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June 25, 2009

Church Camp Recap - Summer Worship Schedule

Last Sunday Pastor Vickie led worship for those who trekked through the storms on Friday to get to Wesley Woods campground on Lake Geneva in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. The sun came out on Saturday and we had a beautiful morning of bible study and games, and an afternoon of relaxation and songs (a famous foursome went golfing!). Thanks to Pastor Vickie and Tammy Rogers for planning the weekend. We joined together to cook a scrumptious meal Saturday night and ended with volleyball, a pontoon boat ride, campfire, more songs and plenty of special memories. A couple of pictures are attached. By popular demand, this retreat will take place again next year, same place, the third weekend in June.

Adam Thompson presented the sermon last Sunday. Pastor Vickie returns to the pulpit this Sunday and we’ll hear songs from our VBS kids! After service Pastor Vickie and husband Mark will take off for a much deserved two-week vacation. Keep worship on your schedule this summer. Here is a rundown of who will be leading us on Sunday mornings.

Summer 2009 Worship Schedule

July 5: Pastor Adam preaching. SPROUTS Sunday School returns after a brief recess for children ages 4 – 5th grade.

July 12: Pastor Adam preaching

July 19: Pastor Vickie preaching

July 26: Reconciling Ministry Sunday
Audrey Krumbach the Young Adult Outreach Coordinator, and G-ETS graduate, will preach. RMN staff will worship with us.

August 2: Pastor Vickie preaching. Special music by Nevada Iowa Youth Group

August 9: David Foster preaching

August 16: Pastor Vickie preaching

August 23: Pastor Vickie preaching

August 30: Pastor Vickie preaching

Prayer Network: If you are interested in being part of this group, or would like to have them pray for a special person or cause, contact Tina or Wally Felckowski: bwf79@sbcglobal.net

Work on the Church will be underway this coming week. You’ll see some equipment and a team doing exploratory work to determine next steps on repairs to the building.

Upcoming meetings, events, opportunities

June – August – Polish American Alliance will once again use our Fellowship Hall and grounds for a summer camp for youth. This group was here last year and has asked to return. They will be here on weekdays. This building use was approved at the May Church Council meeting.

June 27 – Free rain barrel distribution at Portage Park

June 28 – Farmers’ Market at Portage Park, 10 – 2.

June 28 - 10th annual Independence Day Kids Parade & Picnic www.friendsofportagepark.org

July 1 – Trustees meet in Fellowship Hall at 7 p.m.

July 15 – Deborah’s Circle will meet at 7 p.m. at the Veranda Restaurant on Irving Park Road. We are studying part s of the book “Inheriting our Mother’s Gardens.” Contact Pastor Vickie for more information.

July 26 – Reconciling Ministry Sunday

July 30 – August 7th - Nevada Iowa United Methodist Church Youth Group returns to our church to help with projects we need done and with work in the community. This is the third time over the past six years that youth and adults from this church have come to help us. In the past they have built fences, done gardening, cleaned, painted, repaired walls and doors and done much more. If you are interested in being involved in planning and hosting this group, please contact Vicci or Kent Keutzer.

Fun events for junior and senior high youth.
July 4 – 26 – Bang Bang You’re Dead, the play! July 4 – 26, details on www.edisonparkumc.com. Admission Free.
August 10 – 13 - Junior High Summer Missions Experience for 6th – 9th graders, Cedar Creek Retreat Center, Marseilles, Illinois. The deadline for signing up for this Mission trip has been extended. Contact Carol Hill: www.chicagonwdistrictyouth.com

We are a Recycling Church! Please observe all posted signs which explain the “green church” process. Lindsey Elton from our congregation is leading our “Stewards of Creation” small group. Contact: lindseyelton@hotmail.com

Weekly
Sunday morning bible study, Book of Matthew, 8:45 – 9:45 a.m. All are welcome. We meet in the third floor chapel, up the stairs inside the Grace Street entrance. Contact David Foster for more information: david.foster2@att.net.

Spanish Worship Service, Sunday at noon.

Posted by vickie at 01:59 PM

Soaring to New Heights with God was the theme of our Vacation Bible School

Soaring to New Heights with God was the theme of our Vacation Bible School (VBS) and it is also what has been happening at Irving Park UMC this week.

Today is the final day of VBS and everyone is having a high-flying time! About 30 children (about 50% of these are our kids), have been learning about God, Jesus, and God's followers from 9:00am to 3:00pm. Reports have it that 15-17 adult volunteers have been on site every day! Today at 3 p.m. this chapter will close until next year, but great thanks go out to Adam and Ashley who have coordinated this effort and to each and every volunteer and person who donated resources to make this a reality. These children will have wonderful memories for years to come and each of them has a better understanding of how much they are loved by God.

Here’s a rundown of their day. Pictures are attached and the bulletin board outside of the Bacmeister Room will be transformed with photos from the week.

The day begins and ends with an exciting assembly time led by Pastor Adam and Ashley (and Sklyar the puppet squirrel).

The teachers for each age group have been terrific! The kids have really gotten close them and their helpers.

The crafts have been amazing! The recreation time has been lots of fun in the park beside the Disney Magnet school. In fact, one father of three spotted us at the park on Monday and asked if his children could come. We said yes, and they've been here since then!

The music has been intense and fun. The children will be singing a couple songs in worship this Sunday, so we hope you'll be able to come.

The food has been delicious and nutritious! The prayers have been flowing and the kids are memorizing portions of a Psalm each day.

Mission time has been learning to be Green. Our Official mission for VBS is the Nothing But Nets campaign that raises money for mosquito netting for children in Africa. We'll be taking a collection on Thursday and also Sunday morning. $10 buys a net and saves a life.

Ashley's youth group (from Barrington Community Church) came back this week, with some adults, to give us a hand! Awesome. We'll be looking to do something to support them this fall.

So many people have helped to make this possible! If you had a hand or a prayer in this, thank you! If you would like to help, we will be cleaning up tomorrow at 3:30pm. Everything except the sanctuary needs to be boxed up and put away. Meet us in the Fellowship Hall.

That Spirit that we've been talking about is so apparent in the faces of everyone who is here –the kids and the volunteers! GOD IS moving and shaking at 3801 N. Keeler. GOD IS taking us to new heights! PRAISE GOD!

Posted by vickie at 01:58 PM

There’s A Lot Happening On The Corner Of Grace And Keeler - June 18 Weekly Message

Last week we celebrated our past year, recognizing our health team for the work they have done to set goals and then help to chart our course. We heard testimonials from Janet Spencer and Molly Melick and a beautiful solo by Carrie Houchins-Witt. Thanks to our District Superintendent, Rev. James Preston, for being our Natural Church Development coach for the past year and for joining us last Sunday to recognize the past year and the Passionate Spirituality award we received from the district. We also were recognized this week for being a Rainbow Covenant Church. This is the first year our church has achieved this status and we came in second in the district for money raised through mission work. A slide show with almost 100 pictures from the past year was presented during fellowship. If you didn’t see it, we’ll share it again at a future event. Thanks to Gerry Sikora and Lowell Allen for leading our mission committee and for all who participated this past year.

The energy of youth. After service, a group of 16 youth and adults from Bear Lake UMC in Michigan arrived to help work around our church and see some of Chicago. They departed for home today. While they were here they created our new “Sprouts Sunday School Room” as you can see in the attached photo. They also cleaned all of the cabinets and contents in our kitchen and cleaned and polished the pews in our sanctuary. We’ll start using the new Sprouts space during VBS which starts this coming Monday! On Tuesday, a second youth group arrived from Barrington Community Church. They will be with us until Saturday. Their focus has been preparing materials (including amazing banners and posters) for VBS. Today they worked with the Food Pantry and cleaned out all of the pantry food storage areas in the church – not an easy task. The groups slept in our sanctuary and in the RMN office space. They held evening worship services. They laughed and prayed together. Thanks to Adam Thompson and Ashley Barlow who helped guide these groups during the week. Thanks to those who participated in our Wednesday pot luck and everyone who worked to make these visits possible. If you have time on Sunday, or during the week, stop by to see the tremendous work that has been done by young people God sent to us.

June Birthdays/Anniversaries
21 Marion DeSpain
22 Angela Walsh

This Sunday Pastor Vickie will be with other members of our congregation, their friends and family members at our annual Church Retreat at Wesley Woods in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. Adam Thompson will present the sermon on Sunday. Watch for pictures from Church camp, Rethinking Church, the two youth groups and VBS on our bulletin board outside of the Bacmeister Room near the Grace Street entrance.

VBS: Lifts Off on MONDAY! We’ll Be Soaring to New Heights with God - June 22-25
More than 30 children between 4 years and 5th grade are registered to attend. A tremendous amount of planning and preparation has gone into making sure this week is a learning experience that these young people will remember. For more information please contact Pastor Adam. adam.thompson@garrett.edu. We will have a VBS Celebration Worship on Sunday, June 28th at our 10 a.m. Worship.

Prayer Network: If you are interested in being part of this group or would like to have them pray for a special person or cause, contact Tina or Wally Felckowski: bwf79@sbcglobal.net

Upcoming meetings, events, opportunities

Saturday, June 20 – Lakefront. 24th Annual Chicago Hunger Walk (2.5 miles, Montrose Harbor)– If you’re not attending our church retreat in Wesley Woods, you may want to join others in this important walk. The pantry obtains the majority of the food that it distributes from money raised through this event. For more information go to the food pantry web site. http://www.irvingparkfoodpantry.com.

June – August – Polish American Alliance will once again use our Fellowship Hall and grounds for a summer camp for youth. This group was here last year and has asked to return. They will be here on weekdays. This building use was approved at the May Church Council meeting.

June 21 – Farmers’ Market at Portage Park, 10 – 2.

June 27 – Free rain barrel distribution at Portage Park

June 28 – Pastor Vickie preaching and special music by our VBS students.

June 28 - 10th annual Independence Day Kids Parade & Picnic www.friendsofportagepark.org

July 26 – Reconciling Ministry Sunday

July 30 – August 8th - Nevada Iowa United Methodist Church Youth Group returns to our church to help with projects we need done and with work in the community. This is the third time over the past six years that youth and adults from this church have come to help us. In the past they have built fences, done gardening, cleaned, painted, repaired walls and doors and done much more. If you are interested in being involved in planning and hosting this group, please contact Vicci or Kent Keutzer.

Spanish Worship Service, Sunday at noon.

Posted by vickie at 12:58 PM