Weekly Update from Pastor Adam - February 14, 2025

This weekend, in worship, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we’ll be focusing on relationships and keys to healthy relationships, whether romantic, family or others. We’ll see some of the keys scripture holds to meaningful relationships. Pastors Scott and Wendy Chrostek will be sharing this weekend’s message at Leawood, Online, TV, Brookside and Springhill. Our location pastors will be preaching live at West, Overland Park, Liberty and Blue Springs. This is such a timely message, and I know you’ll be blessed.

The Super Bowl may not have had the outcome we wanted, but our partner food pantries, the Resurrection OP food pantry, our foodmobile and people who are food insecure had a huge victory thanks to your generosity in our Sack Hunger Food Drive. Through your donations of food and cash, you gave the equivalent of 103,041 pounds of food. Last Sunday morning, I noted we were behind last year’s food drive, but you more than made that up last weekend, surpassing what you gave last year in our food drive. According to the USDA, 1.2 pounds of unprepared food = one meal. You provided 85,867 meals in our Sack Hunger Drive. On behalf of every person who will receive food because of your generosity, THANK YOU!

Guys, I’m really excited about our upcoming men’s conference on Friday, Feb. 28, and Saturday, March 1. We’ll enjoy food and fellowship together, inspiring talks about living as Determined men with purpose, and an amazing panel discussion with three of Kansas City’s most amazing business leaders: David Ball, President and CEO of Ball Foods who operates 28 area grocery stores including Hen House, many Price Choppers and others; Kevin Barth, Chairman and CEO of Commerce Bank’s Kansas City region; and Carlos Ledezma, President and CEO of the Cable Dahmer Automotive Group with 8 dealerships and other businesses. Gerald Fadayomi will be our Friday night speaker. His most recent book is When Life Gives You Lemons on facing seasons of adversity. After his talk, we’ll have some fun with pub trivia, axe throwing and more “guy stuff”! On Saturday after the panel discussion, we’ve got many of our pastors and male staff members leading break-out groups. I’ll wrap things up with a look at what is needed from men today. To find out more or to register, click here.

Tomorrow is our monthly Serve Saturday. Events are designed to be easy, low-commitment ways to make a positive impact on your neighbors in the metro. We have opportunities to partner with local organizations who are tirelessly working to enhance our community and create lasting change that transforms lives. To learn more and sign up, click here.

If you are an 8th-12th grade students (or if you know one), we have something very exciting happening in February just for you. Converge 2025 is bringing students together at Resurrection Leawood on Feb. 21-22 for two days that could really shape your faith journey. Through our partnership with the Great Plains and Missouri Annual Conferences, we’re creating an experience that combines meaningful worship with real leadership development, all while connecting you with other students who are navigating similar questions about faith and life. Whether you’re deeply involved in church or just beginning to explore your faith, you’ll find authentic worship, practical workshops, and genuine connections. You can learn more about Converge and register here.

There may be snow on the ground, but we’re excited to start looking forward to one of the most fun weeks of the summer. Vacation Bible Camp kicks off the week of July 14 at all our locations. This year’s theme is “Wild Kingdom – Trust Leads the Way,” and it’s going to be a week filled with Bible stories, music, crafts, games and lots of fun. Plus, there’s something extra – we’re planning an all-camp celebration at the Kansas City Zoo on Saturday, July 19. Stay tuned for more details about this special event. Volunteer registration opens today, and volunteers get early registration for your children, registration discounts and childcare for your pre-k childcare. General registration opens March 14. Here’s the link for volunteer registration.

You can be part of this powerful ministry of healing by signing up for one of our February blood drives. Together, we can ensure that vital blood products are available when our neighbors need them most.
• Feb. 17/18 – Leawood
• Feb. 20 – Blue Springs and Overland Park
• Feb. 24 – West and Spring Hill
• Feb. 25 – West and Downtown
• Feb. 26 – Brookside
For a full list of locations and times and to sign up, click here.

Plan now to join us next Wednesday, Feb. 19, at 6 pm either in the Leawood Foundry or online for a powerful evening of stories and discussion with participants who traveled to historic Civil Rights sites with Pastor Robert Johnson. The panel discussion brings together personal experiences and historical perspectives paired with powerful musical performances that highlight the spirit of the movement. Learn how these landmarks and their history continue to shape our present as panelists share what they discovered at these important sites. The evening creates space for meaningful conversation about the ongoing work of equality and justice. To learn more and register, click here. A community dinner will be available starting at 5:30 pm for a small fee.

My podcast this week was pretty special. I interviewed legendary Kansas City attorney Herb Kohn. Herb is 86, and as a boy his family was forced to flee Nazi Germany, first to Holland, then forced to flee there for Belgium. From 4 to 8 years old he and his family were hidden by strangers so they would not be caught and sent to the camps. The last year, it was nuns who protected them. Herb’s grandfather was captured and sent to Auschwitz. The podcast ends with Herb reading the letter his grandfather sent to his grandmother on the day he was sent to the gas chamber. It was pretty remarkable. To watch or listen to my podcast, Making Sense of Faith, click here.

Many of our holidays have pre-Christian origins – celebrations and festivities that emerged in the Greco-Roman world. As Europe and Near East adopted Christianity, Christian holy days and days recognizing saints often took their place. In the ancient world, Februa was a festival of purification, aimed at purifying ancient Rome (and maybe elsewhere) and associated with fertility. Later, it became known as Lupercalia. One ritual involved sacrificing an animal, cutting its hide into bloody strips, and running naked around Rome. Any woman who hoped to become pregnant might hold out her arms to be struck by the strips, which was thought to increase fertility. This happened on February 15. I’m glad we still don’t celebrate this festival! But our month of February got its name from this.

Okay, fast forward to the 200’s when Christianity was spreading across the Empire, and yet there are occasional persecutions of Christians still taking place. There were several figures, priests named Valentinus, who were put to death for their faith – they may be the same person or different people. One of them was executed for his faith on February 14, 269. According to one legend, St. Valentine was executed for persisting in performing Christian weddings when he was forbidden from doing so – hence the later association of Valentine with love. Another legend says that he signed his notes of encouragement to a young woman, “Your Valentine.” Another says he cut hearts from parchment and gave them to persecuted Christians – a reminder of God’s love.

Now, all of this is the stuff of legends. There was likely a real St. Valentine who was martyred for his faith, who had nothing to do with romantic love. Regardless, I’m grateful not to be sacrificing animals, cutting their hides in strips, and running naked around our city slapping people with the strips! I’ll take instead the legends of a priest who blessed lovers and reminded people of the love of God.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Adam