June is also Annual Conference season in the United Methodist Church. Paula Roderick and I attended the 185th session of the Northern Illinois Annual Conference as members of Broadway UMC. We also had Richard Alton and Ronnie Lyall there- Richard serves on the “NetZero” task force of our Annual Conference and Ronnie is a General and Jurisdictional conference delegate so it automatically makes him a member of Annual Conference. I am grateful for all the lay persons of this church who faithfully and tirelessly serve our church in various capacities! Thank you also for the mission donations!
Among the many things we do at Annual Conference is what is called the ‘fixing of appointments,’ and I am grateful that the Bishop and the cabinet decided to re-appoint me to Broadway, so for at least one more year we get to do ministry together, and I say one more year because in our denomination, as itinerant pastors, our appointments are only for one year- every year we find out if we get to stay or relocate. I also realize this may not be good news for all- so if you are disappointed in this news- I or the Relationship Builders will be open to hearing your concerns so we can work on them in the coming year.
June is also PRIDE MONTH! As I have shared before, this year PRIDE WORSHIP will be hosted by us on Sunday, June 30th at 9:30am. We will be joined by many other United Methodist Churches and churches that are part of the Chicago Coalition of Welcoming Churches. This start time will enable those who desire to go to the Parade after worship. For hospitality we will need donations of 4-5 cases of 8 oz. water bottles. Please bring them to church by June 23rd. We need volunteers for the tent that will be setup outside the parade, on Buckingham and Halsted.
And remember, this Sunday, June 23rd, members of Holy Covenant UMC will be joining us in worship. After worship we will give them a tour of our building, so if you desire, please stay after worship to join us for the tour. We hope these visits will spark a beginning of many fruitful and joyful collaborations. If you have ideas for collaboration, please share your idea here!
Beloveds, I continue to be grateful for all of you for always showing up in the best way you can, so together we can continue to be the church that God has called us to be.
Be blessed, and be a blessing to all you meet, and I look forward to seeing you all at church.
