It is customary for us at Oak Ridge UMC to have a "singing Sunday" every 5th Sunday.   That is, we do a lot of extra singing during the worship services on these particular Sundays, and the sermon is in song (after some scripture reading we sing more hymns/songs).   I think this provides a nice variety for our congregation and  for all who attend and participate.   In fact, many of us look forward to the 5th-Sunday-Singings so that we can spend additional time in musical praise to our Lord.

Our God-given ORUMC VISION (See vision statement on this website) has directed us down some exciting and God-honoring paths as we seek to make followers of Jesus Christ!  As one of the pastors of this congregation, I am so thankful for and proud of the family of Christians known as Oak Ridge United Methodist Church!     We are experiencing some grace-filled and Holy Spirit ministry momentum days.    For instance, even in the midst of an economic downturn and a tough environment the people of ORUMC continue to reach out in Christ's name in worship, ministry and mission.  Hot meals have been served at the homeless shelter in Greensboro, educational supplies have been gathered and given through VBS, 50 stoves and water filter kits were purchased, transported, and installed in Guatemala, disaster recovery teams have helped at the Gulf Coast, ORUMC has continued to provide a scholarship for an Africa University student,  47 of our youth engaged in mission projects at the N.C. Coast and the list goes on and on.    A 4th worship service - Refinery (for young adults ages 18-30) has begun and is currently averaging 17 in attendance.  More than 250 persos are part of a TLC small group this Fall as at least 26 small groups will be meeting - fellowshipping, praying, sharing in Bible study and supporting a mission/outreach.     As I write this we are at  93% of  where we should be concerning our  MINISTRY INVESTMENT PLAN (Budget).    The congregation's faithful financial stewardship has enabled us to do the above ministries/missions and more.   We have also added a music staff person (Tami Fields) who will begin this month as our new Associate Director of Music.    This is a result of the ORUMC congregational survey.   The survey results were compiled and served as a guide for hiring this new staff person.   

Hello everyone,

Well it has been a wild and crazy week!  I just got home a few days ago from SpiritUs 2009. The weekend went great with a balance of missions, fellowship, and worship like I have never seen before at a camp.  This was the first year that we intentionally added a missions day to the schedule.  On Saturday morning, the campers raised enough money for and worked to package 20,000 meals.  If you add those numbers to the meals done the first weekend, the total number of meals prepared for Stop Hunger Now was 38,090!  Praise God! Later that afternoon, each youth group ventured to different areas of Brunswick County, NC to participate in local mission projects.  53 projects where completed on that afternoon which included home repair, yard work, environmental cleanup, nonprofit thrift store assistance, senior adult ministry, food ministry, church repair, and Fort Caswell beautification.  The youth at ORUMC helped in a community garden in the Wilmington area by picking vegetables, weeding, and planting.  We will be posting pictures from the weekend on the SpiritUs site very soon.  I will post that link when the pictures are available.

One of my favorite ministry magazines arrived in the mail this week.    I love to read through this resource because I find it such a great source of information and inspiration.   One particular article grabbed my attention in this issue, probably because it was on the topic of homosexuality and I knew I would soon be preaching on this issue.   The article is entitled, "Who's Your Leper?"     The article asks, "Who is not welcome in your church?  in your circle of friends?  in your life at all?"      It's tough to really answer these questions honestly .  And if we are truthful the honest answers can be difficult to hear and process.  There is a list of those who are shunned by some Christians and the list includes homosexuals, divorced people, the homeless, HIV/AIDS survivors, those with addictions, and many more.
As we read through the Gospel accounts we observe Jesus time and time again reaching out to the outcast and the downtrodden - those who are misfits and shunned from society.