Legacy of Love

Greetings Church! 

We are currently in a sermon series called Legacy, specifically looking at the impact of First United Methodist Church in the Lebanon community. If you missed this past Sunday, you may not know that we will be celebrating our 200th anniversary as a church in 2027. In fact, we share this anniversary with Pickett Rucker UMC, as we worshiped together until 1853 when our part of the congregation moved to East Main Street.

200 years of faithfulness in Lebanon. What a legacy! I am proud of how our church is building on the foundations laid by the generations before us, and that our community sees us as a church who cares about Lebanon. Our witness in Lebanon is strong.

Over the last year, I have quietly helped launch the quarterly Leader's Edge breakfast, open to anyone who would like to grow as a leader. We have many gifted leaders in our church, and through word-of-mouth invitations, other leaders who are not part of our church have also begun attending. I believe that pouring into community leaders makes them stronger, which in turn makes our community stronger. I also believe that when leaders come together and talk about the adaptive challenges our community is facing, God will use it to do great things. If this is something you would like to be part of, let me know and I will add you to the distribution list.

One of the more recent ministries for which I am proudest of our church is the Food and Finances course we offer in conjunction with LSSD and other community partners. Each session equips under-resourced families with tools for personal finances, budgeting, food preparation, and other skills to transform their future. This builds on our legacy of meeting the community where they are and making a difference through shared life and relationships.

I also continue to be amazed by the legacy of our campus. We have been on this site since 1967, and on any given day here, you may see one of four civic clubs who meet in Hesson Hall, Meals on Wheels, LSSD programs, disaster response trainings, and Catholic Charities supporting families from our Spain house. All this is in addition to our own church ministries, scouts, Parents’ Day Out families, and too many other groups to name. This season, you may have noticed many improvement projects happening on our campus to ensure our facilities are able to meet the demands of our community. Our Trustees do a good job taking care of our campus so that it remains a valuable resource and asset to our community.

This is just a small sampling of the legacy we are building, not to mention our commitment to excellence in worship, investments in our children and youth, health and happiness programming for senior adults, initiatives for eradicating hunger, and even our new and growing 20s/30s group who are meeting regularly for fellowship and Bible Study.

Each of us has a responsibility to participate in the work of continuing to grow our church legacy. One way to do that is through your good faith estimate of giving towards our ministry and work in 2025. As we plan ministry for the coming year, these commitments help ensure we are being responsible and maximizing our impact in our community. Below is the 2025 Estimate of Giving form. I hope you will prayerfully fill out this form and turn it in before worship on November 3rd. On the 3rd, we will bring the cards to the altar during Holy Communion and consecrate these “first fruit” commitments to God, asking God to use them for good fruit in 2025. If you have any questions about this, or if you would like help setting up secure recurring online giving, feel free to reach out to Cori Brantley at 615.444.3315 EXT 6 or

Also on the 2025 Estimate of Giving card, you will see places for:

• Allotted giving to our missions fund, which fuels our food pantry, food giveaways, community service, Pumpkin Patch, Fall Festival, and other outreach efforts
• Allotted giving to the building fund, which covers maintenance of and improvements to our building and grounds
• Expressed interest in our Endowment Fund as part of your estate planning. The Endowment Fund has over a million dollars in it; the principal cannot be touched, but the interest is used in many ways to help the church leave a lasting legacy. Over the last few years, our endowment has helped the church purchase a strategic house adjacent to our campus, do major repairs to our steeple, upgrade our worship capabilities, and perform several larger maintenance projects on our campus. It is a simple process of including your church in your will to contribute to the church’s legacy of love. 
• Expressed interest in our Columbarium as another aid in estate planning. As burial costs skyrocket, the Columbarium offers a cost-efficient alternative for end-of-life decisions. Purchasing a niche now reserves your desired spot for the future and simplifies arrangements for your family.

Thank you for being part of the Legacy of Lebanon First United Methodist Church—but more importantly, of Christ’s Church! If I can be of any service to you, please do not hesitate to call me. My cell is 615.260.8412.

Blessings,
Ryan