That’s what we are being called to do – be both the General Conference of The United Methodist Church and the Central Texas Conference.

Rethink church, not in terms of what it is, but what it could be.  What would it look like?  What would it feel like?  What if all of our churches were vibrant, active places where people wanted to be, not just on Sundays but all week long? What if church were not just a place we go, but something we do?  Outbound.  Unbound.  Active.  Human beings from completely different worlds, united by common purpose, experience and belief.  It sounds wonderful , doesn’t it? What if we were to go beyond the doors of the church to serve those is the world who are in need?  What if we were able to engage the world through our faith? Rethinking church is about taking action.  It is a wake-up call reminding us of the many needs of human beings, both in our own backyard and around the world.

In the first century, Jesus’ ministry made his world rethink faith beyond the walls and doors of the Temple and synagogues. In the 18th century, John Wesley called people to rethink church and make the whole world our parish.

What would First UMC Hillsboro be and look like it we took seriously the challenge to rethink church? If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them. Let’s don’t go to church, let’s be the church all week long.

 In Christ,

Pastor Donna

In Luke 10 Jesus tells his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  The disciples were then sent out by Jesus to go into the towns proclaiming the kingdom of God.  He didn’t say it would be easy; in fact, he said he was sending them out like lambs into the midst of wolves.  He also knew there would be rejection.  Still, they went.

We are going to be talking about this passage on Sunday, July 11 during both worship services and then you disciples of Jesus are going to be sent out to Hillsboro and surrounding communities to invite others to know Jesus and to come to church with you.  July18 will be FRANgelism Sunday – where the Friends, Relatives, Associates and Neighbors you have invited will come to worship with us here at First UMC, Hillsboro.  At this point Jesus isn’t even sending you out to strangers – he’s simply asking you to invite people you already know to come worship with you.  Some of these people may even be members of the church who haven’t worshiped in awhile.  Some may be people you know who don’t have a church home and are just waiting for someone to invite them.  Some may be people with whom you work, play golf, volunteer, have lunch or whatever.

At Annual Conference most everyone in attendance signed a covenant to ask at least two people a week (or was it a day?), “Do you have a church home?”  Why don’t we give it a try over the next couple of weeks or two? 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a great harvest in the middle of summer?!

You, my friends, as disciples of Jesus, are the laborers sent out to the harvest.  It’s a little scary being a lamb among the wolves, but Jesus goes with you into the fields.  In fact, when the disciples returned from their harvest Jesus told them, “See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.”

Go, make disciples in the name of Jesus Christ.

In Christ,

Pastor Donna

Rev. Donna Ware conducted worship services at First United Methodist Church for the first time on Sunday, June 20. The Father’s Day attendees at both services joined in a brunch at 10:00 am to meet and greet the new pastor. Remarks from Lee Auvenshine, the Staff-Parish Committee Chairman, and Pastor Ware emphasized optimism and a sense of excitement as the church builds on a firm foundation and looks to the future. In a sense, a change in pastors always is a new beginning for all involved. See pictures below.

   The new pastor - Rev. Donna J. Ware.  WELCOME, DONNA!

The entire congregation of our Church is invited to attend and participate in a covered-dish brunch at 10:00 a.m. in the Family Life Center on Sunday, June 20th. The covered-dish brunch will occur between both worship services to welcome our new Pastor, Donna Ware. 

The members of our Church are also invited to participate in a pounding, as a house warming gesture for our new Pastor, who will be moving into the parsonage this week.  Members are invited to bring household items such as food, cleaning supplies and paper goods. These gifts, which can be dropped-off at the Church office during the week, will be presented to Pastor Ware at the brunch on Sunday.

On another topic: Happy Father’s Day to all our fathers (or fathers-to-be)  in the congragation!

 This is not the last of Reed’s Ramblings, it’s just the last from here. You can read Reed’s Ramblings always from wherever I am.

For now, this is good bye. It has been a great and wonderful time. I look forward to coming up to celebrations and events of our church. We will share those as friends and companions. Now for some last thank you notes: For all of you, thank you for putting up with me for the last 10 years. Without you, we would never have accomplished all we did. Thank you for the laughter, the tears, the memories and for all the time both good and bad we have gone through as a family.Thank you all for the celebration last Sunday. Thank you for the gifts. I don’t know who all contributed what but just know that as a gift, what a wonderful surprise!!

Thank you, Quilters, for the quilt.Thank you, dear little princess, for the pink heart.Thank you (I think) for the church wagon dinner bell!!

Thank you, one dear lady, for allowing me to once again be your pastor.

And again, thank you all for your caring and support. You will always remain in my heart and a part of my soul. For Cathy, the girls and from me, God bless.  Peace and Grace. Reed. 

The congregation celebrated 10 years of ministry with Reed and Cathy Justus with a brunch between worship services Sunday, June 13.  Reed and Cathy are moving to a new appointment starting next Sunday so this was a time of remembrance, celebration, thanksgiving, and best wishes for the future.

Lee Auvenshine chaired the event with a number of speakers relating the good times of shared ministry, the positive accomplishments, and confidence for the future both at this church and in Reed’s new appointment. The quilters presented Reed and Cathy with a beautiful friendship quilt.

Cathy may have summed up the spirit of the day best by saying, “When we began our appointment here ten years ago it was just our next appointment, but over time it became much more than that to us.”  The feeling Sunday was that it was much more than that to all of us. Pictures follow:

Well, it is here…SUMMER AND THE HEAT!! So I thought I might share some thoughts about it all. Most are tongue in cheek so just enjoy.

It’s been said that the way to hades is paved with good intentions. The good news it that it’s a government project so it isn’t done yet.

If you think it’s hot now, just wait…

You gotta love people who say, “It isn’t the heat, its the humidity.” NO IT ISN’T, ITS THE HEAT.

You don’t have to worry about the devil during summers in Texas. It’s even too hot for him.

During the heat just be like a kid. Take off all the clothes you can, sun through a sprinkler and eat a pop sickle. Grape is the best.

 Move to Australia. It’s winter down under right now!

Cathy offers this one. She used to do it as a kid. Take your pillow and put it in front of an air conditioner vent. Then lay down on a nice cool pillow.

 David offers filling cans filled with ice and put them in front of a box fan. He calls it Red Raider ingenuity.

Finally, come to church. We turn on the air the day before. Just remember, to come at 9 and stay so that we don’t have to open the doors again until 12. After all, you do want to save energy don’t you?

Peace and grace. Reed.

We love baseball, Cathy and I. We watch nearly every Rangers game. We have seats for several games. She (not me) has Ranger shirts to wear to the game. Get the picture?

Anyway, what if church was like a baseball game. First we would have to get out of the dugout (pew) to play the game. Many of us might prefer one position over another -  like short stop is better than right field. However, we should remember that the coach (God) knows better than we do as to whom will help us win the game.

There may be times when we have to place a sacrifice bunt to move the runners along. But there will be times when we have to swing away. We will have to submit ourselves to the authority of others (umpires) even when we think they are wrong. It’s always dollar hot dog night (truth be known, they are all free!!)  When you score, you come home.

Whenever you do something (big or small), the stands all cheer for you.

About all I can add is like the song from John Fogerty, “Put me in coach. I’m ready to play center field.”

Peace and grace.   Reed.

The Junior High Sunday School class went to visit Town Hall Estates and The Legends this past Sunday.  Christy Bailey helped the class make cookies to take to the nurses and aides stations at the nursing home.  The class visited with several residents there.  When the youth went to The Legends, they went to see Peggy Frazier, who has recently moved to the assisted living facility.  The class gave her a plate of the cookies they had made and visited with Mrs. Frazier. 

Then the class went to IHOP to eat. 

They chose a family with two small children and paid for their meal.  A plate of cookies was given to the waitress plus a very generous tip. 

Funds for the cookies and meals at IHOP were from the tips the class received from serving at the Valentine’s Banquet. 

We seem to love complexity. Remember when we had typewriters and now computers. We had phones (usually on party lines) and now we have cell phones (and if you forward on to your friends and fans , you have well… a party line!) We had between 1 and 4 channels on TV. Now I’ve lost count. We had our favorite cereal. Now we can’t even find Captain Crunch on that wall of choices.

What we want is simplicity.

I have always been a strong proponent of programming in church. Pile it on. The more the better. I even took a class in seminary called “Programming - How to Wear Yourself Out In 5, 10, 15 Easy Steps.”

Some companies get the message. Simplicity is what Apple offers (not to pick one company over anther.” Big box stores one stop shopping may offer lots of choices and you don’t have to travel all over tar-nation to get it all.

I have come to the conclusion that the church needs of offer a more simplistic way to make disciples. Don’t get me wrong, we still need to offer a diversity of missional ways to impact people. We need lots of programs. What we need to have is a simplistic way to help people become deeply committed Christians. Jesus did so with the apostles. Wesley did it with his Methodist Classes. We need to do so in our churches.

While I won’t be here to lead you into that endeavor, I want to challenge you as a church to seek a way to make a simple clear pathway to the job of being a disciple. It will be the greatest thing you can do for yourselves and your community.

Gotta go. Trying to figure out which of 2000 channels I want to watch tonight while I dream of Andy and Barney in black and white.

Peace and Grace. Reed.