Pastor Vern's Top Ten

1. Centered Night of Prayer and Worship – All are welcome to join us for an hour of prayer and worship this Sunday night at 6pm at North.  We’ll be holding these special nights on the first Sunday of each month.  Anthony will lead us in worship this month and following a short teaching time we will spend the rest of the hour in prayer.  There’s much for us to pray about, and we’d love to do that with you this Sunday evening!

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 this coming 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.  Pickleball at South Campus – Beginning in May, Northgate is offering a community Pickleball League for both recreational and competitive players. The league is being designed with all age ranges and ability levels in mind to promote a fun but meaningful program. Northgate Pickleball will begin on May 12th at 3:00PM and 8:00PM and will take place at our South Campus. All equipment required will be provided and there is no fee for participation. League play will be established in June/July and will run throughout the year. If you have any questions or would like to assist in the construction of the program, please contact Pastor Daniel at daniel@northgatefmc.com.

4.  Mother and Child Paint Night – Mothers of all ages are invited to bring their children of any age to our South Campus gym on Friday May 14 for Paint Night. Mandy from “The Art of Mandy” will be leading this and the fun starts at 6pm.  Space is limited so sign up by calling the office (343-4011) or going to our website (northgatefmc.com).

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 from 6-8pm.  This informative evening will feature three panelists discussing how to have a conversation with your children about sex, addressing shame, and talking about how to help our kids safely navigate the internet.  Sign ups will be available on our website soon, and childcare will be provided for the evening.  For more information contact Leah at leah@northgatefmc.com.

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. Let us know how we can pray for you! – We value the opportunity to pray for you and with you.  If you’d like to let us know how we can do that, please contact our prayer line by emailing us at prayer@northgatefmc.com or text 585-204-0645.  You can also submit prayer requests through our Northgate App.  

You Can Count on This – Acts 16:9 – During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (Read Acts 16:1-15)

Do you ever think to yourself, “I wish God would just tell me what He wants me to do”?
I have thought that.  Sometimes I wish God would be as clear with me as He was with Paul in Acts 16:6-10.  There we read that the Holy Spirit prevented Paul from preaching in Asia, and that the Spirit of Jesus stopped Paul and his friends from entering Bithynia.  And then Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia and concluded that God wanted him to go there.  I love how God gave Paul such clear direction!

There have certainly been times God has given me directions just as clear.  And God gives me plenty of direction from reading the Bible and meeting with Christian friends.  He also sometimes “nudges” me in a direction by bringing someone to mind or giving me a suggestion about something I should do.  I used to think those were just my own thoughts popping up, but then I started to wonder why that name or that thought would pop up at that time, and I have come to believe that often (not always) it’s a nudge from the Lord about something.  

And while I would say that I’m still learning and growing in my ability to listen to God, I can also say that the longer I walk with Him and the more I actively seek to attend to Him, the clearer some of those nudges are.  I know Paul had a much more developed relationship with God than I have, and that may be why he got such clear messages.  I may not be on his level, but I’m seeking to grow!
 
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.