Bi-Monthly Newsletter of the Nashville Emmaus Community
August 2017
Preparation DeColores Nashville Emmaus Community! About the time you read this newsletter the dog days of summer will be upon us. As the summer draws to an end, so the fall Walks to Emmaus draw near. We are excited that the men’s and women’s teams are formed and preparing for the weekend. Please include the team members, their leaders, and the pilgrims to attend the walks in your daily prayers as they devote prayer, study, and team building to prepare for the weekend. Each of us can be part of the weekend too. Our acts of agape make up a significant part of the weekend experience for pilgrims and I encourage you to plan to participate. You will soon begin seeing notices in your email about the prayer charts. Be sure to sign up early to get your name on the lists. Get together with friends to make agape gifts, the community needs lots of agape as we have exhausted all that we had. Also, plan to join with the community for Sendoff, Candlelight, and Closing. Finally, prayerfully consider sponsoring a friend or family member. Sponsorship is both a demanding and fulfilling role for the weekend, please pray for God’s guidance when sponsoring another believer. Be sure to review the guidelines for sponsorship which are viewable at the community website, nashvilleemmaus.org. This fall, each first-time sponsor will be the recipient of an act of agape from the Nashville Emmaus Board of Directors in the form of a waiver of the pilgrim fees. Further, any sponsor that registers a pilgrim at least six weeks in advance will receive an agape gift of a $20 discount on the pilgrim fees. We have much to be thankful for, and much to look forward to in the upcoming months. Please join the Board of Directors in praising God for all we have experienced through the Walk to Emmaus, and all that He will provide for us through our faith in Christ. Christ is Counting on You! DeColores, Steve Zuercher Walk 142, Table of Mark 931-436-7479
North Queensland (Australia) Emmaus Community The Nashville Emmaus Community has the opportunity to pray for upcoming Emmaus Walks in Australia. I received an email from Ian Dietrich from Queensland, Australia asking if anyone would consider filling some time slots on their 72 hour prayer vigil. They would appreciate our help with the early morning times. Please use the link below to access the online Prayer Vigil sign-on sheets for the North Queensland (Australia) Walk to Emmaus Community. www.3dayol.org/Vigil/GetComm.phtml Men’s Walk (#42) Thursday, August 17 to Sunday, August 20 Women’s Walk (#43) Thursday, August 24 to Sunday, 27 If you don’t have this link you just need to remember to Google 72 hour prayer vigil and navigate through the site or just remember www.3dayol.org (three day online dot org). It is usually the early morning slots that are the hardest to fill. The time zone in Australia is 15 hours ahead of Central Standard Time (CST). Remember how you felt when you saw all those names on the prayer charts when you went through your walk. This is our chance to give an act of agape to these pilgrims in Australia! DeColores, Deborah Mabry
August 12 - 6pm Gathering at Hamilton United Methodist Church 3105 Hamilton Church Road 615-361-7210 - Join us for a covered dish dinner, worship and great fellowship We will meeting in the Family Life Center Fall Walks at Hermitage UMC • Men’s Walk #197 Oct 19-22 Women’s Walk #198 Nov 2-5 Spring Walks at Hermitage UMC • Men’s Walk Mar 1-4 2018 Women’s Walk Mar 15-18 2018 All applications for the Walk to Emmaus and Face to Face should be sent to: Nita Wright, 203 Brookhaven Trail, Smyrna, Tn. 37167.
Sponsorship Essentials Dear Emmaus Community, I hope that you are considering sponsoring a pilgrim for one of the upcoming walks. If so, please read the following helpful hints on how to be a successful sponsor. 1. The first thing do when considering sponsorship is to pray! Pray that God will put a potential pilgrim on your heart and pray for discernment as to whether that person is a good candidate for Emmaus. (For example, Emmaus is meant to develop servant leaders in the church, not to convert people to Christianity. Thus, an atheist is not a good candidate.)
2. Read all of the information for sponsors. There is a lot more to sponsoring than just signing someone up for the walk! Sponsorship is the life blood of Emmaus. The importance of good sponsorship cannot be overstated. There is information on sponsorship on our website: nashvilleemmaus.org. 3. Have the potential pilgrim fill out the registration form and sign it; then, they should get their pastor to sign it. 4. Retrieve the form from the candidate and check the form for completeness and legibility. 5. Make a copy for your use as a sponsor (agape letters, follow up after the walk, etc.).
6. You then mail the application along with payment to: Nita Wright 203 Brookhaven Trail Smyrna, Tn 37167 Opportunie
Thank you for your sponsorship and your attention to detail in completing the applications. If you are having difficulty with any aspect of sponsorship please feel free to contact us for help. Nita Wright nita_wright@bellsouth.net Registration Chair
If you are sponso s for Sponsorship rin your pilgrim will g a pilgrim for the first time, have their registra tion paid for! Early Bi If you send in yo rd Registration: ur registration before the fall w alks, the registratio eight (8) weeks n fee will be $80. The deadlines ar 00. Men's Walk - Th e as follows: ur sday, August 23 Women's Walk Any registrations - Thursday, September 7 reci will be charged eved after those deadlines th e $100.0 All applications for the Walk to Em 0 registration fee. mau Nita Wright, 203 Brookhaven Trai s should be sent to : l, Smyrna, Tn. 37 167.
Notes from the kitchen team Denise Pridemore and Cathy Wedekind have volunteered to lead the kitchen for the Men’s fall walk in October. We are still searching for someone to lead the kitchen for the fall Women’s walk. We were blessed in the spring with many volunteers helping in the kitchen and we would like to continue that in the fall walks. Please look at the dates for the upcoming walks and see when you could come serve in the kitchen. You will be blessed by serving others.. Mary Craig Jenny Shelton
Serve Pilgrims and Walks Through Setup/Takedown Looking for a way to serve a Walk and further feel God’s love and grace? Sign up to assist the Setup/Takedown Committee. At least 15 people are needed to setup cots and rooms on Wednesday nights at 7:30 p.m. before each walk. In addition, at least 10 people are needed to takedown at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning of each walk. To keep the Community revitalized and continually renewing, we need new faces and recent pilgrims. Too often it is the same faces showing up. If you can assist, please email Julius Johnson at juliusj@cpws.net and state you are able. Working humbly behind the scenes can be a true blessing to you but most assuredly for the Pilgrims.
Trivia Game Night Nashville-based Kairos, for TN Prison for Women (TPFW), is sponsoring a Trivia Game Night to raise funds to cover annual administrative costs (storage unit, insurance, training, & postage). If you are interested in participating, we’d love to have our Emmaus friends join in the fun. Please contact Nita-Re Corbitt at (615) 255-4739 or cell at (901) 619-4953 if you have questions or need tickets. Teams will be formed in groups of 8 at each table. If you come in a group of less than 8, you will be “paired” with others at a table for 8. This can make for a fun night-out with friends, family, co-workers, reunion groups w/spouses, etc. If you have a group of 8, we can ensure you are all seated at the same table. Date: August 11, 2017, doors open at 6:00 p.m. for those interested in sharing in a “bring your own food” dinner shared amongst your table-mates. The games begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. and conclude around 9:30 p.m. Venue: First Church of the Nazarene, 510 Woodland Street, Nashville. Michelle Maroon TPFW Kairos Advisory Council, Chairperson Home: 615-461-8895 • Cell (text ok): 615-775-6651
Agape Corner Christmas in July!!! Oh, but wait- by the time you read this it will be August…. But just as it is not too early to begin thinking about Christmas… so it is also not too early to be thinking about AGAPE! Fall walks are coming up soon and we need your help! Remember how exciting it was getting all those cute and thoughtful gifts during your walk…well now is your turn to help make this set of walks special to the upcoming pilgrims. Agape = acts of unconditional love showing Jesus to other. That’s what the weekend to Emmaus is all about-bringing others closer to God through the sacrificial acts of love by others for others. You are sacrificing your time and talents for others. You can sacrifice by being part of the conference room team. “Well I haven’t been asked” you say. Don’t be bashful, contact someone on the team to let them know you would be interested in being on the team. Come to gatherings as well, there will be board members there you can introduce yourself to. A little nervous about jumping right into the conference room then how about being part of the kitchen, agape, or setup/tear down teams…What! They have teams for that? Yes! How do you think all those cots get put up, who prepares all those wonderful meal you ate and who sorted all your agape letters and passed out all those wonderful gifts of agape that appeared on the dining table? We need people to help with these tasks. Again, don’t be bashful, speak up and let a board member know you would love to help in these areas…Kitchen and Agape team members can spend the weekend or just come in as you are able to help….But let someone know of your availability so that the weekend Kitchen and Agape Coordinators can plan their help needs accordingly. Set up and Tear down help is needed right at the beginning and right at the end. That is a laboring task and an area that desperately needs help…These are all areas that you can become involved in …to give back… some of what you experienced on your weekend. Have difficulty with physical activity? There are still ways you can give agape love…Be a prayer warrior, sign up on the 72-hour prayer vigil. Like to cook… bring in snack table agape…don’t cook… bring in chips, candy, drinks…these are all acts of agape love. Maybe you are crafty and can prepare table/bed agape…you now like the cute little gifts you found on the dining room table or on your bed. They can be as elaborate or as simple as you choose. I have seen things as time consuming as little wooden plaques and wood burned magnets and wooden stools to a stamped bookmark, a cross made of beads or plastic canvas to gum in a bag with a verse or a statement “stick with Christ”, or a pencil with a verse on it. The white bags you get to put your gifts in….a share group make those! Agape gifts do not have to be hard or expensive just whatever you want to do to lift others up. A couple of notes on bed/table agape: Remember what one gets all are to get so no “special gifts” to individuals…. Save that for after the walk. For an Emmaus walk the number is 75, for Chrysalis is 65 and for Face 2 Face 65 – 75. *** VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: *** When providing bed/table agape You need to get it to the agape room by Thursday night because this helps the agape team when determining when it will be put out (what day, what meal, etc.) This way they don’t panic thinking there won’t be enough....Also remember not to put your personal names on each piece of agape. It’s ok to have the name of your reunion group on it, if you are providing agape just as an individual don’t put any name on it…It’s also very helpful for the agape team if it’s in a clear bag or container and if the count is on the outside so that the agape team does not have to count it to make sure there is enough to put out. If you want it put out at a specific time please make note of that like “Saturday breakfast” or “Friday dinner”. Did you know that it takes a minimum of 40 items of agape for a weekend? Agape begins with Friday dinner with around 4 items and after that we try to increase by about 2 each meal through Sunday lunch. That’s a lot. Like I say…it takes a lot of people to put on an Emmaus walk and we need YOU! De Colores Charlene Clark & Deb Mabry Agape Board Rep. Toll-free: (877) 899-2780 Ext. 7288 - Local Phone (615) 340-7288