The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection - an enote from Reverend Adam Hamilton - Friday, 21 February 2014

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection - an enote from Reverend Adam Hamilton - Friday, 21 February 2014
Dear Resurrection Family,
Last weekend at Leawood we showed a two-minute computer generated video taking us inside our proposed narthex and sanctuary. If you weren't here, I thought you might enjoy seeing this video. Click here to watch the video.
If you are a part of the Leawood Campus, I want to share some important news in preparation for this weekend. Each service will end early to allow us to do something I think you'll find meaningful and exciting. We will have the proposed new narthex and sanctuary roped off and staked out with signs showing where various parts of the new buildings will be. We'll have with us in worship the original cross that Resurrection member John Dallam made that we erected on our site 20 years ago. At the end of worship we'll carry this cross to our proposed sanctuary and sing our final hymn there as we erect the cross and dedicate the land for God's purposes.
Please bring shoes you don't mind getting muddy or dirty. If you forget you can remain on the asphalt, but I'd love for you to actually enter the future sanctuary - marked out in the grass. Many of you have seen the video of our erecting the cross 20 years ago. This is your chance to be a part of that experience. Twenty years from now people will watch the video from this coming Sunday and say, "I wish I had been there." I want you to be able to say, "I was there on that day when we erected the cross and sang and prayed in the field that became our sanctuary."
For Vibe worshipers, I'll be joining you for a barbecue lunch just after the dedication and erecting of the cross. You can join the consecration after the 10:45 service, or, for those joining us for lunch, we'll go over together following our meal and Q and A.
The weekend of March 1/2 is commitment weekend when we'll invite you to return your commitment cards for the 10,000 Reasons campaign. I want to remind you of several things: 1. Your pledge may be given over a three-year period, the pledge period begins in March and will be completed just before we move in the new building. 2. This is a special offering over and above your regular giving. If you take from your current giving and pledge this to the building it only hurts the church as this is money taken from our current mission and ministry. 3. We're inviting you to pray and to give as God leads you. 4. An element of giving in an effort like this is sacrifice, we give up something else we would have done, purchased or possessed in order to invest in something that matters even more to us. 5. Your giving is an investment in the lives of people who will be touched by the ministry of this church for generations to come.
Beginning February 28 we'll have a 49-hour prayer vigil taking place at our Leawood campus and I'm hoping you'll join me in signing up to come to pray. I especially need some of you to join me for the shifts in the middle of the night. We'll have people praying and giving thanks to God all day and all night in 30-minute time periods as they lift up our campaign and our members as they prepare to make their commitments that weekend in worship. I believe this campaign effort will only succeed as people listen for God and as God does in our hearts what only God can do. To sign up click on this link. For more information, please contact Jennifer Creager by e-mail or at 913 544-0739.
In a bit of non-campaign related news, Steven Blair, our Pastor of Emotional Wellness and Live Forward, will become Senior Pastor of LifeBridge UMC in Shawnee - a new church start effective July 1st. The good news for us is that Steven will remain on our team 1/4 time overseeing Live Forward while serving 3/4 time at LifeBridge UMC. Prior to joining our team Steven had started a new church in Gardner. LifeBridge is several years old and I'm excited for both them and for Steven. He'll do an outstanding job leading this new congregation.
I wanted to report back to you about the results of our Souper Bowl Food Drive earlier this month. You brought in 16 tons of food plus monetary donations of $13,974.12 that will be used to purchase food for area food pantries. We have three food drives each year and this is the first of those three. Thank you for your tremendous generosity in caring for people who are in need of assistance.
Finally, there is a web page where we've been posting frequently asked questions and their answers, as well as videos, the blue prints of the proposed buildings and other information from the 10,000 Reasons campaign. Click here to visit the site, read the questions and answers and look over the videos and documents, future.cor.org.
Do you know the most frequently asked question of building committee members standing at the model in the narthex each week? How many toilets will there be in the new narthex. We've learned that we have t0o few toilets, particularly for women, in our current narthex. Here's the answer: We currently have 35 toilet fixtures in the current narthex. The new narthex will have 54 fixtures. Another frequently asked question is how far will people have to walk to get into the building from the drop-offs? Currently we have no covered drop off. We will have one, or possibly two in the new building. The distance from the closest drop off in our parking lot into the current narthex is 100 feet. In the new building the closest distance will be 50 feet. I've also been asked if we will have a pipe organ in the new building. It is shown on the video. We have always planned on having a hybrid organ with some digital speakers and about 45 ranks of pipes. Our plan has been to install the organ as an all digital organ and add the pipes in the future.
You'll find a lot more Q and A on the website!
Don't miss worship this weekend - it will be inspiring, exciting and historic!
Adam Hamilton
-------
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, KS 66224 United States
-------