Pastor: Dr. Frank Billman Lay Leader: Vickie Kegerise Music Director: Tim Garrett Ministers: The Entire Congregation Sunday School: 9:30 am Worship: 10:30 am | ||
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NOVEMBER 2011
There is an old story about a traveler who came upon a barn where the devil had stored seeds which he planned to sow in the hearts of people. There were bags of seeds marked “Hatred,” “Fear,” “Doubt,” “Despair,” “Unforgiveness,” “Pride,” “Greed,” “Bitterness,” etc.
The devil appeared and struck up a conversation with the traveler. He gleefully told the traveler how easily the seeds he sowed sprouted in the hearts of men and women. “Are there any hearts in which these seeds will not sprout”, the traveler asked.
A melancholy look appeared on the devil’s face. “These seeds will not sprout in the heart of a thankful and joyful person,” he confessed.
Visiting a big city, a Christian farmer entered a fancy restaurant for lunch. When his meal was served, he bowed his head and quietly thanked God for the food.
There was a group of rowdy teenagers at a nearby table and one of them taunted him in a loud voice: “Hey, farmer, does everyone do that where you live?”
The old farmer looked at the young man and calmly said: “No, son, the pigs don’t.”
You never know how much you have to be thankful for until you pay taxes on it. Will Rogers once said, “Just be thankful you’re not getting all the government you’re paying for!”
“The most important prayer in the world is just two words long: ‘Thank you.’”—Meister Eckhart (1327 AD)
FELLOWSHIP DINNER
This month’s special Thanksgiving fellowship dinner will be held Wednesday November 16th at 6:30 pm in the fellowship hall. Everyone is welcome, even if you don’t have time to make something to bring.
FELLOWSHIP BIBLE STUDY GATHERING
Those interested in a time of sharing, praying, and fellowshipping together are welcome to gather at the home of Henry Procopio on Wednesday November 9th at 6:30 pm. This is a monthly gathering but anyone is welcome to come whenever they can come. The group is studying the Gospel of Mark. You can start at any time. Desserts are provided.
UPCOMING DATES
December 3 Cookie Exchange
Fruit Basket Assembly
December 11 Children’s Christmas Party
December 24 Candlelight Service
CHURCH CLEANING SCHEDULE
For November 6th Mary Beth Riley
For November 13th Martha & Eli
For November 20th Jennifer Lee
For November 27th Open
For December 4th Steve & Sheri Lain
COMMUNION
We will celebrate Communion Sunday, November 6th. That is also All Saints Sunday so we will remember our 4 church members who died this year.
COMMUNITY THANKSGIVING
Our Ecumenical Community Thanksgiving Service will be held at 7 pm at Beech Grove UMC (4318 Brick Church Pike, Whites Creek), November 14th. The offering taken that night will go to the Joelton Hope Center.
MEMBER ADDRESSES NEEDED
The church is responsible for keeping up with its members’ addresses even if they move. We are missing addresses for the following members: Charlie Brown, Johnetta Brown, Mitch and Vickie Skelton. If you can get an address and phone number for any of these people please write it down and give it to the pastor.
WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAY
Did you know that you can name your church as a beneficiary of your estate in several ways? Consider gifting your church a specific amount, a percentage of your estate, the remainder of the estate after other gifts are made, or gifts whose beneficiaries predecease you.
ARE YOU HAVING DIFFICULTY HEARING DURING WORSHIP?
Our damaged hearing assistance system has been replaced. This system allows you to sit anywhere you want to in the sanctuary and hear anything that is being broadcast over the microphones through the use of special receivers and earphones. If you would like to try one, ask the pastor.
JOELTON HOPE CENTER –Neighbors Helping Neighbors
The Hope Center is located 212 Gifford Place, between Curves and the Laundromat. There are now over 170 client families being helped by our center. This does not include homeless persons and persons just passing through who are in need.
A barrel is in the entryway of the church to receive donations for the Joelton Hope Center. [You can also take them directly to the Hope Center.] There is always a need for cooking oil, sugar, corn meal and flour. These are items that the center has to buy most often. There is also a need for diapers size 4 and 5.
The Hope Center is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10-4 and 10-2 Saturday. The Hope Center Board set a goal of being open 6 days a week in 2011 so additional volunteers are needed any day Monday-Saturday. Call the Hope Center at 876-1778 if you can help.
The Joelton Hope Center was highlighted at the Tennessee Annual Conference session in June as a good example of risk taking mission and it was granted Advance Special Status. Our District Superintendent continues to hold up our Hope Center as an example for others of cooperation between smaller churches.
CHURCH BLOG SITE Update
If you're reading this online then you are visiting the church blog site at www.forestgroveumctn.blogspot.com. Each sermon is posted hereas they are delivered and most times there will be a link to an audio of that sermon. The monthly newsletters will also be posted. You can post comments, questions and even things you have for sale.
If you want to post something other than a comment on that particular sermon, just email Peg and she’ll post it for you (pegbillman@yahoo.com). If you want to be notified when something new is posted, become a follower of the blog. Soon I hope to have a Facebook page for Forest Grove, too so keep checking for that on the blog or in this newsletter. If you have an interest in being an admin for a Facebook page, let me know!
Forest Grove Prayer Chain
Forest Grove has a prayer chain that is called when emergency needs arise during the week needing prayer right away. To start the prayer chain all you need to do is call Janice Baxter with your prayer request—876-0489.
HANGING OF THE GREENS
We will be decorating the church for the Christmas season on Saturday November 26th at 9 am. Come on out and give a hand!
CHURCH COUNCIL and
CHARGE CONFERENCE
The Church Council will meet on Thursday November 10th at 6:30 pm to approve a 2012 Church Budget and to look over the church membership. Members of the Church Council are: Henry Procopio, Vickie Kegerise, Brenda Alcorn, Charles Powell, Sandra Robinson, Martha Neeley, Patsy Clark, Teresa Shepherd, Tim & Beverly Garrett, Steve Lain, Doug & Janice Baxter, Mary Cline, Patrick O’Neal, Jesse Browning.
The Charge Conference, whose membership is the same as the Church Council, will meet at Greenville UMC at 5892 Clarksville Highway on Sunday November 20th at 1:30 pm to approve a 2012 salary for the pastor, do elections, report on inactive members and meet with our District Superintendent, Tom Halliburton.
EMMANUEL OUTREACH
This year’s Emmanuel Outreach Christmas party for needy children in the Joelton community will be held December 11th at the St. Lawrence Community Center. Up to 100 children will be given Christmas gifts and the Joelton Hope Center will give each of the families a Christmas dinner food box. In preparation for that we will be collecting money from now until November 14th to be able to purchase Christmas gifts for our neighborhood children. You can mark your offering “Emmanuel Outreach” and it will be used for this need.
COOKIE EXCHANGE
Plan now for the cookie exchange on Saturday, December 3rd. We’ll meet in Fellowship Hall at 9am to exchange cookies. Watch the bulletin for any additional information! Plan to bring as many as you can to exchange. Bring extra containers and make up gift boxes to give away if you don’t “need” a lot yourself!
FOLDED NAPKIN
I tried not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His placement counselor assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee and wasn't sure I wanted one. I wasn't sure how my customers would react to Stevie.
He was short, a little dumpy with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of Down’s syndrome. I wasn't worried about most of my trucker customers because truckers don't generally care who buses tables as long as the meatloaf platter is good and the pies are homemade.
The four-wheeler drivers were the ones who concerned me; the mouthy college kids traveling to school; the yuppie snobs who secretly polish their silverware with their napkins for fear of catching some dreaded "truck stop germ" the pairs of white-shirted business men on expense accounts who think every truck stop waitress wants to be flirted with. I knew those people would be uncomfortable around Stevie so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.
I shouldn't have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my truck regulars had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot.
After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old kid in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished He would hover in the background, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, scanning the dining room until a table was empty. Then he would scurry to the empty table and carefully bus dishes and glasses onto his cart and meticulously wipe the table up with a practiced flourish of his rag. If he thought a customer was watching, his brow would pucker with added concentration. He took pride in doing his job exactly right, and you had to love how hard he tried to please each and every person he met.
Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled after repeated surgeries for cancer. They lived on their Social Security benefits in public housing two miles from the truck stop. Their social worker, who stopped to check on him every so often, admitted they had fallen between the cracks. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home. That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work.
He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a new valve or something put in his heart. His social worker said that people with Down’s syndrome often have heart problems at an early age so this wasn't unexpected, and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months. A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing fine. Frannie, the head waitress, let out a war hoop and did a little dance in the aisle when she heard the good news. Marvin Ringers, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at the sight of this 50-year-old grandmother of four doing a victory shimmy beside his table Frannie blushed, smoothed her apron and shot Marvin a withering look.
He grinned. "OK, Frannie, what was that all about?" he asked.
"We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay."
"I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?"
Frannie quickly told Marvin and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery, and then sighed: “Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK,” she said. "But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is." Marvin nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables. Since I hadn't had time to round up a busboy to replace Stevie and really didn’t want to replace him, the girls were busing their own tables that day until we decided what to do.
After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand and a funny look on her face.
"What's up?" I asked.
"I didn't get that table where Marvin and his friends were sitting cleared off after they left, and Pete and Tony were sitting there when I got back to clean it off," she said. "This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup"
She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed "Something For Stevie."
"Pete asked me what that was all about," she said, "so I told him about Stevie and his Mom and everything, and Pete looked at Tony and Tony looked at Pete, and they ended up giving me this." She handed me another paper napkin that had "Something For Stevie" scrawled on its outside... Two $50 bills were tucked within its folds. Frannie looked at me with wet, shiny eyes, shook her head and said simply: "truckers."
That was three months ago. Today is Thanksgiving, the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work.
His placement worker said he's been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, and it didn't matter at all that it was a holiday. He called 10 times in the past week, making sure we knew he was coming, fearful that we had forgotten him or that his job was in jeopardy. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work. I then met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back.
Stevie was thinner and paler, but couldn't stop grinning as he pushed through the doors and headed for the back room where his apron and busing cart were waiting.
"Hold up there, Stevie, not so fast," I said. I took him and his mother by their arms. "Work can wait for a minute. To celebrate your coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me!" I led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room.
I could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw booth after booth of grinning truckers empty and join the procession. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all sitting slightly crooked on dozens of folded paper napkins. "First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I said. I tried to sound stern.
Stevie looked at me, and then at his mother, then pulled out one of the napkins. It had "Something for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed or scrawled on it. I turned to his mother. "There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems.”Happy Thanksgiving."
Well, it got real noisy about that time, with everybody hollering and shouting, and there were a few tears, as well.
But you know what's funny? While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.
Best worker I ever hired.
| November 2011 | ||||||
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| | | 1 | 2 6:30-Intercessory Prayer Group at church | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 9:30-Sunday School 10:30-Worship ALL SAINTS SUNDAY COMMUNION | 7 | 8 | 9 6:30-Bible Study at Henry Procopio’s – anyone is welcome! | 10 6:30-Church Council | 11 | 12 |
| 13 9:30-Sunday School 10:30-Worship | 14 7:00-Community Thanksgiving Service @ Beech Grove UMC, 4318 Brick Church Pike | 15 | 16 6:30-Thanksgiving Fellowship Dinner (Intercessors will meet following the dinner) | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 9:30-Sunday School 10:30-Worship 1:30-Charge Conference @ Greenville UMC | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 HAPPY THANKSGIVING! | 25 | 26 9:00 – Hanging of the Greens |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | | | |
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