What’s Inside

First United Methodist Church109 S. HarperPoteau, OK 74953

Non-Profit Org.

Permit No. 40

Poteau, OK 74953

Address Service Requested

YEAR 23 VOLUME 2 FEBRUARY, 2015 SERVing gOd 121 YEARS

The United Methodist News

The United Methodist NewsPASTOR TO PEOPLE

REV. KYLE CLARK

Sunday School9:30 A.M.

Morning Worship10:30 A.M.

Church Calendar .....................2Finance Report .......................2From Tracy’s Desk .................3News of Youth .........................3Missions ..................................3Chubby Sunday ......................4Our Sympathy .........................4Membership Care ...................4Birthdays, Anniversaries .......4Cards of Thanks .....................5Ash Wednesday Services ......5Preschool Report ....................6Birth Announcement ..............6

“A tithe (10%) of everything…belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.”Leviticus 27: 30

“You will be enriched in every way for your generosity.” 2 Corinthians 9:11

Bishop of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, Kenneth Carder, tells the story about an experience he had in a church he served some years prior to being elected to the episcopacy. A small group of about 30 folks, most of whom lived on the streets or in shelters, would gather on Thursday evenings for worship. One cold winter evening a man new to that group came to the service and he was barefoot. It was a time of day in which all the stores nearby were closed, so the more affluent of the group began scurrying around the church trying to find shoes for this man, but as you might expect didn’t find any. They were after all in a church, not a shoe store. It was then that bishop-to-be Carder and the others witnessed something profound. Another man, also there for worship, who lived nearby in a low-income housing project went to the shoeless man and said, “Take my shoes, I have another pair at home.” Later, as Bishop Carder was reflecting on that night, he said that man who gave up his shoes, “…did spontaneously what those of us who have several pairs of shoes never thought of doing.”

I can’t help but think about this story as our finance committee con-tinues their faithful work on our budget. I hope you will take the oppor-tunity in the coming days to thank the members of this committee for their diligence and hard work. Through much prayer, discussion, and working through some difficult decisions the finance committee has pre-sented a budget that reflects a commitment to responsible stewardship. Attending to the financial stewardship of any congregation is not an easy task, especially in times when the economy is uncertain. Even so, every congregation has financial responsibilities, which brings me back to the story shared by Bishop Carder. The lesson of our faith, the lesson for the church, for our church, for any church, for every church is this: If you want to thrive, serve!

If You Want to Thrive, Serve!

(Continued on page 6)

Chubby SundayPot Luck Lunch

February15following worship.

Ash WednesdayServices

February 187:15 a.m.

and6:00 p.m.

1 Baleigh Quarry and Tabi Zabala 8 Nathan Murray and Waylon Murray15 Lexi Pickle and Wyatt Holt22 Burke Perry and Brady Perry

ACOLYTES

PAGE 2 FEBRUARY 2015

THE UNITED METHODIST NEWSPublished by the Communications Committee

Carol Baker, EditorFIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

109 S. Harper, Poteau, OK 74953Telephone 918-647-2217

e-mail: rogers2006@windstream.netwebsite: www.poteaufumc.com

Sunday School 9:30 a.m. • Morning Worship 10:30 a.m.Weekly Communion 9:10 a.m. except first Sunday

Bishop Robert E. HayesDistrict Superintendent Darrell CatesSenior Pastor Rev. Kyle ClarkAssociate Pastor Rev. Tracy HoskinsDirector of Youth Ministries Kimberly HardawayDirectror of Children and Family Ministries Rev. Tracy HoskinsDirector of Music Ministries Steve ClarkAdministrative Assistant Reenea ThompsonLead Nursery Attendant Jayla CraigOrganist Wendy KellyCustodian Phil Smith

District web page: www.gbgm-umc.org/mc-dist/

2 Family Bingo Night, 6 p.m.15 Chubby Sunday potluck following morning

worship18 Ash Wednesday Service, 7:15 a.m. and 6 p.m. Membership Care, 12 noon, CFLC21 Neighborhood Breakfast

FEBRUARY CHURCH CALENDAR

Poteau F.U.M.C. Report for December, 2014Average Attendance Figures for December: 134

2014 Budget Requirements: $402,000.00Needed for Budget Each Week: $7,730.77Needed through December: $402,000.00

December Receipts: $50,097.38December Expenditures: $29,191.43

New Building Fund Figures:Deposits: $1,828,616.44; Expenditures: $2,579,181.28

• SUNDAY •UMYF (CHAOS), 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

• MONDAY • Christian Preschool Monday – Thursday8:30 - 11:30 a.m., Education Building

• TUESDAY •Cub Scouts, 6 p.m., CFLCBoy Scouts, 7 p.m., CFLC

• WEDNESDAY • LOGOS, 3:15 p.m.; Family Meal 5:15 p.m.

WOW (Worship) following mealCelebration Choir Rehearsal, 6 p.m.

Women’s Bible Study, 6:15 p.m.(Except on Ash Wednesday)

• THURSDAY •Senior Café, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., CFLC

Prayer Concerns(As of Feb. 1 morning worship)

Please inform the church office of any new prayer concerns.

Nursing Home/Homebound:Eloine Crews, Jim DeCamp, Slim Durham,

Wayne Moore, Maxine Nyberg.Health:

Maria Burnett, Bill Cartright, Jim Craig, Christl Coyle, Robert Craig, Brylee Denton, Genny Dorsey, Peggy Gartner, Bobbi Gilham, Jeremy and Jeff Foiles, Mary Folsom, Walter and Lorene Johnson, Robin Johnston, Ted Kilgore, Colton Knight, Marion Lancaster, Dana Lee, Arlene LeMaster, Sharon Mikkel-son, Nancy Neal, Kay Murry, Dorothea O’Neal, Caden Place, Jean Potts, William Quarry, Me-rion Reynolds, Heather Russell, Joe Sabatuc-ci, Charles Saviers, Jim Shore, Kay Sullivan, Kenneth Stephenson, Jackie Tosto and Tracy Hoskins’ father.

Bereavement:Jack Hammond Family

Military:Jared Baughn, Kyle Kinman, Taylor

Baughn, Victor Murray, and all our military service men and women

Missions Report

O Thou who art ever the same,grant us so to pass through the

coming year with faithful hearts,that we may be able in all thingsto please Thy loving eyes. Amen

Mozarabic, A.D. 700

FEBRUARY 2015 PAGE 3

From Tracy’s DeskBy Rev. Tracy Hoskins, Associate Pastor andDirector of Children and Family Ministries

thoskins@poteaufumc.com

• Missions •

Family TimeDecember Family Bingo was lightly attended,

but those who came had a fun time. Another Family Bingo is planned for February 2nd at 5:30 in the Family Life Center. We are asking those who come to bring snack foods to share. We will have popcorn, a bounce house, and prizes!

Kid’s KornerAchievements – I would like to recognize,

Jenci and Warrick Quarry, for attendance and bringing their Bibles to Sunday School. Con-gratulate them when you see them!

In the month of December we had a couple of Sundays where we had 100% attendance for Children’s Sunday school!

LOGOS

LOGOS is well under way. We are opening with Galactic Blast! The themes for February are: 4 Pajama Party (Wear your pajamas)11 Crazy Sock Night (Wear your crazy socks) Family Night LTD*18 Blizzard (Wear white)25 Camp Out (Wear your camping gear)

*LOGOS Talent Display – After dinner (5:45) the LOGOS kids will display what they have learned in Worship Skills.

Everyone is welcome to join us any Wednes-day for dinner at 5:00.

News of YouthBy Kimberly Hardaway

UMYF (CHAOS) meets Sunday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m. and is for all youth 6th through 12th grade.

FEBRUARY 1 5:00 to half-time Super Bowl get together

hosted by the Barnes Family. 8 Work Evening for Upstairs15 Chubby Sunday/Fundraiser Pie Auction

following worship. (No evening meeting)22 5 TO 7 Regular MeetingMARCH 1 Regular Meeting, 5 to 7 p.m.

By Judy PeersonThe First United Methodist Church is a giving

church, very active in missions work. There are several groups and individuals in this church who aide others and consistently help others work to achieve their dreams.

In the last few months the J.N. Ross Sunday school class made donations totaling $1400 to groups such as LeFlore County Youth Ser-vice, Boys’ Ranch, Girls’ Home, and stamps for Prisoners’ Christmas cards, as well as summer camp for children of prisoners.

The FUMC mission committee project for Pris-on Family Ministries was able to give Christmas gifts to 37 children whose parents are incarcer-ated in LeFlore County.

The people of this church joined with mem-bers of the community to donate coats and blan-kets as a mission of warmth for those who have none. Keep those blankets and coats coming.

Finally, the members of Poteau FUMC baked desserts for each of the Annual Community Dinners which fed over 500 people at Thanks-giving and Christmas.

The needs are great and this church brings much love through your donations of money, time and clothing to feed and warm our broth-ers and sisters. God bless our church and the loving people in it.

Following Chubby Sunday potluck, the youth will host a pie auction featuring some of the best bakers in the church!

Also, on Chubby Sunday, the youth invite anyone interested to check out the changes happening in the upstairs of the education building.

• • •On February 22, we will design “Stunningly

Ugly Stoles” for Pastor Kyle to wear. The stoles will be displayed for the month of March and the congregation invited to vote with their change (or paper money) on the most Stunningly Ugly Stole. Proceeds will benefit local hunger issues as part of our 30 hour famine.

Please get on the church email list if not on already! Email the church office at rogers2006@windstream.net.

You will receive announcements and infor-mation that comes up between newsletters.

Are You On The List?

1 Judy Hall 2 Nathaniel Hallmark and Scotty Bratton 3 Rhonda Britton and Billy Goines 4 Josh Barkley, Cole Bridges, Kelie Bandy 5 Dawson Perry and Bruce Darrow 6 Marcella Widmar 9 Tabitha Zabala and Cindy Darneal10 Denise Sullivan and Julie Bridges 11 Peter Norgeot13 John Luke Best 15 Clyda Ware16 Jack Sizemore17 Dale Kelly18 Linda Johnston19 Janell Glover and Emily Harreld20 Marsha Cofer21 Jean Potts22 Ben Klutts, Joan McCarty, Caleb Bridges23 Kaylee Kingrey, Kyle Kingrey24 Sandra Slater, Dana Lee, Charles Meek and Jeannine Wilmeth25 Annette Hogan 26 Megan Hebert27 Trudy Mathies

PAGE 4 FEBRUARY 2015

February Anniversaries

February Bir thdays

We would like to make our Birthday and Anniversary Calendar complete.

If we do not have your family members’ birth-days and anniversaries, please give the office that information by calling 918-647-2217.

Thank you for taking the time for this.

X

Anyone who knows of someone who would benefit from a prayer shawl, whether a church member or not, should call Cindy Brody at 918-385-1542 or the church office at 647-2217.

Prayer Shawl Ministry

14 Loney and Myra Gregory26 Bob and Louise Reynolds 28 Scott and Denise Sullivan

Women’s Bible Study

Upper Room Devotionals

Our love and sympathy is extended to the family of Jack Hammond on his recent death.

Also word was received of the death of longtime member, Marilyn John-ston. Marilyn passed away December 24th and was buried in Woodward next to her parents.

Our Sympathy

The Membership Care Committee meets on the third Wednesday of each month in the Christian Family Life Center. Their new meeting time is from 12 to 1 p.m. The February meeting will be on the 18th at noon.

They try to stay in contact with those in need through cards, phone calls and visits.

If you know someone they need to add to their list, please contact the church office or call Kay Thomas at 918-647-3491.

Membership Care Committeehas new meeting time

The Women’s Bible Study group began a new study in January on Philippians. They meet at 6:15 on Wednesdays.

There will be no meeting on Feb. 18 due to the Ash Wednesday Service.

Happy 104th Birthdayto Eloine Crews

Eloine celebrated her 104th birthday on Janu-ary 19. If you would like to write to her you can send it in care of her daughter, Rolene Askew, 816 Simeon Drive, Edmond, OK 73034.

The Upper Room devotional guides are pro-vided for you on the tables outside the sanc-tuary. Be sure and pick one up to accompany your daily Bible study.

They are published every two months.

Chubby SundayOur church’s fun version of

Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) will be Sunday, Feb. 15 following morning worship.

There will be a potluck lunch with jazz music, fellowship and delicious food so bring a dish to share if you can but come even if you can’t. There is always plenty of food!

The youth will have a pie auction of desserts.

Thank you to everyone for the beautiful Christmas cards I received. I love and miss ev-eryone.

Jo Gee

Dear Church Family, Thanks for the cards.

Jean Potts

Greetings to all. Just a short note to let every-one know how much all the cards meant to me! This has really been a tough year for me and I covet your prayers. So I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Blessed New Year.

Virginia Kidd Dear Church Family, Thank you for remembering the nursery workers at Christmas. It is a pleasure to take care of the youngest children of our church.

Jayla Craig and Kaycee Quarry

Thanks for all the beautiful cards.Love and Prayers,

Dorthea Sue O’Neal

Dear CHAOS youth group and families, Thank you for your generous Christmas gift of my favorite things. I love you all and appreci-ate getting to share life with you!

Love,Ms. Kim

Dear Church Family, Thank you for the bonus you blessed me with. Our family is very grateful for our church family.

Love,Kim Hardaway

Dear Care Committee andPoteau First United Methodist, Vera Bullock says a special Thank You to ev-eryone for remembering her this Christmas. The packet with 22 cards was a true blessing. We opened and read each one and she would tell me about her time at the church and remem-bering the individuals who included a card. This is a ministry that means so much as Vera remembers her time in Poteau. We wish everyone a Happy New Year in 2015

and we will continue to stop in when our travels bring us to eastern Oklahoma. Love and Blessings to you all.

Vera Bullock and Faye Henson

Dear Friends, Thank you so much for the nice Christmas gift. I appreciate you thinking of me and and want to thank you for being such good friends as we enjoyed the Christmas Season together. I wish everyone a fulfilling 2015.

Steve Clark

My Christmas was made very special as I read and reread your Christmas cards. Your cards and personal notes were so very thoughtful. As co-chairman of the Membership Care Com-mittee, I had always been on the sending end. This Christmas I was on the receiving end. Both ways express our mutual caring for each other. I send my thanks and love.

Virginia Stanley

Dear Church Family, The church staff would like to thank everyone for our Christmas Love Offering. You are a gen-erous and loving group of people. Thank you.

Kyle Clark, Tracy Hoskinsand Reenea Thompson

Cards of Thanks

You are invited to join us for our Ash Wednes-day services on February 18. There will be two services. One at 7:15 in the morning and one at 6:00 in the evening.

Historically, Ash Wednesday has been a day when people of faith intentionally set aside time to confront our own mortality and confess our sin within the worshiping community.

The use of ashes (typically the burned palm branches from the previous year) used as a sign of mortality and repentance, has a long history in both Jewish and Christian worship.

The imposition of ashes, the historic focus of Ash Wednesday by placing the sign of he cross on the forehead of worshippers, is a powerful and experiential way for people to participate in the call to repentance and reconciliation.

FEBRUARY 2015 PAGE 5

PAGE 6 FEBRUARY 2015(Pastor to People, cont.)Unfortunately, the message that is most

often heard when preachers talk about giving (some would call it meddling), or when finance committees start working on budget setting, is not about serving those most in need, but about asking people to maintain the church, pay the bills, and cover salaries. Forgetting our original calling as followers of Jesus Christ to be hands and feet for Christ, to make disciple of Christ, and to serve others in the name of Christ can happen very easily when we feel pressure to simply survive. Yet, the message that every part of the church is called to pro-claim is, “We exist to serve you. We exist to give you an opportunity together in the name of Christ to meet the needs of a hurting world.”

Obviously serving others means doing the feet-on-the-ground, face-to-face kind of out-reach and mission that puts us in the paths of people we meet every day. Faithful service also includes doing those things that allow us to meet our financial obligations. If we fail to do the former, the money given as an offering has little meaning or impact. If we fail to do the lat-ter we cannot do the former. Struggling church-es often focus on financial obligations. Vital churches emphasize what God is doing in peo-ple’s lives.

There is a story about the giving patterns of their churches often shared between preachers. When trying to discern which ministries to fund, preachers lament that the church has plenty of money to do everything they want to do in ministry. The only problem is that it is all in people’s pockets. Ministry needs money to run. Effective ministry needs to be funded gen-erously to be effective. But, talking about money is never fun, I get that. However, if we allow ourselves to change the money focus from that of a fiscal responsibility to that of a spiri-tual discipline (every bit as much of a spiritual discipline as daily prayer, or reading our Bible, or our investment in the lives of others), then we can we can begin to see giving as an act of service or even as a ministry in its own right. Numerous passages from both the Old and New Testaments point to the centrality of giving as an act of service to God and God’s people. (While neither time nor space allow for an expo-sition of all these passages here, I would love the opportunity to explore them at a deeper level with you over a cup of coffee.) All, however, attest to this simple truth, people give because

they serve a giving God.My prayer for you and for this church is that

as we all enter this new year, that we will all prayerfully and intentionally purpose in our hearts to not only give faithfully, but increase (even if it is only a 1-2% incremental increase) our giving. Not just to pay our bills, but so that we may serve others richly in the name of Christ. If we are to thrive, we must serve.

Shalom,

It’s a Boy!Reenea Thompson, our church

administrative assistant, announces the birth last month of a grandson, Roy Ethan. He weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces and was 21-1/2” long.

ByTracey Gilliam,

Preschool Director

In February, preschool students will continue learning about the alphabet letters N, O, P, and Q. The numbers 15-20 will also be worked with. The colors of the month are pink and purple. The shape is a heart.

Weekly themes will include community help-ers, the postman and the dentist.

Memory verse for February is “Hear the word of God and obey it.”

Be off, Satan, from this door and from these four walls. This is no place for you; there is noth-ing for you to do here. This is the place for Peter and Paul and the holy gospel; and this is where I mean to sleep, now that my worship is done, in the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, send me your Spirit; instill the wisdom of your Holy Spirit into my heart; protect my soul and body, every limb in my body, every fiber of my being, from all possible harm and all traps the Devil may set for me and every temptation to sin.

– Euchologium Sinaiticum