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PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCHES$NOTES AND NEWS$March, 2009 |
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A printable version of the Notes and News is now available in Adobe Portable Document Format(PDF) along with the internet version on this page. To view and print PDF files, you must have the Adobe® Reader®. If you do not currently have the Adobe® Reader®, you can get it for free by clicking below, downloading the Installer file AND click the file to install the reader onto your computer. Download the free Adobe® Reader® View and/or print the Notes and News for March, 2009. |
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From The President’s Desk: The church family is entering the most precious time of the year- the Passion of Christ! As the Apostle stated, “Without the resurrection of Christ our preaching is in vain.” This upcoming season is the foundation of our beliefs. As the body of Christ, let us rejoice and celebrate in our salvation, secured for us by the grace of God. Let us also take this opportunity to preach and teach the truth of Jesus and His love to those who are lost and need His Saving Grace. God bless you as you celebrate Jesus! By His Grace, Rev. Kerry Robert Ritts, President Pittsburgh District District Conference will be held on Saturday, April 4th at Sutersville. A District Planning Meeting will be scheduled for September. Date, time and place will be announced as soon as possible. At Frost Road Chapel we are busy preparing our Easter services and activities. Holy Thursday we will hold a communion service. On Easter morning we hold our Sunrise Service at a local cemetery. We usually average 50 people for this service and often have had people driving by stop and ask if they might join us. We are one of very few Churches in the area who still carry on this tradition. Following the Sunrise Service, we return to the church for our annual Easter morning breakfast. At the Morning Worship Service we will have a special musical program, along with our children singing special numbers while some play their instruments. We are also hard at work remodeling our foyer and doing some remodeling in the sanctuary, in order to prepare for the new carpeting. We are currently refinishing our pews. Our foyer and sanctuary are being updated to make it more inviting for new people to come and join us. We're looking forward to Spring, and if you lived in Northeast Ohio you would understand why...75 inches of snow this season and still counting! Schuylkill District St. Clair had a very meaningful service on the first Sunday of February when we prayed for a young man who was called up for military service in the National Guard of Pennsylvania. We prayed for God’s protection over him, his wife, children, and parents. Our Prayer Breakfast, Circle of Friends meeting, and other outreaches were well attended, including our Widows, Widowers, and Singles Dinner. Over half of those who attended were not members of the church. We are in the final stages of preparation for the Community Lenten Services, Easter Egg Hunt for the Children, and Sunrise Service. In many cases we participate with the other churches in the community for these events. During the snowy Sunday Mornings, we also enjoyed the members of the other churches who had cancelled their services. Rev. William Salmon Many nice things are coming up at West Conshohocken. This past holiday season, we had a blessed Christmas Eve service with many past members showing up. We had a decision for Jesus made in a service a few weeks ago. For the upcoming Easter-Resurrection Sunday, First Fruits celebration, we are having our second annual Passover service. Last year we were full, and we are expecting no less this year, but hope to see even more new faces. This will be on April 9th and anyone interested should either e-mail or phone me. The morning of Easter, we will join a local UCC church in the neighborhood for the Sunrise service. This is often a great time followed by a breakfast served by the church. After that we gather at our church and have a traditional Easter service. A few weeks prior to the Sedar dinner we are having a Purim festival- this is a fun day filled with sweet foods and deserts, and looking in the Book of Esther on the different roles and scenes. It is often accompanied with a costume party and people dress up as clowns, queens, kings, court jesters, etc. We just celebrated our 114th anniversary last Sunday and the attendance was huge-(for us) over 40 people and many older past members people showed up to hear the great Rev Evans. The sermon ended by a loud standing ovation and many people standing to their feet like a great football team had just won the Superbowl. It indeed was a surprising end to a sermon. The service concluded with a great feast that was a catered event, and many people enjoyed the 3 choices of different entree(s) offered. We had a great singing group who sang for the service and did a little prelude before the services. Recently, my wife and I attended a marriage retreat put on by Family Life and the event, which was well needed, re-connected some of the things we needed to work on that often times gets put on the back burner because of ministry. Thanks and God bless, Pastor Nathan Pierce National Mission Board The National Mission Board had a very productive meeting in February. We gathered at the Door of Hope Community Church in Pittsburgh and were very pleased with the progress being made there and at all our current works. We welcome the Kathleen Community Church and Pastor Jonathan Malanowski to the NMB family as our newest redevelopment project. We have also agreed to continue with the exploration project in the South Side section of Pittsburgh with the hope of one day being able to plant a new church in that area. On Saturday February 14th the NMB sponsored another training session in the Pittsburgh District with Rev. Jim Moss who presented “Does your church really care about people?” A special thanks to the Door of Hope Community Church for hosting this seminar. We want to remind everyone that in addition to Church Planting and Redevelopment, the NMB is prepared to offer a variety of training to individual churches and/or cluster of churches. Please call the NMB director for further information or to schedule a training session. Pastor Andrew Jerome, Director International Mission Board Hi from Spain, Just a quick note to let you know that we are very grateful for your prayer support during these past weeks. The big event of the month of February was hosting and leading the ECM Europe-wide field leaders meeting. Nineteen of us leaders sat around the table talking about our respective ministries, listening to God and praying for and encouraging each other. Our desire was and is to "get it right". We long to be in tune with what God is doing and understand what He is asking of us. As a result, new church plants are being planned for needy areas across the continent. It is exciting to be part of the process of EMPOWERING one another. It is exciting to work within the context of a team of like-minded brothers and sisters. Together we are seeing Europe won to Christ one life at a time. When you pray, spiritual battles are won. Please take time to pray. Ron and Brenda Anderson Pastor Gro One of the vital pillars of the church is “prayer.” God uses prayer to hear the heart of His people. He can hear what is important to us as individuals and as a church. Where is your heart? Where is the heart of your Church? As pastors we need to be the leaders of prayer. Our people need to see the passion of prayer in our lives. We need to show the example of praying kingdomly. As we often find our Lord in deep prayers, we too need to be found in the heart of prayer. We need to have a heart and prayer life for the lost and for the spiritual growth of His people. We need to lead our people in prayer for God within our lives and the life of our church. As Pastors, we need to lead our people into the “sweet hour of prayer!” Seek God’s will and direction as we endeavor to have a deeper prayer life with our Lord. Joyabaj Quiche Bibles Dedicated The Bibles that represent thirty years of Bill Vasey’s life are now in Guatemala and being distributed to those people who speak the Joyabaj dialect of the Quiche language. During the last week of February two groups from the USA attended two separate services of dedication. One group from the Western District, led by Pastor Nelson Perkinson, was a part of the service in Joyabaj on Sunday, February 22nd. Along with Nelson were his wife Jill, Bob Schroeder, Bob Bennett, Jane Carns and Gus and Sharon Carns. The other group, led by Rick Clemson, president of the IMB, was a part of the dedication service held in Pachalum on February 28th. This group included Pastor Don Kidd and a co-worker of Rick’s, Hushang Lo Tatar who has been down on a number of work teams. Both of these services were held in the main plazas of each town on market day. This was done with the full support of the mayors of each town. This provided an opportunity to reach many from out of town as they came in for shopping. At each service the Bible’s were read from, prayed over and publicly dedicated. The Word was also preached (with translation) at each event and response was evident with people praying for salvation and healing. It really is an historical event to have this complete translation done and in the hands of the people who speak this language. Some statistics indicate that of the 6,909 languages spoken in the world only 438 have the complete Bible in their own language. The Primitive Methodist Denomination has played a significant part in one these. For this we give all praise, honor, glory and thanks to our God! Conference Information This year at conference, we will be discussing the possibility of having conference met biannually, with a mini-meeting of boards etc. in the even years. Book Recommendations Ray Baldwin recommends the book “UnCommon,” by Tony Dungy. It is a great book on integrity and character, written by a successful football coach. Rev. John Stange recommends "Comeback Churches" by Ed Stetzer. It is a very encouraging book for pastors who are looking to lead a church from death, decline or stagnation to life and vibrancy. The book is a detailed study of 324 Evangelical churches that experienced a great "comeback." The authors have discovered certain patterns, philosophies, strategies and practices that were common among pastors and churches that experienced a great turnaround. I have enjoyed this book immensely and will be presenting the main contents of the book in a seminar to my congregation on March 29th at 6:30 PM. (If you're interested in coming, we would love to include you as well. Just send us an email to let us know you're coming: newtowncommunitychurch@gmail.com). My hope is that this this enables more people in our congregation to catch a vision for what God can do through our church as we submit ourselves to His leading. Rev. Nathan Pierce recommends two books he has been going through with different members of the body. One is "The Call" by Oz Guisness the other is called "The Great Tribulation-Past or Future" by Thomas Ice and Kenneth Gentry. FYI The Conference Trustee Board has sold the properties at Old Forge, PA and is currently working on the sale of Girardville properties. The Conference Trustee Board has available the following items: Oak Pulpit Furniture (Flower stands, Pulpit, Altar Table), Brass Candelabras and Candlesticks, 1 Hymn Board, various Hymnals in great condition, assorted dishes, cups, saucers, 1 Hammond Organ with large speaker, and various tables and folding chairs. Please call Pastor Reg Thomas at 570-823-3425 for more information. New address for Jennifer Carey (PPF, PMBC): 1229 Main Street Avoca, PA 18641-1721 New e-mail address for Marge Kidd: hmkidd@mailbug.com Pastor Ritts’ home address is: 1704 Edge Hill Road Abington, PA 19001 The Denominational Address is: 730 Preston Lane Hatboro, PA 19040 ADDENDUM Annual Conference Session News Please remember to send in your conference reservations to Rev. Frank Hrabak as soon as possible. If you do not make your reservation, a room might not be available for your stay. Guest Speaker- A few years ago, we had a guest speaker, Rev. James Moss, that many of our delegates and pastors will remember. Rev. Moss worked with his denomination as a church consultant and redeveloper. When Rev. Moss spoke at our conference, we received many, many positive comments about his presentation. A few people stated how they could take home many practical ideas and put them to use in their church. This coming conference session, Rev. Moss will give a follow-up to his last presentation. It will be entitled “Does Your Church Want To Grow?” A brief questionnaire will be sent to each church before conference to be filled out and given to Rev. Moss at conference. Rev. Moss will also make himself available to meet with any pastor or church representative for “free consultation.” Guest Singer- This year we are pleased to have Mr. Mark Cable as our guest Christian artist. Many of our pastors were introduced to Mark at the pastor’s conference at Sandy Cove Ministries last year. You will truly enjoy Mark’s style of music, humor, and devotion to serving God through his music. The Preacher’s Pension Fund will once again have Ms. Ellen Bush, Vice President of Smith Barney, to discuss any questions regarding the Preachers Pension Fund. Pocono Mountain Bible Conference Don’t forget to go on the PMBC website to check this year’s camping schedule! Since our last Notes and News, the following members of the Primitive Methodist family have been called home to their eternal reward: 1. Carl Meyers was a member of our Primitive Methodist investment foundation. He and his surviving wife Marge had a big heart for the ministry of the Utatlan School in Guatemala. 2. Lorraine Schlimm was a very active and supportive member of many ministries within the Primitive Methodist denomination. |
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