Weekly Updates from Pastor Adam - May 20, 2022

Dear Resurrection Family,

This has been a busy week, filled with many exciting things at Resurrection as we wrap up the school year, prepare for summer, and look to the fall! I’ll share a few of those with you in this enote, and I’ll also recognize Dan Entwistle, our Senior Executive Director – in essence our COO, who, this week, celebrates his 30th anniversary on our staff. But first, a word about this weekend’s message – an important one I want you to be prepared for.

The Fourth Key to Relationships That Last: Affection and Physical Intimacy

I’m back in the pulpit this weekend and will be sharing the fourth of five keys to relationships that last – affectionate words and touch, and physical intimacy. Affection is critical for all relationships, physical intimacy is essential for happy marriages (while this is often sexual intimacy, it includes other forms of touch as well). I’ve got so many terrific things to share with you this weekend. This sermon is appropriate for your kids if you’ve had any kind of conversation with them about sexuality. I will use euphemisms wherever possible. But if your kids are below 6th grade, you may want to consider having them in children’s Sunday School while you are in worship.

We’ll start with the importance of affection in all relationships and learn a bit about the “science of kissing” and the power of touch. Then we’ll turn to what the Bible says about physical intimacy – about sexuality. We’ll see how this gift from God can be misused and bring harm, but also how it blesses and positively impacts relationships. This message will be important for teens, for singles, and for all married people. I’ll share with you some of the data from our survey of over 10,100 people, related to pornography use, infidelity, the frequency of physical intimacy over time among our congregation and the correlation between this and happiness in marriage.

Ultimately, I hope to help you think about affection and physical intimacy that reflects God’s ideal of faithfulness and love. At each of our locations, we have children’s Sunday School at the same time as worship, and if you are concerned about small children being present for the message, I encourage you to take them to Sunday School this week. But this is also a chance to have a conversation with your children, after worship, about these important dimensions of love.

7:30 AM Leawood meeting in Foundry this weekend

This will be an important weekend of worship. A reminder for Leawood: 7:30 am will meet in the Foundry this weekend, to evaluate this space one last time and then make a decision about where we will meet going forward for 7:30 am. I’ll be preaching live at 7:30 am. I’ll also be live at 9 and 11 am, and 5 pm at Leawood.

Congratulations, Dan, on 30 years of Serving Christ and our Church!

I want to recognize Dan Entwistle’s 30th anniversary as a Resurrection staff member. Dan currently serves as our Senior Executive Director/COO. No one has been more instrumental in helping lead and guide our church to where we are today than Dan. Dan joined Resurrection with his family in 1991 while home from college at the University of North Carolina, and, upon graduating, joined our staff to become our first part-time youth director. Although it was only a part-time position, and the salary was ridiculously low, Dan felt called to ministry and the vision of Resurrection.

Dan has held a variety of leadership positions at Resurrection as we have grown and expanded our ministries. Today, he leads and inspires a staff of 413 full and part-time staff at five locations. Dan serves with a humble servant’s heart and a passion for reaching people for Christ. In three decades, this has never wavered. As many of our staff have shared this week, more than anything, Dan cares. He cares about our staff, about each of you in our congregation, about other churches, and about those who have yet to know Christ. In recognition of this important milestone, we presented Dan with ten fruit trees and raspberry bushes, creating a small orchard on his property to remind him of the fruit of his ministry. I hope you’ll join me expressing appreciation to Dan for his leadership and commitment to Resurrection.

Serve Saturday Tomorrow

Tomorrow is our monthly Serve Saturday. It’s a great opportunity for you and, if you have kids, your family, to join in serving our community. Select one of the opportunities here, and then go directly to your selected serve site on Saturday.

Blood Drives This Week at Leawood, Blue Springs and Overland Park

If you are able, I encourage you to donate blood this week at one of our locations and help meet the current critical need in our community. As an added incentive, Kansas City’s Community Blood Center will donate $1 to Global Blood Fund’s Ukrainian support efforts for every donor at any of the Resurrection blood drives this month. Blood drive dates and times are listed below. Appointments are strongly encouraged. Walk-ins will be safely worked in as space allows. Masks are optional. Just click on the location name for details and a registration link.

Leawood: (Building B): Monday and Tuesday, May 23-24, 8 am-8 pm
Blue Springs: Thursday, May 26, 2 pm
Overland Park: Thursday, May 26, 2 pm

International Serve Opportunities

We’ve had several of you ask about serve trips to Ukraine. At this point, the greatest need is resources, and there is not a lot that additional volunteers could do. We do know that in the future, there will be a lot of rebuilding to be done, and we are staying in touch to see how we can best help. If you are feeling that God may be calling you to a mission trip, check out our upcoming global serve trips. These trips are part of a long-term strategy for strengthening our partner communities around the world. In the fall of 2022, you could participate in one of three impactful trips to Honduras, Malawi or South Africa. The deadline to sign up is June 15, which is quickly approaching.

Tuesday Night Vespers: Last Week – Update on UMC; This Week – Poland and Refugees

Last Tuesday, I shared an update on the future of the United Methodist Church (UMC). On May 1, a new more conservative Methodist denomination formed. A very important ruling of our denomination’s Judicial Council (our denomination’s “supreme court”), prevents entire annual conferences from voting to leave the denomination which will reduce the number of churches leaving. As the new denomination has formed, those who are leaving have been working to encourage as many churches to depart with them, and they have done this by providing misleading and, in some cases, completely false information. I addressed all of this in Vespers this past Tuesday. If you missed it, you can go view it here. I’d like to encourage each of you to watch this vespers.

Redeemer, A New Album From COR Worship Collective Releases Today!

This collection of original music, songs of worship and praise is available to stream live on all platforms including Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube. Worship music is a perfect addition to your everyday routine. Add Redeemer to your playlist or stream wherever you listen to music!