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.

Eat out to help out

2006-02-25T01:21:00.000-05:00

Four restaurants in Decatur, Georgia, have joined to help Decatur Cooperative Ministries. The first Sunday of each month, these four will donate 10% of their proceeds to benefit Decatur Cooperative Ministries.

To get DCM the donation, make sure to give your waiter the Sunday Lunch card, available in our Narthex. One card per meal. So come back for more cards.

The participating restaurants:

Brick Store Pub
Corner Pub
Feast
Raging Burrito

Feed Reader reviews

2006-02-21T17:36:00.000-05:00

You don't really have to come to this web page to read the latest posts. All you have to do is set up to receive the "feed" from this page.

OK, OK, so now you're starting to get glassy-eyed and wondering about "feed". Well, a "feed" is the information about a posting here -- the title, date/time, and text of the post. You can access those via a "Feed Reader". Most are free.

Once you "subscribe" to a feed, your NewsReader automatically checks for new posts when you open it. Of course, you can still just check back here now and then.

cnet has reviews of several feed readers. An executive summary... if you use Internet Explorer, it looks like Pluck is a good one to try. [ Download Pluck ]

If you'd like to read blog feeds via a separate web page that collects "feeds" from different blogs for you, try the Google Reader or NewsGator.

If you are a FireFox user, you can "drag" a web address for a blog to your bookmark bar and it adds an orange "feed" icon. Clicking on that icon lets you see all current posts for that blog. Internet Explorer 7 is reported to also add this feature.

Mulungwishi missionaries move

2006-02-19T02:16:00.000-05:00

Methodist missionaries David and Lori Persons have left Denver and are now on the way back to Mulungwishi, D.R. Congo. Lori is still a bit weak, but feeling better. They plan to return to the states in August and "make rounds" to all covenant churches plus others that support them. Lori says they covet our prayers for her complete recovery and their safe return to DR Congo.

Meanwhile, if you'd like a "wallpaper" of Mulungwishi station at sunset, click on the photo (which displays the large version), right-click on that large image, and then select "Save as background" (or whatever your browser calls that menu pick).

A-D-V-O-C-A-T-E

2006-02-18T23:43:00.000-05:00

The Wesleyan Christian Advocate deserves a big cheer. Every issue contains global and national news — but each issue also reports in detail on what is taking place in Georgia United Methodist churches.

Read.
Be informed.
Be inspired.

Subscribe to the Wesleyan Christian Advocate.

Drop your check for $18 made out to Avondale Pattillo and marked “Advocate” in the offering plate for a one-year subscription to the print edition. Subscribe to the online edition for $12 or subscribe to both editions for $24. In any case, you can subscribe to either or both editions online.

As a bonus, you can preview the Advocate online all during February -- for free. Check it out! Then support this award-winning newspaper.

Oh -- and what's with the cheerleader's shirt? The Wesleyan Christian Advocate is "where it's @"

Who is this King?

2006-02-15T22:52:00.000-05:00

Porter previewed the Easter Cantata tonight -- "Who is this King?" by Lloyd Larson and Joseph M. Martin. It's an impressive work, with a variety of styles, emotions, and messages.

The cantata "story" sequence will stop after the crufixion, as this is planned for Passion Sunday (we're having a Passion Sunday cantata instead of a Palm Sunday cantata this year). The Chancel Choir will sing the cantata book's last anthem on Easter Sunday. It includes a section of congregational singing.

For more about Passion Sunday, also see:

Mountain View residents get Valentine goodies

2006-02-13T00:15:00.000-05:00

The Missions Work Area continues the monthly visits to the Mountain View Personal Care Home. This month, the Valentines theme was certainly appropriate and very well received. Smiles abounded as Claire served cupcakes with candy heart decorations. Meanwhile Jerry played tunes -- his playing always brings smiles too. This time, some people even sang along.

To top it all off, our kids made special Valentines cookies and bookmarks for the residents.

Valentines Day dinner, show

2006-02-12T22:30:00.000-05:00

Kathy Reed and the Ain't Right Boys topped off a great Valentines Day celebration dinner with their usual toe-tapping Bluegrass on Saturday, February 11th. Members of this gathered diverse group were still talking about the good time on Sunday.

Puter Gnome now inhabits web

2006-02-12T21:10:00.000-05:00

Another day, another blog. Ye ol' Webmaster has started a second blog (web log -- journal). This one is titled "Puter Gnome". The Puter Gnome blog will include tips about the care and feeding of personal computers, including system efficiency tips and security tips.

Puter Gnome replaces the "PC Tips" emails that selected people in the church had asked to receive now and then. So check out Puter Gnome now and come back often.

If you have a comment or suggestion, click on the "comments" link at the bottom of the Puter Gnome posting that you want to comment on. Avoid using your real name, though, for online privacy and protection reasons.

Weather comes to "Church News"

2006-02-12T21:09:00.000-05:00

Most people are interested in the weather. So we've added a new link in the right column of this page -- "Weather in Decatur, GA". The link goes to a Yahoo! page that includes current weather plus forecasted weather. Our long-term plan is to create a community page that includes links to weather, traffic, news sources, and local governmental services.

If you're really into the weather, you may want to also check out the Weather.com "blog" (everybody seems to be creating blogs these days).

Webs 4 Churches Blog kicks off

2006-02-12T20:56:00.000-05:00

Saturday, January 21 saw the kick-off of the latest web innovation from Avondale Pattillo -- a blog titled "Webs 4 Churches". Bruce started this after a suggestion by a person attending one of his web sessions at the recent district training event.

A "blog" (short for web log) is sort of like a journal. Though originally a personal journal of opinions and observations, some blogs now even serve as online new sources.

While the "Webs 4 Churches" blog is geared toward web and technology, you might get a kick out of reading some other (non-technical) blogs by Methodists. So check out the "Methodist Blogroll" part of the right column for links to some of them.