Dear Church Family, At a recent meeting I attended, the members all shared “God sightings.” In other words, they shared places where they had recently seen God at work in their world. One of the great joys of my life as pastor of BUMC is that I get to see “God sightings” all the time. For example, over the past two weeks, I’ve seen God at work in the following ways. • Volunteers at our church just completed “The Called Congregation.” 3,200 households were contacted. Many connections, prayer requests and remarkable stories came out of that initiative. A special thanks to all who participated. • Twenty couples are currently participating in our marriage enrichment class, strengthening the primary relationship in their life. We already have a waiting list for the next class. • This past week, thirty of our sixth graders attended our “Created by God” class (which is offered every spring and fall), where they learned about human sexuality in a Christian context.
• A group of our members are in Haiti this week, helping with medical needs, construction projects and a Bible school, serving others in the name of Christ. • A few days ago I held a listening session with a new young adult Sunday school class called “Coffee and Conversation.” Members of this group, who meet at 11:00 a.m. after the Awakening worship service, are forging significant relationships and are excited about journeying together in Christian discipleship. • I recently heard about a man who attended worship with us a few weeks ago. His fundamentalist congregation has shunned him because he’s going through a divorce. Knowing of his pain, a friend suggested that he visit BUMC. The day he attended we showed a video of four people in our congregation who went through a difficult valley—yet found God’s strength to carry them through. One of the four people in that video shared her story of a painful divorce and God’s presence and help during that awful time. The man left worship inspired, encouraged, and powerfully touched by the spirit of God. • For the past two years, a group of our members have dreamed of beginning a patient advocacy ministry. The goal of this ministry is to help people, especially senior adults, navigate the complex and often frustrating world of health care and insurance systems. After much work, this new ministry will officially launch in a few weeks. Our new Patient Advocacy Ministry (PAM) will embody the healing ministry of Christ and early Methodism, and will serve as a model to other churches in the future. Much more will be said about this profound new ministry in the days to come, but I wanted you to know about it.
These are just a few “God sightings” I’ve seen over the past two weeks in the life of our congregation. If space permitted I could list many more. God is alive and well at BUMC! It is a great privilege to constantly witness God’s activity in this community of faith. I hope to see you this weekend as we continue our series, “God Lessons from the Great Recession.” Our theme will be “Cultivating a Life of Contentment.” The message will be based on several passages from the book of Philippians, primarily 4:1013. Finally, it was good to receive Michael, Michelle and Joey LoFrumento, Bill Lynda, Ben O’Donnell, and Zachary Mills as new members. Welcome to our church family. In Christ's Love and Service, Martin