Church Newsletter

1. Easter Flower Order Form
If you have questions about the following areas, con-
tact the people listed below:
Admin Board Nathan Lockwood 330.685.4199
Council on Min Alyce Ripple 330.832.5216
Trustees Bruce Lockwood 330.3096506
Usher Allen Hendricks 330.832.4850
Director of Music Marie Deitz 330.837.1651
Spirit Marie Deitz 330.837.1651
Youth Marie & Rod Deitz 330.837.1651
Prayer Line Barb Dillen 330.705-9049
SPR Chair Debbie Scheetz 330.477.3895
Finance Rod Deitz 330.837.1651
Lay Leader Debbie Sheetz 330.477.3895
Stewardship
Day Care Board Bryan Stuck 330.309.1900
Jesus Loves the Little Children…..
And the Big Kids, Too!
All kids ages 4-6th grade and Youth helpers
in grades 7-12, are invited to join us for Bible Buddies.
Our next gathering is planned for Sunday, February 21
from 5:30-7:30. Friends are always welcome. Masks are
required of all children, as well as adults who drop kids
off and those who are working in the program. Social
distancing and safe practices are observed.
Thank you to Evelyn and Larry Hinson for the great
snack each month at Bible Buddies and to Nate & Krissy
Lockwood for helping with whatever is needed.
Our annual Kids’ Camp-in will be Saturday, March 20
from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.. Our camp-in day will
include songs and stories and games and crafts, as well
as a service project! Lunch will be served. All kids ages
4-6th grade are invited. Youth in grades 7-12 are also
welcome to come to help. All participants and workers
will be required to wear masks and follow guidelines for
everyone’s safety. Flyers and permission forms will be
available in February.
Jesus said, “Let the children come to me…”
Marie & Linda
Fellowship Hall Rental—Cost is only $50.00 for members and
$250.00 for non-members. You will need to contact Frances from
9am to noon Mon– Thursday to get a rental form & will be put on
the schedule when the deposit is made.
To order your Easter flowers, send this completed form
and your check to the church office. Make your check
out to Epworth United Methodist. Please mark memo
line “Easter Flower”. Deadline March 7.
Potted Easter Lilies-$9.00
Potted Tulips $9.00
Potted Hyacinths $9.00 Your Name _____________________________________________________
(as you want printed in acknowledgment insert)
Phone # _____________________________________________________
What Flower _________________________________________________
How Many___________________________________________________
Please specify for bulletin:
In Memory Of _____________________________________________
In Honor Of _______________________________________________
Epworth
United
Methodist
Church
3061
Lincoln
Way
W.
Massillon
OH
44647
CHANGE
SERVICE
REQUESTED
DATED
MATERIAL
February/March 2021

2. The Echo
February/March 2021
Newsletter of Epworth United Methodist Church
Worship Time: Sunday 9:30 am
www.massillonepworthumc.com
Sermons for February and March
February 7 - "Have You Not Heard?" Communion Isaiah 40:21-31, I Corinthians 9:16-23, Mark 1:29-39
February 14 - "Let Your Light Shine!" II Kings 2:1-12, II Corinthians 4:3-6, Mark 9:2-9
February 17 - "Dust and Ashes" Ash Wednesday Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, II Corinthians 5:20b-6:10, Matthew 6:1-6,
16-21
February 21 - "The Kingdom of God" Genesis 9:8-17, I Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:9-15 - FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT
February 28 - "Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me!" Genesis 17:1-7, 15-18, Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38 -
SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT
March 7 - "The Temple of the Lord" Communion Exodus 20:1-17, I Corinthians 1:18-25, John 2:13-22 - THIRD
SUNDAY IN LENT
March 14 - "God so Loved the World" Numbers 21:4-9, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21 - FOURTH SUNDAY IN
LENT
March 21 - "To Die That We Might Live" Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33 - FIFTH SUNDAY
IN LENT
March 28 - "Every Knee Shall Bow" Isaiah 50:1-9a, Mark 11:1-11 PALM/PASSION SUNDAY
PRESCHOOL THEMES
2/1 Weather
2/8 Valentines
2/15 Dental/Personal Health
1/22 Sounds
3/1 Things that are Green and Crawl
3/8 Dinosaurs
3/15 Signs of Spring
3/22 Birds
3/29 Earth Week/Rain Forest
INFANT/TODDLERS CONCEPTS
February—Healthy Bodies
March—1st Week—Dr. Seuss
Animals/WildlifeFarm
UPCOMING EVENTS
Feb 14—Valentine’s Day Party
Feb 17—President’s Day
Feb —School Pictures—Lifetouch
March ASQ Evaluation for Children
April—Hop-A-Thon—TBD
 Thank you to Marcia Emmert for counting our col-
lections each week and to Larry Hinson for taking it
to the bank. You are very much appreciated.
 Thank you to everyone who helped with the socially
distant Breakfast with Santa.
 Thank you to everyone who participated in the
Mountain Vision Christmas Project.
 Thank you to everyone who participated in the Op-
eration Christmas Child.
Job – Bible Study by Paul Stevens – Wednesdays at
9:00 am on FaceBook
January
20th
1 Dueling with the Devil Job 1:1-2:10 https://
fb.watch/381amdN9zf/
27th
2 God in the Dark Job 2:11-4:17
February
3rd
3 God-Talk: How Not to Be Spiritual Friends Job 6
10th
4 If God Were Only Human Job 7:7-21; 9:14-
10:7
17th
5 The Faith That Rebels Job 13:1-14:17
24th
6 Our Heavenly Guarantor Job 16:7-17:3;
19:23-27
March
3rd
7 The Problem of Pain Job 20:1-19; 21:1-16
10th
8 The Silence of God Job 23
17th
9 Songs in the Night Job 35; 36:13-16
24th
10 God in the Storm Job 38:1-11, 31-41; 40:1-5
31st
11 The Joy of Repentance Job 40:6-14; 42:1-6

3. Refriger-Prayer:
Becoming the Church God Wants Us to Become: Psalm 127:1 & Matthew 16:18
You ought to always pray and never give up.
Jesus Luke 18:1
Heavenly Father, have mercy on us, and pour out Your Holy Spirit on us so that we can be-
come the kind of Church that you would have us to be:
✞ Grant us grace to love You with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our
strength, and give us grace to love our neighbors as ourselves. (Deuteronomy 30:6 &
Matthew 22:36-40)
✞ Transform us, we pray, to deny ourselves, take up Your Cross & follow You, Lord Je-
sus. (Matthew 16:24-26)
✞ Lord of the harvest, we pray that You send out workers into Your harvest field, and
may many experience the call and respond, “Here am I send me.” (Matthew 9:37-38
& Isaiah 6:8)
✞ Please empower us to make Disciples, and teach each one, whom we Disciple, every-
thing you have commanded (Matthew 28:18-20)
✞ Please, Lord, let your Holy Spirit flow through us, as we abide in you, so that we will
produce Your spiritual fruit, as well as Your powerful gifts. And cause us to daily keep
in step with The Holy Spirit, as we are filled with the knowledge of Your will through
all spiritual wisdom and understanding. (John 15: 1-16, Acts 1:8, 1 Corinthians 12, 13
& 14, Galatians 5:16-26 and Colossians 1:9-14)
✞ Transform our Pastor to deliberately equip God’s people to do the work of the minis-
try to which You are calling him. (Ephesians 4:11-13)
✞ We need your help, O Lord, to be empowered to obey Your call to the ministries of
feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming strangers, and visiting the
sick, as well as the imprisoned. (Matthew 25:31-36)
Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant, brought
back from the dead the Lord Jesus – that Great Shepherd of the sheep - equip us with
everything good for doing God’s will. And may He work in us what pleases Him
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen and Amen!
Hebrews 13:20-21
Pastor’s Pen
Pastor’s Notes:
Psalm 127:1 “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.”
Isaiah 26:4 “Trust in the LORD forever, for in the LORD GOD you have an everlasting rock.”
During this difficult time, we are all hanging in there—and we thank you for your prayers and your support, as
well as your patience, while we hope for and wait for things to get back to some semblance of normal!
We will let you know when we will open the doors again, but even then; we most likely will still need to ob-
serve the protocols that we have been observing and may suggest that those who feel most at risk to remain
home and connect with us on our FaceBook live-stream of the worship service and other events.
We hope and pray to be able to completely open again—but it might be possible only after the vaccine is dis-
tributed to the majority of us.
We are planning on how we can return to worshipping in the Sanctuary again but that probably won’t be until
Fall. We are looking into the technological upgrades that we will need in the sanctuary so that we can contin-
ue to live-stream our worship service even then.
We will need to continue to find ways to work together to serve the Lord, one another and the greater com-
munity. And as the scripture says, we need to put out complete trust in the Lord God and our Savior Jesus
Christ.
We are including a “Refriger-prayer” that we will ask you to post on your refrigerator and to pray daily for our
congregation, our mission, your pastor and for our leaders. This prayer was prepared by a “younger chaplain”,
who served on my staff in the Air Force--Rev Al McGowen. He is also a United Methodist pastor. I thank Al for
sharing the prayer and the idea that we all need to be praying this prayer each and every day. So that is my
challenge to you, my hope, and my desire—that we all will pray this every day. I will be including it in my
morning devotions!
Blessings and Peace, Health and Strength to each of you,
Rev Les Peine

4. “Winter Warm-up”
Drive-thru Pasta Dinner
Sunday, February 28, 2021
4:30-6:00 p.m.
We are looking forward to our next community outreach Free Meal and Grocery Distribution.
We will be offering a free carry-out pasta meal, as well as a bag of groceries for families who
would like one.
You have offered great support for our October and December events, and we are hoping
that you will be able to help with this one! Again, there will be various ways that you can
help to make this a successful outreach .
We will need donations of:
12oz-16 oz bottles of water individual fruit cups boxes/bags of rigatoni noodles
meatless spaghetti sauce Dinner rolls 9 x 13 pans of brownies
monetary donations to buy food
We will need bags of groceries containing:
canned meat (tuna, chicken, etc) loaf of bread granola or breakfast bars
2 cans of vegetables 2 cans of fruit jar of peanut butter
box of cereal or oatmeal 2 soups with meat
We will need workers: (masks worn, sanitation & social distancing guidelines in place)
Chief cook 2:00 pm
Food preparation/carry-out box packers 3:00 pm
Parking lot set-up 3:00 pm
Traffic director 3:45 pm
Outdoor meal & grocery distribution 4:15 pm
Clean up
We will need people to distribute flyers to businesses and to invite folks to come also.
Sign up sheets are in the church office. Please call the office Monday-Thursday morning to
let us know how you can help. You can also get in touch with Linda or Marie.
Food and groceries will be needed by Monday, February 25.
Thank you in advance for helping with this project!
There will be a Church Council, Finance, and
Trustees meeting on Monday, February 8 at
6:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall.
.
February Birthdays
2/2 Allen Hendricks
2/2 Becky Labriola
2/3 Donna Yant
2/7 Jake Ripple
2/11 Lavonne Cindric
2/11 Sam Wimsatt
2/13 Mike Parker
2/22 Linda Lockwood
2/22 Doug Remley
2/23 Jordan Ripple
2/24 Terry Siber
2/25 Jake Eberhart
2/28 Susan Freed
February Anniversaries
12/20 Tom & Kristen Ledger
March Birthdays
3/1 Bryan Stuck
3/2 Bryan Cox
3/2 Nikki DeCeuster
3/3 Kassidy Ledger
3/5 Corinne Davis
3/12 Zac Lockwood
3/13 Krissy Lockwood
3/15 Elaine Burgess
3/21 Alyce Ripple
3/22 Barb Kennedy
3/24 Randy Stuck
3/27 Ray Kennedy
3/28 Deb Scheetz
3/29 Marcia Emmert
March Anniversaries
3/30 Mark & Cheryl Carter
Please let us know when
you have completed your
COVID vaccines. This will help us to de-
cide when we will be able to reopen
for in-person worship.
You can call the office Mon-Thurs from
9 a.m.—noon or email the church at
epworthum@sssnet.com
FINANCIAL REPORT
11/30/20Balance $13,969.45
Receipts $8,776.93
Total Receipts $22,746.38
Expenses $9,673.46
12/31/20Balance $13,072.93
SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
12/31/20EOC Credit Union $1,231.92
EOC Credit Union $18,048.06
FARMERS Savings $32,282.63
12/31/20TOTAL $51,562.61
BUILDING EXPANSION
12/31/20Balance $273.66
Pledges $2,250.00
Total In- $2,523.66
Payment on Principal $2,115.06
Extra Payment on Principal $130.00
12/31/20Ckbk. Balance $278.60
12/01/30Loan Bal- $105,714.53
Payment on Prin. $1,844.71
Extra Payment on Prin. $130.00
12/30/20Loan Bal- $103,744.76
As we anticipate being able to once again worship in the
sanctuary, we are looking ahead to what equipment we will
need to purchase to enable us to continue to Live Stream our
services. Below is a list of items that are going to be needed:
Remote Control Camera with parts and cables to permanent-
ly mount it
Two new wi-fi routers (one for each building)
Cabling for the Sanctuary
Approximate cost for this project is $3,000. If you would
like to donate, please mark your donation as “New Technol-
ogy”.