Glasgow First United Methodist Church

 

500 South Green Street

Glasgow, KY 42141

Phone: 270-651-3445

Welcome to the Pastor's Corner.

 

 

Each week, the Pastor's newsletter note can be found here.

Pastor's Corner

9/15/10

Praying in a Whole New Way

"One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, …" (Luke 11:1 NIV)

Monday evening, I attended a board meeting of the Thailand Methodist Mission of which I am a member. Our task is to support Michael and Sherri Morrissey who are missionaries in Thailand from our Conference. Mike and Sherri’s contract with the General Board of Missions has expired but their work there is so important that they and we are committed to finding a way to continue to support them in this work.

Our Annual Conference and churches from all over the Conference are coming together to provide the support needed to maintain the only United Methodist presence where Christian are less than 5% of the population and a place which is a primary center for children being sold into the sex trade industry.

Anyway, during our board meeting Mike and Sherri joined us through this marvelous technology called Skype. It enabled them to see and hear us and us them on the screen of a laptop computer. There was an 11 hour difference between us. We met at 5:30 p.m. and it was 6:30 a.m. there. When we closed our meeting Mike prayed for us.

As I’ve had time to think about it, I am just so overwhelmed at the new and wonderful ways God enters into our lives. Think about it, someone who was thousands of miles and many time zones away from me was praying with me and for me. And it was all in real time, just as if they were in the room.

God is so good and so powerful that he has designed PRAYER as his chosen method to communicate with us and to meet our needs. And PRAYER knows no boundaries. Time, space or distance cannot hinder PRAYER.

We are looking forward to Sherri joining us at a Wednesday evening meal in October. Until then, please keep their work in your prayers as we continue to pray for each other and the church. And let us all be open to God teaching us to pray in a whole new way.

Grace and Peace,

Bro Doug

 

7/22/10

I Need to Be Still

            “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;”  (Psalm 37:7a NIV)

 Many years ago I had the good fortune of meeting and talking with B.J. Thomas who at the time was well known as a pop music star.  However many folks did not know that prior to and concurrent with his pop music career, he wrote and recorded many, many gospel songs.  And many did not know the part that faith played in his life.

 The occasion for our meeting was in the planning of a concert to benefit a regional drug education program of which I was the executive director at the time.  What I learned was that B.J. Thomas faced many struggles dealing with all the temptations and the lifestyle which fame and fortune so often bring. And he credited  his success in overcoming some of the evils of that lifestyle to discovering just how much God loved him.

 The key to that discovery was that he had to block out all the competing forces that were battling for his attention and his soul and that he had to “be still and let God love him.”  And he recorded a song by that very title, “I Need to Be Still and Let God Love Me.”  It has become one of my favorite songs.  And one I need to hear often.

 This has been one of those mornings.  You know the kind, we all have them.  A day when you have more things on your “to do” list than you have time.  And you have already talked to too many people to count, and you’ve been bombarded with text messages and e-mails.  You know, what I’m talking about. 

Well, these are the times when I take a deep breath and remember how much I need to be still and let God love me.  So I find a quiet place to hide and just try to be still, and pray.  I have to constantly remind myself that God’s plan for the world does not depend on me getting my “to do” list done and that before I can do anything I must remember how much God loves me.

 I want to challenge each of you to do the same.  I know that we all have things that we do have to accomplish, especially at work and with family obligations, but take a few minutes each day to be still and let God love you.

 Grace and Peace,

Bro. Doug

 

 

7/13/10

The Power of Vision

"Where there is no vision, the people perish." Proverbs 28:18 (KJV)

There was a time when it seemed that the word "vision" was the most used and abused word in the English language. It became a buzz word among business, large and small, institutions, corporations and lastly churches.

It was so over used that for a period many of us began to cringe when we heard it. So many times, it became a byword for talking about dreams and plans and then actually doing nothing to put those plans into effect.

But it’s not a bad word. Actually it’s a good word, one that is certainly biblical and has great implications for the church. Because it is true that if we don’t have vision in the church, then over time, the church can languish, slip into a practice of just maintaining and eventually decline and die.

So we must have vision in the church, but it’s not our vision. I believe that it is through intentional prayer and devotion that we discern God’s vision for ourselves and for our church. And you will be hearing much about vision in the coming weeks and months as we begin our journey together and as we try to discern God’s vision for Glasgow FUMC.

I know that God has great things planned for this church, blessings and ministries that we cannot possibly even dream at this point. But in order to live into God’s plans for the church we have to begin to seek God’s vision and make it ours.

The first step in this discernment will be prayer. I hope you are already praying for you church and for your pastors and staff. But we need to do more than just remembering the church in our general prayers. I believe God desires more.

In September we will begin a sermon series on Prayer. During September and October as we concentrate on prayer we will begin to pray intentionally and specifically for our church and God’s vision for us.

As a part of this effort I plan on beginning Prayer Groups, some who will meet at church, some in homes and some in other settings. We will spend most if not all our time praying for discernment of God’s vision for the church.

You can begin now. Join me as together we claim God’s blessings for our church.

Grace and Peace,

Bro. Doug

 

 

6/22/2010

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do 

            I remember many years ago a teacher in a Systems Management course telling me, “All change feels like conflict.”  In other words, any time you change any part of a system, it affects  the dynamics of the entire system.  It’s the same if the system is an institution, a business, a church or a family. And we are all up to our necks in change.  The church, Dean and Sue, Nancy and I, and the church we are leaving, we are all involved in change.  And if you have been a United Methodist for very long, then you know that this is the season for changes. 

            As a matter of fact I am writing this while at Annual Conference in Covington in our hotel room and within the walls of this building and the adjoining hotels there are countless other men and women who are also involved in change. On Saturday at the conclusion of our time together when Bishop Davis reads the names of those us who will be moving, change will become official. It will be an act of closure and an act of a new beginning all at once.

So next week if you are out on the highways and byways and see a moving van, there is a good chance it is transporting the belongings of a United Methodist pastoral family to a new appointment. If you do see one, say a prayer for that family and for the church they are leaving and the church to which they are headed.

            The words in the song by Neal Sedaka are true, “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.”  So true in fact that he released two different versions of it some years apart. It’s not an easy thing to say goodbye to folks with whom you’ve lived and laughed and wept for so many years.  I know it is not easy for Dean and Sue to say goodbye to Glasgow FUMC nor you to them.  And it is not easy for Nancy and me to say goodbye to Bethel and them to us.  Change always feels like conflict.

            However, I have found in my journey that it is in those times of challenge and change and even conflict that God provides fertile ground for spiritual growth.  This can be especially true for the church.  And so it is with this New Beginning.

 It is that great gift of hope and faith that God gives us, that stirs so much excitement for Nancy and I  as we prepare to load all our stuff on that moving van for the trip south.  I am convinced that God has great plans for  Glasgow FUMC that will build upon the rich heritage and history and the wonderful ministry already happening as we embrace this “new beginning.”  We are so humbled to be able to join you in this work by serving our loving God in such a place as this. And we look forward to serving alongside all of you in this holy work of building the kingdom in this place.

            Please join us as we pray for each other and the church.

 Grace and Peace,

 Doug