September 15th · before you know it. While you are out doing your shopping please start looking for items that we can use in the Operation hristmas hild shoeboxes. We pack the boxes

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A publication of :

First United Methodist Church

With Campuses at Caddo and Durant

5400 W. Main , Durant, Oklahoma 74701

(580-924-4670) (580-367-2415) Caddo

[email protected]

www.durantumc.org

Rev. John Breon—Senior Pastor

Kim Vincent — Director of Children’s Ministries

Nancy Breon—Director of Music

Dhon Bowen—Worship Technology Director

Janice Balkenbush– Administrative Assistant

As I was starting our current sermon series on “Faith in Action,” I did a survey asking people to share their questions about faith. The responses were interesting. I’m trying to work in answers to your questions as we explore Hebrews 11. The series continues through September.

Several questions are along the line of what is faith? Most of these messages include some kind of definition of faith and examples of living by faith.

Some asked how much faith is necessary. We’ve seen that we don’t have to have great faith because we have in faith in a great God.

Still, we want our faith to grow—and some questions are about how that happens. In coming months, we’ll talk more about our church’s “discipleship pathway,” steps involved in spiritual growth and involvement in the church’s life. Right now, Sunday School classes, Bible Study, and Wednesday night Spiritual Growth Group are opportunities for developing faith.

A few questions have to do with the relation of faith and suffering. Why do bad things happen, etc.? The message on September 22 will address that as we look at a wide variety of experiences of people who lived by faith.

A couple of questions were about relating to people of other than Christian faith. What about other religions?

There was another group of questions about things that kind of touch on faith, but are more general. Like, “Why do people think people get wings and become angels when they die?” “Why are all the major religions, including Christianity, so male-dominant and how do women make sense of that?” “How do we reconcile science and the biblical account of creation?”

Some of these don’t fit this series specifically, but we’ll take a run at them and may address similar questions in the future.

God bless, John

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Sunday Happenings

9am Sunday School

10am Worship

11am Worship Caddo

September 15th

Baked Potato Bar Fundraiser for Youth.

Tickets are available for purchase.

UMY is raising money to go to camp. Come and support these amazing kids as they prepare to head to Fall Youth

Camp. We will have baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes and all the toppings including BBQ pulled pork.

Sunday School Spotlight

NEW STUDY

The Wesleyan Class begins a new

study that focuses on the Apostles

Creed. This six-week study, based

on Alister McGrath's book,

I Believe, digs into the Apostles'

Creed and the essential truths about

God the Father, the person and work

of Jesus Christ,

and the Holy Spirit.

Join us in Room 203.

Please keep our Soldiers in your

Prayers.

Tim Hanson-Germany

Micah Hanson-S. Korea

Isaiah Hanson- N Guard

Travis Dill– Stateside

David Dill– Stateside

Jebraun Abello-Ft. Bragg

Camaron Smith-

Stateside

Trey Hill– Stateside

Mark Long– Ft. Huachuca

Aaron McKinney– Tinker AFB

Tai Chi meets every Tuesday

and Thursday morning at 10am

in the Worship Center at the

Durant Campus.

Potato Man says Can you top this?

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September Sermons

1 “Faith and the Future” (Heb. 11:13-16)

8 “A Family’s Faith” (Heb. 11:20-2)

15 “Faith Sees the Invisible” (Heb. 11:24-31)

22 “Faith Waits for the Promise” (Heb.11:32-40)

29 “The Pioneer and Perfecter of Faith”(Heb.12:1-3)

Sermons can be heard at durantumc.org We welcome you to our services Durant 10am and Caddo 11:00am Kid’s Church is provided at the Durant campus 10am service.

Happy Birthday! 1st– Christy Scott

2nd—Sue Dill

4th— Linda Tucker

5th—Cleta Walker

8th—Debbie Anthony, Darrell Mendez

10th—Molly Vincent

11th—LoAnn Latona, Meagan Potter

12th—John Marcy

13th —Charlotte Young

14th—Colin Mullens

17th—Diane Dixon, Sierra Sturch

18th—Mike Lee, Toshiko Carter

22nd—Mark Long

23rd—Edwin Boothe

26th—Gene Smith, Lindy Hanson

27th—Linda Potts, Pat Mauldin, Savanna Dixon

28th—Ann Endebrock, Lee Chapa

30th—Ron Erickson

Will you consider joining the Care Team? We meet once a month on the 3rd Wednesday at 1:00. We visit and deliver meals to members monthly who are unable to come to church. We also send out notes and cards to these members. Contact Janice Balkenbush for more information. 580-924-0799

The next meeting is September 18th.

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FUMC First

Kids News

JAM Time= Jesus and Me Time JAM Time has started back up for the fall. Children’s Bible study using the

curriculum Deep Blue will meet at 6:00 each Wednesday night in the recreation room. There will be children’s choir/bell practice immediately following from 7:00-7:15. JAM Time follows the school

schedule. If there is no school on a Wednesday, there will not be any children’s activities.

Your children are invited to join us each Sunday in the theater room for an all NEW Children’s Church that is just for kids. This service will last the same length as the adult

service. The kids will have their own worship, Bible study, games and activities as well as play time. Come get back to the basics with us each Sunday as we study Bible Story Basics.

Our church has proudly adopted Northwest Heights, one of the local schools in Durant, for the 2019-2020 school year. This means we will stand with them this year in prayer as well as support of extra items that may be needed. To get their school year off to a great start the children’s department has made a sign up poster for each class or group of employees at Northwest Heights Elementary. All we are asking is for each family in the church to sign up to pray for a class or group. It doesn’t require any money or extra expense. Just a few minutes of your time to pray for the teachers and their students. Some of these children or staff members may not have any one else covering them in prayer this year. So let’s get all of the classes and employees covered in the spirit that

they may have a smooth and successful school year. You can find the poster by the bulletin board at the portico entrance.

I know it’s still 90+ degrees outside and hard to think about Christmas coming, but it will be here before you know it. While you are out doing your shopping please start looking for items that we

can use in the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. We pack the boxes early to get them shipped because they travel many miles to reach their owner. So, be on the lookout for

items to fill these boxes. We were able to pack and ship 105 shoe boxes last

year which were a great blessing to those that received them. We can use small toys, stuffed animals, dolls, school supplies and coloring books, playdoh, cars, Legos and personal hygiene items. Sized that can fit inside of a shoe box. Please no candy, toothpaste, guns, army men or liquids as those items cannot

be shipped. Remember along with these toys, the shoeboxes come with a Bible and curriculum for the children to learn about Jesus and his wonderful gift of Love for each of them.

Sunday’s: Sunday school @ 9am, Kid’s Worship @ 10:00 / Wednesday’s: JAM @ 6pm

Kimberly Vincent-- 580-380-5458-- [email protected]

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United Methodist Youth

7th grade to 12th grade

Summer is over but the fun is just

starting! Invite your friends and join

us on Sunday evenings from 5-7pm

for food, games and Bible study.

Every time you come earns you points

toward a really awesome prize.

Youth camp is coming up in October.

This will be a great time

of hanging out with

friends and digging into

scripture.

Sharri Hiller is

developing our program

for the weekend.

Music Ministry News

Chancel Choir and Bell Choir—Rehearsals at 6:00 for choir and bell choir at

7:15. We’re going to try something new this fall: The choir will sit in the

congregation and go up on stage to sing their anthem. If you’ve wanted to be

part of this ministry but still want to sit with your family, we have a place for

you. We’d love for you to join us.

In other music news, the church has three older pianos in various stages of disrepair. They

are available to whoever wants them—first come, first served. If you would like one, let us

know by calling the church office (924-4670) or emailing [email protected].

We’ll arrange a time for you to pick it up. There is no charge, but donations are

appreciated and will go into the organ/piano fund.

Nancy Breon, Director of Music Ministry

September

1– NO UMY— Labor Day Holiday

8th— UMY 5-7pm—Begin “Paul in

Rome” study

15th—11am-1pm—Baked Potato

Fundraiser

5pm-7pm—UMY

22nd—UMY meets along with Family

Game Night.

29th—UMY 5-7pm

October

6th— UMY 5-7pm

11th-13th—Youth Fall Camp @ Crosspoint

Leave on the 11th at 5:30pm.

Return Sunday, the 13th around

Noon.

20th—No UMY—Fall Break

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Join us for Coffee

and Donuts at

8:30am Sunday

mornings with 10am

Worship and Sunday

School at 9:00am.

Hannah Circle presents

Game Night

September 22

Look for more details soon!

Please like our Social Media pages

Check in and post photos tagging #durantumc

Instagram—durantumc

Facebook—First United Methodist Church Durant-Caddo

FUMC Statistics August Average Worship Attendance: 155 2018 Total Income: $600,364.42 2018 Total Expense: $593,791.97 2019 Budget (expected income): $618,128.26 This includes the annual debt service on the building of $128,170.24

If you would like to donate non-perishables to be distributed to those in need, just drop them in the box in the Library. We give out food regularly in the office and we’re thankful we have it to give. Thank you for making it possible!

Meals on Wheels

We will be helping out with Meals on Wheels the first week of September.

The sign up sheet is on the bulletin board in the hallway by the portico.

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First United Methodist Church

PO Box 518

Durant, Oklahoma 74702

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage

Durant, Oklahoma Permit No. 151

Volume 23 September 2019 No. 9

Remember In Prayer Military Personnel Jebraun Abello– Ft. Bragg

Camaron Smith-Stateside

Trey Hill– home

Tim Hanson-Germany

Micah Hanson –S. Korea

Isaiah Hanson–

Oklahoma N. Guard

Mark Long– Ft. Huachuca

Travis Dill-stateside

David Dill –stateside

Aaron McKinney–

Tinker AFB

Special Needs

Steve Kirven

Sue Morris

Larry Marcy

Don Krumme

Sue Henson

Kathryn Hays

Special Needs

Peggy Shepard

Agnes Easterling

Irene Michael

Jo Ann Howard

Carter Lake

Nursing Care Jim Jones Myra Lester Mahala Wright

Robert Rhoden

Assisted Living Janet Tompkins Ann Endebrock Esther Breon

Home Bound Christine Tillett Jack & Johnnye McBee

TOWER DELIVERY

This publication is available in electronic format. Please notify the church office if you would like to get your Tower in an e-mail. Send an e-mail request to the church office: [email protected]

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Please notify the church office of any

additions or changes to the prayer list.

580 924-4670 / [email protected].