Weekly Update from Pastor Adam - October 31, 2025

October 31, 2025

Dear Resurrection Family,

Happy Halloween! This fun day filled with candy and costumes actually has its origins in an important day in the early church – All Saints’ Day. At the end of today’s eNote, I’ll tell you more about the history of Halloween, why Christians celebrate All Saints’ Day, and one Resurrection member who has become a part of those saints in heaven today.

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME ENDS THIS WEEKEND

Don’t forget to set your clocks BACK an hour and enjoy that extra hour of sleep this weekend before joining us for worship Sunday!

THIS WEEKEND: THE GENEROUS LIFE

This weekend, we begin a new sermon series called The Generous Life. Columbia Medical School professor Kelli Harding summarizes the research on generosity, noting, “generosity impacts our health and well-being in so many positive ways. It boosts mood, self-esteem, and our immune system. It also reduces stress, anxiety, and blood pressure.(source link) Generosity strengthens the bonds between the giver and recipient. The act of generosity changes us, enriches us, and blesses us. In this month of Thanksgiving, we’ll consider how we cultivate the generous life. This weekend, we’ll focus on The Generosity of God. We serve a good and generous God, and knowing this changes how we live. Our very lives, this beautiful world, the air that we breathe, it is all a gift from our generous God. It’s going to be a moving and inspiring weekend of worship.

THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AND FOOD AID

As you know, at the time I’m writing these words, roughly 1.4 million government workers have missed their end of October paycheck. If the shutdown continues, 2 million more military personnel will no longer receive a paycheck (funds were allocated for the end of October paychecks). Come December, more will stop receiving pay. In addition, tomorrow, over 40 million people who receive funds from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will not receive assistance for November. A family of four with a net income of less than $32,000 a year qualifies for this program. Many of those impacted are children.

I’m hopeful that bipartisan efforts to fund the SNAP and WIC programs will be approved. I have sent letters to both of our Kansas senators asking them to support SNAP funding. If you’d like to do the same, you can click on this link. Simply type in your address where it says, “find your members by address.”

In the meantime, Resurrection is reallocating funding within missions to support area food pantries (we provide food support for 20 area food pantries). We had funds set aside to develop new preschool programs for low-income children, but we will use part of this to help with food, as needed, in November. As we already do, we will also be assisting people through our Community Care Fund, funded by the communion offering we receive each month at most of our locations. We know this fund is not adequate to meet the needs we anticipate in November. If you wish to support this fund, you can do so when you come forward for communion this weekend or by clicking this link to make a gift to the Community Care Fund.

JOY IN SERVING: HOLIDAY MEALS, WARMTH AND CHRISTMAS GIFTS

We are continuing to work together to provide holiday meal bags, meat vouchers, and hot meals to families and individuals in our community who are facing food insecurity. Last Sunday, Resurrection members picked up nearly 3,500 grocery bags to bring back for families. Once again, I am so proud of you! If you picked up a meal bag, please return your filled bag to a Resurrection location by Nov. 9. You can learn about other ways to provide meals here.

This weekend, we’ll also share two great opportunities for you to bring joy and hope to families and individuals in our community this Christmas season. First, we are inviting you to consider signing up to sponsor a family or a child for Christmas this year. This is a simple way to ensure that families can celebrate Christmas with gifts as a way of reminding them they are loved and not forgotten. Secondly, we’re collecting essential winter items, things like new winter socks, hats, gloves, and winter coats for our unhoused neighbors and kids in our partner schools. You can learn other ways to experience Joy in Serving this holiday season here.

OUR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS NEED YOU NEXT WEEKEND!

We need amazing adults who love Jesus and like teenagers :) to serve with our middle school students next weekend on our Middle School META Retreat, November 7-8. We specifically need Small Group Leaders who are able to stay overnight with us at Resurrection Leawood. This is an amazing opportunity to get to know our students and have an impact on their lives! I promise you’ll learn something new from them :).

Two adult mentors will be assigned a small group of 10-12, and will go through different activities throughout the weekend to help students grow in faith and community. The retreat begins around 6 pm on Friday and will end around 5 pm on Saturday evening. We also need help with serving food, cleaning up, and running different activities throughout the weekend. I will be volunteering for one part of this retreat as I have a granddaughter who will be there. Join me! Click here to sign up to help.

THANK YOU TRUNK OR TREAT VOLUNTEERS!

Thank you to everyone who helped make our Trunk or Treat events last weekend a huge success. We estimate that more than 6,400 people across nine locations participated, many of whom may have been at a Resurrection location for the very first time. I love how, with events like this, we can welcome our community and share Jesus’ love with them. Special thank you to those of you who embraced the “rain or shine” element and those who were flexible and creative in helping move things indoors!

SMALL GROUP SPOTLIGHT!

Resurrection small groups connect to study, serve and support one another. In addition to studying scripture, many put their faith into action by serving together. Throughout the year, our Discipleship Team will be sharing what some of our small groups are doing. If you are interested in learning more and getting involved in a small group, you can learn more here.

Kaitlyn and Cole Hanich lead a Monday evening small group at Resurrection. Although many of them are busy parents of young kids, they’ve made a consistent effort to connect with their small group community to deepen their faith and serve others. They’ve been meeting for three years and are still going strong! Here is their group engaging in Joy in Serving and in their own personal serve project to bless the staff of Resurrection Kids.

INTERESTED IN JOINING RESURRECTION? JOIN US FOR EXPLORE RESURRECTION NOV. 9

As we celebrated Resurrection’s 35th anniversary this month, and focused on loving boldly, serving joyfully, and leading courageously, you may have found yourself thinking, “I love this church! This is my church!” If you are not yet a member, I’d love you to make it official. The way people join Resurrection is by attending our Explore Resurrection (formerly Coffee with the Pastors). At our Explore Resurrection events next Sunday, November 9, you’ll meet others who are planning on joining. I’ll share the story of our church and what it means to be a Christian and a United Methodist, and you’ll meet some of our other pastors and staff. Then we have a brief joining ceremony. Joining next Sunday, you’ll always remember that you joined the church during the 35th anniversary. Explore Resurrection is offered at each of our locations on Sunday, but the times differ. You can register for your preferred location here.

NOVEMBER BLOOD DRIVES

Resurrection’s final blood drives of 2025 are Nov. 3-19, beginning next week at Leawood, Blue Springs and Overland Park, and in two weeks at West, Downtown, Brookside, Lee’s Summit, and Spring Hill. Each donation can help up to three patients in critical situations, and the whole process takes about an hour from start to finish. You can reserve a specific time slot in advance to minimize your wait, or we’re happy to accept walk-ins as well. As a thank you, all November donors will be entered into a drawing for Chiefs tickets—two winners will each receive two tickets and one parking pass for the Chiefs vs. Colts game on November 23. You can select your location and reserve your spot here. Locations and dates are below:

Mon., Nov. 3 & Tue., Nov. 4 – Leawood
Thur., Nov. 6 – Blue Springs and Overland Park
Mon., Nov. 17 – West and Spring Hill
Tue., Nov. 18 – Downtown and Lee’s Summit
Wed., Nov. 19 – Brookside

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE TUESDAY

At Resurrection, we believe that voting is both a privilege and a responsibility. Tuesday is Election Day, when local leadership in our communities will be decided. In our day-to-day lives, city, county and school boards potentially have a greater impact on our communities than those elected to national office. It is important that each of us be an informed voter, electing those individuals whose positions best align with our values and beliefs. There are a variety of websites and resources where you can learn more about the candidates. In Johnson County, where there are a number of elections this year, two non-partisan publications that have online voter guides are the Johnson County Post and the Beacon.

SUPPORTING THOSE IMPACTED BY HURRICANE MELISSA

If you would like to contribute to assisting those who are facing devastating losses from Hurricane Melissa, we can do so through our Disaster Relief Fund, working with local churches and the United Methodist denomination’s Committee on Relief. The resources in this fund allow us to respond quickly to meet immediate, critical needs. You can make a donation online here.

REMINDERS OF OPPORTUNITIES COMING UP:

CHRISTMAS AT RESURRECTION PERFORMANCE AT KC ZOO GLOWILD NOV. 7 – Experience the zoo decorated with giant light displays, and hear our Christmas at Resurrection cast members, musicians and kids’ choir perform from 6:30-8:30 pm near the penguin exhibit. Make sure you tell them you’re with Resurrection for a discounted ticket for entry.
FREE ONLINE ESTATE PLANNING SEMINAR NOV. 10 – Experienced estate planning attorneys from the Resurrection congregation will share helpful information at the Resurrection Foundation’s free online Estate Planning Seminar on Monday, Nov. 10, from 6-8 pm. You can learn more and get the online link here.
THIRD GRADE BIBLE MILESTONE NOV. 16 – Register your third graders to receive their Bible in worship on Sunday, Nov. 16, and sign up for the special Bible retreat for third graders and their grownups on Friday, Nov. 21, at 5:30 pm, where they’ll gather for food, fun, and some great faith activities as they explore how to use their new Bibles. Sign up here.

VOICE UNBROKEN FILM SCREENING NOV. 8

Resurrection member Dena Hildebrand has just produced and directed a new film called Voice Unbroken. It is a documentary telling the extraordinary comeback of beloved sportscaster Art Hains, the longtime voice of the Missouri State Bears and the Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network, who refused to give up after a disease left him paralyzed and fighting for survival. Here’s the movie trailer for this moving and inspirational story of perseverance and unbreakable spirit. The documentary will open at the Glenwood Fine Arts Theater in Overland Park at 7 pm on Saturday, Nov. 8. A Q&A session with Art and the filmmakers will follow the screening. Tickets are $10. Congratulations, Dena!

HALLOWEEN AND ALL SAINTS DAY

Halloween has its origins in remembrances of the dead. Pagan holidays celebrating the dead and warding off evil spirits, and Christian holy days remembering the saints and martyrs and loved ones who had died, eventually merged into the Christian All Saints’ Day or All Hallows’ Day (as a verb, hallow means to consider or make something sacred or holy, as a noun it refers to a holy person or saint). Tomorrow is All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day. Tonight is the evening (or e’en) before All Hallows, hence Hallow-e’en.

This week, we hosted, and our team assisted with the memorial service of Duke Ryan Ommert, a ten-year-old boy, a remarkable young man. His church, Leawood Presbyterian, did not have the space to accommodate the large number of people who would attend, and we gladly offered our sanctuary. All Saints’ Day is a reminder that death does not have the final word in our lives and that, because of Christ’s resurrection, “the worst thing is never the last thing.”

Last weekend, in my sermon, I referred to a woman who was courageous in the face of death, and prayed for me as I visited her in the ICU – I did not name her, but now wish to – her name was BJ Fugate. She passed this week. She was one of our Congregational Care Ministers, and on this All Saints’ weekend, I will be thinking of her. She has joined the saints above.

As we celebrate Halloween with its fun, costumes, and candy, and even scary movies or haunted houses, I’d remind you that behind this even before All Hallows’, is a truth that death has been defeated, that Christ has prepared a place for us, and that those who died in Christ are assured a place in Christ’s eternal realm.

As you enjoy the fun of Halloween, take a few moments tonight or tomorrow to remember those “saints” in your life and thank God for their faith, dedication, worship, and love. If they are still living, send them a note, email or message and thank them.

MY PODCAST THIS WEEK: 15,695 TIMES

I was back in the studio this week, recording several episodes of my Making Sense of Faith podcast. This week, I share something I’ve done 15,695 times (actually, as of today, it is 15,854!) that played a key part in LaVon and me still being married today. In the podcast, I also share part of the message I gave at my daughter’s recent wedding and a few other thoughts about faith and making love last. I think you’ll enjoy this one and, if you do, think of people you might want to share it with! Here’s the link.

In Christ’s love,

Adam

P.S. – One final reminder – we’re still tabulating our 35th anniversary serve hours. If you haven’t logged your hours yet, please do so now. I just logged some of mine last night – took less than 2 minutes! Those hours can include volunteering through the church (teaching Sunday School, ushering, greeting, etc.), through our mission programs and projects like Serve Saturday, as well as everything you do in serving others on your own, or volunteering with other organizations. Simply text the word serve to 913-914-2600, and you’ll receive a link to log your hours.

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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