Weekly Update from Pastor Adam - November 8, 2024

November 8, 2024

Dear Resurrection Family,

I was reminded Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, as the election results came in, of sports announcer Jim McKay’s famous line that opened ABC’s Wide World of Sports when I was growing up: “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” I spent time this week hearing from people on both sides of that equation. I want to congratulate Resurrection members who won election or were re-elected to local offices. I am also praying for President-elect Trump and all who will serve in his administration.

This past Wednesday morning, after the election results were clear, Pastor Scott Chrostek and I went into the studio to record the first two episodes of my new podcast, Making Sense of Faith. These episodes, which were released Wednesday night and Thursday morning, were focused on faith and the results of the presidential election. If you are interested, you can find them on your favorite podcast app or by going to makingsenseoffaith.com. The next episode of the podcast will be focused on gratitude and will be released the week of Thanksgiving, after which it will release weekly. The aim of the podcast is to provide thoughtful, hopeful and honest conversations about the questions people have about faith, theology, scripture, spirituality and how these relate to daily life. I hope you’ll take the time to check them out. Here’s a pic of our recording the pilot episodes.

THIS WEEKEND: WHY DO WE NEED JESUS?

On Memorial Day weekend in 1990, Bishop W.T. Handy ordained me as an elder in the United Methodist Church and appointed me to start a new congregation for the southern part of Kansas City along the State Line. That summer, I spent hours praying, studying scripture and contemplating three questions: Why do people need Jesus? Why do they need a church? And why would they need this particular church we were preparing to launch?

Each of the next three weeks at Resurrection, we’ll focus on one of these questions. This weekend I’ll focus on “Why do people need Jesus?” and we’ll turn to the Gospel of John which seems written to answer that question. John does this by telling us who Jesus is in such a way that we can’t miss why we need him. By the way, the sermon will begin with a pop quiz – bring a pen to worship!

Here’s a pic of my family at Resurrection’s second Sunday of worship, October 14, 1990. That Sunday we had the joy of baptizing our infant daughter, Rebecca.

I hope you’ll join us for worship this weekend at any of our seven Kansas City area locations, or on TV or online. You can always find times and locations for all services at resurrection.church/worship.

PARENTS, BRING YOUR KIDS TO SUNDAY SCHOOL THIS WEEKEND!

This weekend each child in Sunday School will receive an envelope that contains $5 with encouragement to grow their $5, to multiply it, then to use it make a difference for someone else. It is a chance for us to teach stewardship to our kids, but more than that, a chance for you as parents to help your kids learn the powerful lesson of generosity and joy. This is a huge opportunity for you to mentor and teach your children an invaluable lesson for life!

AS WE CONTINUE TO “DO UNTO OTHERS,” PLEASE REMOVE YARD SIGNS

Our Do Unto Others campaign ended this week, though I’m still wearing my button and leaving up my yard sign through the weekend before taking it down. If you put up Do Unto Others yard signs in public places, can you please be a good neighbor and take those down and either recycle or repurpose them? Most municipalities and homes associations have limits on how long signs can stay up, and we want to continue to have a positive impact on our community. While our kindness campaign officially concluded this week, our message continues. My hope is that you are looking for ways, everyday, to practice the Golden Rule and treat others as you would want to be treated.

RETURN JOY IN SERVING HOLIDAY MEAL BAGS SUNDAY

Thanks to so many of you for returning your holiday meal bags – it was awesome to see so many grocery bags here this week. If you picked up a holiday meal bag to fill, and have’t done so yet, please don’t forget to return it to a Resurrection location by this Sunday. It’s not too late to participate, and you can click here to see the shopping list. If you’d prefer to have someone else do the shopping, you can also donate online here.

SERVE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 16

Serve Saturday is an easy, low-commitment way to practice the Golden Rule and put your faith to work out in the community! In addition to a variety of opportunities to serve in the community that you can sign up for on the website here, this month we’ll be focusing on packing Thanksgiving meals for those in need at each of our locations. This is a great activity for people of all ages, and I hope you’ll join us next Saturday, Nov. 16.

CHRISTMAS AT RESURRECTION: ILLUMINATIONS 

This is the time when a lot of us start making Christmas plans. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the season than attending Christmas at Resurrection December 12-15 with friends and family. If you have never been before, this is a must-see event that features the 120-voice Resurrection Choir and orchestra, the Kansas City Dance Collective, actors, soloists and so much more. This year’s theme is Illumination, and we’ll be revealing the light of Christmas in both modern contexts and traditional backdrops. Christmas at Resurrection has had a 20-year run and in that time it has become a cherished Kansas City tradition that you and your family won’t want to miss. Find details and ticket information here.

THIRD GRADE BIBLES PRESENTED NOV. 17

At Resurrection, one of the significant milestones in the faith development of our children is the presentation of a Bible to third graders. At worship services on Nov. 17, every third grader will receive their very own Bible. If you have a third grader, please register them here, and then join us in celebrating this milestone with our third graders and their families.

PLAN NOW TO ATTEND FEBRUARY MEN’S AND WOMEN’S CONFERENCES 

• Beloved Women’s Conference, Feb. 7-8 – Join women for an inspiring weekend featuring powerhouse speakers Liz Bohannon and Dr. Nicole Price – two amazing women you won’t want to miss! Details and registration here.
• Determined Men’s Conference, Feb. 28-Mar. 1 – I’m looking forward to speaking at this powerful weekend event along with speaker and author Gerald Fadayomi. We’ve also got a panel of local leaders who will be sharing their leadership insights – this includes Irv Hockaday, retired CEO of Hallmark; Carlos Ledezma, CEO of the Cable Dahmer Group; and Kevin Barth, CEO of Commerce Bank – all men of faith and some of the finest leaders I know. Learn more here.

GLOBAL SERVE OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS

If you are a medical professional, we have some incredible Global Medical Trips in 2025 and we need your expertise and care to help support our partners and their communities in Uganda and Malawi this coming year. If this is something you might be interested in, you can learn more here.

FOSTERING HOPE FOR CHILDREN

Are you interested in learning how you can make a meaningful difference in the lives of vulnerable children in our community? This Sunday, Nov. 10, Resurrection’s Foster Adopt community is hosting a gathering where they will share the ways Resurrection is supporting these families currently, where we hope to go in the future, and how you can get involved. You can join them from 2- 3 pm, at Resurrection Leawood in Room B252, or online. Here’s the link to register.

FINANCIAL UPDATE

The weekend before Thanksgiving each year we invite our members to return their annual stewardship commitment card – your pledge or estimate of giving to God for the ministries and mission of Resurrection for 2025. Last fall in our campaign we conducted both a combined capital and annual stewardship campaign as we were raising funds for our Generation to Generation building projects at all locations.

The Generation to Generation campaign was successful and our congregation has given generously to this effort. We’ve received 50% of the commitments already, ahead of schedule as we’re just one year into our three year campaign. Thank you for those who have already paid off your pledge.

Where we struggled a bit was our annual ministry giving. At this point our ministry giving is down by about 3%. We’ve had interest income help to offset some of this, but our giving to the ministry fund is about $600,000 below budget. This is significant. If you have not given to our the ministry fund this year, please consider a gift now, and a pledge for next year. Your giving makes possible everything we do here at Resurrection to be used by God to change lives, strengthen churches and transform the world!

Looking forward to worship this weekend,

Adam