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October 28, 2016

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – From the beginning, the church that the Rev. Adam Hamilton started challenged its members to live out their faith in their everyday lives.

In 1990, at an early gathering in southern Johnson County, with a funeral parlor serving as a building of worship, the 90 or so people who attended made a commitment to serve the community both by giving more than 20 percent of the offering to benefit causes outside its church walls and by participating in service projects from home construction to food drives.

Now, in an average year, volunteers with the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood provide more than 50 tons of food for people in need, along with 23,000 books, hundreds of beds for children who don’t have one, 150 home repairs and 50,000 backpacks of food for low-income children. The church’s 20,000-plus members also serve in hundreds of other ways, from working in area schools and with nearly every social service agency in the Greater Kansas City area.

“We have some wonderful people here who see their life as a mission – as a way to live out their faith,” Hamilton said.

Johnson Countian of the Year

Earlier this year, the Johnson County Community College Foundation selected Hamilton as the Johnson Countian of the Year. Hamilton will speak Saturday, Nov. 12, at the annual Some Enchanted Evening gala at the Overland Park Marriott. Proceeds from the event will go toward scholarships for students.

“Thirty years ago, the very first Johnson Countian of the Year was our area’s most prominent and best-known church leader – Dr. Bob Meneilly,” said Brad Bergman, JCCC Foundation president. “Now, three decades later, it is exceedingly appropriate that we honor today’s most prominent clergyman, Rev. Adam Hamilton. Hamilton has made an enormous difference and contribution in Johnson County, our metropolitan area and around the world.”

Hamilton grew up in Prairie Village. He learned how to ride his bike in the parking lot of the Presbyterian Village Church, where the Rev. Robert Meneilly was pastor. Hamilton’s family moved when he was in seventh grade; Hamilton graduated from Blue Valley High School. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in pastoral ministry from Oral Roberts University and a master of divinity degree from Southern Methodist University.

Young Hamilton seeks advice from Meneilly

When Hamilton and his wife, LaVon, were ready to start a church, one of the first people Hamilton contacted was Meneilly.

“He was so gracious,” said Hamilton, who was 25 years old at the time. “I said, ‘Bob, tell me everything. Tell me what you’ve learned, what I need to know to do this.’ He shared with me. In so many ways, the things that he did at Village Presbyterian are the same things we try to do here.”

Meneilly said he sees Hamilton “adapting everything to the present day and doing it the right way. He is very sincere and biblically sound and he has a very winsome personality,” Meneilly said. “He is creative in every direction and he is just a champion of everything that is good.”

Biggest in the nation

The Church of the Resurrection, with four campuses in the Kansas City area, has grown to become the largest United Methodist Church in the nation with an average weekend attendance of more than 10,000. The church has partnerships with a half dozen elementary schools in the Kansas City area and partnerships worldwide with ministry organizations.

Hamilton, the author of 24 books, has been named one of the “10 people to watch in America’s spiritual landscape” by Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. In 2012, he was asked by the White House to deliver a prayer as part of President Obama’s inaugural activities.

JCCC President Joe Sopcich said Hamilton has touched the entire community and helped many people live happier, more fulfilling lives.

“It’s an honor for us to honor him,” Sopcich said.

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