Just finished the Annual Conference of the Central Texas Conference of the UMC.
   This is where churches leaving the UMC over gay ordination and marriage made it official.
   They are gone. About half of the Central Texas churches withdrew. A lot of them are smaller country churches, but also some larger city churches and one mega-church.
   What does this show us?
   That the sin of prejudice is hard to overcome.
   Anti-gay prejudice is no different from racial prejudice. Those who make life miserable for gay people now are the spiritual heirs of those who demeaned people of color when I was growing up.
   And it speaks of a failure of ministry. Our theology schools have turned out some preachers who do not know the Gospel.
   These ministers have failed to call people to Jesus Christ.
   They have allowed idolatry—the worship of the Bible over the Lord.
   Yes, I know, it takes some guts to tell people that Paul was wrong about same-sex relations.
   He was wrong about women keeping silent.
He was wrong about slavery.
   I love Paul. I give thanks for him. But he is not the Lord and Savior of the world.
   Jesus is.
   And Jesus taught us to love people as they are.
   God doesn’t care if people are gay or trans. But God does care if we are cruel to the neighbor.
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   As soon as I get the world straightened out I can talk about happy stuff.
   I’ll do it anyway. We’ve got a Gospel concert on Sat., June 24 at 6:00—light supper after. Our great musicians and I will be singing. Mark the calendar.

WOW!

Blake has a couple of guests coming Sunday who will join in the singing. There will be three—count them—three! Special musical performances involving Blake, Shannon
and the couple.

   Sermon: More than Kin
   Scripture: Acts 17:22-28
   Expect a great time of worship.

Catching Up

We have some large repair bills (plumbing and roof–$26,000) and we have had to hire people to do things that we once had volunteers for. We are going to be working to catch up financially.
And I want you to be confident that we will do so.
   Mary and I and the Administrative Board will be watching spending very carefully. We are going to spend only what is essential for the rest of this year. We will not buy even a box of paper clips for the church to pay for. Someone in the church will have to pay for the paper clips.
   If we need $150 worth of chicken for a church dinner, we will need to charge a little for the dinner to cover the price of the chicken.
   And we will have fundraising events—such as our concerts. (These are also for the joy of it; they will be good for the church.)
   I will be reporting the weekly offerings in this space. We need $5,000 each Sunday to get us to where we need to be.
   Last Sunday, we received $5,911.
   That gives us $911 to help on a Sunday when we fall short. Br encouraged. The Lord is with us all the way.

Now About That Concert

Saturday, June 24, 6:00 p.m.—followed by a light supper. What a joy to resume our concerts! We will share some of our best times at these events.
   See you Sunday. (Yes! Please! Be here if you can.)