March 10 2010
Information and Devotion FRESH from me to you!

Wednesday March 10th
NO Revolution Bible Study
Senior High ADHD at 7:30 to 9:30
location TBA at the POINT
Thursday March 11th
Youth Alpha 6:00
(if already attending Alpha. If not already attending Alpha please contact Lee Barnes @ 362-7807)
Friday March 12th
Please begin fasting for the Famine after your lunch.
Please be at the church at 7:00 in the CLC to drop off your gear and get ready for an awesome experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday March 13th
412 Junior High Small Group 5:30 in the Youth Lounge
5:30 Fast Breaking Meal in the CLC for our Famine Participants!
6:30 get picked up from the famine!
Sunday March 14th
Sunday School Small Groups
Divided classes 9:35 and 11:00
11:00 Confirmation in the Trailer
Worship 8:15, 9:35, and 11:00
3:00 Confirmation in the Trailer
4:30 Middle School POINT
5:30 Yummy Dinner
6:00 Big Time in the CLC
6:30 Senior High POINT



There will be no REVOLUTION tonight
We are continuing a great new study on growing together in and to Christ this
Sunday Night at the POINT:
In following Christ, there is one truth that most of us forget—we were never meant to do this alone. We need other people. It’s critical not just because we need friends, but also because in community we understand more about who God is. We see how He is working in other people’s lives. We learn things that God has taught them, and we get an opportunity to love and serve others. The WE series helps us discover the “WHY” behind community—why we need it, why we should pursue it.
This Week:
People’s stories are powerful, aren’t they? There’s something about hearing what’s going on in another person’s life that puts things in perspective for us. We may be thinking that God has forgotten us, that He doesn’t care about what’s going in our world, but then we hear someone share how God showed up when they really needed Him. And because of that, we begin to think that maybe, just maybe, He can be there for us, too. That’s the power of community. It’s how we see God at work in our world. It’s how we grow closer to Him. And it’s an important part of growing in our relationship with Him.

Confirmation Class: If you haven’t attended class yet, there is still room for you! Please come to the white trailer on Sundays for the 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. class. For more information, contact Pastor Lee.

Mission Opportunity for Year-Round Middle Schoolers: Having trouble fitting mission work into your year-round schedule? Join a new tradition of trips to Aulander. The first trip will be Apr. 22-25 - we will landscape and paint the Place of Possibilities (www.placeofpossibilities.org). A leader and materials will be provided. This is a great chance to get to know others and instill a passion for service in your family. Contact Toby White (362-7807 ext. 224, toby.white@apexumc.org) for more information and paperwork. $25 per participant and the parental consent forms are due by Apr. 4.

Easter Baskets: The 6th-8th grade 9:35 Sunday School class is making 35 Easter baskets for Aulander children. We need donations of stuffed bunnies or like-new baskets. Place items in the bin by the CLC kitchen through Mar. 19. Contact Sidney Froom (sidney.froom@apexumc.org; 267-5065).

If you have not attended a Confirmation Class yet there is still space for you! Please come out Sundays in the White Trailer at 11 or 3 for class and more information!

The Middle School Get Out Weekend schedules for March 12th and 13th has been rescheduled to the Fall of 2010. We cannot wait until the fall for this awesome retreat!

Bodies of Christ (BOC) is a dance ministry for children (5 years and up) that explores the art of liturgical movement. We meet Sundays, 2:15-3:15 p.m., in the children’s music room. All interested young children—and willing teen/adult helpers—who would enjoy experiencing God through liturgical dance are welcome. Jennifer Haynes: 267-6052 (h), 924-2659 (c), clevelandreams@aol.com.
For information about Apex Outreach Service Project (AOSP) and Appalachian Service Project (ASP) Please look in the Missions section of the bulletin or contact Toby White at 362-7807
Adult Leaders needed for ASP and AOSP Summer mission projects! In order for our Appalachian Service Project (ASP) June 20-26 and the Apex Outreach Service Project (AOSP) July 25-31 to continue this summer we are in need of adult volunteers. We are 3 leaders short for ASP and 12 short for AOSP. If we do not get more Adult volunteers then we will unfortunately have to drop some youth from attending. Please consider volunteering to be an adult leader for one of these very worthwhile projects. I assure you your life will be transformed. Please contact John Tigner for ASP tignerjd@gmail.com and Susan Hiles hilesfamily@mindspring or Toby White.

Consider donating funds to help our adult leaders to participate in ASP and AOSP. Each summer adults in our congregation volunteer their time as well as their vacation time to lead our youth in summer mission projects. We feel it is unfair for them to take time off from work and ask them to pay the participant fee as well. Therefore, we are offering you an opportunity to help make this more affordable for our adult leaders. Please consider sponsoring an adult leader either for ASP or AOSP. The fee for ASP is $275 and the fee for AOSP is $225. You may wish to donate the full amount or you can donate whatever works for you. Make checks payable to Apex UMC and mark either ASP or AOSP. These may be placed in the offering plate. Thank you for your support of our summer mission programs.


And Now a Little Devotion for the Week from the POINT:
Read: Proverbs 27:17

IRON MAIDENS
By Sarah Anderson

I have one friend from college who at the mere mention of her name makes me crack up. Any voice mail, e-mail or letter, literally makes me laugh out loud. Starting our senior year of college, we were cohorts in crime. Following graduation, we moved to Tennessee and worked and lived together for a year. Then we both ventured out west to try our hand at being cowgirls . . . kind of. She worked in Colorado and I worked in Wyoming. She was more of an actual cowgirl. I cleaned cabins and waited on tables. While out there, she met the man of her dreams and asked me to be in her wedding one year later. Eight months later she was in my wedding and now she and her husband are preparing to move to China to be missionaries.

She is a true friend. One time on a trip to a Hard Rock Café, we noticed a sign by our table that said Iron Maiden. (Only recently did I learn this was a band, which explains it’s place in Hard Rock Café, and more recently than that I learned it was also the name of a torture device first used in the 1500s.) We knew neither of these things at the time and took the phrase, adopting it as a name for ourselves. We wanted to be the Iron Maidens, because, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

This was the kind of friendship we desired. All craziness aside, what we craved was a friendship that pursued the betterment of each other, accountability to one another and a deeper knowledge of Christ. And this did not necessarily look like a weekly Bible study, or a scheduled time for prayer, or a twice a week chapel attendance that was required at our college. What it looked like was a sharpening of each other, an intentional smoothing of our rough edges by being friends who cared more about every facet of our friendship than just having a good time and sharing secrets.

I heard someone say once, “When iron sharpens iron, there are sparks.” A lot of times getting our rough edges smoothed out hurts. It is hard to let people in close and with something as sharp as iron, and giving them the access to your heart. But the sparks, the friction, the heat is not a bad thing. It means we are enduring the flames from the fire and being made into a more moldable and enduring vessel for Christ.

This friend made me a better follower of Christ. I did not always like her in the process. Sparks can burn. But she, along with God, made me what I needed to be. In her friendship, she gave me the permission to dialogue about tough issues, hard questions and nagging sins. That was hard. But we did it. I needed an iron maiden in her, and she needed one in me, and the result was two people who better understood what it meant to be at the mercy of the heat in order that we might come out better believers and followers of Jesus.

She still makes me laugh. She still brightens my life. But her real gift to me is not laughter or silly memories. Her gift is her persisting and enduring ability to shape me into who God wants me to be. I love her for that.

Something to Think About:
• What makes the friends you are closest too, the friends that you are closest too?
• Do you have someone who sharpens you like iron in your life?
• What do you do, or could you do, to help sharpen you and your friends?