Vacation Bible School Returns, July 28th - August 1st

Take your kids on an action-packed VBS adventure! Rolling River Rampage invites children on a white-water rafting adven-ture to experience the ride of a lifetime with God! Along the river, the kids will discover that life with God is an adventure full of wonder and surprise, and that they can trust God to be with them through anything. Relevant music, creative crafts, fun recreation, and memorable Bible stories will help kids know that God is

always with them as they ride the rapids of amazing grace! VBS is for age 3 through 6th grade. The children will spend five evenings at our Rolling Riv-er, hearing Bible stories, play-ing games, singing songs, and making crafts. Even our snacks will be river-themed. The children will: • Find Adventure on the

River! • Find Acceptance on the

River! • Find Joy on the River! • Find Rest on the River! • Find Peace on the River!

Vacation Bible School

Put Thursday, August 1 at 7 p.m. on your calendar and plan on being at St. Paul’s with the whole family for our Closing Program. The children will sing for us and show us what they’ve learned. Refreshments will follow. We’ll need lots of help, so parents and teens, see Elaine Luoma or Mary Ann Jones and let them know you can help. Volunteers may also register on the VBS website. Please pre-register the children online at www.stpaulsalive.org so we can be prepared for everyone!

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church West Deptford, NJ

July-August 2019

30– Courtney Seaton 31– Bev Betz 31– Dana Rowand Brown

AUGUST BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES

1– Ken Betz 1– Denise Brown 1– Charles Haefele 1– Cameron Kovack 1– Jackie Zane 2– Dave Hosier 2– Everett Vatsev 3– Bill Golle 3– Kaiden Grassia 3– Jessica Parks 3– Charlie Taylor 4– Bill & Elaine Blair 5– Jane Felder 5– Harry Ladner Jr 7– McKenzie Stevens 8 - Jeannette Branson 8– Bernice Nolte 10– Barbara Hoffman 10– Scott Newmann 11– Matthew Taylor 13– Tom Stevens 14– Joe & Linda Bryan 14– Fred Cochran 15– Mary Ellen Felder 16– Gerrie Lynn Dyal 16– Jennifer Kinley 16– DixieLee Leonardo 17– Barbara Browning 19– Melissa Thomas 23– Brian Golle 24– Merrilee & William Chappell 24– Austin Gittinger 25– Lauren & Jeff Jones 26– DixieLee & Jim Leonardo 27– Skeeter Heritage 29– Jack Keegan

Prayers: Brian, Cindy & 2 boys (PD), for victims & families of the Veteran motor-cycle tragedy, victims of Hawaii plane crash & the Storms of Life (The Ski’s); Please pray for Linda & Glenn who lost their son to a heart attack (Jen); Family & friends of Craig W, my high school class-mate (Denise)

Health Concerns: Prayers for Jim C who had surgery (Barbara); Geoff Y, health concerns (PD); Prayers for Uncle Ernie, his wife & 3 teenage daughters on his diagnosis of advanced stage colon cancer (Meghan & Nick); Matt, recovering from car accident (Claudia); Pray for my mom having medical is-sues / Prayers for Bea P in hospital w/ serious infection (Jen); BIL Joe B is not well, having tests, please pray (Susan); Prayers for all dealing with cancer (Brenda); Prayers for 3 y/o cousin in need of bone marrow / 4 y/o girl w/ severe eczema, no known cause and needs pain relief (Dana); Prayers for Judha, premature baby born at 26 wks @ 1 lb, 8 oz. (Mary Ann); Please pray for Don, getting better (Jen); Harley broke a finger & Logan got facial inju-ries last night after a fall (The Ski’s).

Every week: All those in need, unspoken requests, all servicemen/women, our nation and leaders.

Ongoing Prayer Concerns: Joyce N, M Family: Christina, Asante, Julian & Arianna; Felicia A, Vanessa M, Garry & Peg P, Diane W, Samm S, Hope T, Gerry M, Barbara B, Chris S, Janet B, Betty C, Terry D, Harriet H, Annisia M, Rachel & Regina, Helen R, Corey T.

Serving in the Military: Daniel Domeraski, Rachel Rachuba, Gabby Townsley, Ed Schwebel, Joseph Bangle, Taylor Passero, James Thomas Adams, Jr., Kailey Roller, Jaime Dan Solano, Brandon Howell, Chris Yard.

Shut-Ins & Nursing Home Residents Jean K, Jackie Z, Bertie C, Harriet H, Ron & Eve C, Betty C.

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JULY BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES

1– Linda Bryan 1– Dave Fish 1– Jacki Forte 1– Charlie Kyser 1– Don Strock 1– Bryan Weber 2 - Susan Speakman 2– Peg Purnell 2– Carter Weber 3– Pat Haase 3– Mary Ann Jones 3– Chris & Charlie Taylor 4– Joe Bryan 5– Joel & Sally Ann Glicka 6– Avaleigh Vatseva 8– Austin Moore 9– Gloria Lee 10– Jaqueline Hassel 10 – Sharon & Jacob Eichel 11– Bob & Marge Rowand 12– Elaine Luoma 14 - Hope Hooley 17– Nina Broadwater-Cosme 17– Steve Cervantes 19– Jennifer Keegan 20– Sharon Rutter 22– Jessica Bryan Sims 22– Erin Vatseva 23– Jaye Hamel 23 – Grant Dechen 23– David & Leisa Keegan 24– Chris Bailey 25– Kate Black 25– Janice Grassia 25– Nicole Martz 26– Matt & Kim Dechen 26– Rich Gibson 27– Suzanne Fish Morris 27– Alyssa White 29– Jeffrey Matlack 30– Steven Gortowski

Staff Editor: Trista C Jones

Assistant Editor: Denise Hosier

Regular Contributors: Pastor Dave, Gary Rutter, Ruth Schultz,

Carol Strock, Sunday School

Production: Trista C Jones

The Lamplighter is published bimonthly, in Jan., March, May, July, Sept. & Nov. Deadline is the 15th of the month preceding publication. For more info

contact Trista C Jones or email admin@stpaulsthorofare.com.

THELAMPLIGHTER Bimonthly Newsletter of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church PO Box 125, West Deptford, NJ 08086 Pastor: Rev. Dave Delaney Phone (856) 845-6638 E-mail pastor@stpaulsthorofare.com Sunday Morning Worship .............. 9:30 a.m. Sunday School .................................. 10:45 a.m.

“If not us, then who If not me and you Right now, it’s time for us to do something If not now, then when Will we see an end To all this pain It’s not enough to do nothing It’s time for us to do something”

I believe that all too many people of faith go to churches have asked friends “why doesn’t someone fix/care/do something” when they are talking about community or world problems. The national Lights for Lib-erty vigil where millions came out to light candles is just a simple example that people still care but I believe that the family/ community of St. Paul’s has already proven that we have it within ourselves to show love in the world. We can do something but each of us has to start doing it.

We have our church “business cards” for you to hand out or place on busi-ness bulletin boards–I was thrilled to watch someone hand a card out at our first WORSHIP at the RIVER to a stranger. We have VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL so we can invite kids to a program where ALL are welcome at no cost to their families! Many churches have stopped VBS or are charging families who bring kids to learn about Jesus.

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Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord all my soul. I will praise the Lord all of my life; I will sing praise to God as long as I live! Psalm 146: 1,2 Summer time is here!

And summer has always had a variety of descriptive terms ap-plied to this season of sun and heat! We have heard about the “lazy hazy days of summer,” which gives me the opportunity to admit the delay in the newsletter this time around is due to my slowness in getting this article to those who get our message out.

Growing up, there was the SUMMER of LOVE! And as we come out of the first Sunday in July when so many of you took time at noon to declare out loud those two simple words PEACE and LOVE, I would like to consider whether we can make this the season of PEACE and LOVE. We certainly need to get some love out into the world and the tensions of conversations are desper-ate for peace and understanding. LOVE and PEACE reflect who the people of St. Paul’s are!

I want each of you to consider this as an opportunity to make this the SUMMER of ST. PAUL’s! Perhaps making it the most important sum-mer in our 161-year history! West Deptford, Gloucester County, South Jersey, New Jersey, and the world need a group or people, a church, someone to start to bring the love of Jesus Christ for ALL into the world. Why not us?

There’s a moving song, DO SOME-THING, by Matthew West that in-cludes the following lyrics:

Our church offers Bible stud-ies that everyone (by the way, this includes each of you) can join in from anywhere in the world! Our Wednesday night Bible study class includes a woman from North Carolina who has never been to New Jersey participating each week. In August, our Thursday Bi-ble study will be joined by women from Tanzania on Af-

rica’s East Coast. Why not ask a friend to join you online for TUNE-UP on a Tuesday morning (8 a.m.) or evening (9:30 p.m.)? Technology has made connecting with St. Paul’s so easy, whether it is on Sunday morning with our Facebook Stream where at least 20 people are usually worshiping with us or Bible Studies that are streamed on ZOOM; St. Paul’s stream is literally accessible anywhere and everywhere.

So the SUMMER of St. Paul’s? Are you willing to help create it? Share the story of our church … share the story of your faith … life is so short and I always wonder if I am praising God enough; will people say that Dave celebrated God and Christ when I am gone?

If we do nothing rather than some-thing then our church will not grow; people we know won’t be connected to God and Christ; and there will be people who will miss out on the peace and love words we all said out loud at noontime on Sunday July 7.

Happy Summer … as the popular television series frequently stated, “winter is coming.”

Peace and Love, friends!

Pastor Dave

RED FOR PENTECOST: We wore red and ended the service throwing red paper airplanes. What a great way to celebrate

the birth of the church! 4 July/August 2019 Lamplighter

Outreach

Have a happy 4th of July. Enjoy your celebrations. Keep it safe! The kiddies are out of school; enjoy your summer! Thank you all for making Wendy's Night a success. We made over $300. The money is used for Mission Projects, and for needs of our church. We have a Mission Team going to Red Bird in August. This is a major outreach mission and every oppor-tunity to support them or dona-tions is greatly appreciated.

Upcoming Mission Projects & Offerings

• July Our first Sunday offering

(July 7) will benefit Peace With Justice.

On the third Sunday (July 21) the offering will

benefit St. Paul’s Vacation Bible School

• August Our first Sunday offering

(August 4) is for Shared Ministries

Our third Sunday (August 18) will be St. John of God School for Special Children

As always, thank you all for supporting our Projects.

Ruth Schultz

Well, it’s official! St. Paul’s is headed back to the Red Bird Mission, located in the nation’s poorest county. We will help the people who live there experience a safer and healthier life through our work on their homes. The work of missions teams is directly connected to God’s charge for us to go into the world and shine the Light of Christ! At the present time it appears that we are going to have 9 or 10 people going with us. We will be partnering

with Central United Methodist Church’s team, which has made all of the arrange-ments with the Red Bird Mission. We will be leaving New Jersey on Sunday, August 4 and returning Saturday, August 10. Mary Ann Jones has been desig-nated as the “team leader” for St. Paul’s.

Obviously, we have a short time period to fund raise and prepare. The costs include a van rental and gas plus tolls, plus $375 for each person on the trip for their costs and construction supplies at Red Bird. There was a special offering toward the cost of the trip on Sunday, June 16, or you can give at any time and mark your donation “Red Bird.” Thank you so much for your support of this mission trip!

Getting Ready for Red Bird

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SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS honored our Sunday School Superintendent Elaine Luoma, who has done a wonderful job leading our Sunday School this year.

A SAD FAREWELL: The choir and friends gathered after church on Tiffany Daly’s last Sunday as our music director. There were some tearful moments as we wished

Tiffany and Mike the very best with their new homes and new situations.

There is an incredi-bly beautiful place where songs praising God are sung all summer long and where friends gather gazing out on a beautiful bed of wa-ter as the sun sets in the distance. The good news, it’s our WORSHIP ON THE RIVER, and it hap-pens every Sunday evening in July and August at 7 p.m. at the Red Bank Battle-field in National Park. Grab a lawn chair and come on out! I want to invite YOU (now, don’t look over your shoulder because I am talk-ing to you) to admit that YOU need

some extra worship time before Mon-day rolls around … some bonus time praising God as the weekend closes out.

Phillies Game, July 27th

And this is the year for you to open the gate blocking friends, family, neighbors and co-workers from worshiping with us along the Delaware! Wor-ship on the River is such a great opportunity to invite people we care about for a beautiful Sun-day evening on the river, which just happens to include ‘some church.’ We kicked off this year’s Worship on the River on July 7. Watch for info on

possible cookouts during our two-month season. It’s church, but it’s fun and it starts the week off right!

Pastor Dave

Community Relations Team

t’s time to step up to the plate with St. Paul’s!! We are going to see the new exciting Phillies featuring Bryce Harper when they play the Atlanta Braves on Satur-day July 27. It is photo night, with limited access to the field to take photos with your favorite players. The game starts at 7:05 but we will be enjoying a tail gate party in the lot right across the street from Citizen’s Bank Park. Hot dogs are on us … that’s a lot better than paying $6 inside the stadium! Please feel free to bring a food item to share. We have tickets available for $35 each and we need your reservation now! Please see Pastor Dave. Money will be due later.

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This is a perfect game … mid-summer and a Phillies team that should be great this year! The main thing is having fun and seeing if we can get some neighbors to show up too!

Sponsored by the CRT, the Community Relations Team. Thank you all for being part of the essential ministry of our church!!!

Community Relations Team

Worship on the River With Us!

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GUIDING LIGHTS enjoyed dinner out in May. This group of ladies,

more than 20 strong, has become the backbone of our church events.

Whenever there is a mission project, activity or fundraiser going on, you

can be sure some of these women are involved.

WE ARE GOD’S HANDS OF HOPE: Everyone wrote on a hand to express our love for Jesus and for our neighbors. All are wel-come at St. Paul’s!

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! We received Aleyna & Kristina Rutter and Cherie, Jim & Jacqueline Clement into membership in June. We are growing! If you’re interested in becoming a member, see Pastor Dave.

SHEPHERD’S FARM BIBLE STUDY: Our ladies at the Shepherd’s Farm Bible Study were blessed when a friend of Pastor Dave’s from Africa joined them via Facetime. These ladies enjoy their musical Bible study each week.

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CHILDREN’S DAY was a great time, with the kids showing us what they learned all year. It was followed by a picnic, with fun activities for the children.