
New
beginnings are a time of refreshing. We get a second chance either
with ourselves, others, God, or with life itself. New beginnings can
be established every day or every so often, but they are necessary
for our sanity, and for change.
With God, man has a chance for a new beginning. As we make God the
ruler of our lives, we establish a foundation of new beginnings.
Each time we start the day in prayer, we are in a sense asking God
to provide us a new beginning, and He does. Our sins and mistakes of
the day before are forgiven and put away and we start over. Even if
no one else gives you that extra chance or new beginning, God does.
We have a new beginning at SPUMC. Our
new pastors, Rev. Farmer and Rev. Christopher will lead us in our new
adventure. Their fresh new approach will shape us as together
we Ignite Lives with Jesus Christ to make a difference.
Rev. Farmer told us in his first article written for the
Octagon, "As we look forward to the
new season of ministry, it is for us to be bold and faithful as we
continue the work that God has entrusted to us." He
also said, "I foresee a ministry balanced by nurture for those
who are now a part of the church, reaching out to the unchurched in
the area and extending ourselves on behalf of the hurting persons in
the world in which we live."
Please invite your friends to share our new
beginning as we praise the Lord for the blessings He has poured
down on us and the new beginning He has planned for us. After
the service bring your friends to Fellowship Hall to meet our members.
In God All Things Are Possible
Tell-a-FRAN?
(Friend,
Relative,
Associate,
Neighbor)
In our 21st century world, there are, now, many
ways to give someone information. The Evangelism Committee is
encouraging you to tell a Friend, Relative, Associate, or Neighbor about
our church, its ministries, and worship services. You can
tell-a-FRAN by word of mouth, email, phone call, or any other mode of
communication. You are especially encouraged to tell-a-FRAN about our new Senior and Associate pastors, the Rev. James
Farmer, and the Rev. Nicole Christopher. Join us in our
"New Beginnings".
GRACE & PEACE,
I would like to express our thanks to the SPRC
and the entire church family for their warm welcome extended to my
wife Vickie and me. It is an honor to be your pastor and it is my
pleasure to serve with you. I pledge to share this warm hospitality
with everyone I meet. Your love and sincere spirit has made a
stressful transition somewhat easier. We appreciate all that you
have done.
Shalom, Pastor Jim.
The 2008 ASP Trip To Kentucky
Was a Huge Success
Thanks so much to all of you for your
prayers and other support that made this year's ASP trip to Kentucky
a huge success. 90 high school youth, college young adults, and
adult leaders formed crews that worked on 16 homes in Magoffin and
Knott Counties.

Except for a few cuts and bruises, it was a safe and productive week
of making homes safer, dryer and warmer. Projects included roof
repair, construction of additions to homes, installing underpinning
on house trailers, repair of floors and walls, repair of outside
walls and structure of homes, and installing draining ditches.



Evening events included culture night
where the groups got to experience talent from the local area, a
picnic that included the families of the homes being worked on,
evening gatherings of songs and discussion of the local culture,
and, of course, trips to the local ice cream store for a little
desert. At one center there was even an ice cream eating contest
where you were not allowed to use your hands. You may see pictures
of this at the ASP service on Sunday, August 3 (tentative date based
on Pastor Farmer's review of the church calendar.
The ASP group wants to thank all of you who supported us with your
prayers, your contributions, and your support of this project that
has so much meaning to the UMYF youth.

SUNDAY
SCHOOL IN NEED OF TEACHERS
FOR AUGUST
The Sunday School needs teachers for the month
of August, especially the Preschool class (Ages 2 through 5). We do
not have any preschool teachers for August 3rd, 10th, and 24th. A
complete list of dates and needs is posted in the Fellowship Hall.
Please sign up or see Beth Frank to volunteer. We will provide all
the plans and materials.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN......
God....Country....Family....Church?
Could
you give ONE HOUR a week for six months, beginning the end
of September, to help strengthen these beliefs in our young people?
The God and Country Program is designed to help every child to
grow as a person and a Christian. Over the last three years, our
church has been blessed to offer this program to Boy & Girl Scouts,
Camp Fire and 4H Members throughout the community. It would be nice
to be able to continue this opportunity so that our students could
complete the four levels of the program, but we need a few
counselors.
If you are interested in helping with 4th & 5th graders for God and
Family, or 6th - 8th graders for God & Church, please contact the
church office or give Dawn Strumsky a call. You can go to
www.praypub.org for more
information about each level.
This year's Vacation Bible School
was a true Beach Party!
We
had children from all over who came dressed for summer and ready to
have fun and learn about the word of God. The theme this year was
Beach Party, and the underlying lessons were the Beatitudes.
Beatitudes, from the Latin word, beatus, means blessed. We were
truly blessed this year with over 100 children for the day session
and 30 for the evening session as well as over 70 “staff members” to
help foster this message. The children came eagerly to listen, sing,
play, do crafts, do science experiments, dance, watch, and plant in
order to learn the following lessons: Be Kind, Be Obedient, Be
Forgiving, Be Bold and Believe. I felt those lessons being
practiced daily. I also felt the last lesson, Believe, deeply. As
with any major event, there were bumps in the road. However, when I
asked God for guidance and help, he was always there, giving the
answers. I Believe!!! Everyone who came and asked what they could
do, or helped out when I asked, was really a blessing. I sincerely
want to thank each and every one of you. And if you weren’t lucky
enough to be involved this year, I hope that next year will be your
year to come experience this wonderful time in our church and in the
lives of our young people!
Alison Cherowitzo






SPUMC SHIRTS
Do you participate in Carpenter’s Kitchen?
How about Habitat for Humanity? Maybe you are one of the many
church members who faithfully visit family or friends at nursing
homes or hospitals. So many of our wonderful, dedicated and active
church family members are out and about in the community, sharing
God’s love through serving food, building homes, sharing in prayer
and comforting those in need.
One way to allow the community around us to
see our faith in action is to wear a SPUMC shirt while serving in
His name. Wearing a SPUMC shirt is a way to let others identify you
as a member of a community of faith and invites questions about our
faith practices.
Missions Committee representatives will be
selling t-shirts and golf shirts, decorated with a logo and mission
statement, between services all summer. The light blue shirts are
reasonably priced and come in all sizes. Please take this
opportunity to proudly represent your faith in Jesus as you continue
to serve in His name.
Dear Members of Severna
Park United Methodist Church,
We the members of Benton United Methodist
Church in Benton, Tennessee have been blessed this last week to
share work, prayer and fellowship with your VIM team. They are
wonderful ambassadors for Christ and for your congregation. They
were kind, hard-working, skilled, friendly and a dozen other
positive adjectives that describe the perfect mission effort.
They were ably led by Mel Merritt and Gary Winch. On Monday when
they arrived there was a cinder block foundation. When they left
Friday morning there was flooring and internal and external
walls. As they left they took with them our sincere gratitude
and they left us with happy memories and new friends in Christ.
Thank you and God bless you.
Mat Merker
Pastor, Benton United Methodist Church and former SPUMC VIM
member 1982-2000






VIM TRIP REPORT
By: Katherine Nutile
Blessings abounded for our intrepid group of
eleven who traveled to Benton, Tennessee to participate in the
building of a Fellowship Hall for Benton UMC from May 24 - 30. Many
SPUMC members may remember Mat Merker, a long time church member and
one of the founders of Volunteers in Mission (VIM). Mat is now
Reverend Merker and has been the pastor at a small church in rural
Tennessee for five years. Mat and her congregation have extended
their hospitality to several VIM groups as we traveled to and from
the Gulf Coast for missions work over the past few years and
recently asked if we could offer them some help.
The folks at Benton UMC, boasting a membership
of about fifty, have long had a dream to have a new, larger
fellowship hall to be used for church and community functions. After
fund raising and permit gathering, their dream finally came to
fruition late last year. Mat asked if we could send a team to Benton
to start the build after the foundation was poured. Gary Winch put
a team together and Mel Merritt agreed to be the construction
leader. Larry Hughes joined us from Delaware to assist and get ready
for bringing his own team down, in the weeks following our time
there. The rest of us, at various levels of skill or lack thereof,
got to work following Mel’s expert direction and managed to frame
the entire 70’ x 30’ foot structure in four days. We were blessed by
the assistance of a number of church members who came to work beside
us, several of whom had great skills and enabled us to finish the
job in record time. In addition, the ladies (and a few gentlemen)
from the church fed us. And they fed us in abundance: chicken
casseroles, fresh hot fruit cobblers, potato salads and more.
Several of Mat’s parishioners are Bed and Breakfast proprietors and
agreed to house us for the duration. Not your typical VIM
accommodations - trust me!
Although we worked hard in some very hot and
humid weather, we also had the opportunity to become a part of the
small town life in Benton. We were welcomed into family homes,
shared in worship together and were invited to a graduation party
that turned out to be an authentic Samoan luau, replete with a South
Pacific feast and traditional Samoan dancers. A very unexpected
treat in the middle of the Tennessee hills. While we are pleased to
have accomplished the work we set out to do, our team was especially
blessed to have made new friends who held us up in love and caring
as we worked to help them see their dream happen.
Thanks for all your prayers and support.
Please uphold Larry and Peggy Hughes and their team from Avenue UMC
in prayer as they travel to Benton to raise the roof in the coming
week.

UMW
Summer Reading Program
It’s time again for the UMW Summer Reading
Program. This is our third year of reading a book over the summer
and getting together in the fall to discuss it in small groups. The
book we have selected is Grace Matters: A Memoir of Faith,
Friendship and Hope in the Heart of the South. We will discuss the
book on Tuesday, September 2 at 7:30 PM. Contact Suzanne Steiner,
slsteiner@comcast.net, to
order your book. Cost is $7.00, with $3.17 subsidized by UMW.
Publisher’s description: In Grace Matters, we
follow the remarkable journey of Chris Rice, a naive white college
student from Vermont, who was transformed into an insightful man of
faith who helped form a thriving interracial community in Jackson,
Mississippi. Chris Rice's compelling story uncovers the wounds that
divide the races and reveals what it takes to bring blacks and
whites together, honestly, compassionately, and transcendently.
Grace Matters was named a Publishers Weekly Notable Book of 2002 and
won a Christianity Today Award of Merit.