I am proud to be a United Methodist.  I know our church isn’t perfect, and I know some things could probably be better, but (even admitting some prejudice) I think our church is the best.  Here are some reasons why: We are a connectional church.  That means we work together.  We are connected. 

We connected last weekend with hundreds of other United Methodist churches across South Carolina for a huge youth event that drew over 2,100 people to worship and hear the Word.  Many, many young people made commitments to Christ for the first time.  Several made commitments to Christian ministry.  We connected, and because we did young people staged a Revolution.  By the way, our Mandy Taylor Young and Britt Farr were on the design team for this incredible event.

We connected with every other United Methodist church across the world to make a difference in Haiti.  UMCOR (the United MethodistCommittee on Relief) was the first relief agency on the ground in Haiti, and started immediately making a difference in every way they could.  Still, UMCOR is fighting to save lives and restore health. As United Methodists, we have the assurance that every dollar we give goes to help those in need.  All our UMCOR salaries are paid by apportionments. All our UMCOR buildings are rented with apportionments.  Every meeting UMCOR has is funded by apportionments.  So, when you give a dollar to UMCOR it goes directly to Haiti.  I don’t know of any other group that can make this claim. That’s a result of us being connected.

We are connected locally, too.  Last Sunday afternoon, members of our Missions Committee met with Missions Committee members from Cayce, Trinity, Shiloh, Brookland, and Platt Springs to begin planning how to help start a new congregation in the West Metro area.  This church will target our Hispanic/Latino neighbors.  Because we are connected, this meeting was resourced by the Annual Conference Director of Congregational Development, our District Superintendent, and our Hispanic Ministry Congregational Specialist.  All this leadership for us is possible because we are connected. Connectionalism also means that the West Metro churches are connected, and together we will accomplish so much more, and have so many more resources.

I am proud to be a United Methodist.  I’m proud to be connected.  I am especially proud to be a part of a great church like Mt Hebron.  Let’s stay connected: To each other, to our church, and most importantly, to our Lord. I’ll see you soon. 

God's Peace, Larry