e-Note from Martin - September 20 Issue

Dear Church Family, When Faith Is Hard to Come By Impressed … Again It Takes Two: Marriage Workshop Parking … Again When Faith Is Hard to Come By: The Bible tells us that “the just shall live by faith.” But what do we do when faith is hard to come by? That will be the focus of our worship services this weekend.

Through scripture, testimony, sermon and song, we will focus on affirming faith in difficult times. Sunday’s sermon will be called, “When the Seagull Does Not Come.” I promise the title will make sense when you hear it! The message will be based on the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. If you would like to spiritually prepare for worship before the weekend services, please read chapter 1:1-4, chapter 2:1-4 and chapter 3:17-19. This will be a special time of worship so I hope you’ll attend one of our four weekend services, and I hope you will invite a friend.

Impressed … Again: Almost every day, I find yet another reason to be impressed by the incredible congregation at BUMC. Last week I experienced my first consignment sale which is called “BUMC KidSale.” We don’t actually sell kids! But we do sell kid’s clothes and other children’s items including hundreds of strollers. I was blown away by the size and scope of this event, which earned over $20,000 for missions. A special thanks to Kelly

Merrill for leading this project. I’m so proud that BUMC routinely carries out these kinds of amazing ministries.

It Takes Two: Marriage Workshop: At a recent listening session with young adults, someone suggested that our church offer more marriage enrichment opportunities. Although I didn’t know it at the time, that was already in the works. Beginning on Tuesday, October 11th, we will offer a free four-week marriage enrichment class called “It Takes Two.” The class will be held on four consecutive Tuesday nights. It will be led by two of our counselors from the BUMC Counseling Center. I hope you and your spouse will consider participating in this marriage enrichment event. For more information, or to register, go to http://www.bumc.net/marriage.

Parking … Again: I’ve mentioned parking on several occasions in my e-notes. That’s because we have severe parking challenges at BUMC. To help solve that problem we have added an additional shuttle van for those of you who park at the Synergy parking lot. We have also added a gathering tent at the Synergy lot for you to stay in while you wait for the shuttles—which will be a much shorter wait (often no wait at all) with the additional van. I cannot overemphasize how helpful it will be for you to park at the Synergy lot. By 9:40 a.m. on Sunday, it’s almost impossible to find a parking space on the main lot. But hundreds of unused parking spaces are available at Synergy every Sunday.

So please consider practicing “radical hospitality” by parking at the Synergy lot. Thank you for your help!

Finally, it was good to receive Mark, Catherine, Baily and Abby Cate; Richard, Angela, Ansley and Austin Whitmer; and Mary Tinsley Dorris as new members. Welcome to our church family.

I hope to see you this weekend.

In Christ's Love and Service, Martin