Father’s Day & Professor Wilson

3rd Sunday after Pentecost
Just these lines, my friends …

… to say it is always special to see new people joining our transforming community. On Sunday a wonderful group of folks joined us in our calling to make God’s love real to all. Join me in welcoming Richard/Terri McCoy, Brittain/ David Storey (Eliza & Liam), Laurence/Patricia Bivens, Fred/Montez Ashford, Pat Buckles, and Hugh/Trish Clark to the adventure of following Jesus in and through Matthews United Methodist Church (MUMC).

Thank you to Pastor Paul for his powerfully inspiring sermon on Sunday. You can watch here.

Sunday brought to us Family Worship where each child created a Flat Jesus to take home and capture pictures with this summer. During this service, we commissioned and prayed over Youth and Leaders preparing to leave on mission trips. Sunday also marked the return of our Sunday Morning Coffee House, but this time hosted by Rainbow Express Ministries featuring WillBeans Coffee. We are so grateful for the years of deep-level partnership with this organization.

I’m so thankful for the many persons in our church who serve and give at the intersection of church and society. On Sunday, this was represented by nearly 100 people from all over our community coming together for our Prayer Gathering for Victims of Gun Violence on the Town Green. You can read here the prayer I offered AND you can read through here the action steps we were invited to consider.

I’m so excited about our annual Music & Arts Camp taking place this week with over 80 children learning about God’s great love for them and 54 volunteers sharing their time to help with the camp. Yes, you read that correctly. We went from having only five people all the way to 54 volunteers stepping up to serve after coming close to cancelling just a few short weeks ago. Oh my! If you are able, come this Friday night, June 17, 6:30 pm in the Sanctuary for what could be the special event of summer, the presentation of the musical they have learned. You will be blown away!

It is that time of the year, too, when our financial contributions to our MUMC General Fund begin to take a dip as we enter the summer months. Remember our General Fund is the heart and soul sustaining our ministries. The summer can raise our expenses with camps, mission trips and so much more, but I know you will step forward to serve and give. That is just who you are. Our summer schedules of vacations, family and friend gatherings and more can take us away from the heartbeat of the church, but, as always, you are amazingly faithful. My heart celebrates your faithfulness through generosity. Thank you! Thank you! You can make your financial gifts of generosity by clicking here.

Mitch Davis wrote me a note the other day that made me smile. He and Pat, who for many years have been a part of our church, were traveling to Jacksonville for their granddaughter’s graduation when they stopped at a Cracker Barrel. He writes, “I was in line at Cracker Barrel and invited a brother who was African American to go ahead of me. We kidded and I said well I’ll let you buy me breakfast. We both laughed and went on in. It came time to get my check and the waiter told me it had been paid. SURPRISED! I looked but couldn’t find him as we were leaving. As I was backing out he was coming out with his wife. We talked and laughed. Old white man and old black man connecting somewhere on a Sunday morning in South Georgia. WHAT A BLESSING!”

As you can see, there are so many good things happening! I hope you will make every effort to be in worship. I look forward to seeing you. What a perfect time it is to invite someone to church as we kick off the summer of 2022.

Important Things on the Horizon

• Annual Conference 2022 – This week a number of us are at lovely Lake Junaluska as the Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church gathers to do worshipful work. We’ll spend much of our time in the historic Stuart Auditorium. I had the incredible privilege of preaching Easter Sunday in that incredible 2,000 seat auditorium from 2009 through 2016. The church I was serving, located at the East Gate of Lake Junaluska, would conduct our Easter Sunday services in this holy and historic auditorium. We have several persons from MUMC attending as delegates. Our church lay delegates: Philip Tate, Nancy Harris, Amy DeVore, Becky Yates, and Liz Mockler. Our church clergy delegates: Paul Craig, Corey Milliet, Roldan Flores Jenny Savage and Chuck Wilson. Our district lay delegates: Rick/Kathleen Benjamin, Fred/Carol Goolsby, Mike Horai, Hugo Hernandez, Laurie Little, Don/Deborah Morrison, James Ross, Allie Watterson, Eric White and Karen Wilson.
• Juneteenth – Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest running African American holiday. And for the first time in the history of Matthews, NC, our new national holiday will be celebrated on the Town Green, on Monday, June 20 at 7 pm. We will be joining with other community groups in celebrating this important day of remembrance, recognition, and restoration. See the flyer for details.
• June 25 Parking Lot Concert (Small Sanctuary Lot) at 6 pm – Bring your lawn chairs and food for a picnic. Our Praise Team has a wonderful evening of music planned for all of us.

Wednesday Devotional

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch my devotional for this week titled, Father’s Day & Professor Wilson.

This Sunday in Worship

We invite you to join this Sunday in person or online at 8:15 am (traditional – in person only), 9:30 am (contemporary), 11:00 am (traditional) or 12:30 (Spanish – in person only).

In our Spanish-speaking CCH community, Pastor Roldan will be leading in Father’s Day worship by preaching from Joshua 24:11-15. His sermon is titled; Protect Your Principles.

I have a special treat for you this Sunday, Father’s Day. With all your MUMC pastors at Lake Junaluska for Annual Conference, I’ve asked my dear friend and fellow community pastor, Rev. Luke Maybry, to be your preacher for the morning. Luke has been the pastor of Matthews Presbyterian Church since 2017.  Prior to that, he served as the pastor of Central Steele Creek Presbyterian, the Associate Pastor of Matthews Presbyterian, and the Student Pastor of Mooreville United Methodist Church in Mooreville, Texas.  He is a graduate of Wofford College, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  Luke is married to Leah, who is a CPA in Charlotte, and they have three children: Julia (15), Caroline (13), and Jack (12).  In his spare time, Luke likes to run, play music, and get outside as much as possible. AND, by the way, did I tell you he is one of my favorite pastors on the planet?

Rev. Maybry will be preaching from 1 Kings 10:1-15 with the title of his sermon Get Up and Eat. In preparation for Sunday, Luke says, “In all of our anxiety/pain/questions, God is present in ways big and small, calling to us to get up, step out in faith, and live confidently as we respond to God’s promises in Jesus Christ.” MUMC, I know you will be a source of hope and encouragement come Sunday for Rev. Luke Maybry.

And now, as always, during these strange, uncertain, and hopeful days, remember … God does God’s best work in moments like this.

Faithfully yours,
Dr. Charles (Chuck) W. Wilson II

Did you know that three bins worth of donations for Matthews Free Medical Clinc, a Global Impact Partner, were collected by our congregation over the past three weeks and just delivered to the organization? Thank you to everyone who contributed these much-needed office and medical supplies.

Did you know that Keith Long and Melissa Laws were united in marriage by Pastor Chuck at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens on June 9 in Belmont, NC? Congratulations!

Did you know that 10 volunteers from our Home2Home Ministry, a Global Impact partner, filled a 15-foot truck on Tuesday for delivery to families in the Red Springs, NC area who are still struggling from the floods that hit that area in 2019? A special thanks goes to Joe George and his wife for driving the truck down and delivering the furniture on June 15. Please contact the Church Office if you would like to serve this impactful ministry.