Gathering Save the Date Emmaus Events in the Area
Transcription
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]