Saturday, January 28th, was a wonderful evening for the Pamlico County Disaster Recovery Coalition!  The community benefit to raise money for those devastated by hurricane Irene was a huge success.  Three hundred people gathered at the Catholic Church on White Farm Rd. in Oriental to enjoy barbecue by Jimmy Kellenberger and music by the Harbor Sounds, a local bluegrass / gospel group who organized the event.  Those attending brought non-perishable food for Pamlico County Fishes & Loaves…the largest collection of food PCFLO had ever received from one event!  Also, this very generous crowd donated $9,400 to the PCDRC, the largest amount of money ever raised at one time for a fund or charity in Pamlico County!!  Since everything for the evening had been donated, all the money donated went directly to the Coalition.  As organizers of the event, we are thrilled!  We are so proud of our communities and the 84 volunteers who worked together to make this happen.  As we all know, this is a very caring, supportive community.  Your hearts were touched by the need and you responded.

As we arrived at Camp Don Lee, we were asked to join a group at a table that would become our “team” for the day.  We were lead by our minister, Keith Sexton, and Debbie Rodenhouser who was one of the Vision Team Leaders.  We discussed areas in our church life where we felt we were strong and also where improvement might be appropriate.  No matter what was discussed, our thoughts and discussion were guided by OUMC’s mission statement …Providing help, healing, and hope. 

We had short team discussions about “What If” scenarios, where we talked about many things we could offer as a church if there were no limits to our resources.  We developed a long list of items we thought we were doing well as well as a list of items we could do better.  For each list we identified how to measure our results.  Across all teams we developed the following list of common themes that emerged:

• Address issues concerning children/youth
• Better communications
• Match needs and resources
• Nurturing/affirming our own membership

These four common themes evolved into the four new action groups that  we  refer to as “Design Teams.” It is through these “Design Teams” that we will introduce changes into our church.  Each “Design Team” will have a lead or co-leads as well as many volunteers.  Each “Design Team” will organize themselves into smaller teams to focus on a particular work effort.  This strategy keeps the members of each “Design Team” focused and will guide our efforts to expand our capacity for help, healing and hope.  Following is a list of the four Design Teams along with some initial goals for each team:

Connecting People Design Team

• Matching Passions/Needs/Resources
• Attracting New Members
• Getting More People Involved
• Establishing a Resource Directory

Focusing Resources Design Team

• Leadership Development
• ‘Summer Attendance’ Tracking
• Administrative Operations
• Feasibility Study

Communications  Design Team

• Interactive & Comprehensive Website
• Technology Center
• Informative, Reader-Friendly Publications
• Information & Teaching Resource

10:00 Hour Design Team

• Social Fellowship
• Children’s Activities
• Design Team Activities
• Bible Study

The “Design Teams”  are always looking for additional enthusiasm, energy and engagement!  Call the church office if you would like more information about one of the “Design Teams” and how you can become involved.  Also watch for upcoming articles about what each “Design Team” is doing.

On January 28^th, let’s fill the Catholic Church to capacity. Plan to attend, and pass the word along to your friends and neighbors. If we all pitch in, we can make a difference in the lives of people who need a little help. Everything for the fund raiser has been donated: food, beer, church, music, and advertising, so all monies donated go directly to the Disaster Recovery Fund.

Harbor Sounds has been in existence for twelve years. In that time they have raised over $250,000.00 for charities, funds, and causes – mostly in Pamlico County. The members do not keep any of the money. They pay for the upkeep on their musical instruments, buy their own music, use their own cars and gasoline to take them to these events. This has become their mission, and they love what they do. Watching people smile and have a good time is very satisfying.

Click on this link to download the poster. Print out a copy or two, post one on your fridge and one at your office. To make your reservation, call Dottie or Dick Osmun at (252) 249-3054 before Monday, January 23, 2012.

Title

How to Interpret New Testament Texts

Teaching Method

This series will be taught in the style of a college seminar.

Duration

• Segment 1 – One day per week for five consecutive weeks
• Segment 2 – One day per week for six consecutive weeks

Course Objectives

This course focuses on teaching you what you need to know to interpret the New Testament.

Audience

Adults

Class Preparation

You will be given materials and reading assignments upon registering.

Course Topics

Segment 1 – Five Weeks

• The social, political and historical backgrounds to the time of Jesus and the New Testament era
• Unique presentations of each of the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke)
• The historical Jesus

Segment 2 – Six Weeks

• John’s Gospel and Epistles
• Paul’s theological approach
• The non-Pauline Epistles

Class Offerings by Location

The following table shows the different classes that will be offered.  To sign up simply chose the Class ID that you want to sign up for and call the church office.

Note 1 – This option will be part of the ongoing Why Bible Study Group.

Note 2 – This option will be held at the home of one of our members at a time that is convenient for the group.  This class will be limited to six to twelve people and is especially geared for people not yet connected to the church.  Email Keith at keith.oumc@gmail.com or call him at (252) 670-6691 to offer your home.

Detail Schedule

As a reminder, select the Class ID for the class you would like to attend.  Then call the church office or send an email to orientalumc@orientalumc.org.

The Missions Team at OUMC has been busy!  We are helping seven or eight families during Christmas.  These are the folks represented on our Angel Tree.  Santa (aka Allen Price) came a little early to assist our families and others in the area who are in need.  He contacted friends he has met while working in the textile industry and asked for contributions. He hasn’t seen some of them in over twenty years. They collectively sent us a truckload of donated socks, hosiery, tee shirts, sweat pants, and sweatshirts!

Many thanks to Allen and and his friends for their donations of these much needed items. We would also like to thank all of the church members who took an Angel off the tree and purchased gifts. We appreciate your generosity!

The new website is easier to scan, read and navigate, enabling visitors to find what they need quickly. Just as importantly, our key vision and mission messages that came out of the recent vision retreat held at Camp Don Lee are evident and clear.  We are confident that our new web presence will improve our visibility and reputation within Oriental, our community, and the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church.  Additionally, it will increase awareness of the valuable work done by the members who make up Oriental United Methodist Church.

The foundation has been laid to make the website a more agile and more interactive through WordPress 3.0 — an open source tool that has evolved from a blogging tool to a first class content management system.  It is WordPress that powers our site and will enable us to add features that previously were only capable if you paid web developers or programmers.  The website you see today was built entirely by the web team ………none of whom are programmers.

We’re quite proud of it, and we know there’s still work to do beyond today’s launch. In the coming months, we hope to continue improving the site so that it best serves you.  In the meantime, please bookmark our home page.

Tuesday, November 22

Distribute Thanksgiving Baskets – 12:30 p.m. | Meet at Town & Country.

Decorate the Chrismon Tree – 6:00 p.m. | Sanctuary.  Join in the fun and help set the atmosphere for our celebration of the Advent season.  A Chrismon actually means “Christ monogram” and is a Christian symbol that is often used to decorate with during Advent.  For more information on Chrismons click here.

First Sunday of Advent – November 27, Theme: Getting Ready for Jesus’ Final Coming

Early Worship Service – 8:30 a.m. | Sanctuary.

Hanging of the Greens with the Children 10:00 a.m. | Sanctuary.  Enjoy time with our children while learning about the symbols of Advent

Traditional Worship Service – 11:00 a.m. | Sanctuary

Second Sunday of Advent – December 4, Theme: Preparing the Way for Jesus’ Arrival

Early Worship Service – 8:30 a.m. | Sanctuary

Coffee Time – 10:00 a.m. | Fellowship Hall

Traditional Worship Service with Communion – 11:00 a.m. | Sanctuary

Friday, December 9

Spirit of Christmas Concert – 7:00 p.m. | Sanctuary.  As the finale of Oriental’s Spirit of Christmas Celebration, The Spirit of Christmas Concert has become an Oriental musical tradition.  This must-see musical presentation features the Pamlico Chorale under the leadership of Reba Tiller.   This is usually a standing room only event, so come early to get a seat.

Saturday, December 10

Live Nativity – 2:00 p.m. | Lawn in front of Church.

Photo Courtsey of TownDock.net

The Oriental Children’s Theater Workshop presents the “Live Nativity” on the lawn of the Oriental United Methodist Church.  This year’s performance has been organized by Emma Wheeler.  The cast is full of small shepherds, young Wiseman, angles, baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary.  This event only occurs today so be sure and drop by and see this presentation by our community youth.

Spirit of Christmas Concert – 8:00 p.m. | Sanctuary.  This is a repeat of the Friday performance.

Third Sunday of Advent – December 11, Theme: Healing Institutional Injustice

Early Worship Service – 8:30 a.m. | Sanctuary

Traditional Worship Service 11:00 a.m. | Sanctuary

Fourth Sunday of Advent – December 18, Theme: Healing Institutional Injustice

Early Worship Service – 8:30 a.m. | Sanctuary

Traditional Worship Service – 11:00 a.m. | Sanctuary

Christmas Carol Singing – 6:00 p.m. |Sanctuary.  Invite your friends and bring your favorite Christmas cookies to share after the singing.

Monday, December 19

Christmas caroling to shut-ins that live in Oriental – 4:30 p.m. | Meet at church.  Join us for some old-fashioned caroling to our neighbors, followed by a pizza party in the Fellowship Hall.

Christmas Eve – Saturday, December 24, Theme: The Depth of God’s Love

Traditional Candlelight Service – 6:00 p.m. |Sanctuary.  This service will include lessons, special choral music, message, communion and candle lighting.

Christmas – Sunday, December 25, Theme: The Real Meaning of Christmas

One Combined Worship Service – 11:00 a.m. | Sanctuary.  We will celebrate with much joyous singing and will celebrate communion.

New Year’s Day, Sunday, January 1, Theme: Faithfulness is Rewarded

One Combined Worship Service – 11:00 a.m. | Sanctuary

Hurricane Irene - Broad St

After Hurricane Irene caused extensive damage to homes in Pamlico County, the county was declared a Federal Disaster area. FEMA has processed over 2,089 applications for assistance.  Housing assistance (HA) amounts awarded to date are $3,724,471. Other needs assistance (ONA) amount awarded is $808,445.  Max grants ($30,000) awarded are 21.    These numbers are from the FEMA report of November 1, 2011.

Two of the volunteer-based disaster recovery centers in Pamlico County in operation were at Bayboro Baptist Church and Oriental United Methodist Church (OUMC).  The OUMC center was asked to cover the Southeastern Fire District as well as the Florence/Whortonsville Fire District.  The OUMC center served 240 clients in various capacities, from providing water, ice, and cleaning buckets, to assisting with bills, performing muck-outs, debris cleanup, tarp placement, and emotional support.  We have hosted fifteen work teams from various Methodist churches.  These teams have completed about sixty jobs in the relief category.

Hurricane Irene - China Grove Rd.

The County has formed the Pamlico County Disaster Recovery Coalition (PCDRC), a long-term recovery committee recently formed to coordinate the response to Hurricane Irene rebuilding efforts.    OUMC has put in a proposal to UMCOR for funding to support an ongoing rebuilding effort that will be coordinated with PCDRC.  We expect to begin these efforts after the first of the year.   We will coordinate our rebuilding efforts with the PCDRC.

Will Huff welcomes work team from Wrightsville Beach, NC

We had wonderful assistance from Judy and Jerry Milks, NOMADS from Warren, Ohio, who visited OUMC for three weeks and helped us complete relief jobs and organize our paperwork and database.

Katy Pugh, Missions Team