TIME-2010-10

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29 Days of Giving

How Do You Take Your Church?Plugged or Unplugged?

The Garden Serves Up Two New Ways to Worship

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010

Tune UpYouth Ministries

“Live in Tune”Shakes It Up

54264_oct10_mag:Layout 1 9/27/10 9:16 PM Page 1

ST. LUKE’S CLERGY STAFF: Kent Millard, Linda McCoy, Marsha Hutchinson,

Marion Miller, Stan Abell, David Williamson, Jamalyn Peigh Williamson, Adolf Hansen

ST. LUKE’S STAFF: Kathy Alexander, Administrative Team Assistant

Jason Barnes, Director of AV/MediaDawn Bick, Assistant Director of Children’s Ministry,

ElementaryBetty Brandt, Director of Spiritual Life CenterKristi Chamberlain, Childcare Coordinator

Terri Coe, Director of Adult MinistriesMarsha Coyner, Director of Joyful Rhythms

Lori Crantford, Director of Communications, Marketing & Development

Kevin Davis, Director of Youth MinistriesStephanie Eft, Associate Director of Youth Ministries

Jan Emmons, FinanceSylvia Forbes, Membership & Care

Bertie Gilster, ReceptionistMary Hach, Assistant Director of Children’s Ministry,

Early ChildhoodAdolf Hansen, Theologian in Residence

Leslie Hazelwood, FacilitiesMartha Heinrich, IT Manager

Carol Helmus, Special Event/Wedding CoordinatorSharon Holyoak, Oasis Bookstore Manager

Julia Johnson, Executive Director of MinistriesMike Keller, Director of Wesleyan Ringers

Faina Kleyner, FinanceBeth Lammers, Building Scheduler

Erica Lampe, Benefits/Development AssistantTujuianna Lockhart, Facilities

Bobbi Main-Jackson, Director of Weekday MinistriesCharles Manning,

Assistant Director of Music MinistriesRyan McGee, Associate Director of Youth Ministries

Linda McGlothlin, Adult Ministries Bonnie McMenamin, Music Ministries Assistant

Janet Miller, Children’s MinistriesDeAnna Moran, Adult Ministries Registrar

Rickie Murphy, FacilitiesDebra Nethercott, Director of Children’s Music

Sarah Nevin, Publications DesignJan Nichols, Coordinator of World Missions ProjectsJulie O’Connor, Administration & Celebration Team

Rich Potterf, Building & Grounds MinistryMary Katherine Schnitz, Director of Care Ministries

Cara Scott, ReceptionistKelly Scott, Facilities

Winnie Sibotshiwe, FacilitiesMark Squire, Director of Music Ministries

Tara-Lynne Sinicki, Director of Children’s MinistriesBen Spillman, Facilities

Alison Strawmyer, Assistant Director & Registrar,Weekday Preschool & Parent’s Day Out Program

William Taylor, FacilitiesJayne Moynahan Thorne,

Director of Outreach MinistriesChris Thornsberry,

Associate Director of Adult MinistriesCheryl West, Director of New Song

Adra Wheeler, Director of Hospitality & VolunteersRich Wisman, Facilities

THE GARDEN CLERGY STAFF:

Linda McCoy, Stan Abell

THE GARDEN STAFF: Troye Kinnett, Director, The Good Earth Band

Steve Whipkey, Director, Oak Hill BandJudy Tolley, Administrative Team LeaderBeth Fried, Communications & Worship Matt Peyton, Media Ministry Specialist

st. luke’s identityWe are an open community of Christians gathering to

seek, celebrate, live and share the love of God for all creation.

st. luke’s vision We envision being transformed by God

and transforming the world into a compassionate, just, inclusive,

Christ-like community.

in this issue | mission | staff together in ministry everyday

100 W. 86th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46260TELEPHONE: 317-846-3404 • FAX: 317-844-1034 • WEB: www.stlukesumc.com

EDITORIAL/PRODUCTION STAFF: Editorial: Lori Crantford; Design: Sarah NevinCONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Maria Blake, Betty Brandt, Kevin Davis, Stephanie Eft, Betsy Fife, Jenny Hawke, Heather Hilbert, Marsha Hutchinson, Kathy Levine, Hillary McCarley, Ryan McGee, Kendall Millard, Chuck Miller, Marion Miller, Matt Peyton, Jacquie Reed, Kristen Rogers, Chris Thornsberry, Tricia Tomson, Kyle Walker, David Williamson. CIRCULATION MANAGER: Sylvia Forbes.

NEXT T.I.M.E. DEADLINE: November 22 for January—March 2011COVER ART COURTESY OF 29GIFTS.ORG

IN THIS ISSUE:4 Letter from the Editor5 Annual Fund8 Servant Day10 Partnerships / Friendship11 Three Cups of Tea12 Habitat for Humanity13 Community Ministries14 Music Ministries / Grief Ministries15 Children’s Music16 Youth Ministries18 Bluevine Collective19 Garden Unplugged21 Men’s Ministry22 World Missions23 Later@St. Luke’s25 Singles Ministry26 Endowment27 Taizé28 UMW29 Holidays 201030 Spiritual Life Center /

New Members31 Celebrations & Concerns32 Christmas Eve

16 Youth Ministries

22 World Missions

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Friends:

Last winter the Council of Bishops appointed a 16-person steering committee called the Call to Action Team to determine what makes a vital United Methodist congregation and how can we increase the number of vital UM churches in the United States.

The United Methodist Church in the United States has been declining in worship attendance andmembers overall for the past 40 years. In 1968 we had about 12 million members in the UnitedStates; today we have about 7.9 million members.

World wide, the United Methodist Church is growing because of the rapid growth in congregationsin Africa and Asia. There are about 14 million United Methodists globally , and that number is

increasing every year because the growth in other nations outpaces the decline here.

But how can we turn around the decline here? I was asked to be on the Call to Action T eam, and we did exten-sive research on all of the 33,000 United Methodist Churches in the United States. We discovered that there areabout 5,000 highly vital United Methodist Congregations in the U.S. on the basis of growth in attendance, mem-bership, and outreach over the five-year period of 2003-2008. St. Luke's is included in that highly vital groupsince we have had significant growth in attendance, membership and outreach giving over that period of time.

However, about 48% of the United Methodist Churches had medium vitality, and 37% had low vitality on thebasis of growth in attendance, membership and outreach. Our goal is to increase the number of high vitality congregations from 5,000 to 10,000 over the next few years.

In doing further research on the high vitality congregations, we discovered that they all had four characteristicsin common:

1. INSPIRING WORSHIP SERVICES: The most vital United Methodist Congregations provided both inspiringtraditional and inspiring contemporary worship services, since some people draw close to God in one andsome in the other. I am so glad that St. Luke's has inspiring lively traditional worship in the Sanctuary onSunday mornings, and provides inspiring contemporary worship experiences at the Later service on Sundayevenings, led by Dr. Marion Miller, as well as our off-site Sunday morning services at the Garden at Beefand Boards and at Oak Hill Mansion led by Dr . Linda McCoy and Rev. Stan Abell. We will be starting an-other inspiring family worship service led by Rev. David Williamson and Rev. Jamalyn Peigh Williamson onOctober 10 in the Great Hall. Rev. Marsha Hutchinson leads our monthly Taize meditative service, whichrefreshes our spirits through music and meditation.

2. INSPIRING PREACHING AND PASTORAL LEADERSHIP: Vital United Methodist Churches have pastors whoinspire in their preaching, help congregations envision a new future, have longer tenures in one congregation,and coach and empower lay leadership. All of the pastors at St. Luke's seek to grow in our ability to com-municate the Good News through preaching, and lead through visioning and working with lay leaders.

3. SMALL GROUPS FOR ALL AGES AND STAGES IN LIFE: Vital congregations have large numbers of smallgroups for study, mission outreach, music, fellowship and spiritual growth. It is particularly important to havemany small groups for children and youth. In the past year, St. Luke's has increased our staff for childrenand youth leadership, and we are seeing the results in increased attendance in the numbers of children andyouth participating.

4. EFFECTIVE LAY LEADERSHIP: St. Luke's is blessed to have a large cadre of highly effective and dedicatedlay leaders empowered to lead and inspire in every area of our life and ministry . I am always impressedwhen I see how our lay leaders devote so much of their time, energy and love to leading all of the ministriesof St. Luke's. It is one of the keys to the vitality of our congregation.

I shared these insights with our Governing Board and at our Leadership Retreat recently. We are committed toincreasing the growth and vitality of St. Luke's in these areas, and to mentoring and encouraging other congre-gations to grow in these areas as well so that God can reach more people with the Good News of Jesu s Christthrough the people called United Methodists. Thank you for all you do to enable St. Luke's to be a vital and growing fellowship of faith which God can use to transform the world into a compassionate, just, inclusive andChrist-like community.

Grace and Peace,

Dr. Kent Millard

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 from the desk

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from the editor together in ministry everyday

Hello friends. I'm your Vitameatavegamin girl. Are you tired, run-down, listless? Do you poopout at parties? Are you unpopular? The answer to all your problems is in this little bottle. Vitameatavegamin. Yes, Vitameatavegamin contains Vitamins Meat Vegetables and Minerals.Yes, with Vitameatavegamin, you can spoon your way to health. All you do is take a great bigtablespoonful after every meal. Mmmmmmm..... It's so tasty, too! Tastes just like candy! So why don't you join all the thousands of happy peppy people and get a great big bottle of Vitameatavegamin tomorrow! That's Vita-meata-vegamin!

For those of you who are under 40, you may have no idea what you justread, but for the rest of you, you’ll recognize the words from the famousscene of the “I Love Lucy” show where Lucy is hired as a spokeswomanfor Vitameatavegamin, a “health t onic” that contains vitamins, meat,vegetables and minerals . . . and, as it turns out, a liberal amount of high-octane alcohol. Not so healthy after all, as Lucy finds out.

As Dr. Millard wrote in his column, there has been a lot of discussion inthe United Methodist Church about what c onstitutes a v ital church.Achieving–and maintaining–a level of vitality in an organization hasnever been an easy task. There is no room for a “one size fits all” men-tality when it comes to programming, worship, opportunities. Inevitably,when you try to squeeze not just round pegs but oblong, rectangular,triangular or any other size peg into one square hole, something (or

someone) is not going to fit. If it was easy to “spoon your way to health,” then there wouldbe a lot more healthy organizations (and people!).

In this issue of T.I.M.E., you’ll see some great examples of the potpourri of ministries andactivities happening at St. Luke’s. And in reflecting on what has happened thus far in 2010

— amazing r esponse to the H aiti earthquake; v isits by authors A. J. Jacobs and G regMortenson; another year of focusing on the issue of hunger with a visit by Senator GeorgeMcGovern and suppor ting the v isit of the Dalai Lama, which raised $65,000 for the Interfaith Hunger Initiative and was the largest int erfaith gathering in the cit y of Indi-anapolis; the launching of MPKids, where 1st-5th graders are becoming real agents ofchange; sending 350 people out from St. Luke’s on the second successful Servant Day todo service in the c ommunity; and so man y other thoug ht-provoking classes, moving concerts, meaningful work trips, inspiring worship, the sharing of laughter and tears andmore — well, it’s pretty clear that St. Luke’s is a vital congregation.

Maybe we’ll just rephrase the UMC slogan to say “St. Luke’s: the happy peppy people ofthe United Methodist Church. After you read the ar ticle on the Bl uevine Collection, I think you’ll be convinced.

On behalf of the entire St. Luke’s staff, thank you for being together everyday in ministrywith us. As Dr. Adolf Hansen, our Theolog ian-in-Residence has always said, you don’thave to be in the pulpit to be in ministry. (Dr. Hansen, by the way, will be leaving the St.Luke’s staff at the end of 2010 to pursue other exciting opportunities which include moretime with his family and sailing, so make sure to wish the wind to be at his back in all hisfuture endeavors. Thank y ou, Adolf, for the g race and w isdom you have brought to St. Luke’s.) St. Luke’s is v ital because of the open hearts and minds of the people whobring their gifts of time, talent and treasure through its open doors.

Here’s to a continued wonderful, vital 2010. Peace to you and yours during the upcomingholidays. Try not to poop out at parties, but stay away from the Vitameatavegamin. n

by Lori Crantford

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OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 giving

I Can’t Stop Thinking About Myself, or Why Becoming a Giver is a Great Ideaby Lori Crantford

My hamstring hurts. It has been causing me a decentamount of constant pain ever since I crossed the finishline of the Geist Half Marathon last May. I tried to restit but it doesn’t seem to want to do anything but acheor send shooting pains down my leg. To make mattersworse, I pinched a nerve in my lower back in June whichwas caused, apparently, by my having the nerve (so tospeak) of growing one day older while still trying to actyesterday’s age. I’m just cheeky that way.

The combination of these tedious maladiesmade it so that I could not train for a mara-

thon this f all. This makesme cranky.R e a l l yc r a n k y.Mothers

with s mallchildren make

the s ign o f t hecross when they see

me. Strangers cross thestreet—without t rying t o

avoid traffic—just to avoid the Black Cloud of Cranki-ness that moves with me like the ever-present dust atPig Pen’s feet in the Charlie Brown cartoons. I’m socranky that if you had the choice of taking Pig Penhome to meet your mother, or me, I am sure that yourmother and Pig Pen will soon be sitting on her whitecouch having tea and making plans to attend the sym-phony together.

Imagine, then, what level of discomfort a per-son with a real ailment would have on, say,Richter’s Ailment Scale (if such a thing existed). While my hamstring/pinched nervewould rate around, oh, the Put On Y our BigGirl Panties and Deal with It level, somethinglike multiple sclerosis would register at the

We’ve Decided to Hire George Clooney asYour Personal Nurse point. Off. The. Charts.Pain.

Imagine, next, that someone told you, whenyou c omplained a bout t his p ainful, l ife-altering disease for which there is no knowncure, that you were perhaps focusing onyourself a tad too much and in order to feelbetter you should—get this!—start giving agift to someone every day for 29 days! Thethoughts that might cross one’s mind aboutthat person and her suggestion are possiblynot printable in a church publication.

This is exactly what happened to CamiWalker. Cami, a young woman in her mid-30s, was diagnosed with MS in 2006. After strugglingwith the chronic pain and subsequent addiction to painmedications, Cami’s health and spirits were plummet-ing. She decided to take the advice of a South Africanholistic healer—give a gift a day for 29 days. While theprocess did not heal her MS, it did have a startling ef-fect on her ability to cope with it. She is more mobile,less dependent on medication, and scans show that herdisease has stopped progressing.

Cami documented her experience in her book 29 Gifts:How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life. In it, shesays “My first reaction was that I thought it was an insane idea. But it has given me a more positive outlookon life. It’s about stepping outside of your own story

long enough to make aconnection with someoneelse... Perhaps the biggestchange is that today I feelspiritually in touch with a higher sense of power ,”she states. “I have begun

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I asked some staff and friends of St. Luke’s to share with us a story ofwhen a gift had a meaningful impacton their lives. Here are a few:

We were hopelessly lost! Theminutes were ticking by to

return the rental car and catch our train from Rennes to Paris.Digging back to my high school French, I could say, ”Ou est lagare?” which means where is the train station? BUT I couldn’tunderstand the answer . In despera tion, we parked the car , Ijumped out and stood on a busy street corner saying, “Do youspeak English?” over and over again in a very loud voice. At lastI heard, “I can help you.” A simple gift of kindness from onestranger to another. A timely gift that I have never forgotten!

–BETTY BRANDT

When my mother died after six weeks in the hos-pital I knew that my family would come back to

my house after the funeral. It was a wreck since I hadspent those weeks going to the hospital ever yday before

work to make sure my dad had breakfast (he was staying at thehospital with my mom) and again each evening to visit with momand "tuck" in my dad. I had no desire to clean my house and verylittle time before the funeral. Two of my girlfriends came to myhouse and cleaned it top to bottom. No thank you was neededand none could have been big enough. These two angels helpedme through this difficult time. Although this gesture was won-derful their friendship is the greatest gift I could ever receive.

–KATHY ALEXANDER

Cami Walker

“I have begunto see thateverything belongs to thedivine. God isin everything,including me.”


to see that everything belongs to the divine. God is in everything, including me. When we give or receive, we are connecting to that force.I now see I am a small part of a much greater whole, rather than theself-contained, deserted island I felt like 29 days ago. Today I see myinterdependence with other people and with God as a source of powerin my life... In the wise words of Mahatma Gandhi, ‘The best way to findyourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.’ The past 29 dayshave proven this to be true for me.”

For the 2011 Annual Fund campaign, St. Luke’s is adopting the 29Gifts philosophy. This month, an invitation will be mailed out to par -ticipate in 29 Days of Giving, from October 24 to November 21. St.Luke’s has always been a congregation of generous people, motivatedto give to others and to give back to God out of gratitude for the bless-ings in their lives. Here’s a wonderful chance to have a real impact asa congregation on the lives of thousands of people everyday.

The gifts can be a phone call, a cup of coffee, an offer to babysit, anhour of your time to sit and listen to a cranky friend whine about herhamstring and pinched nerve. The 29 Days of Giving campaign willend on Consecration Sunday , when we will ask the congregation to consider how they have been blessed by this practice and prayerfully

give back to God’s work through a pledge of time, talent and treasureto St. Luke’s 2011 Annual Fund and returning your Gratitude Card onthat day. Of course, we will accept them beforehand as well!

Look for information in the mail, or on our website (www .stluke-sumc.com). We hope that you and all members of your family will sendus the 29 Days of Giving participation card so that we know how manypeople are out there experiencing daily generosity. A list of participantswill be printed in the Sunday W orship Guides during the campaign.Join us on October 24 when Cami Walker will be our guest at all threemorning worship services. Her book and other items are available inOasis Bookstore and Gift Shop, and you can read all about this now-international effort at www.29gifts.org.

Many people across the world have benefited from the generosity ofthe people of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church through your com-mitment of time, talent and treasure. The staff and lay leadership arelooking forward to the energy and opportunities this campaign will bringto the church. Please plan to participate and get ready to give yourselfthe gift of giving. n

together in ministry everyday

You know the saying, “Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.” One summer I wasstripping wallpaper and painting walls at my home. I was tired of doing this all by myself,

and also bemoaning the fact that I had no one to travel with. A few days later, I received an emailfrom my cousin in Florida, asking if I would like to fly with him and his wife to China for seven-teen days. They travel there often, have “adopted” a local family, and helped fund a rural school.I was surprised and amazed—this was an offer I couldn’t refuse! After weeks of waiting for a visa,countless emails, an ever changing itinerary (often in Chinese characters) I drove to the airport onedark morning with purse and carry on bag. I had no idea what I was in for , and really had to “letgo and let God.”

We went from luxury hotels to modest rooms and plumbing, from Beijing to the mountains in thesouth, to the west where Tibetan refugees attend the Hope School. I ate in a home sitting on a tinywooden stool and shared a luxurious banquet at a huge car dealership! From cities to countryside,I saw what most visitors do not. I drank tea, ate with chopsticks. Best of all, I received a taste ofhow some families live, and learned that people all over the world love, care for, and worry abouttheir families. This was truly a gift.

–SYLVIA FORBES

Even though I love my job at St. Luke’s, there are times when I get frustrated or annoyedor even downright mad. Fortunately it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I have a

secret weapon to get me back on track. It’s called my “blue file” and in it are all the wonderfulcards and notes from people who have been positively affected by a ministry at St. Luke’s or because I’ve personally touched their lives in some way. When I’m feeling blue, I grab that file anda cup of coffee and start reading.

The best notes are short and very specific. When I’m feeling incompetent, I look at the one thatthe sender said he appreciated my vision and leadership. When I’m feeling overworked, I rereadthe one that talks about my tireless efforts to assist with some project. When I don’t know whereto turn, I look at the one that talks about the power of prayer.

Having been the recipient of these wonderful notes, I have written some myself. One was to aneighbor in my childhood that I always remembered for her kindness. When I saw her a few timesbefore her death, she always thanked me again for writing those words and told me how much theymeant to her. A gift from the heart doesn’t have to cost much more than a stamp, but can meanthe difference in someone’s life forever.

–JAYNE THORNE

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GIFTS, cont’d from page 1

Book available at OasisBookstore & Giftshop


I wanted to tell you about a gift I received. First I have receivedmany blessings in my life and much appreciated financial

assistance from many agencies. The most special gift I received wasanonymous. A few years ago, I was very behind in paying my home-owners association month assessment. The amount was over $3500.Only a very few people knew about this delinquency . My generousbenefactor paid the amount in full and went to great lengths to keeptheir donation confidential. I was only notified by the HOA manage-ment company later. It is not every day that someone receives helpfrom such a wonderful person. May God bless them.

–ANONYMOUS

To be honest with you, I thought it was something I ate, seriously.I love spicy hot food, and a whole lot of other foods that gener-

ally don't love you back. Being a typical male who doesn't ask directionsand refuses to acknowledge something might actually be wrong, I did-n't realize I was experiencing something potentially serious had I waitedany l onger. Anyway, s o yes, I was e xperiencing appendicitis. Onlythrough the wisdom of my wife did I get pushed out the door to the hos-pital where the offending organ was summarily removed.

One dehydrated return to the hospital later , I found myself at home,weak, on by back, and pretty helpless for a few days. About two daysout, as I was watching I Love Lucy reruns, I hear a lawn mower fire up.Assuming it was one of my neighbors, I paid no heed. However, whenthe sound was right outside my window, I looked out to see that it wasMY lawn being mowed by my friend Jerry Toomer and his wife Linda.

To this day I still marvel at their authentic generosity in that act. Theydidn’t call and ask is there something they could do for me… theyjust did. I am so very grateful for their individual “gift” that day, and others like them whose nature it is to give just because.

–STAN ABELL

My divorce began 3 days before I started graduate school. Thetiming of it came as a bit of a surprise. I had 30 days to pack

my adult life and move from my house to a much smaller apartment,while also reading about 300 pages a week and writing some papers.Time was divided between staring off into space in shell shock andepisodes of pure panic. One thing I knew was that I needed help.

Many friends came to help me pack during the month, and then theday of the move arrived. I had schedul ed 3 friends to be wit h mefrom 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.—“just in case” for 2-3 hour shifts. Betty cameearly, smiling and reassuring me. She helped put stuff in my car andwatched over the moving men. She helped keep an eye on my dog.Barbara came mid-day and stayed for the rest of the afternoon. Sheunpacked my entire kitchen and hung up all my clothes. Because ofher amazing generosity I was able to eat and dress myself for the restof the semester (no small feat.) Carol came in the afternoon—andactually we just talked for awhile on my front steps. It was good tohave the break and think about something other than moving and mylife situation.

It was such a miracle to have my friends pray for me, hold me in thelight, talk, cry and laugh, and care for me through this process. Sev-eral years have passed since moving day. Yet it still stands out as amarker in my life of what it means to be in ministry with others.Whether the giver or receiver—it truly is our time and presence thatoften makes the greatest gifts.

–SARAH NEVIN

Several years ago, Gary and I spent several months in Switzer -land while he illustrated a medical book for a surgeon there. We

walked to most places. One day as we were walking, a rain shower cameup. Gary looked at me and jokingly said, “If God loved us, he wouldsend us an umbrella.” Within seconds a moped came by, hit a bumpin the street, and his umbrella fell at our feet. We looked at each otherunbelieving what had just happened. We still laugh about it.

–MARY KATHERINE SCHNITZ

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 giving

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you are a giftSo, How Much Does It Cost to Run St. Luke’s?While we know that many people give out of gratitude, we also know there are others out there whowould like to know just how much it costs to operate St. Luke’s annually. The following is an abbre-viated version of our annual expenditures and income. For a complete picture, see the 2009 AnnualReport available on www.stlukesumc.com (type in “2009 annual report” on the search function, or godigging around in the Resources/File Cabinet section where you can find all kinds of interesting stuff!).

2010 Budget Tithe to Indiana Annual Conference & District Support $435,313

Trustees Building & Utilities $429,480

Programming & Support Departments $482,854

Clergy & Lay Staff Salaries & Benefits $2,405,049

TOTAL $3,752,696.00

Mortgage Payments $324,000 (currently paid from Capital Campaign Funds through 12/11)

2010 Total Expenses $4,076,696

2010 Pledged Income* $2,945,098*Other income is received throughout the year but because it is

not pledged it cannot be counted in the yearly budgeting process.


outreach together in ministry everyday

The Second Annual St. Luke’s Servant Day was held Saturday, August 7.Three hundred and fift y participants of all ages, sporting red t-shirts, gathered in Great Hall at 8am to enjoy a great breakfast prepared by theUnited Methodist Men. It was a time for fun and fello wship, as well as atime to share plans for what w ould be d one at the r espective sites. Anadded plus was the perfectly beautiful sunny weather!

Continuing last year’s theme of “In Our Own Backyard,” the majority ofthe 10 projects were held at organizations locat ed in close pr oximity to St. Luke’s. Thirty enthusiastic w orkers stayed at St. Luke’s for the da y,power washing Luke’s Lodge, cleaning windows, and wiping down tablesand chairs.

Two elementary schools—Nora and Fox Hill—benefited from the work ofvolunteers who assisted teachers with getting ready for the first day ofschool, preparing supper sacks and sprucing up the playgrounds. SuzanneZybert, Principal of Nora Elementary School, said: “In my time as an educator and volunteer, it was truly one of my most rewarding and amaz-ing experiences. So many lives have been touched and w ill continue to be impacted. The t iming was just r ight, as i t let us start the year in a fresh new lig ht... I would be honored if you would consider returning next year.”

All of the work at the Indiana School for the Blind was done outdoors, acontinuation from last year’s project. Harold Hall, the team leader for thisgroup, is already signing participants up for 2011! If you enjoy trimming,weeding and literally getting your hands dirty, this is the project for you!New to the project list this year was the opportunity to interact with mem-bers of the Burmese community. This community project had threecomponents—an orientation to the situation of the Burmese refugeeswho now live in Indianapolis, a clean-up of the apartment complex,and a lunch together. According to Kristen Kennedy, one of the teamleaders: “The chance to interact with some of the people we set out toserve was a key part of the project’s success. There was also an im-promptu duck-duck-goose game with some of the kids before lunch.”

A small group returned to the St. Vincent Group Home where theyworked on flower beds, lawn raking, and clearing weeds along shrubsand walkways. Other ambitious t eam members t rimmed dead t reelimbs and safely r emoved wasp nests. At the Jordan Y and the GlickCommunity Center, volunteers were engaged in general cleaning, andpreparing preschool classrooms. A generous grant from the UnitedMethodist Women allowed each group to take a supply of new books

and wood puzzles to each location. The work done at each location madea huge difference in their ability to be ready for the fall sessions.

The Thrifty Threads volunteers, many of whom w ere members of the Elderberries, tackled the donation room, and organized the Boutique andother ar eas of the store. P roceeds fr om Thr ifty Thr eads benefit the Julian Center.

Our newest project was The Caring Center. This small-but-mighty crewcompletely organized and restocked the g rocery aisle, transformed the office and pantry areas, and sorted all of the clothing racks and organizedfall items that w ill soon be needed. Barb Schiedel, the Dir ector of the Center shared: “Thank you so much for all your help on Saturday. You allwere a real blessing to us.”

Mark your calendars now for next year’s Servant Day—Saturday, August6, 2011!

Looking for an ongoing volunteer opportunity? Help is needed, and wel-comed, at the following locations:

• Glick Community Center• Thrifty Threads• Fox Hill Elementary School• Nora Elementary School• The Caring Center

To get involved, contact Jayne Thorne, Director of Outreach Ministries,at [email protected], or 317-846-3404. n

Serving the Community/Sharing God’s Loveby Betsy Fife and Maria Blake

—8—


OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 school partnership

“In my time as an educator and volunteer, it was truly one of my most rewarding and amazing experiences. So many lives have been touched and will continue to be impacted.

The timing was just right, as it let us start the year in a fresh new light....” —SUZANNE ZYBERT,

Nora Elementary Principal

St. Luke’s Receives Superintendent’s Service AwardThis past August at the township-wide back-to-school meeting of teachers andstaff for the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township (MSDWT), Superintendent James Mervilde gave a Superintendent’s Service A ward to St.Luke’s UMC in recognition of the partner -ship the church undertook w ith F ox H ill Elementary School beginning with the 2009-10 school year.

Jayne Thorne, Director of Outreach Min-istries, accepted the award on behalf of St.Luke’s. Dr. Mervilde stated, “As superin -tendent, one of t he broad discretionary privileges I have is to recognize employeesand community members who have beenespecially important to the district over thepast year but who may not have been rec-ognized in other ways for the special workthey have done. I bestow the Superintendent Service Awards this year to peopleand organizations who have made extraordinary contributions to the district.”

Dr. Mervilde went on to explain that “Every week, 75+ volunteers from St. Luke’scome through the Fox Hill front doors with one mission—to support the childrenand staff at Fox Hill. These amazing folks help during the school day and in After-School Achievers. They engage in work such as:

• 1:1 tutoring and mentoring• Working with small groups small groups of students to reinforce instruction• Chaperoning field trips

• Conducting a lunch time novel group for more advanced learners

• Providing clerical help in the office • Supplying treats for special events like our music

programs and Personal Best celebration• Planting a community garden and engaging in clean up

and mulching chores

Dr. Millard and the entire Faith Community at St. Luke’s—Thank you for your generosity and investment in the

Fox Hill Community!”

PHOTOS: Servant Day 2010.

—9—


school partnership | gift of friendship together in ministry everyday

Learning for Lifeby Kathy Levine

Most of us have seen the Indianapolis Star’s awareness campaign, “OurCity, Our Children.” Matthew Tully has chronicled daily life at ManualHigh School; this year , he will follow the progress of the kindergart -ners at IPS #61. All these stories have been filled with sadness andmany celebrations.

On Sunday, August 15, Dennis Ryerson, editor and vice-president ofthe Indianapolis Star, spoke to the St. Luke’s congregation about thenecessity and rewards of becoming involved with and supporting thechildren of our fine city. Dr. Millard mentioned the fantastic work thatSt. Luke’s does at Fox Hill, from Ser -vant Day participation to the manyhours of tutoring tha t occur on aweekly basis.

Every initiative has unsung heroes,and our Fox Hill/St. Luke’s partnershipis no exception. There is a quiet per -son who without fanfare has made asignificant difference in the lives of allFox Hill students. A private donor fromthe St. Luke’s membership sponsoredthe character development program, “Learning for Life – Reaching forTomorrow,” at Fox Hill during the 2009-10 school year, and will con-tinue the support this year.

“Learning for Life – Reaching for Tomorrow” is a curriculum developedby the Boy Scouts of America. The mission of “Learning for Life” is toenable young people to become responsible individuals by teachingpositive character traits, leadership and life skills. The students areencouraged to make positive choices and achieve their full potential.The program promotes personal values such as self-confidence, moti-vation and self-esteem. “Learning for Life” emphasizes the importanceof respect, responsibility, honesty, courage, caring and self-discipline,which are also the M.S.D. Washington Township character values.

Being involved with “Learning for Life” is a win-win for everyone atFox Hill – teachers and students. Each grade-level team has the op-portunity to choose what topics/life lessons they feel will most benefittheir students. “Learning for Life” facilitators visit each classroomtwice a month for 30 minutes. The students can receive guidance insuch topics as world cultures, being a good worker , how to respondwhen people lie, pet care, physical fitness and many other life lessons.

Bambi Garrett, one of the facilitators, comments about her experienceat Fox Hill. "Working with the students at Fox Hill Elementary is so in-

spiring. It is great to watch the stu-dents connect with the lessons as theybegin to understand why and howcharacter development benefits every-one - yourself, your classmates, yourschool, your home and your commu-nity. The Reaching for Tomorrow pro-gram truly gives the students a senseof importance, ownership and pride.”

Adam Cassady, the “Learning for Life”director says, “It is my job to make

sure our programs are consistent and meet the needs of all of ourschools involved. We currently serve 8,200 students in 104 schoolsacross central Indi ana. In “Learning for Li fe” classes, we saw a sig-nificant improvement in the behavior of students after the studentshad participated in the program lessons.” Isn’t Fox Hill lucky to be oneof the chosen schools!

This is just another example of the blessings that have come to Fox Hillthrough our St. Luke’s partnership. n

Kathy Levine is the principal of Fox Hill Elementary

—10—

Two Friendsby Hillary McCarley

In August 2006, two boys entering first grade at College Wood Elementary found out they had a fewthings in common. Both boys were only children; eagerto please; birthdays in April; smiles that made you likethem immediately; loved to tell stories. Although LukeBroyles told his stories by writing them down in note-books, Michael McCarley (not able to read or write yet)used his Disney knowledge and keen memory and lis-tening skills to verbalize his stories. Luke was alwaysthinking. Michael was always entertaining.

Luke and Michael were always close in proximity in theclassroom and the lunch room. Their mothers met during the first grade. Donna and I captured all of themoments of first grade with our cameras clicking away.

Luke was the enabler. Michael was the recipient of hiskindness and protection. Michael’s diagnoses of cere-bral palsy, epilepsy and co rtical visual impairm ent always seemed to allow Luke to help him constantly—pick up his crutches, finish his art project, turn in hiswork, and gather items from his mailbox at the end ofthe day. Luke was always lessening Michael’s load andMichael was always letting him.

A simple gift of a plastic sword, a shield and a helmetto a six-year-old Luke sparked a heartfelt passion: tomake movies. After three months of telling his parents,they finally took seriously their first grader’s resolve tomake a movie. With storyboards all drawn, the journeybegan for Luke.

cont’d on page 12

Luke and Michael


Almost a year ago, Nora Elementary School teacher and St. Luke’smember Sally Ball read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. Shedecided that the fourth and fifth graders in her classroom were oldenough to read, understand and enjoy the young reader’s edition.

Sally introduced the book to her class in January 2010. Thechildren were astonished to discover that students in themountain village of Korphe, Pakistan, went to school out-side and did math pr oblems and practiced writing in theground around them. The humanitarian nature displayedby Greg Mortenson captivated the children.

Sally enrolled in an economics class at IUPUI for licensingrenewal while t eaching the book. When she needed t o

complete a project for the class, she wanted to involve her students. Sally decided that rais-ing money for a c harity would offer an o pportunity for the c hildren to learn var ious economic processes such as goods, services, making a contract, choosing and manufactur-ing a product, and financing. Inspired by Three Cups of Tea, the class chose the Pennies forPeace pr ogram established thr ough G reg M ortenson’s Cent ral Asia I nstitute (www .penniesforpeace.org). The children learned that although a penny will buy nothing in theUnited States, a penny in Pakistan will buy a pencil, or even help build a school.

Tyler Galbraith, now a fifth grader, described the proj-ect: “Our class raised money by putting school suppliesin little boxes and selling them. We had people loan usmoney for the supplies and we paid them back pl us10% interest. Our class also br ought in spare change.We donated [raised] $300. I felt really good about rais-ing money for Pennies for Peace because we had a lotof fun doing our project. The biggest thing I lear nedwas that not all kids have as much money as we do andwe are really lucky to be able to help them.”

A current sixth g rader, Mary Alexander commented:“I felt good about helping other people. I felt like it wasfun because we got to DO economics, not just sit and read a book about it. The biggest thing I learnedfrom the project is that it’s not easy to raise money. There are many steps to the process that youneed to understand. I lear ned that once you understand and w ork hard to put all of the steps to-gether, it can be a lot of fun and rewarding.”

Max Nguyen, now a fifth grader who attends St. Luke’s, adds: “Three Cups of Tea was interesting. Itopened up my mind to figure out what it means to donate to a charity. I think I am a lot more for-tunate and I sometimes think I am spoiled. I learned that being kind and generous pays off.”

Sally noted that one of the students in her class was from Algeria. Throughout the school year, he wasused to others in the class helping him understand and speak English. Although his native languagewas Arabic, he was familiar w ith Muslim religious words mentioned in the book. Now his back-ground enabled him to pronounce, interpret and explain the meaning of these words to the class.

She added that when the students realized the final total raised of $300, one optimistically said, “We’vebuilt a school!” while another observed, “Our class is like a family. We were brought closer togetherworking on our project. We can help other people—it doesn’t matter who they are or where they live.”

Sally’s economics professor was so impressed with her project that he brought it to the attention ofthe Indiana Council for Economic Education. Recently, Sally was named the 2010 Outstanding Economics Teacher in the Stat e of Indiana. She won $1,000 and received the Indiana Council forEconomic Education’s Annual Award for Excellence on September 24 at the Indiana State House. n

—11—

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 making a difference

Three Cups of Tea + Economics =Pennies for Peaceby Jacquie Reed

Sally Ball

“Our class is like a family. We were broughtcloser together working on our project.

We can help other people—it doesn’t matterwho they are or where they live.”

A video describing Sally’s “Pennies

for Peace” project is available at the

Washington Township website—

www.msdwt.k12.in.us. Click on

“Elementary Schools,” then the Nora

link, then “Principal Welcome Video.”


gift of friendship together in ministry everyday

—12—

And for Michael, a simple trip to see “Beauty and theBeast” on Broadway in Indianapolis sparked his heart-felt passion: to be an entertainer . My husband and I didn’t have much of an objection, as music had been inour families since birth. All of his physical issues anddevelopmental d elays d idn’t s top h im f rom ca rryingaround a microphone and singing to every kind of songimaginable.

Second grade led to a new teacher for the boys—onewho wanted Michael to increase his independence inthe classroom. But Luke was always close, still lendinga hand to Michael when needed. Luke started writingeven more stories but really wanted to see them in action, through the lens of a camera. Michael becameinterested i n ac ting a nd t ried o ut f or a r ole i n t heFisher’s Artist Studio production of “Snow White andthe Seven Dwarfs.” Michael’s first experience on stagewould be to audition for the role of a squirrel or bunnyas his parents wanted him to “ease” into the world of

acting to avoid disappointment.Michael had other ideas and camehome with the role of “Prince” inSnow White and would sing his firstsolo for an audience.

Our family added a new member on November 17 , 2007. Durban,Michael’s skilled companion dog fromCanine Companions in Delaware, OH,joined us. Michael and Durban are inseparable (except for school days),and those at St. Luke’s are quick tosmile and ask permission to meet himevery Sunday.

Luke was busy putting pen andpaper to “Swords and Shields.”This story would eventually be-come Luke’s first film. Lu keasked Michael to be in the filmwith his current classmates. Itpremiered at the Cinema Grill inGreenbrier, with small trophiesbeing awarded to all the actors.Luke, wearing a tux and red bowtie, stood at the podium, micro-phone in hand, proudly announ-cing the names of the actors asthey went forward to accepttheir award.

“Swords and Shields II” was filmed the following year .Michael was deemed eligible to attend the Indiana Schoolfor the Blind and Visually Impaired (ISBVI). Luke contin-ued at College Wood. Although both still thought abouteach other, the busy schedule for both boys—Luke withfilming and karate and Michael with therapy four days aweek and a member of the St. Luke’s Children’s MusicProgram—put a slight hiatus on the friendship. “Swordsand Shields II” premiered at Clay Terrace in the summer,

and Luke was off and running with his passion of writing,producing, filming and editing. Luke’s parents, Tim andDonna, became his “assistants.”

“Swords and Shields III” led to another opportunity forMichael to be involved with moviemaking. Each film became more elaborate in costuming, special effectsand storyline. The premier for “Swords & Shields III”took place for a packed audience at Orchard School.

On the road to completing the third and final “Swords& Shields” movie, Luke met Jeffrey Sparks while attending hi s f irst He artland F ilm F estival i n I ndi-anapolis—a wealth of enthusiasm and encouragement.Luke welcomed Mr. Sparks’ challenge to try documen-tary and other filmmaking options.

Luke decided on the three documentaries that wouldbecome his next projects. Picking his friend MichaelMcCarley was an easy choice for Luke. “Michael” is a10-minute documentary that follows a typical day forMichael. Luke says he made the movie to show otherkids that despite the unique challenges Michael faces,he is a kid just like them. Luke says, “Michael loveslife, loves singing and dreams of Broadway.”

Luke was permitted to film Michael immediately afterhis complicated bone surgery on December 11, 2009 at t he G illette C hildren’s H ospital i n S t. P aul, M N.ISBVI allowed Luke access to the school environmentand interviewed those closest to him in therapies andduring the long recuperation period.

“Michael” the documentary will be screened in Octoberat the Heartland Film Festival. In addition, Louisville’sInternational Festival of Film and the DocUtah Interna -tional Documentary Film Festival are screening “Michael.”

Now a fifth grader, Luke is currently working on “BirdBrothers” and “Squire,” has won numerous film awards,given newspaper and radio interviews, speaks to manyarea groups about his life, and above all has continuedhis love of making movies. You can follow Luke’s workon his blog at http://lukeproductionsllc.blogspot.com.Michael still keeps busy with four therapies a week(physical therapy, speech therapy and biofeedback). Hehas performed in three more Artists Studio productions,sings in the St. Luke’s UMC children’s choir , spendsSaturdays at the Motor Activity Clinic a t IUPUI andloves to swim. Ever yone who knows Michael is so veryproud of the tears and sweat that have pushed him towhere he is today. As his parents, my husband, Kevin,and I have some big dreams for him. W e don’t believethere is anything that Michael won’t be able to do inthe future—well, there is one exception. He will neverbe President of the United States because he was bornin Scotland—there is a constitutiona l provision pre-venting him from holding that office.

Two friends: Luke Broyles and Michael McCarley. Thestory will certainly be continued. n

TWO FRIENDS, cont’d from page 10

TOP: Taking their film career seriously

MIDDLE: The McCarley family,including Durban

BOTTOM: Birthday fun!


After years of regular (well, mostly) financial support for Habitat for Humanity, my daughter Saraand I chose one cold Saturday last November to work on an interfaith build and see just what Habi-tat looked like in action. With bright work lights for a little heat and the fellowship of a potpourriof volunteers Sara learned to spackle and I dusted off my caulking skills. The morning flew by andthe next thing we knew, we were coordinating St. Luke's efforts to increase our participation in thegood work of Habitat: lifting families out of poverty housing and into a home of their own.

Did you buy a 2x4 board back in May? Did you decorate it with a special message? Curious as to thefate of your board? Well... it's finally time t o build! Construction of the three-bedroom home of theWurota-Ghebremedhin family at 849 River Avenue in Indianapolis begins October 13 and should wraparound November 20, with the home dedication on December 4. St. Luke's volunteers will work sideby side with volunteers from other Central Indiana UMC congregations building friendships alongwith a simple, dec ent and affor dable home for this family of thr ee E thiopian r efugees and an immigrant from Eritrea. We have opportunities to work on all phases of construction and fin-ishing; e xperience is not r equired.Most of o ur v olunteer needs ha vebeen met, but if you have not been assigned a shift and would like to helpon t his b uild o r o ne i n t he f uture,please contact me or Sar a at kr [email protected] or 844-0304. n

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 community ministries

NEAR RIGHT: Carla Taylor, the Homeowner, driving thefirst nail in her first home!

MIDDLE RIGHT:

Sara driving nails. Manual labor for Labor Day!

BOTTOM RIGHT: Kristin and Sara waiting to raise some walls.

Habitat for Humanityby Kristen Rogers

—13—

How are partner families selected? (from www.habitat.org)

• Families in need of decent shelter apply to local Habitat affiliates.• The affiliate’s family selection committee chooses homeowners based on their

level of need, their willingness to become partners in the program and their ability to repay the loan.

• Every affiliate follows a nondiscriminatory policy of family selection.• Neither race nor religion is a factor in choosing the families who receive Habitat houses.


music ministries | grief ministries together in ministry everyday

Music Department Takes Ministry to Annual Conferenceby Jenny Hawke

—14—

As any music director will tell you, it takes a generous amount of organ-ization, coordination, flexibility and good humor to mobilize any group,settle in a new space, and provide a great performance. But take that chal-lenge, multiply it by four, and what do you get?

For the St. Luke’s Music Department, it addedup to a t rip to the United Methodist AnnualConference on the campus of Ball State Uni-versity in M uncie. The C hancel C hoir, St.Luke’s Or chestra, Wesleyan R ingers, andsingers from the St. Luke’s children’s choirs—about 150 musicians in all—sang and pla yedfor the closing service on Sunday, June 13.Charles Manning, who ser ved as organist forthe conference in 2009, assumed the role thisyear as well.

“This was a wonderful honor and opportunityto shar e our m usical g ifts w ith our larger denominational family,” said Mark Squire, director of music ministries.“It also required a large commitment of time and energy from our singers,orchestra members, bell ringers and four directors.”

Preparation for the service started weeks before, with directors DebraNethercott, Bob Zehr, Mike Keller and Mark Squire coordinating selec-tions for the ensembles. Weekly rehearsal time devoted to the pieces to besung culminated in an int ensive pre-conference rehearsal the Thursdayevening before. Then, early Sunday morning, a convoy of school busses, vans and cars made the trek to Muncie, and musicians and instrumentsarrived at Emens Auditorium in time for a br ief warm-up session and

sound check. During the service, all four ensembles shared the stage withthe clergy leading and participating in the service.

While the service itself—with the induction and dedication of several deac ons and clerg y—is moving for man y par ticipants,the pr esence of the St. L uke’smusicians added a profound di-mension to the experience. Sev-eral p eople a pproached c hoirmembers as they left the audito-rium t o thank them for theirministry that day.

“One pastor stopped me outside,and tears were streaming downher c heeks,” said Squir e. “Shesaid, ‘You m ust t ell them that

their music moved me deeply. The lay delegate from my church and I justsat and wept after “Here I Am, Lord.”’

This special contribution to the annual conference involved more thanthe gift of music. Since this event was not built in to the church’s annualoperating budget, most expenses were paid for by the music departmentthrough fundraisers and private donations.

“It takes the generosity of many hearts to make ministry opportunitieslike this possible,” said Squire, “and we are blessed with many volunteersand contributors at St. Luke’s who support our musical mission.” n

Have you ever heard it said, “You know kids… they rebound…they have a way of coping,” or, “In time, they will be all right…it just takes time?” While we want these statements to be true,many adults who have lived through childhood without their par-ents have concluded it is a life-long struggle.

According to a recent article in the The Wall Street Journal:• 1 in 9 adults in a survey funded by the New York Life Foun-

dation said they lost a parent before they were 20 years old.• 40% recall frequently pretending to be OK so as not to

upset their surviving parent.• 63% feared their surviving parent would also get sick and die.• Out of the survey of more than 1,000 respondents: • 73% believed their lives would be “much better” if their parents

hadn’t died young.• 66% said that after their loss “they felt they weren’t a kid anymore.”

In general, grief is one of society’s most misunderstood phenomena,but we are learning that childhood grief tops the list. Children learn thatsuffering in silence can be the path of least resistance. Their anger,tears or chaotic behavior are misunderstood and, in some situations,not even tolerated. Children who live lives as “little adults” pay a pricefor their stoic behavior…namely, their childhoods!

Educators, doctors andclergy get little or notraining to he lp themrecognize the signs ofdepression in grievingchildren or in adultswho lost their parentswhile they were stillchildren. Y ears afterthe loss, many profes-sionals don’t ask if

there was ever a significant loss when individuals seek advice or con-sider medications for signs of depression. The assumption that “theyhave moved on” is dismissive of the life-long journey of living with loss.

New research is finding it is time for all of us to pay closer attention to griefas it affects both children and adults. Down the road, many can benefitfrom looking at pictures, videos and albums; reliving memories of familytimes; writing in journals; or listening to favorite music. There also can begreat comfort in being with those who have walked the same path.Espe-cially during the holidays, the hardest time for grieving families, taketime to call someone who might need support and friendship. n

Young Children Who Lose Parents: An Underestimated Tollby Rev. Marsha Hutchinson


OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 children’s music ministries

The St. Luke’s Children’s MusicProgram sang the National Anthem for an Indiana Fever game

The St. Luke’s Children’s Music Program refused to be beat by the heat in 2010’s frantic yet fabulous summer.

From singing and ringing at a retirement home to performing at the St. Louis Basilica, the choir’s summer vacationwas packed with fun and frenzy. It started out with a performance at the Stratford in the Village of West Clay by thechoir, complete with kids on the bells. “It made me feel good to see all of the residents smiling,” said Elizabeth John-son, an eighth-grader who has been involved with the music program since age 4 or 5.The childrenthen sang at the State United Methodist Conference at Emens Auditorium at Ball State University onJune 13, performing alongside the Chancel Choir, St. Luke’s Orchestra, and Wesleyn Bell Choir. Despitehaving to be at church at a whopping 6:30AM in the morning, the choristers enjoyed it. “It was a neatexperience,” Johnson said.

St. Luke’s Music Recognition Sunday took place after that on June 20, and then it was off to St. Louis, Missouri, for seven kids (Bryn Walker, Spencer Whitson, Joseph Schingel, Jayla Underbrink, LaurenRoop, Elizabeth Poole, and me) and Debra Nethercott, director of the Children’s Music Program. The13th Annual Royal School of Music T raining Course took place July 5-11 with guest director SimonLole, director at the BBC in London. The 50 or so boys, girls, men and women who attended the course sang a Massat the St. Louis Basilica on the morning of the 11th, as well as a Choral Evensong Service at Grace Church in Kirk-wood. The week was filled with intense rehearsal but also a lot of fun—the choristers who attended are sure to thinkof it as a memorable and enjoyable experience. “We were always doing something,” said fifth-grader and choir mem-ber Bryn Walker, who was attending the course for the first time and greatly looks forward to returning next year.

With only two days of downtime, the choir was at it again by the 14th of July . Singers performed the National Anthem for the opening of the Roundtripper International Baseball Tournament, which was held in Westfield. Theopening events were held at Clay Terrace on what will be remembered as one of the hottest days of the year. Thekids sang the National Anthem again on August 22 for an Indiana Fever game. In addition to singing from centercourt prior to the game, the choir performed in the concourse, singing quite a bit of their rather large repertoire. “Iwasn’t sure that it would go well, but once we got on stage and performed, it was better than I had previouslythought,” Johnson said.

As the summer of 2010 draws to a close, the choir is left with nothing to do but reminisce about the memorablemoments of it -- and look forward to those that lie ahead. n

Kyle Walker, age 13, is a member of the St. Luke’s Children’s Music Program

—15—

Frantic, Fabulous, Fun and Frenzied: Summer 2010by Kyle Walker


together in ministry everyday

The Live in Tune Youth ministry team is new and realizes that we have theopportunity to connect with families and connect youth to church! Thekick off on August 22 was our initial way of saying hi, and welcome. Nowour youth ministry is well into the school year and seeking wa ys to be inclusive. The following are the stories of our new associates inyouth ministry.

Ryan McGee: Associate DirectorMy jour ney to St. Luke’s has tak en many years to come to reality. I've applied for youth ministry positions in the past andafter volunteering for several years, realized my passion is forworking w ith students and families in the c hurch. After pursuing full-time minist ry for several years and some dead-end jobs, I began t o step back and e valuate where God wasleading me. With prayer and insig ht from close fr iends andfamily, I c onfidently sensed God still leading me t o pursue full-time ministry.

After hearing of Matt Peyton’s new position with The Garden, I raced toprepare my resume and send it off to St. Luke’s. One thing led to anotherand I’m here! After years of frustration, I finally feel like I’m exactly whereGod has prepared me to be and I’m so excited to begin ministry here. Ibegan in early June with my first day in the “office” as a full day at King’sIsland w ith Jr. H igh students, follo wed b y a w eek in N orth C arolina serving the community of Swan Quarter with High School students. Justa few weeks later, I led another mission trip with Jr. High students to the

community of Newport, Tennessee. During both mission trip experiences,students opened their hands t o the community and poured out love inthe form of paint, sweat and lots of hugs with kids.

As expected, I hit the ground with very busy feet. Once Ireturned to the offic e later in the summer , I began t ofocus on what w e wanted our Jr. High ministry to looklike. Overall, Sunday morning will look different fromSunday evening.

Sunday mornings will be more large-group oriented andwill incl ude a time of m usic, t eaching and br eakoutgroups. We introduce the topic to students on S undaymorning and nar row the focus in the e vening. Sundayevenings will focus around small groups, and will includea time of fun games, a w rap-up teaching, and reflectiveworship.

Another focus I’m investing in is launching a youth band, one band for Jr.High students and one band for S r. High students. Having a plac e for students to get connected is important for their growth and to developtheir leadership skills.

Again, my feet are still busy running, and we hope to keep moving forwardas we welcome all students and families into our ministry.

Living in Tuneby Ryan McGee, Stephanie Eft and Kevin Davis

—16—


Stephanie Eft: Associate DirectorHello St. Luke’s family! I look forward to getting to know more of you inthe coming months, but in the meantime I thought I’d give you all a sneakpeak of getting to know me. I come to St. Luke’s from St. John’s Presby-

terian Church outside the cit y of brotherlylove (and throwing snowballs at Santa Claus),Philadelphia. Following the call to St. Luke’sbrings me jo yfully back home t o the nor thside of Indy. I grew up in Fishers and gradu-ated from Hamilton Southeastern. After highschool, I mo ved to Philly t o attend EasternUniversity and study youth ministries. I amthrilled to be a part of St. Luke's youth min-istries team, particularly because of the effortsbeing made in r elational minist ry and t o

connect our youth to the adult c hurch community and the larger c om-munity around us. But enough about me, let me share a little more aboutour Sr. High youth ministry with you!

I could not be more excited about this fall and Live in Tune youth ministry.Sunday mornings are our small g roup time for S r. High students, withthree options from 9:30-10:30am. Wake up at Starbucks is our coffee anddiscussion group that meets at the Star bucks across from Brebeuf HighSchool off of 86th St. (rides are available from the Lodge around 9:15am).Wake up at the Lodge is our activity and discussion group that meets at theLodge. The third option, Wake up at the B ig House, meets in the mainchurch building in N103/104 and is for students interested in one or both

of our Sr. High mission trips for the summer of 2011. Sunday NIGHTS aremore of a big group, big activities, big music, big connecting time for Sr.High students. The evening consists of a welcoming/hang out time, wor-ship and a shor t message, and breakout discussion g roups based on in-terests (arts group, coffee and conversation group, sports group, gamegroup, etc.) Hope to see you all on a Sunday soon!!

Kevin Davis: Director of Youth MinistryI am really excited about this year. It is great to have a team of staff and vol-unteers that are so excited about youth ministry and that help in so manyways. This year’s kick off, weekly meetings,fall retreats and the planning for ne xt sum-mer mission t rips w ould not be possiblewithout such a great team!

After being her e for just o ver a y ear, I amcontinuing to learn ways to serve you andyour family. One of our highest priorities isto take time to listen to teens and to parentsabout their needs. It is our desire to serve in ways that are impactful foryour family. The changes that we have made in youth ministry this year aredue to listening to different needs and doing our best to respond. Becauseof these changes we are in need of more volunteers! There are plenty ofways to get involved. Check out our volunteer section on the website andget in tune with the resources section. If there is any way in which we canserve you and your family better, please let us know! n

—17—

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 youth ministries


virtual church together in ministry everyday

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is our honor here at T .I.M.E., the TogetherIn Ministry Everyday magazine, to welcome guest interviewer HairyKing, who recently nailed an exclusive interview with our very ownMatt Peyton about the new virtual church community The BluevineCollective. The interview will run in full on some tv channel as soon asHairy gets his own show (it turns out he’s got a face more suited forstone-tablet carved news, rather than broadcast.) In the meantime,below is a transcript of the interview.

HAIRY KING: Matt, welcome to the show. I want to first of all thank youfor joining us here on the Hairy King show.

MATT: Yeah, ummm, about that. I’m pretty sure I was told this was theLarry King show.

HK: Ha! Classic Matt Peyton humor! Alright, first question, what ex-actly is The Bluevine Collective.

M: The Bluevine Collective is a diverse community seeking to engagein significant life and faith questions in order to foster transformativeaction. We are trying to take the feel of the wonderful offerings here atSt. Luke’s and The Garden, and bring others into the conversation fromall across the country and world. You can get there by visiting www.

thebluevinecollective.org, from the St. Luke’s website, or by search-ing Facebook.

HK: That’s wonderful! So basically, if I had to boil it down, you are run-ning a dating website for Christians.

M: No. No, that’s not right at all. W e are trying to foster conversationwith a new community built around the spirituality of a wide variety oftopics such as music, eating locally grown foods, dealing with our petpeeves and other general things like that.

HK: I see. Well that’s good because I wasn’t quite sure where you weregetting the authority to give out dating advice.

M: Right. I mean, wait... What? Next question, please.

HK: Sure, sure. Now there have been some rumors circulating aboutThe Bluevine Collective and I was wondering if we could address someof those.

M: Rumors? From who?

HK: Matt, you know I can’t divulge my sources. Anyway, word has beengoing around that The Bluevine Collective is a cult led by a maniacaldictator and that the site’s ultimate goal is to bring about the end ofthe pew manufacturing economy of the Midwest, creating a power vacuum that is ripe for takeover by outside forces. W ould you care torespond to this allegation?

M: Hairy, I don’t have any idea what you are talking about.

HK: Ah-ha! I see, so you are going to play hardball on this one!

M: No, Hairy, I literally have no idea what you are talking about. As faras the cult thing, nothing could be further from the truth. We receiveda grant from the United Methodist Church to start this online endeavor.And as far as pew manufacturing is concerned, we don’t want to stop

people from going to whatever worship service theyare currently attending. Instead, we want to fosterfurther dialogue about a wide range of topics thatsupplement whatever is already taking place ontheir spiritual journey . If someone has never attended a worship service of any kind but findsgrowth t hrough o ur s ite, t hat’s w onderful. A lso,though, if someone who attends church every weekwithout missing a Sunday enjoys and grows fromour site, that’s the goal also.

HK: I see. And in regards to the maniacal dictator?

M: Well Stan Abell is the pastor in charge of theproject, so I can’t outright deny that one.

HK: Well Matt, it seems like there are a lot of won-derful things happening at The Bluevine Collective.

M: Thanks Hairy , we’re really excited about the possibilities, as well as the community already tak-ing shape.

HK: What are some things you’re doing to get people involved deeperthan just reading a blog.

M: Well, we have a lot of ideas, but I can tell you two things right nowthat we have planned. First of all, each quarter The Bluevine Collec-tive will have an outreach focus. The idea is to raise money and aware-ness to different causes that affect us all locally and globally . So inaddition to sharing information and ways to help online, we will hostevents to bring people physically together to build community and raisefunds for these issues.

HK: That sounds pretty cool.

—18—

Introducing The Bluevine Collectiveby Matt Peyton


OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 the garden

Something any gardener will tell you about gardens is that they need a lot of differentthings in order to thrive. One of those things is space. Without enough space plants willbegin to crowd each other, pushing and pulling until soon they begin to choke each otheras they desperately reach for the nutrients they crave in a murderous fight for survival inwhich only the strongest survive, eventually feeding on the decaying material of the plantsthey have mastered in their race for dominance in the face of the harsh realities of life!

OK, sorry. We may have gotten a little carried away there. Clearly things haven’t gotten thatbad at The Garden at Oak Hill (yet...), but the point is that as we began to look aroundthe room on Sunday mornings, we noticed that the place was starting to be pretty packed.

Heeding the advice of many leaders who quickly point out that organizations are alwayseither growing or shrinking (never just staying level), we sat down and began to write downthe pluses and minuses of all of our options.

It seemed to us we had two clear choices. First, cancel The Garden at Oak Hill (plus: morefree time to explore hobbies such as bird watching and learning Portuguese; minus: tak-ing away a place where God works in peoples’ lives). Or second, we could add a newservice at Oak Hill (plus: more space to invite new people and offer a more hospitableenvironment; minus: an inability to identify that stuck-up bird who always sits out-side our window staring at us with those judgmental little eyes.)

It soon became clear that an additional service was the way to go.

The Additional ServiceOut of these decisions was born the idea of Garden Unplugged. An additional serv-ice at Oak Hill every Sunday at 9AM that would be a new offering for people lookingto experience God in their lives, wherever they are. In addition to Garden Unplugged,The Garden will still host the same, quality services at 10:15AM at Oak Hill, as wellas the services at Beef and Boards at 8:15, 9:15 and 10:15AM.

Rev. Stanley Abell, Pastor of Offsite Ministry , The Garden/St. Luke’s, and leader ofthe new service, is excited that the opportunity for a new service grew out of a strong

M: Yeah. The other opportunity we have is that we arepartnering with The Village Experience, which is an or-ganization here in Indianapolis, to lead a trip this sum-mer to Guatemala. Our goal is to bring together peoplefrom all across the country who participate in our onlinecommunity to meet face-to-face and have a life-chang-ing experience together.

HK: That kind of reminds me of this one time I met a girlonline, and we were going to meet up and then I foundout she was really a llama.

M: Wait, she looked like a llama?

HK: No, she was literally a llama!

M: Right. Well. It will be absolutely in no way like thatexperience you had.

HK: Good to know! W ell Matt, I want to thank you fortaking the time to sit down with me and shedding somelight on The Bluevine Collective.

M: It’s been my pleasure, Hairy.

This interview can be viewed absolutely nowhere, see-ing as how Hairy’s wife, Mrs. Llama King, ate the DVDthat it was stored on. For questions you can visitwww.thebluevinecollective.org or e-mail Matt directlyat [email protected]. n

Stan Abell leading The Garden Unplugged

—19—

Garden Unplugged Offers a New Way to Experience God in Your Life Every SundayMorning at Oak Hillby Matt Peyton


the garden together in ministry everyday

passion from the Leadership team and committed volunteers. “Twelveof us got together and considered the objectives we’d needed to address with a new service, and all the ways we could accomplishthem,” said Abell. “The consensus of the group was to create GardenUnplugged. The energy was around building on the unique, creativeformat of The Garden, and on continuing topush and explore how people can experiencethe unconditional love of God.”

If you are familiar with The Garden services,you will recognize many of the same ele-ments taking place in Garden Unplugged.The service will still feature popular songsyou may recognize from the radio and clipsfrom some of your favorite movies, put together with a short message that will focuson bringing you hope and a positive outlookon life. What’s new , however, is that manyof the songs will be pared down to an acoustic version and there willbe a time of discussion both around your table and with Rev . Abell.(Also, there will be muffins, which are new and very tasty.)

The idea behind these changes is that we hope to be able to reach andinteract with people who are interested in wrestling a little more withsome of the topics we discuss, while still being authentic and honest.

“Everything we do at The Garden on Sunday morning is focused onfully developing an understanding of that morning’s theme,” explainedAbell. “Perhaps you understand it best through music, but for some-one else it clicks through a movie clip or a prayer. By adding the group’sconversation to the mix of the service, we are simply creating yet another way people can connect.”

Continue the Conversation after the ServiceOne of the exciting new opportunities being offered at Garden Unplugged is the chance to interact with those seated around you, aswell as the speaker that week. If you have a thought or question, you’llhave the chance to share that with others and learn as they do the

same. Soon, we’ll even have an option for you to be able to submitquestions to the speaker through text, tweet or Facebook in real time.

However, not everyone’s mind processes information the same way ,and hopefully you will continue to think about each week’s topic past

the allotted time on Sunday morning.

For this reason, Garden Unplugged offers achance to continue the conversation allweek long at The Bluevine Collective (formore information about The Bluevine Col-lective, please see previous article). Eachweek, Rev. Abell will post an article on thesite that discusses some aspect of thatweek’s topic. This allows not only anotherway to engage with Garden Unplugged, butalso a chance to continue the dialogue thatbegan on Sunday morning.

Simply comment on that post and check back throughout the week to participate in the emerging conversation. This also offers a greatway to stay connected to Garden Unplugged if you can’t attend on agiven week.

Continued GrowthWe hope that these new connection points and the new time havepeaked your interest. We invite you to come, bring a friend and enjoya muffin and coffee as we all grow together and think about what it means to experience God wherever you might be. We’ll be here every Sunday morning at Oak Hill Mansion 9AM, and we hope to seeyou there.

If you have any questions about the service or would like to get involved on one of our many volunteer teams, please don’t hesitate tocontact Rev. Stan Abell at [email protected].

Thanks and God bless! n

—20—

UMM’s Second Annual Fish Fry will be on Thursday,October 7 from 4:30-8PM in the Great Hall. Last year, we served over 600 people and raised $1,500 for theInterfaith Hunger Initiative. And the feedback w e received was r esoundingly positive. In fact, many people asked us if we would organize another one for the spring!

Not only did we feed a lot of people a lot of good food, and raise some money for a good cause in theprocess, we also had a terrific time as a group. The camaraderie was tangible, and everyone had a blast.Whether breading fish, working in the serving line, or walking amongst the crowd refilling drinks andplates, each of the men was able to experience the joy of serving others alongside other Christian men.Men, if you're interested in helping w ith this y ear's fish fr y, contact Matt Roop at ( 317) 548-5931 [email protected]. For everyone else, come out for some great food on October 7! Proceeds thisyear will go towards post-earthquake rebuilding efforts in Fondwa, Haiti.

GARDEN, cont’d from page 19


OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 united methodist men

Brotherhood by Rev. David Williamson

—21—

A few months ago , I was ha ving breakfast with a leader I admire, and he shar ed with me one of the pr inciples thathas guided him thus far. “No matter what organization youare leading,” he said, “you want to be known for one thing.But choose that one thing carefully...”

Those words have been rattling around in my head for thepast few months as we’ve been rethinking how we’re doingfamily and men’s minist ry here at St. Luke’s. If there wasone thing that we are known for, what would that one thingbe? And would it be the one thing that we were aiming for?I brought the question to a recent retreat of our Men’s Min-istry leadership, and the responses I got were enlightening.

One guy said: “I feel like we’re known around the church asthe guys that do stuff—cook breakfast, set up Live Nativity,and so on. And that’s great—we want to serve. But are weknown as guys who are helping each other grow spiritually?”

Another piped in: “Yeah, we have a lot of programs that arefocused on helping us be better fathers or better husbands,and that’s great. But we never get around to asking the ques-tion: How are you doing as a man?”

As a result of these conversations, we decided to rewrite ourmission statement. Going forward, the St. Luke’s UnitedMethodist Men will seek t o be: “A br otherhood of men,sharpening one another, growing in faith, learning to serve.”

So our “one thing” from now on will be brotherhood—menwho are bonded to one another and supporting one anotheron their journeys. But at the risk of breaking the maxim myfriend so kindly shared with me, we realized that “brother-hood” is perhaps too daunting a concept at first g lance, sowe’ve broken it into three foundations we will emphasize.

The first of these is fello wship. Fellowship can take manyforms—it can be a group of guys playing softball, or it canbe that same group of guys gathering at a bar to watch thegame. It could be 30 men coming to church on Satur daymorning for breakfast, or it could be a smaller group of guysgathering during the week for prayer and accountability. We

recognize that fellowship can take many different forms, butit is vital to a man’s soul to have other men to connect with.So one foundation of our organization is providing regularfellowship opportunities for men.

Another key component of our vision statement is growth.We build fellowship with one another not just to have fun,but in order to push each other and sharpen one another inour walks w ith Christ. There are lots of areas where men can grow—as fathers, as hus-bands, a s l eaders, as C hris-tians—and we’re seeking t oput into place programs thathelp men g row in eac h ofthose ar eas. We’ve alr eadyhad some success at this. Oneparticipant in our Raising aModern Day Knight study remarked, “I look forward toour meetings, because it givesme one hour each week to step back and think strategicallyabout how I’m leading my family.” That’s exactly the kind ofgrowth we’re aiming for—that o pportunity for st rategic reflection is what all men need.

And finally, we close with service because we understandthat, bottom line, if we’re not ser ving our church and ourworld, our neig hbors and our families—w ell, then, we’remissing the mark. But we also want to be specific about howwe’re serving our world—by building better men, by build-ing the kind of brotherhood where we sharpen one anotherin faith and push one another to grow.

So coming up this month, you’ll get t o see the UMM in action, as we hold our second annual Fish Fry to benefit thework in Fondwa, Haiti. But make no mistake—this isn’t justa bunch of guys “doing stuff” around the church. This is agroup of guys who enjoy being together, who care for oneanother, who are all trying to grow in their faith, and whoare trying to make a difference in their world through serv-ice. We are a brotherhood. Come join us. n

“A brotherhood of men,sharpening one another,growing in faith, learningto serve.” —UMM MISSION


Fondwa, Haiti, is perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever visited. Ofcourse you have the majestic mountains as far as the eye can see in every di-rection, but even more striking is the beauty of the people. Beautiful smiles.Beautiful presence. Beautiful souls.

Led by Rev. David Williamson, a group of St. Luke's United Methodist Men(Chris Bailey, Chris Bultinck, Brad Manbeck, Matt Roop, Bob Zehr andme), the K ids First F oundation ( Jeremy C hastain, Da wn Lockw ood, Mike Marker, Lisa Peterson, Mike Pitts), and three other new friends fromother states, spent seven days (August 29-September 5) doing a work proj-ect at the top of the mountains in Fondwa valley. In just four work days, theteam completed four classr oom star ted by a pr evious t eam, built four additional classrooms, and painted the two orphanage dorms and six otherbuildings in the area. Yes, we achieved or exceeded our goals for buildingstructures. But the real impact was in building relationships—impact thatran both ways.

There are more than 40 orphans living in two dorms that were built afterthe earthquake made their prior home structurally unsound, and upon ourarrival we were greeted with squeals of joy and kisses from the kids. Overthe week we held them, played soccer with them, sang w ith them, jokedwith them, and fell in lo ve with them. On Saturday, we loaded e veryoneinto a truck and two vans to go to the beach, which is a special treat sincethey rarely get t o go and some had ne ver been. I ha ve never seen suc hunadulterated joy. Together with the kids in the back of the truck (about 25

of us in all), we sang church songs and praises to God the entire two-and-a-half hour journey! OK, one of the songs wasn’t exactly a church song...we taught the kids “W ho Let the Dogs Out?” The y embraced it very en-thusiastically, chanting “Who who who who” with appropriate gusto.

We were also the r ecipients of the fr iendships and goodwill generated byDavid and Jamalyn Williamson's years of service to this community. Davidseemed to know everyone, and despite the modest y of their means (onefamily of seven lived in a 10’x10’ hut covered by hole-filled USAID tarps),they graciously invited us in to their abodes for coffee, treats and relation-ship. Again, the beauty of the people—not materially wealthy, but rich inwhat matters most. I am h umbled and a wed by the e xperience and amgrateful that I was part of this group. Thanks to everyone back here at homewho “let the men out” to have this eye-opening experience. n

world missions together in ministry everyday

ABOVE: Carolah with boy

BELOW: Girl Team—Carolah, La La, and Yolanda (girls from theorphanage) help us paint their new school!

BOTTOM LEFT TO RIGHT:

SLUM Lords—St. Lukes' men (Brad Manbeck, Chris Bultinick,Kendall Millard, Chris Bailey, David Williamson and Matt Roop) prepare for the final day of work. The kitchen and kids' recreation building stand in the background.

Mission accomplished in just four days, eight classrooms, built and painted!

The work crew on the way to the beach!

Who Let the Men Out?by Kendall Millard

—22—


OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 spirit & place event

Under the umbrella of this year’s Spirit and Place theme“Food for Thought,” The Orphan’s Feast is a sponsoredevent of Saving Orphans through Healthcare and Outreach(SOHO). This organization was formed in the UnitedStates in 2006, and has expanded its network to parts ofthe Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand.

Here in the United States, we recognize food as family,fellowship and friendship—used typically to bring peopletogether in celebration. Food, like love, conjures up def-inite images in the mind. Appetizers, entrees, sides,desserts, drinks and leftovers testify to the truth that therewas enough. Feasting conjures up scenes of plenty, evenof extravagance.

To understand feasting within other contexts, we have tounderstand what food is, and what hunger is. What doesit mean when someone says “I’m starved?” For some, itmay simply mean skipping lunch or breakfast, or even thesnack in between. The orphans and vulnerable childrendisenfranchised by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa feastand celebrate when there is enough food. The meal mostoften is white cornmeal with a little sugar or salt, whateveris available. When there is food, there is fellowship, joyand songs of thanksgiving.

So in contrast, sometimes orphans and vulnerable chil-dren are brought together by a single common bond:hunger. At The Orphan’s Feast, participants will experi-ence a new definition of food and feasting through film,photography and discussion. Preparing and partaking of

a feast of orphan fare will indeedprovide "food for thought."

SOHO has partnered with Mis-sion Possible Kids to aid in thepreparation of this event. Spe-cial Agents will be decoratingthe handles of approximately

300 spoons with beads and wire. These spoons willbe used for a fundraiser, and some will be sent to the

children in Swaziland.

The Spirit & Place event will takeplace on Sunday, November 7,2-4PM in the Great Hall. Comeand experience “feasting” throughthe eyes of sub-Saharan Africanorphans, showcased in a docu-mentary film and photographs, asyou partake in a typical meal ofwhite cornmeal and water.

SOHO President Cynthia Prime will moderate a discus-sion at this event on food as the key to safety, security,health and hope. Panelists will include two SOHO staffmembers: Sheila Viswanathan, a native southern African,and nutritionist Annie Elble. I will also be joining the panel.Attendees will share in twos or threes their most memo-rable hunger or feasting experience, and how this feasthas helped them to see food through different eyes. Par-ticipants can create beaded cutlery and can either chooseto donate the finished item to the SOHO Welcome Placein Swaziland, or take it home as a keepsake of this event.

The call to action will enable participants to share our re-sources with the children where a single meal is a typicalday. Participants will be asked to consider the needs inour community, becoming more sensitive to those needsof children and families around us as well as those inplaces like sub-Saharan Africa. For more information,please contact Abbue Elble, annieelble@savingor -phans.com, or call 317-471-3478. n

The Orphan’s Feastby Dr. Marion Miller

2010 Spirit & Place is 10 magical days from November 5-14!Food isn’t just what’s on the plate. It’s a necessity, a commodity, and sometimes a lux-ury. It influences our family , health, and faith. It shapes our culture, economy , andlandscape. This year’s 40 festival events offer plenty of Food for Thought—and 78%are free of charge! Sample local craft beverages, try international cuisine, eat an or-phan’s “feast,” and more. For a complete schedule, go to www.spiritandplace.org.

—23—


This past summer, Later@St. Luke’s conducted its first Blessing of the Bikes ceremony .There are several bikers who attend Later@St. Luke’s multicultural worship service, and theyhelped make the ceremony an overwhelming success.

Many of you might be wondering, “What is a Blessing of the Bikes ceremony?” Since motorcycling is an activity involving risk, it is sometimes prudent to bless these machinesand their riders before a group ride. Most Blessing of the Bikes are informal religious cere-monies conducted by a minister or other religious authorities. Based on the posi tive feedback Later has received, plans are already underway for next year. We expect it to be bigger and even better.

The focus of the event this year was to raise the a wareness of bike enthusiasts here at S t.Luke’s and in the community. All sizes and types of bikers were in attendance, and it provedto be a good way to meet new people.

For this first event, we ended up with twice the number of motorcycles that we had originallyanticipated. One of the three wheelers on display was a real dragster. This dragster races all

later@st. luke’s | clergy together in ministry everyday

This past year, I wrote a proposal and received a grant through the PeerGroup Study Program (PGSP) of Christian Theological Seminary to study“multicultural worship” for the ne xt three years. The proposal will befunded by the Lily Endowment, up to a maximum of $55,000.

The process has been a long haul, because this stud y program holds up the principle of self-selection of pas-tors into peer g roups. It took over a y ear to seek out colleagues who wanted to study multicultural worship,and interact on a fairly intensive basis for three years. Atthe same time, it was extremely important to hold up theexpectation that this peer group would be inclusive anddiverse to include such factors as race/ethnicity, gender,sexual orientation, age, denominational background,size of congregation, location of church and theology.This particular clergy peer g roup is called “Shades ofWorship.” The focus pr imarily w ill be on leadership ,worship and learning about the resources that establishesmulticultural congregations. This g roup is comprisedof the following clergy:

• Helen Hempfling Enari, First Christian Church (DOC)• Holly Hardsaw, Horizon of Faith UMC• Joseph Johnson, Lawrence UMC• Marion Miller, Later@St. Luke’s UMC• LeKisha Reed, UMC - Indiana Conference• L. Wayne Smith, Abundant Harvest UMC• Brian Williams, North UMC

I am very excited about this program. It is an opportunity to help stimu-late the for ming of the m ulticultural worship experience at Lat [email protected]’s services. This study opportunity will also help to provide contin-

uing education through its very nature and existence. We have already developed a plan that w ill improve leadership enhanc ements, deepen personal growth and development, and increase congregation growth.

The range of topics selected for study will include areassuch as interfaith issues and r elations, the public r olesof congregations, and other such issues that address per-plexing problems and needs in I ndiana congregationsand communities. We will engage in w orkshops, read-ing and discussion sessions, preaching clinics, study/travel seminars, designing and carrying out projects withcongregations, and cr itiquing preaching and teachingskills in multicultural worship settings.

The Shades of Worship Clergy Peer Group was formedto tast e, see and shar e the all-incl usive lo ve of Godthrough sharing in and reflecting on the worship expe-riences of faith c ommunities whic h ar e g race-filled,spirit-led and multicultural. Shades of Worship’s mis-sion parallels with St. Luke’s vision—to be transformedwhile helping others. It will require a t ransformation

from each of us first, through growth and learning from others.

We will seek to learn from each other, challenge each other, and prayer-fully support eac h other. We will use conferences, spiritual mentors, scholars, t eachers, personal stud y and g roup ac tivities t o st retch ourminds, hearts and spirits. As we are being transformed, we believe we canthen be more effective in t ransforming our homes, congregations andcommunities. n

Blessing of the Bikesby Chuck Miller

—24—

Indiana Clergy Peer Group Study Programby Dr. Marion Miller


over the Midwest, and he has had three crashes this year– even flipping his dragster over on its roof. The driverand his wife heard about the Blessing of the Bikes wor-ship service, so they came and asked for a ble ssing ontheir dragster. Not only were they very happy to get theirdragster blessed, but we picked up some new friends inthe body of Christ.

Along with the dragster and the motorcycles, there werebicycles and children’s toy motorcycles. One person evenbrought his favorite Hot Wheel car (in his pocket) to beblessed. Everyone there had a great time—next year weinvite you to be a part. Bring your motorcycle, bicycle oranything with wheels, and receive an additional blessingfrom God who is always our guide and protector. n

For the last 25-30 years, St. Luke’s Singles has been an anchor ministry of S t. Luke’s UMC. W e’ve seen man ychanges over those years, with lots of people connecting toother areas of ministry within St. Luke’s from our SinglesMinistry. We’ve also seen people connect with that specialsomeone or a small group community that has enabled themto find friendship, comfort, fellowship, love and support.

2010 has been no different when it comes to change. W e “rebooted” Singles Ministry by making some positive pro-gram changes, and also had some new leaders come onboard. With many of our leaders stepping down after yearsof wonderful service, we were looking for some fantastic,innovative, fresh ideas. We weren’t disappointed.

We kicked off this summer with the theme “Singles Sum-mer under the Sun.” W e switched around our W ednesdaynight schedules and took some of our events off-site to localvenues, such as restaurants, concerts, museums and sporting events. W e also continued to have three staple events that brought in lots of new faces to our Singles Ministry: the SummerKick-off Dance Party, Strawberries and Jazz, and the Annual Block Party. We also started a newprogram that has been drawing in lots of people on the first and third Thursdays, the Singles Euchre Social.

As we head into fall, many things will be changing and a few things will be sticking around. We’llbe bringing some of our Wednesday night events back to St. Luke’s for the first and third Wednes-days. We’re calling this night Singles Café. Singles Café will start in October at 7PM in variouslocations around the building. We’ll be offering great coffee and tea and a special guest speaker.The other Wednesdays we’ll be meeting off-site at various local restaurants and venues.

We also have a new partnership with CenterPoint Counseling of Indianapolis to provide DivorceRecovery and Care to our singles who are in need of care and comfort during this uncertain time

Rebootingby Chris Thornsberry

—25—

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 singles ministry

Bikes and participants, blessings and fun.

Did you know that 48% of Americans 18and older are single?That’s right, 48%. That means there’s agood chance that you or someone you know is single.


of life. We’ll also be starting an onsite Personal Growth Group led by certified counselor DawnKozarian. This group is designed for anyone who’s found themselves stuck in a life rut. Whetherit’s employment, finances, relationships or something else, this small group will give the indi-vidual the tools they need to pull themselves out of those ruts. Both of these groups are a part

of our Living Well Small Groups. You can check out the other Living Well groupson the Singles Ministry page on the churches website.

Another way that our singles are connecting is through the social network siteMeetup.com. We currently have 350+ singles in the Indianapolis community whoare checking into our ministry and events on a weekly basis. Many of them feel thatit’s not enough just to connect socially online, so we have also established a part-nership with the Later@St. Luke’s worship service to get our singles involved in notonly attending worship, but also participating through prayer and service.

All in all, we’ve had some fantastic changes around Singles Ministry , and we’relooking forward to seeing what 2011 has in store. But before I end this article, I’dlike to point something out to you. Did you know that 48% of Americans 18 andolder are single? That’s right, 48%. That means there’s a good chance that you orsomeone you know is single. If that’s the case, we’d like you to share with yourfriend or friends about what’s happening at our Singles Ministry. Or, if you’re sin-gle, why not take a chance and join us for one of our awesome events?

If you’d like to sign up for our weekly eNewsletter or if you’d like more information about opportunities for singles, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. Or checkout our page on the St. Luke’s UMC website at www.stlukesumc.com. n

singles | endowment together in ministry everyday

—26—

If you were to ask someone, “How was St. Luke’s United Methodist Churchbuilt?” one might reply, “Brick by brick.” Of course, technically, theywould be right. From the outside, St. Luke’s is a building... a building con-structed of bricks and mortar with steel structures holding it all together.

But if you were to walk inside St. Luke’s on a Sunday morning, you wouldunderstand that the very foundation that sustains it is its people. When wetalk about g rowing our Endowment and the impor tance of leaving and securing our church’s future, what are we really saying? If the bricks wereto crumble and the st ructures were to sag, what would be left? Was St.Luke’s built brick by brick? Or was it built gift by gift?

Earlier this spring, we welcomed Reverend William G. Enright, Ph.D., to thepulpit to deliver an inspir ing message about building a cathedr al for oursoul. Dr. Enright addressed the importance of endowments and how theyallow congregations to live through tough times and survive through thosetimes with vitality. Endowments provide sustainability and allow for thecreation of new programs and services to ensure a better future for our min-istries. In the subsequent months, the Endowment Committee has beenmoving forward with some exciting developments and has witnessed newlegacies being created. St. Luke’s future is being built—gift by gift.

In June, the Endowment Committee, with approval from the GoverningBoard, hired long-time St. Luke’s member Linda P ratt as a par t-time consultant to help direct an endowment campaign. Since Linda’s involve-ment, we have sent informational letters and requests to 2,500 membersof the c ongregation, which has gener ated 14 new Endowment Societymembers to date. On July 4, Phil and Betsy Roby hosted a brunch for 45

members of the c ongregation attheir home on Lak e Wawasee. Dr.Kent Millard and Linda were in at-tendance to talk about the impor-tance of the Endowment and howone might think about getting in-volved. In addition, two new fundshave been established under the Endowment. The Orchestra Music Fund,established by Frank and Sharon Neese, will help provide funding to pur-chase music scores for the St. Luke’s Orchestra. Also, the Seminar ianScholarship Fund was established b y Adolf and Naomi Hansen for St.Luke’s individuals attending seminary. These new designated funds will beadded to the eight other existing funds of the Endowment.

On Sunday, September 26, 2010, a celebration luncheon for current andnew Endowment Society members was host ed by Steve and Mag ColeRussell. The Endowment Committee would like to thank Steve and Magfor opening up their home for this appreciation event. Their leadership ishelping to pave the way for g rowing our Endowment, and their g ift isbuilding a better and more sustainable future for St. Luke’s.

Currently, the Endowment is valued at $2.68 million. We would like to seethat grow to $7 million so that it w ould eventually generate $350,000 in future predictable annual income. For those that have indicated a gift towards our future—we thank you. For those interested in learning moreabout the various Endowment Funds, making a current contribution orestablishing a planned gift, please feel free to contact St. Luke’s Endow-ment Chair Jim Price at [email protected] or 466-0112. n

SINGLES, cont’d from page 25

Building St. Luke’s Future Gift by Giftby Tricia Tomson


“Nothing is more conducive to communion to the Living God than a meditative com-mon prayer with singing that never ends, but continues in the silence of one’s heart,

when one is alone again.” —BROTHER ROGER SHULTZ

On the third Sunday of every month at 5pm, St. Luke’s Music Director Mark Squireand I lead a meaning ful and contemplative worship service called Taizé. Some havesaid the Taizé service is like a “spiritual spa” because the music, chanting, prayer time,scripture and silence wash over body, mind and spirit with the warmth of God’s love.

QUESTIONS COMMONLY ASKED:

1. When and where is the Taize worship held?The Taize service is on the third Sunday of each month at 5pm by the baptismal font in the Sanctuary. Rows of chairs are placed in a semi-circle, and participants may enter in silence and take any available seat.

2. Do I have to sing?Not a requirement! The dedicated St. Luke’s Taize ensemble led by Mark Squire provides the beautiful music and choral chants; however, there are songbooks for those who would like to join in.

3. How long does the service last?Approximately 45 minutes. There is no sermon, but there are ten minutes of beautiful silence in which to pray or meditate.

4. Can I just sit and listen?Yes. This is a contemplative service designed to draw those gathered into a place of peace, healing, and worship of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You may use this time in whatever way is helpful.

5. What do people like about the Taize service?As people of faith, we hear that God loves us and wants the best for us, but sometimes we long to feel it in our very marrow. Taize offers Christians a non-threatening opportunity to lose ourselves in an attitude of worship. Its songs are an invitation to focus on God’s presence only.

We invite everyone to try the Taize worship experience to satisfy your spiritual hunger.

The remaining 2010 services will be held on Sundays, October 17, November 21 and December 19, all at 5PM.

We hope you will make this service your own monthly Spiritual Spa.

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 taizé

What is the Taizé Worship Service?by Rev. Marsha Hutchinson

FROM TAIZÉ PARTICIPANTS

“The Taize service isa time of deep peace

for me. I come seeking quiet,

reverent worship and harmony.”

“The music penetrates to my

core, thanks to thetalented, spirit-filled

musicians and

worship leaders.”

A Brief History of TaizéIn 1940, when World War II began, a Swiss Protestant—the late Brother Roger, “a bearer oftrust, reconciliation and peace”—founded the order of Taizé. Taizé is a tiny community justnorth of Cluny in the southeast ern part of France. Brother Roger and other P rotestant andCatholic brothers developed a monastic prayer cycle of silence, music, scripture and contem-plation. Their desire was to create a community of hospitality and trust for people from all overthe world, and particularly a place of refuge for those from Eastern Europe.

Today, the Taizé Community in the French town is made up of more than one hundred broth-ers from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds and from more than 25 countries. Since the1950s, young people have been visiting Taizé from all over the world in increasingly growingnumbers. Some weeks there are as many as 7,000 gathered from 70 nations. Churches frommany different denominations all over the world hold Taizé prayer services. n

—27—


The Assembly of United Methodist Women is a historic quadrennial event that attracts thousands. Since 1942, the eventcontinues to be a gathering place celebrating and empowering women in mission for women, children and youth.

In April, four women from St. Luke’s had the opportunity to attend Assembly 2010. Kathie Clemenz, Nancy Keller, SueStuart and I traveled to St. Louis for the gathering of United Methodist Women. We joined over 200 women from Indi-ana and over 6,500 women from across the g lobe, all shar ing one v ision: “Faith, Hope, Love in Action.” The Women’s Division of UMW in New York has adopted this as the new slogan for the organization as it embodies what UnitedMethodist Women believe and support, based on COLOSSIANS 1:3-6: “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord JesusChrist, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in C hrist Jesus and of the love you have for all thesaints—the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heardabout in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing,just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.” Celebratingour long history in mission, women gathered in St. Louis to learn, to experience and serve God.

FaithA meaningful worship service featuring Lila Downs and CeCe Winans gave women the opportunity to lift their voices andtheir hearts to God in appreciation for all he is and all he provides for us, his children. Lila Downs, a talented songwriterand performer, writes her songs as though they are prayers, urging us to cry out to him in song, exposing our hearts and

leaving ourselves vulnerable. CeCe Winans gave us the opportunity to celebrate our faith, ourGod, and our fellowship with other United Methodist Women united in the same purpose, “Toknow God and to experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ, to develop a creative supportive fellowship and to expand concepts of mission through participation in theglobal ministries of the church.” God was among us that evening and you could feel his spiritmoving among the cr owd, bringing tears of joy and sor row to those gathered as we prayedearnestly in His name. Not one who is too expressive in my worship, I was personally movedto tears by women nearby, who literally held one another up as the y raised their hands andhearts to him. In that place, God was not some far-away deity, but a real, tangible presence inthat very room.

HopeUnited Methodist Women depend heavily on the hope they have in Christ, the hope that theworld can be changed. We believe that the church can be the catalyst for that change across thenations. In St. Louis, Assembly visitors were able to attend sessions of interest to them. Edu-cation about issues like human trafficking, the climate crisis, world hunger and education werebrought to the forefront.

I attended a session with a woman from Liberia who has watched her country suffer under thecruel reign of former President Charles Taylor. She shared with us her story of abuse, terror,her family killed, her home bur ned, and her c ountry forever changed. We watched the film“Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” a documentary about a group of women who began a nonvio-lent movement to end the war in Liberia. Sitting and listening to her personal story of war, lossand ultimate triumph through faith, I began t o question how I may be able t o spread the message of hope t o others acr oss the w orld. Educating m yself about g lobal concerns and exploring what I may be able to do from my small space of influence is helping me embracethe hope I have in Christ. Assembly afforded me the oppor tunity to explore the question,“When I am confronted with the difficult burdens of this world, do I live out the hope I havein Christ?” I live it out in the mission work with United Methodist Women here at St. Luke’s,believing with my whole heart that each small task done in great love can and will make a dif-ference in the lives of those we serve.

LoveNancy Keller shares what she found most meaningful about her experience. “This was the first Assembly I have attendedand I found it to be enjoyable, meaningful and inspiring. I especially connected with the Rev. Anita Phillips, director ofthe United Methodist Native American Comprehensive Plan. Ms. Phillips focused on six words from COLOSSIANS 1:3, ‘Wealways thank God for you.’ She emphasized the inclusiveness of the Christian community, asking worshippers to turn inthe four directions of the compass: north, south, east and west. She designated the four as: creatures and creation; the elements that sustain life, such as water and soil; those people who came before us—the ‘cloud of witnesses’; and the generations to come. She urged us to thank God for the great gifts he has bestowed upon us, including our brothers andsisters in Christ.”

united methodist women together in ministry everyday

—28—

Faith, Hope, Love in Action: The 2010 Assembly of United Methodist Womenby Heather Hilbert

ABOVE: Heather Hilbert, Kathie Clemenz and

Nancy Keller

RIGHT: Sue Stuart and Kathie Clemenz


—29—

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 special events

We celebrated those former leaders who helped to pave the way for us today in the organization. We expressed thanks for Mrs. William Butler and Mrs. Edwin Parker,wives of missionaries to India, who first began the quest t o support women inother parts of the world, using their meager r esources to send two female mis-sionaries to educate girls and women in India. With two pennies and a pr ayer,United Methodist Women was born. We expressed thanks for women whomarched for women’s voting rights, supported the civil rights movement, andprayed for a peaceful end to war. We gave thanks for women today, all across theglobe, who are feeding the h ungry, nursing the sick, and providing education,some at the e xpense of their o wn safet y. Why, some ma y ask. The answ er is simple: Love.

In ActionOn Thursday, April 29, 600 women participated in Ubuntu Day of Service aroundSt. Louis. United Methodist Women descended on the cit y working on over 30

projects to help the community. They polished wood and cleaned the sanctuar yof Centenary United Methodist Church, worked in community gardens weedingand fertilizing the crops and flowers, and washing w indows for shut-ins, letting the “sun and the SON shine through.” An immigration rights rally was held insupport of overturning the controversial law in Arizona, with over 2000 womengathering to voice their concerns about the state of immigrant inequality. HarrietJane Olsen, Deputy Secretary of United Methodist Women, described the marchin downtown St. Louis as “a v isible call to care for ALL people in our midst, asChrist cared for us.” Women brought prayer shawls and baby blankets sewn withgreat care to the Experience Hall, as an offering of great love to the people in ourmidst. I prayed to God that he mig ht take our small offer ing and multiply it forsomeone who has nowhere to lay their head, who can’t care for her baby, and forthose seeking healing . At one point dur ing the weekend, I simply sat near theshawls, soaking in my great gratitude for United Methodist Women and the workwe are doing out in the w orld. It was as if you could feel the pr ayers emanatingfrom each loop and stitch as I imagined women sitting over their sewing project,praying that God would use it mightily.

Over 800,000 United Methodist Women worldwide are taking their faith, theirhope and their love and putting into action across the world. At Assembly, we werechallenged to explore our faith, confront our fears about the stat e of the worldtoday, show the love of Christ in everything we do, and step out onto the missionfield helping others, whether that be r ight outside our o wn doorstep, or acrossthe world. The gospel we represent is growing and bearing fruit, for which I amso grateful to be a part of each day. May we all continue to live out our faith, hopeand love, and always remember to make the final and most important step, put itinto action! n

Don’t miss the annual UMW Holiday Bazaar at St. Luke’s, November 13, 9AM-4PM.See the Communion Monthly or www.stlukesumc.com for details.

Interfaith Thanksgiving ServicesYou are invited to join diverse people of faith to give thanksfor the harvest and help feed those who do not have theluxury of a bountiful Thanksgiving. Everyone is invited toattend any of these services, regardless of religious affili-ation. In addition to an offering for the Interfaith HungerInitiative, canned food donations will also be accepted.

All services begin at 7PM• Thursday, November 18

Islamic Society of North America6555 S. 750 East, Plainfield

• Sunday, November 21Cumberland First Baptist Church116 S. Muessing St., Indianapolis

• Monday, November 22Friedens United Church of Christ8300 S. Meridian St., Indianapolis

• Tuesday, November 23SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral1347 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis6:30PM prelude featuring Indianapolis Children’s Choir

• Wednesday, November 24Northminster Presbyterian Church1660 Kessler Blvd., E. Dr., Indianapolis

Candlelight Christmas ConcertsFriday, December 3, 7:30PM & Saturday, December 4, 4PMSanctuaryBegin the Christmas season with the music and majestyof our many talented vocal and instrumental groups.

Live NativitySunday, December 12, 5 & 6:30PM, SanctuaryThe camels are back! Join us for this annual family-friendly re-enactment of the birth of Jesus.

HOPE Candlelight Memorial ServiceTuesday, December 14, 7PM, Spiritual Life CenterA brief yearly service to honor precious babies who willnever be forgotten. Parents may light a candle, speak aname, or just listen to the beautiful flute and music ofCarol Dennis. Rev. Marsha Hutchinson, pastor.

Christmas Candlelight ServiceSunday, December 19, 6PM, Robertson ChapelLater@St. Luke's, a special service with Dr. Marion Miller, pastor.

Longest Night ServiceTuesday, December 21, 6PM, Robertson ChapelA service on the longest night of the year (winter solstice)for those who find the holidays a difficult time of year .Led by Rev. Marsha Hutchinson.

Singles’ Open HouseFriday, December 24, 7-11PM, Parlor

Christmas Eve services listed on back page.

Holidays 2010


WELCOME!new membersThe following persons completed the August membership classes.

Trish Arbuckle, Mark Becher, Stephanie Becher, Leonard Crump, Carolyn Crump, Mark Dybala, Stacey Hissong, Mike Garland, Sandy Harlan, Tim Hayden, Rachel Hayden, Kipp Hostetter, Chris Irick,Erin Zgonc, Stephen Lewis, Don Livers, Tina Livers, Deborah Paulin, Eric Rawe, Jennifer Rawe, DeShong Perry-Smitherman, Keith Smitherman, Michael Stewart, Virginia Townsley, Tim Vermande, Sherrie Vermande, Joseph Washington, Valerie Hurd Washington

The next opportunities to join St. Luke’s are:

• Thursday, October 28, 6:30-9:00PM• Wednesday, December 8, 6:30-9:00PM

Contact Sylvia Forbes at 846-3404 or [email protected] to register.

spiritual life center together in ministry everyday

—30—

I was in the presence of the holy when I held my youngest granddaughter earlier this year . Pure mystery, this little wrinkled being with brown hair and puckered mouth. A precious child born intoa special family- my family. But is it a “holy family?”

My granddaughter’s family looks like the great American dream family—two parents, married toeach other, living in a mortgaged house, two cats, a dog and two cars in the garage. This is the kindof family I was born into and the kind of family my children were born into. But what about the families where the parents aren’t married? Or where the single mother or dad has never been married? What about two old friends combining households to save money and push away loneliness?What about blended families where both parents divorced and remarried? Or interracial families orinterfaith families or inter-generational families? Could all these families be holy?

Between now and Christmas when we celebrate the Holy Family we imagine Jesus was born into, taketime to celebrate the holiness of all families. Rent some recent movies—“Cyrus” or “The Kids areAlright” or “Winter’s Bone.” Here you will encounter a single mom and her adult son, a lesbian couple and their two children, and a 17-year -old head of household. You will see how much thesefamilies love each other , how much they struggle to be together and how much family means toeach of them. Wonder if these characters would claim the title “holy family?” Would we be willingto give the title to them?

Maybe you want to do something more than watch movies. Perhaps you would like to invite the unmarried couple next door over for dinner . Perhaps you would want to be sure that the never -married single mom at work knows you are not judging her. Maybe you could stop and think aboutwhat the holidays might be like for interfaith families. Here’s the challenge for you and me: will wearrive at New Year’s Day, 2011 transformed? Will we have overcome old stereotypes and judgmentsand joyfully embraced all the families in our lives as HOL Y FAMILIES? Will we celebrate these families in January and March and May , 2011, no longer saving up our generosity and hospitalityfor the month of December? Can we let people outside our church family know that they are welcomeamong us no matter what their families look like? Can we let people know that we celebrate all families as HOLY FAMILIES all year round?

During Advent, Dr. Millard will preach on THE HOLY FAMILY

DECEMBER 5The Holy Family: the unexpected

holy family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus

DECEMBER 12Your Holy Family:

today’s holy families that dwell together

DECEMBER 19Our Holy Family: our church family

DECEMBER 24God’s Holy Family:

the holy family of all human beings created in the

image of and cherished by God

Are All Families “Holy Families?”by Betty Brandt


—31—

CONDOLENCES TO:Tammy Elser and familyon the death of hermother Wilma Simon

Kelly Cheslyn and familyon the death of hermother Beth Clayton

John Schingel on thedeath of his fatherWilliam Schingel

Suzanne Oakes on thedeath of her stepsisterSally Conner

Marlene McDaniel on thedeath of her husbandDale McDaniel

Linda Kennedy on the death of her father Jesse Lewis

Peter D’Amour, Alex,Katie and Ross on thedeath of wife and motherPam D’Amour

Friends and family ofLarry Fox

Bill Cochran on the death of his mother Alice Cochran

Lois Madison on thedeath of her husband John Madison

Jim Crafton on the deathof his brother Bill Crafton

Heather Stockdell on thedeath of her grandfather

Karen Bailey on the deathof her father Paul Drum

Friends and family of Ned Boatright

Bishop Michael Coyner,Bonnie Craig and SteveCoyner on the death ofmother and grandmotherNina Coyner

Betty and Steven Vickeryon the death of son andbrother George Vickery III

Joe Porter on the death ofhis father Mark Porter

Jonathan & Beth Fried onthe death of mother andmother-in-law Lucy Fried

Carolyn Nierman and Lynda Kemper on the death of mother Bonnie Turner

Mary Fran Willis on thedeath of her husbandJerry Willis

Carol Rowlison on thedeath of her husband Dell Rowlison

Keith Bennett on the death of his wife Norma Bennett

Judith Hoog, Sylvia Barr,Bruce Cox and Gary Coxon the death of theirmother Laura Cox

CONGRATULATIONS TO:Chris & Katrina Reid and

Tom & Paula Elam on the birth of daughter

and granddaughter Eliana Violet

Mike & Stephanie Woodand Jim & Ginnie Colteron the birth of daughter

and granddaughter Kathleen Claire Wood

Mike & Holly Garlandand Hal & Jane Bennetton the birth of daughter

and granddaughter Libby Grace

Mike & Stephanie Woodon the birth of their daughter

Kathleen Claire Wood

Eric & Christina Williamsand Rob & Sandy French

on the birth of son andgrandson Evan Elijah

Mike LeTourneau & Pam Hursh LeTourneau

on the birth of their twin grandchildren

Oliver Matthew and Vivian Marie Hursh

Scott & Karen Bailey on the birth of son Preston Scott

Brian & Heather Walbornon the birth of daughterEmily Claire

Craig & Tracy Conley andGale & Penny Conley onthe birth of son andgrandson Edward David

Angela & Johnny Adamsand Ken & Pam Knowleson the birth son and grandson John Willard Adams V

Brooke McKinney & Benjamin Klinker on

their wedding of July 3

Blair Buchanan &Rashad Barksdale on


Jennifer Swanson & Jeffrey Cohee on their

wedding of May 8

Holly Sedlacek & Jason Bell on their wedding of July 16

Jessica Campbell &Patrick Wade on their

wedding of July 17

Kristen Kramer & Chris Thornsberry on


Michelle McCoy & John Fitzpatrick on their

wedding of July 25

Heather Thoompson & Christopher Mayhugh

on their wedding of July 31

Sarah Schiffli & Robert Archer on their

wedding of July 31

Ashley Williams & Erica Powell on their wedding of August 7

Laura Langendorfer &Dan Schuster on their

wedding of August 7

Anna Larson & Matthew Powers on theirwedding of August 21

Hilary Shafer & Wes Herendeen on theirwedding of August 28

Elise Holcomb & John King on their wedding of September 4

Rachel Scarbeary & Dave Bowen on theirwedding of September 10

Stephanie Surgoth &Ryan Winkel on theirwedding of September 18

Shannon Grim & Jason McBride on theirwedding of September 18

Bob & Judy Shive on their 50th weddinganniversary

Stay even more in touch with SLUMC by becoming a friend

on Facebook! Go to www.stlukesumc.com, click on “News &

Calendars” and then “Publications.” Lastly, click the Facebook

link at the bottom of the page. Already on Facebook? Search

for “St. Lukes United Methodist Church” (no apostrophe in

Lukes). See you there!

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010 concerns & celebrations


NON-PROFITU.S. POSTAGE PAIDINDIANAPOLIS, INPERMIT NO. 1569

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2010

St. Luke’s United Methodist Church • 100 West 86th Street • Indianapolis, Indiana 46260

Address Service Requested

NEW!! Christmas Eve Eve ServiceThursday, December 23, 7PM, SanctuaryA candlelight service for those who may need to leave town on Christmas Eve, or who may wish to avoid the larger crowds.

CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICESFriday, December 24

AT ST. LUKE’S, Sanctuary• Family Service: 3PM• Candlelight Services: 5, 7, 9 & 11PM

AT THE GARDEN

• Beef & Boards: 5 & 6:30PM• Oak Hill: 5:30PM

For a full schedule of Thanksgiving & Christmasevents, please see page 29.

ChristmasEve


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