From Preachin’ to Meddlin’

11^th Sunday after Pentecost
Just these lines, my friends …

… to say that it was a beautiful day of worship on Sunday for our church: gorgeous music from our Praise Band, Sanctuary Choir, and reed ensemble; a beautiful baptism for the Henry family; and the witness of Jacelyn Davis and Kemar Whitton, our Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship recipients from Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church. If you missed being with us, click here to participate in our wonderful day.

It was a special Vacation Bible School week as well, gathering nearly 300 kids and a host of volunteers. I was especially moved by seeing so many of our adult community serving and giving to all the kids gathered for VBS. Thank you! Thank you! By the way, did you know VBS raised enough money to purchase 10 cows for 10 families in Kenya through our partnership with Zoe Empowers? A cow, and the milk it supplies, can make a big difference for vulnerable children served by Zoe Empowers!

Karen and I will be away the next couple of Sundays with some vacation time to support a couple of our kids. First of all, we are traveling to Nashville to support our daughter, MacKenzie, in her annual Delight Conference. Delight is the ministry she founded during her junior year as a student at Belmont University in Nashville. You may remember that the past several summers have seen us traveling to support this conference. My big responsibility this year is Myla Chase, our newest granddaughter.

If you’d like to read more about Delight, please click here. Delight invites college women into Christ-centered community that fosters vulnerability and transforms stories. There are now over 200 chapters on college campuses with 15,000 women involved.

Then, Karen and I will travel to Greensboro on Monday (August 5) to support our son, Ryan. Ryan is the President/CEO of The First Tee of the Central Carolinas. The First Tee will host the kick-off of the Wyndham Golf Championship (a PGA Tour Event) and the unveiling of a mural telling the amazing story of The Greensboro Six, where in 1955, days after Rosa Parks defied a Montgomery city ordinance refusing to sit in the back of the bus, these six men protested the unfairness of a golf course built with public money and limited only to whites. Watch this video to learn more about this moving historical event.

2024 Capital Campaign & Questions We Hear You Asking

If you missed the announcement regarding the feasibility study survey results and background that led to the unanimous Charge Conference vote to move forward with a 2024 Capital Campaign, please click to read the complete details. We appreciate all the feedback, questions and ideas received during the feasibility study process. Please tune in over the coming weeks as we feature answers to your questions or click on the FAQ document for an updated list.

Q. Can we increase the number of handicapped spaces in the Sanctuary, with better signing for all designated areas? Currently it looks like they are positioned behind the pillars.

New signage has now been added for wheelchair accessible spaces with designated pews for families. We can combine this request with the automatic door request to have the architect offer recommendations.

Q. How will other priorities that have been identified be addressed outside of this campaign? Can we see a list with estimated costs?

The Trustees do not have a finite list of projects with cost estimates at this time, but will be developing order of magnitude costs for big projects such as parking lot replacement, roof replacement, etc.

Video Devotional

I love the old story about the preacher who said, “All them gamblers is goin’ to hell.”  I also love the story of John Lewis, 17-term member of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia. I hope you’ll take time to watch at my devotional this week titled, where we try to bring the two stories together. My devotional is titled He Done Stopped Preachin and Gone to Meddlin. 

Staff Transition

Our dear friend, devoted follower of Jesus, church organist, and music associate, Kathy White is retiring. Please read her parting note here. In reading, you will see once again the amazing spirit Kathy has given to us over three decades. Our lives are infinitely richer for having had her (and Eric) as part of our community. August 25 will be her last Sunday as our Organist. We are grateful that Kathy and Eric will remain faithful members of our congregation, serving and growing with all of us. Be sure to look for ways to say thank you to this remarkable woman and vibrant servant of God.

Upcoming Events

• Instrumental Community Concert – Sunday, Aug 11 at 6:00 pm in the Sanctuary. Details
• Disciple Bible Study (shortened version) begins in August! Register by Aug 13! Details
• Hug-A-Cop – Saturday, August 17, Drop in 3-6 pm at Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church to show gratitude to First Responders! For details & how to volunteer, click here.
• Community Forum: Churches in Our Community Working for Racial Justice – Tuesday, Aug 20, 7 pm at Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist. Details
• Back 2 School Bash – Sunday, Aug 25 in large parking lot. Kids 3-5 pm & Youth 5-7 pm. Inflatables, food trucks, games & more! $15 per child, $50 max for a family 4+.
• Join one of our Short-Term Studies this fall, including In The Footsteps of a Savior on Tuesday mornings, Knowing Who We Are on Monday mornings, and The Good & Beautiful Community on Wednesday evenings. Details 

This Sunday in Worship

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

Our Spanish-speaking community (CCH) continues vibrant summer worship. Pastor Roldan’s sermon for Sunday is from I Peter 4:8-11, and the sermon title, Let’s Work on Our Equality.

In all our morning sanctuary services, Pastor Corey will continue with our summer sermon series, The Good Life … The God Life, with a message titled, The Circle of Mercy. Together, we will look at the meaning behind the Beatitude, “blessed are the merciful.” You see, showing mercy can mean making oneself vulnerable, extending oneself to help others without expecting anything in return, and giving of oneself to those in need. During this Sunday’s message, we will look at how even the merciful need mercy and gain an understanding that no amount of generosity or forgiveness can exempt people from this need. Mercy, therefore, is not just a feeling. Mercy is not some detached feeling or a sentiment that does nothing. Mercy is a feeling that causes the individual to act and as a result, being merciful to others in Jesus’ name can result in receiving mercy from the Lord. So as you prepare for worship this Sunday, may you ponder these questions: Where or from whom do you need mercy, and where or to whom do you need to give mercy?”

I got to talk the other day with someone in our Matthews community about the Sermon on the Mount. They are not a part of our church, but they said, “If only people would follow this wonderful teaching, the world would be in a better place.” Yes. Yes. No doubt. But, I thought, if we think of Jesus simply sitting there telling people how to behave properly, we will miss what was really going on. Jesus is not suggesting that these are simply timeless truths about the way the world is, about human behavior. No. N.T. Wright says, “This is an announcement, not a philosophical analysis of the world. It’s about something that’s starting to happen, not about a general truth of life. It is gospel, good news, not good advice.”

God is acting in and through Jesus to turn the world upside down. In Jesus, God is announcing a new covenant. These upside-down statements are a summons to live in the present in the way that will make sense in God’s promised future, because the future has arrived in the present in Jesus. Wright says, “It may seem upside down, but we are called to believe, with great daring, that it is in fact the right way up.” MUMC, let’s try it and see.

Each week, I like to invite you to invite someone from your neighborhood, circle of friends, etc.  to come to church with you. We have so many opportunities to do so: Sunday worship, our upcoming Instrumental Concert, Back 2 School Bash, Coffee & Mingle, and so much more. If you will, I trust they will hear, see and experience the subtle, subversive and sublime way of Jesus.

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

We are better … together,
Dr. Charles (Chuck) W. Wilson II

Did you know that MUMC collected 338 lbs of food for Common Heart for their food pantries? THANK YOU for supporting this Global Impact ministry, providing food for those in need!

Did you know that the Handyman Ministry repaired the steps behind the reredos to raise them to an easier 6” rise? Now it will be much easier for folks to go up and down the stairs. Thanks to Joe Culpepper, Chuck DeLong and Dennis Green!