Old Fort UMC News Letter article

Dear Sisters & Brothers, Let’s take a walk together

Friends I want to invite you on a journey with me during the month of July. Our focus will be to discover a closer walk with God by learning how to talk to Him and to better hear His voice in our lives…really! This journey will be guided by a brand new book by John Eldridge entitled, Walking with God. In this book we will get to ride in the front seat with him for one year of his life as he talks to, listens to, and follows the voice of God. You will experience first hand his victories and his struggles. And as I have already discovered while reading his book, you will find yourself with a closer walk with God.

I believe that all of us are in a place where we long to know God more. We are all thirsty to hear from Him more clearly and would jump at anything that would help us do that. If that is you then walk with me, walk with John Eldridge, and in the process walk more closely with God. His book is available in the lobby at OFC for $15. With the book will be a bookmark with a reading scheduled planned out for you to complete the book during the month of July. On Sunday July 6th we will begin our four week message series based off of this book called, Let’s take a walk. Here is the good news. If you miss a week because of vacation you can take your book with you and keep up with everyone else. You can listen to the sermons online anywhere in the world. Or you can pick up a copy of the sermon on CD when you get back. What a great way to stay connected!

Alongside of the book and message series I will be leading a brief 4 week study that will take our discoveries a little bit deeper. This will be on Wednesday nights at My Place starting July 9th. A Potluck meal will start at 6PM wrapping up everything by 7:30PM. There will also be something for Teens and for Children during this time. On Wed. July 23rd in place of the study we will be having a Prayer & Praise Service that starts at 6:30PM right after we eat. Many of you are thirsty for an extended time of worship and prayer. Bring your prayer requests with you so we can be in prayer together.

Lastly I want each of us to analyze our personal commitments. What steps are we taking right now to grow our walk with God? What are we doing right now to hear Him more? What are we doing right now to give more of our day to day lives over to Him? Don’t let summer be a vacation from God for you. This is the perfect opportunity for you to grow. It is also a perfect opportunity for your friends, family, or coworkers to grow. In whom have you been Investing and Inviting? Bring someone with you to the message series. Get a book for a friend and commit to reading together. Tell them you will go to My Place on Wednesday’s with them. I believe God is going to do a new thing in us this summer. I believe this will be a July for all of us to remember. You will experience more joy, more confidence, and ultimately a greater intimacy with God. So, let’s take a walk… Blessings, Your Dreaming Pastor

VBS wow what a blast

Well we just wrapped up a week of Vacation Bible School here at Old Fort Church. What a blessing it was. We had kids and servants all over the place ever day this week. It was just a great and awesome experience. In total we had over 140 kids during the 5 days and we had just over 30 different servant volunteers. Our youth and older children got involved as well as they served the younger children and served as great role models. The children collected cans to turn in for money to start a children's outreach project for the future that is ongoing. Some of the money will go to pay for school supplies for children who cannot afford them for this fall. What a week!

It didn't end there because we had the children sing in worship today and invited all the families to come. We had over 310 in worship this morning. WOW! Let me put this in perspective for you. I have been here for two Easter's and have records of the last 5 years and we have never had a Sunday over 300. This may be the single largest attendance in a long long time at OFC...maybe ever??? God is so good an surely has been blessing us! I encourage you to take time to give thanks to our awesome staff team and our servant volunteers. Our children's ministry team did a fantastic job! Way to go God.

As I was looking out over the crowd this morning in worship I was thinking about how many of these folk have never been to our church or any church for that matter. Many may have not been to church yet this year or for many years. What a blessing. God is using us to make a vital and lasting impact on others. I am so thankful for His work and humbled that he is moving through our church. Blessings, Your Dreaming Pastor

An interesting week at annual conference

It certainly was an interesting week at our West Ohio Annual conference of the United Methodist Church. It basically is a gathering of over 1,000 clergy and 1,000 laity from the conference. We get together and worship, hear God's word, see what is happening in ministries around the world, and also work through legislation. The legislation portion really is the political arena of our UMC functioning. Here we debate and vote on certain issues. One of the hottest issues right now in the UMC is that of Homosexuality.

It showed up again this year on our legislation slate. We had 17 pieces of legislation to be voted on and 3 of them were on homosexuality. One was passed and the other two were tabled. The item that past was advocating that each church and pastor purchase a DVD curriculum from Cokesbury that covers the topic of Homosexuality and other sexual preference issues. It is supposed to explore the concept and inform the viewer as to the different sides of the issue. Some pretty interesting conversations happened out of this issue to say the least.

I read just last week that California has legalized same sex marriages and the court upheld this ruling and is to be voted on in Nov. However anyone is free to marry between now and then. Nothing is stopping them. Every year that goes by it seems this issues grows throughout this nation. And now it seems to be "the" issue for debate at annual conference.

Other issues that came up were two different pieces of legislation around Global Warming, one on that felt like affirmative action, and another on immigration. Think about that...7 of the 17 issues on the table felt like they were coming out of "Left" field. At times it felt more like a political national convention than it did a church meeting. It certainly does challenge me and my thoughts about modern day Christianity. One wonders why our local churches are dying and then we see what the focus of our interests are and then it is made clear. We spend more time focusing on the issues instead of focusing on Jesus. Jesus is the form and function of the church...to point people to Jesus and allow him to guide us through the murky waters of the world. Sometimes we forget this. It was another eye opener for me this week. Keep praying for our churches and our leaders. I know I am. Blessings, Your Dreaming Pastor

Greetings from Lakeside!

Well still no stone produced. Yesterday I was a pain free but today I have had some pain off an on. Keep me in your prayers. I will keep you posted on my health as the week progresses. As afar as conference is concerned all is going well. It is in the middle 90's and there is no AC in the main mtg room with about 3,000 other folk. Needless to say it gets a little sticky.

The Bishop gave his address today and our theme for annual conference this year is "Love First" he used the scripture out of Matthew of the two greatest commandments Love God and Love Neighbor. I was amazed as I was sitting there at how close we are at OFC with where the bishop is this week. This is our main theme text for our June sermon series called "Won't you be my neighbor". Cool stuff huh? Chuck Stein who was sitting next to me leaned over and whispered that the Bishop was stealing our stuff. What an affirmation for us as we head into our future as a church. God sure has an uncanny way of revealing Himself to us to let us know if we are on the right track or not.

I have also been reading from John Eldridge's book "Walking with God". This is a book on prayer and learning how to hear God actually speak to us. We are going to be walking through it for our July sermon series. I am looking forward to sharing all of the nuggets that I am getting from it and I hope you are anticipating it as well. This is going to be an awesome summer at OFC!

Don't forget about our upcoming events like VBS. We are going to need all the servants we can get so if you haven't signed up please make sure to do that. Also mention it to anyone you can think of. I believe God is going to do an awesome thing! Also don't forget to bring a dish to our Block Party on the Sunday that follows VBS. We are going to celebrate with our neighbors and share God's love together in community. Well I hope this post finds you well. I think of our church and our fold daily. You all remain in my prayers as I know you are praying for me. Blessings, Your Dreaming Pastor

Home alone

Well all of the family is in Dayton and have left me home alone here in OF. Actually I get re-energized when I am alone. My natural tendency with my personality is to be an introvert. You know you are an introvert if you get energized while you are by yourself. If you are an extrovert (opposite of me) you will be energized when you are with other people. I was always the guy at the party that would hang out in a corner and talk to one or two people. I have never really been fully comfortable hanging with large groups. I am more likely to spend time talking with one or two.

Some of you might be shocked that I am this way because I am a pastor. You might wonder how do I do it because my job is working with people. Truthfully when I am preaching or teaching a large crowed that actually energizes me as well. I don't really have to talk with anyone. There are no individual conversations. It is just be delivering a message and I actually love it. It is the portion before and after worship where everyone is mingling where I get a little lost and drained. I do confess that on Sunday afternoons after three services and all that comes in between I pretty much crash when I get home.

How about you? Do you know your personality type? It is so refreshing for me to know it because I don't have to get frustrated or wonder why i feel a certain way. I know that I am going to need time alone in order to get my focus and energy back. In fact when I start dragging or work starts getting to me I either shut my door or go for a walk and just find a few moments to get my baring back. It almost always works. Don't get me wrong I miss my family and look forward to being with them again soon. Be alone too much can have negative side affects as well so you have to be careful. But for me and the next few nights I look forward to recuperation. Blessings, Your Dreaming Pastor