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News From
April 12, 2017
For the good of the city
... Jeremiah 29:7
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Church Office:
785-233-8100
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Church Activity Communications Request
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Coming Up Soon:
- Wednesday, April 12
- 12:00 p.m. Hannah UMW Circle, Rm L35
- 1:00 p.m. Naomi Ruth UMW Circle, Hearth Room
- 5:00 p.m. Praise Team Rehearsal, Chapel
- 6:00 p.m. New Vibrations Rehearsal, Rm L17
- Thursday, April 13
- 2:00 p.m. Shepherd's Center Line Dancing, Fellowship Hall
- 5:30 p.m. Maundy Thursday Meal and Praise Service, Fellowship Hall
- 6:00 p.m. Rhapsody Ringers Rehearsal, Rm L17
- 7:30 p.m. Sanctuary Choir Rehearsal
- Friday, April 14
- 8:00 a.m. WAFFLE, State Street Elementary
- 7:30 p.m. Good Friday Tenebrae Service, Sanctuary
- Sunday, April 16: EASTER SUNDAY
- 8:15 a.m. Arise Worship Service, Sanctuary
- 9:00 a.m. Coffee Connection, Celebration Room
- 9:30 a.m. 9-3-0 Worship Service, Chapel
- *No Children or Youth Sunday School
- 10:30 a.m. Coffee Connection, Celebration Room
- 11:00 a.m. Sanctuary Worship Service
- Tuesday, April 18
- 9:00 a.m. Quilting Group, Rm L35
- 7:00 p.m. Stephen Ministry Meeting, Hearth Room
- Wednesday, April 19
- 11:30 a.m. Nickel-a-Cup, McFarland's Restaurant
- 5:00 p.m. Praise Team Rehearsal, Chapel
- 5:15 p.m. Phase 2 Yoga, Rm 210
- 6:00 p.m.
- Disciple Fast Track, Fellowship Hall
- New Vibrations Rehearsal, Rm L17
- 6:30 p.m. Venture Crew Meeting, Rm L36
- Thursday, April 20
- 11:30 a.m. Nickel-a-Cup, McFarland's Restaurant
- 6:00 p.m. Rhapsody Ringers Rehearsal, Rm L17
- 7:30 p.m. Sanctuary Choir Rehearsal
- Friday, April 21
- 8:00 a.m. WAFFLE, State Street Elementary
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 In Worship This Week:
Scripture:
John 20:1-18, Matthew 13:1-32
Message:
A Well-Timed Bloom
Rev. Jeff Clinger, Lead Pastor
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Prepare Your Heart for Easter During Holy Week
Holy Week is the last week of Lent, the week immediately preceding Easter. It is observed in many Christian churches, like ours, as a time to commemorate and enact the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Exploring the events that lead to Christ's resurrection, and letting their magnitude sink into our hearts, truly helps us feel the power and joy of Easter.
We invite you to take part in our two Holy Week observances to add fullness to your understanding of Christ's love for us.
- April 13th
- 5:30 p.m. Maundy Thursday meal and praise service in Fellowship Hall.
- April 14th
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- 7:30 p.m. Good Friday Tenebrae service in the Sanctuary
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Take Home an Easter Lily
If you ordered an Easter lily, you may take it home after your worship service on Easter morning. Many Easter lilies will be left over, so if you'd like to have one, you may take one from the Chapel after the 9:30 a.m. service or out of the Sanctuary after the 11 a.m. service.
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 Easter Morning Worship
Everyone is invited to savor the gift of God's grace this Easter with our celebrations of praise in our Chapel and Sanctuary:
- 8:15 & 11:00 a.m. - Uplifting traditional service in the Sanctuary featuring choir, brass, and bells
- 9:30 a.m. - Joyful praise service in the Chapel led by our band, featuring today's Christian music.
Click here to learn more about Easter worship on our website.
Children are always welcome in worship! Activity bags can be found at the entrances to the Sanctuary and Chapel. Our nursery is available for children kindergarten-aged and younger during all services. All are invited to enjoy refreshments in the Celebration Room in-between services.
*There will be no Children or Youth Sunday School on Easter Sunday so children and teachers may worship with their families.
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Click this icon for more info! |
Community Fun at Bridge 2 Bridge
Last year our members enjoyed running and walking in downtown Topeka's Bridge 2 Bridge 5K. We encourage you to join in the fun and participate in this event with your fellow church members. Our new church T-shirts will be ready in time for the race, which is the morning of April 22nd, so we can represent our community spirit as a church family! As you make plans to participate,
send a quick note to Marsha Oliver so we can coordinate a meeting spot to take a "team" photo and run/walk as a group (if you like).
Register for the race, circle April 22nd on your calendar, and look forward to a fun morning downtown with your church family!
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Conversations on
Being the Church for All Generations
Pastor Jeff invites all to join in a 3-part intergenerational conversation on how the church can best connect all generations. These conversations will take place immediately after the 11 a.m. worship service (around noon) on
April 23rd, April 30th, and May 7th. Lunch will be provided.
Sign up on our Member Access portal or call the church office, 785-233-8100, if you'd like to participate.
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 Phase 2 Activities
- Sunday, April 23
- Friday, May 5
- Phase 2 is sponsoring a night out at Topeka Civic Theatre for the Friday, May 5th dinner performance of To Kill a Mockingbird. There are 10 tickets still available at $54.03, or $52.39 for those 60 years and older. All are welcome to join in this night out. Phase 2 will provide popcorn as an intermission table snack. Get your reservations early for this popular American masterpiece. Sign up on our Member Access portal.
Phase 2 Recreation Opportunity
Are there any Pickleball players in our Phase 2 group? Mike Morris is arranging an "Intro to Pickleball" event to teach those who haven't played before. This will be a fun social gathering on a Saturday or Sunday after Easter.
Please email Tiwana if you are interested.
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Click image for movie trailer. |
All-Church Movie and Potluck Dinner
On April 29th, gather in Fellowship Hall at 5:30 p.m. to enjoy a movie and potluck dinner with your church family. The movie, feature documentary Patterns of Evidence: Exodus, will begin at 6:15. Be sure to bring a covered dish to share at the potluck at 5:30. Feel free to bring lawn chairs, pillows, blankets, or anything that would help you feel more comfortable as you watch the movie.
On the Sunday morning after the movie, we invite you to again gather in Fellowship Hall for an open discussion of the movie at either 9:30 or 11:00 a.m.
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 Adulting Connect Night
#Adulting at Topeka First UMC is a group for those in the earlier stages of adulthood--from living on their own for the first time, to landing a "real job," or raising a young family. Ranging from Millennials to Generation X, these youngish adults meet regularly to
Connect,
Grow, and
Serve together.
The next #Adulting Connect event is a gathering at Tyler and Katie Tenbrink's home:
- May 6th
- 5-7 p.m.
- 141 Washington St. in Auburn
- Childcare Provided
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 Summer Fun Save-the-Dates
This time of year, everyone is busy making their summer plans. We are, too! Circle these dates on your calendar and plan to enjoy these summer activities with your church family:
- June 8th
- 7:15 p.m. Royals Game with travel by Arrow Bus
- June 23rd
- 6-8 p.m. Swim Night at Garfield Aquatic Park
- June 26th-30th
- 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Vacation Bible School
- July 8th
- Beauty and the Beast Movie Night, details TBA
- August 3rd
- 7:15 p.m. Royals Game with travel by Arrow Bus
- August 13th
- Ice Cream Social at the Sports Center
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 Spring Graduates of Higher Education
If you are graduating from an institution of higher education this spring, let us know! We would like to honor your accomplishment in our graduation bulletin in May. Please send your name as you would like it printed, your degree, and the school from which you are graduating to
Jayna McFarland, Publications Coordinator.
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 Sign Up for the New Church Directory
Each household photographed will receive a free 8x10 portrait and a copy of the pictorial directory. For this directory be a success, we need your photo, so please plan to choose a date that best fits your schedule.
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Changes in Offering Envelopes
In June you will receive your new offering envelopes. Everyone receiving envelopes will now get the same identical packets: six months of envelopes, dated weekly. In the past, some of you have received weekly envelopes and some have received monthly envelopes. With the popularity of online giving, many of you no longer receive envelopes. In order to mail items with a reduced bulk mail rate, I must have 200 identical pieces of mail. I can no longer reach that number mailing two different batches of envelopes. The most cost-effective way to do this is to combine the groups and send one set of identical packets. If you only use one envelope a month, that is fine. It is more cost-effective for me to have you recycle the other three envelopes than to mail first class postage.
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Searching for a Director of Children's Discipleship
We need your help to find our new Director of Children's Discipleship. Are you connected with an organization, like a parenting club or a PTO, where there might be someone who is looking for a job working with children? Maybe you know someone with a teaching degree who is looking for something outside of the classroom, or a stay-at-home mom or dad who is looking to go back to work.
We invite you to send this link to our job posting to anyone who might be interested, share it on social media, and post it on community message boards for preschools, playgroups, and other organizations where you are a member. We trust that God will provide us with the right person, but we need your help to get the word out!
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Miracle Sunday Total
We are already seeing the benefits from our Miracle Sunday giving. Your gifts, totaling $
357,543.60, have allowed us to begin the maintenance and restoration of our bells and schedule the important work on our organ. We also have a team making big plans to improve our worship technology. We will keep you updated as new developments come through.
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 Board Games for State Street
Do you have a fun old board game that hasn't been played in a while? Instead of letting it take up closet space, why don't you give it to someone who would really enjoy it? State Street Elementary School could use some gently used board games for students to play with during indoor recess. Games like checkers, Jenga, Connect 4, Uno, Twister, and Battleship really brighten up a rainy day when the kids are stuck inside a classroom. If you have a game to donate, please place it in the container in the Celebration Room.
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April Mission Focus
In April, the Missions Team is collecting protein bars for Topeka North Outreach. Please bring your donations to the receptacle in the Celebration Room.
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 Get to Know Your Stephen Ministers
Introducing your Stephen Minister, Marlana Hodgkinson, who has given one-on-one Christian care to members of our congregation.
Marlana Hodgkinson
My journey to becoming a Stephen Minister has been lifelong. I have always known God's love--taught and expressed by my family and congregations I've been a part of, and found personally through prayer and worship. Knowing that I am a child of God defines my life and comes with a call. To know, soul deep, that God's love and grace are real means sharing it with others. Being a Stephen Minister is one way to do that. As a Stephen Minister, it is my privilege to help another bear her burdens and do what I can to lighten her load by listening with grace, by offering reassurances of Christian love and God's presence, and by providing hope for the future centered in that same, soul-deep understanding that God is love.
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 Scholarships for Summer Camps
Sometimes the early bird really DOES get the worm! The United Methodist Women want to encourage our children and youth at the church to participate in one of the summer camps at Chippewa or the Institute at Baker University. The camps themselves offer an early bird discount of $20 and the women will offer scholarships for anyone who fills out our camp form. The early bird registration deadline is May 1st. The scholarship is for youth or children who fills out the form by April 23.
You can learn more about the camps by clicking here.
SO, you'll want to look at your busy summer calendars and decide soon if one of the many fun weeks offered is something you want to do. Camp information and the scholarship form are available at the front desk and upstairs at the children's table. We will take all of the forms turned in by April 23rd and divide up the funds available.
Turn in your scholarship forms to the front desk by April 23rd.
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Upcoming Events Youth Can Attend with Their Families
- HOLY WEEK
- Thursday, April 13th
- Maundy Thursday in Fellowship Hall at 5:30 p.m. for families with a light meal and communion
- Friday, April 14th
- Good Friday Tenebrae Service at 7:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary
- Sunday, April 16th: HAPPY EASTER!
- No Youth Sunday School. Enjoy time with your family for Easter and stop by Ruth's office for a special treat.
- Sunday, April 23rd
- 9 a.m.-12 p.m. YOUTH BAKE SALE & Missions Baked Potato Bar
- 12:15-2 p.m. Intergeneration Conversations for Parents, Youth, Leadership and Congregation in Fellowship Hall
YOUTH BAKE SALE INFO
Youth will offer cinnamon rolls, pies, cakes, cookies, brownies, etc. on Sunday, April 23rd, along with the Missions Committee, who is helping get youth to Baton Rouge by selling Baked Potatoes with all the toppings. It will be a One-Stop Shop where you get your lunch and dessert for the day. Thank you to the congregation for supporting youth in missions.
HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS
We still have a few who need to pick up their poster boards in Ruth's office. Please be thinking about turning in your "Seniors in the Spotlight" information by April 30th, thank you.
You may also send it to me in an email.
6th GRADERS Movin-on-up to YOUTH Group
I've had many questions about when is this going to happen. We do have plans to do this on May 28th for an evening event, even though it is a holiday weekend. Watch for your information to come in May.
Main Event
YES, youth, we are still going to the MAIN EVENT. This will be scheduled sometime over the summer. Watch for more info to come this summer, along with color water baseball and info on the Aldersgate Sweet Pie Sundae....
BATON ROUGE MISSION TRIP MEETING Planned:
Sunday, May 7th from 10:30 to 11 a.m.
in the Youth Room for parents, sponsors and youth. Pick up more mission trip info at the Youth Table in the Celebration Room. You will receive a reminder about this in May.
I always start my week off critiquing what transpired on Sunday. Youth did quite a bit on Sunday, I talked to a lot of them about various subjects, and I want to make sure we're doing enough for them so that they feel God's security. One of my devotional readings on Monday is something I wish I could convey every day to them--Jesus is the best friend we could ever have. He said, "Whoever comes to me I will never drive away" (John 6:37). Others may hold us at arm's length or even push us away, but God has opened His arms to us through the cross. My office is open, at times holding many youth, not at arms length, not pushing them away, but having open arms, a soft place to land.
Youth were quick to hide Easter eggs for the children's egg hunt on the 2nd floor last Sunday.
Youth even hid eggs for little ones in the the nursery and toddler rooms.
Thanks to Mark Smith, Cooper Self and Sandra Rak who hid 200 eggs for the Youth Egg Hunt. The youth found those eggs in about two minutes, but had some fun while it lasted.
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