October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Pastors serve us all year by preaching, praying, leading and taking care of us and our community. We are blessed to have David Cott as our Senior Pastor and Sally Ensley as our Minister of Care and Community.

Taking time to acknowledge their hard work is a biblical practice:
Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. – 1 Thessalonians 5:12 – 13.

Be looking for the announcement of the time and date when we will have “Pastries with the Pastors”.

During the month of August, we collected personal care items for the students at Bethel Bible Village as well as those students in Catoosa County who find themselves in need. Some students at all 3 of our county high schools are “couch surfing,” each night, trying to find a place to sleep. About 30 bags were completed for the students at Bethel to use whenever they are able to leave for the weekend. Another 30 will be distributed to the high schools as needed. Thank you so much for the tremendous response to this mission need!

When members of the congregation were asked, “What do you see as a priority for RUMC”? The overwhelming response was “To build a strong Children’s and Youth Ministry”. In order to build a strong Youth Ministry, we need a strong Children’s Ministry to feed it. The good news is that our Children’s Ministry is growing. Here is where you come in. We cannot need servants to provide support in the following areas:

• Sunday Morning Wiggle Worship(11:00 A.M. only)
• Sunday Evening Kids Night (4:45 until 7:00)
• Wednesday Night Game Night (5:45 until 7:30)

Our children’s group has grown to the point that we need to separate the older group from the younger, particularly during the 11:00 Wiggle Worship.

We would like to have a minimum of 8 servants (men and women). This would mean you would only have to serve 1 session every 8 weeks. By doing this, it will not substantially impact small group attendance. There will always be 2 servants to cover each group, so you will never be by yourself. The program and activities will be provided.

If you are interested in supporting our Children’s Ministry, please contact Kirsten at Kirsten.lankford@ringgoldumc.org.

Thank you for supporting our children.

It’s that time of year again- candy, costumes, cooler temperatures and fun! It’s time to start getting ready for RUMC’s annual Trunk or Treat on Sunday, October 27th. Throughout the month of October, we will begin collecting candy, which you can drop off in the donation boxes in the front and back lobbies. This year, our goal is to have 30 trunks. We will color in a poster of a car to keep track of reaching our goal. In addition to the candy and decorated trunks, we will have hot dogs, popcorn, sno-cones, a hay ride, and an inflatable. To do all of this, we need YOUR help! Sign up to serve on the app. This is a major way we can reach out to the community and make them feel welcomed! I look forward to all the fun this event brings each year!

RUMC 49er’s will meet Tuesday, October 8th from 6:00-7:30 pm in the church gym. Join friends for Pizza and an after dinner “Mystery” activity. Bring a side dish or dessert to share with your friends. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Supper with Sally will return on Sunday, October 20th. We will be meeting in the gym from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm. This time, we will be having a book exchange so we are asking all ladies to bring a book or books with which they have finished and no longer want. In exchange, we will be able to get a book that someone else has brought for the exchange. This will be a great time to find your next book and to share your thoughts on the one that you brought.

We are asking all those whose initials begin with A - M to bring sandwiches and N - Z to bring cookies or some other dessert. Chips and drinks will be provided. Since this is a “cozy” time to sip coffee or hot chocolate and discuss our reading with one another, pajamas seem to be appropriate! So if you would like, you can come dressed for bed! There might even be a small prize for the cutest PJs!

All ladies are invited to attend this great time of food, fun, and fellowship. Please plan to join us on October 20th!

Senior Adults! Mark October 25th on your calendars. We are planning a trip to the Lodge Museum & Store in South Pittsburg. We will all meet at the church at 9:30 am to carpool to South Pittsburg. There’s a very nice restaurant there as well, and you can eat breakfast & then look around, or look around & then eat an early lunch. We will stay 1-2 hours, and those that wish to will caravan on over to the lake home of the Kellerhals in Hollywood, AL (about 25 minutes from the Lodge store), for dessert and some social time (weather permitting). We should return to Ringgold around 4:30-5:00. Please contact Marty McGee about going, so we can plan for carpooling. Looking forward to a fun day of fellowship!

We are thrilled to be welcoming back the Imani Milele Children’s Choir from Uganda for another evening of incredible music & worship on Wednesday October 30th at 6:30 pm in the sanctuary. It was an absolute treat when our church hosted this group two years ago – we were blown away by their music, their stories, and their joy. This is a free concert for anyone and everyone; invite everybody that you know, including & especially kids! We will experience traditional African dance & song as well as familiar worship music. Imani Milele will be selling merchandise as well as offering opportunities to sponsor kids in their care, and I hope you will consider supporting their mission if you are able. You can also support their mission by helping to get the word out about this wonderful concert.

Before I retired, I often thought there may be some way I could help with the ministry that is Recovery at Ringgold . I’ve never had any addiction issues personally. But for some reason, God kept prodding me to attend a meeting or two and see if there was anywhere I could be of help.

I thought maybe I could just be an ear, or a word of advice to someone who was dealing with a recovery issue. Little did I know that there is much more to this program than I first thought. I hope that I have been a good listener for someone. I soon found that there was great benefit for me personally in truly beginning to understand the Christian based 12 steps of recovery.

As the staff likes to say, “Everybody’s dealing with something.” This program, puts you in the mindset to deal with personal relationship issues with your spouse or your children, or even your coworkers and friends. Instead of focusing on what someone may have done to you, it helps you focus on what you can do with yourself to forgive and move forward as well as recognize you may actually share in the blame.

Part of the program is also grief counseling. If you have lost someone or you have someone who is ill and you’re having a hard time with it, come check it out.

If you know someone or have a family member who is dealing with an addiction of some sort, please encourage them to come see what Recovery at Ringgold is all about.

If you personally would like to help out with the program, please come check it out. You may find like I did that you will receive even more than you contribute. Remember, “ everybody’s dealing with something.”

Thursdays at 6:30. Come Hungry at 6:00! Always great food.

“‘Tis the season” is a phrase I find myself saying a lot this time of year. Preparations for Advent & Christmas are in full swing, and I thought I would write a note to give you a taste of things to come. The Christmas Parade Block Party will be held in our church parking lot on the evening of December 6th leading up to & during the Ringgold Christmas Parade – The Chancel Choir will be Christmas caroling before the parade, our church will be giving out hot chocolate, and our Men’s Ministry will set up some fire pits to keep everyone warm.

Our Chancel Choir is teaming up with our Children’s Choir, Children’s Ministry, and Youth for a Christmas Concert on Tuesday, December 17th at 7 pm that will include beautiful choral music, congregational singing, and a dramatic telling of the Christmas story that you will not want to miss.

Our Ringgold Ringers Bell Choir has begun rehearsals for its Christmas Bell Choir Tour; We will be giving three concerts in December: December 8th at 3:00 pm we will be at St Gerard Catholic Church in Ft. Oglethorpe, December 15th at 3:00 pm we are not quite ready to announce just yet, and our culminating performance at Ringgold UMC will be Sunday December 22nd at 5 pm in the sanctuary.

As always, we look forward to Christmas Eve Candlelight Services - 5:00 pm Contemporary Worship and 9:00 pm Traditional Worship – bring your friends and families to my favorite services of the year where we will sing the best Christmas carols (O Holy Night, Silent Night, etc.), join together in a candlelight ceremony, and celebrate the birth & carnation of our Savior. Back by popular demand we will be releasing RUMC’s second-annual Christmas Special for everyone on Christmas Day. There are so many ways to get involved leading up to and during the Advent & Christmas season. Want to sing in the choir? Let me know, it’s not too late! Want to be part of decorating the church for the most wonderful time of the year? Let me know! Want to be part of Children’s Celebration of Christmas or any of the amazing missions that take place this time of the year? Let me know! You do not have to wait until December to begin experiencing and spreading the joy of Christmas.

Eugene and Grace Sanders married on October 10, 1964. Gene was with IBM in Columbus, Georgia. By December of 1964 Grace knew they would be doing entertaining in a lot of organizations we were already involved with and church activities and IBM activities. Probably it would be a good idea to purchase a punch bowl. That we did from Kirven’s in Columbus from their fine China and crystal Department. It originally had a very nice and large matching glass platter to rest the bowl on and place the cups around the bowl. From what Grace recalls it cost a little over $100 which we suppose was expensive for 1964 prices. But alas at a Sunday School party someone was helping take the big platter to the car after the party, dropped it, and it broke into many pieces. That could not be replaced as it was a set - the platter, bowl and 12 twelve matching cups.

If only this bowl could talk about the ways it has graced many a table in entertaining. It was borrowed once for a Met Opera big event here in Atlanta. My DAR chapter has used it for events and Gene and I have used it for our many events in our home. It is 60 years old this December and needs to be enjoyed by someone new with new experiences. We can think of no better place to give it to than Ringgold United Methodist Church. We zoom your service on Sunday then attend our service at Peachtree Road United Methodist. With much love we pass it on to you for your use along with some glass platters Grace no longer needs.

The matching cups for the punch bowl are in the bowl and we are including some different ones I collected through the years.

Blessings upon your wonderful church and staff,

Grace and Gene Sanders
Northwest District Superintendent’s Parents
Rev. Dr. Beth Sanders
May 15, 2024

Charge Conference
Monday, Oct 7 • 6 - 8 pm

October 49ers
Tuesday, Oct 8 • 6 - 7:30 pm

United Women In Faith
Friday, Oct 18 • 1 pm

Dinner with Dudes - Click Here to RSVP
Sunday, Oct 20 • 5 - 7 pm

Supper with Sally
Sunday, Oct 20 • 5 - 7 pm

Trunk or Treat
Sunday, Oct 27 • 5 - 7 pm

Imani Milele Children’s Choir Concert
Wednesday Oct 30 • 6:30 pm

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 November edition, it must be submitted by October 17th.

General Budget
Full Year Budget: $610,500
Budgeted in August: $50,875
Received in August: $32,732
Spent in August: $52,572
Budgeted August YTD: $407,000           
Received August YTD: $374,029
Spent August YTD: $405,681

In Person :
9 AM: 85
11 AM: 58
 
Online:
9AM: 28
11 AM: 16

Maintenance and Repair Reserve
In Honor of Bruce Phillips
by Eddie Floyd

Local Teacher Partnership
In Memory of Tom Billington
by Karen Eaker

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

David Cott, Senior Pastor
Sally Ensley, Minister of Care
Kirsten Lankford, 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