Jun 25 2010
Dear CITY ON A HILL United Methodist Church,
Summer attendance has been great. From the feedback we’ve gotten thus far, you seem to both enjoy and be getting a lot out of our SUMMER BLOCK BUSTERS series. In fact, attendance is up 20% over last June.
This week our series continues with insights from the movie “O’ Brother Where Art Thou?” My dad, Jim Bryant, who preached with me once before, back in June of 2008, will be giving the message at both 9:30 and 11:00. My dad is a lay speaker in the United Methodist Church and has now preached at about a dozen different UMC’s, including ours.
The message and worship experience is sure to be unforgettable as we engage in the themes of this movie: God’s prophecy, betrayal, temptation, pride, the cloak of evil, poor priorities, grace, deliverance, repentance, salvation, and backsliding!
The main song of the move “In Constant Sorrow” brings up an interesting question. Does God really want us to live in constant sorrow?! I hope not.
So join us for a very fun worship experience, filled with blue-grass themed music (I’m told) and BE SURE TO WEAR YOUR BIB-OVERALLS, if you have them.
Ok here are a few other things I want to make sure you know about. I hope whether you are on vacation or not you’ll take some time to read each thoroughly.
· COAH Is About To RESET (July 18 – August 1)
· August InvitationMonth Is Only 5 Sundays Away
· More Than Enough Capital Campaign & Facility Update
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COAH IS ABOUT TO RESET (JULY 18 – AUGUST 1)
In our quest to become a great church it is easy to forget what is was that made us feel like this church was great. We need to be reminded every so often why it is that we exist as a church and what it is that God has called us to do. So, starting the 3rd Sunday of July (18th) we’re going to hit the power button on our congregation and “reset,” reloading and rebooting our purpose, mission and vision.
It’s going to be a very creative, fun and somewhat nostalgic way of looking at our unique DNA (or we might say, internal programming) as a church.
My hope and prayer for this series is that everyone that calls CITY ON A HILL their church home will become not only knowledgeable but spiritually confident about our purpose, mission and vision as a church.
Worshippers this Sunday will see a brief 1 minute promo video concerning this video. You can see it now by visiting
AUGUST INVITATION MONTH IS ONLY 5 SUNDAYS AWAY
Each year in August we in essence “re-launch” the church by focusing on a combined, unified effort to invite and bring others. We sponsor a sermon series specifically aimed at those who have been turned off or simply tuned out of church.
This year, in combination with our theme of “Get To Know Your Bible,” the August series is: ISSUES WITH THE BIBLE – A Conversation With A Skeptic.
We’ll address the four most common critiques of scripture by those outside the Christian faith. It will be a series that you’ll learn a lot from but more importantly it will be a great series for those you know who have problems or otherwise stand outside typical Christian thoughts and desire for scripture.
It will be a thoughtful and respectful engagement of a theoretical skeptic who has “issues with the Bible.”
Please start praying for another successful August Invitation month this year. (Since our launch, each year we seem to get better and better at inviting people and truly engaging people who are on the fringes and beyond of the Christian faith.)
Pray for people you know that they would accept your invitation.
Pray for our church as a whole that all our various outreach efforts would be effective.
Pray that everyone in our church gets ready to receive visitors – that all of us get into “open house” mode and do our best to present our best side.
Pray that our witness to visitors would be effective, not for our glory but for God’s.
Pray for people to make decisions for Christ, commitments and recommitments.
Pray for those who have made decisions to grow into full-blown discipleship.
Pray for me, that I preach the best sermons possible.
Pray for our various ministry teams, children’s, hospitality, and worship.
MORE THAN ENOUGH CAPITAL CAMPAIGN & FACILITY UPDATE
To date we’ve received $137,000 of the $400,000 goal, with another $32,000 promised.
What does this $400K get us?
· The completion of the build-out of our new worship & mission facility;
· The furnishing and equipping of the facility with new sound, lighting, visual and other equipment (that we take with us when we eventually move out)
· Ensures our congregation stays DEBT-FREE while also improving and growing our quality of missions and ministry we offer the community.
How can you give?
Any way you want. We have had people give large one time gifts. We have had others give smaller gifts multiple times. Still we have had others make a “pledge” giving an increase above their normal offering and promising to continue to do so for a stated length of time.
Just mark your offering “More Than Enough” or “Capital Campaign.” If you want to make a pledge you can indicate that on your connect card or through contacting our Stewardship Leader, Cosby Clark by emailing finances@cityonahillumc.org
The build-out continues. Plumbing and air-conditioning installation as well as some framing is happening or will be starting before the end of this month.
The Capital Campaign Team is planning on a picture-demonstration of some kind that represents where the money we have spent so far has gone and what is coming up next so that the whole congregation can begin to follow along, get excited and of course, make sure that the finances we need to keep the work happening is present.
A BIG THANK YOU to the many generous gifts that have already been given. I know that for virtually everyone that has given so far, the offering they have made has represented a significant sacrifice and investment of their personal resources in order to further God’s Kingdom work through the ministry of CITY ON A HILL.
Such sacrifice and investment is inspiring to me and makes me want to work even hard to be a better pastor and leader to a people so deeply committed to Jesus. Thanks again!
I had a number of other things to share with you but I think I’ll save it for next week when I know a few more details. Stay tuned.
That’s it! It is just awesome to be your pastor!
Lot’s of Love!
Chris
Rev. Chris Bryant
Lead Pastor
CITY ON A HILL
a new united methodist church
Our PURPOSE is to create a community where persons can see and then become deeply committed followersof Jesus.
Our MISSION is to serve with compassion, bring other seeking people, grow through small groups and bible studies, and become what Jesus wants us to be.
Our VISION is to change the world, one loving act at a time.