Volume 13 Issue 1 Markey Mailer...2011/01/09  · Volume 13 Issue 1 January 2013 Markey Mailer COUNCIL OF ELDERS 12:30pm Sunday, January 20 in the Parsonage The Council of Elders will

Volume 13 Issue 1 January 2013

Markey Mailer

COUNCIL OF ELDERS 12:30pm Sunday, January 20 in the Parsonage

The Council of Elders will be meeting to continue in the process of evaluating the ministries of our church and providing feedback for our church leaders. At this meeting the Council of Elders expects to appoint the Search Team which will be responsible for providing a candidate for our next Lead Pastor to the church membership. Interviews with Search Team applicants have gone very well and at this writing are nearly completed.

Inside this issue:

Markey Happenings 3

Prayer List 4

People Notes 5

People Page 6

Markey News 7-10

January Calendar Back Page

ADULT LEADER CORE

7:00pm Monday, January 14 in the

Dining Room

Join us for another meeting of dreaming dreams and making great things happen for Markey Church

now and in the future. Contact Pastor Jim if

you are unable to attend.

JAM Club Begins at Houghton Lake Middle School

3:00 – 3:45pm Tuesdays in the Cafeteria The Jesus and Me (JAM) Club (affiliated with the Fellowship of Christian Ath-letes) is coming back to the Houghton Lake Middle School. The 3pm meetings will include snacks, great activities and lessons. Stacey Barnes, Pastor Jim, and other adults will be providing leadership for the club which will be meeting on Tuesdays through May 14. All HLMS students are welcome to attend. If you wish to sign up a student, provide or need transportation, provide snacks, or wish to help in any other way, please contact Stacey or Jim.

E veryone is invited to join us for lunch in the Gym followed by a PowerPoint presentation of the results of the REVEAL survey our church took in the fall.

138 friends and church members took the survey to determine our level of spiri-tual growth. The results will be presented to us in a powerpoint presentation in the Sanctuary following lunch. Joyce Zeneberg and Pastor Jim will guide us through the process and answer questions. REVEAL was developed by the Willow Creek Church. It is designed to give us a good picture of where we are spiritually and help point to the things we can be doing to enhance spiritual growth in our church for years to come. It will also be helpful information for our Search Team as we prepare to communicate with possible candidates for our next Lead Pastor.

REVEAL Survey Results Presentation 12:30pm Sunday, January 13

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TTHEHE JKV JKV

(P(PASTORASTOR JJIMIM’’SS EEDITORIAL

DITORIAL))

I imagine if I had entitled this editorial Tomorrow, or even Yesterday, it might have created more interest.

Often we are more interested in our future, or even our past, than we are to the things which are happening in our lives right now. I wonder how much of my present I sacrifice by looking back to or regretting the past or working so hard to prepare things for tomorrow!

In 2012 our church did a lot of work to begin important preparations for the future. Sometimes when it stressed me out, I wondered if we were talking about our future concerns too much. In calmer moments I realize we are doing a wonderful job of anticipating and preparing for a wonderful future. It also occurs to me that great tomor-rows are often the results of faithful todays. So what do we need to faithfully be and do today to give us the best shot at a great tomorrow?

We want to make sure we are taking good care of our spiritual well-being. The best way to live for today and prepare for tomorrow is to make sure we are growing spiritually. We succeed at this when we put our rela-tionship with God first above everything else. This in-cludes daily personal prayer and Bible reading, weekly attendance at worship and a small group of Christ fol-lowers, and serving Christ by helping others

We want our church teams to be actively functioning with good leadership and participation. We want to make sure our church is serving others, not just serving ourselves.

We want our church building to be properly maintained, clean and safe for the hard use it gets from so many in our community every week.

We want to keep our church finances in good health.

Especially in these economically challenging days we want to step up and provide the resources our church needs to function efficiently. We never want future generations paying for our ministries today!

So how will we pursue these goals in 2013?

1. We will strive to provide great Sunday morning wor-ship and study experiences and work hard to achieve excellent attendance.

2. We will work directly with families to help them teach their children at home about God’s love and pray out loud with them.

3. We will teach spiritual, leadership, and Bible skills to our younger adults and give them opportunities to use them.

4. We will emphasize keeping our building in good repair, starting with the roof.

5. Our church has been debt free for years. This year we will work intentionally to make sure that EVERY one of our funds ends this year in the black. We are, and have been, close to achieving it. This is the year to accomplish it.

6. This year we will appoint and train a Search Team. They will put together an outstanding church profile. We will then appoint a Search Committee of 5 from the members of that team to pursue the Lead Pastor of our exciting future.

A faithful today leads to a bright tomorrow.

TODAYTODAY

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You Are Invited to …

Holy Grounds Coffeehouse Wednesday, January 30 7-9 PM in the Library

Contact Valli Smith, 745-3848 for more infor-mation or if you would like to be the artist of

the month at one of our upcoming coffee-houses.

2013 Winter Worship Series:

GFF 2.0 (God’s Friends Forever)

January 13 ........................................ When January 20 ........................................ No

January 27 ........................................ Why February 3 ......................................... Behold

February 10 ....................................... Yes February 17 ...................................... […]

Stewardship Team 7:30am Tuesday, January 22 at the

Tee Pee Restaurant At the next meeting of the Stewardship Team they will be: • Planning to recruit new Stewardship Team members • Reviewing the 2011-12 church fiscal year finances • Planning fund raising to replace the roof on our

church building • Making it possible to receive contributions by elec-

tronic fund transfers • Laying groundwork for the spring stewardship em-

phasis • Developing a policy to create a Legacy Fund in order

to receive bequests If you would like to serve on the Stewardship Team please contact Jeff Emmons or Pastor Jim.

Markey Christian Ministry News

Next Board meeting: 6pm Wednesday January 23 in the

Dining Room

M arkey Christian Ministries, Inc. is happy to report that Country Village senior adult af-

fordable apartments located next door to Markey Church are currently all leased. For a free tour or to be placed on a waiting list please call our man-ager Nancy Mink at 821-8091. The Country Village beauty shop, A Cut Above, is now in full operation for the residents providing a full range of cosmetological services from our beautician and foot care with our visiting podia-trists. This spring we will complete the installation of a garden on the south side of the building. In addition, volunteers from Markey Church have again filled the emergency food pantry for the win-ter. Upcoming MCM fund raising events include a St. Patrick’s day dinner on Thursday, March 14 and a golf outing at the Quest at 10am Friday, August 2. If you wish to heip with the garden, fund raising events, or serve on the MCM board please contact Jim Kent.

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January Prayer ListJanuary Prayer List EXTENDED CARE

The Brook—Houghton Lake: Jerry & Diane Ball, #D2

Dorothy Lee, #A12 Shirley Martin, #D1

The Brook—Roscommon: Agnes Bruckman, #B7 — Mary

Jo Oppy’s mom Sarah Oppy, #D4 —Mary Jo

Oppy’s mother-in-law

Helena Wolf, #D7 Esther Yaksich, #C8

Out of State—Minnesota Arvye Reeh,

Alzheimer’s facility

RECOVERING Doris & Paul Brotherton

Diane & Jerry Ball George Carlino

Russ Carrick Shirley Dougherty

Pat Dykyj (surgery Jan 8) Tom Edwards

Kerrigan Fitzpatrick Bob Gillespie

Jack & Arlette Harris Rev. Karen Henderlong

(surgery Jan 15) Evie Kurzhals

Jolee Lytle Chris Miller

Melissa Miller-Cochran Clara Moss

Isaac Postma Hilda Pratt

Tessa Richards Bob Thompson

Al Watts

MARKEY CHURCH ABC MISSIONARIES

Dan Buttry, Worldwide, Peace & Conflict Resolution

Dan and Sarah Chetti, Lebanon

Bill and Ann Clemmer, South Sudan

Rick and Anita Gutierrez, South Africa

Katherine & Wayne Niles, DR Congo

MARKEY CHURCH MINISTRIES

American Baptist Women Caregiver Group

Holy Grounds Coffee House (Wed. Jan 30)

JAM Clubs @ RHS, RMS, HLMS LIFE Groups Lift Team:

Pray for those in need in our congregation and commu-

nity. Markey Angel Network Men’s Prayer Groups

Mom to Mom Search Team

Sunday Study Groups Sunday Worship Services

MILITARY PERSONNEL Andria Alvarez Levi D. Balcom

Brian Bowars David L. Bulley

Peter Gross Travis Hickey—Iraq

Scott Katalenich Robert Tyler Link Janene Nesbitt Elizabeth Reicks

Rodger Papenhagen Matthew Schorr

Michael B. Shores — USS George Washington

Nathan Stover Gregory Strite Keith Tegman

Ronald Youngblut

DONATIONS TO MARKEY CHURCH

T his year Markey Church has had several “anonymous” donations of clothing, couches, mat-

tresses, and out-of-date electronics. Although we know that Markey people are extremely generous and want to Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce — we are unable to effec-tively handle these unlabeled, dropped-off-at-the-doorstep donations (most of the items end up in the dumpster and then the landfill). There are several human service agencies in Roscom-mon County including the Habitat ReStore, St. Vincent DePaul stores in Roscommon and Prudenville, ROOC Resale, etc. that are set up to receive and distribute do-nated items. And we help many people in our church and community by directing them to these fine agencies when they are in need of specific items. So, if you have a gently used donation to make you are welcome to call the church office to see if we might know of someone to match up with your donation. Or, we can direct you to contact one of the above men-tioned agencies. Thanks!

2012 Christmas Offering Results

As of December 31, we are happy to re-port that our Christmas Offering goal of $8170 to install a septic tank on the north side of our church building has been met! Thank you so much for putting your money “down the drain.”

In addition we have received $3500 in gifts to replace the engine in our white church van, and $3700 to replace our sanctuary projec-tor.

Because of your generosity we have met and paid for these needs completely in less than two months.

On top of that you gave very generously to our Benevolence Fund to help needy people in our area. We will report more on that when we have added up all the numbers.

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PEOPLE NOTES

Happy New Year! Now that we have survived the Mayan Apocalypse we can breathe a sigh of relief as we approach the Fiscal Cliff! Whatever would we worry about without the modern media? The end of 2012 brought some wonderful happenings for Markey Church families and friends…a surprise visit from our own SMK (Sweet Mrs. Katie) and her husband Greg Lambert all the way from Kansas without benefit of tornadoes and rainbows! It was great to see them and hear about the fact God lives in Kansas too. Mary Rieger and Megan Taylor both received acceptance letters at the University of Michigan so they now have to decide if they want to change their favorite colors to maize and blue. Speaking of Riegers, George Rieger was instru-mental in starting what has become a very successful bowling team at Houghton Lake High School. Several other high schools are now competing on a regular basis to see who can strike up the most points for their team without sparing any effort while staying out of the gutter (groan here!). Ryan Madis loved going to Washington D.C. this summer with our youth group so much he de-cided he needed to go back in December as a chaperone for a group of Kirtland Community College students. Not much grass grows under his feet! Jenni Emmons celebrated the New Year by boarding a plane to Kenya on December 31st. She will spend six weeks with other medical students providing care in this impoverished na-tion. Your January 2013 riddle: How many men does it take to pull your pastor’s turbo charged tan Taurus sta-tion wagon up an icy hill? The answer – 4. Jeff Red-mon, Paul Kamprath, Larry Bredow and Russ Bennett all assisted in hooking up a tow rope so Russ could back out of Bob and Lee Thompson’s very steep driveway BACKWARDS so Jim and Kathy could get home after eating some killer chocolate pie baked by Kim Hawkes! Lee Thompson drove through a pretty significant snowstorm to get home from Florida in order to host their Life Group’s Christmas gathering. December gave us an amazing Children’s Christmas pro-gram under the direction of Melissa Miller-Cochran and Autumn Vanacker. A week later Autumn de-cided it was time for Brantley Albert Vanacker to join the family, and delivered her third child and was home the next day. We prayed for Brantley who de-veloped the golden yellow color of jaundice but with some hospital treatment and TLC at home is doing fine. I think Brantley was just telling the Vanackers their allegiance to the green and white needs to be changed to

the “maize” and blue! We continue to be showered with miraculous answers to prayer as Russ Carrick came home after 54 days in the hospital and is now receiving the expert care of his wife Barb. This will continue to be a long recovery for Russ and we encourage people to stop by and visit. We are praying for Jerry and Diane Ball as Jerry has become extremely frail and is receiving Hospice care. Both Pat Dykyj and Karen Henderlong will be having surgery in the next two weeks and if you would like to put hands to your prayers you may contact Sharon Ashworth and/or Kathy Redmon to see what you can do to help these two ladies. Jim and I will spend the New Year in the Chicago area, first visiting our friends Barb and Bob Bishop and then Jim will teach the first of his week long classes at Northern Seminary in Lombard. We are so very grateful for each and every one of you who helped us pay off the new septic system, sanctuary projector and new engine for the white church van. Yes, we said PAID OFF! Not only did you give gen-erously for these unexpected needs, you kept up giving to the Benevolence Fund and we were able to help lots of people over the holidays as the economy in Northern Michigan continues to prove daunting and a challenge much closer to home right now than that pesky fiscal cliff. The sparkle of Christmas is almost always covering deeper hurts for people, not only financial but emotion-ally. This past December’s tragedy at the Sandy Hook School was almost too much to bear, and we had more than a steady diet of it thanks to our obsession with 24/7. To paraphrase the quote from Helen Keller that Jim used in a recent sermon, security is a myth. There is no way to guarantee that what you love and cherish in life will always be safe. This is a very hard lesson for us all. What is guaranteed in life, however, is that God is always pre-sent and loves and cares for us in ways we cannot even imagine. As we face the challenges and expectations of a new year, we will do best if we remember that God is already there, waiting for us!

VIP Wall of HonorVIP Wall of Honor For the Markey 80+ years young crowdFor the Markey 80+ years young crowd

Are you about to turn 80 years young? Plan to have your picture taken for the VIP Wall of Honor.

Contact Chris Schicker, 821-5389 and/or Ron Howell, 821-9371

Markey Angel Network

This is a special group of Markey members who volunteer to be an-gels whenever they are needed.

They might prepare a meal for a shut-in, take a non-driver to the doctor’s

office or just make a phone call when necessary.

Many wings have been distributed already and we have wings in all sizes

for those who might still want to volunteer. Contact the church office if you desire to become an angel or

would like an angelic visit!

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PEOPLE PAGE

Happy Anniversary 1/9 Merlin & Betty Walworth 1/23 Ray & Doris Segorski 1/23 Gail & Mike Herzberg

Happy Birthday 1/2 Janice Balcom

1/3 Rodney Patterson

1/3 Elizabeth Mahlmeister

1/11 Bill Ashworth

1/12 John Colvin

1/12 Betty Granzow

1/13 Esther Rumminger

1/13 Jenni Emmons

1/14 Ann Fick

1/19 Mary E Smith

1/19 Murphy

1/20 Judy Rupp

1/20 Merlin Walworth

1/23 Sue Lundy

1/23 Wilma Hendrixson

1/24 Dale McDonald

1/25 Vi Moore

1/26 Nathan Oppy

1/28 Mary Jo Oppy

1/29 Jill Schoenrock

1/30 Crystal Pilto

1/31 Mark Montei

Interested in Being on the Markey Email

Prayer Chain?

MARKEYPRAYERLINK Call / fax / email the church

office with your name and email address.

Markey Church is online!

Look For Markey Church on Facebook.com Be sure to click the “LIKE” button.

You can “Follow” us on Twitter.com Podcasts are available on iTunes

Our church website is www.markeychurch.org

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4736 Flint Road, Roscommon, MI 48653

989-225-1269

Murphy Licensed Professional Counselor

Certified Spiritual Director

The Markey American Baptist Women are taking orders today

in the Library for the

“Women of Markey Church” 2013 Wall Calendar

$15 each with lots of great pictures!

This is a wonderful fundraiser for the ABW to help support their many mission projects such as ... Alaskan Children’s Home, Coops for Africa, White Cross, Friendship House

Bring canned goods or non-perishable items and place them in the basket under the communion

table. Your generous donations are

divided between Roscommon County’s three food

banks — Project Hope in Prudenville,

St. Vincent DePaul and First Congregational Food pantries

YYYYYYYYYYYY

Every Sunday you also have the op-portunity to give to this special offer-ing for those with emergency mone-tary needs. Your generous gifts are

always helpful... any time of the year.

Please use the offering envelopes with the big heart on them.

Thank You

Markey LIFE GroupsMarkey LIFE Groups

There is room

for YOU in a LIFE Group. Contact a leader for more informa-tion.

MEETING DAY TIME LOCATION LEADERS

MONDAY 7:00pm Redmons’ 7280 W. Birch Road, West side of Higgins Lake

Jeff Redmon (821-9227) Russ Bennett (821-07511)

TUESDAY 7:00pm 10701 Murphy Road, Toward Roscommon Carolyn Black (275-4165)

TUESDAY 7:00pm Tom Rowell 107 Larkmoor Lane, South of Markey Church, off Flint Road Tom Rowell (989-220-4219)

FRIDAY 10:00am Country Village 2nd Floor Lounge Mary Link (821-9676) Betty Granzow (821-8426)

SHOP AT THE HABITAT ReSTORE!

T he Roscommon County Habitat for Humanity ReStore, located on M-55 (across from Curves), Houghton Lake, is a retail outlet where quality used and surplus building

materials are sold at a fraction of normal prices. Materials sold by the ReStore are usually donated from contractors, demolition crews or from individuals who wish to show their support for Habitat. In addition to raising funds, ReStores help the environment by rechan-neling good, usable materials into use. Proceeds from the Roscommon County Habitat Restore will raise enough money to build a house this year. If you need building supplies, large or small appliances, windows, doors, etc. check out the Habitat ReStore FIRST!

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The Mom 2 Mom ministry of Markey Church meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month with a 6pm potluck followed by fellowship and study of the book “Good and Angry.” Child

care is available. Mom’s with school age children at home are all welcome in this important ministry of friendship and support. For more information call Melissa Miller-Cochran at 366-1620.

The Markey Fitness Center is OPEN during church office hours

Monday-Friday!

Check out this month’s Markey Mailer & Calendar on our Website Today!

www.markeychurch.org Mailers are also available on the Welcome

Tables and in Grand Central.

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YOUTH & KID NEWS

Youth Events Coming Soon:

Winter Weekend info - we'll be going to Camp Lael in Lapeer, MI for Win-ter Weekend February 22-24, 2013. Details will be sent out soon, as well as posted to our Facebook group, which is open to all youth, parents, or inter-ested church people.

Workcamp details for this summer are being finalized in the coming weeks. Simi-lar to last year, we will re-quire students to attend a certain number of Sunday morning services and Sun-day group times to receive scholarships from the church

Any questions, concerns, or thoughts? Email, call, or text Ryan Madis at 810-300-0970

2012 Christmas Eve Service Attendance 7pm Service 246

11pm Service 69

315