Sisters and Brothers in Christ –
Greetings in the Name of the One Who Is, the One Who Was, and the One Who Is to Come!
In the month of June we mark the closing of one year of my ministry with the people called Methodist at Queen Street UMC. It has been a long journey for me. I came with energy to spare and ready to lean into God’s future for Kinston. No sooner than I had arrived and we commending the soul of our sister Teresa Smith to God. My plans were changed. Our plans were changed. Suddenly we had to rely on God’s guidance as we began to move in new directions under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
Where are we now? The pastor-parish relations committee hopes to hire a full-time director of our children’s ministry in the coming months. The board of trustees is utilizing the resources from the sale of the house on Margaret Lane to renovate spaces for children and youth ministries. We learned from our Music Academy what a venture into after-school care might look like in our building. So we are now positioned to open, pending renovation and hiring, an after-school program for elementary children this fall. With God’s blessing may it come to pass!
As the summer is now upon us, we are already shifting gears to implement strategies for the fall. As Jacob Mewborn and I reviewed our summer plans, it made sense to us to wait until August for us to launch a worship-filled weekly Bible study on Wednesday evenings. In the meantime we are looking over our calendars to find several times to gather ourselves together to have some fun and fellowship on some Wednesday evenings. We will keep you posted on the progress of our plans.
Sisters and brothers … we stand ready to move. Like many of you, I am excited by recent announcements of jobs coming to Kinston. I am excited about the resurgence I sense in our steps and encourage us to continue seeking for the welfare of the city, for in it we will find our own welfare (see Jeremiah 29:6). Keep praying for strength to lean into God’s vision for his soon-coming and already-arriving kingdom.
Grace and Peace, Allen
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