Celebrations and a Loss Observed ©

I sit at my keyboard and launch this blog on "Celebrations and a Loss Observed" mindful that today is Valentine’s Day. While flowers, candy and cards abound, I invite us to pause and remember the original Valentine. He was a Christian martyr and bishop of modern day Terni, Italy. In a time when being Christian was illegal, he stood for Christ and so gave up his life reportedly on February 14th in 278 A.D. to Roman persecution. The phrase that sticks in my mind is John 15:13: “No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends.” We have much to celebrate and give thanks for on Valentine’s Day. Such thanksgiving appropriately starts with Christian witness. God’s love has been poured liberally over us all. Two weeks ago (literally January 29th), Jolynn and I had the great joy to celebrate the launch service for One Fellowship United Methodist Church in Waco. With a packed congregation of well over a hundred, the music sent us soaring; the sermon was a powerful proclamation of the gospel (thanks to Rev. Bryan Dalco); and the blessing of the fellowship of gathered saints, a great joy. A new United Methodist Church is launched in Waco! A new mission post of the advancing kingdom of God rises from remains of older but honored congregations. A second great celebration involves the missional faithfulness of the people and churches of the Central Texas Conference. Once again we have paid our General Church Connectional Mission Giving (CMG, formerly known as apportionments) 100%. This is a remarkable accomplishment in the chaos of our times. Consider some of the vital statistics:

• 285 Apportioned Churches [new churches and missional congregations are not apportioned nor are campus ministries] 259 Churches 100% paid 26 Churches did not meet their CMG (Connectional Mission Giving) goal 6 Churches paid zero

This year’s final figures reported a CMG giving at 95.55%. This is slightly better than our ten year average of 95.13%. Through the wise stewardship CFA (Council on Finance and Administration) we are able to make up the additional 4.45%. On top of such remarkable faithfulness comes another reason for celebration. Dr. Randy Wild, Executive Director for Mission Support, passed on the following thank you from Rev. Brian Bakeman, Executive Director of the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. “Thank you and the Central Texas Conference for being one of two conferences that paid 100% of their South Central Jurisdiction apportionments for 2016.” In addition to the figures for our Jurisdiction, Dr. Randy Wild reports that we are #1 in the percentage collected for the whole US in our denomination for 2016. The chart speaks volumes.

Central Texas	95.55%
Louisiana	95.54%
North Texas	95.4%
North Georgia	94.65%
Illinois Great Rivers	94.52%
Pacific Northwest	93.08%
Western Pennsylvania	92.4%
Baltimore-Washington	92.06%
Arkansas	90.99%
North Carolina	90.49%
South Georgia	90%

To all of the above I add my heart-felt gratitude and thanksgiving. “Well done! You are good and faithful servants” (Matthew 25:23; with very slight paraphrase). In the midst of the celebrations we have a distinct loss to observe. Dr. Georgia Adamson’s husband John passed away suddenly Wednesday, February 8th. Georgia has served as District Superintendent, Executive Director for the Roberts Center for Leadership and Assistant to the Bishop during the last seven and a half years. Her husband John is known and loved by many of us. He will be missed! We ask your prayers for Georgia and the whole family in this difficult time of John’s passing. “In life, in death, in life beyond death; we are not alone. Thanks be to God!”