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Dear Church Family,
Our District Superintendent contacted us last evening to inform us that we are required to return to online services only through the remainder of July. This is unfortunate news as we had just begunt o meet in person again. However, our DS cited the rising cases of COVID-19 in our county as her rational. To that end we will not meet for whorship in person for the rest of the month, but please join us online for worship on Facebook and on our website. Let us continue to lift one another in our prayers and hold each other in our hearts. Other announcements- -As our DS has canceled all in-person meetings both inside the church and outdoors in our parking lot, we have had to cancel our outdoor movie night scheduled for July 24th. We hope to be able to hold a movie night in August. Please help us spread the word to all who were planning to attend. -Our second activity bucket pick-up is scheduled for this Thursday, July 16th, from 4:30-6:30. Our second bucket contains crafts for the whole family. Ashley will be giving away one bucket per car in front of King Street during the designated pick-up time. There are 30 buckets available, and it is first come, first served. -Our Administrative Council Meeting that was scheduled for July 26th will be postponed to August 23 at 3:00pm. More information will be forthcoming. - Access Life Expo 2020, an outdoor event for persons living with disabilies, is scheduled for Sat. August 15 (originally it was Aug 22.) Even though TVA has not yet given us a “GO”, we are still making plans to hold a smaller version at Cherokee Dam. As always, Shady Grove will be in charge of food and we need volunteers to work 2 different shifts. The plan is a 2-hour morning shift and a 2-hour afternoon shift with volunteers coming 30 minutes early. Masks and gloves will be required (and furnished) and you must sign a COVID-19 waiver. If you are willing to help this year, please respond to Helen McClaren that you will work either the morning or afternoon shift. You may leave voice message or send text to 731-694-7271 or email at hamcclaren@comcast.net. -Food for Kids at Piedmont School: We will again supply weekend bags of food for hungry children. We want to begin collecting as soon as possible. You can either purchase food and drop off at the church Mondays-Thursdays, 9am-3pm or send a monetary donation. It costs $3.50 / bag or $140.00 per week to feed 40 children. We plan to have the first bags to the school by Friday August 14 th. Items must be in Child Friendly Containers. Ravioli, Beanie-Weenies, Peanut butter crackers, Oatmeal packets, Fruit & Grain bars, Fruit cups, applesauce, Mac & Cheese Cups and Pudding cups.-Please join us in praying for the following members of our church and community: Allie Bernhard, Connie VanHorn, Terry Witt, Kyndall DeMaria, Anna Bowles, Lisa Swafford, and the Johnson Family. We love you, church family! Pastor Jason Ashley Eddie Linda Sarah
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Hello church family!
Read below for this week's announcements from Shady Grove: - If you are planning on coming to church this Sunday, please don't forget to call or email Ashley at the church to RSVP. This helps her arrange seating beforehand to ensure we have enough space for everone. Please call to RSVP for the Traditional service (9:00) or the Modern Service (11:15) by Thursday at 12 as she will be leaving the office at 1:30 Thursday. -Mrs. Ashley would love to have a picnic with your kids! On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays at 12 she is open to have lunch with families at the picnic tables behind the church. If you would like to have a picnic with Mrs. Ashley (she even brings her own food!), please schedule a date with her so she can be prepared. She will visit with one family per day and sit at a separate table to ensure social distancing. -If you would like to write a card to Terry Witt, his current address is VA Medical Center; In care of: Terry Witt; Room CLC 2; PO Box 4000; Mountain Home, TN 37684. -Don't forget to check your inbox and spam folders for an email message from Tammy Knierim about RightNowMedia. The link in the email will allow you to make a free account and give you access to over 20,000 devotional videos. If you did not receive this email or have any questions, you can reach out to Tammy at education@shadygrovedandridge.org. -Please keep the following people in your prayers: Kyndall DeMaria, Terry Witt, Gay Greene, the Johnson Family, and those recovering from COVID-19. We love you, church family! Pastor Jason Ashley Eddie Linda Sarah Dear Church Family,
Read below for this week's announcements from Shady Grove: - If you are planning to attend this Sunday's service and have not called Ashley to RSVP, please do so by 1:00pm today so that she can have an accurate count. - The Children's Ministry will be giving out free water activity buckets to the church and community today between 4:30 and 6:30 in front of the church. There are 30 buckets available, and it is first come, first served. One bucket per car. We hope to see you there! -In order to help us keep records of those going in and out of the church (one of the non-negotiables from the conference), we are now asking anyone who enters the building during the week to sign in and out at the church office. This way, Ashley will be able to contact any who might have been exposed to the coronavirus should any more cases arise. There is a table in front of her office door with a sign in/sign out sheet. Thank you for your understanding as we do our best to protect our members. -We're excited to share that Shady Grove now has access to an extensive, new video library called RightNow Media! It’s like the "Netflix of Video Bible Studies" and has a HUGE library of faith-based videos that you can access whenever and wherever you want—on your phone, iPad, computer, or at home on your TV. As you'll see, RightNow Media has videos for everyone—kids, youth, parents, married couples, college students, single adults, working professionals—all aimed at helping us grow. As a church staff, we're always looking for ways to help you develop and strengthen your faith. We believe that RightNow Media will be a tool to serve you as you live out your faith at home, at work, and in your neighborhood. You will soon receive an official invitation email to give you FREE access to RightNow Media. If you haven't received it by next week, check your mail filter (as it is coming from RightNow Media's system, it may have gotten caught there). Once you find the email, simply click the link, sign up for an account, and you're all set to explore more then 20,000 videos. We pray that RightNow Media will be a blessing for you and your family! We love you, church family! Pastor Jason Ashley Eddie Linda Sarah Good afternoon church family, Please read below for important announcements from Shady Grove- - Our first in-person worship services will be cautiously scheduled for this Sunday, July 5th. We are eager to reopen but recognize that cases of the virus continue to rise. We will be monitering the istuation throughout the week. If we see any more infections in our church body or a radical increase of cases in our area, we will adjust our worship plan to again be only online for this Sunday. As of today, we will begin accepting RSVP's for this Sunday's service with an important note for this Sunday only. If you had already RSVP'd for Sunday, June 21st, and plan on attending this Sunday, we already have you on our list and you do not have to call to RSVP. If you RSVP'd for the 21st and cannot make it this Sunday, then please call the church to take your name off the list. If you did not RSVP for the 21st but plan to attend church this Sunday, please call the church office and let us know you plan to attend. This method will only be used for this Sunday as we have already put together attendance lists and information, and it will be easier for us just to accept new RSVP's or take those who cannot be there this Sunday off of our attendee list. -The church office will be closed Monday and Tuesday as Ashley finishes out her quarantine after being exposed to the coronavirus. The office will reopen on Wednesday. She has transfered the church phone to her cell phone, so you may still call the church if you have any questions or concerns or would like to RSVP for this Sunday. -On behalf of the Children's Ministry, Ashley will be giving out free water activity buckets this Thursday to families woud like to cool down on July 4th weekend! She plans for this to be an outreach opportunity both in the church and in the community and hopes the buckets will bring families together this weekend. The pick up date is July 2nd from 4:30-6:30. There are 30 buckets available and it will be first come, first served. She will be handing out one bucket per car. If you would like to learn more, you can call the church office or email her at assist@shadygrovedandridge.org. She hopes the families in the church and the community will take advantage of these free activities! *Water bucket- 2 water guns, 2 water blasters, 3 water splash balls, 2 bubble wands, 1 beach ball, sidewalk chalk, water balloons, and a family devotion. -Prayer Concerns- Let's remember the DeMaria family this week as Kyndall has major surgery on Wednesday. Let's also keep in our prayers Terry Witt, who is having surgery this week, and Al Cohan, who is still in the hospital with coronavirus. We love you, church family! Pastor Jason Ashley Eddie Linda Sarah Dear Shady Grove Family,
Read below for our weekly announcements: -Due to unforseen circumstances, Ashley and Eddie are canceling the first Outdoor Movie Night scheduled for tomorrow, June 26th. If you know anyone planning to attend, please help us to spread the word. They are still planning on hosting a movie night on July 24th. -We would like to thank everyone for their flexibility and understanding in the postponement of our in-person worship service. Our tentative reopening date is July 5th. - Please continue to pray for the following people- Gay Greene, Joyce Keisling, Frankie Simms, Tim Barker, Kyndall DeMaria, Linda Smith, the Coddington Family, the Mitchum Family, Sara Connin, Al and Dar Cohan, Linda and Howard Matthews, and Liz and Jim Comings. We love you, church family! Pastor Jason Ashley Eddie Linda Dear Shady Grove Family,
Read below for this week’s announcements: -The staff (minus Linda, who could not be there) has come together to record a video outlining the details about this Sunday’s first in-person service. You can find this video on our Shady Grove Facebook page as well as our website. -Ashley and Eddie are hosting an Outdoor Movie Night here at the church on June 26th (Zootopia) and July 24th (The Jungle Book, 2016) at 8:45pm. Due to our social distancing guidelines, we will be watching the movie in the lower parking lot with families 6 feet apart. The event is free and for the whole family! There is only room for 20 families, so if you plan on attending please call or email Ashley at the church office. We will accept June reservations immediately and July reservations beginning July 1st. -If you plan on attending church this Sunday, please let Ashley know by noon today so that she can make sure to have your spot saved as well as have time to arrange seating so that we can host as many people as possible. -Small groups are still meeting over Zoom. If you would like to learn more about attending or hosting a Zoom Small Group, please contact Tammy Knierim at education@shadygrovedandridge.org. -Here are our current prayer concerns: Larry Stover, The Coddington Family, Emily Fox, Kevin Fox, Gay Greene, Dot Hicks, Anna Bowles, Linda Smith, Joyce Keisling, John and Debbie Ramey, Gerald Suttles, Mike Mathis, Frankie Simms, Tim Barker, Sharon Cook, Malcolm Cotton, Liz Witt, Bob and Billie Lane, and Debbie Swisshelm. We love you, church family! Pastor Jason Ashley Eddie Linda Sarah Dear Shady Grove Family,
On June 1st Bishop Taylor and the Cabinet of the Holston Conference published a plan for reopening churches. Per their guidance, I submitted our plan to re-open and I’m excited to announce we received permission to begin in-person worship on June 21st, 2020!! Our goal is to provide a welcoming environment for all to worship and experience God while also loving and protecting our members, especially those among us who are vulnerable. I ask for your understanding as you read our guidelines below. I hope and pray we will be able to ease these protocols in the coming weeks/months. Below you’ll find an outline of what Sunday services will look like for a while. The Holston Conference plan for reopening churches outlined “4 non-negotiables:”
Based on these 4 non-negotiables and other Holston Conference guidelines, services will look different for a time. If you are in the vulnerable category, I encourage you to remain home and worship online with us. As we return to in-person worship, please note the following interim changes & protocols:
We ask everyone bring their own mask. Those who do not have a mask but want to attend service will be provided a mask at the door. If someone refuses to wear a mask, we will ask them to worship with us online. We know this will seem harsh to some, but as highlighted above, the wearing of masks is “non-negotiable” for now. RSVP To comply with the second non-negotiable (social distancing), we will implement an RSVP system to prevent us from turning anyone away at the door. Those who wish to attend services are asked to contact the church office and let us know which service you plan on attending (traditional at 9:00 am or modern at 11:15 am). You may call the church office or email Ashley. If emailing, please include the service you wish to attend, the number attending with you (in your family) and a phone number. If calling, please do not leave a message with your RSVP – please ensure you speak to Ashley personally. We will take RSVPs on Monday, June 15th, from 10-3, Tuesday 10-3, Wednesday 9-10 and 1-3, and Thursday 9-12:00. The cut off to RSVP for June 21st is Thursday, June 18th at noon. Ashley will provide you with positive confirmation of your request either over the phone or via email. If you do not RSVP but still come to service on June 21st, you will be asked to wait in King Street until everyone who has RSVP’d is seated. We will also be prepared to welcome guests who are unfamiliar with our RSVP requirement. I know it’s frustrating to reserve your spot at church, but this is the only way we will be able to keep from turning people away at the door. If after the first week we find we have plenty of room left over in each service, we will reevaluate our RSVP system. We will also look at implementing more services if the demand exceeds our capacity in two services. Social Distancing When you arrive at the service, you will enter through the King Street door. The King Street entrance will be the only entrance available; every other door will be locked. As you advance through King Street and into the narthex, we will confirm we have your contact information and ushers will take you to your seat(s). Please note, you probably will not sit where you always sat. I ask for your understanding as we are doing our best to fit as many people in the sanctuary as possible. Once an usher takes you to your seat, please remain there for the length of the service. I know you want to see and talk with your friends and church family, but we ask you do this outside. Exiting Plan Once our service concludes, ushers will dismiss congregants by row. We ask you to continue outside to the parking lot without stopping in the narthex. This may take additional time, but we will do our best to dismiss everyone as quickly and efficiently as possible. For now, I will not be standing at the door for handshakes and hugs. On that note… Physical Touch We have a wonderful, loving church body who enjoys hugging and shaking hands. While I love that about you, I ask for now you abstain from all physical touch, including hugs, handshakes, elbow bumps, and high-fives. I know this will be difficult, and we will miss the hugs as well, but in order to adhere to the second non-negotiable, we need to maintain social distancing. Offering We will not collect the offering during the service, but we placed boxes at the back of the sanctuary for tithes and gifts (to include change for children). As you enter or exit, you may place your offerings in the designated boxes. As a reminder, you may tithe online, as well as mail tithes to the church or drop them by the office. Children and Youth We will not be hosting children or youth activities inside the church, which includes nursery and children’s church as it is impossible to keep small children and nursery workers socially distanced. Children will remain with their parents during the worship service. Ashley will provide activity bags to keep them busy, and King Street will serve as a “Cry Room” if your children get restless. If you do have to take your children to King Street, we ask that you and your children remain socially distanced from others in the chair groupings provided. Eddie and Ashley will continue to host Zoom meetings for kids and youth through June. If Someone Develops Coronavirus If anyone who has attended our services contracts coronavirus, we will immediately contact our local health department, our district leadership, and all church members who were in the building on the same Sunday as the coronavirus patient. We will then thoroughly sanitize the church. If you find out you have coronavirus after you attended one of our church services, PLEASE let us know immediately so we can begin informing all those with whom you may have had contact. Weekly Small Groups At this time, we are not holding small groups on Sundays or Wednesdays at the church. I hope we will be able to lift this restriction very soon after starting services, in the meantime, we encourage you to connect with your small group over Zoom. I know all these protocols can be frustrating, but it’s our responsibility to care for the brothers and sisters among us who may be vulnerable. I take your health and wellbeing seriously as I love each and every one of you. Please be patient and give us grace as we begin this process of reopening Shady Grove. We are certainly not perfect, and this process will be full of trials and errors. Our goal is to be able to worship together, even if it will look different for a time. I hope to see you soon, church family! In Christ, Pastor Jason Hello Church Family!
Read below for this week's announcements from Shady Grove: -An upcoming Mission Opportunity with which we have always been generous will be our Sunday, May 31 Holston Home Fifth Sunday Offering. Because of generous donors like us, children struggling with life's challenges will learn the love of Jesus and encounter hope and healing for a better future. Please help Holston Home for Children change lives for tomorrow. You can donate by sending a check to the church and writing "Holston Home" in the memo line. -The Staff, Pastor & Parish Relations Committee (SPRC) recently met and unanimously agreed the Modern Worship Music Leader should be transitioned from a “volunteer” to a “paid” position. Our goals are to standardize the Traditional Worship Music Leader Position (paid) and the Modern Worship Music Leader Position (currently volunteer), establish better accountability and position the Church to realize even greater growth through this important ministry. For approximately two years, the SPRC has formally proceeded with each staffing opportunity according to established processes, which include advertising the position both internally & externally, reviewing received resumes, establishing an Interview Committee and offering a Conditional Job Offer to best qualified candidate. This has both ensured fairness and equity for all concerned and compliance with Federal & State Labor Laws. Accordingly, we encourage any SGUMC Church members to apply for this position if they feel led to do so. The successful candidate will be responsible for leading, planning and implementing a comprehensive, theologically sound, creative, Spirit-led Modern Music Ministry for our Congregation. Average 10 hours/week. Music Degree preferred but demonstrated, comparable experience will be considered. Must successfully pass a Pre-Employment Background Check and Drug Screen. Submit resume to Safemark@charter.net. DFW/EEO/Affirmative Action Employer. -As Pastor Jason said in his Wednesday video, church services will look different when we return. The church staff and leadership are working hard to put together a plan that keeps everyone as safe and healthy as possible. We will be outlining this plan in more detail once the Bishop announces the plan for the Holston conference, but for a few details, watch Pastor Jason's video posted on Facebook and the website under the sermon tab. -As we will have to implement many new measures in reopening the church to follow CDC guidelines and keep our members safe, we will need volunteers to accomplish these new measures. More specifically, we will need volunteers who will be willing to act as ushers. If you are interested in volunteering in this role on a Sunday morning, please email Ashley at assist@shadygrovedandridge.org or call her at the church number, 865-397-7453. -We are also in need of supplies to be prepared to return to in-person services, such as blue tape, disinfectant, gloves, and masks. We are asking that any church members who have excess of these supplies to consider donating them to the church for our reopening. We will begin collecting donations two weeks before our return to in-person services. -The church office will be closed next week as Ashley will be out of town. Someone will be in to check messages on Wednesday, but if you need anything, please email Pastor Jason at pastor@shadygrovedandridge.org. We love you, church family! Pastor Jason Ashley Eddie Linda Helen Hello Shady Grove Family!
Read below for a few announcements from Shady Grove! -Missions Update: Church Family, we have 41 buckets of food ready to ship to Liberia! Thanks to your extravagant generosity, we will also include a check for more food to be purchased in Liberia. Rev. Mike Sluder, Director of Connectional Ministries for the Holston Conference, thanks our congregation for our efforts during this difficult time,saying it is really appreciated. Another Mission Opportunity with which we have always been generous will be our Sunday, May 31 Holston Home Fifth Sunday Offering. Because of generous donors like us, children struggling with life's challenges will learn the love of Jesus and encounter hope and healing for a better future. Please help Holston Home for Children change lives for tomorrow. You can donate by sending a check to the church and writing "Holston Home" in the memo line. -The Staff, Pastor & Parish Relations Committee (SPRC) recently met and unanimously agreed the Modern Worship Music Leader should be transitioned from a “volunteer” to a “paid” position. Our goals are to standardize the Traditional Worship Music Leader Position (paid) and the Modern Worship Music Leader Position (currently volunteer), establish better accountability and position the Church to realize even greater growth through this important ministry. For approximately two years, the SPRC has formally proceeded with each staffing opportunity according to established processes, which include advertising the position both internally & externally, reviewing received resumes, establishing an Interview Committee and offering a Conditional Job Offer to best qualified candidate. This has both ensured fairness and equity for all concerned and compliance with Federal & State Labor Laws. Accordingly, we encourage any SGUMC Church members to apply for this position if they feel led to do so. The successful candidate will be responsible for leading, planning and implementing a comprehensive, theologically sound, creative, Spirit-led Modern Music Ministry for our Congregation. Average 10 hours/week. Music Degree preferred but demonstrated, comparable experience will be considered. Must successfully pass a Pre-Employment Background Check and Drug Screen. Submit resume to safemark@charter.net. DFW/EEO/Affirmative Action Employer. -As we approach the day when we are able to meet together again, we wanted to announce that in order to best social distance and keep brothers and sisters safe and healthy, we will be implementing a reservation system for our church services. In this way, we will not have to turn anyone away when we reach capacity. We will not take reservations until two weeks before the return to services, but wanted to let you know that this is one measure we have decided we will take to keep our congregation as safe and healthy as possible. More information will be forthcoming. -As we will have to implement many new measures in reopening the church to follow CDC guidelines and keep our members safe, we will need volunteers to accomplish these new measures. More specifically, we will need volunteers who will be willing to act as ushers and serve on a cleaning team between services. If you are interested in volunteering in either of these roles on a Sunday morning, please email Ashley at assist@shadygrovedandridge.org or call her at the church number, 865-397-7453. -We are also in need of supplies to be prepared to return to in-person services, such as blue tape, disinfectant, gloves, and masks. We are asking that any church members who have excess of these supplies to consider donating them to the church for our reopening. We will begin collecting donations two weeks before our return to in-person services. -Prayer Concerns: Linda Smith: Recovering from surgery to remove a tumor Bob Reeves: Eye surgery Gay Greene: Upcoming Surgery Joyce Keisling: Recovery from surgery related to her cancer Connie VanHorn: Continuing issues from knee surgery Frankie Simms: ongoing care related to his cancer Tim Barker: ongoing care related to his cancer Mike Mathis: recovering from surgery this week Kyndall DeMaria- recovering from surgeries Ted and Donna Castleberry, DJ and Randy Allread, and Shirley James : plans toward moving to other parts of the country (we will miss them) Graduates: Meghan McIntosh, David Thibodeau, Jessie Graves If you have any prayer concerns you would like to add to our list, you can email Ashley at assist@shadygrovedandridge.org. We love you, church family! Pastor Jason Ashley Eddie Linda Helen Hello Church Family!
Read below for a few announcements from Shady Grove: -A big thank you from Missions: Church family, you have surely blessed the starving people of Liberia! We have surpassed our goal of filling 40 food buckets as our share of the Holston Conference Hands-on Mission Project for 2020. We have supplied 10 percent of the Mountain View District's goal of sending 400 buckets! In addition, last week we delivered the remainder of our food collection for hungry children to Piedmont School to be distributed with the school-supplied lunches. Since August of 2019, we have provided 1012 bags of food for weekends. Thank you for so generously answering Jesus' call to feed the hungry both globally and here at home. -Earlier this week, our Children's Ministry team, along with Pastor Jason and Mrs. Ashley, met to discuss the church's plans for VBS this summer. Of those in attendance, the team voted unanimously to postpone VBS until next summer and concentrate on hosting an impactful Fall-A-Palooza. This decision was based on the many restrictions we would have to follow in order to hold a large VBS at the church. Though we are all saddened and disappointed that we had to make this decision, we all feel that it is in the best interest of the children in our church and community as well as our volunteers. As we will not be hosting VBS this summer, Mrs. Ashley is working hard to brainstorm ways for families to come together this summer and for the church to reach out to the community in order to spread the gospel. -Small groups throughout our church continue to meet over Zoom during the week, and we would like to encourage the small groups who have not been meeting through Zoom to take advantage of this platform to minister to and encourage one another. If you would like to start a small group, or if your small group would like to start meeting through Zoom, you can email Tammy Knierim at education@shadygrovedandridge.org. We love you, church family! Pastor Jason Ashley Eddie Linda Helen |
AuthorAshley Wren Archives
September 2020
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