Sunday, February 23, 2014

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Bishop Robert Schnase spent time Friday and Saturday with our leadership council and staff. He shared a number of great insights that will contribute to more fruitful ministry here at PWUMC. He offered some very practical suggestions about staffing, staff meetings and developing new ministries. As I listened I recognized many things we are doing well and other things we may improve. Perhaps the most significant learning was the need to continue learning. It is very obvious we do many things extremely well. We could sit back and relax in knowing we are a really good church. But as I look around the room at our leadership and staff it becomes clear that we are not the type of people/church to "settle" for pretty good. I sense a drive to honor God. I sense a drive to reach people for Christ. I sense a drive to step out and put faith to practice. It is a very encouraging feeling. Thanks to Bishop Schnase for sharing with us. I believe his contribution will result in greater fruitfulness for our church. On a practical note we announced today the beginning of a new singles initiative. Jessie Ehly has stepped forward to launch this new ministry. Singles are our focus. The group will probably evolve into single men and women from around 24-39 years of age. We envision a singles Sunday School class (begins next week), mission/service projects and fellowship opportunities. Mostly we envision a place where people may come together and meet Christ and grow in faith! If you are single or know singles get the word around. Now let me use this example to show how we govern at PWUMC. A couple of weeks ago Jessie came to Pastor Ginger with her vision. This week I met with them. Today we announced the launch. There has been a good bit of work behind the scenes and we have generated a nice list of names from our data base. Now Jessie will be making personal contact and we expect a new ministry to launch. Our church provides us the freedom to dream and act. In days gone by a ministry initiative like this would have required "board" approval and who knows what other groups would need to get involved. Our system provides freedom to act when we feel God is leading us. This has some great potential for our future. It's been a really good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Reflections From Sunday Evening

I have been interested in learning some new things about the modern Olympic movement. Today I shared the Olympic goal is to "contribute to building a better and more peaceful world by educating youth through sports..." There is a little more to it than that but hopefully you get the idea. This is the kind of goal that is meant to make a difference. -- build a better and more peaceful world. This is a goal that has focus. Contribute to the better and more peaceful world by educating youth. The focus is upon educating young people. This is a goal that has a method. Contribute to the better and more peaceful world by educating youth through sports. There are books and books written on goal setting. This is another simple way to think about goals. Goals are purposeful, focused and clear in their method. When we think about things like this it becomes part of our thoughts to apply them to various areas of life. Would it make any difference in your life if you identified purpose, focus and method? How might we apply this simple formula to what we do in the life of the Church? Could our programs and ministries have a clear purpose, focus and specific methods? Something to think about. So while you enjoy this final week of the Winter Olympics watch for ideas that could be applied to your life, especially your life of faith. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Thanks to Pastor Ginger for preaching these last two weeks. Who would have taken her for a "gym rat!" From the Super Bowl to the Olympics we find a world caught up in sports. In the next couple of weeks I will take some Olympic goals and values and apply them to our Christian faith. The Olympics have a wonderful goal of "building a better and more peaceful world by educating youth through sports." We may certainly build on that goal. Followers of Jesus Christ are building a better and more peaceful world. We share the faith and God moves in the power of the Spirit. Looking forward to the next couple of weeks. Today we enjoyed the scouts pancake breakfast. It was great to see these young men serving. The scouts and all their adult leaders do their part to help build a better and more peaceful world. We begin to see how we join together to further God's purposes. We preach. We serve. We teach. We learn. We grow in faith. We all do our part to serve God and help build a better and more peaceful world through all the means at our disposal in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we share the faith things change. I recently met a young Chinese man at the St. Paul School of Theology offices. He was looking into enrolling in seminary. I struck up a conversation with him. He told me he was a "seeker." He was not raised as a Christian but now he is looking to become one. I asked him what it would take for him to become a Christian. He told me he was going to read the Bible through three times and then he would be a Christian! That sound good to me but I think we become "Christian" in a different way. I told him to read the resurrection story and believe in Jesus and he would be a Christian! I look forward to running across his path again. Together we share, we love, we witness, we serve...to help build a better more peaceful world...might we say the Kingdom of God. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Reflections From Sunday Evening (Pre-Super Bowl!)

I was reading a Seth Godin post and was reminded that we are getting ready to watch the Super Bowl which will last around 4 hours and include approximately 11 minutes of actual football action. Manning takes a snap, drops back and throws the ball in less than 3 seconds. If it is caught the receiver will be tackled in another couple of seconds. They put the ball down and head back to the huddle and do it again. In reality the majority of time spent in a football game is planning the next play and regrouping. We could apply this principle to life in a number of ways. There are seasons of life that are spent in preparation for the next phase of life. There are times we must regroup. But think about your life at this moment. Certainly there are many experiences, circumstances and influences that have come together to create this moment. The moment may come and go quickly or it may linger for hours or even days. There will probably be a moment when it becomes time to regroup for the next thing. If we are not careful this sort of life could get hectic! Anyone interested in another perspective? The Scriptures indicate that when we believe in Jesus Christ we enter into something new. The Bible calls it eternal life. This obviously means "eternal life!" But it also refers to quality of life. There will still be times and seasons of preparation and even some regrouping, but life in Christ is constant. Life in Christ is full. (It is not 11 minutes of real life per 4 hour time period!) Life in Christ is redemptive. Life in Christ is forgiven. Life in Christ is forgiving. Life in Christ is rich. Life in Christ is healing. Life in Christ is holy. Life is Christ is joy. Life in Christ is real. Life in Christ is forever. Life in Christ is for now. Life in Christ is love. Life in Christ is hope. Life in Christ is faith. Life in Christ....Receive Christ, receive life now. It's been a great day. I hope you've had a great day too. (Now go ....- Oh who cares who wins!)except my friend Randy Troyer - Broncos! steve