Life @ Montrose, Camp Meeting Special Edition (June 2, 2010)

 

Gunnison & Montrose: Church services will be held in conjunction with the Western Slope Camp Meeting. Please check the program schedule for specific details.

 

Potluck lunch: We will have a potluck lunch for those who are interested in the River Bottom (Baldridge) Park. There is a large shelter that we've reserved for all day on Friday and Sabbath for those who would like a quiet place to have lunch (with lots of extra picnic tables and shady spots in the trees). For members of Gunnison & Montrose please plan on a potluck lunch at the park and please bring a comfortable lawn chair.

 

The theme for this year's Vacation Bible School is "On the Sea with Jesus" that will take place at the Montrose Adventist Church from July 5-9. For more information please contact Allison Duncan at 209-5336.

 

We're wrapping things up for this year with two more classes left--next Tuesday evening by special request I am doing a lecture on the history of Shepherd's Rod and the Branch Davidians. If you would like to learn more about this divergent group in Adventist history please come and we'll have a fun time learning together.

 

Due to a scheduling conflict this is just to remind those of you on church board that church board will not be this Thursday evening--because camp meeting starts that same night--and instead it will be on Sunday evening at 7 pm. See you there!

 

CHURCH RETREAT AT RIDGWAY STATE PARK, JULY 9-10
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!

PROPOSED 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:
Inspiring worship services
Quality Adventist education
Contagious evangelism and outreach
Selfless community service
Family activities that appeal to all ages
Fellowship and small groups"

I'm so thankful for the large number of church members who showed up to show love and support to the Watson family after the passing of Ann last week. I really appreciate our church family. The same Sabbath I was up at Gunnison and we had 30 people show up for church. The church felt rather full with twice the number of people who are usually there! Last week we had family here so on Thursday afternoon and Friday I was finally able to squeeze some time off to do some fun things with my in-laws while they were still here. We decided to take them down to Mesa Verde National Park. What a neat place to visit and to see and learn about an ancient people from here in the southwest.

 

Most of my time this week has been abosrbed into two things: last minute things that come up related to camp meeting and I am beginning to teach my class for Southern Adventist University. I have 35 students--usually they cap out the class at 25--but so many teachers need to work on their denominational certification that SAU expanded the class for more people to take it. Already it has been a lot of fun as students discuss various facets of Adventist history. I've got a wide range of students--everybody from an automechanic student, several business and nursing majors, to about half the class which is made up of teachers who are either working on their denominational teaching credentials or trying to keep them up-to-date. It is a lot of fun for me. Last night until I woke up this morning there were 86 posts on the online class discussion bulletin board.

 

I'm really pleased at how well things are coming together for camp meeting. We've had so many people come and pitch in. It is a wonder to me that we never went with the Pavilion to begin with--it is costing us about $1,100 to use the facility and we have a budget of about $3,000. So we are stretching every dollar, but if this year goes really well and we receive a generous enough offering (to expand camp meeting we need to receive at least $2,000 in offering this Sabbath in addition to the $2,000 we receive from Rocky Mountain Conference). If we receive that amount we should be able to expand camp meeting so that we can have all of the children's programs at the Pavillion next year. We've already tentatively reserved the dates, June 16-18, 2011. If you have ideas for a theme and speakers for 2011 please let me know because we'll be getting the pastors who are here together some time this weekend to lay out plans for a year from now. I'm especially grateful how everyone has really pitched in from a variety of churches to put together the music for this weekend.

 

I've got to head out the door to make it to our bi-monthly hospital chaplain's meeting. My next week as the hospital chaplain is next week and it is always good to rub shoulders with my colleagues in ministry. Speaking of the hospital, that reminds me that Steve Wilson fell off a ladder as he was working on a treehouse for his kids on Monday. Please keep him in your prayers as he is pretty bruised up and they are doing tests on him today to make sure that he is OK. Last but definitely not least: we extend congratulations to Jacque and Jason Adragna who gave birth to Jamison on Monday evening (8:53 pm). He weighed in at a wopping 9 pounds, 11.7 ounces and measured 21 3/4 inches. We congratulate Jacque and Jason for taking seriously their part in helping to literally grow our church family! Congratulations!!