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FIRST THINGS May, 2019

FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

501 Church Street, Sweetwater, TN 37874

423-337-7903

Email: office1@sweetwaterumc.org

Website: www.sweetwaterumc.org

Church Staff:

Ron Fisher, Pastor Anne Wilson, Administrative Asst.

Jacqueline Mason, Children’s Minister Melinda Hendricks, Custodian

Crystal Ragan, Youth Minister Patricia Richesin, Organist

Margareth Urias, Music Minister Janet Standridge, First Kids Director

All Christians, Ministers

“Glorifying God—Offering Christ

Making Disciples—Serving Others”

Simon Peter: The Denier: Restored Jesus and the disciples had gone to the Up-per Room to share the Last Supper. Jesus told them, "You will all become deserters because of me this night." Simon Peter boldly protested saying: “Not me, Lord, even if all the others fall away, I will not desert you.” And then, Jesus said to him: “Simon before the cock crows, you will deny me three times!” After Jesus was ar-rested, He was taken to the home of the High Priest. Simon Peter followed and warmed himself by a charcoal fire. He was recognized as one of Jesus’ disciples but denied it. The third time Peter denied his Lord, he began to curse and swear & heard the sound of a rooster crowing. In John's post Easter account, some time after the first appearance of Jesus, the dis-ciples returned to Galilee. Simon Peter says, "I'm going fishing." The other disci-ples join in, "We will, too." Jesus had risen, and he had appeared to them, but they had no idea what was going to happen. Jesus just seemed to show up every now and then & vanished from their sight. They had no clear direction from him yet as to what they should do next. When the disciples returned to shore, after fishing all night, they found Jesus roasting

fish and preparing bread over a charcoal fire. After the meal, Jesus turned to Peter and asked him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these.” Jesus asks Peter three separate times, "Do you love me?" In part, we can understand this as the Johan-nine author's way of canceling out each one of Peter's shameful denials of Jesus on the night he was arrested and betrayed. The smell of a charcoal fire and the crowing of a rooster could have haunted Peter for the rest of his life. But because of the gift of forgiveness, the smell of charcoal burning and a rooster crowing were reminders of Je-sus' redeeming love. We have all had those Simon Peter mo-ments in our lives. We have had those "selfish moments, stumbling moments, sinful moments, falling away from Jesus mo-ments." Like Peter, the redeeming love of Jesus is flowing to you and me cleansing us, setting us free, and making all things new. "Shackled by a heavy burden, 'Neath a load of guilt and shame. Then the hand of Jesus touched me, And now I am no longer the same He touched me, oh He touched me, And oh the joy that floods my soul! Something happened and now I know, He touched me and made me whole."

REFLECTIONS from PASTOR ron

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Hey kids and parents,

We will not have TASK on May 14 as I will

be out of town. Our last TASK of this

school year will be on May 21 when we will

enjoy some bounce house fun.

We will not have Preschool Bible & Choir

on May 15 as I will be out of town. Our

Spring musical is happening on May 19.

Please have the preschool kids at the

church on May 19 at 4:00 pm to go

through a final practice before the show

starts at 5:00 pm.

It would be greatly appreciated if you

could bring some finger foods to share for

after the performance. Thank you.

KIDS NEWS

PRESCHOOL CHOIR &

CHILDREN’S CHOIR

Looking forward to the Children’s Spring

musical on May 19th and the Christmas Mu-

sical on December 8 @ 5:00 pm. Save these

dates!!

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

Mark your Calendars for July 21-25 for VBS

titled ROAR. I’m on the hunt for servants!

Contact me soon please if you are willing to

help! ROAR. Life is wild but God is Good.

Love, Miss Jacqueline

CHILDREN’S CHOIR AND PRESCHOOL CHOIR SPRING PROGRAM

You are invited to join the Children’s Choir for a special broadcast of the “Faith

News Network” on Sunday, May 19th

at 5:00pm in the Family Life Center.

Our newest musical is a Heavenly broadcast coming straight from the Pearly Gates, host-ed by two angelic News Anchors, Cameron Flowers and Summer Showers. Bringing some of your favorite Bible Stories to life, our newscast flows back and forth between top-flight Bible news coverage by Cameron and Summer, to stellar on-the-ground reporting by our roving angel duo, Chera Bim and Sara Fim. We will meet some of our favorite Faith Heroes like Esther, Joshua, Noah, Mo-ses and Abraham! You can’t miss it! Please invite family and friends!

MUSIC PROGRAMS

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EVENTS FOR THE LADIES

SECOND TUESDAYS FOR WOMEN OF ALL AGES

Second Tuesdays is a place to connect with other women on the second Tuesday of each month in Knoxville. You are wel-come to join us at 6:45 pm for light refreshment and good conversation, then we’ll dive into worship and the Word. If you are interested, please meet in the church parking lot on Tuesday, May 14, and we can carpool. We must leave by 5:30 pm. Contact Karen Sadikoff for fur-ther information. The location sometimes changes, so if you are driv-ing separately, please check with Karen.

LADIES BREAKFAST

Saturday, May 11

9:00 am @ Cup Runneth Over

Ladies, bring some friends and join us for a yum-

my breakfast and fellowship. It’s a great place to

get to know new people.

MISSION PROJECT FOR LIBERIA

Thank you to all who have supported our Hands-On Mission Projects over the years. Your generosity has made a difference in thousands of lives. Our current project is Health Kits. The items needed are listed. It is vital that you follow the guidelines for sizes of each item, or they will not be acceptable. $5.00 should accompany each kit to assist with shipping. Please give the $5.00 to Anne in the office rather than putting it in the kit. All kits are due in the Conference room by May 26th at the latest. Thank you again for your generosity.

Hiwassee: Health Kits—Goal 400

Pack these items in a 2-gallon Zip-Loc bag:

1 hand towel

2 wash cloths

2 toothbrushes

2 tubes toothpaste (6.4 oz or less)

1 bottle shampoo (15 oz. or less)

1 bottle lotion (18 oz. or less)

1 bottle roll-on deodorant (4 oz. or less)

1 small spray perfume, cologne, or body mist (4 oz. or less)

Pack these separately in sandwich-size Zip-Loc bag.

Please do NOT put in larger 2-gallon bag:

1 tube antibacterial ointment (1 oz.)

1 bottle Tylenol/acetaminophen (500 mg. (24 ct.)

HONORING OUR GRADUATES

It’s almost graduation time for our children and grandchildren. Let Anne know if you have a high school or college graduate including their name and name of school, and degree program (if college). Please add location if they are not local. We would like to honor our graduates in an upcoming publi-cation. Please get me this information on or before May 13.

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“YOUNG AT HEART” NEWS

SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GREETINGS SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GREETINGS SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GREETINGS

TO OUR SENIORS BORN IN MayTO OUR SENIORS BORN IN MayTO OUR SENIORS BORN IN May

April 30 Nancy Walden April 30 Nancy Walden April 30 Nancy Walden

May 5 Walter Babb

*May 17 Viola Turpin

May 27 Betty Hunt

May 29 Mary Chappell Crabtree

“YOUNG AT HEART” POTLUCK

Sunday, May 5 @ noon in FLC

Bring your favorite dish and come join us for

lunch.

On this special day we will enjoy a nice

meal, fellowship with friends and a fun com-

edy DVD presented by Jeanie Robertson.

This is the last Potluck until we resume

again in October.

In the April Newsletter the

WHO AM I? was Woody Woods.

Stay tuned for more WHO AM I’s in the future.

HOLSTON CONFERENCE

OFFERINGS FOR ANNUAL CONFERENCE

MISSION OFFERING

Helping Hands

Opioid Addiction Response

Our Mission Offering

for Opioid Addiction

will be on

Sunday, May 12

Please make checks payable to FUMC

CHANGE FOR CHILDREN

This offering funds grants for Holston-

related children’s ministries for

children in poverty (50%)

and to children in Africa (50%).

Our Change for Children Offering

Will be on

Sunday, June 2

Please make checks payable to FUMC

Young at Heart Mark your Calendars

Friday, May 24 Clay Potting

Details to follow very soon

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Unsung Heroes of our Church

Micky Heatherly: Seeing it through to the finish.

Mention the name Micky Heatherly to anyone in church and most people will tell you that he is the head of the finance committee. And that is true. But what most people won’t tell you, quietly allude to, or actually think about is… “There is no way I want to be on the finance com-mittee!” Truth is most people find deal-ing in church monies, coordinating and making difficult decisions, and finding support among members for various pro-jects an arduous and difficult undertak-ing. And while Micky Heatherly may in part concur with that, he has quietly been instrumental in helping to guide our church in both growth and in spirit.

Micky, along with his older sister, was born and raised in LaFollette. His dad was an electrician and his mom was an office worker. Micky will tell you that sci-ence and math were always easy for him and in May1976, at the age of 18, he graduated from Campbell County Com-prehensive High School. Inspired in part by an uncle who was the only rela-tive who had graduated from college, he enrolled in classes at Tennessee Tech-nical College in Cookeville. Four years after that he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. With schooling out of the way, Micky set his sights on employment and landed a job in June 1980 working for TVA in Knoxville. He was in a rotational training program and ended up in nuclear licensing: issuing documentation and following up on prob-lem reporting as required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for TVA’s nuclear facilities. It wasn’t until Micky had a week long assignment at Watts Bar that he remembered that a lady ac-

quaintance he knew at Tennessee Tech (Greer) lived in Sweetwater. So he gave her a call and one date led to the next and they were married 24 July 1982 in the sanctuary at Sweetwater United Methodist Church. To hear Micky tell it…”we’ve been married a lot of years.” Laughing he added…”thirty seven if we make it to July!”

To expand his work experience Micky requested a transfer out of licensing in 85 and found himself performing nuclear safety/accident analysis. In 1986, Micky was assigned to Sequoyah Nuclear Plant on a temporary basis and that last-ed a year and a half before becoming permanent. Eventually Micky and Greer moved from Knoxville to Hixon to be closer to his work at the Sequoyah plant. During that assignment, Micky and Greer were blessed with twin boys, Adam and Aaron, (now 28.) He then got into fire protection for nuclear plants and he per-formed those duties for 15 years, and was the lead fire protection person for all

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of the nuclear division for his last 10 years in TVA. In 1997 however, the deci-sion was made to move to Sweetwater to be closer to Greer’s aging parents. After a 28 year career with the TVA, Micky re-tired in 2008.

So what keeps Micky busy? For one thing…golf. Micky has about an 11 handicap and you can find him playing the Springbrook course in Niota about 2-3 times a week in the summer. Micky likes golf because in his words “it’s pretty much under your total control…if you make a bad shot it’s not like you can blame it on Joe or Fred or whatever…you just hit a bad shot!” He also has a pen-chant for collecting vintage baseball cards and has quite a collection number-ing in the thousands! Imagine having an entire collection of Topps baseball cards in your collection from one year! Micky does and that is 536 cards from 1958 (his birth year)…not purchased as a set…but bought and traded! Wow! That is a lot of bubble gum!

Some of you may have known these things about Micky but there are some things you may not know. For starters, he was not raised in the church even though he and Greer have come to Sweetwater UMC for over 27 years. And you may perceive him as being “laid back.” Micky acknowledges that he tries to be friendly to everyone and treat them with respect…but it is not his nature to be outgoing all the time. He continued that once he gets to know someone “then I probably talk a lot more than I should!”

In speaking of our church he points to its uniqueness by noting “you would be hard pressed to find a church with less animosity between groups…everyone

pretty much gets along.” That’s a nice way of saying like any church we have our mo-ments…but we also have a great church family.

In summary it’s fair to say our church would not be where it is without the gifts and guidance of Micky Heatherly. While he has been on other church committees (trustees chair, church council chair, etc.) It wasn’t Micky’s idea to chair the finance committee; he was asked to fill the position by Pastor Tony Collins. And with his posi-tion comes guidance built on history of where we have been and a vision of where we can go. Micky can tell you many as-pects of building construction/history; from the foundation of our church to enhance-ments like the removal of the onsite par-sonage and the construction of the family life center. He can also tell you it has nev-er been “him” who decides future projects or costs aimed at growing our church…he is merely instrumental in gathering facts that are ultimately laid at the hands of the congregation to discern and in many cases fund. But he has a quality few people see that makes an immense impact on every-one who enters the doors of Sweetwater United Methodist Church…and that is “commitment.” When speaking of when he might step down from his 7 year stint as chair of finance, Micky said “I would like to see the building debt retired…then we can talk about that.”

So stop and say hello to Micky if you get a chance. You’ll probably see more of him around now that he and Greer have re-turned from their condo in Orange Beach, Alabama. Then again he may be out on the links chasing that little white ball. In any event you can bet he will never be far from seeing our church reach its financial goals.

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Hello Church, What a Beautiful Easter Season we’re in right now. As I write to you, He has RIS-EN !!! On Easter Sunday, I was awakened by the birds chirping loudly outside my win-dow. It’s as if ALL the little birds gathered to sing Praises to our Heavenly Father! I am reminded of Luke 19. Jesus is headed into the city approaching His final days. Those who loved and believed in Him were praising His name. But there were many who “refused” to believe. ““Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, re-buke your disciples!” I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”” Luke 19:38-40 NIV Notice they “refused.” To “refuse” some-thing, it must first be offered to you. Those who “refused” to praise Jesus had been of-fered a personal relationship with Him, they were living in His physical presence. Let us NOT “refuse” to accept Him. Let us NOT fail to sing His Praises !!! Let NOT the stones cry out in our place !!! In Youth, we strive NOT to refuse. We strive for ac-ceptance, unity, inclusion. We strive to grow together in our relationships and grow closer to Christ. A huge part of this striving, is EATING !!! Something happens when the kids gather in the kitchen around me preparing a meal. Something happens when they have a seat at a table and eat together. They bond, they connect. Some of the sweetest times are when I see an older Youth lend a hand to prepare food for the younger ones. Maybe they can’t

reach the microwave, or they haven’t dipped ice cream for themselves. Compas-sionate, considerate youth are rising up in our Church. Be proud of them. Maybe of-fer a word of appreciation or encourage-ment the next time you see them ?!? Another way they have served the Body of Christ recently, was to bake 50 dozen cookies for the women of Bledsoe County Correctional Complex. We have prayed over these cookies and have packaged them carefully. YOU also have contributed to the Kairos Prison ministry through your generously of supporting me financially, providing Meal tickets for these women. I will be taking the cookies and meals into Prison this week-end. It has only taken me 6 years to realize it’s ok for someone else to teach My Kids !!!!! So most recently we began a Wednesday night “Mystery Speaker.” These speakers will share their accomplishments & down-falls, their education or lack of, their jobs or career choices. Maybe this will help guide

YOUTH WHO INSPIRE

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our youth in helping them decide which path they might take as they approach graduation in a few short years. Julia Forrest was our last speaker. She attends TWU and began her degree in Education. She changed her degree after the first year and will graduate in December with her Bache-lors in Occupational Therapy. She will pursue her Doctorate after graduation. She taught the kids what OT therapy looks like... great job Jules. Also, a huge Welcome and Much Appreciation to Erin Knox. Erin was a former Youth and has returned to our group as my “sidekick” !!! Thank you Erin for your sacrifice and the time you’re spending with me and Our Kids..... We love you bunches !!! Much love in Christ, Crystal Ragan

SERVE YOUR CHURCH

It’s almost time to create our new Greeter Schedule that will start in Ju-

ly, 2019. We need new greeters in both services. If you would like to partici-

pate, please call Anne in the office by May 12. For those who are already on

the greeter schedule, we thank you for serving, and you will remain on the

schedule unless we hear from you.