I’m with the DJ | 9.2.2021

For many of us parents and guardians, this is a special day because our children return to school.  We also have many teachers and administrators who attend our church too. This morning I was praying for safety for all our people. Will you join me as we lift up our community in this time?

This Sunday, Sept. 5th, we are going to have a special outdoor service at 10am. We will still stream our service through YouTube. This is a chance for us to safely gather at our church while maintaining physical distancing. The service should be about 45 minutes long and we want to leave some extra time for folks to catch up and make new friends as well. 

During this time, we will also be giving away free luggage tags and have a blessing over the tags. Your student can put them on their backpack, lunch bag or anywhere else they like as a reminder that they are loved. If you can’t join us in person, please contact our office to pick one up.

We will begin our new sermon series “Three Simple Rules” by Bishop Ruben Job as well. Using Deuteronomy 20:1-20 as our guide, we will explore the first rule to “Do No Harm”. As you prepare for worship this week, try to consider these questions. 

  1. What do the 10 commandments mean to you?

  2. How do they affect your everyday life?

  3. What are some ways that you do harm?

  4. How is God calling you this week?


Peace be with you church!


Pastor DJ

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I’m with the DJ | 8.25.21

Friends and family of Federal Way UMC, 

In the past week, many of the conversations I’ve had with people in our community focuses on the effects and deaths of people who have Covid-19. One of our sister churches, Browns Point UMC has very recently shifted to all pre-recorded worship. Our re-opening team, Jeremiah 29, continues to meet regularly debating, discussing and praying over the ways we can help people connect with God in safe ways. I really wish that I could write to you and tell you exactly when we will add in person worship. More importantly, I pray for wisdom to know how to guide our church and serve our community well. If you want to know more about our plan for adding in person worship, please click here.

Something exciting that we will be trying will be the first Sunday in September. On September 5th, we will continue to livestream our worship service at 10am. In addition, we are trying something new to kick off our Fall ministries. For this special Sunday, we will provide an outdoor, physically distant time of worship and gathering. Please bring your own chairs and I recommend that you wear masks as well. You are also welcome to provide your own sacred communion elements, we will provide pre-packaged communion elements as well. 

The service will last no longer than 45 minutes and we hope that you stick around to connect with our community as well. If you are high risk, unvaccinated or would rather worship with us online, please use our regular YouTube account to connect with us. 

In other news, founding members of our church Tom and Jan Crews will be moving full time to Arizona very soon. The Crews have been integral church members, disciples and servant leaders of our church for a long time. In the coming months, please know that we will be providing a time of formal blessing and gathering to celebrate their time with our church family. I hope you join me in thanking them and praying for their safe travels. 


Pastor DJ



I’m with the DJ | 8.20.21

I went to church this week to record parts of the service for this Sunday. After all this time, I still come to our sanctuary and imagine all our seats filled with familiar faces. In addition to familiar faces, I like to imagine new people walking through our doors seeking community and an encounter with the Holy Spirit. As your pastor, Sunday mornings are one of the highlights of my week. While it’s a highlight, if we reserved all our church to Sundays, we limit all the amazing things God is doing all the other days of the week.

Since the start of the pandemic, my understanding and expectation for worship continues to be reshaped and challenged. After talking with many of you, it’s clear that we are all in uncharted territory. Over the course of history, worship has evolved and shifted as the world changes.

There was once a time when the majority of people were not literate and the people sang songs to teach theology. Stain glassed windows were a visual reminding the people the stories of the Bible. As a parent of middle school children, the church I knew growing up isn’t the church I recognize today. There is a future and a hope for the current and next generation of followers of Jesus.

Now is a great time for us as a community to dig deep, reflect and pray for God’s guidance. There are aspects of our church that are essential to who we are as a faith community. In addition, there are also opportunities for us to learn, grow and share God’s love. While the Covid-19 Delta variant continues, will you join me in praying for courage and wisdom as we seek to be faithful together?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor DJ

I’m with the DJ | 8.4.21

Hello everyone, 

I pray that you and your loved ones are doing well. It’s nice to have sunny weather, that’s a bit cooler. This week, we participated in “National Night Out”. Our mayor dropped by along with police officers and firefighters. To learn more about National Night Out, check this out,

https://www.cityoffederalway.com/page/national-night-out-2021

Here’s a quick video I took of one of the firefighters reaching for a basketball rim. They were all very kind.

If you haven’t participated in an event like this where you get to meet your neighbors and local hero’s, I’d encourage you to do so. 

I’m including a link below of a resource for mental health awareness. Please feel free to share these resources and take a look for yourself. 

https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Awareness-Events/Mental-Health-Awareness-Month



Peace be with you!



Pastor DJ

I'm with the DJ | 7.28.21

Church family and friends, 


I pray that you and your loved ones are doing well. For those with students living in their house, we are in full summer mode. My kids are enjoying fishing, tennis and riding bikes. Similar to last summer, this is a season of sun, joy and anticipation. For many of us, we are holding our breath to re-launch in person worship at our church. Recently, we’ve surveyed people connected to our church and I’m excited to share some of the results with you over the next several weeks. One question we asked was, “what are you looking forward to when we re-launch in person worship?” Here is a word cloud of your responses. The larger the word, the more people clicked the same response. 

 

Something we are learning from you and our community is that providing more opportunities to gather together in safe socially distant ways is one of our key priorities. Our leadership group, Church Council has appointed a smaller group to focus on re-launching in person worship. Our team is based off of Jeremiah 29:11-12.

"11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 12 Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.” (New Revised Standard Version)

If you have any questions or feedback please email federalwayumc@gmail.com. Here is a list of our team members…

Pastor DJ

Sandy S.

Janine D.

Ann M.

Marissa T.

Sharon W.

Paul A.

Bobbie M

Byron O.


Right now, our Jeremiah 29 team has set a tentative date of August 29th to begin adding in-person worship. We understand that re-launching will be carefully done and each week will open up more and more. 

Something I’d like to address is the rise of Covid-19 Delta variant. Our team will closely monitor what’s happening daily and appraise you of the newest info as soon as we are able. One site we are using is the Center of Disease control Covid-19 tracker. To see one of the sources we are using, click here https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home


We look forward to continue to learn from you as we work toward Re-Launch. 

blessings,

Pastor DJ


I’m with the DJ | 7.23.21

Weekly email 7.20. 2021


I pray that you and your loved ones are enjoying the cooler, yet still warm weather. My family and I have been enjoying being outdoors when possible.  I’d like to begin by thanking that many of you who took the time to fill out our Spring Survey. We had 56 responders in total which is an increase from our last survey. 

I’d also like to invite you and your loved ones to join us in recording our welcome statement for our church. Here are the instructions. 

  1. You can record using your phone, or email SharonatChurch@gmail.com, to set up a time for her to record you at church.

  2. Please record in a place where we can hear you easily.

  3. Record with the phone horizontally positioned.

  4. Please read this in its entirety…

    1. We are a welcoming community that seeks to grow in love for God and our neighbor as we walk in faith and reach out in love. We celebrate God's acceptance of all people, and affirm that all are made in the image of God. We welcome the full participation in our church of everyone, without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion, education, marital circumstances, physical and mental abilities, and economic status. We passionately believe that God has given all people gifts to use for building a world of mercy, justice, and peace.

Please use this link to upload your videos. 


https://www.dropbox.com/request/pGDuTp8Igmf1mDBWFPtl

Pastor DJ

I’m with the DJ | 7.14.21

Church family and friends,


This past weekend we held our first “Unplugged, Unpotluck” event at our church parking lot after worship service. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, singing and games. I’m including a 60 second montage of pictures on this post. We are planning on putting together another one hopefully this Fall.

Welcome video to church:

We would love for you to be a part of our welcome to church video. All we need from you is to read our welcome statement on video and this Fall, we will create a montage of people reading our welcome statement at the start of our service. We would like a diversity of all our people and community please.

  1. Please record your video horizontally, if you need assistance, contact Sharon Wisenburg at the church and she can set up a time to record with you at church on a designated Wednesday. Office@fwumc.org.

  2. ”We are a welcoming community that seeks to grow in love for God and our neighbor as we walk in faith and reach out in love. We celebrate God's acceptance of all people, and affirm that all are made in the image of God. We welcome the full participation in our church of everyone, without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion, education, marital circumstances, physical and mental abilities, and economic status. We passionately believe that God has given all people gifts to use for building a world of mercy, justice, and peace.”

This Sunday, Reverend Yvonne Agduyeng will be our guest preacher. She’s a Pastor at First Church Seattle

Rev. Yvonne was born in the Philippines and grew up in Kent, WA. She holds a master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. Yvonne was commissioned in 2016 as a Global Mission Fellow (GMF) of the Global Board of Global Ministries and served in Germany working alongside refugees and migrant ministries of Bremen United Methodist Church. Yvonne has been serving as co-pastor at First UMC Seattle since July 2020 and was commissioned as provisional elder in 2021. During her free time, Yvonne enjoys reading, hiking, and yoga.

Reverend Yvonne will be using Genesis 22 as her preaching text. I’ve had the privilege of hearing her preach before and she’s very gifted.

Please note that we have a page on our website FWUMC.org with any updates regarding adding in-person worship. Our grounding Scripture is Jeremiah 29:11-12:

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

The purpose of our group, Jeremiah 29, is mandated by our leadership team (Church Council). We report directly to Church Council and are tasked with making decisions, communicating and working with our community as our community shifts from strictly online engagement to adding in-person gatherings in a safe way.

If you would like to contact us, please email Jeremiah29fwumc@gmail.com


Peace be with you church and I look forward to seeing you soon,

Pastor DJ






I’m with the DJ | 7.8.21

Church friends and family,

Curiosity. This is my word for the week. As the season shifts to Summer and quarantine regulations slowly relax; exploring and learning the world around me is a new blessing. As followers of Jesus, one of our greatest gifts is our ability to engage with people with an authentic desire to know and be known. When we engage with people around us, they too might want to learn our story. If our story is entwined with the grace of Jesus that shapes and transforms us, we naturally become storytellers pointing to Jesus.

In the picture below. You can see Bishop Elaine and members of her cabinet (District Superintendents) amongst others. We gathered recently to ordained and commission persons as clergy persons in the United Methodist Church. One of my roles in our conference is to lead a team, interviewing candidates who have finished seminary or are very close to. Candidates share their faith stories, talk about theology and we spend time getting to know them. One thread that is very common in the faith stories we hear is a desire to engage in the community around them and a desire to learn more about their faith. For these folks, the road lead to serving as clergy.

As we draw closer to this weekend, how are you engaging with people you have been around for the past year? How are you curious to learn more about the people you spend a finite amount of time with? In the Scriptures, we rarely know how long Jesus spent with people. We did know that He asked questions, told stories and met people where they were.

——————-

I hope to see you all this weekend after our church service for our unplugged, unpotluck gathering. As we gather, please remember to maintain social distance.

See you soon!

Pastor DJ

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