Trinity United Methodist Church
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401 College Ave Bluefield, West Virginia 24701
A place where you experience the love of God, grow in God's grace, and serve God's Kingdom.
Trinity is a church for all people. Come and worship God as we serve God together.
phone: view phone(304) 327-7448
website: http://www.trinitybluefield.com
Pastor Susan Rector
Worship Times
Worship times: 9:00 am Chapel
11:00 am Sanctuary
Sunday School: 10:00 am - 10:45 am
About Us
A place where you experience the love of God, grow in God's grace, and serve God's Kingdom.
Trinity is a church for all people.
Come and worship God as we serve God together.
Music Ministry at Trinity
The goals of music ministry at Trinity are to assist our church family in worship and to develop the talents we have been given. We believe that when we use our talents for God's glory, they become gifts that place focus on God. Our talents become gifts that God can use.
Choir
The Adult Choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings from 7:00-8:15pm in the choir room. Membership is open to persons from 7th grade through retirement age! We would love to have more voices as we prepare for fall worship services and our Christmas presentation. If you are considering choir, but unsure about the weekly commitment, come visit for a week or two. We take our responsibility seriously, but you might be surprised to learn how much laughter we share together each time we meet! Come give us a try! Contact me at 276-322-1999 or any Sunday after worship.The Ecumenical Youth Choir will meet on Sunday evenings from 5:00-5:45pm at First Baptist Church on College Avenue starting August 29th. Youth in grades 6-12 from all area churches are invited to participate. Many styles of music are used to enable youth to worship God and experience spiritual growth. The choir sings in each church represented(including Trinity) approximately once each year. For more information contact the director, Bryant Moxley, at 276-322-1999.
Handbells
Would you be interested in an ongoing or occasional handbell group? Various configurations and levels of commitment are possible. Please let me know of your interest!
Music for Children and Preschoolers
The pastor and I are considering various options for musical experiences with children and older preschoolers and we need your input! What ideas do you have? What are the best times to provide these experiences? After school? Wednesday before Adult Choir? Twice monthly after morning worship? Another time? Can you provide names and contact information of families who might be interested in participating? Are there children who attended VBS that we could encourage? Would you be willing to provide non-musical assistance such as securing snacks, assisting the lead teacher, etc.? Please share your ideas with Susan or me. We value your input!
Come, join us as we seek to "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord..."! (Psalm 100:1)
Trinity United Methodist Church and First Baptist Church performed "For God so Loved the World" on March 28, 2010 under the direction of Lisa and Bryant Moxley. Following the performance a carry-in luncheon was provided.
Prayer Shawl Ministry
James 5:15 The prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up.
Over a year ago a small group of women started the Shawl Ministry. With our time and energy our hands work to create a shawl or lap robe that is filled with prayers for an individual, someone we may or may not know. I have found this ministry to be blessing in my life through the fellowship with some beautiful women and the peace I find in sitting, knitting, and praying for another person. I believe strongly in this ministry: in the making of an item with your own hands, praying for the person who will receive it, and then at our monthly meeting each person adding their prayers for each individual who will receive a shawl. The prayer circle, when we add our blessings, is a powerful time and one in which I so clearly feel God’s presence in our midst. There’s only one slight drawback with this ministry! It takes a long time (for most of us) to make a shawl!
Another prayer ministry was brought to my attention when the pattern for a Prayer Bear was brought to our meeting. A pattern for a stuffed bear had been reduced to make a small, cuddly bear. I accidentally took the pattern home with me and made copies for others in the group. I decided to make the bear, grumbling because the pattern was so small and it made it that much more difficult to make, and I’m not that good a sewer, and it’ll probably look stupid when I’m finished, etc. etc. etc. But still, I prayed and made the bear and had it sitting in my craft room until the next Shawl Ministry meeting. Before that meeting we received an email: “Pray for Sarah Beth Patton who is in the hospital being treated for burns.” I immediately knew who the bear belonged to, and it was no longer too small but just right. And so the Prayer Bear Ministry at Trinity United Methodist church has been born.
Charles has often challenged us to go into the community and tell others of God’s love for us, and each time he preaches on this subject I struggle as to how I can do this. Yes, I participate in the music ministry, but I reach you, who already know of God’s love, and yes, some of my shawls will go to individuals outside the church but I can’t knit that fast so few will receive a shawl. I see the Prayer Bear Ministry as a way we can get the news of God’s love into our community through the act of making, praying over, and delivering stuffed bears to people within our church and selected organizations within our community.
My vision of the Prayer Bear Ministry is simple. We make enough bears to:
o Have available to Charles and Dr. Scott during visitations at home or at the hospital and for those people on the church prayer list.
o Available to church members when they have a loved one in need of comfort, healing, peace.
o Prayer Bears for the children when they visit the nursing home at Christmas.
o Work with an organization, maybe a hospice, nursing home, or a local shelter to provide Prayer Bears from Trinity United Methodist church.
Ambitious? Maybe. But this is a project the can be done individually or on a group level with a small time commitment from participants. People who don’t sew can learn to cut out and mark patterns, something they can take home with them to do and then bring back to the church or learn to hand stitch the back of the bear. People who do sew can just sew, not having to worry about the cutting out or stuffing the bears, or they can make bears from start to finish. Others can stuff the bears. I find that stuffing is the easiest part to pray over while working. While filling the bear with stuffing, I ask God to fill the recipient of this bear with the blessing that person needs. We can also deliver bears to be worked on to our shut-ins and church members who can not attend make it to the church.
Last and most important is the prayers of blessings added to each bear by anyone and everyone! Charles is preparing a place in the church that the bears can be kept so that anyone who comes to the church with a minute to spare can go to the Prayer Bears and add their blessing.
John 15:9: Christ says “This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” That is another one of those biggies that I struggle with, how do we love our neighbor, our neighbor within our church community, and the neighbor we have yet to meet? But imagine receiving a Prayer Bear at a difficult time in your life with a little card that has the names (first names) of one to five people who helped make the bear along with added prayers of one, ten, fifty more people. Is this not an expression of God’s love by the energies of our hands and the prayers of our hearts?
So, will you help? Remember no skills are required. All you need is a willingness to learn something new, a desire to participate in a worthy and fun fellowship, and a heart filled with thanksgiving and prayer. We can also set up sewing lessons if you would like to learn to sew.
How do we do this? First, let me know if you’d like to participate. Email me at tncmcnair@frontiernet.net, call at 323-3816 (I work from 3 to 11) or see me in church.
Second we need supplies, which include
 Cloth. 1 yard to 1 ¼ yard of 100% cotton. (1 yard will make 2 medium bears, 1 and ¼ yards of cloth makes 3 small-sized bears and will cost anywhere from $5.00 up depending on your material.) If you have never bought cloth before go to Wal-Mart or Joann’s and tell them your church is starting a Prayer Bear ministry and you need to purchase cloth, 100% cotton, like quilters use, or flannel. If you want a bear for a child ask them to show you the children’s cloth. Then open your heart and ask God to lead you to cloth that will be a blessing to another person. Do not choose a cloth with a large pattern, a small pattern works fine, but not a large pattern.
 Polyester Fiberfill. The package should say that it is good for stuffed animals (or ask the staff). They’ll answer your questions. They want your business.
On a Saturday or Sunday in March (in-put welcome) and then every two or three months after that I’d like to schedule a group meeting where we iron, cut, sew, stuff, stitch, and pray, and have a wonderful time. If you already sew and want to start making bears, let me know and I’ll provide you the pattern I have. If this is something your church group would like to do, but you need help getting it started, let me know and I’ll help out.
“We are so blessed by the gifts from your hands,” writes William Gaither in the lyrics to a song. Maybe we can be a blessing to another by the gifts from our hands and the prayers from our lips through the Prayer Bear Ministry.
I Thessalonians 5:16 –18
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Volunteer In Mission, Travel to Mississippi
One of the residents in Mississippi said, “The only ones still doing work in the Biloxi-Gulfport area is the church.” As we dwell upon that powerful statement, who is “the church?” We are all the called ones; the body of believers gathered to worship Jesus (not the building in which we meet). So how were we called upon? First, information was printed in Trinity Topics about the mission trip. The youth and college aged young people got excited and said “we are going!” Two adults were excited about this special way to serve as well.
For two months we had time to prepare our minds for what all this trip would involve and what we might have to give up to go. We prepared by praying about this mission, paying our fees, and buying the necessary clothes, boots, and tools. The day after Christmas quickly arrived and we were ready to depart.
Our trip began by catching a charter bus in Beckley, picking up others and meeting a second bus in Charleston. We then traveled to Huntington, WV and gathered more volunteers. What a group of volunteers 
from the United Methodist Churches in WV we traveled and served with! Finally we settled in for the long drive to Chattanooga, Tennessee and spent the night there in a church. The next morning we were off on the next half of our journey with an 8 hour trip to Gulfport Mississippi. We settled into the Gateway United Methodist Church and spent the nights sleeping on air mattresses in supply rooms, Sunday school rooms and hallways. We were divided into work teams upon arrival and the next day we worked on roofs. A memorable part of the trip was when we took a tour of the area on a rainy day and saw the devastation still apparent from Hurricane Katrina. What a sight for us to see and still unbelievable after 16 months! We then worked on roofs the following two days and not only bonded with our group from Trinity but with others from United Methodist Churches in West Virginia and the residents of Mississippi. We spent New Year’s Eve in Mississippi and had communion with all the volunteers after a day of work. Communion was a very moving experience. The next day we departed and made our way back to WV traveling for two days – Whew! We found out this is the church. We would like to close with the inspirational words from the song our youth wrote after our time in Mississippi. We hope it leaves you with memories from our service and open hearts….
“Mississippi where our hearts were filled.
It didn’t matter that we weren’t very skilled.
We went to serve for the Lord above.
Who blessed us with His grace and endless love.”
Thank you for your prayers and the monetary support from the following groups of our church: Trinity United Methodist Women, Christian Action Class, and UMW Circle #2. Thanks also to those who encouraged us along the way. We encourage others from Trinity and beyond our church to go on a conference work team to Mississippi. You will certainly be blessed beyond measure as we all were. The dates for 2007 Mississippi work teams are May 11 – 19, 2007; September 8 – 15, 2007; and December 29, 2007 through January 5, 2008.
“You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.” James 2:18 – The Message
The Mississippi Work Team from Trinity UMC: Emily Browning, Michael Browning, Cindy Crowe, Stephanie Crowe, Tyler Crowe, Daniel Haye, Pat Haye, Sara Haye, Amber Lusk, and Matt Smith