A Word From Our Pastor - A New Beginning

Hello Friends,

Over the last few weeks, the piles of boxes and crates in the garage have slowly been shrinking in size and number. Stacks of books in the office have gradually found homes on shelves. There has been a steady decline in instances where I turn the wrong way to walk toward my office, or toward the church office, or the restrooms. Names are slowly soaking into my memory with the faces, and some of the names are even correct!

Starting out new in a strange community is never simple or easy, but I have been thankful for the grace extended to my  family over these first weeks, from the meals shared while we pondered the      location of our silverware, plates, and cookware, to the relaxed smiles of people hearing me need their name repeated for the 3rd, 4th, or 10th time, grace has been extended, and gratefully received.

Thank You.

These early weeks of my time at Hoffman are filled with watching and learning. The staff here already know what they are doing, as do our scores of volunteers, so it is up to me to learn about the work they are already doing so I can do my best to equip and empower the ministries of this congregation. The Lunch Bunch, Kids’ Club, Grandma’s Kitchen, as well as meetings and gatherings both formal and informal have been slowly painting a portrait for me as to the work Hoffman UMC accomplishes as we  Make     Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.

In the coming weeks there are many events I want to make certain you know about. The Staff Parish Relations representatives and myself are going to be working to schedule various “house meetings” to give congregation members opportunities to meet with me and share some of your hopes, dreams, or even fears as we move forward. We will do our best to offer these gatherings at various times, from weekdays to evenings to Sunday afternoons, so I hope you will be able to attend one at a time convenient for you. We are hoping to schedule these through August and September, and if necessary, we will schedule more to assure everyone who wants to participate has a chance.

In the coming weeks, you can expect our new website to  go “live,” and we are excited at the additional opportunities we have to connect not only with the congregation, but  also with those in our community who explore it searching for a home church. At this point I really don’t know a great deal about it, but at least I am aware that I don’t know. The pile of information about this congregation and community that I “don’t know what I don’t know” certainly must be vast, but I am committed to learning what I can before making assumptions that could very well be wrong.

I’ve been a pastor since 1997, so while I am experienced in serving Christ’s Church in this capacity, I also know I have much to learn about this new very active mission field I am called to serve here at Hoffman UMC.

Throughout August we have a few community-building activities we hope you can take part in. On August 2nd is our Annual Church Picnic, hosted by Marty and Wendy Black. Swimming begins at 2:30, with the carry-in dinner at 5:30. Please bring lawn chairs with a covered dish.  On August 9th we hope to be blessed with a report from our Redbird Mission Team.  The August sermon series will focus on Joseph and the School of Hard Knocks he endured. As we have many students and teachers returning to classrooms this month, we thought it would be nice to tie into the difficult lessons we learn in life, some similar to Joseph’s. We intend to have a time set aside to pray for our students and teachers during worship on August 16th. I hope all can attend. While joining you in the journey (and learning names), I am,  In Christ’s Service,

Rev. Robbie D. Scott

From Disney to Lent- February 2015

Dear Church Family,

      I believe that 2015 is off to a great start. In addition to starting a new year, I have also started serving as the director of Young Spirits.  It has been an exciting time to work with them each week.  There are about 80 7th-12th graders registered this year.  Please continue to keep this vital ministry in your prayers. 

      Of course, the highlight of January at my house was the birth of our new little boy.  We named him Walter Randall Williams.  He arrived on Sunday, January 11 at 3:19 PM.  Chanda and I left church that day and headed straight for the hospital. Walter, Chanda, Wesley, and I are doing great.  We are thoroughly enjoying welcoming Walter into our home.  We want to thank everyone for the cards, gifts, and meals during this time.  It has been greatly appreciated.

      Following Walter's birth, I took some time off to spend with my family.  It was great being able to spend some time with Chanda, Wesley and Walter. I appreciate Chris Miller and Tim Benkert for graciously filling in and keeping our series going during this time. 

      Speaking of our series, The Gospel According to Disney has been a great hit.  It has been creative and fun, but most of all, it has been convicting.  The series has challenged us to become the people God has created us to be.  The series will continue into the month of February.  I hope that you will continue to come and invite your friends and family as well.  On February 4th at 6:30, we will be showing the movie Cars in the Activity Center.  I hope that you will join us for this family movie night.  Refreshments will be available.  

      As the Disney series comes to an end, we enter into the season of Lent.  Lent is a season where we prepare ourselves to celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is a time of spiritual growth and reflection.  During Lent, we are often challenged to "give something up" in an attitude of fasting.  I invite you to consider what you might fast from during Lent.  As you subtract something from your daily life, I invite you to consider what you might add to draw you closer to God this season.  For example, you might give up television, Facebook, a particular food, a computer game, etc.  You might add reading your Bible, spending time in prayer, reading an inspirational book , etc.  The possibilities are endless.  Make this Lent one where you focus on your relationship with God.  

      Our end of the year figures are completed.  Since 2010, we have had a steady an increase in giving every year.  Also, our Sunday School attendance is the highest it has been in the past 5 years.  That being said, 2014 was the first year since then that our average worship attendance has declined.  I am confident that 2015 will be a year where we can have our highest attendance to date.  We can do that by doing three key things:

1. Make church a weekly priority in your own life.

2. Invite at least 1 person each month to join you at Hoffman.  

3. Pray that God will send us people who need to experience his love and grace.  

      We commissioned our new Church Board on January 11th during worship.  Their first meeting was Thursday, January 29.  We are excited to live into this new structure.  Establishing the Church Board was the first phase of this project.  Now, we are prepared to move into the second phase where we will be developing some new ministry teams.  If you are interested in serving on a ministry team, please let me know.  You can also talk to the members of our Lay Leadership Team (Carol Carter, Julia Circle, Nancy Curry, Ben Garrett, Kathy Kinsey, Denise Sanderson, and Les Trittschuh). They have already met this year to begin the process of starting new teams.  

     Yours in Christ’s Service,

         Pastor Justin

A New Year Brings New Excitement- January 2015

Dear Church Family,

      It is hard to believe that 2015 is right around the corner.  It is an exciting time as we finish out one year and prepare to begin a new one.  We want to thank the church for the generous Christmas gift that we received at the Christmas party.  I also appreciate all of the other cards and gifts.  You are a very supportive and caring church family.  Hoffman is an amazing place to serve.  Thank you!

      While this is our January newsletter, I realize that you will receive this before Christmas. With that in mind, I want to remind you to join us for Christmas Eve services at 7:00 and 10:00 PM.  This year, we will be taking up an offering at our Christmas Eve services.  All money given will go to support the Red Bird Mission.  This is a mission to people living in poverty.  This is a great opportunity to give to those in need this season!

      As we move out of Advent and into a new year, our church eagerly anticipates the arrival of several baby boys who are on the way.  Of course, Chanda, Wesley, and I are one of the homes that is expecting.  While  Chanda may be ready for the pregnancy to be over, we are in no way ready for this baby’s arrival.  We still need to decide on a name, prepare the nursery, and do some shopping.  When I ask Wesley what he is going to do with his baby brother, he says, “Play with cars and toys and sing him lullabies.”  It is certainly a fun time at the Williams’ house. 

      Each year, our Annual Conference invites us to set Breakthrough Goals for our church.  These goals give us a benchmark to look at throughout the year.  Let me show you where we currently stand with our goals for this year:

	2014 Goal	YTD Actual
Average Weekly Worship Attendance	193	178
New Members	5	17
Baptisms	5	10
Weekly Giving	$4734	$4637
Apportionment Giving	100%	100%

      As you can see, we have exceeded our goals for new members and baptisms for 2014.  This is very exciting news, because these are the two goals that relate directly to our mission of making disciples of Jesus.  We have fallen short of our attendance and weekly giving goals. These were both directly related to the winter weather that we had in 2014.  Now, that 2014 is almost over, we are ready to look at our goals for 2015.  Our average weekly worship goal is 185.  We hope to have 12 new members and 10 baptisms in 2015.  We plan to pay 100% of our apportionments.  Let’s pray for the breakthrough that God wants to do in Hoffman UMC in 2015.

      Coming to Hoffman UMC in January is “The Gospel According to Disney.”  During this 7-week series, we are going to look at the stories of transformation found in several Disney films and how they relate to our life and faith.  Here are some of the titles of our upcoming sermons: “Frozen: From Fear to Love,” “Aladdin: From Bondage to Freedom,” “The Lion King: From Defeat to Deliverance,” and “Cinderella: From Rags to Riches.”  During the series, we have some exciting surprises planned.  We will also be showing two of the movies in the Activity Center.  Frozen will be shown on January 7^th at 6:30 PM and Cars on February 4^th at 6:30 PM .  We hope that you will join us for the series. This series was designed to attract people in our community.  So, we hope you will invite your friends and neighbors.  We will have postcards available for you to use to welcome others to join us for this series. 

      As we have talked about throughout this year, 2015 is also a time when we are moving to a new governance structure at our church.  Our new Church Board will begin in January.  Please be in prayer for them as they take on this new role and as we move in a new direction.  It will take some time for us to live into this and continue to work out all of the details.  We will also be spending January and February recruiting people for some of our new ministry teams.  I hope you will consider joining us as we seek to be in ministry to our community and world.

     Yours in Christ’s Service,

        Pastor Justin