December 21, 2007

Dear Resurrection Family,

I feel a great sense of anticipation and excitement looking ahead to the next few days. This will be our eighteenth year of offering candlelight services yet I look forward to Christmas Eve more each year. We'll offer two different kinds of services over the next four days. In our morning services at both campuses we will observe the fourth Sunday of Advent and focus on the shepherds. This will be our regular weekend worship and you are encouraged to attend. Pastor Karen will preach at the Central Campus and Pastor Russell will preach at Resurrection West. You will be blessed by these services (all held at our normal morning worship times).

All evening services, beginning Saturday night at 5:00, Sunday at 5:00 and 7:00 pm and all services on Christmas Eve will be Christmas Candlelight services and I will preach at each of these. The music will be beautiful, the scriptures will tell the story, the message will focus on the meaning of Christmas for us, and then we'll end with the traditional passing of the candlelight. 

We will hold 17 worship services in two locations over three days - it will be exhilarating and exhausting. Please pause over the next few days to pray for all of the staff and volunteers who will make these services possible - from the parking lot team to the nursery workers, the musicians and singers to the hospitality teams, the technical teams and the people cleaning and caring for the facilities and all the rest of us who will be a part of these services. There is such joy that I cannot imagine Christmas without experiencing these worship services. For more information about worship times and locations, or to invite a friend to candlelight worship please click on this link.

I have a number of really important things to share with you today - here's what I'll cover:

1. Church Council Votes to Move Forward in Launching Resurrection Downtown
2. I'm Entering the World of Blogging - Sneak Preview Here 
3. My Visit to Troost Elementary School
4. Missed This Year's Resurrection Radio Spots? Listen Here
5. Spire of Light Points to Christ Saturday through Christmas Night
6. A Story, and CD, that Blessed Me
7. Cornerstone Development Update: Shareholders Vote to Sell Remaining Property
8. What We Do with Your Christmas Cards

1. Church Council Votes to Move Forward in Launching Resurrection Downtown
Last Saturday morning members of our Church Council gathered at Grand Avenue Temple in downtown Kansas City to have one final discussion and then to vote on whether to launch a satellite location of our church in downtown Kansas City. The vote was unanimous in favor of doing so. As downtown Kansas City is experiencing a renaissance the need for churches in this area will continue to grow. This decision comes in response to an invitation from the pastor of Grand Avenue Temple United Methodist Church, who approached me in 2006 noting that while Grand Avenue was doing a great job reaching out to the homeless, they were finding it difficult to reach new residents moving into downtown. He wondered if we would consider launching a satellite location at Grand Avenue, with both congregations sharing a building and some ministries together while having two different constituencies they were trying to reach. For the last nine months Wendell Lady has led a team of people in conducting a feasibility study which recommended moving ahead. A planning team is now being formed. We hope to launch worship by Easter of 2009 if not before. Interested in helping launch this new congregation? Click here, and let us know. We'll put you on the mailing list and keep you posted as plans proceed. 

2. I'm Entering the World of Blogging - Sneak Preview Here 
With a bit of fear and trepidation I'm beginning a blog. What is a blog? It is a website on which individuals can post short articles, share photographs and videos, and links to other websites - but what is really interesting about blogs is that they also allow readers to post their comments for others to see. In my first blog I'm inviting readers to answer this question: "Would Jesus be a Democrat or Republican and why?" You get to read not only my thoughts, but the thoughts of others from our church and across the country. Two times a week I will post a brief article (about the length of these articles in my e-mail) - the articles will bring together reflections on current events, ethical dilemmas and every day life through the lens of the teachings of Jesus. I'll also include inspiring stories or leadership lessons from time to time. Our sermons will be posted there, as will some of the articles I include in my pastor's e-mail. The difference is that you will be able to enter into a discussion about these things by posting your own response to my postings. The blog is not quite finished yet, but if you would like a sneak peak, click on this link. You will also have a chance to see the video promo for the January sermon series - a series I'm very excited about. You can subscribe to the blog and you will automatically be notified of new postings. Special thanks to Chuck Russell and Andrew Conard who have set up the blog and been teaching me how to use it. 

3. My Visit to Troost Elementary School
This week I met with the principal at Troost Elementary School to hear more about the school and how our church can partner with her and the teachers there to offer support to the children. 75 to 80% of the students in this school are on the free lunch program. Many of the children don't live with, and some have seldom seen, their parents. I'll share a couple of stories about children at the school, and photographs of the school, during the candlelight services this weekend. Currently Mrs. Campbell has closed the gym because it is unsafe - imagine an elementary school without a gym. The playground has no playground equipment, no basketball goals, not even foursquare painted on the pavement, and the paint is pealing from the walls in places. We have just purchased heavy coats, gloves and hats for every child at the school. In 2008 we'll join with Saint James United Methodist Church (with whom we worshiped this summer at Starlight) to help the school in a variety of ways. The Christmas Eve offering is designated to help this school and another in Kansas City, Kansas. LaVon and I are setting aside an offering equal to what we spent on one of our children for Christmas in order to minister to these children. I'd like to encourage you to plan on a special offering, above your regular tithes, for this project. I've posted photos from Troost Elementary on the blog site. Click here to see them.

4. Missed This Year's Resurrection Radio Spots? Listen Here
If you did not have a chance to hear our radio spots this year, you can listen to them online by clicking on this link and scrolling to the bottom of the page. We had a great deal of positive response to the spots. Some of them were picked up nationally and played on various radio stations as public service announcements. 

5. Spire of Light Points to Christ Saturday through Christmas Night
This year we'll have a spire of light - a huge light shining straight up into the sky - from our Leawood location beginning Saturday night through Christmas night. The spire is a visible reminder that Christ is the light of the world and a beacon inviting people to find him this Christmas. The spire will be on at sunset through midnight these four nights.

6. A Story That Blessed Me
We have so many talented, and committed, youth and young adults who are a part of our church. One of these is T.J. Morgan, who graduates from High School this spring. T.J. has remarkable music gifts and he has used them to glorify God in worship and in youth group. He recently released a CD of his music on piano - songs that he composed and performed. I put in the CD expecting it to be a nice first effort - instead what I heard was extraordinary and beautiful. I've been listening to it as I read scripture and find it soothing and inspiring music. This last summer T.J. was a part of one of our mission teams to Lake Charles, Louisiana, assisting in the ongoing relief work for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. T.J. came back aware that if these areas are to recover it will take countless people across the country making small sacrifices to help others. He decided he would donate all of the proceeds from his first CD to our poverty and disaster relief initiatives. If you are interested in purchasing T.J.'s CD stop by the Well, our bookstore. Thank you, T.J. for a beautiful CD and for giving your proceeds to help others in need.

7. Cornerstone Development Update: Shareholders Vote to Sell Remaining Property
Seven years ago, a group of Resurrection members formed a limited liability corporation named COR Development, LLC, to develop the land to the north of the church on the southeast corner of 135th and Nall. I and many other Resurrection members were among the investors in this company, which is separate from the church.

Investors of COR Development met on Wednesday and decided to accept the recommendation of the board of managers to sell the undeveloped property to another developer. If the transaction closes after a due diligence period scheduled for spring 2008, the managers reported that the proceeds should satisfy lenders , taxes and other obligations. The managers also said that COR Development preferred unit holders will receive a fraction of their original investments and common unit holders will have lost their entire investments.

All the investors - myself included, both as a unit holder and as pastor to many other investors - are understandably disappointed in this investment outcome, as were the managers. However, COR Development constructed 137th Street so that it is more than a dead-end road connected only to Roe; built Briar, connecting it to 135th Street; and sold to the church at fair market value both an easement that allows access to more than 400 parking spaces near Plaza III and land south of 137th Street.

We are grateful to COR Development managers for their vision and to all investors for their willingness to support this project. Each time we drive down Briar or 137th Street, or park in the parking lots north of the church, we are able to do so because of the work of COR Development. I wanted each of you who were not a part of COR Development to be aware of the significant things that this project and its shareholders made possible around the church. I also wanted you to be aware of the vote of the shareholders and the implications of this for them. 

8. What We Do With Your Christmas Cards
LaVon and I are blessed by the Christmas cards we receive each year. We receive hundreds from Resurrection members as well as family and friends. It is a joy to see your photos, to read the stories of what's happened in your lives, or to read your personal notes. One thing that we do with our cards - something a friend inspired us to do - is that we hold each card in our hands for a moment and pray for each person who sent it. I find this blesses me and helps me feel connected with the sender - friends I haven't seen for a long time, family members, neighbors, and you. Perhaps this is something you might want to do this year.

Wishing you a most blessed Christmas.

Adam Hamilton