From The Pastor's Desk

Hello, neighbors!
Thursday, September 29, 2022 (9:00 pm)
As I sit in front of my computer writing this piece, I do so with great joy. Earlier tonight, we held a special Church Conference to vote on if Marble would move to a Simplified Accountability Structure. United Methodist Churches have followed the board and committee structure outlined in The Book of Discipline for years. We had 29 people in attendance this evening, with 26 of those people being members in good standing that could vote. Pastor Christopher Butson from Lincoln Community UMC presided over the conference. We handed out ballots, members voted, and the ballots were collected and counted. Pastor Butson then shared the results with us, letting everyone know that the motion to accept the Simplified Accountability Structure passed unanimously. 
What happens next? Now, we enter the nominations part of this process. On Sunday, I will share tonight's results with everyone who may not have been in attendance or read this email. As part of this announcement, it will be made known that anyone who wants to be on the new board can take and fill out an Interest Form. There will be a deadline of two weeks from this Sunday to turn in these forms. The Nominations Committee will then discern from these forms which people will be nominated to be on the new board. Those selected will be voted on at our annual Church Conference scheduled for November 5th at 3:00 pm at Tecumseh UMC. Once those nominated are approved, the new board will take effect on January 1, 2023.
Utilizing a Simplified Accountability Structure will be a good and positive thing for Marble, especially as we continue to live out our vision of being good neighbors and the neighborhood church for the community of Milan. I pray this will allow us to spend more time in ministry and loving our neighbors. We have a lot of incredible things on the horizon in October that will require many hands to make the workload lighter. We are currently trying to build up our Youth and Young Adult Ministry and add to our Children's Ministry. For the remainder of the year, there will be an event each month for the youth. We are offering an Orchard Trip on the 29th. As for our younger ones, there is a Fall Carnival set for the 21st. Not to mention our FREE monthly Community Dinners will start on October 22nd. But wait! we will be participating in the Downtown Trick or Treat hosted by the Milan Chamber on the 28th. Carnivals, dinners, orchards, and candy, OH MY! Don’t forget that Advent is right around the corner, too. We will be sharing more information on how you can volunteer for these events and sponsor youth to allow them to participate in some events at no cost to them. God is doing great things at Marble and in Milan.
Please keep your eyes and ears open as our leadership continues to get information out to everyone, so you don't miss anything. Please pray over the next phase of the Simplified Accountability Structure process and all the upcoming events and ministries that Marble is trying to provide. Let us continue to let our faith be bigger than our fear.
Peace be with you.   Pastor Matt