Join me at Methodist Mansfield's run with heart

Featuring guest blogger David Alexander

In the spring of 2005, I joined the pastoral staff at First Methodist Church in Mansfield, and our family had the privilege to move to this great community. We bought a house on the east side of Highway 360 and every day on my way to the church I had the chance to chart the construction progress of the Methodist Mansfield Medical Center, which was opened the following year.

This December we will mark the 10th anniversary of the great gift our community received when Methodist Mansfield first opened its doors. What an incredible 10 years it has been.

In my new role as Senior Pastor of First Methodist Mansfield I now also have the honor of serving on the Advisory Board for Methodist Mansfield Medical Center where my son was born in 2008. We have visited the emergency room on a few occasions for some bumps and bruises he has since experienced because of his "youthful exuberance." As a pastor, I have had the chance to see firsthand the care that patients who visit this facility for a whole variety of needs and concerns receive. Our community has been blessed in tremendous ways in these last ten years because of Methodist Mansfield Medical Center, and countless individuals and families like ours have also experienced life-giving and life-saving medical care at this facility over this last decade.

For all of these reasons and so many more, I cannot wait to be a part of the fourth annual Run with Heart at Methodist Mansfield on Saturday January 28th, 2017. For registration information and event details, visit MansfieldRunWithHeart.org.

I am looking forward to running the half marathon. At a recent community breakfast, I had the chance to encourage our wonderful Mayor David Cook to join me in those 13.1 miles after assuring him that I certainly run slow enough for the two of us to do that together.

It is going to be a fantastic day, an opportunity to raise money and awareness for a great cause and most importantly for me, a chance to say thank you to an organization that has blessed the life of our community in innumerable ways.

I hope you will join me in participating and supporting the annual Run with Heart event on January 28th.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor David
Senior Pastor, First Methodist Mansfield