The MESSENGERmountolivetseaford.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/March-2020.pdf · 2nd Gabriel...

THE MESSENGER March 2020

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Mt. Olivet UMC

315 High Street

Seaford, DE 19973

302-629-4458

FAX: 302-629-4452

Email:

[email protected]

web site:

www.mountolivetseaford.org

Office Hours:

Mon-Fri 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Lent 2020: Moving through Duty to Joy

March 1: “40 Days & 40 Nights”

March 8: “The Right One for the Job”

March 15: “Down to the Soles of Our Feet”

March 22: “Now I Can See”

March 29: “The Gift of Tears”

We have to fulfill the responsibilites of the first mile

before we can begin the extra m ile. And then it is the

extra mile that carries us through to freedom and

opportunity, grace and joy.

1. Pastor Christine

2. Attendance/Misc.

3. Bulletin Bd.

4. February B-days &

Anniversaries

5. Preschool News

6. Youth Ministry

7. Lent Services Schedule

8. Mardi Gras

9. Online Giving/ Dec.

Financial Report

10. Looking Forward – 2021

Budget Planning

11. Misc.

12. Misc.

13. Prayer Shawl/Pinewood

Derby

14. Calendar

What’s INSIDE

The MESSENGER

A Publication of Mount Olivet United Methodist Church


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February Attendance 2020

8:30 11:00 Feb 2 28 64 Feb 9 30 86 Feb 16 28 75 Feb 23 24 82

February 2020 Sunday School Attendance

Feb 2 45 Feb 9 50 Feb 16 54 Feb 23 54

Sunday

March 8th (2 a.m. or before you go to bed

on Saturday night)

Be Safe! Change smoke alarm

batteries too!

secretary.mtolivet

@gmail.com

Our Mission and Vision

B.L.E.S.S.

We exist as a people together to...

BRING people into a relationship with Jesus Christ; LEAD people into commitment to God; ENABLE people to grow in Christian living, unity & worship SEND people into the world as ambassadors of Jesus Christ; SO that God is glorified.

Regular Services Sunday 8:30 AM: Early Service in our Chapel 9:45 AM: Sunday School

11:00 AM: Worship Service in our Sanctuary

(Child care available during

the 11 a.m. service)

WEBSITE ADDRESS:www.mountolivetseaford.org

The Preschool just had their annual eye

screening for all the children. Every year

we put out a tub to collect eye glasses that

you no longer use. They are recycled for use

by people that need them. We will be

collecting them for the Seaford Lyons Club

the entire month of March so gather up

your glasses and bring them in. Thank you

so much for your contribution to this effort.

http://www.churchart.com/subscriber/viewimages.aspx?keywords=contact&entry_date=1/1/0001&image_type=,cl,wt,nt,pt,ft#no


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The next MESSENGER will be the

April Issue

Articles are due no later than Mar. 15th.

If you serve as a chair of a committee,

please submit an article. If you have a

praise, blessing or testimony you want to

share, please do so. Pictures are

requested of everything that happens so

please send me pictures!!!!!

Save the Date

(See Calendar for complete list)

March 2 7 p.m. SPRC, Lounge March 4 NOON Lenten Service/ Worship, Seaford Presbyterian March 8 NOON Preschool Bd. Mtg., Choir Rm. March 9 7 p.m. Finance, Lounge March 11 NOON Lenten Service/ Lunch Christ Lutheran 1 p.m. Prayer Shawl, Choir Rm. March 15 NOON Youth Luncheon, Fellowship Hall 1 p.m. Council, Lounge Cherokee, Lounge March 16 7 p.m. Bd. of Trustees, Lounge March 17 6 p.m. UMM Dinner Fellowship Hall March 18 NOON Lenten Service/ Lunch, Mt. Olivet 1:30 p.m. Lois Circle March 23 5-8 p.m. Preschool Fund- raiser, Pizza King March 24 7 p.m. SMA Leadership Rick’s Conf. Rm. March 25 NOON Lenten Service/ Lunch, Our Lady of Lourdes March 28 5 p.m. Church B-day Dinner

LUNCH BUNCH

will not meet in March but the Lenten service/lunch is here at

Mt. Olivet on March 18th. Please join us. The next Lunch

Bunch is on April 15th.


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to

6th Bryan & Susan Carey

1st Suzanne Barnes 11th Corrine Dickerson 21st Jeff Deats

2nd Gabriel Sellers Alexis Penuel 23rd Caitlin Morris

4th Brittany Bowden Cole Baldwin 25th Steve Carson

5th Austin Kraft 13th Shana Wheatley Jodie Daudt

6th Valarie Adkins 16th Joyce Fleetwood Cooper Hearn

8th Shirley Blackwell 19th Tracy Morris Judy Slack

Melissa Ferree 20th Kelsey Webber 31st Paula Wells


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Preschool News This is a busy time of year for the Preschool. However, we have settled down after a powerful high. Our high

excitement was generated from a successful Valentine’s Program for friends and families followed by the fun of

exchanging valentines during our school day. We had 100% attendance at the program and exchanging valentines

means smiles, hugs and fun!

It’s always a joy to greet the children each morning as they come across the parking lot, sometimes jumping the

puddles on Church Street and rushing into the building, greeting their friends and ready for another morning with

us. Tom Spires, from the Seaford Lions Club, returned again this year to do a vision screening for our student body.

Again, this year we will offer a collection site for the Lion’s Club to recycle prescription glasses. A green collection

container will be located in the hall outside the sanctuary doors near the church office through the end of March.

All donations are greatly appreciated.

Preschool registration for 2020-2021 is underway. The Church website will have general information and a

registration form. There is an informational pamphlet on the marble top table at the side door and the church

office has paper applications. We encourage and welcome all interested families to visit while we are in session.

Above: 4 yr. old class ready to go.

Right: 2 & 3 yr. old class are also

performance ready! Left: Eye

Screening-Seaford Lyons Club

It is time for a Preschool Fundraiser. The night is set for

Monday, March 23rd from 5 – 8 p.m. Eat in or carry out but

must present ticket. Bring for family and tell your friends. Come on

out and enjoy a meal and lots of fellowship as we mingle around. Your

participation in the preschool fundraisers for Mt. Olivet is so appreciated and aids in our efforts

to make our Mt. Olivet Preschool the best place to be for all our little ones. Come on out and join

in the fun. See you then! Tickets - from Linda Stephenson /Suzanne Barnes & around Mt. Olivet.


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Youth Ministry

Happy Birthday to all!! The youth group wants to throw a birthday dinner for their church family. It’s been

years since we have held this fun evening of fellowship and food. Mark your calendars now for March 29 at

5:00. The youth will have dinner prepared, activities planned and cakes baked! We will sit with others born

in our same birthday month. After dinner each table will be given a cake and frosting to decorate, so be

thinking about what you can bring to make your cake represent your month. We will have a contest for the

best representation😊 Please join us for a time of fun for all ages.

Cherokee Mission 2020 Planning Begins

The dates of this year’s trip are July 25-August 1, 2020. Our first team meeting will be held on March 15th in

the sanctuary of Mt. Olivet starting at 1:30. The trip is open to youth that have completed the 6th grade and

up. We will have 3 additional team meetings. We require team members to attend 3 of the 4 meetings. The

remaining meeting dates are April 26, June 14 and July 12. We use the meetings as not only informational

meetings but also as a time to build relationships before the trip. This is very important as will be having new

youth and adults from Grace UMC joining our team this year, along with our Union UMC friends. If you

feel God is calling you to serve Him in the mission field please come to this first meeting so you can hear

more about our trip.


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Wednesday Worship and Lunch Lent 2020

Worship each week begins at noon, lunch follows, at about 12:30.

We will take an offering each week for Love INC.

February 26 – St John’s UMC, 300 N Pine St, Seaford

March 4 – Seaford Presbyterian Church, 701 Bridgeville Hwy

March 11 – Christ Lutheran Church, 315 N Shipley St, Seaford

March 18 - Mt Olivet UMC, 315 High St, Seaford

March 25 - Our Lady of Lourdes RCC, 532 E Stein Hwy, Seaford

April 1 – Gethsemane UMC, 2701 Woodland Road, Seaford


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Ready!

We welcomed about 90

family, friends, and

neighbors to our 1st

(annual?) Mardi Gras

party on Tuesday Feb-

ruary 25th.

Hmmm, cookies . . .

Plenty for everyone

The Queen, Ella Sammons

and the King, Cruz Roman!


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Online giving is available for most of the common types of giving. You may

designate money to go to the operating budget or other fund. You may pay

for bulletin covers or flowers just to name a few. It is easy to use and it is safe.

Instructions on how to set up an account can be found at Mt Olivet’s web site:

www.mountolivetseaford.org. Click online Giving, click on HERE in step 1.

Your e-mail account is used as your online giving username. Don’t want to set up an account? You can do Quick Give which takes you directly to a one-time giving form. Online giving accepts debit cards, check cards, Visa, or Master Card. Why use online giving? Maybe all your other giving is done online. You can set up recurring amounts so that your contribution is given at the frequency that you choose. Maybe you are going on vacation or are unable to attend. An easy way to make sure your tithe still gets to Mount Olivet is to use online giving. The options are very flexible. Let’s say you want to give $200 to the Good Samaritan Fund. You can set up a recurring amount of $20 per month for 10 months to happen on the 5th of the month. Donations given online will be noted on your quarterly statements the same as offering donations. For questions/more information, contact Sally Andersen or Scott Bagshaw.

January 2020 Treasurer’s Report

For the month of January, we received contributions of $14,205 and we spent $19,286 giving us a

deficit for the month of $5,080. While this is a large deficit it is less than it has been in the last two

years, and our contributions for the month of January were actually above the average of the last two

years. And our expenses for the month were below the budget for January by $1,050. Two large

items that come up each year are the Security Alarm and HVAC contracts. While they are in the

budget for the month, they account for about half the deficit for the month.

Don’t forget you can make your contribution online, directly from your card or account. Go to our website,

www.mountolivetseaford.org, and select “Give” to set up your contribution, either a onetime gift, or as a regular

deduction. Please give so we can keep our deficit down for 2020.

On behalf of the Finance Committee, Michael Drummond

http://www.mountolivetseaford.org/


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Looking forward to 2021 – Budget Planning

How do we align our budget with our income and our vision?

The Church Council, working with the Finance Committee, the

SPRC and the Trustees are already working to develop a

budget for 2021. Rather than chiseling away from our current

budget, as we have done in the past, we are building a new

plan from the ground up, making these commitments:

1) Our budget, or spending forecast, will balance with our income forecast. In other words, we will not plan to

spend more than we anticipate we will receive.

2) The first 10% of our new budget will be tithed to our mission, work for the Kingdom that takes place outside

of the church walls. The tithe is a scriptural baseline, and an opportunity for us to put ourselves where God’s bless-

ings are pouring out. This is our growing edge.

3) The next layer of the budget will simply be expenses that we have to cover.

4) What is left will be allocated to our discipleship building ministries inside of the church, including Sunday School

for example, and to spending that allows us to do other things we need to do to maintain our property. Internally,

this is another growing edge.

These starting points open up a lot of details to discussion, and every group in the church will have input into this

conversation. Some examples are: How do we define what spending is a part of our tithe? How do we define which

expenses are fixed, items that we have to cover? How do we prioritize other spending in the ministry and mainte-

nance part of our budget?

In very preliminary and round numbers, we can forecast that we will receive $200,000 in income in 2021. $20,000

would be available for mission (keeping in mind that about 38% of our apportionments are already going directly

to mission, almost $9,000) we would have about $11,000 to spend in mission and outreach. Bare minimum

expenses of about $166,000 leave us with $14,000 for discipleship and maintenance spending. Please bear in

mind that these numbers are preliminary, and rounded. Nothing has been decided, and we are refining the process

as we go. We all need to be aware that this work is in progress, and to understand that the objective is to approach

our financial planning faithfully, responsibly, and openly.


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ow do I get my Messenger on line? Go to the website on

the home page: www.mountolivetseaford.org Select Current month under The Messenger – Our Newsletter. That will take you to a page with a link that goes directly to the Messenger. (No need and no link to “download” anything, simply a link directly to the newsletter itself).

Wifi Network: Mt Olivet Public Wifi Password: MtOlivet (You can check in if you use Facebook)

If you use Amazon remember to SMILE! You can make a donation to Mt. Olivet every time you place an order on Amazon! The next time you’re browsing around, type AmazonSmile in the address line. This is still Amazon, it just gives you an option to identify a charity to receive .05% of everything that you spend on the site.

If you use Amazon, there is no reason not to SMILE!

Choose MT Olivet United Methodist Church (in Seaford DE) if you want your contribu-tion to come here, which we hope you will! But there are thousands of other organiza-tions as well. You pay exactly the same amount that you would otherwise, you do not pay the additional .05%, Amazon makes that contribution. Your prime membership and everything else about your account remains the same. If you have any questions at all, talk to Pastor Christine. And thanks to Steve Ferree and Mike Drummond for getting this set up.

KidZone is available at the rear of the sanctuary. This is a place for families with young children to be more comfortable during the worship service. There are a few quiet toys and there is space for children to move around. The wall creates some separation, the windows keep the connection open. It is not available to drop children off.)

http://www.mountolivetseaford.org/


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Communion is celebrated every Sunday immediately following the 8:30 service. If

you do not attend 8:30, you may still choose to come in and gather around the

table. (Except for the first Sunday, when communion is celebrated as a part of

both services)

Every Tuesday morning at 9:00 am a few people get together at the

church to pray. We pray for the ministry of Mt. Olivet U.M.C., and for

God’s blessing and guidance in our worship, our learning, our ser-

vice, and our community. Everyone is invited to join us.

We don’t always do things the same way, sometimes we have a

list, sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we pray out loud, sometimes we are quiet. You’re welcome to pray

silently or aloud, as you’re led, and as you prefer. In this particular setting, we are not praying for

individuals, except occasionally in connection to a specific ministry. Our focus is our connection, and

our ministry in the community and in the congregation.

Our prayers, yours, mine, at church, at home, early, or late, are the foundation of all of the ministries and

the relationships that we share. Find a way, plan to pray!

Thank you everyone who helped support my trip to Disney.

Thanks to your willingness to buy donuts, cards, dessert

tickets, or just give me a donation. I was able to raise all

of the money for my part of the dance trip which was a

great help to my mom and dad. Thanks again everyone! I

can't wait to go to Disney!!! & to share my experience

with everyone when we come back. I feel so blessed.

CheyAnne


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Friends of the Prayer Shawl Ministry have been active in the distribution department.

Recently 7 shawls have been requested for individuals working through life changing

events. During this same period, we have been blessed with several donations of yarn

that works for both shawls and scarves.

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, March 11th, at 1:00 PM in the Choir Room.

We will be switching back to evening meetings for April 8th and May 13th, meeting at

6:30 PM in the Choir Room.

After a summer break, we will resume meeting on the second Wednesday in September.

The Cub Scouts had

their Annual Pinewood

Derby here in Fellow-

ship Hall on Saturday,

Feb. 22, 2020!

So much fun!

March 2020

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The Messenger

March 2020

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 1st Sunday of Lent

8:30 a. Worship, Chapel

9:45 a. Sunday School

11 a. Worship, Sanctuary

2 6:30 p. Pack 182

Fellowship Hall

6:30 p. Troop 182

Choir Room

7 p. SPRC, Lounge

3 4 p. Women’s Emmaus

Reunion Grp, Lounge

6:00 p. Teen Challenge

Dinner

4

NOON – Lenten

Service/Lunch

Seaford,

Presbyterian

5

5:00 p. Bells, Sanctuary

6:30 p. Reunion Choir

Choir Room

6 7

8 2nd Sunday of Lent




12 p. Preschool Bd.,

Choir Rm.

9

6:30 p. Pack 182

Fellowship Hall

6:30 p. Troop 182

Choir Room

7 p. Finance, Lounge

10

4 p. Women’s Emmaus

Reunion Grp, Lounge

11NOON – Lenten

Service/Lunch,

Christ Lutheran

1 p. Prayer Shawl

Team, Choir Room

6 – 8 p. Girl Scouts,

Fellowship Hall

12



Choir Room

13

14

15 3rd Sunday of Lent




12 o, Youth Luncheon,

Fellowship Hall

1 p. Cherokee, Sanctuary

1 p. Church Council,

Lounge

16

6 p. Emmaus Bd.,

Chapel

6:30 p. Pack 182

Fellowship Hall

6:30 p. Troop 182

Choir Room

7 p. Bd of Trustees, Lounge

17


Reunion Grp, Lounge

6 p. UMM Dinner,

Fellowship Hall

18

NOON – Lenten

Service/Lunch,

Mt. Olivet UMC

1:30 p. Lois Circle,

Lounge

19



Choir Room

20

21

22 4th Sunday of Lent




4 p. Men’s Closing, Sanctuary

23

6 p. Chrysalis Bd.,

Chapel

6:30 p. Pack 182

Fellowship Hall

6:30 p. Troop 182

Choir Room

24


Reunion Grp, Lounge

5:30 p., Lydia Circle

Lounge

7 p. SMA Leadership

Mtg., Rick’s Conf. Rm.

25

NOON – Lenten

Service/Lunch, Our

Lady of Lourdes

RCC

6 p. Girl Scouts

Fellowship Hall

26


6 p. Basic Hair Care,

Fellowship H.

Kaitie Carson


Choir Room

27

28

29 5th Sunday of Lent




30

6:30 p. Pack 182

Fellowship Hall

6:30 p. Troop 182

Choir Room

31 Notes: Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 8th, so set your clocks

ahead an hour before you go to bed Saturday Night!

The last Lenten Service/Lunch is at Gethsemane UMC on April 1st at Noon.

Easter Sunday is April 12th.

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