A Weekend with Shaun Groves

Encounters (our Saturday night service) started booking Shaun Groves (you've been reading about him in the Messenger) to do an evening where he would lead worship, deliver a message of hope, sing some of his original songs, and share about his partnership with Compassion International. This Saturday Evening with Shaun Groves has now turned into an entire weekend!

Over the next month, between now and Shaun's time with us on Saturday April 17th and Sunday April 18th, we will be sharing more about Shaun Groves and Compassion International on both the UMT and Encounters' blogs. Each week we will present you with a video or some pictures and information about the vital kingdom work that Compassion is accomplishing.

This week we wanted to start by just sharing a little with you about Compassion, so we offer you this video as an introduction:



If you have any questions about the events for the weekend of April 17th and 18th, please feel free to contact Russell in the church office.

By the way, to find out more about our special guest, Shaun Groves, go check out his website by clicking here.

Shaun will be in all three worship services on this April weekend...so mark your calendars!

New Website Up!

In case you haven't checked it out yet, we have gone live with our new website! You can find it over at www.umt.org. You will notice a lot of familiar content and some new stuff too. The graphics are new and over the course of the next few months, we will be changing out the flash component and building the calendar of events. Additionally, we will be adding more of our own photos from events and happenings around the church.

We invite you to check out our new site and let us know what you think (either by emailing the webmaster from the site or leaving a comment here). Thank you for your patience during this time of transition.

Blessings,

The communications team at UMT

Spotlight on Ministry - Week of December 7, 2009

Do you enjoy working in the kitchen? Is your favorite thing in the world creating delicious meals for others to enjoy? Then we have ministry opportunities for you!

Every month there are numerous opportunities to serve in kitchen related ministry. From Meals on Wheels to Midweek Encounters and from Thanksgiving meals (or other special events) to feeding guest mission teams at our facility, the kitchen is a happening place with lots of opportunities to serve.

If you have a passion for cooking and serving, then we encourage you to contact the office and we will get you connected to a kitchen ministry that works with your schedule!

Two Musical Worship Experiences on the Horizon

Part of coming together and worshiping as a group is telling about our story, the story of God, and how God's story intersects with ours. This is done week in and week out through the worship songs and hymns that we sing, the sermons we hear, the sharing of our gifts, celebrating what God is doing in our lives and praying for one another.

During special seasons of the Christian calendar, we have the privilege of experiencing our stories through special musical services provided by different choirs and groups within the church. This Advent season presents two incredible opportunities for us to experience the Christmas story through music!

After weeks of practice, our children's choir will be presenting their musical "Shepherds, Sheep, and a Savior" this Sunday at our 8:30 and 10:50 worship services.

On Sunday, December 13th, our Chancel Choir and orchestra will be presenting a Christmas Cantata at the 10:50 a.m. worship service. This cantata is the Christmas story from Prophecy to Fulfillment, with music and lyrics by Pepper Choplin, celebrated as if the story is brand new. It is his desire to offer us a fresh experience in singing of Christ’s birth. Choplin calls up folk styles to celebrate the story in Appalachian, Irish, Cajun and Early American flavors. There will be some new instruments in our orchestra, too.

Come and enjoy these special presentations of the Christmas story with your family and be sure and invite a friend!

Spotlight on Ministry - Week of November 9th, 2009

We are beginning a new series here at the UMT Port Arthur blog entitled "Spotlight on Ministry". We are increasingly getting questions about how to get into the flow of service here at UMT. To that end, we want to offer this ongoing discussion and series of posts that highlights the ministries of the church and offers you opportunities to step into service.

This week we want to highlight the Good Book. The Good Book is the bookstore inside our church that offers a wide array of Bibles, reference books, fiction and non-fiction by Christian authors and a variety of other items.

Currently, the bookstore is open on Wednesday afternoons and Sunday mornings. We would love to be able to offer this resource to folks coming in for Saturday evening services and at other times. In order to do this, we need your help!

If you would be interested in learning the ropes and serving in this ministry, we invite you to contact Ray Cline at: rjcline@hotmail.com and he can give you more information.

Blessings on your journey!

Upcoming Concert

Hello family,

I wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that we have another big event coming up at our church. On Saturday, November 14th, Kerri Crocker and Shelly Wilson will be in concert in our sanctuary. Many of you know Kerri from previous visits and Kerri and Shelly have been ministering together with their music for a number of years.

This concert is absolutely free (CD's will be available for purchase). The concert begins at 5:00 p.m. with the Encounters Worship Team doing a short opening set. Then Kerri and Shelly will take over until about 6:30 p.m.

One of the things that I have been most impressed with when these two have come to do an event is how they are able to connect to a variety of age groups. They will cover some golden oldies and will have some fresh stuff from their latest CDs. It will surely be a concert that you won't want to miss!

If you would like to find out more about Kerri and Shelly and to listen to some of their music before the concert, I invite you to visit their websites listed below:
www.kerricrocker.com
www.shellywilson.com

If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to contact me at acts242@hotmail.com.

Remember, the best is yet to come!

Russell

Trunk or Treat

Today was a big day at the United Methodist Temple. It was time for our annual Trunk or Treat event. It is estimated that we had more than 700 adults and children come through to share in the food and fun.

Here are a couple of the pictures from today's fun:





To see more photos from this event, check out the Encounters Facebook page at www.facebook.com/encounters and while you're there, become a fan!