Midweek Moment

Talking about faith can be scary. Talking about our faith can be terrifying. There is something about opening yourself up to a subject that is so intimate and personal that it makes many people shy away from sharing it.

I am always in awe of those people that have the gift of evangelism. I watch those gifted people speak with others, in what seems like such an effortless exchange, as they give of themselves to lead another person into the Kingdom of God. If you have ever been able to witness that instance, whether it happened to you or another, you know the power of God contained in that moment.

This past Sunday in worship we talked about one of the practices of the Methodist Way, Radical Hospitality. I mentioned how this practice focuses on how effective we are at reaching out to the non-religious and nominally religious people in our lives. As the body of Christ, we are to be about the work of spreading the Good News of the Gospel all over this world. I encouraged you to find your neighbors, your co-workers, your friends, and your family members that may be non-religious and/or nominally religious and invite them to our church to experience our hospitality. I hope in the days since we last gathered, you have been thinking about who you can invite. (Just in case you are curious, you can invite more than one!)

Each of you that are a part of this family, have experienced God in some way, shape, or form. You have each felt the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in some aspect of your life that keeps you striving to deepen that relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is something that keeps that spark of God alive within you that makes you willing to acknowledge God’s role in your life. That is the story I encourage you to share with the people you invite to church.

Share with them how God has heard your prayers, tell them of how Christ has carried you, explain to them how the Holy Spirit has guided you during certain moments in your life. Help them understand that the joy, the happiness, and confidence you have in this life is because of what God has done for you! You all have wonderful stories! You all have tremendous experiences of how God has come to you, transformed you, and remade you into his image. Do not let those stories go untold. Do not let those wonderful examples of God’s love and joy stay under lock and key. Go forth and share. Go forth and welcome others in the same way Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God!

Have a great week and I will see you Sunday!

The Methodist Way - Radical HospitalityRomans 15:4-13 and Hebrews 13:1-3

Bible Challenge 08/11 - 08/17

Greetings All!

This week we begin reading in the book of Proverbs. The book of Proverbs is a collection of sayings, written by King Solomon, whom the Bible calls the wisest man ever. There are 31 chapters in this book and some people I know read through Proverbs every month with just a chapter a day. What has always fascinated me is the wide range of topics found there and how applicable those words from Proverbs still are today.

Here is the schedule:

11, Sunday: Proverbs 1-4

12, Monday: Proverbs 5-8

13, Tuesday: Proverbs 9-12

14, Wednesday: Proverbs 13-16

15, Thursday: Proverbs 17-20

16, Friday: Proverbs 21-24

17, Saturday: Proverbs 25-28

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

Blessings,

Friday Fives

1. Preaching Series - This Sunday we will begin a new series on the Methodist Way. Several years ago we spent time seeking to understand how these practices were calling us to live out our faith. This time around we are going to focus on how we have been living out these practices in our lives over the last several years. This Sunday our emphasis will be on the practice of Radical Hospitality. I encourage you to invite a friend and come and see how God has been working in our congregation!







2. YMCA Appreciation Sunday - August 18th we will take time to honor and recognize the campers and counselors from the YMCA Summer Day Camp during worship. This year has been the highest attended camp since they have started meeting here, averaging 150-160 children each day! The care and dedication these counselors show the children is a wonderful thing to witness. I hope you will make plans to be here that week so we can all show our love and admiration to these special people. We are also inviting them to our Fellowship Lunch, so would you please consider bringing a dish to share so we have plenty to go around.

3. Apportionments - If you have been affiliated with the United Methodist Church for any amount of time, you may have heard this word. Basically apportionments are the share each annual conference and local church pay to support international, national, and regional missions. Our giving when combined with other churches, allow the United Methodist Church to accomplish something bigger than ourselves. We have 14 funds that we support with our apportionments and we have paid 100% of our obligations since 2003. Currently, we have paid 49.75% of our $16,262 obligation for 2013. If you would like to know more about apportionments, like the missions that are supported, please click here. It will take you to a document entitled, "A Guide to Apportionments". Here you can read more about this vital outreach ministry of our denomination.






4. Nursery Help - We are looking for people to help us staff our nursery on Sunday mornings. The number of young people we have in the nursery is growing and needless to say, that is a good thing! If you are interested in helping Ms. Joy, care for and teach our kids during worship, please let the church office know. You can email by clicking here, or call 629-5688. Remember the old adage, many hands make light work. I hope you will consider volunteering to help support this ministry.






5. Advent Conspiracy - This year we have set a goal to raise $5,000, by Christmas Eve, as a response to God's blessings in our lives. This gift, which is above and beyond our regular giving, will be split between Heifer International and Stop Hunger Now. If you would like to donate to this challenge, please mark your check or envelope "Heifer Fund" and place it in the offering plate or drop it by the church office. Thank you so much for your consideration in meeting this goal.





Have a great weekend and I will see you Sunday!

Midweek Moment

I am proud of you! I am so proud of you! Two weeks ago I stood before you in worship, and with the blessing of the Finance Committee, I shared with you a vision. This vision was to find a way, above and beyond our normal financial support of the church, to raise $5,000 to give away by Christmas Eve this year. To help us in that endeavor, we spent the prior three weeks talking about how we order our lives, where we spend our treasure, and how our use of what God has entrusted to us says a lot about who or what we worship. We talked about how the gifts that mean the most to us are generally those gifts of time, those one on one experiences we share with one another and not those gifts of extravagance. We also talked about how if we alter just a few of our Christmas spending habits, not only can our enjoyment and celebration of Christmas be deepened, we can also share the many blessings we have from God with other people.

Based upon that premise, we have set a goal to raise $5,000 to split between Heifer International and StopHunger Now. The first $2,500 we are partnering with Belleview UMC, to have each church contribute $2,500 to Heifer International so together we can buy a Gift Ark. A Gift Ark is two of every animal Heifer raises to be given to communities all over the globe to help feed, reproduce, and raise their quality of life.

The other $2,500 we will use to buy 10,000 meals from Stop Hunger Now. The great thing about this endeavor is that we get to pack these meals. Stop Hunger Now wants to end world hunger in our lifetime and the way they are setting out to do that, is by providing meals to schools in impoverished countries. The children in these communities usually only eat when they go to school because of a lack of food elsewhere. If we can raise this $2,500, Stop Hunger Now will provide all the food, packing devices and materials for us to pack the meals. We call them with a date, they deliver the goods, we pack it, call them back when we are done, and they come and pick everything up. My family and I participated in a packing drive with Stop Hunger Now at Annual Conference and in about 30 minutes we helped pack 3,000 meals. I believe this to be a very worthwhile pursuit and know you will be blessed when you participate.

I know this may sound like an ambitious calling, and that is why we are talking about in July and August, so we have time and can be intentional about finding ways to meet this goal. Therefore, I want to encourage all of you to continue in your discernment about how you might help us reach our mark.

Earlier I said I was proud of you. That is because to date, two weeks into this challenge, we have raised $375! You have listened and the response is beginning. We have a long way to go, but I know we can make it. If you would like to make a contribution to this challenge, please mark your check or envelope “Heifer Fund” and our tellers will make sure your contribution goes to the right place.

Thank you so much for your consideration of this endeavor and I pray you feel the presence of God as you find ways to help us achieve this goal.

Have a great week and I will see you Sunday!

Hearing Our Story - Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Today we were blessed to have Rev. Melissa Cooper share God's Word with us. I pray you enjoy her wonderful spirit and the value that stories have in our lives.

Bible Challenge 08/04 - 08/10

Greetings All!

This week we finish up the fifth section of Psalms. Whew! The longest book in the Bible is complete. You should feel a huge sense of accomplishment! Of the Psalms we are reading this week, Psalm 137 is an interesting one. It includes the line, "by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept." This Psalm is clearly written years after David when the people of God were in living in captivity/slavery in Babylon. It has been used in at least one spiritual as well as a reggae song. The Orthodox churches often use this as a hymn during Lent.

Here is the schedule:

04, Sunday: Psalms123-126

05, Monday: Psalms 127-130

06, Tuesday: Psalms131-134

07, Wednesday: Psalms 135-138

08, Thursday: Psalms 139-142

09, Friday: Psalms 143-146

10, Saturday: Psalms 147-150

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