Dear Church:

Last weeks' vacation was wonderful!  We went to Portland, Oregon, where my daughter, Beth, and her husband, Marcos, are raising identical twins – Jamie and Gabe.  The twins turned 10 years old last week on Tuesday, April 9, and are 10 years and 1 day older than our youngest grandson, Jonah, who arrived in Riverside, California on Wednesday, April 10.  Mom and new baby are well.  God has blessed us with two wonderful adult children, an amazing son-in-law and daughter-in-law, and six terrific grandsons.

As I reflect over the last twenty years of family life, I realize what a challenge it has been to raise a family that has the capacity to raise families.   But what got our family here – to what it is today – will not get our family into God's preferred future.  Change is real and constant.  Transformation is inevitable.  The question is what sort of transformation will we invite into our lives?

Blooming Glen is in a season of transformation.  When Debbie and I came to Pennsylvania one hundred and fifteen weeks ago, we met in you a lot of anxiousness about the future, a lot of division over then-present realities, and a lot of disappointment about the past.  Today, I see a congregation that, while it still has its struggles, is also beginning to chart a new course, embracing new strategies of shared ministry, team building, and community-making.  I see a congregation now more interested in emotional health, resilience, and agility, than simply continuing the programs of the past.  

It is a good time to be at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church!

Not everyone may agree with my upbeat assessment, but no one can say that the Blooming Glen congregation gathering this Sunday for worship is the same congregation that met on that last Sunday in January 2022. Amid imperfection and difficulties, we rejoice anew that God is at work.

So, now is the time to make our efforts in community care – through family engagement, in adult formation, and with pastoral visitation – the preeminent effort of our congregational life.  Now is the time to launch forms of worship that take us deeper and deeper into our commitment to being genuine Christ-followers.  And as a congregation renewed in commitment to loving one another and Jesus, it is also time to pivot towards loving our neighborhoods and loving our neighbors, across the street and around the world, offering peaceful practices that heal and offer hope in a time that can look quite bleak.

Thank you for the privilege it is to serve with you.  May this Paschal Season between Easter and Pentecost be full of the Holy Spirit's anointing in each of our lives.

Grateful that you are the church!

Pastor Jeff
jeff@bgmc.net

PS – I am missing our breakfasts and coffees.  I look forward to Friday, May 10, when "Coffee and Conversations" resumes at the Broad Street Grind, 3:30pm-4:45pm.  And I look forward to Monday, May 13, when "Omelettes, Oatmeal, and Observations" resumes at the A&N Diner, 7:30am-8:45am.

Dear Church… 

What a rainy, dreary week here in the Glen.  As I write this (on Wednesday, April 3), it is 70° and sunny in Riverside, California… 

It’s time for a trip back to the West Coast.  On Sunday evening, April 7, Debbie and I will jet off to Portland, Oregon, for a week of vacation.  We are going to take a week off in Oregon, go to Powell’s Bookstore, drink Dutch Bros. coffee, eat at Pine State Biscuits, visit with a Mosaic Conference Partner-in-Ministry leadership couple (Ben and Ando Wachiye, from East Africa),  and hangout with our daughter’s family. Our Oregon grandsons, James and Gabe, are celebrating their 10th birthday on Tuesday, April 9. 

On April 10th, Lord willing, our son’s family in California gets a new addition.  Celina, our daughter-in-law, is scheduled to deliver her 4th son.  Joining Jake, Jack, and John will be our youngest grandson, Jonah Xavier Wright.  It’s going to be a great time.  We get to help, we get to play with the guys, and we get to let our son and daughter-in-law deal with sleep deprivation. We arrive in Southern California on April 12, and I’ll take the weekend to enjoy and assist with Jonah and his older brothers. 

But trips to the West Coast are not totally vacation for me.  I’m also working remotely for Blooming Glen and for Mosaic Conference, April 15-25.  I’ll be available by phone, text, email, and Zoom. I’ll be working at some Blooming Glen long-range planning, and sermon preparation. I’ll have meetings with Mosaic pastors, CRM executives, and partners in ministry in Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.  I’ll be installing Pastor Bernie Chung, as the Interim Pastor at San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church, on Sunday, April 21.  It will be an active time.   

The Dodgers also have a nine-game homestand, April 12-21!  (Just in case you were wondering…) 

I return to Blooming Glen Friday night, April 26.  I’ll be preaching on Sunday, the 28th and departing again late Sunday night, for a brief trip to the UK and France, to help reestablish contacts with several Anabaptist-related ministries. Again, I’ll be doing some remote work for Mosaic and Blooming Glen, and available by text, email, and Zoom as needed, April 28-May 4. I’m excited to be going, as it has been close to eight years since I’ve been in the UK.  I’ll take a brief trip to explore some ancient family roots in the West Midlands (May 5-7), and I’ll return to Pennsylvania on May 8, resuming my usual Blooming Glen schedule on May 10.  Debbie will return to Pennsylvania on May 28, having been yet again recertified in changing diapers! 

Upon my return, I’ll be pivoting in May and June to work related to ending the interim assignment you’ve called me to do.  I’ll be finalizing a preaching ensemble of 3-6 voices proclaiming the gospel with unique voices.  I’ll be working with the CLB to hire the full compliment of program and administrative staff Blooming Glen needs to meet the vision you’ve expressed, and I’ll begin to onboard this reformatted staff for new avenues of coaching ministry, based on our REDS strategy (Recruit, Equip, Deploy, and Support).  I’ll be helping to solidify steps staff and elders are working at to make our congregational care ministry even more excellent.  I’ll be overseeing the implementation of plans being made by staff and elders to expand our worship voices without compromising our commitment to be a singing church. And with those strengths in place, I’ll be working with staff and elders to build the teams that engage our neighborhoods, continue to establish peaceful practices, and reconnect Blooming Glen to the global church. 

There’s a lot to do between now and July 31.  The traveling in early April to early May, and in early July (to help with the MYF summer service ministry in Los Angeles) will energize and support my continuing efforts to position Blooming Glen for an ongoing transformation – to continue to become a people of prayer, with generous hearts, and loving, radical candor in relationships, committed to helping one another belong in order to believe, to find identity through the worship of the Risen Jesus, and to embrace a meaningful life purpose of serving neighbors near and far and building peace pathways through the gospel. 

“…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…”

It’s a great time to be Blooming Glen Mennonite Church!

Thanks, Church, for this grand opportunity to serve you…

Pastor jeff
jeff@bgmc.net

PS: So, one more “Coffee and Conversations” at the Broad Street Grind, May 5, 3:30pm-4:45pm.  Then, I’ll be away until Friday, May 10, when there will be another coffee and conversation at the Grind, 3:30pm-4:45pm.  I’ll miss our Monday mornings of “Omelets, Oatmeal, and Observations” at the A&N Diner until Monday, May 13, 7:30am-8:45am.  In between now and then, go ahead and gather for discussions and fellowship with one another….