We have reached a very significant milestone or turning point in our

ministry together. I have been your interim pastor since last September. I

will continue to be your interim pastor until the next settled pastor has

moved in and is ready to begin his or her ministry with you.

Your Search Committee has been appointed and approved by the Board

and the congregation. They, myself, and your moderator met with the

Reverend Stephen Bentley, Associate Regional Pastor of the Christian Church

in Ohio. He provided us with packets that contain a congregational profile

form and other forms or information related to the Search process.

The most important item at this time is the congregational profile form.

There are questions or information that you may be asked to help supply. If

you have email, most of you should have already have received a

questionnaire from the Christian Church in Ohio asking you to rank those

qualities that you desire most from the next settled pastor.

We will be telling our story, the story of First Christian Church in

Middletown. All of the above needs to be supported by your prayers as we

seek to discern with the prompting of the Holy Spirit where God is calling us

to be.

Your Search Committee hopes to complete this congregational profile

form by early August. The Reverend Bentley will then return to meet with

committee and provide them with about fifteen profiles from prospective

candidates. I will no longer be able to be a part of this process except to

answer a question or two. Again, be in prayer!

“4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.* 5

You shall love the

Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

The above passage is from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and it was regarded as a

directive from God through Moses regarding how God was to be respected and

honored.

We are beginning a new fiscal year in the life First Christian. We have elected

officers and leaders for the coming year or for their respective terms of leadership.

These include Moderator, Vice-Moderator, Secretary, Treasurer, Elders, and

Deacons.

The children of Israel were commanded to keep these commandments within

their hearts and spirits. Note that there is only one God. Therefore, we cannot turn

sports or other activities into a God. We cannot with a failure of commitment say to

ourselves, “I know I am to serve as an Elder or Deacon today, but someone else

will just fill in for me.” For each time we do that we have let the priority of God

being first slip away. Our commitment to our Lord tends to lag and the entire

church that our Lord brought into being tends to suffer as a result.

Let us seek to be faithful as God and His Church become our Number One

commitment.

George Bullard writes the following in one of his recent insights:

“Congregations desiring to transform cannot waste opportunities to

demonstrate or speak to the spiritual aspects of every event or process it

sponsors. They must be intentional and purposeful about everything they do.

Church is not just about being busy. It is about pointing people to a Christ-
centered faith-based lifestyle.

While the manner in which the spiritual aspects are stated or implied may at

times be subtle rather than confrontational, it should be obvious.

Congregational leaders need to pray and think through how with each event

or process the unconditional love of God might be made manifest in word and

deed.”

Many of you may know that I have a passion for spiritual formation. I

cannot agree more with pointing people to a Christ-centered faith-based

lifestyle. I believe that we often miss the mark simply because we go

through the motions without the intense prayer effort to back up the

intended results of pointing people to Christ.

We are moving into an exciting time in our journey to call a settled

pastor. Will we clearly demonstrate to prospective candidates that we are a

sincere faith-based people?

When I think of a congregation, I think of connections. Like the chain above,

we are connected. We are connected, perhaps by family relationship. We might be

connected as neighbors. The communities in which we live connect us. Age, work,

schools all provide connections.

The most important connection comes because of faith communities to which

we belong. In this case, we are a part of First Christian Church.

The chain above can be broken. Each link is important for all of the others to

exist. There is no link that is more important than any other.

Where are you as a part of the chain that God has called together as First

Christian? As we move forward, will you seek to be the strongest link possible and

not allow the chain to fail in any way?

When I was still at home in my latter teen years, my father decided to have a

pond built that would sit almost directly behind our two car garage with

accompanying horse stalls. I marveled as the bulldozers scraped out a fairly deep

hole and piling the dirt to enable the eventual waters that would gather to be held

in place. Loads of large rocks were hauled in to line the upper edge of the pond.

Downspouts from the nearby house and the garage were rerouted to help replenish

the water supply. At least one natural spring was discovered.

It took at least a year of rain and snow to fill the pond. After a year or two,

my father had the pond stocked with blue gill and bass. Even though I was in my

latter teen years, I was like most boys. I loved to occasionally pick up a stone and

toss it into the pond.

I marveled at the ripples that moved toward the shore after that stone had

struck the water. Picture those ripples for a moment. Imagine that you are like

that ripple edging farther and farther away from where it was created. As it

touches the shore there may be a bit of a splash and in this case, the plants, the

insects, the frogs experience something that I started simply by tossing a rock into

the pond.

Our Lord touches our lives and we become the ripples that reach out to touch

another’s life. Prayerfully, consider the many wonderful ways and opportunities

that our Lord opens to us as a part of First Christian Church. You see, First

Christian is like that pond.

The thought of opposites kept coming to mind as I pondered and prayed over

this article. There is one story that Jesus told that stands out from so many others.

It is the story of the Pharisee and the publican or tax collector. You can find it

in Luke 18:9-14. Without going into the full detail of the parable, we all need to

ask ourselves this simple question: How do I approach God in my times of

worship?

We are presented with quite a contrast within this parable. The Pharisee

approaches God from a place of righteousness. In other words, he seems to have it

all together and he wants those around him to know it. With a puffed up attitude

he begins to proudly exclaim that he is glad that he is not like that publican or tax

collector. Allow me to put it in today’s words. He attends church regularly. He

gives a tithe or more to the church. He willingly accepts any responsibility or

mission task that he is asked to do. This seems like the ideal church member if

there is truly such a person.

Remember my question: How do I approach God in my times of worship?

Now, let’s look at the other side, that is, from the perspective of the publican

or tax collector. The tax collector was beating his chest and would not even look up

toward the heavens. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Again, consider: How do I approach God in my times of worship?

We are approaching two very significant moments in the life of First Christian.

The first will involve the work of the Nominating Committee as they seek to

replace leaders at different levels of the congregation’s work and whose terms are

expiring. When you are asked to serve wherever the need may be, will you

willingly accept the privilege of serving our Lord and our God? You see, so often we

get it wrong. We limit our vision to focus only on the local church. Expand your

vision to include the One who has called us into being. In the words of the hymn,

“I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today;…” Remember who calls, not simply

for filling a slate of officers and leaders, but to be a vital part of continuing ministry.

The second moment in the life of the church is addressing the

stewardship/financial needs for the coming year. As I write this, I aware the

individuals are working on a plan to present to the congregation. A significant part

of this plan will be what it will take to enable the congregation to be to call a settled

pastor.

The next step involves our response. How is God calling us to respond with

our resources? Actually, I will be saying more about this from the pulpit in a couple

of weeks. Over 80% of Jesus’ teachings address what we do with what God has

given us. If it was that important to our Lord, then it needs to take on the same

level of importance with each of us.

The big question for every one of us is: How will we serve?

We are approaching two very significant moments in the life of First Christian.

The first will involve the work of the Nominating Committee as they seek to

replace leaders at different levels of the congregation’s work and whose terms are

expiring. When you are asked to serve wherever the need may be, will you

willingly accept the privilege of serving our Lord and our God? You see, so often we

get it wrong. We limit our vision to focus only on the local church. Expand your

vision to include the One who has called us into being. In the words of the hymn,

“I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today;…” Remember who calls, not simply

for filling a slate of officers and leaders, but to be a vital part of continuing ministry.

The second moment in the life of the church is addressing the

stewardship/financial needs for the coming year. As I write this, I aware the

individuals are working on a plan to present to the congregation. A significant part

of this plan will be what it will take to enable the congregation to be to call a settled

pastor.

The next step involves our response. How is God calling us to respond with

our resources? Actually, I will be saying more about this from the pulpit in a couple

of weeks. Over 80% of Jesus’ teachings address what we do with what God has

given us. If it was that important to our Lord, then it needs to take on the same

level of importance with each of us.

The big question for every one of us is: How will we serve?