2009-What a Year!

I have been hearing and reading all about 2009 and what a year it was. It’s everywhere this time of year…the good; the bad; and yes, the ugly. Well I decided to do some reflecting on 2009 at Beulah (as best I could with 6 months tenure)…and what a year it’s been! Beulah lost two dearly loved members to death in 2009: a patriarch and a youth, and celebrated four births this year. One member transferred to another UM church, while six persons transferred to Beulah from other churches. We celebrated fifteen baptisms in 2009, taking place here in the church, at a pond, and at another UM church. That translates to 18 professions of faith in 2009, which equates to 24 new members this year. In December our monthly worship attendance reached an all time high (for the records I have) at 171. Our average worship attendance for 2009 now stands at 130, a gain of eight over 2008. However numbers do not tell the entire story…in 2009 Beulah voted to become a single-point charge, bucking the trend in our conference of yoking churches together. Beulah received a new clergy family in July and then, while many churches are cutting back and turning inward, voted to build a new parsonage and a storage building: a project valued at over $230,000. Say what you want about 2009…but I say satan has no power over us; God still moves among us; and Beulah is on fire for Jesus…Praise His mighty name! I can't wait to see what God will do in 2010.