Friday, May 20, 2016
Dear Resurrection Family,
As you read this the 2016 General Conference of the United Methodist Church is wrapping up. I am traveling back to Kansas City tonight so that I can be back in the pulpit this weekend. It has been an interesting week in so many ways – and at points inspiring while at other points discouraging or frustrating. I and others seeking to find a way to help the church move forward were subject to occasional barbs, interestingly from the left for moving the church too slowly and from the far right for seeking to move the church at all!
In my sermon this weekend I’ll share a bit about General Conference, the conflict there, the sad way that Christians sometimes treat one another (it’s interesting to me that the people who consider themselves the most committed to Christ can also at times be the most caustic). We will look at what was decided at the General Conference about human sexuality – the most divisive issue in the church today. I’ll share a few of my own thoughts on this and where I see our church going; and we’ll turn to Acts 15 and consider one of the first church “fights,” a conflict that affected the early church for years, and how it was resolved.
By the way, on Tuesday of this last week I was invited to speak to about 60 college and seminary students about what was happening at the Conference. There were hundreds of Twitter comments that followed the talk, including some quotes taken out of context. If you’d like to hear the actual talk, here’s the link. I’ve also just published my third in a series of three blogs about General Conference and human sexuality – you can read it here.
This morning Saint Paul School of Theology celebrated their 55th Commencement Convocation in our sanctuary. Congratulations to all the graduates on their accomplishments. Darryl Burton, a Resurrection Congregational Care Pastor, and Resurrection members Kelly Hansen and Darlene Sheffer received Master of Divinity degrees. All three were supported in their studies by seminary grants from the church and the Resurrection Foundation. Please join me in congratulating Rev. Karen Lampe, our Executive Pastor of Congregational Care, who was honored with Saint Paul's 2016 Distinguished Graduate Award. We are grateful for Karen's leadership and her passion for caring for our congregation.
Here are a few things coming up in the next couple of weeks.
The weekend, we’ll kick off “Destination Resurrection” our annual summer opportunities for worship, learning, serving and fellowship. We have some interesting classes, community projects, fun events and even some new health and wellness activities. We’ll have calendars in worship this weekend, or you can check it out on the website: www.cor.org/summer.
Next Monday and Tuesday will be our Blood Drive from 8 am to 8 pm in the Leawood Narthex (Building B). This is an important drive for our community as we head into a holiday weekend when blood supplies are traditionally in higher demand. I hope you’ll take this opportunity to share the gift of life. I’ve heard from our volunteers that the Community Blood Center will give away a buy-one-get-one-free Schlitterbahn Waterpark pass to all donors and have drawings for a beautiful May basket, Royals tickets and Travel Clean Express car wash gift cards. You can also enjoy hot dogs and the ever popular Tippin’s Pies after you donate! Appointments are encouraged, but walk-ins are always welcome. You can make an appointment at www.cor.org/blooddrive.
Next Saturday night (May 28) join us at 7:30 in the Sanctuary for an evening of Patriotic Music featuring the Resurrection Choir and Orchestra, youth choir and featured soloists. This free concert is open to the public and is a preview of the concert that will be presented June 5 at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Hamburgers and hot dogs will be available for purchase prior to the concert, so come for worship at 5 pm, have dinner and enjoy a free concert!
Also next weekend, our Boy Scouts will have a cookout after every service, so plan to stay and enjoy a meal with your family after worship. The holiday weekend is also a Family Worship Weekend – we won’t have children's programming, so plan to bring your children with you to worship. We will have childcare for children birth through age 4.
Our annual Church Conference is on Tuesday, June 7, at 6 pm in B200 on the Leawood Campus. All church members are invited to vote upon the recommendations of our Staff Parish Relations Committee regarding my 2016-2017 compensation package and the aggregate budget allocation for associate pastors' compensation and housing allowances. We do this each year to allow for transparency.
If you are a high school or college graduate who was not in worship last weekend, please stop by the Connection Point where we have a special gift for you to help you remember the love and support of your Church Family as you head into this next chapter of life. Our hope is that we can help our students stay connected to Resurrection as they enter the next phase in life. We also want to help our high school seniors make connections at the next place in their journey if they are leaving town to go to college. If you are a graduating senior (or the parent of one) please take a moment to click this link, which is a very brief online form to fill out with senior’s future plans and contact information so that the church may stay connected with them going forward. If any graduating seniors have any questions about ministries for young adults at Resurrection or how to get connected to ministries in college please contact Dave MaGee, Director of Student Ministries or visit the young adults webpage.
Over the next month, I will travel to Annual Conferences in Upper New York and Western Pennsylvania to lead workshops on leadership and church renewal. This will be the 35th and 36th Annual Conference I have spoken to since 2007 – the year our Church Council set a goal to share the most important leadership principles and ideas from Resurrection with every United Methodist pastor and Annual Conference in the United States through these events. This weekend, we’ll have prayer tents with the names of every pastor and church in these conferences and I am asking you to write a note of encouragement to the pastor, and to pray for that pastor and for me over the next 30 days as we seek to strengthen and renew churches around the country.
Finally, I am excited to share that yesterday we closed on the land for Resurrection Downtown's permanent sanctuary. It is located just south of Resurrection Downtown's current site. Congratulations to Pastor Scott and his team who spent a year in negotiations and to the Downtown campus whose members have sacrificed to make this possible. We're excited to see Resurrection Downtown building the first new church building in downtown Kansas City in over 80 years!
I look forward to being back with you in worship this weekend.
In Christ’s love,
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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