-by Rev. Jeff Gannon, Senior Pastor

The 10 Things We Must Do to Realize our Redemptive Potential….

  1. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing
  2. Chapel Hill has a strong mission of welcoming all people to experience and share the extraordinary grace and love of Jesus Christ!
  3. The values cannot be forgotten.
  4. Chapel Hill must become more “Methodist” and Wesleyan without becoming more denominational.
  5. Infrastructure that will support growth
  6. Simple Church
  7. Creating a culture of invitation
  8. Spend 25% of our budget on marketing/advertising
  9. Creating a culture of participation
  10. Widening the Net

These Things We Must Do_tFinally, what undergirds all of this is prayer.

As one of the prayer giants of the  20th Century once said, “prayer is the most powerful force in this world!” Some would argue God is technically the most powerful force but we know what he means to say. Prayer is the most significant way to connect with the most powerful Force in the world!

I like the pithy little saying…much prayer, much power….little prayer….little power. This saying may be pithy but nonetheless true. At the end of the day, our best efforts are in the least drastically minimized or mitigated by the lack of connection with the greatest Force in the world through prayer.

I have been asking Chapel Hill to pray every day at noon. Chapel Hill was conceived in the womb of Bethel UMC during a year-long season of prayer every day at noon with encouragement to fast on Fridays if one’s health allowed it and one’s physician approved. Apart from the power of prayer, Chapel Hill simply would not exist.

One of my spiritual mentors once challenged me with this expression which I find to be terribly true and as expected, spiritually and emotionally liberating when practiced. We either pray for or prey on. Walter, my spiritual director at the time said it is impossible to do both. If you pray for, you cannot prey on. If you prey on, you cannot pray for. I have found this expression to be true in every respect.

As we continue to be faithful to God’s call upon our life as a congregation, we unite in prayer around our mission of welcoming all people to experience and share the extraordinary grace and love of Jesus Christ. This gift and task requires much prayer!

Thanks for your willingness to pray for Chapel Hill each day at noon and whenever you feel the Spirit of God moving and nudging to do so. Thank you!