Intro to Woodmont June 9

If you’re new to Woodmont, then we want to see you at our next Intro to Woodmont luncheon on Sunday, June 9, at noon in the boardroom! This is a chance to meet with Clay and some of our leaders to learn more about Woodmont and if God is calling you to make this your church home. Lunch is served and you are warmly invited! Childcare is available with an RSVP to tammy@woodmontcc.org

Former U.S. Attorney General at Woodmont May 29

Next Wednesday, May 29, the Honorable Alberto Gonzales will be in Carpenter Chapel to speak on "Faith, Public Leadership, Partisanship, & the U.S. Justice System" at 6:00 PM.

Currently the Dean of Belmont’s School of Law, Gonzales was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate as the 80th Attorney General of the United States in February 2005 and served in that capacity until September 2007. He has worked as a partner at a major Houston law firm (Vinson & Elkins) and held government positions as a Justice on the Texas Supreme Court, Texas Secretary of State, General Counsel to the Governor of Texas, and Counsel to the President of the United States.

Gonzales' work in the Hispanic community and his achievements as a role model have also earned him recognition as "Hispanic American of the Year" by HISPANIC Magazine and one of "The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America" by TIME Magazine.

Judge Gonzales became dean of Belmont's law school in 2014 and presently teaches constitutional law, First Amendment law, national security law, and separation of powers.

Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier at Woodmont June 12

On Wednesday, June 12, Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier will join Clay in Carpenter Chapel at 6:30 PM to discuss "Higher Education, Ideology, & Free Speech."

A visionary leader and lifelong academic, Diermeier is dedicated to advancing Vanderbilt's mission and values at every level across the university's ten schools and colleges. Born in Berlin, Germany, he is a first-generation college graduate who most recently served as the Provost at the University of Chicago.

Diermeier became Vanderbilt University’s ninth chancellor in 2020 after an extensive search. In the years since, Chancellor Diermeier has led an ambitious program of expansion and improvement in the spirit of Vanderbilt’s motto, "Crescere aude," or “dare to grow.” Under his leadership, the university has risen in stature, topped the $1 billion mark in research expenditures, successfully launched a $300 million fundraising campaign for Vanderbilt athletics, and reaffirmed its long-standing commitment to free expression and civil discourse.

Leadership matters! It always has and it always will! Leadership matters in any local church. Leadership is not easy but everything rises and falls on leadership. Edwin Friedman said that leaders must learn to manage anxiety and be a non-anxious presence in any organization. Ron Heifetz talks about the importance of “holding steady” and learning to take the heat, whatever it may be. But for any of this to happen, a leader must find his or her own sense of inner peace and joy that cannot be tied to the words and actions of others. Inner peace is a choice that we make. We have now announced our leadership slate for 2024. Please pray for these individuals who have agreed to serve Woodmont.

Jesus was a leader, but he led through humility and servanthood. He taught, “If any want to become my followers, let them DENY SELF, take up their cross, and follow me.” He also said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but TO SERVE.” Therefore, leading like Jesus involves becoming a servant leader. John C. Maxwell has had a tremendous influence on my own understanding of leadership over the years. He started as a pastor and is now one of the world’s most revered experts on leadership. Years ago, he wrote a book called The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. I want to lift up TWELVE of those qualities that, I believe, are very important for leadership in the local church.   

1. CHARACTER: Character is more than talk • Talent is a gift, but character is a choice • Character brings lasting success with people • Leaders cannot rise above the limitations of their character

2. COMMITMENT: This Separates Doers from Dreamers. What is the true nature of Commitment? Three observations: • Commitment Starts in the Heart • Commitment is Tested by Action • Commitment Opens the door to Achievement

3. COURAGE: One Person with Courage Is a Majority. As you approach the tough decisions that challenge you, recognize these truths about courage: • Courage begins with an Inward Battle • Courage is Making things Right, Not Just Smoothing Them Over • Courage in a Leader Inspires Commitment from Followers • Your Life Expands in Proportion to Your Courage

4. GENEROSITY: Cultivate the quality of generosity in your life. Here’s how: • Be Grateful for Whatever you Have • Put People First • Don’t Allow the Desire for Possessions to Control You • Regard Money as a Resource • Develop the Habit of Giving

5. INITIATIVE: What qualities do leaders possess that enable them to make things happen? There are at least four. • They Know What They Want • They Push Themselves to Act • They Take More Risks • They Make More Mistakes

6. LISTENING: Two purposes for listening: to connect with people and to learn. For that reason, you should keep your ears open to hear from others.

7. POSITIVE ATTITUDE: If You Believe You Can, You Can. To learn more about what it means to be positive, think on these things: • Your Attitude Is a Choice • Your Attitude Determines Your Actions • Your People are a Mirror of Your Attitude • Maintaining a Good Attitude is Easier Than Regaining one   

8. RELATIONSHIPS: What can a person do to manage and cultivate good relationships as a leader? Three things: • Have a Leader’s Head—Understand People • Have a Leader’s Heart—Love People • Extend a Leader’s Hand—Help People

9. SELF-DISCIPLINE: The First Person You Lead Is Yourself. If you want to become a leader for whom self-discipline is an asset, follow these action points: • Develop and Follow Your Priorities • Make a Disciplined Lifestyle Your Goal • Challenge Your Excuses • Remove Rewards Until the Job Is Done

10. SERVANTHOOD: Put Others First. What does it mean to embody the quality of servanthood? A true servant leader: • Puts Others Ahead of His or Her Own Agenda • Possesses the Confidence to Serve • Initiates Service to Others • Is Not Position-Conscious • Serves Out of Love

11. TEACHABILITY: To Keep Leading, Keep Learning. If you want to grow your organization, you have to remain teachable. Here are five guidelines to help you cultivate and maintain a teachable attitude: • Cure Your Destination Disease • Overcome Your Success • Swear Off Shortcuts • Trade in Your Pride • Never Pay Twice for the Same Mistakes

12. VISION: Show me a leader without vision, and I’ll show you someone who isn’t going anywhere. To get a handle on vision and how it comes to be a part of a good leader’s life, understand these things: • Vision Starts Within • Vision Draws on Your History • Vision Meets Other’s Needs • Vision Helps you Gather Resources  (John C. Maxwell 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader)

This edition of the Inspire includes the slate of those who have been nominated and have agreed to serve in leadership positions beginning July 1st if approved by the congregation on June 16 at the congregational meeting. Please keep this group in your prayers.

                                                                                        Blessings,

2024 Leadership Slate

The nominations are in for our 2024 Chair-elect, Board, Elders, & Deacons! Our annual congregational meeting and election is Sunday, June 16, at 10:40 AM. Installation of our newly-elected leaders is Sunday, June 30, as part of our 11:00 AM service.

Make your pledge online!

Our 2024 stewardship campaign is wrapping up! Click the button below to make your pledge quickly and conveniently online so that we can plan for another amazing year of ministry together.

Welcome, new members!

 Jay & Allison DeMarcus, joined May 12

"A Service of Contemplation" June 2

Woodmont's Chancel Choir will share a service of contemplation on Sunday, June 2, at 6:00 P.M. in the sanctuary. It will consist of music by the choir, scriptures, and thoughts and readings by Justin Gung. This will be an hour of peace and reflection as we begin the summer months.

Summer Gospel Sing-Along & Potluck Supper begins June 5

One of our favorite summer traditions is back! On Wednesdays in June & July, we will have a gospel sing-along at 5:15 PM in Room 105, followed by a potluck supper in Drowota Hall at 6:00 PM. Bring food suitable for potluck sharing!

Due to enhanced preschool security, the west entrance won't be open until after 5:00 PM. If arriving earlier, use the entrance with the small white bridge facing Hillsboro Pike or the side door to Drowota Hall near the kitchen.

As I look back over my lifetime in church, I have so many cherished memories, but some of my favorite heart-warming memories have to do with singing those good ol’ gospel songs in so many different settings... especially in small country churches that barely had enough seats for 50-75 people.

At Labelle Cristian church in the middle of Florida where my Dad served for two years we’d go to church morning and evening, spend the afternoon on a farm drinking milk fresh from the cow, and singing – “Savior Like A Shepherd Lead Us” and “Bringing in the Sheaves.”

At Sinking Fork Christian Church in Western Kentucky where I preached for two years as a student minister (and those two years totally changed my life) we sang – “Dwelling in Beulah Land” and “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder.”

At a large Independent Christian Church in Lexington, KY, I heard that great song “How Great Thou Art” for the first time, sung by a large choir. We also sang “It Is Well With My Soul.”

During several summer revivals I have preached over the years we’d sing – “Revive Us Again” and “Give Me That Old Time Religion.”

Here at Woodmont in our Sunday morning Disciples Class, we begin by singing songs like – “Just A Closer Walk with Thee” and “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.”

And every summer during the months of June and July we have our Sing-Alongs and Potluck Suppers, and we sing – “I Saw the Light”... “I’ll Fly Away” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

Wow, those songs stay with you long after the worship service or Sunday school class is over. You find yourself humming or singing the tunes during the week. Nothing stirs your soul any more than hearing Christian believers sing those great hymns with gusto and joy. And the words to the songs speak to you as much as the music inspires you.

Well, it’s coming back again... in June and July... the Summer Sing-Along and Potluck Suppers. If you haven’t been before, you don’t know what you’re missing. Woodmont musicians – as many as 15 at a time – stand up front and play the music on guitars, violins, the dobro, double bass guitar, banjos, harmonicas, piano, accordion, and even tapping spoons! The old folks smile at the music and children dance in the back of the room.

Then there’s the Potluck Supper. Here’s how it works. Everybody brings one dish of their choice. Some bring vegetables, some bring salads, some rolls or homemade bread, lots of fried chicken and other meat dishes, casseroles, Jello, congealed salads, deviled eggs, and lots and lots of desserts! What a feast! And let me tell you, Woodmont has some very good cooks!

So starting June 5th and for nine Wednesday nights in June and July, the summer fun begins. Singing is from 5:15 to 6:00 PM in Room 105 and the Potluck Dinner is at 6:00 PM in Drowota Hall. Folks drop their food dishes off in the kitchen before the singing.

Just park around back between the church and Campbell West, and come in the back door with a big smile on your face. I hope to sing with you there.

This Sunday, May 26

9:30 AM & 11:00 AM: Farrell Mason “Restless Heart" - Psalm 139

9:40 AM: Jay Hutchens "Out of the Boat!" - Matthew 14:22-36

Our schedule this Sunday is:

• 8:30 AM – Continental breakfast in the gym
• 9:30 AM – Traditional service in the sanctuary with livestream
• 9:40 AM – The Bridge service in the chapel with livestream
• 11:00 AM – Traditional service in the sanctuary with live stream

Summer Reading List

Recommendations from Woodmont's staff

Clay

• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
• Morality by Jonathan Sacks
• Faithful Presence by Bill Haslam
• Doubt by Adam Hamilton
• A Time to Build by Yuval Levin

Roy

• We've Got Issues by Phillip McGraw
• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
• America's New Map by Thomas Barnett
• Christ of the Celts by J. Philip Newell

Andra

• Grace Notes: Poems for Families by Naomi Shihab Nye
• Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor 
• This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley
• The Contemplative Heart by James Finley 

Jerry

• The Women by Kristen Hannah
• Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
• The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
• How to Know a Person by David Brooks

Farrell

• Enchantment, Awakening Wonder in An Anxious Age by Katherine May
• Have A Beautiful Terrible Day by Kate Bowler
• Surrender, 40 Songs, One Story by BONO
• Foster by Claire Keegan
• Upstream by Mary Oliver

Jake

• Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer
• New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton 
• Healing the Heart of Democracy by Parker Palmer
• Art and Faith by Makoto Fujimura

Jay

• Why The Bible Began: An Alternative History of Scripture and its Origins by Jacob Wright
• Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz
• Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany by Donald Miller
• The Fraud by Zadie Smith
• The SBL Study Bible

Jacob Wright, Why The Bible Began: An Alternative History of Scripture and its Origins. Wright, a professor of Hebrew Bible at Emory University, proposes the intriguing thought that the Hebrew Bible was written as Israel and Judah were defeated militarily as a way of preserving and promoting their literature and culture. When other cultures and societies were absorbed by the victors, Judaism was able to establish a framework that allowed it to thrive. As a Christian reader, one recognizes a continuity with the idea that out of loss and tragedy can come a profound sense of identity and hope.

Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most. Volf is a leading "public theologian" I first encountered twenty years ago when I read his signature book, Exclusion and Embrace.  Life Worth Living is based on a class Volf taught at Yale on how we discern and prioritize what counts most in life!  The Connection Class will be reading through this book together this summer!

Donald Miller, Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany. The basis for the Apple TV series that followed up on Band of Brothers and The Pacific, Miller's book recounts the experiences of the 100th Air Bomber wing during WW2. What stood out for me was the extreme heroism of the airmen who knew the odds of their ever coming back were less than 15% and still flew sorties against Nazi Germany's industrial infrastructure. An amazing story.

Zadie Smith, The Fraud. I can't believe I'm only hearing about Zadie Smith within the last year or so.  The Fraud is a New York Times Bestseller, and an Oprah pick, among many other accolades. An Amazon review says, "Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity and the mystery of 'other people.'”

And finally... a GREAT Study Bible. The SBL Study Bible was released this past year and contains in-depth book introductions, essays, and notes. It is an up-to-date revision of the Harper-Collins Study Bible. If you are looking for scholarly explanations that help you better understand the Bible in its historical context, this is the best one-volume resource available! I use this Bible daily.

VBS volunteers needed

VBS registration is open and will remain open until the end of May. Please note that the rising 1st-grade group is already closed and on a waitlist. If your student is in that age group, please email abby@woodmontcc.org to be placed on the waitlist. For all other age groups, click here to register your children.

We need VBS volunteers! VBS is June 25-28 from 9:00 AM to noon. All volunteers are asked to arrive by 8:30 AM each morning. We have a mandatory volunteer training day on Monday, June 24, at 10:00 AM. Please click here to register as a volunteer if you did not on your student's registration form.

Memorial Day fundraiser

Woodmont’s grilling ministry is hosting its second annual Memorial Day fundraiser and offering pulled pork shoulder in 2 lb. bags for $20 each and racks of smoked ribs for $20 each. Pre-orders will be taken until Wednesday, May 22, until the group's limit is reached (50 bags of pulled pork, 30 racks of ribs) on a first-come, first-serve basis. Pickup is Friday, May 24, at Woodmont.

At pickup time, you can pay via cash or check made payable to Woodmont Christian Church with “Burnt Offerings” in the memo line. Payment can also be made on Realm by selecting "Miscellaneous Payment" in the memo line and typing "Burnt Offerings Fundraiser." To order, click the button below.

Proceeds from this event will go towards funding future mission and outreach projects. Questions? Contact wccburntofferings@gmail.com

G.E.M.S. May 28

Danny Herron, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity for Greater Nashville, will be speaking at our next G.E.M.S. luncheon on Tuesday, May 28, at 11:30 AM in Room 200.

Since 1985 over 1,000 homes have been built including surrounding counties. Under Danny’s leadership, Habitat has won 14 consecutive awards in Sustained Excellence in Affordable Housing.

Rev. Kevin Roberts, Director of Faith Relations, will accompany Danny. Working with a broad base of congregational partners like Woodmont, Kevin attended Vanderbilt University Divinity School and Truit Seminary at Baylor University, graduating with high honors.

Vance McGuigan and Christie Harrison, the leaders of our Habitat builds for the last three years, will also share the history of this Woodmont outreach.

Bill Carpenter wins Seton Award

Congrats to Woodmont member Bill Carpenter who received the prestigious Seton Award Saturday night from St. Thomas Hospital System. Click here to watch a video tribute to Bill's life and legacy from his family, friends, and colleagues.

WCPS is hiring

Do you love small children? Woodmont Christian Preschool is looking for teachers and occasional subs. Hours are 8:45 AM to 2:45 PM. For more information, call the preschool office at (615) 297-9962.

Church calendar

Sunday, May 26

8:30 AM Continental Breakfast, Drowota Hall

9:30 AM 21st Century Class, Boardroom

9:30 AM Disciples Class, Room 105

10:45 AM Pathways Class, Boardroom

10:45 AM Reflections Class, Room 200

10:45 AM Connection Class, Room 100

11:00 AM Points of View Class, Room 105

3:00 PM Pickleball, Drowota Hall

Monday, May 27

Happy Memorial Day! Church office & building closed for the holiday

Tuesday, May 28

12:00 PM G.E.M.S. Luncheon, Room 200

6:30 PM Alateen (ages 12-19), South Hall

6:30 PM Parents Al-Anon Group, Room 105

8:00 PM AA Meeting, South Hall 

Wednesday, May 29

6:00 AM Roy Stauffer’s Men’s Group, Room 105

7:00 AM Clay Stauffer’s Men’s Group, Boardroom

8:00 AM Men’s Bible Study, Room 105

6:00 PM Alberto Gonzales, Carpenter Chapel

6:00 PM DivorceCare, Bay Room

6:15 PM Disciples Women's Bible Study, Room 200

6:30 PM Choir Rehearsal, Sanctuary

Thursday, May 30

10:00 AM Sit & Stitch, Gathering Hall

1:00 PM Mahjong Group, Gathering Hall

5:30 PM Handbells Rehearsal, Choir Room

6:30 PM Andra Moran Virtual Vespers, Zoom

6:30 PM Nar-Anon, Room 105

8:00 PM AA Meeting, South Hall 

Friday, May 31

3:00 PM Pickleball, Drowota Hall

Saturday, June 1

10:00 AM Al-Anon, Drowota Hall