Avondale Pattillo News

APUMC gets new blog address

2006-12-31T20:43:00.000-05:00

The new home for Avondale Pattillo's News blog is:
http://apmethodist.blogspot.com

This is the last posting that will be made in this blog.

During January 2007, these historical files will be moved under the AP Methodist web site. When ready, the location of the old news blog files will be posted in the new blog (address above).

All Saints Sunday: Altar, banner

2006-10-29T22:54:00.000-05:00

The service for All Saints Sunday was made extra special by both an altar decoration and a unique banner of bells. The Bell Banner celebrated those who taught us about God’s love.

You could hear the bells tinkling as Lance carried it down the aisle at the beginning of the Worship Service on October 29th.

You can view the 3-photo gallery or a slideshow at Flickr.

APUMC Faith entry -- Yahoo! time capsule

2006-10-15T18:22:00.000-04:00

Communications has added a photo from our church to the Yahoo! Time Capsule project. Anyone can enter proposed photo or other media.

The item added, in the "FAITH" section was a photo of the special communion altar display for World Communion Sunday this fall.

Lance blesses pets

2006-10-15T18:02:00.000-04:00

Lance blessed gathered pets on Sunday, October 15. The late afternoon sun warmed the pets' owners as Lance led the ceremony, which included a litany, hymn, and prayer before the blessing of each animal present.

Pets this year included dogs and cats of all sizes plus a pair of parakeets. The assembled menagerie was a bit more raucous than last year.

Intrigued by our church sign's simple "Pet Blessing" announcement of the event, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper contacted the church and then sent photographers to cover this popular annual event, now in its third year. The Monday paper's Metro section (DeKalb) had a half-page photo story and the AJC online includes 7 photos of this event.

You can view the photo set at our Flickr album or see it as a slide show.

The AJC also covered the Pet Blessing in its DeKalb section on Thursday, October 19th. [free registration and logon required]

Sneak peek at new UMC web site

2006-10-11T19:25:00.000-04:00

United Methodist Communications has been redesigning UMC.org, the official online ministry of The United Methodist Church. Today, UMComm announced that you can visit http://www.umc.org/ and then click the "sneak peek" image banner link (in the center middle of the page) to experience the preview site.

The preview starts with a short video and provides links to new features plus feedback for each of the features. UMComm is actively seeking feedback. Your comments will help them make the final site better meet visitors' needs when they "go live" with the new site in January 2007.

New members

2006-09-24T21:59:00.000-04:00

Lecky is the latest to join the Avondale Pattillo church family. Her grandson attended with her.

New member photos are always available at the "New staff & members" photo album.

Hats off to the choirs!

2006-09-17T21:47:00.000-04:00

During Open House September, we have been celebrating various ministries of the church. September 17th celebrated the music ministries of our church. [See a couple more photos.]

The pot luck luncheon after the worship service was great, as always. Decorations emphasized all the choirs.

New faces

2006-08-06T21:31:00.000-04:00

Two Candler interns joined our family recently and two other persons joined the church.

The online Flickr photos for APUMC now include a "New staff and members" set.

As new people join or we hire new staff, we'll add them to this special new photo set.

Also look for printed photos of new faces on a new bulletin board.

Campground meeting!

2006-07-16T23:34:00.000-04:00

A small but spirit-filled group from Avondale Pattillo went to the Salem Campground this year.

The service followed a scrumptious Southern style dinner. Dr. Randy Kowalski, from Greenville, SC, gave the message and the Avondale First Baptist Church provided varied stirring music using duets, quartets, and the chorus.

After the campground service, many of the group couldn't resist the homemade ice cream. Filled with the Spirit and filled with delicious food. What a great evening.

View the Salem Campground meeting photo set

Confirmation photos

2006-07-13T01:10:00.000-04:00

Three of the best confirmation photos are now online. Thanks to Heather for providing photos from the Sunday we were out of town. You can view the photo set or a short 3-photo slideshow.

Community worship at Avondale Lake

2006-07-04T15:45:00.000-04:00

The annual "July 4th" community worship service on July 2nd at Avondale Lake was another hit. Local community members and members from First Baptist Church of Avondale Estates, Avondale Pattillo United Methodist Church, and Columbia Presbyterian Church gathered for this unique service.

Bagpiper John from Avondale Pattillo UMC piped the pre-service music and closed the service with "Amazing Grace". The Mayor of Avondale Estates gave the invocation, combined church choirs sang the "Start Spangled Banner," and First Baptist's music director sang a stirring solo.

Add to that a posting of the colors and a poignant sermon of freedom and responsibilities by the Pastor of First Baptist, and you have one memorable day under the trees at Avondale Lake!

Photos of the service: gallery and slideshow are online.

Welcome to the Weber family

2006-07-04T15:33:00.000-04:00

We welcome Rev. Donn Ann Weber as our new pastor.

Our members gave the Webers a trademark warm and friendly reception after the Sunday worship service on June 25th.

You can read a bit more about Donn Ann on our Pastor web page.

For more photos of the reception you can look at the gallery or the slide show.

If you were not able to meet Donn Ann at the reception, please greet her after the next worship service. If you've already greeted her, then spend a few minutes getting to better know Donn Ann and her family.

Farewell, Morgans

2006-06-18T22:41:00.000-04:00

After our worship service on June 18th, well-wishers gathered in the Fellowship Hall to bid farewell to Tavye and her family.

After a wonderful six years leading the flock at Avondale Pattillo, Rev. Morgan now joins the staff of St. James United Methodist Church in Buckhead as Assistant Pastor.

A photo set of this event is now online. If you'd prefer, there's also a slide show.

At home around the table...

2006-06-11T15:23:00.000-04:00

"We Methodists seem to be most at home around the table," a Methodist minister once said. The Avondale Pattillo picnickers sure did enjoy the food and fellowship on June 11th. The warm Atlanta day mellowed everyone out.

Then the handbell and Chancel choirs treated those who stayed to a concert. The audience especially liked "On Eagle's Wings" and "It is Well With My Soul", but enjoyed the whole range of music styles.

Picnic photo set

New photos of Botanical Gardens trip

2006-05-16T19:07:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Michele, we have a few more photos from the OSO trip to the Georgia Botanical Gardens. You can view the whole set of photos one at a time (click on one to see a larger version -- each photo has a few different sizes available for viewing or downloading). Or you can view a slideshow of the photos.

If you want to download photos for printing, choose the largest size available. If image quality is not well-suited for printing, let me know -- I can upload larger size (if I have the digital photo file).

New helps for church leaders

2006-05-13T12:13:00.000-04:00

Remember that you are not alone, even in the earthly sense. If you are a member of a committee or work area, and especially if you chair one, our " Resources for United Methodist Church Leaders " is here to help you. The page is a collection of pertinent and useful links, with the links grouped by church committee and work area.

New links are added throughout the year. In fact, since January, a whopping 37 new links have been added, some just today.

Have you checked out these valuable resources? You never know when an idea will be helpful or even spark one of your own. Run, don't walk to "Resources for United Methodist Church Leaders". There's even a section for the Pastor.

Chicken BBQ tastes great!

2006-05-06T19:30:00.000-04:00

While the financial results of the day or not yet in, the annual Chicken BBQ was a great success. Delivered dinners mushroomed from the planned 40 to about 250, which then meant a hurried trip by Marian to get more take-out containers. But deliveries went well, due to the tireless efforts of many people -- those who came early cook, those who helped prepare, stack, box, and bag the dinners, and those who delivered the meals.

We seemed to have more take-out dinners than eat-ins this year, but those who did dine in relished the delicious, tender BBQ chicken with fixins.

Then there were all the mouth-watering sweets -- cakes, pies, cookies, brownies ... mmmm. Those tables got heavy traffic and were "raided" pretty well.

And of course, the craft sale (added this year) had a ton of baubles, bangles, beads, and more ... something for everyone. The youth even put their bird housees on sale. If you didn't get one, contact us for information on how you can get one. Give a bird a home and help the youth too!

At Flickr, you can see the 44 BBQ day photos. [Or see as a BBQ 2006 slideshow]

OSO at the Botanical Gardens

2006-04-26T19:00:00.000-04:00

Our Outings for Seniors and Others (OSO) group travelled downtown to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on April 26th.

Photos by Mary are now online in the church's new photo album at Flickr. These photos are part of the OSO - Botanical Gardens "set" of photos.

As with the Congo missionaries' blog, you can now always get the latest photos uploaded by going to our photo album's new main address: http://flickr.com/photos/apmethodist/ and you can get a nice (OK, really "neat") Flash slideshow of the latest uploaded photos by using the companion address: http://flickr.com/photos/apmethodist/show/ .

We have a "Pro" subscription, so we can have unlimited photos and unlimited photo "sets" (groupings). As time goes on look for sets by the year as well as by topic.

Easter Sanctuary

2006-04-16T18:15:00.000-04:00

Many people helped make the sanctuary look beautiful for the Easter service. The flower cross was formed on a bed of Magnolia leaves, with gorgeous flowers on top. Barbara and Marty followed Hilda's lead and expertly arranged the blossoms. A large potted flower array decorated the chancel area, with the Easter Lilies forming a white cross in the arrangement.

The full effect of following Jesus

2006-04-12T21:24:00.000-04:00

Rev. Owen Skinner, Associate Pastor, Snellville UMC, gave an unusually captivating devotional as part of Avondale Pattillo UMC's Lunch Lift Devotions during Holy Week. His devotion, "The full effect of following Jesus", was inspired by a church Palm Sunday pageant that included Jesus riding into the sanctuary on a donkey.

What followed was fuel for Rev. Skinner's amusingly aromatic anecdote about the full effect of following Jesus not being what we may expect. It was also a reminder that Jesus' procession in to Jerusalem was probably also filled with smells -- from masses of people as well as the animals. And as a sidebar, the anecdote served to also remind us that we all have some manure in our lives that may need to be cleaned up.

Our Lunch Lift devotions were preceeded by a light lunch that the church provided and featured United Methodist clergy from the general area.

Palm Crosses for Passion Sunday

2006-04-09T16:59:00.000-04:00

As people entered the sanctuary this Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday), ushers gave each a palm cross. Jesus entered Jerusalem amidst shouts of, "Hosanna," and the laying of palm branches on the road before him. These palm crosses are a reminder of that time. They also have a unique history.

In 1965, Anglican priest Father Alan Talbot encouraged poor people in nine mud villages near Masasi, Tanzania to weave palm crosses as a way to add to their meager farming income. Often, whole families weave these crosses. The African Palms USA organization uses lots of volunteers to reduce costs and let more non-denominational self-help grants reach the people who make these.

Persons back in Mulungwishi

2006-03-23T20:36:00.000-05:00

Are you keeping track of news from David and Lori, missionaries to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo)? Read their news at their new "UMC Congo" blog. A new posting was made today.

OSO trip to Blue Willow Inn

2006-03-09T22:17:00.000-05:00

The Outings for Seniors and Others (OSO) group gathered Wednesday for a scrumptious Southern style buffet lunch at the Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle. Here are a few of the memories (click on a photo to see a larger version) ...

Of course, they had to browse the Gift Shop too.

And after a hearty meal, there's nothin' better than a good ol' fashioned rocking chair...

[most photos by Marty]

Congo missionary photos now online

2006-03-04T17:28:00.000-05:00

Photos of life at the Methodist Seminary at the University of Katanga at Mulungwishi, D.R. Congo, are now available as a photo gallery and a slideshow. These are ones from David and Lori Persons and were actually taken from March to March, 2004. Most of these current ones are of seminary student wives, who themselves are students of the Doris Bartlett ("Mama Doris") Women's School.

The following links will always show you the latest photos posted at Flickr (a photo blog).

View photos better...

2006-02-25T13:43:00.000-05:00

The "Puter Gnome" blog has good links to sites that help you adjust your monitor so it displays online photos better.

Why bother? If you don't calibrate your monitor (simple steps), the photos you view at online may well look darker or lighter or a different contrast than they really are.