Greetings from the Pastor 

“State of the Church” 

We are beginning the new year – 2010 -- after having had a wonderful time of worship and fellowship during the Christmas season.  There is much turmoil in the world but we know Mt. Hermon is a church in the hands of God. Although we may at times be anxious and worried about the future, God has a plan – plenty of hope left in fulfilling His purposes here. There are many needy people in our community and several here among us. We see them as they visit us, coming to us from broken marriages, spouses who have died, jobs that have deserted them. You longtime members who have been here are worried about no increase in the amount of your social security checks but the cost of living going way up. You probably feel as if you have no control over what happens to you in your life - yet you continue to give! Throughout this year you have reached deep into your pockets and pocketbooks to pay give your tithes and offerings. The church bills have been paid and we are on track to pay 100% of their apportioned missions giving. Attendance is down. Some people have left to find churches that meet the needs of their children, to join friends at other churches or find churches that better suit their tastes in worship. However, some people have moved away. Some people have died. Some people have recently become confined to their homes or nursing homes because of sickness, yet the people of Mt. Hermon United Methodist Church continue to faithfully “do the next thing.”  However, we cannot dwell on the past; we must plan for the future, but live in the ‘present’ – God’s gift to us!

Less than a month ago, after the leadership of this church took a tough look at ourselves during our Board meeting the night before, we took a group almost large enough to match the number of people at Liberty Commons nursing home room in which we sang to them! We played handbells, we prayed for them, and then many of us went to them and touched them, talked to them, blessed them and smiled at them - we were Jesus to them!

What will be different about this congregation in the next 1-3 years? The average age of Methodists has moved from 45 when I began in ministry to 57 and it is even higher than that here at Mt. Hermon. However, the church is located near a rapidly growing High School and several new homes have been built within a distance of only a few miles from the church. Several new families with children have moved into older homes, such as the family that moved into the house that was Edna Holt’s home.  My first emphasis for us as a church is for us to start focusing on what we have than what we lack.   We have children who love to sing and ring bells and help serve people at the Harvest Festival. We have children who pray for the elderly and sick of this congregation – children who are in great need of elderly mentors to teach them the faith. We have gifted, experienced and enthusiastic Sunday School teachers. We have a ‘bus load’ of adults known as the “Golden Nuggets” who are active in ministry and in fellowship – this group is growing. Mt. Hermon UMC is blessed! Let us thank one another for the work that has been done. We need to thank one another daily, not only weekly for the love and prayers that we share. The people of Mount Hermon continue to faithfully send cards to the sick and remember people’s birthdays and visit their neighbors. They also cook their delicious food for their neighbors and for other needy people.

 At this time we have more of a small church personality than a medium church personality, but I believe we are probably on the way up a wonderful mountain from this valley we are in. Although we have been “pruned” and “branches” have been removed (or have removed themselves), I believe we have the potential to become a healthier congregation from now on. I say to the people of Mt Hermon what Joshua said to the people of Israel – choose whom you will serve this day – the way you’ve always done everything or God’s way, as for me and my family, we choose God’s Way (which may include ways we have learned from our families). We will continue to look honestly at ourselves and do Congregational Assessments regularly and review our progress on our ministry action plans. 

Presently we offer a very active senior citizen group and that is why most of the people who are joining our Sunday school classes and Bible Studies and are visiting us in Sunday School and Worship are at least 60 years of age. However, there are also several younger people who are visiting and because of many new faces in our ministry team in the coming year, we will see each of them reaching out to and inviting their friends and acquaintances. We are blessed with the ability to have power point presentations during sermons such as were done when our Lay Leader preached this past Laity Sunday. “You are Special” was the title of Ron Mauney’s sermon– a very appropriate title of a sermon to reach the unchurched and remind the congregation of their importance to God and to the family of God.  We are coming up on Advent – a time of soul searching and preparation for the celebration of the coming of God into the world through the birth of Jesus our Savior and Lord - and we have an active and well-trained worship committee who have planned ahead for the ministry opportunities we have before us - such as the many children who visit every Sunday during worship (which will be increasing weekly through the end of the year).

I am casting ONE MAIN GOAL to accomplish our mission statement of making disciples. I have chosen FOUR visions to remind us of the FOUR sides or FOUR walls of our church building through which we need to go out of in order to reach the lost for Christ. Four sides of equal distance make a square. Let this square remind us of the solid foundation that your forefathers and mothers laid for this church. My FIRST VISION is to purpose to catch someone – in our family or a friend or a neighbor doing something good – it doesn’t have to be perfect – just moving in the right direction of goodness. Let us purpose to do this every Sunday when we see one another. Find someone you know that did something of faith or did something that showed they were fighting pain yet with hope, etc., and tell them how they encourage you and build your faith. My SECOND VISION is to actually DO the things we committed to do on the third night of revival when Fred Roberts challenged us to commit to doing something for our church, something for our Lord, something for our neighbors – SOMETHING TO BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD EVERY DAY!  These commitment cards are posted for all of us to read and I will be reminding us of our commitments to each other. My THIRD VISION is I am asking that the people of Mt Hermon join me in “doing ministry”, for the future of this congregation is in the hand of the leaders here, leading a congregation willing and active in witnessing for Christ and in serving the needy. Just do the next thing. Do what you know how to do to help your neighbors. Share your story. Share God’s story. Think of others more than yourself. My FOURTH VISION … pray for your church daily, especially for me – I want to grow as your pastor – your prayers bring out the best in me!  THIS IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT GOAL!!! --- for Mt. Hermon Church to become a church known community – wide as “the praying church on the hill.”  Being a praying church we will grow as Christ’s disciples – most especially in prayer we grow closer to GOD! Growing as disciples will enable us to produce more disciples. More disciples will enable us to reach our community for Christ. Just as our Abide training will help our group of 10 leaders (including myself) hold one another accountable for faithful ministry for Christ, likewise we must hold one another accountable encouraging one another in love and grace-filled living so that we may fulfill God’s purposes for our lives, this congregation, for our community and for the world.

I challenge everyone to get a copy of our “READ THRU THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR” to keep with your Bible. I challenge everyone to make a prayer list of 10 people to pray for twice daily – other than their family. I challenge everyone to not miss more than 6 Sundays at Sunday School and Worship this year.                

In His Love,  Pastor Rob