From the Pastor

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

You will notice a few changes this Sunday, with us hopefully resuming to normal next week. Your pastor has been sick all week (not Covid) and has lost her voice. I had hoped to have it back in time to preach tomorrow, but that does not look like it will happen. The result ends up being a real treat for all of you. Rev. David McBride will be stepping in. He is a retired United Methodist Elder, a pastor of the Minnesota Annual Conference. Scroll down for more info on Rev. McBride. You will enjoy his preaching! We are also postponing Holy Communion and after-church coffee time, normally on the first Sunday of the month, until next week. Please come and welcome Pastor McBride tomorrow. Please also pray for our organist, Claudia Tracy, who has Covid, thus our music will be a bit limited on Sunday until she returns.

Next Sunday is Mother’s Day, and we will be relaunching our children’s Sunday School on that Sunday. Please welcome back Margie Veratti, as our Sunday School Teacher during Sunday worship. She is also presently our VPK Assistant and Aftercare Teacher, being promoted to our Two-Year Class teacher in our preschool. Children who wish to participate will come into the sanctuary with their families and after the Children’s Moment with the Pastor, they will be led by Ms. Verrati to the Children’s Library right behind the sanctuary and next door to the VPK classroom for Sunday School. Parents will receive a registration card when they come in to worship, which they should fill out and send with their child when the child leaves the sanctuary.

We have an immediate need for a new “Flower Ministry Coordinator” as Mandy Heinitsh is going back up north. Scroll down for more details on what this very special position involves.

Please continue to pray for travel mercies for our seasonal faith family that is driving back up north this week. Pray also for peace in the Ukraine and for the heartache and many difficult challenges the people of Ukraine are facing. Please scroll down to our prayer list below for the many health needs of our faith family. As always, please keep me posted on whether I need to add you or a loved one to our prayer list or if you just need private prayer from your pastor.  

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, either in-person or online!  

Love and Blessings,

Pastor Nancy

pastor@fumcnaples.org

IMPORTANT NOTICE! DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that you may not be getting a portion of your Eblast because Gmail and some other email programs are cutting off the bottom? You may be missing important articles, photos and our Prayer List! How to find out? If you get to the bottom and have not seen the Prayer List, then you know there has been a cut-off. After you reach what looks like the end, you may see a little note down at the bottom that says something like: “Click here to view all” or “Click here to continue.” Press that and you will see what you are missing that has been cut-off!

 This Sunday's Online Worship Service

If you aren’t able to make it to in-person worship on Sundays, you can watch it online “live” at 10:15 am or you can watch the “recorded” version anytime that is convenient for you by clicking on the box below. We generally start showing announcement slides at 10:05 as people are coming into the sanctuary and then the actual worship service starts at 10:15. 

You can also find this link by going to our web page, our Facebook page, or directly to www.youtube.com In the Search box at the top of the YouTube page, type "First UMC Naples" and press enter. On the next screen go down until you see "First UMC Naples - Sunday Worship - Rev Nancy Mayeux - 05 01 2022". Click on that title, or the picture next to it, to see the “live” broadcast. 

Blessings as you watch and participate. Be sure to share the link for live or recorded versions of our service with your friends and family, so they can join you in worship!

Life & Faith Lesson

Rev David McBride

The Sweet Smell of Love

Rev. David McBride will be stepping in to preach on Sunday, as your pastor has been sick all week and does not have enough voice to preach. You will be blessed with his preaching and I pray you will make him feel very welcome! He is a retired United Methodist Elder, a pastor of the Minnesota Annual Conference. Pastor McBride and his wife moved to our area after he retired in 2017. They are Florida residents spending 6 months in Bonita Springs and 6 months in Minnesota. His parents have a home in N. Naples.

Pastor McBride has a special message to share with you about love. Don’t miss it!  Come Sunday to worship at 10:15 in-person, or watch our livestreamed or recorded services on YouTube.

Scripture: John 21:1-19

Thank You Boy Scout Troop #165

We want to give a shout out to our own Boy Scout Troop #165 who have been with us since 1962! The Scouts, their Scout Leaders and parent volunteers have been involved with and supportive of our church programs all these years. Most recently, they helped with meal-packing and our Sunrise Easter Service at Naples Pier. We could not do our Sunrise Service each year without the Scouts! They arrive at church before 5:00am to pick up canisters of freshly brewed coffee and boxes of breakfast treats to give out at the pier. They set up the tables and offer coffee and treats to all who come to our service. The Scouts give out programs as people arrive and all of them help collect donations by walking around with collection buckets during the offertory time. This is no easy task to cover the entire beach and the entire length of the pier. We would not have been able to break even for our costs each year without them doing such a great job with the collection. Please pray for these youth who are dedicated, responsible, kind, and wonderful future leaders.

All COVID Protocols Now Optional at FUMC

Unless there is a strong uptick in COVID numbers in our area, we have made all protocols optional for now. Masks are optional, but there is a “Comfort Zone” in the back, East section of sanctuary seating, where masks are required (some people need a space like this).  Please try to social distance indoors in our sanctuary, and stagger your departure so everyone does not bunch up in the aisles as you are exiting. Hugs and handshakes are ok if you are comfortable doing so. Please try to save your congregating and chatting for outdoors, where it is safer. 

Masks are now optional for Bible studies, meal packing and business meetings at the church. Thank you for your wonderful patience and cooperation during these last couple of difficult years. You have shown great love to your neighbors here at FUMC. Please help us to continue loving our neighbors. 

Altar Flower Ministry

Every week, you have the opportunity to purchase Sunday worship altar flowers and dedicate them to the memory of someone who was special to you or to honor someone who presently needs to be recognized! The cost is $40. The following dates are open: May 21 and beyond.  Purchase and dedication can be arranged by sending an email to Jaimie Dandridge at Admin@fumcnaples.org. Then you can either pick up your flowers after church or donate them for us to take to organizations in our community, bringing a ray of sunshine to workers and volunteers.

New Flower Ministry Coordinator Needed!

We are so grateful to Mandy Heinitsh for coordinating our Flower Ministry these past couple of months! She has done a great job bringing sunshine and the love of Christ to volunteers and staff of community organizations who received our altar flowers, but Mandy is heading back up north next week, and we will need someone new to fill this role! 

Pray about it. Do you want to make a difference? This is a really fun ministry where you can encourage people and promote our church at the same time! Every week (or most weeks), our beautiful altar flowers are brought to different community organizations that help and serve others. We want the staff, volunteers and patrons to feel appreciated and encouraged. Many are non-profits. Sometimes we bring the flowers to the nursing stations at different hospital floors. Everywhere we bring our flowers, people are so surprised and grateful to receive them. I have personally delivered some of them and can tell you it is a rewarding experience to make others feel happy and appreciated! The photo here is of the 3^rd floor of NCH where the staff was “blown away” by our gesture of love. Norine Tempelman faithfully brought joy and the love of Christ to others by doing this for over a year. Health issues made it difficult to continue and Mandy took over. Thank you, Norine and Mandy! Now it is now someone else’s turn.

So, what does the job entail? Choose organizations around town that help others. You can research new organizations as well as looking at the ones where we have previously presented our flowers (we can do it there again). You write a short note of encouragement that tells them they are loved, appreciated and being prayed for at our church. Then you deliver the flowers, either on Sunday or Monday, dependent on their hours of operation and your schedule. When they are delivered, you try to get a photo of those that are there at the time to receive it. That’s it. You will bring joy to many and spread the love of Christ. Norine Tempelman and I will help you learn how to do it. Pray about it and if you are interested, contact me at the church phone or at my email: pastor@fumcnaples.org     

Pastor Nancy

United Women in Faith

Meeting Has a

Change in Venue

Our local chapter of United Women in Faith will be meeting on Tuesday, May 3, at 11:00 am at the large Village Green Clubhouse instead of the home of Mary Grace Day. All women of our church are invited to a luncheon on that day! Address is: on 509 12^th Avenue South. 

Please RSVP to:

Karen Carr 239-641-5513 or

Mary Grace Day 301-509-1985

How Can You Support the Ministries of This Church?

Thank you once again for your faithful financial support of your church. Please remember that your financial giving is a form of worship. Your gifts allow us to help people to know Jesus, to grow in their faith and to serve Him as we help those in need.

Donations may be brought to worship on Sunday or mailed to: 

First United Methodist Church of Naples

388 First Avenue South

Naples, FL 34102

OR you can click on the box below to make an online donation.

If you have any questions regarding the finances of this church, please send an email to our Treasurer, Jeffrey Currier: jeffreylcurrier@gmail.com

Last Sunday's Service

Did you miss worship last week? Click on the link below to view the video of last week's complete online service, with a sermon entitled “So, What Now?”

which was preached by Rev Nancy Mayeux and based on Matthew 28:16-20

We’ve Packed 215,000 Meals!

Help Feed Hungry People in our Community

Thank you for helping to feed hungry families. Food insecurity has been a major challenge for families throughout the pandemic, and especially now, with food prices soaring. So far, in a little under 17 months, we have packed 215,000 meals for families in need! Help us be Jesus’ hands and feet in the world and show the love of Christ to others by participating:

1. Bring in food or financial contributions earmarked for “Food Ministry” and we will deliver to either Grace Place or St. Matthew’s House for their food pantries.
2. Volunteer to come help pack food for 1.5 hours on an upcoming packing day. To sign up, contact Wendy McKee, our food-packing coordinator, at WendyMckee3@gmail.com. She will schedule you. It’s lots of fun!

Need to Reach Us? Here’s How!



We are available to you! Our church office is open Monday-Thursday, 9:00am to 2:00pm.  Food can be dropped off during office hours or on Sundays when you come to worship. The church phone will be answered during office hours. For pastoral emergencies, when the office is closed, just call the office and you will hear the Pastor’s personal cell number listed on the message you hear. The pastor is off on Mondays, as her Sabbath day, but will respond to pastoral emergencies. 

Call the church office: (239) 262-1033

Email us: admin@fumcnaples.org  or

Mail contributions to:

First United Methodist Church, 388 First Ave S, Naples FL 34102

Make online donations by clicking the link below:

Please Pray!

My priorities for prayer this week include:

1. Praying for Ukraine, for those who have been displaced and for those who have lost loved ones. We pray for peace, please!

2. Praying for travel mercies for all our people who are traveling back up north in these coming weeks.

3. Prayers for those in our faith family (or loved ones) who are sick, and especially those who have cancer and are enduring chemo or radiation. We have hope and faith in the Great Physician! Scroll down for our faith family listing of urgent prayers for this.

4. Prayers of thanks for all our blessings!

Also, if you have a prayer request, you can email it to me directly by responding to this Eblast (just press “reply” and it comes to me). You can also fill out a blue prayer card from the pews on Sunday. Just let me know if you want it public (person’s name and no other details) or if you would like private prayer from me.     

Urgent Prayer Requests

From our FUMC Church Family

We want to remind you that this section is for “urgent” prayer concerns only: (in the hospital, on Hospice, recovering from COVID-19, recovering from surgery, receiving radiation or chemotherapy for cancer, recent deaths, etc.) If you have a private prayer that you do not want published below, just email me and I will pray for that person and that need privately: pastor@fumcnaples.org.

• Jerald Mills (Cousin of Gwen Pleban)
• Diane Langley (Friend of Norine Tempelman)

• Beth Tatman (friend of the Mayeux family)
• Larry Stewart (Member)
• Deborah Sobat (Daughter of Barbara and Jerry Skiba)
• Jim Adolphson (Friend of Tom Bach)
• William Johnson (Brother of Al Johnson)
• Randy Cassada (Member)
• Family of Valya Staruchin, Januk, Orysia and family, Irina and family (Three families of the Jaworsky's in Ukraine)
•  Gary and Glenn (Friends of the Emory’s)
•  Wendy Moyer (Member)
• Mamon Powers (Friend of Al and Thelma Johnson)
• Evelyn Rush (Friend of Thelma Johnson)
• Ron ReBell (Brother of Marie Evans)
• Mike Rybka (Brother-in-law of Judy Stewart)
• Sam (brother-in-law of Karen Bach)
• Ann Boren (Member)
• Paul Brown (Cousin of Dick Evans)
• Joseph Halizak (Friend of Marie and Dick Evans)
• Karen Kirk (Cousin of Marie Evans)
• Rosa Fogle (Family of Thelma and Al Johnson)
• All the many unspoken requests and needs of our congregation and their loved ones.

 Special Prayer List 

(Updated April 23) 

 Wondering what else to pray for each day? Here are some suggestions!

Methodist Day School

 Children Learn about Nature

Mrs. Sandino, our VPK teacher, and her husband brought some of their farm animals to school for the children to get to know! The children enjoyed learning about each animal first-hand. Another friend brought in a bird’s nest to share. It was a fun week!