September 16

 

What a wonderful kickoff to the new church year we had last Sunday.

Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen. We especially thank Leopold's for bringing and serving us their delicious ice cream. Thank you to Nate and Beth Tyson for cooking up all of those tasty hot dogs! And thank you, Asbury Staff, for being our servers.

 

About a month ago, I received a text from a friend of mine named Karl Jurman. Karl lives in New Jersey and has been one of the conductors for the Broadway musical, The Lion King, for about 17 years. The text Karl sent me was of a newspaper clipping. It was an article from a New Jersey paper announcing that that the Manasquan Methodist Church in New Jersey would be offering worship services using Broadway musicals as modeled by the Asbury Memorial Church in Savannah, Georgia. 

This is about the 4th or 5th church in the United States that I am aware of that has been inspired by our GOB services and would like to do something similar. These churches realize that something significant happens when Theatre & Theology are brought together. Please, please, please make it a goal for you each day to invite someone to our God On Broadway Services. I know that we long for the days when our sanctuary is as full as it was before the pandemic. Every church, synagogue, mosque, business, and organization has suffered a punch to the gut due to the Covid crisis. One of the blessings of the pandemic is that we were able to develop a wonderful Livestream Ministry and Online Community. However, we also want to be getting more people inside the sanctuary. More and more people are trickling in. But our God On Broadway Services give us the opportunity to introduce many people to the love and community offered at Asbury. If all of us invite someone to God On Broadway every day, our sanctuary will be OVERFLOWING!

Tomorrow (Saturday) at 4:00 pm, we will be celebrating the life of Pat Bangs, who made his transition on August 31st. Pat and his husband, Bo Curler, moved from Florida to Savannah and recently became members of Asbury. Pat and Bo met while working for Disney World - where they worked for many years. Pat was also very involved in theatre, having performed in many shows. One of his favorite roles was Benjamin Franklin in the musical, 1776. Pat was so looking forward to experiencing and participating in our God On Broadway Services. We are saddened for our loss. We continue to be in prayer for Bo and ask God's blessings upon the service tomorrow. 

Longtime church member, Dina Consentino, is known for her big heart. Dina is constantly offering words of love and encouragement to her church family members. Even though she has a very limited income, she tries to send cards to church members on their birthday. Dina has had to slow down with some of her giving due to her health. And this past week, Dina had to be taken to the hospital. Today, Dina had to have major surgery. Please be lifting Dina and her recovery up in prayer — she cares so deeply for her church family.

What do you think would be on Jesus' To-Do List?

What would be his goals and his priorities?

Would his list look anything like mine...or like yours?

If you could only make a list of five things to put on Jesus' To-Do List, what do you think he would have on it?

I'll share with you my thoughts about this on Sunday. 

Both of our biblical texts will be from the Gospel of Matthew:

Love & Blessings,
Billy