Pastor's Corner
Well folks it has been a long year already for the church. We have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly.We have seen good in updates to the building, which will pay for itself in heating savings. We have seen the good in our new Sunday night service that has opened up worship for folks who can’t make it on Sunday mornings. We have seen the good in another successful VBS, and finding out what it means to be a hero for Christ. We have seen the good in loose change for the building fund that has become a great way to include the kids in stewardship. We have seen the good in new leaders stepping up in the congregation who have never served before, and they are bringing new ideas and energy to the church. We have seen the good in the new kids group meeting after church; their singing and acting has been a joy in service. We have seen the good in our clothing giveaway and the community garden. And there is a lot more good coming in a new Sunday school format with a new energy, a new youth group format to hopefully attract more teens and preteens and have them take an active role in the church and missions of the church. We have the future of Audrey’s closet and what that could mean to missions and outreach.
We have also seen the bad. We haven’t really noticed an increase in attendance, baptisms, or dedications in the church. We have failed at reaching out to the un-churched. We have tried half heartily a few times to reach our neighbors, but obviously we need to rethink and redo our approach. We have seen the bad in “red tape” that we have experienced in trying to get Audrey’s closet off and running. We have seen the bad in some of us becoming lazy in our service to God or maybe just defeated in our attempts.
Unfortunately, we have seen the ugly also. Our budget is on the way to being 10-15 thousand dollars short, which is affecting the savings of the church. It is scary to think where we will be next year if we continue on this pace.
Depressed yet? I am! But I have good news. In the story of Exodus do you remember the whole desert drama? Moses goes and tells the slaves that they need to get out of Egypt and follow God. But what is Egypt? It is the place where they can’t grow, where they can’t be free. It is the place, however, where they have food and shelter, and they know what is going to happen day-to-day. For our purposes let us call that place “here” where we are today. Moses comes and tells them that they need to go from “here” to “there.”
“There” is the land of milk and honey; sounds like a good place to be to me! So they leave “here” to go “there,” but the journey requires they go through the wilderness. The wilderness is a place where there is no food, no shelter, nothing but each other and God. After being in this wilderness for a little while the people start to complain and rebel against God. They have no control, things are bad and they just don’t think they can take it anymore. They lose sight of the land of milk and honey.
Brothers and Sisters, I believe we are in the wilderness. We are at a place where we aren’t sure if we can make it, doom and gloom are at the table; we throw our hands in the air and say, “there is nothing else we can do.” We have lost sight of the land of milk and honey. God has us on a journey and just like the Israelites, He is with us and He will provide for us. He doesn’t want us to just use our energy; He wants us to use our faith. We may have to live on manna for a while, but if we stay faithful we will make it to the land of milk and honey.
So we have a choice in these hard times. We can choose to not trust God and think we were better off “here” and stay “here.” We can choose to just give up and die. Or we can choose to continue the journey trusting God and keeping the faith, weathering the tough times knowing that sooner or later we will come to the land of milk and honey. If you’re wondering, I choose milk and honey; will you join me?
Until Sunday,
Pastor Dan
Stewards
The year is moving along, and it is budget time for next year. You will soon be hearing about programs from the commissions so that you know what we are doing now and want to do next year. Budget is not a favorite topic, but a necessity. The programs and ministries we do here are incredible and we should be shouting them out. We do good things here. But it also takes funds to get them done. We are behind in this year’s budget. You see it every week in the bulletin. But to keep doing what we are so good at, we need to be more conscious and focused in our giving to the church. The Congregational Business Meeting is set for Nov 14 after worship. Please mark this on your calendars. We need your help and your voice.
A concern has been raised that requires your help. Several times recently the church front doors have been left open and unlocked after everyone has left the building on Sunday mornings. This is unfortunately an unsafe practice. Please be mindful if you are the last to leave that the doors are indeed locked.
You may notice the parking lot has some patchwork done. We are trying to alleviate the large puddles and the cracking of these spots. We will be announcing some work days coming this fall. With the extreme weather of this summer and busy schedules, we did not have much time to get some things done.
You may be seeing some busy days in the next months here at the church. We will now be hosting a symphonic orchestra practicing here on Tuesday evenings. Also the Seventh Day Adventist will be holding a month long evangelical time four nights a week for four weeks. We are pleased to have them here worshipping on Saturdays. They have been very grateful and gracious in their use of the sanctuary.
Witness
The Community garden is growing like a weed! And the vegetables it produces are a blessing to those who receive them. Pastor Dan has been taking his Wednesdays and gathering veggies and taking them to some of our shut-ins and those who need a boost. The talk is to make the garden bigger next year. We hope you have all been able to enjoy it as well.
The Summer Camp Scholarship Fund needs to be replenished. We were able to help six kids go to camp and next year we hope to do the same. We will be having a fundraiser dinner on Oct 3rd after worship and will plan on several more.
Speaking of Inspiration Hills, the Annual Chicken BBQ day at camp is on Sept 18th. The day begins at 10 am with a fishing Derby (run by Mark Pollock), and the dinner is served between 11-2pm. Besides chicken, they do also serve hotdogs. As in the past, all churches who participate are asked to provide four pies for dessert. Come and enjoy! It’s a great day. After the dinner there is an auction for the theme baskets donated. If you have an idea for a donation basket, please see a witness commission person.
We had two clothing giveaways in August. The first on Aug 14th we served 51 adults and 17 kids. For the giveaway on Aug 21st we had 51 adults and 24 kids. Awesome!
The plans for Audrey’s Closet are still being worked on. The building will have to be masonry with 2000 sq ft of floor space. It will have bathrooms and a shower. It will also have a kitchen and serving area for 100 people for dinners to be served. It is still very early in the planning stages and the funding from district has not been formalized, but the plans are coming closer.
Beginning in Sept we will start collecting hats and gloves again for the fall and winter needs. We will be taking them to the Berea Children’s Home again as well as they are always in need.
Nurture
Nurture is gearing up for the holidays, so we are a bit quiet, but not silent. We have some things going on and some things beginning up again. Regular Worship hours will begin again on Sept 12th with worship at 10:20. This is also the beginning of monthly cookie hours to resume. With the regular worship hours, comes choir. Choir will resume with Matt Stone as director and practices will be after worship.
Please remember to welcome and greet Chris Dines who is at the piano sharing his gift of music.
On September 19th we are planning a potluck dinner after worship to ring in the new year of worship. Plan on coming and sharing in the fellowship of a meal together.
Christian Education
WOW was it hot VBS week! And we are not just talking about the outside temperatures. We were on fire with our quest to be Heroes for God. We learned and had fun all at the same time. We averaged 20 kids per night. Ask any one of them if they had fun, and their response will be a resounding YES!
That leads us to Sunday School which begins on Sept 12 at 9:15. We will have a new format this year. Pastor Dan has been working with Christian Ed to create a VBS-like format to be used all year. We have the teachers in place already too. The basis is a lesson that everyone will follow (even the adults are on board here). One week will be skits and the lesson, one week will be crafts to relate, then there will be a week of music. The lesson choices will follow the Christian Calendar. The classes will be grouped pre-school to 6th grade and then 7th grade to 12th grade. The adults will follow the same basic plans as well (well maybe not the craft part). We will be kicking off the new year as we left off- with a BREAKFAST. Come and get in the spirit!
We would like to say thank you to Karen Baer for her years of service to the senior high youth. She is stepping down as advisor and Christi Cyngier is stepping up with Pastor Dan as her sidekick. Welcome aboard.
Deacons
The deacons welcomed in four deacons for the next term. They are Ruth Bauman, Mary Ellen Larkin, Juanita Reynolds, and Jan Skinner. We would like to thank those going off: Robin Bloch, Alice and Mike Ramser, and Meredith Stone.
You will notice on the Community Cupboard that there have been locks put on the cupboards. This is to help regulate what goes in and out. We will keep a basket for donations, and the deacons will then organize and keep track of the contents. If a need arises for the cupboard, please see a deacon, Pastor Dan or Karen and they can get you set up. Thank you for understanding and always helping the cupboard needs.
Leadership Discernment Committee
This is the time for the LDC to be active. We will have forms for next year’s church board available on Sept 12, 19, and 26. This gives the LDC the month of October to go over the names and create a slate to present to the congregation at Nov. business meeting
From My Desk to You-Karen
More than meets the eye. That was the theme for this summer’s NYC in Ft Collins, Co. Besides twice daily worship and small group (like Sunday School) and workshops, five from our group went on a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. Wow, talk about more than meets the eye. The mountains are beautiful from a distance (looking out our dorm), but up close they are breathtaking. The sheer size is incredible and makes one feel very insignificant in the scheme of the world. The colors and the height of the rock formations are stunning. We walked only 1.7 miles up, but it took us 2 hours to do it. We stopped for much needed breathing breaks, but also to sit and be a part of that spot for a moment. We took pictures with our cameras and our phones, and we chatted and absorbed. That was truly a place where God was, all around us. The warm air was cooled by the occasional rain (and we were too), and the peacefulness was calming. We heard the sounds of animals scurrying around and birds calling each other, and a few other hikers coming and going. We were excited to make our destination at last and had fun going down the trail back to the beginning. We breathed in the beauty of the mountains, and after encouraging each other to keep going-to make it there-we saw in ourselves and each other that we too are “more than meets the eye.”
