Stay Up To Date

Since I have been away for most of the last month, I must rely of messages I have received and phone calls for information regarding the concerns/joys of our congregation. We did attend a former Methodist Church, now nondenomination- al, in Abilene, Kansas one Sunday. This congregation disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church in 2022.

This Church is quite dynamic and survived the dissociative process with apparently few problems and is flourishing. I know very little about this process, but I feel that at a minimum, Desert Chapel should seriously consider our options during this time of turmoil in the UMC.

Their announcements and greeting process ended with what was our old custom of “stand and greet each other and make our guests feel welcome”. Handshakes and hugs were a bit of a surprise, but I/we felt very comfortable and welcome. we will be bringing some of the welcoming literature back for review.

On a personal note, as I have traveled this past month, I have usually taken the non-Interstate highways. I come upon many small towns and the outskirts of several larger cities. I tend to notice churches. My first impressions are nearly all positive from an aesthetic perspective. Granted, few of these impressions are in a desert setting, but I still compare other campuses with ours. Ours just seems a bit shabby.

I take some responsibility for this shabbiness, in that I sought to hire a landscape company to remove weeds and generally clean up the landscape of our property. Unfortunately that company initially did an adequate job, but then failed to follow-up. Added to that, the pre-emergent weed and grass killer was totally ineffective! The parking lot paving, again my responsibility, has failed to provide a long-term surface appearance that is better than “shabby”!