Dear Friends and Family of RRUMC,
Happy Thanksgiving and merry Christmas. It is already that time of year.
That being said, I hope and pray you had the most joy- filled and blessed Christmas Eve you have ever had. Now is the time we focus on the year that is just in front of us. I think one of the best ways to look forward is to look backwards first.
As I look back on 2023, I cannot help but to be so thankful. There were so many wonderful things that happened just in 2023. We hired our first Sports Ministry Coordinator because our Upward Sports ministry program has outgrown a volunteer position. On one Sunday afternoon in November, over 200 of you packed 10,152 meals to go overseas for children in need. We refurbished our beautiful sanctuary over the summer. There were many weddings and baptisms here. We welcomed 15 confirmation youth into full membership in the church. We have almost completely renovated our Story Church campus at West 99th Street and Madison Avenue on the west side of Cleveland. At our staff meeting this morning, Lisa and Lynn, our campus pastors at Story Church, shared that they had 75 people in worship last Saturday. I could go on and on.
The more I reflect on 2023, the thing that brings me the most joy is that you have given me the blessing of being your senior pastor. I have cherished the tears of joy I have shared with so many of you over the past year. I have also cherished the tears of heartache and sorrow you have allowed me to share with you. I am in my 12th year at RRUMC and I feel like each and every year just gets better and better. I consider my call to serve this incredible congregation a blessing, an honor, and a complete privilege. I am still in awe every time someone from this church family invites me to walk with them in their story. The story could be the loss of a spouse. It could be a marriage or a baptism of a baby. It could be a story in the midst of a struggling marriage. Maybe it is a new job or the loss of a job you have had for decades. No matter what, I want you to know how special all of your stories are and always will be. I hold them in my heart and, when I preach each and every Sunday, I see your faces and those beautiful stories rush through my heart and mind. Thank you for those stories.
I love Jesus Christ more than anything in the world and I want to thank all of you for allowing me to live out that relationship as your pastor here at RRUMC. I look at 2024 through the lens of 2023 and that brings me joy, excitement, wonder, and hopeful anticipation of what God is going to do in this new year.
My prayer is that you can look at 2024, no matter what 2023 has dealt you, with that same joy, excitement, and hopeful anticipation. I pray that you have a blessed, joyous, and prosperous New Year. Thank you, church, for the way you have blessed and changed my life.
Peace and Blessings,
Rev. Dan