Merry Christmas from Deerfield UMC

    We hope that you have had a blessed season of Advent that is rapidly moving over to make way for Christmas. In reflecting on where I have seen the love of Christ unfolding at Deerfield UMC during this season, I am moved closer to Christ and to the kingdom of God by the generosity of the people here at Deerfield. It has been a tremendous time of giving. We give the Lord praise for the ways God has provided for our church financially over the course of this past year, even in the face of hard times, God has been faithful! In response to God's great love for us through his son Jesus Christ, our church has made intentional efforts to reach out to people in this season of Christmas who have great needs. Whether it be a health issue, or financial need, or a member who has recently gone through the loss of her home through a fire, God has moved on the hearts of the people here at Deerfield to respond, and my witness to their generosity is reason to give the Lord praise. What a powerful witness you are for Christ!
     Our church grieves with a member presently who has gone through the death of a 9 week old grandson this week, whose funeral will be Sunday afternoon. At the same time of entering into the depths of compassion of this great loss, I am waiting for the call of a baby boy about to be born, whose mother is in labor at this moment. At the opposite end of the spectrum of emotion, it reminds me of how limited we are to understand some things we face in life, and God's great capacity to hold both life and death in his hands, always. God has a way of being able to hold onto both life and death at the same time, and that capacity is beyond our reach and it is the holy work of God. In this season of Christmas, it is Christ being born, a great gift of new life to the world, that enables us to give witness to the one who can hold us all the way to death and through death to eternal life. May the one who came to save us, Jesus Christ our Lord, be at the center of your Christmas this year. To him be all praise, honor and glory, for he is truly our Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, The Word made flesh. Merry Christmas. Peace to you. In the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.
  

Boone Gets It's first real snow today!

Well, the snow really started yesterday about 1:00pm, and the snow continued for most of the day today. As I was leaving a church member's home tonight from doing a pastoral visit, when I came to the end of their road, I slid about 10 feet on black ice before I could come to a stop at the stop sign. I was only a few miles from home, but a lot of curves and potential slick places with black ice. Pretty nervy, but a safe ride home anyway. Thank the Lord for the angels that ride with me.  As I was getting ready to pull into the garage at the parsonage, a skunk scampered past the doors of the garage. I was so grateful he didn't want to come in for a visit. But, he did head behind the house and under the storage shed, so maybe I'll get to see him again tomorrow when it's daylight. The scenery was beautiful today. At the high elevation of the visit this evening, there was about 4 inches of snow, it was about 2-3 inches here at the parsonage. It stuck to the grass and trees, but not on the road.  Just about a week ago, I was able to take a few days off work, and walked barefooted on the beach and enjoyed the unseasonably warm days. My body is rebelling with a stopped up head. Winter wonderland is here. Living in Boone does save some time in watching the weather reports. Now you can pretty much expect it to snow just any time, whether it is in the forcast or not. The schools here were delayed just 2 hours this morning, but I know snow days are ahead.
     The snow is here but it's still a really busy time for the church. Forty shoe boxes already delivered to Samaritan's Purse just starts the list.  Life in the church presses forward here rain or snow! Praise the Lord for the faithfulness of those who want to give all they have to give to serve for the good of the cause of Christ. We have had a lively crowd of Christmas helpers making wreaths each morning in the fellowship hall. At lunch time, volunteers bring food, and all the workers sit down and have the chance to share a meal. I have loved that part too. It is so wonderful as a pastor to be at the church and have a crowd of volunteers show up to work, glad to be there and full of joy. It is really encouraging! In the evenings, the United Methodist Men are selling the wreaths and Christmas trees. They offer to deliver trees in the immediate area, and for the folks who are going down the mountain, we tie the trees on top of the car, invite them to church, and wish them a Merry Christmas. It takes a lot of commitment to go cut Christmas trees in the snow, and more commitment to sell them when it is cold and windy outside. On Monday of this week, we decorated the church with Hanging of the Greens and brought in the lights and poinsettias, and now the sanctuary is ready for Advent. Come on to Deerfield, and join us for some special Christmas cheer. It's the love of Christ that moves us a little closer every day to Christmas and to Christ.

Deerfield UMC works hard in missions

Since Hurricane Irene blasted her way through the eastern part of NC, our church has been greatly involved in providing support to those who have suffered losses. The first wave of support from my family came the day of the hurricane when my husband and son headed into the storm to go give mutual aid to the area of Atlantic Beach. Our kids prayed that all who were working would come home safely and that same day, on Sunday, the first team returned home. Then we had a group of men who traveled to the Outer Banks to serve two small churches that had suffered great losses. Our team had to take a two hour ferry ride just to get to Rodanthe where they were to serve. It was a lot of hard work, but much was accomplished in tearing out the old, flood soaked materials in the church up to about 4 feet from the floor. It was a great loss for two elderly congregations. We thank the Lord for the opportunity to go and serve there. Two weeks later, the next team of men and women from Deerfield went to Swan Quarter to work doing relief work helping several families remove flood soaked items from homes, and serving several families who were going through times of great need due to the tremendous loss from the storm damage to their homes. Their trip was also a great success. When we take the time to make the effort to go on a mission trip, we go with such high hopes that we are really going to be the hands of Christ and make a huge difference in the lives of the people we are serving. Then God somehow will turn the table on our expectations, and we end up taking away more than we feel like we were able to give. That is at the heart of what it means to serve. You get more than you give when you serve. To be able to figure that out I truly believe is the key to learning how to be a happy Christian. We live in a society where people what everyone else to do something for them. But because of what Christ has done for us, our whole daily orientation is to serve others in his name. When we do serve in response to what Christ has done for us, there we find the key to joy in our daily living. God puts more joy in our bucket than our bucket can hold. Praise be to God for the opportunity to have health and strength to do something for somebody in his name today.

Welcome back to the ASU students!

     All summer the date of August 17 has been standing out in my mind. Why? It's freshmen move in day at Appalachian State University here in Boone, home of the mountaineers. Why would I be looking forward to this day? I anticipate it will be at least a hundred degrees, even in Boone on that day, and the town will be flooded with five times the normal amount of traffic, and campus will be full of lots of new students and new parents dropping off their kids for the first time. I look forward to this day because I have never seen such hospitality on freshmen move in day as I did last year here at ASU. Several folks from our church and I went over to the campus to help freshmen move their things into the dorm that day. What was so great, was the awesome hospitality of other students who had already moved in, or upper class men, who came to work for the whole day helping students haul in their things for the very first time. It was a time to share the love of Christ with service and talk to lots of young people and invite them to church.
     I share a picture today with you of the ASU football stadium as a hint of a great season to come. Fall is close at hand with cooler weather, and yes, the start of football season. Anticipation of a great new season is in the air and in the paper with record preseason sales! Best wishes to the leader of the team, DeAndre Presley, who is the quarterback for the ASU Football team. Having had the opportunity to meet with DeAndre, I know that he has great potential on the football field, and off the field as a strong leader and witness for Christ. Our church is literally in hearing distance of the football stadium. Living in the parsonage here at Deerfield, on game day, I can stand outside on my front porch and hear the band practicing before the game, just how awesome is that? I am looking forward to the return of the students, the arrival of new students and the opportunity to share the love of Christ with tons of young people that God has arranged to be right at our back door.
       In the mean time, we want to give the Lord praise for the opportunity to return the gift of hospitality to the First Presbyterian Church while they are rebuilding from a small fire a few weeks ago that delayed their being able to start worship in their new facility about a mile down the road from us. Deerfield is truly gifted in the area of hospitality, and in our time of need, we surely received it, and now we are more than glad to be able to pass it on to our neighbors. To any new ASU student coming to Boone in the next couple of weeks, please forward this article to them and tell them, there is a United Methodist Congregation praying for them already and looking for the opportunity to serve them while they are living here in Boone. When it comes to making you feel at home, Deerfield is on the ball!  The phone number to Deerfield UMC is 828-264-7130. Call us for more information about our services and upcoming Bible studies.

Deerfield UMC has welcomed BBQ Guests

     Dr. Jim Goff from Deerfield UMC has an interesting family connection to the John Boy and Billy radio show. He found out that his third cousin is Carl the Cook who does the Grilling Sauce for John Boy and Billy. Jim's brother, Bunky, plays the banjo for the jingles on the radio and Hound is the jingle writer, musician and singer. They have an interesting way of promoting NC BBQ, and their style is called the gospel according to BBQ. So last night, the Hastings from our church, invited this whole crowd of guests who were to be on the local AM radio show this morning to come over for a meal and to make some music. From a BBQ loving United Methodist, country preacher, this was literally a night of "hog heaven."
     I went over to the radio show to share a book with them this morning after their broadcast with Dr. Jim Goff and Jim Hastings on their weekly radio show, and made a couple of pictures to share with you. We have invited them to come back to Deerfield UMC to cook some BBQ and make some music, and maybe we can have a BBQ revival. For the community of Boone, we can look for BBQ to fill our stomachs and Jesus Christ to fill our hearts. The door of hospitality continues to open wide for the gospel. In that short conversation after their show at the radio station this morning, John Roten from WATA invited me to come and preach for the call to worship for the rest of the week, and I accepted. So BBQ may have been the appetizer, but the good news of Jesus Christ is our everyday main course meal, and for that, we give the Lord praise. Thanks be to God for new friends, for open doors, good food and the love of Christ that continues to bind people together from all walks of life. Jesus sets a feast for us in heaven, and daily patiently waits for us to come to the table and feast with him. I hope your day is so good, you can say you are in "hog heaven" by whatever door of friendship that opens up to you to share a good word for Jesus Christ.
  

Deerfield UMC hopes to reach out to children

     Deerfield UMC just completed a week of a fabulous VBS using puppets and skits and music to reach the kids from our church and community. Our hope is to use this as a building block to start a weekday afterschool discipleship ministry with children one day a week during the school year. We are working out the details and hope to get that off the ground after school is back in session this fall. More details to come on this. During VBS, where might you see and experience God? I experienced God when I was sitting on the floor listening to a story and a child who needed a hug would come and climb into my lap and snuggle up to me while the story was being read. I saw God when a little one had pudding all over her face and down to her elbows and needed someone to help her get cleaned up and that was provided with a tender touch. I saw God when grown ups danced and sang with the children and we all laughed together around the story of Christ. I saw God using grown ups to make sandwiches to feed hungry children and enjoyed the conversation around the meal each night. Posting a fun picture of our event and we look forward to working more with the children to teach them more about how much Jesus loves them.
     I am almost done reading a great book called, "Heaven is for Real" by  Todd Burpo. I started it last night and could not put it down until I could not hold my eyes open. It has been a great read that I commend to you about a child's experience of Jesus Christ being made real in his life.

Deerfield has exciting day with Yankee Baseball

     Last week, Deerfield UMC hosted Bobby Richardson, a former player with the New York Yankees who still holds the record for playing in 30 consecutive world series games. It was such a great time to open the doors to the community as Bobby and his wife Betsy came to share their story of their life of faith together, a lot of information about Yankees baseball, and he also participated in a radio interview with me on the morning he was going to be speaking at our church. What was the most exciting thing to me about the event was that the opportunity fell into our lap. If we can learn how to say yes, when God opens the doors for us to open the doors to our community, I wonder how that will change the face of the United Methodist Church. That night we received an offering in a collection basket to be divided between the mission work that his daughter is doing in Africa, and our Relay for Life Event. We are so blessed that the community did come out for the event, and they did give to two very worthy causes.
     Last Friday Watauga County celebrated their county wide Relay for Life Event. I planned to attend the event and told our Relay Team that I would help in any way I could. So they signed me up for a big role in speaking to lead the ceremony that night, and I was grateful for the opportunity. As I walked laps around the track at Watauga High School, I saw the names on lumanaria of those we were honoring and those we were remembering. It struck me that so many of the names I read are people that I now serve at Deerfield UMC. I gave the Lord praise that he brought them healing and has allowed me the opportunity to get to know these people and to serve them. My life is so much richer because of each one of them. Relay was a spiritual event to ask God's help to bring a cure for cancer and a spiritual event to work together for a common cause, and to pause with thanksgiving for those who were there to walk the track because God had brought them healing. It was spiritual and moved my heart to participate.
     During the last week, we celebrated Vacation Bible School using the theme: "I love to Tell the Story." Using puppets and skits and fun songs, we used the scripture from the book of Acts to tell the kids in our church and community the story of how much Jesus loves them. It is our hope that we will be able to launch a new children's ministry this fall when school is in session using the puppets and skits and music to reach the kids in our church and community for an ongoing time of discipleship. At the end of each night, our music teacher, Pat Lanno would lead us in the song, "We're going to Chicago," and we would sing and dance and laugh and have a great time to close out each evening. Thanks so much to all the workers who have put in extra hours over the summer to help with the Bobby Richardson event, Relay for Life and Vacation Bible School. We could not do what we do without people working hard to make these opportunities possible. God has blessed us so richly with these opportunities to bind our church family together with a common purpose as we have worked on each project.
     We still have two projects to work on before the end of the summer. We want to build a playground for the children of our church and our community and a water garden. So we still have some fun things to do together and we will have something to show for our labor at the end of each day. Please contact Deerfield UMC if you would like to come and join us for the work we are doing in the name of Christ here in Boone NC.

Relay for Life Coffee House a Great Success

     Sunday evening at Deerfield UMC, Boone came alive with a common purpose, to help raise money to find a cure for cancer. The Deerfield UMC Relay for Life Dream Team came up with the idea of our church hosting a coffee house to invite the community to come in and join us for a time of music and a meal and fellowship to help raise money for Relay. So what a success the event was! Blessings beyond our expectations. For those here who are cancer survivors and for their families, I know this event held great meaning. And for those who have lost loved ones, it was a chance to remember that we carry on the fight to find a cure. For our listening enjoyment, we had 10 musical groups come and share with us, and even Kermit the frog came by for a song and made a special guest appearance. He will also be our preacher for conference Sunday, which is Pentecost Sunday,  if you would like to come to Deerfield on that day, you are invited and you may be surprised that Kermit can make the transformation into a really great preacher.
     The event was attended by about 150 people from the church and the community. We did raise about $2000.00 from that specific event that day towards our whole relay goal. We stand at about $5400.00 collected towards our goal of $7500.00 so we could use even more financial support on this mission. We want to say thanks to everyone who gave so willingly of their time and talents to make the event a success not just in raising money, but also to make it a spiritual event. The Holy Spirit was with us, and we give the Lord praise. Earlier Sunday morning in worship, we had studied from John 14 where the scripture teaches about heaven and how Christ has gone to prepare a place for us, a place with many rooms. During the children's message, I invited the children to dream about what would be in their room in heaven if they got to go to heaven today and tell God just what they wanted. I asked them what color would they paint their room, and the answers came: blue, purple, green, yellow and pink. I asked them if they would put a refrigerator in their room in heaven and they all laughed. Later on in the sermon for the grown ups, I shared my concern and my hope for the future of the United Methodist Church as a whole.  We need to focus on becoming a church of the future. We have to figure out how to reach young people and help them understand that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, now while they are eager to learn. Then after the sermon, when it was time to take up the offering, a little girl, I am guessing maybe 6 years old, insisted to her mom that she help her mom take up the offering. So she came up the aile with her mom and the other young woman taking up the offering and helped along the way. The little girl had been to children's church and had not heard what I had just said about our need to reach the young people, and how we had to call on God to show us how to do this great work. In John 14:14, where the scripture teaches that if we ask for anything in the name of Christ, he will do it for us. The words had just come out of my mouth that we are asking God to help us reach the young people and teach them to know the ways of Christ, and in just moments, a little one comes forth and offers to serve. It was a Holy Spirit filled moment, that spilled into a Holy Spirit filled day. We know for sure that God hears our prayers, and God will provide us with hope for the future, in great events like Relay for Life, worthy causes to find a cure for cancer, and on regular Sunday mornings in worship. God will give us the courage and leadership that we seek to help our church step into our future with hope. Praise be to the one who is the way, the truth and the life.
    

What does it mean to be a family?

     For many United Methodist clergy families, we deal with the question of what it means to be a family sometimes at a great distance from our blood kin. After the death of my father Howard McAdams on October 1, 2010 and then the fire at the parsonage on December 29th soon after that, I have really come to appreciate how much I love my family, even though we are separated by the miles. For me this week, being an Aunt to my nephew Ronnie Lee McAdams meant driving from Boone to Granville-Vance Community College yesterday to see him graduate from Basic Law Enforcement Training.  His dad Ronnie has recently been in the hospital with a head injury that required surgery and is doing well recovering from that. When my nephew called on Monday to tell me he had passed his state exam, I was thrilled! It is an honor to have a close relationship with my six neices and nephews who keep up with me, and I with them through emails and text messages and facebook. When my neice Callie recently ran in a full marathan, what a huge celebration. When my brother Ronnie took a fall, that would require surgery, what a shock and the prayers for him to make it through began from our whole church family at Deerfield UMC. When my son got sworn in as a law enforcement officer while he trains at Surry Community College, what a great sense of pride. When Stuart, my nephew learned that he would not graduate and have to take a nursing course at UNC Chapel Hill over again for the fall semester, my heart went out to him with disappointment and love and support. I am so glad he held  his course to stay on track and keep pressing on for the fall semester. I hoped he would have supportive people around him to help him figure out a new plan, and he has, and thanks be to God for their help.
    So being a family after the death of both of my parents is a challenge for me and my siblings to try to figure out how to continue to see each other and keep up with what is going on with our families. We want to keep the tie that binds us together strong. When all of us work full time and the sisters live a distance away, we face the same challenges that many of you may face. What binds a family together through the hard times, is the love of Christ that is enduring. Being willing to serve each other in a time of need is something I honor about my brothers and sisters and have taken for granted more times than I have remembered to be thankful. Now in our family mix, throw in two full time United Methodist pastors and three police officers, just to start the list of busy people who work hard and still love each other. I live with a regular family, and we face regular challenges, sickness, pitfalls and dysfunctions like everyone else. What it means to be a family for me is continually shaped by the way my parents raised me to honor them, even though they have already gone on to be with the Lord.  The way our parents raised their five kids in church and to live by the 10 commandments still makes a difference in the way I love my siblings.  It honors the memory of our parents for our family to love each other, to make an effort to stay connected, and to bring honor to Christ no matter where we live. This past Sunday in preaching from the 23rd Psalm, we were reminded that the Lord leads us in paths of righteousness for his names sake. When we love, and serve and give, and for me right now- to drive a lot of miles to stay connected,  people can see that what motivates us is the real deal, the love of Christ, and that truly does bring honor to his name. I am counting it a blessing to know the strength of the love of a strong family.  I pray for every family circle represented by you the reader, that God's hand of love will be your strength this day for you and your entire family. We pray God will strengthen each family, bring down walls, shower us with endurance and patience, and give us courage to risk loving each other more by the day. Oh, how we want to honor Christ in our home. Lord, let it be so.

Are you reaching the next generation for Christ?

    The United Methodist Women held their 28th annual luncheon this past Saturday to raise money for a scholarship for a senior at Watauga High School, and to help raise money to build a playground here at Deerfield, so we can better serve the children of our community. The women of the church thank the Peddler Restaurant for the donation of our fabulous meal that they catered for the event. Included in our events for the day on Saturday was a fashion show from local clothing stores, and an auction of several baskets of goodies like picnic items, or gardening items, all fixed up in a beautiful basket, just in time for Mother's Day. We fed about 130 people for the dinner and it was a huge success as far as funding our scholarship and raising funds for the playground. It was a long standing tradition with the goal for providing hope for the future generation.
   The emphasis of that event was for the benefit of children and a teenager from our community. In a recent post from our D.S.  Rev. Fred Jordan, he gave us a link to watch a short video clip by Dr. Lovett Weems. After watching that video, it talks about the huge need in the life of the United Methodist Church to reach young families before we lose vast numbers of United Methodist Churches because their members are dying out. On this very day, I have met with a young mother who is asking our church to provide some kind of ministry to young families with Bible Study and the opportunity to grow in their faith together. She worships here regularly and attends Sunday School here regularly, yet there is a spiritual hunger for more. Praise God for that hunger and for the courage to ask for more!  The great challenge for our church is to address the spiritual needs of young people. Weems says we have failed miserably as a United Methodist Church to do that. If Deerfield UMC is going to be any different from the current trend in our denomination, we have to figure out how to meet the spiritual needs of young people, and young families and train them up to be disciples of Jesus Christ. It is our scriptural mandate to pass on this good news to the next generation. We don't know yet how we will meet this need, but at least there is a spiritual hunger there on the part of the young people. Church, that puts the ball in our court to help disciple them so they can grow in their walk with Christ. Let's get busy and figure out how will be the best way to bring our church into a ministry filled with vibrance, youth and hope for the future. That is a huge task, but God is with us, and God will lead us.  Here is the link to the short video clip by Lovett Weems. I hope you will take the time to watch it. It is worth the time. http://vimeo.com/22392014

Serving Christ daily can bring unexpected laughs and hard challenges

    I hope that you have enjoyed a great season of Lent and Easter Sunday. Today after a day off for Easter and a regular day off, it was back to work, business as usual today. So on my way to go make a hospital visit to a patient at Watauga Medical Center, when I got out of my car I heard an odd sound. Something squeaking. So I looked around and there was a truck parked in the parking lot with a camper shell on the back of it, with the side panels lifted up and inside of that camper shell making those squeaking noises, turned into oinks. Yes, that's right, oinks. It was a little pig, about 100 pounds that came over to the side of the truck to give me a great big hello. I have seen a lot of pigs. I have traveled to see patients in lots of different hospitals, but this was the first pig I have ever seen that loved it's owner enough to come and make a visit to the hospital. So I snapped a shot with my cell phone, and I hope the picture comes through. After visiting with the pig, taking her picture, talking pig talk to her, I went on about my work, which was to go make a visit to a patient. It was a laugh out loud scene. Good enough to share, so I am sharing the picture with you on todays blog. It made me laugh out loud and I hope it does the same for you.
     This week, we are getting ready for our next biggest event after Easter, the bi-annual ham and chicken supper put on by our United Methodist Men. We set up the tables for the event tonight. We expect a huge crowd on Friday night. As the community comes in to eat with us, say a prayer for us to talk to as many people as we can for the cause of Christ, and give them some real food, the Bread of Life. We want to make sure that we use every opportunity to say a word for the good of the cause of Christ that we can. Why is it that it seems so much harder to talk to your immediate family about the life changing power of Christ than even to a stranger? If you are in a place to talk to your family member about spiritual things, our prayer for you is that God will give you the courage to give a bold witness, that we are an Easter people. We serve a risen Lord who does still have the power to change lives, and does change lives forever. If we did not have that hope, where would we be? Life continues to bring so many opportunities to speak for Christ on a daily basis, I want to encourage you to not avoid the hard talks with the people closest to you, God will give you the words to say, and let you know when the time is the right time. God is with us, not against us, and for someone living far from Christ, that is a good place to start. Remind them, or share with them maybe for the first time, that God is for them. Those few words can open huge doors for our witness to the good news.
   

How will you prepare for Good Friday?

     This morning, the Monday of Holy Week, I was determined to start my day in the word, and not in a rush. I wanted to just spend some time with the Lord and lean into what this week would bring. It didn't start off so smoothly. Early the phone rang and Treva our secretary called to say she was sick. Yes, it was going to be a crazy day, but even so, I really wanted to dig into the word. So, in the front room pictured above in the parsonage, I love to sit where I can see out the big window. I sip a cup of coffee and get still. That is the perfect invitation for my little dog to squeeze in as close to me as possible, her favorite thing to do. How sweet that she loves to be so close. She is such a great comfort and companion for me. When I sit down to read my Bible, if the chair is wide enough to hold both of us, she is right to my side on my left leg, snuggled into her own little piece of heaven. The time was peaceful and rewarding. The rest of the day was a pretty fast pace.
   So Holy Week started for me with a determination to read the word and to take the time to try to absorb something wonderful for the day. I prayed for a friend having a shot in her eye this morning, and for two people having surgery today.  I read the lesson for tonight's Beth Moore Bible study that I would be attending, and the scripture on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob actually brought tears to my eyes to watch chapter by chapter as God's plan unfolds. The day started on track, pointed towards the cross. We are in the last days of the week celebrating how God's master plan for our salvation unfolds.
   That's where we are this week.  A few minutes in the office brought an unexpected invitation from the local WATA station 1450AM. They called to ask me to come do the morning devotion. My reply was, "You want me to come right now?" No, tomorrow and the rest of the week. So I accepted and look forward to that opportunity. Of all the weeks of the year to get to tell the story of the resurrection and all it means to us, this is a tremendous opportunity for our church to have a voice to reach the lost in our community and to encourage the saved. We have a special service this Thursday night to celebrate Holy Communion at 7:00pm and we want to invite you to attend. God be with you as you observe a Holy Lent, and find your way sometime this week, all the way to the foot of the cross of the one who died in our place, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Please take a moment and forward this message to your friends. I hope Jesus is the most talked about subject in the whole world this week!

Four Year Old Little Girl at Deerfield UMC leads the church in giving

     As you read the title, how could this be? How could a four year old little girl lead the church in giving? By giving up her whole life's savings to Deerfield UMC this past Sunday. On my drive back to Boone on Saturday, her mother called to say her little girl had a special gift. She had been saving coins her whole life and she had decided that she wanted to give them to the church. She wants to give them to the church for the playground. So we made arrangements to give the gift and the giver a chance to be honored on Sunday morning as we were preparing to receive the offering. What church stewardship team wouldn't want this kind of a story to kick off a giving campaign?  We wanted to do a stewardship campaign during the season of Lent, but it got postponed because the church activity has been revolving around getting parsonage repaired and helping me get settled again after the fire. So even though we needed to press on with the stewardship campaign, life required our energies to be directed in other ways at this moment. But, by the grace of God, a little one was nudged, and I believe used by the Holy Spirit, to soften the hearts of a whole congregation and make each one of us think about our giving. When a little child knows that what they have to offer in worship is worth something, and valued by all who are there, God has a way of breaking down walls through the softness and innocence of a child. When children come to God in obedience, I believe with my whole heart that is makes God smile. It makes us grown ups want to be so willing to do as the Holy Spirit directs that a reverence comes over the whole congregation. We celebrated Holy Communion and dedicated four prayer shawls. Worship was wonderful. God was with us.
    Grown ups say, "Well I can't give my whole savings." God does not ask that of each of us, God only asks us for 10 percent. What she gave was all she had. Remember there is some scriptural precedent for this (the widow's mite). This little girl's gift came out of the blue. No stewardship campaign. No letter sent to each home from the pastor. No begging for money from the pulpit. She has heard people talking about getting starting with rebuilding the playground! Our United Methodist Men are taking on a great interest in working with the women's groups of the church to get the playground updated with new equipment. If I were her mom or dad, or grandma or grandpa, you couldn't stand to be around me this week. All you would hear about was her beautiful gift. I would be so proud and I know they are! I am proud of her obedience and I want to be so generous.
     I don't want to try to explain away the wonder of how God can use a little girl, to call her to give up all the money she has in the world and totally surrender it to the church for God's purposes. It was a beautiful gift, and we honored it. Our whole church was touched by the tenderness of her heart. Who knows what influence this gift may have on our adults? We are so grateful to have her with us.  Jesus calls us to radical obedience to be his follower. What she did was radical, even if she was four. What would it take for us to be so bold?

Hey, we are back in the parsonage!

It is with great delight that I share the news that we moved back into the parsonage last Saturday. It has been about 3 months since the fire in the parsonage and what a time of rebuilding this has been. One of the benefits since the fire is that the fire detection system has now been extended into the parsonage. For lunch today, I made some biscuits, yes from scratch. When I got done eating lunch, I made some biscuits with strawberry jam and took them over to the church. When I went out the front door there were three fire alarm security trucks and a truck from the fire department out in front of the church. I walked into the fellowship hall where they were working and said, "I did not burn the biscuits." That had been the joke while they were putting in the sensors that when I cooked, the fire department would come. It was a good laugh for all concerned. 
   The best thing that has happened to our church after the fire, is that the whole process of rebuilding has helped bring out the best in people. The companies that have helped us have been so kind, and helpful. From our insurance adjuster to the contractor, to all the volunteers from here at Deerfield UMC, the measure of grace has filled our cup to overflowing. It has been a spiritual journey for me in not being in charge, when I really like to have things in order around me. The last few days of putting things in order have been days filled with healing, as I have waited for the day to come when a regular day would come again. I think we are really close to a regular day, just around the corner, and for that, I sure do give the Lord praise. On an earlier post, I published a picture of the shadow of a cross that was left on the wall of the parsonage after the fire. Today, that same cross went back on the wall in the same place as it was before the fire. In all things, we remember, Christ is with us. I invite you to observe a Holy Lent.

Weeping Willow brings a sign of spring

     This past week I attended a session for clergy for the Clergy Health Innitiative. Duke Divinty School is working on a study to help pastors learn how to manage stress and live a more healthy lifestyle. Some of the statistics on clergy health for pastors in our conference were pretty shocking. One that stands out in my mind is that clergy in our conference are twice as likely as the general population to suffer from depression. There were several other areas like diabetes, asthma and arthritis that were high enough among clergy that there was also a statistical difference in the high levels in these health problems compared also to the general population for people in NC. If you are into scientific studies, these folks have truly done their homework on the book work to make sure that what we do is worth the time. So the bottom line for us this past week boiled down to learning how to do a better job in managing stress. Stress brings with it so many different kinds of sickness that if we can bring down the stress level among our clergy, our scientific data show us that we can increase health in our clergy. All this sounds good. To get started this week, in Ashboro NC at Camp Caraway, we launched the journey. Clergy from the NC and the Western NC Conferences. Very little cell phone service, and no T.V. in my room did a little to raise my stress while I was there. Monday night I went to bed at 7:30pm. No joke. Tuesday night I went to bed by 9:00pm. The schedule had a 30 minute break between activities, so all day long we were not at a rushed pace and it really felt weird to have that much time before I had to do something else.
    I tried to honor the spirit of being on retreat when I left home. I left my laptop at home and kept my phone cut off and when we were not in worship or in class, I would check messages. Like many pastors I did have a pastoral emergency while I was at the retreat, the death of one of our oldest members. His funeral service was today. There was a pastor here in Boone on call for me that was able to take care of the family until I could get back at the end of the retreat to be with them. Something good did happen this week as we had Holy Communion together, sang hymns, listened to sermons, prayed for our congregations. Today, even after doing a funeral this afternoon, I feel like some of my peace has been restored. I have had the opportunity to think about holy things and put my trust in God to hold everything together until I could get back to my post. I am not quite able to find the words to describe what it's like to have a burden lifted, but somehow I actually do feel less stressed, more rested, and looking forward to worship tomorrow. God wants to give us what we need each day, if we will slow down long enough to receive the gift of each day. At Camp Caraway, there was a beautiful weeping willow tree that stood above a lake. Not a big deal to most of the folks there probably, but to me, who left snow on the ground in the yard of the parsonage when I left to go on retreat, this tree meant something different to me. The weeping willow was in full bud. Spring is close at hand. New life is right around the corner. To me, it was the image of the retreat that means new life is right around the corner, hold on to that hope. God is sending you a message of hope today as well. Look for your own willow tree, and know that new life is just on the verge of breaking through.

Update from Deerfield UMC

     The work at Deerfield in the recovery efforts from the fire continues. Each day we can see more progress. Last week when we had some warm weather, they were able to replace the roof. The work inside the fellowship hall in pretty much completed. It is still going to be a couple of weeks before the parsonage is ready to move back into. The folks here have worked so hard. All the contractors that have helped us have been so kind, we really do appreciate people being so thoughtful.
   I hope that you had a great Valentines Day last Monday. Today, I was schedule to attend the clergy health inniative at Haw River State Park, but I was not able to attend because I have been sick for a few days with a sinus infection which took my voice with it on Friday and today it has returned to a small voice.  So over the last few days, starting Friday morning when I woke up and could not talk, life has been very different. I have had to be still, rest, stay off the phone, and didn't even feel like doing anything on the computer, and that is pretty bad. So the new Lay Leader at Deerfield, got a crash course in one to the job responsibilities of the Lay Leader, ready to lead worship on Sunday morning if the pastor is sick at the last moment. Well,  Friday was not last moment, but it still was not much time, and I thank her for her diligence to write a sermon and lead worship on Sunday.  We have some very capable lay folks here at Deerfield and I am so proud of them. Late Saturday afternoon, I got a call from parishoners that had cooked supper for me and were ready to deliver supper. How could you not love these people? God has had some time to speak over these last days of having to be still and quiet, whether I wanted to or not. The scripture speaks volumes when it says, "Be still and know that I am God." I figure, God may have nudged me that I was pushing too hard, and needed a break and in my own hard headed way, ingored that nudge. I don't recommend that. So, if a couple of days of peace and quiet and rest is what I needed, the Lord has provided, even though I would have picked a warm beach and long walks in the sand and sun if just a break was all I needed. I think a greater lesson of letting people be the best they can be was also a teachable moment for me and the congregation, like folks bringing me supper, and preaching with hardly a moments notice, are a couple of ways that our lay people had to shine, and be the best God has made them to be. So praise the Lord for every time we let God use us for good, and for the healing that God has brought already. We look daily for the hand of God, and give him the praise when we see a new miracle unfold. Already I am feeling some better and I have gone from no voice to now a small voice, and for that I am already so thankful. Thanks for your prayers. We are pressing forward.

Ready to turn over a new page on February 1

     At Deerfield, we are ready for February! What delight comes this month with putting January behind us with cleaning up from the smoke damage and moving forward with the reconstruction. I am passing on to you this week the update we sent out to our church family on where we stand with the clean up process after the fire. We thank you for your continued prayer support as the good work for Christ continues in this place. God is in charge and we look for good to come. Praise the Lord for being with us through a time of chaos. Rev. Evelyn Lemons

Here is the update from our trustees:
This has been a productive week in both the church and parsonage as we work on repairing the damage done by the fire of Dec. 29. I would like to give our church family an update on what has been accomplished in the month since the fire.


All the ceiling tiles have been replaced in the fellowship hall, restrooms, and Sunday School rooms except for one classroom where some additional cleaning is being done. All of these rooms have also been cleaned and put back together so that classes can resume their normal meeting places. Thanks so much to the very dedicated people who have worked on this--even to the point of re-covering many of the chairs in the Sunday School rooms. If you are willing to help in that project, please let me know and I will put you in touch with the upholstery crew!

Much has been completed at the parsonage also. The three bedrooms in the newer section of the parsonage (upstairs) have been sealed, cleaned, and painted on all walls and ceilings. Flooring installation in these rooms can start this week. The older section of the parsonage (downstairs) has been cleaned, insulation has been removed, and the fire-contaminated attic has been sealed. The painters will begin sealing and painting in this downstairs section on Monday. The reconstruction in the parsonage will begin on Tuesday. Cabinets, countertops, and appliances have been chosen, and furniture selection is being worked on also.

Professional cleaners have been involved in cleaning the ductwork, attics, and rooms of the church, but much of the work has been done by members of our church, along with ASU students and members of Boone United Methodist and Faithbridge United Methodist. These efforts will help our church because we will be reimbursed through insurance coverage for the hours these volunteers have spent rather than having to pay someone else for this time. This will support the trustees of the church as we work to complete necessary renovations and purchases while remaining within the funds provided by insurance coverage. We understand and honor the financial commitments which have already been made by the members of our church and will do all within our power to prevent a financial burden on the congregation as a result of the fire. We are also thankful for the love offering taken by Boone United Methodist which will help to cover the costs of repair.

Lawrence Caviness

Chairperson, Deerfield UMC Trustees

Deerfield UMC gets volunteers on MLK BD

    Early this morning, we received a call from ACT office at ASU. There was a group of about 20 ASU students looking for a place to serve in the community in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. I asked them to meet me at the church at 1:00 and we would see what kind of work they could do.  Some of our faithful church workers, Lawrence and Jeannie, Bobbi and JC, came over to help them get started. These kids came and worked in the kitchen in the fellowship hall, repacking items in plastic, washing pots and pans, all the glasses, drying them and putting all that back on the shelves. Another team worked in the pantry. Everything came out, was cleaned, sorted and put back in. Not only did the ASU kids come to help us, we had the chance to tell them about Deerfield, and invited them to come be apart of the work of Christ here in our community with us. Twenty one years ago today, I said yes to the call of ministry. I gave these kids my witness of how God has been faithful to provide faith and courage all these years and I have no regrets of giving my life's work for the cause of Christ. I also told them we as a church had been searching in very intentional ways to be in a sustainable ministry with ASU students for the long haul, and that they had come to serve us in our time of need moved several in the room to tears. From the students who have been worshiping with us regulary, we have now a new youth volunteer and we are going to try to meet with our youth this coming Sunday to get something going with them again, and now all this work today thanks to Emily Schrecker who was our ASU student contact to bring all this help on board today. Praise be to God, for taking the mess we are facing and day by day, bringing out the best in people. We have given the memory of MLK Jr. a good reflection today, and we have honored Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. It's been a good day for our church family of sowing seeds and being really grateful for how God is meeting our needs as a church family daily.  As a church family, we are so grateful for the ASU connection that Rev. Toby Grady makes for the cause of Christ on a weekly basis to help students connect with Deerfield UMC. We are so overwhelmed with the goodness that surrounds us in the midst of hard times. For all the work being done to lift up the name of Christ through Deerfield UMC, we give the Lord the praise.

Moving on with the New Year At Deerfield UMC

     We have gotten off to a good start for our new year even in the face of the adversity from the parsonage fire and the damage to the fellowship hall here at Deerfield. The presence of the Holy Spirit has been powerful and moving during our worship. This is the hope for the whole United Methodist Church, is the life giving presence of God with us in worship. People want to be with God. If we can provide hospitality to people and to the Lord, God will bless us and let us know that we are in a holy place physically and spiritually. We were glad to have our District Superintendent, Rev. Fred Jordan, come to be our guest the first Sunday of the year. The fire has brought with it  times of daily challenges. The people of Deerfield were already facing a very lean time financially and we just did a financial campaign to be completed at the end of the year. I am so proud to be able to report to you that one hundred percent of the promises that people made to help the church above and beyond their regular giving all came through. Yes, that means 100 percent of the people who made a promise kept their word! As a pastor, you have made me so proud. In this faithfulness I can see the hand of God at work!  We determined that we would shoot for the goal of paying out our apportionments at 100%. I can't tell you how happy I was to see the report from our financial secretary come across my desk that said amount owed on apportionments-"zero." If it were not for the commitment of the people of Deerfield to the United Methodist Church, I know this would not have happened, and for that commitment to the church and to Christ I give the Lord praise.
     In the last week, we give the Lord praise for the folks from Boone UMC and from Faithbridge UMC for coming to help clean after the fire, and for the financial support that has come from our community. Thank you so much for your help. God has a strong history of being able to take a mess and be able to bring something good from it, like from the cross, God brought resurrection. In our situation, God is bringing people to help with their volunteer labor, prayer support, meals, skilled workers with different companies able to do what needs to be done. There is a tremendous reverence for the work going on at the church. It is not just a building. We represent the love of Christ to this community. Deerfield has a good name in the community for helping others, and now we want to say thank you for all the help that has already come our way. We appreciate your time and your thoughts and prayers so much. We keep watching to see what good God will bring. We have a taste of the goodness of God working already. The fellowship is closer, the bond of love is stronger, the choir sounds better, the people are smiling, the prayers of the people are heart felt and these are just to name a few. I can't wait to see what happens when we get on our feet again. God is moving in a great way. Day by day, the Lord is our shepherd and because we know who is leading the way, we can look forward to a better day tomorrow. God is the source of all our hope.

Fire at Deerfield UMC Parsonage and Church Dec 29

We have had a fire in the parsonage at Deerfield UMC. I have known the comfort of many of your prayers already. The parsonage and fellowship hall took smoke damage, and we are in the process of beginning the clean up. No one was in the buildings when the fire started around 8:30am on Dec. 29. So we give the Lord praise that no one was hurt. This took a special place of strength in my heart to find the expression for the emotion behind finding the covers pulled back on the bed where my husband and I had just slept over Christmas, and when the covers were moved there was a gray line of smoke over the covers on the bed. It brought me to tears to know that a fireman had come to pull the covers back to see if there was anyone in the bed. Thank the Lord that the house was spared a great deal of structural damage. The biggest blessing of all is that the sanctuary is unharmed. We had our regular service of worship there yesterday.
I have been displaced for the work in the parsonage, this makes twice since the first of July when the parsonage was being newly renovated. I am living in the house where I lived this summer while the parsonage was being done. It will be two months at the best to have the parsonage ready to be able to live in it again. It may be more like 3 months.
    As we have ended the year of 2010 with it going out in flames, we pray for a better new year. It is overwhelming, but we know that God is with us, and we will take this one day at a time. I also wanted to share that last year our finances were not so good, and this year the finances have been stronger. We have met the $37,780 pledge to meet our current needs so we would be able to pay our apportionments in full. We are only $100 short of the goal as of today.  We mailed the apportionment check today to pay out in full this year, and for this we know that God has provided, and now in the fire, God will provide and prove to us that when we seek first his kingdom, He will provide for all that we need. Much love to you. Thanks for your support and your prayers for us. We will continue to hold on to God's eternal purpose for the church to make known the saving work of Jesus Christ. We will press on, and God will be our supply. Rev. Evelyn Lemons