Grace and Peace to you in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord!
It is with a full and thankful heart that I want to express my continuing appreciation of you as my church family. I want to thank you for the many cards, prayers, gifts, and words of encouragement. It is my joy and honor to serve the congregations of Carrollton First UMC. Even more than that, it has been a blessing to serve with you, and to witness your faith journeys. I am exceedingly thankful to God for appointing me in this wonderful community.
In the last 2 years, we experienced many changes and embraced technology that opens new ways to enter into worship and study. Thank you for all of your dedication, compassion, and commitment to the vision that has had a positive impact on a lot of lives, whether through the mission work, weekly worship, small groups, giving of our time and talent and praying for each other. That is what being followers of Jesus Christ is all about. I am filled with joy with your generosity, sacrifice, and commitment to hard work.
It is a privilege to serve as your pastor and I look forward to many more years of God’s calling for the mission and transformation “to go out to the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ.” Again, let me say thank you for the wonderful cards and gifts including e-mails, text messages, social media messages, and phone calls. Thank you for your faithful witness and ministry.
Love and Blessings,
Pastor Kimberly
Trunk or Treat Carrollton First UMC and The Carroll County 4-H Program are partnering to hold a trunk or treat event on Saturday, October 30 from 3:30-5pm at the fairgrounds! Are you available to decorate your vehicle and hand out candy to the trick or treaters? If you can’t’ be there – would you consider donating candy for others to pass out? Candy due by Wednesday, October 27. We anticipate around 400 children!
Justified Youth Group Recognized in Article by the EOC As many of you know, our youth group sold pumpkins a few weeks ago and gave 100% of the proceeds to the Teach-Reach-Bless Campaign. Brett Hetherington from East Ohio Conference news featured the story in an article which can be read using the button below! Thank you to everyone who purchased pumpkins. We are so proud of our youth!
New Children's Room at YBC We have added a wonderful new space for children in the Sanctuary at the Yellow Brick Church! There are toy bins and child-sized tables and chairs so you can keep your children engaged and entertained while you enjoy the sermon. (Feel free to keep your children in the pews if you please!)
There are child-sized chairs and tables in the worship space at the Bridge as well. Both of our locations love seeing your children in worship!
New Children's Program: Yellow Brick Kidz
Beginning November 7th for Preschoolers – 5th graders: Children will attend the first part of the worship service upstairs, and then they will then be dismissed to go to their own Bible teaching time in one or both of the children’s Sunday School rooms on the first floor. The Bible stories will be taught using crafts, singing, games, skits, etc. depending on the age group of the children. The rotating teachers will adapt each week.
Parents/grandparents will sign in their children at the welcome station when they enter for church. After church, parents/grandparents will need to sign out their children in whichever classroom they are in at that time. If the parents/grandparents are staying for adult Sunday School at 10:00 and would like their child(ren) to stay longer, we will provide additional Sunday School from 10:00-11:00 in the same rooms.
Bridge Kidz
Bridge Kidz continues during the 10:30 worship time at The Bridge. Family seating available. Pick up the kids' worship bags as you enter. Sing praises and pray together, then the kids (preschoolers thru 5th grade) are released for an engaging study time of their own.
Family Challenge
Missions is promoting the Operating Christmas Child shoeboxes. The family friendly Summit group, meeting on Thursday at YBC, from 6-7pm is in on this project. We challenge all families to fill a box for a boy/girl and get it to the church by November 14. Our Summit group is taking their kids shopping then gathering together to pack those boxes. Join us to pack or do it around your table at home. Contact Karen Beck for date and time.
Mission News
Operation Christmas Child is in progress now. If you haven’t picked up a brochure at the church, yet, stop in and get one in the glassed in alcove area at Yellow Brick Church. In that area are also boxes that you may use instead of decorating your own if you wish. There are plain shoeboxes to decorate if you need one,too. Collection Sunday is Nov. 14th at both locations. Thank you for making Christmas a little brighter for someone. Thank you, Debbie Longbons and Martha McCort, for once, again, heading up this worthwhile project.
Our fall “Fun Pasta” fundraiser has ended, but I want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who purchased the fun pasta! The variety of pasta is amazing, fun, and delicious to eat. I had hoped our profit would be $500, but we made $646.60!!!!!! All of this goes to the Teach-Reach-Bless campaign. I’d like to thank Lisa Baker and the youth group for picking and selling the pumpkins for this campaign, also. They raised around $900!!! We are still collecting pop cans, running the “Shop with Scrip”, and leaving the jugs on the hall tables. Every little bit will help us try to reach our $20,000 by Dec. 26th so we can get the match money. Right now we have a total of 14,007.08.
Are you interested in learning more about Bright Side Youth Ranch in South Carolina? We support them a little each month and have helped with some larger projects. Devin and Tia Tharp asked if we could have a zoom party because they want to let us know what’s been happening there. Mark your calendars for Nov. 8th at 6:30 pm if you’d like to zoom. The link is on the church’s Facebook and website here: https://yellowbrickchurch.org/upcoming-events/ If you would rather come join us at Yellow Brick Church in the multi-purpose room, we can watch together.
Soon our Christmas Tag Tree will be up in the glassed in area at Yellow Brick Church, so that at any time you may choose a child you would like to buy for this holiday season. Thank you to Brenda Stine and Cindy C. for organizing this yearly project.
Ellyn Dunlap
Web Series: "The Experience" Would you like to experience God in a new way? Do you ever find yourself in need of a midweek pick-me-up? Join us for our weekly video series called "The Experience" Thursday nights at 8:00pm. Join Pastor Kimberly virtually as she visits businesses in Carroll County and gives a compelling message each week! Each episode also includes worship music and challenge/discussion questions. The series premieres on Facebook and YouTube, and it's available to rewatch any time.
You're also invited to join the ExperienceFacebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cfumc.experience/where we can connect with one another and discuss each week's episode. This series provides a flexible way for you to get involved!
Community Christmas Carrollton First UMC will be receiving the tags soon for our Community’s Christmas Giving Program. The tags suggest gift ideas for local children in need. Tags will be available at both Yellow Brick and The Bridge. Return gifts UNWRAPPED with tags visible on the outside by noon onMonday, November 29 to the Yellow Brick Church. With the pandemic we realize that not everyone is comfortable purchasing items in a store and not everyone is comfortable or has the technology to purchase items online, we invite you instead to make a donation to the Community Christmas Program who will in turn purchase the gifts.
24 Hour Time of Prayer
A.J. Gordon once said, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed… but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”
Prayer is a vital part of our relationship with God and others, it is one of the ways we can make and impact in our world. With this being said Carrollton First UMC is holding a 24-Hour Time of prayer to begin at 5:00pm onThursday November 11th through 5:00pm on November 12th. Why 5:00pm? Sundown was the time the day started in the Hebrew Tradition.
How can you be a part of this time of prayer? There is an online and a hard-copy sign-up sheet available for you to sign up for as many slots as you feel you can fill. We are not worried if more than one person takes a time, many praying is a good thing!
So how do you pray for an hour? We are focusing this time of prayer around COVID in our world and all that encapsulates. So there is no right or wrong. Pray as you feel led around this topic. Below are some helpful pointers to get you started.
Using the button below, you can access a full prayer guide in PDF form. This guide will offer prayer ideas if you need further inspiration.
Community Thanksgiving Service Save the date! This year's Community Thanksgiving Service will be held Sunday, November 14 at 4pm at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church.
Hanging of the Greens Save the Date: Hanging of Greens Celebration will be Sunday November 28th
New Christmas Discipleship gathering at The Bridge for all ages! We will be starting an Advent study from November 28 - December 19. The study begins before our worship service at the Bridge, from 9:30 am - 10:15am. Everyone gathers together for Scripture and prayer then we will break into two groups: kids (preschool - 5th grade) and teens/adults. Babies and toddlers are welcome to assimilate with us.
We will look at the Incredible Christmas account from four views:
Nov. 28 - Incredible Trust - the Angel visits Mary
Dec. 5 -Incredible Invisibility -Shepherd from a small town
Dec. 12- Incredible Power - Attention of the strong and powerful - the Magi and King Herod
Dec. 19- Incredible Grade - the gift of eternal life thru Jesus Christ our Lord
Church Cookbook For Sale! Are you in a recipe rut? Looking for new holiday recipes? In search of a thoughtful present? Carrollton First UMC has the perfect solution – our church cookbook! The hard copy spiral-bound cookbook is available for $18. To purchase, please contact the church office at 330-627-7671 and make checks payable to Carrollton First UMC with “cookbook” in the memo line.
Advent Festival Would you like to celebrate Advent in a new way this year? We will be holding an "Advent Festival" on December 3rd from 6-8:00pm. This event is perfect for all ages; it will be fun for everyone! The theme is "JOY", which stands for Jesus, Others, and YOU. We will enjoy a Christmas pageant, have a meal together, play fun games, and there will be an opportunity to help others throughout this Advent season. Please join us and see what all of this JOY is about!
We will be asking for RSVP's, so please keep an eye out for that sign-up sheet.
Community Prayer The 2nd Wednesday of each month there is a time of community prayer from 6-7:30pm at various churches throughout the county. This time of prayer is targeted at revival and needs of our county and Village of Carrollton.
Location for October-December will be held at Carrollton First UMC – Yellow Brick Church.
