Senior Pastor Adam Hamilton for Friday, 14 October 2016 from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States

Senior Pastor Adam Hamilton for Friday, 14 October 2016 from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States
Friday, October 14, 2016
Dear Resurrection Family,
Do you have a third grader in your family? This weekend we’ll present third graders with a Bible – a tradition in Methodist churches for generations. Our prayer is that this gift will help these children begin a lifetime of reading the scriptures. If you have a 3rd grader and you have not yet registered them for this weekend’s presentation, please click here and choose which service you will attend with your child. If you cannot attend worship this weekend, please go ahead and register so we'll know to reserve a Bible for your child.
We’ll continue our sermon series on The Good Life this weekend. Last weekend we looked at the first two of six keys to living the good life: being grateful for what you have, and living a life of purpose. Here the great Greek and Roman philosophers agree with the scripture writers. This weekend we’ll look at two more keys to the good life – the failure to follow one of these is one of the leading causes of divorce. But living according to this week’s keys is life giving. This weekend’s sermon will be a great one for children and youth as well as adults – these are lessons I learned when I was a teenager, and they have positively impacted me my whole life.
Next weekend is commitment weekend in our annual stewardship campaign. This year our theme is “stepping up” and we’re focused not only on our financial stewardship, but our worship, Christian discipleship, service and witness. We’re challenging everyone to take a step forward and a step up as we seek to become deeply committed Christians. We’re inviting you to get at least a “B” in worship attendance – attending in person or online at least 80% of the time next year. We’re inviting you do one additional thing to grow in your faith next year – join a small group, increase your scripture reading or time in prayer, attend a retreat – adding one practice that helps you become a more deeply committed Christian. We’re asking you to step up your service – for those at Leawood, this is critical as we move into the new building where we’ll need to double the number of ushers, communion servers and parking lot greeters to name just a few. We’re asking you to step up in your witness, sharing your faith with at least two friends this year and inviting them to church.
In addition we’re asking each Resurrection family to take a step up – a step forward – in their giving to God through the church in 2017. There are three specific things we’re hoping you’ll consider:

1. Return a commitment card regardless of the amount.
2. If you are not currently giving to the church, commit to giving something regularly, regardless of the amount.
3. If you are a regular giver, but you are not yet tithing, we’d ask you take a step in that direction, increasing your giving for 2017 by 1% to 3% of your annual income.

Your giving is an expression of worship, an act of Christian discipleship, and an investment in the ministry of our church and the lives of every person affected by that ministry. By means of your giving, our church is used by God to change lives, renew churches and transform communities in Kansas City and beyond.
Are you interested in becoming a member of the Church of the Resurrection? I’d like to invite you to join me and our other pastors for Coffee with the Pastors next Tuesday night, October 18, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm in the Student Center. This is an inspirational event at which we’ll share with you more about the church and its ministry, and what it means to be a Christian, a United Methodist and a member of The Church of the Resurrection. The Coffee ends with a brief joining service for those who are ready to make Resurrection their church family. Click here to register to attend (you can also sign up for childcare at this site).
I would like to give you an update on the Hurricane Matthew response in Haiti. News coming out of Haiti has been heartbreaking. Resurrection began its mission efforts in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in January of 2010. Since then we’ve developed a significant partnership with the people of Petit Goave, Haiti.
The response we received to our call to assemble 3,000 hygiene kits was overwhelming. We’re grateful for everyone who offered to help and the 116 people we were able to accommodate last Saturday morning at the Heart to Heart hub. Our work will continue as the Haitian people begin to rebuild homes, replant crops, replace livestock, and plant trees to combat deforestation effects. A team from Resurrection will travel to Haiti in early November and will report on the long-term rebuilding plan upon their return.
In the meantime, Resurrection has already provided $25,000 toward relief efforts and donations to the Disaster Response Fund for further work in Haiti, Louisiana, and other areas impacted by disasters. Donations to this fund for continued work in these areas can be made at cor.org/giveonline. I just clicked on this link to make a donation – when you click on the link you can set up an account that either comes directly from your checking account or is tied to a credit card. I’ve done both. Giving directly from a bank account saves the transaction fee and means that the entire amount of your gift goes to Haiti. When you arrive on the page, go to “disaster response” to donate.
Sexual assault continues to occupy the headlines in our news each week. One in 5 women and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in high school or college. 90% of these assaults go unreported. On Sunday, October 23, 1-4 pm in the Student Center we are hosting a screening of The Hunting Ground, a 2015 film about sexual assault on college campuses. Following the screening the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault (MOCSA) will join our pastors and staff in leading a discussion on how we can work together to end sexual assault. I’d like to encourage you to attend, and if you have high school or college students, male or female. This is a particularly poignant film.
[PARENTS: This film is rated PG-13 for disturbing thematic material involving sexual assault, language, and explicit discussion of suicide. This event is appropriate for those in their freshmen year of high school or older and students are encouraged to attend with their parents. We want everyone who will attend this film and the subsequent discussion to know this presentation focuses on sexual assault and suicide which may be triggering to some survivors.]
Finally, I wanted to mention a few changes that will happen in worship as we prepare for the move into the new building. I mentioned some of these changes in the various services affected by them last weekend. In Saturday and Sunday night services we’ve been making changes recently that allows for a little more singing in worship and a bit more worshipful setting up front. Many have noticed and been appreciative of these changes. The Sunday 7:45 am service will remain in the Wesley Chapel after the new sanctuary opens as opposed to moving to 7 or 7:15 am in the new sanctuary (the time required to allow the transition between it and the 9 am service). When the current sanctuary is renovated into our fellowship hall and alternative worship space we’ll consider moving 7:45 into this space.
At 9 am, after the first of the year, we’ll transition this service to the current Vibe worship format under Cory Ryan’s musical leadership as a way of connecting with younger generations in worship. We’re hoping most of the current 9 am band members will become a part of the current Vibe worship teams under Cory’s direction. I love our current 9 am format and the new format will not be a huge change, but we do think it has enough of a different “vibe” that it gives us the best chance to reach young adults and young families while still connecting with those of us, like myself, who are a bit older :). Nathan has done a great job and we’re looking at alternative responsibilities for him.
Changing the worship format at 9 will also allow us to move our 10:45 am Vibe service to 9 for 2017 as we remodel the existing sanctuary into our fellowship hall and alternative worship space. In January of 2018 when the renovations are completed, we’ll relaunch Vibe at 10:45 am in the fellowship hall, giving us two simultaneous worship services at 10:45 – traditional in the sanctuary and modern in the fellowship hall. In the meantime, Vibe worshipers will have the chance to worship in the new sanctuary and to be adjacent to the children’s nurseries and Sunday School for 2017 instead of having to wait until 2018 for this.
At 10:45 the only question we’d considered was whether the pastors would continue to wear robes and the congregational survey showed a majority of 10:45 attendees favored the robes as a touch of tradition that was meaningful to them. Our aim is that our 10:45 am service provide the most beautiful traditional worship possible.
So, as we move into the new Leawood sanctuary next year we will have two evening services with meaningful and moving contemporary worship. On Sunday morning we’ll have two beautiful traditional services (7:45 am and 10:45 am) and one passionate and moving modern service (9 am). My hope is that these various services give us the best options for reaching all generations of people and helping all of us worship together.
I’m looking forward to worship this weekend as we continue to explore the biblical keys to The Good Life! See you in worship!
Adam
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue

Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120

www.cor.org
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