Dear Central, Good Morning! Christmas is right around the bend and I trust you are almost ready. I wanted to let you know a few things that have been going on this week at Central: 1) Caroling - The Sonlighters group met on Sunday afternoon for an party and afterward sang to the folks at River Oaks Retirement Center. Several of our folks from Central who reside at River Oaks as well as 50 or so others enjoyed the music from the Sonlighters and the love that was shared. 2) Visitation - Our visitation team has been giving pointsettas over the past week to people not able to make it to church on a regular basis. A few of us have served communion to shut-ins this week and sang Christmas carols. A couple of them remarked how special it was to have their church remember them during this busy time of year. 3) Youth and Children - Our youth had their Christmas party Wednesday Night and had lots of fun. Our children having been putting the finishing touches on their "Twas The Night Before Christmas" presentation for the 4pm Christmas Eve service. It has been great to see the hard work that is being put in. 4) Giving - Thank you for remembering your church during this month. We had a good Sunday this past Sunday and gifts given during the week. People have been also contributing to the Christmas Mission Offering. Your staff over this couple weeks have been praying intentionally about our finances and we have seen some answered prayers! We still have room to go so I invite you to join us in prayer about finishing 2018 strong. 5) Dr. Marius Bahnean - As you may have heard, Marius is resigning from his position at Central effective Dec 30. He told me how difficult a decision it was for him to make. At the end of the day, he felt the strain of balancing his work at Tennessee Wesleyan University and the church was too much at this time. It was hard to do both to his level of satisfaction. We respect both he and Alina so much and wish them the best in the next steps of their journey. I personally will miss Marius' smile, his laugh, his sense of humor and his professionalism. I invite you to pray for Marius and Alina as well as our staff parish team in our next steps ahead. This Sunday as we continue to prepare our hearts for Christmas. Here are my sermon notes. Yours in Christ,
Scott Scott@centralmethodist.com