Weekly eNote from Senior Pastor Adam Hamilton for Friday, 21 October 2016 from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States

Weekly eNote from Senior Pastor Adam Hamilton for Friday, 21 October 2016 from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States
Friday, October 21, 2016
Dear Resurrection Family,
As I write this note, it is a beautiful morning. The air is brisk, the sky is blue and the leaves are just starting to change color. This is my favorite season of the year – football, chili, and anticipating the holidays. I find myself wanting to sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!”
This weekend we’re concluding our series of sermons on The Good Life. I’ll focus on Reframing Success. How do you define success? What makes a person successful? What is the connection between success and happiness (we can think of plenty of people who were wildly successful and very unhappy – I’ll share the names of four this weekend). Each week in this series I’ve been sharing with you two keys to the good life. This weekend I’ll offer you the final, and most important, keys to experiencing and living the good life.
Don’t forget, this weekend is also commitment weekend in our annual stewardship campaign. Our theme this year is “step up” and we’re inviting everyone to step up in their commitments in giving, growing, worshiping, serving and sharing. In your giving I’ve asked each of us to return a commitment card this year (about two-thirds of you currently do this). I’ve invited those who don’t give to commit to give something regularly, regardless of the amount. For our regular givers, I’ve invited you to take a step towards the biblical tithe by adding to what you will give this year, please consider a step-up of 1% to 3% of your income. LaVon and I tithe already, but we are stepping up our regular commitment by 3%.
For us, returning our commitment card is not primarily about the church, but an expression of our faith in and gratitude to God. It is for us an act of worship of God and a means of living our Christian discipleship. But we also recognize that 2017 will be a HUGE year for the church at each of our campuses. If you are a member you should receive your commitment card in the mail today. If you are not a member we don’t send out commitment cards (we don’t want to offend our visitors by asking for a pledge) but many of our visitors do pledge. We’ll have commitment cards available in the bulletin this weekend. We’ll also be giving away the 2017 commemorative coffee mug to all who return their commitment cards.
I’ve been asked, How much do people really give to the church? It’s all over the map. We have nearly 200 households who give over $15,000 per year in their regular pledge, not counting their building pledge. We have a much smaller number who pledge over $50,000 each year on top of which they contribute to the building fund pledge. We have a much larger number who pledge over $6,000 per year. And the largest number of pledges are less than that. Our average pledge for the operating budget across campuses last year was around $3,600.
I’m hoping you’ll join LaVon and me in stepping up in your commitments in the coming year, and in filling out a pledge card. I’d like you to ask you to: 1. Return a commitment card, 2. Increase your commitment this coming year by 1% to 3% if you are not currently tithing, 3. Step up your commitments in the other expectations for membership: attending worship, intentional growing deeper in your faith, serving inside and outside the walls of the church, and sharing your faith with others. If you are not going to be physically present in worship, you can go online and fill out your commitment card by clicking here, online.
I wanted to mention a few other exciting things that have happened in the last week. Last weekend, at the Leawood Campus, we gave 220 Third Graders their Bibles and challenged them, and their parents, to read the Gospel of Mark between now and Thanksgiving. We also welcomed 171 new members into the church. At Leawood we welcomed 77 households, 110 adults and 34 children, and at Resurrection West there were 27 new members, representing 10 households with 16 adults and 11 children. Our new member’s names are at the bottom of this eNote. Please look over the list and reach out to those you know to welcome them to our church family. Last night we had 3,000 people here for the Dave Ramsey event focused on good financial practices. Of course on top of this were the hundreds of ongoing events – small groups, care groups, pastoral counseling, youth group, kids programs, Matthew’s Ministry and so much more that happens here every week.
I’d like to ask for your help as we prepare to move into the new sanctuary at Resurrection Leawood in a few months. We’re going to need hundreds of new greeters, ushers, communion servers and parking lot team members. Would you be willing to help us take hospitality to the next level by being part of the Section Greeter teams or one of the other hospitality teams? Contact Stephanie Hubers to learn more about this exciting new ministry.
This Sunday, Oct. 23, 1-4 pm, Leawood Student Center. We will screen the film The Hunting Ground. This 2015 movie is a Sundance Film Festival Award Winner and explores the topic of sexual assault on college campuses. Following this film, we will facilitate a discussion on how we can work together to care for those affected by this crime and how we can be a part of helping put an end this violent behavior. The film is rated PG-13 and recommended for high school and older; teens are encouraged to attend with their parents. This film and the subsequent discussion focuses on sexual assault and suicide which may be triggering to assault survivors. We will have members of our Congregational Care team and representatives from MOCSA to lead this important discussion.
The Holidays are right around the corner and it's time for our JOY in Serving campaign – Joyfully Offer Yourself to serve those in need this Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons! Get a jump on the holidays and sign up to prepare your favorite side dish or turkey to make the holidays brighter for those in need. Spots are limited and will fill up quickly – sign up here.
This week I listened to the final Presidential debate and also watched online the Smith Foundation Dinner where the candidates roasted (or zinged) each other last night. While a few of their comments last night were quite barbed, there were moments when they were able to laugh at themselves and each other. In those moments I found myself wishing that this is more of what presidential politics actually looked like. I am praying for both candidates, their campaigns, and for the American people as we seek to discern which of these candidates will lead our country in the next four years.
I want to encourage you to vote – we have supporters of both candidates in our congregation (as well as for the Libertarian and Green Party candidates) – I simply want to encourage you to vote. We also have at least five Resurrection members who are running for Congress or in state elections in both Missouri and Kansas. I am praying for them as well and grateful that they are seeking to live out their faith in public service. We are going to have Election Day Prayer and Communion in the Wesley Chapel on the Leawood Campus. I'll have more details next week, but this will be a time to stop by before or after voting and pray for our country and our leaders, and to recommit ourselves to being the body of Christ in the world.
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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