Greetings, Christ Methodist Church family!

I cannot adequately express how excited we are to be serving alongside of you during such an exciting time in the life of this wonderful church. Carmen and I, along with our children, have been so warmly received and we look forward with great anticipation to getting to know all of you over the next few months. We have truly experienced the Lord’s favor through you and your lovingkindness as we begin our transition to Auburn. God has reminded us again and again of His good promises for us and our new church family at CMCA with a verse that has been on the forefront of our thoughts and prayers: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

As you already know, this week is called Holy Week or Passion Week and spans from Palm Sunday to Easter Day. This is a great time for all of us to experience God in new and unique ways and to grow in our relationship with Him and others as we journey together through the highs and lows of this important week in our faith. Over the years, I have often found that through our times of worship on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter, that there are opportunities to sharpen our recognition of God’s constant presence in our lives.

Psalm 34:8 offers the invitation that I extend to you this week at CMCA: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him!" Join with me as we willingly follow in the footsteps of Christ to listen faithfully for God’s voice and follow Him in all of our ways. This Holy Week, take time to join us for our worship services (and also times of Christian fellowship) as we trust in His ways over ours and find our confidence in Christ alone. 

I would love for you to join us and feel the joy as we praise God for all He has done. Thanks be to God! 

May God’s peace be with you! 

Tony

Friday, March 29 - 6:30 p.m. - Good Friday Service at Lee-Scott, Dr. Tony McCullough

Saturday, March 30 - 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. - Family Easter Celebration with Easter egg hunt for our Christ Methodist Church Children and friends at Greystone

Sunday, March 31 - 6:30 a.m. - Easter Sunrise Service at Greystone, Dr. Tony McCullough

Sunday, March 31 - 9:30 a.m. - Easter celebration of worship at Lee-Scott, Dr. Tony McCullough

 Join us for this moving service as we retrace Christ's footsteps to the cross. Special music will be presented by the Christ Methodist Chorale and guest cellist, Michael Knowles, performing Heather Sorenson’s, "Tenebrae." You'll be moved in a powerful way!

Please join us for our first ever Family Easter Celebration and Easter egg hunt for our Christ Methodist Church Children on the lawn at Greystone. Please invite your friends!

There are many festivities planned including an area for pre-school and for elementary age egg hunts with prizes; a bounce house, face painting, bunny bowling; arts and crafts, storytime, snacks, and much more. There will be a drawing to give away a beautiful Easter basket!

We look forward to making memories with you then! Fellowship is Fun!

Please join us as we worship our risen Savior at our first Easter sunrise service on the lawn at Greystone. Brother Tony will bring us a brief message and we will sing hymns and songs led by Mark Wilson and Will Mooty. Please bring your lawn chairs and let's start our Easter morning together in praise and worship.

We look forward to joyfully worshiping with you this Easter Sunday - our first Easter together as Christ Methodist Church of Auburn!  What a day of rejoicing it will be! We are thrilled to welcome to our 9:30 service our first senior pastor, Dr. Tony McCullough. Dr. McCullough will be preaching a sermon entitled, "New Hope in Christ", based on Scripture from Matthew 28:1-10. We are beyond thrilled, excited, and blessed to be able to welcome Dr. Tony McCullough to our church family as our pastor and shepherd. Brother Tony's first day with us was this past Monday of Holy Week. He will be with us for our Maunday Thursday and Good Friday services at Lee-Scott, as well as the Easter sunrise service at Greystone.   

Brother Tony graduated from Auburn University with a B.S. in civil engineering. He completed seminary at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and he earned his Doctor of Ministry degree in church leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. Tony is an ordained elder in the Global Methodist Church.

Brother Tony is married to the former Carmen Stegall of Montgomery, and they have three children – Arden, a senior at Auburn University, and daughter Adeline and son, Holt, who are in the 10th and 8th grade at Trinity Presbyterian School in Montgomery. 

Don't miss our first Easter Celebration of Worship at 9:30 at Lee-Scott featuring triumphant music by the Christ Methodist Chorale, brass and percussion with musical highlights including the "Hallelujah Chorus" and the Widor "Toccata.” Also, we'll have glorious floral displays by Stanley Sistrunk and the Flower Store. Bring your family and friends for this service of triumph! Come and be blessed on this historic day and let's give Brother Tony a big Christ Methodist Church welcome!

Please arrive early for the Easter morning service since we expect increased attendance and many guests! There will be parking attendants and golf carts available from the parking lot to the gym for those needing assistance. We ask that our regular attendees park in spaces away from the building or on the sides of the driveway so that our visitors will be able to park closer to the gym.

There will be two Floral Crosses in front of the entrance to the gym this Easter Sunday morning at worship. We invite our children and their families to brings flowers Easter morning to help decorate the cross for Jesus! These can be flowers from your yard or the store.

There will be a professional photographer available to take pictures. You may also wish to take pictures inside the gym by the flowers after the service. The flower arrangements may be removed by those individuals who purchased them after the photos are finished being taken.

Preschool music program, "Jesus, Music, and Me" is in full swing at Greystone Mansion led by our own, Jacquie Cruz. What a blessing to see and hear these precious children, ages 18 months to three years old, learn about music, rhythm, and most of all JESUS! The Second Session is available now for registration. Classes will be Monday and Thursday mornings at Greystone. Space is limited. For further information about upcoming classes contact Gary!

Needed

Nursery Workers for Easter Sunday to share and show their love for Christ. No special talents needed except to love and play with toddlers. You will be blessed!

Contact Joanna Reaves at thereaves@gmail.com 

In an effort to acquaint our new pastor, Dr. Tony McCullough, with all of us at Christ Methodist Church, and also for us to get to know him and his wife, Carmen, we will be having neighborhood gatherings beginning in March and going through the summer months as needed. These gatherings will also be for us to learn more about our church and all that Brother Tony is envisioning for us. We would like to have these gatherings in the homes of our members in each neighborhood around Auburn. We would like to see around 30 or so people at each gathering. Light refreshments are optional and these gatherings will last about and hour and a half and typically begin around 6:30. They will probaby be held on Monday or Tuesday nights.

We need host families to volunteer to have these gatherings in your home. If you would be willing to be a host family, please contact Debbie Smalley at debbiens7654@gmail.com or 334-444-2383 to let her know. We will schedule these gatherings with each host and with Brother Tony. Then the host family will be responsible for inviting those people in and around their neighborhood to attend the gathering. The idea is to invite those whom you know attend Christ Methodist or who would be interested in hearing more about our church. 

Thank you for considering to be a host family and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

 Christ Methodist Church will host a cookout for young adults and families with children at the Greystone Office and Ministry Center. Please put this on your calendar; be thinking of families to invite; and contact Susan Canaan at susan.canaan@gmail.com if you would like to help with this event.

We are planning on a time of food, fun, and fellowship including games for the children, for those in our church to get to know each other better, to get to know Brother Tony and his family, and to have the opportunity to invite friends and families who may be looking for a church home. 

More details will follow. We look forward to seeing you then!

We have offering envelopes available at the entrances to worship at LSA. It is not necessary to place checks in an envelope unless you prefer. Please note in the memo line of your check, if you are paying for name tags or giving to any fund other than General.

Are you giving from a QCD? It is very important that we know if you are giving from a Qualified Charitable Distribution account because the IRS requirements for acknowledgement are different than non-QCD gifts. Unfortunately, not all check remittances let us know that. If in doubt, we will contact you to double-check.

Our online giving platform is Tithe.ly at https://get.tithe.ly/download-tithe.ly-app. Or you can text-to-give. Text the word "give" to (855)-645-3493. Or you can access Tithe.ly through our website, www.christmethodistauburn.com.

For those who are giving online, we encourage you to consider setting up recurring giving. It's easy to do - just follow the instructions when you login to Tithe.ly! Thank you!

Please contact Sherrie Stanyard, our Financial Administrator, if you have questions at sherrie@christmethodistauburn.com 

The amount received from March 11 – March 17 was $30,628.20. Thank you for your faithfulness!

Our church phone number (Greystone) is 334-209-0074.

Now that we have our pastor, we are changing hours and our procedures at Greystone. This is subject to change, but for now our new “open” hours will be 9:00 – 4:00 Monday through Thursday and 9:00 – noon on Fridays. We plan to keep the doors unlocked during these hours. We will transition the volunteer shifts for answering the phones and greeting to 9:00 – noon and noon – 4:00, which we will be working toward soon.

We will be closed for Easter Monday, except for two morning activities, Jesus Music & Me, and a Bible Study.

We want to be welcoming to everyone who comes by the office. Please be patient if you ring the doorbell after hours and it takes a few minutes for an answer. Thank you!

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The link to our Facebook page, YouTube channel and Instagram are on the upper right side.  Just click on the icon  

App – Download the app from the App Store (either iphone or android). Search for Church App- Tithe.ly. Once you down load it, it will ask you for the church name. It is Christ Methodist Church of Auburn.  You can switch to our logo as your icon.

There is an icon on the front page of the website that will take you to the appropriate App Store  ( iPhone and android)

If you have any questions or would like some information  email dbagwell@charter.net

Great Need

People to help with the mission of media. All levels of experience to no experience. 
contact Debbie Bagwell at dbagwell@charter.net

Please pray for these brothers and sisters in our family of believers. If you have a prayer concern that you would like for the team to know about, please send it to pray@christmethodistauburn.com

• Cecil Spears – Health Concerns. Hospitalized at EAH.
• Jerry Parker – Continuing to recover at home.
• Robin Kirkley - Surgery has been postponed due to new findings.    
• Sherwood and Betty Thomas – Mrs. Betty has memory issues.
• Sally Stroberg – Recovering from surgery.
• Jim Carroll – Pray for healing.
• Rita Tuck – Recovering from surgery and rehabbing her leg.
• Bess Lord – Continuing to recover from hip replacement.
• Sherri Guenther – Eye Condition.
• Harry Gill – Breathing Difficulties.
• Katherine Hill, Lisa Leonard’s mother – Health Concerns.
• Beverly Marshall’s mother - Urgent health concerns in Mississippi.
• Chuck Dupree, friend of Beverly Webster and Sue Daniel – Recovering from back surgery.
• Tim Boosinger – Undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer.
• Dan Pope, Dannelle Fogal’s father – Recovering from a fall with head and back injuries. Short term memory issues continue.  
• Eleanor Adams, friend of Monteigne Mathison’s cousin – Healing and rehabilitation from cycling accident.
• Matthew Hood – LSA junior who was severely injured in a car accident is home from UAB. Please continue to pray for rehabilitation and recovery. 
• April Coulter – Colon cancer treatments.
• Max Bush, Craig and Lisa Leonard’s grandson – The first round of medication for Max’s seizures was not successful. They will tweak his medication.  Please pray for effectiveness and limited side effects  
• Stephanie Philpott, Gayla Sellers’ daughter – Stage 4 kidney disease, daily dialysis, medications. Please pray for comfort and peace.   
• Ray Porterfield, Nancy Flurry’s son – He is now proceeding to get on the transplant list at UAB. He had an appointment last week to begin the process. 
• Alan Hampton, Rick Hampton’s brother – Undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma in Augusta Georgia.
• Our deepest sympathies to Cheryl Jones and family in the death of her cousin, Barrett Zuelke, who passed away this past weekend in a tragic accident. Cheryl requests prayers especially for his family, a one year old child and young wife. 
• Please keep our legal team in your prayers as they continue their work.  

The Congregational Care Team is adding another way for us to help serve the needs of our people. The Transportation Team will be a group of folks who can be called on to bring and take home those in our congregation who have no way to get to church services on Sunday mornings. If you would like to be a part of the Transportation Team please contact us.

Also, if you are aware of someone who needs this transportation help on Sunday mornings, please let us know.

You may email Melanie Flynt at memflynt@icloud.com or Laura Braswell at lkbraswell@gmail.com

The first batch of name tags has arrived for the ones that were ordered prior to last week. Another order is being prepared and it’s not too late to order yours. Those who wish to order a permanent plastic nametag (with magnetic clip), may email sherrie@christmethodistauburn.com or call 334-559-2229. She will also have a sign-up sheet with her Sunday at church. The cost is $15.00 per tag and can be paid by cash or check. Offering envelopes are available at the entrances to worship. Please designate “nametag” on the front of the envelope if paying by cash.

Sunday Schedule