First United Methodist Church

I love mountain top experiences! Whether it’s a literal or figurative mountain top, life will offer us both, yet it’s up to us what we do with them.

From the summer entering my high school years to the summer after high school I was able to attend the Wilderness Outpost Camp. This was an alternative summer program to my church’s regular Sunset Bible camp in Oklahoma. Instead of spending a week in log cabins worshipping, playing games, and performing Bible themed skits, we packed our backpacks and headed out to Colorado for two weeks of Rocky Mountain adventure. We’d spend a day rock-climbing in places like Pumphouse Rock and Eagle Face Cliff. It was exciting to learn and hone the skills of rock climbing and rappelling 300-foot rock faces. Then we would spend the next 11 days hiking through the mountains and along the ridge lines carrying all our food, cooking tools, clothing, and shelter with us. At the end of the 11-day hike, we would break out for a 36-hour fasting solo. It was a time of solitude, reflection, and prayer. We finished off the trip with a day of white water rafting down the Colorado River. Though I often wondered if the rafting was strategically placed at the end as a sort of bath to cleanse the stench off us from those 11 days on the trail.

It was always the highlight of my summers. However, the highlight of the trip was often halfway through the hike. We would leave camp set up that day and then hike to the peak and back. Peak day always changed my perspective. At over 13,000 feet up, we were above the timberline. The air was thinner, and despite my youth and athleticism, I was forced to stop every 10 yards or so to catch my breath. The wind was constant and cold, yet I could see for miles. It felt like you could see the ends of the earth. I remember adding a rock to the cairn, leaving my mark on the pile, and saying a prayer of thanksgiving. It was a literal mountain top experience.

This past week, many of our teenagers went to Veritas, a high energy youth retreat in Rogers, AR for United Methodist Youth. It was an exciting weekend and they came back excited about God. For them, it was a mountain top experience.

When Jesus took Peter, James, and John up on the mountain and they experienced his Transfiguration, they wanted to build places to stay and worship. They wanted to build something more than a reminder. They had a mountain top experience on the mountain top! They wanted a way to stay in that moment.

Whether it’s a literal or figurative mountaintop moment, we cannot stay there. When Peter said, “let’s stay,” Jesus said “no, let’s go.” Then Jesus led them back down the mountain. From there, he took them to Jerusalem and the cross. All along the way, Jesus was preparing them for what was about to happen, his death.

That’s what Lent is for us. It takes us from the Transfiguration and leads us through our transformation. It takes us from the mountaintop and leads us to the grave. We don’t stay there, but it’s a stop along the way to our transformation.

We need that grave. We need that Memento Mori, that moment of remembering our death. It is there, the place to which we carry our cross. It is there we die to our sin. It is there we die to our selfishness, suffering, and shattered messes.

Only after going through the grave can we experience resurrection. Only after death can we be raised to new life. Yet, we are raised to new life with Christ!

In its wisdom, the ancient church initiated what we call the Triduum Paschale, or the three holy days to Easter. This is the climax of Lent. This is a powerful transformational experience that takes us through Holy Week and prepares us to celebrate resurrection. In other words, it becomes our launchpad from the grave up to our next mountaintop experience.

It is my hope that through our collective journey to make life better and make you better at life, this Easter can be a mountaintop experience for you. I hope Resurrection Sunday can be the start of a new life, a better life for you. I invite you to follow this wise and ancient practice with us of preparing our hearts, minds, and souls, as we journey through Holy Week. We’ve prepared five days of Holy Week experiences to help you get there. May you experience them through the themes of healing, beauty, enough, darkness, and God’s light. May you may rise out of the depths of the grave and experience a fuller life with Jesus, our risen Savior.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Daniel

As a child, I remember waking up early to see what treats awaited us in our baskets that were laid out empty the night before in hopes for a visit from the Easter bunny. We couldn’t wait to devour those jelly beans and chocolate bunnies - especially after giving up sweets for Lent (which we did every single year). Then, once we had our fill we would scurry off to get dressed up for church. My sister and I would wear the frilliest, prettiest dress in our closet and my brother would wear the a dashing outfit that was picked out for him by my mother. Then off to church we would go. I remember sitting in the pew impatiently waiting for church to end so we could get to my Granny’s house for the Egg Hunt with our many cousins and to stuff ourselves with the delicious spread of food she had prepared.

(my big sister and I many years ago on Easter morning)

For many people (as with me as a child), Easter Sunday means the Easter bunny, an easter egg hunt, baskets full of sweet treats and a day of food and celebration. For some, it is an obligatory church-attending holiday when we wear our Sunday best, after which life goes on as usual. Hmm... how sad that we so quickly forget the true meaning of Easter. Our God reigns! Jesus Christ died, yes. But even more importantly, He rose again.

Jesus Christ literally defied death. But He did more than just a Houdini move. We "ooo" and "ahhh" over the narrow escapes by magicians like David Copperfield and others, but those are just illusions. Jesus on the other hand, escapes death forever to reign eternally! The resurrection of Jesus Christ was no illusion. This is the first miracle of Easter. Jesus has reclaimed life for all those who believe in Him. This is the second miracle of Easter. Through God's work on the cross, we gain access to eternal life.

One of the things I love about our church is Holy Week and the activities leading up to Easter Sunday. This year is no exception. In fact, this year we have even more impactful events to enrich the Holy Week experience. Each year, we start the week with a palm processional by our childern & youth! I love seeing the young people of our church remembering and celebrating Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem! This year the children will also be singing on Palm Sunday! This year, Pastor Daniel has added a Service of Prayer & Healing on Tuesday evening of Holy Week. This will be a special time for prayer and anointing with oil as we seek healing and wholeness approaching Easter. This sounds so amazing to me. Then on Wednesday, the chancel choir will present their Easter Cantata, Come Walk With Me. What a powerful way to remember the last days of Jesus leading up to His death followed by the glory of His resurrection! Then on Thursday, I always find it so powerful & meaningful to receive communion at the Maundy Thursday service as we remember Jesus breaking bread with His disciples in the upper room. And for me, the Tenebrae service on Good Friday is one of the most meaningful experiences of the Christian year. The gradual extinguishing of candles symbolizes the approaching darkness of Jesus' death and hopelessness in the world without God. The service concludes in darkness. We leave in silence to ponder the impact of Christ's death and await the Resurrection. Wow! Rarely do I get through a Good Friday Tenebrae service without a tear or two - so very powerful! And lets not forget how important it is for our kids to understand Holy Week and Easter. It has always been important to this church to provide an Easter event for children that focuses on Jesus and the true meaning of Easter. This year we have a very meaningful easter Extravaganza planned for children & their families called Journey to the Cross. I hope parents will bring their children and join us for this on Easter Saturday. Come Easter Sunday, we are ready to rejoice in the resurrection. Experiencing all the days of Holy Week really helps us to understand and feel the immense joy of Easter Morning!

You see, too often most of our culture wants to go from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, and they don't want to encounter the pain and suffering that Christ went through in order for us to get to where we are today. The difficult days leading up to Easter Sunday are so very important. Yes it’s dark, but the days like Good Friday are there to remind us of our brokenness, our humanness, and our need to encounter the cross today. "From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over the whole land. At about three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) Matthew 27: 45-46.

This Easter, let’s consider the wonder of God's power and His love for us. He made the ultimate selfless sacrifice for us that we may live forever. He did this because He loves us. He knows us. He knows what we have done. He knows what we are going to do. But He loves us regardless. God doesn't need our praise or our service to Him; He desires it. It’s not what we do for God that gets us into heaven and gives us a right relationship with Him. It is only by faith in Jesus Christ that we are able to experience these things.

As we make our Easter plans this year to gather with family and as we remember those rituals and traditions of Easter baskets, egg hunts, and dressing up in our special Easter clothes, let us also remember what Easter is really all about and take advantage of the many powerful and meaningful events this Holy Week so that we can better experience the overwhelming joy of Easter Morning! Let us experience darkness before the dawn.

"Unless there is Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday."––Fulton J. Sheen

Several years ago, someone had some land on the other side of town and donated that land to the Arkansas Conference of the UMC for a new ministry. When our local district examined the land for use, they decided it was not appropriate for building, so they sold it. Those proceeds from the land sale, about $160,000, were put into a special account called the Conference Land Fund. It was designated for a new ministry within the Northwest District. However, FUMC Mountain Home received the first opportunity to utilize these funds so long as the project was approved by January of 2022.

Shortly after the church received these funds, some were used to send a large group of laity and staff to a leadership conference. That was a good one time use of the funds. The remaining balance was about $154,500.

Over the next several years, we explored several new ministry opportunities to make use of the land fund. However, none of them generated much enthusiasm or found approval with the district. That was the case until October of 2021.

At that time, our very own Marilyn Kolbiaka, who was heavily involved in our Homeless Ministry, Hope For All, wondered if there was a way for us to offer our homeless population better access to showers and laundry facilities thereby improving their overall hygiene. Then, her and our facilities manager Dave Grimwood began work on exploring options.

They came up with a shower trailer ministry. A shower trailer could serve as a mobile shower and laundry facility that could serve our homeless population as well as assist our outreach ministries for disaster shelter and disaster recovery. Moreover, the funds were enough to order a newly constructed and customized trailer that will serve as a billboard for our church, connect the trailer to electric, water, and sewer while parked, and even allow the partial purchase of a new 15 passenger, center aisle, van. This new van will serve as a new transportation option for other church ministries and includes a towing package for pulling the shower trailer to disaster relief sites.

When presented to the mission team, the shower trailer project was received as an outstanding idea. We then took it through the approval process of Church Trustees and the Northwest District Trustees. In December the Northwest District approved the proposed project so the trailer and van were ordered. A few weeks ago, our new van arrived. It’s a beautiful van that is already being used on Wednesday afterschool child pickup, youth trips to Veritas and Young Christians weekend, as well as an upcoming Boy Scout trip.

Let’s celebrate the wonderful ministry endeavor and how we are once again showing God’s love by loving our neighbor. This truly helps us fulfill our missions of making disciples and making life better through Jesus Christ. Let’s be thankful that this whole amazing project came at very little cost to our local church.

If you are interested in serving as a driver, let the church know. We’d love to expand its use even more.

The UMC has been in the news a lot lately. What does this mean for the denomination and what does this mean for the church?

In 1972 the General Conference of The United Methodist Church added language to our denominational Book of Discipline that outlined our current stance on human sexuality. At the heart of the issue is do we ordain gay clergy, and do we allow clergy to officiate gay weddings. Our official position is that all life is precious to God and our sexuality is God’s gift. However, by our United Methodist Church law we do not allow the ordination of openly gay clergy nor do we permit clergy to officiate same sex weddings.

Since then, these issues have been debated to one degree or another every quadrennium. Yet, they became the front and center contentious debate at our 2016 General Conference. Therefore, a special called session of the General Conference was scheduled for February 2019.

At GC2019, it seemed as if a denominational split was inevitable. Several caucus groups interested in promoting their preferred rewriting of the Book of Discipline submitted proposed amendments. What ensued was that none of those amendments were accepted. Instead, petitions from the floor of the conference were proposed, debated, and accepted. These amendments changed the discipline very little except for two things.

The first exception was a reaffirmation of the denomination’s stance on human sexuality. Moreover, it instituted mandatory punishment for those who broke the disciple. Later, the mandatory punishment was struck down by our Judicial Council as unconstitutional.

The second exception was a disaffiliation clause. This clause would allow a church or annual conference, under certain conditions, to follow a process for leaving the denomination. Historically, it was extremely difficult for a church to secede. However, this clause provided a clearer path – sort of. It is still a case-by-case situation which involves a lot of negotiating between the church and the conference.

In the months that followed GC2019, several groups created new proposals that created more streamline processes for denominational split or disaffiliation. These proposals were to be considered at GC2020. However, due to COVID-19, GC2020 was delayed until 2021, then again to 2022.

Most recently on March 3, The Commission on the General Conference announced that we would not hold GC2020 in 2022. Moreover, that General Conference 2020 would not go forward at all and the next General Conference would take place in 2024.

Thereby, all proposed legislation for GC2020/2022 would be shelved and need to be re-proposed for 2024. As a result, no decisions will be made about denominational split or human sexuality until that time. Most of all, no church or denomination will be required to make a decision or vote on where it stands in this process.

Around the same time, a caucus group within the traditional or conservative theological perspective made an announcement. This group believes they cannot be faithful to God and be in ministry with those who disagree with them at the same time. Therefore, they are launching a new denomination on May 1, 2022 called the Global Methodist Church. This new denomination is very different from our current United Methodist Church. At the time of this writing, I am aware of only one church in Arkansas which has begun the disaffiliation process to leave the UMC and join the GMC.

As your pastor, I believe there is enough room at the Table of Jesus for all of us. I know we are better together. Even if we don’t agree on everything, we can accomplish more together. So, I invite you to pray with me that we continue focusing our work on loving God, loving our neighbor, making disciples who make disciples who transform the world, and making life better while making you better at life through Jesus Christ.

– Pastor Daniel