July Church Calendar3-5 First U Worship Camp 9 am - 2 pm Family Center

14 Barnhart-Sneath wedding Family Center reserved

15 Brian Johnson preaching in worship service 9 am Q & A/prayer in Family Center 10:35-11:00 am

23-28 CIY Sr. High to Macomb Monday, 7/23 leave Gridley at 9 am Saturday, 7/28 return Gridley around 10:30 am

23-27 Vacation Bible School 4:45-5:30 pm supper served 6:00-8:00 pm VBS classes, activities

27 VBS Program 8:00 pm

29 VBS kids singing in Sunday worship service 9:00 am

Sunday WorshipMorning Worship 9 am - 10 am

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Andy’s Letter • First United News • Spotlight on Vacation Bible School Milestones • Attendance • First U News • Church Calendar

July 2012Andy Huette, Sr. Pastor Brett Monge, Jr. High Youth Director Grant Stauter, Pastor Apprentice407 W Seventh Street, PO Box 280, Gridley, IL 61744 309-747-2299 www.1stu.org

Renovate 2012

Grace and Peace,Andy

Dear Church Family,

“We express our dependence on the Holy Spirit for a holy life in two ways. The first is through a humble and consistent intake of the Scripture . . . The second way . . . is to pray for holiness” — Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, 75

Thank you to everyone who

helped!

On Summer BreakChildren’s Church Sunday School

VolleyballYouth Groups

In Acts chapter 6 there is a dispute in the food pantry at the Church in Jerusalem. Some of the Greek widows were being overlooked in the distribution of food and they were angry that the Jewish widows seemed to be getting the upper hand. The dispute is brought to the Apostles—the leaders of the first organized Church—and the Apostles respond by appointing “seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (6:3) to oversee the ministry of the food distribution. These seven men were the first deacons (lit. “servants”) in the church. After appointing the deacons, Acts 6:4 records the Apostles saying, “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.”

What I learn from this story from the Early Church is that providing for widows (those in need) was important to the Apostles, but unlike Moses (see Ex. 18), they realized that they needed to delegate ministry responsibility in order for the Church to be effective and faithful to its God-given mission. The food pantry ministry was important to the Apostles, but it was not the primary way in which they were called to minister. The Apostles were called to two primary tasks: the ministry of the Word and prayer. They realized that in order for the Church to be healthy, the Word and prayer must be central. If they, as the leaders neglected these responsibilities, the Church as a whole would drift away from its calling, just as the Temple had drifted from its God-ordained purpose (see Mark 11:12-25).

Because the Apostles wisely delegated the ministry of the food pantry and devoted themselves to the Word and to prayer, we see that the Lord blesses their ministry. In the closing line of the story, we read, “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem . . .” (6:7). The Word and Prayer were—and still are—the chief means by which God grows His Church.

With Acts 6 in mind, in addition to numerous other Scriptures which highlight prayer as a central calling

of the Church, the Leadership Council has decided to begin gathering for prayer on the first Wednesday night of each month at 7 p.m. There are a couple of important bits of info for you to know about the Wednesday Night Prayer meetings:

- Childcare will be provided, though children are welcome and encouraged to participate if parents think that the child is old enough for the prayer time to be fruitful for the child.

- Each prayer meeting will be facilitated by Church Staff and Leadership Council members so that those praying may be guided through times of silent prayer and group prayer.

- Though some devotional thoughts may be given by those leading the prayer, leaders will aim to ensure that praying is the primary activity of the prayer meeting.

- No person attending will be expected to pray aloud. Some of the prayer time will include group prayer, but no one will be put on the spot to pray aloud. One of the purposes of the prayer meeting is for each of us who are at different comfort levels in prayer, to grow in faith through the practice of prayer.

- In planning the prayer meeting, it became apparent that there is no time in the week when all members were available to attend. If you are unable to attend on Wednesdays due to a standing commitment, please do not hesitate to contact Grant Stauter (stauterg@yahoo.com) and he will gladly get you a prayer guide so that you can pray independently.

I look forward to coming together as a church family for the purpose of prayer. May “the word of God continue to increase, and the number of the disciples be multiplied greatly” in Gridley and beyond!

Spiritual Growth

Sharing our Core Value of One Another

Our Core Values Open Bibles One Another Beautiful Feet Spiritual Growth Authentic Worship

Spotlight on . . . Beautiful Feet at Vacation Bible School

2 3

Attendance & Offering6/3 268 $ 6,042 6/10 292 $ 4,4086/17 235 $ 3,5726/24 249 $ 4,967

July Milestones Birthdays1 Marsha Albritton1 Elizabeth Huette2 Lois Burke4 Hannah Ludy4 Pam Neal5 Eleanor Rinkenberger6 Benjamin Porzelius7 Jeff Benedict7 Alex Poppen7 Lillian Yergler10 Lydia Hall11 Steven Liggett14 Grant Morrison15 Stephanie Richard21 Madalynn Morrison21 Creed Welsch25 Grace Edwards25 Christopher Gentes26 Lucas Allen26 Amanda Carls26 Nadine Finck26 Heather Stanhouse31 Marqui Krone Anniversaries5 Alan & Linda Schoppet 8 Grant & Jil Stauter 9 Paul & Susan Laiming 15 Steve & Jena Liggett 16 Tim & Cindy Fairchild 21 Kenny & Dianne Kuerth 21 Bob & Anne Wettstein 24 Frankie & Nadine Finck 25 Brian & Susan Buchanan

On July 3, 4, and 5th, First United will host its first annual worship camp. Brett Monge, along with his buddies—Adam Penn, Derek High, Andrew Brown—will work with teenagers who want to become more excellent in leading worship.

Knowing that worship is much more than playing music, Brett’s purpose for the camp is to build a culture around worship that is faithful to the Biblical com-mand found in Deuteronomy 6:5 — to “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Each camper will spend one-on-one time with individuals who are experienced in leading worship and are passionate about teaching what it means to lead wor-ship with excellence.

Please pray for Brett, the leaders, and the campers at this First Annual Worship Camp. Pray that their worship becomes a life-long act of joyful obedience that leads God’s people to savor His goodness and rejoice in His salvation.

First Annual First U Worship Camp

Meet our MissionaryBrian Johnson on July 15

Brian Johnson was our interim pastor from 2006-2008. He was teaching at Lincoln Christian College (now University) when he was called to become a part of G.O. Ministries.

His primary responsibility is to educate pastors and other church leaders in the Domincan Republic and Haiti. He pro-vides educational resources for them and for the G.O. mis-sionary staff. He and his wife, Josanne, are moving to the D.R. in August.

Brian will preach in our worship service on July 15, and will share more about his ministry after Coffee Fellowship that day. Please give him a warm welcome and join us for his presentation. His presentation will conclude by 11:00 a.m.

First United’s donation of Bibles and books delivered in June.

This stack of boxes at the Love Packages warehouse is loaded with material headed for Nigeria.

The Missions Team first got involved with Love Packages through a friendship between Lori Hard-man and Christie Ucherek. Christie had taken some mission trips to Guatemala and learned of Love Packages while serving there—later telling Lori about it. Lori was serving on the Missions Team and suggested that First United take up a col-lection for Love Packages. The first collection of used Bibles, books, and curriculum was delivered in 2010.

In May 2012, the Missions Team learned that Christie and her husband, Dan, were returning to Guatemala as full-time missionaries to care for children with HIV/AIDS at Village of Hope/Life-song. First U’s Mission Team provided them with financial support.

We are thrilled to have yet another connection with the Ucherek family.

Everyone can have Beautiful Feet at First United’s 2012 Vacation Bible School. Our offering will be taken for Love Packages, an organization that sends Christian literature all over the world.

We’ll take two kinds of offerings: 1. our usual VBS cash offering with a competition between boys and girls 2. a collection of used Bibles and Christian literature. And to beef up the cash offering, the Missions team will match dollar-

for-dollar everything given that week.Love Packages ships used Bibles, Christian books, literature and curricu-

lum around the world to pastors and churches. They ship to port cities in ocean-going containers that weigh approximately 20 tons. Each 20-ton con-tainer costs between $3500-$9000 to ship. They also send shipments with evangelical groups that own ships or planes who fill part of their cargo hold with literature for them to distribute overseas.

Items not accepted are Guideposts, secular material (except dictionaries), and Sunday School handiwork or busy papers. Please bring your donations the week of VBS: July 23-27 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Love Packages’ mission is posted next to their shipping door:“Our Mission: To keep people out of hell.”

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:15

First United supports the following missionaries with monthly support or one-time gifts as needs arise. Please use the monthly prayer calendar to pray for them, their families and their work.

Bill Allison, Cadre Ministries

Shannon and Katie B., Middle East

Joe and Amy Flammer, New Zealand

Austin and Anna H., North Africa

Megan Hartman, South Africa

Brian and Josanne Johnson,Dominican Republic and Haiti

Dan and Christie Ucherek, Guatemala

First U Connections

Beautiful Feet Sent by First U

We fed 153 volunteers and kitchen helpers at the Spare & Share banquet on June 21. They dined on pork chops with dressing, potato casserole, green beans, salad, hot rolls, and lemon lush dessert. The banquet was a fundraiser for Womens Fellowship.

Spare & Share Volunteer Appreciation Banquet

We still have openings for people interested in joining the Audio/Visual teamAfter training, each A/V team member will take a turn in the monthly rotation of running sound for our Sunday worship service.If you are interested in learn-ing more or in helping, please see one of the current A/V team members: Brad Neal, Denny Foor, or Todd Morrison.

Help WantedAudio/Visual