Weekly eNote from Pastor Jason Gant - Friday, 1 April 2016 - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection West of Olathe, Kansas, United States

Weekly eNote from Pastor Jason Gant - Friday, 1 April 2016 -
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection West of Olathe, Kansas, United States

Resurrection West,
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
What an incredible time of worship and celebration. Last week we had a moving Holy Thursday service, moving us into Good Friday day of prayer with more than we’ve ever had coming through to pray. We welcomed hundreds to our Easter Egg Hunt to begin the Resurrection celebration on Saturday. You can see pics from the hunt on our Facebook page by clicking here.
Following the hunt we began our Easter celebration with over 650 worshiping with us at the 5:30 pm Saturday evening service alone, continuing into Sunday with 2524 in all attending Easter worship here at West (even through a blizzard early Sunday morning)! I would like to thank the over 140 of you who worshiped downstairs in our classroom venue over two Easter services, making room for guests and visitors upstairs. I would also like to thank the dozens upon dozens of volunteers who helped serve at the egg hunt, and the many worship services. This made it possible for us to welcome so many to hear the good news that Jesus is alive, including the most first-time visitors (34 households) ever on Easter were here at West! You can view on our Facebook page the confetti celebration in the closing worship song - Already Won - as well as the powerful opening piece of music and media - Forever - taking us from the cross to the empty tomb that began our Resurrection celebration. Click here to go to our Facebook page and share on your own page!
On Sunday we will continue celebrating Easter in worship and I will be preaching live to conclude our series on the Gospel of John. I’ll be looking closely at John chapter 20 and exploring what the game “peekaboo” (object permanence) has to do with the Resurrected Christ appearing to us. I’ll also be looking for a few courageous volunteers in each service to wear blindfolds for a sermon illustration. I promise you can trust me if you are courageous enought to volunteer! We will be sharing a building update and also welcome our Honduran partner in ministry - Pastor Daniel of Ciudad Espana - to worship and host a special luncheon after the 10:45 am service. You can still register for lunch by emailing chris.monson@cor.org to find out more about this amazing missional partnership!
I hope you’ll be in worship this Sunday and invite a friend to share the experience with you! Now take a look at the many ways to grow, serve, and give here at West.
FaithWork in April
21st Annual Resurrection Golf Classic & Auction
VBC and Sports camp volunteer registration - now open!
Upward soccer cleat exchange started!
Thursday LIVE Spring Registration is Open!
Saturday Morning Men's Group - New Spring Study
Rezlife student ministries summer mission to Minneapolis
Above All Else: Love, Relationships, Purity & Dating
RezWest United Methodist Women Circle Meeting
FaithWork – On Saturday, April 9, meet at 9 am at the Rez West Mission Center (25000 College Blvd., Olathe) to serve God by serving those in need. We will work to complete our goal of making 200 Sole Hope Shoe Kits. These kits will be sent to Uganda and made into shoes to help protect children from foot disease and injury. We’ll also make appreciation crafts for our first responders and take those to our local fire and police departments. Adults, students and children of all ages are welcome to participate. For more information or questions, contact Chris.Holliday@cor.org.
21st Annual Resurrection Golf Classic & Auction – Monday, May 9, Country Club of Leawood. Golfers, sponsors and volunteers are needed to help raise funds for seminary student education. More information available at cor.org/golf.
Register today! Be a Vacation Bible Camp and Sports Camp Volunteer! Be a Vacation Bible Camp and Sports Camp Volunteer! Youth and adults, we’re looking for you! Resurrection West will host “Meet the Royals” VBC and our new Sports Camp on June 20-24. We hope to help hundreds of kids grow in faith, wisdom and friendship. Register to volunteer for one or both of these events! To say thank you to parents who register by April 8, we’re taking $5 off the registration of their k-5th graders. All parents who volunteer for VBC and have children younger than kindergarten will be able to register their little ones in the early childhood VBC or nursery. Go to cor.org/west/VBC2016 for more information and registration.
Upward soccer cleat exchange - We are starting a cleat exchange and we need donations of used cleats to get it started. Bring your used soccer cleats and put them in the donation bin during practice and games. If your child is playing Upward Soccer, bring your old cleats and trade them in for a new size at the first practice.
Thursday LIVE Women's Ministry! Spring registration is open – Classes meet at Resurrection West from 9:30-11:30 am, March 31 – May 5. Register at cor.org/west/thursdaylive.
• Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis and facilitated by Dave Robertson. In this classic, we’ll explore the common ground upon which all Christians stand together. Bringing together Lewis’legendary broadcast talks during World War II from his three previous books, The Case for Christianity, Christian Behavior and Beyond Personality, this book provides an unequaled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to study the Christian faith.
• Armor of God, by Priscilla Shirer and facilitated by Anne Strempke. All day, every day, an invisible war rages around you — unseen, unheard, yet felt throughout every aspect of your life. The enemy always fails miserably when he meets a woman “dressed for the occasion.” The Armor of God is a study with an action plan for putting on your armor daily and developing a personalized strategy to secure victory.
Men’s Spiritual Retreat: “Home!” THIS Friday, April 1, 6:30-9 pm; Saturday, April 2, 8:30 am – noon, Leawood Campus Student Center. Gather for a time of spiritual encouragement, friendship, worship and renewal! We will unpack the story of the Prodigal Son at this retreat led by Resurrection Pastors Jeff Kirby and Glen Shoup and Director of Discipleship Chris Folmsbee. For more information and to register, visitcor.org/men.
Saturday Morning Men’s Group kicks off April 9, with a 10-week men’s study on the best- selling book, More Than A Season, by Dayton Moore. As General Manager of KC Royals, Moore shares how his faith and leadership principles have guided his rebooting of the Royals, describing how he built one of baseball’s best farm systems and international scouting departments out of nothing. We hope you can join us for an hour of breakfast ($5 donation requested), fellowship and faith from 8-9:30 am in the lower level classroom. For more information, contact Allan Henning at anhenning6@gmail.com. Cost of the book is $14.
8th-12th Grade Summer Mission Trip, June 12-18 (Current Grades 8-12) Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Opportunities for youth to serve through homeless ministries, housing projects and food and shelter non-profits. Go to cor.org/west/students and click on the Events, Retreats & Missions tab for more info and to register.
Above All Else: Love, Relationships, Purity and Dating – Friday, April 15, 7-9:30 pm, Leawood Campus Student Center, for 6th-12th grade students and their parents to attend together.Author/speaker Vicki Courtney and the rezlife youth ministers will help lead engaging, Christ- centered conversations on relationships. Invite other families to attend this great opportunity to walk with us through these important topics. Register at cor.org/students, under the Calendar tab.
Resurrection West United Methodist Women’s Circle – Marcella Luetkemeyer will be sharing excepts from Rev. Don Bakely’s book “IF- A Big Word with the Poor” at the UMW Rez West Circle meeting on April 6 at 12:30 pm in the lower level classroom. Rev. Bakely spent 25 years working with the poor and was the director of Crosslines in KC for 10 years.
I want to share more good news. Our youth pastor, Rick Webb, his wife Becky, and their children Carson and Addy announced at Wednesday night youth groups they will be expanding their family as Becky is expecting their third child. Please be in prayer for good health throughout Becky’s pregnancy. You can see the fun video that was created to share this announcement with our teens by clicking here. It is a parody of Adele's song, Hello, by our own Lindsay Hefner - Worship Arts Director!
We have the most amazing staff team and they worked long and hard to make this year’s Easter celebration such a wonderful experience. Weeks were invested planning the egg hunt to welcome hundreds of families with the love of Christ, days spent crafting the beautiful paper flowers adorning the Sanctuary, hours upon hours developing the music and media pieces that were so impactful - and it was incredibly difficult for me not to tell you about the confetti!!!!!
I’m so glad we didn’t because when the confetti exploded and joy came out in claps, laughter, smiles, and children dancing in the aisles - we all knew that Christ had risen and the celebration of all celebrations was upon us. Pastor Adam reminded us that the worst thing is never the last thing and my hope is that we carry that joy and resilience all year long as Easter people!
Finally, this Saturday kicks off our spring Upward Soccer season and we have doubled the number of players since our inaugural season last fall. It will be my privilege to coach the Lions again this season and yesterday was our first practice. The kids are so excited to play and the parents are so excited to see them play! We will be hosting our games on site at RezWest this season in the front grass area, so come on out some Saturday morning and enjoy some great sport, fun, and faith cheering on the Bobcats, Cougars, Wolves, Bears, Leopards, Pumas, Jaguars, Mountain Lions, Panthers, Tigers, Wildcats, and Lions!
Looking forward to worshiping with you on Sunday,
Pastor Jason
Resurrection West Campus
24000 West Valley Parkway

Olathe, Kansas 66061
913-538-7800
For an after hours urgent pastoral care need call 913-314-6058
Resurrection West Staff
Travis Morgan - Director of Staffing and Operations
Chris Holliday - Associate Pastor, Care and Missions
David Robertson - Director of Community Life
Lindsay Hefner - Director of Worship Arts
Ryan Rancudo - Assistant Director of Worship Arts
Rick Webb - Director of rezlife Student Ministries
Christie Walker - Director of KiDS COR Children's Ministries
Lynnlea Nelson - Early Childhood Program Director
Sommer Kelling - Nursery Coordinator
Chris Monson - Worship Support and Community Events Program Director
Debbie Dietz - Coordinating Assistant to Pastor Jason
Kevin Euston - Technical Producer Team Lead
James Wear - Technical Producer Media and Graphics

The United Methodist Church of the
Resurrection West
24000 West Valley Parkway

Olathe, Kansas 66061, United States
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