It’s Good To Be Home!
Pastor Joanie God weaves life together in unexpected ways to create something beautiful.
About five years ago, we met a young man who was beginning an internship with our non-profit ministry in Charlotte. Upon meeting him for the first time, Joanie asked, “Where are you from?”
“Dunn,” he responded.
“Where?”
“Dunn, North Carolina.”
“Where’s that?”
While Jason knew the answer, Joanie learned about Dunn for the first time. Neither of us, at that time, could have imagined that we would worship in a church in Dunn, NC, much less be called there as co-pastors. Yet here we are because…
God weaves life together in unexpected ways to create something beautiful!
What an honor and blessing it is to no longer be interims, but to now officially serve as your co-pastors. We are excited to be a part of the family of Hood Memorial Christian Church. Over the past year, we have developed a love for the faith community on the corner of Cumberland and Clinton. We have been overwhelmed by your support and encouragement over the past year which has been a huge transition for our family. We have truly needed you as much (or more than!) you needed us. Again…
God always seems to weave life together in unexpected ways to create something beautiful.
We are grateful to finally call Hood Memorial Christian Church our home! As we begin to settle into our roles as co-pastors, we are asking ourselves lots of questions. On Monday (Day 1), we asked, “Where do we start?” Almost immediately our answer was, “The mission and vision statements!”
This past Sunday, the congregation voted to adopt the proposed mission and vision statements that have been the culmination of 8 months of work, including congregational meetings, surveys, research, sermons, board decisions, and a task force. Now we can say together with conviction:
The mission of Hood Memorial Christian Church is to serve Christ through mutually supporting one another & embodying God’s grace and love for all.
At Hood Memorial Christian Church, we envision a diverse church led by Christ to open its doors in love and service to all.
We believe wholeheartedly in this mission and vision. We feel confident that we can nurture, guide and direct the Hood congregation as pastoral leaders to fulfill these powerful statements. In fact, we believe that it is part of God’s work that your call to us as co-pastors comes at the same time that you officially adopt this new mission and vision. Together, we say…
God weaves life together in unexpected ways to create something beautiful.
We have begun to outline steps for ourselves in pursuit of the mission of our new church home. A few of those include:
- Defining each of our specific roles as co-pastors. Some roles will be specific to each of us. For example, you will primarily see Jason preaching and Joanie leading the choir. Other roles will be shared responsibilities, such as pastoral care,
- Partnering with other organizations in our local community (businesses, non-profits, and other groups) in an effort to (1) reach out to new and diverse people and (2) to work towards creating a church campus that is a hub of ministry in our community (much like we have done with Pretzel Logistics),
- Working with the Outreach Team on community events that are fun, welcoming, and filled with messages of God’s love and grace, such as the upcoming Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Cantata,
- Planning authentic worship experiences that are creative, inspiring, reflect our unique congregation, and consider God’s word for our daily lives,
- Enhancing our church campus with signs and symbols to welcome visitors and show the larger community about the great things happening at our church.
There is certainly more to do. And we, your pastors, are only a small part of what makes up our church family. YOU are the most important part! The skills, insights, and passion that YOU bring to our church are the keys to fulfilling our mission and vision. So, we invite you to ask yourself the same questions we are asking ourselves:
What is your role in fulfilling our church mission and vision?
As we move forward together to answer this question, we want each of you to feel comfortable to reach out to either one of us, or to both of us. We are both available to listen, to talk, to visit, and to care for you. We are committed to working with you and will continue to be creative with the help of the Holy Spirt in making the vision of our church a reality. And we ask that you do the same. So, please make yourself available to support and volunteer within the various ministries, events and opportunities that our church will undertake in the months and years ahead as we live into our mission and vision. If we work together, we can be sure that…
God will continue to weave life together in unexpected ways to create something beautiful.
Our prayer is that over the next days, weeks, months, and years you may find us worthy to be your pastors. We pray that our love for this church family will be evident. We pray that we will be quick to forgive and that you also will offer us forgiveness when we mess up. We pray for patience and we pray you will offer patience with us as we learn. Thank you for the opportunity to serve alongside you. We are proud to call a Hood Memorial Christian Church, with its rich and deep roots in Dunn, our new church home. God has a lot in store for us all!
With Grace and Peace,
Revs. Joanie & Jason Williams