Welcome to the May 2017 Newsletter of The United Church of Big Rapids 120 S. State St. Big Rapids, MI 49307 (231) 796-7124 Interim Pastor - Rev. M. Jacob Kaufman Associate Pastor - Rev. Jerena Keys Sunday Morning Worship Service - 9:30 a.m.
120 S. State St., Big Rapids, MI 49307 (231) 796-7124 Rev. M. Jacob Kaufman - Interim Pastor, pastorjaketuc@gmail.com Rev. Jerena Keys - Assoc. Pastor, jerenakeys@unitedchurchbr.org May 2017 5/1 Girl Scout Service Unit Leaders - 6:00 pm Boy Scouts - 6:30 pm Cub Scout Leaders - 6:30 pm 5/2 Staff Meeting - 10:00 am Knitting Group - 10:30 am 5/3 Bell Choir - 6:00 pm Christian Educ Commission - 7:00 pm Chancel Choir - 7:15 pm 5/4 Big Rapids Youth Choir - 6:00 pm 5/5 Girl Scouts - 3:30 pm 5/6 Girl Scout All Day Meeting, 9:00 am ASP Plant Sale - Fellowship Church, Perry Street - 10:00 am 5/7 Worship - Holy Communion - 9:30 a.m. 5/8 Boy Scouts - 6:30 pm 5/9 Relay for Life Team Captains - 7:00 pm 5/10 Member Care Comm. - 10:00 am Bell Choir - 6 p.m. Chancel Choir - 7:15 pm 5/11 Big Rapids Youth Choir - 6:00 pm Property & Finance Comm. - 7:00 pm Pastor Search Committee - 7:00 pm 5/12 Girl Scouts - 3:30 pm 5/14 Mother s Day Worship & Sunday School - 9:30 am Administration Commission - 11:00 am 5/15 Newsletter Deadline Boy Scouts - 6:30 p.m. 5/16 Mission Commission - 7:00 pm Spiritual Life Commission - 7:00 pm 5/17 Bell Choir - 6:00 pm Chancel Choir - 7:15 pm 5/18 Big Rapids Youth Choir 6:00 pm Governing Board - 7:00 pm 5/19 Girl Scouts - 3:30 pm 5/21 Worship & Sunday School - 9:30 am Youth Bake Sale for ARC - 10:45 am New Member Care - 11:00 am 5/22 Boy Scouts - 6:30 pm 5/23 Congregational Group Life Comm. - 7:00 pm Cub Scout Pack Mtg. - 7:00 pm 5/24 Chancel Choir - 7:15 pm 5/25 Big Rapids Youth Choir - 6:00 pm Pastor Search Committee - 7:00 pm 5/26 Girl Scouts - 3:30 pm 5/28 Worship & Sunday School - 9:30 am Blood Pressure Screening - 10:45 am 5/29 Memorial Day Office Closed Pastor Jake s Schedule May On the enclosed calendar, it will say Jake BR on the days that Pastor Jake is in the office. One day each month (third Wednesday) will be invested in the Michigan ecumenical Interim Pastors group which meets in East Lansing, sponsored by the UCC Conference. Jake also serves our Conference on it s Vital Growth Mission Area Team. Changes to any published schedule can occur due to funerals, weddings, and unanticipated congregational needs. The most current update will be in each Sunday bulletin for the following week. Julie will always have the latest updates. Communication is consistent and constant. You are always welcome and encouraged to contact Jake directly by his Munith home phone - 517.596.2275 and by his cell on Big Rapids days - 734.552.0352 between 8:00 am and 10:00 pm. He may also be reached via email - pastorjaketuc@gmail.com Marie Rowe Scholarship Offering Graduation Sunday, June 4, will be the day we receive gifts to the Marie Rowe Scholarship Fund and award scholarships to this year s recepients. The fund, started by a bequest from Marie Rowe, a long time Big Rapids educator, provides scholarship grants to young men and women who are members and participants in the United Church of Big Rapids. We continue the tradition by awarding scholarship grants to young people of the congregation out of funds generated by the generosity of people like you. Special offering envelopes will be in the bulletins on June 4. Or you can simply mark your check with the words Marie Rowe Offering on the memo line.
Jake says... The United Church Welcoming God s people shows our closeness to God! The United Church of Christ reminds us that, God is still speaking. Actually, God is still speaking to any denomination or anyone who is listening. God s inclusiveness has prompted our UCC headliner, No matter who you are, or where you are on life s journey, you are welcome here! We use that statement on our bulletins, Newsletter, and... Our second Leadership Retreat addressed the second interim task: Discovering a New Identity. We learned that our United Church is less well-known in Big Rapids than many of us had thought or hoped. United Church needs a community identity in order to grow. A couple of months ago, we put hands and feet on our commitment to be an audible voice for God in Big Rapids. We separated the two hats worn by our Member and New Member Care Commission. A subcommittee was created to address community outreach (evangelism). Nurturing disciples begins by making direct personal contacts. Since we have two weddings on the 2017 church calendar, the Wedding Church outreach project now is on the front burner. Additional supportive approaches will range from congregation -wide wearing of the UCC comma pin to more light-hearted methods such as distributing tickets for a free seat at Sunday worship and free coffee afterward. These techniques are much more likely to garner good will and visitors than would a tract about how to avoid spending eternity in Satan s sauna. The best time to create a community-wide welcoming image is before the first visitor arrives, rather than after the third visitor has decided not to return! To help understand no returns, some ideas from evangelism research and workshops are helpful. This information is universal, across all denominational and nondenominational lines. First-time church visitors and newcomers frequently feel like strangers or intruders. All congregations are friendly, though too often mostly among current members. Friendly and welcoming are very different qualities. To feel welcome, visitors want to know names. So do we! The simple solution is name tags. Visitors frequently return to congregations where name tags are in universal use. Having a Welcome Center where visitors receive special attention, including their own personal name tags, increases return visits. Creating instant personal name tags for first-timers is a great project for techy youth who are handy with a laptop and printer! A Welcome Center can be as simple as an accessible, visible table, stocked effectively. Of course, smiling greeters are essential. Volunteers? Our own contact with visitors and people in groups using our building ripples widely throughout Big Rapids. People come into our building from birthday parties and funerals, from winning the lottery and losing a job, from joining a new club and fighting with a spouse. One of my most important learnings from interim training has been, It s not about me! My cordiality may be frosting on a cake or may be the one bright spot in a day that someone dumps on me. Whichever, my attitude flavors United s community image. Clear signs extend a welcome. People entering our building immediately want to know how to find the office, sanctuary, nursery, rest rooms, parlor, Fellowship Hall, and Starburst. A building directory for the activities of day, just inside the parking lot door, will give a happy handshake to everyone who enters. An attractive visitor welcome packet is needed. These are easy to create here at our church. The key is a design which has insert pages for various United opportunities, making it easy to update at any time. Use photos freely! Easy. Accurate. Timely. Cost-effective. A win-win-win-win! Enjoy a blessed, happy, effective, growing outreach! Jake
Going to Camp this Summer? Thanks to the generosity of church members, scholarships are available to help the children and grandchildren of the church attend church camp this summer. Typically, the scholarship is for half the cost of the camp, but larger requests will be considered if needed. Camp information is located on the bulletin board by the staircase near the Mill Street entrance to the church, including the camps associated with our two denominations: Camp Greenwood, a Presbytery of Lake Michigan camp near Greenville, and Camp Talahi, a Michigan United Church of Christ camp near Howell. Children and their families should direct a short letter of request for a camp scholarship to the Christian Education Commission and submit it to the commission through the church office by email or written mail. Include the name of the camp the child hopes to attend and the amount of scholarship help requested. Please call Leslie Daniels at 598-0297 with any questions. FRAUD WATCH NETWORK AARP Real Possibilities May 10th at 1:30 pm In University Center 202B A free event to learn how to identify scams and protect yourself from identity theft! Learn about resources to help protect yourself from this growing problem and how to fight back against fraud! FLOWER SALE FOR APPALACHIA SERVICE PROJECT The high school mission trip group will be selling flowers on Saturday, May 6, from 10 am to 2 pm in the parking lot of the Fellowship Christian Reformed Church on Perry Street (across the street from Staples). All proceeds will help fund their home repair mission trip to Appalachia this June. The youth are offering hanging baskets, mixed planters, and potted geraniums, all from Saenz Nursery in Morley. Flowers remaining unsold after Saturday's sale (if any) will be available during coffee hour on Sunday. Sponsored by Ferris State University Emeriti Association For more information: http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/alumni/emeriti/ Scrip cards available!! Are you looking for a gift for a wedding or baby shower? Or how about graduation, birthday or Mother s Day? The scrip program has a wide variety of gift cards that would be perfect for any one of these events. From Amazon to Wal-Mart, Applebee s to Wendy s or something in between. Check out our selection at the Scrip Table at coffee hour. If we don t have what you are looking for in stock, we may be able to order it for you.
MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES Appalachia Service Project- The Ice Cream Sundae Bar raised $622.00 in donations for ASP. Thank you for your generosity. The donations are an important source of money for this Mission Trip. The next fund raising event will be a plant sale held Saturday May 6 th at a location on Perry St. Any unsold plants will be available after church on th. Now, 20 people will be making the trip to Appalachia. They include 13 high school members and 7 adult leaders. During this Mission Trip participants will spend a week assisting in repairing and updating homes in the Appalachia region of our country. Marie Rowe Scholarship - Scholarship applications are due the end of April. Please return your completed request if you are a high school graduate and wish to be considered for this scholarship honoring Marie Rowe. Graduation Sunday is June 4 th. We hope everyone will attend, support and congratulate our 4 high school graduates. Ali Scsavnicki, Sean Scsavnicki, Luke Somsel, and Mollie Weber have each been active and important members of our church family. Owls (Our Whole Lives) April 23rd is the last session for elementary aged OWLS. There are two more weeks for 7-8 th grade OWLS. Mary Morgan is planning a celebration activity with parents for the last week of the 7-8 th grade OWLS. PALM SUNDAY middle and high school youth not participating in ASP created crosses from palm fronds and passed them out to the congregation. ELEMENTARY CHURCH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES On Palm Sunday the younger kids made (leafy green) palms out of their (hand) palms and had a lot of fun. Maundy Thursday service had a few kids in attendance, and they had a good time learning about the disciples and Jesus friendship with them. Easter was a fun time. Pastor Jake gave the each of the kids ten chocolate eggs and encouraged them to share five. Then the younger kids went upstairs to do a craft, have a treat and go on two Easter egg hunts. One of the hunts was resurrection themed while the other was candy themed and the kids enjoyed both versions. Bake Sale is st after church in the dining hall. Free will donations will be graciously accepted. This is a Spring Service Project for the kids and they are thrilled that the money will go to the Animal Rescue Coalition. They are continuing to learn that they can be a part of helping the community. Movie Night and VBS planning is in progress, so stay tuned. We are excited to plan a themed VBS several day event for summer! Congratulations to Ms. Emily! She was accepted to graduate school at Ferris, and will be focusing on that starting in August. She will still be a part of the church community, and will be passing the CE position baton on to someone else. Ms. Emily is sad about leaving the CE position, but knows she needs to focus really hard on her schooling, once it begins. As you can see, we have a lot of cool stuff going on with our kids and youth. Hope to see you here! Blessings from Ms. Emily and the Christian Ed Commission
5/3 Lowell Jacobs 5/7 Arloa Morgan 5/7 JoAnne Ellis 5/7 Kelli Kitelinger 5/8 Newell Johnson 5/9 Bonnie Huey 5/11 Abby Hill-Kennedy 5/12 Paul DesNoyers 5/12 Andrew Archer 5/13 Don Mullens 5/13 Linda Stricker 5/14 Sydney Schumann 5/15 Jane Grzybowski 5/17 Marian Sakalauskas 5/17 Daryl Young 5/20 Robert Glentz 5/27 Mark MacIver 5/27 Lee Thomas 5/27 Morgan Schumann 5/1 Dave & JoAnne Ellis 52 5/10 Fred & Diane Guenther 42 5/14 Bill & Nancy Burmeister 51 5/17 Doug Miron & Cate Arroe 14 5/20 Bruce Fredrick & Dee VanHorn 17 5/23 Andrew & Cathy Archer 30 5/25 Nick & Mary Dumsch 43 5/29 Roger & Megan Vajda 28 There are many opportunities to serve your church family as Coffee Hour hosts. Please check out the sign-up sheet on the main bulletin board and pick a date that works for you! Plenty of guidance is available for those who haven t done Coffee Hour hosting before. Thank you for helping out in this way. Team Up with the United Church to Give Cancer the Boot! The Relay for Life event is scheduled for Saturday, June 3, 5 pm - 11 pm at Hemlock Park. There will be lots of fun activities for all ages as well as the drawing for a charter fishing trip on Lake Michigan provided by Slipknot Charters in Manistee. Raffle tickets are available from Julie Cole or at the table at coffee hour during the month of May. Luminaries are also available and the ceremony begins at 10 pm on June 3. Purchase a luminary to honor a survivor or remember a loved one! Most of all, join the team and have some fun as we Celebrate - Remember - Fight Back!
SERVERS for May 2017 Elder in Charge Doug Miron Greeters Bruce & Mary Morgan John & Shirley Garlick Bill Burmeister Maxine & Wayne McKay Radio Operations Mike Rinehart Pete McHugh Bruce Fredrick Lowell Jacobs Liturgists Sue Glatz Julie Cole Donna Dunstone Maryanne Heidemann Acolytes Connor Ball, Katelyn Walcutt Lila Hoisington Gavin Hoisington Kayin Weber Flowers Bruce Fredrick & Dee VanHorn Jim & Alice Bandstra Wayne & Maxine McKay Coffee Hour Hosts Julie Cole & Barb Johnson Youth Bake Sale Ushers Marshall Henry, Melanie Henry, Sue Glatz, Bruce Morgan, Don Foos, Myrna Foos Don Olree, Tracey McMullen, Joan Olree, Betty Goldammer, Alison Scsavnicki, Murray Sayre Robert Wheeler, Kay Achterhof, Yvonne Kilbourne, Marilyn Loken, Elizabeth Morningstar Jane Grzybowski, Marilyn Stolberg, Mary Jo Proctor, Trish McHugh, John Berkenpas, Tom Adams The Deadline for the June Newsletter is Tuesday, May 16 E-Mail articles to... secretary@unitedchurchbr.org Happy Mother s Day to all the moms, grandmothers, and those who fill that role for us! Have a blessed day!