Take the Whole
October 5, 2022
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, is reported to have said, “I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field.”
This is a powerful quote that illustrates the doctrine of entire sanctification. If you follow Jesus, you are invited to do more than merely buy a ticket but to take the full journey. To know Jesus and to make him Lord of your whole life. To read more than a passing passage but make scripture your foundation of faith and life. To join the church and lean fully into its paths of making disciples. To see your own faith flourish and others know and grow in faith, to the ends of the earth.
The Apostle Paul wrote a similar message to Timothy: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” (2 Tim 3:15, NLT). The buffet of church and Christianity is producing a lukewarm church with lukewarm Christians. This impacts people across theological spectrums. Many say, “I’ll take a bit of Bible and a lot of enlightenment.” Others say, “I’ll take a bit of Bible and a lot of politics.” Others say, “I’ll take a bit of Bible and a lot of sports (or academics or music or art).”
I invite you to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus who buys the ticket and takes the full journey.
Our month, with its ups and downs:
UMC to GMC - This past month has been a very impactful month. On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, members of Leeds First Methodist Church confirmed the decision to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church and affiliate with the Global Methodist Church. The steps for that will be completed at a special session of the UMC North Alabama Annual Conference on December 10, 2022. With this comes both gain and loss for our church and each of us individually. If you have questions about this, please contact me (Pastor Chris), Ross Freind (Leadership Council Chair), or Chuck Boggan (Lay Delegate to Annual Conference).
FLC Grand Reopening - The Family Life Center grand re-opening was on September 18th. Over 100 folks worshipped and praised God for all he has done! This project enhanced worship with a new stage with upgraded lighting, video, and sound for Modern Worship. It also benefited recreation use of the gym by installing a divider and basketball goal to allow easier and greater recreation use for Youth & Kids.
Kindness Month – This September was our second year of illustrating a month of kindness. Our sermon series taught about how kindness leads people to God and gave each of us practical ways to live that. We guesstimated over 1,000 items donated to Leeds Outreach, lots of relationships forgiven or restored, and at least 50 illustrations of kindness that pointed folks to Jesus at Leeds Memorial Park.
I pray you are living day by day fully leaning into God’s purpose for your life. I’d love to know how it’s going and if I can pray for or be helpful to you in a specific way.