SKYWORD April, 2017 edition
The Skycrest United Methodist Church Monthly Newsletter Dear Skycrest family, First and foremost, Easter is coming soon! This year, Easter is Sunday, April 16. We have several services during Holy Week (leading up to Easter) to commemorate the final days of Jesus’ life. Maundy Thursday (April 13) – Dinner 5:30 p.m., Worship Service 6:30 p.m. Good Friday (April 14) – Drop-­‐In Prayer Stations, 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Easter Festival (April 15) – Free egg hunts and more! 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Easter Sunrise (April 16) – at Crest Lake Park, 6:30 a.m. Easter Services (April 16) – 9:45 a.m. Modern and 11 a.m. Traditional You can find all of these details online at www.skycrest.net/easter I encourage you to invite some friends who don’t have a church to come check us out on Easter! After Easter, I will be preaching a 3-­‐week sermon series called How to Help. Many people have someone in their lives that they wish they could help—someone who is struggling with an illness, an addiction, someone who is far from God. Many of us have tried to help, but found ourselves depleted emotionally and spiritually. Other times, we aren’t sure if our actions are helping or hurting the situation. We’ll be focusing on how God might want to use us to help others, and how to keep our own hearts and souls strong in the midst of dealing with someone’s struggle. Finally, this is the time of year when we say goodbye to our “snowbirds”. If you’re heading back north for the summer, your Skycrest family will miss you! You can use our website and social media to stay in touch with news and sermons. And of course, I encourage you to get involved with a church in whatever location you spend your summer months. We’ll be looking forward to you “flying south” again next Fall. For those of us who will spend the warmer months right here in Clearwater, we are planning a great rest of the Spring and Summer at Skycrest! We’ll have lots of great stuff going on for kids, youth, and adults, and I hope you’ll be a part of it. Peace, Pastor Emily [email protected] 4/3 4/4 4/8 4/9 4/10 4/11 4/12 4/15 4/16 4/20 4/22 4/27 4/28 4/29 Prayer Chain The email Prayer Chain is made up of dedicated volunteers who receive 1-­‐2 emails each week of the concerns and praises of those in our congregation. The bulk of the requests come to us on Sundays, but we also receive urgent prayer requests during the week. We believe that prayer makes a difference for those who are prayed for, as well as for those who pray. If you would like to join us in prayer for our Skycrest family, please go to www.skycrest.net, scroll to the bottom, and click on “join our email list.” You can then opt to receive the Mid-­‐Week emails, the Prayer Chain emails, or both. Brian Pershing Ann Barlow Judith McKeel Paul Hudson Florence Nance Frances Stewart Susan Bishop Joann Gronley Ann Butz Bob Mullis Rene Holley Darell Long Shannon Long Anita Lee Jill Morrison Lois Sadler Alexis Blakeslee Sue Windseth Tristan Hancock * If you have a March birthday and you’re not on our list, please update your information with the church office. Church-­‐Wide News Day of Service at BabyCycle – Thank you for your donations to our month-­‐long baby shower supporting BabyCycle. Now, join us on April 8th from 9:00-­‐10:30 a.m. or 10:30 a.m.-­‐Noon as we help sort items that have been collected from the Baby Shower for Baby-­‐
Cycle. Kids of all ages are welcome. There are sign-­‐up sheets available at both services. Changes to Holy Week – If you’ve been around Skycrest for a while, we’ve made a couple changes this year to Holy Week. Easter Sunrise will be at Crest Lake Park this year. And Maundy Thursday will include a church-­‐wide dinner, followed by a worship service in the sanctuary. This is a totally new service in a new format from previous years; you don’t want to miss it! REPORT OF OUR FAITHFULNESS (through 2/19/17 – 8 weeks) 2017 2016 Average weekly attendance YTD TD Modern 75 59 Traditional 140 136 Stewardship 2017 budgeted expenses* $372,317 Operating Income Goal YTD 85,920 Received 72,034 Net ($13,886) *Excludes major capital expenses, missions expenses, and SCDC Lilies may be ordered now. The cost for each plant is $10. Place one in the sanctuary in honor of or in remembrance of someone special. Select if: in memory of ___ OR in honor of ___ Name: _______________________________ Given by: ____________________________ Phone Number: _______________________ Number of plants: ____ Amount Paid: _______ (Please make checks payable to Skycrest UMC) United Methodist Women News The UMW luncheon meeting will be held at noon, on Thursday, April 6th, and will focus on care for underprivileged Women and Children. We will have a speaker from BabyCycle of St. Petersburg. This meeting will also highlight a call to prayer and self-­‐denial which is an annual observance when we pray together and make an offering to mission on behalf of women, children and youth. Lunch will be catered by Maria Escobales and Mary Phillips and hosted by Rebekah Circle. Cost will be $7.00. Please RSVP to your circle leader or the church office. The executive board will meet in the library at 10:30 a.m. April 1 – Skycrest UMW Annual Fashion Show Mary Lydia Circle will welcome “Robinson” this month. Robinson is a professional Christian Musician, CEO of “One Candle Ministries” and has toured nationally. All are welcome to come and hear this extraordinary talent at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 13th in room 108. Community Updates Dear Skycrest Family, Thank you so much for your prayers, cards, phone calls and visits during my recent illness. I am so thankful for my Skycrest family. SkyKids will be continuing with the ‘Dive In’ series. We have been exploring the life of Peter and how we can go out into the world and follow Jesus. The Memory Verse is: “Come and follow me,” Jesus said. “I will send you out to fish for people.” Mark 1:17 (NIV) If you are interested in having your kids join us for a fun learning experience, please have them come upstairs every Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Easter Festival -­‐ The annual Easter Festival is happening this year on April 15th. This is event for the entire family and this helps us reach our local community for fun, fellowship, and an Easter egg hunt. Please contact Drew Von Preysing if you would like to volunteer. Vacation Bible School -­‐ Summer is just around the corner and we are getting prepared for our Vacation Bible School. VBS will be the week of July 17-­‐21st from 9 a.m. till noon each day. Our theme this year is ‘Galactic Starveyors’ and we will be learning about how God created everything and all the wonders of the universe. We have online sign ups or you can register your child using our sign up sheets. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer contact Drew Von Preysing . I’m getting better everyday, but would like for your prayers to continue. Blessings, Ruth Carlson Dear Skycrest Church family-­‐ We want to say thank you for the beautiful cards, thoughts and prayers, and other expressions of love and sympathy during the recent loss of our Mom-­‐-­‐ Hallie Rymal. Your love and prayers were felt all the way to Texas and back, and the words of your beautiful cards brought us great comfort upon our return home. We are so happy and blessed that we are part of such a loving caring church family where the light and love of Christ shine so brightly! Love and blessings, Gail & Gary Rymal Driven Student Ministries -­‐ This month, we will be continuing our series called ‘#Nothing Will’. This 3-­‐week series has helped us understand that nothing will separate us from the love of God. Our series focuses on this verse: “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Reminders ~ We will be meeting at 4:30 p.m. for a study hour right before Youth starts. ~ No Youth on April 16th. Missions News RCS Food Bank Collection During the month of February 2017 we collected 127 pounds of food for RCS February 5 -­‐ 419 items (Soup-­‐er-­‐Bowl Sunday) February 12 -­‐ 52 lbs. February 19 -­‐ 34 lbs. February 26 -­‐ 41 lbs. RCS Food Bank bins are available at the entrance to both worship services on Sundays. Your generosity is always appreciated! Clothes to Kids Clothes to Kids collects new or gently used items for kids age 5 through 18. They are very much in need of children’s tennis shoes and boy’s pants. CTK donation bins are available at the entrances to both worship services on Sundays. Monthly Dinner for the Hungry April’s dinner will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 29th, in Fellowship Hall. Volunteer shifts are 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Imagine No Malaria During Lent, we will be collecting a special offering toward the United Methodist Church’s efforts to eradicate malaria. Look for the red donation boxes available at church during March and April. Florida United Methodist Children’s Home – Thank you for supporting the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home. Because of your support we were able to send $4,359.50. With this amount we were able to meet our goal of $12 per member. Your contributions make it possible for the home to give loving care to children with many problems. Their goal is to empower children and families to experience God’s love and care revealed in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Pray for our Costa Rica Mission Team – Fourteen volunteers from Skycrest will be spending a week this June serving with Costa Rica Mission Projects. Be praying for safe travel, a meaningful time of service, and an impact to be made in the lives of the people we will be serving. April Worship Volunteers April Bus Drivers 4/2 Darell Long 4/9 Jack Weber 4/16 Katrina Pershing 4/23 Mark Spoeneman 4/30 Darell Long April Money Counters Shirley Cobb, Peg Balakier Elmer & Doris Campbell Traditional Communion Servers 4/2 Jim & Judy Johnson Doug & Amy Bradley Modern Worship Volunteers 4/2 Katrina & Brian Pershing Mary & Mark Spoeneman Linda Martin, Barbara Heimlich 4/9 Denise & Bob Mullis Linda Martin & Kathie Ritchie Denise Mullis, Amanda Wininsky 4/16 Barb Heimlich & Sara Simpson Frank Hope, Dawn Peyregne Dawn Peyregne, Kris Kinsey 4/23 Allison & Phil Jester Kris & Clint Kinsey Penny Anderson, Marge Parvin 4/30 Katrina & Brian Pershing Mary & Mark Spoeneman Kathy Ritchie, Sue Windseth Traditional: Greeters 4/2 Jim & Judy Johnson 4/9 Wavy Begin, Cheryl Cummings 4/16 Larry & JoAnn French 4/23 Eliza Flannigan, Ron Somers 4/30 Shirley Cobb, Richard Kearns Traditional: Ushers 4/2 Eliza Flannigan, Ann Butz Jackie Rogers, Pauline Yovich 4/9 Mike Petryszak, Jay Summy Richard Kearns, Lois Rockwell 4/16 Jim Dall, Jim Fitzpatrick, Jim Johnson, Ed Summy 4/23 Larry French, Darell Long, Shannon Long, Jack Weber 4/30 Eliza Flannigan, Ann Butz Jackie Rogers, Pauline Yovich Traditional: Liturgists 4/2 Joyce Garrett 4/9 Doris Campbell 4/16 Kay Dahlstrom 4/26 Alice Thalheimer 4/30 Lynne Read Skycrest United Methodist Church
2045 Drew Street
Clearwater, FL 33765
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
SKYWORD April 2017 Skycrest United Methodist Church Connecting to: God / / Each Other / / The World _________________________ Open hearts, open minds, open doors. SKYWORD Is the monthly newsletter of Skycrest United Methodist Church 2045 Drew Street Clearwater, Florida 33765 Reverend Emily Hotho, Pastor __________________________________________________ Church Office: (727) 446-­‐2218 Fax: (727) 446-­‐3982 Email: [email protected] Visit our website: www.skycrest.net __________________________________________________ Child Development Center: (727) 446-­‐5047