31
Mar 2020
What if a time traveler suddenly approached you ten years ago and predicted the following: “I can’t explain, but 2020 is going to be crazy. Donald Trump, the Apprentice guy, will be the President of the United States. Once he is in office, he will fly around the country at night to hold rallies where everybody wears a red hat. He’ll start a twitter feud with Iran that leads us to the brink of World War III. After a phone call he has with the President of Ukraine asking that his political......
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17
Mar 2020
LATEST UPDATE: TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 10:55 AM Woodmont Family, In our ongoing effort to help “flatten the curve” as it relates to containing cases of the coronavirus, Woodmont will not hold live worship services on Sunday, March 22 or programming on Wednesday night, March 25. We are also postponing the leadership breakfast and workshops with Susan Beaumont on Saturday, March 28. The Garden of Prayer remains open Sunday mornings and we discourage the gathering of groups or meetings over ten people. We hope to continue sending out messages via YouTube and on......
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04
Mar 2020
We are pleased to report continuing progress on our new chapel and classrooms in spite of the record rains. The concrete block walls are now complete and the steel frame is underway. The parking lots are continuing and we hope to have both new lots ready for use for the Easter Service. Since the site work started last October, we have had 55 rain days and approximately 34 inches of rain. The average annual rainfall for Nashville is 49 inches. Since the work was all outside in this phase of the expansion,......
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04
Mar 2020
Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham has just published a new book titled The Hope of Glory. It is a reflection on the Seven Last words of Christ and our staff is currently reading it during the Season of Lent. In the Prologue of the book, he says this: “For Christians, the central truth of existence – our ultimate concern, in a phrase of Paul Tillich – is captured in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Without Good Friday, there is no Easter; without Easter, there is no deliverance from......
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26
Feb 2020
I recently gave a presentation to a group of attorneys in downtown Nashville. I began the talk by identifying five significant challenges facing American Culture at this particular point in history. First, we continue to see high levels of emptiness, meaninglessness, and rising deaths of despair. Many Americans do not know their purpose and live mundane lives where they feel ignored, invisible, and unloved. Depression, addiction, and suicide rates remain high. Second, loneliness and social isolation are still on the rise. Ben Sasse says, “Among epidemiologists, psychiatrists, public health officials, and social......
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11
Feb 2020
Within Protestant Christianity, we find both mainline and evangelical traditions. Mainline churches were much more dominant in the middle of the 20th century after World World II, and despite notable exceptions, have experienced significant declines in membership and participation. Many mainline congregations are aging and are not reaching younger adults and families. Mainline traditions include the United Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterian Church (USA), Episcopalians, American Baptists, UCC, Disciples of Christ, Quakers, Reformed Church of America and African Methodist Episcopal. Evangelical traditions tend to be more conservative, often believe in biblical inerrancy, and feel the urgency of......
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04
Feb 2020
Thank you for supporting the “Building for Our Future” Capital Campaign! It is very exciting to now see the walls of our new chapel going up. We spent most of the fall digging into rock, excavating, and getting the site ready to build. This involved a significant amount of rock removal and detailed civil engineering to deal with stormwater run-off and drainage. The steel beams are being delivered this week and soon the chapel will be framed. We also appreciate your patience with our challenging parking situation on Sundays. We are hoping......
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27
Jan 2020
American scholar Sam Pascoe once said that, “Christianity was born in Israel, only to be taken to Greece and morphed into a philosophy. From there it was taken to Rome and made into an institution of civil power. Eventually, it migrated into Europe where it was developed into a culture. And later, it was brought to America and made into an entrepreneurial business enterprise.” One of the questions many ask as we begin a new decade is whether or not Christianity will remain relevant and vibrant in the future. Research continues to......
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09
Jan 2020
Between now and the end of January, we are accepting nominations for church leadership at woodmontchristian.org/nominate. LA Galyon will chair this year’s nominating committee which will begin meeting in February. This year, we will receive nominations for 1 Chair-Elect of the Board, 3 At Large Board Members, 7 Elders, and 30 Deacons. To serve as an elder, you must have been an active member of Woodmont for five years. To serve as a deacon, you must have been an active member of Woodmont for one year. We always want broad participation and......
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02
Dec 2019
The Thanksgiving season is a time to acknowledge the fundamental difference between envy and gratitude, coveting and contentment. We live in a culture with an economic system that, to some degree, fuels itself on coveting, desire, and wanting what others already have. Are we not told over and over again by marketers and advertisers that we deserve things that are bigger, better, and nicer than what we have? Are we not told that we would be so much happier if we just went out and bought whatever it is they are promoting?......
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