Weekly Update from Pastor Adam - March 15, 2024

Dear Resurrection Family,

It’s been Spring Break week for many of our students at Resurrection. As I mentioned last week, LaVon and I took Stella on a 10th birthday trip this week. I’ll tell you more about what we did at the end of today’s eNote.

For those at Leawood, I shared last Sunday in worship that we’ve been testing speakers the last three weeks that would make it possible to remove the large white speakers that hang in front of the stained-glass window. I’ll tell you more below. But first a word about worship this weekend as we continue our series on The Gospel According to Paul.

THIS WEEKEND IN WORSHIP: LIVING A LIFE WORTHY OF CHRIST’S CALL

Saint Paul was a practical and pastoral theologian. His 13 letters ultimately were written to encourage followers of Jesus as they sought to live the Christian life. One phrase Paul uses that I’ve always found particularly powerful is his challenge to “live a life worthy of the calling” of Christ. In Colossians 1:9-10 he writes the Christians at Colossae of his prayer that they might be “filled with the knowledge of God’s will…so that you can live lives that are worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way.” In Ephesians 4:1 he writes, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” This is my prayer, personally; that I might live a life worthy of Christ and his call to follow him.

This weekend, our location pastors will focus on this idea, drawing from Paul’s words about what this “life worthy of the Lord” looks like. Our location pastors will be preaching at their respective locations – Pastor Robert Johnson at Leawood, Online and Television; Pastor Bill Gepford at West; Pastor Anne Williams at Downtown; Pastor Penny Ellwood at Blue Springs, Pastor Joshua Clough at Overland Park, and Pastor Wendy Lyons Chrostek at Brookside. Wherever you worship, I know you will be inspired by the message of these gifted leaders.

PASTOR ROBERT JOHNSON BOOK SIGNING SUNDAY AT LEAWOOD

This weekend at Leawood Pastor Robert Johnson will be signing copies of his book, Kingdom Moments and Movements after worship services at Leawood (in the Narthex of Building A). This is a powerful book about recognizing God’s work in all the moments of your life — big and small, good and bad. Copies of the book are available for purchase in the Narthex Sunday by Resurrection Kids, from The Well Bookstore at Resurrection Leawood, or online during the week.

IT’S COMING NEXT SATURDAY! EASTER EGG-VENTURE – MARCH 23

Don’t miss this is a family-friendly, FREE community event at all of our locations. Kids of every age will enjoy an egg hunt, meaningful crafts, and fun-filled activities. Check out the Egg-Venture near you on Saturday, March 23.

• 10 am – noon at Resurrection Leawood, Overland Park, and Brookside locations
• 10 am – noon at the National WWI Museum hosted by Resurrection Downtown
• 2 – 4 pm at Resurrection West and Blue Springs locations

We can still use some additional volunteers to help make sure everyone has fun! Here’s the link.

DO YOU FRIENDS AND FAMILY NEED HOPE? INVITE THEM TO EASTER

We all need hope. The message of Easter is a message of hope – love conquered hate, light vanquished the darkness, and life defeated death as Christ rose from the grave. This year’s Easter services at Resurrection will include inspiring music and a hope-filled message. You likely know people who don’t have a church family, and who need Easter’s hope.

You may want to post our 60-second Easter TV spot on social media, and a link to all of our Easter times and locations. You can do this by clicking here.

DO YOU LIVE OUTSIDE THE US AND WORSHIP WITH RESURRECTION ONLINE?

If this is you, I want to invite you to be part of a special Easter outreach opportunity. This year, we’re running a pilot program to connect with international hotels and offer Resurrection Online’s Easter service times to their guests. By simply printing a flyer (here’s the link) and giving it to a hotel concierge, you can help spread the word and invite people across the globe to celebrate Easter at Resurrection Online. Each of us can name one thing that led us to take the step to try out Resurrection and the difference Resurrection has made in our lives. We each are one person, and one person has the power to change the world!

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

In 1987, a bi-partisan act, named March as Women’s History Month. Every president since has issued a proclamation annually highlighting this designation. It is also celebrated in Great Britain and Australia. The Library of Congress, along with the Smithsonian and others have created a web page honoring Women’s History Month. I thought you might find it meaningful. Here’s the link. Women have also played a critical role in shaping the United Methodist Church. I thought you might also enjoy this page on Women in Methodism.

RESURRECTION DOWNTOWN – ROYALS UPDATE

I’d hoped to have something to share with you today from our conversations with the Kansas City Royals about their plans to build the new Royals’ stadium downtown, plans that would require relocating Resurrection Downtown. We’ve shared with them the potential negative impact this move would have on our downtown congregation and its ministry. But we’ve also shared with them what might mitigate this and allow this relocation, if it were to happen, to be a long-term positive, outweighing the negatives. Royals Chairman and CEO John Sherman told me we’d hear something from them on Monday.

For those who ask my advice about how to vote on April 2, I encourage you to stay tuned in the coming days as the Royals share details about how the proposed stadium project will impact our church, local business owners and the community at large. I love the Royals. I was six when my grandfather took me to my first Royals’ game at the old Municipal Stadium. I was nine when I attended my first game in the then new Royals Stadium in 1973. I’ve had the joy of watching them play many times since then. But more than I love the Royals’, I love our congregation and don’t want to see it negatively impacted by the new stadium. John Sherman has assured me that he wants this move to be a win for Resurrection as well as for the Royals. Anticipate an update sometime next week.

REMOVING THE SPEAKERS IN FRONT OF THE STAINED GLASS WINDOW?!

Below is a photo of what most of us envisioned our Leawood sanctuary looking like when it was being designed, with an unobstructed view of the stained-glass window.

As those of you at Leawood know, there are two large speaker arrays suspended to the right and left of Jesus. Recently an acoustician who leads a firm that rigs speakers for concerts approached us saying he might have a speaker solution that would eliminate the need for the current speakers, replacing them with speakers that hugged the ceiling.
We’ve been testing his solution for the last month. We invited feedback from the congregation several weeks ago. The feedback on sound quality was overwhelmingly positive (85%) but the acoustician took the critiques, identified the locations, and further tuned the system. There will be further tweaks if we purchase the new system, but we feel our month of testing demonstrates the system would meet the needs of our congregation.

We have half the cost of the new system built into the Leawood Generation to Generation campaign (we had planned to install hoists to raise the speakers before and after worship – these funds would not be needed for hoists and could be redeployed for these new speakers, but this would only cover half the cost of the new speakers). The question is if we can raise the other half of the cost of the new speakers. If we could, they can be ordered and installed before the end of the year. I know that for many of you, there has been a deep desire to have an unobstructed view of the window. If you would like to help make that possible, please let me know by clicking here. The cost to do this, over and above what we have built on for the hoists, would be $250,000.

MASTERCLASS FOR RETIREMENT COMING IN APRIL

If you are gearing up for retirement or already navigating this new chapter, we are offering a five-week masterclass for retirement called “Finding Joy and Purpose in the Next Season of Life.” The class will be held on Tuesdays at the Leawood location, beginning April 2 at 6:30 pm. This Bible-based workshop offers practical guidance and support for this life transition. Through interactive study and reflection, explore what’s next, identify goals, and craft actionable plans. Discover how to reignite purpose and find deeper fulfillment in this unique season. This is also a great class to share with your friends and family members who are preparing for retirement. Here’s the link to find out more and to register.

VESPERS THIS TUESDAY: THE POWER OF FEAR…AND FAITH

I’ll be back live this Tuesday night for Tuesday vespers, sharing a few reflections on faith and life, particularly related to fear. Join me at 7:30 pm central time on Facebook Live.

BIRTHDAY ROAD TRIP WITH STELLA

I’ve been posting pics this week on Facebook from LaVon and my road trip with Stella celebrating her tenth birthday. We kept the destinations a mystery for Stella until her birthday and, as I posted pics, I invited Facebook followers to guess where we were. Our first stop was in Springfield, Missouri, to Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium. It was amazing – a treasure in the Midwest. From there it was on to Branson. We hadn’t been there since our daughters were Stella’s age. Our hotel had an indoor pool and waterslide which we enjoyed each day.

Tuesday afternoon we saw Reza the illusionist and kept saying to one another, “How did he do that???” It was a huge hit with Stella – and us. That evening we saw the Haygoods. It was exceptional. Stella loved it and we loved it. Wednesday was Silver Dollar City where we got to ride a sneak peek preview of their newly rebuilt Fire in the Hole ride. I’ll share more about Stella and my ride on another roller coaster Tuesday night at Vespers. On Thursday, we swam, then rode the Runaway Mountain Coaster, and then ended the day at the Dolly Parton Stampede. Stella rides horses and this was a huge hit. Among my favorite parts of each day was simply reading to Stella at bedtime.

As you read this, we’re on our way back to KC.

I’m so looking forward to being a worshiper at Resurrection this weekend! If you are still on Spring Break, join us online!

Adam