The Bethany BeaconThe Bethany BeaconThe Bethany Beacon

Bethany Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Arapahoe, North Carolina 28510

Bethanyarapahoe.org

“Finding the Way of Christ at the Crossroads.”

PO Box 156

Arapahoe NC 28510-0156

NON-PROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U.S. FEES AND

POSTAGE PAID

ARAPAHOE NC

28510

PERMIT NO. 1 SeptemberSeptember

20172017

In the Life of the Church

September 3 Board meeting 7:00

4 Group #4 meets at Brantley’s 11:30

5 EXODUS Bible Study 7:00

6 Choir and Bells resume practice

8—9 MS Bike-A-Thon use Pavilion

10 Christian Ed. Meeting 6:00

Week of Compassion offering

11 Roger’s Bible Study begins 10:00

Group #5 meets in FH 6:45

12 EXODUS Bible Study 7:00

13 Choir and Bells practice

17 Fishes and Loaves

Week of Compassion offering

CWF/CMF meeting 6:00

CMF provide snacks

18 Roger’s Bible Study 10:00

19 EXODUS Bible Study 7:00

20 Choir and Bells practice

21 Board Game Night site TBD 7:00

24 Meal and Meet Rev. Terri Hord-Owens

25 Roger’s Bible Study 10:00

26 EXODUS Bible Study 7:00

27 Choir and Bells practice

Aiden Gardner

Annette Hall

Frank Hart

Rachel Hart

Scott Hartley

Lew Hathaway

Donna Holland

George Holland

Michelle Hopkins

Joe Lee

William Lowery

Todd Meert

Mills Family

Dennis Nelson

Kelly Parvin

Letha Paul

Camden Popperwill-

David Rea

Nicholas Saka

Carol Smith

Linda Taylor

Dillon Vick

Kelsie Wilkinson

Arnold Wilson

Worthington Family

Harvey Victims

Please Remember in

Your Prayers:

At the Crossroads 8126 NC Hwy 306 S Arapahoe, NC 28510

REGULARLY SCHEDULED

ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS

Weekly Sunday: Sunday School, 9:45 am;

Worship, 11:00 am

Wednesday Chancel Choir—6:00 pm

Wednesday Jericho Ringers—7:10 pm

Monthly 1st Sunday: Elders, BH, 8:00 am;

Official Board, FH, 7:00 pm.

3rd Sunday: CWF/CMF, FH, 6:00 pm.

5th Sunday: Covered Dish Dinner, FH,

following worship service.

*Any changes to regularly scheduled ac-

tivities and events will be noted in the cal-

endar below.

BH=Bethany Hall; FH=Fellowship Hall;

PL=Parking Lot; S=Sanctuary

September 2017September 2017

Serving in

September October

Elders

Buck Jones Mac Harris

Chris Watson Doug Brinson

Deacons Roger Surprenant C Jennie Adams C Polly Surprenant Matt Bailey Renee Midyette Christine Beeman Melissa Watson Janci Cahoon Parker Watson Rebecca Cowell Kelly Jones Guy Cowell

Preparing Communion Renee Midyette Jennie Adams

Acolytes

Diana Harper Miko Stilley

Luke Bailey Jordan Bennett

“But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you”.

1 Buddy Bailey 2 Lib Forester

Mldred Hall

Matthew McCotter 3 Edie Ireland

6 Susan Lee

8 Barbara Benton

9 Rebecca Cowell 13 Kent Lee

Lindsey Lee

14 Ben Casey

15 Kaley Tijerina

16 Randy Beeman

Tucker Law

19 Avery Schmidt

26 Bobby Faulkner

30 Steven Bailey

Cassie Boyce

October BirthdaysOctober Birthdays

September BirthdaysSeptember Birthdays

Ora-Torrie Rev. Torrie Osgood

Roger Bennett’s Contact Info Land line:

(252) 772-8304; Cell (252) 2 69-4361

Church Family

Betsy Bratcher

Keith Bratcher

Carolyn Casey

Walter Chance

Colt Cowell

Cathy Davies

Ronnie Dunlap

Bobby Faulkner

Declan Fish

Mike Manning

Ronnie Puckett

Robin Pate

Joyce Rice

Robert Rice

Gail Swearingen

Ronnie Watson

Carlie Weingart

Shut Ins

Velna Bennett

Hal Gordon

Ted Jennings

Mary Puckett

Rachel Vendrick

Community Friends

Evelyn Carlisle

Julie Crumpler

Wayne Deal

Penny Farmer

Casey Fisher

3 Sara Spalding

6 Linda Jones

8 Kelli Bailey

9 Amanda Bailey

10 Sarah Midyette

12 Johanna Cahoon

14 Keith Bratcher

16 Rex Horne

19 Sandra Holton

21 Lydia Jones

22 Samantha

Sawyer

26 Juanita

Arrington

27 Lee Jones

29 Christine Sides

In 1980, I graduated from Brite Divinity School at TCU and was hired by First Christian Church of Orange, TX, as their associate minister. The people in the church and in the area were very kind to me, quickly accepting me as one of their own. Everyone I encountered was a loving and accepting Christian. Working with the youth of our church often took me to the area office located in Houston. Our church worked closely with the churches in Beaumont and Port Arthur. I learned much in the short time I was there. Even after moving, I felt a close kinship with folks there. I was deeply moved by the pictures we have all seen of Harvey’s de-structive touch. Many of the town and city names mentioned contain churches that I have memories of while working there.

In 1997, Christy and I accepted a call to First Christian Church of Rocky Mount, NC. It was joy for us as we moved to a new church family for the first time as a couple. In September of 1999, Hurricane Floyd impacted that community, along with many others in Eastern North Carolina. Twenty-two percent of the houses in Rocky Mount were flooded. Our church and our house were spared, but 18 fami-lies in our church had water in their homes. Some were never able to return to their homes. Those that did return could only do so after hundreds of hours of diffi-cult work. Whole neighborhoods were wiped out. The only way recovery took place was by the combined efforts of the whole community, the work of many vol-unteers from outside of our community, and the generous giving of people from all over the United States.

One of my strongest memories during those days was of receiving several phone calls from then Week of Compassion Director Johnny Wray. He wanted to assess the needs of our church family and see how Week of Compassion (WOC) could help. A grant was sent to our church, to help the 18 families in need. A short time later a second grant was sent to use toward cleanup efforts in the community at large. Several months later a third grant was sent for our community rebuilding effort. Rev. Wray also visited our area, sharing compassion at a personal level. The work of WOC through gifts, contacts and encouragement was life and soul saving!

Now we can do the same thing for the folks affected by Harvey. Week of Compas-

sion is already contacting churches in those areas; assessing needs of churches

and communities. For the next two Sundays, we will receive special offerings for

WOC/Harvey Relief. Please note on your check the portion you are giving for this

work. Your gift can help another church, another Disciple at one of the most trying

moments in their life. These are the folks who have helped us in times past, let us

help them now!

Rev. Torrie Osgood

PLEASE REMEMBER THESE SPECIAL DATES FOR PAMLICO COUNTY

Saturday—September 30 Pamlico County Heritage Day 10:00-2:00 At the Heritage Center in Grantsboro Hot dogs, burgers, bake sale

Sunday—October 1 Bethany honors Arapahoe’s Firefighters at Worship Service. Join us for a Pot Luck meal after the service in the FlHl

EXODUS BIBLE STUDY

David Bailey reports that Steve Winn of New Bern’s Baptist Men’s Group is leading a team of volunteers to Texas on September 17th to help them recover from Hurricane Harvey. They are looking for volunteers to go with them. They will be taking buses which will entail a cost share of $75.00 for each volunteer. They’ll be returning by September 24th. For more information you could contact Mr. Winn at 252-670-2579.

Our Thanksgivings Prayers continued

Gary Anderson Billy Luzar

Bradford Hodges Torrie Osgood

VAN John Beeman called on Jennie Adams to update

the board on the van situation because he has had

several people comment that a van would be help-

ful to the church in many ways, with a recent

example being that a van could have been em-

ployed to transport a group of people to the fu-

neral services of Mary Ellen Burton. Jennie said

that there are nice vans available for under

$30,000.00. Discussion.

PROPERTY John Beeman, Jr. reported for property that the

alarm system malfunction has been resolved. Ap-

parently water got in it causing it to alarm. Also he

has been in contact with Safe Clean Carpet Care

(company we used last time) about cleaning our

floors. They will charge $1,200.00, same as last

time. John Beeman moved that we schedule them

to come in early October. Mac Harris Seconded

the motion. The vote was called and carried.

John followed up last month’s discussion by in-

forming the group that he had replaced the glass

that was missing in the church sign out front and

will be putting the frame and glass back on the

sign soon. Also Pamlico Tree Care has been out to

look at the Maple tree to be removed and will

charge us $950.00 to remove it (including grinding

the stump). It was asked from where the money

was coming for the tree removal. It is coming

from the CMF.

Also this month, there was a problem with the

carillon. It was humming loudly during the week

and could be heard in the neighborhood. John

stopped the noise by unhooking the hot wire to the

speakers in the bell tower, but later discovered that

what created the issue was the Carillion had been

plugged into the Bose System which was causing

the reverb through the Carillon speakers.

HOUSEKEEPING Christine Beeman reported for housekeeping by

first correcting the minutes from last month. She

had stated last month that she had been monitoring

the state of the women’s bathroom and that the

floor had not been cleaned. (Minutes were cor-

rected) She has talked to the head of Housekeep-

ing, Renee Midyette.

COMMUNICATIONS Chair Mac Harris reported that the committee had

met and discussed a planning calendar and the

photo contest. There was discussion concerning

the rules of photo contest.

OPERATION VEGGIE BOX

Board Minutes (unapproved until October 1, 2017)

Minister Rev. Torrie Osgood

Associate Minister Rev. Roger Bennett

Church Secretary Melissa Watson

Board Chairperson Emily Harper

Choir Director/Pianist Dawn Metts

The Bethany Beacon

Published on the first Thursday after the first Sunday of each month by Bethany Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ) Post Office Box 156, Arapahoe, NC 28510

Vision and Mission Statement

Our highest aspiration is to love God with our

whole being and to love our neighbors as our-

selves.

Our mission is to enable people to know Christ

and to strengthen their personal relationships

with Him.

Bethany Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)

Page 2 Page 3

Bethany News and ViewsBethany News and Views

Bethany office phone number 252-249-0266 Office hours

Mon.—Thurs. 9:00—1:00

September 3, 2017 Members Present: : Margaret Harrell, Buck

Jones, Mac Harris, Christine Beeman, Roger

Ensley, Julia Peterson, Janci Cahoon, Doug

Brinson, Randy Beeman, Jack Lee, Gladys Lee,

Jennie Adams, Rev. Roger Bennett, Rev. Torrie

Osgood, Melissa Watson – Board Clerk, John

Beeman Jr.,– Acting Board Chair, Christy Beach

- guest

Meeting called to order by Vice-Chair John Bee-

man at 7:04 p.m. with prayer and the lighting of

the Christ Candle. With the absence of Board

Chair Emily Harper, Vice-Chair John Beeman

was in attendance and conducted the meeting.

Board Clerk Melissa Watson was in attendance.

Board Clerk read the August 2017 minutes which

the Board approved with two corrections.

FINANCE Treasurer Randy Beeman read the treasurer’s

report. Randy highlighted several areas of contri-

bution and there was discussion concerning clari-

fication of some of the line items. Specifically

addressed was the $49.95 monthly charge from

Century Link which has been discussed in previ-

ous meetings. There has been discussion that the

charges and services from Century Link may

already be covered under our Time Warner Con-

tract. Mac Harris is investigating. The report was

approved as read.

ELDERS Chair of the Elders, Doug Brinson reported that

they had met that morning again with perfect

attendance. Doug explained that much time is

donated to the prayer list and expressed the im-

portance of the concerns of the people that it

contains. This month five people were removed

and three added.

CWF

Margaret Harrell (CWF President) reported that

CWF donated $50.00 (in a gift card) to each of

five teachers/personnel for school supplies. She

also reported that the Harvest Supper was dis-

cussed.

CMF John Beeman reported that the men of CMF

discussed the columbarium, the bell project, and

the proposed wall of Bethany minister portraits.

WORSHIP Worship chair, Melissa Watson, reported that the

committee had met twice since the last board

meeting. The first meeting (August 15) was to

view and discuss a DVD of the workshop that

Rev. Osgood attended at General Assembly. It

was conducted by Dr. Marcia McVee (and based

somewhat on Howard Gardner’s Theory of Intel-

ligences). She discussed ways of including ele-

ments into the worship service that appeal to

different people on different levels. The second

meeting (September 3) was to go through the

church calendar and discuss possible services and

ideas.

Mac Harris reported that OVB Board of Direc-

tors would meet Thursday night to discuss suc-

cession.

NEW BUSINESS Rev. Roger Bennett requested from the Board

permission to allow Robin Kennel Miller, music

director at Cary’s Covenant Christian Church,

to use our bells for a workshop from September

30-October 1. Robin is the grand-daughter of

Phil and Nora Kennel, (daughter of Bob and

Elaine Kennel) who donated the bells to Beth-

any Christian Church. Roger went on to explain

how these types of workshops are conducted

and that Jennie Adams would transport the bells

to Robin and then back to us. Mac Harris

moved that we allow the bells to be loaned to

Robin. Doug Brinson seconded the motion. The

vote was called and carried.

Roger also asked for clarification concerning

the special music balance of $1,135. 91. It is a

special gift from anonymous donors for the

specific purpose of the music program. Also

under discussion was the service we have for

the rights to copy music. We are currently pay-

ing for the lowest level, and it is taken from

administration.

Mac Harris brought to the board’s attention that

it will soon be time for elections and asked if a

nominating committee was in the works. John

Beeman said that Chair Emily Harper is work-

ing on that and the position that needs to be

filled is the Vice Chair position. John Beeman

will be moving into the Chair’s position in

January and Emily Harper will be moving off.

Christy Beach brought to the board the possibil-

ity of a service honoring the fire fighters and

providing them with a meal. The idea was

brought before the worship committee. The

motion was made to honor the firefighters and move

the covered dish dinner Sunday to the first Sunday

instead of the last. Motion was seconded and the vote

called and carried. No covered dish dinner on fifth

Sunday.

The next couple of Sundays (September 10 and Sep-

tember 17) will be designated Week of Compassion

for the flood victims in Texas. We have already re-

ceived $410.00.

MINISTER’S REPORT Rev. Osgood gave a report on the state of his health.

He has Marnier’s disease, and has had it for 15 years.

He has had a flare up recently. He also reported that

today was his first day with the teen Sunday School

Class. He has also been busy preparing for his Bible

Study that begins this Tuesday. Torrie also highlighted

a DVD that will be played on September 24th introduc-

ing the new General Minister and President ---Terry

Owens.

ASSOCIATE MINISTER’S REPORT

Roger Bennett has been hard at work on the Christmas

Program: A Night at the Inne. He also is going to have

knee replacement surgery on October 11.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:19 in a friendship circle.

Respectfully submitted,

Melissa Watson – Board Clerk

John Beeman Jr. Acting Board Chair

Bell/Chime Choir Director

Roger Bennett

Communications Director Mac Harris communica-tions@bethanyarapahoe.org

Editor Jennie Kennel Adams jenniekadams@gmail.com

Rev. Osgood’s cell 803-319-3484 cell

Mac Harris announced that his

son is getting married April 21,

2018. Congratulations to you,

Will and to your bride to be!

Emily and Eric Harper have

revealed that their February

baby will be a little girl.

Congratulations to all the

Harpers and Stilleys.

Christy Beach and Rev. Torrie Osgood

proudly announced that they will hold an

Open House in their new home

in Minnesott Beach for friends

and family on Saturday,

October 7th from 1:30-4:30.

For Our Teen Youth:

The Teen Sunday School class and all teens interested in becoming part of our group are invited to view the hit movie

in preparation for our October lesson mate-

rial. This four week study looks at real life situations, the biblical responses to them, and helps a young person discover what he or she believes and how to stand up for it. It includes a DVD featuring video clips of the movie. Bring your favorite movie snack to share and a friend! Popcorn and drinks will be provided. We will be viewing the movie in our regular Sunday School classroom on September 24 at 6:00

LIGHTS, CAMERA, CLICK!

The Communications Committee invites mem-

bers of Bethany’s congregation to take a

photo of anything that you feel exemplifies

your concept of

Submit your

photo(s) to the church office (no names

tagged to the photo, please) by the 24th of

September and join the congregation in a vote

to decide which posted picture best captures

the theme. Whichever photo wins will then

need to have a title. Again mem-

bers of the congregation will sub-

mit possible names of the picture,

another vote taken, and the win-

ning entry will be matted, framed

and placed in the church for all to

admire. Prizes will be awarded

throughout the process, but the

honor of having your photo win will bring its

own reward. Get your cell phones and cameras

ready to go. This will be fun.

This beautiful rose arrange-

ment was placed at the

entrance to the chapel in

Four Oaks on Friday, Sep-

tember 1st as friends met

with Mary Ellen Burton’s

family. The card simply

stated, Love from Friends

at Bethany Christian

Church. Mary Ellen, Jerry, Beth and Jennifer

were an integral part of Bethany’s family and

history. When Beth hugged Julia Ward’s

neck in the receiving line she quietly said,

“I’ll always consider Bethany and Arapahoe

my home.” Our prayers and love go to

Jerry’s and Mary Ellen’s whole family.

In Memory of Meet Our New General Minister

The 2017 General Assembly, held in July,

saw the election and installation of

Rev. Terri Hord-Owens as the new General Minister and President of

the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in

the United States and Canada. Rev. Owens

is the second woman and the first African-

American to hold this position in our general

church. Now you have an opportunity to hear

her speak. Rev. Owens preached on the last

night of the Assembly and we have a DVD of

that sermon. On September 24, at 6:00 pm,

everyone is invited for a light supper and the

chance to view this 30 minute video immedi-

ately after eating. Come and meet our new

GMP!

Bible Studies Begin, Come Join!

The Evening Bible Study group has started a study of Exodus. The group will meet on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm through November 7. Rev. Osgood has an assignment list. All are welcome! The Morning Bible Study group resumes

meeting on September 11. The group will

study the Non-Pauline Epistles beginning

with the letter of James. The group meets

each Monday at 10:00 am, unless otherwise

noted.

It is not too late to make a pledge to Doug

Cahoon who is riding in the Multiple Scle-

rosis Bike MS this weekend. Checks

should be made out to BikeMS,

and given to Doug

as soon as possible, even after

he has completed the course.

Bike MS, Last Chance

We are still seeking names and addresses of

folks you would like to see invited to Home-

coming. Don’t miss this chance to give your

special someone even more reason to be at

our Homecoming! Names/addresses MUST

be in the church office by Sunday, September

17th.

Homecoming Invitations September 18

Did you know that there are only 111 days

before Christmas? That’s right, and Roger

Bennett has been busy planning for A Night

at the Inne. This is an old fashioned Christ-

mas with lots of things for people to see and

do. It will be on Sat., December 16 at 7:00.