Thanks, Beverly!

This Sunday, before and after the 11 am service (meaning also after Sunday School and CrossRoads), the Staff Parish Relations Committee will be hosting a reception to honor the outstanding ministry of the Rev. Dr. Beverly Jones. Last month, Beverly made her announcement that she was taking a Medical Leave of Absence following her recent bout with cancer and treatment. Thanks to early detection, she is cancer free and in that we rejoice. But the recovery from treatment remains. She is also discerning what her next steps in life and ministry will be. We all grieve that Beverly will no longer be serving on staff, but we fully support her in doing what is best for her health.

On a personal note, one of my great privileges in coming to First Church has been to serve with Beverly. She and I became probationary members in the New Mexico Conference together and served as colleagues even when she was in campus ministry at Southwestern. At that same time, she was attending First UMC Round Rock as her home congregation. So her history with you and me goes back a long way!  Beverly served as District Superintendent in El Paso from 2007-2009 and lived in the same parsonage as Tina and I did from 2001-2003.

As a church, we have been blessed by her loving and congenial manner, her insightful preaching, her inductive way of teaching, and her open caring heart and ear to many of us, both on staff and in the congregation. On the pastoral team, she has been the one to help us not take ourselves too seriously (with surprising zingers you don't expect because of her classy style), to consider things we might have overlooked, and to encourage us on the basics of our ministry. Her nearly four years on staff have touched us all and we are grateful to God in more ways than we can express.

Make sure and drop by the reception outside the sanctuary to join me in saying thanks to Beverly for ministry well done!