by Jason Byassee
Jason Byassee
I’m grateful for several sightings of life abundant in our midst lately.
I spent time with a young woman recently who has felt rejected by other churches. She has been homeless at times after a heart-breakingly difficult upbringing. She is student age now, but not in school, she is working to stay housed, to make money to return to community college. She came to our church promising to give Christianity one last chance, but no more. I asked what we did to help her meet Jesus anew, become part of a church again, find her way into a job, to housing. “You let me be who I am,” she said. Seems simple, but it’s life-changing. And we are really good at that.
Our community in Todd, Blackburn’s Chapel, continues to bear fruit in ways we couldn’t have planned. Recently two college students stood and testified about the change in their lives from attending our church there. One has been our piano player for worship. She brought her friend, and both have found faith again in ways they did not anticipate. Blackburn’s is starting a new Sunday School class. It’s aimed at longtime Todd residents, not really at the student demographic. But both girls told Pastor Brandon they’d be back for the first Sunday School class. “We can’t wait,” they exclaimed. This worshiping community of ours, which costs not a single dime to our Boone campus, continues to bear fruit for us.
We recently had our annual fall Bazaar, and every year I hear new stories of faithfulness from our 30 year history. Ron Henries told me of a woman years ago whose family lost everything in a fire. She turned up with an empty station wagon and returned home with it full, on us. The Bazaar is about more than the money we raise to reduce our debt and the tithe of our earnings we give for local missions. It is also about the huge amount of grace we invest in our community through gift cards to local social workers and charities. I met one family that weekend whom I had previously invited to worship. She said she would attend sometime, but has not yet on Sunday morning. Then there they were in our building–for the Bazaar. Clearly this was an easier first step than coming for a worship service. A step offered for them to climb toward God, by virtue of a sale that turns garbage into mission. Amazing.
I met with a man lately whose family is moving toward joining our church. He had a few questions. He has doubts at times. He’s not near as good as he feels Christians should be. And he has had other churches look down on him. I was proud to report that our church is really good at not being judgmental, at accepting all people wherever we are. “Everybody everywhere matters,” we say, and believe, and act accordingly. He cried a little. “You really mean you think your church would have me and my family?” Yes, I replied, because Jesus adores you all and wants to draw closer to you. I’ve rarely felt more proud of our congregation.
Except maybe this one time. We’ve all heard about the tragic death of Anna Smith at Appalachian. Her family had her confirmed in a Methodist congregation in the High Point area. And the day after her body was discovered, her father worshiped in our church. He told me how grateful he was for ours as a place of refuge for him. I expressed our sorrow to him, and our admiration at his courage for coming to worship. He told me about the tattoo she had, visible in her photos. “Contrary to popular belief, she did not get that to please her father,” he joked. It was a sunflower. She had considered this carefully–a sunflower can grow alone or in groups, it turns and faces the sun all the time. “And I came into your church today and saw that beautiful arrangement of sunflowers,” he said (thank you Mary Carolyn Abernathy and God bless you Cheryl Marshbanks, in whose honor they were there!). He saw those flowers and gave thanks.
Signs of life are all around us. Let’s stop and give thanks occasionally. And keep turning toward the sun.
Bids in the Silent Auction will be accepted on Friday, September 19th until 6:00pm
We always have a large assortment of china, antiques and furniture. Pictures will be added as items come in, so check back often.
Thank you to the ALL of the members and Local Businesses who support our Fall Bazaar and the Silent Auction.
Appalachian New River Veterinary Clinic
Appalachian State University Athletics
Bandana’s Bar B Que & Grill
Bare Essentials
Barry Elledge
Best Cellar Restaurant
Blue Ridge Plastic Surgery
Boone Drug
Boone Golf Club
Butler, DDS Dr. Jerry
Changes Salon
Chick-fil-A
Childers, Al
Country Gourmet
Cowart, Michelle
Cracker Barrel
Cranberry Wood Works, Inc.
Dan’l Boone Inn Restaurant
Deal, Jr. Atty James M
DMG Design
Drs. Mayhew and Scheffler Orthodontics
Eat Crow
Echota
Friendship Honda
Golf Club & Peanuts
Haircut 101
Hawksnest
High Country Spa Maintenance
Hound Ears Club
Jim’s Produce
Joe Miller
Keller, Steve & Cheryl
Knoll Interior Design
Mack Brown Chevrolet
Maw’s Produce
Mike’s Inland Seafood
Miller, CPA, PA J. Donald
Mountain Girl Gallery
Mountainaire Golf Club
Mystery Hill
Peppers Restaurant
Puerto Nuevo Restaurant
Roots Restaurant
Sallie B. Graphic Design
Sew & So Embroidery
Sherwin-Williams
Stone Jewelers
Studio K Dance Company
Tatum Galleries & Interiors
Tweetsie Railroad
Unwound
Wahoo’s Adventures
Watson, Jr. Atty Donald M.
Wellborn Shell
Wellness Center
Western Carolina Eye Associates
WingNit
Check back daily for new items.
*All items are not guaranteed to be sold in the Silent Auction.
by Jason Byassee
Jason Byassee
Do you remember the pattern of a new semester? Everything is fresh–new teachers, new subjects, new books, new routine. If you’re a nerd, like me (and not a few others among us in this academic town) all this is nearly thrilling.
Then a few weeks into the semester the work hits. The first tests, exams, papers, in short, work. Suddenly what seemed new and fabulous becomes difficult, the new patterns routine, the teacher who once seemed witty and exciting grows quirky and annoying. This is the key point in education. Will we press through the tedium and find the blessing at the other end? Or will we do just barely enough to get by?
A new semester has started and also matured. Public school and local college students have been back some weeks. Professors have new work too–papers to grade, tests to evaluate, leading them to wonder (like their students) whether assigning all this work in the first place was a good idea.
Here at Boone Methodist a new semester and a new academic year are underway as well, replete with fresh beginnings. We have been in a sermon series on the surprising faithfulness of God, which is about to give way to a new series on our new logo and graphics as a church. Confirmation begins this Sunday, with a new crop of young boys and girls set to become men and women as they profess faith in Christ for themselves, some of them seeking baptism in the New River next spring. Club 45 begins in children’s ministry as well, meeting at 3:45 (get it?!) on Wednesdays for bible study and disciplined pursuit of friendship, the way we Methodists do (for more information, contact Colette Krontz).
Youth group starts this Sunday as well, featuring new small group leadership and a new crop of students. As ever we will be sure no student is missed as they attend. All will be met where they are at in small group and not left alone there but encouraged toward deeper following of Christ, and so more full life (for more information, contact Andy Ellis).
New intensive bible studies are set to begin to begin as well. Jeff McClain will lead a new Disciple II bible study that will meet for the academic year–please see him for more info. I will be teaching a new course called the Covenant Bible Study that will meet for 24 weeks and bounce back and forth between Old and New Testaments around the theme of covenant (email me if you are interested). Grant Dean is set to offer a new round of Financial Peace University, which applies biblical wisdom to a hard nosed approach to budgeting and debt reduction. Sign up with this Google form. Very few people I know feel they know the bible or their personal finances with enough wisdom–these studies will help.
Our firewood ministry starts afresh this Saturday morning. When and where else can you get in great shape swinging an ax or a chainsaw while doing good for our neighbors who are praying right now for heat this coming winter? (Contact Jaimie McGirt, our interim mission coordinator if you can help). Our 30th annual Fall Bazaar is in full swing on the way to our unloading Sunday after church on September 14 and the opening of the sale the following Friday, September 19. The hundreds of volunteers who lead in this ministry and schedule their holidays around this week insist they do so not so much for the mission, though that’s good (the proceeds pay down our debt and help many local people and agencies). They say they do the work because they love the time together in friendship, as they sweat and work and laugh together (contact Rosie for more information).
There is something wonderful about a new year, until it becomes hard work. Precisely then is when something exciting is about to happen, if we stick with it, commit ourselves, and seek Jesus and others together.
by Jason Byassee
Jason Byassee
You know how ministers in movies begin every wedding by addressing the congregation as “dearly beloved”? (we don’t do this in Methodist liturgies, but bear with me). That’s actually an ancient church practice of addressing all who come to church as “beloved,” that is, adored, by God. I often feel like addressing you this way, but it’d sound like something from a hackneyed film. I’m going to try it anyway:
Dear Ones Adored By Christ,
I’d like to tell you about two new initiatives at our church. One is our First Face ministry. Another is support for seminary students. Both are crucial and I ask for your prayer and support for each.
One, First Face. We had a consultant visit our church recently who approached our church like a guest would on a Sunday morning to show us how we do at welcoming. He suggests we spend a great deal more time and energy on our guests. We are good at being welcoming–none of us is here who wasn’t welcomed warmly by someone else (folks not warmly welcomed simply don’t come back, let alone join). But we may have placed less emphasis on this than we should recently. Folks on our welcoming team feel like they’re taking their turn at a chore that not enough people help with. And too many doors and hallways look empty, and so uninviting, as folks arrive Sundays.
What if instead we saw the chance to welcome new people as a chance to meet the risen Christ? “Greet every visitor as Christ,” St. Benedict charged monks and nuns in the 5th century–and they were people who wanted to get away from the world! Genesis 18 is an Old Testament example of Abraham and Sarah offering hospitality to strangers and only learning later that their guest is the mysterious Lord of the universe. Hebrews 13 charges us to treat guests as angels. Every person who approaches our church is here for a reason–sometimes a heart-breaking one. They have had something in their life change that sends them searching. A greeter or usher gets to be the face of Jesus for that person. Someone has been praying hard that this meeting goes well. The next step depends on you–your warmth, your reception of them, whether you’ve prayed beforehand. Through 1000 unspoken messages they’ll detect whether they’re welcome here and whether you’re excited to see them.
Susan Jones and Johnny Carson are leading an effort to improve how our church does with the 1500 guests we receive each year. We need more people in more places ready to receive guests. Expect us to call on you from the microphone, in personal conversation, through your Sunday School class. This is an all-hands-on-deck mission critical priority (as Johnny puts it!).
The second ask is to help support the seminary students on our staff. This may seem strange–don’t pastors show up ready-minted, educated and ready to go? Often yes, but those pastors who have risen through our ranks have not. Colette, Luke, Andy, and Vern were each hired by Boone Methodist for a specific ministry area. As their competence and confidence has grown so has their fruitfulness. Colette finishes her coursework at Duke for her master’s degree in September and walks in May. There is a reason our confirmation service was our best ever last April: Colette is a better children’s minister than ever. And her schooling is the reason why. Vern is studying at United Seminary in Ohio for a degree he has to have as a local pastor. Luke is at Asbury and Andy is working on the same MACP degree at Duke as Colette. Each is growing into who God calls them to be, and each will show greater fruitfulness for years to come on our staff. Brandon Wrencher, our new pastor at Blackburn’s Chapel, is finishing his degree at North Park in Chicago. He and the others have received support from both Methodist Men and Staff-Parish. I’m asking that we all support them further.
You will hear more about specific ways to do this shortly. If you feel compelled to give now, a check designated to “seminary support” would be a great way to do so. I know what it is like to come out of college in debt. Because of this, I have gifted my wedding honoraria this summer to the new seminary scholarship fund. Thank you for continuing to support our staff as they challenge us all to grow closer to Christ.
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Thank you for visiting our website. We hope that you will join us for worship.
Boone UMC offers a variety of great preachers. Here you will find a few of our “Best” messages.
https://booneumc.org/2018-sermons-audio/
