Celebrating Staff Transitions

Dear Resurrection Family,

This morning as I write this enote I’ve been praying for those still missing in the rubble from the collapse of a condo building in Florida, as well as for the rescue workers and the families. Would you pause with me for a moment and pray for God’s Spirit to strengthen, guide, comfort and console all involved in this tragedy?

This Weekend: A Special Message from our Pastors

Leawood Care Pastor Steve Langhofer, after serving as a pastor for 49 years, will be preaching his final message as a full-time pastor this weekend before retiring July 1. Steve has served Resurrection as one of our care pastors for the last ten years, walking with people through the joys and sorrows of life. Prior to joining our team, he pastored two of the other leading congregations in the Great Plains Annual Conference. I wanted you to have a chance to hear from him as he reflects on the gospel in the light of 49 years of ministry. I’ll be joining you via video and I’m looking forward to hearing Steve’s message.

If you have been impacted by Pastor Steve’s ministry, we invite you to write him a note and let him know how he has touched your life – you can send an email to thankyouSteve@cor.org. We’ll be collecting all of these stories and sharing them with him and know that seeing the impact that he has had will be such a tremendous gift to him. You can also plan to join us immediately following the 11 am service in Leawood for a cookie reception in the Narthex where you can personally greet him and share your gratitude.

If you worship at one of our other locations, you’ll have the opportunity to hear your campus pastor preach live – Scott Chrostek at Downtown, Bill Gepford at West and Penny Ellwood at Blue Springs. Overland Park will see the message from Steve Langhofer. Pastor Scott and Pastor Jason are taking on new responsibilities with our church, and this will be their final weekend as campus pastors. Pastor Scott is becoming our Executive Director overseeing our program ministries and worship across all of our campuses while Pastor Jason becomes the Lead Director overseeing ministry to children and families across all locations. I want to mention how much I appreciate the great work each of these pastors have done in leading our ministries. Steve’s care at Leawood has had a profound impact on the lives of so many people. Scott launched a campus that has become a beacon for our city and Jason led Resurrection West to new heights of ministry and impact in the western part of the metro area. I’m deeply grateful and proud of each of these pastors.

Join us for in-person worship at 9 and 11 am at all of our locations. Click here for our physical locations or for information about joining us online or over the television this weekend.

Special Summer Celebrations this Sunday

At each of our locations, we’ll be having some special Fourth Sunday Fellowship celebrations on Sunday, June 27. These are a great ways to reconnect with your church family and meet some new friends. We’ll have food, fellowship and lots of fun!

Each location has planned something a little different so check your campus pastor’s enote, or go to cor.org/events to find what’s happening at the location nearest you! At Leawood, the festivities are from 6-8 pm on the lawn between Buildings A & B, with music, hamburgers and hotdogs, shaved ice and inflatables for all ages. Here’s the link to register.

School Makeover: Preschool Edition – July 10-20

Several years ago, Church of the Resurrection developed what we call Vision 2030, specific goals to close the gap between what is and what should be in our lives, our community and our world by the year 2030. One of those goals was to Close the Opportunity Gap – to break the cycle of poverty for children in Kansas City, giving each child the possibility of attaining a future with hope.

Education is a key to closing the opportunity gap, and we learned that less than 1/3 of the four-year-olds in the KC metropolitan area have access to preschool. Children who have access to a pre-K education are far better prepared to succeed in elementary school, and we made a commitment to help ensure every four-year-old who will attend our partner schools has access to pre-K education by 2030.

This summer we are taking a step to help make this happen. Pre-COVID we took on an annual school makeover project each summer. July 8-16, we will be working with two early education centers to update their facilities so they can better serve the children and families in their communities. If you are in the Kansas City area and like to paint or do other DIY projects, join us! We are looking for around 400 volunteers over the days of this project. Here’s the link more information and to sign up.

If you live outside the Kansas City area, I encourage you to find a way that you can help support pre-K education in your community.

Do you know someone who needs a COVID vaccine?

Resurrection is joining with churches across the city to host free “Love Your Neighbor” COVID Vaccine clinics. There will be free walk-in vaccination clinics at Resurrection West and Overland Park this weekend. Both are offering the Pfizer vaccine for ages 12 and older and there are no residency requirements. Help spread the word!

• Saturday, June 26 at Resurrection West: 10 am – noon
• Sunday, June 27 at Resurrection Overland Park: 1-3 pm

2021 Global Leadership Summit August 5-6

Each of you is a leader – in your home, your workplace, your church and your community. As a Christian leader, you can have a profound impact on those around you. Each summer, Resurrection serves as one of hundreds of host sites around the world for The Global Leadership Summit. At the Summit, August 5-6, you will hear from world-class speakers and be inspired and encouraged as you seek to improve your leadership skills. Among the speakers: Malcolm Gladwell, Harvard Business Professor Francesca Gino, Clinical Psychologist Dr. Henry Cloud and many more amazing leaders.

You can learn more about the Summit here, and find details for registering to attend at Resurrection here.

Annual UMW Rummage Sale – Furniture/Lamps Only

The United Methodist Women’s annual Rummage Sale is back this year! Last year we had to postpone the sale because of COVID. We’re coming back this year, but with a modified version. The Rummage Sale is furniture/lamps only; no household goods will be accepted. Drop off dates are July 11 & 12 and public sale dates are July 15 & 16. Volunteer shifts are available July 11-17. Purchases are cash only, items must go home with you. You can learn more on our website: cor.org/rummage.

Resurrection Staff Updates

As I shared with you last week, we are in the process of organization structure changes that we’ve been working on over the last year. The new structure goes into effect July 1, but we anticipate a three-month transition period. We have a Q & A document you can access and a place to submit your questions here. Over the next couple of months, most of our staff will remain in similar positions to their current roles, though some will be in a new part of the organization.

Change is both exciting and unsettling. But I trust the Holy Spirit has been at work in this year-long process as our team has been working with consultants to look at how to improve how we do what we do at Resurrection. As I mentioned last week, we are welcoming Anne Williams as our new Downtown Location Pastor (she previously served as a Care Pastor there) and Bill Gepford as the West Location Pastor. Similar changes are happening in teams across our ministries and operations. We have some new staff positions we’ve created and some people are shifting from one team to another. We also have some staff retirements. I’ll share more about the retirements and the new job openings next week. Some asked if my role was changing and if I would still be preaching at Leawood. As senior pastor, my role has not changed, and I will still be preaching live from Leawood most of the time, though I hope to preach at each of our locations live at least once a year. At the same time, with our new structure, how I do ministry will change as we have new teams and new people in new roles. I myself feel the excitement, unsettledness and anticipation that comes with change. Mostly, I’m excited because I see how these changes will improve the quality of what we do, and our effectiveness in ministry, by having teams collaborate and work across locations.

Finally, an update on what I’ve been up to on my sabbatical leave. This week I completed the manuscript for a book on The Lord’s Prayer based upon sermons I’ve preached and study I’ve done on the prayer over the last 31 years. I submitted the manuscript late Wednesday night. This would not have been possible without time this month to complete the project. It’s a small book, perhaps 150 pages, but one I pray will deepen the spiritual life of all who read it. In it, I encourage readers to pray the Lord’s Prayer every day. There is far more to this prayer than meets the eye.

Next Tuesday night I’ll be sharing in my Tuesday Vespers on Facebook Live from the chapter on “Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Join me at 7:30 pm Central Time on Tuesday – if you follow my Facebook page you’ll be automatically notified when I go live. Click here to go to my Facebook page and click “follow.”

As I think about the ways you, Church of the Resurrection, are serving the community, things like making pre-K education possible and hosting vaccine clinics, I thank God for each of you and the ways you are living out Jesus’ command to “Love your neighbor.” I look forward to joining you for worship this weekend!

Adam