We are excited to announce that Kynn and Carol Wanzor joined Stillwater First UMC last Sunday! Make sure that when you see them that you give them a warm First UMC welcome! 

Gerald Brusewitz passed on to his eternal home last week. We pray for God to be a source of strength and comfort to Gerald’s family as they make plans to celebrate his life at a future date.

Many of you have noticed we launched a new website for this new year. If you haven't seen it yet, our website can be found at our same URL as before: www.fumcstw.org. We also have a new app! Throughout the month of January, we will be rolling out new features on both our website and our app. Some of you may be wondering, "what has changed?" or perhaps even more importantly to you "why did it change?" Those are great questions!

From many different sources of feedback, it was clear our previous website was difficult to navigate and even more difficult to find the up-to-date information people were really wanting. In addition, people with nefarious intent were trolling our previous site. A number of different times last year, folks used contact info on our website seeking to scam staff members and members of our congregation. Our new site only provides email contact info for our staff, insuring that people's personal contact information is kept safe from those with malicious intent.

Overall, our new website focuses on those looking for a new church home. Our app, on the other hand, is focused on you -- people with an existing connection to our church. With new features rolling out weekly, our new website and app connect you with our livestream in higher fidelity than before, let you check out the latest E-News, and view the upcoming events that we have that month. Our app has an easy-to-use interface and features you have requested (such as our new children check-in system, which will be coming soon).

As we continue to create these valuable tools for our church family, you may see items we have not noticed yet. You are welcome to send your questions, comments, and/or concerns to our Technology Coordinator, Garett Reding, at greding@fumcstw.org We look forward to sharing more features with you once they officially roll out in the weeks to come! 

Garett Reding, our Communications and Tech Coordinator, has planned two sessions (both will go over the same information) for those needing help getting connected with our app. The first session will be THIS Sunday, January 12, at 2pm in the Social Hall. The second session will be Thursday, January 16, at 6pm in the Social Hall. We may offer a third makeup session at a later date as well for those unable to attend one of these sessions.

We want to make sure you have access to this great new tool that will help us connect with each other and our life together as a congregation. If you want to get started right now, CLICK HERE. 

Begin the New Year by signing up for Second Sunday Snacks. The next date is January 12th.  To sign up call or text Alice Fowler, 405-612-4269 or ajcfowler@gmail.com

We have received an offer on the parking lot east of the Family Life Center, across Duck Street. To execute the sale, we must receive Charge Conference approval. This called Charge Conference will receive only this item of business and is scheduled for Wednesday, January 15, at 5:30pm. We’ll meet in the Social Hall in the sanctuary building. All are welcome to attend. Voting members are those on the Church Council. 

Mark your calendars for January 24th and grab your dancing shoes! From 5:30-7pm, Trish Ranson will be leading square dances for people of all ages! Dinner will be provided, so come hungry and ready to have fun! 

Momentum Youth’s 7th Annual Chili Cook-off is January 26, 5:00-7:00pm!  $2 a person at the door gets you a full chili dinner, as well as an opportunity to taste the entries. Enter YOUR favorite chili by signing up HERE or contact Janelda Lane at jlane@fumcstw.org 

Thank you for your support of the Weekend Food Sacks for Children project. Your generous year-end financial contributions will help provide needed supplemental food for Stillwater students in 2025. We are so grateful to be the recipient of the Christmas Eve offering, which raised $15,371. We received an additional $7,240 in December contributions designated for our project. Thank you for the opportunity to promote the project and thanks to all of you for your help in making this happen.

Blessings,
Karen Hinton, Nancy Allford, Linda Blum
Weekend Food Sacks Coordinators 

Bishop Laura Merrill will join us for lunch on Sunday, Feb. 9 and you are invited! We’ll have a chance to get to know Bishop Merrill as she shares with us. She’ll get to know us as we highlight our ministry in the Stillwater community. There is no charge for the meal, but we will receive donations to help offset the cost of the meal. What we need to know is, are you coming? Please CLICK HERE to RSVP. 

We are so excited as things are wrapping up on the construction of the new Tech Booth in the Family Life Center for our Closer Walk service! If everything sticks to schedule, it should be completed by the end of January. Pictured above are those who did a quick walk-through to check the progress of the project on Thursday afternoon.