Thoughts on going into summer

For our church, summer officially begins this coming weekend, a season that is rich and meaningful, starting with our June message series, War of the Worlds.  This important series will help us understand what it is to live as a follower of Christ — as a Christian — in a world that often espouses different values and celebrates a different kind of life than the one Jesus taught.  Each day we make choices to look at our world and our lives through the lens of a biblical worldview or through the lens of the culture, a culture that is often at odds with the way of Christ.  I hope you will join us in worship at one of our weekend services, Saturday at 6:00 p.m., Sunday at 8:15, 9:30, 11:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary or The Well at 11:00 a.m. in the Chapel.  We also have a great Celebrate Recovery worship service each Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Chapel.

I believe a tension exists between the church and the world and often between the Christian and that same world.  I also believe this tension is where God is at work!

I also ask you to join me in prayer for two other very important events in June — our senior high mission trip to Louisiana and Vacation Bible Camp.  These two ministries alone will involve almost 1,400 children, youth and adults.  The Louisiana trip will be to Lafayette, and the VBC theme is Big Apple Adventure.  When we add these missions to our ongoing life and ministry, June alone will be an impactful month that multiplies as the summer continues.  As is always the case at First Methodist, summer is not a slow season but a time we ramp up the difference we make in the world.

We will also be sending lay delegates and pastors to Annual Conference next week.  They will represent our church as we seek to influence the ministry and mission of all the United Methodist Church.  Our church has grown to have a worldwide impact, and this conference is a part of that.

Finally, I know summer is also a season of vacations and moments of rest.  It is also a season that our mission and life is vibrant and full, but due to summer vacations, our giving can decline.  Please help us stay on track as we under gird our life with our gifts.  Know that you can always mail a check in, but even better, there are cards available in the pew and chair holders that allow you to define your giving through EFT (electronic fund transfer).  This is a great way for each of us to fulfill our purpose in a consistent, helpful way.  Rhonda and I long ago made this step, and it is a blessing to us to know that our gift to God and His Church is the first to go out each month.

Thoughts about life

I was preparing for a denominational church meeting the other day and began to think about the way people, groups and especially institutions often think about life.

Sometimes:

• We idolize the past;
• We complain about the present;
• We fear the future.

It can be remarkable how people remember the past with a different reality than it probably was.  I might remember my family’s early years and sometimes want to go back, but when I really think about it, who wants to live without money or air conditioning, no sleep and a car that often broke down.  It is so easy to complain about the present.  It always seems to me like it could be better than it is; I notice the problems and flaws and details that could be improved.  It is easy to fear the future, for the future is uncertain, out of my control and a mystery that could include all kinds of trouble.

But the real reality for the Christian should be just the opposite. I think we should:

• Remember the past with thanksgiving and grace;
• Give God thanks for the present, live in gratitude;
• Trust God for the future, live into the will of a loving God.

The Christian life is lived in thanksgiving and defined by the future — not the past, never the past — but always by what God is doing, what the will of God is, trusting in God’s love, a love framed by a cross and empowered by the resurrection.  God is redeeming us from sin and death and transforming us into His people, His person, His son or daughter.  God is all about the relationship and faith in Jesus as the defining truth of the Christian life.

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, the future which God has prepared for those who love Him.”  1 Corinthians 2:9

Executive Council quarterly report

As is often the case, I like to share my quarterly report to the Executive Council with everyone, so here it is.  It gives you a pretty good update on some of what the “Big Enough” God is doing in and through First Methodist.

On a second note, we have our Senior High Mission Trip coming up June 12-19 to Lafayette, Louisiana, with 100 or so kids going.  We are still in need of a few more adult sponsors.  If you want to impact the world and impact kids who will change the world, this is your opportunity.  No experience required!

Report to the Executive Council
First United Methodist Church of Mansfield
May 17, 2011

At our First Connections (new members and visitors) Class this month, we had a remarkable group of people.  We offer this class most months and can have 30 people many times.  This class had around 20, including a women with health issues who wants to be baptized, a young mother who is a nurse and also escaped the killing fields of Cambodia as a small child, a retired Army couple coming from the Disciples of Christ, another couple from a nearby Methodist church, a family of Presbyterians, a single woman who is a professional counselor and also has a domestic partner, a blended family with five children, a woman with a cane who is definitely in the winter who moved away some years ago and recently returned, and a couple who said “we finally found a church that helps us connect to God.”  This is just a small representation of the 270 or so folks who have officially united with our church since January 1.

Our Confirmation Class this year had 95 kids in it, a record number for us.  Our average attendance the first few months of the year is around 2,370 (when we moved into our expanded Sanctuary a few years ago we were running 1,550), our giving is ahead of last year at the same time even though the economy still moves slowly, a group recently returned from Mexico where we helped dedicate a church that we helped build, and the God Is Big Enough campaign has taken on a tangible reality of God moving into peoples lives, schools, hospitals, military, sports teams, other countries, other languages and other churches in an exponential way.  It has become a phenomenon and will continue to expand.  People are hungry for good news, and it is wonderful to be a part of a church sharing that good news in tangible ways, from evangelism to worship to mission to blessing people of all ages as they grow in faith.

We hope to move our new children’s Zone worship space in the A&E Gym online soon.  The audio visual department is hard at work getting it ready as the construction part is now completed.  There are now new video screens and sound in the foyer by the Chapel, and this summer the Student Center will be renovated.  We have added new visuals for Saturday night worship which will also be used for Sunday night worship when it begins in the fall.

God continues to work in and through this special church family, a church with a spiritual core that leads us to engage the world with good news as well as serve one another in faithfulness.

We look forward to a new Sunday service in the fall, the kick-off of “The Journey” and continuing to develop ways to be faithful to God.  I also ask you to pray for two recently begun endeavors, our Thursday Celebrate Recovery service.  This service is stable at around 45 in worship, but we feel like there is still much more potential.  We are also working on our new La Ventana worship service now running as a Bible study.  Pray we will have the wisdom and the right leadership to know when to step it up into a full-time worship service for our community.

Thank you for all you do as leaders of First Methodist Church.

Is God speaking to you?

Samuel had worked hard that day; he spent a great deal of time serving God in the temple and serving God’s people in Israel.  He had tasks, jobs and routines he did day by day that very seldom varied.  He probably thought this would be his life.  It was a good, honorable life that had him as a servant in the Temple of God, cleaning, setting up, preparing for sacrifice and worship.  You get the idea.  His life was set!

But one night as he prepares to go to sleep, he hears the voice of God call his name. It’s such a soft voice he is unsure who it is and mistakes it for Eli, the temple priest.  Twice he hears the voice, and twice he misses that it is the voice of God.  Finally Eli recognizes that it might be God and tells Samuel, next time say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”  This Samuel does, and neither he nor the world would ever be the same, for Samuel would become one of the greatest prophets of Israel, eventually setting apart the shepherd boy, David, as king and guiding Israel through its early ups and downs as a kingdom.  He would be God’s prophet for a generation.

We hear a lot of voices in our lives.  In the morning I hear a pretty loud voice saying its time for coffee.  Around 11:30 a.m. a voice that says “lunchtime is almost here” starts saying a few words.  All day, and most days (like all of us), I have multiple tasks, demands, routines and expectations that speak insistently.  And those voices can control my day pretty well, for I usually listen.  After all, the task has to be done, this project has to be completed, I have to have lunch, and no coffee, don’t think so!  On top of this I am bombarded with voices that tell me I need a new car, a new house, a new product, a new diet, even a new face — with most of these voices wanting something from me.  Yet the voice of God speaks insistently, wisely, lovingly and most often softly.  Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Is God speaking?  Yes, God is always speaking.  The better question is, “Am I listening?”

Thoughts on vital congregations

Just recently I returned from The Leading Edge, a group of United Methodist ministers who have been charged with supporting one another and leading the revitalization of the United Methodist Church.  This last week we reviewed a report with our bishops entitled Call to Action.  The report is the result of intensive research, focusing first on What Makes a Vital Congregation.  Obviously, if we don’t know what a vital church is and what makes churches successful, we can’t take a next step.  Here is some of the initial summary of the characteristics of vital Methodist churches:

• Effective pastoral leadership, inspirational preaching, mentoring laity, effective management (and most often tenure);
• Multiple small groups and programs for children and youth;
• A mix of traditional and contemporary worship services;
• A high percentage of spiritually engaged laity involved in mission and ministry and leadership.

If the above are the key characteristics of vital churches, then the Call to Action report also defined what the qualifiers or measurements for that vitality is:

• Average worship attendance and percentage of membership;
• Total membership;
• Number of children, youth and young adults attending;
• Number of professions of faith;
• Annual giving per attendee;
• Financial benevolence beyond the local church (spending on mission and outreach).

It is good for us to know that our average worship attendance as of today is 2,370, the highest by far in our history.  Our membership went over 6,000 last year.  We have a tremendous number of children, youth and adults who are not only active in groups and worship services but in making a difference through outreach and mission.  We have had over 125 professions of faith in just the first few months of this year and around 265 folks who have officially united with our church family.  We are a part of one of the most generous churches in North America.  Our outreach and mission outside of our church budget is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and multifaceted locally, nationally and worldwide.

First Methodist of Mansfield is a standard on what a vital church is.  I am proud of you!

This is why we were asked last year to be chair of the task force that restructured the Central Texas Conference, why we are on The Leading Edge seeking to transform the denomination and why many of our staff travel to teach other churches how “to do church.”   Not only is God at work here, but God is using you to influence the United Methodist Church as a whole.

Easter is coming

This is the schedule for all our Easter celebrations, and I certainly hope that all our church family will attend beginning tonight (Thursday at 6:00 p.m.) for our Holy Thursday drama, Twelve at the Table.  But I would also ask you to share this information with family and friends.  If all of us do this, we can tell this great story to thousands in just a few minutes.  And, this great story is surely worth telling.

Thoughts on Holy Week

Palm Sunday is this weekend, the beginning of Holy Week.

Palm Sunday and Saturday

• Jesus enters Jerusalem to the exuberant praises of the crowds;
• Jesus drives the money changers out of the temple;
• Jesus teaches at the temple, heals the sick and works miracles;
• The religious leaders offer 30 pieces of silver for anyone who will help them arrest Jesus.

Holy Thursday

• Jesus shares Passover, the Lord’s or Last supper, with his disciples;
• Jesus is betrayed by Judas for 30 pieces of silver;
• Jesus makes his way to the Garden of Gethsemane where he prays;
• Jesus is eventually arrested somewhere in the night;
• On both Thursday and Friday He is tried in a mock court.

Good Friday

• Jesus is crucified;
• Jesus dies on the cross.

Easter Sunday

• Jesus is raised from the dead.

Thoughts:
Jesus lived the good life.
Jesus taught the good life.
Jesus modeled the good life.

As we walk with Him through Holy Week, what can we learn about what really matters, what really counts, what is really important and what is really The Good Life?

Thoughts on preparation

I am preparing to do a 5K at our church called the Son Run.  Now, I have spent a couple of days a week in the gym for many years, usually in the weights area, running on the treadmill on occasion.  At this point in my life I can’t say I am a runner.  So when I made the decision to join in this cause, I looked up a website that said five weeks to a 5K and have been attempting to run the times, miles and days it says so I can run the day after tomorrow without embarrassing myself or passing out half way through.  I think I am almost there, though if we could change the name of the Son Run to the Son Run Slowly, it would be a more accurate description of the event in my book.  But I will say this, if I had not spent the last five weeks preparing diligently, I would have had to walk the event.  One just can’t drop into a 5K without some preparation.

The directions have been simple — run this long, this far, walk and stop.  It is not hard to figure out the program.  And yes, I do like simple; complicated gets lost in its own complications.

If my choice is to be a strong, spiritual, making-a-difference Christian and follower of Jesus Christ, how does it happen, how do I become this?  Sheer wanting it is not enough, but wanting it enough to prepare for the 5K, or more accurately, the marathon that is life has some simple guidelines.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 (and some think 1 Thessalonians was the first book of the New Testament written):

• Rejoice always.
• Pray without ceasing.
• In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
• Do not quench the Spirit.
• Hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.

I would be crazy to attempt a 5K without some preparation.  Yet many go out into a world where major decisions must be made, problems must be solved, relationships must be built, Christ must be followed and the “good life” must be lived, and they go out unprepared and then wonder why it didn’t go well, why they had to drop out half way, had to stop and walk, had to sit on the curb or just plain give up, and maybe even had to drop and wait for the paramedics to come.

• Focus on the blessings of God that demand joy.
• Never lose the prayer connection with a loving God.
• Gratitude is the foundation of a godly life, and ingratitude is sin.
• The Holy Spirit wants to engage each of us consistently, the “breath” of God.
• Find the good, hold on; identify the evil and run.