When Your Heart Is a Little Bit Hard

Do you ever have times when you decide to quickly pass by the person asking for a hand-out rather than taking a moment to dig into your wallet and hand them a bill? Or times when you decide to skip your devotional time, or when you decide to sleep in on Sunday mornings? Or times when you know your loved one needs a kind word but you remain silent? You aren’t angry with God, you haven’t turned away in rebellion, you haven’t lost your faith, you’re just not in the mood to do what you know you should do, so you don’t do it. Your heart is a little bit hard.

Every day most of us are faced with these challenges to our tiredness, to our feelings of being put upon, to our desire to sleep through it.

In the gospels we see glimpses that Jesus faced these challenges. As word spread about the miracles he performed, people flocked to see him and a large crowd followed him constantly. Jesus often needed to get away and find some quiet time to be in prayer, but the crowds pressed in on him, never leaving him alone. Jesus needed time apart after he heard about the death of John the Baptist, and Matthew writes, “Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.” (Mt. 14:13-14)

We all need our quiet time and our time apart—even Jesus needed that. But Jesus never used that as an excuse to be hard-hearted. When he brought his boat to shore and saw the crowd he had compassion for them. He cured their sick.

There is no secret formula for softening our hearts and making us compassionate. It is always a decision to do some work. It is always harder to help someone in need rather than ignoring them, to do the right thing rather than the easy thing, to express compassion rather than be in-different. It is harder to do something than to do nothing. But if we don’t do the hard thing, what becomes hard is our hearts. And the more we don’t do the hard things, the harder and harder our hearts become, a little bit at a time.

Jesus shows us the way. Make the hard decision and follow him. Every time he asks. Jim

The Newsletter of Inman United Methodist Church Fayetteville, GA 30215 May, 2017

The Inman Informer

Trustees

Thank you to all the Church members who volunteer to handle the maintenance issues at Inman. We have several completed and ongoing projects and could not do it without your support. The Church-wide workday on March 25th was a great success. To all the ladies, men, and young folk who came out to help, we want to give a special thank you. We accomplished a lot both inside and out at the church. We have an Eagle Scout candidate from our own Troop #73 who has committed to work on refurbishing the tennis court surface at the Youth House. Don’t forget to sign up for Grass cutting! All supplies and equipment are provided by the church. Sign up calendars are located on the bulletin board by the pastor’s office. Our new pastor, Reverend Tommy Ross, and his family will be moving from Porterdale, GA to the parsonage at Inman UMC on Thursday, June 22nd. We will need volunteers to help load his household items at his current home and move them to Inman on June 22nd. More details will follow in the June Informer, but if you would like to help, please see Ed Roehm. As part of ASP training, the youth built two picnic tables which are located under the portico and are available for sale. Free delivery to a good home. If you or your friends need a great table, please contact John Rigby.

ASP Service Project To all the Church members and friends of Inman, a heartfelt thank you for your support to our volunteers as they raise funds and prepare for their service trip. The "Potato Bakes" and financial sponsorships will make it possible to take fifteen youth and adult leaders to Hancock County, Tennessee this year to do God's work in helping needy families to improve their living conditions. Our final Potato Bake will be on Sunday, May 21st. Please invite your friends and family to join us. We are so proud of the ways the youth at Inman have worked

hard to prepare for this trip and participate in fundraising. Below are some pictures of our service trip volunteers working at Potato Bakes and training projects.

Landing Get-Togethers Each Sunday, following the 8:45 a.m. service and again between Sunday School and the 11:00 a.m. service, a

group in our church will sponsor a brief time of hospitality on the stair landing. Please stop by! The following groups will host the Landing Get-Togethers during these months. If your group would like to

host, please see Joni Janssen.

May Outreach June Vacation Bible School July UMW and Youth—back-to-school supplies

Joy & Sharing Joy & Sharing will meet Tuesday, May 9th at 11:30 a.m. in the Fel-lowship Hall. For more information, see Gloria Reid. Please invite your friends. We hope to see you there!

Primetimers The Primetimers will meet Tuesday, May 30th at 11:30 a.m. at Barnstormers Grill in Williamson. Please join us! If you would like more information about how you can participate, contact Jean McChargue at 770-241-6800.

UMW Recognition

On Sunday, April 30th, the UMW recognized Kathy Barb for her dedication and hard work for the UMW Love and Fellowship Circle at Inman. We are truly thankful for her leadership and ministry to women, children, and youth at our church. A gift was also given in honor of Kathy’s granddaughter, Emersyn.

(L to R: Joni Janssen, Kay Cox, Nancy Allgood, Kathy Barb)

ASP Yard Sale

The ASP Service trip members will be hosting a yard sale at Inman on Saturday, May 20th. All proceeds will go to support their service trip to Hancock County, Tennessee in June. If you have any items you would like to donate to the sale, they can be dropped off at the church on Thursday, May 18th. If you would like to help with this event, please see John Rigby or Ed Roehm. Please invite your family and friends to come out and support our youth and adult volunteers as they prepare for their trip.

Ladies’ Night Out

On April 22nd, the UMW Love and Fellowship Circle hosted a Ladies’ Night Out to attend the musical “Church Basement Ladies” at the Legacy Theater in Tyrone. 16 women of all ages participated, and everyone had a wonderful time of fellowship together. A big thank you to Brenda Schachle for helping to host this event. If you would like to participate with the UMW in the future, please see Kathy Barb or any UMW member. We hope you will join us!

For healing from health concerns Mike Aiken, brain tumor (Pat Pratt) Carlos Allen (Gloria Reid’s brother) Wanda Anderick, arthritis, memory (Nancy

Allgood) Anna Anderson (Angus Anderson) Ray Barday (Charles Cox) Liz Beardon (Judy Becco’s sister) Judy Becco Charlotte Booth (Martha Kozisek) John Brown DeLois Casebier, kidney disease Jess Cash, (Kathy Stower’s sister) Sandra Clower, shoulder surgery Brad Cook, in rehab David Cornelison Kathy Doyle, hip replacement (Jane St. Amour’s

daughter) Arlys Ferrell Cheryl Gibbs, aneurysm (Tommy Peacock) Ann Grubbs Junior Hale, stroke Larry Hanna, heart issues Nicole Henry, colitis Ray Hensley Jean Hilten (Claire Starkey’s aunt) Shirley Ingram (Martha Kozisek) Dell Kerr Griffin Lunceford Ronnie Lynch (James Lynch’s son) Ashton McCart (Jane St. Amour) Cheryl Murphy, health issues (Kay Cox) Harriett Parham Thelma Shackleford, brain injury Mason (Kathy Stowers’ grandson) Claire Starkey Ursala Strickland (Linda DeLisle’s mother and

Eve’s grandmother) Butch Venable (Lynn Wheeler’s brother-in-law) Lee Wagner, health issues (Brad Wagner’s father) Billy Ward, heart surgery Jeff Wedge

Rhonda Wheeler (Daughter-in-law of George & Lynn Wheeler)

Don Whiteside For healing from cancer Terri Adams (Virginia Adams’ daughter) Shannan Archer (Arlys Ferrell) Brandon Brown (Claire Starkey) Pat Cooper (Jane St. Amour) Kay Cox Nancy Cox (Cox’s sister-in-law) Walter Delia (Martha Kozisek) Berta Folds (John & Patty Rigby) Jim George (Donna Stillwell) Mary Lee Giddings Gina Henderliter (step-daughter of Carolyn

Kramlich) Donna Hilton (Claire Starkey) Gary Hoffman (Linda Price) Matt Kirkindall Harry Martin (George & Lynn Wheeler) Kim Moss (Arlys Ferrell) Joe Ponzio H.C. Pratt Gail Ross (Jack Price’s sister) Mike Sams Katie Schmidt (Brenda Schachle) Louise Woods (Ann Hembree) For those mourning the death of these loved

ones Lola Childers Joan Garner Jim Kundall Ted Millman Stan Wymouth Other Concerns For the children and youth programs of Inman Unspoken prayers of the congregation

Our Prayer List

MAY 2017

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

30 1 5:30 p.m. Girl Scouts

2 7:00 p.m. Boy Scouts

3 5:30 p.m. Fellowship Meal 6:30 p.m. Choir Practice 6:30 p.m. Prayer Group

4

5 12:00 p.m. 1st Friday Lunch

6

7 Holy Communion Noisy Buckets 5:00 p.m. Inman Youth Group

8 5:30 p.m. Girl Scouts

9 11:30 a.m. Joy & Sharing 7:00 p.m. Administrative Board Meeting

10 5:00 p.m. Staff Meeting 6:30 p.m. Choir Practice 6:30 p.m. Prayer Group

11 12 13

14 Mother's Day 5:00 p.m. Inman Youth Group

15 16 10:00 a.m. UMW 7:00 p.m. Boy

Scouts

17 1:30 p.m. Outreach Committee Meeting 4:30 p.m. Worship Committee Meeting 6:30 p.m. Choir Practice 6:30 p.m. Prayer Group

18 19 7:00 p.m. 3rd Friday Dinner Group

20 ASP Yard Sale

21 12:15 p.m. Children/Youth Council ASP Potato Bake 5:00 p.m. Inman Youth Group

22 23 11:30 a.m. Primetimers 6:30 p.m. UMM

24 6:30 p.m. Choir Practice 6:30 p.m. Prayer Group

25 26 27

28 5:00 p.m. Inman

Youth Group

29 30 31 6:30 p.m. Choir Practice 6:30 p.m. Prayer Group

Inman Staff

Rev. Jim Hanna, Pastor (706) 962-1203 (cell) pastor@inmanmethodist.org Anna Baker, Church Secretary (770) 461-2123 Beth Jones, Program Director (205) 527-9034 programs@inmanmethodist.org secretary@inmanmethodist.org Carolyn Kramlich, Pianist 770-315-4128 pianist@inmanmethodist.org Jolynn Stevens, Director of Music music@inmanmethodist.org

The Informer is a publication of Inman United Methodist Church 151 Hills Bridge Road Fayetteville, GA 30215 (770) 461-2123 www.inmanmethodist.org

May Birthdays

Jeff Creel 05/01 Brad Wagner 05/03 Courtney Allen 05/09 Katherine Wedge 05/12 John Brown 05/21 Linda Wagner 05/25 George Wheeler 05/28

If you see that a birthday is missing, please notify the church office so that we can make the correction in our database.

The United Methodist Men will meet on Tuesday, May 23rd at Speedi Pig in Fayetteville. Please invite your friends, neighbors, and coworkers to join us for food and fellowship.