COZAD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Volume 3
COZAD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
March 2016
“One Down – One to Go”
Every fall I sit down with Gateway District Superintendent Alan Davis and review how the church
under my leadership is doing. In the four prior years, these meeting were more of a social time
to catch up with family and discussing the accomplishments of the church. But this past year
two concerns were raised that dominated our discussions. I knew we had to work together to
turn these concerns around.
The first concern was our financial position. We struggled during the summer to meet our obligations and even had to borrow some money to get through those months. Not too unusual as
we have had to do this in the past but we also had not made any payments to our conference
obligations of Mission Shares. We concentrated on our year-end giving during the month of December hoping that we could reach at least 50% of our Mission Shares. It wasn’t looking to
good after the first two Sundays in December but the congregation came through with the largest Christmas Eve offering we have ever had. Your response to our Christmas Letter helped us
finish the year strong, paying 100% of our Mission Shares, all of our local obligations and allowing us to start the New Year strong.
At our January Administrative Council meeting, we decided to change the way we are paying
our Mission Shares by proposing to pay half of a month’s payment by the 16th of the month.
After much discussion and input from members of the congregation, a motion to pay half a
month’s Mission Shares payment each month was passed by unanimous vote. Now we need a
commitment from you to make sure we can meet all of our monthly obligations such as utilities and payroll and be able to send a payment to the conference.
The second concern raised at our meeting was the declining attendance at our worship services. Since the merger of the two congregations, our Sunday morning worship service attendance has not kept up with the attendance of the two churches in the past. When we started
our contemporary service a couple of years ago, it was hoped that we would be able to keep
our traditional service numbers the same and bring new members to the new service. Over the
last three years we have seen our average worship attendance (all services) drop from 148 in
2013 to 138 in 2014 and down to 133 in 2015. We have had some big services such as Easter
(250+) and Christmas Eve (450+ at 2 services) but have not been able to increase our average
attendance.
There are two ways you can help. First we need to be inviting our friends and neighbors to attend worship with us. And we need to encourage those who are members to come to worship.
Our strength as a congregation comes from the worship of God as a group. Even the early disciples knew how important it was for them to come together in worship as often as possible.
As a member of the Cozad UMC you have agreed to support the church with your prayers, your
presence, your gifts, your service and your witness.
The second way you can help is letting us know how we can improve our worship services. Do
we need more music, less music; more liturgy, less liturgy; more special music, less special
music; more communion, less communion? I hope the message I bring to you each week is not
just informative but inspiring also. But I am open to suggestions to improve that part of the
worship service also. Let me know if you have some suggestions either by filling out one of the
cards in the pews or dropping me an email at fumcpastor@cozadtel.net.
I am so thankful for your support of the 5 years I have been serving you as pastor and am looking forward to many more good years. Working together we can reach our goal of making disciples for the transformation of the world. Thank you for helping us meet our Mission Shares
obligation 100% this past year and for your effort
Pastor Doug
Greeters
March 6 CeCe Rutkowski
March 13 Joan Rush, Ike Davenport
Ralph & Sandy Keiswetter
March 20 Roger & Jan Boerkircher
Kevin, Shelli & Klint Gill
March 27 Judy Evans
Frank Revelo
Worship Helpers 10:30 Service
March 6
March 13
March 27 Sarah Anderson & family
Easy Worship & Camera
March 6 - 8:30 AM/Kem Zook
10:30 AM/Mike Marshall & Larry Harvill
March 13 8:30 AM/Doug & Ellen Adkisson
10:30 AM/Mike Marshall & Larry
March 20 8:30 AM/Kem Zook
10:30 AM/Mike Marshall, Larry Harvill
March 27 - 8:30 AM/Kem Zook
10:30 AM/Doug & Ellen Adkisson
& Larry Harvill
March Head Usher - Dail Vetter
If you are unavailable for your Sunday
please find someone to take your place or
call the church office.
Men’s Breakfast
Sunday, March 13 @ 9:30 a.m.
All men are invited to have breakfast.
The Chancel Choir
will be presenting the
Easter Cantata,
"Come Walk With Me,"
on Palm Sunday, March
20th at the 10:30 service.
On Easter Sunday, lilies will be
on the chancel to commemorate the Resurrection and the
hope we have of everlasting
life. If you would like to share
in this tradition on Easter Sunday, March
27, as a gift, or in memory/honor or
someone, we invite you to bring a lily to
the church office by Good Friday, March
25. The Easter bulletin will contain a list
of all lilies given. For your name to be
listed in this bulletin, you must let the
church office know by Wed. March 23.
2016 Comeca Summer Camp Schedule
My Shepherd and Me Camp
Preschool - Grade 1
June 19-21/June 22-24/July 24-26
Little Lambs Camp
Grades 1 - 3
June 19-21/June 22-24/June 26-28/June 29July 1/July 10-12/July 17-19/July 24-26
Camp Brave
Grades 4-6
June 19-24/ June 26-July 1/July 10-15
Survival Games
Grades 7-9
June 19-24/July 10-15
Jr High Jam
Grades 7-9
June 26 - July 1
Splish Splash
Grades 6 - 8
July 3 - 8/July 17-22
Confirmation Camp
Grades 6 - 9
July 6 - 8
Comeca Rocks Youth Rally
Grades 7-12
July 17-27
To Days of Fun
Grades 1-6
August 2 - 4
Family Camp
All Ages
August 5—7
Go to www.campcomeca.org to see all the
details about each camp.
Cozad UMW provides scholarships for
campers. Call the church office for more
information.
We offer Sunday School for 3
years old - 12th grade on
Sunday mornings 9:30—10:15.
The Cozad UMC Fireworks
Stand was a huge success and
a lot of fun. We are looking
for someone or some ones
who would like to coordinate
this project. Call the church
office if you are interested.
There is both some good and bad when
we look at the current financial condition
of the Church. As hopefully you are aware,
the congregation had a strong close to
2015. We were able to pay all budgeted
item due for the year, including Mission
Shares. Unfortunately the Church had only
a small carry over to help us get started
into 2016. The combination of high utility
bills, Insurance premiums, staffing costs,
and payroll taxes have put us in a negative
cash flow position.
It continues to be the finance committees intent to keep the congregation informed of the financial position of the
Church. The fact that we’re experiencing
negative cash flow so early into the new
year is a concern, especially with the reductions of the Church’s operating
budget. Faced with the reality of late
charges, interrupted services, and tax penalties the Church took the action of borrowing $9,500. We also extended the
scheduled payment dates of an additional
$5,700 of obligations by a few weeks. Regrettably the Church has no surplus funds
to direct towards the payment of either of
these steps.
Hopefully reduced utility bills combined
with increased Easter Season giving will
allow us to address the $5,700 shortfall. If
each giving unit could earmark $44 towards the payment of our loan balance, we
can retire this amount by early summer.
Thank you for your continued support.
Alan Clark, Finance Chairman
We extend our Christian sympathy to the
family of LaVon Beans who departed from
this life on February 4, 2016. A celebration
of her life was at Cozad UMC on February
8, 2016.
We extend our Christian sympathy to the
family of Anna Adle who departed from this
life on February 14, 2016. A celebration of
her life was at Cozad UMC on February 19,
2016.
United Methodist Women News
UMW Executive meeting
Thursday, March 3 @ 1:00 p.m.
UMW Circle meeting in January
Mary Circle - Thursday, March 17
2:00 p.m. @ the church
Leah Circle - Monday, March 21
7:00 p.m. @ the church
HOLY WEEK
Sunday, March 20 Palm Sunday
8:30 Contemporary Worship
10:30 Choir Cantata
11:30 Chicken-N-Biscuit Dinner
Wednesday, March 23
12:00 Sermons A La Carte @ CUMC
Thursday, March 24
Holy Thursday Service @ 7:00 p.m.
Friday, March 25
Good Friday Service @ 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 27 Easter Sunday
7:00 Sunrise Service @ Comeca
8:30 Contemporary Service
10:30 Traditional Service
Cozad UNITED Methodist Church March Calendar
SUNDAY
MONDAY
6
7
8:30 Contemporary Worship
9:00 Adult Sunday School
9:15 Mom’s Bible Study
9:30 Sunday School
3yrs– 12th grade
10:30 Traditional Worship
6:30 John Bible Study
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
1
5:00 Weight
Watchers @
PV
2
12:00 Sermons A La
Carte @ Cozad Christian Church
2:30 Pastor Doug will
preach at Golden
Livingcenter &
Meadowlark
2:30 Kids of the
Kingdom
4:00 Church School
6:45 Chancel Choir
3
4
1:00 UMW
Executive
meeting
5:00 PEO
7:00 Administrative
Council
meeting
5
8
4:30
Memorials
Committee
meeting
5:00 Weight
Watchers @
PV
5:00 Jr Girl
Scouts @ PV
5:30 Daisys @
PV
6:30 Brownies
@ PV
19
12:00 Sermons A La
Carte @ Lutheran
3:30 Kids of the
Kingdom
5:00 Church School
6:00 Youth
6:45 Chancel Choir
7:00 SPRC meeting
10
7:00
Finance
Comm.
meeting
11
12
Set
your
clocks
ahead
16
12:00 Sermons A La
Carte @ Church of
Christ
2:30 Kids of the
Kingdom
4:00 Church School
6:45 Chancel Choir
17
2:00 Mary
Circle
18
19
Fellowshi
p Hall
in use
24
12:00 Sermons A La
Carte @ Cozad UMC
3:30 Kids of the
Kingdom
5:00 Church School
6:00 Youth
6:45 Chancel Choir
24
7:00
Holy
Thursday
Service
25
7:00
Good
Friday
Service
26
Fellowshi
p Hall
in use
13
8:30
9:00
9:15
9:15
9:30
14
15
Contemporary Worship 9:00 WIC @ 5:00 Weight
Adult Sunday School
PV
Watchers @
Mom’s Bible Study
PV
Men’s Breakfast
Sunday School
3yrs– 12th grade
10:30 Traditional Worship
6:30 John Bible Study
20 PALM SUNDAY
8:30 Contemporary Worship
9:00 Adult Sunday School
9:15 Mom’s Bible Study
9:30 Sunday School
3yrs– 12th grade
10:30 Cantata
11:30 Chic-N-Biscuit Dinner
6:30 John Bible Study
6:30 PAWS @ PV
21
7:00 Leah
Circle @
the church
28
27 EASTER SUNDAY
7:00 Sunrise Service @
Comeca
8:30 Contemporary Worship
9:00 Adult Sunday School
9:15 Mom’s Bible Study
9:30 Sunday School
3yrs– 12th grade
10:30 Traditional Worship
22
5:00 Weight
Watchers@
PVB
5:00 Jr Girl
Scouts @ PV
5:30 Daisys @
PV
6:30 Brownies
@ PV
29
30
5:00 Weight
3:30 Kids of the
Watchers@ PV Kingdom
5:00 Church School
6:45 Chancel Choir
31
FRIDAY
Cozad UNITED Methodist March Birthday’s & Anniversaries
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
1
Jean Douglas
Sandy
Keiswetter
Tyler Peden
2
June Walker
Amber Peden
3
Randy May
Freddie Nelsen
Gretchen Love
4
Linda Love
Ryan & Tiffany
Schneider (16)
5
Wes Harmoney
Dillon Kolbo
Allen &
Cheryl
Kauffman
(50)
Shane &
Amanda
Schukei (3)
6
Robin Smith
Amy Vetter
7
Michelle
Bauer
Ty Rogers
8
Violet
Spradlin
Anngie Love
Bob & Ardy
Marshall (57)
9
Jann Kloepping
Raegen
Fleharty
10
Jordan Henry
11
Jim Hatcher
David Harvill
Alyssa Kolbo
12
Maxine Kline
Clint &
Tysen
DeHarty (5)
13
Shelley
Morris
Jerry Zook
Morgan
Flesner
14
Liam Horse
15
Cheryl Hamlin
16
Ann Rodhouse
Carolyn Smith
Noah
Shoemaker
Austin & Sarah
Pedersen (9)
17
18
Lori McGinnis
Bridget Haskell
Reilly Fichtner
Jim & Lynn
Hatcher (49)
19
Mary Gruber
21
Peg Butler
Roxanne
Reyes
Alexa
Chrisinger
22
Elizabeth
Griffith
Kathy Jacob
Isaac Erickson
Doug &
Carolyn
Smith (46)
Jeff & June
Walker (7)
23
24
Brandon & Marie Carol Morrow
Morris (21)
Skylar
Lindekugel
25
Bailey Sigler
26
Marcus
Kloepping
28
Karen Smith
29
30
Wendell
Lawhead
Kiley Goff
20
Clint
Hohnstein
Sue Aden
Christy Chrisinger
Carrick Fenstermacher
27
CUMC Worship Attendance & Offering Report
The average offering
needed per budget/week
for 2016 is $4,568.
Cozad UMC Youth
2-10-16
25 - Youth
3 - Leaders
Worship
2-24-16
24 - Youth
3 - Leaders
31
Rochelle Jung
8:30
10:30
Total
Attendance
Actual
Offering
Feb. 7, 2016
32
74
106
$2,654
Feb. 14, 2016
35
104
139
$3,348
Feb. 21, 2016
31
71
102
$2,165
Administrative Council Minutes
Interiors: No report
February 8, 2016
Pastors Report:
Those present: Pastor Doug Smith, Kem Zook,
WAR ROOM movie event and bible study attenWendy Waller, Ellen Adkisson, Nickole Zook, Sera dance is 15-20 every week.
Shoemaker, and Luann McBride.
Bible Study being held Sundays at 6:30 from
January 17th through February 14th.
Pastor Doug opened with a prayer.
Agenda: Change in agenda: The Lifetouch Direc- JOHN; THE GOSPEL OF LIGHT AND LIFE Lenten
study
tory representative is not here tonight.
Study to begin on March 6th and end on April
Minutes approved by consensus.
17th; meeting every Sunday, 6:30-8:00 pm except
Easter (March 27).
Reports of Ministry Teams:
Discipleship/Education Team: The team is asking everyone to take time each Wednesday at
3:00 to pray for the Kids of the Kingdom and
Church School children and leaders.
Pastor Doug and Carolyn Vacation February 16thMarch 1st.
Lenten/Easter Services:
Ash Wednesday, February 10, 7:30pm
Missions/Outreach Team: The team is discuss- Sermons-ala-carte Wednesdays at 12:00 noon
February 10, Presbyterian Church host, Rev. John
ing the Chicken and Biscuit Dinner.
States preaching
Evangelism/Witness Team: No report.
March 16, Church of Christ host, Pastor Doug
Membership Nurture Team: Wendy reported
preaching
that they are working on the Chili Cook-off, Feb- March 23, UMC host, Rev. James McCrickard
ruary 28. The Men’s breakfast is February 21.
preaching
Palm Sunday Cantata
Worship Team: No report.
Holy/Maundy Thursday Service, March 24, 7:00
Youth: Youth will have a Sweetheart Dinner on
pm
Sunday, February 14, 11:30.
Good Friday Service, March 25, 7:00
Committee Reports:
Easter Sunrise, March 27, 7:00am at Camp
Comeca
Finance/Stewardship-Finance report: Pastor
Contemporary Worship, 8:30am
Doug reviewed the Statement of Funds.
Traditional Worship 10:30 am
Staff/Pastor Parish Relations Committee: No
Agreed to change meeting day to first Thursday
report.
of month (March 3)
Committee on Lay Leadership & Nominations:
Call to Service
Pastor Doug reported no change.
Prayer Concerns and Joys
Trustees report: Pastor Doug reported on Trus- Adjournment
tees proposal to fix the gas Furnace that heats
Next meeting: March 3, 2016 at 7:00pm.
the offices and conference room. Kem made the Respectfully submitted,
motion that we accept Cozad Services bid of
Luann McBride
$2619.00 to replace the furnace. Funds will
nd
come from the building fund. Ellen 2 . Motion
John: The Gospel of Light
approved. Trustees also had a proposal on the
and Life
Cove lighting. Wendy made a motion that we
accept Flash Electric bid of $2420.88 to replace
The Lenten Study class will be
Cove lighting with LED lighting. Funds to be
held Sunday evening beginraised through a fund raising project. Nickole
nd
ning March 6th from 6:30 –
2 . Motion approved.
Cozad UMC Endowment Committee: Went over
quarterly report submitted by Richard Hansen.
Memorial Committee: No report.
UMW: No report
8:00 pm in the Red Carpet
room. It is a 6 week study. Bring your
friends and join us for this intriguing study.
Books are $13. Call the office to get your
book ordered.
The Cozad United Methodist Youth are grateful to have had Chief
Randy Adams at youth on Feb. 24. He shared his career, faith, and the
importance of making time with God in our routine with us tonight. We
are blessed to have wonderful law enforcement in our community!
Cozad UMC is replacing the cove lights around the sanctuary
with driverless LED bulbs. These are the lights that are under
the stained glass windows all the way around the sanctuary.
You may help out by buying one or more of these lights. They
are $40 each and there are 66 of them. You may buy them in
memory of, in honor of or just because. If you would like to buy
one or more of these contact the church office 784-2887. The
lights that were there are no longer made.
Week of
2-7-16
Adult
Mom’s
Sunday Bible
School Study
5
6
Sunday
School
3yrs - 12th
Kids
Nursery on
of the
Wednesday
Kingdom
Church
School
Vacation Bible
School will be
13/
children
4/adults
78/
children
15/adults
6/children
2/Adults
48/
children
9/adults
2-14-16
7
7
13/
children
4/adults
-/children
-/adults
-/children
-/adults
-/children
-/adults
2-21-16
7
8
6/children
6/adults
64/
children
11/adults
8/children
3/adults
47/
children
7/adults
May 9 - May 12
3:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Cozad Association of Churches - 2016 Sermons A La Carte Schedule
2016
HOST CHURCH
All Services @ noon
SPEAKER
TOPIC: FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
MARCH 2
Cozad Christian
821 F ST
Al Jesseph
ABANDONMENT
MATT/ 27:26/MARK 15:34
MARCH 9
American Lutheran Blake Armstrong
200 E 12TH ST
Living Hope
DISTRESS
JOHN 19:28
MARCH 16
Church of Christ
2117 NEWELL ST
Doug Smith
Cozad UMC
TRIUMPH
JOHN 19:30
MARCH 23
Cozad UMC
1515 B ST
James McCrickard
Church of Christ
REUNION
LUKE 23:46
Cozad UNITED Methodist Church
Newsletter
x
1515 B Street
Cozad, NE 69130-0187
www.cozadumc.org
cozadumc@cozadtel.net
308-784-2887
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Chancel Choir Director
Patty Fenstermacher
Kids of the Kingdom Coordinator
Tammy Paulsen
United Methodist Women
Marilyn Peterson
Education Team Leader
Kem Zook
Worship Leader
Ellen Adkisson
Nurture Team Leader
Wendy Waller
Witness Team Leader
Sheena Kinnan
Mission Team Leader
Shelli Gill/Wendy Hammerlun
Organists
Patty Fenstermacher, Ray Jackson
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Cozad, NE
Permit No.24
x