Rev. Andrew Chappell
Senior Pastor
achappell@NewnanFUMC.org
770.253.7400 (x202)
Dear Friends and Family of Newnan First United Methodist Church,
This has been a season of joy from Children’s Sunday to Mother’s Day and Graduate Sunday. One of my favorite moments was when our kids led worship and joined me in making animal sounds during the sermon. At 8:30, they were surprised; by 11:00, they were ready and their joy was contagious.
It reminded me how much our faith is shaped by expectation. When we look for God in everyday life - at work, in the store, at home - we’re more likely to notice Him. Joy meets us when our hearts are open.
As summer begins, stay expectant. You never know where God’s joy might surprise you. “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence...” –Psalm 16:11
Additionally, Aileen Burnett will be stepping away from her staff role on June 13. Aileen has faithfully served our congregation in countless ways—from organizing mission opportunities to caring for our senior adults with deep compassion and creativity. We will celebrate her ministry during our Wednesday Night Supper on June 4. Of course, Aileen will remain a part of our family here at Newnan First UMC, and we look forward to many more wonderful years of serving together. Please make plans to be there as we express our gratitude and bless her for her years of faithful service.
Also, let us welcome New Members: Jack & Lisa Dempsey, Scott & Tricia Thomas, Brian & Susan Mitchell, William Hayes & Kimberley Wilson, and our newest baptized member Freddie Lynch!
Blessings, Rev. Andrew Chappell
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I write today with a heart that is full and heavy. May 19th marked my return to full-time work here at Newnan First UMC. That day also marked three months since Wallace’s sudden passing from illness. My family and I remain broken. Our life will forever be framed as “before” or “after” this tragic loss– the ending of his life so soon is an amputation that will never fully heal.
In the valley of the shadow of death, the Bell family gives thanks to those who have willingly climbed down to be with us. We are so grateful for those who sent us letters and kind words– not words of advice or trite phrases, but words of compassionate heartbreak and acknowledgment of the depth of this loss. We are grateful to those who generously gave to the financial love offering collected on our behalf in order to care for our family. We are so thankful for the meals that have been prepared with love for us in our time of mourning. These are small, good things that have helped to carry us and hold us up in a terrible time.
To quote Psalm 23, you all “have prepared a banquet in the presence of my enemies.” These enemies are ancient and well-known: death, heartbreak, doubt, and pain. But their profound powers, which before I knew only in hints, are felt fully now. They will drown you if you are alone– I am so grateful that we are not.
Knowingly or not, members of this church have been God’s hands and feet for our family. We will forever be grateful to those who embodied Christ for us in this season that we needed it most. Thank you.
In Christ, Connor
Melody Webb
Discipleship Director
mwebb@NewnanFUMC.org 770.253.7400 (x215)
Ladies, mark your calendars! Whether you’re a regular at women’s ministry events or new and curious, we’d love for you to join us for the Women’s Summer Meetups (info below), relaxed and meaningful summer gatherings designed to connect women across generations. Childcare is available during the evening meetings!
At the August 13 Women’s Summer Meetup, we will share what’s ahead for the fall Women’s Bible Studies, which resume on Wednesday, September 3. Come as you are, bring a friend, and let’s grow together this summer.
Martha Circle and the Men’s Bible Study will be on a summer hiatus, with both resuming meetings in September. Martha Circle meets on the 3rd Monday of the month at 9:45am, and the Men’s Bible Study meets at 8:30am on the 1st & 3rd Tuesdays of the month.
The Breaking Bread study with Rev. Andrew Chappell will continue to meet during June, then will go on hiatus while Andrew is out on paternity leave. This mid-week study is in the Gathering Room on Wednesdays at noon, and focuses on the scripture for the upcoming Sunday.
This Summer is a great time to check out a Sunday School class if you are not already involved. As a reminder, there are some classes geared toward specific age groups, as well as a few classes that are intergenerational. I especially want to highlight the Insights intergenerational class that has been formed for those wanting to explore a more contemplative approach to faith and spiritual practices. This summer we will be using the book Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr to explore contemplative prayer; Melody Webb and Rev. Lisa Dempsey will take turns facilitating. Please also note, the Insight class is moving locations to the Gathering Room for the remainder of the year!
Save the Date: 5th Sunday Fellowship is June 29 ! All youth and adults are invited to bring a brunch item and join us for fellowship in the Parish Hall at 9:45am. Coffee and juice will be provided.
We are wrapping up the school year! This year has gone by so fast. As we move into summer, we are going to continue the fun. One of our most fun events this summer is going to be Vacation Bible School. The theme this year is Scuba. The team is busy working on making it the best VBS ever! There are going to be many interactive activities. We will be singing and dancing. Lots of fun active science experiments that the kids will be getting seriously involved in. Your children are going to love to be a part of the Bible Story. From the decorations to the fellowship, it will be an amazing week. Sign ups are open and we would love to have you and your children! We do need volunteers. If you cannot commit to the whole week, we will find the perfect spot for you when you can help.
The next several weeks are going to be great for 4 year olds to 2nd grade Sunday School. We will be wrapping Peter and moving in the good work of Jesus. This summer is going to be filled with learning about the courageous people in the Bible. From the many friends of Jesus, to Daniel, and even a Queen! We spend our time working on activities, reading stories, and doing cute and fun crafts! In our older Sunday school class they are driving down Route 66, and diving into the fun and exciting lessons in the Bible. They are touching on all 66 books, so don’t miss the fun!
In Wiggle and Worship and Children’s Worship we are having a blast exploring the scripture. We get to do games, activities, interactive lessons, and super cute crafts! During the 11am service our younger kiddos have fun in the Wiggle and Worship Class (2 and 3 year olds in the Preschool) and Children’s Worship (4 years old to 2nd grade). This month we are going to focus on all the fun things that God has made! We will explore what the word “new” means and how we can be new! Wiggle and Worship is in the nursery in the lower level of the Parish Hall in the Preschool. Children’s Worship is on the Children’s Floor. Children’s Worship is released from the Main Sanctuary in the Big Church. You can pick your children up upstairs on the Children’s Floor! We play, pray, wiggle, and praise, and have the best time ever!
We have some really fun activities lined up for summer. Please make sure you are ready for it! If you don’t receive our Children’s Newsletter. Please let Ms.Andrea know so that she can add you, so you don’t miss a thing!
Please consider signing up for VBS as a volunteer and involving your children in this fun week! We would love to have you and we need you!
Susan Mitchell Preschool Director
smitchell@NewnanFUMC.org 770.253.1237
The final stretch of the school year was an exciting one filled with celebrations, bounce houses, and a petting zoo! We had a wonderful graduation ceremony celebrating our Pre-K and Kindergarten students and all the accomplishments they have made this year! We are so grateful to be a part of their journey and can’t wait to see where their future takes them! Thank you to our parents who have made a difference inside the classroom and at home! We appreciate all you’ve done to support the preschool!
Our summer camps will encourage our young learners to spark creativity and learn social skills! We have a circus, dinosaur, beach vacation, and space camp happening this summer! We have a few spots left in our August 18-21 space camp if you would like for your child to attend please visit our website at https://www.nfumcpreschool.org/ and click on the summer enrichment tab.
We hope everyone has a wonderful summer and we look forward to a new, exciting school year in the fall!
Sign up for Summer Enrichment! June 9-12: Under the Big Top, July 7-10: Beach Vacation, August 4-7: Dinosaur Discovery, August 18-21: Space (THIS ONE IS NEW! Please fill out the form again and choose “Adding to previous camp enrollment” under the other three weeks if you have already completed this once). Use the QR code to the right, click the hyperlink above, or visit nfumcpreschool.org for info and registration.
On Wednesday, May 14th, Newnan First United Methodist Church provided an Appreciation Lunch to the Newnan Fire Department by the Wadsworth Auditorium. Thank you to Carol Hartenbower and Sandra Johnson for helping to deliver our lunch. Special thanks to Pastor Lisa for making a pound cake!
One Roof Donations for June - Vienna sausages, rice, tuna, Spam, macaroni and cheese, pasta, cereal, ramen, peanut butter, and snacks such as potato chips. Please bring your donations to the altar or to the Gathering Room on Sunday, June 15th. Thank you for your continued generosity.
NOTE from One Roof: They are searching for their next Executive Director! If you are interested in the position, please contact Eryn Halford at eryni@msn.com or 678-464-1763. This is a part time paid position.
Read the latest Missions Newsletter
BTG Summer Lunch - We are excited to provide lunches for Bridging the Gap’s Summer Lunch program for the week of June 9-13 at CJ Smith Park on Farmer Street. A huge thank you to our AWESOME volunteers!
Senior Adults: On Thursday, May 1st, we visited the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers. We had a wonderful day filled with fun, fellowship and lunch. Thank you to our bus drivers, Craig Bryan and Patty Hall for transporting us.
DWhat a joyful and meaningful month we’ve had together in May! It has been such a blessing to celebrate so many beloved members of our congregation—our children, mothers, and graduates. These special moments of recognition remind us of the vibrant and multigenerational life we share here at Newnan First UMC.
Looking ahead, June brings one of our most cherished traditions—Youth Choir Tour! This year, we’re thrilled to journey to the beautiful Outer Banks, with several incredible stops and service opportunities along the way.
Our adventure begins in St. Simon’s Island, where we’ll worship with our friends at St. Simon’s United Methodist Church. We’ll also bring music and joy to the residents of St. Mark’s Towers in Brunswick.
Next, we’ll head to Savannah, where we’ll serve alongside Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia, helping pack Summer Feeding Breakfast Kits. These kits are distributed across 21 counties, supporting children in summer programs with the nourishment they need. With a goal of packing 56,000 kits, we are honored to contribute to such an impactful mission!
After Savannah, we’ll travel through South Carolina on our way north. A highlight of the trip will be our performance at St. Paul Methodist Church in Goldsboro, NC, where we’ve been invited by a fellow minister of music who is hoping to launch a youth choir ministry of his own. He’s eager for his congregation to see our choir in action as a model of what’s possible—what a joy it is to plant seeds for future ministry!
From there, we head to the Outer Banks for some well-deserved rest and recreation—including a beach day, a group dinner, and a fun mini golf outing. Before leaving the OBX, we’ll stop at the Wright Brothers National Memorial to celebrate the spirit of innovation and the wonder of “first flight.”
We’ll close out the tour with some fantastic experiences: a night cheering on the Charlotte Knights, a day at Carowinds Amusement Park, and finally, a homecoming concert at Newnan First UMC on Sunday, June 8th. We can’t wait to share our music and stories with you!
As we enter the post-tour season, I look forward to a brief moment of rest before diving into summer preparations for an exciting fall. I’m also thrilled to announce that Joanna Sherer and Kerry Moore will be leading the Cherub Choir in the upcoming year. We are deeply grateful to Emily Evans for her devoted leadership and the love she has poured into this ministry. I know Joanna and Kerry will continue to nurture and inspire our youngest music-makers as they begin their musical journeys here at Newnan First UMC.
Check out the dates listed below for choirs to resume rehearsals in the fall, and be on the lookout for a new and exciting opportunity in the Fall!
Chancel Choir (Adults) - Wednesday, July 23rd
Youth Ensemble/Choir (Grades 6 - 12) - Sunday, August 10th
Bellissimo (Grades 3 - 6) - Wednesday, August 13th
Carol Choir (Grades 2 - 5) - Wednesday, August 13th
Cherub Choir (Age 4 - Grade 1) - Wednesday, August 20th
Joybells (Adult Handbells) - Monday, September 8th
Inspirations (Treble voices) - Monday, September 8th
Celebration Singers (Open to all who have daytime availability on Tuesdays!) - Tuesday, September 9th Soli
Paul Mosley
Youth Director
pmosley@NewnanFUMC.org
770.253.7400 (x219)
HGraduate Sunday was a wonderful celebration of our high school graduates and their families. Thank you to everyone who showed up to support these wonderful young people and their families. We are so proud of all of them and know they will do great things in the future! I am thankful for the opportunity I had to preach at both services that day. I am truly honored to have had the chance to speak on such a wonderful day in the life of our church.
Looking into the summer, we also have many summer events coming up that I wanted to put on your radar. Our Youth Choir will be on Choir Tour to the Outerback at the beginning of June so be sure to be in prayer as these students and adults spread God’s Word. Once we get back, we have two day trips planned: Aqua Island at Callaway Gardens and the Fun Spot. One is in June, the other in July, and you can find links to sign up for both below along with more details. Downtown Devos will be back this year, and we will be focusing our devotional time on what it means to serve and live out our faith in that way. In the month of July, we will be applying what we learned and putting it to work by serving alongside our mission partners during Serve Summer. More details about Downtown Devos and Serve Summer can be found below.
I want to close by saying we have just had an amazing end to an amazing school year. We are so very thankful to be in ministry in such an awesome church. This has been a great school year, and we have been so blessed with amazing students, families, and volunteers. I want to especially shout out our UTH Shepherds who volunteer on a weekly basis as small group leaders and mentors to our youth group. They have spent all year pouring into these amazing kids. I am filled with such gratitude to our UTH Shepherds because without them, this year at UTH would not be possible:
Laurie Fambro and Kristy Rossey with our Middle School Girls
James Welden and Chris Steed with our Middle School Boys
Alicia Porras, Bob McKoon, and James Shepherd with our High Schoolers.
WE LOVE OUR UTH SHEPHERDS!
UTH Adventure- Callaway Gardens’ Aqua Island
June 16, 9:00am - 2:00pm
Join us for a day at the beach front area of Callaway Gardens and the Aqua Island adventure. Aqua Island is an inflatable playground located on the water with slides, obstacle courses, and other fun activities.
UTH Adventure- The Fun Spot
July 7, 10:00am-5:00pm
Summer UTH Events
05/31: Choir Tour Departs
06/08: Homecoming Sunday
06/11: Downtown Devos Start
06/16: UTH Adventure- Aqua Island
06/23-26: Vacation Bible School Volunteering
07/07: UTH Adventure- The Fun Spot
07/23: UTH Adventure- Buc Ee’s Trip
Come join us for an exciting day of adventure at Fun Spot! Experience thrilling roller coasters, go-karts, carnival games, arcades, and more! Your ticket includes unlimited go-karting and all the thrilling rides.
Downtown Devos & Serve Summer
Starting June 11- 11:00am in the Youth Lounge
Join us for weekly meetings where we both dive into the Bible and come together to share a meal. Downtown devos take place every Wednesday following Choir Tour. We meet in the UTH lounge at 11:00am to dive into scripture. This year’s focus is on service/mission work and how it is part of who we are as followers of Christ. After our thirty minute devotional, we head off to a local Downtown restaurant to share a meal together. This is a great way to keep in touch with our students and get a little Jesus in the midst of summer. During the month of July we will also be adding our Serve Summer component. We plan to partner alongside our local mission partners and volunteer with them in the mornings before we grab lunch together, debriefing the work we did and discussing the vital roles these partners play in our community. Each lesson and service opportunity is individual, so feel free to come when you can as I know summer is a busy time of year for everyone. We hope to see you all there!
JUNE 4 Vespers 5:00pm | Chapel Wednesday Night Supper
5:00-6:15pm | Parish Hall 5 FnF Braves Game 9:45am | Truist Park 8
Worship - Youth Sunday
8:30am & 11:00am | Sanctuary Sunday School 9:45am 9-12
Preschool Summer Enrichment
8:00am-Noon | Parish Hall 9-13
BTG Summer Lunch Program 10:15-1:30pm | Parish Hall
