Weekly Update from Pastor Adam - May 22, 2026

This summer, hundreds of students and adults will be on serve trips, with adult trips to Honduras, South Africa, Malawi, and Costa Rica, high school trips to Costa Rica and the Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee, seventh and eighth grade trips to Arkansas, and sixth graders serving with mission partners in Kansas City. Please pray for safe travels for these teams, and that all who participate will grow spiritually as they serve as salt and light in the world.

I also wanted to share an exciting way Resurrection is serving as a connector across the globe. We have a mission team heading to South Africa next week where Resurrection assists the students and staff at the Ditshego preschool by empowering and supporting teachers. On this trip, our team is joined by Mary Esselman, President and CEO of Operation Breakthrough here in Kansas City. Mary, who we work with on local programs, is considered one of the premier experts in providing safe and loving educational experiences for children in poverty while also empowering their families. She is on a sabbatical from Operation Breakthrough this summer, and we are excited that she is willing to share her expertise with this preschool in South Africa and that Resurrection can help facilitate this connection. You can learn more about Resurrection’s Global Serve Trips here.

INVITATION TO YOUNG ADULT LEADERS

If you are between the ages of 26 and 39 and you’ve been seriously thinking about leadership, I want to encourage you to check out Resurrection’s Emerging Leaders Cohort. This is a 10-month program led by Pastors Joshua Clough and Wendy Lyons Chrostek, along with Debi Nixon, our Executive Director of Donor Development. It’s built around three things: dynamic speakers on leadership topics, mentoring relationships with established leaders at Resurrection, and real-world leadership experience. The cohort wraps up with a trip to England to explore the roots of the Methodist movement and the leadership of John Wesley. Space is limited to 45 participants, and applications are now being accepted. You can learn more and apply here.

THANK YOU, BLOOD DONORS!

During our May Blood Drive across eight Resurrection locations, you donated a total of 738 units of life-saving blood. This comes at a critical time when many people are traveling. We’re grateful for every person who showed up to make a difference. Mark your calendars now for our Summer Blood Drives, August 17 – 27, that we will host prior to Labor Day, which is another critical time of need.

LEAWOOD CHAPEL ORGAN AND SACRED ELEMENTS CAMPAIGN UPDATE

Thank you to those of you who generously contributed to fund the purchase of the organ, furnishings and sacred liturgical elements in the new Wesley Chapel at Leawood. We have not quite met our goal yet, and if you would like to help us equip this space before it opens at the end of the summer, you can still make a gift here. Through your generosity, this sacred space will provide a place for worship, prayer, weddings and funerals for generations to come.

Each day, I begin the day on my knees in prayer. And part of that prayer each morning is to invite the Holy Spirit to fill me, form me, shape me, empower me, and use me. As we observe Pentecost this weekend, I’d like to invite you to make this part of your daily practice. If you are interested in learning more about the Holy Spirit, my latest book, The Holy Spirit: God’s Presence and Power at Work in Us,takes readers through the entire Bible exploring what scripture says about who the Spirit is and how the Spirit works.