E-Connection
January 19, 2021
Jayné Kirk
Director of Children & Family Ministries
Focus can be a tricky thing. It’s sometimes hard to gain and sometimes hard to lose. For every instance that I have found myself completely immersed in a task I can also think of a time I couldn’t decide where to start. It’s all about how we pay attention to what life is handing, or throwing, to us. 
I like to think of attention as a pie – not the delicious kind, the chart kind. We have only so much attention to use. We use attention any time we focus on something, whether it’s listening to music or reading your Bible. But that’s not the only way attention works. Attention also helps us limit the input into our brains. It helps us ignore things. Think of the way we ignore the ticking of a clock or the way our shirt sleeve rubs our skin. This is why we have to turn down the music in our cars when we need to pay extra attention to our surroundings. We have to direct more of our focus to looking and less to ignoring the music, and we only have so much attention to give. 
In the hymn Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus, we sing about directing our focus. When we pay complete attention to Jesus the things around us grow “strangely dim” because we are being surrounded by His “glory and grace.” His glory is enough to completely overshadow the things of this world. But His grace directs us back to our purpose. 
When we look at Jesus our attention moves toward the Good News of Redemption. With Jesus as our focus less can pull us away from our mission of grace. The world can be loud and hard to ignore. Draw near to God and our lives will be so filled with Him that it will be hard to lose our focus.
Join Us for Worship Online
Sundays at 10:30 a.m., participate in our live-streamed worship service
on our Facebook page:
(no in-person services until further notice)
Or, watch the service later on Facebook or on our YouTube Channel:
Upcoming Blood Drive
Thursday, January 21, 2021
2:00-7:00 p.m.
Forrest Burdette UMC
Call 1-800-733-2767, or visit redcrossblood.org and enter "hurricanecom" to schedule an appointment. The need for blood donations is critical. If you are able to volunteer to work a shift, please call our new coordinator Lisa Fawcett (304-539-2860), and she will plug you in.
BackPack Buddies Volunteer Sign-Up
We continue to serve our neighbors through our Backpack Buddy Ministry to local school children. Please consider signing up for weekly packing for our 3 schools. Additional dates and updated instructions are posted on the sign up sheet. You can find the online sign up sheet by clicking here.
    We welcome your food donations during the week, and we can always use your financial help and prayerful support.
Giving Statements for 2020
The 2020 giving statements have been prepared by Financial Secretary Rosemary Cook, and she has emailed them to all donors. Please remember that we only mail paper copies of statements if you request one. Contact the church office if you would like a paper statement mailed to you (304-562-5903 or email office@forrestburdette.com).
Disciplines: A Book of Daily Devotions 2021
We still have copies of the 2021 Upper Room Disciplines. Our cost was $10.99 per copy; we are offering them to you for $5 each. This book contains a year of daily devotions; start off the new year in a good frame of mind! Copies are available in the church office during the week.
Laptop
Live Stream Tech Volunteers Needed
To help continue our Facebook-Live presence for our 10:30 a.m. worship services, we need several volunteers to train and learn the process to help this outreach. We are blessed with the technology to be able to reach others for Christ in this new way. Please consider being a part of this team! Please contact Karen in the office or Pastor Jeremy. 
Visit Our YouTube Channel
Our FBKids and FBUth Ministries continue to provide instruction and entertainment for our children and youth, and all the videos can be found on our YouTube channel. Past worship services and devotionals are available as well. If you have some free time, check out our channel by clicking here! 
Your Prayers & Thanksgivings
We welcome your regular prayers and continued giving. Prayer requests to be included in the Sunday worship announcements are to be submitted via our website, or you can click here for a quick link to submit joys and concerns. Click here to access the online giving instructions from the Forrest Burdette website. Your continued giving to the church, as you are able, is important for us to keep paying our expenses. Thank you so much for sending your offerings! If not online, then please mail your regular offering to 2848 Putnam Avenue, Hurricane WV 25526. To save a stamp, you may deposit your offering in our locked mailbox on Putnam Avenue. Open the top door, and slide your envelope all the way to the back of the box, where it will fall into the locked area. Thank you for your support of this ministry. 
This Week at Forrest Burdette
Monday, 1/18: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Remembrance; Office closed, COM open
Tuesday, 1/19: Office open, 10:00 a.m. Cupboard
Wednesday, 1/20: Office open, no activities
Thursday, 1/21: Office open, 2:00-7:00 p.m. ARC Blood Drive
Friday, 1/22: Office open, 10:00 a.m. Cupboard
Saturday, 1/23: No activities
Sunday, 1/24: 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany; 10:30 a.m. Live-streaming worship
This Week's Birthdays
1/18 - Adam Harshbarger, Chelsey Lilly
1/19 - Madison Bucher, Harris Coulter, Coy Mullins
1/20 - Madeline Brumfield, Idale Buskirk, Riley Coulter, Taylor Haney, Wayne Rooper
1/21 - Tammy Lawhon, Margaret Logan
1/22 - Katy Limanen
1/23 - Laura Harrison, Heather Holland, Joann Walker
1/24 - Kevin Mullins, Olivia Newhouse, Gerry Simmons