Life @ Montrose, April 29, 2010
WORSHIP THIS SABBATH
CHURCH BOARD LUNCHEON ON SUNDAY MORNING
Our church board over a series of breakfasts over the past six months has been working on identifying core values and prioritizing what is important to the direction of our church. We're moving right along as we make progress on eventually putting all of this into a mission statement. If you are in church leadership please come to the Carpenters on Sunday morning for another wonderful brunch as we work together as church leaders as we not only talk about our priorities as a church but put them into tangible form. Please contact Pastor or Dr. Cooper for more information.
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!
THE PASTORAL PERSPECTIVE
Gunnison: (9 AM): Pastor Campbell is preaching on the Great Women of the Bible.
Montrose: (11 AM): Elder Roscoe Howard, MAUC president, is preaching a message entitled "Therefore" from Romans 12:1-2.
***There will be a special potluck after church this week only (NOT next week) because of our special guest speaker followed by a meeting for church members to ask Elder Howard questions.***
Montrose: (11 AM): Elder Roscoe Howard, MAUC president, is preaching a message entitled "Therefore" from Romans 12:1-2.
***There will be a special potluck after church this week only (NOT next week) because of our special guest speaker followed by a meeting for church members to ask Elder Howard questions.***
CHURCH BOARD LUNCHEON ON SUNDAY MORNING
Our church board over a series of breakfasts over the past six months has been working on identifying core values and prioritizing what is important to the direction of our church. We're moving right along as we make progress on eventually putting all of this into a mission statement. If you are in church leadership please come to the Carpenters on Sunday morning for another wonderful brunch as we work together as church leaders as we not only talk about our priorities as a church but put them into tangible form. Please contact Pastor or Dr. Cooper for more information.
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.
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!
SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE
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.
THE PASTORAL PERSPECTIVE
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.
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.
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