September

October

2009

By the time you receive this newsletter I will have traveled to and from Wilmore, Kentucky, to visit my son Steven and his wife Mandi and my two grandsons - Isaac is almost 2 years old and Aiden was born on July 3rd. It seems only yesterday that I was a student at Asbury Seminary and Steven was a babe in arms. Many of you can understand my pride and my delight in my son and in two grandsons whom I look forward to getting to know. Can you guess what gift I'm taking to them? Steven will begin seminary classes right after Labor Day, which is right around the corner.

 

The fall is upon us. We are looking forward to some great activities in September and October. We have an administrative council meeting and our annual charge conference business meeting in September. Our district superintendent, Tonya Elmore, will lead that meeting on Wednesday, September 23rd, at 6:30 p.m. UPDATE:  Charge Conference is now scheduled for Sunday, November 1st, following November's first-Sunday-night supper. We also are looking forward to the September choir concert featuring music from the 1890's through the 1910's and an October barbecue sponsored by the men's club. Homecoming is in October, and then Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here again. Please join us for these wonderful activities.

 

As the fall (as well as charge conference) approaches, we have to do some projections and set some goals for the next calendar year. This is the time for budget discussions and evaluation of our year's activities. I've never liked to focus on finances, but we can all recognize that the church requires electricity and paper products and insurance and Sunday school literature and all of the little things that keep us functioning. (Our finance committee spends a lot of hours ensuring that we have a realistic budget to which we can adhere.) We also participate in ministries that stretch from inside our walls to Tanner Williams Elementary School, from the Mobile area to all of south Alabama and the Florida panhandle, from here in the US to ministries around the world. Please join us in supporting the church's ministries through your time and through your financial support.

 

We also need your support in another area. Again, I don't like to focus on numbers, but numbers tell

us something about effectiveness. If we have 100 in attendance and continue acting with integrity and grace and our attendance increases, we must be doing something right. If our attendance decreases, we have to assume something is wrong. Last fall our attendance hovered at and above our annual average of 123. After Christmas our attendance started to fluctuate from around 95 to around 115. Part of that may be winter or spring weather. Part of that may be from a different cause. If you have any thoughts on that, let me know.

 

I do want to encourage you to be with us on Sunday mornings. While it is true that wherever two or three are gathered God will be with them, there is also a sense of excitement and energy in a full sanctuary. As we act with compassion and concern and joy, we encourage participation in worship. I dream of seeing our attendance and our offerings grow, not because of the numbers themselves, but because of the contagious enthusiasm and excitement that come from a growing worship service. As our numbers and our financial support grow, we can more easily project new ministries and begin dreaming of what is in our future.

 

I'd like to see us on a growth trend with our average attendance climbing from 123 to 135 to 150. To do that we need you to join us each Sunday and invite your friends and relatives and acquaintances and neighbors. We are a community where newcomers can know the winsome love of God. We are a community that welcomes friends and relatives and acquaintances and neighbors into our fellowship. We are a community that can dream of where a growing worship service and a growing financial base might take us. We are a community where people can find the saving grace of Jesus and can grow as disciples to be more like him. What goals toward those dreams should we set? What would it take to see those dreams come to pass? What does our future hold, and how can we prepare for it? What would we look like if those dreams did come true? Hmmm!?!

 

Blessings on you and Happy Labor Day!

 

Pastor Ray

Welcome New Members

 

Taylor Pierce

Katelyn Williams