Putting God First in 2026...and Always!

Greetings, Church! 

Today, we launched our new sermon series, “Putting God First,” through which I suggest that, as we put God first in our lives, we will be more fruitful and filled with purpose. This is stewardship: how we manage and care for what we have been given. How does our time spent reflect God as a priority? Our work conduct? Care for our families? Care for ourselves? Care for others? When we put God first in our lives, all this and more falls into place.

When the Israelites faithfully put God first (as the first four commandments directed), they prospered. When they didn’t? Well, they had to deal with the consequences of their poor choices. Scripture is filled with cautionary tales of their poor choices.

At Lebanon FUMC, we seek to be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us. First, we have a mission given to us by Jesus to be part of the Church, and we steward that well. Second, I have said for a long time that I feel God is calling us to be Lebanon’s church. That isn’t about everyone attending here—though we do want to be a place where all people looking for a community of faith can come (and we have welcomed 47 new members this year so far!); rather we want to be a place where all of Lebanon can turn when they have need.

I love watching that come to fruition as it is now! For one example, we now partner with WEMA (Wilson County Emergency Management) to provide storm and extreme temperature shelters to anyone in our community (and we’re the only ones who also accommodate pets). For another, I had someone call me just this week to say, “I’m recently retired and go to a Pentecostal church in Mt Juliet, but I am looking for a place to serve the community, and I see all that you do. Can I help?” These are just two of many testimonies about how we are living into our call as Lebanon’s church, how we are known to love and serve our community. I truly value that.

I also want to share with you a couple of cool things that have come out of our Leader’s Edge breakfast. For our year of gratitude, I challenged the group to carry out gratitude projects in our community. Two gratitude projects have emerged and are in progress right now: one for the sanitation workers of Lebanon, and the other for the Public Housing Authority employees. We will share more about these amazing projects in the future (I don’t want to ruin the surprises).

As we seek to be good stewards and to live out our mission, we are grateful to and for our administrative committees (Church Council, Staff-Parish Relations, Finance, Trustees, and Endowment) who work hard to steward our mission well through our finances, campus, staffing, and other resources. The work they do is a big part of how we are thriving in ministry.

We are also grateful to and for you! Each of us has a personal responsibility to participate in putting God first as a church, and your faithful giving continues to make it happen. As we plan and prepare to do ministry, your commitments help us to ensure we are maximizing our impact in our community. Above is an Estimate-of-Giving form with three opportunities to help us fuel the mission in the coming year:

• Your good faith estimate of giving for 2026—This includes discretionary commitments to our church life and ministry, our missions fund (food pantry and other community service), and our building fund (for maintenance and improvements to our building and grounds).
• Legacy giving—We use our Endowment Fund (currently valued at over $1 million) to help the church leave a lasting legacy. The principal cannot be touched, but over the last few years, the interest has helped the church to purchase a strategic house adjacent to our campus, perform major repairs to our steeple, upgrade our worship tech and capabilities, and complete several vital maintenance projects on our campus. Including your church in your will is a simple process; if you’d like help with your estate planning, simply check the box, and we will connect with you to get started.
• Columbarium arrangements—As burial costs sky rocket, our columbarium creates a cost-efficient alternative for end-of-life decisions. To purchase a niche or for more information, check that box as well.

I hope you will prayerfully fill out this card and bring it to worship on Sunday, 11/2, or place it in the Giving Box anytime beforehand. You may also mail your card to the church office or fill out an Estimate of Giving form above. On 11/2, we will bring all cards to the altar during Holy Communion and consecrate them as “first fruit” commitments to God— putting God first and asking God to use them for good fruit in 2026. If you have any questions about any of this or if you would like help setting up recurring online giving, feel free to contact our Business Administrator, Cori Brantley at 615-444-3315 or .

Thank you for putting God first in your life and the life of Lebanon FUMC. If I can be of any service to you, please do not hesitate to call me. My cell is 615-260-8412.

Blessings,
Ryan