Download the November 2010 Newsletter

Hope to see many ghosts, goblins, and superheroes at the Halloween Party Wed. night.  Our meal will be “Soup Kettle” and sandwiches.

So far we have:

• Snake Stew
• Spicy Cabbage Beef Soup
• 4 more kettles of soup signed up
• 3 trays of sandwiches
• cup cakes
• 3 more deserts

This may be more of a surprise party than I had planned for since many cooks just signed up for a category and not a specific type of food. But as always, there will be lots of food, the costumes will be fun, and there might even be a few adults in costume!!

Come join us at 5:15 for a “howling good time!”

2011 Stewardship Commitment

Friends, we have all participated in Stewardship Moments during our worship services, and we have reflected on our own commitments.  On October 31, we will be invited to make our commitments as a congregation.  Here is the form that we will have the opportunity to submit stepping out on faith.  Take this opportunity to pray and reflect ahead of time.  Seeking God’s will and conferring as families, we can decide to make the commitments of our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service.

Please make plans to come to our annual Charge Conference.  Our District Superintendent, John Collette will be joining us for a fellowship meal before our charge conference.  This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate being a part of our congregation and the United Methodist Church!

Hickory Bend will be welcoming more homeless guests to Room In The Inn this season.  Our first evening is November 26th, the day after Thanksgiving.

We will need many of you to volunteer again, and we would love to have new volunteers!  Will you join us for any of these duties?

• serving supper
• bringing part of the meal
• making beds
• handing out lingerie
• making lunches
• doing laundry
• inkeeping
• making breakfast
• cleaning up more…

Our Council labored at the recent retreat to list and prioritize projects for our congregation to plan and execute.  We used three categories, dividing our projects into those that require mostly time, those we can do with the money we have, or we are close to having, and the last category labeled “Pie In The Sky” at least for now. more…

Here are the top ten gifts of our Youth, according to the Bryant survey:

10. Leadership
9. Knowledge
8. Helps
7. Giving
6. Evangelism
5. Pastor
4. Exhortation
3. Service
2. Missionary
1. Ministry

You are called to be a minister!  What is your ministry?  Each of us has spiritual gifts, and those gifts, being God given, call us into our ministry.  Ministry is not only for our ordained ministers — essential as they are to our ministry at Hickory Bend UMC — they cannot do everything alone!  Each of us is called and gifted for ministry.

Our recent Council Retreat focused on discovering our unique gifts and exploring where they lead us in ministry. Everyone on the council was asked to complete a rather lengthy survey compiled by Charles V. Bryant.  As a council, our strengths are perhaps not surprising, or perhaps they are astonishing!  Out of 32 listed in the survey, here are our council’s top ten: more…

Gut ten Tag!!

What a wonderful taste of Oktoberfest we had last night!  Brats, sauerkraut, German Potato salad, Ruben sandwiches, bread pudding, German Chocolate cake, and even TURNIP GREENS!  Thanks to all, it was one of the best meals so far!    Next week is a potato bar fundraiser for the Youth Group, so put your aprons away for a week and come enjoy the fruits of the Youth group’s labor.

This Sunday, Oct. 17 we will have service outside at the shelter to celebrate and enjoy the weather and God’s wonderful fall colors.  The Weather forecasters tell us it will be 78 degrees and mostly sunny, so it should be amazing.  Bring a sweater and a hand held fan, just to be ready for anything, and we hope to see you at the shelter at 11:00!

Our Menu is looking good!

• Schnitzel
• Smoked sausage, red beans and rice
• Roast
• Brats and Kielbasa (yes!  a return performance at the grill by Chris and Larry!!!)
• German Potato Salad
• Sauerkraut Salad
• Bread Pudding
• German Chocolate cake

Undecided on what to bring?   We still need more brats, buns for the brats, and a few more salads.  I’ve also heard a rumor that a recipe for strudel is being researched for another contribution.

Email me if you have decided what to bring and I’ll update this post.

Auf Wiedersehen!

cathy