In August I preached about unity in relation to my opinion on how we as a United Methodist Church move forward through our disagreements regarding the current polity of the church’s view and stance on homosexuality. There is a great deal of consideration for splitting the denomination so it was good to hear from the letter of Ephesians that we are called to accept each other with love and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties us together. In the same breath I presented a new process for the entire church to engage called the Healthy Church Initiative (HCI) which starts September 5th at 6:00 pm. As your servant leader how do I help to lead us forward into fulfilling our purpose as the Church of Christ? It has been my experience that all churches need to take time and evaluate/refocus their call within their current realities. Nothing but the Word of God stays the same so what happened well for us in the past may no longer be for our current reality. I believe HCI is going to give us the opportunity to talk, study, pray, and ask questions, all seeking to hear from God about our current direction in the life of this church. In both of these situations I have asked for the church to pray. This is what I hope you will join me in prayer for: Pray that people will not give up on the united church of Christ in this United Methodist Church. In order for healing to come we must do our work and I believe your work is getting into relationships with one another. That takes time so pray that we will invest ourselves in taking time to spend and get to know one another’s story and life Pray for your pastor that she will have the heart, wisdom, and love of God and that God will provide all that she needs. Pray for this church to come together in the unity of love taking the time to seek God for direction and guidance all the while loving God and loving one another in better ways Pray for yourself. For spiritual nourishment and growth. For a stronger personal relationship with God/Christ and that God will provide all that you need. In all I am excited and nervous for what is to come…I guess that is what faith is. Loving God heart, mind, soul, and strength, Pastor LaTonya