RUMC Newsletter article

I feel like I am finally beginning to catch-up. Isn’t that what summer is supposed to be for? My office is (after moving back to my original office) slowly getting organized. Pictures are on the walls, and most everything is put away – Those of you who doubt miracles shouldn’t anymore. Over the last few days I have gotten about 50% of the next years sermon’s planned – still trying to come up with an idea for advent. The overall theme for the coming year is being taken from my sermon on July 26th – Life IN Christ. Everything we will be doing will talk about how we can have Life IN Christ.

Even more exciting is some of the “stuff” that is growing under the surface. We are not just tweaking the newsletter – a whole new source of information is coming, one that will better link our church together. Along with that, I am going to begin sending out a weekly email to anyone who would like to receive it – that will begin no later than the first week of September. Make sure we have a current e-mail address for you by sending it to nancy@ridgeumc.org.

Tom Labus is working on revamping our Website – he saw my column in last month’s Ridge News and has volunteered to help us get it going. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am with that. THANKS TOM! As if that isn’t enough, he is also working on helping us get the technology in place so that we can start doing a live webcast of at least one service on Sunday mornings. We will start with streaming audio as soon as we can, and then, once the kinks are worked up, and we can acquire some equipment, we will begin streaming video as well. That is exciting!

I also mentioned in my last column that I would like to start using illustrations during our traditional worship services. The next Sunday a number of you stopped me to talk about it and shared all kinds of ideas. We will be putting a proposal together in the next few weeks, outlining what it will take to make PowerPoint possible during my sermons. I can’t wait because I know that many of us learn visually rather than simply through hearing, so I know that it will enhance the worship experience for many of you.

One finally thing that I am excited about: as we move more and more into our Cluster group (the Mid-Lake Cluster comprising of Ridge, Dyer, Griffith, Crown Point, Cedar Lake and Merrillville UMC’s), I keep finding myself saying – “We can do this even better as a cluster.” I keep finding opportunities, that as we grow together, will make us more effective in ministry. If you want more information about our cluster, talk to Keith Howard – he will be glad to share all about it.

Summer is supposed to be about slowing down. Here at Ridge, we are gearing up for an exciting year!