WORSHIP WITH US – SUNDAY 10AM
Online Giving
Quick-Step Guide (PDF) for setting up your account and making your first donation.
Thank you for giving to McCormick United Methodist Church. Your gifts enable us to fulfill our mission of “Reaching Up and Reaching Out”.
from Rev. C. Nels Ledwell
Distract the Christians!
Ray Osborne writes a great article about how we can be distracted away from God and our Church. Enjoy!
All too often we miss what God is doing because we are either too busy doing something else or we have a better idea of what God would do. Someone sent me the following in an email this week:
Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said:
“We can’t keep the Christians from going to church. We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can’t even keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship experience in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can’t gain that experience in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!”
“How shall we do this?” shouted his angels. “Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds, “he answered. “Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade them to work for long hours, to work 6 – 7 days a week, 10 – 12 hours a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of work.”
“Over stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive. To keep the TV, iPads, CDs and their computers going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.”
“Fill the coffee table with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards.
Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogues, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services, and false hopes.”
“Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week.
Don’t let them go out in nature to reflect on God’s wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead.”
And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotion.”
“Let them be involved in soul-winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.”
It was quite a convention in the end. And the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and there.
Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the JUDGE.
See you in Church or online this Sunday!
Your Pastor,
Nels
Nels
Preparing for Worship
Sunday, March 19 – 10AM
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Stephen Leader Commissioning
Blessing of Prayer Quilts
Scripture Lesson:John 9:1-17,35-41
Message: “Mud and Miracles”
BELLS WERE TUNED, REPAIRED AND CLEANED
Carol Tummons, our Bells Director, arranged to have the bells conditioned. It included tuning, repairing and cleaning the bells so they are ready for our Bell Ringers on Maundy Thursday! Having this work done each year helps to keep the bells in the best condition.
FELLOWSHIP AFTER CHURCH SERVICE – HOSTS NEEDED
Many of you are enjoying the fellowship time following the services each week! If you have not come to the fellowship hall after the service, give it a try this week! There is always coffee, drinks, and goodies plus fellowship with the church family!
Carol Myers wants you to know there is a sign-up ready for April, May, and June. Please take the time to pick one Sunday to bring goodies (usually there are two folks that provide the goodies). Goodies do not have to home-made! You will be working with others to set up.. the veterans will show you the way!!
If you have a question or concern, call Carol Myers.
Stephen Ministry
Ready to Listen
If you are experiencing any type of difficulty and you need someone to listen to you, with whom you can share your feelings and receive acceptance and Christian love, please consider being in a relationship with a Stephen Minister at MUMC.
Start by calling Pastor Nels or one of the Stephen Leaders thru the church office at (864)852-2394 and begin a ‘fellowship’ with a Stephen Minister.
CONGREGATIONAL CARE COMMITTEE
The Congregational Care Committee wants you to know they are there to help you if you ever need transportation, meals or a visitor! Please contact Kim Jackson if you or someone you know needs help or if you would like to be added to the list of volunteers.
HOLY WEEK, AND EASTER SERVICES
Palm Sunday …April 2
Palm Sunday commemorates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and begins the series of observances focusing on the events of Holy Week. The service will be at 10am.
Maundy Thursday…April 6
Maundy is derived from the Latin word for “command,” and refers to Jesus’ commandment to the disciples to “Love one another as I have loved you.” Service starts at 6pm. Communion will be served.
Easter Sunday … April 9
Easter is a time for renewal. You have two opportunities on Easter to worship and celebrate the miracle of hope and eternal life.
A Sunrise service will be held at Baker Creek on Easter Sunday, April 9 at 7am. Time will be announced. Bring your company, neighbors and friends. Coffee and refreshments will follow.
There will also be a service at 10am in the MUMC sanctuary. The Chancel Choir will present an Easter Musical titled, “No More Night”. Refreshments will follow in the Fellowship Hall.
ACTS OF KINDNESS
Kindness Update – We Are All Special In God’s Eyes!
Some years ago, Bob Linsenmayer, SLV resident, worshiped with us – an accomplished folk singer, he brought his guitar and sang a beautiful song recorded by Mark Wills entitled “Don’t Laugh at Me” That song became one of my favorites! I am reminded of it especially at this time of year because March is Disability Awareness Month when we raise awareness about the supports and rights of people with disabilities and celebrate their contributions to our communities. I would like to share it with you:
I’m a little boy with glasses, the one they call the geek,
A little girl who never smiles ’cause I’ve got braces on my teeth,
And I know how it feels to cry myself to sleep.
A little girl who never smiles ’cause I’ve got braces on my teeth,
And I know how it feels to cry myself to sleep.
I’m that kid on every playground who’s always chosen last,
A single teenage mother tryin’ to overcome my past.
You don’t have to be my friend – Is it too much to ask?
A single teenage mother tryin’ to overcome my past.
You don’t have to be my friend – Is it too much to ask?
Don’t laugh at me, don’t call me names, don’t get your pleasure from my pain
‘Cause in God’s eyes we’re all the same – someday we’ll all have perfect wings.
Don’t laugh at me.
‘Cause in God’s eyes we’re all the same – someday we’ll all have perfect wings.
Don’t laugh at me.
I’m the cripple on the corner – you pass me on the street,
And I wouldn’t be out here beggin’ if I had enough to eat,
And don’t think I don’t notice that our eyes never meet.
And I wouldn’t be out here beggin’ if I had enough to eat,
And don’t think I don’t notice that our eyes never meet.
I lost my wife and little boy when someone crossed that yellow line.
The day we laid ’em in the ground is the day I lost my mind.
Right now I’m down to holdin’ this little cardboard sign.
The day we laid ’em in the ground is the day I lost my mind.
Right now I’m down to holdin’ this little cardboard sign.
So don’t laugh at me, don’t call me names, don’t get your pleasure from my pain
‘Cause in God’s eyes we’re all the same – someday we’ll all have perfect wings.
Don’t laugh at me.
‘Cause in God’s eyes we’re all the same – someday we’ll all have perfect wings.
Don’t laugh at me.
‘Cause I’m fat, I’m thin, I’m short, I’m tall, I’m deaf, I’m blind, hey, aren’t we all?
Don’t laugh at me, don’t call me names, don’t get your pleasure from my pain
‘Cause in God’s eyes we’re all the same – someday we’ll all have perfect wings
Don’t laugh at me.
‘Cause in God’s eyes we’re all the same – someday we’ll all have perfect wings
Don’t laugh at me.
As the song says, “in God’s eyes we’re all the same”! If you would like to listen to this beautiful song, check out the youtube video at:
We find kindness shown just when it was needed in this week’s kindness entry: I had a little car trouble in a Greenwood parking lot the other day, and a kind young man named Jamar took the time to look under my vehicle and put me at east that it was a minor issue that there should be no problem with driving home, and that it could be taken care of by a local mechanic in my hometown. When I thanked him, I also told him I would say a prayer for him and he smiled and said, “Please do!”
Have you seen God today? If you see God at work this week, there are two ways you can share what you saw!
1) Be a blessing to others by sharing your Act of Kindness (no names please) on our website, or use this link! Then check back each week to learn how others are passing on acts of kindness! The link is https://www.mccormickmc.org/acts-of-kindness
2) There is a Kindness box in the library on the window sill, along with paper and pencil. Share your God-Wink, perhaps someone else will be inspired!
“Walking with Christ to the Cross”
LENTEN BIBLE STUDY
The following Seven-Week Bible Study can be done by yourself at home, or with a group.
If you are interested in being part of a small group for this Bible Study, Kim Jackson is leading a Lenten Bible Study group on Saturday mornings at 10am in the Fellowship Hall. Please call Kim if you are planning on attending the Saturday sessions.
To learn more and/or download a copy of the “Walking with Christ to the Cross Bible Study” Click the link below:
https://www.mccormickmc.org/lenten-bible-study
https://www.mccormickmc.org/lenten-bible-study
UMCOR SUNDAY
MARCH 26
For more than 50 years, Methodist congregations have supported UMCOR Sunday. MUMC will celebrate UMCOR Sunday on March 26.
UMCOR Sunday, March 26, is one of our church-wide special Mission Sundays which calls us to share our goodness of life with those who are in need. Your gifts lay the foundation to share God’s love with communities everywhere. This special offering underwrites “costs of doing business.” and helps them keep the promise that 100 percent of any gift to a specific disaster through the year will go toward that project, not administrative costs.
There will be a collection at church on March 19. You can donate from home starting today by check or online. If paying by check, please make payable to MUMC and note UMCOR on the subject line. You can drop it in the collection plate, bring it by the office or mail it to the church at MUMC Box 267 McCormick SC 29835. Here is a direct link to the UMCOR tile on VANCO.
Please give generously and pray about following our Lord’s words from 1 John 3:18 “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but indeed and in truth.”
BIRTHDAYS
March
Lewis Bryant
Becky Lagroon
Joe Larate
Mike Smith
Marsha Garner
Larry Bonam
Josh Sandt
Susan Gaer
Jan Lamke
Shirley Bowser
Dale Tarrant
Bob Garner
Lewis Bryant
Becky Lagroon
Joe Larate
Mike Smith
Marsha Garner
Larry Bonam
Josh Sandt
Susan Gaer
Jan Lamke
Shirley Bowser
Dale Tarrant
Bob Garner
April
Dick Kvale
Wendy Kvale
Scott Pitser
Barb Shelley
Bob Myers
Pat Winn
Nancy Vereb
Glenda Sartain
Dot Baggett
Pat Meyers
Gary Wolfe
Don Smith
Dick Kvale
Wendy Kvale
Scott Pitser
Barb Shelley
Bob Myers
Pat Winn
Nancy Vereb
Glenda Sartain
Dot Baggett
Pat Meyers
Gary Wolfe
Don Smith
ANNIVERSARIES
March
Ron &Donna Hutto
Larry & Sandy Bonam
Nancy & Wayne Manfready
Shirley & Turney Bowser
Brian & Gail Gore
Lewis & Barb Bryant
Ron &Donna Hutto
Larry & Sandy Bonam
Nancy & Wayne Manfready
Shirley & Turney Bowser
Brian & Gail Gore
Lewis & Barb Bryant
April
Mike & Charlotte Tallent
Mike & Charlotte Tallent
