Pastor Vern's Top Ten

1. Food Distribution This Wednesday – We will be holding another food distribution this coming Wednesday, 4/28, at 2pm.  If you’d like to volunteer to help, please come to the church by 1:30. Thank you!

2. The Rummage Sale is Back This Year – Northgate is excited to announce that we will be hosting a Rummage Sale on Friday, May 7 from 8:00am-4:00pm and Saturday, May 8 from 8:00am-12:00pm. 100% of the proceeds from this event will benefit our connected community in Gahanda, Rwanda. We will have drop off times for donations available Monday and Tuesday (May 3 & 4) from 10:00am - 1:00pm and 5:30-7:30pm and Wednesday (May 5) from 10:00am - 1:00pm. All acceptable items should be clean and in good condition. For a list of items we can’t accept or if you would like to volunteer, please contact Northgate's office at office@northgatefmc.com.  You can also sign up to volunteer, by going to this link: https://registrations.planningcenteronline.com/signups/833957

3.  Pastor Marsha is in Senegal – Please keep Pastor Marsha and the Team in prayer as they serve in Senegal this week.  Pastor Marsha has limited internet and posted this message "Greetings from Podom in Fatick, Senegal.   I have internet access probably very briefly so I am sending my love to my Northgate family.   I am witnessing God's power and love at work on the other side of the world.  I am awestruck!  I pray you are all well!"

4. The United Way Day of Caring is Back This Year – Last year the Day of Caring was canceled due to COVID, but it’s back this year and we are participating for the sixth year!  We always enjoy taking this day to do some kind of helpful service project in our community.  It’s a great opportunity to show our love for others and let them know a little about the heart of Northgate.  If you’d like to join the staff in this we need to know as soon as possible: the United Way needs to put volunteer teams and projects together.  So please email Pastor Vern (vern@northgatefmc.com) or Pastor Chris (chris@northgatefmc.com) as soon as you can and let us know.  The Day of Caring is going to be held on Wednesday, May 19.  Thanks!

5.  Missions Meeting Coming Up – The Missions Team is getting together again.  We’ll have a meeting on May 16 after the second service to discuss mission work in Hungary and Rwanda and to pray about future plans.  Anyone is welcome to attend and we’ll meet at North in Room 2/3.  Blessings!

6. Elections For the Administrative Team/Summit Meeting – The weekend of May 15 and 16 we’ll have a special worship service devoted to celebrating what God has been doing around Northgate.  This will serve as our annual meeting, which we call the Summit Meeting.  Also, members will be voting for our Administrative Team members that weekend.  Biographies for nominees can be found at http://northgatefmc.com/elections.  

7. Parents’ Event – Leah (our Children’s Ministry Director) and Pastor John are planning a special night for parents on May 20.  More details will be coming soon, but this will be a very informative and helpful gathering for parents of children of all ages, so you might want to “save the date”!

8. An Update on the Mission Work in Hungary – Our Free Methodist missionary in Hungary, Gerry McNamara, recently sent us an update about some of the work happening there.  We can praise God for how He is using them to spread the gospel!  The ministry is currently at work in four cities in Hungary and they hope to see a fifth location soon.  A European Worship Service was held on April 17 at which Gerry preached, and this summer the church in Gyor will hold a vacation Bible school at the state orphanage there.  Please keep the McNamaras and all of this in prayer, and if you want to interact with the McNamaras you can reach them at g.k.mcnamara@gmail.com.  

9. Prayer-Walk Opportunities – Prayer walks are beginning.  These groups are meeting once a week to walk and pray together and are in various locations around our community.  If you’d be interested in joining a prayer-walk group, please let Pastor Marsha know by emailing her at marsha@northgatefmc.com.  Right now we have these prayer walk opportunities lined up (actually one is a “prayer-run” opportunity!)

•Tuesdays at 10am (Oakfield)
oTriangle Park Gazebo with Robin Woodams

•Tuesdays at 5:30pm (Batavia)
oThis is a Running Group – Meet at Arbor House (South Campus) with Doug Forsyth

•Every Other Wednesday - Mid-morning/times vary (Rochester)
oJericho Walk at Strong Hospital with Mark Logan (Contact Pastor Marsha for dates/times – marsha@northgatefmc.com)

•Wednesdays at 6pm (Batavia)
oNorthgate Prayer Walk (North Campus) with Suzy Jarrett and Louis Smith

•Thursdays at 6pm (Batavia)
oArbor House (South Campus) with Pastor Chris Landon

•Sundays at 4:30pm (Albion)
oMount Albion Cemetery with Greg & Sherrie Staines

•Sunday at 6pm (Bergen)
oHickory Park with Pastor Vern (vern@northgatefmc.com)
oNot meeting Sunday 4/18 due to the “Centered” event at North

•Thursdays at 6pm (Batavia)
oDeWitt Recreation Area with Anthony Hoisington

10. Prayer & Worship Night – We’ve just finished three wonderful nights of prayer and worship, but we’re not finished holding these special evenings.  We are going to have another on Sunday May 2 at 6pm.  Please join us for a time of devoted focusing on our worship of God and connecting with Him in prayer.  In addition to worship music and a short teaching we will offer prayer to anyone who would like to be prayed with.  For more information contact Pastor Vern at vern@northgatefmc.com.

You Can Count on This – Acts 15:37-38 – Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. (Read Acts 15:1-41)

Even Paul is human.  Last week we saw how committed to the gospel Paul was.  This week we see a part of Paul that may be easier for us to connect to.  Paul wanted to head out on another mission trip with Barnabas, and Barnabas wanted to take Mark along.  But Paul was adamant that he wouldn’t travel with Mark because Mark had left the last trip early.  This became a “sharp disagreement” and as a result two teams were formed, Barnabas and Mark, Paul and Silas.  And they went separate ways.

Whether Paul was right or not to feel the way he did, we can all relate to him, can’t we?  People let us down and it can make it hard for us trust them again.  We get disappointed, and angry and we part.  The good news in this story is that later Paul and Mark appear to have made their peace with one another.  In Philemon Mark is with Paul and Paul sends his greetings to Philemon along with others.  We may get angry with each other, but we can also forgive and reconcile with each other.

There’s one other thing I want to note about this episode in Acts.  While it was unfortunate that a division occurred, once more God brought good out of a bad situation.  Instead of one team heading out on missions, two teams went.  And that means more Christians encouraged, and perhaps more people coming to Christ!
 
When you’re not sure what you can count on in the world around you, know this: You can count on God keeping his word.  So read what God has to say in scripture!  And count on it.