About Pastor Melissa
Melissa graduated from Eastern College (now University) in St. Davids, PA with a Bachelor of Arts in Youth Ministries in 1992. Prior to serving with us she spent her career in youth, family and educational Ministries. In May 2009 she graduated with a Masters of Divinity from Palmer Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, PA. Melissa joined the staff of First Church in July 2009.
She resides in Ocean City with her husband Travis and their three fabulous children Abby(12), Gabrielle(9) and Micah(8). She and her family feel blessed to be a part of such a wonderful church family and are thankful to God for her call to this special place.
She says, "I am a Christian, a wife, a mom, a daughter and a granddaughter. I am excited to serve at First United Methodist Church of Millville, NJ as the Associate Pastor. I am thankful for the blessing that God has given me through this incredible church family. I love God and am grateful for the gifts that God has given my family and me. My family is my greatest blessing."
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
"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."
Jeremiah 29:10-12
You are Cordially Invited to Attend
United Methodist Women's Day
at South Seaville Campmeeting July 22nd
12:30pm-Arts & Crafts Festival, Cottage Tours, and Lemonade Stand
2:30pm - Attendees to this year’s Ladies’ Day are in for a special treat.
You will have the unique opportunity to hear Karen Knight of Heartsongs Ministries, Inc. Karen is best known for her role as Mrs. Noah in Sight & Sound’s Millennium Theater’s renowned production, NOAH, THE MUSICAL. For seven years audiences have also enjoyed Karen as the humorous and heartwarming Elisabeth in THE MIRACLE OF CHRISTMAS, as the strong and compassionate Mary, the mother of Christ, in BEHOLD THE LAMB, and as the bubbly school mistress, Governess Chisleu, in DANIEL. Karen has traveled extensively as a concert artist, dramatist, and speaker.
Contact Pastor Melissa for Details
Women are invited to join us for Bible Study every Monday evening at 7:00pm. The lesson from the epistle of James. It says, “God our Father says that religion which is pure and genuine is this: to care for orphans and widows in their suffering, and to remain unstained from the world.”
Is there something inside of you which wants to experience religion and spirituality which is genuine? Is there something inside of you which gets tired of cheap Christianity? Is there something inside of you that gets tired of a shallow commitment to Jesus Christ? Is there something inside of you that longs for deep and authentic spirituality? Are you looking for the “real thing?” We are told that we need to be part of the Pepsi generation, and Pepsi often has advertisements that use the phrase, “the real thing.” You want the real thing. The real Pepsi. So it is with our spirituality, our faith -walk, our Christianity: we want to find the real thing.
_____I like the Book of James for a couple of reasons. First, because it is a book of action. Be doers of the word. Be doers who act. And not just a listener who listens. Not just a thinker who thinks. Not just a talker who talks. Not just a believer who believes. Not just prayer who prays. But be a believer in Christ who gets things done for the kingdom of God. I like that.
You see, I am an activist person. I like doing things. I like to get things done. I can’t stand to be part of a group that just talks, talks, talks. Plans, plans, plans. Process, process, process. Organizes, organizes, organizes. And never do anything but talk, plan, process and organize. It drives me crazy to be part of such groups. I like to get things done. For a lot of people, the talking is the doing. The processing is the doing. The organizing is the doing. That is not me. So James is an activist book, and so I like the Book of James because of that.
So when James says in the epistle for today, “Do not be hearers who look into a mirror and forget; but be doers who act. They will be blessed by their doing.” I like that in James because I think of myself as being a doing person.
____A Christian cannot separate faith from works of charitable love, from deeds of charitable love. Just as you cannot separate my head from my body, without both dying, you cannot separate faith from works of charitable love. You cannot do that. To separate the body from the head kills both the body and the head. The same is true with faith and works of charitable love. If you separate them, they both die.
Now, down deep, James and the Apostle Paul are saying the same thing. The Apostle Paul said that you cannot separate faith from charitable love. The Apostle Paul says that true and genuine faith is active in charitable love, or love for the poor. The Apostle Paul uses the word, agage, for charitable love. In Paul, we hear about agape love; that is, love for the poor and suffering. It would have been so much easier if Paul had said that genuine faith is active in family love. That sounds better, more palatable. Family love. I have a great family. We have a super family. If Paul would have said, genuine faith is to be active in family love, he would have easily gotten my vote. …. Or, if the Apostle Paul had said, let genuine faith be active in friendship love, and brotherly love, I would have liked that. I have so many good friends. I love my friends. I wish that the Apostle Paul would have said that genuine faith is active in friendship love because I would have easily done that. The Apostle Paul said, “let faith be active in charitable love.” The word, charitable, is the Greek word for agape love. It is love for the poor, the widows, the orphans, for the oppressed and starving people of life. The Apostle Paul says that you cannot separate genuine faith from acts of charitable love. You cannot separate genuine faith from the love of people who are suffering, poor, and starving. If faith does not result in charitable love, you don’t have faith.
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