Changing Lives, Lifting Spirits
Click here for a pledge/financial commitment message & card
Celebration Sunday Comments on
Changing Lives, Lifting Spirits pledge drive.
(from Stewardship Committee chairperson, Scott Butler)
Famous New Yankees baseball catcher, coach, & hall of famer, Yogi Berra, is credited with the phrase, "It ain't over 'til it's over." But I would swear he was talking about Methodist pledge drives.
Because even though we designate an official culmination date for the public part of the campaign, the final tally takes us right up to -- and beyond -- that designated date. And it holds true this year as well. There is still about two-weeks of follow-up contact work left for the pledge drive planning team to make.
Before first, I want to thank YOU for what you've done these past 8 weeks. Your generosity truly exemplifies our theme of "Changing Lives & Lifting Spirits."
And I know I'm speaking for the members of the pledge drive team when I say we are exhilarated and gratified by the commitment, support, and generosity you have demonstrated as of Celebration Weekend.
At the beginning of this pledge drive we pledged . . . to you . . . to set a new benchmark for Grace. A benchmark that would mean better and more timely communications about church finances and needs; and no more chronic reliance on 11th hour, December special appeals for funds to meet our current year operating needs.
But in order to come through on OUR pledge to you, we needed YOU to be willing to step up your generosity and financial commitment.
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The pledge drive planning team had a strong sense that our devoted members and the good friends of Grace United Methodist Church -- each one of us, AND ALL of us working together -- had the will and wherewithal to make this happen.
But we were prepared for this new benchmark-setting process to take 2, or maybe 3, years.
Well, the good news is . . . we are THIS close to setting this new benchmark in the FIRST year -- 2011!
I won't bore you by throwing out a bunch of numbers & percentages -- just two. As of Celebration Sunday, we have received pledges from 70% of the Grace households needed for our pledge drive goal (which is normal for the "end" of the pledge drive -- we usually have 70% - 75% of the pledges in at this point).
But more importantly, that 70% of pledgers has pledged nearly 80% of the dollars needed to achieve our goal -- 70% of pledgers so far have committed to 80% of the dollars needed.
And the generosity of their pledge increases -- YOUR pledge increases -- is awe-inspiring and exciting. We have pledgers who have increased their pledges 20%, 30%, 40% -- even 100%, doubling their pledges.
In these uncertain economic times, the overall average pledge increase is not 3%. It's not 5%. It's not 10%. It's over 16%! Now THAT'S EXCITING!
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But also how exciting for those of you who are among the 100 or so Grace households -- regular pledgers who have not yet pledged for 2011 AND first time pledgers -- still to be heard from.
- It is YOU who will push us to this new benchmark point and eliminate the need for year-end special operating budget appeals.
- It is YOU who in one pledge drive season will help restore Grace to full staffing levels. YOU will make it possible for our incredibly dedicated staff to have raises after going three years without any.
- It is YOU who, on the anchor leg of this relay we call a pledge drive, will push us past the finish line to provide greater resources for our Children & Youth & Sunday School programs, for our Worship and Music areas, for full support of our Missions & Outreach and our greater United Methodist Church obligations.
TRULY EXCITING! Exciting for YOU who can lift us to that new benchmark. Exciting for you who have already brought us this far. And exciting for Grace!
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Now is the time. If you are regular pledgers from 2010 who just haven't had time to make your 2011 pledge, please do it now.
If you are financial supporters of Grace who have not pledged before, there is no better time than now to take that next step. There are over 200 of us who have already done it. It IS gratifying and rewarding -- AND it's the right thing to do.
Do it for Grace United Methodist Church -- do it for YOU -- because YOU are Grace UMC. And YOU can have a direct impact on what it is we do and how well we are able to do it. What an opportunity you have.
If you haven't filled out your pledge card, call the church office TODAY at 255-2131, and they will send you one. Please fill it out and send it in right away. And CELEBRATE!
Thank you.
A "CHANGING LIVES, LIFTING SPIRITS" Pledge Campaign Message
from Grace UMC's Council of Ministries' Chairperson,
Ruth Anne Petrak:
NOW IS OUR DECISION TIME FOR GRACE
Will Grace United Methodist Church be able to move boldly forward in 2011 with its ministry and outreach to members, friends, and community? Will we continue to . . .
PROCLAIM the good news of Jesus Christ ??
PRACTICE uncommon hospitality ???
PREPARE disciples to serve in the world ????
Or, will we continue to go hesitantly from one month to the next? Postponing crucial financial commitments as long as possible? Hoping that a handful of wealthy members will help us in late December? This process is not a sustainable one!
What will sustain us in our mission?
It is the COMBINED MODEST FINANCIAL RESOURCES of hundreds of devoted believers, who are willing to make generous pledge commitments for 2011. This means you–and you–and YOU–and YOU !
Only with your strong and sacrificial support will be we be able to meet our responsibilities to our community, our members, our dedicated clergy and other staff, and our share of the world-wide mission of the United Methodist Church.
It is this personal financial commitment by those of us who love Grace United Methodist Church which will continue to make Grace a community of faith that is . . . Changing Lives & Lifting Spirits.
Continuing with our pledge campaign theme of Changing Lives, Lifting Spirits, here is our 3rd message of how Grace UMC changes lives & lifts spirits through Worship and Music. Our guest speaker (and author) for this week's message is Jo Campney.
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The theme of the Stewardship Campaign this year is “Changing Lives, Lifting Spirits”. For the last few weeks, different committees and work areas have talked about how their particular group is doing just that. Today I want to share with you about the Worship and Music Committee here at Grace United Methodist Church. The results of our efforts are in front of you every week with Grace's four worship services.
Who makes everything that happens in our worship services happen? Well, our committee helps coordinate many volunteers and they, together, make our worship services happen.
Our seven choirs (three choral choirs, three bell choirs, and the 37th St. Band) practice every week. Wednesdays around Grace are full of practices from 4:00 to 8:30 pm. Some of these groups work around Super Wednesday and Grace Club. The Chapel Choir rehearses on Sundays before UMYF. Helping these groups are choir mothers, librarians, accompanists, a director -- plus others I'm sure I've forgotten.
Clergy staff meets every Tuesday morning to plan services. Since Grace is made up of many different types of people, we have different types of services to meet their needs. Saturday night at 5:00 is a vesper service. Sunday morning at 8:00 is an informal service in Fellowship Hall, followed by a contemporary service in the same room at 9:00. And at 10:15, of course, is our traditional service in the sanctuary.
Some Worship & Music needs for the next few months and years are:
To make it all happen takes many volunteers to arrange for and coordinate ushers, greeters, communion servers, liturgists, altar preparers, coffee hosts, acolytes, etc. And our wonderful combined Grace @ 125 Sunday service is a recent example is the many volunteer hours that were spent in preparation.
If you go to other churches when traveling or visiting, we hope that if you see ideas that we could incorporate in our services, you would let us know about them. Send an e-mail or a note to the church office or to Jon Philip Olson or to me. We know that we haven’t tried everything there is to be tried, and are always looking for ways to make worship more meaningful to all; to change lives and lift spirits.
Continuing in the spirit our pledge campaign theme of Changing Lives, Lifting Spirits, here is the latest installment of how Grace UMC changes lives & lifts spirits through our Christian Education and Youth programs. Guest authors for this installment are Coreen Witke and Mark Clark.
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(Coreen Witke)
Grace's Christian Education programming reaches many people -- whether through Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Confirmation class, youth group, adult Sunday School classes, Grace School of Applied Christianity, Bible studies, Super Wednesday, or Grace Club
My involvement with Christian Ed at Grace has largely been in children’s programming where we provide the education and tools kids need to begin laying the spiritual and faith foundation they will build upon throughout their lives. For example, in 1st grade our Sunday schoolers learn that we want them to be in worship with us and to know about what we do during worship service. Our 2nd grade students study “Jesus as a Boy," learning how life might have been when Jesus was their age. As 3rd graders they each receive a Bible and learn how to use it by finding their favorite Bible stories.
We change lives by doing the many small things that add up to big things. When it was announced that Super Wednesday would be re-starting for the school year, one child told Pastor Steward, “I just feel better when I am at Grace.” Children may not have the words to express why they feel better, but they can sense that Grace helps change their lives.
I realized just how we were changing lives and lifting spirits this past January after Haiti was devastated by an earthquake. We were talking with our 1st graders about the relief efforts and how they could help. I was thinking about how to relate this to something in the children's lives when one of my 1st graders said, “Isn’t Haiti that place where we sent trees from Vacation Bible School?” He was absolutely right -- nine months earlier, our Grace Vacation Bible School mission project was to send tree saplings to help combat ecological devastation in Haiti. We are expanding children’s view of the world, showing them they can change lives; and, that by many people doing just a little, how they can truly make a big difference.
We are “Changing Lives & Lifting Spirits” every day, whether we know it or not. We never know when someone coming through our red doors is going to be ready to experience those moments that will stay with them forever. So we need to continually be ready to change lives and lift spirits by accumulating all the little things . . . into big things -- helping "children" of all ages to build their Christian foundations.
(Mark Clark)
I serve on the Youth Board at Grace and want to share with you a little about our United Methodist Youth Fellowship (UMYF) program.
Grace has a rich tradition of youth in the church. Our youth participate in a Sunday evening program composed of fellowship, social interaction, light spirituality, service to others, activities, games, field trips, current event/topic discussions, and service to each other and to the church.
The program has extended activities like mission trips, work trips, and our 6-year rotation of traveling to investigate John Wesley and our Methodist Heritage in England.
Fund raising dinners, Iowa Cubs concessions, Dinner Drama and other service project opportunities build teamwork within the group.
UMYF builds the faith of its participants. During this time of growth, they solidify their belief and value systems, their Christian faith, and their spiritual lives. Time and time again – in their own words on Youth Sunday -- they tell us how their best friends, their solid grounding in Christian examples, their most cherished experiences are here at Grace. It's a place for them to grow, to learn, to push back and question – all in a positive, supportive, safe environment.
Our Youth programs allow each youth to participate according to his or her ability, schedule, and interest. While we like having them in everything -- Sunday School, Choir, Confirmation, UMYF, service projects -- our system is flexible enough that they do not have to engage in every aspect. They will not feel out of the loop just because they're not part of every of single “module”.
From Natalie Burnham:
Throughout September and October -- in keeping with Grace's 125th anniversary celebration process of looking back and looking forward -- leaders from Grace's work areas and committees will tell us messages of accomplishments and hope as they look back over this past year, and share their vision of all that Grace can accomplish in the future. The note that follows was presented by Natalie Burnham during our pledge campaign kick-off weekend, September 18 and 19. In it, Natalie shares with us the latest glowing example of Grace's decades of leadership in Missions & Outreach -- our Free Clinic. Just one of the many, many ways Grace is Changing Lives & Lifting Spirits.
My children and I started visiting Grace two years ago in September of 2008. Right away we felt Grace’s “uncommon hospitality” and felt right at home. We joined Grace in April of 2009, because at Grace we found a faith community filled with servant people, striving to live their lives increasing their love for God and their neighbor.
When Dr. Larry Severidt and clinic coordinator, Tammy Andrews held the Free Medical Clinic’s first organizational meeting this last winter, the room was packed and everyone wanted to be part of this new ministry at Grace.
Quickly many of the slots for clinic volunteers were filled. And then I got the nudge. God pulled on my heart-strings.
Have you ever gotten that nudge? Then you know what I was experiencing…
My first response was, "God you know I am a lousy cook why are you nudging me to organize meals for the patients and volunteers at the Free Medical Clinic?"
God nudged me a little more so I stepped out in faith and raised the idea of meals at the Medical clinic. Quickly everything began falling in place. Nearly two dozen Grace volunteers (members and non-members alike) and local businesses stepped up to cook meals, provide food and groceries, bake desserts and breads, prepare casseroles and other tasty "specialties," serve food, and take care of organizing the meal set-up and clean-up.
The meals have been a great way for our patients and their families to experience Grace’s “uncommon hospitality” and feel comfortable and at home at Grace. Personally, it has been so rewarding for me to get acquainted and serve with so many wonderful people at Grace. It has also been a great way for volunteers to get to know each other better.
I would like to invite you to be a part of our Meals Ministry at Grace. Please contact me, one of our other volunteers or call the Church office if you want to be a part of this joyful ministry.
I hope during this special season of stewardship at Grace you will look for ways to serve and share your gifts and grow in faith by joining a ministry, small group, or create a new ministry to respond to a need. Jesus promises that when we situate ourselves near those in need we will hear the call of God. Jesus is always coming to us, whether or not we think we are ready.
FROM OUR STEWARDSHIP MINISTRY TEAM CHAIR SCOTT BUTLER:
Planning for this fall's pledge campaign is under way. Kick-off will be the weekend of September 18th & 19th. This year's campaign is completely of our own design -- no "canned" campaign. Our theme reflects Grace's impact on people -- "Changing Lives, Lifting Spirits."
The pledge campaign planning team will be holding focus groups before and during the campaign. Part of the campaign includes a commitment -- a pledge, if you will -- from Grace stewardship and finance leaders to be honest and upfront about Grace's needs and goals, both short-term and long-term. You will hear inspiring words from work area and committee leaders about wonderful accomplishments this past year . . . and about their visions for what we can accomplish in the next year and beyond. Please join us in the excitement of Changing Lives, Lifting Spirits.