The Prescriptions Please

Like good doctors after listening carefully to their patients, Rev. Jim Ozier and Rev. Gene Wisdom gave our church five prescriptions after Sunday's one worship service, and most worshipers stayed to receive them - a good sign. Like good patients who care about their health, there was a lot of nodding of heads that acknowledged yes, we need those prescriptions to become even healthier.  The four-page report is free to all and posted on our website HERE.

Building on the momentum consistently expressed in the interviews and Saturday workshop, the five prescriptions are:

1. (Next 2-3 months) Collaboratively drive a short, focused mission statement that captures our identity and purpose and becomes the baseline for all that we do.
2. (Next 2-3 months) Collaboratively build greater intentionality and training into our hospitality.
3. (In 4-9 months) Collaboratively create a Connections Team to develop and execute a strategic plan for reaching and engaging younger generations.
4. (10-18 months) Collaboratively build a Faith Development Pathway for persons of all stages.
5. (10-18 months) Develop a strategy for intentional leadership development, placement and accountability.

Town Hall meetings to hear questions and clarify with answers begin this Sunday at 9:45 a.m. in the Chapel with two more scheduled on Monday at 6 p.m. in the Gathering Area and at 5:30 p.m. during Wednesday Night Dinner. 

A Church Conference (all members have vote) is scheduled for Sunday, January 28 at 12:15 p.m. All who are present have vote. We will vote these five prescriptions together either up or down. Based on the turn-out for the prescriptions last Sunday, I look forward to an above average gathering to vote on the Jan. 28 to get even healthier as a congregation for the sake of our high calling in Christ Jesus.  

Thank you all so very much for your prayers and participation in God's work here.

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor

Sea Change

Last week it was, “all hands on deck.” This week it’s “sea change.”  The phrase is a quotation from Shakespeare. It comes from Ariel’s wonderfully evocative song in The Tempest regarding the sea’s transformation of the body of Ferdinand’s father:

Full fathom five thy father lies:
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.

Our Healthy Church Initiative process will, with the movement of the Spirit, cause a sea change in how we see ourselves and what we do for our mission to reach new people for Christ in our world. I pray you will be part of that marvelous transformation. 

Breathe peace; anticipate joy,

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor

All Hands on Deck on Saturday, Jan. 13

It's an old naval term that called for all crew members to scramble to the deck of the ship, usually in an emergency situation.  

Ours is not an emergency situation but it is a vital one for the direction of the USS FirstPlano. A Task Force from our Conference Office will be on board to share with us findings from the 200+ surveys we completed last fall plus information about the mission field we are charged by Christ to reach. Additionally, we will hear the observations from 30 visits made by "mystery guests" over the last two months.  It will be a lot of information to absorb and discuss during a five-hour church conference on Saturday, Jan. 13, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Some of the feedback will affirm us; some of it will surprise and challenge us. All of it will help change our focus and heading.

I have sent an e-mail to 117 elected leaders from 2017 and 2018; they are expected to be present. We want 300 present for input, discussion and ownership of the outcomes. If you have not already done so, please sign up at church or online at www.fumcplano.org/hci. Child care is provided and lunch is involved so we need a headcount. It is a five-hour commitment and Christ is calling us, "All hands on deck." 

Out of this joint work, on Sunday, Jan. 14 we will have ONE single worship service at 10:30 a.m. (Sunday School at 9:30) with the Rev. Jim Ozier as our special guest. He will present us with "prescriptions" for course corrections going forward into our foreseeable future. All of this will be consistent with the reading many of us did last year with books like, Simple Church.

See you on board this Epiphany Sunday,

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor

This is Our Home, Part 2

In Part 1 last week I wrote about the Feasibility study for the, "This is Our Home" capital campaign next spring. I also invited all to the Church Conference two nights ago where we added two persons to the ranks of leadership and we unanimously voted in a $2.2M Budget for 2018—a 4% increase.

In Part 2 this week I want to acknowledge that improving sound, repairing door and window leaks, and even paying down our long-term debt is the stuff of home ownership. We do this as a matter of course for our own homes but it is not what finally makes it our home. It is the people in it. 

For people of Christian faith, we celebrate this Sunday the first and most important person in our homes: Jesus Christ. It is around him that all of life and love turn, all goodness and truths are learned, practiced and celebrated. Christ comes not just as the babe in the manger but the warming, illuminating fire in the fireplaces of our hearts. Sunday, we will lift candles in "Our Home" and sing, "Son of God, love's pure light" to reaffirm these truths—the truths that truly make our houses and house of worship ... our home. 

Welcome home this Sunday,

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor

This is Our Home, Part 1

After Sunday's inspiring cantata, Don Smith—our consultant from Horizons Stewardship—presented to about 50 people the Feasibility Report for our spring, "This is Our Home" capital campaign. From the 84 surveys (a good sample, Don reported), several highlights were lifted up:

1. There is strong belief in the appropriateness of the goals for the campaign.
2. There is high confidence in the leadership of the church for this campaign.
3. The projected range of giving is not proportionately as high as 1 and 2. 

Copies of the stapled, abridged report are free and in the office for pick-up by anyone. The bound, fuller detailed report is also in the office, available for check-out.

Monday, Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m., we will hold a Church Conference to review and vote on our 2018 Budget and amendments to the slate of leadership voted in at the November District Charge Conference. In a Church Conference, every member has a vote. I think this aids transparency and communication. Copies of the report are available at church this Sunday and in the church office.  

These housekeeping items are important for our church family because this is our home. Next week in Part 2  I will talk a bit about what, beyond repairs and debt retirement, most importantly makes this our home.  

See you with the church family Sunday,

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor

Feasibility

Feasible.  Feas-able.  According to Webster, it comes from the old French root, "faire"–"to do."  Feasibility then means, "able to to do."  

It has a rather safe connotation: something within our comfort level; something we know; something within our known ability; something predictable.

During the fall a number of us filled out a "feasibility survey" for our stewardship consultant, Horizons Inc. Don Smith, its representative, interviewed some 20-25 of us. The company looked at patterns of giving, statements of belief and confidence in the church, her leadership and her direction and then completed its analysis. This Sunday, December 10 - immediately following the 11 a.m. service/Cantata - Don will report out to us the results of the company's analysis which will then be published for all to see in the church. I hope you will stay for 20-30 minutes following the service. We will extend child care for this reveal.  

I do not know the full results of the analysis. What I do know is that Webster did not factor in God for what he defined as,"feasible."

See you at the surprising place this Sunday,

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor

Taking Stock, and Starting Again

We do this around our Thanksgiving tables, wherever they may be. In one ritual or another, we look at those around the table and all that is on the table. We pause, and we give God thanks for everything there that is good and right and worth remembering. It pushes a reset button in us as we reenter our daily life, enter a new year and start again. This year more than many has made this "taking stock" extra important.

We begin a new year this Sunday - a new Christian year - with the first Sunday of Advent. Throughout this one month season, I will be emphasizing healing and hope for the same reasons we took stock around our Thanksgiving tables: we need a reset in our lives before we enter the new calendar year. A reset is exactly what God sent Jesus to do in us - all of us - so that we can start again.

Come as you are, and invite another tired journeyer to come with you; it's been a long road.  Together this Sunday we will again be around the table, looking at all those around the table and all that is on the table. We will pause, and we will give God thanks for everything there that is good and right and worth remembering; and then we will start again. Thanks be to God.

O come, O come Emmanuel,

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor

Guest Writer, Ed Volfe

Daniele, my wife, loves interior design and she is very intentional about making our house our home. In our bedroom she hung a couple of photo frames of the two of us when we were still dating, photos of our wedding day, and photos of the day we celebrated ten years of marriage and renewed our marriage vows. Right in the middle, surrounded by the pictures, she hung a frame with the words, “Begin each day with a Grateful Heart.”

Every day I wake up and look at that particular frame in the center and all of a sudden my day begins with gratitude. I then look at the other frames around it, look at the day ahead, think of our church and its neighbors, and the possibilities God has in store for all us that day … and my heart fills with gratitude. I take some time to read a Bible verse or a passage and immediately I feel nudged by the Spirit to entrust myself to God, and to be thankful.

Well, I must confess not all my days are so filled with gratitude as I wish. Some days are challenging as life demands present themselves. I think of people who for a time in their lives simply cannot be thankful or cannot experience gratitude because of losses and pain they are going through, especially during the holidays.

But I also think of Sam Perrine whom I visited numerous times in different hospitals for the past nine months or so. Especially this week, I am thinking of Sam because he went to be with the Lord this past Monday. In the midst of his pain from cancer, he always asked me about his family and his church FUMC Plano. He was always concerned for other people. And when he talked about himself, he spoke with joy and a smile on his face. When I saw him last week, through his shallow breathing, he asked how I was doing. He then asked me for Orbitz chewing gum from the desk drawer next to his bed. I found the box, gave it to him, he got one out, and then offered me one. I took one out and were both chewing gum as we visited. Sam was a contented person in his heart.

I think we all need reminders to begin the day – or the afternoon, or the evening – with a grateful heart, regardless of what we are going through, especially because God is with us, though it does not feel that way at times.

Psalm 100 compels us to enter God’s presence with thanksgiving and praise. I believe whoever wrote that Psalm is inviting us to look God in the eye and to realize, over and over again, the Lord only is sufficient for us and He is the only one who can give us a heart filled with gratitude.

Ed Volfe
Associate Pastor

Leave It to a Woman

As I think back to a pretty glorious 170th and 15th Anniversary celebration (wasn't that FUN?), there are faces that keep popping up in my mind: Heidi Lawrence, Jill Stoel, Lynette Little, Robin Anderson to name only a few. As I think forward to Thanksgiving, there are faces that keep popping up in my mind: my late mom, my mother-in-law Joyce Craig, my wife Cammy, my sisters - all of whom have been so formative of our various Thanksgiving offerings. 

Now before I get a bunch of male protests, I absolutely acknowledge and appreciate the work that guys like Tommy, Gerry, Wade, Kevin Clanahan and others did for last Sunday, and I appreciate what the guys in my family have done to assist with Thanksgiving but, in most cases, there's no comparison, right?

So this Sunday I want to extol the virtue of a biblical woman named Deborah in Judges 4: 1-9, and a number of women for whom I give God thanks as we all head into the Thanksgiving week. My staff and I wish you all a blessed time with the women of your lives.   Tell them what a gift they are for you.

Grace and peace,

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor

Reconnecting, Renewing

The fun part of reunions whether family or school - in addition to the food - is reconnecting and renewing old ties and friendships. We see folks we haven’t seen in ages and rediscover all over again why we enjoyed one another and how much we had in common in the first place. The experience tends to re-ground us with thanksgiving. It also can generate new ideas and renewal for what we might do together going forward that would not have happened without the reunion.  

I am really looking forward to reconnecting with some old friends this Saturday night as the Revs. Don Renshaw, Judith Reedy, Andy Lewis, Holly Gaskill Bandel and others from our past rejoin us with stories at our 170th Anniversary Reunion Songfest at 7 p.m. Of course there will be food to go along with the merry-making. However, it will be matched by the renewing of our common faith in our future at our ONE 10:30 Worship Service Sunday morning, and of course again there will be food!

Nametags will be a must and we will provide them so that we might meet the person who is sitting in our seat come Sunday. I think it an appropriate turn for us as we celebrate our 15th Anniversary on this site and ask God, “O Lord, who would you have us go meet over the next 15 years for your sake in this place?”  

See you at the Meeting Place this weekend,

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor

PS: See Joshua 24: 14-24 for what that renewal looked like for God’s people then.