Pastor’s Note
Imagine that Jesus was just starting his ministry. He hires a consultant from the year 2026, after all, if Jesus is God, then he can reach across time to hire a consultant from 2026 for his ministry in 30 A.D. Jesus was observant as a Jew. As an observant Jew he would have worn a long tunic, ankle length, with a sash at his waist. For the outdoors he would have added a mantle, which was a long outer coat with arm holes. His outfit would have conformed to the tzniut principles that emphasized modesty and that dress would have set him apart from the cultural norms of the community in which he lived.
“Oh, no, no, no,” says the consultant, “your outfit will not do.” “The young people won’t go for that. You need to ditch the sandals because the cool kids are going barefoot today, and you are going to have to pull that tunic up and show a bit of calf. The young adult will think you are edgy.” “And who are these twelve guys you have hanging around. If we are going to put on a show you are going to do something about that.” “We should form them into a band. Because we need to put on a show to attract the young crowd. We need to keep it fast moving, with lots of great media, and do not get me started on the Psalms. Those songs have cobwebs growing on them. We are going to have to give everything a contemporary feel. Nothing brings them in like the show.”
Honestly, we must continue to evolve to speak to the next generation. But it cannot be about the show. Jesus calls us to be deeper than that. What should be important to us:
- The message: “37 Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Living the message: “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy’”. Leviticus 19:2
- Love for each other: 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34-35
- Who we seek: We are not to be vacuum cleaners, vacuuming people out of other churches to fill our pews. We are called to seek the least and the lost: “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Jay
Notes from the Trustees
Greetings, Aztec Church Family and Friends! What a busy summer it has been! It feels like we haven’t gotten anything done around the church, and between the hot weather and everybody doing family “stuff” that’s pretty much an accurate assessment. Oh, ex-cept for the successful negotiation and purchase of the buildings and parking lot across the street.
The Vision Committee, which had been meeting since March of this year, came back to the congregation and the membership with recommendations of positive attitude ad-justment (We are a Growing Congregation) and constructive changes in our Worship, Discipleship, and Congregational Care Ministries, as well as ways to preserve and uti-lize our current facility. After evaluating our current challenges, ADA accessibility and parking as well as improvements to our fellowship facilities, they came back with a recommendation to purchase the property across the street from the church, in order to make room for that vision to grow.
After the congregation approved the purchase at our church conference on August 2, final inspections and the appraisal were conducted, and the final negotiations were completed. The great news is that our final purchase price for the property was $480,000. This figure is over $65,000 less than the originally agreed upon purchase price. We agreed to do all of the repairs necessary on the property ourselves, which will cost us around $21,000, much less than the $68,000 originally estimated. The purchase will be financed with reve-nue from the sale of our McCoy property, designated donations from the congregation, and a $300,000 commercial bank loan, which will be repaid with ongoing revenue from the sale of the property and revenue generated from the lease of the parking lot at the new property, as well as designated donations (already pledged) from the congregation.
We will not be asking the congregation for any additional donations to reduce and elimi-nate this debt. This will leave us with over $200,000 to start working on our new Fellow-ship/Youth/Food Pantry space. I hope you are as excited as I am to see what the next few months will bring. We will also be having work days when you will be invited to come and help with some of the demo. Who doesn’t like to swing a hammer and tear stuff up?
So don’t worry, we have work in the sanctuary interior and exterior, planned for this fall as well as new sanctuary pew cushions, hopefully before Christmas. And watch and get involved this month as we gather ideas and plans and prepare to create a new space across the street at the new Annex (we are open to suggestions for a name) for our vision to grow.
Mariel
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Birthdays
| Donna Byrd | Sep 5 |
| Andy Berry | Sep 14 |
| Rick Brannan | Sep 15 |
| Mary Hayes | Sep 16 |
| Judy Englehart | Sep 25 |
| Lee Fiske | Sep 27 |
Anniversaries
| Karen (& Roy 😇) Lynch | Sep 3 |
| Marlene & Andy Berry | Sep 13 |
| Beth & Marty Snowbarger | Sep 26 |
Upcoming Meetings
You can find the AA and Al-Anon, men’s breakfast, and Sarah’s circle meetings schedule on the calendar page of the website: https://aztecmethodist.org/events/
Beyond that, we also have these meetings happening this month:
- September 13: Leadership Team Meeting @ 11:00am
- September 15: Finances @ 5:30pm & Trustees @ 6:30pm
- September 20: Round Up Sunday – invite your friends to a cookout after service.
Finances & Attendance
| August 2 | August 9 | August 16 | August 23 | August 30 | |
| Giving | $3250 | $2171 | $1476 | $1819.09 | $2698 |
| Worship | 50 | 42 | 55 | 66 | 50 |
| Sunday School | 9 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 9 |
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
—2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (ESV)
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