1020 S 10th Ave, Safford, AZ 85546, US
From the Pastor
May 2026
Dear Friends,
It’s hard to find the right words for a moment like this, so I’ll simply write to you the way I would to a dear friend.
As you should all now know, a new pastor will be appointed to serve FUMC Safford beginning July 1. My final Sunday in the pulpit will be June 14. Even as I write that, it feels both real and unreal at the same time.
What I want you to hear most clearly is this: serving you has been one of the most life-giving, sacred chapters of my ministry. You have trusted me with some of the holiest moments of your lives—presiding as your children and loved ones were baptized, sharing in celebration officiating at your weddings, and also walking closely with you through illness, grief, and loss. Those moments are not just “pastoral duties”—they are gifts. You have been a gift to me.
I have seen your faith lived out in quiet acts of kindness, in service to our neighbors, in resilience through hardship, and in the ways you show up for one another again and again. You have shaped me- as I have served you, and I carry that with deep gratitude.
Please know that I will miss you—truly. Not just the rhythms of Sundays and gatherings, but you—your stories, your faces, your faith. And yet, as people of faith, we trust that endings are never just endings. They are also beginnings. God is already at work preparing the way—for you, for your new pastor, and for whatever comes next in my own journey.
So I leave you with the words of Paul, which feel especially fitting in this season:
“I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you… And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more… so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:3–6, 9–11)
And may it also be true, as Paul writes elsewhere, that “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:13)
God be with you til’ we meet again.
With deep love and gratitude,
Pastor Lesli
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
1020 S. 10th Avenue
Safford, AZ 85546
(928) 424-1190
