NOVEMBER 2019 EDITION
THE WOODLANDS UMC
POINT MISSIONS
A MESSAGE FROM
I am so excited! We just completed our Missions Emphasis Month and there was so much happening!
PASTOR TO SENIOR ADULTS
We had two great Saturdays of Serve It Up in which so many of our church members fanned out all over the county to work with our local ministries to help those in need. We had service projects to help the homeless and foster children, we distributed food to the hungry, worked at the Women’s Shelter, Habitat for Humanity, and we started clearing the land that will become Miracle City, and so much more!! We had four beautiful displays showing the incredible depth and breadth our Missions Ministries, here in Montgomery County and around the world. I hope you had the opportunity to walk through each and to take it all in. It’s amazing, all our church is doing in the name of Jesus Christ!! This is also the month that we ask for giving pledges to Missions. ALL of our Missions are funded from these pledges. None of the resources needed comes from the regular church budget. We need your support for all that we do by making a pledge to Missions for 2020. If you haven’t done so already, you can either make a pledge on the church website, thewoodlandsumc.org or you can stop by the church office and pick up a pledge card. In addition to your pledges, some of the funding comes from the Craft Circle Boutique and Gala. We are so grateful to the Craft Circle! The Boutique at the Woodforest campus will be on Saturday and Sunday, October 26 and 27 and at The Woodlands campus on November 16 and 17. The Gala will be November 23 (tickets are on sale every Sunday). We are so proud of you and grateful for all that you make happen through our church! Thank you for your support of our Missions Ministry!
John Hull Pastor of Missions
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WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU AND GRATEFUL FOR ALL THAT YOU MAKE HAPPEN THROUGH OUR CHURCH!
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CLIFF RITTER
November brings a season of change in these parts. The weather is finally cool-ish. Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I have already plowed my space in the orchard reserved exclusively for next year’s blueberries. They are taking the space where my grandfather raised vegetables for the entire family, black-eyed peas, okra, squash and potatoes of all sorts. We’ll need to make room for those later, but for now we need to get the plot ready for a late winter planting of bare root blues. One of these days we will have enough fruit for all our friends, the neighbors, and the deer and the goats. Like the pears, and the apples, and the plums, and the peaches, we are looking ahead for two or three years before we will see our first harvest. But, we’ve gotta get those plants in the ground now, so that they will all begin to bring a bountiful harvest when the time comes. I look forward to the day we can cook a blueberry pie or blackberry cobbler with berries right out of the garden. My grandmother’s recipe is ready and waiting. That will be a great Thanksgiving indeed! Sometimes I think our faith is a lot like what happens with a newly planted orchard. You have some good gains, lots of success, and then the weather turns hot and the rains won’t come. There will inevitably be a few plants that can’t stand the heat. Our faith grows and prospers, and then this or that challenge confronts us, and we realize this business of walking with Jesus is not for sissies. There are set backs along the way. But, in the garden, and in the orchard, and along our faith journey, we don’t give up. We just turn the soil, fertilize a little here and there, and replant with a hope that next year the rains will come, and the weather will cooperate, and the roots will take hold. Our faith is that way too. When we get discouraged or when life fails to cooperate, we need to persevere in what we know is right, and true and good. God will be faithful in the valley and on the mountain top. Sometimes we just need to restart and trust the seeds of faith will begin to bear spiritual fruit, in the good times and in the not so good times. November is a good time to turn the garden soil in preparation for an early Spring planting season. It is an even better time to prepare our hearts for the season ahead. Here in the South, it won’t be long before it’s time to plant new vegetable seeds in the garden and seeds of faith in our souls. We plant the seed and God delivers the harvest. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM SENIOR ADULT MINISTRY! Cliff Ritter