Look What Is Happening This Summer

July 1: The Upper New York Annual Conference springs to life.  We are no longer part of the Wyoming Conference.  Our new Conference is all of upstate New York.  Take a look at a map of New York and slice off the tail and Long Island, what is left is Upper New York Annual Conference.  It extends from the Pennsylvania border to the Canadian border. 

For our local church there is no immediate impact.  I will still be your minister and Dave Masland will still be our District Superintendent.  We will have a new bishop, Bishop Marcus Matthews.  Eventually, just the size of the new conference will have an impact: delegates attending the last Wyoming Conference session numbered about 400 people.  Delegates to the Upper New York session will number over 2,000 people.

July 4: On the first Sunday of July, I will begin serving the Whittemore Hill United Methodist Church in addition to our church.  Services at Whittemore Hill are held at 9:00 AM.  This means that services at Calvary will remain at 10:30 AM.  We will not change to 10:00 AM this summer.

By helping to pay my salary, Whittemore Hill will provide significant financial help to Calvary.  They also will add significantly to our opportunities for mission.  Two examples:  Every fall they receive a tractor-trailer full of potatoes, which they sort, bag, and distribute to local food banks.  I believe these potatoes are too small for commercial distribution.  They welcome willing hands to help them with this.  In the late fall they glean apples from Green Brothers orchards, and then distribute these to local food banks.  Again, they need hands to help with this.

What missions might we invite them to help us with?

July 4: Wear red, white, and blue to church for the holiday.

July 9:  Doug’s Fish Fry is in our parking lot.  Eat!

July 16:  Doug’s Fish Fry is here again!  Eat again!

July 16 & 17:  Rummage Sale.  We will piggy back on the fish fry and hold a rummage sale.  Volunteer to help by calling Jean Brewster, Sandy Williams, or the church office.  Rummage is being collected now.

July 21:  Ice Cream Social, 6PM – 8PM at Whittemore Hill (yes, I have told them about the fish fry).  Whittemore Hill is found this way: Go out Nanticoke Ave in Endicott to Day Hollow Road. Turn left onto Day Hollow Road.  Follow Day Hollow Road to Bean Hill Road (it is a bit of a ways).  Turn right onto Bean Hill Road.  Follow Bean Hill Road a lot further than you want to, further than you can possibly imagine.  Eventually Bean Hill becomes Whittemore Hill, and, eventually, on your right will be a little country church.  There will be ice cream, cake, soda, and coffee inside: $3.50 for adults.

August 8:  Commissioning service for the Ramp It Up crew.  Come to worship and give the group a good send off.  The Ramp It Up crew will be building a handicap ramp for a private home somewhere in the area (I don’t know where as of this writing).  It is one of our major mission efforts.  Maybe we should do something special at coffee hour?

August 14 & 15:  Ramp It Up project.  It is too late to join them now, but remember to pray for them.  It is such a good thing they are doing.

August 22:  Ramp It Up report.  At worship we will receive a brief report on the success of the ramp building.  Possibly with a picture or two.

August 28:  Our annual Chicken BBQ.

Sometime in July and August:  Planning for the new Sunday School.  Children’s Church will be expanded to be Sunday School.  Teachers and helpers will be needed every Sunday.  Please seriously consider volunteering.  You are not too old, or too busy, or too tired.  This is the most important work we have.

September 11:  First Session of the Upper New York Annual Conference.  Donna Miller is your delegate to this conference session.  It will be the third session for her and me.  We had the closing session of the Wyoming Conference on June 4 &5.  We had the uniting conference (which formed the new Upper New York Conference) on June 19.  And now we will have the first session of the new conference on September 11 in Albany.  Pray that our new conference will thrive.

September 12:  Opening day for Sunday School.  It is here sooner than you think.  A service of dedication will be held for the Sunday School volunteers during worship.  Consider being one of them.

Three Possibilities for Fall and Winter

Early September:  Fall and Winter Coat Collection.   One important mission that we could originate is to collect and distribute Fall and Winter coats for the needy.  We could put an emphasis on children’s sizes.  Also, when we give away a child’s coat, we could get their shoe size and buy them boots.

October 30:  Some people have the idea of setting up a booth at the bottom of our parking lot and distributing treats (or cider) on Halloween.  This is a good idea and good public relations.  Attend a NOW meeting and help plan it.  Volunteer to help man it.

December 26:  The day after Christmas is a Sunday this year.  Instead of regular worship, let’s have a big breakfast together.  We could call it Worship With Bacon and Eggs.  We could worship while sitting at the tables.  Think about it.  It would be fun.  Let’s talk about it.

                                                                                      ~ Rev. Wood