Friday, November 13, 2015
Dear Resurrection Family,
What a beautiful day in Kansas City! This weekend’s going to be a great one in worship. Our focus in the sermon is on the connection between faith and generosity as we continue our study of Your Money and Your Life. I was struck this week by a statement issued by a team of researchers in the area of human generosity at the University of Notre Dame. They noted, “If Americans want to be happier, healthier people who live with greater purpose, suffer less depression, and enjoy more personal growth, [they should] learn to be more generous.”
We’ll talk about what generosity looks like, hear several amazing examples of generosity from children and young adults in our congregation, and I’ll share with you a moving conversation I had with a family who attended church last weekend seeking to express their gratitude to you for your generosity. This is our commitment weekend and at the conclusion of the service we’ll bring our commitments cards forward for our giving in 2016. Following the service, we’ll have a special 25th anniversary coffee mug for all who return their commitment card. We give one per household but every child and every teen who returns their own commitment card gets their own mug. Here’s a pic of the new 25th anniversary mug:
As an aside, one of the goals our stewardship team has this year is to increase the number of our members who give by EFT (electronic funds transfer). We currently have 34% of our members giving by EFT. Our hope is to see this grow to 50%. Here’s why this matters: Giving by EFT reduces the number of staff hours needed to process donations which makes it a more effective way to give. It also reduces the impact that the weather and vacation season have on the church as those who give by EFT give even when they are out of town. LaVon and I write very few checks any more, and seldom carry a checkbook which is why we switched to EFT several years ago. There will be EFT cards in the seatbacks this weekend with instructions on EFT giving if you are willing to join us in giving by EFT in 2016.
Our next blood drive is coming up this Monday and Tuesday, November 16-17. You can sign up this weekend in worship or you can go online at www.savealifenow.org to sign up. I see our giving of blood as an act of Christian discipleship and am so proud of the way you give of yourselves in this way to save lives.
Several months ago we hosted Jacqueline Murakatete here at Resurrection. She is a genocide survivor in Rwanda who has started the Genocide Survivors Foundation. The foundation has recently launched their new website and I wanted you to know about it. A couple of resurrection members helped to fund the development of the website. Check it out here:http://genocidesurvivorsfoundation.org.
Lastly, I wanted you to know that one of our long-time members, Alma Dallam, passed away this week. Alma and John helped start the annual golf tournament, our Habitat ministry and so much more. Alma will be missed and I’m grateful for her part in helping Resurrection become the church it is today.
I’m keeping this e-note short as I’ve been in meetings all morning and am heading into more this afternoon. I again want to tell you how grateful I am for you, your generosity of time, talent and resources, and your commitment to Christ that make possible the many ministries of this congregation. I’m proud to be your pastor!
Adam
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
913.897.0120
913.897.0120
www.cor.org
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