Chapel Hill UMC

This Sunday was Confirmation Sunday at Chapel Hill. We are excited to welcome three new full members to this body of Christ. We welcome Mary, Danielle, and Sarah. The service of confirmation is a sacred service of claiming Christ as Lord and Savior in a public setting. We especially welcome the gifts and graces each of these new members bring.

We celebrate the gift of evangelism that Mary brings. Mary has been involved in several ministries at Chapel Hill. She sings in the Chancel Choir, and has the gift of evangelism. She is a champion debater at school and we have no doubt she will defend her faith well.

Danielle has been gifted with the talent for dance and theatre. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a faith-full person dance for the Lord. She has a merry, contagious laugh and lots of enthusiasm. Danielle has grown by leaps and bounds in her understanding of her faith.

Sarah, at first blush, appears to be a shy, quiet, beautiful young lady. But down deep, you will meet a strong advocate for any underdog. This gift is certainly God-given because our Lord was always standing for or with the voiceless and lowly. Sarah is called to stand for social justice and the church needs her voice.

Confirmation feels like an ending point. But it is just the beginning. We will walk with these young Christians on their faith journey and answer their questions and love them into a strong, sturdy faith as leaders in the church.

Blessings and courage in Christ,
Pastor JoNell

Welcome Back Pastor Rev. Mai Le!

Peach Portman, the Staff Parish Relations Committee Chair, made the long expected announcement at the end of our worship service on Sunday, May 5. The announcement was met with a happy round of applause. The next Pastor of Chapel Hill will be taking the reigns on July 1, 2013. She was on staff here from 2005 to 2007 as the director of children’s ministry. We welcome home Pastor Mai Le.

In case you are newer to the church membership, Mai Le has been serving as an associate pastor at Lovers Lane UMC from 2007 until the present. In her tenure at Lovers Lane she was involved in outreach ministry to the Austin Street Shelter and played a strong leadership role in the Singles ministry. She has been a catalyst in working for Evangelism and engineered the addition of 400 new members in the last 3 years.

Mai Le was born in Vietnam, has been married for 26 years and has 2 daughters. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Rev. Mai Le. May God richly bless her ministry here and cause Chapel Hill to continue to thrive and serve the Lord with joy.

~Peach Portman, SPR Chair

The Confirmation Class will be making their annual visit to Temple Emanu-El.

We would like to invite everyone to join us for this special trip. The service is enlightening and the Temple is amazingly beautiful. We have been studying about our Jewish roots and we always come away with new insights and the joy of a wonderful worship experience.

We will leave Chapel Hill at 5:00 PM sharp on Friday, May 3, 2013.

Please let us know if you plan to join us so that we will wait for you. We will travel together in the church van. A docent will give us a tour at 5:15 PM and the service starts at 6:15 PM. We will be back to Chapel Hill by 7:30 PM.

Hope to see you there.

~Pastor JoNell