April 13, 2007
Dear Resurrection Family,
It has been an exciting week since last Friday! I'd like to give you the inside scoop on a few things, to celebrate what God has done in the last week here at the church, and to give you a bit of information about a couple of upcoming events. Here's what I'll cover in today's e-mail:
1. Easter Report - 28 Services, 20 locations
2. Report from Meeting of Methodism's Largest Church Pastors This Week
3. Campground/Retreat Center Land Update
4. Golf Tournament and Auction - An Inside Look
5. Staff Moving
6. Upcoming Sermon Series
1. Easter Report - 28 Services, 20 locations
Easter was an exciting weekend here at the church - we had 28 services in 20 locations with a total attendance over 18,500. Those 18,500 were broken down in this way: 260+ at the 16 area nursing homes where our members led Easter morning services for the residents (we won't count these in our official count, but I thought you would want to know about this), 625 at Grand Avenue Temple (500 were Resurrection folks), 857 at Resurrection West (a new record for Rez West), approximately 600 who worshiped in the Student Center and 16,251 in our Sanctuary and nurseries. Grand Avenue Temple was nearly standing room only - and was a chance to test the waters to see what a future partnership between our two congregations might look like in the future as we look at ways of reaching people moving into the downtown area. You may know there is a study team that has been formed to bring back a recommendation to our Church Council by December on how our church might be involved in reaching non-religious and nominally religious people in the heart of our city.
Thank you to all who volunteered on Easter weekend as we welcomed thousands of visitors to our congregation. Without you this weekend would not have been possible.
2. Report from Meeting of Methodism's Largest Church Pastors This Week
On Wednesday and Thursday of this week we hosted a gathering of the pastors of 10 of the 14 largest churches in our denomination (four pastors were unable to attend). This was the first gathering of its kind in recent history, and the aim was to begin to talk about ways the largest churches could work together to help bring about the revitalization of United Methodism. It was a great event. We had a wonderful time of fellowship and sharing of ideas for ministry in our own churches, and then we focused on the primary issue we had gathered to address. We'll meet one more time this year to lay out two specific goals, which we will invite the 100 largest churches in our denomination to work together on. We'll host a gathering of the pastors and lay leaders from all 100 of those churches early next year to cast the vision for this and invite their buy-in. I'll offer more specifics later, but for now I simply want you to be aware that this has happened and I think something remarkable could come from this event. Thank you to each of you who drove pastors to and from the airport and for all who made this event possible.
3. Campground/Retreat Center Land Update
Just a brief update on where we are on the purchase of 388 acres for a camp and retreat center just off of 247th Street and 69 highway. We have pledges in hand to purchase the land (more than half of the pledges have already been paid - thank you!). We've spent the last four months doing the "due diligence." This has included environmental studies (the property has gas wells and is adjacent to a rock quarry, which led us to pursue both Phase I and Phase II environmental studies - both of which came back clear). We had a meeting with neighbors to explain our plans and ask for their questions and any concerns - a meeting which went very well and at which there was positive support for our plans. We have had meetings with Miami County regarding any planning or infrastructure issues we needed to consider, and we've had meetings with the man who owns the gas well leases on the property. These last two have slowed things down a bit for us. We are in negotiations regarding certain terms of the gas leases to ensure that these are operated and located in such a way as to ensure that they do not interfere with, or provided a safety risk to any programming and people we would have on the site. The second concern has been related to access. The property is absolutely beautiful - but its beauty (bluffs and two good sized creeks) also must allow for access during high water and winter time. A group of engineers, road builders, bridge builders, the chair of our Trustees, and three of us from staff spent a couple of hours walking the property in the rain on Tuesday of this week to look at the access issues. As we walked through the woods we came across parts of the property I had not seen before - it is even more beautiful than I had thought. We're waiting for the report back at the end of this month to see what it will take to traverse this property with roads that can accommodate school busses and what kind of cost will be involved. If the gas lease issues and the access cannot be resolved we will have to look for another property. My hope is these things can be resolved - we'll know something in a few weeks. If they can't, there are a couple of other pieces of property we would evaluate. Our aim in this process is to ensure that whatever property we purchase will meet the needs of future generations in our church for camping, recreation and spiritual retreats. Thank you for all who have already given to this effort, and those who have pledged but not yet paid your pledge. This is an exciting effort.
4. Golf Tournament and Auction - An Inside Look
Our annual Resurrection Golf Tournament and Auction are coming up just around the corner. This is always such a great event! We'll play at Blue Hills Country Club on May 7th, and we're still looking for golfers. My foursome is signed up and I hope you and your friends will plan to join us for a great day of fellowship and fun, all to benefit two great causes: We'll build a house for Habitat with half of the proceeds. This is a gift that keeps on giving - we provide the proceeds and the labor to build a house for a low-income family in Kansas City. They make payments on an interest free loan on this house - and the loan payments go to help build other Habitat houses. We've helped build nearly 100 houses in Kansas City to date. The other half of the proceeds will be going to build a church building in Marian Ridge, South Africa. The simple structure will be built with volunteer labor and will provide not only a place of worship, but mission outreach to this impoverished township, and this building will have an impact upon this community for generations to come. To read more about these two projects, go to this link.
The Auction is coming up on May 4th at 5:30 pm in the Narthex of our West Building. This event is a blast and gives you an opportunity to purchase some very cool items at all different price points. I've bought baseball cards and sports memorabilia, awesome tools and certificates for suppers, home baked goods and even vacations at the auction. Just this week LaVon and I attended the night out at Jaspers that one of our members bought at the auction last year. Jasper himself came and walked us through the most amazing meal I've ever eaten, with special items he prepared that don't appear on the menu. One of our members bought this to use to entertain his clients and it was an awesome evening. This year there are so many incredible items including things you could never purchase anywhere else. I hope you'll plan to be a part of the auction and enjoy the fellowship and, in the process, to help change the world. To sign up for the golf tournament, go to this link. To sign up for the auction, go to this link.
5. Staff Moving
Our Discipleship Staff and a few other departments are moving today to their new offices at Southcreek Office Park - you may be unable to reach them today as their computers and all other items from their offices are in transit and being set-up. My office will continue to be in the east building of our central campus.
6. Upcoming Sermon Series
This week we finalized some of the plans for the upcoming sermon series, Journey Through the New Testament. In week one I'll give you a 30 minute over view of the New Testament that I think you'll enjoy, including maps and timelines I think you'll find helpful. In subsequent weeks I'll assume the character of the Apostle John and we'll be taking you back to the first century and help you to understand the New Testament books and their teaching in a way I hope you will not soon forget. This would be a great series to invite a friend to - the use of drama will help even those who have no interest in the New Testament to sit up and take notice. It should be great fun and I hope both informative and inspiring. I can't wait! The series begins April 21/22.
Tuesday night at supper at Jaspers all of the people present were Resurrection members (about 18 in all I think) and I so enjoyed just listening to their stories of how they came to the church, why they joined, and how the church has touched their lives. It reminded me of the great things God does through you, and why I am so grateful and proud to be your pastor. People come here, often as nominally religious, but they grow here in their faith - they move from being observers, to participants, to leaders - and for a pastor there is such joy in watching this happen.
Blessings!
Adam Hamilton