Hi Abide Family,
It was great to be back in person Sunday!
For the last two weeks, our lessons have focused on God’s covenants (promises) with Noah and Abraham in Genesis and what they tell us about God’s nature and attitude toward us. God’s covenants show us that:
God loves us.
God protects us.
God makes all things new.
God’s promises are true.
God is faithful.
Family, I am asking in the coming weeks that you lean into God’s promises as Abide heads in a new direction led by the Holy Spirit.
Yesterday was my last Sunday leading weekly Abide meetings. Two factors played into my decision: my responsibilities as Associate Pastor here at Trinity and the recent medical concerns with my family. It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with Abide for the past eight months. My hope for Abide was that Spirit would establish a firm foundation, grounded in and held together by God. Today, I believe Abide is standing on God’s firm foundation. Abide has connected with Jesus and each other, given their time away from school to serve, been baptized into the body of Christ, and engaged with God at the communion table, all while having fun and fellowship.
Now that Abide has God’s firm foundation, it is time to build! This week I, Pastor Scott, and two parents of youth will be conducting four interviews for a Youth and Adult Education Director. The new Youth and Adult Education Director will continue to build Abide on God’s firm foundation, and they will not build Abide alone. They will seek to include your hopes, desires, and dreams for the new Abide. So I encourage you to be open and honest with the new director so that the new Abide will not only be a group that meets at the church weekly, but a loving and safe community not just for each of you, but for those youth who are yet to come! Once the interviews are complete and the choice is made, the new youth/adult education director will start on April 1.
So what about March? That is a great question!
As God establishes his covenant (promise) with Abraham, God instructs Abraham to “walk before me, and be blameless.” The covenant that God establishes with Abraham is an everlasting covenant. God knows that Abraham will not live to see God’s promise fulfilled, so God encourages Abraham to be faithful and trusting as he follows God’s lead. As we wait to see how God will create Abide’s new direction, God calls us to be faithful and trusting. So during this in-between, I would ask that parents consider leading the Abide weekly groups on the following dates:
March 7
March 14
March 21
March 28
Do not fear! I will not leave you to do all the planning and leading of these groups. I have created detailed lesson plans for these dates, including instructions for group check-in, opening activity, scripture reading and discussion, and closing activity. If you feel lead to lead our youth, please contact me via email, and I will send you the link to the lesson plans. I will also coordinate for these dates an Abide mentor so that you will be in compliance with Trinity’s safe sanctuary policy. I will also continue to send out the weekly Abide update through the end of March.
Also, please communicate to your youth that even though I will not be leading youth activities, I am still the Associate Pastor and will continue to be their biggest advocate. If they need a shoulder to cry on or a friendly voice, I am still here for them. Parents, the same goes for all of you!
Peace,
Joey Gambrell
Associate Pastor
Trinity UMC
Blythewood, SC
jgambrell@trinityblythewood.com