Upon Bennard’s death in 1953, the local chamber of commerce of Reed City, Michigan, erected a large memorial cross near the Bennard home as a tribute the evangelistic life of Reverend and Mrs. George Bennard, and to his most famous beloved song. A year later, The Old Rugged Cross Historical Museum was dedicated near the same site. The cross and the museum still stand today.

The Old Rugged Cross

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

~Refrain

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,

Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

~Refrain

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For t’was on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

~Refrain

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.

~Refrain

We will kick of our the 2012 year of the UNYAC “Reaching Our Neighbors” Initiative through neighborhood restoration with an organizational meeting, Tuesday, May 21st, at 6:30 PM in the youth Café.

The Outreach Committee needs members from Sarah Jane, so please consider joining us on the third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 in the youth cafe’. This is going to be a very exciting year of reaching our neighbors.

Take a look at all that we are doing this winter.

The Dragon Slayers After School Club which meets from 3:30-5:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays is open to students in grades 4^th to 12th. The Leadership Academy for youth in grades 9-12 also meets on Mondays and Wednesdays. Academy students have the opportunity for leadership training in team building and program planning.  Check the Dream Center website for details: gfjdreamcenter.cfsites.org

This winter finds us is in the midst of our youth basketball program for 3rd to 7th grade. The outreach committee sponsors 2 teams in the Church league and we are happy to report that the teams have about 35 kids from our neighborhood! The Church league requires that participating children attend church services twice a month, so if you see a new face, please welcome ”the least of these” of God’s precious children with a smile and be sure to introduce yourself.

At this time of year we are also preparing to kick off our annual bike drive. This is our fifth year, and to date (can you believe it?) we have given away over 700 bikes! Please pass the word that we are looking for donations of bikes to recondition and give to youth in the village of JC to get to free village summer programs and Sarah Jane’s summer lunch, Monday thru Friday at noon, which is for kids up to age 18.

We are also kicking off our third annual Shift Scholarship. If you know of any youth who are the first to graduate or go on to secondary education on either side of their family, they are eligible to apply for a computer from the Shift Scholarship. We collect used computers and BCC computer classes recondition them. The students read about the life of George F. and tell us how they will emulate a life that gives back.

We recently instituted a youth leadership team for 2012 consisting of five youth:  Julia Black, Morgan Pichura, Keith Reffitt, Emily Rogers and Jessie Smeltzer.

This camp will bring youth and adults from Western New York United Methodist churches to join in with youth from our own community in order to continue the work of rebuilding homes and churches affected by the September 2011 flood.

Participants will work on projects arranged through our Upper New York Disaster Coordinator Greg Forrester and our Binghamton District Disaster Coordinator John Conklin.

Work-site devotions and the evening programs will be developed by Deacon Dee Finch, Director of Nurturing Ministries at Greece United Methodist Church in Rochester, Deb Coatsworth, Christian Education Director at Elma United Methodist Church, and David Black.

Please hold this effort in your prayers.

This year the event is held April 20-22 at the Holiday Inn at Syracuse/Liverpool. We have two youth, Emily Rogers and Jessie Smeltzer, involved in planning and running this youth-led event. They are part of the Upper New York Conference Council on Youth Ministries.

We are excited that the Wayne Kerr Band will perform at UP!WORD’12. Wayne Kerr is the worship pastor at Grace Fellowship UMC in Katy, Texas. Many of our youth have met Wayne at previous conference youth events. He recently released his new album, Love Stands Out.

And it’s coming back to Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial UM Church.

Mark your calendars for this year’s Summer Fun Week.

It will be held Sunday August 12^th through Thursday August 16^th from 6:00 to 8:30 PM each evening.

Our theme is Power Lab – Discovering Jesus’ Miraculous Power. If that sounds familiar, it is. We enjoyed this theme so much in 2008 that we decided to re-visit it in 2012.

Power Lab will be fizzing with fun for kids, teenagers and adults. Everyone involved in this Summer Fun Week will discover Jesus’ miraculous power – and never be the same again!

We need your help. In order for this week to happen, we need people to help out during this week. We need Lab Crew Leaders, Station Leaders, Preschool leaders, a Food & Snack coordinator, Hospitality Team Members, and Registration Team members. In April look for the Power Lab display in the church parlor that contains descriptions of each of these volunteer opportunities. For additional information or to volunteer, contact David Black (797-3938 ext. 117).

• Cameron Black on your induction into the  National Honor Society!
• William Hernandez on being part of the BCMEA 7th and 8th grade chorus!
• Jessie Smeltzer for being recognized for putting forth exemplary effort both in and out of the classroom!

We also open the doors to the sanctuary every Wednesday from 11:30 am – 1:00 pm during this period. We invite all of the Sarah Jane Johnson members and the community neighbors to join us for prayer. During the Holy Week, Monday through Friday, we will open the doors at the same time. During this Lent season, I hope you will pray for yourselves, your family and your church. I hope you will pray for our community and the country and world. Please don’t forget to pray for your pastor as well.

This year, we will have a big celebration for Easter. Two people will receive baptisms this year and over ten people will join the church membership. So we will have a combined service for this grand celebration.  After service, we will have a homecoming party at the gymnasium. We will have beautiful music, welcoming speeches, Easter skits by the youth group and other great programs.

I pray that this Lent season will be a blessed time for you to become closer to God. I hope you will all have a Happy Easter!

Many Blessings In Christ, Rev. Hyun Joon Kim

This is a reminder that the Dragon Slayers After School program, for youth 4th to 12th grade begins its Winter session, Monday, February 6th, 3:30 to 5:30 PM.

There is a planning meeting 2/1, Wednesday at 3:30 to finalize plans.  If you are a community agency who wants information on our program, you may go to: www.gfjdreamcenter.cfsites.org and click on Programs.  Our site has just been updated.

Please forward this to anyone who is interested in volunteering and new volunteers who are not on this list.  We are in need of office help with registrations, and volunteer paperwork, so let me know if you can help with that, or know of someone.  Hours for that are afternoons and evenings M-W and are flexible. This is the time for all new volunteers to get their paper work in.

We will meet briefly in regard to staff assignments.  Then, we need help working on the physical spaces for getting ready to open, cleaning the tables, chairs and fridge, moving bags of donated clothing out of the Rain Forest Reading Room, and sorting in the art room.  Feb. 6th, is one week from today.  We have handed out copies of the WHY TRY message of the month, which is:  “Defense Mechanisms.”  Let me know if you need a copy.

If you have time, go to the WHY TRY website and locate a picture of the poster, or information on it on their blog on it so you become familiar with it.  Different staff are going to take different days to lead a team building activity throughout the month related to that topic. I think it is also a good topic to do some skits on.   So be thinking of something you would like to present on or lead, related to Defense Mechanisms.

This link takes you to several video resources, and is a good spring board for other clips on the internet that we could use that demonstrate defense mechanisms.
http://www.whytry.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25:video-links-and-resources&catid=19:video&Itemid=20

Here is a link to some music for it:
http://www.whytry.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23:using-music-with-whytry&catid=3:resources&Itemid=19
You can also think of any songs that go with it.  We also have a WHY? TRY? CD, so we can use that, as well.

See you then!

Patricia Cardin
The George F. Johnson Dream Center  for Community Empowerment

Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial Church
308 Main Street, Johnson City, 13790

607-797-3938, X. 113

Website: gfjdreamcenter.cfsites.org

What’s Your Dream?
Find Out at the  Dream Center and in the Manner and Legacy of George F. Johnson . . .
Make it a Reality and Change a Nation