2009 Year in Review

by Gary Lemmon

President / CEO

CHAPTER:  “A principle division of a book or story”- Webster’s Dictionary

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about chapters.

December 31, 2009 ended both a year and a decade.  But January 1, 2010 began a new year and decade.  On November 22, 2009, the UMCH Governing Board of Directors voted to allow me to remove the word “Interim” from my title.  And so began a new chapter in my life and also in the story that is United Methodist Children’s Home. 

I have been accused of being overly sentimental and reflective (and I probably am).  But I want you to know that I have sensed a calling of the Lord to minister in this place for a season.  Back in the 70’s, I used to sing an old Byrds’ song that is based upon Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 which says “there is a time and season for every purpose under heaven”.   I believe that the lives of people and of agencies can be viewed as a series of chapters, each building on where the prior chapter left off.  This is also true in the lives of the young people we touch.  Each chapter has its own time and season.

The question I have pondered is this: What does the Lord want me to do during this present chapter?  What is the goal and how will I know if I have succeeded when the day comes for me to write my final article in this newsletter?  The Apostle Paul wrote, “I sowed, Apollos watered, but God was giving the growth.  So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.” 

In that sense, Clete Winkelmann provided a vision of a solid professional child care agency and put UMCH on a strong financial foundation.  He also provided the leadership to enlarge the agency to providing quality, badly needed services to disadvantaged youth in our immediate communities.  My vision for UMCH is to build upon what I have inherited.  I hope to:

  1. Emphasize meeting the spiritual needs of both our youth and our staff.  I want UMCH to be truly a place of healing.  And I know that true, complete healing can only come from the Savior.
  2. Upgrade the clinical component of our programming.  Highly trained professionals with specialized skills are needed to effectively treat the very troubled children that we are now entrusted with.  I want to assist as many of our staff as possible in obtaining their professional licenses and honing their clinical skills.
  3. Increase the input that all UMCH staff have in running the agency.  Our staff have wonderful, practical ideas and I want them to have the opportunity to share those ideas and have the satisfaction of seeing them implemented
  4. UMCH to expand into more community services.  Southern Illinois is lacking in human services and we, as an agency, are in a unique position to be the premier provider of these services to needy youth and families in our area.  In fact, I believe we would be negligent not to move forward with these services.  Some of the community services we are pursuing are:
    • Helping disadvantaged youth learn to drive and obtain their driver’s licenses.
    • Finding lodging for the homeless.
    • Outpatient drug & substance abuse evaluations and treatment.
    • Treatment of juveniles who have been sexually victimized and then in turn sexually offended against others.
    • Creating a therapeutic animal rescue shelter that would be largely run by UMCH residents.
    • DUI evaluations and treatment.
    • Outpatient psychiatric evaluations and treatment.

 

But I know that if God is not leading us in these endeavors and if we do not walk in His counsel, when my final chapter is written here at UMCH all will have been in vain.  As Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.”

In the same way that this is a chapter in my life and for UMCH as an institution, it is very certainly a chapter in the life of each and every child who resides here or whose life we touch.  It is imperative that we focus upon each child to make this a chapter of healing, maturing, and encountering the Savior. 

I earnestly request your prayers and support for myself, the UMCH staff, and most importantly, for the young people that we will be serving during this present chapter at UMCH. 

It is a good day to serve the Lord!