Minerva Messenger Minerva United Methodist Church

204 N. Main St., Minerva, OH 44657 Church 330-868-4940, Fax 330-868-4825,

E-mail: minervaumc@frontier.com Website: minervaumc.org Pastor Harley Wheeler

Deadline for the May Newsletter is April 17.

Please be sure your information is submitted by the deadline. Thank you

“A Spade to Dig With” Hosea 13:14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?”

Having passed age fifty, I get many chances to assess and reassess what things in life are important and what are not. One of these chances came my way when a good friend, Rev. Meredith Coleman passed away after an all too brief, six month illness. Meredith had been a good and useful pastor and a helper and friend to me all my years of ministry. She served three churches only in her long career, and built up every one in membership and spiritual fruit. The church lost a wonderful, gifted servant in Meredith, and so we turn to the promises of the Bible for com-fort. “Where, O grave, is your destruction?” I can rest in the knowledge that the dead in Christ are not lost, but their lives are “hid in Christ with God” (Colossians 3:3) When it comes down to it, is there anything more important than that? There are many vexing, griping cares that face us in this world, but we face them as people who have been given a rich gift of love. We should never step down from that place of assurance and love, and bestow worry and frustration on the lesser problems as if we were not blessed beyond measure. There is a Jewish saying; “Do not use the scriptures as a spade to dig with.” It is worth reflecting on. The Bi-ble points us to a Holy, Loving God who can call us out of the grave, who can solve the lasting pain of grief and sepa-ration from death. Is it right to use our religion to score points in debate? To position ourselves as more enlightened, more deserving or more savvy than others? Obviously not. We should approach each day with a humble, thankful mindset, and reach out to others in humility. We will indeed find wisdom for the day’s problems and paths away from the day’s evils through our study of scripture. But our scriptures are not a hammer to strike our neighbor with, nor a spade to dig with. Yours in His Awesome Love, Pastor Harley “…Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”

Song of Songs 2:10 Cynthia L. Bondurant

and Harley W. Wheeler

Joyfully invite you to share in their happiness as they unite in marriage on Saturday, July 6, 2013

at two o’clock in the afternoon Minerva United Methodist Church

204 N. Main Street Minerva, Ohio 44657

A reception will be held immediately following with cake and a light meal

Please R.S.V.P. to Pastor Harley at 330-522-4158 or

revharleywheeler@hotmail.com by June 23rd “My lover is mine and I am his...”

Song of Songs 2:16

April Worship Schedule

April 3 Worship at St. Lukes 10:30am April 7 United Methodist Women’s Sunday April 14 Choir Cantata “Easter Song” Holy Communion April 21 “Fishing” John 21 April 25 Nursing Home Worship Eldercare 9:30, Great Trail 10:30 April 28 Rev. Earl Bailey Mission Speaker

Word For The World radio uses satellites, cable, AM, FM, short wave, and now the internet to reach some of the most inaccessible areas of the world. In this remarkable program, Dr. Earl Bailey’s goal is to “make truth plain, make truth interesting, make truth mov-ing.” Bailey’s preaching does both charm and change. He has ministered in many churches across America and overseas. In 1978 Dr. Bailey learned that he had Multiple Sclerosis. Unable to keep up with the demands of a full time pastor of a growing parish, he and his family stepped out, by faith, into another area of ministry. Word For The World was started in 1986 and is now heard in every country in the world.

Donations to the Memorial Fund Laura Stauffer, Chair

Memorial to Ruth Kellogg, from

Steve & Shirley Warth

Memorial to Muriel Reed, from Steve & Shirley Warth

Memorial to Betty Wright, from

Kay Hilverding, Elaine Eddy, Charlotte and Ron Davies, Order of Eastern Star,

neighbors at Senior Center, Ken and Kay Lewis, Advent class, Gene and Pat Fry, Ray, Robin and

Brady Fry, Gary and Jeanette Leyda, Dick and Betty Thompson, Sue Wandle, Suzanne and Ben Holder-

baum, Christopher Wandle, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Thompson, Greg and Debbie Wells and girls

Memorial to Pat Stahl, from

Ken and Kay Lewis, Carol and John Peterson

Memorial to Maralee Rumburg, from Ken and Kay Lewis

Dear Church Family, Thank you so much for all your calls, cards & prayers while I had my recent surgery and a special thank you to Diane Binnig for filling in for Pastor Harley. It was all appreciated very much. Thank you, Paul Kail

Condolences

Family of Maralee Rumburg. Maralee passed away on February 20, 2013. She had been living in a care facility in Dover

for the past couple years.

Jenny Ellis & Family on the death of her mother, Twila Dourm on March 4, 2013

PRAYER CONCERNS: Pauline Angeloni, Jennifer Ash, Doris Bet-tis, Bill Boyd, Michelle Briceland, Michaela Bryan, Eva Mae Carter, Family of Rev. Meredith Coleman, Craig Cunningham, Ron & Charlotte Davies, John Davis, Hon-chie Demarco, Jenny Ellis & Family (death of Twila Dourm), Eltringham Family, Evanich Family (death of Pat Stahl), Beth Gray, Paul Kail, Barb Jamison, Jobs, Jim Kienzle, Rev. Tim & Tiffany Kromer & unborn baby, Beth Kuligowski, Rev Susan Lausch & Family (death of Al Lausch), Douglas Lear, Melanie Lemert, Mark Lutz & Family (death of Betty Lutz), Buddy McNutt, Dorothy Mid-dleton, Linda Miller, Shirley Miller & Family, Blanche Mor-rison, Wilbur Moser, Ralph Norman, Nursing Ed. Dept. at Mercy Medical Center, Meleia Rogers & Family, Family of Maralee Rumburg, Angie Sanor, Peggy Smith, Marilyn Tarbet, Carol Tice, Esther Totten, Mary Wadsworth, Emily Waseman, June Waseman, Karen & Marilyn Weckstein, Brian Wilson, Chriss Wolf, Family of Betty Wright, Kendra (Lewis) Wriston, Tricia Wurzbach & Family, Youth Group & Leaders, Dixie Zwallen

Our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen & Marines–SR Nicholas G. Albery (Great Lakes Naval Base), SR Zachary D. Albery (Great Lakes Naval Base), Steven Felger (California), Ja-red Fonner (home), Lewis Gibson (Texas), Matt Herbert (home), Brandon Jenkins (Texas) , Aaron King, Kevin Ko-wars (Texas), Dan Lutz (home), Eli Maurer (Coast Guard Academy, Connecticut), Josh Miller(Texas), Howard Mor-gan, Russell Nero (home), Kevin Price (Japan), John Ste-hulak (Afghanistan), Justin C. Zeedrich

Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear, The upward glancing of an eye When none but God is near.

PRAYER CHAIN If you wish to have someone put on the prayer chain,

please contact the church office and/or Jennie McClellan (330-868-6834) or Kay Hilverding (330-868-4728) with your request. Your request will be handled

with great care and will be passed along the chains and referred to the church office for email purposes.

Blessings to you all.

We are pleased to announce that we are offering rides toSunday worship.

Thanks to generous donations on the part of the congregation, our 15-passenger van is now avail-

able to those interested in a ride to the 10:30 worship service and/or

the 9:15 Sunday School. Persons interested should call the church,

330-868-4940 and leave a message.

New Members Steve and Sandy Griffith,

of 14000 Lincoln St SE, Lot 6, Minerva, joined our church by transfer on March 4th.

Ray & Barb Haun

of 3035 Union Ave SE, Minerva, joined our church by transfer on March 6th.

Steve & Sandy and Ray & Barb have already been supporting the Minerva United Methodist Church

with their prayers, presence, gifts and service, and we look forward to serving God alongside them

in the future.

April Birthdays 1 Ryan Hawk 3 Matthew Zeedrich 5 Ryan Smith 6 Jamie Fankhauser, Angie Neidig 7 Nina Mock, Cyndy Lawson, Taylor Zeedrich 8 Susan Fahey 10 Cali Clemens 11 Virgil Springer, Tammy Hoffster 13 Justin Miller 14 Austin Shepard 15 Madison Hying 17 Evan Greitzer, Chris Collins 18 Karla Gareau, Denise Ward, Jennifer Jones 19 Xavier Havlicek 20 Duke Gren, Karla Newman 21 Derrick Haines, Rhys Davies 23 Kevin Bell, Mark Moore 24 Denise Felger 25 Kim Hale, Megan Pearson, Harvey Morgan 26 Janet Witherspoon 27 David Bush, Spencer Mapes 29 Heather Smith, Marc Ellis, Steve Clark, Mary Phillips 30 Sierra Newman, Matt Danner, Peter Fahey

Brand New Birthday Jeff & Kasey (Staib) Adelman

welcomed their son Logan Jeffrey Adelman on February 27, 2013. Happy birthday, Logan!

Congratulations Mom & Dad!

April Anniversaries April 4 Gary & Kay Stoffer April 8 Kory & Emily Swope April 12 Paul & Donna Kail April 13 Steve & Diana Clark

April Nursery Attendants April 7 Jessie Kirkpatrick, Cindy Sperry April 14 Sarah Russo April 21 Laurie McClellan, Cristin Rettig April 28 Joe & Carolynn Herstine

April Ushers Paul Binnig, Richard Cogan, Tom Freeland, Steve Griffith

April Altar Flowers April 7 UMW April 14 Open April 21 Open April 28 Open

On April 14th,

during the morning worship service,

our choir will present “Easter Song, a Celebration of Life”.

This cantata, developed by Gaither Music, presents a powerful 20 minute Easter offering

created and arranged by Tom Fettke and orchestrated by Camp Kirkland.

The titles are some of the best Resurrection songs from the past few decades.

The Celebration of the Resurrection isn’t just for Easter Sunday,

it is the song of the church for every Sunday! Don’t miss it!

“Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.” —Martin Luther

Hey Seniors If you are interested in applying for any schol-arships through the East Ohio Conference, it’s time! Visit the conference website, eocumc, go to the ministry menu, higher education and there you are.

Do you have someone graduating this year?

If so, please let us know in the church office. We don’t want to miss anyone when we honor this year’s grads.

Christian Ed Director … Upcoming events... April 9th Senior Lunch at 12 noon. I will bring main course and you can bring the desserts. Please bring along a game and I have several new ones to try out. April 10th Sing along, Karaoke style at Great Trail Care Center. I have a few CD's of old time gospel and old time favorites. Come join the residents as they sing the morning away. April 15th and 19th the Cricket County Ramblers will be at Great Trail, 15th and St. Luke's the 19th at 7 p.m. April 23rd Senior Lunch at 12 noon. We will call out for lunch and bring desserts. We’ll also play some games or watch a movie. Seniors, Jeff has offered to drive the van for senior

trips so give some thought to where you would like to go and have suggestions ready for our next luncheon. Puppets will resume on Thursdays after school. If you have a child interested please see Carol or Jennie. Watch for the kids as they are preparing to bring you some music with rhythm! I have several people showing interest in another play. I have been researching and have come up with "Summer in Cricket County". A homespun comedy/mystery dinner. It is scheduled for June 7th, 8th, & 9th. I will need eight male and seven female cast members. If you are interested please see me ASAP. I will also need help for back stage, kitchen , host and hostess for the event. Graduation is just around the corner. If you have a graduate or know of one please see me ASAP. Summer programs are coming soon. If the church would like to have a VBS program this year please see me. It takes a lot of volunteers, time and supplies for the event. Or would a summer pro-gram work. Give me your input. I would like to take this time to thank you all for the prayers, prayer shawl, get well cards and birth-day greetings over the past few weeks. I have a long way to go and physical and occupational ther-apy takes up a good bit of my time, but I will see a final result! Thank you to Cheryl Gotschall, Jessie Kirkpartrick and Cheryl Hart for all their help during this time and still helping me. Again thank you for

your prayers and love! Carol

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both our-selves and our neighbors worthy. Thomas Merton

Aultman Blood Mobile will be here on

Sunday, April 14th, from 1130am-230pm.

Produce News On March 21st we served 179 families with 521 family members,

our 2nd biggest month! We are celebrating this growing ministry! Do you realize with our Produce

Distribution in March we have completed 12 months of serving our community / area families. In April our food program will be 1 yr old! Awesome! I am still so excited to be part of this ministry! We have had an amazing group of volunteers, some have been with us since month #1 and some joined us a little later, and in the past few months we have had even more volunteers join us….All are amazing! We have a few volunteers who come for preset and we have some who stay to help clean up at the end, we have our baggers / sorters / loaders, and thankfully we have a few with vehicles able to haul what we have left to St. Paul’s Lutheran or Loaves and Fishes in Carrollton, plus our wonderful delivery folks. Each member of this crew is vital. Going into our second year we will be looking at ways to expand this ministry, so watch for more informa-tion on what direction God leads us. Cheryl

College Student Care Packages The Shepherding Team is asking you to help make the

end of this college term a special one for our college students.

We plan to send eleven care packages to our college students and want your help filling them. There will be a

box in the narthex for your gift items. We recommend any of these or similar items:

beef jerky, candy bars, gum, cereal and oatmeal, gra-nola bars, chips, brownie mix, homemade cookies,

Ramen noodles, popcorn, pretzels or party mix, protein bars, tea or lemonade mix, coffees, fun lotions,

toothbrush and toothpaste, air freshener, Stamps, Note-pads, Pens, and any fun item, or a personal note.

Our Calvary Mission “Item for the Month” of April is

Ramen Noodles.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 1030a Bible Study 11a Pathways 345 Puppets 630p Finance 7p DAR-parlor

3 615p Joyful Noise 730p Harmony HB

4 7p Choir 7p UMW

5 6p Wedding Re-hearsal

6 430p Scott / Key Wedding

7 915a Sunday School 1030a Worship

8 9 1030a Bible Study 12p Sr. Group 345p Puppets

10 615p Joyful Noise 730p Harmony HB

11 8a Produce De-livery 9a Produce Dis-tribution 7p Choir

12 13 6p Dinner

14 8a Rethink meet-ing 915a Sunday School 1030a Worship/Cantata 1130 Blood Mo-

15 16 1030a Bible Study 11a Pathways 345 Puppets 6p Trustees 630p Community Meals Dinner

17 615p Joyful Noise 730p Harmony HB

18 7p Choir 7p Golden Rule Circle

19 20

21 915a Sunday School 1030a Worship 1145a Relay for life Dinner—Wesley Hall

22 23 1030a Bible Study 12p Sr. Group 345 Puppets

24 615p Joyful Noise 730p Harmony HB

25 930a Nursing Home Worship 7p Choir

26 27

28 915a Sunday School 1030a Worship

29 30 1030a Bible Study 345 Puppets

April 2013