January 8, 2025

New Year’s Eve Pastor’s update letter (edited for space): 
Dear Congregants, Mission Center Partners, and Friends,
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! It is truly a blessing to have you be part of our immediate and extended church family, our broader community of faith, and our Missions Center this year! Personally, I am grateful for good health this year, and I thank you on behalf of our staff for the many prayers sent our way in 2024 for various circumstances. Thank you to that staff, worship leaders, musicians, vocalists, and volunteers who all create a beautiful Sunday service, and an especially inspiring Christmas Eve service! I hope those of you who were here enjoyed our time together. The music was splendid, the space full of beauty, and your fellowship was welcoming. 

It has been a successful year for UBC and our Missions Center. We welcomed a new member to our congregation! Sadly, we lost Pastor Emeritus Jerry Young, former members, and good friends. We have added new volunteers to our Sandwich Team Ministry, and in this newsletter, you've seen photos and read of the New United Gospel Food Mission, how we are serving the community in new ways. It is rewarding work as we build relationships with families who need our help. On December 15th, all 3 churches celebrated volunteers with a collaborative worship service and meal with eleven of our Food Giveaway guests.

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It is so rewarding to host new and returning groups and events in our building to fulfill our Mission/Vision. 2024’s theme was "Finding Beauty" where we saw beauty in all things, even  disasters, violence, or politics. The Young at Heart Gadabouts Senior Adult group is going strong with monthly lunches; the monthly UBC Friends & Family Breakfasts are another convenient, inexpensive way to share life together. Our Worship Vision Team experimented with styles and will recommend next steps to the church this Spring. We had our first Taizé Prayer Service in August, and hope to repeat it. We are making progress on clearing out, cleaning up, and repurposing rooms within our facility, saving historical items. We updated a few HVAC pipes, insulation, exterior lights, made electrical repairs, added LED lights as old ones failed, and met with Association and County staff over growth ideas. We still need "on-ramps" for family, youth, and children's activities, especially Spanish-speaking translators or teachers, so please be in prayer about that need.

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Our 2025 theme will move us forward, exploring "Vital Hospitality" in all its forms—community, church, personal & the unfamiliar through Faith, Relationship, Service, Prayer, Creativity, Study & Worship. There are many Scriptures on the subject (not just potlucks!), but our focus is Luke 14:12-14 NIV: "12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 

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Please take a beat to reflect on your faith calling for 2025; won’t you reconnect? We miss you!    
 

December 3, 2024

Merry Christmas! I hope you had a happy thanksgiving holiday too, no matter what you did or didn’t do this year! Pausing to be grateful for our many blessings is its purpose. I typically rest, pray, do personal projects that day, watch some of the parade, movies, football, and cook a little. Families are in heaven or relocated, so life changes as we age, and that is ok. Counting blessings helps us put into perspective the painful challenges in life, building a culture of gratitude and generosity. 

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Thank you to those who helped “Deck the Halls!” Debbie, Elmer, Bill, Carol, Lee Ann, and Doris’ family did an outstanding job this year! Of course we missed Aubrey and Dot, our usual elves! Additional items will be added each week to spaces, much like an Advent Calendar! Please notice what’s new each week, and on Christmas Eve, you can take your own pics by the tree. The Advent arrangement started out with the candles on a plain white cloth (a blank slate to focus on), and greens will be added weekly (preparation and anticipation) as we light each candle for Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Christmas Eve will be our traditional Candlelight and Communion service where we light the Christ Candle. We are fortunate to have a classical Woodwind Quintet provide seasonal music, too. Hope you and your family and friends will join us at 3 pm. Please see other Christmas options on page 1 of this Vision. We are excited to hold a Combined Christmas Service with all 3 churches (UBC, NBMBC, VGBC) on Sunday, December 15th at 1 pm (see pg. 1), then have a joint faith potluck meal together in the Fellowship Hall. 

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This year of “Finding Beauty” has been fun for your pastor in terms of studying to preach. We have found beauty in odd places, people, and things! We started with nature of course, Scripture, poetry, relationships, work, play, the Trinity, our Baptist distinctives, and yes, even in the ugliness of political polarization. God has much to say about beauty if we slow down to notice and observe its presence. Attending several conferences and retreats this year has confirmed for me our theme that presented itself early. For 2025, our theme will be “Vital Hospitality!” Since being called as your pastor, our themes have grown us spiritually, engaged us, built community, and sometimes challenged us; now we are ready to open wide our doors and explore what Vital Hospitality, the Biblical way, calls us to do and to be.

 

November 5, 2024

October was a busy month, and November will be the same, based on our church, missions, and personal calendars. Fall is a season of change: the color of and dropping of leaves, unpredictable temperatures, bringing out winter coats and clothing, seasonal maintenance (HVAC changeover, Fire, and Elevator permits), ending of daylight savings time, Annual Association and Church meetings, budget decisions for 2025, and of course, the national and state election! We want to vote but also admit we are tired of the build up to it and anxious about conflict from it. In preparation for the election, I asked “are you a person of peace or conflict?” The wisdom of Proverbs 22 NLT reminded us:

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12 The Lord preserves those with knowledge,
    but he ruins the plans of the treacherous . . . 
24 Don’t befriend angry people
    or associate with hot-tempered people,
25 or you will learn to be like them
    and endanger your soul.

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God nurtures and develops a person of peace. As evangelists, we are to be and to seek out persons of peace whose hearts are filled with or are willing to accept Jesus’ love, justice, and mercy. Jesus is our constant in times of change, turmoil, or uncertainty. This is the time to fortify your spiritual practices. Advent will be here before you know it! 

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So, let me wish you an early Happy Thanksgiving! In this season of change, it is helpful to get “grounded in gratitude”—not just the superficial blessings we have on earth, but to go deeper within. Remember to express gratitude for our special people, our creator God, beauty, love, joy, hope, forgiveness, abundance, character, optimism, health, and the principles that make us distinctly Baptist (religious liberty, soul freedom or competency, priesthood of all believers, autonomy of the local church, ordinances of baptism and communion). There are many other items for you, I am sure, so note them and share them. 

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It has been another good month of serving our community, not just on Sundays, but on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays (Sandwich Team), and 2nd and 4th Saturdays (Food Giveaway), we are meeting the many needs of local residents of all ages and nationalities. We were concerned about having adequate volunteers since several are out, but God provided enough volunteers! As Jesus promised in Matthew 9:38: “38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” We are small, but through God’s power, we are mighty. Let us not lose sight of his work through us and our church and mission center! 

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October 1, 2024

Thank you again to our Congregants, Leadership, Staff, and Pastor Francis Phan of the VGBC, for their support in Worship while I was on vacation mid-month. I heard only good reports despite several absences. It has been a tough re-entry couple of weeks with international and national wars and disasters, as well as several pastoral needs: grief, hospitalizations, and illnesses. I call you to prayer if you haven’t already been intensely praying! Please read the Agape Prayer list and send updates.

 

Our hearts go out to those states from Florida to Kentucky who experienced the remnants of and Category 4 Hurricane Helene. As of today, over 137 deaths are reported, and many are still missing. No one can be fully prepared for the historic storm surge, heavy rains, and unprecedented flooding and mudslides experienced and witnessed. I hope none of your families are impacted; former church members are safe, as far as we know. Groups we support or know, such as BGAV, CBF, Red Cross, Virginia Task Force 1 and others have all deployed responders, and need your financial and prayer support. Please be careful who you give money to; the office can assist you to prevent scam donations. The Annandale CROP Hunger Walk through Church World Service is a safe donation in person (church or to the office) or online: https://events.crophungerwalk.org/cropwalks/team/united-baptist-2.  

 

Let me ask you also to pray for the family of our Administrative Assistant, Roudaina Iskander. Her sister, aunt, brother and some of their adult children are in the Middle East (one in Israel, one in Lebanon, and others in Kuwait). There is great anxiety over their wellbeing, so we pray for their protection, and for peace.

 

So, what do we do when there is so much challenging bad news, illness, or death? As we always have, we pray, give aid and comfort where possible, and trust God in all things. Our Church and Mission Center have become skilled in these areas. We carry on, keeping all in mind, hearts, and prayers. We come to church! We worship together in community with song, reassuring Scriptures, receiving instruction and comforting words, and share fellowship. Sermons can be found on any page of our website, under “Services”:

https://www.theunitedbaptchurch.org/services

We also raise funds for the CROP Hunger Walk and Food Giveaway, where we are building neighborly relationships, and giving away Bibles and children’s books to our guests. Caring for those experiencing food insecurity, homelessness, or disaster reovery takes us out of our own worries, so please give, join our Sandwich team, volunteer somehow, and continue to pray for all of our mission projects and for each other!​​​​​​​