Are You Looking for Something to Do this Friday Night? Come to our Community Party!

    You’ve heard the term “perfect storm” –meaning a confluence of events that produces something unexpected. Well in one sense this Friday night is a perfect storm night. First of all, its an open night on the G-men football schedule. Secondly, the kids won’t be in school during the day due to a teacher work day. Thirdly, we’ve got the Pumpkin Patch and we are ready for a party!

   We invite the entire community to come out and join us for a party on Friday October 17th from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the church. Take a look at some to the things that will be going on:

• Hot Dog meal: Hot Dog, chips, and drink
• Bake Sale: goodies provided by the Falls Mill United Methodist Church
• Pumpkin Decorating Contest- Buy a pumpkin and decorate it
• Family Picture: We’ll have a harvest scene with pumpkins.
  We’ll take the pictures and send you a CD.
  You take the CD to Walmart and print the pictures your want
• Fire Pit to roast marshmallows
• Games and Activities for Kids
• Story Corner for Spooky tales

   It sounds like a terrific way to spend a Friday evening that shouldn’t break the pocket book, so come on our and have fun with us.

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It’s Time for a Spaghetti Supper

   We’d like to invite everyone in the community to come out and join us tomorrow night–Wednesday October 15th @ 6:00 p.m.–for a Spaghetti Dinner at the church. We’ll have spaghetti, salad, bread and desserts. Of course we’ll also have lemonade and tea to drink. Donations will be accepted for the meal.

   Come early and shop at The Pumpkin Patch.

Consecration Sunday 2008

  I have noticed that a lot of people have been searching the blog looking for Consecration Sunday. Well, let me ease your mind. We are going to hold this event once again this year. The date for Consecration Sunday is November 16th. Our speaker/leader will be the Reverend Ray Mullins, currently with the Holston Home for Children. Go ahead and mark this date on your calendar and be prepared for a terific time.

A Moment of Insight

   This past Sunday I decided to close the church service in a different way. Rather than doing a benediction and dismissing people, I asked them to all go and join me in the middle of the Pumpkin Patch. As they were gathering, I was trying to find the right words to say.

   As I looked around, the pumpkins inspired me to say:

“I want all of you to take a look around you at the pumpkins. There are big ones and little ones. Ugly ones and nice looking ones. Some have smooth skin and some have warts. Some are deep orange and others are white. I would like to suggest that these pumpkins are representative of the kinds of people that will be visiting our church in the month ahead. They will be old and young. Handsome and homely. Smiling and grinning. Happy and sad. Our task is not just to sell pumpkins. Our task is to help people understand that they have come to a place where they will be welcomed and loved no matter what they look like on the outside. We know that on the inside, all of us are messy with sin and that the church is the place where we can offer them Christ.”

   My prayer is that indeed this is what we will do this month and in the months that lie ahead.

Our Holiday Show is This Weekend

    If you have nothing to do this Saturday October 11th, then we invite you to come to our third annual Holiday Show. The show is held in the fellowship hall of the church and various vendors from the community will have items for sale. So start your holiday shopping early and join us between 10:00am and 3:00 p.m.

Scheduled vendors include:

Billie Johnson – Longaberger

Patty Douthat – Pampered Chef

Allison Douthat – Usborne Books

United Methodist Women – White Elephant Sale

   The United Methodist Women will be hosting a brown bean luncheon at the same time. So have lunch with us and do some shopping. Also, don’t forget The Pumpkin Patch will be open as well.

Join Us for a Community Barbecue Meal

   Tomorrow night, Wednesday October 8, 2008, we invite the community to come and join us for a barbecue meal at the church beginning at 6:00 p.m. We’ll have beef and pork barbecue, baked beans, chips, and desserts. We’ll also have lemonade and iced tea to drink. Donations will be accepted for the meal.

    While you are at the meal, take a moment to look around the Pumpkin Patch and see what is available. I’ll bet there is a pumpkin there just right for whatever project you have in mind.

We Are Selling Pumpkins!!!!!

Although our official opening was just about a half an hour ago, we have already sold a lot of pumpkins.

The truck arrived on Saturday morning and at about 8:30 a.m. we started the unloading process. We had about 20-30 volunteers. A special shout out goes to the Cub Scout troop and their parents. Their help was greatly appreciated. By 9:45 a.m. we had unloaded 690 pumpkins, a crate of about 500 mini pumpkins, several boxes with about another 300-400 smaller ornamental pumpkins and about 75-100 gourds.

Even as we were unloading people were coming and asking if they could be pumpkins. We, regretably turned the first few away. However, by the time we were done, there were too many people coming to be turned away. So we stayed open on Saturday until about 5:00 p.m. and sold 71 big pumpkins and numerous of the smaller pumpkins. We then opened back up on Sunday and sold over 100 more larger pumpkins and an untold number of smaller pumpkins.

When I look out at the Pumpkin Patch it looks sort of barren. In reality it is not. We still have about 490 large pumpkins to sell and plenty of the smaller ones. The good news is that Dudley Primary School asked if we had enough of the mini-pumpkins for each of their 310 students. i said we did. The PTA will be buying them and the kids will be coming to get them in about a week. We’ve already counted them out and set them aside on a special pallete.

I hope that you can feel the excitement in my words. I am very excited about this outreach opportunity that the church has into our community during the month of October. Please keep praying for our church and its ministry efforts during this time.

Here are some pictures of the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday.

Pumpkin Patch Photo

“Unique” Pumpkins

More Pumpkins

We’re not done yet!

Careful now–that looks heavy!

This is one of the large size pumpkins.

The Pumpkin Patch is Open for Business

   This morning at 11:00 a.m. we will open the Pumpkin Patch to the public. We’ll be here all day and will close tonight at 7:00 p.m. So come on out and join with us as we start selling pumpkins and making friends with folks in our community.

We’ve Got Pumpkins–Help Us Get Ready to Sell Them!

   This morning, if everything went well last night and the truck arrived on time, we will be gathering at the church to begin setting up the Pumpkin Patch. Many of the pallettes should already be in place with pumpkins on them. We just need folks to come down and help tidy things up and get them ready for opening day on Monday October 6th at 11:00 a.m.

New Unloading Schedule!!!!

   Well, it seems as if there was trouble at the shipping end and the truck with the pumpkins is not scheduled to arrive until 8:00 a.m. on Saturday October 4th. So make note of the new time and join us bright and early. There will be ham biscuits and sausage biscuits for all the workers.