Online Worship Only on 1/17/21

January 12, 2021

Dear friends,

We have been taking COVID-19 precautions very seriously as we have been worshiping together in person. We have required masks, social distancing, and asked you to remain home if you feel sick or have any symptoms of COVID-19.

Unfortunately, we are still in the middle of a pandemic, and we can’t control every factor. A person in worship on Sunday, January 10, has tested positive for COVID-19.

Those who would have had contact with this person have been notified.

Out of an abundance of caution, we will move to online-only worship this Sunday, January 17. We will reevaluate if we can go back to in-person worship on Sunday, January 24.

Follow us on social media @semheights on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for further updates. We will also share updates in our weekly eNews and on our website.

Please continue to pray for our church, and we look forward to worshiping with you virtually for now!

In Christ,

Seminole Heights UMC COVID Task Force

Tom Culberson, Lay Leader

Emily Swiger, Administrative Committee Chair

Candice Legg, Staff/Pastor/Parish Relations Committee (SPRC) Chair

Katy Smith, RN, SPRC member

Brent Epperson, Chair of Trustees

Rev. Tiffania Icaza Willets, Pastor

2021 New Leaders

A new year means new leaders in our church! Our church leaders make ministry decisions and help behind the scenes in lots of different ministry areas. Check out the list of this year's leaders, and we invite you to pray for them as they lead our church in 2021.

Administrative Committee

Chair: Emily Swiger Secretary: Donna Hendrix Lay Leader: Tom Culberson Lay Member to Annual Conference: Cindi Hughlett Trustees Chair: Brent Epperson Trustees Vice Chair: Todd Davies Trustees Treasurer: Larry Blankenship Trustees ex-officio member: Alan Dobbs Finance Chair: Ken Brown Financial Secretary for Giving: Jayne Braddy Financial Secretary for Fundraising: James Jenkins Treasurer: Christine Messer (staff) Staff/Pastor/Parish Relations Chair: Candice Legg SPR at-large member: Katy Smith SPR at-large member: Margie Tarrago

Ministry Area Leaders

Spiritual Formation: Emily Swiger Children’s Ministries: Deni Blankenship Youth Ministries: Greg Vondruska Youth Representative: Kevin Vondruska Congregational Care: Betty Jones Hospitality: Becky Epperson, Jane Brown Archives and History: Kiersty Cox Kitchen Coordinator: Larry Blankenship United Methodist Women: Heike Doiron Preschool Partnership: Lisa Culberson Seminole Heights Elementary Partnership: Heike Doiron, Kristen Brown Metropolitan Ministries: Maggie Hudspeth Cuba Sister Church: Andy Blount TRIBE: Kristen Brown Pumpkin Patch: Brent and Becky Epperson Christmas Trees: Ken Brown, Matt Legg Children’s Home: Lindsay Braun Connectional Giving: Christine Messer (staff) Boy Scout Liaison: Alan Dobbs

Year-End Giving to Seminole Heights UMC

Many of you have been giving faithfully to our church this year, and we are so thankful. Your gifts have allowed us to fund church operations, connectional giving as faithful United Methodists, and especially neighborhood missions. These include support of our local healthcare workers at Tampa General and St. Joseph’s Hospital, and helping families in need during this holiday season through the Adopt A Family program with our local schools. We have been able to transition worship to online and well as in person. However, due to the pandemic, we have lost much of our building use income this year and have incurred unexpected costs for safety supplies and online fees for worship and administrative meetings. This year, we are asking for a second-mile Christmas offering this month to help us meet year-end expenses.

From our year 2020 operational budget of $314,916, we are facing a deficit estimated to be around $20,000. Without making up this deficit, we will be facing hard cuts in the 2021 budget to make up for this shortfall.

When we all come together, God does amazing things. I invite you to prayerfully consider a generous "Christmas Offering" this year to help make up the budget shortfall. God knows what we can give, and every gift is important. You can make your gift online or mail it into the church, marked “Christmas Offering".

I wish you all the blessings of this season, and a Merry Christmas!

Ken Brown,

Finance Committee Chair