by Bill Utterback, Certified Lay Speaker
As a newspaper person, I always loved writing and researching anniversary stories. One year, five years, 25 years… there is value in reflection. We have opportunities to acknowledge and reflect on two summer anniversaries. It was five years ago that Pastor Russel retired in June and Pastor Hannah joined us in July. In the first seven months of 2025, SUMC has welcomed two robust new members’ classes and a confirmation class. I think that’s more than 30 people making a new commitment to Jesus and His SUMC family. And our growth goes beyond membership. We’ve added prayer services on the lawn, the Home Goods Closet in the chapel, young dancers in worship, a knitting ministry between services, a Christmas toy event in December, and the youth group and the choir have exciting new life.
On Tuesday evening, we keep adding tables and chairs and technology to accommodate more people in our “Growth Group” Bible Study. Hannah would love to see us become two or three groups, but we prefer to add chairs and stay together. And we have more chairs, if you’re interested. On July 20, we welcomed new members, had a team of children and youth on the corner of Thorn and Broad Streets encouraging runners in a 5-K race, and we placed Operation Christmas Child gifts beneath Christmas trees in the sanctuary. In one ordinary summer morning, our God-centered hearts were turned toward church family, our community, and children around the world. Both Russel and Hannah encouraged this growth.
Russel allowed and encouraged us to think inclusively. He allowed us to meet and march and market and dress and worship and hire inclusively. He created spaces for Mitchell and for Pastor Marilyn and Mary, and God Light’s came to us through multiple windows. Russel’s courage and faith allowed us to love and think and move in bolder, broader, Jesus-shaped ways.
And prayer brought us Hannah. We didn’t know her name, but we prayed into the profile. We wanted creative and connective and convicted and courageous. We felt like we had been creating with eight primary colored crayons, and someone had gifted us with the Crayola big box. We wanted a pastor who would spill the big box onto the floor and let us draw on the walls. Hannah spilled the box, and we keep finding new places to draw.
Thank you Russel and Hannah. Thank you new members for trusting God’s voice, joining us, and nourishing us with your energy and imagination. Thank you, long-time members for your faith and vision and strength and resolve, and for the ways you embrace and encourage and include every new face. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your faithfulness, and for the ways you reveal your love and light in new faces, new places, and new ideas. Happy Anniversary, friends.