First United Methodist Church

August 2016 Newsletter

The Church with a Warm
Heart

Methodist Men meets

every second Sunday at
7:30 am with the men of
Central UMC. This
months meeting is at
Central on August 14th.
Come join us for a
program, fellowship and a
full breakfast!

Our new pastor, Eric Douglas, wife

Brittney, and daughters Ana & Kalea

F i rs t U n i t e d M e t h o d i s t C h u rc h
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M i n e ra l W e l l s , T X 7 6 0 6 7
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P a s t o r E ri c D o u g l a s
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Thank you so much!

I wanted to start this months
Letter from the newsletter off by thanking everyone so
much for their generous hospitality in
welcoming our family to First United
Methodist Church here in Mineral
Wells. Around every turn there have
been people willing to help us move
stuff, bring us dinner, and do all other
manner of things to make sure the

move and transition went as smoothly as possible. Now that

weve been on the ground here in Palo Pinto County for a few
weeks now everything is quickly starting to feel like home. Even
our cat is starting to feel like this is home.
As we begin our time together, Im reminded that the very idea
of change is hard. Many people dont like to change and become
rather comfortable in the way things have been done or old
routines. I want to encourage all of you to continue to discover
God. In continuing to strive after perfection in love of God and
one another, youll find a deep relationship with your Creator
that on one hand is always the same comfortable embrace, but on
the other hand is always presenting you with a new and deeper
understanding of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Only an amazing God can present to you simultaneously the
comfort of familiarity and the excitement of something new. I
hope as we journey down our shared path of faith, for as long as
Im graced to be here, you will both experience the comfort of the
familiar in God and the excitement of some new.
Blessings,
Pastor Eric

Experience Murder at the Fox Hole, a mystery set in 1951 during the Cold War. You
are invited to come out at 6 pm Saturday, Aug. 6, for a tasty dinner, converse with an
interesting cast of characters and participate in this interactive murder mystery.
Tickets are $15 and benefit the First United Methodist Church youth in mission.
Tickets can be purchased at the Mineral Wells Chamber of Commerce, at FUMC Mineral
Wells or call Amanda at 940-445-1356. (Child care is not provided, but children are
welcome to attend.)
School will be back in session soon and with that, our weekly
deliveries of backpacks filled with food for 300+ at risk
children each weekend in Mineral Wells.
As you can imagine, this takes a tremendous amount of
manpower and dollars to fill those backpacks each week.
Please pray for this important ministry and decide how you
can support it this school year.
You may make donations in any amount that you can spare!!!
Or honor a friend, relative, or loved one by making a donation
in their honor and we will send them a thank you card
notifying them of your gift!
Note: Food provided includes pudding or fruit cups, dried
fruit, Pop-tarts, cheese crackers (no peanut butter due to
allergies), Vienna sausages, or individual snack packages.
Donations of any of these are also accepted at the church.
Thank you from Lianne
I just want to thank you all again for four and half years of wonderful ministry together, and for the memories that I will
forever treasure. I'm grateful for all the times we laughed together, ate together, studied together, worshiped together,
sang together, worked together, prayed together, sweated together, and shared life together. We baptized folks together,
we celebrated the lives of those who have joined God for eternity together, we invited people to know the joy of knowing
Jesus together, and we served our neighbors and community together. You invited me into your lives in so many ways, and
I can't tell you how much that means to me. You are a grace-filled, caring people, who share the love of Christ, and I am a
grateful recipient. I so appreciated the cards, kind words, gifts, and the beautiful "send off" meal. Saying good-bye was one
of the hardest things I've ever done. For all of those blessings and so, so many more, I thank God for each of you!
--Lianne

8/1 Jolene Williams

8/4 Yvonne Vaughn, Diane Warren, Hope Herndon
8/5 Tori Headrick
8/7 Neal Overton
8/8 Juanice Hunter
8/9 Daval Dow
8/11 Sara Simmons
8/12 Amy Fabian
8/14 Dana Dow
8/15 Bobby Richards
8/18 Mary Zane Dunn
8/20 Tonya Gary
8/21 Jerry Lovell
8/22 Brandi Charlton
8/25 Jennifer Fabian, Jeff Williams
8/28 Sue Overton
9/2 Travis Novak
Our Vision
Our passion is to be followers of Jesus Christ who are welcoming, worshiping, growing and going.
WELCOMING We invite people to come as they are and to find their unique place in the church. We are working
hard to never draw lines of "insiders/outsiders," "saints/sinners," "us/them." We believe that Christ greets people
with open arms, knows their names and loves them for who they are and we strive to be like Christ!
WORSHIPING We feel strongly that we were created to praise God! So worship is at the heart of all that we do.
Worship feeds our souls, but it also reminds us that the heart of any church is to bring glory to the Holy One. We do
what we do in awe and love of our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.
GROWING We believe that God loves us as we are, but, in love, God will help us grow into "more." We want to
always be seeking, asking, going deeper and understanding more. Learning is an important component of a person's
life journey, and we want to be a learning place!
GOING We believe that Jesus came for the sake of everyone, and so the church must never become focused on
itself. Our task is to take the kingdom of heaven into the world so that all may know the saving grace and wondrous
love of God, becoming themselves disciples who welcome, worship, grow and go!