I moved from Atlanta to Ponte Vedra in 1987, and belonged to an Atlanta Methodist church at the time. With the best of intentions of finding a new church home, I got busy with my new job and life in general and never seemed to find time to identify a new church. Time marched on; still no church attendance. Fifteen years passed in the blink of an eye.
One day, I noticed the Methodist church logo on a sign visible from my bank's parking lot. The seed was planted. After a few weeks of "I really should check it out" thoughts, I showed up one Sunday morning in the office building, sharing space with a dentist's office, for services at Ponte Vedra United Methodist Church.
The congregation greeted me warmly; the pastor, Jeff Bennett was warm and engaging. I could relate to him. Jeff is several years younger than me. His path to the ministry occurred after a successful career as an engineer. He heard the call, enrolled in Emory University's seminary, and became a Methodist pastor. PVUMC became his church when it was formed as a south campus for Beaches United Methodist Church.
After attending regularly for some months, I joined the church. Loree began attending with me and joined a few months later. Both of us found what we needed (but previously hadn't realized that it was missing). We met a number of wonderful people.
We started becoming more active in the church's activities. I joined a small group (we're big on small groups in our church). Loree became one of the original volunteers for Hart Felt Ministries. The church began a multi-year campaign to find land to construct a building. Once the land was identified (and ultimately purchased), we moved into a grade school cafeteria for Sunday services to save money (the office building rent was expensive). Every Sunday, volunteers would set up a church in the morning only to tear it down again in the afternoon. That went on a couple of years.
Finally, the new church was completed (see picture above) and we moved in just in time for Christmas. I am happy to report that we have already had a big jump in attendance as members of our community stop by to check us out.
In the meantime, we have become very involved with the Methodist Florida Conference's Cuba mission. The Methodist Church in Cuba coordinates with the Florida churches so that every Methodist church in Cuba has a sister church in Florida. Our involvement started when we visited our sister church, La Sierra, near Havana in December 2007. It was a life changing event for both Loree and me. We were embraced by the people of the church, and became life long friends with its pastor and his wife. We are committed to helping them in any way we can. We have since become North East District Co-Coordinators for the mission.
If you're unconnected to a local church and feel that there is something missing in your life, don't ignore it. Stop into an inviting church one Sunday morning soon. And if you're in the Ponte Vedra area, please check us out (76 South Roscoe Blvd).
One day, I noticed the Methodist church logo on a sign visible from my bank's parking lot. The seed was planted. After a few weeks of "I really should check it out" thoughts, I showed up one Sunday morning in the office building, sharing space with a dentist's office, for services at Ponte Vedra United Methodist Church.
The congregation greeted me warmly; the pastor, Jeff Bennett was warm and engaging. I could relate to him. Jeff is several years younger than me. His path to the ministry occurred after a successful career as an engineer. He heard the call, enrolled in Emory University's seminary, and became a Methodist pastor. PVUMC became his church when it was formed as a south campus for Beaches United Methodist Church.
After attending regularly for some months, I joined the church. Loree began attending with me and joined a few months later. Both of us found what we needed (but previously hadn't realized that it was missing). We met a number of wonderful people.
We started becoming more active in the church's activities. I joined a small group (we're big on small groups in our church). Loree became one of the original volunteers for Hart Felt Ministries. The church began a multi-year campaign to find land to construct a building. Once the land was identified (and ultimately purchased), we moved into a grade school cafeteria for Sunday services to save money (the office building rent was expensive). Every Sunday, volunteers would set up a church in the morning only to tear it down again in the afternoon. That went on a couple of years.
Finally, the new church was completed (see picture above) and we moved in just in time for Christmas. I am happy to report that we have already had a big jump in attendance as members of our community stop by to check us out.
In the meantime, we have become very involved with the Methodist Florida Conference's Cuba mission. The Methodist Church in Cuba coordinates with the Florida churches so that every Methodist church in Cuba has a sister church in Florida. Our involvement started when we visited our sister church, La Sierra, near Havana in December 2007. It was a life changing event for both Loree and me. We were embraced by the people of the church, and became life long friends with its pastor and his wife. We are committed to helping them in any way we can. We have since become North East District Co-Coordinators for the mission.
If you're unconnected to a local church and feel that there is something missing in your life, don't ignore it. Stop into an inviting church one Sunday morning soon. And if you're in the Ponte Vedra area, please check us out (76 South Roscoe Blvd).
George
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