41 Lives.

These past couple Sundays we've taken up a special offering for Imagine No Malaria.  Read more here.

I am proud to announce that as a church we have saved 41 lives.  41 human lives.  41 grandfathers, daughters, nieces, teachers. 

41 lives. 

That is amazing!  41 miracles!

Announcements for the week of June 9th

Imagine No Malaria

We saved 41 lives! 41 miracles!

Administrative Board Meeting

June 13^th, Thursday, 7:00pm. Grange Hall.

Rev. Nancy Out of Town

This week is Annual Conference, the gathering of Methodists from the Holston Conference.  Nancy will be at Lake Junaluska for Annual Conference and then she and Ben will stay in North Carolina, as Nancy will be marrying her friends on June 15^th.  That Sunday we will have a guest preacher, Tim Ragle, our brother from Crossroads UMC, on June 16^th.  

Summer Bible Study: District Academy!

This summer (June & July) we’ll be taking a break from our Bible Study to participate in a District Academy Bible Study.  It will be an eight week overview of the Bible.  This will be a great opportunity for us this summer, when so many of us have unpredictable schedules.  It will be Wednesdays at 6:30 at Crossroads UMC.  It’ll be June 19^th-August 7^th.  We’ll start back our Bible Study on August 14^th.

Vacation Bible School

Mark your calendars: this year VBS will be Thursday-Saturday, June 27-29^th.  More details coming soon!  If you want to help PLEASE attend the meeting this Wednesday!  Let Nancy know if you’d like to help, but can’t make the meeting.

Fifth Sunday Singing is now called Fifth Sunday Praise

And we are hosting in June!  June 30^th at 6:00pm here at Grange Hall.

The word CHURCH

Today I was re-reading a chapter from the book The Andrew Paradigm.                                              

At least once a chapter the author, Bishop Michael J. Coyner, invites someone he considers to be a good example of a "Lead Follower" to respond to a question Jesus asks in Scripture.

During the Intro of Part I a young adult named Ben Boruff responses.

He writes, "A friend once asked me why I am a Christian.  I struggled to reply. My mind pictured church-related items such as pews and praise bands, but none of those things helped me explain why I am a Christian. There are many personal and theological reasons why I call myself a Christian, but at that moment I could only think of hymnals and acolyte sticks."

Boruff's response got me thinking:  What do you think when you hear the word CHURCH?  Do you think of pews and hymnals and acolyte sticks?  Do you think of the building where you worship?  Do you feel guilty? Happy? Angry? Peaceful? Hopeful? Joyful?

Do you think of the community of folks you worship with? Pray with? Eat with? Open up to and support?  Do you see the faces of the men and women who support you and keep you accountable? Who you support and keep accountable?

What do you think when you hear the word CHURCH?

Feel free to comment with your answer!

Youth Team Meeting Tonight!

Youth Team!

Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray. - Proverbs 22:6

First Meeting: Thursday, May 2^nd. 7:00pm. Church Hill McDonalds.

 (in same Parking Lot as Food City, off 11W)

We will discuss ways to reach children and youth: VBS, Youth Group, Sunday School, etc.

Specifically at this meeting we will form a team of folks who will rotate responsibility for leading programing for the Elementary School Kids on Wednesday Nights from 6:30-7:30pm. Nora Barton and Michelle Snodgrass have volunteered to create/prepare programing.  We’ll form this rotating team so that we can pour into the Elementary Kids and still each have time for Adult Bible Study and Spiritual Growth.

We will also brainstorm ideas for upcoming Vacation Bible School and how to offer Sunday School in a small membership church.

This is an exciting time.  Come be a part of this mission!

Breaking News: Baptism Service Scheduled!

Our Baptism Service has been scheduled!

THIS Sunday, May 5th at 8:30 at Clouds Bend UMC we will celebrate the Baptism of some folks from the Valley Parish, and our own Dartania and Ariana!  If you would like to be baptized during this service, please let Nancy know as soon as possible!

Time: 8:30am (to leave time to get to regularly scheduled church services at 9:45/10:00am)

Place: Clouds Bend UMC  940 Bradbury St Kingsport, Tennessee 37660

Directions from Grange Hall UMC:
1. Turn Left out of our parking lot
2. Turn Right onto Independence
3. Turn Left onto 11W when Independece ends
4. Turn Right onto Netherland Inn Road
5. Turn right onto Ridgefields Rd
6. Turn right onto Chippendale Rd
7. Take the 2nd right onto Bradbury St

Please join us as we celebrate!  What a wonderful time!

Valley Parish T-Shirt Prices

I just spoke with Kathy Litle, our Valley Parish Shirt Order-er and she let me know the final prices for our shirts. She ordered the shirts this week and they should be in two weeks from now. 

T-Shirt Prices:
S-XL: $7.73
XXL: 9.48
3XL: 10.48
4XL: 11.48
5XL: 12.48
6XL: 13.48

Golf Shirt Prices:

S-XL: $10.35
XXL: 12.10
3XL: 13.10
4XL: 14.10
5XL: 15.10
6XL: 16.10

Revelation

At Grange Hall we are currently studying Revelation during our Wednesday Night Bible Study.

As we have found, Revelation is a very complex book, full of rich imagery that can be very confusing.  The first couple of weeks we focused on one chapter at time, which was helpful in chapters 2 and 3, but once we hit chapter 4 (when John describes his vision of heaven and heavenly worship) it became harder and harder to discuss in depth, harder and harder to find words (which I am sure is how John felt as he was recording his vision for us!).

Many of us have been frustrated because so much of the book is so hard to understand.  I think, though, that something like this vision of John's is not necessarily meant to be understood so much as it is meant to be experienced.  With that in mind, the past couple of weeks we've been trying to experience the vision as John saw it, by practicing Lectio Divina (click here for a description of this way of praying the scriptures) and by reading it chapter by chapter, one person reading while we close our eyes and try to experience it, try to see what John saw. This way has been much more helpful in our experience of Revelation.

**Note I said "helpful in our experience of Revelation" not necessarily in our comprehension of Revelation!

The night we practiced Lectio Divina we read chapters 5-7. We wrote down our questions that came up in our personal contemplation.  Following are the questions and my best attempt at an answer, informed by many scholars who have come before. Thank God for commentaries and the folks who write them!