Weekly Update from Pastor Adam - April 25, 2025

April 25, 2025

Dear Resurrection Family,

What a wonderful Easter celebration last weekend! Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers and staff at all locations who helped welcome our guests and lead worship. It was beautiful.

Despite the rain on Sunday morning, in person attendance was up a little over 8% from last year – largely from our new locations, with 22,086 joining us in person. Our final online and television numbers will not be in until later next week. Last year there were more than 100,000 who joined online and on television in Kansas City. I’ll have the total TV and online numbers next week.

WORSHIP THIS WEEKEND – AFTER THE RESURRECTION: WHAT’S NEXT?

Easter is just the beginning of the resurrection story. After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples and other followers for 40 days. During this time, he taught them, confirmed his identity through various appearances and interactions, and preparing them for the mission of the church, before ascending to heaven.

This weekend, our Executive Pastor Scott Chrostek will share a message that explores what happened after Jesus’ resurrection, and challenges us, as individuals and as the church, to ask the question “What’s next?” Location pastors will be preaching at each location. This will be a powerful message that you won’t want to miss. Join us in-person if you can, or online or on television.

As a reminder, at Resurrection Brookside, there is no 9 am service due to the Trolley Run, you can join at 7:45 am to cheer on runners and walkers as they pass Resurrection.

CELEBRATING CONFIRMATION THIS WEEKEND

Congratulations to our Resurrection confirmands on this confirmation weekend! I am so excited for them and their families, and so grateful for our amazing confirmation mentors and staff who have worked with them this year to prepare them to profess their faith in Christ.

Through confirmation, 8th – 12th grade students explore their faith and choose for themselves to follow Jesus. After months of study and spiritual formation, confirmation culminates with a ceremony where students will make a public profession of their faith in Christ and become full members of Resurrection. This weekend 218 students will be confirmed at five of our locations. Ceremonies at Leawood at 2 pm on Saturday, April 26, at West on Sunday at 3 pm, and during worship on Sunday at Overland Park, Downtown and Blue Springs. This is an important step for these young people, and I hope that you will be in prayer for each of them. You can find a list of their names here.

SERVE SATURDAY TOMORROW

Each month, we spotlight new community partners, offering you the opportunity to serve alongside them and learn about the vital work they’re doing in the Kansas City area. This is an easy way to make a meaningful difference in the lives of your neighbors. Check out this month’s opportunities here and sign up for your place to serve.

GLOBAL EDUCATION SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES THIS WEEKEND

Did you know that in addition to local school partners, Resurrection has global partner schools in Uganda, Malawi, South Africa and Honduras? This weekend in worship we’ll be sharing a hand-out with information about our Global Education Sponsorships and inviting you to consider making a lasting difference in children’s lives by helping to sponsor classrooms in our global partner schools. You can choose to give a one-time gift or a convenient monthly donation. Learn more in worship, or click here.

STRENGTHENING CHURCHES WITH TWO NEW CONFERENCES NEXT WEEK

Next week our ShareChurch ministry is launching two new conferences as part of our vision of strengthening churches. The first one is called Lead(HER) and is specifically for female clergy. They have inspiring keynote speakers lined up, including Nancy Beach, Rev. Dr. Aleze Fulbright, and Nadia Bolz-Weber, and an array of practical breakout sessions. Lead(HER) is April 29 through noon on April 30, and is designed to provide encouragement, enhance leadership skills, and build community among female clergy.

The second conference, Leading Beyond the Walls, begins at 2 pm on April 30, and runs through mid-afternoon on May 1. I’ll be leading these sessions, with help from some of our staff and Rev. Matt Miofsky from The Gathering in St. Lous. This conference is geared to help equip pastors to lead vibrant, outward-focused churches that serve their communities well and draw people to Christ. Between the two conferences we’ll have about 500 guests at our Leawood location. If you’re around, help us demonstrate radical hospitality.

RESURRECTION LAUNCHES YOUNG CLERGY INITIATIVE

This week we’re launching, in conjunction with the two conferences listed above, the Emerging Clergy Network – a program aimed at mentoring gifted young clergy in the United Methodist Church. Participants were recommended by their bishops. We’ll have 80 clergy in their twenties and thirties participating in the program (about 20% of the denominations young clergy). We’ll spend three days together this week sharing Resurrection’s best principles and practices, then a week in England in August retracing the beginnings of Methodism and dreaming about the future of the United Methodist Church. Next spring we’ll meet one final time in Dallas with pastors of some of the other large churches in the UMC. Each of these young clergy will also have a mentor assigned them from among the senior pastors of the 100 largest churches in the United Methodist Church. The aim of this initiative is to inspire and equip young clergy to lead turnaround churches, start new churches and ultimately to prepare them to lead large churches and/or give leadership in our denomination. This, and the conferences listed above, are just a few of the things you do, Resurrection, to fulfill that part of our vision to strengthen other churches.

INTERESTED IN MEMBERSHIP? JOIN US FOR EXPLORE RESURRECTION

If you’ve been thinking about becoming a Resurrection member, I’d like to invite you to join us for a gathering next weekend. At Explore Resurrection (previously called Coffee with the Pastors), I’ll share about the church, what it means to be Methodist, you’ll meet some of our staff and have an opportunity to ask questions. At the end, if you’re ready to join, we’ll have a brief membership ceremony. You can learn more about Explore Resurrection and register here. Upcoming location gatherings are:

April 27, 12:30 pm – Blue Springs
May 4, 11:30 am – Lee’s Summit (at the Pavilion)
May 4, Noon – Liberty
May 4, 12:30 pm – Overland Park, West, Downtown, Spring Hill
May 4, 2 pm – Leawood, Brookside, Online

HONORING OUR GRADUATES AND BISHOP FARR IN WORSHIP MAY 3/4

In worship next weekend, we’ll be recognizing high school graduates at all our locations. We will also be welcoming Bishop Bob Farr, the Missouri Bishop, who will be preaching. He is a gifted preacher and you’ll be encouraged and inspired by his message. We’ll also have a gift for each high school graduate present, so plan now to join us for worship.

GIVING GARDEN OPENING DAY MAY 3

Would you be willing to get your hands dirty for a great cause? The Giving Garden, founded by a Resurrection family in 2023, is a gorgeous outdoor space where you can connect with nature, experience God, and help provide fresh, organic produce to those facing food insecurity across Kansas City. In just two years, we’ve donated 1,450 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to the Resurrection Food Mobile and Food Pantry. There are opportunities to work in the garden throughout the year, and all ages and experience levels from all Resurrection locations are welcome. The official opening day is Saturday, May 3 from 10 am to Noon, with a celebration and blessing. You can learn more and get involved here.

JOIN RESURRECTION KIDS FOR A SPECIAL MOVIE EVENT MAY 3

We are hosting a movie watching event on Saturday, May 3, at the AMC Town Center theater. You can join other Resurrection families at either 10 or 10:15 am to watch “King of Kings.” This movie illustrates how a father’s bedtime tale transforms into a life-changing journey as his son’s imagination allows him to walk alongside Jesus. Through a child’s perspective, this movie invites us all to rediscover the enduring power of hope, love, and redemption. We only have about 100 seats left, you can learn more and purchase tickets here.

GOOD FAITH NETWORK’S NEHEMIAH ASSEMBLY AT RESURRECTION MAY 6

The Good Faith Network’s Nehemiah Assembly returns to Resurrection on Tuesday, May 6, at 6 pm in the Resurrection Leawood sanctuary. This annual assembly unites representatives from more than 30 congregations to organize and use their collective voice to advocate for changes that address the root cause of our community’s most pressing issues like Mental Health Crisis Care, Ending Homelessness and the Lack of Affordable Housing. You are invited to join us and learn more about how Johnson County officials are addressing these critical issues.

LEAWOOD CONSTRUCTION UPDATES

The construction fence went up around Parking Lot B, and a temporary interior wall blocks the construction area inside Buildings B and the Student Center in Building C. Currently all of our other parking lots are open as well as building entrances. For your safety, please stay away from the construction areas. Throughout the project, we will be providing updates as construction areas change.

If you are attending a program in Building B, you have several parking and entrance options:

Park in the C lots off Roe and enter Building B through the southeast entrance (near Matthew’s Ministry).
From Nall, park in the A lots, enter one of the A entrances and walk down the connecting corridor to Building B or walk outside and enter the southwest doors to B.
Another option is to park in the northwest parking lot at 137th and Briar and enter Building B on the north side. (Note: there are steps at this entrance.)

GIFTS AND PLEDGES CONTINUE FOR CHAPEL STAINED-GLASS WINDOW

I’m excited to share that we have gifts and pledges just over $1M for the stained-glass window and sacred elements in the new chapel under construction at the Leawood location! Thank you to those of you who have given gifts and made commitments. We heard from one of our donors who shared that they figured out that if some gave one square inch in each of the 44 panels in the window, it would be a gift of $616 dollars ($14 times 44), and you would be contributing to every part of this beautiful window. How cool is that! Our goal is $1.2M, and we’re almost there. Gifts of any amount will help make this window possible, and if you would like to be a patron of this sacred work of art you can return a commitment card in worship, or make your gift online here.

THIS WEEK’S PODCAST

On my podcast, Making Sense of Faith, this week, our 25th, our producer, Matt Williams, pulled from excerpts from three of the most watched episodes including a segment from my interview with news anchor Matt Stewart about he and his wife Chrissy’s battle with cancer. It also includes excerpts of podcasts I did on how we read the Bible, and two hugely important words in scripture. Listen or watch by clicking here.

Resurrection, I’m so grateful for the way you seek to live up to your name – to be people who live as those who know that “Christ is risen” – who seek to bring hope both by your personal witness, and by the ways that we work together to offer hope and healing in our world.

In Christ’s love,

Adam

Adam Hamilton

Resurrection Senior Pastor

Reverend Adam Hamilton is the senior pastor of Church of the Resurrection and the author of 22 books. He has been married to LaVon since 1982, and she has been a critical partner in every dimension of Adam’s work. They have two daughters and one granddaughter.

Adam’s writings are known for helping readers make sense of challenging theological questions, exploring the significance of the biblical stories, and equipping Christian leaders to be more effective in their work. He earned his MDiv from Perkins School of Theology and graduated with honors from Oral Roberts University with a degree in Pastoral Ministry.

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