Life @ Montrose, January 13, 2010

January 13, 2010

 

 

Gunnison & Montrose (11 AM): This coming Sabbath we will try to do a streaming worship service from Montrose. Pastor Campbell will be preaching on Romans 12:1-2 in a message entitled "Living Sacrifice."

 

It is time to order your citrus fruit once again! The funds raised helps our Spring Creek Adventist School. Although the orders are due next Monday, since it is a holiday on that day, we are asking that you turn in your orders if possible by this Friday (Jan. 15). This is a chance to enjoy some delicious citrus fruit. Please encourage your friends, co-workers, and neighbors to order fruit, too! (and by the way, I checked with Golden Harvest this morning and the recent cold weather has not affected their fruit crop.)

 

I'm sure most of you have heard by now about the tragic earthquake in Haiti were presumably hundreds of thousands of people have died. ADRA, our Adventist Development and Relief Agency has an emergency fund for responding to this diaster. You can contribute online by clicking on this link: https://secure2.convio.net/ccadra/site/Donation2?df_id=1740&1740.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=ngjivvlo22.app7a

 

This coming Sabbath is the annual religious liberty Sabbath. Although we do not have a religious liberty director we will have brochures passed out and show a brief video. Across our conference our religious liberty department has made it possible for people to continue to keep their jobs and observe the seventh-day Sabbath. Just in the past year we have had several dozen cases here in Colorado alone so please considering donating to this worthy cause.

 

On Saturday evening our church in business session voted to update the school constitution (a new copy of the constitution is available through the church office). There weren't any major changes in my opinion, but just some clarification and updates to keep it current. In addition, our church voted a couple of additional things: (1) to set the quorum for church board meetings at 51 percent; (2) to approve removal of the overgrown shrub/tree on the side of the church where the trash cans are kept; and (3) to proceed with pursuing a radio station application as funds are donated.

 

This morning I was overwhelmed with the horror of the devastation that has occurred on the island nation of Haiti. When I was much younger I had the privilege of traveling to the Dominican Republic for a mission trip (the Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti). On Sabbath afternoon we had an opportunity to travel across the border and see the nation of Hatii. We thought the people were in desperate need in the Dominican Republic, but when we traveled over to Haiti I was apalled at the overwhelming poverty and destitution that we saw there. I hope you will consider donating funds to ADRA to assist with the recovery efforts.

 

On Saturday evening, after church business meeting, I was able to travel up to Glacier View Ranch for pastor's meetings. Dr. Joe Kidder, a professor from Andrews in the Seminary, was our guest speaker and he talked with us about the importance of prayer, worship, and forgiveness. I was inspired by the opportunity to pray with my fellow pastoral colleagues from across our conference. I also learned some new ideas and was challenged to spend more time in prayer. Although I have prayed regularly I have not made a commitment to pray systematically. Dr. Kidder shared how his church had lots of fighting and bickering until he learned to pray. He was so discouraged he was ready to throw in the towel and his wife told him to go to the church to pray. The next day he went to the church. He prayed for about two minutes. And then he fell asleep. But he tried again the next week and it worked. Over the weeks and months his church experienced a revival as he prayed. So, revival starts with each of us, and I want to see revival take place in our church. So I want you to know that I am going to try to do better about praying for each of you, to pray for our community, and to pray earnestly for God to work mightily on our behalf. One of the ways I am going to do this is to schedule time each week to pray in the sanctuary of our church and to pray in each pew for the families who sit there.

 

Yesterday afternoon we had a powerful time together with our new conference president, Elder Gary Thurber, who shared with us his vision for the future of our conference and some expectations he has for each of us. What I really appreciate it is that he affirms that the pastor is the leader of the local congregation and as such he or she is the expert on what is going on there. He gave some expectations of areas that he wants us as pastors to work on: to come up with a plan for our churches, to exercise regularly, and to make time for family time (I learned that pastors, unlike Adventist church members in general, in the latest Adventist health study do not live the additional 6-7 years that the average church member can expect to live long by adhering to the Adventist lifestyle). So Adventist pastors as a whole are very overburdened and stressed. I like his spiritual focus and that he gives us room as pastors to let the Holy Spirit lead and work in our lives. At the same time, because we have had different leadership models, he is taking the best of the TeamOne focus on accountability and applying it to all of us as individuals so that we are accountable to conference leadership so that we are striving for excellence. He also shared how there was a lot of pain because another church leader was not sitting in his chair and that he was sorry for that, but we have to move forward. This became an opportunity for us pastors to share testimonies, appreciation for Elder Thurber's ministry so far, and even for some pastors to ask forgiveness of one another. It was a very special time as we pastors prayed for one another. One of the challenges has been because there have been differences, rumors and gossip have abounded, and feelings hurt, that we as pastors need to make sure that we focus on the work the Lord has entrusted for us, and when their our problems we need to not talk negatively of other parts where the Lord is working because we have enough to do and pray for where we are at, and to instead follow the principle of Matthew 18 to go to that person if we do have a legitimate concern. So, my heart was warmed because I sensed the presence of God as we covenanted together as pastors to go out from our pastor's meetings more united than ever before and to strengthen each other. While we may not always see eye-to-eye we need to do everything we can to build up the Lord's work here in Wyoming, Colorado, and northwest New Mexico across the vast expanse where our primary focus has got to be telling the world about Jesus. As we left we had a picture frame with a picture that we took of all of us pastors where we covenanted together to become more like Jesus and to let the gospel change us and our ministry. This was a pastor's meeting unlike any I have ever been to before.

 

Because the meeting got done so late yesterday afternoon we didn't get back until late last night. This morning, as I have been catching up in the church office, I pray that God will bles our church family. If you have started reading the 40 Days of Prayer please keep reading. If you haven't, it isn't too late. Please call me and I can help you get a copy of the book. I am looking forward to an opportunity for us to come together for a week of prayer from February 7-12. We need to pray more for one another as a church family and for God to truly transform our lives.