The Tower News - First United Methodist Church, Battle Creek

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The Tower News
First United Methodist Church
111 East Michigan Avenue
Battle Creek, MI 49014
www.firstumcbc.org
First United Methodist Church
The City Center Church
111 East Michigan Avenue,
Battle Creek, MI 49014
Address Service Requested
Volume 5 Issue 1 – April 2015
The vision of First United Methodist Church is to be a Vibrant,
Diverse, Christ-Centered People.
Your Church Staff
Ministers .................................................. All Members
Lead Pastor ....................................... Marshall Murphy
Co-Pastor .............................................. Scott Bouldrey
Administrative Assistant ................ Jean Harvey-Clark
Music Director .................................... Wendy Wheeler
Custodian ...................................................Jeff Stevens
Organist .................................................... Kay Ensfield
Keyboards ............................................. Naghielly Agy
Child Care ........................................ Allyson Cubberly
The TOWER News is published monthly.
Copy deadline is the 20th of the month. Please
electronically submit your information to:
Editor & Publisher: Jean Harvey-Clark
jharveyclark@firstumcbc.org
Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 9 am to 5 pm
Closed for Lunch between 12-1 pm
Office is Closed on Fridays
Phone: 269.963.5567/ Fax: 269.963.6899
Pastoral Care: Marshall - 269.753.8056
April 2015 • Tower News
2015 Holy Week Calendar
April 2: Maundy Thursday
7:00 pm • Christ UMC • Seder Service
April 3: Good Friday
Worship
Schedule
9:00 am Praise Worship
11:30 am Traditional Worship
with Choir
10:30 am • Walk for Witness
Sojourner Truth Monument to First Presbyterian Church
12:00 pm • Birchwood UMC
12:00 pm • First Presbyterian Church
7:00 pm • Chapel Hill UMC
April 5: Easter Sunday
9:00 am • FUMC
11:30 am • FUMC
April 2015 • Tower News
Finance Update
2
Happy Birthday to You!
04/01
04/05
04/06
04/09
04/13
04/13
04/14
04/15
04/15
04/16
Jim Carson
Monica Gray
Renee Clair
Judy Kimball
Jack Schils
Stewart Haadsma
Troy Rothwell
Debra Gardner
Jerry Haadsma
David Stanley
04/18
04/22
04/23
04/24
04/25
04/26
04/26
04/27
04/28
Mary Holmes
Warren Moore
Pat Bennett
Marylene Tuck
Joanne TenBrink
Ann Pulsipher
Laura Smith
Irene Bergman
Beth Chadwick
Happy Anniversary!
FUMC Consolidated Adopted Budget Report
February 28, 2015
These are Budgeted items only
04/15 John and Linda Briggs
Community Prayer Breakfast
Tuesday, May 5, 2015, 7:25 am
at the Kellogg Arena
featuring Bob Goff, author of
"Love Does."
For tickets go to
www.bccfoundation.org/
prayerbreakfast2015
or call 269.969.2120.
Actual
Income
YTD
Account Category
Income
Pledges
Amount
Budgeted
YTD
$18,963.00 $26,152.00
We have a need for a few volunteers at
NorthPointe Woods. There are a few residents
who could really benefit from someone spending
1-2 hours/week with them playing a game,
reading a book, attending an activity with them,
or simply just visiting. Do you have anyone in
your congregation that may enjoy this? Because
we are licensed by the state of Michigan as a
Home for the Aged, volunteers would have to go
through a background check and there would be
no cost to the volunteer.
Thank you for considering this opportunity and
passing it along on our behalf.
Cris Morreale
Executive Director
NorthPointe Woods
700 North Avenue
Battle Creek, MI 49017
269.964.7625
14th Annual Historical Black
College Choir Concert
Featuring the
Claflin University Concert Choir
from Orangeburg, SC
Monday, April 13, 2015
6:00 pm
First Congregational Church
Pray With the Pastor
Pastor Marshall Murphy will
continue to be in the Chapel
immediately after the first service
for those wishing to join in prayer.
April 2015 • Tower News
Total
Annual
Budget
% of
Annual
Budget
-$7,189.00 $156,912.00
12.09%
-$1,248.00 $25,000.00
11.67%
$2,918.00
$4,166.00
Loose Plate Offerings
$1,062.70
$666.00
$396.70
$4,000.00
26.57%
$261.00
$452.00
-$191.00
$2,975.00
8.77%
-$8,231.30 $188,887.00
12.28%
Other Budgeted
2014 Fund Balance Carryover (per future audit report), not income
$188,887.00
Actual
Expenses
YTD
Account Category
Expenses Total Salaries
Total Church Building
Total Parsonage
Pastor Marshall Murphy’s
FUMC Hours are
Monday - Wednesday: 9:00 am - 2:00 pm.
He can be reached by phone or text at
269.753.8056 and via email at
mmurphy19@comcast.net.
Ahead
or
Behind
Non-Pledged
Total Budgeted Income $23,204.70 $31,436.00
Volunteers Needed
7
Amount
Budgeted
YTD
Ahead
or
Behind
Total
Annual
Budget
% of
Annual
Budget
$16,635.06 $16,895.00
$259.94 $110,029.00
15.12%
$10,429.76 $11,112.00
$682.24 $66,669.00
15.64%
$500.00
$500.00
$0.00
$5,204.00
Total Office
$1,156.54
$1,558.00
Total - All Other Budgeted
$4,109.49
$5,449.00
Worship
$800.00
$900.00
$100.00
$5,400.00
14.81%
Finance
$94.02
$188.00
$93.98
$564.00
16.67%
Benefits
$3,151.64
$3,945.00
$793.36 $16,204.00
19.45%
Pastor's Travel
$63.83
$416.00
Total Ministry Shares
Total Budgeted Expenses $32,830.85 $40,718.00
YTD Income vs YTD Expenses
-$9,626.15
April 2015 • Tower News
$0.00
$2,061.00
24.26%
-$5,204.00 $31,219.00
0.00%
$401.46
$9,328.00
12.40%
$1,339.51 $23,418.00
17.55%
$352.17
$1,250.00
5.11%
-$2,520.85 $242,724.00
13.53%
6
3
April Happenings at First Church
Words from your Finance Committee
Your Finance Committee would like to thank those of you that have continued to
support the church by your attendance and financial support. We want you to
feel free to come to church and worship your Savior. However, as you can see
by the consolidated report we are already behind in the giving this year. So if
you are behind in your pledge we would deeply appreciate it if you could catch
up on your giving as soon as possible. This will help us keep your church open
so that you can continue to worship your Savior in our church.
Church and Society information can be found on the bulletin boards at the top of the steps.
WEEKLY EVENTS
SMALL GROUPS
Contemporary Worship
Cornerstone Worship

Gentry Hammons, Finance Chairperson
Sunday
9:00 am
11:30 am
From: Board of Trustees, Terry Smith, chairman
Monday
9:00 am
Staff Meeting
Our Board of Trustees includes Todd Boshers, Sharon Gawlak, Gentry Hammons, Chip
Hanlon, Ed Henegar, Brenda Howard, Lorraine Kendall, Scott MacCannell, Kathy Rizor,
and Terry Smith.





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The Board of Trustees met with Pastor Marshall on Wednesday, March 4, 2015.
The Trustees prepared Room 201 for classroom use. Unfortunately, the Fujitsu
heating cooling unit is not functioning in that room. Crooks Heating has been
contacted.
The Trustees allowed the Wesley Foundation at Western Michigan University to use
our church van to transport their mission team to and from the airport as part of their
trip to Nicaragua.
Terry Smith monitors the water usage in the boiler system. Since a new, additional
make-up water tank was added to the system, our water use has decreased. Progress
is being made toward completion of our boiler system project.
Ice and snow buildup on the roof caused gutters to rip loose from the church exterior,
and gutters and ice damaged clay roof tiles and a Fujitsu unit. Church Mutual
Insurance sent a claim adjuster; Terry Smith obtained estimates for roof and gutter
repair and submitted them to the insurance adjuster. Repairs will be made.
Volunteers are needed for end-of-day and evening security inspections.
Our new pastor, Terri Bentley, will occupy the parsonage. Our wonderful tenants
have been informed of the need to vacate the parsonage before July 1. It is hoped we
can assist them with locating and moving to a new residence as we prepare for Pastor
Terri Bentley.
The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Wednesday, 1 April 2015 at 6:30 pm.
April 2015 • Tower News
Adventures Group:
Check with Esther Brown


Book Group:
tba
GIFT Group: Tuesday,
April 7: 6:00 pm, FUMC
April 21: 6:00 pm, FUMC
Martha Circle
April 8: 9:30 am, FUMC
*see article on page 4
Wednesday
7:00 pm
Prayer Time

Thursday: Schedule starts April 16
6:30 pm
Choir Practice
7:45 pm
Praise Band Rehearsal

Men’s Group:

Partners in Prayer:
COMMITTEE MEETINGS
Trustees
Finance Comm.
Service Team
Staff Parish
Church Council
4/01
n/a
4/08
4/21
n/a
6:30 pm
4:00 pm
7:00 pm
The Franklin Neighborhood Food Pantry
Needs Your Help!
The Food Bank of South Central Michigan
is sponsoring a fund raising challenge this
year. Each contribution received at the Food
Bank through April 30 will be eligible for a
10% match. Please see the flyer on the table
in the atrium for details on how you can
maximize your contribution!!
Mondays, 6:00 pm
April 6: 7:00 pm,
Carolyn Harvey’s
April 20: 7:00 pm,
Cindy Leach’s
Video Booth Volunteers
We are looking for volunteers to assist
serving in the video booth on Sunday
mornings. For more information, see
Wendy Wheeler, Director of Music.
The Franklin Post Neighborhood Food
Pantry is looking for a coordinator.
Please see Todd Boshers for information.
April 2015 • Tower News
Martha Circle Report for March 11, 2015
4
Service Team Updates
5
Remember When?
We had a small group due to
vacation, illness or other obligations
but a interesting meeting.
Following devotionand refreshments
Karol Henegar gave our treasurers report of $1,153.63. It was decided to
wait until camp and or Bible School to
make donations to those activities.
We were reminded of the death on
3/3/15 of former member Doris Pharis,
continued prayers for our members
unable to be with us, and for
Jeanne Winer who continues her
rehabilitation at the Oakes.
We are very disappointed that
Pastor Scott Bouldrey was not
accepted to continue with the ordination process and offer our prayers to
he and Dawn.
The letter from Anne Stagner of the
Staff-Parish Committee was reviewed
regarding the appointment of our new
co-pastor Terri L. Bentley. Our concern
remains for the financial situation of the
church but we pledge to be supportive
at the same time.
Deb Gardner showed us pictures of
their two week visit in Italy and many in
Rome of their beautiful buildings and
Pope Francis in St. Peters square.
Our next meeting will be held on
Wednesday April 8, 2015 at 9:30 am.
Helen Larder, President
P.S. The Haven of Rest is requesting
Bibles. There will be a basket in the
library if anyone has bibles they want
to donate for their need.
Sit back and take a couple minutes to reminisce over all the fun you had when you
went to Church Camp. Can you see it now? That’s right, there were the campfires, the
singing, and oh, my yes; of course the many friend you made. Some of those friendships
lasted for a life time. You can’t forget mealtimes when the dining room was filled with
laughter and talk. Those were fun times, weren’t they?
Wesley Woods has grown so much over the years that they have outgrown their
current dining and cooking facilities. The dining room holds 136 people, there are 250
attending camp weekly, therefore, over 100 people are eating outdoors under canopies,
sitting at picnic tables for each meal. A campaign is underway to raise money to enlarge
the dining room and kitchen area. The cost of the project is $300,000, with approximately $63,000 remaining to be raised. The plan is to be able to break ground in August
and the expansion to be ready for camping season 2016.
You’ve just enjoyed a brief trip down memory lane of your times at Camp, if you are
able to make a contribution to this worthy cause; please stop at the Service Team table.
Any amount will help. Many churches in the West Michigan Conference have been
helping.
The Service Team thanks you for your continued support and future campers will
benefit from your generosity.
Thanks Again.
Shirley Carr
Spring Mixer • Pot Luck Dinner
FUMC may have lost Pastor Scott's attendance challenge last fall and now we
owe CUMC a meal, but we are going to mix it up, have a good excuse to eat,
have some fun and get to know each other better.
We (FUMC) will serve a potluck dinner at
 Christ United Methodist Church
 65 North Bedford Road
th
 Saturday April 18 at 5:30 pm
Look for sign-up sheets at the Service Team • Mission table.
We have invited our friends from Washington Heights Methodist Church to join
us.
I hope that you all will be able to participate and enjoy each others company :)
Thank you very much.
Carol Barr, Church Council Chair
April 2015 • Tower News
Open Doors, Open Hearts, Open Minds...
...describes our congregation here at First
Church. Our Open Hearts were
demonstrated again during Blanket Month
in February 2015 when you reached into
your wallets to the tune of $643. The
Service Team rounded that up to $1,000;
making our contribution 100 blankets for
Church World Service to have available in
time of disaster; such as Cyclone Pam
which recently hit Vanuatu.
As we watched the horrific devastation
caused by Pam we could feel proud that we
willing offer our support to those in need.
As you may recall, three or so years ago,
Church World Service donated 500
blankets for our Homeless Health Fair.
Heartfelt thanks for your concern and
support.
Shirley Carr
April 2015 • Tower News