God's Love in Action, 2013

November 5, 2013

Dear St. Paul's Family,

For those unable to attend the Charge Conference on October 20, below is my latest Pastor's Report, celebrating another great year of ministry at St. Paul's.  I offer this to you, in gratitude for the opportunity to serve with you as we put God's love into action.  

Pastor’s Report

St. Paul’s UMC Charge Conference

October 20, 2013

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega

“The best of all is, God is with us.”

These very last words uttered by John Wesley serve as an appropriate backdrop for another great year of ministry and witness by the people of St. Paul’s.  As in years past, I’ll use the mission statement of the church adopted in 2008 as a framework for celebrating all of the ways that God has been with us. 

WORSHIP:  We worship with joy, because Christ is among us and deserves our praise.

     St. Paul’s continues to offer dynamic worship services that honor God.  Worship involvement continues to be strong, with lay people faithfully serving as liturgists, children’s sermon providers, tech support, and hospitality.  Our bell choir and chancel choir have been terrific and amazing, under the tremendous leadership of director Joe Vannatta.  Christmas Eve and Easter morning drew the largest worship attendances in recent memory. 

     We have experienced several sermon series throughout the year, the highlight of which was an extensive eight-week exploration of the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul.  Others included “The Boy Who Would Be King,” “Tending the Soul,” “All Things New,” and “Close Encounters:  When Jesus Meets You Where You Are.”

DISCIPLESHIP: We grow in our faith, practicing every day what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

     This fall we launched our most concerted effort in my six years here to guide people into a deeper commitment to Christ and to the church.  We are going through the Disciple’s Path curriculum published by the United Methodist Church, which is an in-depth exploration of our vows to support the church through our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.  We have over seventy youth and adults attending five small groups over a six-week period, and the response so far has been very positive.  We trust that the result of these efforts will be even greater faithfulness and fruitfulness from the people of St. Paul’s.

     We also give thanks for the wonderful Sunday school teachers who continue to provide such nurturing, capable guidance for our children’s ministry.  For the youth, we launched two brand-new Wednesday night mid-week Bible studies for 5^th – 8^th graders, thanks to Nicci Lundquist and Diane Rochleau.  Those groups, along with Craig and Monica Schmidt’s Teen Time study for senior highers, have resulted in over forty active youth in our program every Wednesday, with numbers rising every week.  The youth also went on a Ski Trip in February and did a service project at the Midwest Christian Children’s Home last December.

FELLOWSHIP:  We care for each other as an encouraging, supportive, and growing family.

     We continue to respond to the needs of our own church members and those in our community.  Once again, we participated with Greenwood Funeral Home in offering a Service of Remembrance for those who lost loved ones over the past year.  Next year, we will be hosting the service, and I will also be participating in a similar service with Boothby Funeral Home. 

     The Visitation Team continues to link lay visitors with shut-ins and homebound persons.  They distribute audio recordings of the service and a bulletin to members, and check on them for pastoral and personal concerns.  We are grateful for the wonderful team of visitors who make these connections every week. 

     This has continued to be an important church for providing funeral services and ministry to grieving families.  Since the last Charge Conference, I performed eighteen funerals, many of which were for people who weren’t members of the church.  Our Funeral Luncheon Team continues to provide an amazing level of generous hospitality for families grieving the loss of loved ones.  With great grace and efficiency, they provided wonderful luncheons throughout the year.  Thanks to Phyllis Parrott and Jean Anderson for their coordination.

     Finally, St. Paul’s remains an epicenter of care for people seeking wholeness and health.  We now host four separate Alcoholics Anonymous groups throughout the week, as well as Moms on Meth, Narcotics Anonymous, and a weight loss group.  The church also hosts a monthly gathering of the Foster Care Review Board. 

           

SERVICE:  We share with others to meet their physical and spiritual needs, and invite all people to faith in Christ.

     By far, our greatest achievement has been in the areas of witness and service. Last Memorial Day, Cherokee experienced record flooding, devastating about 300 homes in our area.  In the wake of the flood, St. Paul’s played a leading role in coordinating volunteers to help residents recover.  We dispatched about 85 volunteers to give 700 hours of service, garnering an official recognition by the City Hall last August for our efforts.  It was a most extraordinary way for the members of this church to put God’s love into action.

     Though our continuing efforts to recover from the fire precluded our annual Pancake Day race, we were able to host a Pancake Luncheon fundraiser for the Conference-wide Imagine No Malaria initiative.  Last May 28, people from all over the district came to the Cherokee Community Center to enjoy great food and raise money for this worthy cause.  Thanks to many volunteers who set up, cleaned up, flipped pancakes, and even sold handmade scarves (thanks, Mary Jo Carnine), we raised over $2,000 to help the Conference work toward its goals.

     We also enjoyed the privilege of hosting Bishop Julius Trimble that same morning.  It was the first time since Bishop Thomas several decades ago that a Bishop visited St. Paul’s, and we were grateful to hear his words of encouragement to us.  He remained that afternoon to host the District Conference in our sanctuary.

     Once again, we celebrated the achievement of another Third-Mile level of giving through the Conference’s Rainbow Covenant Missions program.  We are on track for another high level of missions giving, and inaugurated several new giving opportunities.  The Alternative Gifts Catalog once again offered a unique way of giving gifts to loved ones.  It included the Heifer Project, the St. Paul’s Missions Committee, Church World Service Blankets, and Cherokee Needy Children.  Once again, St. Paul’s took sole leadership in ringing bells for the Salvation Army, raising over $3,500 to help people in need here in Cherokee.  We also played a critical role in the Iowa Conference’s annual Ingathering, collecting and processing kits from all across Northwest Iowa for distribution around the world. 

     We continued our support for Soles4Souls, collecting hundreds of pairs of shoes that will be sent to needy people around the world.  We participated in Cherokee Hot Dog Days, a town-wide event promoting community spirit and local business.  And our weekly Daybreak radio broadcast continues to run every Sunday morning on KCHE, reaching out to many people unable to come to church.  The fifteen-minute program serves as a wonderful teaching medium and an evangelistic tool for the church.

     Finally, I had the privilege of sharing the St. Paul’s story of vision and vitality with people throughout the United Methodist connection.  I was asked to participate in the Large Church Initiative in Tampa, Florida, last May, which involved pastors and lay leadership from the largest churches in the denomination.  One of my workshops, “Claiming the Vision,” inspired other church leaders with how we received, clarified, and continue to live into our mission and vision adopted back in 2008.  To this day, I am in contact with pastors who wish to learn more about how they can follow a similar process in their churches. 

     It has been quite a blessed year, indeed.  But I am even more eager to see what lies ahead for 2014.  We are clear about our mission and optimistic about our future.  We are gifted with incredibly talented and committed lay leadership.  We are strengthened by your faithfulness, generosity, and commitment.  And, of course, next year, we will have our Kitchen, Fellowship Hall, and Feller Lounge back in operation!  These are great days to be the church, and I look forward to another great year with you!

      

     John Wesley was right:  “The best of all is, God is with us!”

Grace and Peace,

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega

St. Paul's United Methodist Church

531 W. Main St.

Cherokee, IA  51012

Ph:  712-225-3955

Email:  mdevega@sp-umc.org