September 2007 events

The outreach committee meeting for Sun. Sept. 16 at 5 p.m. at the church has been cancelled.

Prayer meeting will be held at the Johnson's home on Wed. Sept. 19th at 6 p.m. We hope you will consider meeting with us there for a rewarding time of fellowship and prayer.

The God's Girls group is planning to meet Sun. Sept. 23rd at 3:30. Please consider bringing plant bulbs to trade or to plant along the church sign.

Thanks to all those who participated in Fun Night - it was a great time of fellowship and laughter!

Meeting announcements / Corrections

Prayer meeting has been moved to Wed. August 29th. It will be hosted by Edna and Judy at their home.

Fun Night will be held on Sat. Sept. 8. Be sure to prepare a skit, song, or other activity. Please consider bringing some finger-food for snacks.

A short board meeting will be held Sun. Aug. 26 immediately following church. The church body is invited to attend. We will approve the work of the Nominations committee and the Building Committee has been asked to give an informal report of their work so far.

Our Charge Conference meeting with District Superintendent Carden will be Mon. Sept. 10 at 6:30 p.m. All church members are invited to participate.

July and August 2007 - Upcoming Events

Sun. July 29th - Sun. Aug. 5th:
Yelvington Annual Campmeeting! 7 p.m. nightly. See the campmeeting website for more details and a list of this year's special events, including Youth Night, an ice-cream social, Firm Foundation concert, and a historical dress-up night: http://yelvingtoncampmeeting.blogspot.com/.

Clean up days will be Sat. July 21st and Sat. July 28th, beginning at 7 a.m., at the campmeeting. Please consider coming (and bringing tools or cleaning supplies).

Sat. August 11th:
The ladies of the church are invited to a baby shower for Tonya and Phillip at Bethlehem. (They're registered at Target and Target-online). Time: 6 p.m. Given by the ladies of the church.

Coming also, September 25th
Fun Night! Ruth asks that everyone participate with a "stunt," skit, song or other entertainment! It will be an evening of fun for all ages!

Church Yard Sale - SAT. JUNE 23, 2007

Bethlehem Church invites you to our church yard sale - Saturday June 23 from 7 a.m. to approx. 11:30 a.m. at the church (see directions in the sidebar or the linked map). We will have a large variety of items at good prices!

The proceeds go to support the church and our new women's group.

June 2007 Events!

PRAYER MEETING: The next prayer meeting will be held at our pastor's home on Wed. June 20 at 6 p.m. Everyone is invited to this spiritual and social gathering.

YARD SALE: The God's Girls group will hold a yard sale at the church on the morning of Sat. June 23 from 7 - 11:30. (All members are asked to contribute their items and to invite people to come to the sale! Please pre-price your items if possible; we will gather at the church Sat. June 16th from 2-4 to price items also and to have a God's Girls Meeting).

REMINDER - CAMPMEETING: Don't forget, this year's Yelvington Annual Campmeeting will be held nightly from Sun. July 29th - Sun. Aug. 5. See the campmeeting website for more details about this year's special 110th anniversary events: http://yelvingtoncampmeeting.blogspot.com/

upcoming May events

On Wed. May 16th we will have our second prayer meeting service, at Ruth and Hubert's home at 6 p.m. The first meeting was a true blessing and we hope everyone will consider attending these special events.

On Sat. May 19th, the God's Girls group is planning an outing to Owensboro for the Mary Kendell Home day. There will be tours of the campus as well as an auction and a luncheon. We are hoping to donate food items for the auction also. More news will be posted as we get more details. All ladies are invited to participate.

Announcements - April 2007

Church Clean-up Day:
Saturday 4/28/07
9:00am
All are welcome - ladies, gentlemen, and kids!
There is an extensive list of projects we can work on, so everyone's help is appreciated!


Prayer Meeting:
4/25/07
We are beginning our mid-week prayer meetings. The first meeting will be April 25th at 5:30 p.m. at the Jenkins' home. If possible, please let them know that you plan to attend. Everyone is welcome.


Congratulations to our new members, the Bennets. We are so pleased and excited to "officially" have you as part of our congregation!

Palm Sunday Breakfast

Please join us for Palm Sunday breakfast, Sun. April 1 at 9 a.m. It's a pot-luck meal with lots of good food. Everyone is welcome.

We will also have choir practice Sunday for a special song for Easter Sunday.

March 18 - special event

Just a reminder that on Sunday, March 18th we will have a special time during the worship service to honor one of our very dedicated members. Everyone is invited to share brief memories or recognitions that honor this person. Please consider typing up your devotions so that we can gather them into a "book" for them to keep (give these to Tonya to compile). It will be a blessing for all in attendance to hear these tributes to a special church member. Immediately after the service we will have a special potluck dinner in their honor. Everyone is invited!

Feel free to contact Tonya or Bro. Ernie if you have any questions. Hope to see you Sunday!

rescheduled Women's Fellowship Group Meeting

Since the first meeting was cancelled due to snow, the first meeting of the Women's Fellowship Group will be Sunday, March 4th at 5pm. This one will involve a small potluck of finger foods. Wendy has put a sign-up list at church for the potluck. Please list what you will bring with you by the end of church Sunday. Some ideas for projects are posted at the GoogleGroup page. Hope to see you at the meeting, ladies!

Bethlehem Women's Group begins!

We are creating a new Women's Group for the church. The group's purpose is:

"The purpose of this group is to provide a Christian, social, educational, and charitable outlet for the women of Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Daviess County, KY. In this forum, all members can present ideas, annouce projects, and share our faith. "

Our first meeting will be Feb. 17th at 2 p.m. This meeting will be a time to discuss further the group's goals and interests and to plan future projects - as well as to socialize together. All young ladies and women of the church are invited and encouraged to attend! We hope to have times in the future for crafting, making gifts for visitation, renewal of the church building, exercise, and of course eating and chatting!

One of our first projects will actually begin before the first meeting. A few ladies will be meeting on Sat. Jan. 27th at 1:30 p.m. to clean-up the kitchen in the basement and possibly prepare to paint some of that area.

If you are interested in joining our group and did not receive an email about it, you can visit this link to request information or contact Wendy or Tonya:
http://groups.google.com/group/bethlehem-womens-fellowship/sub?s=SpvPOQgAAABnwHRi1cnfDfNdJ3Kqj8aJ&hl=en

Bethlehem shirts - now in!

We're proud to announce that the Bethlehem Church t-shirts are now available.

The front of the shirt has the church name and the Methodist cross-and-flame, and the back has the name and info, including our established date of 1808. (The image above is the one used for the back of the shirt).

The shirts are free to members and those in regular attendance - love donations to cover the cost are accepted.

We will be wearing the shirts as we sing at the nursing home next Sunday afternoon (Sun. Dec. 10) - so be sure to get yours and join us in sharing some holiday cheer!

Holiday Events

There are several upcoming events to remember at Bethlehem in the next few weeks:

Choir practice: Nob. 26 at 4 - practice for Hanging of the Greens and Vistitation

Hanging of the Greens: Our annual Christmas celebration! Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. Come, and bring a guest or two, to enjoy this holiday tradition as we prepare our sanctuary and our hearts for Christmas. Service begins at 6 p.m. with a reception following.

The visitation committee is also inviting church members to sing with us at Heartland Villa Nursing Home in Lewisport on Dec. 10, 2006. We hope to share some Christmas joy through carols and hymns.

Remember to bring your food-basket donations in the next few weeks so we can have a great Christmas-time donation. Also laity-Sunday is coming and we'll be looking for volunteers!

Fall Festival success

We had a great Fall Festival this year! Thanks to everyone who helped decorate, bring food or spread the word. Thanks also to those who came and brought their families and friends.

Community Fall Festival! Sat. October 21 - 6 p.m.

The church and community are invited to a

Community Fall Festival

Sat. October 21, 2006 - From 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

We'll have lots of fun activities for all ages:

*Indoor Trick-or-Treat with Bible Characters*
*Snacks* *Candy*
*Fish Pond*
*Costume Contests*

*Charades*
*AND MORE*

It's all free and it's all fun! The festival will be held in the church basement.

We'll see you there!

Activities: September 8 and September 10, 2006

Since our last Youth Night got stormed out, we've rescheduled for Friday, September 8 from 5:30 - 7:30.

We plan to have volleyball, games and hot-dogs and snacks - so be sure to come and to bring some friends! Youth and kids of all ages, from the church and the community, are welcome.

On September 10th, at 5:30, we will have a meeting of the Outreach Committee. Anyone who is interested in the church's outreach is encouraged to attend (you do not have to be part of the visitation group currently). We will not be visiting that day, but discussing new ideas for both visitation and other forms of outreach, as well as other upcoming activities. Your input is valuable to us!

Good job!

Many people at Bethlehem have been working hard in the last several months to accomplish our goals. We had a great revival, renovated the sanctuary, started recording sermons for distribution, implemented new Sunday School classes and more. The bathroom has also been redecorated and new signs featuring the church times have been ordered. New projects we're working on include more youth activities and a Wednesday night prayer meeting/Bible study.

Thanks to all those hard-working church-members, and to our pastor Ernie Doane and his wife Lisa for their enthusiasm and help during these processes:


If you're in the area, and looking for a church home - we'd love to meet you! Stop on in!

Campmeeting is Coming - Starts July 30th!

Campmeeting is coming soon! Mark your calendars! This year's campmeeting is July 30 - August 6. Every night at 7 p.m.

Youth night is Friday, August 4th beginning at 5:30. Be sure to invite some kids and teens for free food, good music, and a youth-centered (but important to all) message.

Remember that the final day (Sun. August 6) begins with morning worship service at 11 a.m. - which will be preached by our own Brother Ernie! This will be held at the campmeeting, in place of our service at the church. Then there will be lots of good food at the Potluck dinner - which is like all campmeeting events, open to all. Following that, at 1:30, Firm Foundation will bring special music before the afternoon service. This year's campmeeting will end with a 7 p.m. service that night.

Also: don't forget the second of the clean-up days for this year's campmeeting is July 29th (beginning at 7 a.m.) Everyone is invited to help out, and there's plenty of work to do this year since we're also cleaning up the cabin.

You can visit the campmeeting website (see the link on the sidebar) for more information on this year's services: http://yelvingtoncampmeeting.blogspot.com/

Sunday School News!

Good news! We have now started our Sunday School classes. All ages of children and youth are welcome. We will adapt the number and type of classes as needed. We currently are offering one class for elementary age children and another for Middle/High School students.

Currently Sunday School is scheduled at 11 a.m., following the worship service, in order to give parents a chance to attend the excellent adult Bible Study that runs at the same time. This schedule is flexible, and may change in the future depending on the needs of those who are interested in participating.

We hope to have a good turn-out and are eagerly preparing lessons for the kids. Hope to see you there!

Some Early Bethlehem History

The following quotation is taken from A History of Owensboro and Daviess County Kentucky by Hugh O. Potter (published, 1974 by the Daviess County Historical Society):

"As the Pup Creek area of the present Daviess county (around Yelvington) filled with new settlers, mainly from Fort Hartford, Fort Vienna, and areas to the east, the Methodists organized the first church in what was to become Daviess county. This interesting even took place in 1808, and was accomplished by Rev. William Craig, in the home of Benjamn Duncan, an early justice of the peace in Ohio county. The church took the name Bethlehem. It is still in existence, and is by several years Daviess county's oldest religious organization. Evidence seems to point to the fact that the Bethlehem organization came about through the same intinerant missionary work which had previously led to the organization of Goshen, Old Bethel, and No Creek Methodist churches, in the Hartford area, in 1804" (p. 51).

"When Daviess county was formed, on June 1, 1815, there were three religious organizations within its orignial bounds. They were: Bethlehem Methodist Church (1808), Buck Creek Baptist Church (1812), and Yelvington Baptist Church (1813)" (p.52).