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Dear Church Dear Church Family, When bad things happen in our world, like the horrible storm that impacted so many people last week in the northeast, people often ask, "Where is God?" I do not pretend to have easy answers to that question. However, I do know that God is found in the response. And millions of people have (and are) responding in many helpful ways, including the people of BUMC. Thank you so much for responding with love and compassion and generosity. For example, hundreds of you have prepared flood buckets and given bottled water, we received almost $25,000 in last weekend's Communion offering for storm relief, and the response continues. For further information about how you can help, click here. I hope to see you this evening at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary (some of you already attended at 7 a.m.) for our Election Day Communion Service. This simple service will remind us that our faith transcends politics and unites us as the Body of Christ. It was a joy to celebrate All Saints Day with you last weekend. Thanks to all who helped make All Saints such a special day, including our Jubilation, Sonshine and Chancel choirs, our Awakening Praise Band, and James Well's beautiful solo, "Be Not Afraid." This week in the mail you will receive your 2013 financial and service commitment cards. Both of these are crucial as we make plans to serve God through BUMC in 2013. I hope you will fill out your financial pledge
and bring it to worship this weekend or soon thereafter, or mail it in, or make your pledge online by clicking here. The following weekend (Nov. 17-18) we'll be collecting our service commitment cards. A complete service catalogue, listing all our service opportunities, will be available this weekend in the narthex or can be found online by clicking here. Over the next two weekends we will complete our discipleship emphasis, "Real Life Ahead: Fully Alive in Christ." Both weekends will be important to the future of our church so I hope to see you here. Round one of our SLI process is now complete. Reports of that work have been shared with two groups of leaders, resulting in important adjustments. We'll give a formal overview to our Church Council on November 29th. Anyone who wants to come to that meeting is welcome to attend. Given the need to wrap up our "Real Life Ahead" emphasis, the fast approaching holiday season, and the beginning of Advent, we'll share this information (including a statement of values, mission and vision) with the entire congregation early in 2013. But in reality, this process is just beginning. We will continue to create strong leadership teams throughout 2013 and beyond, building on our values, mission and vision, and adding specific, intentional and aligned strategies as we move forward together. I've never been more enthused about the future of BUMC. It's a joy and honor and privilege to serve with you in this place. I hope to see you Saturday evening or Sunday morning for a very important time at BUMC. In Christ's Love and Service,
Martin