“Make a difference in the world for Christ by reaching out in love and service

and by nurturing spiritual growth.”

Volume 11, Issue 11

May 2009 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT TEAM REPORT
By Edy Laverdure

Everyone knows how wonderful and

exciting it is to receive a gift. We at
Central have been very blessed with
gifts lately Many people have given us
the gift of their time and talents in
the renovation of our sanctuary.
Countless people have shared their
knowledge and their enthusiasm on this project. Still, today, we
continue to receive these gifts from a variety of our members.
Planning for the sanctuary windows, the re-building of our
parking lots, the replacement of our education building win-
dows and refurbishing the hallways continues, and it amazes
me to see how many members of our church have the skills
needed to fulfill these projects.

Another blessing we have received lies in all the donations

made to our church for this capital improvement project. Peo-
ple have donated and are still donating money to purchase
pews, windows, air conditioners and the carillon. Others have
increased their giving to the capital campaign to make all this
happen. Now another wonderful gift is coming out way. One of
our members has offered to do a matching gift for the capital
campaign. A matching gift Sunday will be held on May 17th and
on that day we will be asked to donate an additional amount
to the campaign. Our donations will then be matched by this
donor! What a wonderful gift this is! Think of all the possibili-
ties we can create with this gift. How blessed we are!

During all this renovation and planning for the future, we have
not neglected our missions. Mission support has always been a
big part of who we are at Central. The one problem we face
with all this giving has been finding a neat and attractive way to
 Page 2 Central Courier

collect and store all the donations of canned goods, blankets-, coats, baby
items, etc. Have you ever passed through the gathering area and wished it
could be straightened up somehow? Well, a portion of the old pew front
rail was saved during the remodeling and has been placed in the gathering
area. The Mission Team is going to devise a way to store all of our
"collections" behind the rail. I think we will all appreciate the gathering area
more when it is completed. But don't let these changes change the way we
support our missions. In times like these, our donations mean more than
ever to our community. This is our way of giving thanks for all the wonder-

A Word from Pastor Watts

One of the many good things about our congregation is that
whenever there has been a need and I have asked you for your
help, you have responded generously Whether that need is a new
young mother in Pleasantville who just had a baby and has noth-
ing with which to care for that baby, or a family in need at Christ-
mas, or a person battling cancer having a benefit, or Ranch Hope
needing to build a new Administration Building destroyed by fire,
or People in Pass, MS. needing to rebuild their hmes, or orphaned children in Uganda
needing someone to build them a home, you have generously responded!

And those of us who have had the privilege of taking these resources to these people
have been so blessed to see the faces of those to whom these gifts have meant not
just Hope, but Life. Many of us have been there to receive heartfelt thanks, often with
tears and to see the shine in their eyes.

You have been so generous when we needed to care for our immediate facility and
property improvement as we entered into the Capital Improvement projects that
have renewed our sanctuary. While the economy has caused us to scale back and de-
lay our long term project, there are some projects we continue to move forward on,
such as the replacement of our sanctuary windows, the repair of our steeple, air con-
ditioning for our children's Sunday School rooms and for Adams Hall, parking lot im-
provements, etc. Your generous support is helping us make a lasting investment in the
future ministries of our church and the children, youth, and young families whom God
keeps sending us.
Volume 11, Issue 11 Page 3

I
wish you could hear the vibrant energy on Sunday mornings of over 100 children,
youth, and teachers in interested and excited conversation about God, leaning bible
stories of our faith. I wish you could see the faces of almost 40 youth in our basement
on Sunday rights in JYG and UMYF and Confirmation Class having fun and talking to-
gether about their faith. I wish you could see- -on Tuesday mornings, our Toddler room
filled with young Moms sitting in a circle with Bibles on their laps while little ones
crawl and toddle around the room and Moms talk together about God's Word and
how it applies to them right now. I wish you could see the faces of 23 people in Bible
Study on Tuesday mornings in the Chapel, and 15 at the Beanery in EHT on Tuesday
nights, and some 15 in Bible Study the Chapel on Tuesday night, growing in their faith,
and so much more. There are 90 adults, youth, and children involved in choirs, praise
teams, music classes practice almost every right of the week, and men playing Basket-
ball in Adams Hall on Monday nights, and on and on.

I remind you of these wonderful stories of our growing faith family and ministries to
also tell you of another need. Sometimes in caring for all the needs of others, we can
forget about the needs we have in our own ongoing caring ministries.

While we continue to care for all these wonderful needs, our giving to our own ongo-
ing ministry has been struggling. Since January, we have significantly cut back on spend-
ing for our ministries, asking each department to be frugal, yet income to our regular
ministry has fallen short each month of our expenditures. As of the end of February,
we have expended $23,500 more than we have received. Obviously, we cannot con-
tinue to spend more than we receive. Fortunately, because of your generous giving in
prior years and prudent spending by our ministry teams, and careful investing by our
Financial team, we have reserves we have been able to draw upon.

I know that for some in our church family, during these last few months, daily family
life has been seriously impacted by the potential loss of home, the loss of one spouse's
job, and the tightening of belts. We are trying to be a support to the families we know
who need us. So in these difficult times, we need your continued faith generous, even
sacrificial support where possible.

Candy and I, facing our own challenges, like you, but we have purposed to God, we will
continue to be faithful to Christ with our tidies and offerings of thanksgiving. God has
been so good to us throughout all of our lives. We will continue to stretch ourselves
to make a healing difference in this world for Christ through His Church, Thank you
for all you are doing and for the lives we are able to touch for Christ because of you.
Page 4 Central Courier

The Goings-on at Central

By Chuck Wolfram

The Annual Conference will hold at the end of May, and this
gives YOU the opportunity to serve the church on the Confer-
ence level. One of the things we do at Conference is elect all
the committees that actually nm the conference on a day-to-day
basis. In reality we simply accept whatever the Nominating
Committee puts before us. The Conference has all the same
committees that a local church has, among which are History
and Archives, Finance & Administration, Christian Unity,
Church and Society, Status and Role of Women Global Minis-
tries, Higher Education, Communications, and plenty of others.
Please speak with one of the pastors or lay members as soon as
possible if you are interested in serving. We need your written consent to get your name on the
Nominating Committee report. You also have to agree to attend the meetings.

The Church Council is reading Three Simple Rules: a Wesleyan Way of Living by Retired Bishop
Rueben P. Job (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007), a short book that our bishop wants us to read that’s
on the same rules Pastor Watts was preaching on at the time. Do no harm, do good, stay in love with
God. Our pastor told us he wasn't going to read the book until he finished his sermon series.

The IMMT made about $,600 from their annual roast beef dinner. The money goes to Ranch Hope.
Thank you to all who came out that night.

The Staff-Parish Relations Committees is considering a plan to dedicate one night each month, which
we will hold all of our committee/team meetings. The proposed plan also is that meetings will last no
more than an hour. There are six teams that regularly meet every month. The. Church Council will
meet a week after this meeting night.

The Friends-Central Cemetery Association will hold their annual meeting and luncheon on Saturday,
May 91 in Adam’s Hall. If you belong to the association, please come.

Notes from the Sound Booth

By Andrew Zaplitny

Over the past few months we have finished all of the capital improve-
ments in the sound booth and surrounding area. We now have a very
versatile sound and video-projection system. Also a new lighting control
system was added to give us total control of the lights; we also are going
to incorporate our video recording system into the new video distribu-
tion system soon to come.
 Volume 11, Issue 11 Page 5

We were very excited to try out all of our stuff for Easter, putting it all to its biggest
test yet. We had, great success with the different services and using the versatility of the
new systems. If you are interested in being a part of this growing ministry, see Andrew
Zaplitny or Carlyn Yard to get plugged in.

A Look Into JYG…

By Garrett Ewing, 8th Grade Member of JYG

Central United Methodist Church is made up of people from Linwood, Northfield, EHT,
and Somers Point. CUMC has many, many, many things to do. One of them is Junior
Youth Group (JYG). JYG is very full of merriment. We learn about God and do games
to get us to enjoy learning about God. It is our place to ―hang out,‖ and enjoy the
friends we have in JYG.

We intereact with games and events to learn about God and how to be more Christ
like. God is awesome! Each time we meet, we learn something we didn’t know about
God. For example, on Palm Sunday, we washed each other’s reet. During biblical times,
people didn’t have shoes, they had sandals. So when someone came into a house it was
very honorable for someone to wash their feet. Jesus did this with everyone he met.

Another example of the fun times we have was the district lock-in with other churches
on March 27-28. During the lock-in we worshipped God, and had lots of fun while try-
ing to stay awake—(yes, all night)! Since this was a district event, other churches such
as Tuckerton Church, Sea Isle City, and many more joined us during this event. Learn-
ing about Jesus and God is fun!

Next, it is our place to ―hang-out.‖ Even though we learn about Jesus and God, we also
go there to talk to our friends you only see at JYG because they may live in another
town, or because you have sports you have to go to, or lots of homework you have to
do, etc. That’s just one more reason we go to JYG. We go there to talk to friends we
could not talk to during the week.

Finally, we enjoy going to JYG because everything we do is exhilarating and educational.

Even though it’s just a little bit educational, when it comes to God, you got to take risks
for Him because he takes risks for you. It’s even fun when we learn because Mrs.
Casagrande or Mrs. Hogan have something tied into learning about God, such as a
game, a movie, or talks that have to do about Him. Going to Central United Method-
ist’s Junior Youth Group is very, very enjoyable!!!!
JYG
JYG will once again be doing PROJECT BABYSIT on Saturday, May 9th, from 6pm to 9pm
in Adams Hall. Please look for registration forms in the bulletin or in the gathering area.

JYG will be having a CAR WASH with ―prayer‖ on Saturday, June 6th from 9am to
1:00pm, in the church parking lot. As you an see from the schedule, our youth are very
busy. We would appreciate your support in order to fund events like: A Close Walk and
Our visit to the Lighthouse. For more information on any of these events, please contact:
Devan Cronin, Sue Hogan, or Maria Casagrande.

JYG Calendar of Events

(June—July 2009)
JUNE
6th, Saturday Car wash with prayer, 9am –noon in church parking lot
7th No JYG meeting
14th Regular Meeting
21st Third Sunday Worship
28th Concert in Millville, leave church at 5:00pm
JULY
5th Regular Meeting
7th, Tuesday Beach Volleyball in OC 5:45pm
12th Absecon Lighthouse visit
14th, Tuesday Beach Volleyball in OC 5:45pm
16-18th A Closer Walk (camping on the beach in Wildwood)
19th Third Sunday Worship
21st, Tuesday Beach Volleyball in OC 5:45pm
25th, Saturday Help out @ Church BBQ
26th No JYG meeting
28th, Tuesday Beach Volleyball in OC 5:45pm