Issuu

Tuesday Tigers

KINGDOM BUILDERS

By Forrest White

A Life Saved and a Relationship Rekindled

page page

Lighthouse Ministries: Pathways Paved with Prayer

Desperate for a way in and out of her home, Lori Anderson of Mulberry purchased a 10-foot aluminum, “suitcase” ramp from Amazon.

Though confined to an electric wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis and a history of back injuries, she dragged the ramp into place and set it up as best as she could.

“I don’t like to ask for help,” Anderson said. “So, where there’s a will there’s a way.”

The ramp was too steep.

“And I don’t even like rollercoasters,” Anderson said.

page

A Legacy in Every Note

Rev. Charley Reeb Senior Pastor

Dear Church Family,

I am thrilled to introduce another informative and inspirational issue of First Connections. Inside you will read about the remarkable work being done by our Tuesday Tigers and Lakeland’s Lighthouse Ministries, both of which play crucial roles in serving our community.

First UMC’s “Tuesday Tigers” are a testament to the level of compassion and service that thrives within our congregation. Each Tuesday, dedicated volunteers come together to build ramps and steps for the physically challenged, ensuring they have safe and accessible entryways to their homes. This is a remarkable ministry that has impacted countless lives.

Lakeland’s Lighthouse Ministries is truly a beacon for those in need which is why we proudly support it. Through various outreach programs, Lighthouse Ministries embodies the love of Christ, guiding our neighbors toward brighter days.

I invite each of you to get involved in these ministries, whether through volunteering, donating, or simply spreading the word. Together, we can make a profound difference in the lives of those around us.

In Christ,

From the Editor

Forrest White Director of Mission Ministries

A Life Saved, a Relationship Rekindled.

I was working out at the gym on Feb. 19, 2025. In between sets I checked Find My Friends, a location sharing app. My children and I have used it for years, though we don’t check it obsessively.

I noticed my son, Austin, wasn’t where he should be early on a weekday. So, I sent him a text message. He and his wife, Katie, had been waiting for repairs and living without heat in their rental home in Richmond, Virginia.

Me: Heat still off?

Austin: No sir, it got fixed on Monday morning.

Me: Where are you? Checked location and thought you must be at a hotel.

Austin: I am at (his mom’s).

Me: You good?

Austin: You able to chat?

I left the gym and called.

“There’s no easy way to say this …”

I braced myself.

“I am going to rehab.”

My beloved son is an alcoholic.

My initial fears and sorrow soon made room, too, for pride. It is rare for a 29-year-old to admit he had a serious problem and take a bold step toward overcoming it.

Austin’s life changed forever a day later, when he boarded a plane in Richmond, bound for Newark, New Jersey. From there he rode in a van to a detox center in Tom’s River where he spent 11 days. He then moved to a rehab facility where he stayed until returning home April 16.

I found out later that Katie told him in the earliest stages of reuniting, “You walk, talk and act like a different man.”

Everyone sees it clearly now.

So, I try not to let my mind drift back to this grim reality – We may never know how close we were to losing him.

When he arrived at detox, Austin’s blood pressure was 187/139. He weighed about 250 pounds. Weeks later, he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. At one point his blood sugar was 460.

A week before his 100th day of sobriety –May 31 – I spent 90 minutes talking to him about his life transformation.

By then, he had locked into the kind of disciplined life previously unimaginable for someone who had undiagnosed attention deficit disorder until his senior year of high school. He was attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings twice each day –every day – while continuing his recovery via Intensive Outpatient (IOP) therapy. His weight was down to 215. He monitors blood pressure and blood sugar levels daily.

These days, he embraces arriving early to morning AA meetings to make coffee, staying late at evening meetings to clean up, showing up for family cookouts to support friends met at meetings, friends on the same journey.

“As crazy as it may sound, I’m not unique to my experience,” Austin said. “Everywhere I go, if I open my heart and ears, I can hear someone else share my story because it is their story, too.”

He wants to be there for others, just as he needs others to be there for him. But it isn’t simply about human connection …

“Doing things my way got me to rock bottom. By surrendering my fears, my resentments, and my shortcomings at the feet of our Creator I am able to live His will and not my own. We’re promised a life greater than the one we would plan ourselves.”

November 2024

Everything has changed for the better – from his mental and physical health to his self-esteem to his faith journey–one step at a time, one day at a time.

Austin never missed a Sunday night United Methodist Youth Fellowship (UMYF) gathering during his time in middle and high school. I had a rule, even when I was coaching his travel baseball team while leading the student ministry at our church– no missing youth group, even if it meant missing a tournament championship game. He never asked for an exception.

“I tell my story in meetings,” Austin said. “I was raised in the church. I loved the fellowship of the church. I was shown the importance of service. Then I left home and I became my own higher power. I became selfish. And even in doing things for others, there was motive behind it. I wanted to be praised.”

During his time in New Jersey, I held Austin in prayer, as always. I cherished the rare phone conversations. I sent him a few notes. I sent him two Tampa Bay Lightning hoodies. I began ending text message exchanges like this: Love you so much; miss you so much; proud of you so much. And, when a study bible he wanted wasn’t in stock at Amazon, I sent him one myself.

I asked Austin about his spiritual disciplines during our late May chat. He mentioned morning devotionals and scripture reading, as well as participating in reflection and prayer at group meetings.

“Throughout the day, when something pops in my mind, I pray and give thanks for blessings as I notice them,” he said.

He mentioned how important AA’s Serenity Prayer and Third Step Prayer are to him and recited both from memory.

“At night,” Austin said. “I hit my knees and bow my head. It feels more meaningful when I do that. There’s no façade about what I’m saying or giving thanks for. It is very raw.”

I asked him to describe life before he made the decision to enter rehab.

“I couldn’t imagine life without alcohol,” he said. “Drinking was the only escape for me. A diseased brain puts alcohol as the highest thing on your survival chain. Higher than food, sleep, water. The survival portion of your brain kicks in and it can outweigh a normal decision. I hate lying and stealing, but I stole alcohol to keep it from showing up on

Forrest White

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

our shared bank statement. I would wake up in the morning with the shakes. I would drink something, not to get drunk, but just to maintain a steady level of existence.

“There were times where I was like ‘I don’t know how long I’ll be living.’ Katie would say, ‘We have this coming up in two weeks’ and I was like, ‘What does that even mean?’ I couldn’t imagine myself turning 35, turning 40. Could not imagine us being in our 70s together.”

Those days are gone now.

“Now I am able to see a future and a path and understand that good things lie ahead,” Austin said. “As long as I hold up my end, I know God will hold up His end. As long as I ask Him to do with me and build with me, then everything is going to be OK.”

Tuesday Tigers

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Every trip down was an adventure, some more than others. The ramp folded in the middle once, she said, and caused her to fall backwards. So, she put some cinderblocks in place beneath the fold to eliminate that problem. Another time, she lost control and hit a wall opposite the ramp, which caused a two-day stay in the hospital.

Finally, Anderson reached out to the Veteran’s Administration in Bartow, asking for help. Her late husband served in the military.

All the VA could offer was a list of potential helpers, including First UMC’s Tuesday Tigers ministry. She submitted a request on the church website on April 7, simply saying she “lives by herself, is in a power wheelchair 24/7 and trying to be as independent as possible.”

Tigers’ leader Joe Dionisi visited Anderson’s home for a

With Father’s Day approaching, I find myself imagining God, as He looks down upon Austin, offering the same words I have said as his earthly father …

“Love you so much; proud of you so much.”

But God doesn’t have to say, “Miss you so much.”

Austin has come home to Him.

“My life was saved by intervention,” he said. “My spiritual life was saved, as well. I’ve rekindled my relationship with God. I’m putting into action the principles I was taught and never understood. Now I understand.”

All the best,

site assessment on April 29, a day after another ramp mishap caused her to cut her leg badly.

A team of Tigers showed up on the second Tuesday of May to install a wooden switchback ramp and finished it two days later, allowing her to move safely in and out of her home.

“The blessing they gave me was a huge answer to prayer, bigger than they could ever imagine,” Anderson said.

But she isn’t talking about the actual ramp.

“Don’t get me wrong, that ramp they built was a huge blessing,” she said. “They gave me the ability to get in and out of my home safely and I will forever be grateful for that.

“But an even bigger blessing was the fellowship. They were all so happy to be here. I had to stay out there with

them the whole time. I just loved the happiness and the joy.”

The Tigers are builders, to be sure.

But to see their biggest impact, you must look beyond the trail of sawdust and sweat they’ve left across Lakeland and Polk County.

The Tigers are 1 John 3:18 personified – “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

They are, above all else, Kingdom Builders.

“They have provided hope for more than 20 years,” said the Rev. David McEntire, First UMC’s senior pastor from 2007-2022. “They have always included skilled craftsmen and some who barely knew the business end of a hammer, yet all were included, all were needed. They have been a living witness, a very real expression of God’s love.”

The late Rev. Bill Fraker retired from pastoral ministry in 1998 and returned to Lakeland. He had a passion for serving, especially with Habitat for Humanity, and played a lead role in getting First UMC members out to help those with home repair needs.

In 2004, Fraker convinced recently retired First UMC member Wayne Sangster to take over.

“We worked on Tuesday, so I began calling us the Tuesday Tigers,” Sangster said. “It was better to say, ‘The Tuesday Tigers will do it,’ instead of a team from the church. Everybody kind of bought into that.”

“ BUT AN EVEN BIGGER BLESSING WAS THE FELLOWSHIP. THEY WERE ALL SO HAPPY TO BE HERE.”

Lori Anderson

(He quickly squashed the notion that he chose Tigers because of Lakeland’s connection to the Detroit Tigers organization. It was simply about alliteration, he said.)

Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne hit Polk County in 2004, which kept servants from First UMC busy for months.

Sangster’s wife Lynn served on the church staff back then and often heard needs of church members to pass along, but the First Team/ Tigers committee was in place to screen projects and provide guidance.

The Tigers didn’t and don’t help only church members. The majority of those they serve have no connection to the church.

Among innumerable projects from the past, Sangster especially remembers working on a home in Auburndale where a single mother was in danger of losing her children because of deplorable living conditions, he said.

“I will tell you how bad it was,” Sangster said. “The shower had no floor in it. You had to stand on two floor joists to take a shower. The toilet dumped onto the ground.”

The late George Overstreet secured about $3,000 from First UMC and the Tigers did repairs and upgrades that kept the family in the home.

“It was a blessing for her and for those of us who worked on it,” Sangster said.

CONTINUED NEXT PAGE

Tuesday Tigers

That could be said for almost any Tigers’ project.

“A lot of people are not comfortable receiving help,” Sangster said. “They want to do for themselves, but as you get older you can’t do it. God blesses the Tigers to do this, praise the Lord. I know the people see it and the ripples start. They feel the power of the Spirit. I know they get it.”

After about seven years of leading, Sangster stepped aside for Mike Gieger to lead the Tigers and focused on building wheelchair ramps with Volunteers in Service to the Elderly (VISTE). He said he didn’t want to get in Gieger’s way.

Geiger had retired from his career as an architectural draftsman for the city of Lakeland in 2010. His expertise made him a natural for ramp design dating back to the days of Sangster’s leadership. Even though he and wife Sheri now live in the Jacksonville area to be near grandchildren, he continues with the Tigers from there to ensure seamless permitting with Polk County. (The cities of Lakeland and Mulberry don’t require permits for ramps.)

Though still loosely connected, Gieger misses the interaction on the worksites.

The Tigers have always been serious about safety and about doing the job well, but …

“Gosh, we have had so much fun, always cutting up with each other” said Gieger. “I really miss that part of it. But I loved going out talking with the people, too, loved going out and building the things. It was just a blessing.”

He remembers approaching the home of an elderly man whose porch banister was broken. The man didn’t know anything about the Tigers.

“I said, ‘I’m from First UMC. We’re going to fix the banister,’” Gieger said.

The man refused to believe the work was going to be done for free – to this day the Tigers work at no cost to those in need – or at least done without expectation that he would attend the church.

“This is free,” Gieger assured him. “We’re going to come in here, fix it and leave you alone.”

“You’d do that for me?” the man asked.

“Why wouldn’t we? It’s what we do!” Gieger said.

“Where is this church?” the man asked. “It’s the kind of church I want to belong to.”

THE MAJORITY OF THOSE THEY SERVE HAVE NO CONNECTION TO THE CHURCH.

“All the people we dealt with were so appreciative,” Gieger said. “Some of them hadn’t been out of their house for months or had to be carried down stairs. It’s such a real need. I hope it keeps going forever. I really, really do.”

The Tigers have shown no signs of slowing down under Dionisi’s leadership. He took over for Gieger about seven years ago. In fact, he would love to see a group of younger folks who haven’t retired come together to tackle projects on Saturdays.

“Weekend warriors,” he said. “Even if they did it once a month, that’s 12 more projects per year.”

Then, as they retire, they could continue to build the Tigers’ legacy.

There are about 18 Tigers on the current roster. Recently retired Janet Earls is the lone woman. As many as 10-12 may show up to serve on any given Tuesday.

Since 2010, the Tigers have built (or installed when working with aluminum ramps added to the fold a few years back) about 250 ramps.

For Dionisi, it’s all about helping people stay in their home with dignity, making sure it is safe, sanitary and secure.

He doesn’t want to talk about how many hours he spends running the Tigers each week.

“It’s 100,” said his wife, the Rev. Deb Drash, with a laugh.

Dionisi simply says some weeks are like a full-time job, others aren’t.

“The Tigers would not function without Joe,” said Tiger Peter Hoefer. “He does the site visits, figures out the design work, purchases the supplies, makes sure the permits are pulled, pulls the trailer with his truck …”

Hoefer often helps Dionisi with smaller projects that fall on days other than Tuesday or with gathering supplies for the next Tuesday work day.

In addition to the prep and the actual work on each project, Dionisi handles all of the administrative load, responding to each request for help. There have been stretches where they receive 5-6 requests in a week, though not all for ramps.

The requests often come from family members of people with critical, urgent and often unexpected needs. (Dionisi also coordinates pick up of ramps after a death or a move to assisted living.)

“Many times, when people call the church they’ve been searching for solutions for a long time,” he said. “We want to be sensitive when we call them back. To understand they have really been under duress. We want to make sure we don’t add to that duress. We want to comfort and help strengthen them.”

Dionisi keeps advice he received from McEntire at the forefront of his thoughts.

“Years ago, he said, ‘The most important thing the Tigers do is the relationship with the person, not necessarily the work we do for the person,’” Dionisi said. “We try to follow David’s good advice to be able to make that connection, so the person understands they’re not alone. They’ve got a friend who will come alongside and try to help them get a remedy for whatever issue that is stressful.”

He – like Sangster and Gieger before him – loves the Tigers family, the weekly interactions, and the support shared throughout the year, in good times and bad.

“No matter who has been here over the years, we’ve had a closeness,” Dionisi said. “We watch out for each other. We care for each other. We always start each day with prayer. We always talk about what’s going on in the lives of individuals and their family. We send out cards when someone is having surgery or has lost a loved one. We’re accountable one to another. That really adds to the joy and love the Tigers have shared through the years.”

CREATING PATHWAYS

by Janet Earls

Gracious God,

- We thank You for the hands and hearts that built this ramp with love and care.

- May it be a pathway of dignity, freedom, and inclusion for all who use it.

- Let every wheel that rolls upon it be carried by Your grace.

- Bless those who come and go, and may this ramp always be a symbol of compassion in action.

Amen.

At 70, Dionisi appears to love his role as Tigers’ leader as much or more than ever.

“I told Joe, ‘You need to slow down. You need to take a vacation,’” Hoefer said. “He said, ‘Peter, this is our vacation. We love doing this.’”

In the weeks following completion of her ramp, Anderson set out on a mission. She “searched and searched for a thank you card,” she said. “But none of them fit.”

“Every time I’m going up and down the ramp, I’m smiling, looking up, thankful for the fellowship that brought it to me,” Anderson said. “They did it out of the kindness of their hearts. I didn’t think people did this anymore. They gave me more than they could ever imagine. I will forever be touched by that.”

Lighthouse Ministries: Pathways Paved with Prayer

by Forrest White

At age 15, Paul Vess took the flight we all hope and pray we will never take.

He had overdosed on liquid methadone. His body was shutting down. He needed to be airlifted to a trauma center.

“Basically, I was told I died three times (on the helicopter flight) and had to be resuscitated,” he said.

Neither a narrow escape from death nor a two-week stay in the hospital shook him enough to change.

“As soon as I left, I went right back to using drugs,” Vess said. “Prescription painkillers, smoking weed.”

The drug use continued for about seven years, despite an intervention by one of his sisters, a move from Cocoa to Lakeland and support from his mother whom he said was eventually evicted from her home because of his drug use.

By August 2021, he was living in a car with the mother of his two children. She was arrested for drug possession while he was at work one day, Vess said. (They had signed over custody of their children to the maternal grandparents.) He knew the police were watching the car. He could not go back there.

“Then, I was really homeless,” he said.

With everything closing in around him, Vess became paranoid, thinking someone had tried to drug him. He took meth to offset it, he said.

“It sent my adrenaline through the roof,” he said. “I went

running through the woods, freaking out …

“It was my lowest low.”

He wandered to a local convenience store wearing only two pairs of basketball shorts – no shirt, no shoes –and asked to use the phone.

A worker threatened to call the police if he didn’t leave. Outside on the street, he met a passing stranger. She introduced him to her friend who gave him food and clothes and led him to the men’s emergency shelter at Lighthouse Ministries.

Vess was sure he wouldn’t stay there long, saying he was “too prideful for a homeless shelter.”

“But I looked over my shoulder and realized I had nothing left to go back to,” he said.

He wound up spending two and a half years at Lighthouse, walking the pathways to new life it offers.

“They give you an environment where you can be sober and learn to stay sober,” Vess said. “They gave me an opportunity to have a job, to reconcile with my children. I ended up getting saved.”

He smiled at the thought.

“This is all God working these things out,” Vess said. “Lighthouse is just the place He’s using.”

Lighthouse Ministries President and CEO Steve Turbeville wants nothing more – and nothing less – than for Lighthouse to be used by God.

“That’s what we want them to hear, what we want them to know,” he said, when told of Vess’s words.

Now 26, Vess earned his degree at Florida Technical College and works full-time as an electrician, but still also works in the hydroponic garden at Lighthouse. He has an arrangement to have his children for two nights each week.

Looking back at his life, he offers reassurance to all who are struggling.

“God is there for you,” Vess said, “even when you don’t feel it.”

Paul Vess

Paul Vess and his children

Lighthouse Ministries

Not long ago, Turbeville, 70, got an early morning text message from a board member with a picture of a graphic. It had been put together by another local non-profit attempting to describe area homeless ministries.

The graphic was both inaccurate and incomplete when describing Lighthouse.

But in fairness, it is difficult to describe succinctly this far-reaching, transformative ministry, which began in 1977 when the Lakeland Lighthouse Rescue Mission opened in what had been a liquor store and bar at the corner of Kentucky Avenue and Bay Street.

That board member wanted to know how Turbeville would describe Lighthouse if he were creating a graphic, so he gave it a shot. His text message response:

Lighthouse is a Gospel ministry. Community connected. (Offering) Education empowerment, workforce for independence, liberty to stay in the program no matter what your religious affiliation. Values driven for healthy community. Trauma informed care. Offers next step opportunities for discipleship, education, employment, community and church connections. Housing placements through our community partners and our own housing initiatives. Vision of God’s peace, life purpose and fulfillment of potential.

Scott Turbeville – Steve’s son and Lighthouse Ministries Director of Education – sat down years later with a woman who was a case manager during those days.

“She said, ‘Scott, this is what I want to know about your father,’” he said. “‘He was walking these halls and seeing these rooms that are supposed to be filled with people in need. Tears filled his eyes. He walked up and down the hallways praying and crying day after day after day after day.’

In hindsight, Turbeville – who has been President/CEO since April 2002 – feels good about what flowed out of him without much thought, but knows he left out some things, including how the ministry is built upon prayer.

In 2003, when a newly opened building wasn’t full and the ministry was facing financial challenges, Turbeville began a regular practice of walking through the halls and praying.

“That story has just really stuck with me. I think one of the most foundational aspects of this ministry is prayer and seeking after the heart of God to meet the needs of the community.”

Lighthouse began with Lakeland businessman Carl Warnock and municipal judge/attorney Jim Welch – Christians and combat veterans – standing on the street corner outside the former liquor store praying for God to use them.

Warnock had been helping a young man look for a place to open a shelter, but circumstances changed after Warnock bought the property. The young man’s church and other supporters withdrew.

Warnock told Welch he didn’t know how to run a homeless shelter.

“God’s using you. He knows you’re available,” Welch said. “It’s not about ability or inability. It’s about availability.”

What began as a place for “soup, soap and salvation,” as Steve Turbeville likes to say, has grown to include:

■ 90 beds for men on the Lakeland Life Learning campus –58 for homeless, 24 for those in the discipleship program and eight for volunteers

■ In addition to a bridge program for women, there’s the women and children Life Learning program with 22

Steve Turbeville with graduate

Chapel service at Lighthouse Ministries

dorm-like apartments for up to 64 women, single or with children.

■ In May Lighthouse celebrated the newest affordable housing development in downtown Lakeland – five townhomes for those experiencing the ministry’s next steps to independent living.

■ Kids Club after school program on campus and another in West Lakeland

■ Preschool and afterschool programs for children

■ The Life Learning Program (seven to 24 months, open to men and women, designed to meet needs of the whole person – body, mind, soul)

■ 36 families at Plateau Village receive Lighthouse case management

■ Four retail thrift stores (Lakeland, Winter Haven, Brandon, Plant City) with about 125 total employees (more than 40 were formerly homeless.) Money raised goes to meet ongoing care for residents’ education, employment training and Gospel ministry.

■ Hope Centers located in the thrift stores to help with spiritual and other needs including food and clothing.

■ Lighthouse reaches as far as Ybor City with its Kimmins Campus Learning Center there.

STEP"

AFFORDABLE HOUSING RIBBON CUTTING

At each of those places there are stories of people whose lives have been changed by God at work through Lighthouse.

Meyunda “Mimi” Hines, 56, struggled with drug addiction for more than 30 years.

“I just couldn’t get it under control,” she said, recently. “I stayed in the streets 20-25 years, doing drugs. I struggled with domestic violence. Been in and out of shelters due to my drug use.”

Toward the end of 2023 she decided she had enough. She did an internet search and found Lighthouse. She still remembers making the call and the voice of the woman who answered.

“That day I came through these doors just changed my life,” Hines said. “It just did something to my spirit.”

Lighthouse works hard to combat “mission drift,” Steve Turbeville said.

The Mission: Lighthouse Ministries is set apart by the Spirit of God to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to meet the physical, emotional, and other needs of the poor and at-risk population.

The ministry relies on private funding, donations, church partnerships and store operations, refusing to accept financial support from any source that would prohibit them from sharing the Gospel.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Mimi and Jody

Pathways Paved With Prayer

“I knew about God, but I got deep into it here,” Hines said. “I just enjoy talking to him. Wake up day and night, have a conversation with him, day and night.”

She worked in the kitchen on the main campus and this spring landed a job at Lakeland Regional Hospital in environmental services. She proudly said she has saved more than $7,000, paid off $1,700 in debt and improved her credit by 40 points.

ORGAN RESTORATION FUND

The Lighthouse family walked with her through the loss of her son, who died in an accident last year, and through her own major surgery.

She moved into one of the new townhouses soon after ribbon cutting in early May.

“I’m just so grateful,” Hines said. “I wake up smiling every day.”

- A Legacy in Every Note -

Music uplifts the soul and creates space for reflection. It is a vital element of worship that nurtures our faith and strengthens our connection to God.

Since 1979, our Schantz Pipe Organ, Opus 1535 has been an enduring source of inspiration and joy. Today, the organ is valued at over $2,000,000! However, as with all fine instruments, time takes its toll. Every 25 to 30 years,

the 4,140 pipes must undergo a delicate re-leathering process to ensure they continue to resonate beautifully. Matthew Corl, Organist and Co-Director of Music and Fine Arts, shares, “If we do not re-leather, one day the organ simply won’t play.”

This project is a significant investment, costing $248,400 over three years.

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP PRESERVE THIS SPECIAL INSTRUMENT:

Single pipe: $60

Full rank: $3,450 (a row of pipes)

DIVISIONS AVAILABLE:

Great: $55,620

Swell: $56,340

Choir: $39,540

Positiv: $40,260

Pedal: $24,720

Antiphonal: $31,920

Fundraising concerts will start soon, but please consider donating NOW to the "Organ Restoration Fund" by check or online at firstumc.org/give. Multi-year pledges are welcome. For more information, contact Patrick Hamrick, Pastor of Church Administration, at phamrick@firstumc.org.

72 Lake Morton Drive Lakeland, FL 33801

863-686-3163

firstumc.org