December 2007 Archives

A special Christmas present for our church family was the vote by our church during church on Dec. 22 to start a new Pathfinder club. I'm particularly excited at the support expressed by our church family and the leadership of Sharon Holbrook (who will co-lead the group with me), Judy Kelley, and Larry Fandrich who together will help lead our club. Yesterday (Sabbath, Dec. 29) we had a special lunch gathering at our home to discuss potential young people who can join our club and other details related to starting our club. We're still trying to settle on a name. At the moment the "Montrose Mountain Lions" is at the top of the list. Do you have any ideas for a name for our club? Post your ideas on this blog. Plus, be sure to make Wednesday night, Jan. 9, from 6:30 to 8 pm because that is when we are going to have the sign-up for those who would like to join our new club.

SPRING CREEK SCHOOL CHRISTMAS SERVICE
I'm looking forward to our students from our Spring Creek Adventist School leading out in our worship service this week. Are you ready for a special, high-energy program? I know we are in for a real treat because I've heard them practicing over at the school. Be sure to stick around for a special potluck lunch in honor of Evan Paki, New Guinea Ambassador to the United States, who is visiting here for an event in association with Samaritan Aviation. He'll be sharing with us more about life in New Guinea, the progress of our church, and the importance of missions after lunch at 2 pm.
 
CHRISTMAS PARTY AT THE CAMPBELLS
We're having a come and go Christmas party from 4 to 8 pm at the Campbells. We're looking forward to having fun as we get to fellowship with one another during this festive season.
 
HERITAGE SERIES ON TUESDAY NIGHT
We're covering how to understand Ellen White in this second of a two-part series about her writings, and the conclusion of our prayer meeting series about the heritage of our church. I hope you'll come and join us as we learn how to make the best use of this special gift the Lord has given our church. Stay tuned for our new prayer meeting series in January about friendship evangelism.
 
CHURCH BOARD WEDNESDAY NIGHT
Don't forget about the change of date for church board to Wednesday evening at 7 pm.

Are you looking for gift ideas to help you or a loved one grow in their spiritual journey? I've got some gift ideas for you (and I don't a commission for recommending them either!):

• The new Archaeological Study Bible uses the NIV version and some of the latest archaeological research to create a study Bible rich with insights about what life was like during Bible times. They have a leather version for those of you who want something that you can bring to church, and the price ($31.49 on Amazon) seems quite reasonable to me.
• 3:16: The Numbers of Hope by Max Lucado promises to be an inspirational devotional book. In his engaging style, Lucado will take you through the most famous text in the Bible and give you new insights into the saving grace of Christ.
• Why not consider a gift subscription of the Adventist Review to enrich your family and spiritual life? This past year we have a new editor (Bill Knott) who is taking the Review in a new and relevant direction. I've been enjoying the articles, and right now you can get an extra $5 off your subscription.
• Don't forget to visit www.AdventistBookCenter.com for other books from the Review & Herald and Pacific Press. Unfortunately the conference got rid of the ABC bookmobile truck so if you want to get them in person (and you don't want to make a trip to Denver) you'll either have to get online or wait until Western Slopes Camp Meeting.

Things went really fast on Monday afternoon. I gave a presentation on Ellen White as Model Evangelist so I was able to make it to only one other seminar on friendship evangelism by Ed Keyes (and learned about some new materials I am going to try out in January for our prayer meeting series). The thesis of my presentation is that Ellen White is the greatest evangelist in the history of our church. Her passion for evangelism was born from her own personal relationship with Christ--especially her conversion. She knew from practical experience what worked (and what did not). While we tend to not think of her as an evangelist, she held evangelist meetings, spoke to temperance groups, and was known for what we would today refer to as "friendship evangelism" (she made friends with people around her and introduced them to Christ).

On Tuesday morning I gave two additional presentatinos on what every Adventist should know about Ellen White and how to interpret her writings (the room was packed with about 50 individuals). For me this shows just how much interest there is out there about Ellen White. One of the things that struck me as I listened to the questions is that we need a new booklet similar to Roger Coon's "A Gift of Light" to introduce new members to the prophetic gift in our church.

For lunch on Tuesday we were hosted by the Pacifc Union Conference for an elegant banquet. I had the good fortunate to sit next to some people who had lived in Montrose so I thought that was really providential.

On Tuesday afternoon I caught another seminar about evangelistic preaching. It was similar to a course I had on the topic--if I were to summarize it in a sentence: be polite and use common sense!

I really feel like I earned my keep for this seminar series because Wednesday morning I gave one final presentation about Ellen White. We wrapped up with a challenge from Lonnie Melashanko to evangelize. He used some of the latest Barna statistics to show that we as Christians are not reaching the 18-35 demographic. At the very end we stood in a circle as we concluded the conference with prayer and the song "Side by Side We Stand."

Did you know that church growth is not directly related to the number of seminars you hold? I'm sitting in a seminar by Mike Tucker on the theology of church growth. We're learning about how important it is to meet the needs of people in our community. Our church needs to be involved in the community, and I'm so happy to hear that because I know that is a direction where our church is headed (community involvement).

Last night we had the opening meeting by the president of the Arizona Conference (Duane McKee). He highlighted the transformation that has taken place in the Arizona Conference over the last four years. They went from a conference that was having to lay off pastors to have a 47 percent tithe increase. They've invested in evangelism, and it appears to be paying off in some amazing ways. Their conference has held some 900 evangelistic meetings (700 in Arizona, 200 overseas), and the results are in: the Pacific Union's growth rate has been 1 percent, and the Arizona Conference during that same time has grown by 17 percent. Wow! I can't wait to learn more about evangelism. I had better sign off for this first report so I can continue listening (and get ready for my own seminar about Ellen White as Model Evangelist this afternoon).