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The Oasis Cross in the Desert UMC Monthly Newsletter
June 2017
Welcome to Cross in the Desert UMC
“Where God’s Love Transforms Lives”
The people of Cross in the Desert United Methodist Church welcome you to our church. We are a vibrant community that loves God and each other. We live out our faith by worshipping the risen Lord each week, serving our church and our world.
June 3 Men on a Mission
June 5-9 Vacation Bible School
June 6 Trustee Meeting
June 7 UMW Mission Team**
June 8 VBS Program & Dessert
Auction
June 10 Art Show at Parson’s Village
June 13 UMW Outreach
Staff Parish Committee Meeting
Women’s Chorus Rehearsal
June 14 Congreagational Care
Shalimar, Florida Youth Choir
Concert
June 15 Bookworms United**
June 16 Kids’ Night Out
June 17 Empty Nesters Potluck
June 20 Devotions & Dinner**
June 22 Desert Daisies***
June 24 UMW Spiritual Retreat
June 27 Prayer Committee Meeting
Church Council Meeting
Church Events
Table of Contents
Pastor’s Corner ............................................ 2 Anniversaries and Birthdays ........................ 3 Youth News .................................................. 4 Events........................................................... 6 Sermon Schedule for June ........................... 8 Annual Conference Mission Project ............ 8 CITD Finance Corner ................................... 9 Initiative for Growth & Vitality .................. 10 Announcements ......................................... 11
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Pastor’s Corner WHAT IS PENTECOST?
Pentecost is one of the three major Jewish feasts also
called the Feast of Weeks. The name Pentecost is derived
from the Greek word meaning fifty. Pentecost occurs in
the month of Sivan (May/June), 50 days after Passover,
and celebrates the end of the grain harvest. The Pentecost
that followed Jesus’ death and resurrection was the
occasion on which the Holy Spirit was given to believers in
Jerusalem.
Believers were together celebrating Pentecost when
suddenly unusual sights and sounds signaled an event that
would have far reaching implications. They had the sound
of a “violent rushing wind” (Acts 2:2). They saw tongues of
fire resting on believers, and each believer was able to
communicate in languages they had never before spoken.
They were able to speak with Jewish pilgrims of many languages from all over the Mediterranean
world. Never was there a more international crowd in Jerusalem than at the time of Pentecost.
These phenomena got the attention of the Jewish faithful gathered in Jerusalem. Many
thought the disciples were intoxicated. But Simon Peter got up and pointed out it was too early in
the day for people to be drunk. Peter then took this unusual opportunity to proclaim that this event
was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy that God would pour out His Spirit on all people. Peter linked
the gift of the Spirit with the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Peter’s message found
its way into the hearts of over 3,000 who responded by repenting and being baptized in the name of
Jesus and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.
My hope for everyone at Cross in the Desert UMC is that you will move closely to the One
who has been sent alongside to help. The Holy Spirit longs to empower you with His dynamic
presence. The Holy Spirit wants to strengthen you in the weak and fragile places of your lives. May
we all bear witness to our Triune God now and forevermore more!
Blessings,
Pastor Julius
June Prayer Focus
Bishop & Staff of the Desert Southwest
Conference
Staff & Churches—West District, North Dis-
trict, and South District
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Communications at CITD
Our website is full of all the latest information
about the church. Please visit it at:
www.crossinthedesert.org.
Refresh, our weekly email newsletter, is sent out
each Friday with a devotion and a reminder of
the events of the weekend.
Please update your email address with the
church office by placing it on your attendance
form.
Our Facebook page is very active and provides
the most up-to-date information. You can like us
at: www.facebook.com/CrossintheDesertUMC.
Buck Ashcraft June 3
Patrick Kelley June 3
Emily Martinello June 4
Tyler Joy June 5
Nancy Stein June 5
Mary Jane Byfield June 7
Justin Franklin June 7
Kathy Doyle June 8
Dick Hummel June 10
Ada Miller June 12
Donna Cox June 13
Roz Falkenhainer June 13
Phyllis Fricker June 13
John & Sharon MacVean June 1 Wes & Wanda Picciotti June 1 Jeff & Karen Bulkeley June 5 Nadia & Wayne Lattin June 7 Emily & Gene Lumba June 8 Jeff & Linda Moore June 8 Jerry & Joan Rockwell June 9 Hank & Barb Hendrickson June 12 Bill Moyer & Ada Thompson June 12 Dan & Gretchen Miller June 14 Francisco & Hyacinth Carpio June 18 Peter & Amanda Dudek June 18 Art & Dinah Brooks June 30 Eugene & Joan O’Bryan June 30
Jim Guthrie June 15
Billy Pleake June 15
Dinah Brooks June 17
Billie Albright June 18
Kate Flavell June 18
Georgia McCormick June 19
Barry Doyle June 20
Debbie Ellis June 27
Julius Keller June 27
Kay Davison June 29
Steve Ellis June 30
Gene Fricker June 30
Out of the Mouth of God’s Kids
A pastor was speaking to a group of second-graders about the resurrection of Jesus when one student asked, "What did Jesus say right after He came out of the grave?"
The pastor explained that the Gospels do not tell us what He said.
The hand of one little girl
shot up. "I know what He
said: He said, 'Tah-dah!'"
A small boy told a Sunday school teacher: "When you die, God takes care of you like your parents did when you were alive — only God doesn't yell at you all the time."
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Youth News We recently ended the school year with a graduation pool party. Cynthia Crawford and Gabi Robbins are our seniors who have led youth group through times of victory, goofy events and serious discussions. Thank you to the Cahill family for letting us have our pool party at their home, their yard and pool are beautiful and the teens are already planning for the next par-ty. Congratulations to our seniors as well as those who graduated from 8th grade: Sara Heller, Erin Mershon, Haley Falknor and Elizabeth Robinson. Nothing like a barbecue to attract teenagers! This past month 13 of our Methodist Churches in our district decided to start meeting with each other for activities and events to give our youth a chance to have some fun. It is a great opportunity for some of the churches who have youth groups small in number right now and also for all of us youth leaders and volun-teers to meet and encourage one another. Our plans and goals were to have games and a barbecue, hoping to attract at least 60-70 teenagers. Leaders were all quite excited as we all watched the vans, cars and SUV’s empty out into the parking lot with teenagers ready to have fun! Last count was 122 for the even-ing. The next event that is planned is June 14th at our church for the Youth Choir from Shalimar, Florida. Please be sure to join us on that date at 7:00 pm to encourage the youth in our dis-trict. Cookies will be served afterward, so please join us and bring a dozen or two to share so they can hang out together before the Shalimar Choir boards their bus for home. Good memories! Look back over the activities and smiles from years past. I’m going to be digging up more ‘remember when’ photo’s. Watch for yours. :) Connie Bruhn Coordinator of Children’s & Youth Ministries Brian Moore and Christina Moore, Volunteer Youth Leaders
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Sermon Schedule for June
June 4—“The Promise of the Holy Spirit” - John 14:15-20 June 11—”Chosen to Witness” - John 15:26-27 and Acts 1:4-8 June 18—”Looking at God through Daddy Eyes” (Dr. Stacey Elsasser preaching) - Luke 11:9-13 June 25—”Don’t Drift Away” - Hebrews 2:1-4
Annual Conference Mission Project
The Desert Southwest Annual Conference is asking all churches to donate items that can’t be purchased with food stamps. Food stamps can’t be used for anything that isn’t labeled for human consumption. The following items are desperately needed by people who have limited resources: Toilet paper and all paper products Laundry detergent, all cleaning products Toothpaste, toothbrush, dental floss Diapers, feminine products Deodorant, shampoo, lotion, powder, sunscreen Please bring your donations to the church by June 11 and they will taken to the Annual Conference meeting. There are thousands of people who need the basics, such as listed above ….. products that we take for granted. Your generosity is greatly appreciated by many.
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CITD Finance Corner Overall, CITD’s financial pulse is rapidly improving. It is great to see our smil-ing members talking about where we will apply the extra $18,000 each year that will be become available when the mortgage is paid off. We are dramatically changing CITD’s path forever. For perspective, I looked back at my financial comments in May of 2016. Our $226,000 mortgage continued to drag us down with an expectation of about 25 more years to pay it off. Offering continued to shrink another 3% compared with the prior year. We were holding our collective breath for survival. Fast forward to May, 2017. Your support of Unleash capital campaign has paid down the mortgage to $105,152. With the pledges still coming in, we expect to have the whole mortgage paid off by the end of 2019. That will be 21 years soon-er than expectations only one year ago. At the same time, 2017 offering is 5% above the 2016 level. What a difference a year makes. In May 2016, expenses were more than offering which was causing us to begin to slip behind on apportionments. In May 2017, offering is slightly above expenses, which has allowed us to meet all obligations including already paying all of May apportionments. As we celebrate, we re-member that we are not out of the woods yet. The slower, hotter summer months are coming which typically strains our ability to match offering with expenses. We have also benefitted from no A/C breakdowns yet. These are historical times that are making sure CITD will be the spiritual center of our community for many generations to come. Bob Cummings, Chairperson CITD Finance Committee
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God is calling us to focus on growing and becoming more vital so that our ministry of praise and prayer, compassion and caring, and mission and outreach will touch lives and transform communities for many years to come. A conference team asked for input about church vitality, values, meas-urements, and more so that the team of clergy and laity could con-verge those insights and write the vision that God has inspired in the people of the Desert Southwest Conference. After prayer and reflection on the data collected so far, the conver-gence team met and identified the most frequently mentioned themes and obstacles. Using that information, they wrestled with the task of defining characteristics of a growing church.* *Source: dscumc.org
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Art Show
June 10th
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Parsons Village
We will be displaying the art that the kids have been making for their families to see. We can use your help! Sign up to help us by providing
extra hands for the art show.
Cross in the Desert UMC Art Partnership with UMOM
The Academy
will be on summer break until
September 17.
The Young Adult bible study on Sunday
morning will be taking a break for the
summer and will resume in early
August. Stay tuned for more Young
Adult summer activities.
Contact Dave Delster (602) 867 2672
for more information.
Calling all Men of Faith interested in growing a sig-nificant men’s fellowship for all ages.
Saturday, June 3, 2017 8:00 AM in Fellowship Hall.
This month’s topic: TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS
Bring a friend. You do not want to miss out on shar-ing God’s work with others.
Matthew 9:37 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plen-
tiful, but the workers are few.”
Be a part of the few, not the plentiful!!!
Join us on Face Book - Men On A Mission (CITD)
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Cross in the Desert United Methodist Church
12835 N. 32nd Street
Phoenix, AZ 85032
Phone: 602-992-1960
Fax: 602-992-1967
E-mail: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrossintheDesertUMC
Cross in the Desert Staff
Pastor
Julius Keller [email protected]
Lay Leader
Karen Bulkeley
Coordinator of Children’s and Youth Ministries
Connie Bruhn
Administrative Assistant
Linda Moore
Financial Secretary
Alice Easter
Communications
Dinah Brooks
Music
Traditional Worship Leader—Jeff Bulkeley
Contemporary Worship Leader—
Jeremy Wyner
Director of Bell Choirs—Julie Wagner
Accompanist Traditional Service —
Stacey Elsasser