Breaking Ground

AOn Palm Sunday afternoon we broke ground on the new building for Bethlehem United Methodist Church. We had over one hundred people join us for the ceremony, including several former pastors, and my successor, who will begin serving Bethlehem in July.

The Leaf Chronicle covered the event.

The groundbreaking was really special for me because it marked the end of a nearly two year process of recovery, visioning, and planning following the fire, as well as symbolically marking the end of my tenure with Bethlehem.

BUMC's choir began the service by singing "Holy Ground"

Several congregational officers and I dug the ceremonial first shovels-full of dirt with our golden shovel (a regular shovel from Lowes covered in metallic spray paint!).

I got chills as I pronounced the words from the Book of Worship's Order for the Breaking of Ground for a Church Building.

After the ceremony, we invited everyone to take the shovel and dig. Kate wanted to get in on the action, of course.

Afterward, Jessica and my mom gave me a gift they'd been planning and working on sporadically for nearly six years (it was originally intended as an engagement present). They made a stole with symbols that reflect what is really important to me in ministry.