Outreach Ministry in Caldwell

First United Methodist Church, Caldwell is putting their faith into action and reaching out to their community in an exciting and radical way by providing a contemporary evening service in a downtown bar. Pastor Todd Jordan contacted the owner of "Dickie Doos" dancehall and bar one block South of the courthouse square and asked if he could "rent" the facility on the second Sunday night of each month for $0. To the surprise and amazement of all the owner agreed.

Since then the church's "Might to Praise Band" has been providing motivating praise and worship music and Pastor Todd gives a contemporary and inspiring message at each service. Davis Mallard, a certified lay speaker at St. John's U.M.C., Rockdale, was on hand to share his moving testimony at the service on January 10th. This ministry is well supported by the whole church and entire families were present worshipping and praising together.

Please plan to attend this powerful, vital ministry on each second Sunday at 7:00 PM, Dickie Doos, 218 S. Echols, Caldwell, Texas. You'll be glad that you made the trip, I guaranty it -

E.D.

Lott Community Thanksgiving Service

When Rev. Perdue from neighboring Lott Baptist Church contacted Pastor Larry Roberman at Lott UMC about hosting a Community Thanksgiving service on Wednesday night neither could have anticipated the response. To the surprise of all, the sanctuary of the recently refurbished church was filled for the first service of this nature in the community. Music from 7 different Lott churches produced a beautiful blended worship experience that moved on the hearts of all who were in attendance. The success of this event has given new hope for those in leadership in this small community and served to build unity between the churches.

October 24th Mooreville UMC Car Show and Barbeque Cook-off

These are a few of the cars featured at an event that took place at Mooreville UMC. Whoever heard of a church doing a car show and a barbecue cook-off as a means of outreach? This little church is renown for its "out-of-the-box" approach to ministry and has been rewarded by phenominal growth as result. Pastor Joel Robbins announced in the early service the next morning that at least one person had given their life to Christ at the Saturday event.

Handiwork of the Marvin Menders

Marvin Menders Blitz Lott UMC

On Thursday morning, October 15th the mission crew from Marvin UMC, Tyler pulled up to the historic Methodist church in Lott and immediately set to work. Within the first hour part of the team had pulled the old awning and front door casing off of the building while another crew began constructing a new rear entrance. Still others began remodeling the kitchen on the interior.

Watching the enthusiastic "Menders" is most inspiring because of the love of Christ's church and devotion expressed in their work. It was also a very heart-warming experience to see the more-than-a-century-old church being renovated for continued service to the Lott community. Truly, this is the best of a win-win situation.

Blessings Abound on 8/28/09 Lott UMC Prayer Walk

Just as Brother Pat Baker (CLM candidate, Caldwell 1st UMC) had assured us during our organizing meeting 4 weeks prior the actual event, participants discovered themselves greatly blessed by walking the streets and meeting the residents of this small Falls County town while distributing prayer request cards.
7 volunteers from five U.M. churches converged in Lott, located on the Northern edge of the West District and enjoyed a lunch prepared for them by members Betty Willi and Irene Duncan. Afterwards, they fanned out across the town to knock on doors in teams of two armed with maps and prayer request cards. Collectively, the teams universally encountered residents were receptive to what they were “selling.” Some, who may have initially been hesitant, opened up their doors, and in certain cases invited the volunteers inside to talk about what they were doing in the community. It was a case of “open hearts, open minds, and open doors,” but the direct inverse of the general application in the church.
Participants regrouped at Lott U.M.C. at 3:00 PM for refreshments and regaled one another with stories of their wonderful and unexpected encounters with various residents of the town. Each one wore a glow of something other than just sunburn as they shared how a bonding had begun with individual residents during the event. Following a closing prayer by Rev. Judy Draper, each participant departed home to their own communities filled with the warmth of newly-formed relationships on their hearts and a sense of great blessings received from their experience.

August 9th Taskforce Meeting Minutes

In attendance: Pastor Larry Roberman, Betty Willi, Mort and Kathy Kothmann, Pat Baker, Calvin Wood, and Eric Dehmer

Immediately following a sumptuous lunch provided by Ms. Betty, Pat Baker opened the meeting with prayer at 12:35 PM and began updating the team on the Lott Prayer Walk scheduled later this month on the 29th. We are planning to meet for lunch at the church and break into teams following our assignments to various parts of town. A total of 10 people will be required to adequately staff this enterprise. Calvin Wood offered to supply the nametags to identify participants as volunteers for Lott UMC.

Prayer request forms will also be printed out and made available through the volunteers for residents who wish to mail in their prayer requests to the church.
Discussion then shifted to the subject of worship. It was agreed by the consensus of the team to move the time of worship service to 10:00 AM with Sunday School at 9:00. As weekly services have resumed and Sunday evening services will begin Sept. 6th it was agreed that advertising these changes in the local newspaper(s) would be appropriate. Pastor Larry and Rev. Thomas Q. Robbins have volunteered for this task. Additionally, Pastor Larry and Kathy are sharing responsibilities for preparing worship bulletins, depending on the need for pulpit supply. Kathy is also scheduling CLM candidates as needed for same.

Having visited Mooreville UMC that morning, Eric shared how that church had mounted their successful canvassing campaigns and passed around a brochure about the church. After some discussion it was agreed to produce a bi-fold brochure for Lott UMC which would include a bio of Pastor Larry, a brief testimony from Ms. Betty, and a brief church history to be furnished by Eric. Pat will serve as editor and Calvin has volunteered to publish the brochure. The Community Canvassing event has been rescheduled for noon, September 26th following the publication of the church brochure.

Kathy and Pat volunteered to pursue obtaining a sign for the front of the church. Pastor Larry closed the meeting with prayer at 1:47 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Eric Dehmer
Recording Secretary