TUSCOLA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Sandy and I are successfully settled into the parsonage and are working hard to make everyone's acquaintance. Slowly, we are beginning to associate names with faces as well as being able to find our way around Tuscola and the surrounding area. We are enjoyng the discoveries we have made and are looking forward to getting established in the community.

I am especially appreciative to those individuals and families who have opened their homes so that Sandy and I can meet with members of our church, have opportunity to talk about our church, and share my vision for our church. We are enjoying rich conversation and wonderful hospitality. We are looking forward to our work as your pastor/spouse.

Basically, we have hit the ground running, learning quite a bit about our church in a short time. From what we have gathered, we have learned that our church is one that is willing to take risks, stretch itself for the sake of Christ, and entertain new possibilities for reaching Tuscola and the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ. We have also learned that our church is facing some very real challenges.

Through daily prayer, we have sought out God's leading as we prepared to move to Tuscola. Through that prayer, we have been drawn to the realization that we are to hone our focus as a community of faith, i.e., we are to retrain our attention on why we are here in the first place. In leading this community of faith, I want us to begin focusing upon something we declared about ourselves some time ago: We are a people ANSWERING CHRIST'S CALL TO MINISTRY.

So, for the time being, memorize those five special words. Christ's call to ministry will be our banner and map, as each of us responds individually and as we respond corporately as part of that great Body of Christ.

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ." 1 Corinthians 12:12

In Christ,

Bruce