Dear Resurrection Family,
This is an historic weekend for our church at the Leawood campus. We'll be breaking ground on our permanent sanctuary (which will in turn make possible the renovation of our current sanctuary into Vibe space, adult classrooms, a kitchen, and dedicated Matthew's Ministry space). This coming week, weather permitting, you'll start seeing equipment mobilized to the site, construction fencing going up, and work beginning in earnest. By the end of this year, the shell of the building will be largely completed. It will be an exciting year!
So, we're also scheduled to get 1 to 6 inches of snow starting Saturday evening and continuing into the early morning hours Sunday! Peggy Hopkins reminded me today that it poured down rain the morning before we broke ground in 1993 on our first building. She had procured hay to spread on the ground to avoid sinking into the muddy field as we erected the cross on this site. This weekend will be similarly eventful!
We're going forward with the groundbreaking and the snow makes it even more of a story to tell to your grandkids years from now :-) Dress warmly and wear your gloves and shoes for walking in snow. I'll be preaching in hiking boots and jeans. Worship services will be shortened so we have time to go outside, erect the cross, turn over the soil and tie ribbons on the construction fence. (We'll have written our hopes and dreams for the church's future and the names of people we hope will come to faith here in the years ahead on these ribbons.)
For those nervous about driving, join us online. We'll be taking a camera outside to capture the moment. If the snow is really bad, we'll invite those who want to brave the snow to join me outside and we'll broadcast back into the sanctuary, chapel and Vibe for those who wish to stay warm and dry.
Years from now you'll want to say, "I was there on groundbreaking day! It snowed but that made it all the more inspiring and awesome!" We have people coming in from out of town and across the country just to be a part of it.
A word about parking during the construction period: The construction will take out the 300 parking spaces just south of the children's wing. This means that we'll be using all of the outer parking lots. We've bought a couple of people movers for those who need a ride from the parking lots – they will be here next week and will run during worship each weekend. The north entrance to our property off Nall will be closed so those coming in from the south on Nall will want to enter from the south entrance off Nall.
This week we closed on our construction loan with Commerce Bank (participating banks are INTRUST and the Bank of Blue Valley). We're grateful to our lenders and to our Building Finance team who did great work on this important aspect of the project.
In the last week we've received over 700 commitments toward the stained glass window. Most of our members planned to bring their cards back this weekend. I was moved to hear people's stories as they returned their commitments or gifts for the window. We've received gifts from across the country and from numerous persons who are visitors to our church, but wanted to be a part of making the window a reality. We're one third of the way toward paying for the window with most of the commitments still to come in. Thank you to each of you who are making this possible.
Next week we start in on our Lenten sermon series called "Witnesses." This series will study those who stood around the cross on the day Christ was crucified. We'll consider the contrasting responses of: Judas Iscariot and Joseph of Arimethea; John and Mary, the mother of Jesus; the soldiers who gambled for his clothes and the one who confessed Jesus was the Son of God; and the two thieves crucified next to Jesus. On Easter we'll consider the testimony of Mary Magdalene. Their stories will help us see the meaning of Christ's life and death for our lives today.
I have had several of you write me regarding Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly's call for pastors to speak about ISIS in church. I've written a blog post with a few thoughts on the question of how to respond to ISIS. You can find it here later this afternoon: www.adamhamilton.org.
Don't forget to wear your boots, gloves and warm clothes to church this weekend! We'll be here breaking ground regardless of the weather. We're going to have a great time making history while dreaming about the future! And if you can't make it to worship, join us online.
See you in worship!
Adam
The Church of the Resurrection
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
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