The leading Edge 2

It is early Tuesday morning as we are preparing for the second day of this gathering of the Sr Pastors of the 100 largest attended Methodist Churches.  It is exciting to gather with these leading pastors,  Adam Hamilton who has written many materials some of our classes use, Mike and Carolyn Slaughter who put together Transformation Journal  our Bible reading program, Kirbyjohn Cauldwell who gave the invocation for George Bushes inauguration, Mark Beeson who was picked as one of the top 100 most influential pastors in the US.  As we connect, pray, and fellowship, we are talking about ways to revitalize the United Methodist Church we all love.  Three of the new topics we will be looking at is how we might come along the side of our Bishops to help them be successful, encourage and help direct our seminaries more effectively, and how we might revitalize smaller neighboring Churches who might be struggling.  There is a tangible sense of the importance of what we are doing, especially as we have been made aware that last year the Methodist Church lost 73,000 people in average worship attendance nationally. Something has to be done.  Maybe God will use these 100 Churches that have found a way to reverse this trend in our own communities. I anticipate a great day today as we look at ways each of our Churches can be more effective in our mission.  I expect to learn a lot.  On a side note, I am once again proud of our Church family.  This weekend you gave 11,000 in a special offering to help build The House of Community and Blessing United Methodist Church in Mexico.  With the 9,000 we already have this will be enough to match their gifts and complete the Church.  As we expand our Church in the Mansfield area, God is using us to help expand the Church in the Matamoros area.  Thanks be to God and Thanks for being one of the most generous churches in North America.