Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Enote from Pastor Adam Hamilton for Friday, 27 June 2014Dear Resurrection Family,
The earliest Christian confession of faith is found in the New Testament. Long before the creeds were written we find this simple statement, “Jesus is Lord.” Paul writes, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) In I Corinthians 12:3 he writes, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”
What does this word, “Lord” mean? In Greek it is kyrios or kurios and it describes someone who has authority over another – a ruler, a master, commander, or king. Caesar claimed to be Lord of the Earth. Christians called Jesus, “Lord of lords” – the highest authority, the King of kings.
But what does all of this mean in our daily lives? Every morning when I awaken I slip to my knees and once more confess that “Jesus is Lord.” Then I invite him to guide my steps and to send me on his mission for that day. I do this every morning because I suffer from a case of spiritual dementia – I can easily forget that Jesus is Lord and I begin to believe that Adam is Lord. I’m guessing the same is true for you.
This weekend my sermon will focus on Jesus’ mission for our lives and four keys/principles/practices that help us successfully fulfill that mission. The four keys are one of the things I’ve been teaching in my leadership talks across the country. Interestingly, these leadership principles also relate to nearly every area of life – successful people and organizations practice these things.
I believe the message will bless and inspire you, but I also believe it will help you to live recognizing Jesus is Lord, and will help us, together, to be the church God wants us to be. Would you please plan to join us either in person or online this weekend? It will be a great weekend of worship.
At the Leawood campus, we’re having our annual all church picnic this weekend also. We’re gathering at Camp Timberlake at 179th just west of 69 highway and just east of the Overland Park Arboretum. We’ll have hayrack rides, hotdogs and burgers, live music, face painting and more. Bring your fishing rod if you’d like to fish. 7:45, 9 and 10:45 am services will have their picnic Sunday from 11-3. The evening services and Vibe will be on Sunday night from 5 to 8. To register, click on this link, https://rez.wufoo.com/forms/leawood-campus-picnic/. This is a great way to have fun with your family and friends and to meet new friends. Parking is limited at Timberlake so we’ll have shuttle buses running out of our southwest parking lot every 20 minutes starting at 10:45 am for the first picnic and 4:45 pm for the second picnic.
Here’s a really cool opportunity for you to change the world in just two hours while volunteering at Resurrection Leawood’s Student Center: This coming Tuesday, July 1, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm, Resurrection members and friends are packaging meals for people in crisis around the world. I participated in this program a few weeks ago while speaking in Texas. It is really cool. You just show up, we’ll have beans, rice and other ingredients available in bulk. In less than two hours you can package 100 meals and have them ready for shipment to people in crisis. A $25 donation is suggested which covers the cost of the 100 meals you will package while you are volunteering. 100 volunteers packaging 100 meals each will impact 10,000 people! Childcare is available. The event is open to people 4 years old and up. Click here to register. www.cor.org/summer.
Do you live in Lawrence, go to school at KU, or know someone who does? Jacob Cloud has been serving as a pastor in residence at Resurrection during the last year learning all he can from you. This weekend we’ll pray for him as he prepares to go to Lawrence to start a new congregation to reach non-religious and nominally religious people in the Lawrence area. On Saturday, July 12 at 7 pm, he will lead a launch event at the University of Kansas Union. If you would like more information, or you know someone who lives in Lawrence who might be interested that you would like to connect Jacob with, please e-mail him at pastorjacob13@gmail.com.
Finally I wanted to share a few of the many comments and letters I received from pastors in the annual conferences where I spoke earlier this month.
I want to express my heart-felt gratitude to the people of COR for the practical help through Pastor Adam's teaching in Kentucky. But even more, thank you for the inspiring stories from your ministry that reminded us how powerfully God is at work and encouraged us to return to the 700 churches of our Annual Conference ready to walk by faith and raise our expectations for what God will do! That inspiration has had an immediate impact on our church! Thank you!
I was blown away when I received my note from a Resurrection member here in Arkansas! This increased my excitement for annual conference. Then, with the great worship we had in addition to your wonderful teaching, it was the best annual conference I've ever attended. I feel like all of this began with the writing of that note and its author's prayers.
Having you at the Dakotas Conference made a huge difference for the members in attendance of the Mitchell First UMC. You really made us think outside the box and came back energized!!! The thought of your congregation praying for all of us is overwhelming!!!! They are truly modeling Christ in the world.
We set a goal in 2007 to offer this training in every annual conference in the United States. To see a map of the one’s we’ve been to so far, click on this link. As a congregation you have prayed for every UMC and every UM pastor in each of these places: Annual Conference Map
I’m looking forward to being with you in worship this weekend as we remember Christ’s mission for our lives, and as we learn four practices of successful leaders, servants and Christians.
Adam
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Click on these links for other campus news:
Resurrection Leawood
Resurrection West
Resurrection Downtown
Resurrection Blue Springs
The Church of the Resurrection
info@cor.org
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, KS 66224 United States
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