Love Your Neighbor

Central has been partnering for quite some time with Friends & Neighbors, a faith-based social service organization with a food pantry in Lottridge, Ohio. On the weekends, when we gather for communion, we bring grocery bags full of food to share with those in need. We do this because we believe that we, as followers of Christ, are called to extend love, grace and mercy to others. We believe in being "kingdom bringers". We believe in being a people who care for the poor, the orphan, the widow and the oppressed.

Jennifer Cantu volunteers at the food pantry regularly on Wednesday. This week, she returned from the pantry and posted the following online:

Served 57 families at the food pantry today. The first 15 families had a choice of cereal besides corn grits, and the last 10 families had only ramen noodles to choose as their grain. We did have choices for vegetables, fruit and proteins, but were out of dried milk, peanut butter and diapers by the end of the day. If we are this low on food at the end of September, I hate to think how bad it's going to be in January/February.

As you live out the rest of your week, remember those in need. If you are able, purchase extra cereal, dried milk, peanut butter and diapers when you are at the grocery store and bring them with you as we gather together to remember Christ's sacrifice and provision this weekend.

Closer

Did you remember your homework?

This week, Paul challenged us to post notecards with "God" written on them to remind us of God's presence. 

In our homes...
 In our work...
  In our relationships...
   In our social media...
    In our cars...

Paul will continue the "Closer" series this weekend. If you missed out last Sunday, be sure to listen to the podcast! Click the link on the left side of this page to connect to iTunes and download Closer, Pt. 1. 

How did the assignment go for you? If you wish to share a story, please feel free to leave a comment!

I [heart] Central, pt. 2

From Director of Administration, Serena Wolfe:

 Dear Blog Reader, I know you've been anxiously awaiting the finale of the I [heart] Central blog post. Without further ado, we proudly present our final two honored volunteer(s).

Second Saturdays Team
Bold Community Reachers

Second Saturdays has provided an opportunity for Central to collide with the community in meaningful ways through service projects. Together, the church and community members have worked at food drops, Good Earth Farms and have fostered relationships with individuals at the SEPTA correctional facility. It's been a great experience for our church and for those involved. Here's what volunteers had to say:

But, this service opportunity didn’t come without sacrifice. The Second Saturdays’ coordination team has spent many Thursday nights each month planning out volunteer opportunities, constructing the vision, and has spent much time in prayer. Without their dedication and service, Second Saturdays wouldn’t be possible.

Without the leadership of Drea Osterbur, Didi Chilcotte, Jess Cyders, and Kristen Mazzo,as well as others who have served on the team at various points in time, this ministry would not have gotten off the ground. Thanks for taking a vision and bringing it to life!

Second Saturdays team, you are amazing. Thanks for showing us what it means to boldly love your neighbors. We love you!

Mike and Sharon Noel
Faithful Servants

Central is a place of transition for many people. It's difficult for those who step into our lives and are then called to other places. It's difficult for those of us who watch our friends leave. So, when people are here for more than...oh...ten years, we get really excited.

REALLY excited.

Mike and Sharon Noel have faithfully served in this body for years. They have: hosted small groups, staff meetings and cookouts at their home; served as host family for Central's WOC summer intern, Katie Miller; given generously; served on our leadership board; baked hundreds of treats for our café area...the list goes on and on. They've seen Central at her best and at her worst. And they are still here.

But what really caught our attention when deciding to honor them was the relationships Mike has built with men from the Septa Correctional Facility. Drea, and the second Saturday’s crew began this relationship with SEPTA, and Mike has just run with it.

Mike knows many of the guys' names. He words with them side-by-side. There's not enough room on this blog to get into it all… but there has been a lot of stuff Mike has been doing on the relational end that most people will never see.

Mike and Sharon, you are awesome! Thanks for being faithful, generous servants and for caring about people that Christ cared about. We love you!

I [heart] Central, pt. 1

From Director of Administration, Serena Wolfe:

If you've spent at least three weekends at Central, you've probably heard us say, "For those of you who are with us for the first time today, this is not normal." Many times we say that jokingly since...well...the abnormal at Central is what we expect. But this past weekend, we truly did something out of the ordinary.

Something special.

Something we should have done a long time ago.

Something we're not currently good at doing, but desire to do well.

This weekend, we took time to thank some of our volunteers. Those we honored embody the values of Central and share the love of Christ with others in amazing ways. Their stories were shared and we honored them with a very cool gift. Dear Reader, I present to you the Office T-Shirt of Central Avenue UMC:

Awesome, huh?

Central Staff spent hours (literally) in discussion about who we would honor during the service. There are so many fantastic, passionate, dedicated Christ followers at Central. But, a service is only an hour and 15 minutes, so some very difficult decisions had to be made. Out of a list of 40 volunteers, we selected three individuals, one ministry team and a couple. Today's post focuses on the individuals we honored. Stay tuned for a post highlighting the ministry team and coulple who also received the coveted shirts this pat weekend!

Debbie McAdoo
Children's Church Volunteer Extrodinare 

Anyone who has done it, knows that serving Children’s ministry can produce some of the most rewarding moments in a volunteer’s life.

And sometimes it can be the most challenging.

Melissa Goertz, our children’s director writes about Debbie…

“To instill wonder, spark discovery, and fuel passion in the children that walk through the doors of this church, requires a great deal of dedication and desire to share the love of Jesus Christ.  Many of our children’s volunteers bring this passion and desire to teach our children that Jesus loves them. One particular volunteer takes the vision of children’s ministry and fully embraces it.  She is full of excitement and enthusiasm for the kids.  She sits down on the floor with the children and makes them feel like they matter.  She gives them a voice.  

This volunteer starts out each service with encouraging the children to pray aloud if they so desire to.  She gives them incentive to memorize the Bible verses each week by bringing prizes that she has purchased on her own time and her own money.  

She makes the stories come alive in their hearts through her words and actions.  Most importantly, she sees the need to encourage the most important relationship in their lives.  She fosters an environment where the children are free to express their thoughts and feelings and desires about how they connect to God. 

Not only has she been such a blessing to the children of Central, but she has also been a blessing me as the Children’s Ministry Director.”

To give you an idea of the dedication and passion she has for children’s ministry, she accompanied Melissa on a trip to Atlanta in April to the Orange Conference. She took time off of work to learn more about how to reach kids and their families and to support the ministry. 

And we have a video from the Orange Conference demonstrating some of her incredible talent and dedication to share with you.  

Debbie M. at Orange Conference from Central Avenue Church on Vimeo.

Debbie, you are amazing. Thanks for your dedication to the children of Central. We love you!

Heather Costa
Cultivator of Life-Changing Relationships

Honoring Heather is a unique thing for us because she is a staff person.

Oddly enough, she was actually in the planning meetings for this service and didn’t know we were talking about her.

‘Cause folks, we’re that good.

Most of you know Andrew and Heather Costa. Many of you know that they both serve as staff people with our youth ministry. What you may not know is that they are volunteer staff. 

They both have been serving for a number of years in various capaticites. Andrew and Heather have both been involved in leading small groups, doing youth ministry, and serving in Second Saturdays.

Andrew is the more vocal of the two, and is a great guy in his own right. We could have honored the Costas as a couple, but when asked to do so, Andrew  didn’t sing, “Your Love Has Lifted Me Higher," so we crossed him off the list. Besides, we all know Heather is the wind beneath Andrew's wings. And she often works behind the scenes, so she is rarely thanked.

A couple of months ago, we heard about Heather and how she was meeting with one of our high school students: Lucy Reisbeck.

And Heather is doing this because she just loves students and she loves Lucy. On Sunday, Lucy shared about her realtionship with Heather in front of Central. Heather has invested heavily in Lucy's life and has sought to walk with her through the trials of the teen years. It was fantastic to hear their story.

Heather, you are amazing. Thanks for pouring your life into others in the name of Christ. We love you!

Jen Cantu
Kingdom Bringer to the Downtrodden

Jen Cantu volunteers tirelessly at our ministry parnter, Friends and Neighbors. She is there nearly every Wednesday, working alongside others to help those in need in a way that regonizes them as individuals with dignity and value.

Jim Jennings, Associate Pastor, who works closely with our Mission Teams wrote:

“This person stepped into this role on their own almost 2 years ago and has faithfully stayed committed to that ministry.

If you know her, you know she doesn’t do this to be recognized or noticed, but because she believes serving others in our community is an important value to hold as a follower of Christ.

She embodies the value of community driven ministry as serves on an almost weekly basis at the Friends and Neighbors food pantry in Lottridge.

Her fellow volunteers and the clients of the pantry embrace her with open arms and she embraces them back. The relationships she has built with the people while serving there are the backbone of her ministry and it is what I admire the most."

Volunteering at a local food pantry isn't glamourous. It isn't work that most people will ever see. But, it's significant to the lives of the pantry clients and it's definitely work that allows the Kingdom to breakthrough in our region. Take a look for yourself!

Friends & Neighbors from Central Avenue Church on Vimeo.

Jen, you are amazing. Thanks for seeing the poor as a blessed people who are worthy of your time and love. We love you!

Check back next week as we share the stories of other Centralites who were honored this weekend!

Happy New Year

From Director of Administration, Serena Wolfe:

Athens is an intersting place. Rural. Appalachian. And in the middle of our town is Ohio University - a public higher education institution that operates on a quarter system for now. Many "Centralites" are somehow affiliated with the University - be it student, professor, or administrative support - so, the University's academic calendar has significant influcent on Central's seasons of minstry and rest.

All that to say, summer has been (almost) quiet. But now, fall is around the corner and we're ready to celebrate our friends' return to campus and a more steady pace in our ministries.

Things don't come to a complete standstill during summer, of course. We have still been doing amazing things.

West Ohio Conference Internship

Katie Miller has joined our staff this summer as a West Ohio Conference Intern. During her time in Athens, Katie has been exploring a call to ministry and learning about the day-to-day functionings of a church. Not only has Katie been helping at the Lottridge Food Pantry, going to Very Exciting Meetings with staff, helping at Carpenter and supporting staff though important minitries like washing cars and bringing us water (of course, I'm joking!), but she also taught one weekend. You can hear what this fanstastic young woman had to say on our podcast. Download the message from Sunday, August 7!

Vacation Bible School

Central's annual Vacation Bible School is unlike any other you've ever seen. At least, we hope so! Here's a story from Melissa Goertz, Director of Children's Ministry, about her experience as first-time Director of Vacation Bible School:

I had several personal experiences with the kids. One in particular still brings tears to my eyes.  There was a young girl who had a hard time adjusting to the environment. She was brought to me the first night to calm her fears. I was able to get her to calm down by just talking to her about what she likes; I did the talking, she wouldn’t say a word. I took her to her older sister’s group for the remainder of the night and she seemed content. The next night, she was brought to me again as she was sad and afraid. She still wouldn’t speak a single word to me, but grabbed my hand and directed me where she wanted to go; to her sister’s group again. At the end of the second night, when we were all lined up behind the church for snow cones and cotton candy, she spotted me in the crowd.  I watched as this sweet precious little girl ran toward me with the brightest smile on her face and she wrapped her small 3-year-old arms around me and gave me the biggest squeeze.  My heart jumped and tears filled my eyes. This little angel never spoke one word to me, but our hearts spoke the same language. I felt Jesus in her touch. It was at that moment in time, all the organizing, planning, last minute chaos escaped my mind. I breathed that moment in and allowed it to consume me.

Melissa did a great job leading the team this year. And the team did a great job sharing their lives and love of Christ with the children who attended. To everyone who was involved in this amazing experience - THANKS!

Central: Uptown Location

You might have heard about this little project we've taking on that we refer to as "Carpenter." Opening our new location is a two-phase process and phase one is nearly complete! We first and foremost desired to have a location that is self-sustaining. Our property at 29 E. Carpetner St. houses three apartmetns and a retail space. During phase one, we've been focused on improving those spaces and leasing them so that we have a revenue stream to support the next phase - Central: Uptown!

Our retail space has been rented since February. Our first residental tenant moved in during late June and our second tenant moved in just this week! We have one more apartment that is nearly finished and ready for occupacy. If you are looking for housing uptown or know someone who is, consider renting from Central! Not only will you have a VERY nice apartment (granite countertops, new plumbing, new electric, freshly restored hardwood floors and lovely bathrooms), but you'll be supporting the ministries that will be launched at the Uptown Location.

You can also be a part of this exciting new beginning by participating in our Carpenter Work Days. Check out the News & Events page for information.

Well, Central, this is what I have to report to you. I'm off to make my "New Year" resolutions and get ready for next month. Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday!