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Ownbey Weekly Reader
Sunday, February 23, 2003.
(on web at  http://donredding.com/20030223.html )

Lesson schedule is at  http://donredding.com/2003.html#current

This Sunday 02/23/03 (* new this time):

A)Attendance for the day was 55, collection was $44.

B)Received offer to pay for new collection plates.

C)Skip Heintzelman brought two prints and for possible use in the room. Feedback was positive and we have an offer to pay for framing. Thanks Skip.

D)Received another volunteer for Project Committee.

E)Don said that Fellowship last year gave $500 to the Defib (we gave $500 including money from individuals). Fellowship had been asked to contribute to support of security guard and they are considering $500. Fellowship also has a scholarship program of about 1,000 last year plus other charities.

F)Don related his initial conversation with Barbara about the space issue. After class, several members expressed support for trying to move to the Fellowship Room with Fellowship to Library and Library to our present room. Lou Bledsoe and Sydnor specifically expressed support for the idea.Don feels the room is suitable for 30 people and we are averaging 47.

G)The issue of the “whine” from the a/c is paramount, no matter how the room is used. It needs very heavy curtains, thicker glass, maybe hooded buffers as on the other sides, shutters, or some combination to cut down the noise. The issue originally was thought to be the appearance of the a/c units but we have learned there is a larger issue with the noise.

H)The room arrangement worked well until we began to get crowded. Church in the Round ran over, causing a number of people to be late for Sunday School. By then all most of the seats were taken and as we added more it became much too crowded. Granted, after the newness wears off, we might not have as many in attendance but we always have had more than 30 average with peaks and the room cannot handle more than 30. See “list” mentioned below.

I)*Health and Happiness Report - Bob Grogan doing fine

J)*Treasurer's  Report: Carol reported  we have $ 1660 in the Project Fund after paying $100 to the Tom Hayes Fund. We have $334 in the general account / Health and Happiness combined. We have had expenses of $2 for postage and food and flowers. Also $60 has been transferred to Health and Happiness in memory of Jack Needy, Don Lumadue (Bob's brother), and Clyde Jefferson (Joyce Gossett's brother). A new checking account has been opened at Wachovia with no fees.

K)*Social Report – Let Jim and Nancy Hatfield have suggestions.

L)*Thanks to the Maxwells who hung Dr. Ownbey and he looks great. Barbara says the staff has to close our door to keep from over saturation with him,  it is a neat location and gives  a good feeling to walk down the hall and enter the room.

M)*Thanks to Anne Lumadue, Ellen Chason, Connie Owen for helping stuff labels on  the 18th

N)*Lessons:  Today, 02/23/03,  the Honorable Sydnor Thompson continues  Huston Smith's  Why Religion Matters... (The Fate of the Human Spirit in Age of Disbelief). On 2/16,  William got us off to a fine start and even made the book seem simple. Chick Thompson does the 3rd session on the book on 3/2 and Bill Pearce finishes 3/9.

O)Happy Birthdays:  02/18 Sydnor Thompson, 02/18 John Rasberry, 02/29 Jean Hamrick. *Happy Birthdays March: Jane Gage (3/1), Syd Elkins (3/8), Dick Hauersperger 3/9, Margaret Ann Schrum 3/10, Betty Campbell 3/11, Carl Hawn 3/13, Carol Needy 3/13, Laura Witherington  3/13, Winnie Culbreth,  Willard Gourley 3/20, Oscar Boyette 3/24, Joe Hamrick 3/27, Pat Culbreth 3/28, Frank Culbreth 3/30, Martha Sadri 3/30.

P)*Remember to move to the seats away from the door to make it easier for people arriving late.

Q)Room 109 -

1)Met with Barbara 02/14 as we are working on  noise from a/c, shutters, blackboards / whiteboards / bulletin board, storage, buffer, space if attendance stays up, surroundings, pictures, storage, tables, overhead light, etc.

(a)She asked us to give her a list of our "concerns."

(b)A major concern is the noise from the a/c units and the difficulty hearing the teacher and class discussion. *We learned that this was a big issue even before we "discovered" it.  The a/c was so loud  over in the Youth Building that they ALREADY have added buffers (notice the big hoods). They did not add a buffer hood toward our window because of the need for air and, I bet, the reverberation on the ground from it on our wall might have been worse. She suggested a microphone and I said I did not think so. I see Fellowship now has one.

(c)*Let Bill, Marie, or Don R know your concerns to help draft our list next week.

(d)Room assignments are not permanent yet.

2)Chairs - We need to mark and number our additional 6 chairs giving  56 chairs.

3)Hymnals: We are supposed to have 40 (now three are missing). We will compile a list of the dedications.

4)Comments / suggestions / etc. Feel free to add to the discussion.

R)Class Pictures  -  $5 payable to Ownbey SS (or  cash) and give to Carol Douglas.

1)Pictures  at  Photo Island and then click on "Ownbey'30202" on the left menu.

2)A big picture is on our web page at  http://donredding.com/church.htm

S)Future Dates (and Volunteers needed in italics)

1)02/26/03 - Wonderful Wednesday - last for this year (Hot Wednesday meals continue). Call  704  376-5520, ext. 5200, by noon on Monday of the week.

2)03/02/03 - Sunday - Dr. Wes Jones -  Dr. Jones, son of Edwin Jones of our church, talks to Luther Snyder Class on experience in Bolivia with Curamericas and all SS classes are invited. Our lesson scheduled that day is our second session on the book by Huston Smith's   Why Religion Matters... (The Fate of the Human Spirit in Age of Disbelief).  and led by Chick Thompson.

3)03/6-8/03 - Cokesbury Special Sale.

4)03/14-15/03,Friday night,  Room in the Inn - Ownbey night.

5)*03/15/03, Saturday, Spiritual Life Retreat on Prayer, $25, with Duke's Dr. Willimon. Registration forms around and in Cornerstone.

6)03/12/03 - Wednesday, Defib Training - 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Room 109. Call reservation line of 704 376-5520, ext. 5800

7)*03/16/03 - Young Methodist Singles Flower Sale - Place orders (to be picked up 04/12/03| - get form from Don

8)*03/19/03 - Wednesday - The Hat Lady Helen Turner 10:30 business, 11 program, 12 lunch. call the reservation line at 704  376-5520, ext. 5200, by noon on Monday of the week,.

9)03/30/03, Sunday, Neighborhood Get Together - from 2 p. m. until 4 p. m. in the Parish Life Building on Sunday March 30, 2003. Bring FRAN - friends, relatives, acquaintances,  and neighbors on that day. We will need to get together a booth. Need Volunteers

10)April Sundays - Greeters - Ownbey assigned. Need volunteers. The Sadris have signed up for 4/06/03, thanks

11)*04/12/03 - Pick up flowers ordered 03/16/03

12)06/01/03  - Consecration of Parish Life Building and renovations

13)Other Volunteers Needed:

(a)Ushers needed for Church in the Round. Let Jan Nomina, Hospitality Chair, know.

(b)New Church Member follow-up.

(c)Project Committee - need more names.

(d)HomeBound and Hospital Visitation Teams - See Rae Haney

(e)Goodness Gracious Gift Shop - opening in September, see Linda Shull to work in Shop

*new this timeLast Sunday (02/16/03)

T)Attendance dropped Sunday 02/16/03 to 29 with the competition of Bonhoeffer and the pending ice storm. We  had 59  and 46 in the other Sundays in the Parish Life Building.  Average attendance ytd is 39, excluding the ice day we missed.

U)The  regular collection was $ 20 ($46 and $70 the weeks before).

V)Pictures are $5. Anytime take and pay Carol with cash or checks to Ownbey SS.

W)*Bob Grogan had a hospital visit for surgery Monday  02/19/03 and he did well and was home a day early on Tuesday.

X)*Received another volunteer for the Project Committee recently. Need more.

Y)*Learned we need the hot water mainly to water down the strong coffee, to reheat a cold cup of coffee, and to make tea or hot chocolate. We will try the maker  in the hall at the catered coffee stand but maybe keep the mix in our room.

Z)*Suggestions received: .

1)We discussed atmosphere (a better word than "spiritual" which I was using and never seemed right). A suggestion was made that we have stuff in our attic we might use, assuming it does not appear to come from there. Others pointed out after class that we are not the only one  using the room and that we need to be careful in what we do. They were not sure we needed lamps.

2)Hang a class picture in the room.

3)Frame and hang Socrates.

4)How to follow up with new members to ask to our class. Working on this.

5)move speakers stand back to help the angle of viewing.

6)Several about rearranging the room including  the speaker's back to the window and another was the speaker's back to a corner. Might surprise you Sunday with another arrangement.

7)Storage cabinet needs a curtain. We already have a volunteer looking at doing one.

8)Tables are  big and ugly and we are trying to get smaller ones.

9)need real collection plates.

10)several  about memorials and Health and Happiness. Reatha working on this. More later.

02/24/2003 12:39 PM


Ownbey Weekly Reader Info

FYI: the Ownbey Weekly Reader works this way.

The Purposes of the Ownbey Weekly Reader (OWR) are to:

A)We will put information on the Ownbey Web site during the week and you can check it any time.  It will change it as the week goes by and we get more info from the church.
B)The link is  http://donredding.com/church.htm , then click on the "Lessons for 2003," then click on the date you want to see, either the one under construction or the one from the past.
C)An asterisk*  indicates new material for the Sunday date.
D)Underlined words almost always are a link to  other web pages. Click or double click to see. Recently a friend (not in Ownbey) could not read the Administrative Board minutes. I discovered he did not know to click on underlined words to go somewhere else. I know all Ownbey folks know this trick but in case you do not, remember to click on underlines to get more info. Color changes usually after you visit a link.
E)Occasionally early in the week we will send an email such as this with current info.
F)Non- email members. We sometimes send them copies but the time (and expense) of printing, stuffing, addressing, stamping, mailing is so much that we sometimes do not get around to it. Suggestions welcomed. Will send  this mailing to non-email folks and ask if they have an email address to let me have it. (Mel Halpern on 2/17 suggested the low cost Mailstation as an option. We will share the info with non-email members. For email folks, here is a link to the info he sent at http://www.donredding.com/mailstation.html. Thanks Mel.)
G)By Friday noon (maybe), we will send  an email with a full Weekly Reader. It also  will  be on line. Some of you cannot get it on line and the email and Sunday copy will have it all.
H)Copies will be printed (say) Saturday night and might include later info.
I)Copies will be available on class Sunday for pickup in a box begging "take one."
J)We will refer to the OWR  during class. Ok to glance over it while the Pres is talking but not during  the lesson, right William?
K)Sometimes the type might be too small in an effort to make copying and printing easier. If so let me know.  I recently bought new glasses that let me read very small letters and therefore am not as considerate about this as I once was..

L)Let us have info to include (anniversaries, new grandchildren  - or new children, retirements, awards, honors, joys, sorrows etc.)

M)Also, let us have info from various Teams or committees in MPUMC to improve communication of those activities.

N)Let us have suggestions.

O)Also, let us know if you do not want this info