Southport UMC Newsletter

A year ago at this time I was writing to you as your newly appointed pastor from San Antonio Texas.   This year I am writing to you as the old guy, good and broken in after a whole year, from Washington, D.C.   The reason for the distance both years is the same.   No, I’m not trying to avoid you, I’m here to learn and grow as a preacher.   This is the Festival of Homiletics where excellent preachers and teachers of preaching present sermons and lectures from Monday evening through Friday noon.   One after another.   We’re on dinner break and I can hear Tara tapping her foot waiting for me to finish this all the way out here! But why, you might ask, why am I attending a conference on preaching when that is all that I do back home?   And I’ve been doing it for a long time.   And I regularly teach others in our conference about preaching.   You would think at my advanced age that I would know all I need to know about the art and craft of p...

If you are interested in going on the mission/retreat trip to Camp Moneto, please contact the church office.   We will be doing some service work at the camp to get it ready for camps in the future.   In addition, we will be growing in our discipleship as we are in community together and serve, worship, and study. The dates are Monday, June 25, through worship on Sunday morning, July 1. Final plans are being made so please reserve your spot soon.

The following is information to know for Student Ministry. ·   June 3 – graduating 5th graders (going into 6th grade in the next school year) join us for study on Sunday mornings in the Underground. ·   June 3, 12:15 – lunch and the Mayberry Bible study for Youth Group.   Families invited and encouraged to attend. ·   June 17 – 12:15 Youth Group (students only) ·   July 1 – worship at Camp Moneto – no Youth Group ·   July 15 – pool party (time to-be-determined) ·   August 5, 12:15 – lunch and the Mayberry Bible study for Youth Group.   Families invited and encouraged to attend. ·   August 19 – 12:15 Youth Group (students only)

Southport United Methodist Church has supported the Mayors’ Veterans, Military & Family Appreciation Day, Picnic and Fish Fry for the last few years as a part of serving others. This year, we will be helping out again by helping to set up, serve, and clean up beginning at 9:00 a.m., Saturday, June 9, at Garfield Park. Anyone with a serving heart is welcome to attend and participate.   We encourage students and their families to come and serve together. Please see the flyer for the event at http://www.veteranssupportcouncil.com/Garfield_2018/VeteransAppreciationDayFlyer_9Jun18.pdf . If you have an interest in serving, please contact the church office.

Circle Summer News : Rebekah Circle will not meet June, July or August. They will resume meeting Tuesday, September 11, 1:00 p.m. at the church. Anna Circle is currently restructuring the circle. Please call the church office for any updates. Leah Circle will meet Tuesday, June 19, 6:00 p.m. at church for a pitch-in. They will be collecting items for the Lebanon School Store (school supplies and personal care items). Enjoy your summer and join us all in the fall.

Good news! We are doing a great job at using our mugs and coffee cups.   Thank you so much for supporting these efforts to care for our world. We are discovering that we are using more coffee due to the size of some of the mugs; we appreciate your patience as we try to keep up when the coffee pots are empty. As a reminder, on Community Meal Sunday, please allow the kitchen team to have their space as they prepare, re-stock and clean up from the delicious meals they are making for us. It can be dangerous to be an extra body in the middle of all the action: hot ovens, stoves, dishwashers and fast moving people. A tray will be available for your empty cups to be placed in for cleaning. A cooler will also be placed outside of the kitchen if you need ice. Again, we appreciate your patience as we create new ways to care for our environment, smooth out any rough spots, and address concerns.

June 14 (Flag Day) 7:30 p.m. 2110 E. Southport Rd. (Next to Southport Antique Mall) ·   Participate in a 40 - minute ceremony ·   Hundreds of flags will “retired” ·   Color Guard entrance ·   Armed Forces Medley ·   Playing of “Taps” at conclusion ·   Refreshments provided Flags to be retired can be taken to the Southport Government Center between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. 6901 Derbyshire Southport, IN 46227 Flags to be retired can also be brought to the ceremony. New flags can be purchased at the ceremony. Please bring a lawn chair.

LOOKING AHEAD in JUNE June 3 - Community Meal June 3, 7, 10 – Camp Moneto Mission/Retreat Trip Leaders in the Gathering Place June 3, 7, 10, 13, 17– Vacation Bible School Leaders in the Gathering Place June 12 – Interfaith Hospitality Network Informational meeting, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Everyone welcome! June 19, 20, 21 – Vacation Bible School, 9:00am to Noon June 25 to July 1 – Camp Moneto Mission/Retreat Trip LOOKING AHEAD in 2018 Blood Drive Sundays August 5, November 18 Interfaith Hospitality Network Families (IHN) September 23 to October 7 Jubilee Ministry July 5 through July 22 - Christmas in July (supporting Back to School needs and Community Festival/Movie Night at Homecroft) Jubilee Christmas – December 8 Ronald McDonald House Second Saturday of the month at the Ronald McDonald House Third Sunday of the month at the RMH room in Riley Hospital God’s Will Breakfast Third Thursday of the month at Fletcher Place Community Center i...

We celebrate a collection of 140 pounds of personal hygiene items given to Hunger Inc. for those in our community who are in need.   Thank you! For the month of June we are requesting CANNED PORK AND BEANS and CANNED PASTA MEALS. Children will be home for the summer and the need for food will be even greater. Our collection dates coincide with the dates we celebrate communion, May 31 and June 3. Thank you for feeding the children of our community who won’t go hungry because of your generous giving.

Have you read the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein?   It’s one of my daughter’s favorites.   She’s even taken to reading it to her little sister occasionally.   The Giving Tree illustrates how giving can bring great joy, even more joy than getting.   This book makes it easy for us to visualize the act of love through giving. Now let’s look at how Paul mentors Timothy on the subject of giving by reading 1 Timothy 6:17-19: “17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” I’m pretty sure if Paul could read The Giving Tree he’d say, “Tell them...

Summertime, And the Living Is Easy Are you singing along to the rest of that song?   Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess was known for lots of great music and groundbreaking musical theatre innovation.   But it is probably best known for that song.   “Summertime.”   “Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high / Your daddy’s rich and your ma is good lookin’ / so hush little baby / don’t you cry.” I don’t know what your summer is like.   But I hope it has time of relaxation and renewal. And that you keep connected with your community here at Southport as well.   We’re still here.   We don’t close down for the summer, just so you know.   In fact, we are planning to dig into some very important topics this summer.   The topics you have chosen over the course of the past month or so.   In case you forgot, I submitted a survey before Easter, asking what questions you all had about the Bible and about your faith and faith practices.   I got...

On Sunday May 20, Pentecost, we will be having a grand celebration as we celebrate many things.   Everything we celebrate that day has something in common which is this:   A NEW BEGINNING TOGETHER! Part of that celebration will be recognizing those students that are graduating from either High School or College.   As the seniors graduate, they will also have a new beginning in their lives and will also do that together with others in community. If you have a graduating senior, please let us know in the church office by May 11 so that we might recognize them in the bulletin and in the display we will have in the Gathering Place that day.  

The 2017 – 2018 school year was great for students participating in the Confirm study on Sunday mornings.   The school year was great for several reasons but one reason in particular – the 9 adult mentors/role models that leaned into the lives of the students each Sunday morning.   The adults cared and shared as they helped the students grow in their faith.   (I think the adults grew in their faith and understanding of God as well.) For the 2018 – 2019 school year, we will be studying The Thread – Discovering the Thread of the Gospel Through the Big Picture Story of the Bible.   We have opportunities for other adults to serve as mentors and role models for students next year.   If you want to help our students grow in their faith (and grow in your faith along the way), contact Doug Shinkle in the church office for more information.

There are many things to share regarding Student Ministry.   Here are the highlights.   Confirmation Sunday is May 20, 2018 which is also Pentecost.   We will have a great celebration that morning.   Please plan to attend and congratulate the students that are being confirmed. There will be NO student classes in the Underground on Sunday morning May 20 (Confirmation Sunday) and May 27 (Memorial Day weekend). This summer in June and July on Sunday mornings, we will be studying: PAUSE – learning to seek God NEXT – growing a faith that lasts Current 5th graders (going into 6th grade in the fall) will join Student Ministry in the Underground effective Sunday morning June 3. Summer Youth Group (June through August) will be the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month at 12:15 (immediately after worship services are complete).   We will be using Mayberry Bible Study (i.e., Andy Griffith) as our curriculum during the summer. Sunday June 3 – families...

Mark your calendar for Monday, June 25 through Sunday July 1.  We are planning a mission trip to Camp Moneto, a United Methodist Church camp.  We plan to do some work on the camp grounds as well as treat this as an opportunity to grow in our discipleship of Jesus.  Since Camp Moneto is located near Nashville IN, it will be easy for those that may not be able to spend the entire week to participate part of the time.   Families are encouraged to attend together.   Anyone in the congregation is welcome to go as well.   This will be a great time to serve others as well as grow in our discipleship of Jesus as a family, the family of God.   If you want more information, please contact the church office.

What does God, zip lines, climbing walls, big swings, horses, swimming, singing, dancing, messy games, and friendships all have in common? CHURCH CAMP! Join other youth from SUMC this summer at camp for an experience you will never forget. IMPACT 2818: Outdoor Ministries of the United Methodist Church of Indiana consists of 7 camps. The name, IMPACT 2818, comes from Matthew 28:18-20, where as Christ followers, we are being sent into the world on Jesus' authority to make God's transforming love known. The desire is to leave a legacy with each generation encountered and that they would go forth impacting this world for the sake of Christ. http://impact2818.org There are opportunities for families to attend camps together too. Perhaps you are adult with a passion to see youth grow in their relationship with Jesus, there are volunteer positions as well! Camp is for everyone! Feel free to contact the church office if you have questions.

Southport United Methodist Youth Fellowship and their leaders and families have supported the Mayors’ Veterans, Military & Family Appreciation Day, Picnic and Fish Fry for the last few years as a part of serving others. This year, we will be helping out again by helping to set up, serve, and clean up beginning at 9:00 a.m., Saturday, June 9, at Garfield Park. Our active student group is small this summer, so anyone who would like to honor our military veterans by serving is welcome to join us. Please see the flyer for the event at Mayors' V , Military Family Picnic - vscmc.com. There will be a sign-up sheet in the Gathering Place for volunteers so we can let the event coordinators know how much help we can be.

Through the Next Steps ministry table April 22 and 26, we shared how our church family can be better informed about recycling and assist in saving God's creation.  Any questions can be directed to the Creation Care Team through the church office.  We are now on the hunt for students, ages 9-11 that would love to serve on a "Green Team".  These students would help monitor recycling on Sundays for each month.  They would provide answers to questions about our Sunday waste and where it is recycled.   If your child would be interested in helping with this team, you can give your name to the church office and you will be contacted by a member of the Creation Care Team. REUSABLE CUPS: we encourage everyone to bring their reusable coffee/tea cup or mug with them to use at church on Sundays and then take it home to wash, ready for the next week. Consider how many non-recyclable paper cups we will save. NEW PLAN: For those who have extra cups or mugs a...

One of the studies from Mission U at DePauw (July 17-20) is Embracing Wholeness: An Earth Perspective for Covenantal Living.  This means as Christians, we have a deep responsibility to love what (and who) God loves.   So the way we see the world and the choices we make as we live in it affects the health of the ecosystem and others around us.  Therefore we need to be more conscious of our impact on the world that God so loves. (from Response Magazine, April 2018) United Methodist Women are working to care for the earth.  Find out more by attending one of the UMW Circle meetings and see how we are actively helping in our community. Southport’s UMW unit donated $200 in April to the Lucille Raines Residence to assist with repairs to the facility.  The Residence provides housing for recovering addicts living in downtown Indy.  Dates to Remember: Friday, May 4, Friendship Day – see posters at church for additional information Mission U ...

Interfaith Hospitality Network Ministry invites Everyone to “Walking for Dreams” on Sunday, May 20 in support of Family Promise's AfterCare program This fun family & pet walk around the downtown Indianapolis canal is scheduled for Sun, May 20, 2018 with step-off beginning at 2:00 p.m. Experience the beautiful Central Canal in downtown Indy, Support Family Promise's AfterCare program designed to continue a connection with IHN families who are no longer homeless and are adjusting to the next steps in their lives Sunday, May 20 at 2:00 p.m. (check-in begins at 1:00 p.m.) at the plaza on the south side of Buggs Temple at 337 W. 11th St. in downtown Indy. Free parking in the street and in marked lots along W. 11th Street For more information and to register to walk, contact the church office, 317 784-9508

With much thanks to Ngiika Fatorma, a member of our Southport Church Family, girls in Sierra Leone have beautiful new pieces of clothing. Ngiika’s dream was to provide outfits for as many of these children as possible. She invited women from our church and community to assist in making the clothes and then she traveled to Africa to present the gifts to the girls. Be sure to read Pastor Forbie’s letter of thanksgiving included in this newsletter. Ngiika has shown us how we can be the hands and feet of Jesus as far away as Sierra Leone.

  LOOKING AHEAD in May May 6 - Community Meal May 6 – Learn more about Ronald McDonald House and how to serve families with critically ill children May 6 and 10 – Support Community Food Pantries May 17 to 20 - Pray for the Kairos Women’s Team serving at the Rockville Facility May 20 – Celebration of Pentecost, Reaffirmation of Baptism, Confirmation, Graduating Seniors May 20 – Walking for Dreams (in support of IHN AfterCare program) 2:00pm, downtown LOOKING AHEAD in 2018 Blood Drive Sundays August 5, November 18 Interfaith Hospitality Network Families (IHN) September 23 to October 7 Jubilee Ministry July 5 through July 22 - Christmas in July (supporting Back to School needs and Community Festival/Movie Night at Homecroft) Jubilee Christmas – December 8 Ronald McDonald House Second Saturday of the month at the Ronald McDonald House   God’s Will Breakfast            Third Thursday of...

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to all who contributed to the two Kairos weekends which were held in April.  Thank you for baking cookies, for your financial support, for placemats and posters, for the Holy Week drawings, for attending closings and for your prayers!  Thanks also for the five SUMC volunteers who served at the Plainfield Correctional Facility and the six SUMC volunteers who served at Indiana Women’s Prison. This month remember to keep the Rockville Correctional Facility in your prayers for May 17-20.   The mission of the Kairos Prison Ministry is to share the transforming love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ to impact the hearts and lives of incarcerated men, women and youth, as well as their families, to become loving and productive citizens of their communities.

Today is a Saturday, and the church building is closed, so I thought I would come in and get caught up on a few things including writing this article.   Should be a quiet day, right? Wait, something smells good, what could it be?    The church is closed today…   There is a whole team of people in the kitchen setting up and prepping for the community meal tomorrow.   Did you know the meal they served us last month they put together for only about $1.28 per plate (that’s assuming the people who ate two meals, like me, offset the people that didn’t eat a meal)! Anyway, back to the article, should be nice and quiet, the church is closed today…   Someone just poked their head into my office.   They were helping with the community meal, but they know we have some rooms that need painted, so they were wondering if I needed some help with that (I guess painting is better than peeling potatoes).   I am not one to turn down free labor, so a ’paint...