Newsletter

Hi Everyone!                                                November 22, 2023
I’m so proud of us! We donated a little over $450 to help Caleb Smith buy a brand-new custom-made Baritone Saxophone! As always, we made a difference!
I received word this morning that the Payette Nazarene Church will be having a concert on Saturday, December 9th at 6:00 p.m. The Liberty Quartet will be performing that evening. There is no admission fee but a free will offering will be taken. I put a poster on the bulletin with more information. It should be great!
I delivered 42 twenty-five-dollar Albertsons Gift Cards to Wicap last week. They will be giving them to deserving folks to help them make ends meet which is always difficult this time of year. Thanks for always stepping up to help our community.
Glenora has collected all the silent auction items for the Winter Festival. This year instead of posting the bids, they will be written on cards and put inside an envelope and the highest bid will win. This will prevent people being polite and not outbidding their friends! Here is a list of the items: 1 lb. packages of hamburger from Glenora, beauty box, kids’ books, plasma globe, mini fridge/wine cooler, lottery ticket wreath, Pyrex food storage, Dewalt drill kit, 12 days of jelly, knives, restaurant gift cards, Trader Joe’s treats, and Christmas decorations. I’m sure you can see some must haves from that list! Make sure you come to the festival and take some of these great items home with you.
Please bring your nativity scenes to church ASAP. They will be put up early next week. Bring them anytime the church is open or call me and we can make arrangements to get them here. Our nativity tour is a special part of the Winter Festival so let’s get crackin’.
Curt and Carol Stephan were in church on Sunday with the sad news that Jean passed away on Saturday. Curt told me that she was doing her normal activities up until just a little bit before she passed away. Jean was a special part of PUMC and she will be missed. Curt also mentioned that if someone is interested in Jean’s prized organ, please let him know. I have his contact information. Services will be through Shaffer Jensen and are pending. I’ll let you know when I have more information. Please keep all of Jean’s family in your prayers.
Continue to pray for the Hood’s grandson Josh. He started chemo recently but was able to get married and to on his honeymoon to Hawaii first. That’s a blessing!
Debra Street is secretary at Fruitland UMC. Her husband Ed passed away just a couple of weeks after his diagnosis of cancer. Please keep Debra and her family in your prayers.
Please keep praying for Olivia Bybee, Lis Williamson, Shannon Osborn, Hugh Homan, Tory, Jim Warzyn and Larry and Irene Jeffries.
I’m copying a letter that Teresa Beer wrote to keep us informed about the church’s finances. If you have questions after reading it, please talk to someone on the Finance Committee. She read this letter in church on Sunday.
Good morning, I’m Teresa Beer, the co-chair of the Finance Committee. I’m here to give you an update on the finances of the church. Last spring, I came to you to ask for more in the way of tithing. Our budget indicated that we needed more income in order to meet our obligations. I ask and you responded. Our monthly giving has increased and for that we are grateful.
Over the past couple of months, the finance committee has been taking an even harder look at our budget, income, expenses and anticipated increased expenses going forward. The conference dictates how much we pay for our pastors and what the increases from year to year look like. We took a big hit this year with and increase for Pastor Mary Beth and we are looking at another hit next year.
As we look at the numbers, the word “dire” came up in conversation several times. It’s not a great word or a great place to be. Projecting through 2024, we find that all of our reserves will be expended in about ten months. At that point we will not be able to pay all of our bills monthly.
I’m not trying to scare you our wrangle more giving out of you, just to let you know the situation at hand. We are looking into some other ways to supplement our budget, such as a conference grant and to lower our expenses through reducing our full-time pastor down to ¾ or even ½ time. These are not easy decisions we have to make and wanted to everyone informed.
We ask that you pray about the situation. We are a very blessed congregation and somehow, we will get through this. We are small but we are mighty.
If you have questions, please get in touch with any of the Finance Committee members and we will do our best of answer them.
God Bless you all! Teresa
Ron and I will go the airport on Friday to retrieve Pastor Mary Beth and James. They will be in church on Sunday. Hopefully they had a wonderful vacation in sunny Arizona. I don’t want any whining from them about the hot weather!
One last thing! We received a gold star from Etha, our Sage District Administrator for submitting our Charge Conference reports and minutes quickly this year. She sent this message: May God bless your ministry in your community over the next year.
Etha is the best and we appreciate her. 
 We hope to see you in church on Sunday! Please plan to stay and help decorate the church. We will also be moving tables for the Winter Festival.
Blessings,
Cris