News and Events
There's always something going on at Wilson United Methodist Church! Here's info on some up-coming events.
Moms & Daughters Event - Feb 12
All mom’s and their elementary age daughters are invited to our next event on Sunday, February 12, 1:30 - 3:00 pm. We’ll play a game or two, have some conversation and fellowship. At this gathering, we’ll be talking about confidence and being confident in who we are, especially as a child of God. Come join us! You are welcome to invite others to join you. We’ll have a great time together! Questions? Contact Nani Arning, Nani Arning, nani@wilsonumc.org or 330-9216.
Wilson Finance Training - Feb 21
Church Council and the Finance Committee will be hosting a training class on how Wilson UMC's finance system works. Topics include the budgeting process, purchasing, requesting reimbursement, collecting and depositing funds, designated and restricted funds, financial reports, and managing the church cash flow. If you are a committee member that is involved in spending or receiving money for your committee at Wilson, you are strongly encouraged to attend. This session will be held at the beginning of the Church Council meeting on Tuesday February 21, 2012 at 7pm.
Pancake Supper - Feb 21
The Boy Scouts of Troop 287 will be providing a ‘Fat Tuesday’ Pancake Supper at 5:30 PM on Tuesday February 21. The following day is Ash Wednesday which launches us into the season of Lent.
Progressive Dinner - Mar 17
Join Us for a Progressive Dinner!
Congregational Life is sponsoring a progressive dinner to be held on Saturday, March 17th. We will start with appetizers at the church at 5:30. Babysitting will be provided at the church (for a fee). We will then go to homes for the main dish at 6:30 and dessert at 7:45. We will need host homes for the main dish and dessert - please let Rhonda Sobecki know if you can be a host home.
All participants will be asked to bring a dish to one of the courses. The sign up sheet will be available in the Taos Room from February 19th until March 10th. Be sure and sign up for this fun event - it is a great way to get to know our Wilson family! Questions? Contact Rhonda Sobecki.
Wesley Heritage Tour to England
Keith and Mary Ann Watson are hosting a Wesley Heritage tour to England in the Strong>fall of 2012. The nine-day trip will leave Denver on September 26. Arrangements for the tour are through Educational Opportunities, a Christian educational travel group operating since 1974. The tour will include visits to many of the sites of John Wesley’s ministry, including Asbury House in Birmingham, the New Room and Charles Wesley House in Bristol, City Road Chapel in London, the Old Rectory and St. Andrews Church in Epworth, and many others. Other sites, such as Westminster Abby, Bath, and Stratford-upon-Avon will also be included.
The Watsons will present information about the trip on Sunday, February 19, when Keith is scheduled to preach at our morning worship services. You will be able to get full details, see a few views of the places to be visited, and have your questions answered at that time. The presentation will be at 12:30 pm in the Taos Room. Sign up in the Taos room for this luncheon.
Informational brochures about this exciting opportunity are in the entry welcoming area. The Watsons would love to have some Wilson folks travel with them this fall. Complete (but more generic) information is also available at the EO website: Educational Opportunities Tours.
Devotional Material for Children and Youth
We now have devotional magazines for children and youth available in the Narthex. Pockets for children is a wonderful way to keep kids growing in their faith. Pick up your copy for the child in your life. A $2 donation is requested for this monthly resource.
Devo’zine is just for youth and contains great scripture, thoughtful reflections, movie reviews and more. A $2 donation is requested for this bimonthly resource.
Stop by the narthex and check out these new resources!
Altar Egos
Calling all design and art minded people to utilize their talents on our "Altar Egos" team. Members rotate the responsibility of decorating our altar for worship every week. For more information or to sign up, please contact Indiana Martin at indy@wilsonumc.org.
Preschool Ministry Volunteers Needed
Come be part of our Preschool Ministry - Volunteers are needed to work with the children. Youth and adults are encouraged to spend one or more mornings. Contact Tiffiny Pieper at 598-8420.
Introducing Wilson’s New Music Director
Wilson UMC is excited to announce that our new music director is Indiana Martin (Indy).
Indiana was raised in Colorado Springs where he and his family attended First United Methodist Church. This church is where Indiana met his now fiancée, Cassie Oswald, who he will marry July 17th. Indiana and Cassie both are living in Tempe, Arizona where he will be receiving a degree in Design Management from Arizona State University this upcoming December.
Indiana’s childhood to the present date is filled with music experiences. He has participated in children’s choirs, a youth choir which was responsible for leading worship weekly, an auditioned youth choral, elementary through high school bands playing the clarinet, his high school show choir which won state titles, a high school 6 man accapella group which won national titles, a college men’s chorus, many special music offerings at various events and churches, and he previously ran the praise team at the church in which they attended in Arizona.
Since Indiana is still currently a full time student at ASU, there are some special arrangements that have been made for his position over the next ten months. Indiana will be spending the majority of his summer break working at Wilson UMC and will then return to Wilson UMC once a month for the following semester until his full time return to Colorado Springs in December 2010. Indiana wants to offer a special thanks to the Wilson pastors and the Staff Parish Relations Committee for their creativity and willingness to give this unique arrangement a chance.
Indiana and Cassie are both excited to move back to Colorado Springs this December to be with their families as they start their own family. This couple looks forward to offering Wilson UMC their time, talents, and passions to honor our Lord.
Grocery Gift Cards - A Gift that Keeps on Giving!
$100 Safeway and King Soopers gift cards can be purchased and 5% is returned to the church! It is a simple way to give to the church without spending extra! Also, if someone wants to purchase other stores’ gift cards, many can be purchased at Safeway and King Soopers using one of their own gift cards. For example, I use my Safeway gift card to purchase BB&B, Starbucks, and Target gift cards, and there are many more stores that have gift cards! - Susi Braun
To purchase gift cards, see Susi or contact the church office.
EBay
Wilson UMC is a certified non-profit organization on Ebay. All proceeds and fees associated with selling donated items through our Wilson EBay account remain with us. EBay makes nothing! WE KEEP IT ALL!! Become a part of the Wilson EBay Team -- donate, Donate, DONATE!!
Thank you! The Wilson Ebay ministry has made a profit of over $1,600 so for this year and over $13,000 in the last four years. Your donations have made it possible. Thanks again!
For donation information, contact Diane Witherspoon.
To view Ebay items Wilson UMC currently offers for sale, visit Ebay Items Offered By wilson6460w.
Nursery Pagers
The nursery is now equipped with a pager system. Parents will receive a pager when signing in their child(ren). If you are needed, your pager will vibrate. Please return the pager when picking up child(ren). If you need additional information, please talk with the nursery staff upon signing in. Many thanks to the Trustees for funding this very important equipment.
Stewardship
Our stewardship goals take on many different forms, in addition to our fiscal responsibility for our church. We continue to seek willing Wilson workers to help do various maintenance tasks around our church. Jim Butts has a list that he updates almost daily of things that need to be done around Wilson. We also seek to increase our support of Westside CARES as the needs of others less fortunate continue to grow.
Welcoming Congregation Award
Congratulations Wilson United Methodist Church!
You have been awarded the "Official Welcoming Congregation" award from the United Methodist Communications. As a part of the Rethink Church campaign, we applied for the award in June and were awarded the designation in July. We are highlighted in red on the Find-a-church.org website as a welcoming congregation! We will continue to participate in the four-year Welcoming Congregation Recognition to help move our congregation toward a permanent welcoming lifestyle. This four-year process will help us develop new programs and enhance our welcoming. As a part of the Rethink Church campaign, we will also be participating in the national UMC Open House month in September. We want our congregation to live the Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors theme by inviting friends, relatives, associates and neighbors. Then, we will need to welcome those who visit. Be ready to share your enthusiasm for Sunday School, Bible study, worship, and all the other ministries that you are involved in. We want our community to know what we have to offer and how they can participate.
What is "RETHINK CHURCH"?
The RETHINK CHURCH campaign is about challenging those outside the church to envision a church that is not a static institution, but a movement of people empowered to take ministry into the world. It is simultaneously about asking the people of The United Methodist Church to see their local church in a much broader way: not tied solely to their worship on Sunday morning but in all the ways, locally and globally, they are making a difference in people’s lives.
What if church were not just a building? Not a noun, but an action verb?
Jesus gave the Great Commission, and told us to "Go into the world" doing the things that he did: teaching, healing, feeding hungry people, speaking out about injustice, and calling the world to more faithful living. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower the disciples to begin a movement. The early Christians did not see themselves as "church." Until Paul and Peter agreed upon a division of labor, one attending to Jewish followers of Jesus and the other taking the gospel to the Gentiles, the followers of Jesus spoke of themselves as the people of "the way." In too many places, we have lost that sense of being a movement and have convinced ourselves it was enough to gather in our buildings and wait for people to come and find us. Jesus sent the disciples, and sends us, out to meet the world. We do that when we encounter the world at its points of greatest need. The term we are using for these touch points is "doors." Jesus consistently used a door as a metaphor to present opportunities to engage and invite his listeners to be part of the building of God’s kingdom here on earth.
We are called to not only "go into the world" and encourage other people: friends, neighbors, coworkers, and any others that we may come into contact with, but to also provide encouragement and support for our brothers and sisters in Christ as they also attempt to impact the world for Christ.