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Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Moving Day

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Race to get it done

JoAnne and I have been so busy preparing for this moving day that I have not been able to chronicle it as I wanted.  Now it has come and gone so I have a little more time while we are between homes to think about it.  We have been driving ourselves for weeks to thin out our material possessions and pack up the remaining ones.   While we hired Fox Hollow Movers, the Syracuse affiliate of Allied Van Lines, to do the actual moving, we were to pack all the small stuff.   But when you have lived at one location for 22 years, you accumulate a lot.  Things come in a little at a time and very little goes out.   We scrambled to empty attics—we had things stored in the church attic and in the garage loft—and systematically attempted to reduce our hoard of books by at least one-third.  We gave away things privately, had a yard sale, donated to the Salvation Army, consigned things to antique dealers, and trashed and recycled mounds.   The closer moving day was, the easier it was to part with things.   The move helped bring the relative value of things into proper perspective.

Thank you to our friends

We could not have completed the task without much help from friends.   Kim O’s neighbors, Steve and Sandy, adopted our cat.  Ben Mackey brought us lots of boxes.  John and Josiah Durfee came twice to help dig daylilies among other tasks.   Jerry, Brad, John and Josiah helped me pack the garage on the day before the truck came.   Shaun and Mark hauled junk away.   And JoAnne had many helpers too, but especially Cindy, Donna, Kathy and Kim O.   Eva sent food and Cindy sent food.  Kim gave us a place to sleep and a great breakfast the last night.   I’m sure I have forgotten someone, but my point is; we had so much great help and we are very thankful.  We felt loved by the family of God through all the help that came.

God’s sustaining promises

 It has been difficult to leave.  It brought tears when I closed the door of the house for the last time, a symbol of the deeper stresses of the move.  One day as I was running one of the many errands, I stopped at Sacred Melody (Parable) bookstore for something and as I looked up at the display above and in back of the counter, there was a plaque with this verse.   “You will go out with joy and be led forth with peace (Isa. 55:12 NASB).   I knew the message was meant for me and it was an elevator for my spirit that day.   Indeed it has proven very true in so many ways.   Even the peace lily in the kitchen bloomed on the last day we were there. 

Moving Day long but successful

The truck and burly crew of four pulled in about 9:30 AM.   They set to work on the garage and then the office.  The leader cataloged everything and helped lift only when he was needed as he was busy writing and directing.   The other three packed the truck steadily.  JoAnne and I joked with them and prayed for them as the day progressed.   JoAnne was on the phone with Joyce as the crew was having trouble getting the piano out.  JoAnne and Joyce prayed and JoAnne let the crew know they had done so; just then the piano cleared the obstacle.  We ordered pizza for lunch and had grace with the crew before eating all together.  For supper, Cindy brought hot beef stew and I picked up subs so we said grace again and had supper together also.   The office told the crew to finish it all in one day even though it was estimated at a day and one half work for a crew.   One extra man came to help in mid-afternoon.   The whole job didn’t wrap up until nearly 9 PM.    It was an exhausting day, but all our goods were on that truck.    The house looked so different.   We had planned and worked to make it happen and now the first big step had been taken.  

Off to CT

The next morning, after a great breakfast at Kim’s, it was back to the house to pack the two cars.  The moving company could not take my daylilies on the truck because of NYS rules, so I had to make other plans.  I chopped them into smaller sections and took a sample of most of them in the trunk of the Buick to plant later. Then I planted three more at Kim’s house and gave lots of samples away too.  The plan worked but it took up much of the Buick trunk space.  This meant I had to really be a good packer with the remaining space.  But everything fit in.   Kim helped me label all the keys.  After prayer with Kim and greetings to Sue next door, we were off, JoAnne followed me in her new-to-us 2010 Honda Civic while I led the way in my Buick road-eater, as I call it.  All went very smooth except for one scary merge into the halfway point rest stop outside Albany.    JoAnne had a hard time getting across traffic but she made it.  The rest of the way went well.  Nearing West Hartford, I found the short-cut to Mark and Keely’s that I had been looking for too, cutting off 5 minutes more from the expected Grandma commute.  Thank you for your prayers for the journey.   Mark and Keely and Sam welcomed us with hugs and kisses and JoAnne checked in with Kim.   We were soon tucked in bed in Connecticut.    One half of the move was complete. 

 

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Church Leadership Forward Look Journal Joy Notes

Liturgy of pastoral transition

A blessed day at church

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.

 

Liturgy for 2013 pastoral transition

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.

Categories
Journal Joy Notes

So thankful for everyone’s kindness

JoAnne and I are so thankful for all the kindness and generosity that has been expressed to us over the last few days.    For our moving time yard sale that JoAnne organized, all kinds of people volunteered in one way or another to help move things in and out of the house or office or to tend the sale itself.  While we didn’t make a fortune, we moved some items and more importantly we had great conversations with many folks.  Turns out it’s a great way to meet people.   But most impressive to me were all the friends who helped us, in spite of the 90 degree days we had.  And some of them were the best customers too.   Thank you so much everyone.

We also received a gift from our new church at Copper Hill to help with our move, a gift they were not required to give but chose to give out of kindness and generosity.   We feel blessed indeed.   Thanks to the folks at Copper Hill too.

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Journal

Library thinned

Books to give away to mentees
Books to give away to mentees

I’ve completed thinning out my library according to the guidelines I published earlier.  Several associates, teachers and mentees have perused the boxes.   Some books were displayed on our yard sale as well.  However, few lookers took more than a small handful.   Seems like I remember coming away from such opportunities 20 years ago with armloads.  But the internet, the availability of cheap books and the busyness of contemporary life has created a different day.  So far JoAnne and I are finding that the demand for used books is very small.   A few classic authors were still desired.  But most who looked at the books said they already had too many books and didn’t have room for more.  There will still be opportunity to look over some of my books of books for a couple days.  I will probably start disposing of them early this next week so I can start packing the shelved ones to go to CT.

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Church Leadership Journal News Commentary

Websites are now the church’s foyer

I’ve been saying for many years that a church’s website has now become it’s primary way to get information to prospective attenders.   Here’s an article by a blogger on Christian Post agreeing with my premise.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/seven-plus-one-deadly-sins-of-a-church-website-96661/

It can help us here in Kirkville to take the next step in our already developed website.  It can also serve to guide those developing plans and capabilities for new websites such as my new friends in Copper Hill CT are now doing.

 

Categories
Forward Look Journal Meditations

Downsizing a library

 

Books to give away to mentees
Books to give away to mentees

 

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.

  1. If I haven’t read it in all these years, is it going to make it to the top of my list anytime soon?  I’m giving away some brand new books because I felt the answer to that question was “no.”
  2. Is this a reference book that I do not need to use any more because I have access to the material in a program or on-line?   My Bible program has replaced several of my books, including at least one set.
  3. Will this book help one of those I have been mentoring more than it will help me?  If so, let it go. 
  4. Is this a book I do not need because by a combination of experience and material I have read, I have covered the material?  If so, I should let the book help someone else, even if it is one I have valued in the past. 
  5. Is this a book I have quoted often and will probably continue to cite?  If so I should keep it.
  6. Everyone has favorite authors.  I’m keeping almost all the books by my three or four favorite authors – John Maxwell, Jim Cymbala, E. Stanley Jones, Bruce Wilkinson.
  7. Is the book outdated?  Unless an older book is by a famous person, it will not be that useful to quote.   A few may be useful to read anyway.  They might be by someone else’s favorite author.
  8. Is the book a classic I wish to pass down in my family?    We don’t have many of these, but there are a few.

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.

Categories
Church Leadership Forward Look Journal

Plans for our remaining Sundays at Kirkville

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.

 

Community Wesleyan Service Plans May 5- June 16
  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
Categories
Church Leadership Forward Look Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

A new assignment

My new assignment
My new assignment

 

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.

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Church Leadership Journal Meditations

An interesting graphic about giving

The generous will themselves be blessed.  (Proverbs 22:9  NIV2011)

Are those who tithe better off financially?

How much people choose to give to charity is a very personal question.  Certainly no one should have to compare their giving to that of another.  And we also resist the idea that our giving could be guided by some universal standard.   But in biblical times there is little doubt that such a standard did exist.  It was the tithe, ten percent of the yield of field and flock (Lev. 27:30-32).  The concept shows up early in the Bible narrative when Abraham sets the example by giving a tithe of the plunder to the priest of Salem, Melchizedek (Gen. 14:20).   Later, it was standardized in the Levitical code.  Research says that few people today practice this Biblical idea.    Most probably feel that if they were to use such a rule in modern times it would impoverish them.  But according to the interesting study of tithers summarized in the graphic below, that is apparently not the case.  The chart is impressive.

Somehow, we should not be surprised

In the last book of the Old Testament God had promised, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”  (Mal 3:10 NIV2011).  It is the only area of life where God ever invites us to test him.  In the New Testament we find a parallel truth.  “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”  (Lk 6:38  NIV2011).   So the principle of God’s economy is this.  God honors generosity.    And his standard for giving raises the bar for us as to what generosity might look like.

Is it an investment scheme?

We’ve all heard of crass preachers who misused this principle by promising earthly financial rewards, sometimes even with percentage gains attached, for gifts to their ministry.   What charlatanry that is!   While God has promised to bless those who are faithful to Him, God’s blessings are often of different character than money.  And even when God’s rewards are financial, they sometimes do not coincide in timing or mode with the financial sacrifice made by the offerer.     For example, there was a time in our ministry as pastor and wife when we felt led to make a significant gift (for us) to a special project of the church.  It was a sacrificial gift that did draw down our finances.  Now God didn’t refill our coffers per se, but it just so happened that we “co-incidentally” during that time frame received several unexpected non-monetary gifts of things we needed to help us along the way.   One such blessing was a huge scholarship that our daughter received to go to graduate school.    But giving, like deeds of service, is definitely a future investment.  The Bible does say, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:20-21 NIV84).

 

1-tithing

Categories
Church Leadership Journal

Investigating the Principle of the Path

I have just finished outlining our Sunday morning message series for April.  It actually takes off from the Easter Celebration service message.  It draws some topics and resources from Andy Stanley’s book The Principle of the Path. 

The Principle of the Path
Date Sermon title Text Speaker Suggested Hymn
Mar 31 (10 AM) Celebration Power for the Path John 20:19-31 Pastor Kelvin Christ the Lord is Risen Today  (231)
Apr 7 The Principle of the Path Proverbs 7:6-27; 27:12 Pastor Kelvin Trust and Obey (320)
Apr 14 Grace and Truth for Our Path Jer. 17:9; John 1:17; 8:32 Pastor Kelvin How Deep the Father’s Love for Us  (Stuart Townend)
Apr 21 The Harmful Path Prov. 3:5,6; Col. 3:5-17 Pastor Kelvin Cleanse Me (317)
Apr 28 Staying on the Wholesome Path Prov. 1:1-9; 12:15 Pastor Kelvin Go, Make of All Disciples  (571 UMH)