The Messenger February 2001 Volume 1, Issue 3 Diane Muise Concert Exciting News Interesting Announcements from Church Bulletins Meeting Dates & Times North Salem Preschool North Salem Sunday School NSUMC Comittees for 2001 NSUMC Visible in the Conference Trustee Notes Unstable as Water Youth Group Schedule Diane Muise Concert North Salem Women will host a concert by Diane Muise, Nashville Recording Artist.  MCMA Gospel Artist of the Year! Award-winning songwriter! Wednesday evening May 2nd at 7 PM at North Salem UM Church. Save the date for a wonderful concert, invite your friends. Tickets will be available soon. Exciting News by Keith Boucher On February 25th we will show another visible sign of growth in our church: the addition of new members. We will welcome four new members into our church. Kathleen Petkiewich, Sally Younker, Martha and Bryan King. In celebration we will have a special service, with a reception to follow. What is membership in the United Methodist Church? It’s a number of things. It’s a confirmation that you accept Jesus Christ as your savior. It’s a renunciation of sin and a profession of faith in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament. Lastly, it’s an outward and visible sign that you will be loyal to the United Methodist Church and uphold it by your prayers, your presence, your gifts and your service. New membership classes will be starting in early March. Please see Keith for more information. Youth who are completing sixth grade this year are welcomed to participate in membership classes and be received in full church membership. Please see Dawn or Keith. Interesting Announcements from Church Bulletins There will be a meeting in the South and North ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends. Tuesday at 4:00 PM there will be an ice cream social. All ladies giving milk will please come early. Meeting Dates & Times See Events Calendar North Salem Preschool The preschool is accepting registrations for the fall 2001 school year. There are spaces in the 3 yr and 4 yr preschool. Kindergarten spots are limited. North Salem Preschool celebrated its 9th Year Anniversary on February 3rd!!!! North Salem Sunday School by Dawn Trusty Sunday School Superintendent/Teacher Attendance has been good. The two middle classes have needed volunteers. Cindy Simms and Lisa Whiteneck have been assisting on the Sundays when the classes are full. For Valentine’s Day, the Sunday school students will make one special valentine to give to another student in the group. This is our yearly tradition to show we care. The spring curriculum has been ordered and will arrive soon. NSUMC Comittees for 2001 See Leaderspage NSUMC Visible in the Conference North Salem UMC recently hosted a Superintendency meeting that featured Bishop Susan Hassinger and the newly announced District Superintendent Paul Chang. While at our church Bishop Hassinger and Rev. Chang had the opportunity to see our expansion plans and get a flavor for our vision of growth. They were very impressed and pledged their support! More details are in the works on this… As you know, Ed Claus will be retiring this year in June after serving our District for the last 6 years. Ed has been a real blessing to our church and has been very supportive over the last couple of years in our vision of growth. I have had the distinct pleasure of building a real friendship with Ed over the last 6 years and I’ll miss working with him one on one. We will be celebrating Ed’s ministry in a special service and reception at the Greenland UMC on June 3rd at 3 PM. More to come on this… Our newly appointed DS, Rev. Paul Chang brings a new look to our district. Paul is in his mid 30s, has 10 years experience, and has 2 girls: one 16 months old, and the other 9 years old. He is a Korean-American and married to Hikari (also a United Methodist pastor!) who is Japanese-American. They currently reside in York, Maine and will be moving to the Salem, Derry, Londonderry area in June. Paul believes in our vision and has pledged his active support to help us grow as a church! Please keep Paul and his family in your prayers Trustee Notes By Bill Ermer The first meeting of the year was on Wednesday Jan 31, 2001, information packets were handed out discussing the church mission and what the work of the Trustees is all about. We welcome Harry Bovee and Larry Welch as they bring their talents to the committee and we look forward to their help. The first part of the meeting was to elect members to positions and committees. Every member was assigned a committee. They are as follows: Chairperson - Bill Ermer Vice Chairperson - Gary Bulpitt Secretary - Nancy Graichen Treasurer (Church Treasurer) - Laurie Eldredge Building Maintenance – Harry Bovee, Allen Eldredge, Janet Lavalle and Larry Welch. Ground Maintenance – Robert Barber, Harry Bovee, Nancy Graichen, Lisa Whiteneck, Larry Welch. Parsonage – Harry Bovee, Janet Lavalle, Art Richert, Lisa Whiteneck. Equipment Maintenance & Inventory – Art Richert, Larry Welch You are encouraged to contact a Trustee if you have questions or ideas. This will help us to service the needs of the church better. Discussion of the final game plan for the mobile classroom was talked about. The classroom will be installed after the Salem Planning Board Meeting, which is to be held on February 13th. Workday is scheduled for February 17th (weather permitting). Anyone wishing to help please see one of the Trustees. Next project will be to help the building committee with the first phase of the addition which will be completed in the coming months. These are exciting times for our church and everyone who would like to help please let a Trustee know. The last item discussed was the Church’s investments with The United Methodist Foundation of New England. Unstable as Water by Rev. James Lundin Jacob (Israel) describes Reuben, his firstborn, as “unstable as water” (Genesis 49:4) Simple outside temperature and pressure impacts whether water will remain liquid, or quickly become steam or ice. As water it immediately takes the shape of whichever container is holding it. And the same lack of stability characterized Reuben. Reuben was unable to hold true to form whenever life’s pressures pressed in upon him. Like water, he behaved differently with each and every situation he found himself. Most likely, he blamed a thousand other things for his instability. If only he didn’t have to deal with so many “pressures” and “temptations”. James 1:5-8 says that, “a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” Jacob declared that Reuben would “not excel”. Why so? Because Reuben lacked the necessary and essential degree of stability needed for excellence. He too was easily thrown off-track. How easily are we thrown off-track when it comes to worshipping God? How easily do we substitute something else in its place? How faithful are we in leading our families by example? How seriously, of late, have we been in studying God’s Holy Word? Sunday is a great time to encourage others in the maintenance of their faith. It is the rightful time for setting other matters aside for one’s faith. It is an opportune time to demonstrate one’s commitment to God’s plan. It is the exact, right time to excel. It’s one of the key qualities of a lively faith and developing congregation…is stability of one’s actions. Devotional Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus: Help me to be stable in all my ways that I may reflect and more enjoy excellence of faith in all my days. Amen. Youth Group Schedule See Youth Group page