STEWARDSHIP STARS - Jun. 07
By Lisa Mielke, Lay Leader
Greetings and welcome to Stewardship Stars where we highlight the work of our laity in ministry to our church and our community.
Let’s start with Ernie and Lee Fike. They have quickly become a very important part of our congregation. They are instrumental in running our Share Program and can be found at the sign up table on Share Sundays. Ernie does a great job as a liturgist. The choir director liked Ernie’s voice so much that she has asked him to be the reader for some of our cantatas. He runs the sound booth for us during Sunday services and cooks the eggs for the United Methodist Men. Ernie is a member of the Board of Trustees.
Two other vital members of the church are sisters Bridget Gaines and Marilyn Horne. They were introduced to our church by Alice Atwood. Bridget does a great job as our Youth Director and has the patience of a saint. She is one of our faithful ushers. She was a member of the Trustees for several years and has taken the Disciple classes. She makes the Women’s Retreat in Leesburg a real spiritual experience. Several years ago she planted the garden in front of the church and tended it.
Marilyn is a member of the Finance Committee and is our facilities coordinator. She is a dedicated and energetic organizer and has helped make our Country Fairs successful. She has been in charge of Cool Kids in the past. She is also a faithful usher and liturgist. She is the reason that we have uncovered the varied abilities of our congregation by starting our Talent Show.
Let me know of the good works of our other Stewardship Stars so I can include them in future articles.
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STEWARDSHIP STARS - Apr. 07
By Lisa Mielke, Lay Leader
Greetings and welcome to Stewardship Stars where we highlight the work of our laity in ministry to our church and our community.
Eleanor Festa is a tireless worker behind the scenes in our church. She has made many of the decorations and centerpieces for our church luncheons and suppers. She has frequently held an office in the United Methodist Women and has held many offices in the church also. She taught Sunday School for 40 years beginning in Brooklyn and then here at Cutler Ridge United Methodist Church. She has helped for many years with Vacation Bible School. She always works at the Country Fair and is a faithful member of the Craft Group. She quietly steps forward and helps where she sees a need. Eleanor attributes her longevity and good health to the church!
Besides enhancing our worship through her exceptional musical talent as our organist every Sunday morning, Merilou Bell contributes to the ministry of our church in many other ways. She is always volunteering at SHARE Distributions early Saturday mornings. She has been a member of many committees in our church and is currently on the committee on Lay Leadership, Worship Committee and the Endowment Committee. She is such a professional that she is able to play for us when we have weddings or funerals without allowing her emotions to interfere. She was a fantastic facilitator for Disciple 1, 2 and 3. She has taught 4th grade Sunday School for a number of years. She and Marty Slater began Children’s Church when Merilou was the chair of Christian Education. She has been a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.
It would probably be better to ask what office in our church Gerrie McClary has not held than to list all those that she has held. Currently she is the Preschool Board Chair, and Endowment Committee Chair. She has been the chair of the Trustees, Staff-Parish Relations and Church Council. She has led and taught at Vacation Bible School and was a Sunday School teacher for many years. She has been president and vice-president of United Methodist Women. She has held a district office in UMW and has been on a conference team which presented workshops on programming to UMW groups throughout Florida. Gerrie has been a vital part of the music program for at least 26 years. She directed the hand bell choir. She volunteers many hours to practicing and performing the beautiful piano duets during our service.
We recently had representatives for Habitat for Humanity speak at the Methodist Men’s Breakfast. They had great opportunities for volunteering for those who would like to help their community.
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STEWARDSHIP STARS - Mar. 07
By Lisa Mielke, Lay Leader
Greetings and welcome to Stewardship Stars where we highlight the work of our laity in ministry to our church and our community.
If you have not been to our new website you are missing out. Thanks to Dan Churchill, Cutler Ridge United Methodist Church has gone high tech and has our own website. The website has a great look, is easy to navigate and is very informative. What a wonderful way to reach out to our community and to let those who have moved away stay informed!
Also featured this month is Bob Timmons. Bob graciously donated his time and abilities to audit the books of the Preschool so that the church could assume our responsibility toward our preschool. He has also participated in computerizing the financial records for the preschool. He and his wife, Carol, help host some of our coffee and fellowship time after church. Bob is a member of the finance committee.
The last person is someone very special to me, my daughter, Jennifer Wood. She has attended the church since she was 5 years old and was confirmed in our church at age 13. She has done numerous things for our church behind the scenes, including buying the supplies and making the two new banners for our church with the assistance of her husband, John. She has volunteered at several of the church work days, she is a regular in the cinnamon roll booth at the Country Fair, and she has volunteered at the rummage sale. She has led the music at Vacation Bible School for many years. She has enhanced our worship service through music. We have enjoyed her flute playing for almost 10 years. Thanks to Jennifer’s efforts, including organizing and performing in the fund raising-concerts, we have an improved sound system for the church. She has been a member of the choir for almost 10 years and has been the choir director and a member of the Worship Committee for almost four years. She is able to listen to music and write it out on sheet music when our music library doesn’t include a piece the choir wants to perform or when the music is out of print; she has even composed a piece of music dedicated to this church.
We appreciate these special people who have been so generous with their time and abilities.
Let me know of the good works of our other Stewardship Stars so I can include them in future articles.
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STEWARDSHIP STARS - Feb. 07
By Lisa Mielke, Lay Leader
Greetings and welcome to Stewardship Stars where we highlight the work of our laity in ministry to our church and our community.
Let’s start with Floyd Batey. It might be better to ask if there is anything around our church that Floyd has not done! His most recent project is to improve the area around our new sign. He has built an attractive rock wall in that area and repaired the asphalt driveway. In past years, he replaced the double doors in the annex and installed a peep hole for our safety. He and Tom McClary built a new sound booth to improve our sound system. Thanks to Floyd, we have a beautiful stained glass window in the Fellowship Hall. He took the window apart, removed the white paint, restored the window, and installed it. He is serving as head usher and a faithful member of the choir. He sees what needs to be done and does it, buys the parts himself and fixes it quietly. Toilets are magically repaired, light bulbs are replaced, the church van was filled with gas and repaired when needed. He cooks for men’s breakfast and is always an integral part of the barbeque chicken dinner. Those who needed transportation were driven to church when we had the van.
Another person who works hard in our church without expecting recognition is Miriam Bigenho. If you drive by the church and see someone in a sun hat dangerously close to Old Cutler Road picking up trash or sweeping the parking lot, it is Miriam. She is tireless in her efforts to make our church look inviting. She helps out with Cool Kids for Jesus and Youth Group by fixing dinners and cleaning up. She is a member of the Hospitality Committee and the Trustees; she is also the Membership Secretary.
Last but not least in this month’s Stewardship Stars is Tom McClary. He is also a tireless worker for Cutler Ridge United Methodist Church who sees what needs to be done and goes ahead and does it. One of his latest projects it to help repair the outside lights in the parking lot and in the breezeway in front of the Sunday School. What a difference! He was instrumental in obtaining and installing the name of our church on the outside of the sanctuary and ordered the flame and cross. After Hurricane Wilma damaged the two smaller crosses, Tom repaired them. Tom is our Church Treasurer, Chair of the Finance Committee, and Lay Member to Annual Conference. Tom is so dedicated to the choir that he was at choir practice the day he was released from the hospital from open heart surgery. He is currently working on the flood lights to illuminate the sign on the front of the sanctuary. His future projects include improving the signage directing people to the sanctuary, preschool, and church office.
- Cutler Ridge United Methodist Church - Cutler Bay, FL