UNITED METHODIST WOMEN: General Meeting is Tues. May 9th, 7:00pm in Fellowship Hall. Program: "Healing Ministries"; Speaker: Pat DiMassi. This includes holistic healing of the body, mind and spirit. Healing prayers will be offered at the end of the program.

YOUTH GROUP LOCK-IN: Saturday, 5/13 (beginning at 4:00pm) - Sunday, 5/14. The theme is "Friends".

YOU ARE INVITED: Church members who are interested in being At-Large members of the Administrative Council (the Church's decision-making body), which meets monthly, are invited to indicate their interest to one of the members of the Lay Leadership Committee, chaired by the Pastor.

GRADUATES: If you know of anyone in our church who is graduating from high school or above this year, please share this information with the Church Office so that we can acknowledge their achievement and pray for God's continued blessings upon them.

THE HUGH "SKIP" NEWMAN SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE: is currently accepting applications for the 2006 Skip Newman Scholarship. Applications are available in the Church Office and must be submitted by May 14th. If you wish to make a donation to the scholarship fund, please submit a check to the Church designating it for the Newman Scholarship Fund.

OFFERING ENVELOPES: If you have not received offering envelopes or whish to have offering envelopes for 2006, please contact the Church Office.

A JOURNEY WITH CHRIST - WALK TO EMMAUS: Women's weekend is May 18-21. For more information, please see Pat DiMassi.

SPECIAL THANKS: The United Methodist Men would like to thank everyone who contributed so generously to our successful Spring food drive to help re-stock the shelves at St. Killian's Food Pantry.

ANNUAL CHURCH SPRING CLEANING: Sat., May 20th. We are looking for all church members to bring their pails and sponges and help clean our Church, Thrift Shop, and Church School. Here is our chance to clean out the clutter, and put a shine on our Church. The UMM will be providing a light lunch for all workers. A sign-up sheet will be posted in the beginning of May.

REMEMBER IN PRAYER the confirmation students that they may know Christ personally and follow Him: Scott Brown, Evan Cavallo, Shannon Malecki, Preeti Misra & Dan Pidgeon.

CONFIRMATION NEWS:

• Barbeque: Sunday, May 21st, 12:00noon at the Parsonage.
• Rehearsal & Dinner: Friday, June 2nd. Parents will plan and host dinner for the mentors and confirmands. Dinner 6:00pm, rehearsal 7:00pm, dessert following rehearsal.
• Confirmation: Sunday, June 4th. Mentors and families should arrive at church by 8:15am in order to put on robes and corsages.

OF MEN & MOTORCYCLES - PART II: On Sunday, May 28th, at about 11:15am, the United Methodist Men will welcome the re-scheduled arrival of our own Rodger Lee and members of the Lighthouse Harley Chapter of the Long Island Motorcycle Club to our church for a special blessing of the riders. Each Club member will contribute to a special fund that will then be donated to UMM for UMCOR Advance Specials. Please plan to join us for refreshments and greeting the riders.

DIRECTOR OF MUSIC POSITION AVAILABLE: Farmingdale UMC seeks part-time Director of Music. Send resume to Music Search Committee at farmumc@earthlink.net or to 407 Main Street, Farmingdale, NY 11735.

STEWARDSHIP RELFECTIONS
(Counting Lessons by Rev. Charles Parker): We serve God with our tithes, gifts and offerings. Looking at some simple numbers can shed a great deal of light on a subject like serving God and others through stewardship. Let's look at some examples:

• $607.81 The annual contribution of the average United Methodist member in 2003.
• 20% The percentage of the average church membership that supports 80% of the budget.
• 50% The percentage of the average church membership that contributes nothing to the financial life of the church.
• 2.6% The percentage of after-tax income that the average church-goer gives to the church. As depressing as this statistic is, United Methodists are almost rock bottom in giving as compared to other denominations.
• 2.1% The percentage of after-tax income that people give who earn over $100,000 per year. This highlights and important fallacy: many of us think that "if I just had a little more money, I could afford to be more generous.' Wrong. Statistics are very clear that as income goes up, percentage giving goes down.
• 43% The percentage of income that people give who earn less than $10,000 per year. Again this highlights a point that John Wesley made throughout his ministry: as we become more affluent, we lose our sense of dependency on God's grace. This is why he developed his famous formula: Earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.
• 97% The amount of John Wesley's income he was giving away by the end of his life.