While I was on vacation in Missouri I attended a church that was in the process of taking their welcome of new guests to a new level. They realized that while they had good chil-dren’s and youth ministry, great programming, inspiring wor-ship services and good preaching, there was still something needed to retain the guests who visited their church for the first time.

They had studied a book titled, “The Comeback Effect”

by Jason Young and Jonathon Malm. This book not only speaks to good practices in creating a positive welcome, but stresses the necessity of building a “culture” of welcome, where it is not just those serving in the assigned positions of ushers and greeters, but everyone becomes an agent of wel-come in the church.

I picked up a copy of the book and reading it I thought to myself, “I know most of this stuff.” I realized, however, I wasn’t always practicing what the book was teaching. I think that is sometimes the difference between a good welcome and a great welcome. We know what we should do, but do we do it every time?

I believe if everyone at Wightman read this book and took it seriously, it would totally transform the way we welcome people into our church. Realistically, I know this is unlikely, but I have set as a goal to have at least 100 people read this book by the end of the summer. I am encouraging Sunday School classes to study it, small groups to read through it, and even the formation of new groups just to look at the material and see how we can implement some of the ideas into our church.

As we begin to roll out the study of this book, I hope you will join us in being open

to new ideas and better ways to treat our guests and each other. It will be amazing to

see how just a few small changes can make a BIG impact on our church.

Pastor Brian

From the Pastor Volume 23 issue 6

June 2019

WIGHTMAN ALERT

Issued to Alert You to Church Matters

WIGHTMAN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

The South Carolina Annual Conference (the annual business meeting of pastors and laity from across the state) will be June 2-6 in Greenville. Leonard May and Kirk Atwood will be serving as the lay delegates for Wightman this year. The church office will be closed Monday through Thurs-day in order for our office staff to at-tend the conference. If you should need to reach the pastor while he is at Annual Conference, you may call his cell phone (553-1444).

Annual Conference

Wightman was very happy to receive Kyle Graham on Profes-sion of Faith on May 19. Kyle was a member of this year’s confir-mation class, but was unable to join with the class on April 14 be-cause of illness.

Confirmation

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE FOR MAY

9:00 Worship - 139 11:15 Worship - 124 Combined Worship - 263 Church School - 152

Page 2 WIGHTMAN ALERT

Golf Tournament

WIGHTMAN GOLF TOURNAMENT 2019 (In Memory of Ralph Bowers and Tom Brock)

FUND RAISER for MISSIONS $6,000 Raised

Wightman’s annual golf tournament was held at the Newberry Country Club on Saturday, April 20. Nine teams

participated in the tournament and enjoyed an afternoon of fun and Christian fellowship. Thank you to all the sponsors and volunteers who made the tournament a success!

TOURNAMENT WINNERS

1ST Place Net 2nd Place Net 1st Place Gross (Tie) 1st Place Gross (Tie) 1st Place Gross (Tie) Tom Eustace Brenda Perry Steven Douglas Kirk Atwood Brian Rainwater B. Joiner Nelson Perry Bobby Douglas Chuck Weatherly John Dubiel Ron Wood Joel Carpenter Jeff Jones Gary Lanier DP Fautley David Mitchell Don Carpenter D. McKinnley Dave Fautley

SPONSORS Bowers BP (In Memory of Mark Bowers) Insite Support Group (Chuck Weatherly) HomeMax (Lexington, SC) John and Charlotte Hargreaves (Missions) Counts Tractor Supply (Bryan Counts) Growth Class—Wightman UMC McSwain Evans Funeral Home Seekers Class – Wightman UMC David and Helen Mitchell JC Class – Wightman UMC United Methodist Women - Wightman UMC Dave Fautley United Methodist Men – Wightman UMC Robert Smith Mollie Graham (In Memory of Edwin Graham) Nelson & Brenda Perry Susan Clary (Ed Ellis Class, First Baptist Church) David Christianson Larry and Emily Graham (In memory of Johnny James) Kirk and Shirley Atwood Harold and Jane Broughton (In memory of Marilyn Bouknight) Johnny and Jennifer Becknell ( In memory of Tom Brock)

Emmaus Luncheon

All those who participate in Emmaus are reminded that there will be no luncheons in June and July. The luncheons will resume in August.

Please Note!

Kendell Healy has a new cell phone number. If you need to reach him, please call 803-317-5432. Thank you!

Join us for the

Carolina Celebration of Liberty

Sunday, June 30 - 4:00 p.m. First Baptist Church, Columbia, SC

Admission is free, but each guest must have a ticket. If you want a ticket, sign the sheet at the mailboxes. The church bus will be taken or in-dividual cars. Sign up and indicate if you will be riding the bus or driving.

Sisters of Christ

SOC will meet on Thursday, June 20, at 6:00 p.m. at The Palms restaurant in Newberry. All ladies are invited to come join them for this fun night out!

VOLUME 23 ISSUE 6 Page 3

ALTAR FLOWERS June 30 - Jamie and Rhonda Johnson

CROSS BEARERS June 2 - Madison Graham 9 - Kim Graham 16 - Janet Davenport 23 - Cathy Dubiel 30 - Linda Richardson

ACOLYTES June 2 - Kayleb Graham 9 - Kyle Graham 16 - Hannah Davenport 23 - Jessi Pitts 30 - Hudson Defreese

USHERS Rusty Farmer, Ed Skinner, Tom Eustace, Jeff Murray

GREETERS Tom and Donna Eustace

TRUSTEE Laura Kneece

NURSERY MINISTRY Nursery Coordinator—Kristin Defreese (924-5040)

June 2 - Carla Dudek - 9:00 Kristin Defreese - 10:00 Connie Johnson - 11:00 9 - Mimi Rogers - 9:00 Kristin Defreese - 10:00 Madison Butler - 11:00 16 - Cassie Rainwater - 9:00 Kristin Defreese - 10:00 Emily Cope - 11:00 23 - Kelly Johnson, Kim Hamm - 9:00 Zadean and Christy Bouknight - 10:00 Jessica Jones, Amanda Finley - 11:00 30 - Melissa Freeman - 9:00 Kristin Defreese - 10:00 Laurie Shacker - 11:00

LAY READERS June 2 - Jackie Bowers 9 - Hubert Kinard 16 - Pat Furstenberg 23 - Gary Hooker 30 - John Dubiel

June Assistants Traditional Service (9:00)

GREETER

Henry Dominick

USHERS Joe Palmer, Ken Cope,

Kyle Cannon, Brian LeCompte, Kyle Kneece

JUICE/WATER Chris, Brenda and Madison Koon

June Assistants Contemporary Service (11:15)

Pick up on June 15 from 10 a.m.—12 noon in the CLC

Special Gift to Wightman

Operating Budget In memory of Frances Spotts on Mother’s Day by Larry and Linda Spotts.

Crochet/Knitting Classes

Crochet/knitting classes are held on Sunday afternoons at 3:00, with the exception this month of June 16 and June 23. If you would like to know how to crochet or knit this is the opportunity. For more infor-mation please contact Tina Hooker at

803-422-9029 or Mimi Rogers at 704-797-1266 or just show up on Sunday afternoons.

Page 4 WIGHTMAN ALERT

June 1 - Kimberly Dominick, Henry Wohnig 2 - Jared Joiner, C.J. Lathrop 4 - Sam Johnson, Charles Pardee, Kane Summer 6 - Amir Cromer, Sydney Owens 7 - Ann Bowers, Stephanie Johnson 8 - Frank Harmon 9 - Preston Cook, Sarah Oster 10 - Madison Graham 11 - Lila Ridlen, Jessi Pitts 12 - Ken Cope 14 - Bryan Bowers, June Farr, Ron Northcutt, Mike Wood 15 - Steven Douglas, Elyssa Haven 16 - Erin Davis 17 - Denise Johnson, Dan Murphy 18 - Lauren Cope, Glenn Rhodes 19 - Brandon Fowler 21 - Gary Heinly, Chandler Waites 22 - Hannah Caudill, Kayleb Graham, B.J. Harris 23 - Mindy Armstrong, Karen Bowers 24 - Zadean Bouknight, Ted Graham, Bryant Jennings, James Scott, Cole Harper 26 - Summer Childers, Vicki Hamm, Rhonda Johnson, Jerry Rouse, Roman Studer 27 - Viki Moore 30 - Melanie Bedenbaugh

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Anniversaries June 4 - Tim and Jessica Ringer 5 - Ron and Lisa Abrams 7 - Tom and Donna Eustace 9 - Norman and Bebe Way 10 - Rusty and Anna Farmer 12 - Jeff and Laurie Shacker 15 - Dewey and Marie Earwood Martin and Brittin Friar David and Tina Hatch Darin and Beverly Shealy 19 - Henry and Kimberly Dominick 22 - Jack and Teresa Owens 23 - Tom and Susan Saunders 27 - Mike and Lucy Anne Meetze Kyle and Kristina Cannon 29 - Leonard and Therry May

Monthly Financial Summary General Funds (total) $109,226.99 Designated Funds 69,133.91 General Funds Available 40,093.08 Capital Improvement Fund 198,053.36 Total Funds $307,280.35

Mr. & Mrs. Mickey Fulmer

& Mr. and Mrs. William Joiner request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their children

Beth Fulmer and

Levi Joiner Saturday, the twenty-second of June

two thousand and nineteen at four o’clock in the afternoon

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church 4056 St. Luke’s Church Rd

Prosperity, SC

Cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and dancing to follow at The Country Club of Newberry

Healing Hearts June 27, 2019

Lunch on the Lake (Details later…)

VOLUME 23 ISSUE 6 Page 5

Youth News

As we finish our final preparations for our Colorado mission trip, the youth would like to thank our church family for their financial support and generosity in all of our fund-raising efforts. Because of your giving, we have been able to cover all the costs of our trip through fundraising and donations. We are praying that we will be able to share God's love with many people while in Colorado and that would not be possible without our Wightman fam-ily, so we thank you all!

We have two Youth Missions "Fun"draisers scheduled for the month of June. June 4 is our sponsor night at Zaxby’s from 5-8 p.m. and June 17 will be our Wightman Youth night at Sonic in Newberry from 5-8 p.m. Please plan to come eat with us on those nights with proceeds going to support our future missions work as a youth group.

Calling all rising 6th graders: We know you're as excited as we are to be a part of our Wightman Youth, so we are inviting you to come hang out with us and see what Youth is all about! Bring a friend and join us Sunday, June 2, from 5-7 p.m. at the Light-house! All current youth are encouraged to bring a ris-ing 6th grader or a youth-aged friend for a fun night of pizza, music, and games. See you there!!

On Saturday, July 13, the youth will go to a Fire-flies game in Columbia. The cost will be $10 per person which will include a $5 meal voucher for each person. Please let us know by June 20 if your student is planning to go. The youth will not be meeting on a weekly basis during the month of Ju-

ly. We do have several fun events planned, so make sure you follow us on Facebook and Instagram @Wightmanyouth to keep up with what's going on!

Thank You!

Dear Wightman Church Friends, Thank you for all the prayers, visits, and cards while I was in the hospital and at home recovering from the infection in my finger.

Thank you, Alice Douglas

JOY Group

The JOY Group will take a mystery trip on Monday, June 10. Meet in the church parking lot at 9:45 and bring $10 for lunch. The group will return around 5:30 p.m. They will be mostly inside and

there will be places to sit. There will be some walk-ing, but not for long distances. Sign up beside the mailboxes in order to reserve a seat on the church bus.

Administrative Council Report

The Administrative Council of Wightman United Methodist Church met Sunday, May 19, at 4:00 p.m. in the Asbury Bedenbaugh Sunday School classroom in the Christian Life Center Finance Chairman Gregg Turner gave a quick over-view of the financial report with expenses for the 1st quarter of $100,949 and income of $98,341.00. Chair-man Turner gave a short discussion of the replacement of the lights in the sanctuary. The recommendation from the finance committee to pay the full amount of the cost of the light replacement from the Capital Improvement Fund was presented.

Chairman Turner presented the recommendation from the Finance Committee to allow the Finance Com-mittee to act on the responses received from the 3 quotes (Pollock, Carolina Business Equipment and Duplicating Products, Inc.) which are due by Tuesday, May 21 at 4:30 pm on the lease of a new color copier. Trustee Chairman John Dubiel reported that 3 tele-vision sets are needed for the monitor/information cen-ter. These would replace the mission and information boards in the hallway outside the secretary’s office. Chairman Dubiel informed members that the large bus has had a problem with the battery going dead. A kill switch was installed on the battery box to stop this prob-lem. The awning over the educational building entrance door needs to be replaced. Trustees have received an estimate from West Electrical Contractors of $6,500. Additional estimates are needed. Youth Minister Chris Butler reported that the youth will have an end of the year pool party on May 23. On June 2 (Youth/Graduate Sunday) the youth will lead both worship services. Also June 2 will be 5th grade night for upcoming 6th graders to check out the Light-house at the youth meeting. On July 13 the youth will attend the Fireflies baseball game at a cost of $10.00 per person. Chris Koon spoke for the missions committee. Sup-plies are needed for the El Salvador mission trip. Rose-mary Bowers said that the UMW is making pillowcase dresses, 30 blankets for the children in the orphanage and collecting crayons and other supplies for the VBS

(Continued on page 8)

UMKIDS

Holy Moly Sunday School Stories June 2 The Captain of the Storm Paul/Philippians 9 Filled Full Fruit of the Spirit 16 Treasure Hunt Father’s Love 23 The Friend of Little Children Stop for God 30 The Man Who Didn’t Have Any Friends Grow with Jesus

VBS Director’s Meeting The Vacation Bible School directors will meet on

June 2 from 3:00 until 4:30 p.m. in the FISH

Sunday School classroom, upstairs in the Chris-

tian Life Center. Time is getting short, so eve-

ryone, please try to attend!

CHILDREN’S SERMONS June 2 - Youth Sunday 9 - Communion 16 - Madison Graham 23 - Henry Dominick 30 - Will Murray

Thanks to all who came to our Picnic in the Park. We all had a lot of fun!

Page 6 WIGHTMAN ALERT

Vacation Bible School

July 7-11

6:00-8:30 p.m.

V a c a t i o n B i b l e S c h o o l 6:00-8:30 p.m.

Choir-6:30

June 2019 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

2 3 4 5 6 7 1

8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30

July 1 2 3 4 5 6 Salkehatchie through July 6 Crochet/Knitting Group - 3:00 pm Carolina Celebra-tion of Liberty - 4:00 pm Youth - 5-7 pm

Youth Night @ Sonic - 5:00-8:00 pm

Trip to Israel

through June

24

Father’s Day Youth - 5-7 pm

Healing Hearts -

TBA

Bible Study-6:30

Choir - 6:30 pm

Bible Study-6:30

Newsletter

Staff - 3:00 pm

Choir—6:30 pm

Bible Study-6:30

Choir - 6:30 pm

Single Ladies

Lunch - 11:15 am

Youth Colorado

Mission Trip

through June 28

JOY Group Mys-

tery Trip - 9:45

am

SC Annual Conference, Greenville (office closed)

Independence

Day - Church

Office Closed

El Salvador Mis-

sion Trip through

June 28

Newsletter

Deadline - 1:00

Loaves and Fish-

es - 5:30-7:00

Bible Study-6:30

BBQ Mission

Fundraiser

Pick-Up - 10:00

am until 12:00

pm

VOLUME 23 ISSUE 6 Page 7

Youth/Graduates Pizza with the Pastor - 12:30 VBS Director’s & Crochet Gp-3:00 5th Grade Nite @ Lighthouse

Communion Crochet/Knitting Group - 3:00 pm Youth - 5-7 pm

Bible Study-6:30

Choir - 6:30 pm

Youth Night @ Zaxbys - 5:00-8:00 pm

Sisters of Christ

- 6:00 pm

WIGHTMAN ALERT Page 8

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID Prosperity, SC Permit No. 1

Phone: 364-2340 (Church) 364-2304 (Parsonage)

803-553-1444 (Pastor’s Cell) Church E-Mail: unitedw@bellsouth.net Pastor’s E-Mail: btrainwater@umcsc.org

Web Site: www.wightmanumc.org

Brian T. Rainwater, Pastor P. O. Box 376

Prosperity, South Carolina 29127

WIGHTMAN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Sunday Schedule Traditional Worship – 9:00 a.m. Sunday School – 10:15 a.m.

Contemporary Service - 11:15 a.m.

Administrative Council Report (Continued from Page 5)

that will be held for the children there. Twenty pairs of shoes are also needed for the children. Donations of $25.00 for each pair of shoes were requested from Sunday school classes and individuals as well as donations to offset the cost of the other supplies. Tickets are available for the Bar-B-Que fundraiser being held June 15 to benefit the El Salvador mis-sion trip. Children’s Minister Jennifer Boozer reminded everyone that there is a spot for them to help at Vacation Bible School July 7-11. Decorating the church will occur the week before. Participants can register on the Wightman web site. Volunteers are asked to complete the insert in the bulletin. For most volunteers their background check is still in effect since the check is good for 3 years. Worship Chairman Cathy Dubiel reported that our graduates will be recognized on June 2. Communion has been moved to June 9. On Father’s Day, June 16, all men of the church will receive a gift. Discipleship Chairman Jared Jones told members that the 2 exercise classes are going well. The crochet group would like to make hats for the newborns in the hospital. They are working on a video for new member classes about the Methodist church. Pastor Rainwater would like to see dinner groups formed of 6 to 8 people who share a meal each month to get to know each other better. He has just read the book, The Comeback Effect, about getting visitors to come back to church after visiting. He feels the book would be good for all members of the church. He may present it as a sermon series, pastor’s study, Sunday school class study, or have copies available for individual purchase. The next scheduled council meeting will be Sunday, July 21, 2019.