Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit… – 2 Corinthians 3:5-6a

When I went through divorce, I was devastated by broken promises. Some months later a co-worker excitedly showed me her new engagement ring. Could I ever again wear a “meaningless” ring? Then it came to me that a ring symbolizing God’s covenant with me would never need to be taken off, for God is always faithful. But would I live up to my promises? Ah, that’s the thing; the ring symbolizes our perfect intentions. Only God is perfect.

Covenant literally created the United Church of Christ and it’s the glue that holds us together. Our Constitution says: “Within the United Church of Christ, the various expressions of the church relate to each other in a covenantal manner. Each expression of the church has responsibilities and rights in relation to the others, to the

end that the whole church will seek God’s will and be faithful to God’s mission... Each expression of the church listens, hears, and carefully considers the advice, counsel, and requests of others. In this covenant, the various expressions of the United Church of Christ seek to walk together in all God’s ways.” – Article III, Par. 6

This is our perfect intention, our free choice, the “better way” we choose to live out our commitment to God in mutual relationship. A message from Stewards in the Household of

God: a Resource for Holistic Year-round

Stewardship available from United Church of

Christ Resources.

God is still speaking,

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A Parent’s

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Make me a better parent. Teach me

to understand my children, to listen

patiently to what they have to say,

and to answer all their questions

kindly. Keep me from interrupting

them or contradicting them. Make

me as courteous to them as I would

have them be to me.

Forbid that I should ever laugh at

their mistakes, or resort to shame

or ridicule when they displease me.

May I never punish them for my own

selfish satisfaction or to show my

power. Let me not tempt my child

to lie or steal. And guide me hour

by hour that I may demonstrate by

all I say and do that honesty

produces happiness.

Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me.

And when I’m out of sorts, help me,

Lord, to hold my tongue.

May I ever be mindful that my

children are children, and I should

not expect of them the judgment of

adults. Let me not rob them of the

opportunity to wait on themselves

and to make decisions. Bless me

with the bigness to grant them all

their reasonable requests and the

courage to deny them privileges I

know will do them harm. Make me

fair and just and kind. And fit me,

Lord, to be loved, respected and

imitated by my children.

Amen.