The Spire - St. Luke's United Methodist Church
The Spire - St. Luke's United Methodist Church The Spire - St. Luke's United Methodist Church
Awaken Embrace 2 Train Move THANK YOU for Prayer Walking with St. Luke’s program, we have drawn closer to God through Thanks to all of you who made Commitment Sunday a great success! Our church has been in prayer during the past weeks supporting our ministries to Children, to students, for outreach at the Gethsemane campus, to expand a caring network within our congregation, and to encourage us to deepen our spiritual journey by joining a training team. Our congregation has responded generously as we recommitted ourselves to Christ and to St. Luke’s and as we brought our gifts to the altar for dedication. As of November 14, we received 735 commitments for $4,225,167 and gifts continue to come in. We believe God has big plans in store for St. Luke’s, but we need your help. During the Prayer Walking wherenoonewalksalone A place to share our stories and pictures If you have a story, poem or picture to share, please send it to Sally Penning at spenning@stlukesmethodist.org I received an email the other day from a mom that was interested in getting her son connected in our student ministry. This is the sort of email that, as a youth minister, I get all the time, but this message was different than all the others. The words that followed were of a mother that was craving a sense of belonging for herself and her son, and from her story, I learned that they had Westheimer Campus: 3471 Westheimer | Houston, Texas 77227 Gethsemane Campus: 6856 Bellaire Blvd. | Houston, Texas 77074 Advent Edevotional Begins November 28, the weekday email Advent Devotionals will begin. The first two will be sent to everyone with a link to “opt in”. Thereafter only those who have opted in will receive them. It’s a Wonderful Life! Come enjoy this unique and beloved holiday classic presented as a “live” radio show at 7 pm on Saturday, December 3 in the Rotunda Theater. Our presentation is the same great, familiar story but set in a small radio station in Montclaire, New Jersey. Awaiting the arrival of the stars to re-create the movie for radio, the staff of the station discover that Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed are stuck in a snow bank in Philadelphia and won’t make it. Scrambling like crazy, these small-time radio actors find themselves called upon to deliver the story themselves and rise above their own fears and inadequacies to fulfill the mandate: The show must go on! Calling upon the audience members for help to pull it off, the team of five actors, piano, and sound team portray all 30+ roles in the script. There is no charge for admission; doors open 30 minutes prior to show time. Come early for a good seat! prayer. There is no better way to say “thank you” for the many blessings we have been given than by giving back to God a portion of what is given to us. Giving is not something we have to do, rather, it is something we are privileged to do because we are blessed. Every gift really does make a difference, for the giver as well as the receiver. If you haven’t yet made your commitment for 2012, you can still do so by bringing or mailing in your completed gift card, or even easier, make your gift commitment online by visiting www. stlukesmethodist.org/stewardship. Thank you for your commitment to our church and its ministry for Christ. tried to find that community in several places to no avail. In my reply, I told her about our programming and the opportunities for her son to get connected and let her know that I would be available to meet on Sunday. As Sunday morning approached and I made my way to St. Luke’s, I went through my normal routine and headed down the stairs to the Fellowship Hall. As I sat down with my wife, I realized how many people were in the chairs all around me, and as I scanned the faces of the crowd, I realized … “It’s going to be very hard for me to meet this family.” Right when I said that to myself the attendance pad fell in my lap, I opened it up, and you would not believe who was sitting three chairs from me. It’s awesome how God works in the little things like that. After the Continued on page 6 StLukesMethodist.org 713-622-5710 Outreach reaching out to our community and the world Opportunities to Serve: CCSC’s Jingle Bell Express: Just show up on December 5, 6 and 7 from 6 – 8 p.m. to Sort & Set-up (Prepare toys and food for distribution) and December 9 and 10 from 7:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. for Distribution (Assist clients as they gather toys, books & food) Location: Bellaire United Methodist Church, 4417 Bellaire Blvd. Life House Houston, a Christ-centered ministry providing housing, healing and hope for those touched by an unplanned pregnancy, has a vast array of volunteer opportunities. Please contact Amanda Butler at 713-623- 2120 or email info@lifehousehouston.org. You can also go to www.lifehousehouston.org. Apollo Mixed Martial Arts Club, AMMAC, greatly needs volunteers on Mondays and/or Wednesdays from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at Sharpstown High School to help youth with after school activities. If you have a heart for youth and interest in sports, show-up in sneakers ready to build relationships with teens. Please call Jasmine Young, Associate Director of Student Ministries at 832-922-9215 or email jyoung@StLukesMethodist.org. Small Steps Nurturing Center has a great need for volunteers to help with its “Thursday Night Support Group” program. There are opportunities to share Bible stories, light meals, conversation and prayers. Please contact Verna at vnoack@ssnc.org. Woodworkers Ministry: Looking for a way to serve? Consider joining the St. Luke’s Woodworkers Ministry, a friendly group of men and women making classic-style wooden toys year ‘round (over 11,000 in 2010) for children at agencies and orphanages, locally and abroad. These folks also repair and build furniture, plus help with special projects for many nonprofits. Across from the church on Edloe, the Woodshop is equipped with all the modern tools to build most anything from wood. Please contact Alice at aking@stlukesmethodist.org for more information about volunteering on Monday and Tuesday mornings.
Awaken Embrace 3 Train Move This Christmas St. Luke’s will partner with Baker-Ripley Neighborhood Center to provide gifts for deserving families. Your cash donation assures that families will receive a toy for each child, a gift for each teenager, female and male adults and a family gift basket. You can be involved in many ways: join the wrapping party on Wednesday, November 30 at 6 p.m. at Gethsemane campus, help at Angel Tree event on December 4 from 12:30–2:30 p.m. at Gethsemane and donate money for the gifts. Please contact Lynda at lisensee@stlukesmethodist.org or Alice at aking@stlukesmethodist.org. A Special Encounter Contemporary Worship Service–December 4, 2011, 8:45 a.m. Sometimes we receive the most unexpected gifts! In this special Encounter service on Sunday, December 4, the Encounter Band, led by Faith Ayers, along with some of the city’s finest string players will join in a musical celebration of the coming of the greatest gift of all, the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. After worship, you are invited to join us for brunch in the Activity Center. The angel Gabriel came to announce the arrival of that Gift and his message changed the world and surprised a very young Mary! Dr. Pace will have us thinking about the unexpected gifts in our lives as he continues preaching on our Advent sermon series It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like…. As a part of your journey through Advent, come to Encounter on December 4 and let your hearts be opened and your spirits lifted by song and sermon as we remind ourselves what The Gift of Christmas truly is. Tom Pace, preaching Special music from our own Encounter Band accompanied by our city’s finest string players. Bless Friday This year instead of participating in the frenzied Christmas shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, come to the Gethsemane Campus, 6856 Bellaire Blvd., and make blessing bags of non-perishable food items for distribution to Houston’s homeless who we see on street corners. The event will begin at 10:00 am and end with lunch. Please bring a dish to share with our community as we share our blessings serving others. For further information, contact Mireya Ottaviano, 832-242-8176. All-Church Christmas Brunch The All-Church Christmas Brunch, December 4, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Activities Center Sponsored by Children’s Ministries The wonderful Advent season is almost here! Come join us for our long-standing holiday tradition, the All-Church Christmas Brunch. We are featuring some of our favorite events and a NEW brunch menu: •Advent Workshop – crafts for children of all ages; •Friends at Home Gift – make a gift for one of our Friends at Home members. Our pastoral staff will deliver them in mid December; •Visit with Santa – bring your camera; •Sing-a-long with Rob Landes – a favorite holiday tradition; and •Brunch menu includes scrambled eggs, bacon, tortillas, roasted potatoes, fruit, cinnamon rolls and pancakes…delicious! The Advent Workshop is offered through the support of Sunday School teachers, Sunday School classes, our Woodshop friends, and several dedicated adult and youth volunteers. This event is a great time for fellowship, food and fun. Won’t you consider inviting a friend or neighbor to join you? Purchase your tickets in advance online at www.stlukesmethodist.org/Advent or the day of the event beginning at 9am. Prices are $10 for adults and $5 for children. Westheimer Campus: 3471 Westheimer | Houston, Texas 77227 Gethsemane Campus: 6856 Bellaire Blvd. | Houston, Texas 77074 When reaching out into the community surrounding Gethsemane, it doesn’t take long to figure out that the families we have to pull from are diverse. The rainbow of ethnicities is immediately apparent when you step out the front door and into the community. That diversity has also become a big part of our church community. In line with that growth, it is exciting to share that this December Gethsemane will host what is probably our first Quinceañera service in history. This will also be my first experience officiating at such a service, and I feel honored to be a part of such a culturally rich tradition. How powerful to be a place where a young girl would choose to come of age. Blessings, StLukesMethodist.org 713-622-5710 A Place to Come of Age
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Awaken Embrace 2<br />
Train Move<br />
THANK YOU for Prayer<br />
Walking with <strong>St</strong>. Luke’s program, we have drawn closer to God through<br />
Thanks to all of you who made Commitment Sunday<br />
a great success! Our church has been in prayer during<br />
the past weeks supporting our ministries to Children,<br />
to students, for outreach at the Gethsemane campus,<br />
to expand a caring network within our congregation,<br />
and to encourage us to deepen our spiritual journey by<br />
joining a training team. Our congregation has responded<br />
generously as we recommitted ourselves to Christ and<br />
to <strong>St</strong>. Luke’s and as we brought our gifts to the altar for<br />
dedication. As of November 14, we received 735 commitments<br />
for $4,225,167 and gifts continue to come in.<br />
We believe God has big plans in store for <strong>St</strong>. Luke’s,<br />
but we need your help. During the Prayer Walking<br />
wherenoonewalksalone<br />
A place to share our stories and pictures<br />
If you have a story, poem or picture to share, please send it to<br />
Sally Penning at spenning@stlukesmethodist.org<br />
I received an email the other day from a mom that was interested in getting<br />
her son connected in our student ministry. This is the sort of email that, as a<br />
youth minister, I get all the time, but this message was different than all the<br />
others. <strong>The</strong> words that followed were of a mother that was craving a sense of<br />
belonging for herself and her son, and from her story, I learned that they had<br />
Westheimer Campus: 3471 Westheimer | Houston, Texas 77227<br />
Gethsemane Campus: 6856 Bellaire Blvd. | Houston, Texas 77074<br />
Advent Edevotional<br />
Begins November 28, the weekday email<br />
Advent Devotionals will begin. <strong>The</strong> first two<br />
will be sent to everyone with a link to “opt in”.<br />
<strong>The</strong>reafter only those who have opted in will<br />
receive them.<br />
It’s a Wonderful Life!<br />
Come enjoy this unique and beloved holiday<br />
classic presented as a “live” radio show at 7 pm<br />
on Saturday, December 3 in the Rotunda <strong>The</strong>ater.<br />
Our presentation is the same great, familiar<br />
story but set in a small radio station in Montclaire,<br />
New Jersey. Awaiting the arrival of the<br />
stars to re-create the movie for radio, the staff<br />
of the station discover that Jimmy <strong>St</strong>ewart and<br />
Donna Reed are stuck in a snow bank in Philadelphia<br />
and won’t make it.<br />
Scrambling like crazy, these small-time radio<br />
actors find themselves called upon to deliver the<br />
story themselves and rise above their own fears<br />
and inadequacies to fulfill the mandate: <strong>The</strong><br />
show must go on!<br />
Calling upon the audience members for help<br />
to pull it off, the team of five actors, piano, and<br />
sound team portray all 30+ roles in the script.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is no charge for admission; doors open<br />
30 minutes prior to show time. Come early for a<br />
good seat!<br />
prayer. <strong>The</strong>re is no better way to say “thank you”<br />
for the many blessings we have been given than by<br />
giving back to God a portion of what is given to us.<br />
Giving is not something we have to do, rather, it is<br />
something we are privileged to do because we are<br />
blessed. Every gift really does make a difference,<br />
for the giver as well as the receiver.<br />
If you haven’t yet made your commitment<br />
for 2012, you can still do so by bringing or mailing<br />
in your completed gift card, or even easier, make<br />
your gift commitment online by visiting www.<br />
stlukesmethodist.org/stewardship. Thank you for<br />
your commitment to our church and its ministry<br />
for Christ.<br />
tried to find that community in several places to no avail. In my reply, I told her<br />
about our programming and the opportunities for her son to get connected and<br />
let her know that I would be available to meet on Sunday.<br />
As Sunday morning approached and I made my way to <strong>St</strong>. Luke’s, I went through<br />
my normal routine and headed down the stairs to the Fellowship Hall. As I sat<br />
down with my wife, I realized how many people were in the chairs all around me,<br />
and as I scanned the faces of the crowd, I realized … “It’s going to be very hard for<br />
me to meet this family.” Right when I said that to myself the attendance pad fell<br />
in my lap, I opened it up, and you would not believe who was sitting three chairs<br />
from me. It’s awesome how God works in the little things like that. After the<br />
Continued on page 6<br />
<strong>St</strong>Lukes<strong>Methodist</strong>.org<br />
713-622-5710<br />
Outreach<br />
reaching out to our community<br />
and the world<br />
Opportunities to Serve:<br />
CCSC’s Jingle Bell Express: Just show up on<br />
December 5, 6 and 7 from 6 – 8 p.m. to Sort & Set-up<br />
(Prepare toys and food for distribution) and December 9<br />
and 10 from 7:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. for Distribution (Assist<br />
clients as they gather toys, books & food) Location:<br />
Bellaire <strong>United</strong> <strong>Methodist</strong> <strong>Church</strong>, 4417 Bellaire Blvd.<br />
Life House Houston, a Christ-centered ministry<br />
providing housing, healing and hope for those touched<br />
by an unplanned pregnancy, has a vast array of volunteer<br />
opportunities. Please contact Amanda Butler at 713-623-<br />
2120 or email info@lifehousehouston.org. You can also<br />
go to www.lifehousehouston.org.<br />
Apollo Mixed Martial Arts Club, AMMAC,<br />
greatly needs volunteers on Mondays and/or Wednesdays<br />
from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at Sharpstown High School to help<br />
youth with after school activities. If you have a heart for<br />
youth and interest in sports, show-up in sneakers ready to<br />
build relationships with teens. Please call Jasmine Young,<br />
Associate Director of <strong>St</strong>udent Ministries at 832-922-9215<br />
or email jyoung@<strong>St</strong>Lukes<strong>Methodist</strong>.org.<br />
Small <strong>St</strong>eps Nurturing Center has a great need<br />
for volunteers to help with its “Thursday Night Support<br />
Group” program. <strong>The</strong>re are opportunities to share Bible<br />
stories, light meals, conversation and prayers. Please<br />
contact Verna at vnoack@ssnc.org.<br />
Woodworkers Ministry: Looking for a way<br />
to serve? Consider joining the <strong>St</strong>. Luke’s Woodworkers<br />
Ministry, a friendly group of men and women making<br />
classic-style wooden toys year ‘round (over 11,000 in<br />
2010) for children at agencies and orphanages, locally and<br />
abroad. <strong>The</strong>se folks also repair and build furniture, plus<br />
help with special projects for many nonprofits. Across<br />
from the church on Edloe, the Woodshop is equipped with<br />
all the modern tools to build most anything from wood.<br />
Please contact Alice at aking@stlukesmethodist.org for<br />
more information about volunteering on Monday and<br />
Tuesday mornings.
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