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June-July 2014 Volume 50 Issue 5

Messenger

Annual Conference 2014

California-Pacific Conference of the

United Methodist Church

Journey to Wholeness

June 18, 2014 - June 21, 2014

The Session will begin with Opening Worship on

Wednesday morning, June 18, 2014 at 8:30 AM and close

with the Service of Ordination and Commissioning on

Saturday evening, June 21 ending approximately at 9:30

PM. Some of the other activities are:

Executive Session: Wednesday morning, 6/18

CHARMS (Retired Ministers & Spouses) Lunch-

eon: Wednesday 6/18 at lunch

Laity Dinner: Wednesday evening 6/18, after plenary

Lay Academy Graduate Dinner: Thursday evening

6/19, after plenary (Redlands First UMC)

Memorial Service: Thursday evening, 6/19, 7:30PM

District Gatherings: Wednesday night, 6/18

Missionary Luncheon: Friday lunch, 6/20

Retirement Banquet: Friday evening, 6/20, after ple-

nary

Service of Ordination & Commission: Saturday even-

ing, 6/21, 7:30 PM

From LCUMC, Pastor Elaine, Bill Sleeper as our Lay

Leader and Denise Lenore as an observer are planning to

attend. All of you are welcome to come and visit to see

what goes on during the Annual Conference.

United Methodist Women

Monday, June 9 the UMW will host Ilse Peets, a retired

missionary, who will share her story of her work and life

"in the field" of mission. Ms. Peets currently lives in

Pearblossom and is a current District Officer.

We will meet (promptly) at 7:00 pm in the Fireside

Room and I am sure it will be a lively and informative

evening!

32nd Annual United Methodist Family Night

Dodgers vs Milwaukee Brewers

Friday, August 15, 2014 at 7:10 p.m.

Tickets are $22.00 (a $25.00 face value), FREE fire-

works show after the game

INCLUDES: $2.00 per ticket will benefit the Cal-Pac

Summer Camp Program. Last year we raised $3,550.00.

You can make a difference and enjoy a night at the

game.

PLUS four UM Kids between the ages of 6 &14 years of

age, will be selected for “Kids-Take-The-Field with one

of the players. If a kid from your church is interested,

submit the attached form by August 4th. There will be a

drawing to select the lucky 4.

TICKETS: Tickets are available now! Please contact Bill

Evans to order tickets.

SPECIAL SEATING: If wheelchair seating is needed, or

you have difficulty with stairs please contact Bill Evans.

Children 3 years of age and younger do not require a

ticket, but they will not have a seat unless you buy them

a ticket.

NEW: PARKING is still $10.00 if you purchase your

parking ticket in advance on line, at the gate will be

$15.00. Dodger Stadium disability parking is in parking

lot B, G, N, & P. Additional parking information and

directions are available on the Dodger web site at:

www.dodgers.com/parking or consider the “Dodger Sta-

dium Express” operating from Union Station again this

year. It’s FREE when you present your that day Dodgers

ticket more info available on line: www.dodgers.com/

parking.

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Taize Prayer Service

Tuesday, June 3 &

July 1 7:00 pm

No Taize in August or

September

Welcome Chad Loucks!

How We Got Here…

First, a series of dates:

March 1st, 1999 is when I made the best

decision of my life and it was one that

would alter the trajectory of my fu-

ture—I gave my life to Jesus. I was in

the 8th grade.

April 29th, 2007 is when I graduated from Bethel College

in Indiana with a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Ministries.

June 19th, 2010 is when I made the second best decision of

my life—I said “I do” and entered into the covenant rela-

tionship of marriage with God and Rachel. I proposed to

her after we dated for six months. I knew I wanted to

spend the rest of my life with her after dating for three

months, but my friends convinced me to wait another three

months so people wouldn't think I was crazy.

September 1st, 2013 is when I arrived in Pasadena, CA to

attend Fuller Theological Seminary to work on my Mas-

ter’s of Divinity. It was a three day journey driving a

Penske truck with a full trailer that had our car on it and

my father came with me.

Now a little story: It was during my Freshman year of

High School when I first believed that I was called into full

time vocational ministry. God was doing a transforming

work in my life and there was nothing I was interested in

more than getting to know Him and introducing others to

Him. A few years after I graduated from Bethel I fell in

love with Rachel. Soon after we started dating I told her

about what I was called to do with my life and part of that

calling was to become better equipped for ministry. I told

her about Fuller Theological Seminary and why I wanted

to attend there: quality, diversity, and relevancy. She said

she was onboard with this dream of mine.

We were married in June and then in December of that

same year we sat down, crunched numbers, and developed

a budget to save for seminary. I worked full time at a

home improvement store, Rachel worked full time at a

bank, and part time at a retail clothing store. We saved,

and saved, and saved and after three years we were able to

make the move to Pasadena and do not plan on taking any

student loans out for graduate school.

After the move we began to look for a church. We visited

Mosaic, RealityLA, Lake Ave. Church, Paz Naz, and a few

others before we visited La Cañada United Method-

ist. When I was licensed in the denomination I came from,

called the Missionary Church Incorporated, I was asked to

read a few works of John Wesley and write a paper on the

doctrine of sanctification. After reading A Plain Account

of Christian Perfection and Forty-Four Sermons I was

moved by Wesley’s understanding of sanctification and the

freedom Jesus gives us from sin. At Bethel, I had read and

wrote a paper on the biography of John Wesley and grown

up with a Wesleyan/Arminian brand of theology which I

continue to further adhere to. So, with this Wesleyan/

Arminian theological foundation we looked into the

Church of the Nazarene, the United Methodist Church, and

the Wesleyan Church.

After meeting Pastor Elaine, being led in worship by Mar-

tin, studying in Sunday School with Joel, experiencing the

warm fellowship of the congregation, and after spending a

lot of time in prayer, Rachel and I knew this church was

the place for us. I am honored, humbled, and excited to be

able to serve as Director of Student Ministries. As I have

noted, God got a hold of my life when I was in the 8th

grade. Having a solid Youth Group was extraordinarily

formative for me as a student. So, it is no surprise that I

am passionate about student ministries and excited to see

God get ahold of students lives.

We are excited to be here at La Cañada United Methodist

and to able to grow with you as we all continue our jour-

ney with Christ. It has been a joyous experience thus far

and are excited for the journey ahead!

Vacation Bible School will

not be held this year.

Check the newsletter and

bulletin for news about

next year.

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La Canada Scripture Writing Relay

LCUMC Marks its History by Scribing the New Testa-

ment. LCUMC is scribing the New Testament for its 50th

anniversary. All members are encouraged to participate in

making this historical document. Not only is this an op-

portunity to practice a spiritual discipline within our faith

community but each church member contributes to this

historical event. The plan is to scribe all of the New Tes-

tament, bind the hand written pages into one document

and present it to the church at its 50th anniversary celebra-

tion. Verdugo Mission UM churches have volunteered to

participate in this Scripture writing discipline with us so

that it will be completed by the church’s anniversary cele-

bration.

Members describe the benefits of Scripture writing.

Those who have participated in scribing Scripture passag-

es stated that they have found the experience to be pro-

found as they write out the Words of God. They also have

a greater appreciation of the task performed by the early

church scribes. They marvel at how amazingly accurate

biblical manuscripts are that were scribed through the cen-

turies. Scribing calls for prayer and deliberate concentra-

tion of each and every word written, all the more reason to

amazed by our Christian heritage of those dedicated to

such work that has stood through the ages. It feels good to

participate in it for our own church.

Women’s Bible Study

practice the Spiritual

Discipline of Scripture

Writing together.

The group is spending a

few sessions together

practicing this Spiritual

Discipline. They open

with prayer asking the Lord to bless the words that

they scribe and ask the Lord to plant the words they write

in to their heart to bear fruit in their lives. As they write

their individual passages, they also share in fellowship

with one another. Sometimes they ask questions about

their particular passage and Pastor Elaine describes the

passage's background and meaning. Everyone is blessed

by the mini-Bible study. These pictures reflect the group's

gathering in May.

Don’t Wait, Join Us Now! We invite you to participate in

to this historical event. Don't be shy about your printing

capabilities, we want all to help make this document a

keepsake for church history and do not want anyone to be

left out. Refer to the chart below for open books and chap-

ters. If you have not yet turned in your pages for the Gos-

pels, please turn them in now and see Denise Lenore to

sign up for Phase II, the letters of Paul.

Book Chapter Scribe Book Chapter Scribe

Romans 1-3 Open I Thessalonians 1-2 Joey Mitchell

Romans 4-6 Open I Thessalonians 3-4 Open

Romans 7-9 Denise Lenore I Thessalonians 5-6 Open

Romans 10-12 Open II Thessalonians 1-3 Debby Steffens

Romans 13-16 Open I Timothy 1-6 K. Kemmerer

I Corinthians 1-12 E. Cho, M. Cho II Timothy 1-4 C. Kemmerer

I Corinthians 13 Barbara Dawson Titus 1-3 Bill Sleeper

I Corinthians 14-16 Martin Cho Philemon 1 Marilyn Peer

II Corinthians 1-2 Yoshiko Kim Hebrews 1-2 D. Maddux

II Corinthians 3-11

Ariathurai /

Harder family Hebrews 3-4 Marie Henry

II Corinthians 12-13 Open Hebrews 5 Bob Rinker

Galatians 1-3 Selina Cho Hebrews 6 Open

Galatians 4-6 Janice DaVolio Hebrews 7-8 Open

Ephesians 1-6 Sheri Gray Hebrews 9-10 Open

Philippians 1-4 Carol Amico Hebrews 11-12 Open

Colossians 1-2 L. Swanson Hebrews 13 Open

Colossians 3-4 Open

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Trustees Report:

Thanks to our devoted members, we continue to make improvements towards safety. Here are couple of pictures of

the recent renovation that we did. New sprinklers, planted grasses along the path and new cement were placed.

Wednesday Bible Study Group

Wednesday Bible Study group took an outing celebrat-

ing finishing the study on the Fruit of the Spirit. The fruit

of the Spirit are joy, peace, patience, love, gentleness,

faithfulness, goodness, kindness, and self-control. We

laughed the most studying the "self-control" which

we found the hardest subject to put into practice!

The group continues to meet on Wednesdays to scribe the

New Testament together. Come and join them each week

at 10:30am!

Gregory Vathanan Harder, son of Steve and Priya Harder,

nephew of Vijay Ariathurai, and grandson of Vathanan and

Esther Ariathurai was baptized on May 11.

Fellowship Hosts

Each Sunday after worship everyone is invited to join

in a time of fellowship and light refreshments on the

patio. Hosts for this time have been members who vol-

unteer to provide the refreshments. It is a busy time of

reconnecting with one another and sharing news and

passing information along to others.

Your help is needed by signing

up to host a Sunday or two. Holi-

days are taken care of but there

are still lots of other Sundays that

need your help!! A listing of

available Sundays is in the nar-

thex. For more information,

please contact Bob or Carole

Kemmerer.

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Finance Committee Update FINANCIAL REPORT:

April: Budgeted Received

Receipts: $18,050.83 $22,540.83

Year to date 72,203.33 $74,441.81

April Year-to-Date

Expenses $ 24,251.71 $ 78,166.35

Net/(Deficit) ($ 1,710.38) ($ 3,724.54)

According to P. Rooney Religious Giving of the Indiana

University Press in 2009, only 69.6% of Methodists

give to their church. Of those who give, they give 1.0%

(instead of 10% tithe or more) per of our income. That

is a shocking finding.

In our Holy Bible, God mentions messages about mon-

ey 2,300 times. Messages about prayers are mentioned

about 500 times. Is money more important to God than

prayers? NO! However, God knew that money will

have greater potential to become an obstacle to our rela-

tionship with God than anything else. Our relationships

with our possessions may have deeper roots than our

relationship with God.

We do need to deal with our own money demons such

as loans, spending habits, credit card debts, and family

situations. However, unless we prioritize our “fixed

income” to be fixed to reflect our faith and recognize

that we first need to give ourselves to our Lord, we will

not be able to fully walk in the Lord as His disciples.

2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “Give as purpose in your

heart.” Your church will have much more resources to

do His work when you give and take a part in His king-

dom’s will. We encourage you to “Live for God, Live

like Christ, and Live the Word” and pray about giving

generously.

June Birthdays 6 Martin Cho

14 Katharine Henry

15 Sheila Callison

17 Katie Gulick

20 Doug Gulick

23 Jenna Gulick

26 Sue MacKenzie

28 Carol Amico

29 Blanca Rodriguez

July Birthdays 5 Otis Hutchins

5 Nicole Nunez

9 Hal Thomas

11 Mark Fuller

13 Vathanan Ariathurai

15 Matthew Sneddon

16 Bob Kemmerer

30 Alex Henry

Prayer Requests Ministry Prayer Needs: The Church and its Mission. The

health and growth of LCUMC, our families, community, and

nation. Renewal and revival of the UMC

Prayer Concerns: Jane Tweed, Nancy Roberts, Juliet

Voigtlander, Jack Brisco, Charles Gulick, Rowlanda Huff,

Rob Berwin, Sara Barnes, Bill and Jane, Gary Gerstner, Jim

Lawrence, Dan MacKenzie, Rick Clark.

Shut Ins: Marilyn Lott, Hal Thomas, Ginny Nichols.

Peace With Justice Sunday June 15, 2014

This special offering supports peace with justice minis-

tries through the General Board of Church and Society

and the annual conferences. Andrew’s Answer, part of

the outreach ministry of United Methodist Church of

Rogers Park, provides free after-school care and summer

camps and counseling for neighborhood children. How-

ever, it also serves as a place for youth and adult volun-

teers from around the world to come to Chicago to learn

about justice and faith.

Special offering envelopes will be available in the June

15 bulletin and the narthex.

All Church Luncheon Sunday, June 1

We are happy to have Anna's Acupuncture visiting us on

June 1st for our luncheon. Xiao Si Quan who is Chi-

nese and Western Medicine specialist will come and

share his knowledge of Chinese medicine as well as give

free pulse readings for our members.

Bring a dish to share and come join us for the fun and

good food!

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Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 Communion 9:00am Adult Ed 10:00am Prayer, MPR

10:30am Worship, Sunday School Noon All Church Luncheon; Car Wash

2 3 7:00pm Taize, Sanctuary

4 10:30am Scripture Scribing, FSR 7:00pm 50th Anni-versary Planning, Office

5 LCHS Graduation

6 10:00am Chapel, Sanctuary

7

8 10:00am Prayer, MPR

10:30am Worship, Sunday School Noon Tweens/Teens SS

9 7:00pm UMW, FSR

10

11 10:30am Scripture Scribing, FSR 12:30pm Staff Meeting, Office

12 10:00am Chapel, Sanctuary

13 14

15 Father’s Day

10:00am Prayer, MPR 10:30am Worship Sunday School Noon Tweens/Youth Sunday School

16 17 Noon—CC Advisory Council, MPR 7:00 pm Trustees, Office

18 10:30am Scripture Scribing, FSR

19 20 6:00 pm Children’s Center Graduation

21

22 10:00am Prayer, MPR 10:30am Worship Sunday School Noon Tweens/Youth Sunday School

23

24

25 10:30am Scripture Scribing, FSR

26 10:00am Chapel, Sanctuary

27 10:00am Chapel, Sanctuary

28

29 10:00am Prayer, MPR 10:30am Worship Sunday School Noon Tweens/Youth Sunday School

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June 2014

California-Pacific Annual Conference

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Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 7:00pm Taize, Sanctuary

2 3 Office Closed

4 Independence Day

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6 Communion 10:00am Prayer, MPR

10:30am Worship, Sunday School Noon Tweens/Teens SS

7

8

9

10 11 12

13 10:00am Prayer, MPR

10:30am Worship Sunday School Noon Tweens/Youth Sunday School

14 15 16 17 18

19

20 10:00am Prayer, MPR

10:30am Worship Sunday School Noon Tweens/Youth Sunday School

21

22

23

24 25 26

27 10:00am Prayer, MPR

10:30am Worship Sunday School Noon Tweens/Youth Sunday School

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29 30 31

July 2014

Pastor Elaine at Mission U

Junior High Camp at Camp Colby

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La Cañada United Methodist Church

P. O. Box 667; 104 Berkshire Place

La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91012

La Cañada United Methodist Church

Rev. Elaine Hisu Cho, Pastor

Denise Lenore, Pastoral Intern

Sheri Gray, Administrative Assistant

Chad Loucks, Director of Youth Ministry

Martin Cho, Director of Music

Victoria Symonian, Accompanist

Kendra Mathison, Child Care Provider

Blanca Rodriguez, Director of Children’s Center Preschool

Usher Schedule for June/July

June:

1 Bill Sjogren, Bill Evans, Linda Swanson

8 Edwina Johnson, Mark Amico, Carol Amico

15 Harriet Hammons, Charles McGee, Joan McGee

22 Christa Clark, Matt Sneddon, Pat Hutchins

29 Doug, Belen, Jenna, and Katie Gulick

July:

6 Kirk, Heidi, and Grace Moreno

13 Linda Swanson, Christa Clark, Bill Evans

20 Arsenio Nunez, Pam Nunez, Mark Amico

27 Harriet Hammons, Brian Fuller, Edwina Johnson

50th Anniversary Planning Team The year of Jubilee was a special time for God’s people

(Leviticus 25:8-13). God called His people to make the

50th year holy, proclaiming freedom throughout the whole

land. It was the season of joy, slaves were freed, debts

were forgiven, and mercies of God were particularly man-

ifested. As we look forward to our year of Jubilee, we

anticipate our church to celebrate our years together and

anticipate God’s greater mercies to be manifested. JOIN

US to celebrate!

The anniversary planning team met Tuesday night, May

27 to begin developing ideas for celebrating the church’s

50th anniversary. Be sure to mark the date on your calen-

dar for the anniversary event, Sunday, September 14,

2014.