The Circuit Rider 2016

See our Vacation Bible School article for more details.

Greetings to you all!!

I am finding it hard to believe that I am soon to celebrate my first anniversary with you all. What a welcoming and gracious congregation you have been to me.

Some of you may not know that the church council have been reading a book entitled “The Rise of the Nones” by James Emery White. The “nones” are the increasing number of people that do not identify themselves with any particular Christian denomination, even though some still identify themselves as believers in Jesus Christ.

The mission of the United Methodist church, as stated in the Book of Discipline, is to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Your church’s mission statement mirrors some of that same language, saying our ministry is to make disciples. Sounds good, but how do we do that?

Your council has been exploring ways of reaching the increasing number of nones or ‘unchurched’ people and fulfilling our mission. As your pastor, I have benefited from some ideas and education about these issues from the conference. The United Methodist Church has also been tackling these issues in its “Rethink Church” campaign.

All of that is a long way of saying that we as a church may be ‘re-thinking’ some of the ways we are in community together and maybe even some of the ways we worship. This world is hungry for the message of hope that we have been given. We are called to find the lost and offer them Christ, bringing them into the loving community of believers that we are.

Our District Superintendent, Wayne Butler, shared with the clergy that the northeast section of the US is the most unchurched part of this country. He said that we could view that as a tragedy (which, of course, it is) OR we could view it as a tremendous opportunity.

I say this: let’s pull up our sleeves, get out our Bibles and get busy. God has prepared a harvest for us and it’s still to start planting and reaping some souls. The Lord is calling…I pray that we answer.

In Christ,

Pastor Cheryl

Adult Christian Learning Opportunities (All Welcome)  

Wednesday’s AM Bible Study: at Asbury UMC meet Wednesdays, at 10:00am, led by Certified Lay Minister (CLM) Nancy Moore, in the adult room. Wednesday AM is studying Half Truths by Adam Hamilton. This study invites lively discussion.

The Peppertree Group: at Peppertree Towers meet Thursdays, at 1:30pm, led by

CLM Nancy Moore, located at: Peppertree Heights Community Room, 285 Peppertree Dr., Amherst.

Peppertree is studying the Family Tree of Christianity. We are learning about different denominations and how all of them contribute to our beliefs.

The Asbury Pointe Group: at Asbury Pointe on the 2nd & 4th Fridays at 1:30pm led by CLM Nancy Moore, located at: 50 Stahl Rd, Getzville.

Asbury Pointe is studying the book of James. Although written over 2,000 years ago, it amazes us how relevant the message is to us today, especially during this particular election season.

Come join us for lively discussion and learning opportunities.

Asbury UMC Adult Sunday School Class: Will start up in the Fall.

July 2016 : Nancy Ott, Barbara Hadsell

Al Bingham, George Miner

August 2016 : Joyce Ailinger, Mabel Houghton

Viv Parker, Sandra Colligan

Thank you to the following Greeters

who are part of the “Welcoming Team”.

Music is an important part of the service and we will try to "enforce" a few improvements in the next months. The main pain for me as a music director is not having a choir at Asbury. I hear you all singing and if some of you would trust me a little bit more and sit in the choir section, we could powerfully lead together the entire congregation. Chimes will resume their practice in September and will play during the last week of every month during service. Additionally, every child is invited to join the music group right after worship every Sunday.

I wish you all a wonderful summer. Antonella Di Giulio Music Director

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BILL

Thank you to all who came on our church clean-up day to help tidy up areas of the church. Many hands made lighter the load.

United Methodist Women=UMW News

See you in September

United Methodist Men=UMM News

See you in September

CHURCH COUNCIL:

Chairperson: Stan Polaske

Vice-Chairperson: Vergie Oettinger

Recording Secretary: Tracy Hagler

Christian Ed: Nancy Moore and Linda Schriver

Financial Secretary: Cyndi Gaeta

Treasurer: Bonnie Boudreault

Lay Leader: Christopher Holoman

Lay Member of Annual Conference: Jessica Glaser

Alternate Lay Member: Chris Holoman

Finance Team Chairperson: Merrill Arthur

Pastor Parish Relations Chairperson: Vergie Oettinger

Trustees Chairperson: (elected by Trustees first 2016 meeting) Bill Schiferle

Outreach Co-Chairpersons: Betsy Arthur and Nancy Ott

Youth Representative: Laurie Syms

United Methodist Women Chairperson: Vergie Oettinger

United Methodist Men Chairperson: Dick Casseri

Asbury’s Servant Leaders

for 2016

Please see the list to the right. These are the people to go to if you have questions.

Children's Lending Library Starting Sunday, July 3rd there will be a Children's Summer Lending Library. There will be books, puzzles, coloring books, games and DVD's that you can take home for a week and return. Each item will have a heart sticker. An adult will need to "sign out" the item and cross off the same when returned

Sunday School As we close for summer vacation, there are so many thank you's for a very successful year: I want to thank the parents and grandparents who made it a priority that their child's religious education was important enough to bring them to church every week. We had great attendance this year! I want to thank Pastor Cheryl for all her help and counsel for our children and their program. She was there for both our Pizza/Project nights. She has such a fun; conversational way she explains things to the children. I also want to thank our Church Council and our congregation for our new table and chairs. And a big thank-you go to each of our teachers who through their love and talent made the Sunday school experience fun for our children: Karen Kirwan, Tiffney Gilday, Sandra Colligan, and Laurie Syms. Bill Schiferle is not a teacher, but the best friend the kids could have. He makes sure he knows all the children's names and makes it a point to engage them in conversation. How many times have we seen him helping an acolyte, going to Communion with one of our little ones, or encouraging a reluctant participant to the front of the church to hear the children's sermon? Thanks Mr. Bill! I want to thank Antonella for all that she did for the kids this year and especially for our special holiday music and our new bells. Thanks also to our "snack lady", Addison's Grandmother, Carol Gage. Thanks for providing treats and juice boxes throughout this year. So we take a break. There will be a coloring page each week during the summer services for the children. Just pick it up when you take the bulletin. May God's SON-SHINE be with you all through the summer!

Sunday School Essential

When you see those school supplies on sale this summer, could you buy a SMALL bottle of glue for us? Glue sticks are not reliable and they dry up. So good old Elmer's is just what we need. We never seem to have enough. There will be a box in the fellowship hall for your donation. Thanks for helping.

For Children: Acolytes Needed for the Summer:

There is a sign-up sheet in the Fellowship Hall for any child who is interested in lighting the candles on the altar for Sundays Worship. Please check with your parents first that the day you pick is OK.

Chris & Kaye Lynn Gresham 3rd (2010)

Joseph & Hilary Spriesch 9th (1983)

Matt & Nicole Shepard 20th (2007)

Jim & Cheryl Brown 27th

Katie Babcock 1st

Aris Bekteshi 1st

Peter Ott 1st

Stan Polaske 4th

Jared Syms 5th

Antonella DiGiulio 10th

Sandra Colligan 11th

Jessica Hart 11th

Diana Graziano 15th

Nancy Moore 18th

Britney Jacob 20th

Steven Graziano 24th

Peg Saeger 27th

Evianna Gaeta 1st

Brian Liebel 7th

Tracy Hagler 9th

Susan Fogle 11th

Linda Schriver 15th

George Miner 17th

Doris Callahan 18th

Austin Boudreault 20th

Kayleigh Fogle 20th

John Dabby 24th

Alayna Fogle 25th

Nicole Shepard 30th

Bill & Sandra Hoos 5th (1972)

Keith & Colleen Liebel 11th (1990)

Phil & Cyndi Gaeta 16th (2003)

Jack & Anita Saia 17th (1996)

Kevin & Sallly Hoolahan 18th (2007)

Craig & Carol Gage 21st (1971)

FOOD PANTRY SUNDAY

July 3rd and August 7th

At theWELLbuffalo, 995 Dodge Road, Getzville

Their hours are Wednesdays from 4-6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until Noon.

We served over 35 families last Saturday. There is so much need. It seems to be increasing this Summer. Here are needs for The Well food pantry. Canned corn, peas, spaghetti sauce, white tuna, and soups-especially creamed types. Paper towels, Kleenex and all personal items. Cake mixes, cookie mixes, juice, noodles and pasta, cereal, catsup, mustard, and boxed potatoes. There is more need this Summer. Thank you for your support for all these families in need.

Bob and Nancy Moore

Note: All our donations now go directly to the WELLbuffalo food pantry, our neighbor down the road on Dodge, as their needs are great.

AsburyAmherstumc.org Website:

Dear Asbury Family

A special Thank you to Connie Holoman for all her efforts; she has been the primary person that has maintained our website for some years now! Since she will be moving on …. I have taken over the responsibility of the website. My education and professional experience is in technology/software development with a specialty in Web & Mobile development, so it seemed like a good fit for me. What does all that mean? …. Changes! I am very excited about this effort! We are in the process of completely re-vamping our website! You will see these changes in the coming weeks!! This will be just the beginning and we will continue to evolve – who knows, there may be podcasts of Pastor Cheryl’s sermons coming in our near future.

If you have any information and/or events that you want to have added to the website and/or on Facebook, please reach out to me at thagler0125@yahoo.com. I am pretty responsive to email.

Blessings, Tracy Hagler

Happy summer to all! What an amazing summer it has been so far - perfect weather and lots of fun activities. First of all, we had a great time with our friends from Haven House in early May. The weather was super and the kids enjoyed playing outside - which is a real treat for them. We had a nice lunch thanks to UMY and played lots of games and had nice crafts. Amherst YES came and was a big help. We would like to continue every year; Cornerstone Manor was unable to attend and we are looking at other agencies for next year. We would like to thank everyone who came and helped stuff the Goody Bags at the church for the American Diabetes Association's 2016 Tour de Cure - it is so true that many hands make little work. The groups were very fast and we had a nice lunch together. Thanks also to everyone who came and helped wash and prepare celery and carrots for the 2016 Tour de Cure cycling event. It is a lot of work but we always have a great time working together. Thank you to Nancy Ott and Austin and April Boudreault for working the day of the Tour - they were all a huge help. The ADA dropped off leftovers for the church which we used for our dinner at First United Methodist Church in Niagara Falls. We were impressed by the program they run - they serve dinner every Thursday for roughly 100 needy families in the area. We are planning to do this program at least a few times per year. Outreach will be going to Holzman House for our yearly cookout with the residents in July. Please take a moment and think about hosting an activity at Holzman - they miss us when we are not there every month. It is very easy to plan an event and Nancy and I have lots of ideas if you needed any. We would like to continue this mission but Outreach cannot do it ourselves! We are gearing up for our Annual Garage Sale. There will be 3 co-chairs: Bonnie Boudreault, Nancy Ott and Betsy Arthur. We are having a meeting in July to go over all the particulars and would love to have new faces come and join us. It is a lot of fun and we help make a nice amount for this church fundraiser. Please keep an eye out for the Treasure sale article for more details. Enjoy the beautiful weather and God Bless. Thank you for all your support and enthusiasm! Nancy Ott and Betsy Arthur Outreach Co-Chairs

Beginning Monday, September 12 at 7:00 PM!

The Bible remains the primary source for faith development for Christians. In the Bible we encounter God, God’s story and God’s vision for humanity. More importantly, it is through our experience of the Bible that we realize that we are part of God’s plan too!! Some of us have the personal discipline to read the Bible daily. The rest of us, however, need structure and the encouragement of others on the journey. If you are one of "the rest of us”, consider Disciple Fast Track!

Disciple Fast Track helps busy people encounter the Bible in order to grow in faith. Daily readings for private reflection, and materials to help understand the Bible and its content are provided.

The study begins Monday, September 12. We will spend twelve weeks in the Old Testament and then twelve weeks exploring the New Testament. Each class experience will be approx. 75 minutes, from 7:00 PM to 8:15 PM. We will be taking every third Monday off (for our church council meeting) and some extra time off around Christmas and Easter. The plan is to end May 22 if all goes well. Join Pastor Cheryl and the rest of us as we encounter the Word of God!!

Vacation Bible School=VBS

We are looking forward to another fun Jesus & God filled 4 days of VBS. Come surf with us and learn about God's creation, how God helps, how God loves, how God calms, and how God sends his disciples. Come feel the salty air on your face, have some fishy snacks, and sandy creations to help you remember.

Please mark your calendars for Monday - Thursday, July 18-21, 6:30 - 8:30 PM.

Tell your friends. Tell your relatives. Tell your neighbors.

We WILL see YOU at the Surf Shack!

Don't forget those Dash's receipts when you are food shopping. There is a box on the counter in the Fellowship Hall, for receipts of any amount. Ask your friends and neighbors to save the receipts for you. We almost have enough receipts to turn in for a proceeds check. Thanks for your help with this fund raiser.

Bottle/Can Returns

Effective immediately you can now take your bottles and cans directly to DEPOSIT DEPOT at

660 N. French Road near Sweet Home Rd. We will get 6 cents a can/bottle and just tell them to put it towards the Asbury UMC account. But you can still bring your cans and bottles directly to church and leave them in the kitchen in the box next to the fridge!

It all adds up!! $$$ Laurie Syms

Chaplain’s Coffee Hour Asbury UMC will continue through the summer by providing 2 to 3 dozen from each person signing up (2 people a month), of cookies, brownies, muffins, doughnuts, or even healthy treats such as apples, oranges, etc, for the men and women who serve our country at the 107th Air Force Base in Niagara Falls.

We are in need of goodies for Chaplain Kraft to take to the Base during the Summer months. This has been a wonderful ministry and greatly appreciated by the 107th Air Base personnel.

Chaplain Kraft always expresses her great appreciation to everyone for doing this.

Please see the 2016 sign-up, posted on the Fellowship Bulletin Board. The next cookie due dates are Thurs., July 21st and none in August. Thank you. Linda Schriver

Do you shop at Tops for groceries or gas? Asbury UMC has $10, $20, $50, & $100 Tops gift cards available for purchase. For every $100 (You receive full face value of the card) in Gift Cards you buy, Asbury UMC earns $5.00 from Tops!! That’s free money to help serve the Lord!

Tops Cards may be bought after worship or during office hours. Call the office for arrangements 688-8677 or see Amy Diati.

Thank you, for your participation in this ministry.

Treasure Sale News 2016 Save the date Saturday, September 17th

A tentative treasure sale meeting is scheduled for Tues., July 11th at 6:30 pm before the Finance meeting. We will go over general running of the sale and pricing sorting dates etc.

Please if you are able to hold bringing in treasures till after the Vacation Bible Study is over in July that would be helpful.

Looking forward to another great treasure sale! We are already getting calls asking when it is scheduled for this year!!!!

Asbury United Methodist Church PO Box 743

850 Dodge Road Getzville, NY 14068-0743

Pastor Cheryl Brown

Bonnie Boudreault, Secretary &

Newsletter Editor

Antonella DiGiulio, Music Director

Christopher Holoman, Lay Leader

Peggy Lockwood, Custodian

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Adult Sunday School @ 9:30 am

Worship at 10:30 am

Church Telephone: 688-8677

E-mail: asburyamherst@juno.com

www.asburyamherstumc.org

Office Hours: Tues., Wed., Thurs. 9:30 am-3:30 pm Pastor’s Hours

Mon., & Fri. -Afternoons Tues. & Thurs.-All Day

Weds. Off

Mission Statement

Our Ministry is Making Disciples

We are the church of Jesus Christ.

We worship a God who passionately loves us. We belong to a spiritual family who cares for us. We grow up into committed followers of Jesus. We serve the world with God-given gifts and abilities. We invite you to a new life in Jesus Christ.

Readings are provided for you to use in your daily devotions.

May God speak to you through them.

July 3rd 2 Kings 5:1-14; Psalm 30; Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

July 10th Amos 7:7-17; Psalm 82; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37

July 17th Amos 8:1-12; Psalm 52 or 82; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42

July 24th Hosea 1:2-10; Psalm 85; Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19); Luke 11:1-13

July 31st Hosea 11:1-11; Psalm 107:1-9,43; Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21

August 7th Isaiah 1:1, 10-20; Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:32-40

August 14th Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56

August 21st Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; Hebrews 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17

August 28th Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1, 10-16; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14

JULY/AUGUST FINANCIAL NEWSLETTER ARTICLE

We are now entering the doldrums of the summer when many of us choose to enjoy the weather over eternal salvation. When we repent at the end of the summer and start attending more regularly, we will be forgiven and life moves on. But remember that the church still needs to pay its bills through the summer.

We have had some financial challenges so far this year. Although a few of our members have already stepped up to help with these challenges, we need everyone’s help. We need to make sure that we keep up with our pledges.

Also, let’s take the time to re-evaluate our giving to make sure we are giving our fair share. Here are some thoughts that will hopefully suck more mon…., I mean thoughts that will help add some perspective:

1. Giving is a personal decision because everyone has a different set of circumstances. With a little financial planning and prayer, we can figure out what is fair and feels right for each of us.

2. We are all here, so we must want to be here for some reason. If we want the church to continue providing that reason, then we need to do our part to help.

3. The bible tells us to give 10% of what we get. However we want to define that 10% is ok as long as we don’t skimp on what we feel is right.

4. Those of us who are firm believers should firmly want to follow God’s word in the bible. It’s all God’s money anyways, so it’s a pretty good deal that he lets us use 90% of it.

5. Some of us may not be at the same point in our Christian journey as a firm believer may be, but we do have some level of belief and are just as much of a Christian as a firm believer is. Not-so-firm believers should also give 10% to help support our church. There is no discount for only being a partial believer.

The bible says that giving will bring us more blessings than we can handle. It is better to give than to receive. You reap what you sow We will never know if these things are true unless we try it.

A man died and went to heaven. He was met at the Pearly Gates by St. Peter who led him down the streets. The golden path was replaced with bricks. They passed boarded up stately homes and mansions until they came to the end of the street where they stopped in front of a simple cabin. The man complained to St. Peter saying “I thought heaven’s streets were paved with gold and we would all be living in paradise”. St. Peter replied, “I did the best with the money that everyone sent us.”

In God We Trust! The Finance Committee