“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

“Many of you were asked to pray for the starting of our casual/contemporary service over the last few weeks, and I just wanted to thank you and give glory to God for bringing everything together. On Sunday, Feb. 14, Forest Hills UMC in Tampa held its first “SONight” service at 9 a.m. in our Fellowship Hall. Andy Zipperer led the praise band and also brought his group, “Never Too Late,” to perform. We were overwhelmed with the positive responses, even from some of the older members. We had 120 in attendance that first Sunday and over 80 this past Sunday.

“I wanted to send this to all the Florida clergy in order to give my personal recognition and thanks to Dr. Charles Courtoy and the Church Development Committee for dreaming up the concept of “Revision” as a way of revitalizing one church in each district. Also to our District Superintendent, Dr. David Brazelton, and the District Board of Missions and Church Extension, who elected to support two other churches in their district.

“As a result of the process this church followed before I was appointed here in June of 1998, the decision was made to start this service, to seek to strengthen child care and after-school care in our area, to hire staff which would focus on growth and development, to increase the number of small groups, and to strengthen our evangelistic outreach.

“The three-to-one matching funds have allowed us to move forward with all these initiatives. And God has blessed us with the addition of a Day Care/After-School Care Center which became available just a short time after we’d set that priority. Thanks to the Development Fund, we were able to secure a loan to purchase the building and the business. Once again, we see the value of the “connection” as we seek to do God’s will in our local churches. God bless you all, and let’s use this forum to spread the Good News, as well as deal with difficult situations!

“Peace and joy, Larry Kilbourn”