During my first week here at Wesley Audrey, our Office Manager, gave me the great idea of writing series of newsletter articles talking about what I have learned as a newcomer here at the church with the hope that you all might discover something you did not know as well. I hope that we can all learn something new together.
The first things that I noticed here at Wesley is that, at least as United Methodist Churches in Iowa go, we are a big, beautiful, and busy church.
Our church is big. To be honest, I am still trying to figure out my way around the building, and I am sure that there are places that I have not yet discovered. Much like the city of Muscatine itself, which I have found can also be challenging to navigate, our church has many ups and downs and a few dead ends, but the main routes seem to form one big circle. So, as in our faith journey, if we stay on the right path, we will eventually end up where God wants us.
Our church is beautiful. From the landscaping, to the architecture, to the stained glass windows, to the floors, to the decorations and artwork, to the newly remodeled sanctuary, and especially the people who call it home, our church is beautiful! Now all we need is the new organ. In fact, Greg Wall, our Chair of Trustees just finished giving me one of the many tours I hope to have with him. He told me about the stained glass and showed me the Billy Sunday pulpit. (I will have to write a whole other article about that.)
Our church is busy. We have many many ministries going on inside and outside of the building. Having been a pastor of smaller churches, I have to say that I have gotten used to being alone in the church. Not here. In addition to our wonderful staff and lay volunteers and leaders who are always around doing their thing, we have many other people using the building. For example, we have piano lessons throughout the day. I know that because my office shares a wall with the music room!
In closing, I would like to say how happy I am to be here and to say thank you for the words and tokens of welcome we have received. I hope you will join me in learning more about our big, beautiful, and busy church.
