Dear Church Family,
Hoffman is a church on the go! The summer certainly did not slow us down. We had 11 baptisms and 8 new members join this summer! That is definitely something worth celebrating. I never cease to be amazed at all that God is doing through the mission and ministry of Hoffman UMC.
This summer has proven to be a busy time for me personally. With Annual Conference, Mission u, and a Crucible training event, I am getting tired of being on the go. However, I am also feeling like I need a break. So, we are looking forward to our family vacation in September. While I am away, the youth group will be taking over the worship services under Chris Miller’s direction. They have lots of exciting things planned for you. You will NOT want to miss being at church on September 14th!
As summer ends and school starts, people tend to make their way back to church. Vacations are over and it is time to get back into a rhythm of life. It is the perfect time to invite your friends and neighbors back to church. On Sunday, September 21, Hoffman is celebrating Back To Church Sunday – a special day where we will invite people in our community who are not attending church to come give church a try! Many of you come to church every Sunday. You find this to be a place where you can connect with God and others. This is a special day to invite others to come and join us. On this Sunday, we will be having a special service to welcome these guests and make them feel comfortable. Invite all your friends and neighbors to join you at church on that special day! We have plenty of postcards to help you invite others!
Many of you will remember that Rev. Tim and I did a rap a couple of years ago when we you exceeded the goal of having 235 people in church on Back to Church Sunday. This year we are raising the bar a little bit. Our combined goal between our two services on September 21st will be (drum roll) 260! I am hearing a lot of requests for a return of Pastor J-dubbs and Dr. Donut (our rap names from 2012). We are working with our agent now; however, it is safe to say if you get the people here on September 21st, we can make a rap happen on the 28th.
On Sunday, September 28th, we have scheduled our next Pizza with the Pastor event at 12:30 PM. This is an excellent way for new folks to get to know a little more about me and the church. You can also meet a few others who are starting their journey at Hoffman. Be sure to sign up at the Welcome Center if you are interested in taking part in this luncheon. Also, the details of a Fall Event on Sunday, October 5th are being worked out. We want to make sure that you plan to be with us that evening.
Many of you have begun asking me questions about our Governance restructure for 2015. One of the big concerns has been that it seems like there will be less people involved. On the Governance side of things, this may be true. However, we are trying to be more efficient and effective with our governance so that we do not have meetings with very little purpose. My goal through this entire process has been to move people out of administration meetings and into mission and ministry teams.
The heart of our new model is really the development of new teams that will be deployed to begin doing more mission and ministry through our church. We are very excited to be launching some new teams and strengthening our current ones. Each team will have a clear job description and expectations. The work is still being done with this; however, once it is completed, I trust that we will have many more people involved in the mission and ministry of Hoffman than before. Please plan to be in worship in October as I will be taking some time to share all of these adjustments with you during worship.
Yours in Christ’s Service,
Pastor Justin
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