Ramblings of the Pastor

I don’t really have a theme for this blog post. It is just ramblings and God sightings from my week. I had hoped to send you a link to the audio file from last week’s worship but it was “corrupted” so we have nothing to share with you. I am sorry to those of you who rely on our livestream for your worship and spirit that we were unable to provide that for you last Sunday. We have made a plan to purchase some recording equipment so that will never happen again. The internet had the fans replaced and a new modem installed so we have been functioning normally all week. I have a 95% certainty that the problem is fixed and we will be live on Sunday for our viewers.

I have been incredibly blessed by two people sharing stories with me this week of how God nudged them, they listened and how something wonderful happened as a result. One of them is an active member who felt God’s direction to get in the car and attend worship in person. Surprisingly, a guest she had invited to worship was arriving at the same time and she was able to enter the building with him. The other was a stranger driving down 91st street who said “my car drove into the church.” This person unexpectedly was in worship on Sunday and left knowing that God had placed her there. She also affirmed the Sunday Support volunteers and how wonderful they were to help her feel welcome. This is the second guest who has expressed how blessed they were by how helpful the Sunday Support team was and how being walked to the Kid’s wing was such a gift. I give thanks for all of you who take the time to be the welcome faces for our guests and members as they enter the building and navigate our ministries. Statistics show that people decide in the first two minutes of visiting if they will be coming back.

This SUNDAY is our next FAITH WELCOME luncheon for guests, new members and those considering membership. If you would like to attend, please email me and I will order food for you free of charge. This is a great way to meet the staff, tour the church and hear about our mission and values. It’s always fun and I hope you will come.

I also wanted to share two exciting missions for the month of October. We will be having a Serve Wednesday from 6-6:30 pm on Oct 4th. We will be creating bags of cookie mix for folks to take home and bake with the wet ingredients. These cookies will then be delivered to prisons as part of the Kairos Prison Ministry. Larry Lockwood will share with us about that ministry. The other mission opportunity is being worked out logistically but we hope to go to one of the apartment complexes where we have delivered food and have a neighborhood cook out with some Praise & Worship. When details are finalized, we will be blasting out the information about this opportunity to serve the community. Right now we are estimating that we need about 12 volunteers on Sunday Oct. 15th.

I pray that you also feel the nudgings of God that lead to inspirational moments in your life. I give thanks for the warmth and genuine grace that you offer each other and the stranger. I look forward to seeing where God leads us together. Remember to say “I love you” as often as you can.

I want to close with a random link to a old DC Talk song that I love that has been playing in my mind over and over lately. It’s called Nu Thang. Click here to listen! I feel like out of the ashes of this season of disaffiliation that the United Methodist church will rise like a phoenix with exciting new opportunities to partner with Jesus.

I love you.