Dear Church Family,
Fall is officially here, and things certainly are not slowing down at Hoffman UMC. We have a lot planned this month and hope that you will find opportunities to join us in several ways. It is a season of celebration!
Things are going well in the Williams household. We certainly enjoyed our recent vacation to Myrtle Beach. It was a wonderful to get away and spend time with family. We are preparing for the birth of our new son in January. Chanda is doing well. Wesley is still not quite realizing what his promotion entails. We are getting excited and anxious.
While we did not reach our goal for Back to Church Sunday, we had a wonderful worship service in which God’s presence was evident. We had 215 in attendance for that day. Thanks to everyone who invited your friends, family, and neighbors to join us for that day. While that is the one day each year that we focus on inviting others, we hope that you will make it habit to welcome others to “come and see” what God has in store for them at Hoffman UMC.
We are planning a Fall Festival of Praise for Sunday, October 5th at 6:30 PM in the Activity Center. It will be an evening featuring our Open Door Praise Team. We hope that you will join us for a time of praise. The youth will be offering concessions as a fundraiser. We have lots of great music planned, and you will get to know the praise team members better as they share.
I am also excited to share with you some great news. We are now a debt free church! After 11 years, our Activity Center is finally paid off. There has been a great deal of sacrifice and generosity on your part to make that happen. In celebration of that fact, we are going to have a meal together on October 19th at 12:30. The event is a celebration of paying the debt, but also a time of thanksgiving to each of you who contributed to help us reach this goal. Our new District Superintendent Jocelyn Roper will join us for this celebration. We hope this will be a time for folks from the first and second service to mingle together and build community. I hope that you will join us to make this time even more special.
We have much more going on in October. World Communion Sunday is on October 5th. We are having a Church Work Day on October 11th. The CROP Walk (October 12) will gather at Hoffman at 2 PM. Then, we will end the month with Trunk or Treat. Details of all of these events can be found on the back of this page.
In addition to the events, we will be having worship every Sunday! With that, we are starting a new sermon series entitled “Together We Can.” During this series we are going to be looking at how we are better together and how our involvement in the mission and ministry of the church can help us accomplish even more kingdom work in the world. I hope you will join us for this series that will also give me the opportunity to share with you some of the changes that will take place with our new governance structure in 2015. We will also give each of you the opportunity to explore what your spiritual gifts are.
Our Annual Charge Conference is on October 15th. Several people have asked questions about Charge Conference recently. Charge Conference is basically our annual church business meeting. During the meeting we approve the budget and nominations for the coming year. Please be in prayer for our Administrative Council members as they care for the important work of the Charge Conference.
As always, I am very grateful to serve as your pastor at Hoffman United Methodist Church. Your prayers, support, and encouragement mean a great deal to me. Thank you for the way in which you care for you pastor!
Yours in Christ’s Service,
Pastor Justin
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