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Preparing For Sunday
This
Sunday we are going to explore together the teaching of Jesus on the
transformative power of His word. That
he challenges our categories is obvious.
That he changes us completely is necessary. This change is called "sanctification" and it
is a process which Paul in his first letter to Thessalonica says must happen
"through and through" us.
In
preparation consider this artwork. It is
a panel created by Amy Finder and, as she notes, it is best seen in
person. But the details below show
you
the  movement from dark to light, rough to smooth and a point in the process
where a line is drawn. I find it a remarkable work of art. Consider it for
yourself and come this Sunday ready to be changed by God.
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All Church Summer Picnic & Softball Tournament
Saturday
July 11th
9am-2pm
Stow Grove Park
This is a wonderful day to play, relax in the sunshine and enjoy great
fellowship time with your church family. Special activities for the
children (10am-noon). Great fun for ALL ages. Join us! Team
sign-up posters are in the church lobby. For more information, contact
Pastor Colleen: 965-1338x225.
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Verdugo Day
Verdugo Community Church is an inner-city congregation in our Southern California region. It is an historic church with a small
congregation that has been unable to keep up their facilities. On August 15th our church along with 20 other
churches in our region are gathering together to help
upgrade their facilities. We will be painting, removing a block wall and
cement, replacing electrical, removing an old piano, and the like.
We need volunteers to make this happen!! We will leave the
church parking lot at 7:30 am on Saturday August 15Th and carpool down to Verdugo Community Church. We will be doing some painting and some electrical work as
well as just good old clean up work. Lunch will be provided and we should be
back in Santa Barbara by 5:00. It will be a day of working together as well as
fellowship and blessing a church that needs some help.
For more information, please contact the church office at 965-1338 x221.
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Santa Barbara Meals on Wheels Needs Volunteer Drivers
Can you spare 2 hours one day a week to deliver hot, nutritious
meals to the elderly and homebound of Santa Barbara? The hours are from
approximately 10:15 am - 12:15 pm, and Meals on Wheels (MOW) currently has both
weekday and weekend routes available. They are also in need of "on
call" drivers that can fill in if the regular driver is unavailable. You
will use your own car - and MOW will reimburse you for mileage!
The rewards for delivering Meals on Wheels are
so great. They deliver 7 days a week 365 days of the year. They are a
non-profit all volunteer organization except for one hired staff person
and the contracting of food preparation from Valle Verde. If you can
spare a couple of hours one day per week or can volunteer occasionally please
call the MOW office at 683-4565 Monday through Friday and ask for Leanna. You
can also call or email Mark Huston for more information. His contact
information is: markhuston1311@gmail.com
or cell # 895-1262.
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Attention Men: Change in Date for Men's Retreat
We are changing men's retreat in Lake Naciemento to the
weekend of SEPTEMBER 18-20 so that our Bishop Matt Thomas can be with us. Please mark
this on your calendar and plan to feast on the Word of God through our Bishop's
teaching.
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Attention Women: Save This Date, March 19-21 2010!
SAVE
THE DATE: Ladies, plan on joining us in Cambria
March 19-21, 2009 for our Women's Retreat weekend and start saving just $5 per
week now and it will be paid!
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Church Finances
In this time of financial struggle, Thank you for remembering
your church family!
Offerings Needed YTD: $327,780.65
Offerings Receive YTD: $327,006.13 (99.76%)
Still Needed YTD:
$774.52
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FM FlashPoints: What In The World Are We Doing?
>> Vietnam
In March 2009, the Free Methodist Church was
officially organized in Vietnam. The Living Water FMC, Dalton, OH, sent
Barnabas, a Vietnamese refugee living in the U.S., to Asia. There he planted a
Vietnamese church in Taipei, Taiwan, while following up with contacts in his
homeland. Meetings and training with these contacts resulted in the birth of
the FMC in Vietnam with four ordained elders, six conference ministerial
candidates, and 66 churches with more than 3,000 members. Vietnam veterans
interested in reconciliation ministries to Vietnam may contact David and Joanie
Crane at joanielcrane@hotmail.com or (765) 342-9316.
>> Greece
Media students from Thessaloniki University
recently filmed a documentary on Thessaloniki's 20-some evangelical churches.
Missionaries Michael and Maria Long report the students, especially the camera
man, were very impressed with the Free Methodist church. "There was spontaneous
sharing and testimonies of God's grace that surprised him," write the Longs. "Let's
believe that God will open the students' hearts beyond just objective
journalism."
>> Malawi
Dzaleka Camp, once a prison in the 1980s, is
now home to more than 10,000 refugees from Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia, Rwanda,
Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as a Free Methodist church.
Pastor Pascal Mbabajende, a Rwandan, leads this congregation and carries a heavy
burden for the people's needs. They have no land to farm and are not able to
leave the camp without a day pass. It is illegal for them to set up a business
in town, so they are forced to find work or set up some kind of business within
the camp's confines. The congregation does not have any resources (no hymnals,
no Bible study materials, and very few have Bibles) in Swahili, the common
language for most of the people.
>> Mexico
Steps are being taken to open the "Hogar de Paz"
(House of Peace) children's home in Nogales, Sonora. Leaders hope to house six
to eight abandoned or at-risk children under the guidance of house parents
beginning in August 2009. Girls ages 8 to 11 would live in the home at least
through high school. This ministry is being directed by Ana, who also donated a
house she owns. One pastor said, "For years our bishops have challenged us with
the importance of holiness, not just personal holiness but social holiness.
Here is a way for us to put this into action."
>> Iraq
Nearly 90 adults and 25 children attended the
first public meeting in the new building in Dohuk, northern Iraq, in early May.
About 10 of the adults were guests, including the mayor, who addressed the
congregation. "We are all encouraged by the spiritual fervor of the people,"
writes one leader, "and their sense of ownership in the building and ministry."
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FMCSB
Our Mission is to win
people to Christ, establish them in the faith, and equip them for ministry.
Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara
1435 Cliff Drive
Santa Barbara, California 93109
805-965-1338
www.fmcsb.org
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Important Dates
Sat. July 11th: Softball Picnic
Mon. July 20th:
Joint CDCC and Property Finance Meeting
Sat. July 25th:
Women's Beach Walk
Sat. Aug. 15th:
Verdugo Day
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Congratulations To The Leons!!
Dear
Friends and Family,
I am so grateful for your prayers and encouragement. Early on Tuesday morning July 7th
at 12:20am baby Selah Marlise Leon made her much anticipated arrival into her mommy and
daddy's arms.
Selah is beautiful and healthy, (7 pounds 3 ounces, 21
inches long) and momma still can't believe she is here.
God is so faithful and good to us and we give Him all the glory and praise for
the amazing miracles of childbirth and family.
We are so blessed and thankful for people like you who have held us up in
prayer as we waited for baby.
Praise God, now she is here!
Love you all,
Tracy Schmidt
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Memory Verse
John 3:16 & 17
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did
not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him."
John 1:1-18
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that
life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness
has not understood it.
6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a
witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might
believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did
not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not
receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God- 13children born not of natural
descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,
the glory of the One and Only,[d] who came from the Father, full of grace and
truth.
15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of
whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'
" 16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing
after another. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,who
is at the Father's side, has made him known.
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