Dear Church Family, This week's e-note will cover the following subjects: • • • • •
Thank You! Welcome Back Parking Solution The Clock Preaching Style
Thank You! I have so many things to thank you for that it's hard to know where to begin. Thank you for your avalanche of affirming and encouraging emails, notes and cards. I can't begin to tell you how much that means. Thank you for your fantastic response to our "radical hospitality" emphasis. Many hundreds of you volunteered to help invite and welcome newcomers in significant ways. Thank you for your generous offerings over the past few weeks. You probably know that BUMC has been struggling financially for several years. If current giving trends continue, that problem will be solved in short order. I could go on and on. But thank you, thank you, thank you! Welcome Back: A few days ago, on my way to make a home visit, I drove past Brentwood High School. The sign out front said, "Welcome Back." Obviously, the sign referred to students returning to school after summer vacation. But I thought about
that sign in terms of our church. Like every congregation, BUMC has a lot of people who have been away for months and even years. I'd like to invite you back. This is a time of new beginnings at BUMC. It would be a great time to return home to your church family. We would absolutely love to welcome you back! Parking Solution: The good news is that attendance has significantly increased. The bad news is that the increase in attendance creates parking challenges. But the other good news is that we have a solution. Across the street and down the road is the Synergy building parking lot with hundreds of unused parking spaces on Sundays. We run a shuttle from that lot to the church-and back again-all morning long on Sundays. We have just added a second shuttle, so it is even easier to park there. We're still working out the bugs on the new two shuttle system, but that will be fixed and running smoothly very soon. Please practice "radical hospitality" by parking in the Synergy lot so newcomers and people who cannot physically walk long distances can find adequate parking. Thank you in advance for helping out on this crucial matter. The Clock: One of the greatest challenges we face at BUMC is having three worship services back to back. Getting large crowds into the sanctuary and then out again for the next service is not easy. I stare at that clock on the back wall throughout each service and sweat! One of the things we can do to help alleviate this challenge is by starting each service exactly on time. So the staff and I are doing our best to begin the services at 8:30, 9:50 and 11:00 sharp. Please don't be late or you'll miss important elements of worship. Preaching Style: The arrival of a new pastor always brings a new preaching style to a congregation. Some preachers follow the old "three points and a poem" style. A few preach verse by
verse sermons. Some preach academic sermons, others are more emotional. There is no one right way to preach. Every preacher is unique and must follow his or her own God-given style of communicating the Gospel. I'm primarily a narrative preacher. That means I take a biblical text and theological truth and communicate it primarily by story, both biblical and modern. I intentionally preach this way for three reasons. First, experts in preaching and speech communications agree this is a highly effective way to proclaim the Gospel. Second, narrative preaching is congruent with the Bible, which is mostly a collection of stories. Third and most important, I'm a narrative preacher because it's the model Jesus used. Our Lord never preached three point sermons or verse by verse sermons. Jesus told stories, mostly secular ones, that his listeners could understand and relate to. For example, when Jesus wanted to preach on God's great love, he didn't say, "Let me share three principles about God's love." Nor did he say, "Let's turn to the book of Deuteronomy and look at chapter 11, verses 1-7." Instead, Jesus told a story that began, "There was a father who had two sons ..." (Luke 15). In fact, the Bible says Jesus "did not say anything to them without using a parable" (Mark 4:34). Although I occasionally preach "point" sermons and sometimes preach verse by verse, I'm primarily a narrative, story-telling preacher, and I wanted you to know the rationale behind that. Finally, it was good to receive Christie, Ian, and Caleb Henson, Cliff and Gail Morrison, Jane Gray, Pete Youngman, and Cason Wilbert as new members. Welcome to our church family. I hope to see you this weekend. And on Sunday I hope you'll park in the Synergy parking lot and catch one of the shuttle buses! In Christ's Love and Service, Martin