The Truth As Far As I Can Tell...

Philippians 3:13-14 – No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.

 

It’s a brand new year.  What are your goals?  Goals give you something for which to strive.  I have some personal goals this year.  Our church also has goals.  Here are five goals for which Pleasant Grove UMC will strive in 2017.

 

Goal #1 – Provide Exceptional Ministry to Children.  We have made significant progress in re-invigorating our children's ministries.  New leadership and new volunteers have brought new excitement and as many as 19 children regularly participating.  I believe we can do even better.  One key to success will be to hire a part-time children's minister to lead our wonderful volunteers and develop a vision for children’s ministry at PGUMC.  Please pray for us and help spread the word that we are searching for a children's minister.  Talk to me or Sara Edmond for if you would like to be part of this great ministry.

Goal #2 – Visionary Youth Ministry.  Amy Harris does a wonderful job ministering to our youth.  This year, we will take our youth ministry to the next level by developing a clear vision and mission statement and building a team of volunteers to assist Amy in ministry.   Perhaps you would like to be on the team.  Talk to me or Amy if you would like to help.

Goal #3 – Invigorate Worship.  In 2017, we will work on ways to make Sunday morning worship more energetic, heartfelt, and inspiring.  We will experiment with new ways to make worship a true blessing.  Talk to me or David Crawford if you would like to help.

Goal #4 – Reorganize Our Greeters.  Another of our goals for the year is to reorganize our greeters so that everyone who comes to PGUMC receives a warm welcome.  We need volunteers and a way to organize our efforts.  We will also look for ways to train people as greeters so they know how to make people feel welcome.  Teresa Marlow has been very helpful in the effort.  Talk to me or Teresa Marlow if you have questions or ideas or want to lend a hand.

Goal #5 – More Outreach.  Love lives at PGUMC and we have always cared about our community.  In 2017, we will make a concerted effort to provide more organized opportunities to reach out and serve the people of Whitfield County.  We will work to provide service projects all year long as well as participate in community efforts like Family Promise and Be the Church.

 

These are the goals Pleasant Grove UMC will focus on in 2017.  Will you join me in praying about them, following the Lord’s direction, and helping wherever you can?  Of course, I’m no expert and certainly don’t claim to know everything, but that’s the Truth as far as I can tell…

 

Remember, God loves you and so do I!

 

The 2017 State of the Communion Address

Introduction

Near the beginning of each year, the President of the United States gives a “state of the union address”.  This televised speech is made to a joint session of the congress reporting the condition of the country and outlining his legislative agenda and national priorities.

My message this morning is a blatant copy of this presidential tradition.  However, I hope it will be a useful one.  I wish to report on the condition of our church (our “Communion”) and outline our agenda and priorities for the coming year.  I invite you to also reflect on your own personal goals for the coming year.  As we reflect, I think of the God’s Word in Philippians 3:13-14 where it says: 

Philippians 3:13-14

No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.

Looking Back on 2016 at Pleasant Grove UMC

            There is always room for improvement in life. We learn from our mistakes. Even in our victories are opportunities to improve as we consider how to make our efforts even better in the future. We made some progress on each of the goals we set last year.  Let's review them.           
            At the beginning of 2016, we made a commitment to “do whatever it takes” to provide exceptional ministry to children. We have made significant progress in this difficult work. After much agonizing and prayerful consideration, we decided it was time to change the leadership of our children’s ministry. This has been a difficult transition, but it has also brought new ideas and new energy.  We now have 19 children engaged, learning, and excited to come build a relationship with Jesus on Wednesday nights.  Many of them have started attending on Sundays as well.
            This could not have happened without the excitement, enthusiasm, and dedication of many volunteers, such as: Sara Edmond, DJ Seifert, Allie Motley, Andrea Denson, Debra Sloan, Lori Roberts, Laurie Wilson, & many, many others. It has been amazing to watch the progress we’ve made with these volunteers and the commitment of parents wanting their children to know Jesus. We are still seeking a part-time Children’s Director to guide our volunteers. We will continue to push for exceptional children’s ministry at Pleasant Grove in 2017.

            Another goal of 2016 was spiritual growth through worship, study, and service. In 2016, our Sunday morning worship themes and sermon series covered the topics of homosexuality, deep relationships, core values, spiritual revival, our membership promises, and following God’s signs. On Wednesday Nights, we studied  church revitalization, Timothy Keller's The Meaning of Marriage, Mike Slaughter's The Renegade Gospel, the War Room study on prayer, and Max Lucado's Fearless. Our children's programs focused on how to pray, overcoming fear, and the Christmas story.

            We should all be proud of the members of our Thursday morning Bible Study We had 20 people participate in reading through the Chronological Bible this past year. They completed that journey on December 31.  These dedicated people read through the entire Bible in one year!  We will celebrate their accomplishment this Thursday!
            We continued our outreach to Pleasant Grove Elementary School and Northstar School by providing sack lunches for needy children.  This school year, we were blessed to find a new program coordinator—Susan Cooksey—who is doing a wonderful job coordinating with the schools. We provide 110 sack lunches each week. Susan has also expanded our efforts to encourage teachers with special gifts and service opportunities throughout the year.

            We participated in other service projects as well.  A group of men from our church built a wheel chair ramp for a needy family that included an armed forces veteran.  We packed 150 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child to give to impoverished kids around the world.  And we continued our support of Family Promise to help combat homelessness in our community.
            Last year, I challenged everyone be present at church every Sunday (missing no more than five Sundays in a year).  How did you do on your own personal attendance? Did you miss more than 5 Sundays? Average attendance at PGUMC was 115 in 2016.

            We received 14 new members at our church.  We were blessed to receive  Pamela White, Trevor Maddox, Will Maddox, Mattie Grace Maddox, Donald (DJ) Seifert, Jeremy Ptak, Dale Wallace, Valerie Wallace, Daniel Kai Wallace, Jason Childers, Deborah Childers, Alex Childers, Amaya Childers, and Beth Tessmer.  We had 2 reaffirmations of faith: Alex Childers & Jeremy Ptak.  We also baptised 2 people: Alex Childers and Daniel Kai Wallace.           

 

Dedicating our new PGUMC church van on Dec. 11, 2016

Church Fire

             There are some things for which you just can't plan.  Early in the morning on September 4, someone set fire to our church van.  The van was parked under the breezeway between the gym and the Promise Building.  The fire destroyed the beautiful van.  Fortunately, fire sprinklers kept the fire at bay until firefighters arrived, but the Promise Building sustained severe smoke and water damage, including the disabling of power to the building.  Much of our time, money, and resources during the last part of 2016 were devoted to recovering from the damage.
            We are making progress.  After negotiating with our insurance company and with the generous support of our church members, we took ownership of a brand new 2017 church van.  We also now have a new cover to park our van under (so we don't need to park in the breezeway anymore).  We also added security cameras to the Promise Building to make our campus even more safe.
            Let me update you on the progress of repairing our Promise Building.  We have repaired the damage to the vinyl siding outside the building.  We also repaired the power meter.  Later, William Ware was repairing a HVAC unit in the building and discovered the power was hooked up to the meter incorrectly.  So, we corrected the electrical problem.  We have negotiated with our insurance company and convinced them of the fact we need to replace the carpet in the facility.  Currently, we are review carpet samples and will soon have the old carpet removed and replaced.  Then, there will be some painting and other work before we are able to fully utilize the Promise Building once more.  I hope these repairs will be completed early this year.
            Dealing with the fire has been a learning opportunity for our whole church.  It was a lesson in forgiveness--forgiving the person(s) who would terrorize a church through arson.  There is still a $10,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons responsible for the fire and we hope for justice, but we are not bitter.  The fire was also a lesson in patience, trusting God, and working together.  I am very proud of the way our congregation has pulled together through a very difficult situation.

Looking Forward to 2017

            But the Scripture says not to dwell on the past. The past is the past and cannot be changed. What is done is done. Therefore, the Scripture says, “I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead…”  Let us consider a vision for 2017.  Our goals for the coming year were aided by two recent meetings --facilitated by Dr. Phil Schroeder.  First we met to dream about our hopes for PGUMC.  Then, we met again on December 3rd to plan our 2017 calendar.  From what I learned at these meetings, I offer the following 2017 goals for PGUMC.

Goal #1 - Provide Exceptional Ministry to Children 
            We have made significant progress in re-invigorating our children's ministries.  New leadership and new volunteers have brought new excitement and as many as 19 children regularly participating.  We still have work to do and will continue our work to provide exceptional children's ministry.  One of the key tasks we hope to accomplish this is year hire a part-time children's minister to lead our wonderful volunteers and help develop a vision for children’s ministry at PGUMC.  Please pray for us and help spread the word that we are seeking to hire a children's minister.

Goal #2 - Visionary Youth Ministry
            Amy Harris does a wonderful job ministering to our youth.  This year, we will support her to take our youth ministry to the next level at PGUMC.  We have already begun work to develop a vision for our youth ministry, asking the questions: "What are we trying to accomplish with our youth ministry? What do our youth need to know to be the person we all want them to be by the time they graduate from high school?"  As we cast our vision and develop a mission statement, we will also build a team of volunteers to assist Amy in her ministry.   Perhaps you would like to be on the team.

Goal #3 - Invigorate Worship
            In 2017, we plan work on ways to make Sunday morning worship more energetic and flowing.  David Crawford sought insights from a focus group and is working on some new ideas for how to make worship more heartfelt and inspiring.  We will experiment with new ways to make worship a true blessing.

Goal #4 - Reorganize Our Greeters
            Another of our goals for the year is to reorganize our greeters so that everyone who comes to PGUMC receives a warm welcome.  We need volunteers and a way to organize our efforts.  We will also look at some opportunities to train people as greeters so they know how to make people feel welcome.

Goal #5 - More Outreach
            Love lives at PGUMC and we have always cared about our community.  In 2017, we will make a concerted effort to provide more organized opportunities to reach out and serve the people of Whitfield County.  We will work to provide service projects all year long as well as participate community efforts like Family Promise and Be the Church.

Invitation

            Which of these is God leading you to help with?  How can you help?  I hope you will prayerfully consider how you can get involved so that 2017 is truly a great year for you and for Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church.

 

 

The State of the Communion Address

Introduction

    One of my favorite scriptures is Philippians 2:5-11 because it summarizes who Christ is and encourages us to imitate him.  Listen to these powerful words as you consider how you will live in 2016.

 

Philippians 2:5-11

⁵ You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

⁶ Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
⁷ Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
⁸     he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

⁹ Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
    and gave him the name above all other names,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father. 

What is this Address?

            Near the beginning of each year, the President of the United States gives a “state of the union address”.  This televised speech is made to a joint session of the congress reporting the condition of the country and outlining his legislative agenda and national priorities.

            My message this morning is a blatant rip-off of this presidential tradition.  However, I hope it will be a useful one.  I wish to report on the condition of our church (our “Communion”) and outline our agenda and priorities for the coming year.  Above all else, I pray that everything we do this year will be done with a Christ-like attitude as laid out in Philippians 2:5-11--with humility, with self-sacrificial love, giving glory to God alone, and looking forward to the ultimate triumph of God’s Kingdom. 

Children’s Ministry

            Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  In 2015, we baptized 5 people and we had 9 people saved to become disciples of Jesus Christ by profession of faith.  Of the 69 United Methodist churches reporting in our district, Pleasant Grove had the 8th highest number of professions of faith.  

The majority of our professions of faith come when children go through confirmation classes and choose to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Children are vital to the success of our church.  We have a duty to bring them to church, make sure they attend Sunday school, children’s church, and our Wednesday night children’s program so they can grow in their faith.  As children mature, they are soon able to choose Christ for themselves.  This is the primary way we initiate people into the Christian faith.  Without children, we will fail at our primary mission.  We must not fail!

            In 2016, I want Pleasant Grove to focus on strengthening our children’s ministries.  I want to see excellent communication about all children’s programing, more children participating, parents that are thrilled to bring their kids here, and children that are growing in faith.  This is the only way Pleasant Grove can be successful.  I am committed to do whatever it takes to make sure kids get everything they deserve at our church.  I ask you to join me in praying for our children’s ministries, volunteering to do your part, and let’s make our children’s ministry the best in the district.  This will be our number one focus in 2016.   

 

Spiritual Growth

            Discipleship begins with a profession of faith, but it continues as a person grows closer to Christ and more committed to their faith.  People experienced spiritual growth in a number of ways at Pleasant Grove in 2015.  One measurable way I can report is that we had 11 people attended Chrysalis or Walk to Emmaus spiritual revitalization retreat in 2015.  Chrysalis and Emmaus retreats are a powerful way to experience the amazing love of God, learn the basics of our faith, and be inspired to serve Christ in our church and community.  I would like to see more people attend Chrysalis (for youth) or Walk to Emmaus (for adults).  Regardless of your level of spiritual development, Emmaus is a tangible way you can grow spiritually.  I would like you to attend. 

Worship Attendance

            Declining church attendance is a concern all over our nation.  Every denomination has seen decline. Pleasant Grove has struggled with attendance as well.  Since 2004, our attendance has declined steadily.  Our average attendance in 2015 was 129.  This was an increase from the previous year, but we can still do better.  There is no reason Pleasant Grove shouldn’t be filled with people every Sunday.  I know it is possible and we have seen what a full church looks like. 
            Our highest attended Sunday last year was on December 20th when we had our children’s play--207 people packed our pews. 

Our second highest Sunday was Easter with 200 people.  Our third highest Sunday was the Christmas cantata on December 13th with 185 people.  And of course you all saw how many were here for the Christmas Eve service.  People came to these services because you invited them and because these were special services.  We have to continue to invite people because every Sunday at PGUMC is a special Sunday.  It is a day Jesus Christ is here waiting to change people’s lives.  Don’t you miss out on that or let someone else miss the opportunity for Jesus to change their life and maybe their eternal destination.

            In 2016, will you join with me in renewing your commitment to be present at church every Sunday?  Let’s commit to miss no more than 5 Sundays this year.  Can you do that?  That still leaves room for several absences for vacation or for sickness or for unexpected situations.  Missing no more than 5 Sundays is very reasonable for the typical person.  

Now, maybe you’re not a typical person.  Maybe your situation is such that you need to miss more than 5 Sundays because of your job or something else really important.  Then I ask you:  what is reasonable for you?  Make weekly church attendance a top priority and decide today what your attendance goal is going to be this year and then stick to it. 

Study Groups

In 2015, it was a pleasure to work with such a creative and talented worship team to plan excellent worship.  David, Sarah, Dale, and I collaborated to bring you services covering relevant topics such as:  reconciliation, the meaning of love, purifying your life, making a new start, the 10 Commandments, the Great Commission, and arguing with Jesus about tough issues.  We finished the year with the sermon series I’ll Be Home for Christmas.  We listen for God’s direction and work very hard to bring you the best.  So you can be sure if you come (and if you invite someone to come with you), you will be blessed because we will offer you the very best that months of praying, planning, and preparation can offer.  

            Study is also vital to spiritual growth.  There are a number of ways you can plug into a small study group at Pleasant Grove.  Last year, Gary and Jean Carter took charge of our young adult program teaching a weekly Sunday school class.  This is a unique offering for young adults that not many churches have.  If you are a young adult, I urge you to take advantage of our young adult Sunday school.  Talk to Gary and Jean and let them know what you would like to see happen with young adults.  And tell your young adult children, grandchildren, or friends to come get involved with the young adults of our church.  Let’s not take our young adult program for granted.  Everyone should be active in a Sunday school class or one of our other study groups like Wednesday night study, youth, children’s ministry, or Thursday morning Bible study.

            On Wednesday nights, we completed 6 studies:  Taking Care of Business (about the Christian work ethic), Soul Detox (about purification), Before Amen (prayer), The Committee (church revitalization), Earn, Save, Give (Christian finances), and Ask: Faith Questions in a Skeptical Age.  On Thursday mornings, we completed a 6 year, in-depth, book by book journey through the whole Bible.  We are about to beginning a new, one-year study of the whole Bible in chronological order.  I invite you to join us in the fellowship hall starting this Thursday at 10:30 AM.  Or come on Wednesday night for dinner and stay for a study; this month, we are doing The Committee part 2, a series on church revitalization.  Or perhaps you would like to make it your goal to be active in a Sunday school class.  Everyone needs to be active in a small group study to grow spiritually in 2016.  Everyone means you.   

Serving Others

            C.S. Lewis said, “A church is the only organization that exists primarily for the benefit of non-members.”  Just as Jesus gave up his divine privileges in Heaven to come save and serve a lost humanity, the church is here to serve others sacrificially.  On average, our church served 74 people outside of our congregation each week in 2015.  We did this primarily through:

• Family Promise - Four times a year, we house homeless families in our church for a week at a time in conjunction with 15 other churches in our community through Family Promise of Whitfield County.
• Be the Church - In September, we called off our regular worship service to go into our community and do service projects for people in need.
• Sack Lunches - On Wednesday nights, we packed sack lunches to deliver to needy kids at Pleasant Grove Elementary and North Star School so kids have at least on healthy meal to take home to eat over the weekend.
• DOCUP - We contributed money in cooperation with other area churches to DOCUP to help needy families with rent, utility bills, food, and clothing.
• The Layette ministry - We provided clothing, blankets, and other necessities for newborn infants in need at Hamilton Medical Center.
• We also offered boxes of non-perishable food and various other forms of assistance directly from our church to people in need in our community.

Of course, these are only the service projects for which we have a record.  The real service of the church happens through you--the people of our church who spread throughout the community and serve people everyday in a million different ways by the way you live out your Christian faith in the world.  Thank you for being the church everyday, wherever you are.  There is no way for us to quantify all the people you serve and the tremendous impact you have on our world, but I know you make a significant difference.  Let me encourage you to keep doing good. 

Build New Relationships with Hispanics

            Pleasant Grove has 3 long range goals that guide everything we do.  They are:  1) give hope to the hopeless, 2) build new relationships, and 3) help our community.  One of the greatest opportunities God has given us to build new relationships at PGUMC is with the Hispanic community.  Every Sunday, a Hispanic church meets in our chapel for worship.  We have already begun building relationships with them in several ways.  For instance, their pastor--Isabel Ochoa--preached at one of our services last year and I preached at her service.  Also, I helped with a Quinceanera for one of their families and they helped with our Operation Christmas Child packing party.  I would like to see us growing even closer in the coming year.  We have come to a place where it is time for you (the members of this congregation) to build friendships directly with the people of Isabel’s congregation.  I hope you are ready to build these new relationships and will look for ways to build these new friendships in 2016.  I will work to lead you in that direction. 

General Conference

            2016 is a General Conference year in the United Methodist denomination.  That means United Methodist representatives from all over the world will gather for the first time since 2012 to discuss important issues about the direction of our worldwide communion.  One of the most important issues they will discuss this year in Portland, Oregon is how United Methodists will respond to homosexuality.  As you know, public opinion about homosexuality in our nation has shifted greatly and our supreme court has ruled same-sex marriages are legal in all 50 states.  How will the United Methodist Church respond?  I invite you to join with me in prayer about this important issue facing our nation and our church.  And pray for our General Conference as it seeks to provide leadership for the United Methodist Church.  Next Sunday I will begin a four week message series examining what the Bible says about homosexuality and how we can respond.  Please come with an opened mind and a humble heart. 

Summary

            In summary, I want to highlight again the issues I want Pleasant Grove to focus on in 2016:

• Provide exceptional ministry to children
• Spiritual Growth through worship, study, and service
• Be present at church every Sunday (missing no more than 5 Sundays in a year) and invite more people to come with us.
• Focus on building relationships with the Hispanics of our community
• Pray for General Conference (May 10th - 20th)

 

New Van

I would be remiss not to point out one more great accomplishment of 2015.  Through your generosity, we raised over $40,000 to purchase a brand new church van!  This Ford Transit has already been ordered and will be ready for service very soon.  Our van will stand out everywhere it goes.  People will see it and say, “That’s the Pleasant Grove church van.  That is a great church!”  And they’re right!  We are a great church and we’re going to be even better because our van will give us the ability to take more trips safely and conveniently, go out into our community more often, and pick up people to bring them to church (I would love to see us picking up van loads of children to bring them to Sunday worship and Wednesday night activities).  

Thank you so much for your generosity that made our new van possible.  The purchase of this van just goes to show you how Pleasant Grove can take on a very big challenge and accomplish it. When we believe in ourselves, trust God, and are faithful and persistent, we can accomplish great things.  I believe this church can do anything God wants us to do if we put our minds to it.  Let’s all commit to meet the challenges facing Pleasant Grove this year--all for the glory of God!   

Reflection

What is God calling you to do in 2016?

• Give your life to Christ?
• Attend Church more often?
• Get active in a study group?
• Befriend a Hispanic person?
• Help with our children’s ministry?
• Make a significant change while trusting God?

God empowers and strengthens you to meet whatever challenges lie ahead. 
Trust in God, believe in yourself, be faithful and persistent, and 2016 will be a great year!