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Don't miss any of our news - scroll to the very bottom!
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A favorite scripture
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you will receive it, and it will be so for you.
Mark 11:24 CEB
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Special Church Conference Oct. 5 at 5:30 by Zoom
Over the last several months the Planned Giving Team has been working to create a new charter to form a Permanent Endowment Committee and the responsibilities of this committee and their oversight of the Permanent Endowment Funds. The committee would oversee the promotion, investing, and distribution of the endowment payouts. The charter clarifies the nature of these activities and the relationship of the future Permanent Endowment Committee with other constituencies of the Church. It creates three specific funds (Forever First Legacy Fund, Ministry Impact Fund, and Property Fund) to aid in communicating the value of gifts at this level. The goal of the Permanent Endowment Committee is to make giving to these funds simpler and more effective.
The Permanent Endowment Committee would take over the responsibilities of the Planned Giving Team, The Investment Committee, and the Trustee Committee Oversight with members from each of these committees forming the new committee.
The Charter has been recommended to the Church Council by the Trustees and has been formally voted on by the Church Council to adopt this new charter. With the confirmation of the Church Council, the new charter will be voted on at a Special Church Conference. Also, at this Special Church Conference, the new Permanent Endowment Committee will be voted on as well with nine members.
Please join us for the Special Church Conference in Zoom Oct. 5 at 5:30.
The invitation is below. Also, here is a link to the new Charter if you would like to take a look at it before the meeting:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ud3uCOthTV2wttOzDJksZ3haBMIhQkYoYVcKwF68vYc/edit?usp=sharing
Thank you so much for your attention to this exciting new ministry in our church.
Celebration of Life of our members and friends of the FUMC recently
Bill Selbe (Info)
Bonnie Morray (Info)
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Worship Cameras Need Replaced
“Lights. Camera 1 ready. Camera 2 ready. Camera 3 on. We are now live. Welcome to our Online Worship Service.”
Well, those aren’t the exact words we use on any given Sunday before we begin broadcasting our worship service on Sunday mornings, but it is close. We have been providing Online Worship Video Streaming for many years, long before Covid-19 made it the only way to see and hear the 10:35 service. In the past, the cameras were a pleasant luxury that enabled people to attend worship when they couldn’t be there. Before March of 2020, we averaged about 15 viewers that watched our worship via live-streaming. In our present times, the cameras are a great blessing of necessity. Since March 2020 we have averaged around 100 family units. While KVOE provides a means to hear worship, seeing the worship service offers a more powerful way to connect with worshipers. We have been blessed with camera equipment that has faithfully served us for many years, but over the last year, those cameras are beginning to wear out. We are experiencing problems with 2 of the 3 cameras and they need to be replaced. Even after we move back into the sanctuary, the live-streaming of our service will still be a necessity for many of our members and friends who will not be able to safely return because of the Pandemic.
After visiting with our AV Service Provider we are told the replacement will cost us $15,000. If you appreciate the Live-Stream Worship Service, know someone who does, or simply want to help with this important ministry, please consider making a gift to the “Worship Cameras Project.” Contact the church office for more information.
Thank you for your prayerful consideration!
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STUDENT BIBLES
The 3rd and 6th-grade students will receive new bibles at Halftime on September 23. We will celebrate this milestone during worship on September 27. Please plan to tune in on the radio at KVOE or live-stream to witness this celebration!
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School Supplies Project 2020/2021
School is a few weeks underway in Emporia. School Supplies has been available for every child attending in person or online through the school networks.
The Serve Team is so grateful for everyone who participated to make this year another success. The donation graph below shows the wide range of donors from the community and individuals within the congregation and friends. There were many volunteers that met many hours to plan, organize, and put together the supplies for each school and student. This year was different because of all the precautions for safety. It all came together and we say, hallelujah!
A great thanks go to Dana Roemer and her family who spend a great deal of time planning, shopping, and organizing supplies and volunteers.
With the wonderful abundance of gifts this year, we have a little over $3000 to begin buying supplies for the next school year. This is the time to find great deals in the stores. We know Dana is already out there buying and getting the absolute best prices!!
Thank you once again for your support and prayers.
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O Gracious and Holy God, we lift up our prayers to you:
These mornings, it is dark when I begin my day. Orion has returned in the night sky. Hummingbirds gather in great numbers to feed before they depart. Vast swaths of sunflowers and goldenrod line the roadsides. The season changes as it always has.
Half a year has passed since the quarantine began. Six months of isolation, loneliness, and waiting. Still, the disease persists; here and throughout the earth. Fires rage out of control on the west coast; causing smoke to form a high haze over our own skies. The political climate has grown divisive, separating even family and friends. And in the midst of so much bad news, we often feel alone with our personal pain and loss.
We cry out to you, O God, from this strange and terrible wilderness we find ourselves lost in. Like the ancient Israelites, we too long to “go back”. We also wonder if God is with us. Help us to remember we are not the first of God’s people to travel in the wilderness. Help us to remember that you are in our midst. Not only in us, but in the very spaces that seem to separate us. We live in the goodness and beauty of your creation. With its vastness and its nearness. Its diversity and its mystery. Amid its brokenness and the abundant grace that offers healing.
Help us to remember we are all your children; despite our differences. That we are called to love one another as you love us. That it is you who sustains us; and you alone provide what we truly hunger and thirst for. O God, gather us in. Once again be our shepherd. Restore our souls. Lead us in the paths of your love. Be our guide, for we feel lost.
Hear our prayer, O God. Amen.
This beautiful prayer was written by Margaret Gunselman. Thank you!
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FLOOD BUCKET CHALLENGE!
 Once again mother nature is issuing us a challenge to respond to people in our country that are in great need of help in dealing with the devastation of floods, winds, and fire. Normally our congregation meets this challenge by collecting items and meeting together to fill flood buckets (now called cleaning kits) to send through UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief). This year we are asking any who is able to give a monetary donation to be sent to UMCOR. You may go online to the UMCOR website, www.umcmission.org, and click on the Donate Today button or on the Give to U.S. Disaster Response button. In the information process, you will be able to designate Emporia First as your church. If you would rather write a check, please mail a check to the church office at 823 Merchant Street, Emporia, KS 66801. Make the check out to FUMC with UMCOR Disaster Response on the memo line. The total of these will then be sent on to UMCOR via one church check. Another way of giving is to keep all in your prayers. Thanks for caring.
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Sunday, September 27, 10:35 a.m.
Livestream at fumchurch.org
or listen on KVOE 1400.
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Parking Lot Worship
 This Sunday, September 27, we will continue our 8 am parking lot worship service on the west side of the church.
You will want to make sure your FM radio is working in your vehicle and will be instructed Sunday morning as to what channel to set it at to hear the worship service.
We ask that you remain in your vehicle during the service.
Restrooms will not be available.
It is our hope that this is an opportunity and means for us to more visibly be and feel like we are the church together. Hope to see you!
The 10:35 worship service will continue to be Live-Streamed on KVOE.
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Donations Accepted Through September
The SERVE Team is asking for donations of masks to donate to the nursing facilities around town. We are asking people to have them sewn (pattern attached) or purchased and given to the church by the end of September so we can deliver them before the worst of the flu season starts. The pattern is the accepted pattern for the masks that the hospital requested when needing donations. Thank you!
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FOOD PANTRY HELP
If you would like to volunteer to pass out bags to individuals on Thursday or Friday mornings from 9:00 am to noon, please click the link below and sign up.
You can also choose to help bag the food for our patrons.
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REMINDER
THE CHURCH BUILDING IS STILL
CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!!!
Church Building Use
Presently the church building is closed to the public.
Staff may be in the building working.
Church volunteers who have essential ministries may schedule a time with Bob/Kathy to enter the building.
Inform Bob/Kathy of whereabouts so sanitizing of space will happen. Please, no children in the building at this time.
We ask you to please not use your personal church key to enter without the permission of Bob or Kathy.
Thank you so much for helping to protect the staff and community during this time of the pandemic.
Bob Potter 620-342-6186 or bobp@fumchurch.org
Kathy Herrera 620-366-2031 text or call, or kathyh@fumchurch.org
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WEAR YOUR MASK &
WASH YOUR HANDS!
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