Next steps in ministry

As I mentioned in my previous post this past Sunday night (July 12, 09) was pretty challenging. Earlier in the day I had done my first circuit with the churches I am pastoring now, and I was sitting considering what had happened and wondering what to do next. It is pretty evident that the churches cannot continue on with only 19 people at their services. All kinds of ideas began to rush in and out of my head - different ways to try to attract attenders, ways to help the churches become healthy, questions about whether I was capable of being what these churches needed me to be, etc.

As I was spinning ideas and questions I realized that, on my first day, I had already hit the wall, ouch!! - that was pretty quick. I felt paralyzed by the amount of need, and my inability to meet that need on my own. In my mind I vacillated between faith and fear for quite a while. Then quietly and slowly I began to remember that God had called me to this ministry and that all He needed was for me to be obedient to His leadings. A strange and unreasonable peace began to sweep over me. This was God's ministry, and if I stayed true to what He led me to say, think and do He would be glorified through my efforts. The results may not be understood by those in the churches, in the district, or in my personal life, but that is not the issue. The issue is if I did what God told me to do - period!

I called the family together, we went for a walk along the Hudson, and then we loaded in the car for a sightseeing ride near the Vermont border. We saw some beautiful lakes, wildlife, vacationers and many other wonderful sights. At one point in the ride we came to the top of a hill and I realized that we could see the Adironacks on our left and the Green Mountains of Vermont on our right. We stopped and just stared in awe at what God had created. We were so small in the vastness of His creation. He had created such order, beauty, detail and majesty. As I sat there I was reminded of my conversation with God earlier that evening. I am simply a small part of what God is doing in the world. My role is like a rock on a mountain or a tree in a forest - seemingly insignificant but extremely valuable if done right and added to the efforts of others.

Finally Settling In . . .

Thanks for all your prayers. Our lives are finally settling down and we are settling in to our new home and our new ministries. Joan and I are tired of seeing boxes, moving boxes, packing boxes, unpacking boxes - tired of anything having to do with boxes.

Our new home is in a rural setting. The nearest store of any kind is about five miles away, and 'real' shopping is at least twelve miles away. It really slows us down from making any 'impulse' purchases. It is helping us to simpify our lives in many ways, the pace is slower for everything and there are some advantages to that.

Jake has a BB gun, an assortment of knives and chopping tools and he is in country boy heaven. Our nearest neighbor is about a quarter mile away so he can pretty much do whatever he would like in the stream and the woods around us.

Julia is playing with her cousin Sarah regularly so she has not had time to miss her friends from Horseheads - yet. She is outside a lot playing with her cousin and our dog Katie.

We held our first services yesterday morning - first at Fort Miller Wesleyan at 8:30 am and then at Chestertown Wesleyan (Northway Community Fellowship) at 11:00 am. There were 19 people at each service. Jon Wixson came up for the weekend to meet everyone and he participated in the services. Jon and I shared a skit under the name "The Sons of Thunder". The services went well and I was encouraged to find a warm welcome from both congregations.

In my next post I am going to share about the emotions I went through Sunday evening. It became evident right away that the Evil One wanted to knock me out, but God is good and good things are coming.