Dear Church Family, This week's e-note deals with the following subjects: Confirmation Newsweek Article I Knew It! A Bigger Family Confirmation: Last Sunday we confirmed 106 of our young people. They publically professed their faith in Jesus Christ. They affirmed their church membership vows and became full members of BUMC. And our congregation promised to nurture and support them as they continue their Christian journey. It was exciting to see all of this happen. A special thanks to parents, mentors, faith friends, staff members and others who made this possible, especially Maggie Jarrell, Director of Highway 56, who led the overall Confirmation process. May God's special blessings be with all of our confirmands and their families as they grow in Christian discipleship in the years ahead. A full list of our confirmands can be found at the bottom of this e-note. Newsweek Article: Many of you read last week's provocative front page Newsweek article, "Forget the Church, Follow Jesus." This weekend, Rev. Mack Strange, the pastor at our Trinity campus in Spring Hill and an excellent communicator, will preach at all our services. In his sermon, he will deal with some of
the implications of this Newsweek article. You will want to hear Mack's message on this important subject. I Knew It: After serving nine months as senior pastor of BUMC, I've sensed something about our congregation. It seems to be full of very intelligent people. For example, over the past month, I met with five different lay groups, mostly around the subject of worship. I left each of those meetings thinking-this church is full of smart people. Well, my hunch was confirmed two weeks ago when I read the Spring 2012 "Citizen's Update" of Brentwood, Tennessee. If you read that paper, you know that Brentwood was named as Tennessee's "smartest mid-sized city." We also have a lot of smart people from Franklin, Nashville, and other middle Tennessee communities. Anyway, after reading that article, I said to myself, "I knew it! This church really is full of smart people!" A Bigger Family: Last weekend our church family grew significantly larger. We received 149 new members. That large number includes our Confirmation Class of 2012. Their names are listed at the bottom of this e-note. We also received the following 43 new members: Bob, Missy, and Sarah Porter; Shelly and Christopher Shiflett; John, Kristen, and Ben Dernbach; Jeff, Jennie, and Alyssa Stockard; John, Kate, Addison and Reese Markum; Hanley, Heather, and Brittaney Crawford; Bruan, Julia, and Carson Todd; Philip, Heather, and Graham Barton; Meekahl, Reeju, Sona, and Neel Davis; Ashley, Melanie, and Emma Barton; Wayne, Suzanne, Alex and Rachel Horn; Don and Michele McFarlane; Cass, Allison, and Martha Grace Scripps; and Jim, Kim, and Stephen Finley. Welcome to our church family. In Christ's Love and Service, Martin
2012 Confirmation Class: Lilly Adams
Emma Iverson
Christian Ahlstrand
Niklas Jarvi
Jake Allen
Emma Jones
Anna Barton
Nathan Keffer
Sophie Barton
Patrick Laughlin
Haley Batson Samuel Blanchet
Garrett Lee Gracie Marks
Parker Bowen
Olivia McCloud
Ford Brewer
Mary McFarlane
Alexandra Brown
Audrey McKinney
Sarah Bryant
Connor Merrill
Grady Byrn
Clara Miller
Lindsey Burtchaell
Grace Miller
Morgan Bussard
Christopher Moore
Anna Lauryn Carmichael
Carol Morse
Cole Carteaux Mason Chambliss
Braden Murphy Andrew Neumann
Amy Chandler
Jack O'Brien
Sam Christie
Clay Patterson
Allison Clark
Meghan Pittenger
Emma Clifton
Robert Porter
Peter Cloud
Morgan Powers
Riley Coggin
Tucker Powers
Emerson Crawford
Gracie Roberson
Trip Crawford
Manny Rogers
Nathaniel Croft
Gavin Schoenwald
Matt Dalton
Bowen Scripps
Elric Davis
Tyler Shiflett
Stephen Deane
Rachel Singleton
Laurel Dernbach
Katie Skoda
Rachel Donelson
Sarah Skupien
Seth Erickson
Annika Sleenhof
Ben Evans Grace Farrell
Garrett Smith Samuel Stockard
Kristina Finley
Jackson Stone
Jaxen Ford
Carson Tapp
Charlie Francois
Regan Taylor
Hayley Fuller
Emily Anne Tinney
Peyton Gardner
William Todd
John Gehring
Max Tunnicliffe
Jack Hamlin
Alex Turner
Mandy Hamm
Katherine Tyner
Auden Harwood
Anna Vaden
Emily Herbert Emmy Hickman
Anne Marie Vines Nicole West
Hailey Hickernell
Kendell White
Reagan Hickernell
Brennen Williams
Savannah Hill
Jack Wilson
Charlie Hoffmann
David Windley
Patrick Hogan
Liana Wood
Alex Horne
Meghan Zelenik
Justin Howell
Bess Zumwalt