Dear Church Family,
July is a time when we remember the freedom we have. I always think it is helpful for us to remember that we are not only free as Americans, but we are also free as Christians. We have been set free from the law of sin and death. We are set free from our sin and that is certainly something worth celebrating. As we celebrate Independence Day, may we remember our freedom in Christ and our dependence on God!
We had a great time at the West Ohio Annual Conference this year. There were over 2500 people gathered to care for the work of the annual conference. We took up the offering for Imagine No Malaria and received $263,479.84. Hoffman was proud to contribute $1500 towards that offering. As a conference we gave over $2.5 million to missions! In addition, our conference gave $1.1 million to disaster relief. Our district was the top contributor. It was great to have a large delegation from Hoffman UMC this year. One of our delegates—Julia Circle—received third place in the 5K at conference. We enjoyed our time being together at conference.
We are going to have a new sermon series in July focusing on a very important element in the Bible—Water. Our new series will focus on four key passages of the Bible where water plays an important role. As we discuss water, we will also be celebrating baptism. We have baptisms planned on July 6th and July 27th. On July 20th, we will have a time of baptism remembrance during our worship services. If you are interested in baptism and you have not been baptized before, this would be an excellent time for you to consider it. If you are interested, please let me know.
July will be bringing many more fun events to Hoffman. We are going to have a float in the July 4th parade. We will be going to the Dayton Dragons game on July 12th. Kids Club and Lunch Bunch are going strong. The Art Show Committee have been planning a great Art Show for July 18th-20th. It is going to be a great month.
This summer, I have been asked to return as the Music Director for Mission u. This conference will be held at Ohio Northern University from July 6-July 13. The Praise Team from Hoffman will be joining me for the opening worship service on July 7th. If anyone is interested in more details about Mission u, please let me know. I am looking forward to being a part of the team again this year.
We are half-way through the year now. I thought it would be a good time to give you a financial update. At the end of May, we were $3,944.11 away from meeting our year-to-date budget goal. The rough winter weather not only affected our attendance, but it also affected our giving. So, while we are not there yet, I am still confident that we can meet our goal by the end of the year. However, something that we can certainly celebrate is that our loan on the Activity Center is down to $13,263.91 as of June 2nd. At the pace we are going, we will have no problem paying this loan off by the end of the year. Thanks for your continued generosity.
Our Maximizing Mission and Ministry Team is well on its way to solidifying the details for our new Governance Structure. Our team has met 7 times in the past 6 months. We are going to be transitioning to a Church Leadership Board that will take the responsibilities of SPRC, Finance, Administrative Council, and Nominations. We are very excited about this transition. Another component of the restructure is establishing mission and ministry teams. We are very excited to get everyone plugged into a mission and ministry team. Please continue to keep us in your prayers through this time of transition.
Yours in Christ’s Service,
Pastor Justin
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