October 3rd, 2025 | Rev. Dr. Mark Charles

Dear Memorial Family,

Can you believe it's already October? It feels like we just finished VBS last week, but here we are, with our hearts turning once more toward the important work of stewardship.

As we move into this time of reflection, I'm excited about our brand-new Worship Series, "Wholehearted." This series is all about what it means to be wholehearted disciples who are wholehearted stewards of all the time, talent, and treasure God has blessed us with. It’s an invitation to examine the posture of our souls and commit our very best to God’s purposes.

Over the next four weeks, we're going to dive deep into what this looks like in practice. We'll meet four wholehearted saints from church history who modeled incredible dedication, and we will also lean into four important narratives from the Acts of the Apostles that show us the same kind of radical commitment in the early church. It is going to be an insightful and challenging series for us all!

Because this is our stewardship season, this is also the time when we begin our prayerful journey toward pledging our financial support for the work God will do through Memorial in 2026. I want to strongly encourage all of our people to carve out intentional time this month for prayer. As you consider filling out your pledge card, listen carefully for the voice of the Holy Spirit's leading. This commitment is not simply about meeting a budget goal; it’s about a spiritual discipline—one of those healthy habits we spoke about a few weeks ago—that centers us on God's generosity first.

At Memorial, we are a church where Christ's love shows up through our worship, study, connection, and service. Thank you for making this mission possible through your faithfulness.

Blessings,

Pastor Charlie

North East District DS, Rev. Dr. Simon Osunlana, Visits the Wesley Dinner Club

On Thursday, September 18th, Memorial hosted its monthly Wesely Dinner Club in Maxwell Hall, the monthly night of great food and insightful conversation.

The evening began with an incredible catered meal and good connection and conversation at the tables.

The guest speaker for the evening was the new District Superintendent for the North East District, Rev. Dr. Simon Osunlana. Pastor Charlie asked him to tell a bit about himself and the joyful Osunlana took the audience on a lighthearted and insightful trip from his unique childhood experiences in Nigeria to is education in America and work in the Florida Conference.

Rev. Dr. Osunlana was born and raised in NIgeria, He is one of 7 children and has a twin sister. He was raised in the church and never expected to be a pastor. While he was going to school to be a doctor, he had a significant call from God which he calls his "rebirth". He remembers hearing God's voice tell him that, "I am calling you to be a preacher of MY word." When he approached his senior pastor at his church after hearing that call from God, his senior pastor said, "I have been waiting for you." Simon felt everyone around him knew he was called to be a pastor, even when he didn't.

With persistence and the help of church members in NIgeria, Simon completed his studies and came to America to study at Wake Forrest University. It was during one of his assigned Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) settings that brought him to Florida. He worked in a Hospice program in Orlando and felt very called to be in that unique setting. His work there began his career with the Florida Conference as a senior pastor and district superintendent.

When asked what his hopes were for the churches in the North East District, Simon said simply, "I hope we can return to the way the Church began in Acts: The Bible says they were together, had fellowship, read Scripture, and they prayed."

"I do not want us (United Methodists in the Florida Conference) to be known as a 'liberal' or 'conservative' Church or as a 'black' or 'white' Church, but as a 'LOVE' Church. A Church that loves." Simon challenged the focus of the local church to be on Scripture, fellowship, prayer, and generosity. To be a church where, "everybody is somebody." He spoke about the importance of invitation and reclaiming "evangelism", which many people seem to have a fear of. "If we don't share what we have, no one will appreciate who we are, " Simon reminded the group. "If we don't work together, we won't be able to capture all that God is trying to do through us."

He also challenged the group to renew the practice of bringing their Bibles to worship and studies each week. "Those Bibles in the pews are for visitors, not you. Bring your personal Bible and take notes in it about what you hear and learn." Rev. Dr. Sunlana brought a message of encouragement, hope, and purpose to the group at the Wesley Dinner Club. If you are interested in meeting Simon, he will be presiding over Memorial's yearly Charge Conference on October 19th at Riverside park UMC in Jacksonville at 3:00PM.

September 26th, 2025 | Rev. Rachel Williams

Beloved Friends,

I don’t know about you all, but I thought that the Beatles concert was simply delightful! I am so impressed by our band our musicians who practiced diligently and learned that much music (and some of it is not easy!). I mentioned back when I was preaching that I hoped I had created a new generation of Beatles fan with Austin hearing some of the songs on record. And it seems that that was solidified with him coming to the concert where he danced his little heart out.

I noticed two things in the concert: 1)people were able to leave everything else behind for an hour and have fun, and 2) people were connecting through this music.

(If you missed the Concert, you can view some of the songs in the file here.)

I hope that you have been able to connect with this sermon series as we have walked through some very hard weeks in our nation. We were reminded of the everlasting. Hope that comes. With the transformative love of Jesus Christ.  We were reminded that we are never alone, that even in our despair, God is with us, and we actually cannot do life alone. And last week we heard about how we can cultivate a life of peace in the midst of the chaos in turmoil of this world.

This week, Charlie will wrap up the series with a pretty important message that we can carry with us always (hint: it has to do with love). I hope you have enjoyed the series as much as we have, and I hope that you are excited to join us in October as we dive into what it means to give of ourselves wholeheartedly when we follow Christ.

With Love and Peace,

Pastor Rachel