November 2, 2007
Dear Resurrection Family,
I'm writing this email late Thursday night from a hotel room in Fort Worth. I am preparing to speak to a conference sponsored by the United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society. The theme of the conference is Living Faith, Seeking Justice. I will speak on the theme of Where the Evangelical and Social Gospels Meet. I'll share stories from our church about how we invite people to follow Christ, and then how we aim to equip, inspire and encourage each member to serve outside the walls of our church, in the community, as the presence and hands of Christ. While here I have a newspaper interview with our national United Methodist newspaper - the Reporter, and I'll be interviewed by a local news anchor on the subject of recent Christian responses to immigration. Would you please pause, right now, and pray that God will use me to bless and inspire the people at this conference, and pray for the conference participants. Thank you!
Here's what I'll cover in today's email:
1. Daylight Savings Time Ends this Weekend - Fall Back after Saturday night!
2. This Weekend in Worship: What Defines You?
3. "You're Sitting in My Seat!" Really?
4. Helping Children Establish Retirement Accounts
1. Daylight Saving Time Ends this Weekend - Fall Back after Saturday night!
Just a reminder to set your clocks back on Saturday night - you get an extra hour of sleep before attending worship.
2. This Weekend in Worship: What Defines You?
This weekend we'll conclude our sermon series on Simplicity, Generosity and Joy. My sermon will ask the question, "What Defines You?" I'll begin with a brief preface on the importance of saving and investing - this is particularly aimed at our youth. I'll lay out a plan for how an average teenager can have over $1,000,000 in retirement funds when they retire at 67 (see point 5 below). The bulk of the sermon will focus on generosity in every part of our lives, what generosity looks like, why we practice it, how God responds to our generosity and how generosity changes us. At the end of the service we'll invite you who consider this your church family to return your 2008 estimate of giving cards and to fill out your own personal goals related to prayer, Bible reading and finances. We'll give out the 2008 coffee mug - one per household - to each household that returns a commitment card (children and youth who return a commitment card will get their own mug). This will be a great and important weekend of worship - inspiring and moving.
3. "You're Sitting in My Seat!" Really?
On a couple of occasions recently members of the church asked someone else to move saying, "you're sitting in my seat." I thought this was particularly humorous when it happened to my own mom! I just want to remind you that we have no reserved seats in the Sanctuary. We're all creatures of habit, and we like to sit in the same place, and that's okay. But if someone sits in the seat you usually sit in, be gracious. If the individual were a first time visitor, and they were asked to move and give up their seat, I think it is likely they would not be back. I don't think this happens often in our church, but wanted to offer a friendly reminder just in case you've struggled with someone sitting in "your" seat!
4. Helping Children Establish Retirement Accounts
This weekend I'll be suggesting to our youth that they begin establishing individual retirement accounts now - while they are teens. Roth IRA's grow tax free, which, as long as the IRS permits this form of IRA, is amazing. I am suggesting that if a teen begins by putting $25 per month in a Roth IRA, by the age of 18, and increases this amount by another $25 per month each subsequent year until they are 22, and then, at 22 increase this to a total of $200 per month until they retired at 67, they would have approximately $1,100,000 in their retirement fund when they retire (assuming an 8% rate of return). It struck me as I was thinking about this that there would be merit in parents helping their kids set these up and partially funding them until the kids could fund their own. Next year LaVon and I have set a goal of starting such accounts for the girls, and letting them monitor their accounts. They will be responsible for adding a portion to their accounts each month, and increasing that until they are fully funding their own retirement. I thought this was an idea that some of you might want to consider with your teens or college students if you are not already doing this. I'll talk a bit about this in the beginning of this weekend's sermon.
That's it for now. I look forward to see you in worship this weekend!
Adam