Category: Journal

My journey

JoAnne’s Book Arrives

JoAnne writes a book

For the past eighteen months, my wife has been busy with the process of writing a book called God with Us – 50 True Stories of God’s Faithfulness. She has spent many hours interviewing people, writing, rewriting, editing and proof-reading, and coordinating with those whose stories are included. It was a longer process that she thought when she first set out to compile 50 testimony stories to go with our church’s 50^th anniversary celebration. Everyone who has a story included in the book either currently attends or has at some time attended Community Wesleyan Church. This makes the book very unique. After it was finished, she reflected that it really tells much about our church without intending to.

Impressive endorsements

JoAnne asked General Superintendent and Founder of World Hope International, Jo Anne Lyon, to write the foreword. She agreed and wrote a powerful encouraging word. Endorsements by Dr. Shirley Mullen, President of Houghton College; Dr. Jack Connell, Senior Vice President at Roberts Wesleyan College and Northeastern Seminary; Dr. David Thompson, Professor at Asbury Seminary; Rev. Wayne Wager, District Superintendent; and Rev. Larry Nemitz, Vice Chairman of the Board at Community Wesleyan are all very impressive, glowing and so helpful.

Excited to begin sales of the book

For the last six weeks JoAnne worked with professional editor, James Watkins, and published through ACW Press. Wednesday, she was pleasantly surprised when the boxes containing the first 200 books showed up on our back step two weeks ahead of schedule. What a moment of accomplishment to see the results of all that hard work in your hands. Now she is busy distributing free and promotional copies and planning book signing events. She is even considering joining Facebook to talk about her book.

Tags Church 50th Anniversary, God with Us, testimony, writing

Journal

Fall Beauty; First Frost at our House

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date October 28, 2011
1 Comment on Fall Beauty; First Frost at our House

It was a frosty beginning to beautiful bright clear fall morning today. The leaves on the red maples are just past peak and falling fast in response to the cold. This is the first frost and is one of the latest first frosts I ever remember. Seems like I remember when we first moved here 20 years ago covering tomatoes in late August because of danger of frost. Anyway, now the fall work of cleaning up the garden can begin in earnest.

Tags fall, frost, gardening

Church Leadership Journal

Annual ordination service has definite international flavor.

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date October 10, 2011

The annual service of ordination for new ministers is one of the highlights of the church year. This year it had a decidedly international texture. Seven people were ordained; five men and two women. One of them was pastor Par Thoo, who just graduated from Burmese Bible school and has been pastoring at Utica Karen Wesleyan Church. He was wearing a bright blue plaid Karen coat. A Karen soloist named Snowbell sang in English and then partnered with a Karen tenor as lead singers with the Karen choir. Parts of the service were interpreted by Saw Kler for the members of the Karen congregation. General Superintendent JoAnne Lyon illustrated her message with powerful anecdotes from her mission travels in Africa and Asia. And after the ordinations were completed she gave each ordinand a handmade cross purchased in Sierra Leone, South Africa or Colombia. JoAnne and I, Pastor Eric and Magda, Ben Mackey and Kim attended. Nancy Zecher, Marilyn Wilsch, Brenda VanDuser, Cindy Center and her granddaughter came too because Roberta Davis of our district’s Wesleyan Women ministry was also among those ordained. The service was hosted by one of our district’s largest churches, Crosswinds Wesleyan in Canandaigua.

Tags CNY Wesleyan district, ordination

Journal

Paragraphing restored

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date October 10, 2011

Today I say many thanks to my tech man, Steven Sgroi, for figuring out why WordPress was stripping the paragraphing out of my posts and pages. The pages I have written recently read so much more easily with the paragraphing restored. He said it had to do with the “editor.” Thank you Steven

Tags blog, blogging, Wordpress

Forward Look Journal

On the nature of blogging today

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date October 6, 2011

100^th comment from Germany

I received my 100th comment on my blog today. It was a TrackBack. I left it up because of its significance. It was from an advertisement site, but the interesting part was that the site was in German. That is quite significant. My count statistics plug-in tells me that the number of visitors to my blog from Germany is equal to about one third of the number of visitors from the United States. Visitor count from the third-highest country, the Ukraine, falls off quickly to one third of that from Germany. The third-highest number of reads comes from Hong Kong. I am amazed to discover that the total reads outside the United States is approximately equal to the number of reads in the United States. So my 100th comment reminds me that I blog in a very international setting.

100^th comment a precisely targeted ad

Secondly, the advertisement is for a Kindle reader and it is attached to the article I wrote about whether physical libraries are already becoming obsolete. Much of the spam I delete from my blog is attached almost randomly to any article that the spammer thinks may attract attention. But this trackback ad was different. It was targeted very specifically to the relevant article on the topic addressing the exact issue that fitted the item being sold. This shows the true power of targeted Internet connectivity. I predict more advertising money diverted from the scatter-guns of mass mail and broadcast media to the focused targeting potential of the Internet.

Tags advertising, blog, blogging

Church Leadership Journal

JoAnne and I Attended Burmese Bible School Graduation

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date October 3, 2011
1 Comment on JoAnne and I Attended Burmese Bible School Graduation

What a joy for JoAnne and I to attend Burmese Bible School (BBS) graduation on Saturday, Oct. 1. The school has been organized to meet the need for pastors to serve the burgeoning population of Burmese speaking immigrants. Many of these immigrants are Christians as they come from ethnic groups influenced by the tremendous pioneering missionary ministry of Adoniram Judson. Both Pastor Eric and I have occasionally taught at the school along with many other pastors from our district. It is taught in Burmese so we teach through a translator. I have taught courses in church leadership and in homiletics. Pastor Eric has taught theology. One of the greatest joys was to see the three Burmese churches of our district all gathered to celebrate with the graduates. Youth choirs from the mainly Chin congregation at Midler Avenue and from the chiefly Karen congregation at Utica and from the Burmese group at Lyncourt all sang as did the BBS choir. I was impressed with the thought as I saw all the Burmese faces: I am helping to train shepherds for all these. It is a big privilege and also a weighty responsibility.

[Show as slideshow]

Journal

Life Chain is a reminder that God is pro-life

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date October 2, 2011

I stopped by the Life Chain in North Syracuse this afternoon to support the witness against abortion. I was late but glad to stand in the chain for at least part of the afternoon to say publicly once again that I am pro-life because I believe that God is pro-life! According to Psalm 139, he is involved in the forming of every child.

You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Ps 139:13-14 NIV

Thankfully, that message is making some headway in America as surveys now show that a majority of Americans agree that abortion is morally wrong. May God help more and more people to value life as God does.

Tags life chain, pro-life, sanctity of life

Forward Look Journal

October messages planned

In an article written before hurricane Lee, Atlantic magazine had already called 2011: the year of the disaster. Even without the difficult economic times of our year, and the sobering reminder provided by the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the natural disasters of the year have given us all pause to think. I feel led during the month of October to examine the writings of an ancient prophet who spoke to Israel in a time following a natural disaster. The series will begin October 9 and is called the Power of Prayer. The prophet’s name was Joel. October 2 is World Communion Sunday so together with Christians around the world we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper then.

Date	Sermon plan	Scripture
Oct 2	Message: In the Name of Jesus – because of relationship, according to his character, made possible by his provision	Heb. 10:19-25; John 16:23-28
Oct 9	Start a new series from Joel called: The Power of Prayer. The first message: Speaking in a Day of Disaster	Joel 1:1-2:11
Oct 16	Rediscovering the sacred assembly	Joel 2:15-27
Oct 23	Personal repentance: What is it? Pastor Eric preaching	Joel 2:12,13
Oct 30	The valley of decision	Joel 2:28-3:21

Tags disaster, joel, prayer, repentance, sermon series, sermons

Journal

Problem with WordPress

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date September 23, 2011

Please pardon the lack of paragraphs in my writing recently. Since the last upgrade, the program has been stripping them out. Steven and I are working on it but have not found a solution yet.

Tags blog, upgrade, Wordpress

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Green Lakes Walks

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date September 20, 2011

My wife and I so much enjoy walking at Green Lakes State Park. Green Lakes is such a gift to all of us. Monday morning was a beautiful early fall day for such a walk. Yes, I know it was technically still summer, but here in Kirkville the feel definitely changed to fall a week or so ago. The smell in the air, the crisp mornings with fog hanging over the corn field across the road from my house, the alternation of clear blue days and soggy gray ones; all tell us that it is September.

Walking and praying go together

Even though Monday was perfect for walking, not many people were out so I was mostly left to my own thoughts. I love to pray aloud as I walk and I did. Holding a conversation with God while meandering on a woodland trail is refreshing at multiple levels. I’m relaxing; I’m breathing fresh air; I’m getting some exercise. I’m also unloading my cares to God and listening for his Spirit’s still small voice of counsel in return. I’m participating in the spiritual work of intercession for others too. There’s something about being out in nature that rejuvenates us all. There’s something about personal times of prayer that does the same. Doing both together is like working a team of horses, the result is more powerful than the sum of the parts.

I’m a nature observer

Another joy of Green Lakes hikes are the nature observations. Being a bird watcher, I’m always on the lookout for rarer birds, especially pileated woodpeckers which are not really rare at Green Lakes. I didn’t see one Monday, only a hairy woodpecker. But, this past summer I saw a male scarlet tanager, one of the few times I have seen one of those in my life. However, it is not just birds that get my attention; I also look at the ferns, the fish, and the fungi among other things. Okay, so I’m a nature nut. I have numerous guide books and sometimes actually look at them too. I prefer to think of myself as simply a good observer.