cross &Flame April 2016 news
What’s Inside
Youth 2 Graduation Sunday 3 Spring Festival 4 Children’s Ministry 5 From Pastor Alan 6 Upcoming Events 8 Preschool 9 Women of Navarre 10 Nursery 11 Urban Legends 12
Service Times Sunday 9:30 | Contemporary 11:00 | Traditional
grace
Later this month, I will have the privilege of teaching at our Conference Licensing School. This is a multiday school which prepares people to receive their first appointments as pastors in our Conference. In fact, Navarre will host one day of the school. I will be teaching the class on Wesleyan Theology. In preparing for that class, I was reminded of one of the significant contributions of John Wesley to Evangelical theology; the doctrine of grace. To be sure every denomination and system of theology has an understanding of grace, but Wesley’s unique contribution has stood the test of time and continues to inspire people. Grace has been popularly defined as “God’s unmerited favor toward us.” That definition deserves to be pondered over and over. By unmerited we mean that this grace is given without regard to any action or achievement on our part. To merit something is to deserve or be worthy of something. God’s favor is bestowed with complete disregard to the recipient’s worth; you might even say, in spite of the recipient’s worth.
Continued on page 6 850.939.2028 | navarre.church 9474 Navarre Parkway, Navarre, FL 32566
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youth DEADPOOL
Deadpool was released February 12 and has already made over $600 million, which means it is number 8 on Marvel’s list of top grossing movies. But unlike most of the other Marvel movies, Deadpool is NOT for kids. There are very few times when I will tell people to not let their kids watch a movie. This is one of those. Let me at least get this out of the way, I have not personally seen the movie yet. I normally hate talking bad about movies that I haven’t seen, but luckily there are a lot of resources that let us know what exactly is in Deadpool without having to watch it. IMDB.com has a really useful parents guide for just about every movie. This is one of their excerpts for the profanity section in Deadpool. “About 84 F-words and its derivatives, 3 obscene hand gestures, 21 sexual references, 34 scatological terms, 19 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling, exclamations, 2 religious profanities, 9 religious exclamations.” There are also sections on sex/nudity, violence/gore, alcohol/drugs, and intense scene sections that contain more then would fit in this article. So here’s the deal. I recommend that you don’t let your kids watch Deadpool. I know that this decision could cause yelling, slamming doors, releases of the dreaded phrase “But everyone else has seen it”, and possibly name calling. So if you still want to watch Deadpool or any other movie that you’re not sure about, or if your kids keep begging, here’s what I suggest. Watch the movie with them. You’ll both be much more aware of those moments where something is wrong. It will likely be awkward for both of you. But after the movie talk to them. Ask questions. Find redeeming qualities if there are any. Ask them how this
movie relates to their faith. Ask them if they understand certain parts or meanings. Just saying “No” to a movie just teaches them that you don’t want them to see that movie, which they may or may not sneak around you to see. But by explaining how what we watch has an impact on our lives and by getting them to think beyond just the awesome story lines and graphics means that they will think about every other movie in those ways as well. It’s the “If you give a man a fish” scenario. If you tell a kid no to a movie, they might avoid that movie… for no. But if you teach them to think about the things the should avoid, they can avoid them in any situation.
Nat han Persell
Graduation Sunday
Graduation Sunday is May 15th This is when we’ll honor or high school graduates. If you have a senior who you would like to be included, please contact Nathan Persell at youth@navarreumc. org. We’re asking for all seniors to turn in: • a few childhood pictures, • a couple of senior pictures, and • what plans you have for after high school (whether it’s college, military, or other) by April 24th. However, we need to know who all wants to participate as soon as possible.
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Spring Festival
4 Spring Festival Recap
I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who helped us with the spring festival. When we originally challenged the congregation to 1,000 bags of candy, we had to reduce the number to 450 bags because everyone was purchasing bags that contained 250 pieces each. We surpassed our goal of eggs and candy! arms. I want to personally thank those who attend Growth Groups at 11:00 on Sunday for helping set up the tables and getting the event ready. They covered the back field with Easter eggs and every child was able to go home with a basket or bag full of Easter eggs.
The week before the festival, volunteers were in the sanctuary around the clock stuffing those 10,000+ eggs with candy and other prizes for the children. They kept coming back until all of the eggs were filled. When the festival day arrived, our volunteers were so amazing and everyone in our church welcomed those in the community with open
Here are some numbers: • We had over 500 people attend the event • We served over 275 Hamburgers and 400 Hotdogs • We gave out over 10,000 Eggs Thank you to everyone who helped make this event possible!
Past or Fait h
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Children’s Ministry Vacation Bible School
BE STILL
“Be still and know that I am the Lord!” Psalm 46:10 “Wait for the Lord: be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” Psalm 27:14
We are taking Vacation Bible School to our I don’t know neighborhoods! about you but I am not good at sitting still. I am much • April 29, 30, and May 1st – 6-8 pm On happier when I am moving and busy doing a Campus lot of stuff. Our children and our families are • VBS for Our VBS Staff and children. very busy too. Their schedules are crazy and • Other Camps: finding time to pause, and listen to God is • Holly by the Sea: Valley Rd. -Hidden difficult. There are a lot of things; people and Creek Entrance – (Lori’s House) June 13, circumstances that are screaming for our time 14, 15 9-11 am and energy. But God wants us to be still and • The Den (Lorraine Taylor Camp) June 20, just hang out with Him. Even as you read 21, 22 9-11 am more of this newsletter, we all are asking you • Our Preschool July 6, 7, 8 9-11 am to commit to giving more time for very worthy events. How do we choose to stop? It gets Additional camps to be booked. (Contact me very hard to hear God’s voice in the midst of as soon as possible, to book a camp in your our busy life. But, the more time we spend neighborhood) Brochures are available. Please with Him, the easier it is to hear His voice and plan to attend one of the training meetings to know His direction for our lives. Let’s teach to prepare to help at one of our camps this our children how to “Stop…. Listen… and summer. Contact me with any questions or Respond” to God first and often. It will be a comments or needs!! lesson that can shape how they understand and think about God and who He is and can April 9-10 be to them… Remember this month – Take Vacation Bible School Training some time to Be Still before God... Encourage and Orientation Meeting your family to do the same. Blessings, All leaders should attend one of these duplicate Sessions: • April 9, 9:00-11:00am • April 10, 6:00-8:00pm
Lori Ferguson
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From Pastor Alan
Continued from page 1 To have favor is to show kindness toward someone. When we stand in someone’s favor we stand in a privileged position. We could be in that position because we have supported the person or because we have benefited the person in some way. The idea of grace is that through no worth in ourselves God has bestowed his favor on us. There was (is) nothing in us or about us that would cause God to owe us anything. I like to tell people grace means God likes us and there is nothing we can do about it. John Wesley put it this way: All the blessings which God hath bestowed upon man, are of his mere grace, bounty, or favor; his free, undeserved favor; favor altogether undeserved; man having no claim to the least of his mercies. 1 The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, which is the one official guide of United Methodist doctrine says, “By grace we mean the undeserved, unmerited, and loving action of God in human existence through the ever-present Holy Spirit.”2 That, however, is only the first aspect of grace from a Wesleyan perspective. Wesley said that grace gives us the ability to respond to God as well. In other words, God’s favor gives us the ability to do what God requires. Randy Maddox, of Duke Divinity School, calls this “responsible grace.” God gives us the ability to respond and that in turn makes us responsible before God. Some of the more popular aspects of Wesley’s understanding of grace are found in the ways we experience that grace. Wesley said that God’s grace works in our lives even before we are conscious of him. We experience this as God’s prevenient grace, the grace that comes before salvation. This grace restores a measure of our free will and a measure of conscience as well. It gives us our first desire to please God. As Randy Maddox would say, it gives us the ability to respond to God. When we respond to this grace in repentance, God’s grace continues to work in our lives as forgiveness and moves us to accept his pardoning love. Responding to this justifying grace produces a real change in our hearts, we are born again and begin a new relationship with God. We are also given an assurance that we are, in fact, God’s children. Immediately after the reception of this grace, the Holy Spirit begins to work in our lives leading us to grow in maturity through sanctifying grace. Our experience of grace from this point on leads us to do good works and serve God’s mission in the world, with the aim of becoming mature or prefect in love.
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from pastor alan Grace comes to us through many different channels, but some of them Wesley deemed “ordinary means of grace.” These were the normal ways God uses to convey his grace. They included prayer, reading scripture, Holy Communion, Christian fellowship, worship, and fasting. God uses these ordinary means to convey his grace to us. To be sure God is limited in the ways his grace can come to us, but these are the ordinary ways. We have just finished celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, so what do we do now? I would urge to settle into the ordinary pattern of life by drawing on God’s grace to be come a fully developing follower of Jesus Christ. Seek God out, for if we do he his promise, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD…” (Jeremiah 29:13–14a [ESV]).
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John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, Third Edition., vol. 5 (London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, 1872), 7.
United Methodist Publishing House (2013-01-01). The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church 2012 (Kindle Locations 1806-1807). United Methodist Publishing House. Kindle Edition. 2
Past or Alan senior pastor alan.cassady@navarreumc.org 850.939.2028 x102
Upcoming Events
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Blue Lake Summer Camp | Early Bird Registration
Blue Lake Camp started as a dream on the shores of this beautiful lake to minister to the youth and children of the Alabama West Florida Conference. Since then it has met so many different families and campers, it’s hard to believe! We have the privilege of ministering to families, churches, and campers from all over the South. We continue to grow and develop to be better and better! “Blast” is July 18-23 and is for kids who have completed 3rd-5th grade. The early bird special is $335 and must be paid in full by April 15th. After April 15th, it is $355. Scholarships are also available through Blue Lake Camp. You can register online though Blue Lake’s website. If you have questions, Contact Lori lori@navarreumc.org.
Preschool Silent Auction
The Preschool will be holding a Silent Auction from April 11th-20th. The items that are being auctioned off will be on out in Taylor Hall on the First Floor. The Auction will end with dinner on the 20th, prepared and served by the Preschool. Dinner will be a Pasta Bar. To RSVP, visit navarre.church/events. All proceeds of the silent auction and the dinner will go to the Navarre United Methodist Church Preschool.
Preschool Sorrowful Goodbye
It is with a heavy heart that I announce my resignation as the Director of Navarre United Methodist Church Preschool. As we have always encouraged our students to always put their faith and families first, I must do the same. Due to the unfortunate and sudden failing health of my father-in-law, Oscar and I will be relocating to South Florida to care for our family. My last day in my current position will be Thursday, March 24, 2016. The Preschool has been an incredible place of growth, opportunity, and love. The staff, families, children, and congregants have truly been a blessing in my life for which I'll be forever grateful. Please know that this is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made in my life and I will greatly miss working for the Preschool. My hope is that you find that I have set-up the Preschool for continued growth and success in our community and that the school continues to facilitate the best first school experience possible for the young families of Navarre and surrounding communities. During this time of transition, our Children’s Ministries Director, Mrs. Lori Ferguson, will be available to all through email at lori@navarreumc.org or by calling (850) 9392028 Ext 103. In all of this, I am pleased to announce that Mrs. Amy Padgett will be assuming the role as the Interim Director of the Preschool after the unanimous decision of the Preschool Board. Mrs. Amy Padgett was born and raised in the Navarre/Gulf Breeze area. Many of you know Mrs. Amy as our VPK tutor and aftercare aid for our upper pre-k students. Mrs. Amy received her degree from the University of West
9 Florida in Health Studies where she met her husband, Todd. As a mother, wife, friend, and terrific educator, Mrs. Amy brings a warm smile to work every day and works effectively as a team player and leader. With over 25 years of experience in the field, I am absolutely confident in her skills as our Interim Director and support the decision of the Preschool Board. Mrs. Amy will be aided by our amazing Administrative Assistant, Mrs. Sarah Kaczmarczyk. While these changes are occurring I ask you to send prayers of guidance, support, and love to our preschool leaders and staff. Our Preschool Board and supporting ministry staff will be working diligently on the hiring process to find the Director whom God intended to take over our top-notch education program. I thank God every day for this opportunity and have nothing but fond memories and high hopes for the future of the Preschool. Oscar and I are unconditionally grateful for your prayers and support during this time.
Kat herine Schaefer
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Women of Navarre
Join us for the Extraordinary Women's Conference
We will be taking the bus to Pensacola to join with thousands of other women to worship God and learn more about how great God is. To register, visit: https://ewomen.brushfireapp.com/ conferences/429074 then follow these instructions or go to navarre.church/events • Click Join a group at the bottom of the page • Choose cassadyppen16 from the list • Use the passcode cassadyppen16 • And then follow the rest of the instructions The schedule is as follows: FRIDAY, APRIL 22ND • 5:30pm | Depart from the church for those who are riding the bus • 6:00pm | Doors open at Pensacola Bay Center • 7:00pm | Conference Begins • 10:00pm | Conference Ends • 11:00 pm | Return to church
SATURDAY, APRIL 23RD • 7:00am | Depart from the church for those who are riding the bus • 7:30am | Doors open at Pensacola Bay Center • 8:30am | Conference Begins • 12:00pm | Lunch Break • 1:15pm | Conference Resumes • 4:30pm | Conference Ends • 5:30pm | Return to church
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Nursery Sunday Morning Nursery Schedule Birth through VPK - All Classes in Taylor Hall
Service Time
Classes
Classroom
Teachers
9:30 am
The Little Gardeners (6 wks through 12 mos)
Room 108
Hannah Persell
9:30 am
Ms. Kristin’s Little Cherubs (1 and 2 year olds)
Room 106
Kristin Richard
9:30 am
Ms. Leesha’s Ark (3 years through VPK)
Room 101
Leesha Vander Wilt
11:00 am
Infants through 2 years
Room 106
Kristin Richard
11:00 am
3 years through VPK
Room 101
Leesha Vander Wilt
Volunteer Thank You
• Jessie Ferguson • Nica Walsh Thank you to the following volunteers who are • Lu Voiles currently serving in the Nursery Ministry: • Chris Beam God is blessing our Nursery Ministry and • Katrina Matthews we are growing! That means we are in need • Ed Bush of more volunteers! If you are available to • Kayla Usher volunteer just one hour of your time per month • Cassidy Walsh to minister to the precious children of Navarre • Rebecca Rosenburg United Methodist Church, please contact Amy • Debbie Durham Yoder, Nursery Coordinator, at 939-2028 ext. • Matt Durham 103 or nursery@navarreumc.org. The return on • Kelly Hedrick your investment of time will be immeasurable! • Inja Pooler And whoever welcomes a little child like this • Mitzie Wentworth in my name welcomes me. Matthew 18:5. • Bobbie Scott • Andrea Kick • Michelle Suarez • Linda Monroe • Mallory Burton • Kay Munday • Joni Powell • Elizabeth Powell • Candace Terry
Amy Yoder
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Urban Legends
April 3 | There’s a Reason for Everything. April 10 | The Safest place to be is in the Center of God’s Will. April 17 | You’re not supposed to Judge. April 24 | God has a Plan for Your Life. May 1 | I’m Just a sinner saved By Grace.