Author: Jennifer Collins

Vacation Bible School is coming: July 14-18, 2008 9:00 a.m. to Noon.
This year for Vacation Bible School, our theme is, Beach Party: Surfin’ Through the Scriptures, where we will be learning some Beach Be-Attitudes.
We are still in need of volunteers for helping to make this year’s VBS another wonderful week of sharing God’s word in a fun and exciting way. If you are willing and able to help out either before or during VBS to decorate, help with snacks, crafts, as a class leader to take kids to the different areas, Bible storytelling, music, recreation, or childcare (for leaders with children too young to participate in VBS) please let me (Jenny) know at 251-3240, 251-4706 or johnandjenny@gmail.com.

We just got word that Travis Walker has been selected to receive a matching award through the 2008 United Methodist Dollars for Scholars program. Through this program, First UMC sends $1,000 in to the United Methodist Foundation (which we already have done). Since Travis will be attending Iliff School of Theology in the fall, which is a Triple Your Dollars institution, Travis’s total Dollars for Scholars Scholarship for the 2008-2009 school year will be $3,000.

Article for the May edition of The Parish Visitor:

As many of you know, last week marked the beginning of the 2008 General Conference of the United Methodist Church. This year General Conference is being held in Houston, Texas with the theme, “A Future With Hope.” General Conference is the top governing body of the church and lasts for 10 days. Decisions made at General Conference, and only decisions made at General Conference, speak as the voice of the church. General Conference meets every four years and after each General Conference there is a new United Methodist Book of Discipline published with the changes that have been made.

As a connectional church, the decisions made at General Conference affect us. General Conference is made up of lay and clergy delegates from every Annual Conference in the United Methodist Church around the world. If you have access to the internet, there are updates throughout the day on the various proceedings and worship services that are going on. For daily updates as well as live coverage of some events, go to: http://www.gc2008.umc.org. Also, two of our younger alternate delegates have a blog in which they are detailing daily events, often as they occur to help keep folks updated on what is going on. Their blog site is: stephandjanatthegc.blogspot.com/. From their blog you can also reach the blogs of several other Kansas East delegates.

One highlight I noticed today on the General Conference website was an appearance by a young girl who had raised $10,000 for the “Nothing But Nets” campaign to wipe out malaria by giving mosquito nets to protect people from the mosquitoes while they are sleeping.

As United Methodists we are a connectional people. Through our church structure we can visibly see the body of Christ in action. As we work together, we can do so much more than we can do alone. Please join with us in prayer for the delegates to General Conference as they prayerfully consider the many pieces of legislation brought before them. And may the strength that comes from such a great gathering be felt back here at home, as we benefit from so many people coming together in worship and prayer to discern the future direction of the church. The folks at General Conference are immersing themselves in the theme, “A Future with Hope.” It is that future that they are helping to shape: a future with hope for you and for me and for our children and our children’s children.

May you know that the future that God has in store for us is in fact a future with hope. And may we work to discern that future here in our local United Methodist Church, while delegates are discerning that future for the church as a whole.

Well, it’s been a long month for the Collins family. As many of you know, Elizabeth had been sick for several weeks in late October and early November. On Friday, November 9th, Elizabeth was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. We spent the weekend with her in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at St. Francis hospital in Tulsa, followed by two days of instruction in the care of Type 1 Diabetes. One of the things we learned was that we did not know much at all about Type 1 Diabetes. Our main experience had been talking with people with Type 2 Diabetes (which isn’t surprising when we found out that 90-95% of persons who have Diabetes have Type 2). And we discovered through our training that while both types of Diabetes result in high blood sugar, they are very different diseases. We learned that Type 1 is an autoimmune disease. It is often caused by a virus that attacks the pancreas, resulting in an autoimmune reaction that kills the insulin producing islet cells, which stops the production of insulin. Without insulin, the body cannot get the sugar from food into the cells where it is needed to produce energy. So, insulin must be given to enable the body to digest the food that is eaten.

One of our initial misconceptions was that Elizabeth would never be able to eat sugar. Those with Type 1 need to avoid high sugar drinks, like regular pop, kool-aid, and more than 1⁄2 cup of regular juice at a time. But other than that, those with Type 1 are simply encouraged to eat healthy meals, like anyone else. The treatment that Elizabeth is on is called MDI (Multiple Daily Injections) in which she receives a shot of long-acting insulin at bedtime and then receives shots of short-acting insulin with every meal or snack that contains carbohydrates, since all carbohydrates turn to sugar in the body. There are a few “free” foods that can be used for snacks between meals that do not require a shot, like cheese, some peanuts, sugar free jello, sugar free popsicles, etc. Elizabeth learned these quickly (before she even left the hospital)!

I’ve been pretty occupied caring for Elizabeth over the past month, but am now beginning to get back to normal. Granted, it is a new normal, but Elizabeth is doing great. Insulin is a wonderful thing that has brought Elizabeth back to her happy, cheerful, playful, active self. She’s back in school and doing well. And after only two weeks, she has already gotten used to the blood sugar checks and shots that she gets several times a day.

We are encouraged by the many stories we have already heard about people who have led very active, healthy lives with Type 1 Diabetes, and we know that we are going to a good treatment facility in Tulsa. I thank God every day for all the people who worked to help us figure out what was wrong with Elizabeth and worked to get her the help she needed. And I thank all of you for your understanding as we live into our new routines.

May know the presence of God and experience Emmanuel, “God with us,” in the coming Advent and Christmas seasons. Look for those miracles all around us and know God is here.

Since our last issue of the Parish Visitor, a devastating flood has hit Coffeyville. About a fourth of the town was utterly destroyed, including homes, businesses, hotels, restaurants, a grocery store, churches, parks, etc. Many people were, and still are, displaced. Seeing the floodwaters, and the destruction they have left behind, has affected us all. We have seen up close what the forces of nature can do and how powerless we are in the face of them.

But in the midst of this natural disaster, wonderful things have been happening. God can work, and is in fact at work, bringing good out of the bad. The churches in town, coordinated by the ministerial alliance, have set up a distribution center for those affected by the flood where they can get free clothes, furniture, toys and personal items. Many people have worked many long hours sorting, packing, and transporting clothes to get them ready for the distribution center, named, “Here’s Hope,” and we thank you for all you have done.

We have learned that in disasters, such as the flood we experienced, things do not always move as smoothly or as quickly as we would hope. But we have seen so many people come together to work on the issues to help us move forward as a town.

In this time of recovery, the Holy Spirit is among us, bringing us closer together as a community. I see that happening both in our church community, and in the community at large. Through the hours we have spent together sorting and folding clothes, dividing up breakfasts, sorting food or simply the conversations we have with one another at church, in the community or on the phone that perhaps have taken on deeper meanings in the past several weeks, we are growing closer to one another.

It will take a long time for Coffeyville to recover completely from the flood of ’07. But we can know for certain that God will be with us, showing us the light so that we can find our way even in the darkest times.

Tomorrow evening we will be having a Taize service for our Wednesday night Gathering. A Taize service is one of prayer, meditative singing and silence that includes candles and dimmed lights to add to the meditative mood. I invite you to come and experience this different style of worship. The service begins at 7:15 p.m. in the chapel. Childcare will be provided.

We are trying to get ready for the children’s Christmas program that will be a part of the Christmas Eve service and are looking for people who could help us make or find some animal costumes. Specifically we are looking for a donkey (shaggy & brown), a cow (white & red), a sheep (with curly horn), and a dove (or 2). As you might have guessed, we are going sing, “The Friendly Beasts.” Please call or email me at johnandjenny@gmail.com if you can help.

Feeling tired or weary? Need a spiritual boost? Need a revival for your faith? On October 14, 2006, you are invited to take part in Fanning the Flame 2006, offered by the Kansas East Conference. Fanning the Flame an inspirational event that will be held at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, KS. The cost for Fanning the Flame is $25/person. Registration tables will be open at 7:30 a.m. on the 14th, and the event will last from 9:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. At Fanning the Flame, you will experience worship, hear a plenary speaker, enjoy lunch and be a part of two workshops (you get to choose from around 85 different workshops on how we invite, nurture, equip and send forth disciples of Jesus Christ). Please stop by the church office to pick up a registration form and to pick your workshops. Registration forms are due by October 1 and the $25 must accompany the form. I hope you will take part in this wonderful opportunity to strengthen our lives of faith, not only individually, but also together as a local church.

Just a reminder that this Sunday is our Meet and Greet lunch, right after our 10:50 a.m. worship service. We’ll start around Noon. This is an all-church dinner, with a special invitation that has gone out to CCC students. Our hope is to not only get to know one another better, but to also get to know some students that have chosen to call Coffeyville home for a couple of years. Hamburgers and hot dogs will be provided for the meal. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share.

Every day technology is becoming more and more a part of our lives. To young people growing up today, technology is a given. It always has been a part of their lives and they probably cannot imagine life without it. Certainly some have abused technology, but it can also be a great learning tool.

I am excited to share with you some news about the new curriculum we will be using in the children’s Sunday school class beginning in September. It is called, Live B.I.G. (Belief In God). It is designed to enable kids to engage the Bible stories and live out their faith throughout the week. Each week there is a DVD segment that the class watches—engaging the senses of hearing and sight. There are also songs to learn with actions to engage them physically. We are using a one-room format that has activities for children ages 3-13 so that we can separate by ages as needed—coloring and crafts help promote creativity.

But one of the most exciting things for me about this new curriculum is that the creators are developing a website that has a section for the students to go to during the week to reinforce what they learned in Sunday school, where parents can go to see what their children are learning, and where teachers can go for additional help. This website is a way to help carry the message learned on Sunday throughout the week.

We are living in a technological world and there are exciting ways we can use technology to reach new generations to live their lives as disciples of Christ. I invite you to spread the word about our children’s Sunday school. Exciting things are happening and our class is growing. I invite you to bring a child or a grandchild or a friend or neighbor, and then stay for one of our many adult classes as well (we’ve got a new book study beginning in our young adult class beginning September 10).

Christ is the same, yesterday, today, tomorrow, but how we share our faith, and the mediums we use to teach new generations change. What better way to help shape the faith of a child than by inviting them to Live B.I.G.?

We are going to have a planning meeting for ministry with college students on Monday, July 31, at 7:00 pm at the church. We are going to be talking about ways to reach college students and make plans for the fall. All who are interested in this exciting ministry outreach are invited to come.