From the Pastor
Sunset Drive Church
Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors.
Welcome to Sunset Drive United Methodist Church. We hope that you will take time to get to know us better and let us know how we can better be your church as we serve Christ. I was asked to describe our church for you. At first I was a bit hesitate: a church is a living organism and somewhat difficult to describe in a few words. But what came to mind are the words given to Abram by God in Genesis 12:1-3. It was the first commissioning by God for a people to be the Lord’s people in the world:
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, … and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves."
Our church is composed of ordinary people who are called to an extraordinary ministry. As far as we know, Abram (later renamed “Abraham”) was just an ordinary fellow. It was only after he began to walk in the Lord that we see him become someone rather special. At Sunset Drive, we are pretty much just like that – regular people, who sometimes get elevated to the heights of God’s wonder and glory!
Being part of our church is a venture in faith. We don’t all have to leave our homeland and go to a new land as Abraham did, but we are all on a journey that requires many choices of direction along the way. There are major choices of college, career, marriage, and location. There are other less serious but more numerous choices along the way that determine how we use our time each day, such as sports entertainment, education, and family life. So, who do we turn to for help along the way? At Sunset Drive, we are learning to turn to God more and more each day because we believe that the Lord knows the best direction for us.
Being part of our church is an opportunity for God’s blessings. As Abraham was given the promise of becoming a great nation, with a great name, so we are discovering at Sunset Drive that walking with the Lord provides us with regular blessings. There are many joys and times of laughter at our church. We enjoy life and take pleasure in each other’s company. We rejoice in answered prayer and the multiplication of God’s blessings in our own lives as well as the church as a whole.
Being part of our church calls us to share God’s blessings in the world around us. At Sunset Drive we believe that God wants to bless not only those within the Church, but His children everywhere and He commissions His Church to bear these blessings into the world. You’ll find the folks at our church are very involved in missions in the Broadway-Timberville area. You’ll also see us responding with mission teams to disaster areas such as those after Hurricane Floyd and Katrina. We are strong supporters of our local church camp as well as Camp Still Meadows. We are active in the booster clubs and civic clubs in our area. We help our neighbors.
I think you’ll find Sunset Drive UMC is an exciting and uplifting “promised land”. I hope your journey in the Lord will bring us together.
Peace be unto you ! -- Pastor Bob
