The United Methodist Women Salad Luncheon was held Thursday in the Family Life Center. This annual event was very well attended with 320 people receiving excellent salad lunches. Scenes from the event follow:

The much anticipated UMW Salad Luncheon prepared by the United Methodist Women of the church will be held on Thursday, April 23 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  The luncheon will be held in the Family Life Center.  Tickets are $8.00 each and may be purchased  from any UMW member, at the church office, or at the door. 

Members of the UMW have been asked to prepare 2 salads and other women (or men) who are willing to do so are asked to prepare a salad as well.  Members of the community are cordially invited to attend. 

As we discussed before I have prostate cancer. I will enter the hospital next Tuesday and will be out for about two weeks. David our associate will be here to shepherd you all. Hold David in your prayers and thoughts. Offer to help David during this period.

I’ll be here this Sunday but I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.

 Reed

In a book titled “The American Church In Crises” David Olson outlines why the Church is in decline and crises. He was interviewed in The Central Link the conference newspaper. I have included some of the interview for you with editing to shorten it and make it fit.

“In 1990 only 20.4% Americans went to church regularly. By 2007 it was only 17%.”

“Evangelical churches are faring better than main line churches but are not keeping up with the population growth.”

“Main line and existing congregations don’t grow because they do not notice what’s going on around them and pretty much just stay the same.”

“What is needed to abate the problem? New churches need to be started.”

(But what about church like ours that has been here for over 150 years?) According to Me. Olson, “It’s probably 5 to 7 times easier to plant a new church that to help an established church … to restore it’s vitality.”

Now the question before us, you and me, as members of a great church with a lot of vitality is really simple. What can we do to not become part of this statistical nightmare?

I think there are two answers. First we need to re-invent ourselves in a vastly changing world. Let me give you one example. This article is being written on a blog site on the Internet and will be posted in about 5 minutes. It will be there about 4 days before you get it in the mail. This is just one way the world has changed and we as a church must embrace it and make it work for us.

Second, we need to act like a new church. While we should embrace and love our traditions (both as a denomination and locally) we should also recognize, change and alter those that only serve our interests and not those who are around us. In other words. be willing to be a new church every day.

It is hard to do but not impossible.

Peace and Grace. Reed.

Dick Young from the Texas Methodist Foundation addressed the Administrative Council on Monday night about the Sanctuary Financial Campaign. This campaign, which is currently underway, is intended to provide financing for needed maintenance and refurbishing of the sanctuary building. He was introduced by Jason Bauerschlag , who along with Blair Russell, is heading up this campaign.

Mr. Young, whose great grandfather was a circuit rider in this community and was later a member of our church, challenged us to consider the similarity of restoring our sanctuary to the Old Testament stories about rebuilding the Temple.  He also related this to the Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations and how this project will help us achieve radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, and risk-taking missions through the practice of extravagant generosity.   

Bishop Mike Lowery, on his quest to visit all of the 300-plus churches in the Central Texas Conference, met briefly with a small group from our church on Thursday, April 16.  He was accompanied by Don Scott, the Waxahachie District Superintendent.

Discussions centered on the strengths and major challenges of our congregation and the Central Texas Conference. We talked about ministries for children and youth, the need for outreach ministries, the importance of people joining the fellowship by professions of faith, and the ways we felt we could grow in the Faith.  The Bishop mentioned that the United Methodist Church is in some danger of becoming understaffed in the area of ordained ministers. About 22% of the ordained clergy are at or very near retirement age, and we need to find and develop the next group of spiritual leaders for our churches.  He challenged us to make this a priority and outlined several ways to encourage people of all ages to consider ministry as a vocation.

Bishop Lowery encouraged us to strive to put the “Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations” into practice and work toward achieving the adjectives of radical, passionate, intentional, risk-taking, and extravagant outlined in that study. He mentioned that Bishop Robert Schnase, the author of “The Five Practices” will be leading a session at the Fall Summit on November 14 at First United Methodist Church in Mansfield and encouraged us to bring a number people to that meeting.           

We purchased some special passes to go see the Texas Rangers baseball team play. We have all kinds of deals at very attractive prices. If your class or group in the church are interested, contact the church office and we will set up a deal with you. You can even get a club suite with a $250 discount!! It would be fun to take a group and see the Rangers play. There are some restrictions like the Yankees and Red Sox coming to town.  So just call or come by the office and LET’S GO RANGERS!!

If you think we make NISTAKES these are from actual church bulletins.

The sermon this morning: ‘Jesus Walks on the Water.’ The sermon tonight: ‘Searching for Jesus.’
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Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
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Don’t let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
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For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
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At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be ‘What Is Hell?’ Come early and listen to our choir practice.
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Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
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Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - Prayer and medication to follow.
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The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon..
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This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
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The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
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Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
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The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday : ‘I Upped My Pledge…Up Yours’

Have fun and peace and grace. Reed

On Saturday, May 9 a ministry of mission and service will begin at First United Methodist Church. This ministry, called Faith Builders, is directed towards providing assistance in the form of home repairs to people in our community who need assistance.

The meeting on May 9 is an organizational meeting and will include breakfast hosted by the Methodist Men. This is a follow-up item from the Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations study that we concluded in February. While this may sound like a construction project and mainly directed to the men of the congregation, that is not the case. There are jobs for everyone and you can be of service to this effort without ever using a saw, hammer, or paintbrush. All ages and skill levels are needed.

On May 9 the program will be presented by Jeff Grady who will share experiences about a similar program at First United Methodist Church at Mansfield and we will simply get organized for a workday in the future. So all come, enjoy a good breakfast, and find out how you can participate in this service ministry.       

I just wanted to say a great big THANK YOU for the money that all of you gave to support the Children’s Ministries here at First United Methodist Church!  I, of course, can’t speak for the others, but I can speak for all of the kids in the Kids Under Construction program who will greatly benefit from your Extravagant Generosity and Radical Hospitality!  This generous gift will allow us to continue the program for a long time.  Once again, thank you so very much!  I promise to post more updates on events that are happening with the kids in Kids Under Construction.  Till then………

Nanette