September 19th – 26th

Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) is a shelter program of Foundation for the Homeless and is designed to provide transitional shelter for families experiencing homelessness.

FUMC provides a place for the families to live, one week at a time, four times a year. Our guests stay in the classrooms of the Family Life Center, and there are numerous volunteer opportunities available throughout the hosting week. Our next hosting week is September 19th-26th.

To volunteer or for more information, please contact Marilyn Good at the church (478-5684 ext. 204), at home (445-2405), or on her cell (461-8168).

September 19th

Lunch will be provided by our Russia Mission Team, and the cost will be $7 per person. Board members and guests who plan to attend are asked to RSVP by 12:00 noon on Thursday, September 16th. Please contact Laurie Barr at laurie@fumcaustin.org or 478-5684 (ext. 200).

Childcare will be available. If needed, please contact Samantha Franklin at childcarefumc@yahoo.com to make the necessary reservations. Reservations are not guaranteed until confirmed by Samantha.

September 18th

It will soon be time to get outside and enjoy some fall weather. Who better to do this with than others from our FUMC family!

Join us on Saturday, September 18th, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon as we clean out and spruce up the landscaping around the church. We will be trimming trees, removing invasive shrubs, planting perennials, and spreading mulch. Please bring gloves, shovels, and hedge trimmers if you have them. We will provide water, brown bags, and the planting supplies.

To volunteer or for more information, please contact Melanie Miller at melanie_a_miller@yahoo.com or 470-6918.

September 18th

“Neighbors by the Lake” invite you to join them for their Fabulous Fall Event at the home of Eleanor and Frank Smith on Saturday, September 18th, at

2:00 p.m. Our honored guests include Barbara Ruth, John Wright, and special guest speaker, Jim Bowen. His topic for the day will be “Stem Cell Update.”

Our traditional gatherings always include food, so be sure to whip up your favorite dish for our light lunch as we welcome John, Barbara, Jim, and Jane with a “Neighbors by the Lake” gathering… right by the lake.

Please RSVP by Wednesday, September 15th, to Laurie Barr at laurie@fumcaustin.org or 478-5684 (ext. 200). A map will be provided.

September 19th

Our Tweeners, a group of third, fourth and fifth graders, assemble bags for you to buy and keep in your car so that when you pass a homeless person, you can give him/her the bag instead of money.

Manna Bags are filled with a nutritious meal (meat, fruit, health bar, and beverage), a new pair of socks, and a note asking for God’s blessing on the recipient of the Manna Bag.

These bags will be sold for $5 at a table outside the Chapel and Sanctuary on Sunday, September 19th. Please buy these bags in hope that we can make the lives of homeless persons a little better.

September 19th

Our church offers a monthly baptism class for parents who would like to have their infant welcomed into our congregation by this sacrament.

This class will meet on Sunday, September 19th, at 10:00 a.m. in the Library and will be taught by Paula Stiernberg, Director of Children’s Ministries. Participants will discuss the commitment represented by baptism, the faith development of your child, and our children’s programs.

Baptisms are scheduled for the second Sunday of the month. If your family has an infant baptism in the future, please contact Marilyn Good at marilyn@fumcaustin.org or 478-5684 (ext. 204).

Seeking spiritual guidance in a bookstore, Dr. Reese soon discovered row after row of books on faith and spirituality written by women for women. “There were a lot of pink covers and sunsets,” he said, adding that men are much more reticent than women in discussing spiritual issues.  “Men are conditioned to pay attention to dating, building, wealth, and not getting past the superficial layer of who you are as a person,” he said in a recent interview. As a result, it takes a lot of courage to go public about the details of one’s soul.

In his book, Dr. Reese describes how his own involvement at Oak Hill United Methodist Church in southwest Austin has nurtured his spiritual quest. He also seeks to chart a course between the spiritual skepticism that flourishes in the academic environment in which he works, and the rigid, dogmatic, fundamentalist version of religion that gets so much attention in the public press. He truly believes that you can be a Christian without cutting off your head. In his desire to hold head and heart together, he stands in the grand Methodist tradition of John Wesley who said, “Let us unite the two so long divided–  knowledge and vital piety.”

If you are a man seeking a conversation partner for your own spiritual stirrings, or a woman seeking to understand the spiritual landscape of the men in your life, or a human being looking for an intellectually credible version of the Christian faith, this is for you!

This presentation will be on Sunday, September 26th, at 5:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary. The fee is $5. To register, please contact Laurie Barr at laurie@fumcaustin.org or 478-5684 (ext. 200).

Please take a look at the enclosed Mind and Spirit brochure for more information about the classes being offered this fall, and then sign up soon!

You can sign up the classes by clicking each link below.

• Hope for the Thinking Christian Sunday, September 26th
• Worship Wednesdays, October 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th
• Food and Faith Thursdays, October 14th-November 8th
• Early Christian Art: Beautiful and Weird*
  Tuesdays, October 12th and 19th

• Book Study: Lincoln at Gettysburg Tuesdays, October 19th and 26th
• Islam: What Do We Need to Know? Sunday, October 24th
• Book Discussion: The Help Tuesdays, November 9th and 16th
• Job Seminar*
  Saturday, November 13th

Fall, 2010

FUMC’s ESL (English as a Second Language) Class started the fall semester on September 9th with a record attendance of 57 students representing 14 different countries. The broad representation of countries speaks not only to the diversity of Austin, but also to the appeal of FUMC’s class.

“It’s the relationships that we offer” says Cathy Bingaman, the class leader. Though many of the students attend other ESL classes in Austin, FUMC’s class offers something that the students don’t find in other classes. We get to know the students and are able to help them with the challenges of living in a foreign country and understanding “American,” which is usually spoken too fast for them to easily understand. Additionally, we provide free childcare, a requirement for many of the students.

Classes meet on Monday and Thursday mornings. After a few minutes of group instruction by the lead teacher, the class is divided into small groups of five or six students who spend the remainder of the class with other volunteers. During a break, there is time for the students to enjoy refreshments and the opportunity to practice conversing in English with the other students as well as the teachers.

Some of the students are here to further their education; some are here to work; some are here to visit with family and some are here as refugees. They represent many different cultures and religions. The objective of the class is not only to help them improve their language skills, but also to provide them with a positive experience of being in America. To that end, plans are underway to allow the congregation to participate in making these students feel more at home here in Austin.