e-Note from Martin - Dec 20 Issue

Dear Church Family, This week’s e-note will cover several “housekeeping” items. Although these subjects are not particularly exciting, they are important, so I hope you will read them.

Christmas Eve Update Holiday Schedule Stewardship Update Inclement Weather Policy Christmas Eve Update: As you probably know, Christmas Eve is the most attended event of the year at BUMC. This is an especially good time to invite people to our church. You will receive an email soon that you can forward to people you know, along with an invitation to attend one of our services. We will have five services in the Sanctuary at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 11 p.m. At 4 and 6 p.m. we will have also have services in the Chapel with live music and worship leaders (although the devotional will be on screen).

Shuttle services to the Synergy lot will be running for the 4, 6, and 8 p.m. services, beginning at 3 p.m. If you come to one of these three services, please practice “radical hospitality” by parking at the Synergy lot so our guests will be able to find parking spaces. If you don’t have a strong preference about which service to attend, consider coming to our 2 or 11 p.m. service since they tend to be less crowded. Please note that the

2 p.m. service will be led by our Awakening band and more contemporary in style. All the other services will be traditional.

We’ll also host Christmas Eve services at Trinity UMC (our Spring Hill campus) at 6 p.m. and Harvest Hands at 8 p.m. Our “Longest Night” service of healing and hope will be held on Wednesday night at 6:30 in the Sanctuary. Finally, we will host a Christmas Service for the homeless community on Friday night in downtown Nashville at Rocketown (601 4th Avenue South) at 6 p.m. Members and friends of BUMC are invited to participate in this special event. In all, BUMC will host eleven Christmas Eve style services! Please pray for each of them, that God will use this special time of the year to touch people’s lives.

Holiday Schedule: Since huge numbers of people will attend our Saturday afternoon and evening Christmas Eve services, we will have only one service on Christmas Day at 11 a.m. There will be no Sunday school or 8:30 or 9:50 worship service. On New Year’s weekend, we will have all four of our regular services on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. However, we will NOT have Sunday school on that day. I hope you will begin the New Year by worshipping God at BUMC. Stewardship Update: Year-end giving is still coming in strong. If this trend continues we will begin 2012 in better shape than originally anticipated. We still project a deficit for 2011, but if this strong year-end giving continues, it will be smaller. We’ve also made progress on our pledge drive for 2012. So far we have received 1008 pledges for a total amount of $4,403,337 with an average pledge of $4,368. We still need to receive a couple hundred more pledges, so if you have not done so, please make your pledge right away. To pledge online please click here. You can also call your pledge in to Lisa Gray, Director of Finance at 324-8201 or Joyce Brown, Financial Secretary at 324-7246.

Inclement Weather Policy: In case of significant snow and/or ice on Saturday evening or Sunday morning, we will have an 11:00 service for those who are able to travel safely. Nursery care availability will depend on the ability of our workers to safely get to church. The Saturday evening service, Sunday 8:30 and 9:50 services, and Sunday school will be cancelled. For our complete inclement weather policy, including weekday activities, and how to find out if we are following a snow day policy or not, click here.

A special thanks to director Bill Caldwell, the Chancel Choir, the handbells, Greg and Patsy, the orchestra, the Scripture readers, and everyone else involved in the packed-out and profound “Festival of Carols” performance on Sunday night. I’m with the small child who, in the middle and at the end of the performance shouted, “Yea!” Meaningful and quality events like the “Festival of Carols” make me even more grateful to be the pastor of BUMC. Finally, it was good to receive Caroline and Rosemary Murray and Jeremy and Heather Northcutt as new members. Welcome to our church family.

In Christ's Love and Service, Martin