According to some Evangelists, more Christians are alive today than have ever lived. This is due not only to the overall growth of the human population (of which Christians are a part), but also due to the remarkable growth of the faith in Asia and Africa during the second half of the twentieth century. Christianity has spread like a virus ever since Pentecost and has never really stopped spreading. I’d like to think that our little church here in Aztec has helped with some of that growth through our missions program in Kazakhstan and general United Methodist support of the church in Africa.

More important is how we are doing in helping people to come to accept Christ right here in Aztec. Back in the early days of the Church, every Christian was a traveling mission station. Almost everyone made use of the opportunities God gave them to share their stories of what they’d seen God do through the power of the Risen Christ. Many were added every day to their number. Of all the churches I’ve served over the years, Aztec United Methodist stands out as a fellowship where genuine Christian love is shared and new disciples are built up in faith. I appreciate all the hard work that went into Vacation Bible School and the efforts to help children come to know and follow Jesus.
I also want to commend all those men and women of faith who voted to purchase the McGee land across from McCoy School in hope of expanding our church’s witness with that new location eventually. It takes a strong commitment and faith to take a step like that! Many of us may not see the full fruit from that decision, but I’m confident that the church years down the road will give thanks for this people of vision! The next step may be a bit more difficult: paying for the “wonderful opportunity” we have just agreed to purchase. Our combined Finance Committee, Trustees and Visionary Task Force have agreed that we have a combined 2011 Budget and Capital Funds Campaign a bit earlier this Fall than our usual Stewardship campaign. Watch for more about that in the next few months.

One thing we need to keep reminding ourselves about is that everything we do is about making Disciples for Jesus Christ. It is easy to focus on each thing as THE thing we are doing: Preaching and Worship, Sunday School, VBS, Youth Group, Mission projects and this new land purchase are all tools for our main purpose: to help people to become dedicated followers of Jesus Christ. These things are all ways that we can use to help accomplish our goal of winning people to Christ, rather than an end in themselves.

Grace and Peace as we work together for Christ,
Pastor Jeff Symonds

I came across a scripture passage in Isaiah 58: 12 in the Message translation. Often this new version will allow passages to jump out at me and allow me to see and hear them in a fresh form. This passage says, “You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.” Isaiah’s vision for the scattered people of God, having been carried off to exile in Babylon is also about God’s vision for the church of our time. God will provide the place and opportunities for ministry that will enable us to be a blessing to the community in more ways than we can even imagine. As I was contemplating this promise of God for Aztec United Methodist Church in this time and in this place, I could hear the Lord saying, “Yes, Jeff, I am able and now is the time when you will see it take place.”

I looked around as I was driving a needy couple over to Farmington at our countryside with fresh eyes. The people I was helping were from Mississippi, so our country looked dry to them. I ex-
plained that the river and the irrigation ditches make life here possible because we have had no Spring rain whatsoever, but the Animas Valley is still a well-watered place with all these trees and grazing meadows. “ Hummm, “I thought, “That’s just like that verse in Isaiah!” After a number of years of frustrating attempts to find property for our church’s eventual relocation, Chuck McGee called Bob Pawley a few months ago wanting to see if we would still be interested in his property across from McCoy School. Our Church Leadership said yes, we are and we have been investigating the possibilities. Chuck and his sister Kay have a total of just over 19 acres they want to sell to us for $768,800.00 That works out to about $31,,600.00 per acre, which includes a full 19 acres of water rights , not including Chuck’s house. Morey Havens, who owns several parcels of land nearby also wants to sell us a 1.59 acre lot which would connect the McGee property with Highway 550. The city is excited about our plan and wants to help us build a road from McCoy to 550 when the State funding permits. We have just over $237,000. in the bank from the Capital Campaign several years ago with about $800. - $900. a month still being contributed to that fund. We have to have permission from the District Superintendent , District Committee on Church Buildings and Location (who met with us on June 26), and the N M Conference Foundation Director, who wants to help us make sure we are able to pay for any purchases. After down payments, Chuck and Kay have agreed to finance the land purchase. All the details about this are available in my office, if you’d like to take a look. We will be having a special called Church Conference at noon on Sunday, July 18 to consider this purchase. This will the only issue discussed at this meeting: the purchase of the land.

When I first heard about the Church’s hope to find property, and past frustrations about a year ago now, I shared what God gave me to share: all things are in God’s time, not ours. When God wants this church to act on this dream, He will provide the right spot at an affordable price. I believe that is what we are beginning to see happening here. I trust in God’s leading that He wants us to catch a vision of our church blooming and growing and blessing the greater Aztec community just like the prophet Isaiah shared with God’s people so long ago. All church members will have a vote on this issue. Those who have not joined the church are welcome to come and asked questions, and participate in the discussion, but are not allowed to vote. Please put this important meeting about the future of our church on your calendar and make every effort to be there and have your voice heard.

 Grace and Peace,
 Pastor Jeff Symonds

One of my preacher friends sent me one of those cute e-mail forwards the other day. This one had photos of cats with captions following the theme of having a bad day such as: Trouble getting out of bed, stiff neck, new diet not working, you got caught in the rain at lunchtime, then the lunch you had didn’t agree with you, uninvited guests show up at dinnertime (the cat was nursing baby skunks!), on top of all that, you think you’re coming down with the flu. Then they showed a picture of a puppy that looked a lot like our newest canine family member with the advice to “Handle every stressful situation like a dog: if you can’t eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away.” I laughed because it was cute, but as I thought about it, it wasn’t bad advice. Most of us tend to worry too much and to take life more seriously making the experience of life harder than God probably intends for us.

A couple of Sundays ago I preached on parts of John 14, which is one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible. There are many messages for me in that chapter, but the one I want to call to your attention first is this one about not letting yourself be anxious or worried. I just had a lovely unexpected phone call from our Missionary, Joyce Chellis, and we decided that God really does have things in His hands. He wants His children to trust Him and not worry or fuss about the things that happen. We have Joyce’s permission to include her latest newsletter in our newsletter. In it she shares some of this, but shared even more with me on the phone. As Romans 8:28 says, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.” (NRSV) That doesn’t mean that we don’t have a bad day, or even a string of them. We all have some of those! What Joyce Chellis told me she learned from all of the “interruptions” in her life like the unexpected cancer and a change in her missionary career plans, was to trust God; to trust Him that all the stuff that happens will eventually work out so that we can see the good things that God is doing. God has wonderful new things ahead for us. We have to trust Him when we are going through those “bad days”. God doesn’t want us to miss out on the good stuff He has coming up for us by longing for the past, however good we thought it was. Joyce is excited about the next things God is doing with His people in Kazakhstan, even if she won’t be there in person. (see her article in this newsletter.) As individuals and as this portion of Christ’s body, the Church, we are supposed to trust God for the future. I’m going to try and do that even when a few bad days come along, and I hope you will, too.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeff Symonds

Last month in this column I told you about many of the lesser known holidays in April. May packs two of the Church’s most special days: Mother’s Day (May 9) and Pentecost (May 23.) For Mother’s Day, we are going to have a large Memorial bouquet on the altar of red, white and pink roses in honor or memory of Mothers, Grandmothers and others who have held those special paces in our hearts. The roses are $5.00 each. There will be a listing of those honored in the bulletin. Please call Caroline  (334-6524) in the office with any Memorials/Honorariums that didn’t get submitted on Sunday bulletin forms.

May 23 is Pentecost Sunday, one of the forgotten holy days. Although the early Church very quickly latched on to this special celebration of the day when the Holy Spirit fell upon all the believers who had gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem, it has not become as well known as Easter and Christmas. There are no Pentecost sales in the stores or cards sent. Hardly anyone gets a new outfit for Pentecost (although it is neat when the whole congregation wears red!) We may have a few surprises for you on this day which is the real Birthday  of the Church.

One of the projects we will be beginning this month is a new Pictorial Directory. Olan Mills photographer and ordering consultant will be here on May 21 and 22 and again on June 3 to take photos. It has been 3 years since we did one of these Directories and our old one is out of date. Olan Mills provides the directories to the Church for free, along with a free 8x10” photo for each family that has their picture taken for the Directory. Sign -up sheets are in the back of the Sanctuary. The times for Friday May 21 and Thursday June 3 are from 2:00-9:20 PM. On Saturday, May 22 the appointment times are from 9:30 AM-5:10 PM. These split days allow people who might be out of town one week to come in the other. Olan Mills has increased the time for each of the appointments to keep from running behind, but please allow 45 minutes to an hour for the photography and selection process. There is no obligation to buy any pictures, but this is how Olan Mills finances the project. There are many of our regular attenders who are not in our current book. We would like to have everyone “in the book” so that you can find the name of those who sit across the aisle from you or call to check on that church friend who was on the prayer list last week. You don’t have to be a formal “Member” to be in this Directory (although I’ll be glad to visit with you about that anytime.) Pictures will be taken and selected in the Education Building, so there will be no steps to climb. We will also be asking everyone to give their input on our Church’s mission in the community while you are coming to have your picture taken.

The 5 questions we’d like you to answer are:

1. What does our church do best?
2. What would you like to improve about our church?
3. What community need or problem is best addressed by Aztec United Methodist Church ministries currently?
4. What could our Church do to improve our ministry/mission outreach in the community?
5. What are you willing to do to strengthen your church’s ministry?

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeff Symonds

PS. Thank you all for the wonderful shower of Birthday cards and the surprise party after church on April 18. I really appreciated all your efforts and the devious way it was kept secret from me! Good job!