Our Pastor: Rev. Doyle Burbank-Williams

Rev. Doyle Burbank-Williams became the lead pastor of new Visions Community United Methodist Church in July of 2017.  An ordained elder and full member of the Great Plains Annual Conference, Doyle has served United Methodist churches for over 30 years.
An artist by nature and training, Doyle’s artwork has been displayed throughout the Midwest. Most recently, Doyle created 2 of the hearts for the the Nebraska by Heart public art project which celebrated Nebraska’s 150th anniversary of statehood. Doyle works in acrylics, pastels, and watercolor and considers art to be his primary spiritual discipline.
These are challenging times for any church. Doyle believes that these are times that demand all of our creativity, compassion, and imagination. As we follow Christ in these days, new forms are being explored in places where the Spirit dares to inhabit. It is up to us to be bold enough to take part in that recreation!
Doyle can be reached at rev.doyle@newvisionsumc.org

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Life Notes

Every week Doyle write some thoughts framing the following Sunday's worship. Our Life Groups use these notes as a conversation starter each each. Many of our members and friends use them for their personal reflection and devotions.

LIFE Group Encouragement and Flow
Ministry As If the Gospel is True,  wk4
Valuing the Flowers
September 22, 2019

Beginning in Silence: Invite each other into a quiet time. Let your hearts and minds be calm in the silence. Take a moment to invite the Spirit into your being. Take a breath to feed the cells of your body, and exhale all the things your body is done with.

How is it with your soul?
Still in silence, examine the state of your soul: is it contented? Discomforted? Hungry (and what for)? Has this changed from yesterday or last week? What does your soul need today?

The Leader May Share a Brief Centering Prayer     


Acts 3:1-10 
Peter and John were going up to the temple at three o’clock in the afternoon, the established prayer time. Meanwhile, a man crippled since birth was being carried in. Every day, people would place him at the temple gate known as the Beautiful Gate so he could ask for money from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he began to ask them for a gift. Peter and John stared at him. Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gazed at them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, “I don’t have any money, but I will give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, rise up and walk!” Then he grasped the man’s right hand and raised him up. At once his feet and ankles became strong. Jumping up, he began to walk around. He entered the temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God. They recognized him as the same one who used to sit at the temple’s Beautiful Gate asking for money. They were filled with amazement and surprise at what had happened to him.

    Peter and John had no money, but what they gave the one who was begging was better than winning the lottery. Remember that healing in the New Testament is always about more than physical restoration. Infirmity and disease mostly is associated with sin or judgement. In John’s Gospel when Jesus heals a person born blind, he gets asked, “Who sinned, this person or this person’s parents?” So physical healing also signaled that the “spiritual” issue was also resolved. And because of the rather judgemental attitude associated with infirmity or disease, many of those who were suffering physically also suffered rejection from their family and in some cases even the entire community.So when this person healed by Peter and John begins to jump for joy it is more than restored legs being celebrated. They are celebrating restoration to family and community as well. It really was a whole new life!
    Michael Mather says that he realized that he was not living into the good news of this text. When people came asking for help, he’d offer the little bit they could do and expect to see them come back when that ran out. But in so doing, he never offered the fullness of theGood News we are supposed to proclaim. In essence, the help he was offering never changed anything.’silver and gold have I some,” Mather says, '' See you next time.” Really, nothing to jump for joy about. This scripture taught Mather that we can restructure the way we do ministry. There are new and different ways we learn to love each other.
    Mather tells of Kesha, one of the young people doing ministry in their neighborhood. She loved flowers. One of the church leaders hired her to recognize people in their area who grew flowers in their yards. While some wondered why Kesha deserved to be paid for such work, the church saw the value of what she was doing, the goodwill she was building among the people, the beauty discovered in their neighborhood.
    The heart of Mather’s ministry is loving neighbors: falling in love with them. Loving them enough to value the beauty of flowers, to create income instead of charity, to change the way we’ve always done things. 

Where is there beauty in our neighborhoods? What ministry will change things for the better in Lincoln?How do we fall in love with our neighbors? 

In The New Visions Community, 
we seek to strengthen and encourage one another through LIFE* groups; 
How is God inviting us to live out the radical compassion of God’s kin_dom