Dear Members and Friends,
As our last Sunday draws near (June 28th), we would like to thank you again for the privilege of a lifetime serving as your pastors these past 15 years. It was wonderful to see some of you during our
Farewell from the Front Steps
and we are heartened and humbled by the cards you’ve sent.
Looking back, there is much to remember and to celebrate.
Below are a few of the accomplishments we will remember with fondness as we have sought as a congregation to serve Jesus Christ and to be His disciples at 2345 Robinson Road.
Over the past fifteen years together we have:
1. Successfully completed three strategic plans and launched
Mayflower Vision 2022
.
2. Grown Mayflower’s membership every year.
3. Balanced our budget the past eleven years (since the 2008 financial crisis).
4. Enhanced our church facility with our Atrium, Columbarium/Prayer Garden, Youth and Choir Room renovations; relocated the church playground to provide additional security for our children; and constructed the Currie Portico and Roof Garden to be more welcoming to members, friends and visitors.
5. Involved over 500 youth in mission trips around the world.
6. Built three Habitat homes, renovated 18 mobile homes and housed countless families as a part of the IHN/Family Promise program.
7. Creatively re-invented our children’s education program, first with Paula Gaylord and now, with our wonderful Faith Formation Journey staff.
8. Enjoyed extraordinary music every Sunday along with special musicals, cantatas, and new programs such as
Mondays@Mayflower
and
Lenten Music and Meditation.
9. Navigated the retirements of long-standing church staff members while continuing to build momentum and embrace new ideas.
10. Welcomed and launched Sudanese Grace Episcopal Church into their new church home.
11. Increased the percentage of our giving to Outreach from 0-15% and given away over the past decade $1.3 million dollars to assist those in need in our community, country, and around the world.
12. Responded with resilience to the arrival of Covid-19 with financial generosity, increasing care for neighbors in need, and a willingness of Mayflower staff and members to adapt to church in a digital world.
Since its founding on Pentecost, the church has never been grounded in a building, or its pastors, but it has been, and always will be, about what new endeavors to which the Spirit coaxes, guides and prods its members. Since its founding in 1958, Mayflower has consistently lived into its name and set sail towards new horizons. It has always been so, and it will be again, and so from afar we look forward to praying for you and cheering you on in the future!
Faithfully,
Mark and Lynn
