Tag: Bible centered

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Church Leadership Journal Joy Notes

Italian Dinner was a Fun Event

 

Italian Night, a great theme event

One of the things JoAnne and I will miss from Community Wesleyan is the themed fellowship dinners.  Over the years we have attended many of them from Valentine Dinners with intimate settings for two to grand senior buffets with all kinds of themes.  Last Saturdays’ Italian night was a bunch of fun, not just in my opinion, but from the reports of many who have commented on it to my wife and me both privately and publicly.  

Bible Trivia contests were fascinating

The occasion was the long delayed wrap-up of the Big Bible Bonanza emphasis we had in the late fall.  The two teams – the Goldfish under the leadership of Rhett LaForte and the Blue Angels rallying behind Mark Boswell — battled for points that could only be earned by consistent daily Bible reading.   Bonuses went to those who did not miss a day and to teams with more than sixty percent not missing a day.   After many weeks, the Goldfish prevailed.   So the Blue Angels had to prepare the dinner, while the Goldfish picked the menu.     To keep with the Bible knowledge goal, at the dinner, we played Bible trivia in three ways.   Two games were written quizzes.   One was a paragraph containing hidden names of Bible books.   Several people found all sixteen.   The second was a matching test.   Again, a few whizzes aced it.   The final trivia contest was a live rematch between the two teams.  Pastor Kelvin emceed the game and the Blue Angels won by just one question.   

Thanks to the organizers and artists

Thanks go to JoAnne Jones who thought up the Big Bible Bonanza emphasis to encourage daily Bible reading and who also planned the Italian feast.  Thanks also to Lea Harrington and Keely Stater who lent art work and to Lea for decorating so beautifully.   The artwork was so elegantly set as you can see in the pictures.   Thank you to all who cooked and all who helped make this fine event happen. 

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Categories
Church Leadership Forward Look Journal

State of the Church address

At the semi-annual church conference, I changed the format of my usual report and instead presented a “State of the Church” address.   It was meant to summarize the achievements of my pastorate and describe the position of our church today as I view it.   I am attaching it in pdf format.

The State of the Church

Having reflected on it now for a couple weeks since I wrote it, there is one section that I should have added to the innovations section.  But we take it so much for granted today and know that there is no going back so I did not think of it.   The item I should have noted concerns all the technological advances we have made in using the computer since I have been pastor.   I arrived at the end of the typewriter era in Kirkville.  During my tenure, all record-keeping has been computerized; we used the computer to keep records and generate mailing lists.  Our current database expert volunteer is Josh Basile.  Of course, all correspondence and bulletin preparation has been computerized.  Currently we are using Word and Publisher 2010 to accomplish our work.   After Mahlon Moon’s thoughtful memorial gift of the the projector and screen in memory of Tillie, we entered the era of projected song words, PowerPoint slides when needed, mission slide shows without carousel trays, downloaded video clips, movies on the big screen, and most recently now, joining in a national simulcast.   All this has required consistent upgrading through the years as technology advanced and equipment wore out.  Finally, with a great deal of help from Steven Sgroi, we have become a church with a viable web presence.   We now have our own domain name  –  kirkvillewesleyan.org, on which we maintain our church website, publish three or four blogs and  have the capability for a sermon database in printed or video form.  In addition, again with Steven’s help, we are now on Facebook.   Our web presence is of increasing importance today as people check out churches online before visiting and expect some technical savvy when they arrive too. Ben Mackey oversees the team that makes possible our projection and sound ministry on Sundays.   Also, thanks to Ed Maum, we enjoy an in-house network.   Thank you to all the other volunteers too who make all this happen.

Finally, I would recommend an important parallel anecdotal account of the current state of our church.  If you read my wife’s book, God With Us; Fifty True Stories of God’s Faithfulness, you will see that it reflects who we are as a congregation very well.  So many of the stories describe the ministries of our church co-incidentally as she relays the first person testimonies.   Overall, a very powerful picture of our community of faith emerges.