Today is a beautiful day: No rain and cool weather.  Life is beginning to return to a familiar routine, at least for those of us who had limited damage.  For those of you and your neighbors who suffered wind damage, and now rising water, there is no routine.  I am working with UMCOR, our Conference Disaster Team, the local BARR (Bayou Area Response and Recovery), and members of this congregation to channel help to those in need.

We are attempting to contact the entire congregation to learn of your needs.  If we have not reached you, please call the church to report of your need for assistance, or your blessings.  If you are able to be a part of the helping hands, let us know.  A group will gather at the church on Saturday morning and proceed to address the needs we have learned about.  God is calling us all into faithful service.  We are a blessed people, called to be a blessing to others.      This Sunday I will be preaching on “Bellyache verses Heartache” using both the Exodus 16 and Matthew 20 passages.  Join the family in worship as we examine both the parable of the laborers in the vineyard and the manna in the wilderness.      May the Lord bless you and yours,  Bro. Don

FELLOWSHIP TIME
Coffee, Donuts, Milk and Juice!
Join us between services (9:45AM) in the Fellowship Hall for refreshments and fellowship!

LOOKING FOR A SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS FOR  YOUR  FAMILY?
We can help!  We have Sunday School Classes available  for all ages from nursery to 5 adult classes!  There is a class for everyone in your family!
Join us!

SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS FOR MIXED AGES
The Sunday School Class for Mixed Ages will meet Saturday, September 20, at church at 9:00AM to clean up around the church.  Wear work clothes, bring gloves!  If you have a chain saw, please bring it, too!  For questions, call Jimmy Hardin at 868-6741. 

WILLING HANDS, WILLING HEARTS!
Silent Angels at work again! After the hurricanes so many church members, church staff,  and UMCLC staff have pitched in to help clean up the debris around the church, the parking lots, and cleaning out the church refrigerators!  Sweat equity!  We owe them a  GREAT BIG “THANK YOU”!

COVERED DISH LUNCHEON - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
Family Ministries is sponsoring a Covered Dish Lunch  this Sunday, September 21, after the 11:00AM service. It will be a good time to check up on Church family you have been wondering about since the storms.  It’s a good time to bring your favorite covered dish and enjoy a relaxing time of GOOD FOOD, FUN, and FELLOWSHIP!    Please join us.    If you would like to help in anyway, please call Cindy Craft at 872-0974.  Extra hands are welcome!

SEPTEMBER CALENDAR ADJUSTMENTS
SPR Committee Meeting has been rescheduled for September 30, 6:00PM in the Fellowship Hall Parlor.
Ecumenical Songfest on  9/28 has been postponed!
Agape Bible Study has been rescheduled to start on Monday, October 6.
Voices of Light will resume on September 28.

UMY NEWS
Sunday School resumed September 14.
UMY will resume September 28.
Revised Youth Calendar can be found online @ www.fumcyouth.net

DO YOU NEED HELP WITH HURRICANE DAMAGE?
Rev. Darryl Tate, the head of our Conference Disaster Response Team, visited our church on Sunday! His message was that the  Conference and UMCOR wants to know if you need help!  Did you sustain damage during the hurricanes?  What kind of help do you need?  We should have a team of 50 or so volunteers staying with us in a few weeks.  Their mission is to help where they are needed!  We will be calling to check on you or you may call the church office (868-7787) and let us know what your needs are!  Let’s stay in touch!

CHERUB CHOIR NEWS
Children, ages 4 through 4th Grade, are invited to join the Children’s Choir.  We’re going to have a  “Back to School” Pizza Party on Saturday, September 20, at 11:00AM at Pinocchios!  LOTS OF FUN!
PARENTS, please join us!  
Pizza and Drinks will be provided for the Choir.  Children will need money for games.  I hope to see the 20 children who were at the August practice and other children who have not yet joined the choir.  See you Saturday for FUN, FOOD and FELLOWSHIP!  Questions?  Call 790-4431 or 879-2589.
                              -Shirley Hebert, Cherub Choir Director

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL
Let’s Talk About It–A discussion based class for adults of mixed ages, led by Donna Sammarco, meets in the Fellowship Hall.
Disciples Class–A class for people who are interested in theological debate.  It meets in the Fellowship Hall Parlor.
Discovery Class–This is a class for people who are interested in becoming Christian Disciples.    They meet in the Activity Building Chapel.
Fellowship Class–This class of retirees is interested in fellowship.  They sing for a while and have a lesson taught by either Ed McCarty or Frank Porter.  It meets in Room 403 in the Activity Building.
Class of Mixed Ages, led by Jimmy HardIin,  meets in Room 206.
Youth Sunday School Class–meets in Activity Building.

WE’VE GOT SALSA!!
The Salsa is made by the La. Methodist Children’s Home in Ruston and all sales go to benefit the children.

WE RECYCLE!
     ALUMINUM CANS, OLD EYE GLASSES,
     CAMPBELL SOUP LABELS 

ALTAR FLOWERS
If you would like to dedicate a Sunday’s  Altar Flowers   in memory of honor of a loved one, please call Judy Navarre at 879-1924.

Have you checked your e-mail recently?  If you are receiving the Circuit Rider and different communications by e-mail from  Pastor Don, we’ve got your address! If not, we do need your current  e-mail address! Write your address down again on the attendance record (very legibly, please), or call the church office and give it to the Secretary (868-7787). 

Mom’s life was blessed!  She served God’s church faithfully, always enjoying every project.  She had beautiful friends, people who gave of themselves, and enjoyed life as much as she did.  God was merciful as He took Mom peacefully.  We weren’t able to be at her side, but she was surrounded by the nursing home staff–people who became her friends.
   We thank you for all that you did for Mom throughout the years.  The last two years were difficult because you weren’t able to see her in church.  But, you continued to pray for her, send cards, cook meals, call, visit at the hospital and nursing home.  You were truly her Christian friends!  She spoke of you all with loving words, and really wanted to be back in church with you.
“For our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”  Philippians 3:20-21
                               With Love, the family of Takeko Koike

+CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS+

   This complex cross, also called the Crusader’s Cross or Fivefold Cross, has several interpretations.  The main cross is composed of four tau (T) crosses representing the Old Testament law.  The four small Greek crosses symbolize the fulfillment of the law in the gospel.
   The five crosses together represent the church’s mission: to spread the gospel to the four corners of the earth.  They’re also said to symbolize Christ’s five wounds (hands, feet and side).  Godfrey de Bouillon, the first ruler of Jerusalem after it was liberated from the Muslims, used the cross of his coat-of-arms.  It was also embodied in the heraldry of the Crusaders.                    -NewsletterNewsletter

Our Stewardship for 2008
  WK37 Sept. 14, 2008  Attendance 156  Sunday School 58
  Offering                     $  10,394             YTD    $ 265,266
  Building Fund           $    1,825             YTD    $   72,024
  Apportionments Due $ 46,908      Paid YTD  $   12,550

IN WORSHIP   Sunday, September 21, 2008
 The Music: “Bread of the World in Mercy Broken” The Choir
 The Sermon: “Bellyache vs. Heartache”  Pastor Don Ross
  Readings:   Exodus 16:2-15;  Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45, Philippians 1:21-30; Matthew 20:1-16

THANK YOU FOR THE GIFTS OF LOVE TO THE:
Operating Fund in memory of Takeko Koike by M/M Bill Vincent.
Apportionments in memory of Jason Thomas (Rhonda Garcia’s son, Ramona Tipton’s grandson) by M/M Bill Vincent.
Music Fund in memory of Stephen Eschete by the Discovery SS Class, M/M Tim Gillaspie, and M/M Charles Hurst.
UMW Flood Buckets in memory of Stephen Eschete by M/M Bill Vincent.
Parsonage Fund in memory of Al Cowan, Takeko Koike, Cecil Bordelon, Stephen Eschete, and Roy Baker by M/M Ed McCarty.
Renovation Fund in memory of Takeko Koike by the Discovery SS Class.

OUR CHURCH FAMILY
 DEATHS--We extend our Christian sympathy to the family of Genevieve Chauvin Eschete, wife of Donald Eschete.
Genevieve, who is the sister-in-law of Nolan and Pat Eschete passed away recently.
STORM NEWS--  How did you do doing the storms? Please keep these families whose homes have great damage in your prayers.    Dickie and Andre Woodard lost their home in Baton Rouge when a huge tree fell on it.  Juana Woodard and Charlene Shrigley were staying with them at the time. No one was hurt and Dickie and Andrea are in an apartment.
Vicki and Bobby Aycock’s home has been flooded!
Samuel and Tina Martin’s home has been flooded!

FRINGE BENEFITS
   Can faithfully attending worship actually raise your income?  MIT economist Jonathan Gruber thinks so.  In a study, he found that income increases by 10 percent when people double their church attendance.   Gruber proposes these possible reasons:
+Churchgoers join in fellowship with one another, resulting in social and job networking.
+They support one another during losses and setbacks.  Such encouragement helps people do their best in all of life’s endeavors.
+Churchgoers tend to be less stressed by everyday life, enabling them to work creatively and be more productive.
  Boosting one’s bank account isn’t the reason most people go to church, of course.  But it’s interesting to note that worshipers reap both spiritual and earthly rewards.               -NewsletterNewsletter