Groundbreaking ceremony August 30

Please mark your calendars for an exciting and historic day in the life of Woodville UMC. On Sunday, August 30, 2009 Bishop Janice Huie will preach in our worship service and be present to pray at the official groundbreaking ceremony for our new multi-purpose ministry center! We are honored and pleased to host Bishop Huie at our church and we’ll all be blessed by God by her message that Sunday. She’s an outstanding preacher and a dynamic leader. Please make plans now to be present. By August 30th most should be settled in here at home after summer vacations and travel schedules. School will have begun and routines will return. Note that this is not Labor Day weekend; it comes the weekend after.
Let me share with you another relevant date in the building process. On July 8th, the demolition will begin on the current youth center. It should be completed by the end of that week. Remember that it’s on that spot that the new building will be constructed. Even as we are excited about a new, larger, more accommodating space for all, many have wonderful memories of the Anthony Youth Center and thanksgivings for the ministry that happened in that space for 50 years. With grateful hearts, we are going to give praise to God this Sunday, July 5th for the ministry that happened with special prayers. Kaaren Sullivan is preparing those prayers for us.
Also in worship we will pray for our youth and adults who are headed to Lakeview Youth Camp July 6-10. We have 26 youth and 5 adults who are going to Lakeview. If that’s not a record number, it’s got to be close! Praise God. I’ll be co-directing the 6th/7th Grade camp and therefore will be out all week. If you or someone you know needs immediate pastoral assistance, please contact Dixie Jarrott at 429-4026. You may also call the church office and Sharon, our church secretary, can reach me. After camp concludes, the Williams family is headed to north Dallas for a family reunion. I’ll miss being in church Sunday July 14th but you’ll enjoy hearing witnesses from our youth about their camp experience.
This Sunday July 5th in worship we’ll also give thanks for the freedom to worship God and remember those who do not enjoy this freedom. Have a safe and happy 4th of July celebration this weekend.

Spirit Wednesday worship is happening again! After a period of hiatus, we are reviving our Spirit Wednesday contemporary worship service. We have experimented quite a bit with alternative worship over the past four years. I am very grateful for every stage and every experience. After much prayer and discussion we feel like this worship experience is one of the keys to discipleship and outreach for our church’s ministry.
Our summer pastoral intern, Stephen Gehring, has particular gifts in leading this form of worship so with his presence here and with the current praise team, we feel like the time is right again. We’ll worship together each week at 6pm in the chapel. This will be a time of music, prayer and message/teaching. Stephen and I and others will alternate preaching during these summer months. I encourage you to come to Spirit Wednesday even if it may be a different experience for you. Invite someone to come with you. We’ll have nursery available for parents of small children as well.
I have to take a personal privilege this week to say that Bethany and I are looking forward to welcoming our family to town this weekend for the occasion of Samuel’s baptism in worship this Sunday. I’ll be preaching but I’ve asked a childhood pastor and special mentor of mine still, Rev. Roy Biser, to come and baptize Samuel. It is a special and sacred day any time we baptize someone into God’s family. The Williams family is certainly looking forward to this day. We hope to be able to experience it with you.

check in time with God

I am inspired by something that our youth director Jimmy Robertson is doing. For the early part of the summer, he is making one-on-one appointments with our youth. Each of them has the opportunity to sign up for these appointments. If you are a parent or a youth in our church, call Jimmy and make that appointment if you haven’t already. The purpose of these appointments is to check in on their relationship with Christ. They are talking about the Bible, their faith, what questions they have, where they see sin, grace and resurrection in their lives and in the world.
This discipling exercise, I call it, reminds me of Psalm 139. “Lord you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away…where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?...for it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works…search me O God and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Because summer is a good time to slow down for a check in time with God, our program staff – Dixie, Jim, Stephen, Jimmy, Yolanda, and myself are meeting each week for an hour and a half to pray together and reflect theologically on our ministry (where we see God working…); we are also reading a book together – Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, a Christian classic.
One of my prayers for you this summer is that you’ll pray psalm 139 with me and let it call us to a check in time with God. Ask yourself where you see God working; where you see sin in you and in the world and then where you see grace at work and resurrections happening. Soon, we’ll create some small groups so you can do this in a trusted small group as well.

VBS week

As I write this column I’m listening to the sounds of our children at Vacation Bible School. They are singing about following God and letting their lights shine! I am reminded every year how timeless VBS is. It is one of those traditions that have never faded in significance. From the city to the country and everywhere in between, VBS is a big deal. It is an important opportunity to share the Gospel with children in fun and engaging ways. The songs they sing, the lessons they learn now are ones they will never forget. Make plans to be in worship this Sunday. The children will be singing all the songs they learned.
I want to thank Yolanda Griffin and all of the many volunteers that have prepared for this week. We have over 40 children with us. They are many of our kiddos plus children from Sinclair Children’s Center and area daycares. We really opened our doors this year in a wonderful way. Thanks be to God for this opportunity.
For many of the Sundays this summer the sermons will come from parables of Jesus. In a survey of Sunday school classes and church leadership, the parables of Jesus ranked high on the list of topics for sermons. There will be some Sundays where we will diverge from that for various reasons but join me in reading the parables of Jesus this summer. We’ll start this Sunday with the parable of the sower in Luke 8: 4-15.

Yes, Yes, Yes

At last Sunday's church conference, you voted by a 97% overwhelming vote to build a multi-purpose ministry center for the future ministry of Woodville UMC. We now will proceed towards that project. Praise God for your support and your vision for the future!

This Sunday our summer pastoral intern, Stephen Gehring is preaching. Come Sunday and hear his witness and word from God for us.