South Asia Disaster

I am deeply saddened by the catastrophic loss of life in South and Southeast Asia. The number of dead continues to rise and the total loss of life is incomprehensible. I can't even begin to imagine the suffering and grief of those affected.

Some people have been asking what they can do to help. You can read here about what the United Methodist Committee on Relief is doing in the area and how you can help. Of course your prayers are important and so is your financial support. This is a direct link to a page where you can give financial support online. It also gives information about where to send checks and how to give over the phone.

I ask that you continue praying for all the victims and their families and for all of the aid workers who will be working to help them. May God be with them.

Grace and Peace to you,

will

Worship this week and Christmas Schedule

It is always great to come together and worship on Sunday nights. Thank you to everyone who participated this week. If you missed out, take a few minutes to read this week's sermon.

I hope you will be able to join us for Christmas Eve worship. Here is the schedule:

5:00 p.m. - Children and Family Service
7:00 and 9:00 p.m. Carols and Candles Service
10:30 p.m. Communion Candlelight Service

Invite your friends and neighbors to join us.

Don't forget, we will have service on Sunday the 26th at 6:00 p.m. I will post the scripture later in the week.

Have a joyous Christmas,

will

Worship this Week

I know everyone is busy, busy, busy with the holidays, but I bet you can find an hour to come worship with us Sunday night! The crush of the holidays might seem a little more tolerable if you take a little while to connect with the one who we celebrate.

I was going to put the Gospel of Mark aside for the holidays, but I found my way back into it this week. Here is the scripture for the week:

Mark 6:45-52 New Revised Standard Version
Mark 6:45-52 The Message

Feel free to post any questions or comments!

peace,

will

About Barbara...

I want to congratulate our Senior Pastor Barbara Ruth on being asked by the Bishop to join his cabinet and become the Superintendent of the Corpus Christi District. Barbara will take on this new role as of January 1st and will be moving to Corpus. This will be a big change for Oak Hill UMC and an excellent opportunity for Barbara. It is also means good news for the future of our conference of the United Methodist Church.

I have been hearing lots of questions about this, so I thought I would address as many as I can here.

Why is Barbara moving?

The United Methodist Church is a connectional church. It is made up of a number of geographic Conferences located here in the United States and around the world. Each conference has a Bishop. This Bishop, among other authorities and responsibilities, is in charge of appointing pastors to the churches in the conference. Pastors like Barbara, John and me agree when we enter the ministry to accept the bishop’s appointments wherever and whenever we may be sent.

Our church is part of the Southwest Texas Conference. Our Bishop is Joel Martinez. Our Conference, like most of the others is fairly large. Ours takes up a pretty big chunk of Texas. It is a pretty large job for the Bishop to keep track of all the churches and all the pastors. So, Conferences are broken up into districts. The Bishop assembles a cabinet of pastors to help keep track of all the churches as pastors, assigns them each to one of the districts and appoints them as District Superintendents. We happen to be in the Austin district. Our District Superintendent is
Robert Hall.

Barbara Ruth will now be a part of Bishop Martinez’s cabinet and be Superintendent over the Corpus Christi district. If this were the business world, this would be considered a pretty big promotion. In church terms, it really speaks to the unique gifts, talents, and leadership ability Barbara has demonstrated in her ministry.

Will John move too?

John will definitely stay until May 31st. John, along with Oak Hill, will be asking that he be appointed again in June for another year. Remember, as mentioned earlier, John and Barbara and I all agree to go where the Bishop sends us. So, there are never any guarantees.

Will we replace Barbara?

Of course, Barbara will be hard to replace. We will be in talks with our District Superintendent about finding a replacement as soon as possible.

What changes can we expect around the church as a result of this?

With the exception of Barbara’s absence, most things should stay the same. Things are always changing at a large, growing church like Oak Hill, but we don’t have any extra changes in mind.

What if I have more questions?

You can post them here, you can call or e-mail me, Barbara, or John, or you can talk to any member of our Staff Parish Relations Committee. If you unsure who is on that team or need their contact information, call the church office at 512-288-3836.

I hope this helps.


Grace and Peace to You!


will

Worship this Week

Thank you to Colleen Meyer for the wonderful talk about Gifts of Caring, our alternative giving program. It is a wonderful way to show someone that you are thinking about them at Christmas, while putting your money to work in God's kingdom. There is more information about the program here.

We had a wonderful worship experience on Sunday night. Thank you to all who came and made it what it was! We have a special treat next week. Our youth will be leading us in a Christmas worship experience The Noise We Make. It will be a blend of contemporary and Christmas music. Bring your friends and family and celebrate with us!

May the Peace of Christ Be With You!

will

Reading for the week

After a brief diversion to talk about Advent, we are back into our tour through Mark's gospel. In case you thought just pulling off dinner for your family on Thanksgiving was miraculous, this week we read about the feeding of the 5000:

Mark 6:30-44 New Revised Standard Version
Mark 6:30-44 The Message

Happy reading. As always, feel free to post any questions or comments.

peace,

will