Celebrating Vacation Bible Camp

Dear Resurrection Family,

I’m writing this morning from Holland, Michigan where our family has been on vacation, enjoying time together. My sabbatical is a combination of writing, outlining sermons, reading and working on projects related to the church and time away to recharge. This week was about recharging and quality time with our kids.

One of the blessings was getting to lead Stella in Vacation Bible Camp using our online version. Each day we studied Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. We watched the online videos, did the crafts, gave online in the offerings to support food projects in Malawi, Africa and in Kansas City. We worked to memorize our scripture verses. I’m so grateful for our VBC team who put together the online version for those out of town and for the amazing effort that went into this. I love helping Stella grow in her faith.

There are several things you’ll want to know about in today’s enote, so let’s jump in…

THIS WEEKEND IN WORSHIP – INFLUENCERS: BUILDING OTHERS UP

Last weekend’s sermon, the first in Pastor Scott’s new series on Influencers, was excellent. This week, he helps us recall that the minute we claim to be Christians, we no longer represent only ourselves, but we represent Christ whom we seek to follow. People around us hear not only our words, but they observe how we live each day. As the Apostle Paul writes, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not arrogant or rude…”

Influencers must embody love, or else nothing else we could ever say or do really matters… “it’s a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” This weekend Pastor Scott will explore what it looks like to become influencers who heed Christ’s call to be his ambassadors, conduits of God’s grace so that others might see and experience the love of God through us.

Be an influencer… invite a friend to join you for worship, in-person worship at 9 or 11 am at one of our locations, online or on television this weekend. Click here for our physical locations or for information about joining us online or on television.

CELEBRATING VACATION BIBLE CAMP

At Resurrection, one of our visions is to help raise up the next generation of Christian leaders, and that starts with our youngest congregants. Our kids had a great week learning about the Exodus story and what it means to trust God through Bible stories, music, games, crafts and other fun activities. This weekend in worship we’ll have a short celebration video so you can get a glimpse of what our kids were up to as they learned lessons from Moses and the Israelites about God. I’m really proud of our children and their generosity in helping children and families in Malawi, Africa and here in Kansas City by addressing food insecurity. Resurrection, you helped shape the lives and faith of 1,500 children this week. Thank you!

PARTNER SCHOOL SUPPORT DRIVE CONTINUES

Don’t forget our Partner School Support Drive continues this weekend as we help equip the students in our partners schools for a new school year. As I shared last week, here are some typical expenses that your donation could help provide:

• $10 provides funding for a polo style uniform shirt
• $25 provides funding for ear buds for an entire classroom
• $40 provides funding for basic school supplies for a student
• $100 provides funding for school supplies and uniform pants and shirt for a student

Donate Now

TUESDAY NIGHT VESPERS

A couple of weeks ago we shared the movie Holy Frit on the making of the Resurrection window with our congregation. The Tuesday night following I had the artist, Tim Carey, and the filmmaker, Justin Monroe on my vespers. It was a great interview. This coming Tuesday night I’ll be joined by David Judson, owner of Judson Studios who created the window. David’s a terrific guy who will share about the risks they took on in accepting the commission for the window and what’s happened at his studios since then.

Vespers is every Tuesday night on Facebook Live at 7:30 pm Central Time. 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.” You can see the last two vespers on YouTube by clicking here.

PREPARING FOR FALL PROGRAMS AND COVID

As we plan for the fall, could you take a minute and complete a quick survey? This will help us understand how we can help you grow in faith. Here’s the survey link.

We’re developing exciting plans for the launch of in-person programs this fall. We are also carefully watching the recent increase of COVID cases in the metro, including positive cases that caused the closure of two days of in-person VBC at our Overland Park location this week.

I believe that the return to pre-COVID life is contingent upon people getting vaccinated. If you haven’t been vaccinated, I encourage you to do so, if not for yourself, then for children in our community who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated and to help prevent the spread of COVID to those who are health-compromised.

GLOBAL SERVE TEAM GOING TO MALAWI IN OCTOBER

We are accepting applications for a mission trip to Malawi October 7-19. This team will work with young adults that have recently completed vocational training, helping with training on the importance of saving, budgeting, culturally appropriate marketing ideas, and most importantly, being empowering and encouraging! Many of these students have faced huge obstacles, many have only been in school through 8th grade, and often they might not think they are smart enough to achieve success. You can be a difference-maker by helping these young people realize how incredible they are! Here is the link to learn more and apply.

Not ready for a global trip, but want to learn more? If you aren’t ready to go to Malawi, but want to learn more about serving internationally, join our MISSION trip POSSIBLE evening on Thursday, July 29, 6 -7:30 pm in person at Resurrection Leawood or online via Zoom. Sample food from our partner countries, hear from our partners themselves, and learn more about what serving in another country is like. Here’s the signup link for this informative evening.

UPDATE ON OUR PASTORAL CARE TEAM

No matter where you choose to worship, whether in-person or online, we have an amazing team of caring pastors and lay staff here to serve you. And our teams at every location are now supported by a new “Care Central” team led by Claire Saunders Clough. This team will strengthen our ability to extend care to everyone who calls Resurrection their church “home” and it includes Ashley Morgan Kirk (Connection and Care for online worshippers), Tom Langhofer (recovery ministries) and Courtney Felzke (Silver Link ministry for elder adult care). This team will also coordinate centralized care efforts such as prayer ministries, clinical counseling, support ministries, wedding and funeral coordination, and our support for families in need of financial assistance.

When you need pastoral support, our Location Pastors and Care and Connection Pastors are available wherever you attend:

• West: Bill Gepford and Chris Holliday
• Downtown: Anne Williams and Nick Kaufmann Mamisashvili
• Blue Springs: Penny Ellwood
• Overland Park: Joshua Clough and Jessica Lovell
• Leawood: Wendy Lyons Chrostek, Dennis Apple, Jeff Kirby, and Darryl Burton, along with Pastoral Care Residents Lydia Kim and Jenifer Schultz, Intern Ally Drummond and Resurrection Fellow Josh Siefert.

You’ll also see other pastors offering care, including those who serve in other roles of leadership, teaching and discipleship. For example Tino Herrera will lead our men’s ministry and Justin Schoolcraft will head up the church’s small group and young adult ministries. One of our care pastors, Lauren Baker Thomas is moving to Texas for an appointment in hospital chaplaincy, and we wish her well in her new ministry.

I’m so proud of our team of pastors. I consider them the finest team of pastors serving any church across our entire denomination. If you find yourself in need pastoral care or support, please call the church or send us a note using this link.

In Closing

Just a reminder, we’re in the midst of interviewing candidates for several staff positions now. To find out more about these positions, click here.

I’m looking forward to worship this weekend as we continue to focus on becoming Influencers, or, as Paul described himself and his fellow apostles, “Christ’s ambassadors.” I am praying as I write this note, that God might use YOU as his ambassador, as salt and light, as Christ’s witnesses.

With love,

Adam