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

Ouch!!!

This kidney stone thing is really starting to get old. I wound up in the ER again this morning and am now on the strongest narcotic that you can take orally. I have never experienced anything quit like this week. It is such a helpless feeling realizing that there is nothing that you can really do except wait this thing out until it passes. It is also very stressful and worrisome because I never know when the next pain attack is coming. Not to mention the fact that anytime I experience the least bit of discomfort I wonder if it is going to be the next attack and how long it will last.

Erin is doing everything she can to care for the kids and all the other household stuff along with all of her church work and the possibility of preaching in my place tomorrow. She is an awesome woman. I am still trying to sort out for what purpose God has this thing in my life right now. I can tell you one thing. Drinking all this water and having to lay off pop and all the sugary drinks I down every day has actually made me less tired and has given me more energy. I don't think I have yawned once during the day this entire week and there have been nights where I get very little sleep. compared to how I have felt in the past 5 or so years...always run down, yawning regularly even though I have had a full nights sleep, never really having the physical energy I know I should. One positive out of this is a discovery of a new lifestyle and beverage habit for me. I think I will be sticking with the water for a long long time. Erin had been bugging me about it ever since I can remember and once again she is right.

Keep praying for me and what this week holds. I am meeting with the doctor on Monday or Tuesday to figure out our next step if this doesn't pass. That may or may not mean surgery. I am also leaving with my family for Lakeside and annual conference a week from tomorrow. I pray this whole ordeal is behind me well before we leave for that. I appreciate everyone's thoughtfulness and prayers. Blessings, Your Dreaming Pastor

Living with a ticking time bomb

Well I have a kidney stone. This is not the first time. About 6 years ago I had my first and it was a nightmare. It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. That one lasted only a few days and then I passed it. However the one I am dealing with is a little more stubborn. As a matter of fact I never thought I would experience as much pain as I had 6 years ago. I was wrong this one is worse. It started on Sat. morning and intensified on Monday. In fact I was doubled over in the fetal position for 4 hours on Monday before finally going back to the ER. The doctor gave me the strongest narcotic possible and I finally got relief. I wound up staying the night in the hospital (something I had never done before) and cam home late last night on Tuesday.

It is a scary feeling knowing I am carrying this thing in my body. I can feel it there and know something just isn't right. I am not always in pain but the thought of the excruciating pain I have had in the past is always in the back of my mind. I say a prayer every time I go to the bathroom hoping to be rid of this nightmare. It reminds me that we all carry something that can get the best of us at any moment. Just when we think we have it licked it rears its ugly head and reminds us that it still has a grip on us. It usually surfaces in a hurt, habit, or hang-up and is extremely painful. Can you relate? My stone haunts me when i go to bed and it is there to say hello to me when I wake up. I goes with me to work and is there for me at home. It really is at the forefront of my life. I have tried trusting God for it and giving to Him but I fear that I am not doing a good job at that.

I do believe that in this painful process that God is trying to work something for the good in His perfect plan. I just haven't discovered it yet. It would be so easy for me to get angry with God and ask Him "why me?" Then however I realize that there are so many that are worse off than me. I start asking then why not me? Then I find myself more fully opening up to the fact that God loves me and walks with me. I am not alone in this struggle...but it still HURTS! That's OK it is part of life. I am praying for the day that it ends and I ask you to do the same for me. I must admit I have never prayed so hard before going to the bathroom as I have in the past three days. It actually has brought me to a new awareness and reliance on God. I seek His face every time the pain comes and it causes me to rely on Him more so than if the pain wasn't there. This ticking time bomb has overstayed its welcome, but I will continue to trust that God is working all things for the good even in my Kidney. Blessings, Your "in pain" Dreaming Pastor