St.matters
Mark’s
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER | ST MARKS | FEBRUARY 2017
FRUITFUL CONGREGATION
LOVE BAGS
Submitted by Laura Lage
Fruitful Congregation is doing a special
packing of bags on Monday, February
13 at 7:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. We
will be packing Love bags for females
(just in time for Valentine’s Day). We
have purses that we will pack with personal care items for females. This is to
show women associated with the Shelter House and DVIP that they are loved.
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Powder
Feminine hygiene products
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Lotion
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Body wash
Thanks in advance for your continued
support.
We are looking for help in filling these
bags with the following items.
Church Events
February 4 – UMM Breakfast
& Meeting
February 8 – Senior Group
February 12 – Youth Sunday
February 13 – Fruitful Congregation filling Love Bags
February 20 – Free Lunch Program
February 21 – Good Lunch
Bunch
February 22 - UMW program
and lunch
Youth Sunday
Youth Sunday is February 12th! The Youth will be providing the message, the music and prayers for all three services that day. A special offering will be collected at the three services that will go to the Youth for
their summer mission trip to Denver, CO.
March 1 - Ash Wednesday
April 20 – Women at the Well
visit
April 23 - St. Mark’s Spring
Cleaning
All Family
Youth Potluck
Financial Update
Submitted by Kay Seagren
2016 Finances - Financial statements (for tax purposes) showing contributions for the 2016
year have been sent out. If you
did not receive yours, please call
Hillary at the church office and
she will be happy to provide one
for you.
Thanks to your generation donations we ended 2016 in the
black, conference apportionments were paid in full totaling
$77.522 as well as over $12,000
in special conference offerings.
St. Mark’s, again this year, has
the distinct designation of a
Rainbow Covenant Church.
2017 Finances - 2017 pledges
received to date total $320,828.
Total projected income for 2017
is $412,878, projected expenses
is $479,577 leaving a shortfall
of $66,699. The Finance Team
will monitor income and expenses throughout the year.
The Memorial Fund includes
undesignated funds of approximately $14,000 and designated
funds of approximately $18,000.
We are entering into a new season of opportunity. We can
impact lives through the love of
Senior Group
Submitted by Sage River
Our next senior group will
meet on Wednesday, February 8 from 2 to 4 pm at
St. Mark's UMC.
Our
guest speaker will be St.
Mark's own Chris Humrichouse, formerly FUMC's
own
Chris
Humrichouse. Chris will be talking to us about her current
work, and what else she's
been doing, with time for
questions and chat. Coffee
and snacks will follow. Please feel welcome
to come! For more info,
please contact Sage at 354
-5484 or
[email protected].
Friends of St. Mark’s
Submitted by Barb McCormick
Friends of St. Marks (the visiting group) will not meet in
January or February. We will meet again on Thursday,
March 23rd at 9 AM in the Fellowship Hall for a brief meeting. If you cannot attend, please let me know if there is another day of the week that is better for you.
Jesus that is reflected in what
we do. We do not have all the
answers. We are on a journey of
faith led by the Holy Spirit. The
staff, Council and ministry area
committees have plans for some
exciting things this year. In
order to allow them to lead us in
ministry and mission we need to
keep contributions coming in on
a regular basis.
Thank you for your continued
support of St. Mark’s.
Finance Team:
Youth are having an
All-Family Youth
Potluck on Sunday,
January 29th from
5:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
Parents and siblings
will join us for a
meal, fellowship and
games.
Kay Seagren, Chair, Sally
Hoelscher, Nancy Krutzfield
and Chet Woodman
United Methodist
Women
United Methodist Women will meet on February 22, 2017
for their program titled, A Fresh Wind Blowing. We will
share a noon lunch.
Devotions and Program Committee:
Barb Fisher-Krueger and Eileen McPherson
Hostess Committee:
Linda Schrock, Mary Brown and Janet Plumer
Ash Wednesday - March 1
Save the date for the St. Mark’s Ash
Wednesday service. at 6:30 p.m.
Peaceful Demonstration to Request
Changes in the Cedar Rapids Police
Department
Submitted by Suzanne Krogh
2:00 Sunday, Feb 5
Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church
6621 C. Ave. NE, Cedar Rapids
(held inside, due to cold weather)
Many people are upset by the actions of Cedar
Rapids police officer Lucas Jones who shot and
paralyzed Jerime "Danky" Mitchell, after stopping him for having a burnt out license plate
light. Jerime is African American. The police
delayed releasing the dash cam footage of the
incident for over a month and there was no audio, with the police officer stating that the batteries were dead. A grand jury investigation determined that the officer was justified in the shooting - despite not obtaining any testimony from
Jerime Mitchell.
This demonstration is being organized by the
Consultation of Religious Communities and other area organizations and they hope 500 people
will attend. Media will be in attendance. The
goal of this event is to bring some justice for
Jerime but also to try and prevent having something like this happen again.
Examples of some of the requests that the
group plans to make of the Cedar Rapids Police
Dept.:
1. Require that an outside special prosecutor
be used when there is an officer involved shooting (common practice in Iowa City,
but not Cedar Rapids)
2. Require that the police department always
bring in outside police to investigate an officer
involved shooting (this was done in the situation
with Jerime)
3. Ban pretextual traffic stops (when police pull
over a driver for a minor traffic violation as an excuse to search for evidence of a
more serious, but unsuspected, crime.)
This practice leads to a disproportionate number of minorities being stopped and arrested.
4. Conduct a review of the Grand Jury process
5. Make police officers responsible for having
working audio & video equipment and reprimand
officers if their equipment is not operational.
6. (Possibly) Request that the officer who
shot Jerime be brought to trial or removed from
duty.
Questions? Contact Suzanne
Krogh [email protected]
Pastor’s Pen
Submitted by Pastor Sean McRoberts
Staff Schedule Adjustments
The staff at St. Mark’s is one of our greatest resources and most significant investments. These dedicated
people help us to develop, organize, and support the ministry of the many people who make up our congregational
family. As your pastor, I am extremely grateful to get to
work with such a talented and faithful team.
The staff and the Staff Parish Relations Team of
the Executive Council are always looking for better ways
to align our personnel resources with our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the
world. Over the last two months we have tried some
schedule changes on a trial basis. They have proven helpful, and we are now ready to formally adopt them.
First, I asked Deacon Chris Humrichouse to consider moving her weekday off from Monday to Friday. The primary benefit of this change has been to increase the opportunity we have for collaboration by
25%. When we share days in the office, we get more
chances to bounce ideas off of each other, get answers to
questions, and refer people we are working with to each
other. Going forward, Chris and I will both be out of the
office on Fridays, but we will maintain emergency coverage on Fridays as we have been on Saturdays. If you have
an emergency and need to reach a clergy-person, please
call the office (319-337-7201) and you will be directed to
Chris or me.
Second, we have noticed that the church office
sees very little activity on Friday afternoons, and the weekly publications work that takes the bulk of Hillary Grier’s
time is completed by Thursday. So we have begun closing
the office at noon on Friday, shortening Hillary’s hours
accordingly and providing a cost savings to the
church. Going forward, the St. Mark’s office will be open
from 9:00 to noon Monday through Friday and 1:00 to
4:00 Monday through Thursday.
Executive Council
News
Submitted by Kay Seagren
Keep your eyes and ears open for some
exciting things coming in the next year.
The Executive Council voted to participate
in the Health Church Initiative (HCI) program through the Iowa Conference. HCI is
an intentional leadership development process designed to enhance the skills of pastors and laity:
Phase 1 is Peer Learning, a 9-month educational component for pastors and
lay leaders with monthly readings
and meetings doing peer learning
and culminating with a ministry action plan.
Phase 2 (if agreed to proceed with HCI)
is Consultation, where a team of
consultants from the conference attend worship and interview folks.
The consultants provide a written
report listing strengths, concerns and
a prescription with help for implementing.
Phase 3 is Implementation where over a
12-18 month period implementation
or living out the prescriptions with
assistance from a coach provided by
the district.
There is no cost to the local church during
Phase 1. Phase 2 cost to the local church is
$300. Phase 3 cost to the local church is
$600 with the remaining $1,200 coming
from the district and conference. Total cost
for all three phases to the local church is
$900.
Council members Sally Hoelscher, Joel
Carver, Cindy Opitz, Donna Higgins and
Chris Cheatum along with Regina Cheatum,
Sarah Pringle, Dan Fischer and Pastor Sean
have agreed to serve on the HCI team.
Look for more information in the coming
months.
Parsonage Update
Submitted by Kay Seagren
Mary Ann Dennis, Executive Director of The Housing Fellowship (THF) was present at the January 4th
meeting of the Executive Council and shared information on THF which is a private non-profit housing
developer and property manager established by area
congregations in 1990 to provide quality homes to
people with limited incomes.
The Executive Council voted to enter into a management agreement with THF for the rent of the parsonage to a low-income family. The parsonage is a 4
bedroom home that could rent to a family of up to 6
individuals. Tenants must be low-income (set by the
government), able to pay rent and utilities, have favorable tenant history for past 3 years and pass national conviction/eviction background check.
Under a management agreement, THF would:
Process applications for rental, select family and
enter into lease (one year lease then month by
month)
Collect security deposit and rent
Receive and complete repair requests for a
maintenance fee and get approval for repairs
exceeding an agreed upon amount
Schedule/attend all code and rental permit inspections
Provide quarterly reports to the church
Specifics can be written into the agreement stating
things such as:
Requiring rental insurance
No smoking in the house
Mowing and snow removal responsibility of tenant
Yearly inspections of house by church
Council members are very excited to into this
agreement with THF which exemplifies the ministry and mission of the church.
If you have any questions or comments Diane
Berwald, Cindy Opitz and Pastor Sean McRoberts
will be working with THF to enter into an agreement
or any member of the Executive Council would be
happy to answer questions.
Is This You?
You may know that the mission of St. Mark’s United Methodist is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” You may even know that our Discipleship Pathway is known as “Gather, Grow, Go” and
provides many different ministry opportunities that will help you grow in your faith and discipleship. But, do you
know where you are on your personal path of discipleship? Have you had the opportunity to assess your growing
edges and where you want to move forward? Guess what? There’s an app for that!
Excellence in Ministry has created a very useful tool known as the Discipleship Survey. It measures where you currently find yourself in 6 areas of discipleship. They are:
A life of worship
A life of hospitality
A life open to Jesus
A life of obeying Jesus
A life of service
A life of generosity
Taking the survey allows you to self-assess these areas of your faith life in four categories: Exploring, Beginning,
Growing, and Maturing. This survey is your personal report. No one else will see your results. Once you have taken the survey, and see where you fall, you can look to the Discipleship Pathway to select ministries that will help
you move forward on your path of discipleship. Want to move from “Beginning” to “Growing” in a life of service?
We can help you do that. Here’s how to take the survey and continue on your journey:
TO CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT:
Go to http://discipleshipsurvey.com/
Click “Church Member Sign Up”
Enter code LOVEANDJOY and click “Login” button
From the pull down menus:
Select District: East Central
Select Church: Iowa City, St. Mark’s
Enter your Name and Email
Create and enter your new Personal Password
Select Language: English or Spanish and click the “Sign Up” button
TO TAKE THE SURVEY
Go to http://discipleshipsurvey.com/
Click “Church Member Login”
Enter the Email and Password you used to create your account
Click the “Login” button
Click the “Take Survey Button”
If you do not have access to the internet, or you have problems creating an account, please contact Pastor Sean or
Deacon Chris and we can help you access the survey. We encourage every person at St. Mark’s to take this survey
and access the Discipleship Pathway as you navigate your path of discipleship.
Honoring Your Wishes
Have you decided what to give to those you love this Valentine’s Day? We have a great suggestion for
you! How about security and peace of mind? This Valentine’s Day, you can enact your advanced care
plan by completing an Honoring Your Wishes document.
There are many factors to consider in end-of-life decisions. This document gives each of us the
opportunity to make our wishes known as far as treatment and other medical decisions, care decisions,
and even our final ceremonial (funeral service) wishes.
Think about it. With an advanced care plan that expresses your wishes, there will be no uncertainty, no
guesswork, no arguing about what can, should and will be done in this situation. You provide a clear
guide about your wishes for end-of-life decisions. What peace of mind this provides! And what a gift for
those you love.
On Sunday, February 12, and Monday, February 13, from 2-4 trained facilitators will be available here at
St. Mark’s to help you plan and go over documents and decisions. If you would like copies of the
Honoring Your Wishes planning document ahead of these dates, you can pick them up in Fellowship Hall
or the Main Office.
Our Trained Facilitators:
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Nancy Krutzfield
Diane Wasson
Deacon Chris
Pastor Sean
Questions? Contact Deacon Chris at 337-7201 ext. 103 or [email protected]
RIGHT NEXT DOOR WORKSHOP: CRIMINAL JUSTICE & THE CHURCH
Saturday, January 28, 2017 — 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 3600 75th St., Urbandale, Iowa
Women at the Well is teaming up with the Aldersgate United Methodist Women to hold this Right Next Door
workshop. The day will begin with a keynote presentation by Jerry Bartruff, Director of the Iowa Department
of Corrections, and then attendees will break into one of two tracks:
ONE: Advocacy Toward Justice. We incarcerate more of our citizens than any other country in the
world. We tolerate racial disparity at every level of the criminal justice system. This track will be led
by Harvey Harrison, a Des Moines lawyer who has, since his retirement, tirelessly worked through
numerous channels both to educate people about and to practice greater justice. He'll be joined by
friends who can speak to these issues from their own experience. You'll come away with greater
knowledge and, we hope, the tools to advocate toward greater justice in our state and nation.
TWO: Welcoming Our Neighbor After Prison. Pastor Lee Schott of Women at the Well will lead this
workshop, as we consider the obstacles and the imperative of welcoming persons and their family
members into our fellowship who have come out of incarceration. We'll hear from a returning citizen
who has experienced these challenges first-hand. How might the church have better welcomed her?
Look forward to some searching questions and some guidance on how to lead your church into a more
Christ-like welcome.
We look forward It will be a great day of learning and commitment. There is no cost for the workshop, but
we will collect $10 per person to cover lunch and hospitality. You can register by contacting Nancy Stockdale
at [email protected].
Questions? Please contact Pastor Lee at 515/360-3977 or [email protected].
February Worship Servants
8:00 AM Ushers
9:30 AM Ushers
10:50 AM Ushers
2/5
2/5
2/5
Barb Smith
Jim & Mardee Wood
Don Anderson & Jane Dohrmann
Ed & Suzanne Krogh
John & Carla Melby-Oetken
2/12
2/12
2/12
Laura Lage
Pam Bleckwenn
Mary Curtis & Kathy Harrison
Peg Horn
Barb Fisher-Krueger
Mary Brown & Tom Shepherd
2/19
Chuck & Phyllis Lindemann
2/19
Abbie Buhr
2/19
Jim & Elaine Warth
John Green
Jeff & Dianne Wasson
Bonnie & Les Jenkins
2/26
Neil & Jeanne Bennett
2/26
Steve & Karen Laughlin
2/26
Bob & Maggie Elliott
10:50 AM Readers
Jerry & Patti Mitchell
Roberta Caris
2/5
Tony & Pam Freund
Judy Brookhaus
Rebecca Carver
8:00 AM Greeters
9:30 AM Greeters
2/12
2/5
2/5
Marsha Lowe
Leonard Hixson & Eleanor Carthey
Barbara Nelson
2/19
2/12
Jeremy Showers
Steve Laughlin
Rose Hanson
2/12
2/26
Barb McCormick
Keith & Nancy Thayer
Jo Hoover
2/19
2/19
10:50 AM Communion
Clarence & Jean Skog
Mark & Carolyn Brock
2/5
2/26
2/26
Laura Lage
Dick & Marlene Lake
Jerry & Patti Mitchell
Sue Brenneman
8:00 AM Readers
9:30 AM Readers
2/12
2/5
2/5
Bob & Jo Hoover
Dennis Preslicka
Lynn Dornfeld
2/19
2/12
2/12
Mark Meyers
Traci Huffman
Bob Elliott
Karen Miller
2/19
2/19
2/26
Chris McMorris
Eileen McPherson
Peg Horn
2/26
2/26
Additional servers needed please
Sally Hoelscher
Jeanie Wade-Nagle
2/5 8:00 AM Communion
2/5 9:30 AM Communion
Rose Hanson, Melanie Justice, Barb
Smith,
Marlene Slaubaugh, Tom Shepherd,
Mary Brown, Jeremy Showers, Nancy
Thayer
Chuck & Phyllis Lindemann
ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Good Lunch Bunch will meet on Tuesday, February 21st at
Pizza Ranch in the Iowa City Marketplace, formerly the
Sycamore Mall. Meeting time is 11:30 a.m.
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Grayye Matters will meet on Tuesday, February 7th at
Pizza Ranch in the Iowa City Marketplace. Meeting time is
9:00 a.m. We will be discussing the book, We are Water,
by Wally Lamb.
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Operation Backpack: You are invited to help fill food
bags that will be delivered to elementary children in Iowa
City. We will be filling food bags on the following Fridays:
February 3, March 3, April 7 and May 5. Please join us in
rooms 108/109 at 8:30 a.m. We will be filling a month’s
worth of food bags each time and welcome your help. No
experience necessary. Questions? Contact Sally Hoelscher
([email protected]) or 319-541-2622 or Marsha Lowe
at 319-339-4267.
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JOYS AND CONCERNS
If you know of anyone in need of prayer, please contact
Pastor Sean or Deacon Chris
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Carla Melby-Oetken for treatment of ovarian cancer
Beverly Yoder for health issues
Insook Matthews for health issues
Iva Saggert for health issues
Kathy Fountain for health issues
Cindy McDowell’s mother for health issues
Dave McDowell’s father for health issues
Prayers for folks in nursing homes or homebound
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Marilyn Matthews at home
Jim Lindemann at Solon Care Center
Eldon Prybil
Pauline Trout at Melrose Meadows
Phyllis Showalter at Crestview in West Branch
Save the Date - St. Mark’s Spring Cleaning, 4/23
NEW PRAYER CENTER
Come check out our new prayer center! The hallway bulletin
board now contains weekly prayers for our world. There is a
list of countries to pray for (using the Ecumenical Yearly
Prayer Cycle); a list of churches and pastors in our district to
pray for each week; a list of prayers from the Women at the
Well congregation (our partner in ministry) and a list of St.
Mark’s community prayers to be lifted up each week.
SPECIAL OFFERINGS
February 5 - Self-Help International
February 12 - Youth Mission Trip
February 19 - Tree of Life Ministry
February 26 - RESULTS
Each list changes weekly and there is also space to add your
own prayers on post-it notes. We hope you will take this opportunity to increases and deepen your ministry of prayer.
So, I’ve taken my Discipleship Survey...now what?
How about a Living on Purpose group? These groups are designed as Wesleyan class meetings. They help you discover
your strengths and then serve as a support and accountability
group in living those strengths and growing in your faith.
Living on Purpose groups meet once per month. We are currently forming our 4th and 5th groups, so if you want to jump
in, now’s the time! Contact Pastor Sean or Deacon Chris and
we can help you get into one of these groups forming now.
HOWEVER...there does not need to be an existing group for
you to join. If you feel that a Living on Purpose group is your
next step on the discipleship pathway, let us know! We form
groups around people who are hoping to enter into this experience. Let us know what times work for you, and we will
begin to pull together another group around those parameters.
Questions? Contact Deacon Chris at 319337-7201 extension 103 or [email protected].
St. Mark’s United Methodist Church
2675 E. Washington Street
Iowa City, IA 52245