2022-12-18 Beacon

WELCOME

Shalimar UMC

Lead Pastor

Dr. Philip McVay

Dr. Brad Bradford Worship Pastor

Rev. David Garvin Youth Pastor

Rev. Matt Langford Associate Pastor

Gerald Batton Custodian

Chris Bennett Facility & Maintenance Manager

Pat Brantley Office Administrative Assistant

Abigail Denney Media & Communications

Joy Harris Financial Assistant

Denise Heath Finance

Sarah Hicks

Children’s Director

Karen Jadin Preschool Director

Tony Mallini Interim Church Administrator

Heyward McKenzie Chef

Katie Pascoe Nursery Director

Leigh J. Rice Respite Director

Dawn Rozofsky After School & Camp Director

Ben Savage Worship Arts

Jeremy Thiess Ministries Assistant

After Hours Emergency Pastoral Assistance

Dr. Philip McVay: (850) 607-1133

Dr. Brad Bradford: (850) 227-4328

Rev. David Garvin: (850) 319-0072

Rev. Matt Langford: (334) 437-3931

Table Of Contents

Our Vision

Tite Text Here Page No.

This Sunday in Worship Page 5

Philip’s Focus Page 6

Weekly Schedule Page 7

What’s Happening | Church Life Page 8

Military Page 11 Missions Making a Difference Page 13

Christmas Eve Services Page 14

Page 16

The Bread House

Joyful Place Page 17

Our Mission

We REACH out to our congregation, community, and the world. We TEACH the word of God as provided in the Holy-Scripture.

We SEND our members and missionaries to be witnesses to God’s grace and His promise of eternal life.

Worship Services

Sunday at Shalimar

Traditions: 8AM & 11AM

Meet us in the Sanctuary as we celebrate through the rich traditions of our faith. Such as hymns led by organ and piano, seasonal vestments, and Traditional Methodist liturgy. Our Chancel Choir leads the 11AM service.

Connect: 9:30AM

Join us in the Sanctuary as we engage in a fourfold services of gathering, praise, service of the Word, Holy Communion with candle stations of prayer, and sending forth. Worship is a blend of contemporary praise songs and upbeat hymns.

Freedom: 11:07AM

Located in the Family Life Center Gym as we come together and worship through modern music, Fellowship time, and listen to an inspirational message in a contemporary atmosphere.

This Sunday in Worship

December 18, 2022

Advent 4: Peace & The

Journey

8AM | TRADITIONS | SANCTUARY

In Person & Online Message by Dr. Philip McVay Worship Led by Dr. Brad Bradford and Gloryland

9:30AM

| SANCTUARY

In Person & Online Message by Dr. Philip McVay Worship Led by Dr. Brad Bradford and the Connect Worship Team

11AM | TRADITIONS | SANCTUARY

In Person & Online

Message by Dr. Philip McVay

Worship Led by Dr. Brad Bradford and Chancel Choir

11:07AM | FAMILY LIFE CENTER

In Person & Online

Message by Rev. Matt Langford Worship Led by Ben Savage and The Freedom Team

At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

- Luke 2:1-7 NLT

Philip’s Focus

Our Final Turn in Our Advent Journey

My older brother David McVay is a retired United Methodist Pastor. Several years ago, David recalled a humorous story from our childhood. The story involved a live manger scene at our home church, McCann’s United Methodist Church in Jackson, Alabama.

David, as a youth, was asked to participate in this live Christmas pageant. When I say live, I mean shepherds and wisemen in costumes, along with live animals such as cows, horses, and yes…even a donkey! This included real animal smells and a few surprises as well.

Anyway, David was asked to play Joseph. His role involved no lines but simply walking the donkey to the manager at the appointed time. When the critical time came to walk, the donkey refused to budge. David pulled and pulled but to no avail. On this night, Joseph, Mary, and the donkey stalled as they walked to the manger! The donkey never made it!

Do we ever stall on our way to worship at the manger? The week leading up to Christmas can lead us anywhere but the manger. We can stall in the chaotic, demanding schedules, and unrealistic expectations. Advent is best observed with a calm, prayerful, more thoughtful pace that steadily leads us to the manger.

The good news is we still have time to journey to the manger! May the wonder and awe of Advent grow. Let us prepare our hearts for this final week to worship Christ the newborn King!

Shalom, Philip

Lead Pastor

Dr. Philip McVay philip@shalimar-umc.org

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Sunday, December 18

SS Adults 9:30AM

SS Youth 9:30AM

SS Special Buddies 9:30AM

Kidz Worship 9:30AM Kidz Worship 11AM

Christmas Caroling 1:30PM

Youth Choir Preview Party 4PM Special Buddies 5PM Student Worship 5PM

Young Adult Christmas Party 6PM ReBoot 7PM

Monday, December 19

Bread House 9AM

Threads of Love 10AM

Connect Rehearsal 5:30PM

Lighthouse Rehearsal 6PM Alanon 6PM

AA 8PM

Tuesday, December 20

Joyful Place 10AM

3rd Grade Bible Study 3:30PM

Freedom Rehearsal 5:30PM

Joy Ringers Bell Rehearsal 5:45PM

Tuesday Continued Prayer Group 6PM Men’s Group 6PM

Wednesday, December 21

Bread House 9AM Blessings for Children 10AM Hope for the Holidays 4PM Fellowship Dinner 5PM Youth Small Groups 5PM Shalimar Kidz 5:30PM Advent Bible Study 5:45PM AA 8PM

Thursday, December 22

Joyful Place 10AM EC Barbershop 6:30PM Stephen Ministry 6:30PM

Friday, December 23 Bread House 9AM

Saturday, December 24

Christmas Eve Service 3PM Christmas Eve Service 5PM Christmas Eve Service 7PM

Stay Up To Date CHURCH LIFE

On Sunday, December 18 our Youth Choir is hosting their Dinner Theater Preview Party in the music Suite. There will be door prizes, food, and fun!

After the Preview Party, join the rest of the youth group at their Annual Winter Bonfire from 5-7pm.

Join us as we carol around Shalimar on Sunday, December 18. We will meet in the Family Life Center at 1:30pm and go from there. All singing voices are welcome!

If you have any questions please contact, the church office at (850) 651-0721 or office@shalimar-umc.org

We hope you will join us in celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ at 9:30am in the Sanctuary.

Come as you are! Yes... that means wearing your Christmas PJs.

We would love for you and your family to join us at any of our three Christmas Eve Services. All services include Holy Communion.

For more information about each service see page 15.

Check out page 11 to see some of our confirmed Administrative meetings for January of 2023!

Other dates will be added when confirmed.

MILITARY MINISTRY

ReBoot is a faith-based combat trauma healing course, designed to address the spiritual wounds of war.

Combat veterans are healing, divorce rates are dropping, medication abuse decreases, and suicide numbers are reducing at ReBoot locations across the country.

For more information about our Military Ministry, or to register for the class visit our website at shalimar-umc.org/military

If you have any questions please contact Deb Hutto at aveclite@gmail.com

MISSIONS MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Teenager Gift Card Ministry

One of my new favorite Christmas traditions since becoming part of the Shalimar UMC family is the Teenage Gift Card Ministry, delivery day. There is nothing more ewarding than what our church does for the students in our community. This day filled with laughter and joy, as well as some heart wrenching stories, but with each drop off we make we know that we are helping spread the love of Jesus Christ to all those we meet.

The ministry began out of a need that Ron and Robbin Garriga saw while being a part of Children in Crisis. They noticed that during Christmas, people filled their neighborhood with gifts, but often only gifts for the children. The teenagers who were in a much different phase of life seemed to be left out and forgotten. Ron quickly made this a priority to rectify this situation and enlisted the help of our congregation. What began close to 6 years ago now has turned into one of the greatest joys that I get to experience each year.

Because of your love and support this ministry has grown from giving a few gift cards to a few students that Ron new personally, to enlisting the help of 5 local nonprofit agencies, the county school system, both local high school guidance counselors, our church outreach programs, and other avenues for collecting names. This year we gave 137 teenagers in our community a $100 gift card that they could spend on their own Christmas wishes.

In addition to the gift card, because of partnerships that we have made within our community, each gift card came with some extra store cash depending on which card they received, a free Chick-fil-A breakfast, and a message from our congregation that simply read: “A special gift of love from those that love you at Shalimar United Methodist Church.” Every organization or student that we were blessed to give the gift card to, was overwhelmed with appreciation and pure joy that someone remembered them during the Christmas season.

I want all of you to know how thankful I am to be a part of such a wonderful and l oving church family. This only happens because of your generosity. We cannot c ontinue to do this without you. If you want to know more, please contact me or Ron Garriga at any time. If you want to be a part of the gift card buying or distribution days, you let us know as well. The teenage Gift Card Ministry will always have a special place in my heart as a uniquely “Shalimartian” outreach that makes a difference in the lives of so many people.

Thank you all for the support, and please know that every child who received a card also received the grace of God.

Love shines brightly on Teenage Gift Card delivery day!

Joyful Place

Our friends and volunteers loved a recent performance from the dance troupe from the Center for Lifelong Learning. Thank you to Jackie Youngblood and all the other performers for bringing JOY to us!

This is such a busy time of year, and we certainly appreciate and rely on our volunteers to keep our program alive and vibrant.

If you have thought about serving through the respite ministry, please consider joining us in the NEW YEAR as a Joyful Place volunteer.

We will have a new volunteer training on Wednesday, January 18th from 12:30 to 4:00. Please contact me if you have any questions or if you would like to sign up for the training. No experience necessary, the only requirement is to have a JOYFUL heart.

I am pleased that Bishop Graves has chosen to focus on Prayer during the Advent season. Please read the article below and join us in Prayer throughout Advent.

-James Brantley Shalimar UMC Prayer Ministry Team Coordinator

Year of Prayer

The Alabama-West Florida Conference is centering its work around prayer in the coming liturgical year. Daily conference work, meetings and conferences will all have prayer as the focus.

The first prayers are centered around Advent. Below you will find the date, scripture passage, prayer prompt and the verse or verses.

Musical selections, written by Rev. Darrin Isaac of Pt. Washington UMC, are available below in a video format and sheet music.