Pastor Mike, Robyn, and the kids will be going on vacation from July 2 until July 16. Emily Felker will be preaching on July 8 and Charley Shotzberger will be preaching on July 15. If you have any pastoral needs during this time, please contact our Lay Leader, Phyllis Anne Lariviere, and she can make sure that things are handled appropriately.
Have you heard about the Community Yard Sale on Saturday, August 4 at 7 AM here at the Church? If not, you have now. The event is being scheduled to coincide with Camp Week at the Salvation Army, so we are hoping for a lot of foot traffic in the area.
If you know someone that would like a free table, please let them know. The tables are open to anyone in the community that would like to sell their own items at the Yard Sale. There will be no fee. Of course, we will still take item donations for our own tables, too. If you have items that you would like the Church to sell, just leave them in the Tibbetts Room over the summer.
Of course, we will be looking for people to set-up and also work the Yard Sale. If you can help, please feel free to be here on the Friday evening before the Yard Sale or on the day of the event. We look forward to seeing you.
The excitement is growing and plans need to be made. It is looking more and more like the Super Bean Suppers will be starting again very soon. We will probably do a “trial run” in August with the suppers set to officially start in September. There will be more discussion around this at the Church Business Meetings on July 1 and August 5. In particular, we will be looking for someone or some people to step forward to lead this effort.
We will be having another planning meeting on July 22 directly after Church. If you are interested in any way, please get in touch with Pastor Mike by phone or email.
The New England Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church has instituted a new method for evaluating its pastors. All pastors under appointment in the New England Conference will be subject to an evaluation process using tools developed to measure the effectiveness of their transformational pastoral leadership.
In every church in the conference, members of the Staff (Pastor)-Parish Relations Committee are being asked to fill out a survey on each pastor. Here in OOB, that survey process has been opened up to anyone that would like to take part. Surveys were given out at the church in June and should have been returned by July 1. At the same time, every pastor is being asked to fill out a self-assessment.
When all of these documents have been completed, the pastor is being asked to meet with the Staff (Pastor)-Parish Relations Committee and share the information contained within these documents. That will (hopefully) start a dialogue where both the pastor and the committee will come to an understanding of the places where each has to grow. The pastor will then fill out another form and submit all of them to the District Superintendent where a meeting between that pastor and the DS will take place.
In future years, all of this will take place by June 30. But this year, the process has been condensed. As such, we do not have the luxury of spending a lot of time in thoughtful consideration. Pastor Mike will be meeting with the District Superintendent on August 1.
As such, Pastor Mike has decided to open up the process to anyone that would like to take part. If you would like to comment on Pastor Mike’s ability to be a transformational pastoral leader, please plan on attending a meeting after worship on July 22. This will give him a chance to respond to any issues that are raised in preparation for his meeting with the District Superintendent on August 1.
As of our June Church Meeting, there was a proper vote taken and the contract for the stairs in front of the office has been awarded to Joe Gray. That work, as well as the work on the siding, should be completed over the summer months.
There has been a lot of work done around the interior of the Church. Large amounts of clutter have been moved to the Tibbetts Room in preparation for our upcoming Community Yard Sale. Cleaning has been done in the bathroom, kitchen, sanctuary, and lounge area. Many items have been removed from the building and placed in the dumpster.
But there is still a lot of work to do.
We still need to go through the kitchen cabinet by cabinet to remove items that shouldn’t be there and organize items that should. The storage closet and boiler room need to have the same treatment done to them. The sound system needs to be installed in a permanent home. And there is plenty of cleaning that still needs to be done.
We also will be looking for a group to paint the room above the office stairs so that it can be made into an office for the pastor. The current location for that office will be transformed into a parlor and library. We’ll be looking for help with this project, too.
Through the month of July, we will be displaying all of the items that have been deemed “clutter”. This will give everyone in the Church a chance to look at what someone has deemed “clutter” to decide if it actually should be kept. If there are disagreements, those can be dealt with during this time.
On August 4, the Church will be holding a Community Yard Sale. Anything worth selling from the “clutter” that has accumulated in the Tibbetts Room will be sold at the Yard Sale. Whatever is left after the Yard Sale will either be given away or thrown out.
If you have questions or comments about anything that is being done, please don’t hesitate to contact Pastor Mike.
What a wonderful time we had on June 3, Trinity Sunday. We officially accepted five new members to our Church and extended our covenant to four children and their families through the sacrament of Baptism.
Jack Dumas, Elisabeth Gray, Alan Groff, and Emma Lee Stoddard were all officially brought into the family of faith through baptism and strong, new connections were made with their families. Walter Gray and Joanne Petrizzo were accepted as members through professions of faith. Julie Gray and Robyn Gray both transferred into membership from other churches. And we also posthumously brought Timothy French into membership with us.
It truly was a special day in the life of this Church and for these people and their families.
If you are in the area, you should get a look at the Food Pantry entrance. Thank you, so much, Wally and Julie Gray for putting down bricks in front of door to the Food Pantry and Clothes Closet. The work looks really good, and I’ve been hearing great reviews from the staff and patrons.
Thanks be to God for faithful members of this Church and for the work of the staff of the Food Pantry.
We will be holding a Community Yard Sale on Saturday, August 4 at 7 AM here at the Church. The event is being scheduled to coincide with Camp Week at the Salvation Army, so there should be a good amount of foot traffic in the area.
We will also be offering free tables to anyone in the community that would like one. In the past, we have offered people the option of renting a table at our yard sales, but we felt that this other option would be a good way to reach out to the community. If you know anyone that might be interested in doing this, please let them know.
So, keep your eyes open for more information on this event. Start looking through your stuff at home for anything that you might like to donate for sale, or maybe to sell yourself.
That could be taken one of two ways. You could say that it is a moving experience, which it is. Our first Sunday in the beach this summer, June 3, was a little on the chilly side, but the Spirit of God was warming. We had a wonderful time of sharing in song, scripture, story, and sacrament. About 10 of us were on the beach, and I think it is safe to say that all of us found it a moving experience.
We also have decided that we will be MOVING the service (for one day only) to a different SPOT on the Beach…
On Sunday, July 1, we will be moving the service to the area right in front of the handicap access area on the Beach near the Pier. It is located right behind the bumper cars in Palace Playland. The service will still be held at 8 AM. We look forward to seeing you there.
The Austin Memorial Gardens look beautiful. There are many new flowers in the flowerbeds thanks to the donations from those who have given flowers in honor or in memory of the mothers and other women in their lives this last Mother’s Day.
And you will be able to do it again.
On Father’s Day, we will be accepting flowers or in memory or in honor of the father’s and other men in our lives that have meant so much to us. Please bring your flowers with you to the 10 AM service on Father’s Day, June 17. If you will not (or cannot) make it to Church on June 17, feel free to drop it off at the Church or the parsonage ahead of time.
