The Weekly Work Update

Last Saturday was the funeral for one of the youth directors in the district who passed away. Russ worked for Trinity UMC in Sarasota and used to be on camp leadership team. 

Sunday I worshipped at Cornerstone UMC in Naples. Cornerstone is a congregation that is very involved in social justice work, including advocacy for farm workers, immigrant justice and advocacy for the LGBTQ community. 

There are also into creation care and just installed solar panels on the church roof. 

In the afternoon, we were back for the Southernmost Mission Field Charge Conference with seven churches from Collier County and two churches from Lee County. 

Monday was spent in Punta Gorda meeting pastors from Charlotte County and Lee County for their clergy 1:1s. 

Tuesday I had the opportunity to meet up with Rev. Beth Bostrom for lunch downtown. 

And then on Wednesday, Lynn and I spent time coaching a group of church leaders in Palmetto on some growth planning. 

 

Disney Concert

Tuesday afternoon I took off with Amy for a little Disney magic trip. We checked into Pop Century and then went over to Epcot. We had dinner and then went to the Ben Rector concert. We actually caught the tail end of the 2nd show from outside the theater as we were lining up for the last show. 

We were so close in the 4th row and he gave a great concert, full of favorite music and lots of energy. 

Afterwards we hung out to see the full fireworks show, Symphony of Us.

And then we caught the Skyliner back to our resort. Parker was working the unloading portion of the main station. He saw us and waved - and then his supervisor got his station covered for a few minutes so I could get a hug and say Hi! It was so good to see him at work. He just recently got the offer to extend his time and will be staying at Disney through next June (instead of ending in January). 

 

Cars + Disney

Friday we took Davis to the Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital for his annual cleft team clinic appointment. And then afterwards we met up with Parker at Epcot for a little bit. We rode Test Track and Davis loved seeing all the cool cars in the display area at the end, especially this awesome Corvette. And one of the very first electric cars from the 1990s. 

 

Orlando - Bradenton - Venice - Lakeland

I spent last Friday and Saturday at St. Luke's UMC in Orlando at the Beloved Community Summit. We had some great presentations and worship and conversations about how to help churches look more like the diversity of God's kingdom. We had about 8 churches represented from our district there including some clergy and laity and worship leaders. 

Sunday morning I worshipped with Emmanuel UMC and First UMC Bradenton. They are nesting together while they both work on some redevelopment projects. Both churches honored their pastors at the end of the service for Pastor Appreciation Month. 

Then in the afternoon I was at First UMC Palmetto for their West Manatee Mission Field Charge Conference. Six churches gathered together for worship and their church business. 

We introduced our newest district co-lay leader also - Donna Jungman on the right, who will be helping Nancy Metz on the left. 

Monday I spent at Grace UMC Venice to meet with the Sarasota County clergy 1:1 conversations. And in the afternoon I took a walk down to the beach to sit and talk with my spiritual director on the phone. 

Tuesday through Wednesday I spent at the Conference Office in Lakeland for meetings. I got in a couple of walks around the lake.