May 2010 Archives

ADVENTIST HERITAGE PRAYER MEETING SERIES
The class is now in its fourth week but it is not too late to join us for inspirational stories from our Adventist past. So far we've covered the background and rise of the Adventist movement, the life and work of William Miller, and the development of Adventist beliefs and organization. Next week we will be covering the saga of the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference Session.

WESTERN SLOPE CAMP MEETING
This summer's western slope camp meeting will be held from Thursday evening, June 3rd, through all-day Sabbath, June 5th at Spring Creek Adventist School. The meetings will begin with a keynote by our conference president, Elder Gary Thurber, on Thursday evening. On Friday there will be seminars and presentations by our two featured speakers for the weekend, Elder Jim Nix, director of the Ellen G. White Estate, and Gary Gibbs, the associate director of The Hope Channel. Andrea Jacobsen, a highly desired youth speaker from Andrews University, will be with the youth in the youth tent. The ABC will also be coming out and children's programs are being planned. Please plan to save the date!

Dr. George R. Knight, professor emeritus of church history from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, is our featured speaker for our church retreat at Ridgway State Park. We have rented both sides of the pavilion so you are welcome to bring your friends and family for this exciting weekend. We will begin with a Friday (July 9) evening hotdog roast/bonfire followed by a vespers program with Dr. Knight. We will continue with church service at the Pavilion the next morning (July 10), some time for afternoon fun and hiking after a potluck lunch, and then another evening vespers with Dr. Knight. This promises to be a fun weekend where we will learn from one of the best-known writers and speakers in the denomination. Please plan to make sure you are there and if you have friends from out-of-town be sure to invite them to come visit!

I don't know how many of you like ice cream, but I sure do! Last night the Adventurers were able to celebrate the closure of another year of fun and learning about Jesus by taking a walk down to Dairy Queen. I had fun hanging out with our young people as they clearly enjoyed the occasion, too.

What does it mean to be a balanced Christian? I think Ellen White personifies the concept of "balance" as she learned and grew in her own Christian experience. As one of the founders of our church she is a prophetic voice who continues to speak to us through her writings. What I love about her is that, I contend, when she is properly understood her writings accomplish two things: (1) they always point us back to the primacy of Scripture in our lives; and (2) she always reminds us of the importance of keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. If we don't have these two ideas then I believe that we have the potential to misuse or even abuse her writings in a toxic way. Over the next two months I'm really pleased that we are going to have perhaps the two greatest living experts within the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Ellen White's writings here in Montrose, and if you have questions about how to interpret Ellen White or some question about our Adventist past then I would suggest you make sure you don't miss out on Jim Nix's camp meeting presentations (Elder Nix is the director of the Ellen G. White Estate) or George Knight's church retreat.

Speaking of counsel from the Spirit of Prophecy, I ran across an interesting statement that she wrote that goes along with the recent series on peacemaking: "Evilspeaking should be dealt with as a misdemeanor that is subject to church trial and separation from church membership if persisted in; for the church cannot be set in order in any way" (Ms. 74, 1897). What does that mean for us in practical terms? When a person suggests that the church--either our local church or the conference or denomination as a whole--is backslidden, in apostasy, or by passing around pamphlets in church to that same effect (as happened last Sabbath), such behavior fulfills this criteria. During Ellen White's lifetime she had a variety of persons who suggested that the church was in apostasy--most of the time it was because of others who pointed out the sins in others such as those who did not practice health reform the same way that they did (I'm working on an article right now on how Ellen White dealt with those who declared the church to be in apostasy). Such behavior is reprehensible and a disgrace to our church. When such situations arise the plan is for the pastor and elders to meet with such a person or persons, listen to their concerns, prayerfully consider them, and if such behavior is persisted in we are left no other alternative if such criticisms continue to ask such a person(s) to leave. An important part of peacemaking is that when every other option for peacemaking has been exhausted loving correction must be extended because such an individual (or individuals) is hurting not only themselves but the rest of the church family by pushing themselves away from the fellowship of the church. Such a process is always painful, but it is also necessary because as Mrs. White points out we can not have order any other way. I hate to even bring this up but because this has been publicly agitated in our church family I have to also let you know that the leaders of this church take such situations very seriously.

I was reminded of this dynamic yesterday as I was reviewing some notes on the story of the Minneapolis 1888 General Conference Session. One of the problems that as a denomination that we had was preaching the law and our distinctive beliefs to the exclusion of our Christian beliefs--the fact that we also believe in Christ's saving death on the cross and his righteousness that covers us for our sins. Adventist ministers during those early years were known not only for their Bible acumen but that they would go farther by shaming their opponents because they had the truth. As the 1888 General Conference session neared two young ministers, A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner, reminded our church in what Ellen White termed "a more precious message" of the need to keep Christ at the center of what Adventism is all about. Some present wanted to stand by the "old landmarks" but Mrs. White pushed our leaders to listen to what these two young preachers had to say. Some times we need to be open to the possibility of change and that the Lord wants to open our eyes to see new truths that we may not have seen before. We need to always remember that Christ is the center of what we believe as Seventh-day Adventists!

As you come to church you will notice a new bulletin board. A couple of months ago the church board, in my absence delegated me to pick out a new bulletin board--so I chose something that will hopefully be a little more eye-catching and that will specifically highlight church activities and events that are going on in our congregation.

Last but not least, the school board is interviewing three candidates this evening for the teaching position at our school. We will have some conference officials here, too. Let's pray that the Lord will lead through this process. I know the last few weeks have been difficult with a leadership transition at our school, but I believe the Lord will help us get through this time and help us find just the right person to help lead and build up our school. Adventist education is so critically important! Also, please continue to pray for Ellie Wing who is still in the hospital, Steve's mother who is slowly improving, and John Watson who is undergoing a second round of chemo.

ADVENTIST HERITAGE PRAYER MEETING SERIES
The class is now in its fourth week but it is not too late to join us for inspirational stories from our Adventist past. So far we've covered the background and rise of the Adventist movement, the life and work of William Miller, and now we will look at the doctrinal developments that shaped our church.

Next week, on Thursday May 13, our church is sponsoring a Habitat build project on the north side of town. To sign up please contact Tavia Wilson (417-4886 or taviawilson89@yahoo.com). Please come prepared to work hard and make a difference in our community.

WESTERN SLOPE CAMP MEETING
This summer's western slope camp meeting will be held from Thursday evening, June 3rd, through all-day Sabbath, June 5th at Spring Creek Adventist School. The meetings will begin with a keynote by our conference president, Elder Gary Thurber, on Thursday evening. On Friday there will be seminars and presentations by our two featured speakers for the weekend, Elder Jim Nix, director of the Ellen G. White Estate, and Gary Gibbs, the associate director of The Hope Channel. Andrea Jacobsen, a highly desired youth speaker from Andrews University, will be with the youth in the youth tent. The ABC will also be coming out and children's programs are being planned. Please plan to save the date!

One of the highlights for me this past week was to be able to go with our young people, in two separate groups for the lower and upper graders, to Grand Junction to participate in the Messiah Lutheran Church's western slope track and field event. It was a great, Christian event with lots of Christian young people, including quite a few homeschoolers who participated. On Thursday we were going to go up but by the time I made it up to Grand Junction the event had been cancelled due to weather. We made another try on Friday with the upper graders. It was still cold, but a fun time was had by all. Then on Monday we went up with the lower graders. This time I got drafted on the running long jump. I had fun meeting lots of Christian young people, their teachers along with parents, for a really neat day. Four of our young people won ribbons for their hard work. We also had three Adventist schools who came and participated with us.

Sabbath was a special day because I was able to go up early in the morning and lead out in an early morning church service in Gunnison. I always love going up there--not the least of which is because the drive is so relaxing and beautiful, and of course because they are always so friendly and welcoming. I don't think we need to continue to do more to support our Gunnison church family and now that it is warmer I'm looking forward to being able to have regular church services again. I made it back in time to introduce our special guest speaker, Elder Roscoe Howard, president of the Mid-America Union, who preached a powerful, Spirit-filled message entitled "Running on Empty." In case you missed it, you can download the sermon from our church web site at: http://www.montrosesda.org/audio/2010/05/running-on-empty.html (thanks to Scott Nelson for keeping our church web site current!). I especially appreciated his call at the end when we had virtually the entire church come forward in a service of recommitment.

On Sunday morning a real highlight for me was participating in a church leadership brunch retreat at Alice Carpenter's home (who I can tell you certainly has the gift of hospitality!). We've worked on a rough draft of our mission statement:

"Our mission as the Montrose Seventh-day Adventist Church is to lovingly lead people to become disciples of Jesus Christ."

"We see to accomplish this through:

ADVENTIST HERITAGE PRAYER MEETING SERIES
The class is now in its third week but it is not too late to join us for inspirational stories from our Adventist past. So far we've covered the background and rise of the Adventist movement, the life and work of William Miller, and now we will look at the doctrinal developments that shaped our church.

ABC BOOKMOBILE
On May 9 (next weekend!) from 4 to 6 pm the ABC Bookmobile is coming to our church. Orders can be placed in advance up through April 26 by calling 1-800-765-6955.

WESTERN SLOPE CAMP MEETING
This summer's western slope camp meeting will be held from Thursday evening, June 3rd, through all-day Sabbath, June 5th at Spring Creek Adventist School. The meetings will begin with a keynote by our conference president, Elder Gary Thurber, on Thursday evening. On Friday there will be seminars and presentations by our two featured speakers for the weekend, Elder Jim Nix, director of the Ellen G. White Estate, and Gary Gibbs, the associate director of The Hope Channel. Andrea Jacobsen, a highly desired youth speaker from Andrews University, will be with the youth in the youth tent. The ABC will also be coming out and children's programs are being planned. Please plan to save the date!

This Sunday afternoon, from 4 to 6 pm, there will be a school open house where our young people will be showing off projects, including some artwork, and other schoolwork. I know that at least for their social studies that the students had "Flat Stanleys" that traveled across the country and they will show just how far they have traveled. Please come and have a look at the hard work of our students by coming out.

This morning was quite the shock to wake up, albeit quite early, to see snow on the ground! Especially after the last few days of spectacular weather. We've been getting the yard ready. And thanks to a church member we had a nice load of manure that I got to haul around to our vegetable and flower gardens. It never ceases to amaze me how stuff that is so smelly can make a vegetable garden grow like nobody else's business! I'm so thankful that God works with the ordinary and common things of our every day lives and makes great things happen when we allow the Lord to do what He is good at doing: transforming lives.

Speaking of transforming lives, this past week I had the opportunity to sit next to a man who started to ask me questions. He shared with me that he had not shared this with anyone else except his wife, but that he had his life providentially spared. He felt impressed to stop the car even though the light was green at an intersection. A few seconds later a car ran a red light zooming through at an exorbitant speed. He believed that God had spared his life. So I talked with Him about having a relationship with Jesus Christ and that the Lord had brought me that day to sit next to him for that purpose. I shared with him about how that morning I had picked up a copy of "Steps to Christ" and that I felt impressed that the Lord wanted him to read that book. Incidentally, he had just read Ben Carson's autobiography, "Gifted Hands" so this book was an opening wedge because I was able to tell him that I am a Seventh-day Adventist like him. So, the Lord gives us opportunities all around us to plant seeds for His kingdom.

This coming Sabbath is a special treat for us because Elder Roscoe Howard, Mid-America Union President, will be our featured speaker. I couldn't believe that our very own MAUC president would be able to fit our church into his busy schedule over a year ago when I first dared to ask. Some people may wonder what a Union president does in our church: they steer the overall direction and policies of all the conferences that make up the union. That includes educational policies (Elder Howard chairs Union College's board), policies for ministers and church employees, guidance on how tithe is distributed and generally helps to trouble shoot any serious problems across the Union. There are a lot of hats that a Union president has so if you have any questions about the overall direction of where our denomination is headed in terms of the Mid-America Union or just in general please stick around after potluck because we will have an informal meet and greet to take advantage of this special privilege that our church has. We would also invite any other church members from the western slope to please join us for this special day, too. Last but not least, my own church members may be interested to know that it was as I was contemplating the decision as to whether to come here to Montrose or not that I gave a series of talks on Ellen White for the Alberta camp meeting three years ago. Elder Howard was the featured evening speaker and I was particularly moved by the stories he told about how God had worked in his own life, and some of those stories were very influential in my own journey in making the decision to come here to be your pastor here in Montrose. At the time Elder Howard as the secretary of the North American Division so neither of us could have guessed at that point that our paths would cross again in this way. So God is good in how He leads in our lives. I'm so thankful I made the decision to come to Montrose and believe the Lord has brought us here for a purpose.

On Wednesday evening I finished up teaching the electricity honor for Pathfinders. We're still looking for a Pathfinder leader for next year. We typically have 12-14 young people and most likely our club will stay at least the same size or grow, but the problem is that unless we have someone willing to step up to the plate to help mentor and train our young people we are seriously looking at closing our Pathfinder club down for next year. But I believe the Lord has providentially allowed our club to start and helped provide a great opportunity to disciple our young people. I believe that the Lord has someone in our church family who the Lord will impress to help pick up the reins to keep our club going. If the Lord is impressing your heart, or if you just have a question about Pathfinders, please don't hesitate to give or Heidi or me a call.

This morning I got up at 5 AM and was at the school in time for us to carpool with our younger church school kids by 6:15 AM in order to get up to Grand Junction for track and field. I'm so thankful for Allison Duncan who helped to organize the event. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I was practically in Junction by the time I received word that it was called off. I've now learned that it has been postponed until Monday morning. We're going to take the upper graders tomorrow morning. I'm appreciative of church members such as Gene Swanson who will be going with me to help watch the older kids participate in this Christian athletic event. I'm so thankful for our church members, many of them parents, who help to keep our school going along with such capable staff.