Growth Revisited

Back on October 13, I made mention that just because a church has more members, that does not necessarily mean that it is a vital church. This article provides some perspective on that idea.

As a pastor, I think there is a pressure from administrators above us, and the pastors around us, that signs that we have a vital church are vested in the numbers. Bigger is better. More members means the church is better.

The time that I have spent with the Oakfield Visioning Team and the time that we have spent reading Vital Signs has definitely helped me realize that a bigger (membership) church does not always mean a better church.

I do appreciate when we bring in new members to our churches. But, it is also important that those new members, along with our current members, are active in the church and the community. Who wants a bunch of members that aren't doing anything? A vital church can be 20 members, if those twenty members are active in ministry.

I encourage you to read the article. I think you will find it interesting and it may change your viewpoint on congregational "growth".

When to Blame God?

The Buffalo Bills were tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers in their Sunday NFL game and it went to overtime. Steve Johnson, a Buffalo Bills wide receiver, had the opportunity to catch a winning touchdown pass in overtime. He did not make the catch. The Bills ended up losing the game.

After the game, he posted a "tweet" in which he said the following:

"I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO..."

It would appear that Johnson is blaming God for his missing the catch. He says that he will never get over this.

I do feel for this young man. Certainly this would have been a big victory for his team, playing a team that was statistically so much better. I think almost everyone imagines an opportunity when they get to be the hero...especially in a sporting event! To have that opportunity and not come through would be devastating!

I figure in a few days, as the tension and frustration with this game begins to subside, he'll realize there will be other opportunities. I also hope that he soon realizes that God does not control every play of a football game. I am glad that Johnson praises God often. I do think he has a chance to learn something from this. His life is not all about football. It is about being a good human being in a fractured world.

God knows his true heart and I don't think he blames God. He is just angry and frustrated. I hope he knows he has a God who will always love him and support him. Things may just not always go the way we want them to go.

November 28 - First Sunday of Advent

‎"He shall judge between nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." - Isaiah 2:4

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent! In less than four weeks from this Sunday, it will be Christmas!!

Over the next four Sunday, we celebrate the Sundays of Advent. It is during this Advent season that we prepare for the celebration, and commemoration, of Christ's birth. We remember that importance of the Jewish people waiting for a savior, a savior that we now know as Jesus Christ. We prepare ourselves for a time in the future, a new creation, in which Christ will again live among the people.

It is a time to be excited about our past, our present and our future in Christ. This week, our focus will be on hope. Our scripture readings provide insight into the hope that we have in Christ. Our hymns, readings, reflections and prayers will all focus on hope.

The scripture readings for this Sunday are:

• Isaiah 2:1-5
• Romans 13:11-14
• Matthew 24:36-44

I hope that you will be able to make it to worship this Sunday!

Thanksgiving Eve Service

For those in the area that might be interested in attending worship for Thanksgiving, we will be having a combined (Oakfield & Tabor) Thanksgiving Eve service:

Thanksgiving Eve Worship Service

November 24, 2010

7:30PM

Oakfield United Methodist Church

(220 South Main St.; Oakfield, WI 53065)

Included in the service:

1. An opportunity to give God prayers of thanksgiving for everything that he has given us.
2. An opportunity to donate food items to the Oakfield Food Pantry.
3. An opportunity to donate money to the Good Samaritan Fund, supported by both the Oakfield and Tabor churches, that helps those who are struggling in our communities.
4. We will be sharing Holy Communion as a part of this service. You need not be a member of Oakfield UMC or the United Methodist Church to participate in Communion.

I hope you might be able to make it out for this service!

A Return from Vacation

I now return from my one week of vacation. Christa and I did not venture anywhere exciting, so I took last week to rest and relax. I had the chance to play some video games, watch movies and do some things that I have not been able to go during a regular work week.

It was a good time, but I ready to get back to work. One, I have a lot of work that needs to be done, especially with Advent beginning on Sunday! I also have a Thanksgiving Service to put the finishing touches on for Wednesday. Two, it just feels good to be back in my regular work routine. I was starting to get lazy!

You can now look forward to my regular posting schedule for the time being. It's good to be back!

Service Preview for November 14th and 21st

Greetings Brothers and Sisters of the Oakfield/Tabor Church Communities,

November 14, 2010 Morning Worship

Pastor Jack Stubbs from Salem UMC will be preaching at Oakfield and Tabor as part of a Clergy Exchange happening between the United Methodist Churches of Circuit 24, which incorporates the churches in the Fond du Lac area. I will be preaching at Trinity UMC in Lomira.

Jack will be preaching on a reading from 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 and his sermon is, "Does God Love Deadbeats?" I hope you will be able to make it for this event.

November 21, 2010 Morning Worship
I will be on vacation next week and I have invited a guest pastor to preach on the 21st. Rev. Tom White will be leading worship in Oakfield and Tabor. Tom White is a member of Community UMC in North Fond du Lac and is a retired elder. It is Christ the King Sunday and the title of his sermon for that Sunday is, "Having Christ As Our King." The scripture readings are:

• Jeremiah 23:1-6
• Colossians 1:11-20
• Luke 23:33-43

I look forward to re-joining you in worship on November 28 when we begin the Season of Advent!

Oakfield Evening Worship

Over the next two weeks, we will continue to explore the role of prayer in our lives as we address the following questions:

• November 14 - How do we pray?
• November 21 - For what or for whom do we pray?

I hope you will be able to join us at 7:00PM on Sunday evenings at Oakfield UMC for contemporary worship and scripture study.

Vacation Next Week

Beginning after the November 14th evening worship and continuing until the November 21st evening worship service, I will be on vacation!

With an additional worship service, Confirmation, Bible Study and other initiatives, this has been quite a busy fall. I am looking forward to some time to recharge as we soon begin the season of Advent and prepare for Christmas.

There is no exciting destination in my future for next week. I suppose you can call this a "staycation." I have two main goals for this week off:

1. I hope, with Christa, to go through our closets and do some spring cleaning in the fall. We also need to put together our basement now that we have carpet down there. I am setting aside three days to do some house cleaning. Cleaning relaxes me...it will be a nice break.
2. I plan on taking two days and devoting them completely to playing video games. I haven't had much time at all to play...and I look forward to doing some catch-up playing :-).

A Devotional Book Option

This last Monday I finished the book Daily Devotionals Inspired by Ninety Minutes in Heaven. I received this book as a Christmas gift. It, appropriately, had 90 devotionals which I broke up into two each week.

Each day began with one Bible verse, a brief devotional focused on the Bible reading, followed by a prayer.

It would certainly help to have read Piper's book before reading this devotional book, but it is not required. Many of his devotionals reflect on conversations that he has had with people at conferences, worship services and book signings.

Like the book, they all reflect on issues of heaven, the afterlife and what happens when we die. Given that this is often a hard topic for people to talk about, I felt as though this book continues the opportunity for us to reflect on those issues.

It is not that expensive and it is worth checking out. Contact me if have additional questions!

A Wonderful Birthday/Christmas Gift

I am definitely at a point in my life where I don't feel the need for a lot of "toys" for my birthday. The last thing I need is more stuff. If anything, I am trying to cut things down to some degree.

When I thought about some kind of birthday gift, I had mentioned to my parents that it would be nice to have a later edition of The New Interpreter's Bible. I received an edition as a gift when I was just beginning ministry, but it was a 1951 edition. It was helpful, but it was very outdated. I still use it, but I definitely would like to have something more modern to use as well.

As you can see, the complete set in twelve volumes, plus an index. It includes two translations of the Bible, along with a commentary and reflection. That is a lot of reading! But, it is so helpful for Bible study and sermon preparation. I was taken aback when my parents said that they would be willing to get this gift for me. I am very thankful for this gift, and was comfortable with this being a birthday/Christmas gift.

As I look to my future ministry, these books will be so helpful to me in my ministry. Pastors have a tendency to collect books for the most part. As I grow in my knowledge of the faith, these books will be very helpful. I am excited to begin putting them to work this week!

Service Schedule for November 7th

Morning Worship Service

"Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive." - Luke 20:38

At our worship services on Sunday morning, we will be addressing issues related life after death. We will be looking at a time in which we will experience a resurrection. These are difficult concepts to wrestle with, but in our reading from Luke we have the confidence that God will be with us always. We have confidence that in our own resurrection, we will live in a perfect relationship with God and with one another. Come learn more!

It is also All Saints Sunday. We will take time during worship to recognize those in our churches and our communities that have died since our last All Saints Sunday, in addition to those that we continue to remember that are no longer a part of our lives. If you have someone to recognize that is not found in the bulletin for the service, you are encouraged to lift up that name during our time of recognition.

The scripture readings for this Sunday morning are:

• Haggai 1:15b-2:9
• 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
• Luke 20:27-38

Evening Worship Service

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28

At 7:00PM at Oakfield United Methodist Church, we will join together in worship for the first of four services that focus on questions about Prayer. This Sunday, we will address the question: Why do we pray? We hope you can make it for a contemporary service of singing, prayer, discussion and Communion.

Post-Election Reflection

In my younger days, I might have stayed up later to see all of the results of yesterday's mid-term elections. Christa and I voted after breakfast, and as the day went by I periodically checked the exit poll results and also saw the results up until we went to bed.

Checking the news and some social media sites, I was taken aback by the over-the-top reactions that people have to the results of this election. Allow me to show just a few of the things that I read on people's Facebook pages:

• "Run for your lives! The idiots have taken back power! So begins a hundred years of darkness!"
• "Doomsday in Wisconsin."
• "Canada's looking better by the minute."
• 'Why are Americans so short-sighted?"

Hmm...should we really be shocked by the results of last night's election? When Bill Clinton was in office, the legislature eventually became majority Republican. When George W. Bush was in office, the legislature became majority Democrat. With Barack Obama as president, the legislature has now become more Republican.

This seems pretty normal to see. To me, it is the natural cycle of politics. As with all of these changes, I wait with curiosity to see if the changes made in this election will provide what voters were looking for. As in all elections, there are winners and losers. There are people that are excited, and people that are frustrated. But, let's not jump quickly to doom and gloom. Let us also not overstep, and overstate, the gains that have been made. What this does present is a time in which a president's agenda and ideas will face a greater opposition. Again, this is not unique. Many presidents have faced this as some voters are not happy with what the president is doing.

Instead of declaring the country dead and tossing out names at one another, let us pray for those who return to, or begin new, elected positions in our local, state and federal government. Let us pray that they will work together to form a better future for each one of us. Placing blame, getting angry, and name calling will not help. Playing an active, positive, participatory role in our government will.

A Transformative Experience

I had a meeting today with a member of my congregation. This person wanted to meet with me to share a transformational experience in this person's life. While attending a program that this person was not all that excited to attend, this person, while in prayer, felt the presence of Christ. It struck straight to this person's heart. As a result of this experience, this person has found and felt a true relationships with God and is looking to learn more about, and be more involved with the church.

This person is open to sharing the experience with others and is looking to write it down to remember it fully. I am hopeful that others, upon hearing this experience might be willing to share their experiences. Perhaps others might find a voice. Perhaps others can anticipate and be prepared for an experience like this in their life.

I was honored to hear this experience and it truly made my day!

An Exciting Weekend!

I wanted to take some time to share some highlights from my weekend:

• On Saturday evening, my little brother (through BBBS) Isaac, and I went to the Milwaukee Bucks home opener at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. It was a great game that ended in a Buck's victory. Now, the game tipped off at 7:30PM, which ended with a trip to Oshkosh to drop off Isaac. I got home at around 12:30AM. It was a rough wake-up at 6:30AM!
• Morning worship services went well at both churches. When you include the folks that came to our evening worship service in Oakfield, we ended up having 48 folks in worship. That is three Sundays in a row in which we have had over 40 people in worship. I am hopeful that this is a trend!
• On Sunday afternoon, Christa handed out candy to the kids of Oakfield and the surrounding community for Halloween. I mostly watched football, but it was also nice to see the kids (and some parents) all decked out for Halloween. Football and candy...you can't ask for a better Sunday! :-D

I hope everyone had a fun and enjoyable weekend!