Dear Church Family, Thank you for your hospitality. This week we are hosting over one thousand United Methodist guests from all over Tennessee for Annual Conference. Large numbers of our members and staff have (and are) helping to host this major event. Thank you! Thank you for your generosity. We have received 100% of our budget needs from January through May. This represents a significant improvement over recent years. I deeply appreciate your financial faithfulness to God’s work at BUMC. Worship attendance and church membership are also up, which is encouraging. Numbers are not the bottom line in the church. Faithful discipleship matters most. However, numbers do serve as helpful (although certainly not ultimate) vital signs, so I’m glad they are all on an upward trajectory. Of course, summer is upon us and numbers always go down during this time of the year. But so far, 2012 is looking good on the financial, attendance and membership front. Thank you for supporting our Habitat build. On June 3rd we held the dedication ceremony for our most recent Habitat for Humanity house. BUMC has built more Habitat houses in Williamson County than any other church or organization. Over one thousand of our members gave financial gifts to build this
house. Hundreds gave of their time and energy to help physically build the house. I wish you could have seen the tears of joy from the O’Neal family as they were presented the keys to their new home. The O’Neal’s call their home “the house that God built.” And that’s true—God did build their house. But God used you to do it. Thank you for making this happen! Thank you to our BUMC clergy. Last Sunday we celebrated the reappointment of our clergy, including Laura Brantley, Travis Garner, Kaye Harvey, Brian Hicks (Harvest Hands), Rob Huckaby, Deech Kirk (Center for Youth Ministry Training), Rachel Peavyhouse-Fay, Erin Racine, Mack Strange (Spring Hill campus pastor), and Jeff Wilson. It was encouraging to me that all of our clergy requested to return to BUMC for another year. That is a remarkable vote of confidence in what God is doing at our church. I deeply appreciate all of our staff, both clergy and nonclergy. It’s a privilege to have them as colleagues and friends. As I conclude my first year at BUMC, and prepare to begin my second year, I am full of gratitude for the privilege of pastoring this incredible congregation. The work is complex and challenging but overwhelmingly rewarding. Thank you for your prayers and support. Finally, it was good to receive Ashley and Emily Brown, Levi Jones, and Douglas Smith as new members. Welcome to our church family. In Christ's Love and Service, Martin