Matt's Musings

The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying,
‘Sir, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
(Matthew 25:20)

Rev. Jim Ozier, our Conference Officer who spoke at our seminar on “Radical Hospitality,” asked me over lunch how many new members we were averaging per Sunday at FUMC.  The answer was two per Sunday on average.  He said that number put us in the top one-half of one percent of all churches in America.  I found that stunning, given that I always want to see growth that is faster than it tends to happen.  However the reality is that the vast majority of churches in America are not growing and are in fact declining.  To show growth at any rate is to buck a national trend.  My expectation and work ethic have always been oriented toward growth, in part because I am a competitor but moreover because I believe our Lord calls us to bear fruit.  The parable in Matthew and the other gospels portray a God who gives us talents and possibilities as a church, not to sit on them unused, but to utilize them to full capacity for the purpose of multiplication  – reaching ever more people for Christ and Christ’s purposes on earth.   John Wesley put it this way, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”  For Wesley, good enough never was.

Reaching people, welcoming people, engaging people, inviting people creates not only multiplication but also momentum, to wit:

• 57 new members have been received YTD in 2010 – a 9% increase over the same period, 2009;
• We recently graduated our largest ever new member (Methodism 101) class with 28 persons;
• Most of these new members are under 35 years of age;
• Our decline in average worship attendance over 8 of the last 9 years has stopped;
• Our First Meal breakfast and worship have gone to every week now and are growing
• We are on pace to give more money to missional causes than ever before;
• Our Children’s Day Out classes are full for the fall;
• A community garden and sand-pit volleyball court are transforming barren space on our campus into centerpieces of community-building.

It is fall.   As we make our way back to school and to church, we will discover that there is multiplication and momentum building in both places.   We will realize again that we have been given much in our lives from our Lord – that we are indeed blessed.  How will we multiply those talents given to us in order to add to the momentum of kingdom-building through our church – one person, one relationship at a time?

Inviting you and one other to worship this Sunday,

Matt

Matthew B. Gaston, Sr. Pastor

In August I will be preaching a four part sermon  series under the title “Family Matters.” (See  page 1 for the schedule).  It is an intentional play on words as the sermons will have to do with various aspects and understandings of family.  But the title also expresses my strong belief that family matters very much for the health of an individual, the health of a church and the health of a country.

All three of these convictions have been validated during my week of mission work with some of our senior high students and adults.  Rebuilding a house for an elderly woman on a fixed income five years after Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area reminds me that we are also building family:  bonds with my son, bonds with our youth and their families, and bonds with people of our country whose devastated context is hard to comprehend.  Listening to our youth share their experiences and their reflections inspires me.  They feel closer to one another, closer to God, and closer to those they serve.  In other words, their various family ties have been strengthened by the constructive time spent with their various family members and their lives are richer for that common work.

We are blessed in our church family with a wide multi-generational assortment of families.  What we sometimes forget is how much are our families are enriched by our work, our worship, our play and our mission
together.  I love my summers; but already I am looking forward to seeing all our families back in church this fall because . . . family matters.

Grace,  peace,

Matt

Matthew B. Gaston, Sr. Pastor

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds . . . Paul, Romans 12:2, NRSV

This is not an unusual question for a pastor to hear.   There seems to be an assumption that since so many people take time off during the summer, then there must be a lot less for a pastor to do around the church.  In truth, while there is a sense of slower pace at times, the amount of work to do in a large church does not decrease; it simply changes tracks.  Planning for excellence in teaching, preaching, communication, music and pastoral care all continue regardless of how many people are here.  However, the work also includes trips to Bridgeport Camp to spend time with our children and youth, Vacation Bible School with the smaller children, and mission trips with youth to reach others in need (I will going with our senior highs to do post-Katrina home repair in Slidell, LA).

Summer is also a time for more reading, reflection, renewal and prayerful planning.   As a church we have contracted with Don Nations and DNA Coaching for three years of resourcing and consultation as we plan for congregational transformation.   A survey we completed indicates strongly that we are a “Maintaining Congregation.”   The other two categories are “Growing Congregation” and “Declining Congregation.”   We mirror in Denton what our North Texas Conference is doing in our region – maintaining, even as the population around us increases.   One of the interesting statements that Don Nations made at the last seminar in April was that a congregation has to decide to grow; otherwise it will not.   For me that statement was as startlingly  as it was simple.   I am guilty of falling into the 1950’s paradigm and thinking that “if you build it, they will come.”   That paradigm disappeared about 30 years ago.   Congregations that bring in more people and connect them do so because they decide to bring in more people and connect them.  This leads to transformation and growth.   It becomes part of the congregation’s “DNA.”   We are not there yet as a church, but we are getting there.  More people are being invited to serve in more ways and are thus encouraged in turn to invite more people to serve in more ways.   Rev. Jim Ozier, from our Conference office, will be with us August 15 to ably lead us in the 9:30 hour on this very topic.

I am convinced that God has great things in mind for this church and its great legacy.  I am also convinced that it will require transformation of thought and practice in order to be “heard” and relevant to new generations of persons looking for what Christ only can supply.   I want them to find that answer to their hunger HERE.   So I invite you this summer to also read, reflect, renew and prayerfully think about what new things God may have in store for your walk of faith and for this church.   This fall we will earnestly begin thinking about what congregational transformation might look like at FUMC.   These are exciting times.

Breathe peace,

Matt

Matthew B. Gaston, Sr. Pastor

Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple.
Malachi 3:10 (The Message)

Like most of you, I am looking forward to the change of pace that is summer.  In an educational town like Denton, that change of rhythm is as welcomed as it is pronounced.  After a spring full of expanding mission, inspired worship with children, youth and adult music, revamped budgets and a capital campaign, I am ready for the days of camp, mission trips and vacation.   In short, I am ready for some summer fun.  That summer fun will be a lot easier for all to enjoy if we all take care of the church’s summer fund.

No, it is not one of the church’s restricted funds or endowments.  Nor is it some kind of slush fund for the staff (though if anyone wanted to send us to the Denton Water Park for a day, we’d probably go – the new slide looks terrific).   No, I am talking simply about the costs of ministry that do not take a break over the summer regardless of how many people are on vacation.   I appreciate so much those who say to me, “We will be gone for several _______ (fill in the blank: Sundays, weeks, months), but we will make sure we send our offering in before we leave.”   These faithful ones are living out God’s word through Malachi.  Even as you are away, the proverbial “lights” (and air conditioning) will be on every day, every Sunday for every person who comes in need of the grace this church offers in such a magnificent variety of ways.

So, as you are making your checklists to be out of town, make sure you remember your church before you leave.  You summer fun will be blessed by the knowledge that you have done faithfully by your church’s summer fund.   Blessings and God’s traveling mercies upon you and yours as you take some time away this summer.

Appreciatively,

Matt

Matthew B. Gaston, Sr. Pastor

The economist and theologian in me have been at odds for awhile now as I have read the headlines:  “Sales Sluggish as Buyers Refrain;” “Recovery Slow as People Spend Less, Save More;”  “Volume Light in Rising Dow as Individual Investors Sit on Sidelines.”    The economist in me is sympathetic to the need for Americans to spend more and thus spur the economy for more Americans.   The theologian in me is sympathetic to the need for more Americans to save more so that more Americans do not fall into financial holes out of which they cannot climb.

John Wesley had a pretty simple financial plan: earn all you can; save all you can; give all you can.   Sometimes people trip over the middle directive.   By saying, “save all you can,” Wesley did not mean savings accounts, CD’s, money market accounts or pension plans (unknown in the 18th century).   He meant save as much on your expenses as you can so that you will have more of your hard-earned money to give away.  If Wesley were speaking to us today, I think he would be speaking much as Tom Sine did during the Hopkins Lectures; he would talk to us about simplifying our lives so that we have less financial stress and more energy for the things in life that count which aren’t the things, but the relationships.

I think the gift of this recovery following the gift of the recession recession (yes, you read that right) and the gift of our debt-reducing capital campaign is something very similar.   We have in our personal lives the opportunity to do the same thing we are doing in our church life:   simplify our spending so that less money goes toward things (like the debt service on a building) and more money goes toward the thing that counts – relationships, specifically those with other people and those with Jesus Christ.  I know that by making a commitment to this campaign, Cammy and I will spend less money on things that are not as important so that our church can concentrate on the things that are – ministry, mission, people.

We will grow as a more financially sound church even as our family grows as a more financially sound household.   We will together as a church earn and save so that we can GIVE more.   I look forward to what the Holy Spirit will reveal to us on May 23 – Commitment Sunday – Pentecost Sunday – OUR Sunday together, going forward into the great future God has for us.

With resurrection anticipation,

Matt

Matthew B. Gaston, Sr. Pastor

Sherrill Palko, who worships with us at 8:30 am on Sundays, attended a nursing conference and one of the topics was infants of substance abuse mothers.  At the end of the lecture there was an open session where the audience brought questions to the panel of experts.  You could predict most of the questions.  What can we do? Should we start teaching our children at a younger age?  More school programs etc..

One by one this panel of doctors, directors of Public Health and Child Protection Services and a psychiatrist said variously:  We are already doing this and it does not work.  We are doing that and it does not work.  We really don’t know what to do to reach these young women; all we know is what we are doing is not working.   They have a multitude of problems:  trauma, no support system, dysfunctional families, loss, death.    All of the nurses at the conference went silent as the pall of frustration and disheartenment settled upon the room.

Finally the guest speaker – a psychiatrist known for his work with young women with addictions, stood up and broke the silence, “Okay, I’m just going to say it;  there is one thing that saves these young women:  God.  When they accept God into their lives, they are able to overcome their addictions.  He helps them work through their problems and start to function.  We professionals in the medical field all want to dance around this subject and be so careful in what we say, but it is time that we accept it and say God works“  One by one the members of the panel began to nod their heads in agreement.

Most of us have not had to endure the agony attached to the infant of a substance-abusing mother.  But all of us have endured the agony in our lives where something is desperately broken and everything we have tried fails to fix it.  The pall of frustration, disheartenment and hopelessness settles upon our souls like a cold fog.  The story we rehearse on Maundy Thursday and “Good” Friday puts us keenly in touch with those agonies in our lives precisely so that when Easter arrives, the sun rises and trumpets sound, we together affirm the reality that the tomb is empty; God works!  Christ is risen; God works!
I am lifted above the fog; God works!  Death has lost its grip on me; God works! God works!  God works!  Hallelujah; God works!

Looking forward to seeing you in worship this week,

Matt

Matthew B. Gaston, Sr. Pastor

I serve on the Mayor’s Complete Count Committee whose function is to educate and encourage Denton’s population to fill out the 10 question Census form and mail it back in.   There are a number of articles in our local and regional papers which do an excellent job of debunking the myths (It’s not very accurate; it’s an invasion of privacy, etc.) about the census which cause people not to help in this collaborative Constitutional work.   I write this article during Lent for a simple reason: it helps all of us fulfill Christ’s mandate to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the lonely (Matthew 25).

As we all sense, the needs of the world are increasing even as the ability to meet those needs through charitable giving is decreasing.  How does filling out a census form help?   As Rudy Rodriguez, the Chair of the Mayor’s Committee says, “the results of the census affect your voice in Washington. Allocation of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives is based on the count—for the next 10 years. Texas stands to gain three or four seats in Congress. Chances are good that two of the new members of Congress will come from Denton and Collin counties.  Also, allocation of federal funds in many cases is based on population.

To get our fair share of the money, everyone must be counted. All kinds of business decisions are based at least in part on the population. How big is the market? The federal government also uses census data to allocate funds for public and higher education, programs for the elderly and public transportation” (emphasis mine).

Partnerships and leverage will be essential for meeting human need as the church.   Federal representation and federal dollars are a significant part of that equation.  We are a generous church.   We are a generous nation.   Two minutes answering 10 questions helps join those forces for greater power in fulfilling Christ’s call to be generous and present for the most vulnerable – poor children, the elderly poor and the poor in need of affordable transportation.  It’s good citizenship and good discipleship.  Consider it . . . a Lenten discipline.

Paz – Shalom – Peace.

Matt

Matthew B. Gaston, Sr. Pastor

If you read Keith Shelton’s very helpful history – Open Hearts – about our church, you will come across on p. 48 the very interesting backdrop of our Hopkins Lectures.  George and Jane Hopkins created the memorial in 1982 to honor George’s parents, George M. and Eleanor Hopkins.  Mr. Hopkins had served Denton as an outstanding attorney and the state of Texas as a three term legislator.  He served our church as a Lay Leader.  Eleanor, a graduate of the College of Industrial Arts, now TWU, ran Hopkins House.

During the depths of the Depression, the Hopkins bought two houses on Mulberry St.  They lived in one and set up a boarding house and kitchen for students in the other.   But an interesting thing happened.  Eleanor did not limit her meals to only the girls who rented rooms there; she prepared them for others who were hungry as well.  The “Hop House,” as it came to be known, was soon serving noon and evening meals for 100 to 150.    After World War II, the house was serving up to 600 people at noon, fulfilling Jesus’ mandate to Peter to “feed my sheep.”  Eleanor continued to operate the Hop House until her death in 1954.   Many women would come back after they graduated to say they “never would have made it except for Hopkins House.”   The subsequent endowment for the Hopkins Lectures in the Spiritual Life was established in George M. and Eleanor’s name.

This year, we host Mr. Tom Sine from Seattle, WA who spoke at Minister’s Week at the Perkins School of Theology in 2009.  He is one of the nation’s authorities in the trends of spiritual life and church in the world, with special emphasis on North America and western  Europe.   A wellspring of demographic and statistical information, Tom also has his hand on the pulse of spirituality that is emerging across continents.

It does not look like that to which we are accustomed in the mainline church.

Instead, it looks more like what Eleanor Hopkins was doing in the 40’s and 50’s – reaching out to meet the heartfelt needs of people in original and  personal ways.  The “emerging church” as it is coming to be called is not an institution, but a movement that is drawing the spiritual interest of young people from all walks and from across all denominational lines.  They want to grow in a faith that is hands-on, personal, transformative; they want a faith that is in action, like Eleanor’s and George’s.

Tom Sine will amaze us with a wealth of information about trends, spirituality and the church of the next 20 years.   Some of the information may make us uncomfortable because it sounds somewhat foreign to what we thought we knew.   Then again, once the 12 disciples and Paul got past the discomfort of moving beyond their comfortable boundaries, they set a world on fire for Christ.    Thank you George and Eleanor for your witness, and thank you George and Jane for giving us the Hopkins Lectures to prayerfully ponder these things in their honor in this Lenten season.

Grace and peace,
Matt
Matthew B. Gaston, Sr. Pastor

. . . dust to dust.  It is a refrain we use often in our funeral and memorial services.  The instructions to the pastor in the United Methodist Book of Worship have her or him placing a hand on the casket as these words are being said.  It is a poignant moment of reflection, thanksgiving and anticipation before the casket is lowered into the grave.  The moment gives pause to remember just how fleeting this life on earth is, whether you live 10 years or 100 years.  We come from the God-created substance of this earth, and we go back to that same substance.  In between those two material endpoints, we are given this gift called life – life that is lived in relationship with others – life that therefore has meaning.  I am convinced that the historic church’s structured opportunity to reflect on that meaning is the most significant time of our Christian year.

Biblically, God gives God’s people this opportunity.   Whether it is Noah adrift at sea for 40 days and nights of rain, or Moses staying on the mountaintop with God for 40 days, or the people of Israel wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, or Jesus voluntarily retreating to the dessert for 40 days, the people of God are given the opportunity for reflection, thanksgiving and anticipation.  The church saw this time as so important that it became a springtime “season” called Lent which means spring.  Forty days crossed by six Sundays are given to us by the church to intentionally reflect on the meaning within our brief lives – lives lived out in relationship with others and with God – lives that therefore have meaning.

The various means of grace we talk about around Lent – praying, fasting, communion, holy communion, scripture reading, etc. – are all invaluable tools to help us better focus during this time of reflection, thanksgiving and anticipation.   They help us derive the richer meaning of our brief lives on this earth, even as we anticipate the glorious resurrection life available to all by grace through faith in the risen Christ.  This is our hope, our strength, our joy and my prayer for you this Lenten season.

Grace and peace,
Matt
Matthew B. Gaston, Sr. Pastor

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.

-Jesus, from Isaiah 61:1-2 as found in Luke 4:18, NRSV

Luke sets this scene at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  He has returned to his hometown of Nazareth after his baptism and temptations in the desert.  The first thing he does is go to worship as was his custom.   This was a regular, rhythmic routine for Jesus and his family – as essential and baseline as eating and sleeping.  It grounded him, nurtured him, prepared him for the course of his day and the course of his life.  Given the opportunity to select and read the scripture for the day, he selected the portion of Isaiah that vitally connected worship with mission for the prophet.   Jesus read the above quote to the Temple congregation in Nazareth and then, in the words of the late Dr. Harrell Beck from Boston University, Jesus rolled up the scroll and went out to do something about it!

The historical litany of mission initiatives that Dale Tampke witnessed in worship – the first after school child care program in Denton, the first social services program in Denton (Manna, now Interfaith), the first recycling program in Denton, etc.  impressed one member to say to me, “I did not realize how tied United Methodists were to social justice.”  In truth, that has been the historical backbone of our brand of Christianity: heartfelt worship always tied to headlong mission.
John Wesley referred to it as “vital piety” leading always to “acts of charity.”   This is who we are as Methodists!

So while January served as a “mission emphasis,” in truth it was but reminder that for United Methodists, mission is ALWAYS the emphasis, undergirded by heartfelt prayer and regular worship.  This is where it starts, just as it did for Jesus – going to worship, as was his custom.  We are coming up on several mission initiatives in February – our First Meal for those who need one on the first Sunday mornings of each month, Celebrity Waiter Night here for HOPE, Inc.(Feb.; 16), and our ongoing (and piling up) collection of Health Kits for Haiti.

But we are also coming up on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 17), which begins the season of Lent which I will discuss further in the next Columns.  Suffice it to say for now that it is the equivalent of the time Jesus took by himself in the wilderness to sort out what finally was important for his life.  It was not an easy sorting; it was not intended to be.  That time of prayer, reflection and discernment tested his loyalties while strengthening them at the same time, after which the power of the living God lifted him to his destiny for the sake of the world.   Jesus’ heartfelt worship led directly to his headlong mission for the world he loved.   Embrace both this season.

Grace and peace,
Matt
Matthew B. Gaston, Sr. Pastor