Dear everyone,
2017 was a tremendous year for Mt. Pleasant. As we all know, it was my first year at our church. We have seen several people added to our number and a vibrant congregation every Sunday. Through both trial and heartache I believe we have grown. There is something about the lessons of time and experience in life that cannot be faked. Only through God’s refining process of sanctifying us as a church — both as individuals and as a congregation — have we come to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Looking back at 2017, it seems to me that we have remained faithful to living out God’s word, and we have not veered off the narrow way. In short, God has kept us. We attended the General Conference, we engaged in missionary work, were faithful givers of our time and resources to the Glade Valley food bank and the Walkersville Thrift Shop. Through our missions we continued supporting missions in our community. Our outreach expanded with the Pancake Breakfast and participation in the Walkersville and Libertytown community parades. Our evangelism remains steady, our prayerful attitude has been maintained by our faithful coming together every Sunday morning to lift up the people, preaching, and purity of Mt. Pleasant UMC.
It is remarkable to note that God has been the ever-constant Provider for our church’s needs, seeing to it that we have never gone without. We had a wedding, several baptisms and a couple of new members join our flock.
The reality of a new year presents many wonderful opportunities to avoid the sins and mistakes of the last year. It also presents many obstacles, hindrances, and weights which can keep us from running the race with endurance. The vision for a new year as a church should involved great zeal to illustrate God’s glory through evangelism, one another ministry, preaching, teaching, and as our denomination’s mission statement says …. making disciples. In 2018, every member of Mt. Pleasant can do more for the glory of Christ than they did last year; take time, review the year, ask yourself the hard questions of how you can be more effective for Christ, serve his people more selflessly, and glorify God in this dark world.
My prayer for Mt. Pleasant is for faithfulness in God’s work, peace in God’s church, and love for God’s people. Happy New Year, blessings and Peace!
Pastor Rich