Back to School…Back to Church; Labor Day; Book Clubs; Small Groups; Choirs; Bells; Confirmation; Crop Walk; Immunization Clinics…the list goes on and on for all that is going on at Holy Covenant United Methodist Church as we move into the fall of 2014. This is a busy place! I wonder if the very first group of people that met in 1974 understood the power, hope, and mission they were launching as they gathered as a church for the first time?

This month, we are celebrating the courage and dreams of that very first collection of disciples who founded this church 40 years ago. When you consider all that has taken place on this corner over the past forty years, it is staggering, but what is even more powerful is the number of lives that have been changed. Literally thousands of people have been touched in some way because of this church. Either through attending worship, Vacation Bible School, camps, food pantry, Project Transformation, El Salvadorian refugee housing, neighborhood events, scouting, and a multitude of activities, events, and missions.

What a wonderful foundation for Holy Covenant as we enter our next forty years! On September 14, 2014, we will launch our 2014 Stewardship Campaign, #facingforward@40/planning for vitality. We have this outstanding history of strength, generosity, faithfulness and tenacity to inspire us as we head face first into our dreams for ministry for 2015. During this campaign, we will consider what it means for Holy Covenant UMC to be a vital and powerful presence in Carrollton, Texas. Through sermons and family meetings, we will consider three questions:

Week One: What does it mean to be vital?

Week Two: What are our resources?

Week Three: Why are we a church?

What better way for us to consider where God is leading us than for us to celebrate how far God has brought us! We are ready and equipped to face the next forty years with an even greater sense of hope and passion than our founding members because God has already begun working through this congregation!

On September 28, 2014, we will come together as a church in one worship service followed by a fellowship meal to celebrate all that God has done, is doing and is calling us to do. God is asking us to claim our legacy but not to get too comfortable in our past accomplishments. God has brought each of us here to launch new hopes, dreams and missions. We are disciples who are called to face forward in ministry so that Holy Covenant is a vital and transformative force for this community — today!

Thanks be to God,
Pastor Carol