Earthquake update

Please allow me to give you an update on what our church has done to help the earthquake victims in Haiti.

To date we have given $13,455 directly to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to aid their relief efforts in Haiti. When we give through UMCOR, 100% of our giving goes directly to relief efforts because all administrative costs are covered by our denomination’s annual One Great Hour of Sharing Offering which we will be taking up this year on March 14.

In addition to our monetary donations, we supplied UMCOR with 446 health kits to be used in Haiti. Thanks to all of you who put together health kits and thanks especially to those of you who got you neighborhoods and places of work involved in our health kit drive as well.

Every health kit contained within it $5 for shipping. Thanks to the opportunity to ship our kits along with other kits from United Methodist Churches in the Holston Conference our total shipping per kits came out to $2 per kit rather than the $5 we first anticipated. This left us with $1,916 left over to send to UMCOR to be used to in their Haiti Relief efforts. (This $1,916 is included in the above total of $13,455 given by our church to UMCOR for relief efforts in Haiti.)

Now consider this: when you combine our gifts to Haiti with the gifts of all the other 903 United Methodist Churches in the Holston Conference (which encompasses East Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia) the numbers are staggering. The United Methodist churches of the Holston Conference together have now given over $590,000 and collected over 17,000 health kits to be used for relief efforts in Haiti.

I’m proud that Middlebrook Pike’s ministry in Haiti will not end with monetary donations and health kits. In August, we will be sending a mission team comprised primarily of young adults to Haiti. The team will be led by our youth and young adult director, Eric Bronkala. In their attempt to raise prayers and funds for their trip to Haiti, the mission is sponsoring a worship event called A Heart for Haiti here at our church on the evening of Saturday May 8. The evening will feature the music of Casey Darnell who has led worship for the past two years at Divine Rhythm, the Holston Conference Young Adult Worship Retreat, and the preaching of Justin Lookadoo, who has been the preacher for the last two years at Resurrection, the Holston Conference Youth Worship Retreat. Tickets for the event have already gone on sale and we have begun inviting churches from around the Holston Conference to the event. I believe the event will be a blessing to everyone who attends and to our Haiti Mission team. If you would like to purchase tickets to the event, please contact Eric Bronkala at ebronkala@middlbrookpike.com.

Even as we continue to seek to support the people of during this critical time, we have all been saddened to learn of the powerful earthquake that hit the nation of Chile on Saturday February 27. Initial reports already confirm over 700 people have perished as a result of the quake. UMCOR is already working to provide relief in Chile while continuing its relief efforts in Haiti. If you would like to make a gift to assist UMCOR’s relief efforts in Chile, you may give a gift to the church and designate it for Chile. Or you may give directly to UMCOR at www.umcor.org.

Thank you for your prayers, your compassion, and your generosity for the victims of these natural disasters!

Grace and Peace,
Wil

SUNDAY, March 7 BREAKFAST. Please join us for a wonderful breakfast served by the UMW Sisters in Christ Circle.

Watch for information on the Holy Week activities that will be offered for you and your family.

Annual Easter Egg Hunt Date: March 28, 2010 Time: 3:00 PM – 5:30 PM Location: Rick and Gracie Murphree's Home at 108 Golf Club Road Music, Magic, Fun, Food, Fellowship, and Easter Eggs! Bring 1 dozen/child filled Easter eggs to the church by March 24 (Fellowship Hall) Everyone is invited to join us!!

Candy Easter Eggs. UMW will meet on the following days to prepare the candy eggs.

• Mon 3/8 5:30 – 9:00 p.m.
• Wed 3/10 5:30 – 9:00 p.m.
• Thurs 3/11 5:30 – 9:00 p.m.
• Fri 3/11 9:00 a.m. – noon

We will be selling the candy eggs on Sunday, March 21st and Sunday, March 28th in the Fellowship Hall. We are making a limited number, so buy your eggs early. Proceeds will go to support 2010 UMW local, national, and global missions.

Day Camp. I am trying to get a group of rising 1st through 3rd graders that would be interested in going to a week of day camp at Wesley Woods this summer. We would need 12 campers to be able to use the church bus. The weeks that have been mentioned are the week of June 14-18 or the week of June 28-July 2. The hours are 8:30-5:00 everyday except Friday. They have a closing celebration at 2:00. The cost is $185. There is a $15.00 early bird discount if we register by April 1. If you know of others that may be interested, please pass this along to them. Let me know what you think.

Thanks! Dayna Walker

GUIDE BOOK & DIRECTORY. We are in the process of updating our annual
Guide Book and Directory for the church. This book helps us all to know more about our church. The who, what, when, why and how of our church.
The book is being provided at no cost to our church, including the mailing to each family, and again is being subsidized by local businesses who
advertise in it. If you own or manage a business and want to find out how to advertise in the book, please call the church office at 690-8641. Recent
survey results by Guide Book Publishing show that 92% of families would rather patronize our Guide Book and Directory advertisers over a nonadvertiser.
It “does pay” to advertise in our Guide Book and Directory.

If you have any changes to your address, phone or e-mail, please make sure the church office is aw.are of them for the directory. E-mail duglow@middlebrookpike.com.

The Mary Rayfield UMW Circle will meet on Tuesday, March 9 at The Olive Garden on Kingston Pike at 6:30 pm. This is the annual "Family and Friends" meeting. Members are encouraged to bring spouses, children, "special others" and friends to this fun meeting! Visitors and those interested in joining a UMW circle are very welcome!

Sisters In Christ Circle. March 11 at 6:00 We will meet at the church to help decorate eggs for the UMW. Please bring a sandwich and drink of your choice. We will eat there before helping with the decorating. We will serve breakfast this Sunday, Come eat with us!

Dear MPUMC Family: Thanks to all of you for your prayers, concerns, cards, calls, visits and delicious food we received during John’s back surgery and while he continues to recover. It means a lot to us to know that all of you are there when the need arises with your lovingkindness and support in so many ways.

May God bless you all, John, Chris and J. French Brantley

Thanks to everyone for all their prayers, calls, cards, and words of encouragement and support during the ill ness and death of my brother. Please ask for continued prayer as we deal with the loss of our loved one.

Thank you so much, Carol Russell

Jubilation 2010 Living Abundantly. April 11-13, 2010 in Kingsport, TN. This is the tenth annual gathering of senior adults in the Holston Conference of the UMC. You are invited to join us for workshops that will nurture spiritual growth, provide educational opportunities, ways to cope with life issues, promote involvement in missions and enhance Christian fellowship. Please call the church office for a brochure and registration form.

Offering for Haiti. Over the past few weeks, we have received over $13,455 to aid the relief efforts in Haiti through the work being done by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). When you give through UMCOR 100% of your gifts go directly to provide relief. Thank you for your continued generosity and prayers for the people of Haiti!

If you would like to make a gift to be used for relief work in Haiti, you can give online to UMCOR by clicking here or you can send a check to our office (or drop it in the offering plate on any Sunday). Simply indicate on your check that your gift us for “UMCOR-Haiti”. Thank you for generosity!

E-Giving System Now Online! Are you to the point where the only checks you actually write are to the church? Because many of us now do everything electronically, MPUMC is launching e-giving as an option for submitting your offerings and gifts. Just click here to visit our new e-giving page, or navigate there from the black bar near the top of any web page (Look under the Resources tab!). Then read through the FAQs and instructions, and when you're ready, click on the e-giving link to go to the sign-up page. Once you register, you can give a one-time gift or to schedule regular offerings. It’s fast, easy, safe, and secure—and you’ll always be on schedule to meet your pledge! And you can still put your new offering envelope in the plate on Sunday (just checkthe “Contributed through E-Giving” box)!