Author Archives: beckyclarkfl

Pastor’s Pen

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Hello Church family,

Welcome to our new weekly Pastor’s Pen. Our hope is to communicate more effectively with the entire congregation on both campuses.

I am excited to announce that the Rev. Kernie Kostrub has been approved by our Leadership Council to serve as our part time preaching and pastoral care pastor for the West Campus. Over the last year he has been actively involved at FUMC by leading prayer groups, participating in the Coral Sunset Initiative and Dinner Church, guest preaching, and participating in ministries/service opportunities like the Men’s Fellowship group, pumpkin patch, and church workdays. Pastor  Kernie will be a great addition to the pastoral team. He will officially begin on July 1st and will be preaching on the west campus beginning on July 7th.

Our weekly Celebrate Recovery worship service will be ending on Tuesday, June 25th. We are thankful for the nearly 12 years of this ministry and the hundreds of lives that have been transformed by the love and grace of Jesus Christ. Our recovery ministry focus will be changing to small groups in the fall. I am thankful that Dyane Bolick will continue to be the volunteer leader for the recovery ministry at FUMC. If you have any questions, please contact Dyane directly.

Please join us on Tuesday, June 25th in the Gathering Place as we celebrate the ministry of CR and look forward to what God has in store for the future of recovery ministry at FUMC.

Finally, we will be celebrating the 22+ year ministry of Pastor Tom on June 30th at the Unified Worship service at 10am in the East Campus Sanctuary. Following worship, we will be able to celebrate with Tom and Jana in the Gathering Place. A special love offering supporting a gardening initiative at our school in Haiti is being collected. There is more information on this special offering in this weekly email. Please plan to join us on this special Sunday to celebrate Pastor Tom and Jana.

In God’s Amazing Grace,

Pastor Marcus

Dinner Church

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Dinner Church is a launch of a fresh expression at Coral Sunset Elementary School. We meet on the second and fourth Sunday of the month at 5:00pm for a free meal, extra homework help, a small Bible teaching, and for a community gathering for the whole family. We want to be a place for families surrounding Coral Sunset Elementary to be able to come and not only get fed and receive homework help, but to build community relationships. If you have any questions you can reach the team at dinnerchurchboca@gmail.com.

 

Dinner Church Upcoming Dates: May 26, June 9, June 23, July 7, July 21

 

If you are a part of our First United Methodist Church community and would like to help serve at Dinner Church we would love it. There are opportunities with food prep, set-up, clean-up, greeting, child-care, and more! Please contact Pastor Rachel DeLaune for more information about serving at racheld@fumcbocaraton.org.

 

Dinner Church Update – May 20, 2019

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Dinner Church has found its rhythm and is building a community. We have served more than 10 families over the last 3 months. We have over a 50% return rate and each time we meet, we continue to build on the relationships of those that come. Of those families, we have fed and served over 20 children and youth and each week, God brings us someone new. The team consistently serves and provides the meals and the overall welcoming and hospitable ambiance.

Many of you have been asking for an update and so we wanted to walk you through what a typical Dinner Church day looks like. It starts early with team members hanging a banner on the school gate or placing signs on the neighboring roads near Coral Sunset Elementary School.  Then the set up begins at 4:00 pm, with Miguel, our custodian and our team setting up tables, chairs and unloading the boxes of supplies. Our faithful meal servers, Linda and Tony prepare the serving dishes and get the already prepared food hot and ready to go. Darlene and Susan prepare the tables with fresh flowers and a welcoming feel. Kernie and others pray over the chairs while others prepare the Teacher’s Lounge by turning it into a safe room for kids and babies to play in. At 4:50 pm we gather up to pray and prepare our hearts for who God might send to Dinner Church that night.

At 5:00 pm the first families are greeted in the parking lot and shown to the Cafetorium where Dinner Church happens. We spend the next hour eating and getting to know each other around the tables and the kids run around and wander in and out of the play room for craft time. It is loud and fun and full of energy. After about 45 minutes, dessert is offered and to-go boxes are filled with the leftover food. After a worship song and a short Jesus story, Communion is offered to all who want to partake and most of the time, everyone comes up and receives. Then we gather in a circle all together and pray for any needs that are on the hearts of our guests and Team alike. We end around 6:45 pm and begin the tear down process. We are usually out the door by 7:00 pm after a short debrief with the Team. Each time we gather, we are learning something new and tweaking our flow for how we can improve for the next Dinner Church.

A few God sightings in Dinner Church have been…

  • Celebrating a cancer-free report after a nerve-wrecking health scare for one man
  • Embracing a family walking through a tough divorce and a custody battle
  • Witnessing a father returning home and working to reconcile family relationships
  • Growing closer as a Team and being strengthened by our love for God’s Kingdom in new ways

 

  • Continuous Dinner Church happens every 2nd and 4th Sunday nights through the Summer starting at 5pm
  • Next one is this Sunday, May 26th
  • We would love to begin a tutoring component to Dinner Church in the Fall

If you have any questions or would like to find a way to serve, please email Pastor Rachel at racheld@fumcbocaraton.org

Dinner Church Update – March 20, 2019

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Dear Church,

Our team wanted you all to know that Dinner Church is a month in and well underway. We launched on Sunday night, February 24th at 5pm at Coral Sunset Elementary School. We have already met and ministered to three families over this last month and one of the families has plugged into an existing church small group. To the right you will see a picture of the 26 people that came out to serve at our Launch. We have our third Dinner Church this coming Sunday and we will continue to meet every 2nd and 4th Sunday night; same place, same time.

This is such an exciting ministry to be a part of and a church that all of you have helped support. For many years, this church has been tilling the soil and planting the seeds through the faithful servants of the Wednesday Backpack Ministry. Because of this consistent ministry, the school knows us and trusts us and wants more than anything to see this Dinner Church grow and succeed. They have gone out of their way to get the word out to their 850 students and their families and are so thankful for our continued partnership.

Thank you to all of you that have served this school faithfully over the years and thank you to those who are excited to get involved in the coming months. God is up to something new and fresh and our Dinner Church Team is blessed to be in the heart of it all. Please continue to be in prayer for our team as we reach out, make new relationships and continue to partner with the Coral Sunset Community.

If you would like to know about more specific ways to serve or get involved with Dinner Church, please email me, Pastor Rachel for more information.

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Rachel DeLaune

Vacation Bible School

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Start your summer off with a ROAR!

Join FUMC Boca Raton for our 2019 Vacation Bible School (June 10-14, 9:00am-12:00pm). Potty trained 3 year olds through rising 4th graders can attend!

Adult and Youth volunteers are needed! Youth volunteers must be rising 6th-12th grader. Youth may receive service hours! All volunteers must attend a mandatory volunteer meeting and all adults must pass a background check. Volunteer Hours 8:30 am -12:30 pm

June 10th -14th 

9:00 A.M.- 12:00 P.M.

Ages 3 years (potty-trained) – 4th Grade (2019/2020 school year)

$35 per child, registration ends May 15th… $5 per child if an Adult volunteers All 5 days of VBS.

To Register a Child and/or Volunteer please click…

REGISTER NOW

Summer Camp at Warren Willis 2019

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About Warren Willis Camp

This beautiful camp on Lake Griffin provides an amazing place for transformation to take place. Camp is divided up into separate, age specific camps: Children (rising 4 th & 5th graders), Middle School (rising 6 th -8 th graders) and High School (rising 9 th -12th graders). Campers enjoy a fun-filled week that includes worship, small groups, praise time, ropes course, archery, swimming, arts and crafts, and many other fun, exciting opportunities. The camp is accredited by the American Camping Association and staffed with a team of trained, background checked, certified college students who serve as the primary camp counselors for the week. In addition, a dynamic worship leader teaches each night in Chapel. For many years, summer camp in Leesburg has proven to be an amazing place for students seeking a deeper relationship with Christ.

When Our Church is Attending

The Staff of First Boca are attending and providing transportation to Warren Willis Summer Camp the week of June 24- June 29. We will be providing transportation via chartered bus for that week of camp (contact Wyatt for the fees). Campers can choose to go without our church group, as the summer camp program runs in one-week, consecutive sessions from June 10-July 27. Campers can choose to attend as many weeks as they want, but must provide their own funding and transportation if they choose to do so.

Leadership Council Meeting Summary (January 21, 2019)

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Pastor Marcus opened the meeting with prayer. I introduced the two new members on the Council: George Liebel and Darlene Kostrub. New committee chairmen were also identified. The minutes of the November 2018 meeting were approved. Sharon Saige gave her Business Administrator report.

Pastor Marcus led discussion on several agenda items. The ad hoc committee appointed to investigate the offer of the Montessori school to purchase the West Campus will have its first meeting on January 23. Chuck Reeder is the chairman of that committee.
The United Methodist Church will have a special session of the General Conference February 24-27 in St. Louis, Missouri. The single subject at this meeting will concern human sexuality and the current policy of the United Methodist Church as written in the Book of Discipline. Our church will be sponsoring a study session on the East Campus on February 6, 13, and 20 to discuss this issue using the book, Making Sense of the Bible, by Adam Hamilton. These meetings are open to all who would like to attend.

Joe Mannino, chairman of the Staff Parish Committee, reported that a job description has been created for Arlene Sparks, recently appointed as director of all music ministries on both campuses. Arlene will be in charge of music at all worship services including special events. She will also develop a budget and supervise the individuals in charge of each service as well as the musicians. It was emphasized that any expense in the music program must to be approved by Arlene and paid directly by the church. Personal reimbursement is not allowed. Wyatt Robinson’s 90-day review is due February 1, 2019. The committee is updating the “Organizational Chart”.

Joe Rakestraw, chairman of the Finance Committee gave the finance report. Due to the staff and church members’ efforts there was a significant reduction in last year’s expenses. The 2019 proposed budget is significantly less than last year. Deficit spending is expected to continue to decrease. The number of people pledging has decreased for 2019 but the level of giving has increased with the current pledges. Overall, there is a definite improvement in our finances. A number of action items were approved by the Council. These included a transfer of funds, a request that the Trustees investigate a contract with a valet service to provide parking during large Mizner Park amphitheater events (to raise money), and a proposal to delay our apportionment payments to the Florida Conference until the end of the year. (The apportionment will be paid in full but the money will accumulate in an interest-bearing account). Finally, the 2019 budget was approved unanimously.

Bruce Wetmore, chairman of the Trustees gave his report. A number of projects were completed and several are ongoing. Over the Christmas holidays, the church received a proposal of a car wash being built adjacent to the east side of the West Campus. There was concern expressed about security and noise pollution. The Trustees along with Mike Woolsey will be investigating this issue and making sure that the church is represented at any public hearings. We will also coordinate our efforts with the Montessori school. The Council approved the cost of an attorney if that becomes necessary.
Pastor Rachel gave her report on the progress of the Fresh Expressions Ministry, the “Dinner Church.” A team of volunteers has been established to support this ministry. The first Dinner Church is scheduled for February 24. Overall the preparation of this ministry is moving along smoothly.

Pastor Ryan was not present, but congratulations were extended by the Council on his successful completion of his Elder’s Interview. His ordination will occur on June 8 at the Florida Conference in Lakeland. All are invited.

Wyatt Robinson gave a comprehensive report of his progress since being hired as Director of Family Ministry. The youth ministry program appears to be moving forward well and several of our programs that had been placed on hold have been re-established.

Jill Haire gave her report on the Connections Ministry. Discussion was made about some of the new language in the updated Connect Card. The end-of-the-year membership audit and reports are underway, and she continues to work on the “greeter program” at all of the services.
Our Lay Leader, Suzanne Reeves, and Young Adult Leader, Mallory Albeck, did not have anything to report. The meeting was closed in prayer by Pastor Rachel.

Once again, I offer you the caveat that the above remarks are my interpretation of the events and discussions held at the Leadership Council meeting, and any opinions expressed are strictly my own.

Respectfully submitted,
Charlie Tate