Dear New McKendree Church Family,

Happy New Year! God blessed us with an amazingly fruitful 2025, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the year ahead. No matter what blessings and challenges 2026 holds for us, I thank God I get to experience it with you, my New McKendree Church family.

My contribution to the first Newsletter of the New Year will be a two-parter. I’ll start by introducing our 2026 New McKendree leadership team and then close with the results of your year-end generosity and the final 2026 pledge tally.

Methodism, at its very core, is a laity-led movement. That was John Wesley’s intent when our tribe was birthed as an 18th-century England subset of the Anglican Church. And still today, almost 300 years later and a continent away, our Methodist Church is at its best and most fruitful when it's led by faithful lay leaders who love God, reflect God’s light into our otherwise dark world, and lead others to do the same. I know this to be true, not because I learned it in seminary, but because I experience it daily at New McKendree. We are a fruit-bearing, growing, vibrant, relevant, and outwardly focused church family because God blessed us with faithful, generous people. And then, God blessed us with courageous, forward-thinking lay leaders to manage our resources and provide purpose and direction.

On December 22, our last Council meeting of the year, we officially said goodbye to our outgoing members and welcomed in the 2026 Council’s new members. Those who have completed their leadership term are Dave Freeman (Trustee), Jason Bruns (Pastor/Parish Relations), and Susan Hahs (Finance). I thank God for their leadership and am grateful to call them friends and ministry coworkers. I also thank God we’re again blessed with a great leadership team. Below are our 2026 New McKendree Church Council members. Italicized are those new to the Church Council. 

Please offer your gratitude to the 15 brothers and sisters who answered the call to serve and, by all means, keep our 13 current leaders in your prayers!

And now for the second part of my two-parter. I’m so grateful to be part of a church family that loves its church home and expresses that love through extraordinary generosity. This year, 33 families generously contributed $64,586 toward our much-needed South Campus improvements. Thanks to your generous financial support, we are well on our way to raising the estimated $115,000 needed to replace the twenty-year-old carpet, chairs, and tables at South Campus, as well as to purchase a portable, full-immersion baptistry. In addition, 46 families contributed $15,126 to our incredibly fruitful and ever-growing Breaking Bonds Ministry, which, a month ago, graduated its 100^th graduate and, in February, will celebrate its 5^th anniversary!

Your generosity doesn’t just show up at Christmas. As evidenced by your 2026 giving pledge, New McKendree generosity is year-round. For 2026, 153 families pledged $668,600 toward our church’s operations and ongoing ministries. That’s a 7.3% increase over 2025!

I don’t know what God has in store for us in the coming year, but I do know this: if united as one, we continue to focus on loving God, loving our neighbors, and leading others to do the same, God will continue to use us in his Kingdom-building work. May you and yours have a happy and blessed 2026!

Your brother in Christ,

Pastor Bryan Wendling