 I'm at this church for those of you who are new to our gathering this evening. I want to welcome you to the Opening Worship Service in the North Texas Conference. I'm glad that you're here. We're all glad that you're here. I want to say a special word of appreciation to the Ubuntu choir, violin choir, who played a few minutes ago, how enjoyable that was to play one of our favorite songs so many of us know, Siahamba. Thank you to the combined choirs that will be singing this evening. We appreciate you very much for taking the time to being here. And of course, if a few moments ago it was just a smattering of what we're going to enjoy and be inspired by, thank you very, very much, and thank you to all the directors. Let's thank them for their work. So we celebrate 150 years of the North Texas Conference at this season, at this time. But not only are we celebrating 150 years, we're also looking forward to the next 150 years. It's important to remember that because we are people who are always looking forward. When we begin to look backwards and begin to think about just the past, then we will not become not only the people that God wants us to become, the faithful that God dreams for us, but the communities of faith that God wishes that we could all become and we are becoming. So thank you to the people of the North Texas Conference for the way in which you live out the Christian faith and your own discipleship. At this time, I want to introduce our evening's creature. You will hear from him later. Warren Philip Rhodes is the pastor, the senior pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Hearst. He actually is the person who followed me as the pastor of that church in 2012 as the interim and then named by the Bishop of the Central Texas Conference as the senior minister in early 2013. Philip has been a colleague of mine at the Hearst Church. He and I worked together for 13 years, longer than I've worked with anyone in one place. That is to say, I think that's an affirmation not only of the relationship that he and I have, but I think an appreciation that I have for his gifts not only as a communicator and a preacher, but as a person who is one of the most faithful people I've ever met. All of us have people from whom we learn and from whom we learn lots of things. And I would say that the 13 years in which we spent in ministry together in that congregation, at least for me, and I hope he would say the same thing, were very formative for our own ministries and our own discipleship in Walcafe. And so it's a great pleasure that my good friend, one of my dear friends is going to be preaching this evening, and you will enjoy him and be inspired by him. His wife, Lynn, is here. She works for PT North Texas, PT Dallas, and also their son and their daughter, both who are working for Project Transformation this summer as well. Nick and Brenna. Philip Rhodes will be an inspiring speaker and I look forward to hearing what he has to say to us and what God has to say to us through him. So again, welcome, welcome to the North Texas Conference, the 150th year. May we worship our God together. I invite you to stand and body your spirit for our call to worship this evening. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Dear God, you hold the heavens in your hand. All stars rejoice in your glory. You come in the sunrise and the song of mourn and bless the splendor of the noon day. The stars in their courses magnify you. Day and night tell of your glory. Your peace blows over the earth and the breath of your mouth fills all space. You created water to sustain us, to baptize us, and to save us. From the fullness of time, you called forth saints to minister in your name bold and faithful women and men who heeded your call and followed you. Through peril and storm, through plenty and want, through gladness and sorrow, they were swept up in the joy that is a life lived in you. We gather in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who with the Father and the Spirit is the author of all creation and the ground of our hope and deliverance. God of creation, come, ride, story, demon, come, Holy Spirit sustain, come. And let us now raise our voices together in song as we sing praise with joy the world's creator. You'll find the text on the screen. Let us sing. The beginning, when God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was without shape or form. It was dark over the deep sea, and God's winds swept over the waters. God said, let there be light, and so light appeared. And God saw how good the light was. God separated the light from darkness, and God named the light day and the darkness night. There was evening and there was morning, the first day. God said, let there be a dome in the middle of the waters to separate the waters from each other. And God made the dome and separated the waters under the dome from the waters above the dome, and it happened in that way. And God named the dome sky. There was evening and there was morning, the second day. God said, let the waters under the sky come together into one place so that the dry land can appear. And that was what happened. And God named the dry earth land, and he named the gathered water's seeds. And God saw how good it was. God said, let the earth grow plant life, plants yielding seeds and fruit trees bearing fruit with seeds inside it, each according to its kind throughout the earth. And don't you know that's what happened. And the earth produced plant life, plants yielding seeds, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit with seeds inside it, each according to its kind. And God saw how good there was evening and there was morning, the third day. God said, let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will mark events, sacred seasons, days and years. They will be lights in the dome of the sky to shine on the earth. And that's what happened. God made the stars in the two great lights the larger light to rule over the day and the smaller light to rule over the night. God put them in the dome of the sky to shine on the earth, to rule over the day and rule over the night, and to separate the light from darkness. And God saw how good it was. There was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. God said, let the waters swarm with living things and let birds fly across the earth up in the dome of the sky. And God created the great sea animals and all the tiny living things that swarm in the waters, each according to its kind. And all the wind birds, each according to its kind. And God saw how good it was. And then God blessed them, be fertile and meet and let the bird kind of living thing livestock. Let us make humanity and our image to resemble us. For the former heaven and the former earth had passed away and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God made ready as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne say, God's dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore. For the former things have passed away. And then the one seated on the throne said, look, I am making all. We received the benediction. Wow. I want to thank Bishop Mike McKee for inviting me to come and be with you this evening. I don't know how many of you have ever spoken to the bishop on the phone, but he starts his conversations in the very same way. So the phone rings and I see it and I say, hello. And he says, hey, what are you doing? I was standing in the kitchen. I'm standing in the kitchen, man, what are you doing? Well, I will need to call you later with details, but I just want to know if you would like to be the preacher at Opening Worship for the North Texas Annual Conference. And I laughed out loud. I'm like, really, I did laugh out loud. I thought he was joking. And I'm like, did you run out of money? I mean, what in the world happened, you know? And then he got real serious and then I got real scared. And before I could even think about it, this yes came out of my mouth and I couldn't shove it back in. Couldn't take it back, so here we are. And in full disclosure, I have been stressing about this for months. Nobody on the planet knows this as well as my wife, Lynn, knows it. But as the great actor and theologian Will Smith says, the best things in life are on the other side of your maximum fear. Here's what that means, baby. Our lives are already pretty good, but here in a give or take 20 minutes, our lives are going to get even better. So it was a psalmist who said, I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. It's a phrase that reflects the psalmist's humility. And so with the humility of the psalmist, we turn our attention to Revelation 21. Last things first. Will you pray with me? Lord God, may the words that I speak and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, our rock and our redeemer. Crisp morning air, mango dragon fruit, bow ties and bourbon, mahogany, teakwood, midnight blue citrus, black cherry, Merlot. What wonderful images these conjure up and what are these things you might wonder. They are some of your choices for car air fresheners. Seriously, it's the name of smells that you can experience every time you get into your car. Did you know that the North American car air freshener market was valued at $750 million in 2013? Let's back up. Did you even know there was such a thing called the North American car air freshener market? It's a thing. It is expected to reach a billion dollars by 2022. How in the world did this happen? Furthermore, why did it happen? I told you, I do not occupy myself with things too wonderful for me. It turns out that it all started with little green trees. They hung on the rear view mirror. They're still around. You remember those? It was a chance encounter over 60 years ago in Watertown, New York. And one day Julius Saman listened to a milkman complain about one of his occupational hazards that would be the stench of spoiled milk. The milkman complained to the exact right man, Saman, a German Jewish chemist who fled Nazi Germany and studied alpine tree aromas in Canada. And after the encounter, he filed a patent in 1954 for paper infused with, and I quote, odor-destroying air-perfuming substances. And that is how it all started. And some of you, you know who you are. You're really into this. And some of us, we know who we are, are really not. But none of us, I can hazard a guess, drive a milk truck. So why in the world do we need car air fresheners? See, there's two kinds of people when it comes to this. It's the kind of person who gets into the car and says, man, there's a weird funky smell in here. You know, I think I'll go to bed, bath, and beyond. I'll buy nothing for the bed, nothing for the bed, but something way beyond. And I'll get bow ties and bourbon. And we'll solve the problem. There are the other kinds of people in the world, the ones who get into the car and say, oh, my, there is a funk in the car. And then they proceed to clean the car, to look for the stink, and remove it. Come on, it's a multi-million dollar industry. It hopes you lost a yogurt under your passenger seat, and is further counting on the fact that you won't look for it. How is this a thing? How can these things be? And if you want to know what the book of Revelation says in a nutshell, it's this. Something stinks. You can't cover it up. You got to remove it. Something stinks. And what John wants to do is John wants to reveal it. See, the book is not apocalyptic literature. Eugene Bourne says it's a pastoral letter that uses apocalyptic language. It's a pastoral letter written to seven churches in Asia Minor. Many over the years have thought that John is writing to an already persecuted church, offering them this vision of hope, helping to encourage them to hang on. Respectfully, I disagree. John is addressing a problem in the church. And the second chapter of John's Revelation tells us what the problem is. It's the loss of first love. It's the poverty of the rich. It's a theology and ecclesiology that does more harm than good. It's dead or near dead lukewarm faith. Something stinks. And bow ties and bourbon won't cover it up. It must be revealed. It must be removed. It seems that the early church is suffering from an identity crisis. And what they choose to do next, how they plan the way forward, has very real implications for their very real future. If that doesn't sound a little familiar. But back to the early church. Broadly speaking, their problem is this. Paul has died. Jesus has not returned. And now they don't know how to do church. That's their question. What do we do now? I had the great pleasure of having Dr. Joette Bassler for New Testament at the Perkins School of Theology. A brilliant mind and a brilliant scholar. And I'll never forget her teaching on John's revelation. She said that there might just be a fight in our New Testament scriptures when it comes to answering this question. What do we do now? What do we do now that Paul isn't here? What do we do now that Jesus has not returned? So among other things, 1st Second Timothy and Titus are written as a corpus. Not by Paul, but by a disciple of Paul, written at about the same time as John writes, his revelations. 1st Second Timothy and Titus answered the question of what to do as church now that Paul is gone and Jesus hasn't returned. Simply put, among other things, we begin to blend into the culture so that our family structures will begin to look like Roman family structure. Our ecclesial structure and hierarchy mirrored after Roman structure and Roman hierarchy. The church begins to fit within the empire. It's the way we will survive. It's self-preservation. And John is having none of it. His revelation is an answer to that question as well. John says, we remember our first love. We put faith in God's riches, not our own. We turn up the heat on the burner of our almost dead lukewarm faith. And we stand as witness to the culture. It's the opposite of self-preservation. And I have to admit the older I get, the more convicted I am about my own predisposition for self-preservation. For example, I was much braver about what a senior pastor should do when I was an associate pastor. I remember a clergy staff planning meeting early 2012 and y'all that are in churches, you know, we do this. We get together and we try to plan out as far as possible. We all have to bring ideas. I bring the ideas for Advent. And I've got a great idea for Advent early 2012. You can use it if you want. My idea, apocalyptic Advent. I had all the scriptures. I had all the sermon titles, all apocalyptic in nature. It was fresh. It was new. It was innovative. It was out of the box. And the then Reverend Dr. Mike McKee was having none of it. Chicken. In the summer of 2012, as you all know, the Reverend Dr. Mike McKee became Bishop Mike McKee. I'll never forget my DS called me and we didn't know what to do because nobody had gotten elected out of the Central Texas Conference. And so he said, I kid you not. He said, you need to act like he's on vacation. So we figure out what to do. Okay, so I get the staff together and we know that things are breathing down our neck in terms of planning. And we're talking about Advent. And one of the staff people, I don't think he works for us anymore, said, what about apocalyptic Advent? That had so much energy for you back at the beginning of the year. And I'm like, oh no. Like why would I mess with Christmas? That's the stupidest idea ever. Self-preservation. I have since called my former boss and repented of my sin. You are not a chicken or we both are. Self-preservation. It stinks. And yet as a culture, we are obsessed with it. And at its root is fear. So in fear, what we do is we hunker down. We hang on to our stuff. We keep strangers at bay. In fear, we arm our homes and we arm ourselves. In fear, we close our hearts, we close our minds and we close our doors. All in the name of self-preservation. Churches are obsessed with it too. We fear our declining membership. We fear denominational collapse. And so we hunker down and we hang onto our precious past refusing to let all of God's children have vote and voice at God's table. In short, we fear change. We're scared to death. I had one person tell me, we were talking about church growth at our church and we were talking about if you're not growing, then you're dying. And this person said to me, I kid you not. I don't want my church to grow. It will change my Sunday school class. All in the name of self-preservation. It wasn't always that way and that's John's point. Do you remember? Lynn and I recently moved after being in our house for almost 18 years. And during the packing phase, I came across a picture. Lynn is sitting inside the trunk of our 1990 Plymouth Sundance and I with really long hair and a much bigger earring bishop, a much bigger earring, had my arm around her. My mother-in-law had taken the photo. It was the day we left the San Francisco Bay Area with our three month old son and we headed northeast to Wisconsin, the Green Bay Area. And as we looked at that photo, I asked Lynn, I said, what in the world were we thinking? It was a pay cut. The first grandchild was moving 2,000 miles away from grandma and grandpa. They're almost over it. And Lynn said, we really weren't thinking. It just felt right. In that moment, it was a faithful decision. And immediately, 53-year-old me called 30-year-old me an idiot in the picture. In the new place we live, it has suspiciously showed up. At the top of the stairs, I have to pass it every single day because I need to remember self-preservation. It wasn't always that way and that's John's point. Do you remember? We read scripture each and every week in all of our churches. Why do we do that so we can remember? Do you remember? Do you remember the first disciples? They're probably teenagers. They left their jobs to follow a 27-year-old itinerant rabbi and Mark tells us they did so immediately with no itinerary, no income, no security. I feel like I can hear their voices in my head. They hear this rabbi say, follow me and immediately they go, cool, road trip and they move. Self-preservation, it wasn't always that way. And that's John's point. Do you remember? To the church that fears for its life. Do you remember? Day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. And what John does is John calls us back to the time when following Jesus might not have made good financial sense or not the wisest choice for a secure future but our hearts raced a little faster and not out of fear, out of faith. John reminds us that Christianity was never a movement based on self-preservation. It's based in self-sacrifice. And in fact, self-preservation is a sin in light of the cross. It stinks. You can't cover it up. It must be removed. And John calls us back, dare I say, to immigrate from our kingdoms of self-preservation to cross the border, to hop the walls we insist on building, to immigrate to the kingdom of heaven. And he invites us to see last things first. Then I saw, 37 times John says that phrase in his letter, there are 20 words in the Greek that get translated into our one word, two words to see, to look, I saw. Each one of them with their own nuance. When John says, then I saw, literally, it means to see securely. In other words, you can count on it. You can bet the farm on it. In Revelation 21, John sees the last things, the end game. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, count on it. I saw it. It's secure. And then God speaks. Look, see. The home of God is among mortals. Look, see, I make all things new. Now when God speaks, when God uses that word, see, it's a different Greek word. Literally, it means take note, in fact, beware. And most importantly, remember, take note, the home of God is among mortals. In fact, I'm making all things new. Beware, the home of God is among mortals. Remember, remember. And John invites the church into that vision once more. He invites you and I into that vision once more. And it's not the future, but it's our future. And it's quite a vision, really. Some wonder if he was on something. I think he's on to something because his vision comes out of his burden for the church, a pastoral letter. And while we love the idea of vision, innovation, something new, something fresh, godly vision is gonna come out of burden first. Vision is always birthed through burden. And our burden cannot be self-preservation, not as a people and not as a church. Because if it is, our vision will not be godly. So look around your church, your community, your context, what burdens you? Find it, you just might remember that the home of God is among mortals. Project transformation is birthed out of burden. Layton Farrell and Sarah Wilkie, visionary leaders of your conference got a burden for college students, for children in underserved neighborhoods, and for the church's need to deepen its connection to the community around them, to you interns that will be commissioned this evening. You may not even know it, but in your work, on your site, take note, remember, the home of God is among mortals. And God gives the vision after we bear the burden. And once you get a godly burden, well maybe that is what frees us from self-preservation and moves us to vision, to innovation, to that fresh new thing that God is already orchestrating. And you and I, we're invited to be a part of that, but only if we keep last things first. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen. My friends, there hangs in our home an angel. Not an object of typically graceful lines and smooth texture, no. Now this is an angel made of weathered and reclaimed barnwood and wire. Fashioned and painted by a contemporary artist who wrote on that angel these words. Anyone can slay a dragon, he told me. But try waking up every morning and loving the world all over again. That's what takes a real hero. Beloved, we are about to read the names. We are about to remember the lives of those who are real heroes among us. Who woke up every morning and loved the world all over again. As they lived joyfully and served gracefully and now have died victoriously since last we met. Those who showed us the way to wake up every morning and love God's ever-new creation all over again. So I invite you to look once again to your bulletins that we might join our hearts and our voices in our litany of the saints. Grant them everlasting rest, Lord. Those saints who lived and died for the sake of your holy word. We remember and give thanks. Grant them everlasting rest, Lord. Those whom we loved and see no more. Those saints whom we ourselves have known and loved. For these good companions, we remember and give thanks. For friends and colleagues, husbands and wives, parents and grandparents, we give thanks to you for the encouragement you have given us through them. For laughter shared and tears intermingled. For prayers whispered to and for each other, we remember and give thanks. Grant them everlasting rest, Lord. And number us among your saints. Join us with the faithful of every age. Grant that we would be strengthened by that great cloud of witnesses and supported by their fellowship so that we may run with perseverance the race that is set before us. We remember and give thanks. And as we prepare to hear these names, after each one is read, I invite you to continue your response. We remember and give thanks. And if that is a life that has particularly touched your own, I invite you to stand in sacred memory until the following name is read. And so we look to Jesus, the risen Christ, pioneer and perfecter of our faith. And in Jesus' holy name, we remember Ralph Edward Burke. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Wallace Edwin Chapel. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember James A. Gouldney. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Joseph R. Hale. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember John T. Lancaster. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Merwin K. Turner. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Lorraine Isaac's Chapel. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Faye Catherine Day, give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Dorothy Elliott. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Faith Gatlin. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Mary R. Hausman. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Janet Mayo. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Sandra McNabb. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Stella Ruth Moreing. We remember and give thanks. In Jesus' holy name, we remember Marnell Upchurch. We remember and give thanks. Gracious and loving God, we give you thanks for the lives of these, your servants. And not only servants, Lord, but we give thanks for these, your friends. You've so graciously allowed our lives to intersect with theirs and have granted us the opportunity to service fellow laborers in your vineyard. May their example and legacy of servants and friends of the resurrected Lord live on in us. And by the power of your Holy Spirit, may we be moved to love others and ourselves as they did, seeking always to be about the work of your kingdom. In the name of the God of all life, we say together, amen. Tonight, we have heard the word of God proclaimed through song, through dramatic reading of scripture and in sermon. We have remembered those saints no longer with us and we look forward to work towards the dream of God coming through new creations. Two of the ways that we work through God's dream in our annual conference are through the camping or treat ministries of the conference and the work of project transformation. Our offering tonight will be split between these two wonderful ministries. These ministries offer valuable experiences of God's love for all the people of North Texas. Your giving will allow us to offer scholarships to students unable to afford the cost of these programs. We believe that if we are going to be the church that God has called us to be, that means making sure that young people are not left out of life changing experience offered by these programs. It is imperative that you give to make sure that no kid is left out or left behind. Let us give so that the faith of our youngest generations will be ignited. Will the ushers please come forward and accept our offering? This too will happen to you. So to those of you who are going to be in ministry with us in the North Texas Conference this summer, camp as you know is one of our conference camps in which will be filled every week this summer. And so we appreciate those persons who will be connect to the kingdom that has a specific mission and ministry in the Eau Cliff neighborhood. And if you could sort of wave at us and let us know who you are. And go camp. Go camp is our camp that is literally on the go in a different area, different community, each and every week of the summer. And they've already this past week been at Paul Quinn and they'll be in Clarksville next week. And it's a way in which they will continue to minister in unique ways. And for children who are unable to go to another camp. And so those of you with go camp, could you sort of let us know where you are? Yeah, there they are. And students who are here serving in churches from Lydia Patterson Institute, where are you? And Lydia Patterson is a high school in El Paso and serving students on the border and from across the border. And we're grateful that you will be in North Texas as well. And those people who are here from Quad W who will be serving in East Dallas out of White Rock and other places. And you are where? Where are you in Quad W? Thank you. There you are. And Project Transformation, which is a unique ministry that began in this annual conference a number of years ago, which is spreading now throughout the country. Churches, children and college students. So those of you who are with PT, you raise your hand. Let us know you're here. So a commissioning is really about bidding you to go. But we want you to know that as you go, you go with our prayers and you go with our blessings. We want you to know that as you go, you go with our God. We want you to know that as you go, you go to serve and we want you to know that as you go, as you go, you will go and you will find God around each and every corner. So go. Go in the name of our Christ. Go in the name of all that is good. And may you have a most blessed summer. Gracious God, thank you for these who are giving their summer. Gracious God, thank you for the way in which you will continue to move through their lives and thank you God for those whom they will serve. So we pray this in the name of Jesus the Christ and all of us together, bless them by saying amen. Peace be with you. An invitation and an introduction. First of all, an introduction. Reverend DeAndre Johnson came into the service midpoint because of his flight from Houston was late. But DeAndre, welcome to the North Texas Conference. Thank you for the design of our worship experience tonight. Let us welcome DeAndre Johnson to the North Texas Conference. There is reception in the Bartula Family Life Center. People can guide you that way. You'll have a chance to greet Philip Rhodes, the families as well, and also together and to welcome each other and renew acquaintances. But this benediction, this blessing I give you, bear witness to the love of Christ in this world so that the stranger you meet may find in you a generous friend. And the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the love of our God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, rest and be with you now and forever. And all God's people said, amen.