It was my honor and privilege to attend, as your Lay Delegate, the three exciting and worshipful days of Annual Conference in Athens, Ga. along with your At-Large delegates Gary Knowles, James Pelt, Bruce Phillips, Taylor Lankford, Kirsten Lankford, A.J. Crawford, and Sam Householder.

Some key events of the conference included:
Voting to reduce the number of districts from 8 to 5. That is saving the conference $1 million! -RUMC remains in the Northwest District and our new District Superintendent is Rev. Dr. Jessica Terrell.

Voting to move the Conference offices to a beautiful and more centralized location in Gwinnett County, formerly known as Sugarloaf UMC, which will be a better utilization of funds rather than a costly new build.  

Celebrating this year’s retiring clergy and remembering the clergy and spouses who have passed on since last year’s conference.

Celebrating the ordination of 14 new elders in full connection, as well as welcoming a full connection deacon, 8 provisional members, and 6 new licensed local pastors. We now have more active clergy than before the events of last year! United Methodism is growing!

The most impactful event of the entire 3 days for me was when Host District Superintendent Rev. Dr. Rodrigo Cruz offered us a challenge to consider over the next 4 years:

• 8,267,732 – the number of residents that live within the boundaries of the North Georgia Conference.
• 6,035,444 – the 73% of that population who, according to Mission Insite, are NOT actively involved in a church or faith community.
• 211,504 – North Georgia United Methodists (all of us) who have committed their prayers, presence, service, gifts, and witness to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the state of Georgia and the world. 
• 28 people – We can reach these more than 6 million people if we each reach 28
• 7 – That’s seven people a year for the next four years

My friends of RUMC, we can do our part in this and with our own goal of adding 40 new families by Spring of next year we will exceed the conference goal. Go RUMC!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you and I hope you send me back next year.

Links for each day of the conference:
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

Pastor David is an original “Florida Man” having grown up between the beach and the Everglades in south Florida and graduating from the University of Florida in 1986.  For twenty-four years, David served in youth, children’s, and family ministry. This time included twelve years at Murray Hill UMC in Jacksonville, where he also worked with community outreach and disaster preparedness and recovery ministries.

After being called to pastoral ministry, David moved to Georgia to attend seminary at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. During his time at Candler, he met and married Katie, and together they have a growing, blended family that includes four grown daughters, their spouses, three grandchildren, and lots of “grandpuppies.” Before coming to Ringgold, David served as pastor of churches in the Gainesville district of North Georgia, the Coastal district of South Georgia, and most recently, at Salem UMC in Covington.

David and Katie are excited about moving to Ringgold UMC and serving with all of you in the North West District!

June 8th was a day that many of us will never forget as we held our first ever Chidlren’s Celebration of Summer. The celebration included 3 inflatables, a petting zoo, lots of fun and games, and all the hot dogs, snow cones and popcorn that anyone could eat! Perhaps the most fun part of the evening was when we invited the fire department to come and eat, and they showed up with a water truck and proceeded to “hose down” the children. There were between 250 - 300 (I personally believe 300) family members that enjoyed the evening including folks from our Children’s Celebration of Christmas, from Camp Catoosa, and from the Relative Caregiver’s Support group, which we host monthly at our church. Those were just folks that I recognized! We had also invited the Foster families from Catoosa and Walker counties, our scouts, our preschool, and folks going to Christ Chapel… just to name a few! It is our prayer that whether anyone came from those groups or not, they will know that because of Jesus Christ, RUMC loves them and wants to share that love with them.

On a different note, it was an absolute blessing to know that 50 people from our congregation volunteered to serve that night. What a tremendous response and what a great reflection of what our church can do when we work together. Thank you for helping the vision of the Children’s Celebration of Summer become a reality. I’ve even heard a few of you say you can’t wait until next year!!

It’s not too late to sign up for The Best Week of Summer! We will learn about following God during our Vacation Bible School program from 6-8pm on July 21-24, and we will sing and make music at our music camp from 9am-1pm on July 25-26. Just for fun, we will have Minions movie nights from 6-8pm on July 25-26 and a family pool party at the Ringgold community pool from 6-8pm on July 27! You can sign your kids up or sign up to serve through the church app (the registration for serving music camp is separate from the registration to serve the Best Week of Summer). With all of the fun we have in store for the Best Week of Summer and all of the fun we already had during the Children’s Celebration of Summer, we are setting our children’s ministry up to grow! As the director of children’s ministries, I cannot do this alone, I need YOUR help! Email me at kirsten@ringgoldumc.org to find out about opportunities to serve in children’s ministry- we would love for you to be a part of the team!

Each year during the July meeting of the 49ers, Carolyn Turner and I lead a patriotic sing-along in commemoration of Independence Day. We will lead the group in joyfully singing classic American songs such as “America, the Beautiful”, “This Land is Your Land”, “Yankee Doodle”, and a medley of our Armed Forces songs, just to name a few! The meeting will be July 9 from 6-8pm. We will have hot dogs, so bring a side dish, salad, or dessert. This is one of my very favorite summer traditions at RUMC, and I hope you will all come sing along with us this year. Wear red, white, and blue!

Ice Cream Social
Sunday, July 7 • 4-6pm
Meet and Fellowship with Pastor David

July 49ers
Tuesday, July 9 • 6-7:30pm
Patriotic Sing-Along

The Best Week of Summer
VBS: July 21-24 • 6-8pm
Music Camp: July 25-26 • 9am-1pm
Movie Nights: July 25-26 • 6-8pm
Family Pool Party: July 27th • 6-8pm

Catoosa Kids Day
Led by Sally Ensley
Thursday, July 25 • 3-6pm

Blessing of the Backpacks
Sunday, August 4
During 9am and 11am Worship

Have an article that you would like to contribute to an upcoming The Communicator newsletter? Email it to: newsletter@ringgoldumc.org

For an article to be included in the August edition, it must be submitted by July 17th.

General Budget
Full Year Budget: $610,500
Budgeted in May: $50,875
Received in May: $38,199
Spent in May: $46,238
Budgeted May YTD: $254,375
Received May YTD: $254,995
Spent May YTD: $250,007

In Person :
9 AM: 85
11 AM: 73
 
Online:
9AM: 39
11 AM: 14

General Fund
In Memory of Tom McMillen
by Con & Beth Kellerhals

In Honor of Our Mothers
by Patrick & Marie McMillen

In Honor of Donna Greeson
by Carolyn Turner

In Honor of Gary Knowles
by Carolyn Turner

In Honor of Beth Kellerhals
by Carolyn Turner

In Honor of Ann McMillen
by Carolyn Turner

In Honor of Catherine Turner
by Carolyn Turner

In Memory of Joe Barger
by Jan Hendrix

In Memory of Dick Clark
by Jan Hendrix

NCIC
In Memory of Jerry Watkins by:
Carolyn Turner
Barbara Barger

In Memory of Joe Barger
by Carolyn Turner

Sew What
In Honor of Tina Lambert
by Donna Greeson

Funeral Meals
In Honor of Laurie McGee
by FOB Class

The Barger family would like to express their sincere appreciation for the support that was shown to them during the time of Mr. Joe Barger’s passing. They would like to thank all who provided the delicious meal following the funeral and words of comfort on that day.

Ringgold United Methodist Church
706-935-4777 | www.ringgoldumc.org
7484 Nashville St
Ringgold, GA 30736

Chris Bryant, Senior Pastor
Sally Ensley, Minister of Care
Britta Alton, Director of Children’s Ministry
Michael Arnold, Worship Band Leader
Kodi Lowry, Director of Preschool
Taylor Lankford, Executive Director of Worship and the Arts
Marty McGee, Coordinator of Senior Adult Ministries
Pam Blaylock, Office Administrator
Drew Sherrill, Communications and Technical Director
Jamie Smith, Director of Youth Ministry
Carolyn Turner, Organist
Ann McMillen, Pianist