The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has some poll results titled “The Religious Dimensions of the Torture Debate” at http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=156.
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From the monthly archives:
April 2009
The United Methodist Church launched the RethinkChurch initiative recently. This initiative includes a national ad campaign and a new website at www.10thousanddoors.org.
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We want to begin by thanking everyone for their continued faithful stewardship during this economic downturn. But we also think you should know that as of last Sunday, receipts in the general fund were down $4300 for the year 2009 as compared to 2008. We’re aware that tough economic times may have necessitated cutbacks in giving for some and we want everyone to know that the church is cutting costs as well.
We also want everyone to know that none of the recent improvements to the church building and grounds have come from the general fund (the fund into which your offerings go). They have come from money received from memorials, bequests, and special, designated giving. In short, the improvements have not been paid for out of the church’s operating budget and the money spent on them could not be used for general purposes. The general fund keeps the lights on, pays the staff and covers the day-to-day expenses. It is also what funds the various ministries of the church, such as VBS, Sunday School, and our mission projects in the community and around the world. The general fund that supports these ministries is where we’re hurting and that’s where we need your continued support.
Thank you.
Dave Larimore, Church Council Chair
Kathy Wood, Finance Committee Chair
John and Jenny Collins, Pastors
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I recently received some more detailed information on the number of people we have helped so far this year through the food pantry, the emergency assistance fund (I’m beginning to think we should call this the community assistance fund for the sake of clarity), and the single men with children fund, which also applies to grandparents of both genders. (Single women with children are helped through a separate program with separate funding provided by a generous benefactor). The total number of people helped so far this year is 74.
Update: the total is now 75
Later Update: oops … that one was helped through single women with children, so we’re back down to 74.
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As you probably know, Coffeyville First is a collection point for many different kinds of items for recycling. The volume of materials collected each month has been growing. Fortunately, we’ll soon begin getting help from the Coffeyville Community College chapter of Phi Theta Kappa.
Linda McFate, the PTK adviser, provided the following description:
The members of Phi Theta Kappa at Coffeyville Community College are participating in a special recycling project to benefit the children at Tulsa’s Little Lighthouse, a school for developmentally challenged children. The school depends entirely on private funding for operation. You may bring your old newspapers and magazines to the church’s recycling room where the CCC students will gather it up twice a month and take it to the Little Lighthouse’s recycling center. If you cannot bring your items to the church, please call PTK Advisor Linda McFate at 251-7700, ext. 2076 and a member will pick up your donations. Thank you for any assistance you can give to this project to benefit the school and its children.
All in all, it’s a great deal, it helps the church manage an increasing volume of materials for recycling, it provides a community service project for Phi Theta Kappa, and it benefits the kids at Tulsa’s Little Lighthouse.
The church website has a page on recycling at http://blog.coffeyvillefirstumc.org/recycling.
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Food pantry donations will again take center stage in the lobby this coming Sunday. As of a few days ago we had helped approximately 65 people since the beginning of the year through the emergency assistance fund and the food pantry.
Recently, some of our members who are active in the Salvation Army helped us put together a sack of groceries according to Salvation Army specs. The items they include in every sack are: green beans, corn, peas, fruit, soup, pork and beans, tuna, jello, rice, dry beans, peanut butter, crackers, cereal, macaroni and cheese. Other food items will be put to good use filling up the remainder of a sack. We are giving out one sack to singles, couples, and small families; and two sacks to larger families. We’re using money that has been donated to the food pantry to provide milk and other perishables. We’ve been using paper sacks from Braum’s so if you have any extras to donate they would be much appreciated. Donations of personal care items are always helpful.
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This morning’s sermon is now online. It’s available at: http://blog.coffeyvillefirstumc.org/podcasts.
You can also subscribe to our podcast through iTunes.
(iTunes is available as a free download.)
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Unless a blogging emergency arises, there will be no posting for the next 24 hours as I try to take a Sabbath. Feel free to call in case of pastoral emergencies.
"The Church in the Wilderness before an Icelandic Summer Storm" by Trey Ratcliff, flicker username: Stuck in Customs. (CC) Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
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I just turn on the light in a seldom used closet and realized that we were still using incandescent light bulbs there. Then I walked through the parlor and the library and realized that the bulbs in the chandeliers were still incandescent as well. I guess the best that can be said is that we’re working on it. If you’re left wondering what all this is about. See this post at http://www.revcollins.com/archives/1631.
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The May 2009 edition of The Parish Visitor, the church’s newsletter, is available on the newsletter page of www.coffeyvillefirstumc.org.
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