Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Leawood enote from Pastor Adam Hamilton for Friday, 25 April 2014

Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Leawood enote from Pastor Adam Hamilton for Friday, 25 April 2014
Dear Resurrection Family,
I want to thank all of you who volunteered this Easter, and those who served in multiple services, to welcome and minister to all who worshiped with us on Easter at each of our campuses. We ended up having 27,678 in attendance with lots of new visitors worshiping with us. 19,047 were at Resurrection Leawood (and the convention center), 2,357 at Resurrection West, 1,900 at Resurrection Downtown, 531 at Resurrection Blue Springs and 3,464 worshiped with us online.
This weekend we'll conclude our series on the Gospel of the Nobodies: Jesus as Luke Saw Him. We'll look at Jesus resurrection appearances and what this man who loved the nobodies said to his disciples before his ascension. I know the message will speak to each of you. Executive Pastor of Worship, Glen Shoup, is preaching at Leawood, while each of our campus pastors is preaching at their own campus.
Next weekend we'll start a three part sermon series on Noah. I'm excited about this series as while most of us know the basic outline of the story of Noah, his ark and the great flood, I don't think we often explore the deeper meanings found in this story. It is a very important story in the Bible, taking up more space in Genesis than the creation story. More next week on the series.
On Tuesday of this week our sacred art subcommittee of the Leawood Building Committee met to review proposals from seven art glass/stained glass firms and their artists as we continue the process of choosing the firm who will design, construct and install the stained glass window in the permanent sanctuary. These were narrowed down to three firms who we will interview next month. I'll share more information with you next month as we narrow this down to the finalist.
I also met on Tuesday with Gould Evans Architects at our Resurrection West campus where their building committee is beginning to plan for more education space. Resurrection West has a huge number of children and the need for children's space is critical. It's going to be an exciting year at West as they work on the design of the building and break ground next year.
Some of you have asked about how the window will be protected from the elements in the new sanctuary. There will actually be a wall of glass outside the stained glass window which, with its framing, is necessary for the structural integrity of the building. The stained glass will be seen through the exterior glass wall, yet protected from the elements. The window will be lit from within so it is seen from the outside at night, but also lit from the outside to allow it to be seen from inside when services are being held at night on the inside.
On Wednesday and Thursday of this week I was in Washington DC and Orlando speaking on my new book, Making Sense of the Bible. While in each city I also had meetings with leading clergy in both cities to talk about the future of the United Methodist Church and if there is a way to lead the church forward with regard to the issue of homosexuality that might keep our denomination from dividing over this issue.
I think you play a key role in this conversation within our denomination, Church of the Resurrection. You have modeled how Christians can disagree on this issue and still love one another and serve together as one church. I'm hoping that what you demonstrate as a congregation might become the norm for the United Methodist Church.
I'm taking a couple of vacation days this weekend to rest after two hectic weeks. I'm grateful we have amazing pastors at each campus who are awesome preachers – I'll be worshiping at Resurrection myself this weekend. So far, whether in person or online, I've got perfect attendance as do hundreds of you!
Grateful and proud to be one of your pastors!
Adam
-------