I love looking through old photo albums, don’t you?  Remembering people who are now departed, reminiscing about the fun times, even realizing how much you’ve changed over the years.  I have boxes of photos at home I need to put in scrapbooks – one for each nephew, one for my family, one for my life as a pastor.  The only one I’ve actually completed is the one on all of my pets – dogs and cats over the years; except now I need to add a page or two since I “inherited” Quincy a couple of years ago.

In the same vein, I like looking at church pictorial directories, the church family photo album – in fact, I just looked at one from First Hillsboro taken about 14 years ago I surmised.  I discovered a bunch of you people are all grown up now; some of you have grayer hair, some have a few wrinkles.  I found a picture of the T.L.A.S. class with some 12 women in it – where have they gone?  I’m sure most of them have left our church for the church triumphant.  It’s fun to see pictures of a fellowship dinner in the basement of the old building.  It looks like you all ate just as well there as you do now in the Family Life Center.

As I hope you know by now, it’s time to take some new pictures for our next church family photo album.  Of course this album or pictorial directory will help us connect names and faces and capture this moment in time and history of our church.  I hope each and every one of you will participate.  Please come have your picture taken by the professional photographer.  You can make an appointment for your portrait to be snapped before and after each worship service over the next couple of weeks.  If you cannot make it to church, then call the church office to make an appointment.

Pictures will be taken starting Wednesday, February 23 through Saturday, February 26.  Every participating household that selects a pose for the directory will receive a free directory and a complimentary 8X10 Custom Natural Portrait.  You will sit with a Portrait Consultant at the church the same day you have your picture made where you will be given the opportunity to order additional portraits if you so choose.  If you have questions, contact Erin at the church office.

I can’t wait to look our new church family album!  Hope to see you there or it just won’t be complete.

Say cheese,

Pastor Donna

Work is underway to publish a new church directory and the first step is to take pictures of everyone in our congregation. We are currently scheduling appointments for pictures to be taken on the days of February 23, 24, 25, and 26. You can sign up for an appointment after church services from now through Sunday, February 13. Appointments may also be scheduled with Erin at the church office (254-582-2342) Tuesdays through Fridays .

Each family unit will receive (at no cost) a church directory and an 8×10 portrait for participating. You may also purchase additional photos, if desired, but there is no obligation to do so. The church will also receive additional copies for new members that join after the directory is published. There is no cost to the church.

Having a directory with names, pictures, and updated contact information will help us put names to faces and improve communication.  However, this only works if we all get our pictures included. 

For people who simply cannot come to the church to meet with the photographer, special arrangements will be made and one of us will take pictures at their home, but we must know of these situations by February 4, at the latest. Erin is also the contact for that information.

Our last directory was published in 2006, and as you might expect, there have some changes in the past five years. So if your last portrait was taken when you renewed your drivers license and you would like a better representation of just how good looking you are, here is your chance to see a real image of yourself and help the church be more effective.

Please act today and get your “photo op” scheduled.     

How many of you are ready for a light on the parking lot?  It gets awfully dark when we start leaving TNT, choir, Bible study, Wesleyan Study Group, meetings, and other evening functions here at the church and many of you have expressed a need for light on the parking lot so that we can see where we are going and get to our cars without falling or stepping off a curb. 

The Administrative Committee has been given this a lot of thought lately and have decided that a solar powered light (like those recently installed at the old armory) is just the thing we need.  It would be installed at the north end of the parking lot and would light up the whole parking lot.  Once we get it installed, we would not have any other expense – such as an electric bill.  For those who may be wondering, the light’s battery stores up solar energy to use on those gray, cloudy days. 

What’s even better than a parking lot light?  Two lights!  That’s right we can buy one for ourselves and partner with the light company to have light installed at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic near the border with Haiti.  Many children were orphaned by the earthquake in Haiti last year; the orphanage in the Dominican Republic now is home to many of these children – well over 100.  A concern of the orphanage is security.  The building pretty much sits in darkness during the night.  There has been an increase in assault, sexual and otherwise, of these children.  They need lights to keep the criminals away.  If we buy a light for ourselves, we can buy a smaller one for the orphanage for just a little more.  There would be a plaque on the light indicating that the light came from our church.  They would pray for us just as we would pray for them. 

The cost for both lights is $6000.  We have $1500 pledged by the Sunday Scholars and the United Methodist Women towards the lights, leaving us with $4500 to raise.  Would you consider letting your light shine by contributing to the light fund?  You could help provide safety and assurance not only to the people of Hillsboro UMC but to the children and workers in the orphanage in the Dominican Republic.  We hope we can all help make this a light shining in the darkness.  If you want to help, just mark your check or envelope with “Light Fund.” 

Thank you so much for all you do in ministry here in Hillsboro and throughout the world. 

Let your light shine,Pastor Donna

Once again we will gather for great food, fun, and fellowship on the occasion of the 2011 Valentine Banquet at First Methodist. As usual, we will honor the widows and widowers in our midst while we all celebrate this romantic seasonal event. So come one, come all, to the Family Life Center on Saturday, February 12, at 6:00 PM.

This year’s theme “Love Stories at the Movies” will explore music and stories from the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Most Romantic Movies. Some choices you may like, some you may dislike, but there is sure to be one that is close to your heart.

Tickets go on sale on January 23 for $12.00 (complimentary for widows and widowers) in the foyer of the church and you need to mark your calendars and get your tickets sooner rather than later. Last year we served 130 people and space is somewhat limited, so act now. Child care will be provided, but we must know in advance.

Some pictures of last year’s banquet (which had a western theme) are shown below:

Numbers, numbers, numbers!  That’s all I have running through my head right now, making it hard to think about anything else.  You see, it’s time for “end of the year” reports – a report giving a statistical look at our church in 2010.  How many new members do we have?  How many people were baptized or joined by confession of faith?  How many left the church – either by joining another church or the church triumphant (they died)?  How many members are female?  How many are male?  How many are this ethnicity or that ethnicity?  What’s the average worship attendance?  How many are in Sunday school? How much money did we receive?  How much did we spend?  How much did we pay on our apportionments and missions?  And on and on the questions go looking for a number for the answers.  It seems in the end a church’s life and ministry come down to numbers.

 Some years ago I was campus minister at the Wesley Foundation at U.T. Arlington.  Clergy who have appointments beyond the local church are called extension ministers, and they have to meet once a year with the Bishop and cabinet to make annual reports.  One year I was asked to speak at one of these meetings.  Now I’m sure what they wanted to hear was something like, “We have 60 students eating lunch with us every Monday.  We have 44 coming to worship at the Wesley Foundation every Thursday.”  And so forth.  Well, I couldn’t do that. We were lucky if 12 students showed up for lunch and 6 for worship.  No matter how hard we tried, we just couldn’t get the students over to the Wesley.  I couldn’t tell the Bishop and cabinet that we were a big success because we didn’t have the numbers to back up the claim.  However, I did talk about the blue chair in my office.  I talked about how students would come into my office and ask if I had a minute.  Of course I always had time for the student so I would invite them to sit in the blue chair.  There they would often talk about deeply personal issues, or cry about a relationship problem, or tap their fingers in nervous anxiety over the test they just took; sometimes we even talked about God and spiritual questions they had.  We had real relationships.  They knew I cared and listened and didn’t give pat answers.  They felt they could come to me and question, or cry, or laugh, or shout, or do whatever they needed to do.   I believe the Wesley Foundation at UTA was a success because of the blue chair conversations even if it wasn’t a success by the numbers.    So is church just about the numbers?  Can you really summarize a church by its end year numbers?  I don’t think so.  Yes some numbers are very important and necessary.  Numbers can be a good measuring stick for looking at the health of a church, and we need to take them seriously.  But still, they don’t talk about what goes on in a Sunday school class – the learning, the relationships.  Just because we had fewer people in worship this past year, doesn’t mean that worship – sometimes passionate and exciting, sometimes not – wasn’t still happening.  TNT doesn’t really get measured or the people we serve. 

Yes, I would like to see the numbers improve in 2011, but let’s focus on the ministry and mission of our church and what we can do to reach more people without just thinking about the numbers.  Let’s see people instead of numbers – people we want to reach with the good news of Jesus Christ, people we want to feed and nurture, people we want to welcome and love.  Let’s be a “successful” church because of ministry in the name of Jesus and the numbers will take care of themselves.

In Christ,

Pastor Donna 

Well, we’re into the first week of a new year – have you been able to write 2011 on your checks yet?  So far so good for me, but I’m sure I’ll slip up one of these days.

 Did you know that January 1 is the 8th Day of Christmas and thus would be the day the baby Jesus was circumcised and given his name?  Many churches celebrate January 1 as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.  I’ve never experienced that in our United Methodist Church, but it got me to thinking about my name and how I can live out that name in the New Year.  We don’t all know the meaning of our names, but there is one name we all share, and we all know its meaning and need to reflect on how we are going to live it in this New Year.  Of course, that name is Christian.   John Wesley, father of Methodism, thought about these things as well.  He developed a Covenant Service so people could recommit themselves every year to being a follower and servant of Christ.  I share part of that service now so that you might reflect upon it and your life in the New Year.

Commit yourselves to Christ as his servants.  Give yourselves to him, that you may belong to him.  Christ has many services to be done.  Some are more easy and honorable; others are more difficult and disgraceful.  Some are suitable to our inclinations and interests, others are contrary to both.  In some we may please Christ and please ourselves.  But then there are other works where we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves.  It is necessary, therefore, that we consider what it means to be a servant of Christ. 

Let us, therefore, go to Christ and pray:

Let me be your servant, under your command.  I will no longer be my own.  I will give up myself to your will in all things.
Lord, make me what you will.

I put myself fully into your hands:

                Put me to doing, put me to suffering,

                let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,

                let me be full, let me be empty.

                let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and with a willing heart give it all to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Thou art mine, and I am thine.  So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.  Amen

Are you ready to give yourself fully to Christ this year?  Maybe that’s a New year’s resolution we can all work on. 

In Christ,

Pastor Donna