Etowah United Methodist Church

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Guided by Scripture and Prayer, we serve Christ by nurturing our spiritual growth, sharing the joy of faith, and embracing all people with God's love. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we have faith that our committment to this mission will be true to God's ongoing vision for Etowah United Methodist Church...,,

We are honored that you are visiting our web site. We are always striving to find new ways to get our message out to current and prospective members. This web site allows us to reach people we may never have been able to contact before.

Please use this site to access the information you need about the church and as a resource for broadening your faith. We look forward to hearing from you and answering any questions you might have.

Do these words sound familiar to you? We have been singing them as a prayer to the Lord before the Sunday sermon. We sing to prepare our hearts and our minds to receive the Word of God. We do not sing to a cosmic force or some impersonal universal spirit. The Holy Scriptures acknowledge that God wants to have a relationship with us. One that Henry Blackaby states in the Experiencing God study that is "real and personal". As we draw near to God in worship, He will draw near to us. (James 4:8)

These are the words we speak before the Lord as we seek God’s direction for our lives. Often during the last three months I have used these words to keep me focused on fulfilling God’s plan for me as pastor of Etowah UMC. Each day I need the guidance of the Holy Spirit in setting my path. I am reminded that I need to be clay in God’s hands. I need to be melted and molded and allow the potter to do his work.

When I am filled with His Spirit, He is ready to use me to accomplish His work. The most important part of this is the daily need for that Spirit to fall a-fresh on me.

It is not that I LEAK! I know that each day is a fresh day and God is moving in new and wonderful ways. The goal is to move with Him. What door will be opened today and what door will He close? When He shows me His direction, I want to be able to follow the direction of Christ as I "deny self, take up the cross and follow him." (Matthew 16:24)

A good steward is one that God is able to use. That person has allowed God to "melt, mold and fill" in order that they may be "used" to accomplish God’s will. I have found the people of Etowah ready to be used by God. I believe that we will do great things together, not just for God, but with God.

This month we begin a new chapter in Youth Ministry at Etowah UMC and we are going to rock, not because of who we are but because of the God we serve.

Frequently I listen to pop radio as I drive from home to the church, and one of the songs that has caught my ear is "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz. In particular one line, "I Came to Dance, Dance, Dance," has resonated with me as I have reflected about youth ministry at Etowah. Jesus came to dance. You may have heard of the song "Lord of the Dance," a Shaker tune by Sydney Carter, and we are going to dance with Jesus the Christ.

Jesus is going to lead us and we are going to dance, so get ready, buckle up and put on your dancing shoes.
In her book Practicing Passions, Kenda Creasy Dean writes:
Adolescents are searching for something, for someone, "to die for," to use Erik Erikson’s haunting phrase: a cause worthy of their suffering, a love worthy of a lifetime and not just a Sunday night. In short, they are searching for passion, even—maybe especially—in church. Teen-agers will not settle for a God who asks for anything less. If we are honest, neither will we.

On Sunday evenings from 5:30-7:00 P.M. (youth group) and Wednesday night from 6:15-7:15 P.M. (Bible study) the middle and high school youth of Etowah are going to be in-vited to grow in their relationship with God. A God who loves them so much that he came down to earth, died for them, and rose from the dead. We are going to encounter a God who asks them to give their entire lives over to him and to the spreading of his kingdom.

I hope that you are ready to Dance. Our youth council is meeting on August 29th and we are going to send out a jam packed schedule for the fall. Get on board, and get ready to dance with the Lord of Dance.

“And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer.” Act 2:42 NASB

I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome we received as Teresa and I moved into the Etowah parsonage. Thanks for all the help unloading the trailers, stacking boxes and boxes and boxes, bringing in meals, and most of all the wonderful words of welcome. The hardest part of being a United Methodist minister is laying down roots in one place, establishing deep relationships and then moving on to make new relationships and establish new roots. You have made the move easier and we are ready to do great things for the Lord with our new church family.

I have great memories of living in this area while I was at Brevard College. Back then it was only a two year institution. One of the first things I did as a freshman was to play in the cold crystal clear water of the creek that ran through the campus. With time on our hands and nothing to do, some of my new found brothers and sisters proceeded to take the round rocks off the creek bottom and make a dam. It made the shallow creek deep enough to really get wet in. As a product of the piedmont of the Carolinas, I didn’t realize that a mountain creek was designed by God to flow fast and freely. Later in the year that little lake we created became silted in. What had been part of a beautiful creek became a mud hole.

God created his church to be like a mountain stream. Right after Pentecost, the birth of the Church, God’s people were on fire with the power of the Holy Spirit. It was flowing through them as evidenced in the miracle recorded in the second chapter of Acts. The move of God was so strong that the disciples moved outside the comfort and security of the room they were hiding in and began to proclaim the love of God in the resurrected Jesus. Three thousand are recorded as becoming followers of Christ. That is what I call “Getting caught up” in the move of God.

The New American Standard Translation uses a great word to say what happens next, “They were CONTINUALLY devoting themselves to…” The move of God’s Spirit is a continual movement. Just as the Psalmist declares in Psalm 121; “The Lord neither slumbers, nor sleeps”.

For these early Christians it meant that they were constantly moving with their God who was constantly on the move. They devoted themselves to learning, fellowship, breaking bread together and praying. It worked for them and it can work for us.

By the way, a group of us finally went and took the dam down. It was amazing. In a few short days the creek had reclaimed its created purpose with no sign that the dam had been there. Let us renew our commitment to letting the Spirit of God flow freely through us. Let us change the world as that early group of believers did. If there is anything in the way of God moving freely, it is time to clear the stream. Together we can do great things for the Kingdom.

The Etowah UMC Flames Hunger Walk Team ran, walked, trudged and panted through Hendersonville on September 25, earning a record $2,790 for the work of the Henderson County Hunger Coalition! The weather was clear and brisk as your Team joined with hundreds of area residents of all ages in a tour of Hendersonville’s streets and neighborhoods. The Team joins me in thanking the many of you who sponsored them in this outreach ministry. I would like to extend my personal “thank you” to your Etowah UMC team members for their dedication and willingness to ease the hunger and cold for so many of Henderson County’s less fortunate in the months ahead:

The Etowah United Methodist Church’s stewardship campaign will begin on Octo-ber 17th, 2010. It is a time when you and your family should have conversations about your financial commitment to the church and its many works. We are part of a spiritual family that has been blessed in so many ways. As a family, we are there to both celebrate and provide support and prayers for each other. I truly believe the Lord asks each of us to sacrifice equally—the Widow’s mite being an example of how no one’s sacrifice is too small in the eyes of God.

Each of you is encouraged to evaluate your own harvest and make a heart driven decision to give the fruit that will sustain God’s kingdom and glory. Make it a fam-ily decision and commit all members to a personal equal sacrifice of the resources that God has provided. God sacrificed his only Son, Jesus Christ. His blood was shed for us that our sins would be forgiven and that we would have a heavenly home. It is truly a sacrificial benchmark none of us will ever achieve, but one we can base our commitment on.

Classes will be celebrating with a Christmas party and will be decorationg the Christmas tree located in the side entry of the church!