Sunday the 2nd  -  Children’s Emphasis Sunday ~ On this Sunday in both services, the children 
of RBUMC will be leading prayers, reading scripture, leading liturgy, adult time and singing in 
worship. The Children’s Team will be assisting in Holy Communion and the Homily will be 
around Jesus’ call, “Let the Little Children Come Unto Me.”  Graduate Recognition 
will also  be held on this Sunday during a Celebration Brunch at 10am in the Fellowship Hall.
 Congratulations  Graduates, and thanks to the Alpha Class for sponsoring this celebration.

Sunday, May 9th  -  Mother’s Day ~ This is one of the highlights of our church year as we 
worship God as families, celebrate the role of motherhood, and take time to give honor to 
all Moms. The emphasis on this Sunday will be on “Love,” how we as a church are 
called, above all else, to be a place where Love Rules.  A “second mile” offering 
for Epworth Children’s Home is always received on this Sunday.

May 11th  -  Golden Agers’ Trip to Strawberry Hill and Lake Lure

Sunday, May 23rd  -  Disciple Bible Study Sunday  -  This Sunday we will hear witness from 
a Disciple Graduate about his/her experience in the Bible Study and about the power of a 
small group centered around God’s Word and Christian Fellowship. 

During the Sunday School Hour we will celebrate a brunch with all of the Disciple Bible 
Study and  Christian Believer Graduates in the Fellowship Hall. Thanks Lonnie (Coordinator 
of our Small Group Ministries) for this vision. In any given year, we might have three long 
term bible studies meeting during the school year to graduate around May, but how many have 
graduated from our Long Term Studies, especially Disciple I since its inception at Red Bank 
UMC? We will be finding out soon, as this information is being collected. If you have moved 
away, but have graduated Disciple I, please send the church an email of your name, the study
and the graduation year so we can add you to our list. 

May 28th ~ RBUMC will be hosting the Midlands Emmaus Community. Thanks to our Emmaus Pilgrims 
for sponsoring this event. The Emmaus Walk is a 3.5 day Spiritual Retreat (Spring and Fall)
for Adults sponsored by the Upper Room.

May 30th  -  Native American Awareness Sunday at RBUMC  -  Last year, we celebrated some of 
the ministries to and with the Native Americans through our United Methodist Connection. 
This year we hope to have a live demonstration of some of the Native American Customs and 
look deeper at the Native American Ministries through the UMC. Did you know that Salkehatchie 
runs a Native American Camp each year? If you have Native American Heritage in your family, 
interested in receiving the Native American Ministries Newsletter and possibly helping RBUMC 
stay connected to these ministries, please contact Rev. Wilkes. We need a RBUMC coordinator 
of Native American Ministries for the coming year. And a very special thanks to Alison Crosby 
for her time of service in this area.
							
							See You On Sunday ~
							Joy and Peace ~ Rev. Tommy Wilkes

**History of Disciple Bible Study ~  In March 1986 a group of eighteen gathered in Flower 
Mound, TX, committed to a dream of developing a Bible study for training Christian Disciples. 
Together they shaped the dream into a vision of what became DISCIPLE: BECOMING DISCIPLES 
THROUGH BIBLE STUDY. 

In July of 1989, three years after the Flower Mound gathering that gave birth to DISCIPLE, 
word had come across the church that lives were being changed and churches renewed. A group 
gathered once again and took on the challenge of providing another life-changing study. The 
result was DISCIPLE: INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD with the challenge of going deeper into 
the Word and out into the world.

Disciple Bible Study, since its inception, has graduated over a million persons and is in 
thousands of churches worldwide!