One-on-One with Pastor Jerry is a weekly report on family news and church and community activities, events, ministries and missions. Visit this page each week or sign up to receive it weekly in your inbox. Archive issues can be viewed at NoblesvilleFirst.com/one-on-one-archive.
October 7, 2021
Book 7, Volume 25
Last week I attended a Leadership Institute Watch Party hosted by Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City. Here are a few of my learnings (all statistics shared come from the Pew Research Center):
- As our society grows more diverse future church growth requires us to intentionally overcome our racial homogeneity. The present and the future of the church is dependent on our ability to embrace and achieve diversity.
- 19% of former church goers have not physically attended church during the Pandemic.
- 40% of church goers are now asking for hybrid worship (physical & livestream).
- There is a difference between watching and attending online worship. How are we helping people to worship as they watch online worship?
- 64% of Americans still claim a Christian faith, while only 29% attend. Do we see this as a problem or an opportunity?
- Millennials and now many of us regardless of generation now want what we want, when WE want it. Consider how your entertainment habits have changed. This is impacting our worship habits.
- White Protestant Mainline worship attendance is currently trending upward to 16.4% while white Evangelical worship attendance is trending downward to 13%.
- Digital has not been an effective way to engage families with children.
- 70% of Millennials (ages 25-40) and 84% of Gen Z (ages 6-24) support same sex marriage.
Over the next few weeks, our staff will be discussing what implications these, and other insights have for our ministry at Noblesville First.
Yesterday, I was able to deliver two truckloads of snacks to White River Elementary for the Snack Pack Program. We thank Lyndsay Sheridan and our Noblesville First Preschool for joining this effort which made Megan Thomas, the White River Social Worker, very happy. This represents about one-third of all the snacks delivered ...
Megan Thomas has also been working with Jean Morris to find a way for us to impact students since Covid has not allowed us to conduct our usual Kids Hope program during school hours. They have come up with a nice alternative that you may find fits more easily into your schedule. They are calling it After School All-Stars mentoring program. This program matches students with caring adults in a club meeting format where we all show up from 2:30-3:30 on selected Wednesdays and participate in activities, art, games and academic assistance if there is time. This is not a tutoring program but is intended to provide role models that offer guidance and help them set goals to reach their full potential. Background checks are required, and the schedule typically includes two Wednesdays per month from now until early March. Contact Jean Morris mrsejmorris@sbcglobal.net for more information or call the church office.
We were grateful to receive notice that Clayton Fleming, who recently passed away, included the church in his will. We have no idea what amount the church will receive but I was so impressed that he implemented something we have encouraged for some time to consider tithing your estate in the same way the Bible encourages us to tithe 10% of our income for God’s work. Clayton’s will lists Noblesville First to receive 10% of his estate. We are grateful for examples of generosity like this which enables us to fund special projects like the Organ Renovation Fund. I encourage you to consider this faithful step the next time you evaluate your end-of-life decisions.
Our Teter Operations Team met Tuesday and celebrated that it appears we made around $10,000 from tickets sales after expenses from the Teter Farm to Table Dinner for our 2021 operating expenses. $6,000 has been raised towards for our fifth hoop house and we also received notification of a special gift of $10,000 which will be used toward one of our special projects which we are prioritizing. Due to the great work of Katy Rogers in expanding produce sales at the Farmers Market and local restaurants as well as the increased rental income made possible by our Teter Retreat volunteers, we are looking at a surplus this year which will be used to accomplish some of the items on our dream list. Our Operations team will spend the next month prioritizing our projects and I will share that list with you then.
Given the challenges of Covid, we thought a safe alternative to our annual Trunk or Treat & Scary Organ Concert would be to hold something at Teter Retreat & Farm. The result is Noblesville First's Fall Fest at Teter, 10980 E. 221st Street, Noblesville on October 30 from 2-5PM. Entry is FREE to enjoy games, snacks, crafts, live music and lightly haunted hayrides. Wear your best costume and be prepared for an afternoon of fall-themed fun! Volunteers are needed to help with set up, parking, games, crafts, snacks and breakdown. Click here for details and a link to sign up to volunteer. There you will find specific jobs you can sign up for which will help us know we have every activity covered. For more information contact Pastor Jill at jmoffett@noblesvillefirst.com or Family Ministry Director Ally Hall at ahall@noblesvillefirst.com.
We continue to make good progress in the financial campaign for our Pipe Organ Renovation. We have raised more than $352,000, but we need to raise an additional $210,000 by the spring of 2023 to reach our goal. We'll share updates on our fundraising, informative videos about how pipe organs work, and progress reports from the organ builder at NoblesvilleFirst.com/organ. You can also make a pledge or donation there. “The Pipes Are Calling” and we hope you’ll respond with a generous donation. The result will be a wonderful organ that will enrich our worship and connect us to our community for generations to come.
Sharon McMahon has restarted her FaithMoves exercise group on Wednesday mornings from 9:00-9:45 am. There is no cost, just bring a mat or towel and enter doors #2 & #7 and head to Celebration Hall. This is not a yoga class but uses stretching, relaxing and restorative fitness movements and poses. For more information see NoblesvilleFirst.com/Faithmoves or email Sharon at mcmahon.mcmahon@att.net.
There has been a strong response of volunteers and items donated for the United Methodist Women’s Rummage Sale. Now it is time to encourage people to shop and those hours are this Wednesday from 3-7 pm, Thursday 9-3 and Friday 8-Noon. Sales support the many missions, local and beyond supported by our United Methodist Women.
We have partnered with the Belfrey Theatre to allow them to hold their performances of Cheaper by the Dozen in our Celebration Hall on October 21, 22, 23, 28, 29 & 30 at 8:00 pm and October 24 and 31 at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $17 for adults, $14 ages 12 & younger and ages 65 & older. For reservations, call 317-773-1085 or click the link at NoblesvilleFirst.com/belfry.
Thursday Worship at 6:30 tonight will meet in the Vine with Pastor Matt Hantelman sharing a discussion on Jesus as Lord. If you wish to join via Zoom, click the link at NoblesvilleFirst.com/ThursdayWorship. For more information contact Matt at mhantelman@noblesvillefirst.com.
At 8:30 Early Worship and 9:45 Traditional Worship in the Sanctuary, I will be bringing my take on Jesus as Lord as we continue our six-part series on Freeing Jesus. In preparation read Luke 6:46 where you will discover Jesus complaining that many call him Lord but don’t do what he says. I would suggest that an essential building block to following Jesus is to ask what it means to call Jesus Lord. It is easy to accept Jesus as friend and savior but to call Jesus Lord places key expectations on us and means adopting God’s dreams for the world as our goals.
Pastor Jill will share her take on Jesus as Lord in the 9:45 Family Worship and 11:00 Contemporary Worship. In preparation for Jill’s message, read John 20:24-29. Jill didn’t grow up calling Jesus Lord. She made that decision later as an adult coming from her Jewish background and she discovered calling Jesus Lord was a significant step beyond seeing Jesus only as savior common in eastern Tennessee where she grew up. Jill will provide a wonderful example of what living with Jesus as Lord means with an illustration from Peter Storey’s life, whom she met while on a trip to South Africa.
Our apologies for the complications with last week’s livestream of our worship services. We are in the process of training two media staff members, and we have quite a learning curve to overcome. We hope to have those problems remedied this week. Your patience is appreciated.
Ally Hall provides this summary of what our children will be learning in the Noblesville First Kids program ... In week two of the series on initiative, we turn to Matthew 9:9-13 and discover an essential moment from Matthew’s life. As a tax collector, Matthew would have been shunned by Jews and Romans alike. He was seen as a traitor to the Jews. Matthew must have been shocked when Jesus came up to him and asked him to be one of His disciples. Matthew might have seen himself as unworthy, but that would have changed once Jesus made him feel valued. Bottom Line: Knowing Jesus changes how you see yourself. Regardless of who we were or who we are right now, Jesus wants to have a relationship with us too. Jesus sees past our mistakes and sees the individual that God created.
Share prayer requests and check out the week's opportunities to connect on the Connection Card at NoblesvilleFirst.com or on the Noblesville First mobile app. And share your pastoral needs by emailing care@noblesvillefirst.com or calling the 24/7 Care Line at 317-773-2590.
See you tonight or Sunday,
Pastor Jerry Rairdon