Gathering Save the Date Emmaus Events in the Area

Gathering
We are meeting in the heart of our “territory.” Join
us for Gathering on October 12, 2013, at 6:00 p.m. at
Grace at Fort Clarke United Methodist Church, 9325
Newberry Road, Gainesville Fl. 32606. This is an away
game weekend so we have no excuses. Please wear your
favorite team jersey and bring a covered dish to share.
NW 94th Street
NW 98th Street
75
26
W Newberry Rd
NW 75th Street
NW 91st Street
September’s Gathering was held at First United
Methodist Church of High Springs. We had a wonderful “mixer”. You know how we get set in our ways and
always sit with the same people? Well, our hosts found
a way for us to sit with other people and have fun doing it. Really . . . I mean FUN! Everyone had a great
time getting to know people better. And, did I mention the desserts?
Emmaus Events
in the Area –
October 19, 2013
Candlelight for Men’s Walk, Aldersgate Emmaus,
Warren Willis UM Camp, 4990 Piccola Road,
Leesburg, FL 7:30 p.m.
Gathering and Communion, Candlelight to follow
Candlelight for Women’s Walk, Big Bend Emmaus,
Centenary UMC, 206 N. Madison St., Quincy, FL
7:00 p.m.
October 26, 2013
Candlelight for Women’s Walk, Aldersgate Emmaus,
Warren Willis UM Camp, 4990 Piccola Road,
Leesburg, FL 7:30 p.m.
Gathering and Communion, Candlelight to follow
Candlelight for Men’s Walk, Heart of Florida,
3900 Great Masterpiece Road, Lake Wales, FL
November 2, 2013
Candlelight for Women’s Walk, Heart of Florida,
3900 Great Masterpiece Road, Lake Wales, FL
Save the Date
Normally, we have Gathering on the second Saturday of the month. Sometimes we change that date a
little to accommodate scheduling. Here is the schedule for the next few months for Gatherings:
November 2, 2013 (Yes this is the FIRST Saturday so that we don’t have a conflict with Gator Football),
11:30 a.m., First United Methodist Church of Gainesville, 419 NE 1st St Gainesville, FL 32601
The Georgia game is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. We should be done in plenty of time.
December 7, 2013 (again it is a FIRST Saturday so that we have less conflict with the holiday festivities)
at Trinity United Methodist Church, 4000 NW 53rd Ave Gainesville, FL 32653
We would love to see you there! If you cannot attend Gathering, could you take
a few moments pray for us? Pray for our encouragement, wisdom and safety.
Thank you.
Board Report –
Board Nominations
Your Board of Directors has been hard at work. But
all good things must come to an end. On December
31, 2013, several members of the Board will be retired.
We need/ want “fresh” members from the community to come on to the Board. We ask for a three
year commitment. Members have the opportunity to
move around between positions during their tenure
so they don’t have to feel stuck with any job forever!
If you are interested in serving on the Board of Directors, please send me an email at tfrasier@turbonet.
com. I will send your information to the Nominating
Committee. Also, if you are interested in serving on
a nominating committee, please send me an email so
that I don’t have to cold call people. The Nominating
Committee of three to five people needs to be formed
by October 15th so that it can meet and make selections by November 15th, and confirm availability and
provide a slate of new board members by the beginning of December. The community will vote on the
proposed board members at the Gathering on December 7th at Trinity.
Weekend Directors Selection
I have to tell you there is excitement in the air. I
think it is the announcement of our dates for walks
to be held the first two weekends in April 2014. Once
again, your Board of Directors is hard at work. In
accordance with our covenant with the Upper Room
to follow the model, the Board of Directors will be
selecting the weekend Lay Director and Spiritual
Director. This will be the first item of business at our
board meeting on October 12th. The candidates will
be contacted shortly thereafter to confirm their availability. We hope to announce these important leaders
in the newsletter and at Gathering at the beginning of
November.
Team Selection
After the Lay Directors and Spiritual Directors for the
weekend have been announced, the Team Selection
Committee will meet with them to select the remainder of the team members and volunteer leaders. The
Team Selection Committee has already been formed
and is ready to go as soon as we have our weekend
leaders.
What does that mean to you? If you have been dillydallying (is that a word?), it is time to stop. Now is
the time to submit your team application. There is
a place on the application to indicate a preference
for work inside the conference room or outside the
conference room. No position is more prestigious or
important than another. It will take the whole body of
Christ working together to make the Walk the glorious experience it is intended to be. We have received
some applications, but nowhere near what we need
to fill all of the positions. Do you have an urge to be
a teacher? How about bring the joy of music to others? Or maybe you take delight in making sure the
pilgrims feel loved and cared for through cleaning up
after them and laying out agape gifts for them? Cut
and paste this address into your browser to access the
application form. http://www.livingwateremmausfl.
org/forms/TeamApplication.pdf Don’t forget to allow
enough time for it to be mailed to us at the address on
the bottom.
I expect that team selection will begin in November
and should be completed in December. If it all comes
together smoothly, we may be able to announce the
teams in December.
The Pilgrims Are Coming!
I don’t have to tell you again, but I will . . . be thinking
and praying about who the pilgrims for the next walks
will be. For those of you who have missed my gentle
nudgings about who might be out there looking for
you to sponsor, please see the last couple of newsletters.
Your Board of Directors has gone out on a limb
again. One of the issues that we could improve on is
the bathroom situation for the pilgrims. In order to
maintain the sanctity of the chapel, we have cut off
access through it from the conference room to the
bathrooms. That means that pilgrims either had to
walk around the outside of the building to the bathrooms near the chapel or go back to their cabins. Well,
you can imagine that it was like herding cats (albeit
well-behaved cats J). The solution we have decided on
is to rent some very nice, handicap accessible portable
restrooms (provided the camp will let us). This should
alleviate the strain on maintaining the schedule and
making sure everyone has enough time to socialize
during the breaks. We hope to provide more time for
bonding and discussion instead of scurrying off to use
the toilet, load a plate with food and plunk back down
at the table just in time for the next speaker.
Scholarship Financial Support
Finally, as you know if you read the last newsletter,
the fee to attend the walk has
been reduced to $75!!!
We hope to make the
walk more affordable and attractive to pilgrims and
team members alike. Remember, this is a leadership
development process; having graduated to a babechick only grants you the opportunity to continue
to grow.
We are looking for donors to provide green agape to
cover the shortfall of about $85 per person for at least
60 people (30 per walk). Think of this as an investment in the future vitality of our community. You
may want to consider this in conjunction with your
end of year tax planning. Donations can be made
by check to Trinity United Methodist Church with a
notation on the check memo line to Living Water Emmaus Scholarship Fund. Don’t forget the notation; if
you do, it won’t go to our account.
Or, maybe you would like to join forces to support a
scholarship for particular pilgrims. One donor has
graciously offered a partial scholarship to any mar-
ried husband and wife 46 years of age or younger who
BOTH attend the walks at the beginning of April. If
you would like to commit to pay $10, $20, $30, etc. of
any qualified couple’s fee, let me know by email at [email protected]. The thought behind this special
scholarship is to encourage younger family oriented
people to attend and develop as Christian leaders.
This scholarship will be used to fund the pilgrim’s
portion of the fee ($75). We hope to try it this time to
see if it has any impact on who attends. Please let me
know as soon as possible so that I can announce it to
the community before they begin making invitations
to pilgrims.
DeColores,
T.J. Frasier, Lay Director, Board Chair
Living Water Emmaus of Florida
livingwateremmausfl.org
CONTACT US!
T.J. Frasier, Lay Director
[email protected]
Linda Bryant, Newsletter Editor
[email protected]