Thoughts on Mission

Vacation Bible Camp is preparing to begin on Monday (we still have openings for children . . . sign up online).  There will be some 1,200 children and adults on campus growing in all kinds of ways.  I enjoyed putting together a video as “Cowboy Parson Mike” to help kick it off!  It is one of the highest and most important seasons of our year as we seek to bless our kids in the good news of Christ, a God who loves them and a church that surrounds them with grace.

In this same season, we are kicking off a new phase in our ZOE Ministry (African) mission, a mission primarily aimed at the needs of orphans and children.  For a number of years we have supported missions with ZOE – feeding orphans, building a school, working to help with Malaria and AIDS issues.  Now we are ready to step up by making a commitment for the next three years:

A commitment of $250,000 over three years to ZOE Ministry’s Giving Hope Empowerment Project.

A contribution of this amount will move 1,000 children in Africa from lives of helplessness and dependency to lives of success and self-sufficiency.  First Methodist will be the first church to sponsor at this “community” level (transforming an entire community in Africa).  We hope God will use us to create Christian leaders who will then be used by God in transformational ways.  May God help us.

• Our first step will our Carry the Light concert at Bass Performance Hall on September 26.  We hope to raise $100,000 at this event.  The head of ZOE Ministry will be with us along with many other churches for this amazing event.  Put the date on your calendar!
• We will dedicate Christmas Eve offerings the next three years to this cause.
• Other events such as Son Run, golf tournaments, etc. will be aimed at this goal.

Individual donors will continue to make contributions as God leads us.  And, I and other members of our church family are going on a trip to Rwanda this July to begin this mission, and we will have three years to celebrate the ongoing results.

I have learned that First Methodist Church can do things at a level that is astonishing here in our community, day-by-day, as we serve one another in multiple ways as we continue to grow in God-blessed ways.  And now with this exciting phase, we enter as a church in national leadership in mission with ZOE, a work that we have grown with these last few years.  I look forward to sharing with you the videos, pictures and stories I will share from and on my trip with ZOE to Rwanda this July.

See you this weekend, Why People Leave Church . . . and Why They Are Coming Back!