By the time you receive this newsletter, the 2008 Presidential Election will be over, and we will have a newly elected President who will assume office in January. Closer to home this also means the Athens City Council will have at least one new member in place. However we feel about the outcome of these elections, they are our leaders for the next few years. They have a great responsibility to fulfill. Because they are our leaders, they are deserving of our prayers. In fact, it is our duty as Christians to pray for them. In I Timothy 2:2 Paul wrote, “First of all I urge that supplication, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings (presidents, council members) and all who are in high positions.” My prayer for all leaders is that they go about their work with a sense of their accountability to God. I pray that they will be filled with wisdom for their tasks and that they will work for justice and peace in our world. The second thing I want to address is the All Saints Service on Sunday. During the service, we honored the memory of the following church members who have died since last year’s service: William David Case, Fannye Rudd Ellis, Marvin Farris, Phyllis Q. Farris, Nancy Liner Fugate, Karen A. Headrick, Louise Lepchitz, Thomas B. Mayfield, III, Vaudine C. McKinney, Lynwood Payne, Jerry A. Rowden, and Mary Jo Shankle. A special thank you to the choirs and Douglas H. Manley, Organist and Choir Director, for the beautiful anthem. Also, a word of appreciation to Buddy Biddle for preparing the memorial table with candles. I also want to remind you that Sunday, November 9 in The Gathering, and Sunday, November 16 in the Traditional service will be Stewardship Sunday. By now, everyone should have received a letter and commitment card from our Stewardship Chairperson, Austin Fesmire. I encourage you to carefully read the letter and to pray about your plan for giving to the church during 2009. We have projected a budget of $829,782 for next year, but the final budget will not be set until all the commitment cards are received. It is my prayer that we will be able to fully fund our program of ministry for the coming year. I want to remind you of the Community Thanksgiving Dinner. This community outreach program is one of the ways we reach out to the folks in the community. This year Mildred Prince and Kathy Robinson will be the meal coordinators, but it takes a lot more than these two to make the meal a success. We will need folks to set up before the meal and to clean up afterward. We will need volunteers to deliver meals and to serve the meals at the church. We will need folks to prepare desserts and salad. Please be willing to help make this meal a success. Finally, the Community Thanksgiving Service will be held on Tuesday, November 25 at 7:00 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church. I will be the preacher for this service. Please make a special note that this service has been moved to Tuesday evening instead of Wednesday. I thank God for each of you. Mike |
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