Take the quiz below to test your understanding of what goes on in our Great Room every Saturday from 8 – 10 a.m.

1. How many meals have been served during the first 6 months of the Saturday Morning Breakfast?

a. 2,382

b. 987

c. 1,638

d. 1,238

Answer: a.  That’s an average of 92 meals per week.

2. How is Saturday Morning Breakfast funded?
a. Private donations
b. Partnering with YCAP
c. Contributions from small groups
d. All of the above

Answer: d

3. True or False: By partnering with YCAP, the food from them must be free.

Answer: False – We purchase food from YCAP for a fraction of the cost from the grocery store, but it is not free. Eggs cost about the same at YCAP as at Cash n Carry or Costco and not everything is available from YCAP; for example, orange juice – a breakfast staple!

4. How many frozen cans of orange juice are used each week?

5, 7, 9, 12

Answer: 12

5. Is the menu the same from week to week?

Answer: No the menu is different each week. We always provide a hot, all-you-can-eat breakfast that includes scrambled eggs, a breakfast meat, skillet potatoes and pancakes. Each week we also serve a special such as eggs Benedict, French toast, waffles with fresh fruit, biscuits and gravy, omelets, or one of a variety of breakfast casseroles.

6. Is breakfast open to everyone in the community?

Answer: Yes, anyone in need or without means is welcome at breakfast. No questions asked.

7. Is Saturday Morning Breakfast exclusively a ministry of the Coop?

Answer: While the Coop hosts the breakfast, it is essentially a ministry of the Yamhill County community. Volunteers come from our church, several other churches and from groups such as McMinnville Rotary Club, Yamhill County Dental Hygienists Association, Linfield students, and Upward Bound students (to name a few). Several of our regular guests also volunteer to help at breakfast, which is a great way for them to give back.

8. 92 hot meals a week! That’s a lot of food! What is the average weekly cost even with the reduced cost provided by partnering with YCAP?

Answer: Breakfast costs about 50 cents per plate or approximately $50 per week.

9. If I want to help, what can I do?

Answer: You can help in a number of different ways including:

Sponsor a Saturday. Donations are always gratefully received.
Volunteer to help cook or serve on a Saturday that fits your schedule.
Have your Small Group volunteer to help.
Do you belong to a service or professional group in the community? Coordinate a group of volunteers to help maybe once or twice a year.

10. How many volunteers are needed each week?

Answer: 10 to 14 volunteers per week, each working about 3 – 4 hours.

11. What are the benefits?

Volunteers enjoy a wonderful breakfast! They also benefit from meeting new people, providing love and nurture as well as nutritious food. They have the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus and to fulfill one of the visions of the Coop: striving to eliminate food insecurity.

12. How do I get involved?

Answer: Contact David or Delia Hammond (503-864-2487, dadeemcl@frontier.com) or Candace Keillor or Lyle Pehan (503-472-0274, candace.keillor@gmail.com)

Did you recently receive a letter from Thrivent in Appleton, Wisconsin, stating that had “X” number of Thrivent CHOICE DOLLARS to apply to Lutheran charitable organizations, including local congregations? We would like to suggest that you direct your eligible dollars to Trinity Lutheran Church, McMinnville, Oregon. Garry Karns, our church treasurer, has a separate account for such a project so that CHOICE DOLLARS designated to Trinity Lutheran Church would not go into the general treasury. If you have already contacted Thrivent and chosen some other way for your eligible funds to be used, you can disregard this suggestion. We Thrivent members of Trinity have already lost out on using the funds available for the 2010 Care in Communities projects (approximately $1,100.00) because action was not taken soon enough. Dramatic changes have been made in recent months in the way Thrivent and our own local chapter Board is allocating funds. A meeting in early October is being scheduled for all Thrivent members in our congregation to discuss how to use the CHOICE DOLLARS and to help us better understand how to access Thrivent’s available funds. Jo Jarvis and Garry Karns are Trinity’s contact people. We make these suggestions and hope you will consider joining us in this project.

As the world continues to change, we in the church are always looking around to see how those changes affect the way we do ministry together.  One major change that is happening behind the scenes in the world of technology is a move to the “cloud”.

 We are in the preliminary stages of considering how this may be able to benefit our church and make it easier for our staff to work together.

 At this point, you may be thinking, “Huh?”  Well, here’s the explanation, and why it matters to us. 

• Years ago, before the appearance of high-speed Internet access, someone came up with the idea that it would be helpful for computers at a workplace to be able to share information with one another.
  • A business would set up a computer that could be on all the time.  This computer, called a “server”, would store information that everyone in the business would use.
  • By putting the server in the same building as the business, information could be transmitted quickly.
  • It was very expensive for every business to have and maintain their own server, but it was the best choice at the time.
  • Now most workplaces – including the Cooperative – have high speed Internet access.
    • Someone came up with the idea that businesses didn’t need to have a server anymore, because they could share information through the Internet instead.
    • It is now possible to run most computer programs, and store and share information, all through a web browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.  This virtual space is called the “cloud”.
    • Businesses today don’t have to spend huge amounts of money maintaining their own local server, because Internet companies like Google make space in the cloud available for a very low cost — sometimes even for free!

 Why does this matter to us?  We’re currently paying about $5,000 each year just to maintain our computers.  Maintaining our own local server is a major percentage of this cost.  Cloud technology gives us the opportunity to do a lot better!

Cost isn’t the only benefit.  It is surprising to many people that our data could actually be more secure in the cloud that it is on our local server.  Reliability is better – our website and e-mail would be up and working much more of the time.  Staff would also be able to communicate and share information in a more effective manner than we have been able to up to this point.

Why are we telling you this?  For two reasons:

• We want you to know that we appreciate the way you support our church with your financial gifts, and we are seeking to be the best stewards of our resources that we can be.
• We want you to be informed about the way our church works, because we want to be available to answer questions that you might have about how we are responding to life in our changing world.

We welcome your questions!  You can contact Paul Adams, who is leading us in this exploration, at padams@mac-coop.org or 503-883-3264.

 

July 3, 2010

Dear Members of the MCM Community and Friends in Christ,

As Co-Chairs of the Cooperative Ministries Council, we want to share with you the current financial situation of the Cooperative and ask for your participation to ensure that our church ends the calendar year on more solid financial ground.  The Finance Committee is projecting a $75,000 deficit for the 2010 calendar year.  While we have provided financial updates once in a while, we feel we have not done a satisfactory job of regularly communicating details of the churches financial situation and we understand that this figure may be a shock to many of you.  Our budget for the last 3 years has run at a deficit but we have often used a combination of staff pay reductions, elimination of some expenses and reserve funds to help us to fill in the gap.  The 2010 calendar year is different.  First, the size of the deficit is larger than we’ve experienced in previous years because of the loss of generous members of our congregation who have either died, or relocated.  Secondly, we have reached the end of reserve funds so have no resources to fall back on.

While the projected deficit is of great concern and the challenge before us considerable, we continue to feel a very real vitality in our congregation and a powerful movement of the Spirit as we seek to fulfill our mission to love and serve with all people in restoring all of creation to God’s loving embrace.  We believe that we can end the year without a deficit if everyone who is part of the Cooperative community becomes involved in addressing the shortfall.  We ask that you prayerfully consider the role that you can play to attain this goal.

1)     Take a moment to ponder the role that the Cooperative plays in your life.  Some find community and family at the Cooperative and value the open environment in which God’s love is evident.  Others may feel an affinity for ministries such as the Community Compassion Fund which seeks to reach out in love to the least.  For some, the myriad of ways in which the church is involved in the community as we seek to be God’s hands and feet in McMinnville and the surrounding area is very compelling.  Still others find the fact that ALL are welcome at the Cooperative offers a message of hope and love that they want others to experience.  A clear sense of why your church is important to you is a vital first step as you consider your financial commitment to ensuring the church can fulfill its mission.

2)     Review your giving to the church so far in 2010 and consider additional monies you can contribute.  This can be done through a one-time gift or through increased giving each month through December 2010.  We have reviewed the giving history of the Cooperative and if each individual or family who regularly gives to the Cooperative were to give an additional $401 between now and December 31^st, our deficit would disappear.  For some of you, additional giving might be a real hardship, while for others, it would be a small sacrifice.  Rather than using a benchmark for giving as your guide, however, it is more important for you to consider what additional donation is both consistent with your commitment to the Cooperative and reflects a level of giving that is appropriate to your means.

3)     If you haven’t already, please consider completing the Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) paperwork enclosed with this mailing.  By having your contribution to the church deducted regularly from a bank account you identify, you’ll help your church leadership have a more accurate estimate of giving for planning purposes.  Electronic transfers are not only very convenient for you, they also help us a lot by evening out the giving patterns. Your completed form may be dropped in the offering plate, returned to the church office, or mailed to the church to the attention of Bill Wood.

In the months ahead, you will hear more from the Finance Committee about their plan to address the budget shortfall in the long term and the ways in which they’ll engage the congregation in working towards a budget that will provide adequate pay and benefits to church staff, allow us to continue expanding our outreach in the community and enhance our ability to welcome new worshippers to the congregation.  This ongoing task will call upon us to work together to live into God’s mission in our community through the Cooperative Ministries, and we invite your questions and feedback.  Please feel free to contact either of us or members of the Finance Committee (listed below).  We welcome your ideas for how we can move forward boldly to fulfill our mission in the McMinnville community and work to establish a more firm financial foundation that will allow our ministries to grow and flourish. 

We ask that you prayerfully consider the role that your contributions make to our local, regional and international communities, and in supporting and adequately paying our staff.  This is a time for prayer, but more importantly, a call to action for all of us.

God’s Peace,

Jeff Peterson                                                                         Laura Hampton

Lay Leader, Trinity Lutheran Church                        Lay Leader, McMinnville United Methodist Church      

Finance Committee Members

Dave Widen, Chair

Don Anderson                                     Donna Fisher                          Dorene Gleason                                 

Kathryn Karr                                      Garry Karns                            Steve Long

Mark Pederson                                   Judy Peterson                         Ron Peterson

Jeff Sargent                                          Bill Wood

Parkview Summer Schedule

You are invited to join together each Wednesday evening at 6 PM during the summer for a potluck picnic at Parkview

325 NE Burnett

June 16: Wed. Picnic 6:00 PM   Host: Susan Means and Genne and Dick Sherman

                          Cooks: Ben Stein, Dave Forrester and Sam Graham

Potluck picnic with hotdogs and hamburgers provided, games and activities for everyone

June 23: Wed. Picnic 6:00 PM  Host:  Pete and Jeanne Rahier

              Labyrinth celebration – the beginning of summer

June 30: Wed. Picnic 6:00 PM   Host: Michael and Laura Hampton

July 4^th: Sunday Worship at Parkview 10:30 AM

The service will be followed by a potluck (BBQ meat will be provided)

Join us for this special welcome worship and celebration for our new pastor

Rev. Courtney McHill 

July 7:  Wed. Picnic 6:00 PM Host: Cathy and Steve Long

July 14: Wed. Picnic 6:00 PM Host: Grant and Irene Freuler and Phyllis Moore

July 21: Wed. Picnic 6:00 PM Host: Rick and Sue Meyer

                                    Rick Myers and youth will lead field games

July 28: Wed. Picnic 6:00   PM  Host: Johannes and Roelie Goddik

July 30 – Aug. 1^st Youth Camp Out at Parkview

Saturday July 31, 6 PM, the church family is invited to join in a potluck dinner,

Campfire and Luminary Labyrinth Walk at dusk.

Aug. 4: Wed. Picnic 6:00 PM Host: Patty Munday and Mick Cowles

 Ice Cream feed after dinner (please bring topping to share)

Aug. 11:  Wed Picnic 6:00 PM Host: Efrain and Rebecca Arredondo

Aug. 18: Wed Picnic 6:00 PM Host: Jenn and Jeff Nyburg

                                 Rick Myers and youth will lead field games

Aug. 25: Wed Picnic 6:00 PM Host: Scott and Brandie Dickey

Sept. 1: Wed Picnic 6:00 PM Host: Jo and Richard Jarvis

            Singing around the camp fire – Sue Myers leader

 

 

VOLLY BALL:  Come join us for a casual game of volleyball every Wednesday night at Parkview after the potluck. Games start between 6:30 and 7 PM. All ages welcome. Contact person: Rececca  Arrendondo

 

GAMES AND CRAFTS will be available each week for younger children. This is a great time for the grandma’s and grandpa’s in the church to meet up with some of our younger children and make friends.

 

REMEMBER:  bring a potluck dish to share, your own dishes and silver and table cloth and beverage.

 

QUESTIONS:

contact Susan Means 503 472 9701  or Genne Sherman 503 472 6404

Gerald McCray was a licensed United Methodist minister before he was legally old enough to buy a lottery ticket. At 17, he had known for years already that he wanted to be a missionary. After his graduation from Emory Theological School in 1958, he was given the choice of an appointment in Cuba, Hawaii, or Alaska. He chose to head north.

He served as the pastor of the Nome Methodist Church for four years, during which time he doubled the size of his mostly Eskimo congregation. World Outlook Magazine wrote an article about his work, and One Great Hour of Sharing donated $25,000 to help build a new building large enough to adequately serve the growing congregation.

During this time, McCray held meditations on KICY radio once a month. They were translated into the native language by a local and relayed to remote villages, even as far as Siberia.

He also built personal relationships with the locals. Once he was even invited to go along on a walrus hunt. A friend, Tommy Tomongonuck, borrowed an oomiak (an open boat of skins stretched over a wooden frame), and off they went. Twenty-four hours later, McCray had killed an oogruck and a walrus.

McCray loved his work. “I found gold in the heart of the people,” he said. But in 1962 he was appointed to work at Bowling Green United Methodist Church in Florida, where he stayed for four years.

In 1965, he packed his belongings into a trailer, and he, his wife, and his two children drove to Portland to help integrate Woodland UMC. When he started working there, 15 African Americans were on the Sunday school rosters. When he left four years later, there were over forty. Much of this increase was due to the Gray Y program that he started for the local youth. Every Wednesday, 20 boys came to play basketball—and kept coming the whole four years he was there. “My boys won the first conference championship in Portland,” McCray said proudly. About two-thirds of these young men were African American. Several went on to get basketball scholarships to colleges in Oregon and California, one of whom was Ricky Lee, who led the Oregon State team to nationals.

But when the Bishop informed him that he needed a coordinator at Chemawa Indian School in Salem, he agreed to go. Formerly known as the “Bureau of Indian Affairs School,” it was renamed long ago after 15 children died in an epidemic. They were buried in an orchard on school property, and a native chief was called on to bless the land. He closed his blessing with the word chemawa—the place where the children play. The school has carried that name ever since.

But that era was history by the time McCray arrived to fill the joint position as pastor of Leslie Methodist Church and chaplain at Chemawa. While the nearly 1,000 students enrolled came from all over the country, the vast majority of them were from Alaska. In addition to being their spiritual leader, McCray offered them a chance to engage in sports. He had experience teaching sports through the YMCA (a side job he had held while in seminary), and he put that experience to work creating basketball teams (one for girls, two for boys). The students thrived and eventually won the tournament at Warm Springs—twice.

He also facilitated a choir composed of over 50 Inuit students, who travelled and sang for churches and women’s society meetings around the state. They would alternate between English and their native Eskimo language. “They just loved to sing,” said McCray.

At one point, McCray expressed his need for a bus. A friend in Mississippi just happened to have one–and was willing to give it to him if he was willing to fly over and drive it back to Oregon. McCray did exactly that, and thus became the owner of a 54-passenger bus, which greatly facilitated getting the students to their various performances and competition, as well as allowing McCray to drive them into town for Sunday School each week.

But eventually that era in his life came to an end, as well. After 12 years at Chemawa, he took over the pastorate of a church on the Indian mission at Williamson River, north of Klamath Falls. He would preach in the morning at Williamson UMC (which celebrated their 100^th anniversary during his six-year tenure with them), enjoy a potluck with the congregation, and then drive 30 miles to preach at the mid-afternoon service at Beatty UMC.  Another weekly potluck with that congregation would fuel him for the drive back home.

For his final appointment, he became the pastor of Sheridan UMC, where he stayed until he retired about a decade ago. After retirement, he got remarried to a wonderful lady named Helen Mifflin. He moved to McMinnville to be a part of her congregation—McMinnville United Methodist Church–and has been there ever since. When Pastor Steve Ross asked him if he would consider being the visitation minister, he agreed. Over the years, he has brought comfort and joy to many who are sick or shut-in.

“I enjoy the people,” he said recently. “I’ve always loved people. Every church I’ve ever served, I loved the people, but it’s easy to love these people.”

Now that he is retiring from his “retirement job,” he is looking forward to some much earned relaxation in the company of the people he has served so well.

Join Bishop Robert Hoshibata of the United Methodist Church, Bishop Dave Brauer-Rieke of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, and the people of these two historic denominations in a celebration of Christian Unity.

Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 3:00 PM

McMinnville Cooperative Ministries

The United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Church in America concluded a full communion agreement in August, 2009. The ELCA has full communion agreements with five denominations. This is the first such agreement for United Methodists. The ELCA defines full communion as:

• a common confessing of the Christian faith;
• a mutual recognition of Baptism and a sharing of the Lord’s Supper, allowing for joint worship and an exchangeability of members;
• a mutual recognition and availability of ordained ministers to the service of all members of churches in full communion, subject only but always to the disciplinary regulations of other churches;
• a common commitment to evangelism, witness, and service;
• a means of common decision making on critical common issues of faith and life;
• a mutual lifting of any condemnations that exist between churches

While this is the first formal full communion agreement the United Methodists have confirmed, they have long unilaterally recognized the baptisms, sharing of the Lord’s Supper, and exchangeability of members of all Christian denominations. Neither denomination had ever made condemnations of the other so none needed lifting.

McMinnville Cooperative Ministries, who will host the celebration of this historic agreement, is a cooperative Christian community established between the Trinity ELCA and McMinnville United Methodist Churches. Their relationship began with a joint ministry task force in October 2004 and was confirmed in a Cooperative Ministry Covenant in May of 2006, three years before the official mutual recognition of their denominations.

The celebration will include a worship service including The Lord’s Supper with the two bishops serving as co-celebrants and will be followed by a reception. All are welcome to share with us in the joy of reunion and Christian unity.