Life @ Montrose, April 1, 2010

ADVENTIST HERITAGE CLASS
Southern Adventist University has asked me to develop their online Adventist heritage class, which I will teach this summer. In preparation for this I am going to teach the class for members in our own congregation. College credit will be available for those willing to pay tuition. For anyone else who is interested in just auditing the class just to learn you are welcome to come, too (the majority of our church members who have college degrees already I suspect may find this class helpful as a review). Classes will begin on Tuesday evening, April 6, and continue weekly on Tuesday nights.

YOUTH RALLY IN GRAND JUNCTION
On April 17 there will be a full-day youth rally at the Grand Junction Seventh-day Adventist Church. If you have young people please encourage them to participate. The featured speaker is Jerry Mahn, a dynamic youth speaker from the Kettering Church in Ohio.

ABC BOOKMOBILE
On May 9 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!

 

Tavia Wilson has put together a community service newsletter that highlights the many ways our church has been and has an opportunity to be involved in our community. Please check your box at church for her newsletter so that you can find out how to make a difference in our own community.

 

The spring school yard sale will be on Sunday, April 18. As you do your spring cleaning this month, set aside those items that you don't want anymore and have them ready for this terrific fundraising event. Right now is the time to start sorting and separating and planning--it's a sort of painless way to help the school--and just think you won't have to have your own yard sale!

This past week was a real treat to have Robin & Lamorna Riches here. I know it was a whirlwind visit for them, but they are always such positive and encouraging people that we really miss them. I was so encouraged to hear of the work of their local church in Crief, Scotland, and how they are a blessing to that community. Robin tells me that they are so blessed to have young people who come to church and who even participate. They don't worry about how they are dressed because everyone is just so thankful that they come. I think that is the kind of attitude we need more of because we can not do enough to affirm our young people and to disciple them by our own examples and by building relationships with them. To that end this last week we've had two really great opportunities to spend time with our young people. We have a wonderful Adventurer Club and on Sunday afternoon the kids went to the Ouray Hot Springs. A fun time was had by all. Discipleship happens not just at church but in every day life as kids spend time with you and then feel comfortable enough to ask you questions about spiritual things. Similarly, on Monday we spent some time with some of our older kids who this past week have been on Spring Break up at Glenwood Springs (apparently this was our week for spending time at hot springs!).

On Tuesday we had Conference Committee. I always appreciate the spiritual direction and commitment of our church leaders who some times have to face some pretty tough issues as well as the mundane business of all the other things that consistently need attention. One statistic that I learned from Elder Nelson is that the population of the general public across the Rocky Mountain Conference (all of Wyoming, Colorado, and the tippy northwest corner of New Mexico) is 5,636,967 individuals. For that same region we have 16,481 church members, which makes 0.29% of the population is Adventist (less than one percent). We have a lot of work to do if we are going to share the Adventist message to the people where we live! Another startling statistic that I learned is that 0.6% of people in our conference have a natural proclivity toward Adventism--which means that if we actually reached out to the people who are interested in Adventism our membership across the conference would instantly double (to approximately 33,822). We also have a number of concerns where our church can meet the real needs of people in Colorado: 27.9% are concerned about neighborhood crime; 24.1% are interested in good schools (I think we have something to offer with Adventist education don't you think?); 12.8% are concerned about social justice issues; 55% are concerned about financial security; 27.4% are concerned about recreation and leisure time (maybe the Sabbath might be a connecting point?); 25.6% are concerned about their marriage; and 17.0% are concerned about their parenting skills. We need to think of ways that we in Montrose can reach out to people and that we have something to offer to them to help bring hope to their lives!

Last Friday morning I enjoyed spending some time with our younger kids at our church school while Gene Swanson shared with them a message about standing for truth using some balloons as an illustration. The older kids were away at Campion Academy for Music Festival (which judging from a number of pictures and comments from friends on Facebook suggests that a good time was had by all). What impressed me is how much our teacher, Bridget Cline, and her many assistants and all that they do for our school. Some time if you get a chance please send them a note of encouragement of perhaps a thank you card to let them know how much you appreciate Adventist education.

A quote that I mentioned in church on Sabbath has become especially meaningful to me: "The Sabbath is the Lord's test, and no man, be he king, priest, or ruler is authorized to come between God and man. Those who seek to be conscience for their fellow men, place themselves above God. . . ." (9T 234). Part of being a Seventh-day Adventist isn't about knowing all of the truth or perhaps all of the scenarios through which end time events will occur, but it is also becoming "more loving and lovable Christians." I'd like to challenge our church family to not only know the truth, but to let the love of Christ compel us in a way that because Christ has transformed our own lives and lives in us that other people can not help but want to experience the same thing that we have. As statistics show, there are many more people out there who are just waiting for an invitation and an opportunity to join such a loving faith community.

To that end I now have on my desk a picture that was taken at this past January's pastors meetings. It has all of the RMC pastors in it and together we signed a pledge that we would "covenant together to continuously experience the Gospel by modeling Ephesians 4:1-6, 29-32, Colossians 3:12-17; Phillippians 2:1-8; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12; Titus 1:6-9; 1 Peter 5:1-4; and Galatians 5:13-15 and 22-26 which changes how we treat others." This is a very meaningful picture to me that will now sit on my desk as I think of all of my pastoral colleagues who I need to uplift and pray for. These are also the same texts that we studied together at our last church board brunch as we discussed the values and mission of our Montrose Church family. If you want to study what it means to be a Christian and experience the gospel I would encourage you to look up these same texts.