Weekly Updates from Pastor Adam - Oct. 7, 2022

Dear Resurrection Family,

Happy anniversary Resurrection! It was 32 years ago today, October 7, 1990, when we held our first worship service at the McGilley Funeral Home chapel. A lot has happened across those 32 years. For the 30th anniversary, two years ago, LaVon and I and some of our founding members recorded a video sharing some of our memories and images from the early years and reflections on what’s ahead – it is a moving video, inspiring and I think, regardless of when you joined or what location you worship at, you’ll find it interesting and meaningful. We take you inside the McGilley Chapel, share parts of the very first worship service, visit the various buildings at Leawood when they served as the sanctuary, and more. Here’s the link if you would like to see it. As we prepare to launch Resurrection Brookside, I’m grateful that Central United Methodist Church helped us get started in 1990.

THIS WEEKEND IN WORSHIP: THE POWER OF KINDNESS

I will continue our sermon series on Micah 6:8 this weekend as we take a look at the second thing Micah says that God expects of us: Hesed. Hesed is the Hebrew word for kindness, but it’s also translated as compassion or mercy or steadfast love. We’re going to learn that Hesed is a lot more than just being nice. We often hear the phrase “random acts of kindness,” but I’m going to challenge you to think about kindness as deliberate, not random. We’ll see the power of kindness to change the world. The sermon begins and ends with unlikely friendships among politicians, includes moving stories, and would be a great sermon to invite your friends to join you for.

WORSHIP THIS WEEKEND IN PERSON, ONLINE OR ON TELEVISION

• Leawood location at 7:30 am in Wesley Chapel, 9 am in Sanctuary, and 11 am* traditional in Sanctuary and modern in Foundry, or 5 pm in Sanctuary
• Downtown location Saturday at 5 pm or Sunday at 9 or 11 am
• Blue Springs, Olathe (West) and Overland Park locations Sunday at 9 or 11 am
• Online at cor.org/live on Saturday at 5 pm or Sunday at 7:30, 9 and 11 am or 5 pm
• On KMCI Channel 38 television on Sunday at 8 am or 11 am
• On demand on YouTube throughout the week

CELEBRATING PASTOR WENDY LYONS CHROSTEK AT LEAWOOD SUNDAY

As announced two weeks ago, Pastor Wendy is moving from Leawood to Resurrection Brookside to be the location pastor there and help launch this new location. Wendy has served at Leawood for 13 years, and we want to celebrate this transition with her on Sunday during worship. We will have cookies in the Narthex between the 9 and 11 am services at Leawood, and I hope you will express you appreciation to Wendy and wish her well as she moves to launch Resurrection Brookside.

JOIN THE BE CAMPAIGN MOVEMENT – BUTTONS, T-SHIRTS AND YARD SIGNS

Help spread the word to BE Just, Kind and Humble with buttons, t-shirts and yard signs, while you actively demonstrate to your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers what it looks like to live the Micah 6:8 life.

BUTTONS

If you didn’t get your campaign button last week, you can pick one up at any of our locations after worship this weekend.

YARD SIGNS We also have lots of free “Be Just, Kind and Humble” yard signs that I hope you’ll pick up and display around the city. The signs are free, take one for your yard and put the other one out in public spaces where you see candidate signs in your neighborhood! You can pick up a yard sign before or after worship at all Kansas City locations. Unfortunately, we cannot ship yard signs, but you can download the artwork at and create your own at becampaign.org/resources.

T-SHIRTS We have had to turn in our t-shirt orders so we can have them before the end of the month; there will be some additional shirts available. Please read this carefully.

• If you ordered t-shirts in August and haven’t picked them up yet, you can do so in the bookstore at Leawood (Bldg. B) or any Resurrection location. If you ordered in August and asked to have your t-shirt mailed out of town, it has been mailed.
• If you ordered t-shirts in the second order in September, we hope to have those delivered by the end of next week. You will receive an email with pick up instructions.
• If you still want to order a t-shirt, we do have extra t-shirts coming that we will sell as long as we have inventory. You can send an email to becampaign@cor.org and we will add your name to the list and email you when these are available.

DON’T MISS THE FUN ON SUPER SERVE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15

Let’s take the Micah 6:8 message to the community on October 15. We have more than 500 opportunities to serve our neighbors. You can go to the website to select a place to serve and sign up. Then at 8:30 am on Saturday, join us at a Resurrection church location convenient to you for refreshments and a time of connection before deploying to your serve site at 9 am. I hope everyone in Kansas City will join us and bring a friend! If you worship with us online from outside Kansas City, I encourage you to find a place to serve in your community this month and share it with us at becampaign@cor.org.

“SPREAD KINDNESS” WITH OCTOBER PEANUT BUTTER DRIVE

As part of our BE Campaign this month, we are spreading kindness through peanut butter. Our Backpacks for Hunger program provides a bag of kid-friendly, non-perishable food to students who might otherwise go hungry over the weekend each week, and once a month these students receive a full jar of peanut butter to help their family stretch their food budget. During the month of October, we are collecting peanut butter for this program. A 14-16 oz plastic jar of peanut butter (any brand) is the perfect size to fit in the bag and light enough for students of all ages to carry. All donations can be returned to the church through October 30 and dropped off in the donation bins. I sent an e-mail to my neighbors this morning telling them about our hunger ministry and inviting them to participate. I find it to be a meaningful way to invite even your unchurched friends to join you in helping children in Kansas City. If you’d prefer to donate money and have the church purchase peanut butter on your behalf, click here.

NEW RESURRECTION BRANDING ROLL-OUT BEGINS

Over the next few weeks, you are going to begin seeing some of the Resurrection branding that our communication and outreach teams have been working on for nearly a year. Just to remind you, our brand is our story. It encompasses our purpose, vision and journey, as well as the characteristics that are distinct to our church. Our brand is how we are perceived; it’s our personality. The logo is just one expression of our brand. Coming out of the pandemic, is the perfect time to update our brand as we expand to new audiences in Kansas City and beyond, living into our vision to reach new generations.

Currently we refer to ourselves as “The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection” – but since that is so long (seven words!), most people refer to us as COR; but for people who don’t know us, COR can be confusing and misses the theological and spiritual significance of our name. The branding team recommended focusing the attention on Resurrection, a name that signifies hope, new life, and Christ’s triumph over darkness, sin and death. We’ll include “A United Methodist Church” in the subtitle, being clear that we are United Methodists; but for those who shorten our name to one word, we’ll be Resurrection instead of COR (you can use either, but we’re hoping the rebranding leads to more of us speaking of Resurrection).

We’ll continue to use the cross and flame, the brand of the United Methodist Church, but we will also have a new icon/logo (see below) that we can adapt for all of our ministries (we currently have over a hundred logos for each of our ministry areas – this logo can be adapted for each ministry). We also already refer to each of our locations as Resurrection – Resurrection Leawood, Resurrection West, Resurrection Downtown, Resurrection Blue Springs, Resurrection Overland Park, and now Resurrection Brookside.

Next week, I’ll tell you the theological significance of the icon. Special thanks to our branding team for their work on this! You’ll start to see it on our coffee mugs, letterhead and more in the weeks ahead.

HURRICANE RECOVERY SUPPORT

As folks begin to recover from recent hurricanes, Resurrection is working through the Florida Annual Conference, ReHace (Re-building Communities with Hope) in Puerto Rico, and local United Methodist churches to determine how we can best help. We’ve already sent funds to Florida and Puerto Rico to meet immediate emergency needs. You can contribute to our Disaster Response Fund, which allows the church to quickly respond to disasters in the US and around the world. Here is the donation link.

We are also working directly with the Florida Annual Conference, and our Early Response Team trained volunteers have been invited to come assist with storm clean-up. You can sign up to indicate interest here. If you are not yet early response team trained, we are planning another training session. Check the disaster response website here next week for dates and times.

HIGH SCHOOL FALL RETREAT

Registration is now open for our high school fall retreat at Youthfront West, November 11-13. Join other high schoolers to play night strike, have bonfires, hayrides, and canoe rides, a high ropes course, and experience powerful worship and messaging. Invite a friend and register now.

RESURRECTION FOUNDATION OFFERS ONLINE ESTATE PLANNING SEMINAR

Is it time to create a will or update your current will or trust? The Resurrection Foundation will host an online Estate Planning Seminar on Saturday, November 12 from 9:30 – 11:30 am (CST). Experienced estate planning attorneys will present helpful information to prepare you to take the next step with your professional advisor. EVERYONE IS WELCOME! The seminar will begin with a general information session relevant to all ages and life stages, followed by a breakout session of your choice. The breakout session will provide you the opportunity to ask specific questions related to your stage of life. Learn more and register for this free seminar by Thursday, November 10. On Friday, November 11 you will receive an email containing a unique link to join this informative seminar.

226 NEW MEMBERS JOIN RESURRECTION – WELCOME!

In case you missed it last week, here are the names of the 226 people who joined Resurrection at all our locations and online in September. We’ve added a few names that were accidentally left off last week’s list. Take a look, see if you know any of them, so that you can welcome these folks!

VESPERS THIS COMING TUESDAY

I am traveling the following two Tuesdays with LaVon on vacation, but each week I’ll be posting two of the videos I recently recorded responding to the claims of those trying to persuade churches to leave the United Methodist Church. This coming Tuesday: Love of Scripture, and the next week, Committed to Christ. These posts won’t notify you as my going live does, but I hope these will bless and encourage you. Watch on my FB page on Tuesday at 7:30 pm or on YouTube later in the week.

Looking forward to seeing you this weekend!

Adam