Avondale Pattillo UMC News

40th Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:40:00 +0000

On October 16th we celebrated 40 years of ministry and service to our community through Avondale Pattillo UMC. Our church is the child of the merger of Avondale Methodist and Pattillo Memorial Methodist churches.

The day included a guest sermon by Rev. Rev. Jim Turrentine, a special luncheon featuring recipes from the church's 20th Anniversary Cookbook, and a "Walk down memory lane" -- anecdotes of APUMC church life.

Several former pastors and their families attended. Below is the 40th Anniversary cake. When more photos are posted online, a new bulleted link to the slide show will appear below. Check back...

Children's Sabbath

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:33:00 +0000

We celebrated Children's Sabbath on October 9th. The worship altar decoration showed several kids toys.

The special altar decoration accompanied Tara's sermon about being a follower of God through the toys of our youth.

Blessings all around

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 20:38:00 +0000

Our 2001 Pet Festival on Sunday, October 2nd, included a pet-friendly worship service, blessing of each pet, a vendor "fair", dog training exhibitions, music and announcements by The Fish 10.47, games, and food.

Though the morning started on the cool side, the clear and sunny day warmed up nicely. We offered a brief Communion service in the sanctuary, then the outdoor service began. This year we spaced out chairs to allow more room for pets.

Rick Yates provided all the music on amplified acoustic guitar -- before the service, accompanying hymns, and during the offering. Jerry handled the portable sound system for sermon and announcements.

A beautiful setting, beautiful music, and a meaningful sermon by Tara all made for a wonderfully spiritual experience. After the service, Tara, Megan, Jerry, and Ahren all helped bless the many pets, who routinely bless their owners' lives.

This year saw an increase in local community visitors and some new faces from the congregation as well. Choir member Mary Ellen mentioned it as a "joy" for the week, saying, "I'd never been to one of these before -- it was fun!"

This super Sunday was the result of hard work and a lot of love by Julie and her numerous volunteers. A great time was had by all creatures, great and small.

2011 Pet Festival Slide show (61 photos, with more to come)
2011 Pet Festival Photo gallery
Pet Festival video (with sound) courtesy of Patch.com (Decatur-Avondale Estates)

Bake Sale at Yard Sale

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:56:00 +0000

Several women took turns at the Bake Sale table at the annual fall Avondale Estates Yard Sale on October 1st. The day was pretty chilly as it was and the table was in the shade.

Bless the hardy folks who volunteered to help at the table.

And a shout out to the van drivers, too. They shuttled people to and from the Kensington MARTA station parking lot.

Special 9/11 Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 02:45:00 +0000

After a stirring message to a joint Sunday School gathering by Bob K. on September 11th, we adjourned outside to plant a tree -- a reminder of new life and of the preciousness of life.

Several members took turns shovelling in earth at the base of the newly planted tree.

Slide show of the 9/11 tree planting

The altar for that Sunday was also special -- a rembrance of 9/11 support personnel.

Work day workers

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 02:39:00 +0000

Several hardy souls helped dress up the church area on our latest work day.

See some close-up photos of the work day workers.

Labor Day lunch

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 02:35:00 +0000

The Sunday before Labor Day saw members at a special lunch.

Decorations included images of many different jobs posted on the back wall of the Fellowship Hall.

Lemonade in the Shade

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:35:00 +0000

It has turned into a welcomed summer tradition -- sipping cool, refreshing lemonade in the shade of our front covered walkway after Sunday worship in August. The drink and cookies to munch on are good, but the fellowship makes it even better!

School supplies for ICS kids

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:31:00 +0000

Our generous members once again donated bagfulls of school supplies for ICS children who need them so much.

Tara blessed the supplies during the worship service on July 31st.

More photos

Sermon themes for August

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 17:11:00 +0000

Rev. Tara Paul plans well ahead for sermons. She normally does not use the Lectionary as a sermon guide but rather develops and preaches on themes.

During August the over-arching theme is "How the Kingdom makes us Acts", with Bible texts from the book of Acts.

Her August individual sermon themes will be Act...

with Boldness - Aug. 7
(Acts 4:1-22)
with Generosity - Aug. 14
(Acts 4:32-37)
with Openness - Aug. 21
(Acts 10:34-43)
with Honor - Aug. 28
(Acts 16:16-34)

Shake It Up Cafe!

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:57:00 +0000

Kids from 6 different ZIP code areas attended our "Shake It Up Cafe!" Vacation Bible School from July 18th - 22nd.

Overall, 19 children enrolled, with the greatest number being 4-8 years old. A whopping 20 adult volunteers pitched in to make it a fun time for all.

Julia says that "Mr. Discovery" (Doc Fowlks) was the hit with his making butter and the Dancing Popcorn. Paul also did a wonderful job with stories of Bible time meals and their meaning.

July 4th parade

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:28:00 +0000

"Aloha from APUMC" read our parade vehicle sign. Julie's Jeep was decorated with colorful leis and tropical items like a monkey and palm tree. The front bumper featured a "grass skirt". Julie and Liz even went high-tech, pumping out music from the vehicle using an iPhone.

The total number of floats was down a bit this year, but variety abounded. Clowns, a mariachi band, Uncle Sam on stilts, a circus theme float, and a group of super heroes, complete with a "Batmobile".

The photo of the super heroes is a large size. Feel free to print a nice color photo for a kid who loves any one of the below super heroes (one is a really villian and one is the "bad" Spiderman):

Penguin
Flash
Superman
Supergirl
Spiderman (black costume)
Batman
Wonder Woman
Thor
Captain America

The weather was pretty warm even at 9:15am, but everyone was in high spirits.

A good sized crew helped out this year. Larry passed out water at both the staging area at the former Avondale High School plus at the end of the parade. Decorators included Julie, Liz, Donna, Ben, the whole Paul family, Marty, and Marilyn. Bruce took photos. Julie and John drove parade vehicles. The kids tossed out candy along the parade route.

My favorite photos are:

The heroes posing with the "Batmobile" (check out the license plate).
A father and son as Uncle Sam and Captain America respectively.
The Circus float (but what's with the bikini-clad mannikin with a deer head on top?)
Dancing clowns
The woman who looks like the mass of baloons she is holding is about to lift her off the ground.
Uncle Sam on stilts posing with Jim and Tara.
Ben holding up an inflated palm tree (that thing just would not stay up!)
The "Batmobile" (OK, I got a bit carried away with the photos, but you just have to take photos from different sides, don't you?)
Dancing clowns

All the parade entry photos:

A great community worship service

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:58:00 +0000

Avondale Pattillo UMC and Columbia Presbyterian Church joined to offer a community worship experience under the trees at Lake Avondale on July 3rd. The warm sunny summer morning was idea for outdoor worship.

Rev. Tom Hagood opened with a prayer. Then all sang "America the Beautiful", with the combined choirs leading singing from the gazebo. Columbia Presbyterian intern Leslie led the prayer of confession and read three selections of scripture.

The combined choirs sang a special medley called "Our Heritage of Faith". Then Rev. Tara Paul gave a well-received message.

Following the message, the Thang family gave a touching recount of why they had to leave Myanmar (formerly Burma) and seek refuge in the United States. Following their testimony we took a collection, which will all go to help support the Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA).

After Jerry's spirited rendition of "This is My Country" on electronic piano, Rev. Hagood led the prayers of the people.

The second hymn was "Battle Hymn of the Republic", after which Rev. Paul closed with a prayer and blessing.

Welcome to Rev. Tara Paul

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 02:45:00 +0000

Today was the first Sunday at Avondale Pattillo for Rev. Tara Paul. Her husband and children were on hand too.

We combined a summer picnic style luncheon with a welcome celebration for Tara. Hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, beans, slaw, ice cream and cake. Yum.

Farewell, Dave!

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:18:00 +0000

After four years as our Senior Pastor (we may have made him more "senior" than he anticipated), Rev. Dave Allen Grady is moving on to Druid Hills UMC, where their pastor recently retired.

The reception at The Gathering Place was well-attended. In fact, it got downright crowded at times as people came and went.

Among the memorable photos is Joy diving into her cake -- face first (see the photo album).

The photo here is of Dave holding up his special T-shirt:

DAVE
The man. The myth.
The legend.

It came in a white box with a Superman logo. "Super Dave" now has a super T.

Photo album (more photos will be added as they are sized and enhanced)
Slide show

Pentacostal red power

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:13:00 +0000

A whole slew of folks wore red for Pentecost ... from a few with dark burgundy to many with a flaming red color.

Newborn Aiden even had a "tux" with a red bow tie. Rev. Dave must've been in seventh heaven, knowing how fond of bow ties he is!

Sunshine Club's first meeting

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 01:36:00 +0000

Our Sunshine Club's very first meeting was a luncheon at The Gathering Place. As a pastor I once knew said, "We are most at home around the table".

This initial meeting was quite well attended.

Gallery of photos

Phyllis graduates!

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Mon, 02 May 2011 00:24:00 +0000

Phyllis, one of our Candler "interns" (actually they are called Contextual Education -- ConEd for short -- students), recently graduated and will be moving on to her first assignment. We wish her well.

Crosses, we got crosses!

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:49:00 +0000

With Lent and use of our special crosses now past us, now would be a great time to view a slideshow of crosses. Nearly all our crosses were photographed at Avondale Pattillo UMC, though a few are at another church when we held a joint event.

Display the Crosses set full-screen, then sit back, let go of the day's troubles, and let that true, complete inner peace than can come in only one way enter your heart.

Slideshow of crosses

The changing cross

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 22:24:00 +0000

During the Lent through Easter period, we display different crosses both in the sanctuary and outside.

As we start Lent, the cross outside on the lawn is draped with a purple cloth since the liturgical color for Lent is purple. Inside the sanctuary, we add a wooden cross wrapped with lots of rough vine.

On Palm Sunday, some members enter the Sanctuary waving "palm branches", then place those at the foot of the vine-wrapped cross.

On Good Friday, both of these crosses are draped in black cloth as we recall the crucifixion and death of Jesus.

On Easter Sunday, the rough vine-wrapped cross gives way to a brightly colorful cross covered in flowers. We change the cloth draped on the outside cross to a white one (the liturgical color for Easter). Finally, at the end of the Easter worship service then we place the beautiful flower cross on the front of the wooden cross on the front lawn.

As you can tell from the photo, Jerry, Ed, and Paul combined to get the flower cross in position. It's a bit tricky. Someone (or two) holds the cross while another person wraps twine around each "arm" of the wooden cross behind it to hold the flower cross in place.

2001 Lent though Easter photo gallery

Lakeside Easter service

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 19:40:00 +0000

We again held an early morning community Easter worship service at Lake Avondale. Jerry led the singing and Ed accompanied on guitar.

About 20 hardy souls attended the special lakeside service, with Pastor Dave giving a short Easter message.

Community Egg Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:08:00 +0000

While the crowd was a bit sparser thise year, those who cam from our church family and te community had a great time.

A face- (or arm-) painting clown, a jumping room, crafts, and a large roaming white chicken added to the excellent (or should we say, "egg-sellent") hunt.

As usual, we had a super bunch of volunteers helping out. And a couple people even took photos, which they passed to our web editor. Thanks, y'all!

By the way, if we ever get photo credits wrong or omit them, contact us. We like to give credit. If anyone oter than Bruce takes a photo, you should see a "[photo by ___]" credit in the text describing the photo.

Gallery of Egg Hunt photos

Historical photos

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:07:00 +0000

To help celebrate our 40th year anniversary, we continue to scan in some old photos of Pattillo Memorial Methodist Church, Avondale Methodist Church, and Avondale Pattillo UMC.

You can see the progress if you keep checking our three new Historical Flickr photo albums.

We'd also like your help. If you know the street location (or a better location) for any of the old sites shown on our special Google map, please contact us. If you click on a location and the text reads, "exact location unknown", we'd appreciate some good information on the actual location of that facility.

Historical locations for Avondale and Pattillo congregations

OSO trip to Blue Willow Inn

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 01:41:00 +0000

Our Outings for Seniors and Others (OSO) group likes to travel a bit, see sights, and ... dine together!

On March 22nd the group took the church journeyed to the Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle. The group enjoyed a bountiful buffet on a beautiful day!

Photos by Marilyn

Carmon's 100th

noreply@blogger.com (CBrulee) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 02:37:00 +0000

We were recently privileged to experience Carmon's 100th birthday celebration. A whole passel of family and friends were at the Fellowship Hall on Saturday, February 12th.

Carmon regaled the audience with anecdotes from his youth and his "secret" for longevity -- no alcohol, no tobacco, and no drugs.

M&M (Marilyn and Michelle) served the cake after our very own centenarian blew out the 100 candles.