January 15, 2022

Cheri and I had planned to be in New York City this past week and then planned to go to a spiritual retreat this weekend on St. Simon's Island. Both events, however, got postponed due to the rise in Covid cases. Since I was going to be away this week and weekend, I had asked Rev. Richard Allen to preach for us tomorrow. Thankfully, he still is! I will be participating in the service, but it sure is nice to have a week off from sermon preparation. "Thank you, Richard!"

Many of you know Richard and Lynne, who moved down south after retiring from careers of service in the church and the business world. They now split their time between Bluffton/Hilton Head and New York City—and thankfully for us, Savannah, too! Richard is a graduate of Wofford College and Yale Divinity School. He served United Methodist Churches in South Carolina and New York.

Richard's sermon title is "Three Stories" and the biblical passage is John 2:1-11—when Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. We will also be remembering the life and ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I also think we will be hearing about one of Dr. King's mentors. AND—rumor is that we will also hear from Jesus' mother, Mary.

The faith communities at both of our campuses experienced tough blows this week with the deaths of Kelly Barrett and Hugo Hendrix.

Let us remember Kelly's husband, Brooks, and Kelly's brother and sister-in-law, Bill and Karen Jahn, in our prayers. Kelly was a snow bird, and she and Brooks were up north during her medical treatments and unexpected death. We believe the Memorial Service for Kelly will be in Savannah on Saturday, April 30th. 

This morning, we received the very sad news of the death of Hugo Hendrix. Hugo spent much of his childhood and youth at Asbury. His parents, April Hendrix and Betsy Kammerud are very involved members of Wesley Oak. As Hugo made his transition this morning, it is too soon to know plans for his service. We will keep you posted. Please be praying for April, Betsy, and Hugo's brother, John.

When we experience these difficult times, we are reminded of all we have to be thankful for. As I traveled at a high speed on a highway outside of Atlanta last night, I was about one minute behind a five-car accident that took a person's life. The police had not even arrived on the scene. I realized that I could have very easily been involved in the accident. For the rest of the drive, I counted my blessings, especially for the opportunity to be seeing my Loved Ones. I understand we are going to have a lot of rain tomorrow. Please drive carefully. Our closing hymn will be "There Shall be Showers of Blessing." I hope you will join Richard and me tomorrow as we give God thanks and praise for our many blessings.

With Love & Blessings,
Billy