“Our mission: To make disciples of Jesus Christ
for the transformation of the world.
(The following was delivered at Church Conference, 01.28.2025 by Pastor Mark Miller)
Resurrection UMC Vision
- We connect people to Jesus
- We worship passionately and authentically
- We bless the Hastings area
- We develop Christian leaders
- We look like our community
This is my 6th State of the Church address here at Resurrection UMC. And my first without the assistance of Pastor Julie. Of all the events of this past year, her departure in July to lead 1st UMC in Redwing perhaps had the greatest impact. She wore so many hats around here. But God is faithful and Dayna Steinke and Lindsey Gear stepped forward to lead rezKIDS. We look forward to what the new year will bring with them at the helm. Now as we begin, please join me in praying the Lord’s prayer.
HALLOWED BE THY NAME:
That is worship and worship is at the heart of our vision. Once again, we continue to slowly increase in worship attendance both in person and online. We have done so every year since COVID. We also have increased those involved with our worship music teams and our tech team. Thanks you, new folks, for stepping up, and thanks to all you who continue to use your talents to bless our worship. This year we had a few of worship firsts. On Christmas Eve, the rezKIDS bell choir played for the first time. In October, our new collapsable baptismal pool was used for the first time with the baptism of five members of the Foiles family. And back in April, we held the funeral for Dorothy Guck. Funerals aren’t new. We celebrated 12 of them in the last year. But Dorothy’s was the first funeral for someone who was an exclusively online worshipper. She faithfully worshipped with us every week and supported the church, but her funeral was the first time she was physically with us (so to speak).
THY KINGDOM COME:
Resurrection continues to participate in God’s kingdom work: From caring for creation through our Highway cleanup, to caring for spiritual needs through Vacation Bible School, confirmation, Compass group, Joy Circle, bible studies, and so much more. From serving our community by providing space free of charge for AA, GA, Girl Scouts, high school respect retreat, community band, hospital auxiliary, Lions breakfast, and 20 more community organizations – to caring for homeless persons in our neighborhood. We celebrate that one homeless couple who spent many days in our coffee shop last year was helped by people in this church to find employment, medical care and now, finally this month, regular housing. We also provided a funeral and luncheon for another unhoused person who passed away this past fall.
OUR DAILY BREAD:
My wife says I sure talk a lot about food, but I guess that comes with the territory at Resurrection. In addition to funeral lunches, we fed 50-70 persons every Wednesday at our community meal. On Thanksgiving we served 250 meals, delivering half of those like meals on wheels. In March we collected food for Hastings Family Service as part of MN Foodshare, and in February we packed 26,352 meals at Feed My Starving Children. In August we fed the Adult and Teen Challenge Choir, and in September we provided a free picnic to the community in Pioneer Park along with our outdoor worship, plus there were free cookies for Mother’s Day and free bacon for Father’s Day. And I hope you remember the summer preaching series “Heaven’s Kitchen”, where I made an authentic bible era recipe to go along with each message. (One brave soul took the recipe for homemade Labneh and fig appetizers, made it and won the $25 first prize at a company event with them.). Of course we finished the series with apple pie Sunday. I could go on… let’s see last month there was the lefse making class and…oh well, you get the picture. Of course I don’t want to leave out the most important meal we have at Resurrection – Holy Communion. Every Sunday we eat at the Lord’s table and all are invited to receive it.
FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM THE POWER AND THE GLORY:
I want to end by glorify God for all the blessings we have received this year. The ones you just heard about, and for the many new persons who have become our brothers and sisters here, for the new renovation of the library that gave us more space for those who meet there and the memorial committee that purchased the new furniture for the room. I thank God for simple fun like Bingo nights, movie nights, and boundary waters trips, even though I couldn’t go last year. And I thank you for your support in prayers, finances, and service. – including the $10,997 given for missions through the Be The Hope offering at Easter.
I know God has many more wonderful things in store in this coming year, including a family boundary waters trip in July. An expanded care team. And ministry ideas that the Spirit is just now planting in someone’s heart. It’ll be a great year. I’m going to turn it over to Kim Tharp to give us a brief update on our financial picture. Once again we praise God for how your generosity put us on a strong footing and helped make all these things possible.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CHURCH CONFERENCE CELEBRATION:
Kim Tharp, our Finance committee chair, gave an update. We paid all our bills and finished the year with $31,831 in our general fund account. We made our mortgage payments plus an additional $25,175 in principle to leave us with $427,717 remaining on our mortgage. Our giving in 2024 was down over 2023, but up over 2022. And the total commitments made for 2025 are up $22,948 over last year. We have a balanced spend plan (budget) projected for 2025 with total General Fund expenditures of $678,172.
The Humble Servant Award was presented to Cindy Kummer. This award is for someone who has demonstrated the highest degree of humble Christ-like service, so it is ironic that Cindy’s ministry is the source of so much pride in this church. We are proud of the hospitality extended through the coffee shop. From free donut holes, coffee, and ice water in the lobby, to the fanciest of coffee creations in the shop itself, Cindy’s work makes us proud. However, that does not compare to the pride we feel when we welcome visitors in the Christmas and Easter season to a church that is decorated with the utmost beauty and joyfulness. Cindy does not do any of this alone, but she is the point person and the visionary. Many days Cindy has arrived before the church is open or worked late after the staff has gone. And she does it joyfully and with a servant’s heart. Congratulations Cindy.
Committee leadership was elected for 2025. There are still opportunities to serve so talk to Pastor Mark if you are interested in volunteering. Copies of the leadership list are in the literature rack by the front doors.
Pastor Mark