On looking ahead and info about plans being made
This is a powerful article for today. The questions near the end could be used to help the thinking of every church leader and church council/board/session. We are coming to a major transition period when the current restrictions end. It is an unprecedented opportunity for positive adaptation to the true needs of our culture.
outreachmagazine.com/interviews/54136-the-future-is-now.html
Here is a link to one of the best articles I have seen analyzing the historical and current situation in the United Methodist church. It is well worth reading. Chaplain Philips has both the wisdom of a long time United Methodist and the slight detachment and broad perspective provided by his years in the military chaplaincy.
Sometimes when I see one of those big flashing arrow signs on the highway pointing to a lane closure or a detour, I reflect on how we might wish that life came with flashing directional signals that we could not miss. I know I have needed such a thing more than once. But life does not, and so many people lose their way amid the maze of decisions, circumstances and pressures that face people every day. I remember when I first felt called to become a pastor, one who helps others along life’s road, one of the objectives in my mind was to be used of God in helping to teach people how to live wisely. I hoped to help folks learn to make wise choices. It’s a dangerous and slightly presumptuous undertaking because no matter how old or educated one is, one must undertake the task while very much a learner along the road.
The Good News is that one of the purposes of the Bible is to provide the principles to teach us how to live wisely. Consider, for example, the stated purpose from the prologue of the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament.
For gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
For receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
For giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young—
Let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance— Prov 1:2-5 NIV 2011
In addition, God’s Holy Spirit has promised to guide Christ-followers in their journey. So there is hope!
The Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Prov 2:6 NIV 2011
Recently, this focus on helping others live wisely has been impressed upon me again. Accordingly, I have decided to change the title of my blog to: Learn to be Wise. I hope that the change will accomplish several purposes.
Of course, there will still be some family posts; that keeps the blog personal. And there will still be some church-related posts; church gives me a great deal of context. But overall, I trust the percentage of posts will shift toward practical comments on daily life and reflections that help us find wisdom for our daily choices.
What a wonderful pair of worship services this morning. Attendance was high (211) and excitement was higher as we sang from hearts that needed the reminder; I Walk by Faith and worshipped our heavenly Father on Father’s Day with choruses and hymns. I played trombone with the worship team so it was not a quiet morning. I apologized to all the fathers for choosing Father’s day as my last Sunday. And we did take time to honor the fathers present too. One of the awesome moments was when the children and teens prayed for me. What an absolute joy to see them advancing in discipleship too and to be blessed by their prayers. At the end of second service, knowing that I am a fan of his organ playing, Richard Filmer played a special for us on the organ. It was excellent. At the end of both services, Larry Nemitz, Vice Chairman of the LBA, and Pastor Eric who is succeeding me, and I read a liturgy of transition. It is very rare in churches to see this happen. Most of the time there is a span of time between the leaving of the old pastor and the coming of the new. It was a highpoint as well. I have always prayed that God would grant a good transition at the end of my tenure here. I believe that prayer is definitely being answered. I am including the liturgy we used here.
Larry Nemitz: This is a special moment in the history of our church. We are profoundly thankful for what God has done through the ministry of Pastor Kelvin and JoAnne. Pastor has led many to give testimony to their faith through Christian baptism as the Scripture instructs us. He has encouraged our collective worship through regular administration of the sacrament of communion. He has faithfully taught us from God’s Holy Word to love God, love others and make disciples. And he has mentored us by personal example, small group instruction and public exhortation. He has presided over moments of joy in our lives such as marriages and the naming of children and he has stood with us in times of trial and sorrow too.
Congregation: We are deeply grateful to God for sending us Pastor Kelvin and JoAnne to be faithful stewards of their gifts in this place and to exercise well the role of congregational leadership among us.
Pastor Kelvin: It has been my privilege and my joy to serve as your pastor, with God’s help, for these last 22 years. You have been a blessing to us too.
Larry Nemitz: While we are happy for you upon your retirement, we admit that it causes us grief to let you go away because we have learned to love you both. Yet in the providence of God we know that for everything, there is a season. By his grace, God has planned another chapter both for you and for us, which we are ready to enter into. Yesterday at district conference Rev. Dr. Eric Paashaus was officially stationed as our pastor for the coming year.
Pastor Kelvin: It has been my privilege to be a mentor to Pastor Eric and today it is a great joy to see him stepping into the role of leading pastor here at Community Wesleyan Church. Eric, as symbols of the transfer of stewardship of Community Wesleyan Church, I offer three ordinary gifts. One is a key to the front door of the church. It is a multi-faceted symbol. It reminds me that often the pastor’s contact with people is the front door to the family of God. It reminds me also that the pastor is the one who is ultimately responsible to God for the welfare of the church. Then second, I hand to you a Bible. It is a reminder to you and to the congregation gathered here that at your ordination service a Bible was handed to you by the denomination’s leaders and you were commissioned to take authority to preach the word of God. God is now giving you a great opportunity to fulfill that entrusting. Finally, I give you a towel. It is a symbol of the Biblical truth that Jesus taught us all that we are not here to be served but to serve. This is one of the great secrets of a successful pastorate.
Pastor Eric: It is with joy and with an awesome sense of responsibility that I accept your gifts. It is a privilege for Magda and myself and our children to become the pastoral family at Community Wesleyan. We covet your prayers. We look forward with great anticipation to what God intents to do among us as we work together with God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever!
Larry Nemitz: On behalf of the local board and all of God’s people here, we welcome you as our pastor and pastoral family. We look forward to laboring together in the kingdom of God.
Congregation: We heartily welcome and accept you as our pastor and pastoral family. God helping us, we will pray for you and listen carefully to the Word of God preached through you. May God richly anoint you with his Spirit and guide you as you lead us in following Jesus.
At this time in my life, as I get ready to move, and try to sort through the accumulations of 22 years living in one house, I’m reminded of the words of Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4-6 (NIV)
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: …
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away…
This has been particularly obvious as the time has come for my wife and me to sort through our libraries. While the parsonage that we are moving into may have more square footage than the current one, the amount of book space and office space may be less. That is because my office will now be in the parsonage as opposed to having a separate office in the church. In addition, there is the simple issue of weight. Movers charge by the weight of the shipment and books are heavy; so it is best to take only what you will need. Furthermore, there is the whole issue of what is happening in our culture with regard to books; books you hold are slowly losing ground to electronic ones. A few weeks ago we sorted out four or five boxes of used books from our home and took them to two used-book stores. One bookstore owner sorted out a few and paid us about enough to buy one new paperback; the other did not want any. So we donated the rest to the Salvation Army. A great deal of this is due to the rise of electronic books. As a result of these facts, my wife and I have set a goal to downsize our libraries by at least one third.
How are we doing it? Here are some guidelines we’ve used to achieve the goal.
With these guidelines, I am getting it done, as the picture shows. My mentees and church teachers will be able to choose from the sorted books before we figure out what to do with the rest.
The remaining weeks of our time here at Kirkville will be busy ones. We have saved a few weeks vacation to help us have time to pack and visit our family in CT and western NY. I am also doing some reading in preparation for my new part-time position at Copper Hill UMC. You know what I always say, “If the leader is not growing, the people will not be growing either.” This chart tells you when I will be preaching here and who will be preaching when I am not. Thank you for your prayers during this time of transition. I am praying for you too.
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Community Wesleyan Service Plans May 5- June 16 |
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| Special Day | Speaker | Message | Scripture | Other Events that Day | |
| May 5 | Missions Sunday | Don & Cheri Floyd | 4 PM CLASS 201 | ||
| May 12 | Mother’s Day | Pastor Eric | Jesus and the Problem | John 6:1-14 | |
| May 19 | Pentecost Sunday | Pastor Kelvin | Secrets of Spiritual Power | Luke 3:21,33; 4:1-15 | MBK Christian Unity Svc. 6 PM |
| May 26 | Memorial Day Weekend | Pastor Eric | |||
| June 2 | Larry Nemitz | 4 PM CLASS 301 | |||
| June 9 | Communion Sunday | Pastor Kelvin | How Shall we Live? | 1 Thess. 3:11– 4:11; Titus 3:3-8 | Retirement Dinner 3PM |
| June 16 | Father’s Day | Pastor Kelvin | Be of Good Courage! | Deut. 31:6 | Reception following services |
Today it was announced at both churches that I have a new part-time pastorate in Connecticut starting in July after my retirement from full-time ministry here in Kirkville. I will begin serving as the pastor at a very old and historic United Methodist Church at Copper Hill, Connecticut. There is a very roomy parsonage that comes with the assignment where JoAnne and I will reside. The parsonage is 10 or 12 minutes from the church and both are about 30 minutes from Keely and Mark and Sam.
The sanctuary of the church is well preserved and was built in 1839—that’s four years before the Wesleyan Church was founded. It was near the site of a famous camp-meeting grounds. Like my home church in Haskinville, NY, it was built at a country crossroads. However, today the hills and vales are thick with modern houses so there is a great opportunity for expanded ministry. There is also a golf course across the street and a rails-to-trails trail a few hundred yards away as well.
The best part was the warmth and genuine sense of ministry anticipation that we saw in the staff parish committee with whom we interviewed. They made us feel very welcome and appreciated from the start. I could sense the faithful perseverance in the Christian faith that has enabled the church to survive all these years. I think they will be very receptive to our ministry there.
This position for us is an answer to prayer. We were looking for the good works prepared in advance for us to do after retirement. This will be very meaningful without being too draining. The economic boost will help us to handle Connecticut costs as well. So we are very thankful for this provision and looking forward to serving God together with the folks at Copper Hill.
In preparation for my retirement from Community Wesleyan Church in a few months, Steven Sgroi, my web technical guru, and I are working to untangle my internet presence from the church’s internet site. As a part of that process, my blog will have a new location in the future. For now, if you try to access it from the old address it will redirect you to the new one just fine, but eventually, you will want to find me at the new address site—learntobewise.com.
I am excited about the possibilities of this name too. Just think about the fact that one whole section of the Old Testament is devoted to wisdom. I think also about the last words of Psalm 107 which might just be good mission statement for my blog at learntobewise.com. I should be writing in such a way that my reader would want to take the Psalm writer’s advice. “Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord” (Ps 107:43 NIV). I have always felt that one of the jobs of a pastor is to live wisely and help others live wisely also. So I think this new domain name will be a great fit. I also like the idea in the name that we are not wise all at once. Rather, we are always learning and becoming wiser.