Prayer Request

Bobby and Emily Carter; Kyle and Mary Miller; Mary Crowder; Mary Morgan – Emily Carter’s mom; Kim Fishbeck – Cindy Nicklas’ sister; Cynthia Diese; Leadership of Shepherd UMC; Sherry Roberts; Blaine Zaleski – Pastor’s second cousin; Armed Service Personell; City of Shepherd; Josephine Davis; Laura Copley; Larry Ballard; Ray Milwee; Mary McAdams; Billy Doyle – William’s father

From The Editor

Well hey again! Here we are another month gone by, and to quickly at that! I’ve enjoyed the summer but it is quickly coming to an end. We have enjoyed the light shows God has given us! About two weeks ago there was a lighting storm in the distance and Krysten and I were able to sit on the back porch to watch. She calls it fireworks from God. It was an amazing thing to see! Though we have enjoyed the summer and all that comes with it, I’m looking forward to fall!

"Too much of a

Good thing can

Be Wonderful”

Methodist Women

Not much new happening with the ladies right now. Several of the members are working on aprons. Please start bringing your items to donate for the bazaar. The more you bring, hopefully, the more we will make.. Remember the bazaar is October 9 and 10. We moved Tea and Talk to 10am on Mondays. It's a wonderful time to visit with each other and right now to work on things for the bazaar. Hope to see you there.

Trustees Report

Good News!!! The purchase of the new playground equipment has been approved by the Memorial Fund committee and has been purchased. The installation will follow the completion of the surface box form which will enclose the equipment, The surface box will be filled with a suitable material, such as playground cushion, which is hardwood chips that have been kiln dried. This is the ground cover which is in use at Cleveland United Methodist. After researching several filler options, this is one of the best ground covers, economically, as opposed to bark mulch, pea gravel or rubberized playground mulch. With the addition, of the playground, it will certainly enhance the "curb appeal", of our church and catch the eye, of the unchurched families, driving by. It will say, 'we welcome you and your children, at Shepherd United Methodist Church ', come check us out. The equipment will be large enough to accommodate several children, at the same time and will be able to be seen by traffic driving on Hwy 150. The equipment is rated for children in the 2-12 year old range, so that leaves out me, Randy and the preacher swinging on the swings. This is a step out on faith move for the church, much like the parsonage construction. Time will tell, if our faith is well founded.

On an aside, the insurance coverage, for the church property has been updated, through Church Mutual. Thanks to Louis for fixing the leak in the kitchen sink drain, this past week. Continue to pray for all of your trustees, especially Mary Crowder, and Kyle Miller.

Ronnie Roberts

-Trustee Chairperson

Christian Humor

Dear Lord,

So far today, I am doing all right. I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or self-indulgent. I have not whined, complained, cursed, or eaten any chocolate. I have charged nothing on my credit card. But I will be getting out of bed in a minute, and I think I will really need your help then.

The Bazaar

The Bazaar is scheduled for Oct. 9th and 10th. The Shepherd Methodist Women

need your donations for the sale. I am a big fan of the TV program "Clean House". It's a makeover show that does rooms for a family dealing with too much clutter. Sometimes they hang on to things because they belonged to someone they love that has passed away. Sometimes they keep things that were purchased at a great price but that really don't fit their current lifestyle. Some things we keep because they were gifts from loved ones. We don't need excess stuff to honor memories or take -up space. If you're not using it now or haven't worn it in a year, give it to the Bazaar. We need bigticket items to earn money. We have a new- face lift for the nursery planned and we need fresh Christmas decorations for the church. The Bazaar benefits the community. It is an outreach ministry. The items that we do not sell are donated to the Senior Center and Operation Refuge. The Bazaar brought us new members and new friends. Please support it by your donations. I will open the church to receive your donations, and we normally have crafts on Monday at 10:00am. Call me at 936-628-3102 home or cell 713-882-7528. Sherry Roberts

Green Kitchen shower

We need an environmentally correct kitchen shower. The after church fellowship can always use cake size paper plates and napkins. Styrofoam does not decompose. We also need coffee and punch. We do not need plastic knives. Why do we always have so many knives left over? Here is the list: coffee, punch, paper plates, cups, and napkins.
Will you put "Christian Fellowship" on your Wal-Mart list?

ANNUAL CHARGE CONFERENCE

SEPTEMBER 27, 2009

5:00 PM

THERE WILL BE A CHURCH COUNCIL MEETING ON SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE WORSHIP SERVICE

From the Desk of the Pastor

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have had a great month. God is moving and working in and through our church as a body as well as individuals in our church. I want to take a moment to thank all the leaders of the church that have served throughout this year thus far. Some of you will be coming back next year in different positions, some of you are passing the torch, but all of you are appreciated greatly for your efforts in leading this church. I wanted to share with you Dave Herman’s observations about our church. For those of you who don’t know Dave, he is the conference consultant for church transformation. He comes twice a year to visit the transformation churches and he consults with the pastor and lay leadership to talk about the vision and direction of the church. On his last visit, which is actually his final visit, he was impressed with the attitude of the church. He said that based on what was happening at the church, the updating of the fellowship hall, the proposed new playground equipment, as well as some programming ideas that I discussed with him, that we are on the move. We are a transformation church! That is great news! He did ask about the organizational structure of our church because it is important that we have a structure that can support our transition from a “family sized” church to a “pastoral/programming” sized church. In other words we are on the cusp between “family” and “pastoral/programming” sized churches based on a number of factors including our worship attendance and mostly based on the general attitude shift of the church. We have a much more positive outlook and many are interested in seeing growth both in number and spiritually within the church. This is a great place to be and I look forward to growing with you. Basically, the proposed change to the Administrative Board form of church structure and government will more adequately support the “pastoral/programming” sized church. It is the recommendation of the District Superintendent and Dave Herman to move into that format. We will be discussing more later. I know that there is some animosity toward it because some don’t understand the number of people that will serve on that board. There will be a Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, along with the chairpersons of trustees, finance, SPRC (PPR), the treasurer, the pastor, lay leader, membership secretary, and finally five “at-large” members of the Board. That is fourteen representatives that will make decisions on behalf of the church when committees or individuals bring motions before them. This will be the governing body of the church and it will help to streamline the voting process. Everyone is entitled and invited to attend meetings but these fourteen will be the ones that may vote. The lay leadership committee has proposed that we call this committee the Core Leadership Team because ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD sounds so staunch and stiff. Core Leadership Team says we are in this together with the church and we want to work for the betterment of the church. I hope this clears up any animosity toward transitioning to this format. Enough about that! Goodness that almost took up a whole page! September is here and Fall is upon us. First, on September 27, 2009, at 5:00 P.M. we will have our annual Charge Conference here in the fellowship hall at the church. I suppose Cluster Charge Conferences weren’t as desirable as people thought. At any rate, you heard me right! Charge Conference is September 27^th! We are the first charge conference for the year. I will be getting the necessary paperwork to the committee chairs for charge conference as well as will need reports from Methodist Men, Methodist Women, and any other ministry of the church like AA or Boy Scouts. On October 6, 2009 we will have the annual National Night Out at the community center. This is an opportunity for the community to come out and meet and greet institutions and organizations in the county. We will have a booth again this year and look forward to seeing you there. This is a unique opportunity to get our church out there. There may be new members of the community that do not have a church home and as far as I know, we are the only church that will be there. On October 9 & 10^th, we will have our Annual Craft Sale and Bazaar. Items are already being brought to the church for the sale and I am sure you will be contacted this month about bringing soup for the Soup Luncheon on Friday. Finally on October 31^st, we will have our second annual Trunk or Treat. This is an opportunity for the children of our community to have a safe environment in which to trick or treat. We call it trunk or treat because we decorate our trunks and pass out candy and minister to families because when you open yourself up like that, people ask questions about the church. What a witness for members of the community! Church, you are doing great, things are going great and I am so proud to be your pastor! I hope and pray that you are proud to have me as your pastor. I challenge you this month to bring a friend at least one Sunday. If you are really up for a challenge, bring one friend each Sunday of the month. May God bless each of you as you continue to seek his will and be his hands and feet in our mission field called Shepherd.

In the grip of His grace and love,

Pastor John Stephenson