Community Corner

Patch Talk: Pastor Kirk Dreiser on His Final Sermon at Limona Village Chapel

Pastor Kirk Dreiser of Limona Village Chapel United Methodist Church in Brandon ends his eight-year tenure at the church with a final sermon June 26. His next assignment is Wesley United Methodist Church in Marco Island.

It’s a bittersweet time for Kirk Dreiser, the pastor of Limona Village Chapel United Methodist Church of Brandon, who on June 26 will give his last sermon to the congregation he has led for eight years.

Two days later Dreiser will leave town for Marco Island, his new home, and his new calling, as the pastor of Wesley United Methodist.

“We’ll miss living in Brandon,” he said, on behalf of his wife, Michelle, and their four children. “We will miss a lot of people here. But on the other hand, it’s exciting, too. Marco Island is a beautiful place. It’s a new call, and a new challenge.”

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Before he leaves town for his new assignment, there are two services June 26, at which he will deliver his final sermon. Earlier this week, at the time of this Brandon Patch interview, Dreiser was getting set to write that sermon. It was a good time to touch base and learn more about the man and his time here and how he views his work, both online and off.

Brandon Patch: How hard is it to write the last sermon you'll deliver at Limona Village Chapel?

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  • Dreiser: In some ways it's easier because it's so obvious to me what the message needs to be as I leave. It's harder in terms of it's the last time I'll give a sermon here, so there are emotions there. But in terms of the message itself? No,  it won't be hard. It's going to be the messge that needs to be heard.

Brandon Patch: And that is?

  • Dreiser: Ultimately, the message is about how it all comes down to the point that it's not about any one person, other than Jesus Christ. And that's the basic message. There's a wonderful passage of scripture that fits really well and I will just talk about that and challenge people to think about what Limona Village Chapel is about. Is it about them, or Jesus Chrsit? That will be the challenge. And if there are guests there, if they have a church they go to, I'll ask them the same thing. 

Brandon Patch: Do you remember the first sermon you gave at Limona Village Chapel? 

  • Dreiser: I do. I remember because people remind me of it on a regular basis. My first sermon here was, "The Main Thing." The theme sentence was, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." I might have forgotten that if people didn't remind me, it must have made an impression. The sermon asked, "Why does this church exist? What is our purpose? What's the main thing (the main reason) for going to Limona Village Chapel?"

Brandon Patch: You spent a lot of time in Brandon, and you met a lot of people, not only your congregants, but the people who used your church facilities outside of the church, including the StageDoor Performing Arts community theater troupe. What's been your take on the town?

  • Dreiser: I love Brandon. I really do. I think it's a great place to live. I wish Highway 60 was prettier, but they've been trying to make changes to make it prettier. I love how you can do anything you need to. From where we live, we can get to anywhere we need to be in about 10 minutes.

Brandon Patch: And the people?

  • Dreiser: I've enjoyed getting to meet people in all walks of life. I've gotten to make some good friends in Brandon and I hope those friendships will continue. When I leave here on the 28th [of June], I cannot be their pastor anymore  at Limona Village Chapel but I hope I can remain their friend and I hope we will not forget each other.

Brandon Patch: I heard through Facebook that your time here was coming to an end. We set up our interview through Facebook and we've been known to chat on Facebook as well. So, what do you think of Facebook?

  • Dreiser: Facebook, for me, has become a ministry. I have conversations with people from around the world. A lot of times somebody will post something on their page, and talk about some struggle they're going through, and I can just pop them a message letting them know I'm praying for them. If it's an area I can have some input in, I can post a private message as well.

Brandon Patch: Facebook, then, is a platform for communication, another way of getting the word out. It's the medium for the message, and not the message itself. A lot of industries seem to have forgetten that, or were slow to come around to the realization.

  • Dreiser: That's what the church is going to have to learn. The message still has to go out, but if we don't learn to do it in ways that are different than we did it 30 or 40 years ago then we lose our relevance. Anybody in any business, but especially in the church, who is stuck on one method of getting the message out, and you can't change that method, is going to cut off a lot of the audience. If you aren't open to new methods you'll find yourself an irrelevant entity. I still like to read a newspaper once in awhile, I still get the newspaper seven days a week, but I get most of my news from clicking online.

Brandon Patch: Why did you become a minister?

  • Dreiser: I don't have any other way to explain it other than I really felt like it was a calling. I didn't have aspirations to do it as a child. I didn't feel public speaking is a wonderful thing I wanted to do. I just really felt like it was a calling, that that's what God wanted me to do. So, I've been trying to do it ever since.

Brandon Patch: What were you doing when you got the call?

  • Dreiser: I was in West Palm Beach, working as a hosptial consultant, when I felt the call to go into ministry. I fought it for awhile but then I gave into it. The calling happened in 1989 and I married in 1991. I went to seminary in 1992.

Brandon Patch: You leave for Marco Island on June 28. Have you thought about what you will write for the first sermon you give to your new congregation?

  • Dresier: My first sermon will be the third of July, so it will be kind of a challenge, that on our nation's Indepence Day maybe we, as Christians, need to reconfirm our dependence on God. The second sermon, which I suspect more people will hear, will be along the lines of, "The Main Thing." I think that's a good place to start with any new congregation.

The  United Methodist Church is at 408 Limona Road in Brandon. Services on June 26, at which Pastor Kirk Dreiser will deliver his final sermon, are scheduled for 9:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.


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