Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Midweek Moment


Today is my birthday.  Thirty-eight years ago today I came into this world, born to set of very nervous, very excited parents. I have had many wonderful experiences in my life as well as many experiences filled with grief and sadness.  My life, up to this point, has taught me many things.

For instance, from a young age I was taught about manners and why they are important.  I was also taught about responsibility and how that character trait would benefit me throughout my life.  My life lessons continued as I was taught about respect and how to give it to all people.  However, most importantly, I was taught about God and the importance of cultivating my own personal relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

But there is one aspect that runs through all of those lessons. And that is the need, importance, and benefit of community.  The strength that we gain when we live our lives together, is life changing.  Those experiences in my life that have been filled with grief, without my community, would have destroyed me.  But it was in that community that I found joy again, that I found hope again, that I learned how to laugh again.

God does not wish for us to live this life alone.  God did not create us to live this life alone.  Time after time, Scripture refers to humanity as parts of a body, each one necessary, each one unique.  Jesus himself, lived his life on earth as part of a community.  Our very understanding of God, is in the form of the Trinity, God the Father, Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are not only meant to live together, but minister together as well.  Each of us using our own special gifts, our own unique talents, working together for God's glory.

This past week I received a birthday card from you, my church family.  There were so many signatures and birthday wishes inside!  I felt very loved as I read that card and all of your names inside.   So from me to you...thank you for allowing me to walk with each of you in ministry.  Thank you for thinking of me on this special day.  Just...thank you.

Alone we are in trouble...together we are invincible!

Have a GREAT week and I will see you Sunday!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Bible Challenge 11/27 - 12/3

Greetings All!

In this upcoming week we will be reading all of I Corinthians and most of II Corinthians. I Corinthians was written from Ephesus (16:8), a city on the west coast of today's Turkey, about 180 miles by sea from Corinth. According to Acts of the Apostles, Paul founded the church in Corinth (Acts 18:1-17), then spent approximately three years in Ephesus. The letter was written during this time in Ephesus, which is usually dated as being in the range of 53 to 57 AD.

Corinth was the meeting point of many nationalities because the main current of the trade between Asia and western Europe passed through its harbors. Paul's first visit lasted nearly two years and his converts were mainly Greeks. In the first epistle, he mainly concentrates on addressing some divisions in the church, some problems with immorality and teaching about marriage, Christian liberty, worship and resurrection.

In between I and II Corinthians, Paul visited Corinth another time (a painful visit) and wrote at least one other letter that is now lost. It would seem that the situation in Corinth was still complicated and Paul felt attacked. He defends himself with some of his important teachings - forgiving others, God's new agreement that comes from the Spirit of the living God, the importance of being a person of Christ and giving generously to God's people in Jerusalem and finally ends with his own experience of how God changed his life.

Here is the schedule:

27, Sunday: Romans 16 - I Corinthians 3

28, Monday: I Corinthians 4-7

29, Tuesday: I Corinthians 8-11

30, Wednesday: I Corinthians 12-15

1, Thursday: I Corinthians 16 - II Corinthians 3

2, Friday: II Corinthians 4-7

3, Saturday: II Corinthians 8-11

May God add His richest blessings to the reading, the hearing and the living out of His holy word. Amen.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Friday Fives

1. Preaching Series – This week we will celebrate Hanging of the Greens during worship. Come and join us as we transform the sanctuary from dark and undecorated to bright and beaming with the hope of Advent. We will completely decorate the sanctuary during our time together and you will hear the meaning behind each of our decorations. This is truly a wonderful service and I hope you will be able to attend. In fact, bring a friend and I will see you there.






2. Bible Study - We have began our new Bible Study series entitled, The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem. I invite you to join us, on this DVD study, as we journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. We will join Adam Hamilton on his travels through these locations to rediscover the birth of Christ. We will look at historical information, archaeological data, and take a personal look at some of the stories surrounding the birth. I am sure the most amazing moment in history will become more real and heart-felt as you join us and we walk along this road together.

The class will meet again this Thursday, December 1st and meet each week through December 22nd.  The class is offered at two different times: 10:00am and 7:00pm, in the Fellowship Hall and the cost is free. If you would like the book, which is not required, it is $12.  It is never too late to join and I know you will be changed by this series and I would love to see you there!




3. Christmas Gift Cards - If you normally buy gift cards for the holidays I want to invite you to consider buying them through the church this year. This is an excellent way for you to buy those cards for your loved ones and allows the church to raise extra funds, all at the same time. For a full listing of all participating vendors you can contact Carole in the church office.





4. Open House - On behalf of my family I would like to invite each of you to come by the parsonage, next Sunday, 12/4, from 12pm-1:30pm for our open house.  Come to worship at 10:30am, stay for lunch afterwards, and then come on by and see what the parsonage looks like all decorated, enjoy some light refreshments, and spend some time in fellowship with one another.






5. December Newsletter - The December Newsletter is available in the narthex so be sure to pick your copy up.  You can also go over to our church website, and view it there as well.






Have a great weekend and I will see you soon!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Midweek Moment

As we embark on this Thanksgiving week I want to encourage you all to spend some time reflecting on what it is you have to be thankful for. It is important that we keep our blessings in mind so that when we spend time with God we can devote a portion of that time in a thanksgiving posture and list those things God has placed in our lives that are a blessing to us.

I have many things in this life for which to be thankful. I have my wife, Debbie, who holds our family together, loves me unconditionally, and is truly the best partner I could ever have. God placed us together at the tender ages of six and four, and because of that we have a lifetime of shared memories. Debbie you truly are my best friend and I thank God for every day that you and I have together. I am thankful for my boys, Parker and Wesley. The joy I feel just looking at the two of you overwhelms me. Your zest for living, your accomplishments in school, and the way you both keep me young, is awesome to witness. You boys truly are a gift from God and I am the one that is blessed by you. For my parents, Wayne and Joyce, who taught me those tough lessons, who supported me through all my endeavors, who celebrated with me in all my accomplishments. Mom and Dad, you two are the reason I am the person I am today. You taught me morals, you taught me about putting others ahead of myself, you taught me that love is the greatest influence in all the world. You taught me to dream and reach for the stars. You showed me the importance of dedicating my life to God and helped me be open to God's calling on my life. You both gave me an incredible foundation for life and I am forever grateful to you for that. For my brother, Daniel, who has consistently modeled devotion to others, and an attitude of life that anything is possible, I thank you for keeping the dreamer in me alive. I treasure our relationship and thank God that you are a part of my life. And I am thankful for my church family at Druid Hills. For the grace that you have shown me as I have grown, for the unconditional love you have so easily given to my family, and for the conversations I have had with a few of you this week, I am sincerely grateful. The concern you have for me, the support you have shown for me, and encouragement you give to me...my cup runneth over.

I love each of you and could not imagine my life without each of you being a part of it.

I have a tremendous amount of things to be thankful for in my life. I live a blessed life full of family and friends and I thank God each day for everyone of you.

Have a tremendous Thanksgiving and may God bless you all as much as you have blessed me!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Kairos: Learn It – Romans 12:1-6 and 12:9-21

Introduction
Today, we are going to conclude our preaching series on time. That aspect of our life that challenges us , confines us, and at times rules us. Last week, examined how possessing an understanding of the two types of time, chronos and kairos, can help deepen our understanding of God and God's will for our lives. Today we are going to apply those lessons to the five practices of the Methodist Way to see how they inform one another.

Christ is the King
Today has been a wonderful reminder, a tremendous opportunity for us experience the high points of the Christian calendar. We have read Scriptures about and sung songs dedicated to the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost. And for me this helps to reinforce the reality that Christ truly is the King. That Christ is the ruler of us all. So what does that have to do with kairos time and with the five practices of the Methodist Way? I am so glad you asked!

Kairos
In looking at time, if we understand that Christ, that God Incarnate, is in control, that will help us to let go of the reigns. It can help us give ourselves permission to let go of our own assumed power. When I was a chaplain at Tampa General, my biggest fear going into a room was whether or not I was going to have the right words, the timely words, to help the person I encountered. My first few visits with patients, were horrible. I prayed that since I was sure I had not helped them, please God, do not let have done more harm. Eventually, I shared these concerns with my supervisor. He gave me a great bit of advice. He told me that when people are hurting, if you simply take their hurt, hold it in the palm of your hand, walk with them, empathize with them, pray for them, and love them, when they are ready, they will take that pain back and be able to deal with it. He told me that I did not have to alter it, make it go away, or fix it. What a relief! I no longer had to worry about fixing other people's hurt. I simply had to walk with them through it. God will fix it. While I could be a vessel, it was no longer only on me. Giving myself permission to not have to have all the answers was extremely liberating.

It is the same with our understanding of time. If we will abide by the reality that God is the one that is truly in control, that we do not have to have all the answers about when things will get done, how opportunities will present themselves, then we free ourselves to be obedient. We free ourselves up so we can focus our efforts on doing whatever it is God has called us to do.

The Foundation
I want to share with you one of my favorite passages of Scripture. It comes from the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 1-4 and 8, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Christ tells us, “neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me”. If we go off on our own, without Christ; if we go off on our own, dictating the time and the season in which we feel things must occur, we will not bear fruit.

It is well known that the United Methodist Church has gone off on its own a bit and we are in decline. Let me share with you some numbers about where we stand as a denomination.

In the US, between 1998 and 2008:

  • Average weekly worship attendance has dropped 7%
  • Professions of Faith have declined by 25%
  • Baptisms have declined by 31%
  • The number of congregations have decreased by 6%
  • Our membership of persons 65 and older doubled and our membership of persons 18-44 was cut in half
  • 90% of our members are white – our diversity has not increased in the last ten years
  • The average age of clergy rose from 49 in 1998 to 54 in 2008
  • Local church expenditures have increased by 49% over the period and by 64% per average worship attendance

I do not share these numbers with you to scare you, just to inform you. Our denomination is in no worse condition than any of the others out there. Sure each groups has their mega-churches and their churches that are growing, but by and large things need to change, or in 30-40 years there will be nothing left to change.

How Do We Bear Fruit?
Therefore, we have been charged by our denomination, “to redirect the flow of attention, energy, and resources to an intense concentration on fostering and sustaining an increasing the number of vital congregations effective in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”2

Here is where our five practices come in, Passionate Worship, Radical Hospitality, Salty Service, Intentional Disciplining, and Extravagant Generosity. At Charge Conference today, after consultation and discussion with the leadership of this church, we are going to submit advancement goals in each of these practices on behalf of our church. These goals are not radical, but do represent our desire to see our numbers increase in each area. For Passionate Worship, measuring our weekly worship attendance, we want to grow 4% a year for the next four years. That means we want four new attenders every year so that our 105 member average now, grows to 121 by 2015.

For Radical Hospitality, that area that measures our Professions of Faith, those people that join our body and have never been a member of a church before, we want to bring in six in 2012, seven in 2013 and 14, and eight in 2015.

For Intentional Discipling we want to increase the average number of people involved in these type of discipling groups from the 44 we have now to 50 in 2012, 55 in 2013, 60 in 2014, and 65 in 2015.

For Salty Service, that time we spend serving others outside of these walls, we want to increase by two people a week, each year. That represents an increase from the 13 a week we average now to 15 in 2012, 17 in 2013, 19 in 2014, and 21 in 2015.

For extravagant generosity, the amount we give to the church, our goal is to see a $1500 increase each year over where we are now. That represents a 1% increase each year.

All of these goals will be printed in next month's newsletter and I share this with you because I want all of us to be on the same page. All of these goals are attainable, and if we see an increase in one, chances are we will see an increase in all of them. I also tell you this so when you see some changes to the way we do some things, over the next four years, you will have the chance to embrace them rather than resist them.

Please Pray!
So over the next four years look for ways to be attached to the branch. Can you imagine the wonderful things we can do, the number of lives we can change over the next four years, if we are all attached to the branch that is Jesus Christ. I am so excited about you. I look out over this congregation and I see people with the gift of teaching, I see people with the gift of compassion, I see people with the gift of generosity, and a whole host of others. Folks, we are blessed here at Druid Hills. The experience we have, the love we have, is incredible.

I want you all to know where we are heading so we can go there together. The only way for us to get there is together. If we work together, each of us doing what the Holy Spirit has equipped us to do, each of us treating one another with love and respect, each of us seeking out the heart of God, these numbers will not matter. Because we will be so far ahead of them. I want this body to be strong, connected, and full of the power of God.

So, if you are unsure of where you fit in, if you are unsure of what you can do, if you have any questions at all about your place here, and you all have a place, come to this rail and pray. Each of us has a gift for this body, come and ask God to share what it is with you, to give you the strength to use it, to show you where and at what time to use it. Together these goals are easy, together this world will be changed, together we can show Ocala that Christ truly is our King!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Bible Challenge 11/20 - 11/26

Greetings All,

This week we finish up our journey through Acts and move almost entirely through Paul's letter to the church at Rome. Most scholars believe that this book was written in Corinth at the end of Paul's second missionary journey there, somewhere around 55-56AD. The book of Romans is Paul's greatest theological legacy to the church. The longest by far of his letters, it's intent is to explain that salvation is offered through the Gospel (or good news) of Jesus Christ. Since Paul has not been to Rome at this point, he outlines the good news of Jesus thoroughly so that Paul's teaching will not be confused with other false teachers.

The Main sections of Paul’s argument are as follows:
· God’s wrath revealed against the unrighteous (1:18-3:20)
· God credits righteousness to all (3:21-5:21)
· The gift of God’s righteousness results in righteous living (6:1-8:39)
· God's righteousness in the case of Israel (9:1-11:36)
· God's righteousness reflected in the righteous lives of believers (12:1-15:13)
· God's righteousness shared by Paul as minister to Gentiles (15:14-33)

Here is the schedule:

20, Sunday: Acts 16-19

21, Monday - Acts 20-23

22, Tuesday - Acts 24-27

23, Wednesday - Acts 28; Romans 1-3

24, Thursday - Romans 4-7

25, Friday - Romans 8-11

26, Saturday - Romans 12-15

May God add His richest blessings to the reading, the hearing and the living out of His holy word.


Friday, November 18, 2011

Friday Fives

1. Preaching Series – This week we will conclude our preaching series aimed at helping us better the understand the difference between our understanding of time, chronos, and God's time, kairos.  Last week we sought to build a foundation of understanding.  This week we are going to look at how our application of the Five Practices of the Methodist Way can be rooted in our understanding of kairos time.  Bring a friend and I hope to see you there!




2. Bible Study - Yesterday, we began a new Bible Study entitled, The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem. I invite you to join us, on this DVD study, as we journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. We will join Adam Hamilton on his travels through these locations to rediscover the birth of Christ. We will look at historical information, archaeological data, and take a personal look at some of the stories surrounding the birth. I am sure the most amazing moment in history will become more real and heart-felt as you join us and we walk along this road together.
 
The class will meet again on Thursday, December 1st and meet each week through December 22nd.  The class is offered at two different times: 10:00am and 7:00pm, in the Fellowship Hall and the cost is free. If you would like the book, which is not required, it is $12.  You can register one of three ways; online at our church website (click here), using the insert in the bulletin, or by calling the church office.  I know you will be changed by this series and I would love to see you there!  It is never too late to join!




3. Christmas Gift Cards - If you normally buy gift cards for the holidays I want to invite you to consider buying them through the church this year. This is an excellent way for you to buy those cards for your loved ones and allows the church to raise extra funds, all at the same time. For a full listing of all participating vendors you can contact Carole in the church office.





4. Charge Conference - Our Annual Charge Conference is Sunday, November 20th at 4pm, and will be held at First UMC, Ocala.  This is a part of the business side of the church where we officially submit the leadership of church for next year, celebrate our growth over the past year, and celebrate our hope in the year to come.  I invite to come out and show your support for Druid Hills with your presence.  Two years ago, when we had this cluster before we had the largest contingent present...let's do it again!






5. Service for Faye Pippin - Tomorrow at 11am we will gather here at the church to celebrate and remember the life of Faye Pippin.  I invite you all to come out and show your care and support for the family as we say goodbye to this wonderful saint.




Have a great weekend and I will see you soon!