East Stroudsburg United Methodist Church // Volume 6 // Issue 02 // 26 JANUARY 2020
THE
TRUMPET
CALL
On Sunday, January
19th, Staff Parish
Relations Chair Paul
Grimes stood before
the congregation and
announced that Samuel
Kofi Ashley would
become the new Senior
Pastor of East
Stroudsburg United
Methodist Church on
July 1st, 2020. This is
wonderful news for our
church! In essence,
Kofi (as he is known) is
returning to his
American home church.
I say “American”
because he was raised
in a church in his native
Ghana before coming
to the US, and I say
“home” because this is
the church that brought
him in and loved him
when he did come to
the United States.
1
A WARM WELCOME TO THE
ASHLEY FAMILY
I give high praise to my predecessor, Rev. Ed Kimes, and to all of you for
recognizing Kofi’s gifts for ministry and nurturing him along the way. You are now
about to reap the fruits of your loving care for Kofi as he comes back to serve in
our community.
And while Kofi is the Bishop’s appointment to our church, Kofi of course comes
with his family (pictured) which includes his wife, Sarah, and son, Sammy. I
remember coming to a Night of Worship a few months ago and in the darkness of
Oberholtzer I could not recognize one of the musicians. It was pointed out to me
that it was Sarah Ashley in the band that night. What a wonderful surprise! Karen
and I look forward to welcoming Kofi, Sarah, and Sammy to the parsonage on
Sunday evening so that they can begin making plans to move into the home that
has served us so well these past six years.
In case you do not already know Kofi, here’s a little information about him. Kofi
received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ghana in 1998. Upon coming
to America, he attended East Stroudsburg University where he received a
Master’s degree in Political Science. Upon his calling to ministry, he attended and
graduated from Drew Theological Seminary in 2007, then went on to do post
grad work at Ashland Theological Seminary. He was here at ESUMC from 2003
to 2006, first as a pastoral intern and then as a licensed local pastor. He was
subsequently appointed to Portland, Analomink, and Richmond UMC’s on this
District, and most recently has served Mt. Pocono UMC from 2012 to the present.
Welcome, Kofi, Sarah, and Sammy; God will bless this congregation through
your ministry!
Also this past Sunday, our District Superintendent, Steve Morton, was here at the
8:30 am service to present Scott Kuhnle with his license for pastoral ministry.
Scott is now officially under appointment from our Bishop as a licensed pastor,
and has become our associate pastor while still maintaining his duties as Director
of Student Ministries. I told the DS to not even think about appointing Scott
anywhere else but here, especially as our church and the greater United
Methodist Church go through a time of major transition. It has been a joy to work
alongside Scott these 1past six years, and I look forward to our relationship these
last few months as we pastor this church together!
Blessings in Christ, Pastor Jim
 2

Teaching the
REAL MEANING
of Christmas at ESUMC

After being taught the story of Jesus’ birth, our Preschool/Toddler Nursery children creatively used handprints to
illustrate a sheep and a donkey from the nativity scene. These beautiful prints and lyrics were framed to remind
the children of the good news of Christ’s birth, and were presented to their parents as gifts this Christmas season.
A handprint picture was also presented to Pastor Todd during the Children’s Ministry service on Christmas Eve.

Reducing the Risk of Abuse in the Church for Children & Youth

Anyone working with children, youth or vulnerable adults

Sunday, February 9th, 2020 || 9:45 AM-10:30 AM
The Multi Purpose Room, Church Basement

SAFE SANCTUARY TRAINING The Purple Pantry

On Sunday, February 9th, ESUMC will hold a
mandatory Safe Sanctuaries training for those who
work with our children, youth, or vulnerable
adults. This training will be held in the Multipurpose
Room (i.e., the large children’s area) of the Church
basement. Please arrive promptly to the training for
attendance purposes. Thank You!
Last year, East Stroudsburg Senior High South’s
teachers and staff helped begin a new caring venture:
providing nutritious food to high school students in
need. This new hunger awareness initiative is in need
of regular replenishment and ESUMC wants to help!
Continuing Sunday, we invite you to purchase dried or
canned foods to contribute. Foods to consider:

A Special Thank You • Pasta products & sauces

• Hearty soups & stews (canned)
ESUMC Administrative Staff wants to recognize and
• Snack foods (cereal, granola bars, crackers)
thank the following individuals, who helped with snow
• Deodorant, Shampoo & Conditioner
removal last Sunday:
Donated foods can be dropped off now—02/02 in
2
Bruce & Linda Johnson and Mike Piancone: Thank Oberholtzer Hall at the donations table/box, and will
you so much for your servant’s spirit and hard work! be delivered to the school office during school hours.
We greatly appreciated your help!
T H I S W E E K AT E S U M C
Recovery
3

Meetings
at ESUMC
All meetings are
held downstairs in
the Community Room of
the Education Building
*excludes GriefShare*

AA
Keep It Simple
Thursdays & Saturdays
8:00pm-9:00pm

Serenity House
Saturdays
5:30pm-6:30pm
Sundays
4:30pm-6:30pm

NA
Just For Today
Monday-Saturday
12:00pm-1:30pm

New Beginnings
(Women’s Group)
Wednesdays
6:00-7:30pm

GRIEF
SHARE
Weekly Seminars
!!! Attention Readers !!! 01/09/20-04/02/20
Please note that the Trumpet Call is being published on a bi-weekly schedule instead of a Thursday Evenings
weekly schedule. This schedule of publication will take place from 01/05/2020 to Oberholtzer Hall
3
04/05/2020. A survey and statistics reporting article will shortly follow this trial. As always, 6:30-8:00pm
please continue to submit your articles to trumpetcall@esumc.net. Thank you!
N
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X
T
W
E
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 A Children’s Ministry Collection
In the spirit of teamwork, and in collaboration with
ESUMC's Soup Kitchen Ministry, the Preschool
Toddler Nursery would like to announce our 2020
Super Bowl Sunday initiative: Whose Team? God’s
Team! A special collection for our homeless
community.
On Sunday, February 2nd, 2020, all of God's “Team
Players“ are invited to purchase and donate the
following items to our Super Bowl Sunday Drive:
• Chapstick
• Tubes of antibiotic ointment (small)
• Foot powder
• Nail clippers
• Sewing Kits
• Disposable wipes (for adults)
Collections will be accepted by ESUMC’s Preschool
Toddler Nursery following both services, February
2nd, in Oberholtzer Hall. All supplies donated will be
assembled into care packages and distributed to the
homeless community around Valentine's Day.
Wear your favorite team’s jersey on, Sunday,
February 2nd and help celebrate the diversity of our
teams, while working together as whose team...?
God’s Team!
Starting Soon: Financial Peace University
Planning for the future is hard when you’re still paying
for the past! Listen, there’s a better way! Take control
of your money with Financial Peace University (FPU)!
This 9-lession course uses biblical wisdom and
common sense to help you tackle budgeting, pay off
debt and make your money work for you! FPU
includes a member workbook and full year of free
online resources through your Financial Peace
membership.
Join us for our upcoming course at ESUMC starting
Sunday afternoons, March 1st—May 3rd, 2020
[excludes Easter Sunday, April 12th] from 12:30pm—
2:30pm in Classroom #10.
For more information, contact Mike & Darla Piancone
at (570) 421-7443 or fpu.esumc@gmail.com. You can
also read more about FPU and register online at
fpu.com/11058799.
Resolve to Share Your Prayer!
The beginning of a new year is the time when we
often make resolutions which we hope will improve
the quality of our lives. You may have decided to
spend more time in personal devotions and prayer,
but would you also consider joining with others of the
ESUMC family to share prayer time for our church
and for the United Methodist denomination? Every
Sunday, from 9:50-10:30 a.m., folks gather in the
Youth Room in the church basement to unite their
hearts in prayer. There, we pray for the ministries of
ESUMC, our pastor and staff, our lay leaders, the
mission projects that we support, and God’s guidance
for our future. You may pray aloud, or in the silence of
your heart, so please come when you can! We know
you will be blessed, and ESUMC will be blessed by
your prayers!

Box Tops for Education Collections
Attention, ESUMC! Box Tops has announced that
they’re changing their collection protocol to better “fit
today's families.” Starting soon, Box Tops
submissions will only be collected by using a new Box
Tops mobile app to scan your store receipt, find
participating products and instantly add Box Tops to
your school's earnings online.
Though this change is progressive, ESUMC’s
contribution to Box Tops has been managed in a non-
digital format, which means that unless a new, tech-
savvy volunteer can assist us, ESUMC’s Box Top
collection efforts will eventually cease when traditional
Box Tops clips are phased out of production.
Until then, please continue to be save the Box Tops
labels you may still find on products throughout
stores. Until the old labels are entirely phased out,
they will continue to be honored.
Read more here: boxtops4education.com/. Contact
Erma Powell for more information at (570) 421-1422.
Communications Update, Pt. 2
As a follow up to my last article discussing the
reasons behind our 3-month trial of a bi-weekly
newsletter, here are the promised statistics.
Currently through Mailchimp, our automated email
marketing platform, we’ve attained approximately 495
eNews subscribers. According to Mailchimp’s
Reporting Center, we’re averaging about a 33% open
rate (roughly 164 people) with a click rate of
approximately 12.2% (or, 20 people). That specific
statistic, however, is estimated based on all buttons
built into our eNewsletter though. In other words,
approximately 20 people click at least one of the
buttons built into the eNews either to register for an
event, read the Trumpet Call, or to email a staff
member (or leader) directly. While, that statistic may
seem a bit discouraging for our Trumpet Call authors,
the good news is that this statistic doesn’t account for
print or social readership.
As some of you may have noticed, with our
conversion to Mailchimp, we’ve opened a few new
doors allowing us to share our eNews, lending
access to the Trumpet Call to both Facebook and
Twitter. Though I’m still relatively new to utilizing
Mailchimp’s reporting features and interpreting the
data, what I can say is that our readership is
definitely above the industry average (21.6%,
according to Mailchimp), but certainly not as high as
one might imagine.
That being the case, it’s safe to say that the time
given to creating the Trumpet Call weekly (approx. 3-
6hrs/publication) consumes over a quarter of the
hours designated for Communications. And as such,
my recommendation is to alter the Trumpet Call’s
publication schedule to bi-weekly, in order to diversify
and improve our future marketing strategies. More
information on diversification coming your way soon!
- Bethany Mills, ESUMC, Director of Communications
Stephen Minister Testimonials
“On a personal level, Stephen Ministry has helped
me to ‘let go’ and fully trust in God and His plan
which has allowed me to sense a greater peace in
my life.”
“Serving God through Stephen Ministry is one of the
best things I’ve ever done. I’ve grown spiritually and
am still growing. In doing so, I am more patient, [I]
listen more intently, [and I’m] more considerate and
understanding.”
For more information, please contact Stephen
Ministry Leader, Peggy Strack, at (570) 856-2131.
 Tape Here
Postage
Here

EAST STROUDSBURG
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
83 SOUTH COURTLAND STREET
EAST STROUDSBURG, PA 18301

Esumc.net East Stroudsburg United Methodist Church EastStroudsburgUMC @ESUMC ESUMC

S U N DAY S E R V I C E S & T I M E S
8:30 AM Traditional Worship 9:40-10:40 AM Equipping Hour 10:45 AM Contemporary Worship

Church Office Director of Student Ministries Director of Congregational Care

Monday-Friday, 9am-1pm Scott Kuhnle Rachel Thompson
church@esumc.net skuhnle@esumc.net rthompson@esumc.net
(570) 421-3280 Ext. 1013 Ext. 1011

Pastor Director of Children & Family Ministries Audio/Visual Technician

Jim Todd Erica Dorsch Charles Rajnai
jtodd@esumc.net edorsch@esumc.net charlesrajnai@gmail.com
Ext. 1014 Ext. 1017
Financial Secretary, Accts. Receivable
Church Administrator Director of Traditional Music Christine Uporsky
Rich Poole Jenni Poole cuporsky@esumc.net
rpoole@esumc.net jhpoole@ptd.net Ext. 1012
Ext. 1015
Director of Contemporary Music Financial Secretary, Accts. Payable
Administrative Assistant Doug Malefyt Bruce Osbun
Kathy Ravago dmalefyt@esumc.net bosbun@esumc.net
kravago@esumc.net Ext. 1012
Ext. 1010 Organist
Jonathan Strack Weekday Sexton
Director of Communications jstrack@esumc.net Bob Lee
& Spiritual Life Development rlee@esumc.net
Bethany Mills Director of Bells
bmills@esumc.net Chris Perfetti Sunday Sexton
Ext. 1023 perfetti3@ptd.net Craig Banner