It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly   
sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you 
cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad. 
C. S. Lewis

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.  ~Author Unknown

He who rejects change is the architect of decay.  The only human institution which rejects progress 
is the cemetery.  ~ Harold Wilson

	One thing about life, from beginning to end, is that it is full of change.  As I grow older, I 
	have discovered that I can either embrace the change before me or resist it, but I cannot stop it.
	I’ve been told that the thing that killed the dinosaurs was their inability to adapt to change. 
	I don’t know about the dinosaurs, but I do know this is true for the Church. The Church must 
	adapt to the changing culture or it will lose touch with the living, and die.
	The question for Christians is “How can we preserve what is good and holy and right (His Word, His 
	Truth, His Love and His Justice) and still present it in such a way that every generation, 
	including the upcoming one, will receive the Gift of Christ?”
	I appreciate my parents for their willingness to change. Recently, they upgraded telephones to the 
	“Droids.” So, over the holidays I spent time trying to figure out how to get Pop’s Droid to notify 
	him of incoming text messages.  Twenty minutes later I achieved my goal. 
	My mother, on the other hand, just kept saying, “I don’t see how this new phone is that different 
	from my other phone.” Within 3 minutes my older son had already downloaded a Bible App on her 
	phone and placed Classical Music and Radio Streaming at her fingertips.
	Thanks Mom and Dad for being willing to get on the Internet, upgrading your phones, and before 
	that… learning to leave them on. Thanks also mom for telling dad to dress in the 21st century and 
	stay away from brown socks on the tennis court.
	Back to change.
	
Our Church has gone through so many changes, that I know some of us are feeling lost in a sea of 
change! Remember with me….

We moved our Sunday morning worship from the “old sanctuary,” which we affectionately call the 
chapel, we increased our office staff from 1 to 4 persons, and we moved into a big new sanctuary 
with an ornate baptismal bowl, more contemporary lighting, and a large visual screen, accessing video 
and Power Point technology in worship. Our budget increased dramatically over five years time in order 
to meet these expansion costs. We’ve absorbed over 30% increase in worship, with new folks coming in 
each month and sometimes every week. We have hired architects, have plans for an expanded parking lot, 
plans to beautify the cemetery fence, and we are prepared to complete the balcony when we reach at 80% 
capacity. We have launched a preschool, have taken in one of the largest scouting programs in Lexington, 
allowed the Hut to be a space for the youth of Red Bank and the community. We 0ffer multiple Bible 
studies weekly, multiple worship services monthly, sponsor coffees and concerts, celebrate music with 
choirs for all ages, and seek to honor every age level from children to Golden Agers. We have new small 
groups, new teams, new models and new members. 

Will it ever stop?  Well, is the Lord through with us?

As long as Christ is central and active at Red Bank, we will be making changes, growing and adapting, 
moving forward within the context of our time. None of us dictate what kind of community Red Bank is 
becoming.  But God knows. As new businesses, new roads, new residents, and new people come into our 
midst, we will continue to become more diverse, to augment our facilities, and to make necessary changes 
in structure. Our methods of preaching, teaching, and sharing the Gospel will go through changes, to 
stay relevant to those God wants us to reach in a changing world, so that we can bear as much fruit as 
possible for Christ.

	Will you take on this mantle with your Church? Will you care enough about your church family and 
	the lost in this world to move forward together, holding onto Christ Jesus the Word, to the 
	authority of the holy scripture, and preserving our heritage as United Methodists; Giving, Serving, 
	Loving, as a Community that is Christ Centered and also willing to adapt to the needs of a changing 
	culture?
	
	Sometimes, when I think about Red Bank United Methodist Church and consider all the changes it has 
	gone through in the past 25 years, many I wasn’t here to see and many I have come through with you, 
	I am just dumbfounded. 
	
	Every Sunday morning, your pastor says..… God is Good!  and you say…..All the Time…
	The question is, if we believe what we say, that God is good ALL THE TIME…and we know that God is 
	the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, then won’t God be as good in the future as He 
	has been in the past?  We do not have to move backwards to taste God’s goodness; we must move forward, 
	with Him. And on this journey, continue to drink daily from His living waters.   Please ponder these 
	things with me, unafraid of what God brings with the future.                                    
	
	Joy & Peace ~ Tommy Wilkes