Debbie's Goodbye Party

This past Sunday was my goodbye party at Belleview UMC after worship. They had a wonderful spread of food out. The hall was decorated beautifully in shades of my favorite color purple. And on all of the tables were little quotes in the centerpieces from Carolyn and Joanne DeGraff, from some of my favorite things: lyrics from Mumford and Sons sons, quotes from John Wesley, Pope Francis, Mother Teresa, Scripture verses and even a quote from the Marvel Captain America movie!!!  

It's been a blessing to serve here for the last six years. Lots of good memories and people I will miss.

Bits and Pieces

While Daryl had the little boys at bowling on Saturday morning, I was at the Trustee workday at Belleview UMC. My raking buddy Joanne and I cleaned up the church playground - that's 15 bags of leaves by the gate!

Parker had a wonderful weekend camping with Troop 112 at Camp Shands in Hawthorne. They were actually camp staff hosting Cub Scouts and their families - his group taught about camp cooking. He was pretty wiped out when we got home on Sunday after church.

This was Wesley's recent prayer request card at church! His roadrash is much better now. He actually went running with me on Sunday night - we did 1.9 miles in the rain together.

This was Davis in the church nursery at BUMC last weeekend. He brought the Little People Ark from home to play with.

Announcement Day

Today was Announcement Day in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church and churches all across the conference learned about their pastoral leadership for the upcoming year. Daryl and I made the announcement at both Druid Hills UMC and at Belleview UMC this morning that our family will be moving this summer to Fruitland Park, Florida. We will be appointed as the co-pastors of Community United Methodist Church. 

 
This is a tremendous opportunity for our family. It has been our dream to serve together since we first received our calls to ministry in the fall of 1993. For the last few years we have told our District Superintendent that the only reason we would want to leave our current appointments is if we could serve together in one single congregation. At the beginning of this year it became clear that there would be opportunities for us to do just that and we prayerfully discerned that we wanted to move forward this year with God's calling wherever that might lead. It is a good time for this transition in our family as two of our boys would have to start new schools in the fall anyway - as Parker enters middle school and Davis enters kindergarten. And it is also a good time for this transition in the lives of both churches as things are stable with upswings in attendance and finances not to mention the strong lay leadership in both congregations.
 
But as much as we are excited about this opportunity, this transition is bittersweet as well. We've spent six years in ministry with the congregations at Druid Hills and Belleview. We've built great relationships and been able to accomplish all kinds of things together. We are so thankful for the privilege of walking alongside these congregations as their pastors. For the rest of our lives, no matter where we serve, we will carry with us the lessons we have learned here and the love that we have experienced from these two congregations.

Easter Sunday - He Is Risen Indeed!

Sunday morning started nice and early for us in Belleview with a "sunrise" service at 7am in the parking lot outside. We did some new things with staging and it was a wonderful time of worship. 

 

Afterwards I ran home to pick up the boys and bring them back for breakfast at church followed by the Children's celebration during Sunday school, complete with hunting Easter eggs on the prayer trail. 

Here was the sanctuary inside for the late service. The handbell choir played (I got to help out), the Visual Arts ministries performed "God's Not Dead" and the choir did an awesome anthem in worship. 

A few pictures with the Belleview flower cross for Easter. 

Druid Hills had a packed house for their service this morning and took in seven new members in worship! A couple of church members took these photos during worship this morning, including Daryl leading the Children's Time at the altar rail. 

The boys and I made it just  in time to Druid Hills in order to participate in their Easter Egg Hunt. 

And we were able to get a nice family photo in front of the Druid Hills Easter cross together. Happy Easter from the Allens! 

Holy Week Celebrations

For Maundy Thursday this week Belleview put on a Living Last Supper presentation including a couple of performances by the Visual Arts dancers and communion for everyone present. Jesus and the disciples acted out the Last Supper including a foot washing and at the end froze in the pose from DaVinci's famous Last Supper painting while the narrator talked about each of the disciples. Belleview had done this presentation before several years ago, but it was my first time to witness it. It was the first time I had seen this particular presentation and the cast did a very nice job with it.

In the pose of the Last Supper by DaVinci

For Good Friday, Daryl and I drove down to the Villages to see a bunch of our clergy friends in a community-wide Good Friday service at noon. Their mission group includes New Covenant in the Villages, Community in Fruitland Park, Christ in Leesburg plus the churches in Oxford, Lady Lake and Wildwood. The combined choirs sang DuBois' "Seven Last Words of Christ" and the pastors took turns speaking meditations about each word. The music was amazing (over 100 voice choir plus an orchestra) and the messages were a blessing.

Friday night found our whole family at Druid Hills UMC for their annual Easter Tableau. Daryl and the two little boys had been there for Thursday night as well. On Friday evening Davis hung out in the nursery while Daryl and I worked in the communion tent serving folks. Wesley lit candle bags and then directed traffic and Parker was in the crucifixion scene as a witness. They had great weather and attendance - 131 cars over 2 nights with 583 people.