A Vibrant Future On Sunday, April 27,

many of us gathered in the sanctuary following the traditional worship service to receive the report of our Vibrant Church Initiative consultation team. This report, based on data we provided about our congregation and our community, reports submitted by guests to our morning worship services, and information gathered during the consultation team’s time with us, outlined five of our greatest strengths, five areas of concern, and prescriptions for a bright future. Copies are available at the church office and online at bit.ly/VCIReport.

A church conference, in which all members of

Children and youth (pg. 2) Help Wanted (pg. 3)

Important Dates (p. 4) Calendar (p. 5)

Vol. 10, No. 5 May 1, 2014

(cont. on pg. 6)

In this Edition

Town Hall Meeting Dates: Sunday, May 4th, 2:00 p.m. Saturday, May 10th, 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 14th, 7:00 p.m. Called Church Conference (voting on VCI): Sunday, May 18th, immediately following Traditional worship

Food Drive HELP! The Middle School back pack program needs food! This vital program sends backpacks filled with food home each weekend with students in need. Items should be easily opened and consumed by a child (nothing

requiring a can opener). Small containers and single-servings are helpful, as well. “I was hungry, and you gave me food.” (Matthew 25:35)

Join us on WEDNESDAYS from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Deen building. Bring your kindergar-ten through 4th grader for fun, food, and fellowship.

The Youth Group meets on Wednesdays from 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. Come join us for food, fun, and fellowship. We always have a great time! Don’t forget to bring a friend, anyone in 5th through 12th grade is welcome!

Summer Camp Mark your calendars now for Summer Camp at Lakeview, in Palestine, Texas, for all children in grades 4-12. Our week is set for July 7-11. Registration forms and information will be available soon!

Confirmation Class We are holding confirmation class for 5th and 6th graders, as well as older youth. The class will meet during the Sunday school hour in the youth room. All youth are encouraged to attend. Confirmation will be during worship on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11.

VBS

Children currently in grades K-5 are invited to join us for a Weird Animals Adventure, where Jesus’ love is one-of-a-kind, on June 23-27. Mark your calendars. Registration information will be available soon!

Help Jana on Her 3 Day Journey Jana Davis, and her husband Damon, will walk in their 2nd 3 Day 60 mile journey in November to raise money for breast cancer research. They are walking in memory of Linda Glover. If you would like to help them meet their fund raising goal, forms will be available at the church or you can donate online at the3day.org. Keep an eye out for more opportunities to give to this cause.

Help Still Needed! As you may know, Russell Memorial is charter for our local Boy Scout Troop. As such, we have a position as chair person on their troop committee. This position has long been held by Mary Keller. She has faithfully served for many years, even after her son was long out of scouts. She is retiring from scouts and we need to find someone to step into this position. If you, or anyone you know, is interested, please contact the church office (903-873-2569). We would like to thank Mary for so many years of faithful service to the scouts on behalf of the church. We appreciate all you do!

Attention Supper Club Members Due to the busy agenda for our church in May, Supper Club will NOT be meeting this month. We do not meet during the summer, and will start getting together again in September. Have a great summer ,everyone!

Community Garden Have you signed up to help with the new Wills Point Community Garden? Have you placed a donation for supplies in the red bucket at the church? What are you waiting for? We are excited to be sponsoring this wonderful opportunity for our community! Please contact the church office to volunteer.

Birthday Girls Birthday Girls are going to Allure in Rockwall on May 14th. Please be at the church by 10:20am if you need a ride, reservations are for 11:30am. RSVP to Linda Greenwald by May 11th. Don’t miss out on the fun!

Needed: Adult child care provider for our church nursery. Sunday mornings, 8:20 a.m.- 12:15 p.m. Contact the church office (903-873-2569) or The-resa Turner (903-873-3447)

Our Presence and Our Gifts March 30 April 6 April 13 April 20 April 27 the early service 44 39 40 39 25 Sunday School 89 65 88 87 78 Traditional Worship 94 93 110 198 118 $4,585.97 $11,104.22 $5,252.06 $3,969.02 $2,612.50

Dates to Remember! May 4, 2:00 p.m. Town Hall Meeting May 10, 10:00 a.m. Town Hall Meeting May 14, 11:30 a.m. Birthday Girls, Rockwall May 14, 7:00 p.m. Town Hall Meeting May 18, 12:00 p.m. Church Conference-VCI vote, Senior Luncheon, Potluck May 24, 11:00 a.m. Neighbor to Neighbor

May 25, Billy’s last Sunday, start of Annual Conference, NO POTLUCK

May Worship Assistants Altar Guild: Carolyn Hawkins (Chair), Marigrace Lang, Maxine Page, Lucy Hill, Kathleen Bobbitt, Sara Bullard Ushers: Gary Keller (Head), Danny Brown, Tricia Wyatt, Wayne Watson

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Happy Birthday! Bob Gilbreth 5-2 Carolyn Hawkins 5-2 Michelle Caldwell 5-3 Sarah Ellis 5-4 Nate Fincher 5-5 Betty Pratt 5-9 Whitney Kearney 5-11 Joni Tunnell 5-12 Martha Hesse 5-13 Becky Hardy 5-14 Kearstin Hulsey 5-14 Scott Teel 5-15 Jim Hawkins 5-18 Gary Keller 5-18

Dean Hesse 5-18 Beverly Roddy 5-19 Debbie Faulkenbury 5-21 Betty McCormick 5-22 Ed AuBuchon 5-26 Andy Anderson 5-26 Kelly Teel 5-27 Kathleen Bobbitt 5-29 Kimberlie Lumsden 5-31 Jordan Teel 5-31

Community Outreach Program Neighbor to Neighbor Lunch

11 am-1pm Fourth Saturday of each month

Deen Building - George Hall OPEN TO ANYONE

WHO CHOOSES TO COME

Please contact Gerda David for details (214-538-0192).

May

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3

4

8:30 am Early

Service

9:45am Sunday School

11:00am Worship

2:00pm Town Hall Meeting

5

10:00 am Prayer

Group

6:00pm Trustees

6 7:00 pm Cub

Scouts

7 4:00pm Girl Scouts

6:00pm K5 Kids &

Youth 7:30pm Sanctuary

Choir

8 9

10

10:00am Town Hall

Meeting

11 Mother’s Day 8:30 am Early

Service

9:45 am Sunday School

11:00 am Worship

12 10:00 am Prayer

Group

6:00pm Finance

13

6:00pm Jesus

Girls

7:00 pm Cub Scouts

14

11:30am Birthday

Girls

4:00pm Girl Scouts 6:00pm K5 Kids &

Youth

7:00pm Town Hall Meeting

15

16

17

Cub Scout Blue and

Gold Banquet in the Deen Building

18 7:30 am UMM

Breakfast

8:30 am Early Service

9:45 am Sunday

School 11:00 am Worship

12:00pm Church

Conference 12:15pm Potluck

3:00 pm Crestwood

19

10:00 am Prayer

Group

6:30pm Day School

20

7:00 pm Cub

Scouts

21

4:00pm Girl Scouts

6:00pm K5 Kids &

Youth 7:30pm Sanctuary

Choir

22

7:00pm Day School

Graduation

23

24 VCI

Neighbor to Neighbor

Lunch 11 am—1pm

25 8:30am Early

Service

9:45 am Sunday School

11:00 am Worship

NO POTLUCK

26

10:00 am Prayer

Group

27

7:00 pm Cub

Scouts

28

10:00am Sunshine

Circle

4:00pm Girl Scouts 6:00pm K5 Kids &

Youth

7:30pm Sanctuary Choir

29 30 31

Annual Conference

Russell Memorial can cast a vote, has been set for Sunday, May 18, 2014, at noon (following traditional worship). At this meeting we will vote either to accept or reject the prescriptions offered in our VCI report. To help you make an informed decision, a series of town hall meetings will be held for discussion, questions, clarifications, and discernment. These are scheduled for Sunday, May 4, at 2 p.m., Saturday, May 10, at 10 a.m., and Wednesday, May 14, at 7 p.m.

I would like to briefly outline the prescriptions here. Once again, a full text of the report is available at the church office and online at bit.ly/VCIReport.

OUR VCI PRESCRIPTIONS

A Day of Prayer and Repentance to fully prepare us for God’s vision for our future. A Day of Visioning workshop to help us gain clarity on our mission and vision. A Congregational Unity Task Force to build bridges between our worship services, multi-

generations, newcomers to Wills Point, and the Day School. A Discipleship Pathway Team to develop a clear discipleship path and help connect all

ministries and persons into this path, together with a Small Group Team to identify needs for new small group connections, and a Connection Team to help connect and disciple new persons.

A Bridge Building Team to improve signage at the church, to fully integrate the Day School into the mission and ministry of the church, to explore ways to reach out to children, youth, and young adults, to identify needs of the community to which RMUMC can respond, and to conduct community events to reach new people, build relationships, and invite them to worship.

Alignment of all staff position descriptions with our mission and vision, alignment of elected church leadership positions with our mission and vision, a leadership retreat for all staff and elected leaders focusing on alignment with our mission and vision, and a Lay Leadership Task Force to develop a long-term plan for identifying, recruiting, training, supporting, and deploying new leaders.

I invite you to prayerfully consider these prescriptions, attend and participate in the town hall

meetings, and cast your vote at the Church Conference on Sunday, May 18. Together, may we discern God’s vibrant future for Russell Memorial.

Grace & peace, P.S., A Personal Invitation My time as your pastor will soon draw to a close. There is something about knowledge such as

this that lends itself to added clarity about what really matters. During the Sundays of May, I will be sharing from my heart those things which I find most essential to faithfully following Jesus. While I always want you to be in worship, I want to issue a special, personal invitation to you to attend worship each Sunday this month. If you remember nothing else I have said or done in my time at Russell Memorial, I hope and pray you will remember what I will be sharing with you in my teaching series, “Focus: What Matters Most.” I’ll see you in worship.

(cont. from pg. 1)

Love Offering As you know, moving day is fast approaching for our pastor and his family. We would like to send them off with a special love offering. We will be collecting funds in our beautiful “orange” bucket this month. Don’t forget to join us for our potluck on May 18th so you can wish this wonderful family well!

Remember in Prayer: Family of Robin Pruitt America Bennie Scott Bill Lacy Billy Bruster Bo & Maxine Clopton Cliff Rabal Cotton & Lue Miles Chris Cagle Danny Harris Dennis Basham Don & Judith Hollister Eldon Hiler Ft. Hood Victims Methodist Church (RMUMC) Henry Watson Inez Wade Israel, Egypt, Russia, Ukraine,

& Venezuela

Jane Webber Jay & Marty Miller Jennifer Langford Johnny & Laura Bates Joni Tunnell Judy & Walter Cook Ken Davis Kim Hutto Larry Zirkelbach Liz Ellis Louis Carter Londell Green Lopez Miles Mack Waller Margaret Butler Mary Helen Castleberry Nadine & Charles Mills Norma Hundley Our Armed Forces Our World

Phil Looney Ron Turner Sharon Akins Thomas Hill Thompson, Goss, & Garcia

Family Tornado Victims Travis Vivian Pine Wick Wilkerson

Memorials

In memory of Frances Fletcher Given by Billy & Dorothy Bruster,

Tommy & Sylvia Wingo Huckabee, Jean Miracle, and Weldon & Judy Powers

In memory of Joyce Jamieson Given by William & Joan Lanford, and Weldon &

Judy Powers. In memory of Jean Silvers

Given by Bob & Fritz Gilbreth, The Chancel Choir, Charlie, Stacey, Sarah, & Elizabeth Ellis,

and The Friendship Class. In memory of Wana Whitson,

Given by Mabel Reynolds. In memory of Marie Sales Given by Mabel Reynolds. In memory of Freida Hill

Given by Mabel Reynolds.

The Russell Report Russell Memorial United Methodist Church A Family Rooted in Christ and Reaching Out in Love 201 S. Fourth Street P. O. Box 335 Wills Point, TX 75169

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

NON-PROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

PERMIT #2

Wills Point, TX

Dr. Billy Watson, Pastor Dr. Bob Gilbreth, Music Director Nancy McDonald, Office Administrator Fritz Gilbreth, Organist Theresa Turner, Ladies Hand Bells Director Mary Keller, K5 Kids Coordinator Denise Ross, Pianist Jackie Cockerham, Financial Administrator

Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday

Join us Sunday Morning! Contemporary Worship @ 8:30 Sunday School @ 9:45 Traditional Worship @ 11:00