http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm Fri, 18 May 2012 01:25:00 GMT http://bandzoogle.com http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=2089610 Let me start with the best news! On Monday Jen and Michael Douce gave birth to their first child, a boy, Landon Michael Douce at 3:27 pm, 6 lbs, 11 ounces and 20 inches long. Jen did great and is now home with Landon. Today has been fun as I wrote my sermon from home. I have been interacting with Saisha and Janae. Saisha has her own apartment now so very little of her stuff is in our new house but, Janae had moved all of her clothes and belongings into a bedroom dedicated for her use. Janae will spend most of her summer nights at the Jameson Camp but will be here on weekends and a couple of off weeks. Saisha is known for her organizational skills so Janae asked her to help her go through clothes and get organized. They have transformed her room in a few short hours. We can actually open her door with pride now. We think Saisha should hire herself out. Last night I attended the Pre-Conference briefing in Franklin and was excited to hear about all the changes they are making to Annual Conference. This year Annual Conference will become what I have always felt it should be, an opportunity for worship and education that will help our ministry in the local church. Annual Conference is typically an experience just for pastors and lay delegates with much of the time spent in legislative plenary sessions. Most of that will be held to a minimum this year with workshops offered and more worship opportunities. They have worked to make this a conference for all United Methodists to attend. The response has been so great that they realized they need to offer more workshops next year as some have already filled up. Here are some of the opportunities you want to participate in. Mission Day is Wednesday, June 6. You have to register online and the cost is $30 but how fun to join with other Methodists to make a difference in our city. Go to inumc.org where you will find a video that explains this opportunity more fully. Thursday, June 7, you can participate in a 5K Run/Walk/Stroll fundraiser on the canal to help fight Malaria. Friday, June 8, we are closing down Monument Circle for a family fun time event from 5-7:00 pm. Invite your friends and neighbors to this event planned by our own Helene Foust. You may also take in some of the special worship experiences Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Look for the Conference Agenda link on the inumc.org website. On Saturday, attend a Prayer Breakfast at the Convention Center with Governor Mitch Daniels serving as the main speaker. Tickets are $20 and you must register ahead of time. Saturday night at 7:00 pm you may attend the Indians baseball game with Bishop Michael Coyner throwing out the first pitch. We have purchased 25 tickets for this game. You may reserved your tickets for $9, on a first come, first serve basis, by contacting Ric Gasaway in writing. Pastor Bob is driving the church bus for those interested. The bus will leave Old Bethel at 6:00 pm sharp. Sunday is Ascension Sunday and I think you will find this obscure holiday in the church calendar has some significant meaning for us. My message is What Goes Down Will Come Up. Read Philippians 2:5-11 in preparation. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry
Today has been fun as I wrote my sermon from home. I have been interacting with Saisha and Janae. Saisha has her own apartment now so very little of her stuff is in our new house but, Janae had moved all of her clothes and belongings into a bedroom dedicated for her use. Janae will spend most of her summer nights at the Jameson Camp but will be here on weekends and a couple of off weeks. Saisha is known for her organizational skills so Janae asked her to help her go through clothes and get organized. They have transformed her room in a few short hours. We can actually open her door with pride now. We think Saisha should hire herself out.

Last night I attended the Pre-Conference briefing in Franklin and was excited to hear about all the changes they are making to Annual Conference. This year Annual Conference will become what I have always felt it should be, an opportunity for worship and education that will help our ministry in the local church. Annual Conference is typically an experience just for pastors and lay delegates with much of the time spent in legislative plenary sessions. Most of that will be held to a minimum this year with workshops offered and more worship opportunities. They have worked to make this a conference for all United Methodists to attend. The response has been so great that they realized they need to offer more workshops next year as some have already filled up.

Here are some of the opportunities you want to participate in. Mission Day is Wednesday, June 6. You have to register online and the cost is $30 but how fun to join with other Methodists to make a difference in our city. Go to inumc.org where you will find a video that explains this opportunity more fully. Thursday, June 7, you can participate in a 5K Run/Walk/Stroll fundraiser on the canal to help fight Malaria. Friday, June 8, we are closing down Monument Circle for a family fun time event from 5-7:00 pm. Invite your friends and neighbors to this event planned by our own Helene Foust. You may also take in some of the special worship experiences Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Look for the Conference Agenda link on the inumc.org website. On Saturday, attend a Prayer Breakfast at the Convention Center with Governor Mitch Daniels serving as the main speaker. Tickets are $20 and you must register ahead of time. Saturday night at 7:00 pm you may attend the Indians baseball game with Bishop Michael Coyner throwing out the first pitch. We have purchased 25 tickets for this game. You may reserved your tickets for $9, on a first come, first serve basis, by contacting Ric Gasaway in writing. Pastor Bob is driving the church bus for those interested. The bus will leave Old Bethel at 6:00 pm sharp.

Sunday is Ascension Sunday and I think you will find this obscure holiday in the church calendar has some significant meaning for us. My message is What Goes Down Will Come Up. Read Philippians 2:5-11 in preparation.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 01:25:00 GMT EE5012F8790A8571ADB016B2D01B6398 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=2066796 Sunday is Mother’s Day I was very pleased with our Mission Sunday last week. I believe we learned much more about UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) and discovered the power we have when United Methodists work together through out connectional system. Our pledges are definitely up over last year. The hard number is difficult to figure because we don’t take names and a few of the pledges are confusing to interpret but it appears at least $36,000 has been pledged from 99 different pledges. You can still make a pledge this Sunday by placing your pledge in the basket at the back of the sanctuary. Saisha and Janae finished their semester at UIndy and Ball State respectively. Saisha says she got all As and Janae finished with a 3.411 for this semester. I helped Saisha move some furniture into her new apartment yesterday and we were attempting to move one of those manufactured closets. It has seen better days but we were still shocked when, as we were moving it with a dolly, it fell completely apart into 10 different pieces. Tomorrow I will be putting it back together with some L-brackets and hopefully our friends who loaned it won’t be too upset. Saisha is excited about her new apartment as it is off campus and seems to be another step toward adult life. The Trustees approved and have already installed glass as a sound barrier on the east side of the narthex to create a space for families with small children and for special needs children at our 9:00 am worship. Our 11:00 Worship Team approved June 3 as the date we will create a more intimate worship space for the smaller attendance we have at that service. We will use two curtain screens and several banners to move people up closer to the front. These will be put up and taken down each week so the 9:00 worship will not be impacted. Also, on that Sunday we will make some adjustments to the 11:00 worship so families can keep their children in the worship service. We will divide the sermon into two parts, begin offering a children’s sermon and a children’s song each week. We will change the name of the service from “Engage Worship” to “Family Worship.” The SPRC (Staff Parish Relations Committee) has established its target date for interviews for the Pastor of Family Ministries. We are taking resumes now and have already received several. Those will be narrowed down, phone interviews conducted and then we hope to interview as a committee, balanced with three additional young adults, three or four finalists for the position on June 4. Pray for this process, as we need the person God intends to be here for a long-term ministry. This Sunday is Mother’s Day. I found myself intrigued by Matthew 12:46-50 where Jesus says, “who are my mother and brothers….” The passage sounds almost insulting to Mary, the mother of Jesus. My message is When Children Break Your Heart. I think all women will find strength in the example of Mary who was faithful in her devotion to Jesus. I have a fun story to share regarding the family bunk bed. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry Sunday is Mother’s Day

I was very pleased with our Mission Sunday last week. I believe we learned much more about UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) and discovered the power we have when United Methodists work together through out connectional system. Our pledges are definitely up over last year. The hard number is difficult to figure because we don’t take names and a few of the pledges are confusing to interpret but it appears at least $36,000 has been pledged from 99 different pledges. You can still make a pledge this Sunday by placing your pledge in the basket at the back of the sanctuary.

Saisha and Janae finished their semester at UIndy and Ball State respectively. Saisha says she got all As and Janae finished with a 3.411 for this semester. I helped Saisha move some furniture into her new apartment yesterday and we were attempting to move one of those manufactured closets. It has seen better days but we were still shocked when, as we were moving it with a dolly, it fell completely apart into 10 different pieces. Tomorrow I will be putting it back together with some L-brackets and hopefully our friends who loaned it won’t be too upset. Saisha is excited about her new apartment as it is off campus and seems to be another step toward adult life.

The Trustees approved and have already installed glass as a sound barrier on the east side of the narthex to create a space for families with small children and for special needs children at our 9:00 am worship. Our 11:00 Worship Team approved June 3 as the date we will create a more intimate worship space for the smaller attendance we have at that service. We will use two curtain screens and several banners to move people up closer to the front. These will be put up and taken down each week so the 9:00 worship will not be impacted. Also, on that Sunday we will make some adjustments to the 11:00 worship so families can keep their children in the worship service. We will divide the sermon into two parts, begin offering a children’s sermon and a children’s song each week. We will change the name of the service from “Engage Worship” to “Family Worship.”

The SPRC (Staff Parish Relations Committee) has established its target date for interviews for the Pastor of Family Ministries. We are taking resumes now and have already received several. Those will be narrowed down, phone interviews conducted and then we hope to interview as a committee, balanced with three additional young adults, three or four finalists for the position on June 4. Pray for this process, as we need the person God intends to be here for a long-term ministry.

This Sunday is Mother’s Day. I found myself intrigued by Matthew 12:46-50 where Jesus says, “who are my mother and brothers….” The passage sounds almost insulting to Mary, the mother of Jesus. My message is When Children Break Your Heart. I think all women will find strength in the example of Mary who was faithful in her devotion to Jesus. I have a fun story to share regarding the family bunk bed.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Fri, 11 May 2012 00:20:34 GMT 9E0E3619F3CCAC1361707155DF020B1D http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=2047422 Youth Car Wash at the church from 10-2 this Saturday, May 5 This will be the last fundraiser by the Youth for this year’s Summer Mission Trip so bring your car out to the church this Saturday. They are also finishing up the Thumbs Up for Youth nail painting fundraiser. They will paint Ric Gasaway’s nails if they raise $500 and, if they raise $750 I will preach one Sunday with my nails painted in Purdue colors. I am not sure what the current totals are but it sounds like the Purdue fans better step it up if they want to see me sporting the black and gold. I have been on vacation this week. I will be around Sunday as I do not want to miss Mission Sunday and SPRC has graciously allowed me to save this Sunday vacation time for when I preach in September at Silver Street UMC in New Albany for their 100 year anniversary. This has been a working vacation to catch up on some moving projects that I never could seem to get around to. I installed a closet system in a new closet we had built in our bedroom. Now I don’t have to walk down the hall to get my clothes. Tuesday, Nancy and I painted our bedroom so we actually have one room in our house complete. Yesterday, I organized our garage. After four months we can finally get both cars in the garage. Today, if the weather cooperates, I am going to mow and bale my yard. If I have any energy left it will be back to painting. Last night I brought a carload of Janae’s stuff home from Ball State. She has one more final tonight and then she is done for the summer. Janae is going to be working as a lifeguard and counselor at the Jameson Camp here in Indianapolis where Saisha worked last year. Speaking of Saisha, it appears she has landed a nanny job watching three children this summer. Saisha is entering her senior year at UINDY and will be applying for grad schools with programs in school counseling. Our new Starting Point class has been going well. We have had 24 in attendance and have had some great discussions. Last week, we talked about how the Bible came to be and explained the easiest way to read the Bible if you are a beginning your spiritual journey. This week we will share what is unique about United Methodists. This Sunday is Mission Sunday or, as some call it, Faith Promise Sunday. We have a great guest speaker whom I have heard many times at Annual Conference. Bob Babcock has lots of experiences with UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief). UMCOR is the disaster relief arm of the church. We have seen their work most recently in Henryville, Indiana. Bob is an energetic speaker and will bring us inspiration. We also have John Reed, Jr. coming. John grew up at Old Bethel and is currently Assistant Superintendent of Schools with the West Clark School system, which operates Henryville High School. He has some first hand experiences we will appreciate. In addition, you will see a Powerpoint of all the Missions we support through our Faith Promise pledges and some video footage of the Henryville tornado. At the end of the service you will have the opportunity to make a pledge on faith that makes possible so many vital efforts to alleviate some of the pain in this world. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry Youth Car Wash at the church from 10-2 this Saturday, May 5

This will be the last fundraiser by the Youth for this year’s Summer Mission Trip so bring your car out to the church this Saturday. They are also finishing up the Thumbs Up for Youth nail painting fundraiser. They will paint Ric Gasaway’s nails if they raise $500 and, if they raise $750 I will preach one Sunday with my nails painted in Purdue colors. I am not sure what the current totals are but it sounds like the Purdue fans better step it up if they want to see me sporting the black and gold.

I have been on vacation this week. I will be around Sunday as I do not want to miss Mission Sunday and SPRC has graciously allowed me to save this Sunday vacation time for when I preach in September at Silver Street UMC in New Albany for their 100 year anniversary. This has been a working vacation to catch up on some moving projects that I never could seem to get around to. I installed a closet system in a new closet we had built in our bedroom. Now I don’t have to walk down the hall to get my clothes. Tuesday, Nancy and I painted our bedroom so we actually have one room in our house complete. Yesterday, I organized our garage. After four months we can finally get both cars in the garage. Today, if the weather cooperates, I am going to mow and bale my yard. If I have any energy left it will be back to painting.

Last night I brought a carload of Janae’s stuff home from Ball State. She has one more final tonight and then she is done for the summer. Janae is going to be working as a lifeguard and counselor at the Jameson Camp here in Indianapolis where Saisha worked last year. Speaking of Saisha, it appears she has landed a nanny job watching three children this summer. Saisha is entering her senior year at UINDY and will be applying for grad schools with programs in school counseling.

Our new Starting Point class has been going well. We have had 24 in attendance and have had some great discussions. Last week, we talked about how the Bible came to be and explained the easiest way to read the Bible if you are a beginning your spiritual journey. This week we will share what is unique about United Methodists.

This Sunday is Mission Sunday or, as some call it, Faith Promise Sunday. We have a great guest speaker whom I have heard many times at Annual Conference. Bob Babcock has lots of experiences with UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief). UMCOR is the disaster relief arm of the church. We have seen their work most recently in Henryville, Indiana. Bob is an energetic speaker and will bring us inspiration. We also have John Reed, Jr. coming. John grew up at Old Bethel and is currently Assistant Superintendent of Schools with the West Clark School system, which operates Henryville High School. He has some first hand experiences we will appreciate. In addition, you will see a Powerpoint of all the Missions we support through our Faith Promise pledges and some video footage of the Henryville tornado. At the end of the service you will have the opportunity to make a pledge on faith that makes possible so many vital efforts to alleviate some of the pain in this world.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Fri, 04 May 2012 19:41:31 GMT C7219BFF01C5DDC824E2776786051F79 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=2022551 This week I finally got to see my son Devin on Skype; the first time since he entered Afghanistan. We had instant messaged each other a few times but since he is using a computer lab, Skyping can only be done late at night when most have gone to bed. He seems to be doing well. When my daughter Saisha asked him if he gets a day off and he just laughed. He said most of his work has been patrols and administrative runs. He said they did assist in the pursuit of a bad guy, which brought a little excitement. Devin is looking forward to June when he will get a two-week leave. He has decided instead of coming home, he will use that time to tour Europe. He can fly for free into Germany and then arrange his own travel and itinerary from there. That will be an exciting time for him to see the world. Monday, our Administrative Council approved the job description for our new Pastor of Family Ministries. Email me if you would like to see the job description and rationale. We are receiving applications until May 21 and hope to make the hire soon thereafter. Our goal is to have the new person in place sometime in July. I have just begun posting the job ad but have already received our first resume. The Administrative Council also endorsed the Food Pantry plan to add parking spaces and an outdoor freezer unit at a cost of under $200,000. The Council requested Ann Mead to begin acquiring quotes for construction and to submit a detailed plan to the Trustees and Finance Committees so the work can move forward. We have our plans all together for Mission Sunday on May 6. Our guest speaker will be Bob Babcock who has extensive experience with UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief). He will inspire us with some of the great ministry that happens through UMCOR and bring our message for that day. We are showing a video produced by Center UMC, which includes pictures of much of the destruction created by the tornado in the Henryville area. We will also welcome John Reed, Jr. who grew up in Old Bethel and is currently Assistant Superintendent of Schools that includes Henryville High School. He will share some personal stories from the disaster. This Sunday is an important one because we will be receiving our Faith Promise pledges, which support several Mission projects throughout the year. This Sunday, I will complete our series explaining our Vision: Offering Hope for Every Hunger. I will focus on how we bring hope through Christ-centered service. Holy Communion will be celebrated this Sunday due to all we have going on Mission Sunday. In preparation, read Matthew 25:34-40. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry
Devin is looking forward to June when he will get a two-week leave. He has decided instead of coming home, he will use that time to tour Europe. He can fly for free into Germany and then arrange his own travel and itinerary from there. That will be an exciting time for him to see the world.

Monday, our Administrative Council approved the job description for our new Pastor of Family Ministries. Email me if you would like to see the job description and rationale. We are receiving applications until May 21 and hope to make the hire soon thereafter. Our goal is to have the new person in place sometime in July. I have just begun posting the job ad but have already received our first resume. The Administrative Council also endorsed the Food Pantry plan to add parking spaces and an outdoor freezer unit at a cost of under $200,000. The Council requested Ann Mead to begin acquiring quotes for construction and to submit a detailed plan to the Trustees and Finance Committees so the work can move forward.

We have our plans all together for Mission Sunday on May 6. Our guest speaker will be Bob Babcock who has extensive experience with UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief). He will inspire us with some of the great ministry that happens through UMCOR and bring our message for that day. We are showing a video produced by Center UMC, which includes pictures of much of the destruction created by the tornado in the Henryville area. We will also welcome John Reed, Jr. who grew up in Old Bethel and is currently Assistant Superintendent of Schools that includes Henryville High School. He will share some personal stories from the disaster. This Sunday is an important one because we will be receiving our Faith Promise pledges, which support several Mission projects throughout the year.

This Sunday, I will complete our series explaining our Vision: Offering Hope for Every Hunger. I will focus on how we bring hope through Christ-centered service. Holy Communion will be celebrated this Sunday due to all we have going on Mission Sunday. In preparation, read Matthew 25:34-40.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:52:34 GMT 870E1BE91B0342F777B8B61FB3E42D89 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=2001390 I want to invite you to come next Monday to the Administrative Council at 7:00 pm. We have a couple of items coming up for final discussion and approval. First, we have completed our Staffing Vision for our first hire. If you are interested in looking at the job description here is a <a href="./files/Job-Description-for-Pastor-of-Family-Ministries4.doc">link. Below is the rationale for the new position: The needs of our society and community call for a new approach to family ministry. We have seen the results of compartmentalized ministry that rarely reaches the family as a whole. Therefore we propose that we hire first a Pastor of Family Ministries who will develop a holistic approach to the areas of family, youth and children ministry. We need someone who has the skills to connect with adults as much as children or youth. We need someone who understands how to reach outside the walls of the church to persons who are experiencing the struggles of parenting children and youth. We fear that if we simply hire replacements for our current positions we will only be maintaining what currently exists. There will be a next step in our staffing vision but we believe we need to hire first a Pastor of Family Ministries who will have input in the person(s) who will be working under them. The gifts and abilities that the Pastor of Family Ministries will bring will help us decide what additional staff is necessary to accomplish the Vision. Our hope is this approach will create a more comprehensive ministry that more closely unites faith and home. We have been very methodical in this process. I cannot tell you how important it is for us to get this hire right. My prayer is that God will help us find someone who wants to invest their life and ministry on the east side of Indy for at least ten years or more. In addition, the food Pantry is ready to move forward with its expansion and here is the proposal they will present: Due to [the] increased number of shoppers we propose to purchase a new external freezer, add 14 parking places and do some minimal re-modeling inside the Pantry, including a prayer place. This will be accomplished for no more than $200,000 and not include a capital campaign at Old Bethel. The purpose of this remodeling at the Pantry is to improve our Christ-centered service so that we can make more disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Let me give a shout out to Bobby Riggles who has done a great job jumping into our youth program. The Mission Trip itinerary is in place and he has been sorting through the Summer Camp process which is more complicated than you can imagine. He has discovered that when we include all of our Hispanic children and youth that we have 25 campers signed up so far. The bulk of those numbers seem to be in the middle school range. The challenge before him is that our Senior High numbers are low and we have a lodge reserved for 18 campers. We pay the same price for that lodge whether we have 2 campers or 18. So if you know of any Senior High youth who might consider going to camp please speak with Bobby. I will be a bachelor this weekend as Nancy heads to Cincinnati for her annual choral competition. I think I am going to use this time to do some organizing so I can finally get my car in the garage. Sunday I will continue to share a scriptural angle to our Vision when we consider how healthy relationships offer hope for every hunger. In preparation, read 1 Thessalonians 5:11-18. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry link. Below is the rationale for the new position:

The needs of our society and community call for a new approach to family ministry. We have seen the results of compartmentalized ministry that rarely reaches the family as a whole. Therefore we propose that we hire first a Pastor of Family Ministries who will develop a holistic approach to the areas of family, youth and children ministry. We need someone who has the skills to connect with adults as much as children or youth. We need someone who understands how to reach outside the walls of the church to persons who are experiencing the struggles of parenting children and youth. We fear that if we simply hire replacements for our current positions we will only be maintaining what currently exists.

There will be a next step in our staffing vision but we believe we need to hire first a Pastor of Family Ministries who will have input in the person(s) who will be working under them. The gifts and abilities that the Pastor of Family Ministries will bring will help us decide what additional staff is necessary to accomplish the Vision. Our hope is this approach will create a more comprehensive ministry that more closely unites faith and home.

We have been very methodical in this process. I cannot tell you how important it is for us to get this hire right. My prayer is that God will help us find someone who wants to invest their life and ministry on the east side of Indy for at least ten years or more.

In addition, the food Pantry is ready to move forward with its expansion and here is the proposal they will present: Due to [the] increased number of shoppers we propose to purchase a new external freezer, add 14 parking places and do some minimal re-modeling inside the Pantry, including a prayer place. This will be accomplished for no more than $200,000 and not include a capital campaign at Old Bethel. The purpose of this remodeling at the Pantry is to improve our Christ-centered service so that we can make more disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Let me give a shout out to Bobby Riggles who has done a great job jumping into our youth program. The Mission Trip itinerary is in place and he has been sorting through the Summer Camp process which is more complicated than you can imagine. He has discovered that when we include all of our Hispanic children and youth that we have 25 campers signed up so far. The bulk of those numbers seem to be in the middle school range. The challenge before him is that our Senior High numbers are low and we have a lodge reserved for 18 campers. We pay the same price for that lodge whether we have 2 campers or 18. So if you know of any Senior High youth who might consider going to camp please speak with Bobby.

I will be a bachelor this weekend as Nancy heads to Cincinnati for her annual choral competition. I think I am going to use this time to do some organizing so I can finally get my car in the garage. Sunday I will continue to share a scriptural angle to our Vision when we consider how healthy relationships offer hope for every hunger. In preparation, read 1 Thessalonians 5:11-18.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:36:49 GMT 61A193D7148EA500A8088AF44FC49082 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1976998 Don&rsquo;t miss the Pancake Breakfast from 7:30-10:30 this Saturday, April 14! You are also invited to a baby shower for Jen &amp; Michael Douce Sunday, April 15 at Noon. Light sandwiches will be served. Jen is registered at Bye, Bye Baby, Target &amp; Babies-R-Us. We had a great Holy Week! The Passover Sedar presentation by Slavik Meyta was so informative and gave us new insight into how the early Jewish followers would have understood the deep meaning Jesus was declaring at the Last Supper. The Cluster Good Friday Service came together so well, with 309 present. Our numbers for Easter were 72 at the Sunrise Service, 521 at 9:00 and 179 for the 11:00 Engage Worship. This is the highest attendance for any Sunday in the almost three years I have been at Old Bethel. Even more important, as we as a staff have followed up on our Easter visitors, we have found some who came truly seeking a spiritual connection for the first time. So let&rsquo;s not dismiss those numbers as just C &amp; E (Christmas &amp; Easter) Christians. I&rsquo;ve done a little figuring for our fundraising for the Youth Mission Trip. If we include a carry over of $1,400 from last year, we now have over $10,000 in that account. We believe this puts us in strong shape. We will finish out our work projects, do the painted nails fund raiser, collect the remaining registration fees, hold our last car wash and we should have this trip funded. If there is any left over, we will dedicate it towards a weekend mission effort in the Henryville, Indiana area. We have some adults and youth who are interested in working down there as soon as suitable projects are identified by our UMCOR coordinators there. Sunday evening I will launch our newly revised Starting Point. This is a six-week experience for people considering new membership or wishing to be a part of our small-group movement. My hope is this effort will deepen our discipleship of new persons and better prepare each for a life-long journey of faith. At this point in time, I have 24 persons who have expressed their intent to be a part of this process. My dream is that one or two new small groups come out of this effort. At that point, I will be seeking some of you veteran church members who would like to make accountable discipleship a part of your spiritual growth to help us launch these new groups. This Sunday, I begin a three-week series explaining what our newly declared Vision means: Offering hope for every hunger through true spirituality, healthy relationships and Christ-centered service. I will share how important hope is and say more clearly what we mean by true spirituality. In preparation, read Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 5:1-8. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry Don’t miss the Pancake Breakfast from 7:30-10:30 this Saturday, April 14!

You are also invited to a baby shower for Jen & Michael Douce Sunday, April 15 at Noon. Light sandwiches will be served. Jen is registered at Bye, Bye Baby, Target & Babies-R-Us.


We had a great Holy Week! The Passover Sedar presentation by Slavik Meyta was so informative and gave us new insight into how the early Jewish followers would have understood the deep meaning Jesus was declaring at the Last Supper. The Cluster Good Friday Service came together so well, with 309 present. Our numbers for Easter were 72 at the Sunrise Service, 521 at 9:00 and 179 for the 11:00 Engage Worship. This is the highest attendance for any Sunday in the almost three years I have been at Old Bethel. Even more important, as we as a staff have followed up on our Easter visitors, we have found some who came truly seeking a spiritual connection for the first time. So let’s not dismiss those numbers as just C & E (Christmas & Easter) Christians.

I’ve done a little figuring for our fundraising for the Youth Mission Trip. If we include a carry over of $1,400 from last year, we now have over $10,000 in that account. We believe this puts us in strong shape. We will finish out our work projects, do the painted nails fund raiser, collect the remaining registration fees, hold our last car wash and we should have this trip funded. If there is any left over, we will dedicate it towards a weekend mission effort in the Henryville, Indiana area. We have some adults and youth who are interested in working down there as soon as suitable projects are identified by our UMCOR coordinators there.

Sunday evening I will launch our newly revised Starting Point. This is a six-week experience for people considering new membership or wishing to be a part of our small-group movement. My hope is this effort will deepen our discipleship of new persons and better prepare each for a life-long journey of faith. At this point in time, I have 24 persons who have expressed their intent to be a part of this process. My dream is that one or two new small groups come out of this effort. At that point, I will be seeking some of you veteran church members who would like to make accountable discipleship a part of your spiritual growth to help us launch these new groups.

This Sunday, I begin a three-week series explaining what our newly declared Vision means: Offering hope for every hunger through true spirituality, healthy relationships and Christ-centered service. I will share how important hope is and say more clearly what we mean by true spirituality. In preparation, read Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 5:1-8.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:33:36 GMT 64B40CACFF9D625D91BC9C6240FC1BD2 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1950309 Holy Week Worship Schedule: Maundy Thursday tonight at 7:30. Meyta Slavik from Jews for Jesus will share how Jesus transformed the Passover Sedar into our Last Supper Remembrance. Bring your children to touch and taste the foods of that first Passover. Good Friday Worship tomorrow night. Fellowship with our Ministry Cluster at 7:00. Worship at 7:30. The service will feature persons touched by Jesus. Experience the coins given to Judas, the thorns of Jesus&rsquo; crown and smell the vinegar raised to his mouth on the cross. Easter Sunrise Service 7:00 am Sunday with Youth leading, Bobby Riggles preaching and Michael Douce bringing our music. Easter Breakfast will be served from 7:45-8:30 in Fellowship Hall. Easter Worship Celebrations 9:00 &amp; 11:00 am with the Rosewood Ensemble. Pastor Jerry&rsquo;s message Expecting the Unexpected, based on Mark 16:1-8. I have Skyped with my son Devin in Afghanistan this week. Everyone agrees that Devin is the smartest one in our family. I enjoy talking politics and other intellectual matters with him. He shared a quote with me I have to pass along. This comes from Linus Pauling, a Noble Prize Winner. &ldquo;Do unto others 20% more than you would expect them to do unto you to correct for subjective error.&rdquo; I like that, it sounds rather Christ-like to me as he taught us to go the extra mile. I am sad to announce that Julie Macy, our part-time Children&rsquo;s Minister has accepted a full-time position with Goddard and will be leaving us at the end of April. We are sorry to lose Julie but are happy for her opportunity. This will simplify her life tremendously as she lives on the west side of Plainfield and the drive to Old Bethel with $4 gasoline was becoming an issue. We host a reception for Julie between services on April 22. Our Staffing Vision team has been formed and we meet Monday night. Please pray for our work as we address our needs to move forward finding the staff we need to live out our vision. The Noble Center is ready to launch its community garden with the produce going to our Food Pantry. They are holding an organizational meeting 9:30 am Saturday. Ann Mead would like for Old Bethel to be well represented. Contact her if you have questions. Ann also shared that the proposal for the Food Pantry expansion to be shared at April&rsquo;s Administrative Council. The cost of new construction is too high to justify moving locations. The plan is to install an external freezer unit, add 14 new parking spaces in back and then purchase land for a second route into the parking area. The inside is to be renovated for a cleaner look and to provide space for a Prayer Room. Ann believes this can be accomplished with funds from their Endowment, grants and special solicitations, which means we will not need a special fund drive for these improvements. A couple of interesting statistics were offered. Total shoppers for the month of March were up 40% over last year. The most intriguing statistic for me is the number of shoppers over the age of 60 is up by 59%. The Food Pantry has been very successful in finding donors throughout the community but Ann reminded me that all the utilities for the pantry, totaling over $10,000, are paid for by our Old Bethel operating budget. We believe the Food Pantry is a significant ministry for the Old Bethel congregation and will be key in discipling new believers into a life of faith and service. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry Holy Week Worship Schedule:
Maundy Thursday tonight at 7:30. Meyta Slavik from Jews for Jesus will share how Jesus transformed the Passover Sedar into our Last Supper Remembrance. Bring your children to touch and taste the foods of that first Passover.

Good Friday Worship tomorrow night. Fellowship with our Ministry Cluster at 7:00. Worship at 7:30. The service will feature persons touched by Jesus. Experience the coins given to Judas, the thorns of Jesus’ crown and smell the vinegar raised to his mouth on the cross.

Easter Sunrise Service 7:00 am Sunday with Youth leading, Bobby Riggles preaching and Michael Douce bringing our music.

Easter Breakfast will be served from 7:45-8:30 in Fellowship Hall.

Easter Worship Celebrations 9:00 & 11:00 am with the Rosewood Ensemble. Pastor Jerry’s message Expecting the Unexpected, based on Mark 16:1-8.


I have Skyped with my son Devin in Afghanistan this week. Everyone agrees that Devin is the smartest one in our family. I enjoy talking politics and other intellectual matters with him. He shared a quote with me I have to pass along. This comes from Linus Pauling, a Noble Prize Winner. “Do unto others 20% more than you would expect them to do unto you to correct for subjective error.” I like that, it sounds rather Christ-like to me as he taught us to go the extra mile.

I am sad to announce that Julie Macy, our part-time Children’s Minister has accepted a full-time position with Goddard and will be leaving us at the end of April. We are sorry to lose Julie but are happy for her opportunity. This will simplify her life tremendously as she lives on the west side of Plainfield and the drive to Old Bethel with $4 gasoline was becoming an issue. We host a reception for Julie between services on April 22. Our Staffing Vision team has been formed and we meet Monday night. Please pray for our work as we address our needs to move forward finding the staff we need to live out our vision.

The Noble Center is ready to launch its community garden with the produce going to our Food Pantry. They are holding an organizational meeting 9:30 am Saturday. Ann Mead would like for Old Bethel to be well represented. Contact her if you have questions.

Ann also shared that the proposal for the Food Pantry expansion to be shared at April’s Administrative Council. The cost of new construction is too high to justify moving locations. The plan is to install an external freezer unit, add 14 new parking spaces in back and then purchase land for a second route into the parking area. The inside is to be renovated for a cleaner look and to provide space for a Prayer Room. Ann believes this can be accomplished with funds from their Endowment, grants and special solicitations, which means we will not need a special fund drive for these improvements. A couple of interesting statistics were offered. Total shoppers for the month of March were up 40% over last year. The most intriguing statistic for me is the number of shoppers over the age of 60 is up by 59%. The Food Pantry has been very successful in finding donors throughout the community but Ann reminded me that all the utilities for the pantry, totaling over $10,000, are paid for by our Old Bethel operating budget. We believe the Food Pantry is a significant ministry for the Old Bethel congregation and will be key in discipling new believers into a life of faith and service.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Thu, 05 Apr 2012 22:57:53 GMT A7016319722578587650615AE7843247 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1930141 Our Vision: Offering hope for every hunger through true spirituality, healthy relationships and Christ-centered service. The good news this week is, tonight I get to see my brother Don and sister-in-law Dianne for the second time in two weeks. The bad news is, it is because my niece that lives here in Indy is having a second surgery after the pathology report found malignant cells in her lymph nodes. She is only 38 years old, so her situation is weighing heavy on our hearts. This week we have been putting some of our Youth Teams to work. We are thankful that around 15 work projects have been requested from the congregation. We see this as a win-win-win situation. We get to do some things that help people in the congregation, our Youth get an opportunity to serve and funds are raised that help make the Mission Trip possible. Be patient with us as it is not always easy to coordinate getting these kids together. We will be launching our first new small group this Sunday. Troy and Chrissy Guthrie and Kelsey Wright will be coordinating this new young adult group. Keep them in your prayers as they gather to plan their future. We will soon be planning a day and evening for Ann Handschu, our Fruitful Journey coach, to meet with each ministry team in 45 minute segments. She has a process that will help you to think through the implications of the Vision. Stay tuned for more details as we will try to schedule this soon after Holy Week. It was reported at the Administrative Council that our giving for the operating budget is slightly up over last year. This is very encouraging to me because we will soon be developing our Staffing Vision and since it is apparent we are under-staffed at the moment, we will need to have a major campaign to raise funds for new staff. What is exciting is that we should have the loan repaid before we have to start this new initiative. Next week is Holy Week. There will be no Gathering meal or classes on Wednesday. The Maundy Thursday Service will be a little different this year, as we have Meyta Slavik coming from Jews for Jesus to explain how Jesus used the Passover Sedar to communicate the meaning of his death. Communion will be held in the sanctuary following this presentation. This begins at 7:30 pm. Good Friday Service will be celebrated at Old Bethel with our Ministry Cluster churches. Come early for a time of Fellowship at 7:00 pm prior to the worship service at 7:30 pm. The service will include the testimony of several witnesses of Jesus&rsquo; last days. We will leave in silence to recall the sorrow of that day. Easter Services will be at 7:00, 9:00 and 11:00. This Sunday is Palm Sunday. We will remember that community is one of the means of grace and see how Jesus cared enough about community that he worked with great intention to restore the disciples who had failed him miserably. In preparation, read John 20:19-23 &amp; John 21:15-19. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry Our Vision: Offering hope for every hunger through true spirituality, healthy relationships and Christ-centered service.

The good news this week is, tonight I get to see my brother Don and sister-in-law Dianne for the second time in two weeks. The bad news is, it is because my niece that lives here in Indy is having a second surgery after the pathology report found malignant cells in her lymph nodes. She is only 38 years old, so her situation is weighing heavy on our hearts.

This week we have been putting some of our Youth Teams to work. We are thankful that around 15 work projects have been requested from the congregation. We see this as a win-win-win situation. We get to do some things that help people in the congregation, our Youth get an opportunity to serve and funds are raised that help make the Mission Trip possible. Be patient with us as it is not always easy to coordinate getting these kids together.

We will be launching our first new small group this Sunday. Troy and Chrissy Guthrie and Kelsey Wright will be coordinating this new young adult group. Keep them in your prayers as they gather to plan their future.

We will soon be planning a day and evening for Ann Handschu, our Fruitful Journey coach, to meet with each ministry team in 45 minute segments. She has a process that will help you to think through the implications of the Vision. Stay tuned for more details as we will try to schedule this soon after Holy Week.

It was reported at the Administrative Council that our giving for the operating budget is slightly up over last year. This is very encouraging to me because we will soon be developing our Staffing Vision and since it is apparent we are under-staffed at the moment, we will need to have a major campaign to raise funds for new staff. What is exciting is that we should have the loan repaid before we have to start this new initiative.

Next week is Holy Week. There will be no Gathering meal or classes on Wednesday. The Maundy Thursday Service will be a little different this year, as we have Meyta Slavik coming from Jews for Jesus to explain how Jesus used the Passover Sedar to communicate the meaning of his death. Communion will be held in the sanctuary following this presentation. This begins at 7:30 pm. Good Friday Service will be celebrated at Old Bethel with our Ministry Cluster churches. Come early for a time of Fellowship at 7:00 pm prior to the worship service at 7:30 pm. The service will include the testimony of several witnesses of Jesus’ last days. We will leave in silence to recall the sorrow of that day. Easter Services will be at 7:00, 9:00 and 11:00.

This Sunday is Palm Sunday. We will remember that community is one of the means of grace and see how Jesus cared enough about community that he worked with great intention to restore the disciples who had failed him miserably. In preparation, read John 20:19-23 & John 21:15-19.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:00:45 GMT F7EC0EE07AF2C817DEC70FB6D9FCF437 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1900763 Our Mission To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Our Vision Offering hope for every hunger through true spirituality, healthy relationships and Christ-centered service. I am writing this while I am on vacation. I have to admit that I wasn&rsquo;t really ready to go on vacation. This trip was planned months ago using our timeshare and with a timeshare you sometimes have to grab what weeks you can. After our trip that retraced the Apostle Paul&rsquo;s second and third missionary journeys, followed by Christmas, moving in January, and the mission trip to Reynosa in February, I was really ready to just be home for a while. But I have to say, now I am here, I am really grateful to have a week with Nancy. I don&rsquo;t think I had realized how much we had lost touch with each other. It has been great being together in a new place and just focusing on one another. But after this trip I really am ready to live a boring life for a while. The vacation been even more helpful because last week became a very intense one for us. If you followed the news regarding the bus accident in Indianapolis, you may have made a connection that it involved students from the school where my daughter teaches. I became involved when I received a report that one of our members who attends that school had been taken to the hospital. It turned out that he was treated and released at the scene but when I arrived at the hospital I discovered one of my daughter&rsquo;s students was in the emergency room. So I spent the day at the hospital and the next day at the school volunteering as a counselor. I will share more details on Sunday as the experience seemed to have God&rsquo;s healing hand involved. On top of that, my niece who lives here in Indianapolis, had surgery last week for breast cancer. She is only 38 years old so this has been a great concern for us. We have received some very mixed news. It appears she is looking at more surgery. I hope you will keep her in your prayers; hard to understand with someone so young. I have been following the NCAA as best I can but basketball is not a high priority around here. I did find a place to watch the second half of the IU game against VCU and was able to catch the end of the Purdue game. Just goes to show how much luck is a part of the game. If the ball bounces a different direction, IU could be going home and Purdue would be in the Sweet Sixteen. I don&rsquo;t expect IU to beat Kentucky, but then again, at the beginning of the season I predicted they would win only 18 games. I will watch and hope and be happy with whatever the result. It is just great to be relevant again. This Sunday my message is more of a testimony than a sermon. I will share how much scripture shaped my response to the events that happened last week. Scripture can be a means of grace even if we have a hard time understanding it sometimes. In preparation, read Psalm 119:97-105. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry Our Mission
To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Our Vision
Offering hope for every hunger through true spirituality, healthy relationships and Christ-centered service.

I am writing this while I am on vacation. I have to admit that I wasn’t really ready to go on vacation. This trip was planned months ago using our timeshare and with a timeshare you sometimes have to grab what weeks you can. After our trip that retraced the Apostle Paul’s second and third missionary journeys, followed by Christmas, moving in January, and the mission trip to Reynosa in February, I was really ready to just be home for a while. But I have to say, now I am here, I am really grateful to have a week with Nancy. I don’t think I had realized how much we had lost touch with each other. It has been great being together in a new place and just focusing on one another. But after this trip I really am ready to live a boring life for a while.

The vacation been even more helpful because last week became a very intense one for us. If you followed the news regarding the bus accident in Indianapolis, you may have made a connection that it involved students from the school where my daughter teaches. I became involved when I received a report that one of our members who attends that school had been taken to the hospital. It turned out that he was treated and released at the scene but when I arrived at the hospital I discovered one of my daughter’s students was in the emergency room. So I spent the day at the hospital and the next day at the school volunteering as a counselor. I will share more details on Sunday as the experience seemed to have God’s healing hand involved.

On top of that, my niece who lives here in Indianapolis, had surgery last week for breast cancer. She is only 38 years old so this has been a great concern for us. We have received some very mixed news. It appears she is looking at more surgery. I hope you will keep her in your prayers; hard to understand with someone so young.

I have been following the NCAA as best I can but basketball is not a high priority around here. I did find a place to watch the second half of the IU game against VCU and was able to catch the end of the Purdue game. Just goes to show how much luck is a part of the game. If the ball bounces a different direction, IU could be going home and Purdue would be in the Sweet Sixteen. I don’t expect IU to beat Kentucky, but then again, at the beginning of the season I predicted they would win only 18 games. I will watch and hope and be happy with whatever the result. It is just great to be relevant again.

This Sunday my message is more of a testimony than a sermon. I will share how much scripture shaped my response to the events that happened last week. Scripture can be a means of grace even if we have a hard time understanding it sometimes. In preparation, read Psalm 119:97-105.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:34:14 GMT 351D1AD17D8C44DFDA92CFC3A47FC83D http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1875888 Offering hope for every hunger through true spirituality, healthy relationships and Christ-centered service. That is our new Vision for Old Bethel. It is how we will live out our mission, which never changes; To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Thanks again to everyone who helped us arrive at this vision. The prayer walking discoveries inspired our vision writing team. Some words came in such an inspired way and others took some hammering out. We believe this reflects who we are as a congregation. It taps into our reputation in this community and it includes some dreams which will require new ministry efforts. I was so impressed again as we had 67 show for Ann Handschu&rsquo;s workshop on Reflecting Vision to Ministry. Ann made us think very hard about making sure every ministry evaluates itself in light of the Vision with a key phrase so that. Everything we do should be able to answer so that&hellip;. We need to know the result that we intend by our efforts. If the result does not help accomplish the Vision, it needs to be re-evaluated. We have much more work to do, but we are on our way. Thank you for being so committed to this process. I believe God will bless it in many ways. We are excited about our small group movement. We are birthing a young adult small group with a get together on April 1. Troy and Chrissy Guthrie and Kelsey Wright are spearheading this group. Keep this group in your prayers as there is some real opportunity for fruit here. I have established dates for a new membership class. I am raising the expectations for Membership by having a six-week class that will have a small group format. The hope is some of those who attend the class will enjoy the experience and will want to continue their discipleship by becoming part of a new small group. We will talk about the basics of being a Christian, share some tips on how to read the Bible, experience some approaches to prayer, talk about what is unique about Methodists and explain how new members can get involved in servant opportunities at Old Bethel. Class will be held on Sundays from 5:30-7:00 beginning April 15. Please RSVP to jrairdon@oldbethel.org. A few people have inquired, so here are the dates for Child Protection Training: Monday, April 30, Wednesday, May 2 and May 16 at 6:30 pm. If you are working with or plan to work with children and youth in any way, but have not received Child Protection Training, you must attend one of these training sessions. For more information contact jmacy@oldbethel.org. This Sunday, we are excited to have Dick Nye back as our guest preacher. Dick did a tremendous job last time and people have made it clear we want him back whenever we can get him. He will continue our Series on John Wesley&rsquo;s Means of Grace. In preparation read, Galatians 6:9-10. This Sunday is also Summer Church Camp Promotion Sunday so come and learn about the impact camp can have on a child&rsquo;s life. Your servant, Jerry Rairdon Offering hope for every hunger through true spirituality, healthy relationships and Christ-centered service.

That is our new Vision for Old Bethel. It is how we will live out our mission, which never changes; To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Thanks again to everyone who helped us arrive at this vision. The prayer walking discoveries inspired our vision writing team. Some words came in such an inspired way and others took some hammering out. We believe this reflects who we are as a congregation. It taps into our reputation in this community and it includes some dreams which will require new ministry efforts.

I was so impressed again as we had 67 show for Ann Handschu’s workshop on Reflecting Vision to Ministry. Ann made us think very hard about making sure every ministry evaluates itself in light of the Vision with a key phrase so that. Everything we do should be able to answer so that…. We need to know the result that we intend by our efforts. If the result does not help accomplish the Vision, it needs to be re-evaluated. We have much more work to do, but we are on our way. Thank you for being so committed to this process. I believe God will bless it in many ways.

We are excited about our small group movement. We are birthing a young adult small group with a get together on April 1. Troy and Chrissy Guthrie and Kelsey Wright are spearheading this group. Keep this group in your prayers as there is some real opportunity for fruit here.

I have established dates for a new membership class. I am raising the expectations for Membership by having a six-week class that will have a small group format. The hope is some of those who attend the class will enjoy the experience and will want to continue their discipleship by becoming part of a new small group. We will talk about the basics of being a Christian, share some tips on how to read the Bible, experience some approaches to prayer, talk about what is unique about Methodists and explain how new members can get involved in servant opportunities at Old Bethel. Class will be held on Sundays from 5:30-7:00 beginning April 15. Please RSVP to jrairdon@oldbethel.org.

A few people have inquired, so here are the dates for Child Protection Training: Monday, April 30, Wednesday, May 2 and May 16 at 6:30 pm. If you are working with or plan to work with children and youth in any way, but have not received Child Protection Training, you must attend one of these training sessions. For more information contact jmacy@oldbethel.org.

This Sunday, we are excited to have Dick Nye back as our guest preacher. Dick did a tremendous job last time and people have made it clear we want him back whenever we can get him. He will continue our Series on John Wesley’s Means of Grace. In preparation read, Galatians 6:9-10. This Sunday is also Summer Church Camp Promotion Sunday so come and learn about the impact camp can have on a child’s life.

Your servant,
Jerry Rairdon
]]> Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:55:42 GMT 160DA3CEE555815BD576A92D05C1654A http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1851106 Don&rsquo;t forget to move your clocks forward before you go to bed Saturday! My favorite time of the year is here. March Madness is upon us. Today I will be attending the Big Ten Tournament and hoping my favorite team gets at least two wins. That would top off what has been a surprising season. It will be nice to actually care about what happens on Selection Sunday. Oh, and should I mention how nice it is to sweep your in-state rival. Okay, that is just mean. Thanks to all who were such good sports and added to the Youth Mission Trip funds by taking up my friendly wager. So far we have tallied over $3,000 raised at the Spaghetti Dinner &amp; Dessert Auction. We apologize for the few who did not get Spaghetti. Our crowd was so much better than last year that we were not prepared. Over 13 gallons of sauce were eaten, over 100 desserts donated and we estimate over 150 people attended. Our goal was for the youth to raise $9,000 for the Mission trip and we believe we are within $3,000 now of reaching that goal. Next up is the Spring Cleaning Youth Work Teams. Ric Gasaway, Deborah Hartman, Brandi Gorgol and I are heading up four work teams that will include 6 youth each to do inside and outside work. We will wash windows, paint, do outdoor yard work and other projects for whatever you consider a fair donation. We will start signing up for projects this coming Sunday. We are glad to announce that we have hired Bobby Riggles as our Interim Youth Ministries Director. Bobby served here as youth director about ten years ago before heading off to Duke for seminary. He has been in ministry in North Carolina and Virginia and now has relocated back in Indy to develop a consulting business. Bobby is married to the former Jill Cowherd who was raised at Old Bethel. They recently had twins and are glad to be near grandparents. Bobby will dedicate 20 hours a week to us and is hired through July to help our youth complete a successful Mission Trip and second year at church camp. Monday night is a big night for our Vision process. We hope everyone who attended the first Visioning workshop will return for the Reflecting Vision to Ministry workshop. We also hope all committee and ministry team members will attend as the next step is for each team to begin aligning their ministry with the new vision. The new Vision will be shared and explained at the beginning of the workshop. Our coach, Ann Handschu, will then explain how we implement the Vision. The workshop will be from 7:00-8:30 pm. This Sunday I will share how Fasting can be a means of grace. Fasting is a lost art but Jesus clearly intended for us to make this one of our regular spiritual disciplines. I will share a study that says the ability to delay gratification may be the greatest predictor of future success. I will show how Fasting could be worked into your family life to help ensure your children&rsquo;s spiritual and physical well being. In preparation read Matthew 6:16-18. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry Don’t forget to move your clocks forward before you go to bed Saturday!

My favorite time of the year is here. March Madness is upon us. Today I will be attending the Big Ten Tournament and hoping my favorite team gets at least two wins. That would top off what has been a surprising season. It will be nice to actually care about what happens on Selection Sunday. Oh, and should I mention how nice it is to sweep your in-state rival. Okay, that is just mean.

Thanks to all who were such good sports and added to the Youth Mission Trip funds by taking up my friendly wager. So far we have tallied over $3,000 raised at the Spaghetti Dinner & Dessert Auction. We apologize for the few who did not get Spaghetti. Our crowd was so much better than last year that we were not prepared. Over 13 gallons of sauce were eaten, over 100 desserts donated and we estimate over 150 people attended. Our goal was for the youth to raise $9,000 for the Mission trip and we believe we are within $3,000 now of reaching that goal.

Next up is the Spring Cleaning Youth Work Teams. Ric Gasaway, Deborah Hartman, Brandi Gorgol and I are heading up four work teams that will include 6 youth each to do inside and outside work. We will wash windows, paint, do outdoor yard work and other projects for whatever you consider a fair donation. We will start signing up for projects this coming Sunday.

We are glad to announce that we have hired Bobby Riggles as our Interim Youth Ministries Director. Bobby served here as youth director about ten years ago before heading off to Duke for seminary. He has been in ministry in North Carolina and Virginia and now has relocated back in Indy to develop a consulting business. Bobby is married to the former Jill Cowherd who was raised at Old Bethel. They recently had twins and are glad to be near grandparents. Bobby will dedicate 20 hours a week to us and is hired through July to help our youth complete a successful Mission Trip and second year at church camp.

Monday night is a big night for our Vision process. We hope everyone who attended the first Visioning workshop will return for the Reflecting Vision to Ministry workshop. We also hope all committee and ministry team members will attend as the next step is for each team to begin aligning their ministry with the new vision. The new Vision will be shared and explained at the beginning of the workshop. Our coach, Ann Handschu, will then explain how we implement the Vision. The workshop will be from 7:00-8:30 pm.

This Sunday I will share how Fasting can be a means of grace. Fasting is a lost art but Jesus clearly intended for us to make this one of our regular spiritual disciplines. I will share a study that says the ability to delay gratification may be the greatest predictor of future success. I will show how Fasting could be worked into your family life to help ensure your children’s spiritual and physical well being. In preparation read Matthew 6:16-18.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:56:08 GMT BA9216F4FBCCFA7087ED42C2D6C1FBA6 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1832183 My son Devin is now in Afghanistan. He has not seen any action yet as they are just now getting situated in the country. They have given us a new address for those of you who said you would like to write him. Rairdon, Devin 381/387 MP CO/ TF Peacekeeper Bagram Airfield APO AE 09354 Last week while I was in Reynosa, I was Skyping Devin at Ft. Bliss. He mentioned getting some letters from Old Bethel people. I asked who and he said, Randy &amp; Mary Fridlund. Of course, they were on the Reynosa trip as well. I asked if he wanted to meet them and he said yes. I went into the other room and got Mary and then Randy and they were able to say &ldquo;hi&rdquo; in person. It is always fun to bring together my church and personal families. Thank all of you who have taken the time to write Devin. We have another important event coming up with our Visioning process. On Monday, March 12 at 7:00 pm we will have an hour and half workshop on how to translate the Vision to ministry. Every ministry team and committee member in the church needs to be there to learn how to apply this Vision. We will begin with a short presentation on the new Vision and then Ann Handschu will teach us how we align our ministries with the Vision. This is a very important step for us. After this event we will begin formulating our Staff Vision. Please put on your schedule for Sunday the Youth Spaghetti Dinner and Dessert Auction. It runs from 3:30-6:30 pm with the Dessert Auction taking place at 5:00 pm. We have a real restaurant chef cooking the spaghetti and Ron Phillips has been lined up to auction off the desserts. You will have plenty of time to eat, bid on a dessert and get home in time for that little game that happens at 6:00. Proceeds support the Youth Mission trip to Johns Island this summer. Speaking of that game, I have an idea if you Purdue fans are brave enough to put something on the line. Here is what I propose if I can get at least three Purdue fans to agree to this ahead of time. If IU wins then I want those three fans to donate $100 each to the Youth Mission Trip. If Purdue wins I will donate a $100 to the Youth Mission Trip AND wear a Purdue tie to church the following Sunday. You can email me at jrairdon@oldbethel.org or tell me before church this Sunday if you will take me up on this proposal. This Sunday, I continue the series Practice Makes Perfect which shares the primary Means of Grace in our Christian life. This week I will explain how the Sacraments keep us in the grace of Christ. I will explain why Methodists practice infant baptism and what it means to take communion in &ldquo;an unworthy manner.&rdquo; In preparation, read Luke 3:21-22 and 1 Corinthians 11:23-34. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry Rairdon Rairdon, Devin
381/387 MP CO/ TF Peacekeeper
Bagram Airfield
APO AE 09354

Last week while I was in Reynosa, I was Skyping Devin at Ft. Bliss. He mentioned getting some letters from Old Bethel people. I asked who and he said, Randy & Mary Fridlund. Of course, they were on the Reynosa trip as well. I asked if he wanted to meet them and he said yes. I went into the other room and got Mary and then Randy and they were able to say “hi” in person. It is always fun to bring together my church and personal families. Thank all of you who have taken the time to write Devin.

We have another important event coming up with our Visioning process. On Monday, March 12 at 7:00 pm we will have an hour and half workshop on how to translate the Vision to ministry. Every ministry team and committee member in the church needs to be there to learn how to apply this Vision. We will begin with a short presentation on the new Vision and then Ann Handschu will teach us how we align our ministries with the Vision. This is a very important step for us. After this event we will begin formulating our Staff Vision.

Please put on your schedule for Sunday the Youth Spaghetti Dinner and Dessert Auction. It runs from 3:30-6:30 pm with the Dessert Auction taking place at 5:00 pm. We have a real restaurant chef cooking the spaghetti and Ron Phillips has been lined up to auction off the desserts. You will have plenty of time to eat, bid on a dessert and get home in time for that little game that happens at 6:00. Proceeds support the Youth Mission trip to Johns Island this summer.

Speaking of that game, I have an idea if you Purdue fans are brave enough to put something on the line. Here is what I propose if I can get at least three Purdue fans to agree to this ahead of time. If IU wins then I want those three fans to donate $100 each to the Youth Mission Trip. If Purdue wins I will donate a $100 to the Youth Mission Trip AND wear a Purdue tie to church the following Sunday. You can email me at jrairdon@oldbethel.org or tell me before church this Sunday if you will take me up on this proposal.

This Sunday, I continue the series Practice Makes Perfect which shares the primary Means of Grace in our Christian life. This week I will explain how the Sacraments keep us in the grace of Christ. I will explain why Methodists practice infant baptism and what it means to take communion in “an unworthy manner.” In preparation, read Luke 3:21-22 and 1 Corinthians 11:23-34.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry Rairdon
]]> Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:37:45 GMT 3210BA420C484ECD0E5C0A85423D31F6 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1808894 I am writing this morning from South Padre Island where our Reynosa Mission Team will get a day of rest and relaxation before we fly back tomorrow to Indy. Unfortunately, the forecast is calling for rain all afternoon and evening but we cannot complain, as the weather has been fantastic for us all week. Temperatures have been in the 70s most days making the work very comfortable. We had only one tough day when the temperatures went up into the 80s. Our team consists of Ben Life, Gerald Schneidt, Jay Mitchell, Ben&rsquo;s grandson Kalman, Randy &amp; Mary Fridlund, Brian &amp; Sharyl Groves, Greg Sizemore, Barry Laird, Keith Hartman and myself. The team has got along very well and we have had our share of fun. One thing about mission trips is that with Christ uniting us, a security develops that allows you to poke fun at each other. I hope everyone gets an opportunity like this at some time in your life. It is a powerful spiritual experience. We accomplished much. We built two complete homes and poured the roof of another built by a team earlier this year. We could not pour the roofs of the homes we built because a certain amount of curing is required before the carpenter is brought in to create the forms for the roof. We do not build the homes by ourselves but work alongside volunteers who are required to work for eight months in order to receive a house. We especially enjoyed this year&rsquo;s volunteers as they were younger and seemed to enjoy interacting with us. It is amazing how you can get close to people in spite of the language barrier. With hand motions and a learned Spanish word here and there you get to know each other and you become one team. I am glad I waited until today to write this One on One because it allowed us to experience the house dedication and closing worship. This is my third trip to Reynosa and it has been the most meaningful trip for me. Maybe it is because I am becoming more comfortable with the poverty that surrounds us, but I know part of it is due to the families we helped. The mother of one of the families was the most engaged and hard working of anyone we have helped before. When we dedicated the house and wrote our names on the home she came up and hugged me with tears so moved by what that house meant to her. In my broken Spanish I told her, &ldquo;This is the love of Jesus Christ.&rdquo; I will remember that moment forever. This Sunday, we begin our Lenten Series I have titled &ldquo;Practice Makes Perfect.&rdquo; I will share the six practices John Wesley considered necessary to draw near to God. Wesley called these &ldquo;means of grace&rdquo;. I will explain how grace works on us. The first message will focus on prayer and we will take a careful look at The Lord&rsquo;s Prayer, which was intended by Jesus as a model for our daily prayer life. I have a great skit on video I will share with you as a part of my message. I think you will find this series very practical. In preparation, read Matthew 6:9-13. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry
Our team consists of Ben Life, Gerald Schneidt, Jay Mitchell, Ben’s grandson Kalman, Randy & Mary Fridlund, Brian & Sharyl Groves, Greg Sizemore, Barry Laird, Keith Hartman and myself. The team has got along very well and we have had our share of fun. One thing about mission trips is that with Christ uniting us, a security develops that allows you to poke fun at each other. I hope everyone gets an opportunity like this at some time in your life. It is a powerful spiritual experience.

We accomplished much. We built two complete homes and poured the roof of another built by a team earlier this year. We could not pour the roofs of the homes we built because a certain amount of curing is required before the carpenter is brought in to create the forms for the roof. We do not build the homes by ourselves but work alongside volunteers who are required to work for eight months in order to receive a house. We especially enjoyed this year’s volunteers as they were younger and seemed to enjoy interacting with us. It is amazing how you can get close to people in spite of the language barrier. With hand motions and a learned Spanish word here and there you get to know each other and you become one team.

I am glad I waited until today to write this One on One because it allowed us to experience the house dedication and closing worship. This is my third trip to Reynosa and it has been the most meaningful trip for me. Maybe it is because I am becoming more comfortable with the poverty that surrounds us, but I know part of it is due to the families we helped. The mother of one of the families was the most engaged and hard working of anyone we have helped before. When we dedicated the house and wrote our names on the home she came up and hugged me with tears so moved by what that house meant to her. In my broken Spanish I told her, “This is the love of Jesus Christ.” I will remember that moment forever.

This Sunday, we begin our Lenten Series I have titled “Practice Makes Perfect.” I will share the six practices John Wesley considered necessary to draw near to God. Wesley called these “means of grace”. I will explain how grace works on us. The first message will focus on prayer and we will take a careful look at The Lord’s Prayer, which was intended by Jesus as a model for our daily prayer life. I have a great skit on video I will share with you as a part of my message. I think you will find this series very practical. In preparation, read Matthew 6:9-13.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:50:06 GMT 93DE12C5F21E9AB6576A37CFA19356D5 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1787171 Again, what is the declared mission of Old Bethel? To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. I want to make sure this becomes second nature to us. Our Visioning team met Monday night for the first time. They will meet again this Monday. We reviewed all the Prayer Walking discoveries and what we found was a church that is going in several different directions with no unifying purpose. We discovered an almost overwhelming abundance of needs in our community, which has no clear hub to build ministry around. If it is to exist then we may need to create it. As we discussed this, we came up with an opening line, that we are not locked into yet, but think might be a good beginning to our Vision statement, &ldquo;Offering Hope for Every Hunger&hellip;.&rdquo; We will continue to work with it and hope to have something to share with the Administrative Council on February 27. We will not be upset if we have to go back to the drawing board a few times because we want to get it right. It has to be something we can believe in and remember or it will not be lived out in our ministry. Continue your prayers. I feel them and have sensed God&rsquo;s hand in this process. Thanks to the 70 plus people for their hard work. It was very evident in the Prayer Walking reports. Ben Life was excited to report that we made $1,023 from the Starfish Dining Club. It was a great meal and fun time. Thanks to the Youth for serving and Dianne Wellman, Deborah Hartman, Nancy Stauffer and others for preparing the meal. This is a great start to continue the funding of the Reynosa children&rsquo;s feeding program. Our Reynosa Mission Team of eleven people will leave tomorrow morning and return the following Saturday. The Groves and Greg Sizemore left today, pulling a trailer full of donated medical equipment that will be shared with the Nurse Betty&rsquo;s clinic. We will build two houses if everything goes well. I will try to send back some pictures and video. Keep an eye on my RevJerry Rairdon Facebook page. If you haven&rsquo;t added me as a friend feel free to do so. I saw a United Methodist news story this week that explains the newly released movie The Vow. The movie is based on the story of a newly married couple in which the wife experiences an accident and loses her memory of her new husband and how they rebuilt their relationship. The couple happen to be United Methodist. The couple say the movie producers took quite a few liberties with the movie but I hear it is still worth seeing. They have a new release of their book written previously available on Amazon and Kindle if you want the real story. Here is a link to their story: <a href="http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&amp;b=5259669&amp;ct=11626967&amp;tr=y&amp;auid=10287665">http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&amp;b=5259669&amp;ct=11626967&amp;tr=y&amp;auid=10287665 Tonight we will celebrate Nancy&rsquo;s birthday, which is actually on Sunday. I am a bad husband as I will miss her chorus&rsquo; big concert on Saturday and her birthday on Sunday. Help me out Sunday by wishing her a great day in my absence. Pastor Julie will bring our message Sunday based on the Transfiguration. Her title is &ldquo;Have You Been to the Mountain?&rdquo; In preparation, read Mark 9:2-9. Don&rsquo;t forget about Ash Wednesday next week. Worship and the imposition of ashes will be 6:15-7:00 pm. Be there Sunday, Rev. Jerry To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. I want to make sure this becomes second nature to us. Our Visioning team met Monday night for the first time. They will meet again this Monday. We reviewed all the Prayer Walking discoveries and what we found was a church that is going in several different directions with no unifying purpose. We discovered an almost overwhelming abundance of needs in our community, which has no clear hub to build ministry around. If it is to exist then we may need to create it.

As we discussed this, we came up with an opening line, that we are not locked into yet, but think might be a good beginning to our Vision statement, “Offering Hope for Every Hunger….” We will continue to work with it and hope to have something to share with the Administrative Council on February 27. We will not be upset if we have to go back to the drawing board a few times because we want to get it right. It has to be something we can believe in and remember or it will not be lived out in our ministry. Continue your prayers. I feel them and have sensed God’s hand in this process. Thanks to the 70 plus people for their hard work. It was very evident in the Prayer Walking reports.

Ben Life was excited to report that we made $1,023 from the Starfish Dining Club. It was a great meal and fun time. Thanks to the Youth for serving and Dianne Wellman, Deborah Hartman, Nancy Stauffer and others for preparing the meal. This is a great start to continue the funding of the Reynosa children’s feeding program. Our Reynosa Mission Team of eleven people will leave tomorrow morning and return the following Saturday. The Groves and Greg Sizemore left today, pulling a trailer full of donated medical equipment that will be shared with the Nurse Betty’s clinic. We will build two houses if everything goes well. I will try to send back some pictures and video. Keep an eye on my RevJerry Rairdon Facebook page. If you haven’t added me as a friend feel free to do so.

I saw a United Methodist news story this week that explains the newly released movie The Vow. The movie is based on the story of a newly married couple in which the wife experiences an accident and loses her memory of her new husband and how they rebuilt their relationship. The couple happen to be United Methodist. The couple say the movie producers took quite a few liberties with the movie but I hear it is still worth seeing. They have a new release of their book written previously available on Amazon and Kindle if you want the real story. Here is a link to their story:
http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=5259669&ct=11626967&tr=y&auid=10287665

Tonight we will celebrate Nancy’s birthday, which is actually on Sunday. I am a bad husband as I will miss her chorus’ big concert on Saturday and her birthday on Sunday. Help me out Sunday by wishing her a great day in my absence. Pastor Julie will bring our message Sunday based on the Transfiguration. Her title is “Have You Been to the Mountain?” In preparation, read Mark 9:2-9. Don’t forget about Ash Wednesday next week. Worship and the imposition of ashes will be 6:15-7:00 pm.

Be there Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:20:22 GMT AD5F0C63BD858B428A86A2111CECA82B http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1770024 Let me begin by thanking everyone who came and made the Souper Bowl Dinner a great success. It surpassed all of our expectations. We estimate over 300 came with 34 different pots of soup contributed. We believe somewhere around 40 of our Food Pantry friends showed up and we had a few of our volunteer/servants from other churches attend which gave us a chance to thank them. I want to thank the Boy Scouts, our Ebenezer Hispanic Community and Youth Group for coordinating and serving. Also, thanks to Ric Gasaway, Marj Ohl and Nancy Bellinger for their extra efforts to make the day fun. I believe we will try this again next year and with this year&rsquo;s experience make it even more meaningful. And to top it off, in my humble opinion the right team won the Super Bowl to complete a wonderful week in Indy. Some of you at the Gathering got to see my sister Carol who came in for a quick visit on her way to help her daughter Mandy move into Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Mandy has become trained on chemical issues and, from what Carol says, she may very easily end up in Afghanistan in the next year or two. My nephew Brian (brother Don&rsquo;s son) is most likely heading there after his premature baby is given the all clear by the doctors so our family may end up with three in Afghanistan in the next year. Last word from Devin is that he will be heading there by February 22. Tomorrow we will enjoy a fabulous dinner and entertainment at the Starfish Dining Club planned by Ben Life. Nancy Stauffer, Dianne Wellman and Deborah Hartman will prepare a gourmet meal. The effort is designed to raise funds to feed breakfast to children at the clinic in Reynosa. I also want to thank Helene Foust who designated this ministry for any memorials given in honor of the life of her father, Raymond Stange. We will hold that funeral tomorrow at Old Bethel. Please keep Helene and her family in your prayers. Raymond passed after suffering injuries from a car accident the previous week. Monday night I will be meeting with Ann Handschu and a few lay people to begin the work of writing our Vision. Our prayer walking teams have done a great job reporting and we will sift through these looking for some common threads to put into words what direction and unique ministry God might be calling our faith community to. Please say a few prayers for us Monday evening. This Sunday, I will finish my series on the Adventures of Paul by sharing my experience of Ephesus. It is now my favorite Biblical site, even more than Jerusalem, which is saying a lot. The site has been so well reconstructed in its original form that it gives a great idea of what life was like in Paul&rsquo;s day. I am eager to share how Paul so effectively transformed the lives of many Ephesians that the local economy was affected. In preparation, read Acts 19:1-41. This Sunday is Scout Sunday as well as our opportunity to commission 12 people who will be heading to Reynosa a week from today. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry Souper Bowl Dinner a great success. It surpassed all of our expectations. We estimate over 300 came with 34 different pots of soup contributed. We believe somewhere around 40 of our Food Pantry friends showed up and we had a few of our volunteer/servants from other churches attend which gave us a chance to thank them. I want to thank the Boy Scouts, our Ebenezer Hispanic Community and Youth Group for coordinating and serving. Also, thanks to Ric Gasaway, Marj Ohl and Nancy Bellinger for their extra efforts to make the day fun. I believe we will try this again next year and with this year’s experience make it even more meaningful. And to top it off, in my humble opinion the right team won the Super Bowl to complete a wonderful week in Indy.

Some of you at the Gathering got to see my sister Carol who came in for a quick visit on her way to help her daughter Mandy move into Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Mandy has become trained on chemical issues and, from what Carol says, she may very easily end up in Afghanistan in the next year or two. My nephew Brian (brother Don’s son) is most likely heading there after his premature baby is given the all clear by the doctors so our family may end up with three in Afghanistan in the next year. Last word from Devin is that he will be heading there by February 22.

Tomorrow we will enjoy a fabulous dinner and entertainment at the Starfish Dining Club planned by Ben Life. Nancy Stauffer, Dianne Wellman and Deborah Hartman will prepare a gourmet meal. The effort is designed to raise funds to feed breakfast to children at the clinic in Reynosa. I also want to thank Helene Foust who designated this ministry for any memorials given in honor of the life of her father, Raymond Stange. We will hold that funeral tomorrow at Old Bethel. Please keep Helene and her family in your prayers. Raymond passed after suffering injuries from a car accident the previous week.

Monday night I will be meeting with Ann Handschu and a few lay people to begin the work of writing our Vision. Our prayer walking teams have done a great job reporting and we will sift through these looking for some common threads to put into words what direction and unique ministry God might be calling our faith community to. Please say a few prayers for us Monday evening.

This Sunday, I will finish my series on the Adventures of Paul by sharing my experience of Ephesus. It is now my favorite Biblical site, even more than Jerusalem, which is saying a lot. The site has been so well reconstructed in its original form that it gives a great idea of what life was like in Paul’s day. I am eager to share how Paul so effectively transformed the lives of many Ephesians that the local economy was affected. In preparation, read Acts 19:1-41. This Sunday is Scout Sunday as well as our opportunity to commission 12 people who will be heading to Reynosa a week from today.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:50:35 GMT FA411827202EDAC5142764A04B22BDC5 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1755920 Souper Bowl: Food for the Body &amp; Soul at Old Bethel, Sunday 11:30-1:00 Please don&rsquo;t miss what should be a lot of fun. Jim Shaw has presented me with the Golden Ladle for us to give to the best soup. There are going to be several different recipes including a few from our Hispanic Community. We have also invited our friends who utilize the OB Food Pantry. So this is a great opportunity for us to build on this relationship. Tuesday night I went with my daughter Kelsey and son-in-law Matt to the NFL Experience downtown. The weather was amazing and the atmosphere reminded me of how you feel if you go to Disney World. Everybody was just happy and in a celebrative mood. My favorite parts of the evening were seeing the XLVI block letters on the Circle, projecting TV images, the ESPN Studio booth (because I watch SportsCenter so much), and the Tostitos make your own commercial experience where you put your face into the commercial and then email it to yourself. I was not going to wait 3+ hours to ride the zip line. Janae is bringing down some of her college friends from Ball State to stay the weekend so I may venture down there Saturday with them and Nancy. Nancy could not go Tuesday night so she is eager to experience the activity. I am sure the crowd will be overwhelming but it is fun seeing the city so alive with all the people downtown. I remember the days when you dared not go downtown so it is great seeing our city at its best. Monday night our Administrative Council passed a budget of $768,126. That is an increase of about $17,000 over last year. With pledges of $35,000 towards the Capital Improvements Loan we are probably at the limit of our giving potential right now. Based on last year&rsquo;s experience we believe this is a budget we can meet. Next Wednesday is the deadline to receive our Prayer Walking discoveries. Three laypeople, our coach Ann Hanschu and I will then look for a common thread and make an attempt at writing a vision statement that captures the direction God seems to be leading us. We expect a couple of revisions in this process as we try to hammer out the vision God would have for us to guide our ministry for the next three years. Sunday, we will hear of Paul&rsquo;s Adventure in Corinth. Corinth was the Las Vegas (actually worse) of Paul&rsquo;s day and makes it an interesting place for Paul to spend one and a half years of his ministry. He spent more time in only one other place. In preparation, read Acts 18:1-18 and Luke 5:27-32. And stay for some soup afterwards! See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry Souper Bowl: Food for the Body & Soul at Old Bethel, Sunday 11:30-1:00

Please don’t miss what should be a lot of fun. Jim Shaw has presented me with the Golden Ladle for us to give to the best soup. There are going to be several different recipes including a few from our Hispanic Community. We have also invited our friends who utilize the OB Food Pantry. So this is a great opportunity for us to build on this relationship.

Tuesday night I went with my daughter Kelsey and son-in-law Matt to the NFL Experience downtown. The weather was amazing and the atmosphere reminded me of how you feel if you go to Disney World. Everybody was just happy and in a celebrative mood. My favorite parts of the evening were seeing the XLVI block letters on the Circle, projecting TV images, the ESPN Studio booth (because I watch SportsCenter so much), and the Tostitos make your own commercial experience where you put your face into the commercial and then email it to yourself. I was not going to wait 3+ hours to ride the zip line.

Janae is bringing down some of her college friends from Ball State to stay the weekend so I may venture down there Saturday with them and Nancy. Nancy could not go Tuesday night so she is eager to experience the activity. I am sure the crowd will be overwhelming but it is fun seeing the city so alive with all the people downtown. I remember the days when you dared not go downtown so it is great seeing our city at its best.

Monday night our Administrative Council passed a budget of $768,126. That is an increase of about $17,000 over last year. With pledges of $35,000 towards the Capital Improvements Loan we are probably at the limit of our giving potential right now. Based on last year’s experience we believe this is a budget we can meet.

Next Wednesday is the deadline to receive our Prayer Walking discoveries. Three laypeople, our coach Ann Hanschu and I will then look for a common thread and make an attempt at writing a vision statement that captures the direction God seems to be leading us. We expect a couple of revisions in this process as we try to hammer out the vision God would have for us to guide our ministry for the next three years.

Sunday, we will hear of Paul’s Adventure in Corinth. Corinth was the Las Vegas (actually worse) of Paul’s day and makes it an interesting place for Paul to spend one and a half years of his ministry. He spent more time in only one other place. In preparation, read Acts 18:1-18 and Luke 5:27-32. And stay for some soup afterwards!

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:54:23 GMT 673994893A55F2A71E7A4ADE6AE632BF http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1745404 Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Our vision is under construction. Remember our Pancake Breakfast this Saturday, January 28 from 7:30-10:30 a.m. Proceeds benefit our Food Pantry. I was so proud of Old Bethel Monday night. We had 70 show up for our visioning workshop. Ann Handschu did a tremendous job explaining how essential vision is in our lives and for our church. She explained the difference between mission and vision. Our mission has been established by Jesus Christ, which is reflected in our statement above, and it will never change. Our vision shares how Old Bethel will uniquely respond to this call to mission. It will need to be tweaked from time to time. This vision is what we are working on right now. Ann ended the evening by having those who felt some calling to write a place or ministry on a card and stand before our group. Some of the places named included Children&rsquo;s Ministry, Pleasant Run Elementary, Braeburn Village Apartments, the Food Pantry, and Warren Township middle schools. People were then invited if they felt drawn to one of those places/areas to come and write their name and phone number on the card. The leader was then asked to get these people together to go to that particular site and pray individually seeking God&rsquo;s direction. Pray asking what is the need here, how did this need arise, what can be done to help this need? They are to write down their discoveries and submit them to me and then a small team that includes Ann and myself will sift through these and look for a common thread that will hopefully clarify our vision. You are invited to join in this process even if you could not be there Monday night. Contact me if you have a calling and I will see if we can hook you up with a team that shares your passion. Our deadline for receiving these responses is Wednesday, February 8. Ben Life says he is half-way there on his goal of 80 people to attend the Starfish Dining Club. The purpose is to raise funds to feed 30 children daily breakfast in Reynosa, Mexico where our mission team builds houses each year. The children are fed in the clinic that we helped build a few years ago. The dinner is February 11 and the cost is $50 per person. Ben has lined up some great entertainment and promises the food will be five star quality. If you cannot attend, please consider making a donation to the Starfish Dining Initiative. Some people have asked for my son&rsquo;s address. While he is at Ft. Bliss, which should be for two more weeks his address is: Sgt. Rairdon, Devin A. Ft. Bliss Mobilization and Deployment Brigade 381/387 Military Police Building 2453 Fort Bliss, TX 79916 After that his address will be Sgt. Rairdon, Devin A. 381/387 MP CO/716 MP BN Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan APO AE 09354 This Sunday I begin a series called The Adventures of Paul. This Sunday I will share Paul&rsquo;s famous sermon in Athens and share what is teaches us about engaging our culture and engaging God. In preparation, read Acts 17:14-34. Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
Our vision is under construction.

Remember our Pancake Breakfast this Saturday, January 28 from 7:30-10:30 a.m. Proceeds benefit our Food Pantry.

I was so proud of Old Bethel Monday night. We had 70 show up for our visioning workshop. Ann Handschu did a tremendous job explaining how essential vision is in our lives and for our church. She explained the difference between mission and vision. Our mission has been established by Jesus Christ, which is reflected in our statement above, and it will never change. Our vision shares how Old Bethel will uniquely respond to this call to mission. It will need to be tweaked from time to time. This vision is what we are working on right now.

Ann ended the evening by having those who felt some calling to write a place or ministry on a card and stand before our group. Some of the places named included Children’s Ministry, Pleasant Run Elementary, Braeburn Village Apartments, the Food Pantry, and Warren Township middle schools. People were then invited if they felt drawn to one of those places/areas to come and write their name and phone number on the card. The leader was then asked to get these people together to go to that particular site and pray individually seeking God’s direction. Pray asking what is the need here, how did this need arise, what can be done to help this need? They are to write down their discoveries and submit them to me and then a small team that includes Ann and myself will sift through these and look for a common thread that will hopefully clarify our vision.

You are invited to join in this process even if you could not be there Monday night. Contact me if you have a calling and I will see if we can hook you up with a team that shares your passion. Our deadline for receiving these responses is Wednesday, February 8.

Ben Life says he is half-way there on his goal of 80 people to attend the Starfish Dining Club. The purpose is to raise funds to feed 30 children daily breakfast in Reynosa, Mexico where our mission team builds houses each year. The children are fed in the clinic that we helped build a few years ago. The dinner is February 11 and the cost is $50 per person. Ben has lined up some great entertainment and promises the food will be five star quality. If you cannot attend, please consider making a donation to the Starfish Dining Initiative.

Some people have asked for my son’s address. While he is at Ft. Bliss, which should be for two more weeks his address is:

Sgt. Rairdon, Devin A.
Ft. Bliss Mobilization and Deployment Brigade
381/387 Military Police
Building 2453
Fort Bliss, TX 79916

After that his address will be
Sgt. Rairdon, Devin A.
381/387 MP CO/716 MP BN
Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan
APO AE 09354

This Sunday I begin a series called The Adventures of Paul. This Sunday I will share Paul’s famous sermon in Athens and share what is teaches us about engaging our culture and engaging God. In preparation, read Acts 17:14-34.
]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:08:50 GMT 5235AD51271DFDD174648BBF5EF00CF3 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1730593 Monday evening is a big, big evening for us as we meet with Ann Handschu and gather the longings God has placed in our hearts that will help us determine the vision that will guide our ministry the next few years. We hope all that are prompted by God&rsquo;s spirit will come. We will gather from 6:30-9:00 pm. Child care will be provided and some light refreshments will be offered. You will want to grab some dinner before we meet. Tonight Nancy and I will celebrate our 10th Anniversary. The anniversary was yesterday but with our responsibilities at church, we decided to celebrate tonight. I took a little ribbing for treating her to the Gathering Meal as our Anniversary celebration. This year is my year to choose what we do. In light of all we have been doing between trips and moving, going to some hotel or B &amp; B just didn&rsquo;t sound appealing. So we are going to take advantage of Devour Downtown where you can dine at one of the participating restaurants for $30. Devour Downtown runs from January 9-22. If you want to give it a try, just Google Devour Downtown to find out what restaurants are participating. Tuesday, I attended my first peer mentoring session that is required for the lead pastors of each church going through the Fruitful Congregation process. We meet once a month; have a required reading list and also learn some keys to effective leadership. At the end of each session we establish personal goals that are shared with our peers for accountability. I really appreciated the process and expect good things to come from it. Tuesday night, the Finance Committee approved the 2012 budget that is $17,000 higher than last year. In some ways that is deceiving because last year we did not budget items that were funded by the More Than Enough Fund. Since we did not pledge for this special fund due to the Capital Improvements Loan Repayment, we rolled those projects into our budget. The challenge will be if the giving for the operating budget will rise to cover these ministries like the Puppeteers and Hispanic Ministry. Plans are all a go for Souper Bowl Sunday: Food for the Body and Soul. We have had 22 pots of soup pledged. We will still accept more if you are willing because any extra soup will be packaged and sent home with our Food Pantry friends who we hope will attend. Jim Shaw and the Boy Scouts are working up plans for some awards for best soups. We will serve soup from 11:30-1:00 Sunday February 5. Please plan to attend as we hope this will be a good chance for the Old Bethel faithful to get to know some of our Food Pantry friends. We have been blessed by some of our shoppers attending worship regularly this past year. This Sunday, I finish my series Heaven and Hell: More Than a Place. I will explain why some Christians believe EVERYONE is going to heaven and what my opinion is regarding this theory of universal salvation. In preparation, read Romans 5:6-10, 18-21; Matthew 18:12-14; 1 Timothy 2:1-4; Romans 2:11-16; and Revelation 21:18-27. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry
Tonight Nancy and I will celebrate our 10th Anniversary. The anniversary was yesterday but with our responsibilities at church, we decided to celebrate tonight. I took a little ribbing for treating her to the Gathering Meal as our Anniversary celebration. This year is my year to choose what we do. In light of all we have been doing between trips and moving, going to some hotel or B & B just didn’t sound appealing. So we are going to take advantage of Devour Downtown where you can dine at one of the participating restaurants for $30. Devour Downtown runs from January 9-22. If you want to give it a try, just Google Devour Downtown to find out what restaurants are participating.

Tuesday, I attended my first peer mentoring session that is required for the lead pastors of each church going through the Fruitful Congregation process. We meet once a month; have a required reading list and also learn some keys to effective leadership. At the end of each session we establish personal goals that are shared with our peers for accountability. I really appreciated the process and expect good things to come from it.

Tuesday night, the Finance Committee approved the 2012 budget that is $17,000 higher than last year. In some ways that is deceiving because last year we did not budget items that were funded by the More Than Enough Fund. Since we did not pledge for this special fund due to the Capital Improvements Loan Repayment, we rolled those projects into our budget. The challenge will be if the giving for the operating budget will rise to cover these ministries like the Puppeteers and Hispanic Ministry.

Plans are all a go for Souper Bowl Sunday: Food for the Body and Soul. We have had 22 pots of soup pledged. We will still accept more if you are willing because any extra soup will be packaged and sent home with our Food Pantry friends who we hope will attend. Jim Shaw and the Boy Scouts are working up plans for some awards for best soups. We will serve soup from 11:30-1:00 Sunday February 5. Please plan to attend as we hope this will be a good chance for the Old Bethel faithful to get to know some of our Food Pantry friends. We have been blessed by some of our shoppers attending worship regularly this past year.

This Sunday, I finish my series Heaven and Hell: More Than a Place. I will explain why some Christians believe EVERYONE is going to heaven and what my opinion is regarding this theory of universal salvation. In preparation, read Romans 5:6-10, 18-21; Matthew 18:12-14; 1 Timothy 2:1-4; Romans 2:11-16; and Revelation 21:18-27.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:59:00 GMT BD89A30992E810D95F9D03D4B8AC8E6A http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1723253 I have had several requests for copies of this past Sunday's sermon so this seems the best way to satisfy that demand. &ldquo;Gehenna&rdquo; Series: Heaven and Hell: More Than a Place OBUMC January 15, 2012 Series Introduction Heaven and hell are two very complicated concepts to grasp. It is so confusing to some that I will hear Christians say, &ldquo;Well, I have Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and I am just going to trust God will take care of things in the end.&rdquo; I think that is a great attitude to have except for the fact that the more our society moves away from Christianity it is important to be able to communicate and defend the faith. Sometimes our simplistic explanations for heaven and hell become a stumbling block to persons seeking a meaningful spirituality. So my hope is that I can deepen your understandings and give you some language to talk intelligently about the afterlife. Last week we focused on heaven, next week we will discuss the arguments for universal salvation, today we talk about hell. Introduction: Overcoming Paradigms One thing I have noticed about myself is how much our paradigms or previous assumptions impact the way we interpret reality. For example, I have notice that after a buy a new car all of sudden I notice those cars of the same make and model everywhere. Now they were there all along but my mind didn&rsquo;t take note and didn&rsquo;t care. I have also noticed that people who are use to seeing me in my robe on a Sunday morning in my white robe will sometimes run into me in the grocery store or some other establishment and not recognize me. My head and face have not changed but since I am out of context and out of my &ldquo;uniform&rdquo; they just don&rsquo;t even notice me. Our mind does that to us. It forms impressions of reality and looks for those to be confirmed. I am sure some of you have seen this picture before: (Image: The illusion picture of the beautiful and ugly woman) Now what do you see? Do you see a beautiful woman or an unattractive older woman with a big nose? I am not sure what it means if you see the young or old woman first but isn&rsquo;t it interesting how different people see different things. For some of us we have to work hard to see one or another. (A Second Image: Elephant with how many legs: Here is another picture. How many legs does this elephant have? What is interesting is how the brain fills in information whether it is there or not. And the reality is that we do the same thing with the Bible. Being raised in the church I have been taught the traditional understandings regarding most Christian subjects. As I began to read the Bible on my own I didn&rsquo;t realize how much I let those traditional understandings influence how I am reading a particular text in the Bible. It is often an unconscious process that clouds your interpretation instead of letting the text speak for itself. One of the things I purposely do for my sermon preparation and Bible Study is to be sure I read a variety of perspectives because I think it gives me a better chance at hearing all the truth that God wants us to hear. I am grateful for those who teach in seminaries and universities whose living is to study the scriptures because they continue to bring new understandings and whether I always agree with them or not they make me hear and read the scriptures with a fresh perspective. When it comes to considering the reality of hell and what the Bible teaches about it I would suggest to you that we need to consider some alternative perspectives if nothing else just to be sure you are grasping accurately what Jesus says about the afterlife. It is easy to be unaware that it has happened; it is hard even to begin to realize how profoundly tradition has molded us. Somehow I wish you could get people to bring a blank slate to this topic but that is impossible so what I want to do today is to share some alternative approaches and let you decide for yourself what you believe about hell. Or maybe it will encourage you to look at the subject more deeply on your own. Now with that in mind let&rsquo;s consider a couple of scriptures where Jesus uses the word gehenna which is translated hell in our Bibles. Scripture Matthew 5:21-22 21 &quot;You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, &quot;You shall not murder'; and &quot;whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, &quot;You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. Matthew 10:28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Biblical Words for Hell Now one of the challenges we have in studying about hell in the Bible is that the King James Version translated four different words in the Bible as hell, sheol, hades and gehenna are the important ones for us today. Sheol - Hebrew word which literally means &ldquo;unseen&rdquo; - 31 times &ldquo;hell&rdquo; (dissolve these in) - 31 times &ldquo;the grave&rdquo; - Sheol is used of national judgments to say they will disappear - does not equate to the hell of fire &amp; torment Hades - Greek, New Testament equivalent of Sheol - occurs 11 times - KJV also translates as hell - best translated hades or as the unseen - Bible doesn&rsquo;t use exclusively for a place of punishment - used in the story of the rich man and Lazarus - Acts 2:27, 31 says Jesus went there. - most usage is for anything unseen - also used for national judgments - like Sheol is does not equate to the hell of fire &amp; torment Tartarus &ndash; used only once in the Bible in 2 Peter 2:4 refers to angels Gehenna &ndash; the word which refers to our traditional understanding of hell - used 12 times in the New Testament - 11 times by Jesus and once in James 3:6 regarding our tongues - this is where you will want to focus your study. - Ge = valley henna means &ldquo;Hinnom&rdquo; Gehenna Now no matter what view of hell you ascribe to you will need to understand Gehenna. Gehenna was an actual place that Jesus&rsquo; listeners would have been familiar with. So Gehenna means literally the valley of Hinnom. It was an actual valley on the south and west side of the city of Jerusalem. Gehenna, in Jesus&rsquo; day, was the city dump. Gehenna had quite a history that Jesus&rsquo; listeners would have been very aware of. It was in this valley where in the ancient days those who worshiped the heathen god, Moloch, had sacrificed Jewish children. To the Jews, this valley became desecrated territory and to show their utter contempt of the heathen god, Moloch, they turned this valley into the garbage dump for Jerusalem. It may have been the funeral pyre for the 185,000 Assyrians killed by King Hezekiah when they attacked Jerusalem and lost. Josephus, the Jewish history that wrote in the first century said it was where the thousands of dead bodies were placed when the Romans killed thousands of Jewish during the siege of Jerusalem in 69-70 AD. It smoldered continuously with fires. In it a loathsome species of worms bred and multiplied. The bodies of the worst criminals were thrown into this valley. People tossed their garbage and waste into this valley. There was a fire there, burning constantly to consume the trash. Wild animals fought over scraps of food along the edges of the heap. When they fought, their teeth would make a gnashing sound. So Gehenna was the place with the gnashing of teeth, where the fire never went out. It became synonymous with the connotations of whatever is condemned, useless, corrupt and forever discarded. In fact, the worst fate that could come to any Jew was to not have a place to be buried, but to be thrown into the fires in the Valley of Gehenna, or Hinnom. Therefore, it was natural for Jesus to use hell or Gehenna as a word picture of God's judgment on those who were rebellious against his love. I am not sure I fully buy into this but it is an interesting theory, one interpreter suggests that this word Gehenna should be considered a proper noun in referring to this garbage dump and should have never been translated into the word &ldquo;hell.&rdquo; In those 12 places of scripture Gehenna should just say in English Gehenna. So in his opinion Jesus is not referring to a place in the afterlife but it just trying to let his listeners think of this horrible place as they ponder the warning of God&rsquo;s judgment. Regardless it shows you how important the image is to our understanding of hell. Four Views of Hell When you consider all the views of hell I think we can summarize them into four categories. Traditional Metaphorical Universalist Annihilation Traditional The traditional view of hell has dominated Christian thinking from the time of Augustine to the nineteenth century. Simply stated, the traditional view affirms that immediately after death the disembodied souls of impenitent sinners descend into hell, where they suffer the punishment of a literal eternal fire. At the resurrection, the body is reunited with the soul, thus intensifying the pain of hell for the lost and the pleasure of heaven for the saved. The Biblical images of hell were refined and immortalized by the famous fourteenth-century Italian poet, Dante Alighieri. In his Divina Commedia (Divine Commedy), Dante portrays hell as a place of absolute terror, where the damned writhe and scream while the saints bask in the glory of paradise. In Dante&rsquo;s hell, some sinners wail loudly in boiling blood, while others endure burning smoke that chars their nostrils, still others run naked from hordes of biting snakes. If you hold to the Traditional point of view these are the scriptures you will focus on: Matthew 13:49-50 (All scriptures on slides please) 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 25:45-46 45 Then he will answer them, &quot;Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.&quot; Revelation 20:10-15 10 And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever&hellip;.13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; 15 and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. Now those who hold to this position believe that part of being human is that we each have a soul. It is innate and therefore when we die it has to go somewhere. If that soul cannot go to heaven then it must go somewhere. They will point to scriptures like these and emphasize that the punishment is described as eternal and that the unrighteous will suffer the same fate in the lake of fire as the devil which brings torment day and night forever and ever. Those who oppose this position would argue first that the immortality of the soul is a Greek idea and is not supported by scripture. They will point to 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul defends the resurrection and says that God will provide us with spiritual bodies but does not make that claim for the unrighteous. Traditionalists read eternal punishment as eternal punishing. But those who oppose this view would tell you that when the adjective aionios is used with a noun it refers to the results of the noun so the meaning is really that the punishing is not eternal torment but the punishment is the ongoing separation from God. In other words what is eternal is not the punishment but the results of the punishment. They would also argue that the word used for punishment also has the meaning of pruning or cutting down of dead wood. Metaphorical View The metaphorical view finds that the idea of God punishing some with a tormenting fire just does not fit with the God of love they believe the whole of scripture suggests. How could God who is like a loving parent ever devise a system that continually punishes some for infinity based on 70-80 years of finite life. That does not seem like a just God to them. They would argue that much of the language regarding hell is to be considered as symbolic. They would remind us that Jesus chose to use the image of Gehenna, the garbage dump because it was the worse thing he could think of to warn people what life without God will be like. They would tell us that the gnashing of teeth is intended as a reminder of the grim reality. I remember my college professor suggesting that we should use the gehenna image to inspire us to develop our own image of what separation from God for eternity would be like. He liked the image of each person being in a bubble floating in space isolated from God and the rest of creation. Part of their argument would be that the image of fire cannot be taken literally because darkness is also an image that is used for hell and how can you have utter darkness where there is fire? Pope John Paul II said this about hell: &quot;More than a physical place, hell is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.&quot; Then he went on to describe hell as &quot;the pain, frustration and emptiness of life without God,&quot; adding that &quot;eternal damnation is not so much God's work, as our own doing.&quot; Those who share this view would quote this scripture, which is one of many that use the image of outer darkness: Matthew 22:13 Then the king said to the attendants, &quot;Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' I am not sure if Billy Graham would claim that he holds a metaphorical view of hell but he expresses this view of hellfire when he says: &quot;I have often wondered if hell is a terrible burning within our hearts for God, to fellowship with God, a fire that we can never quench.&quot; --Billy Graham This is a quote and I have seen others by him that try to soften the harshness of the punishment. Those that oppose the metaphorical view would say that this does not make God look any better, that you are only replacing a physical torment with a mental torment. Universalist View The Universalist view is not a new idea. It has been promoted lately by Phillip Gulley and James Mulholland in their book Grace Is True: Why Every Person Will Be Saved. Rob Bell&rsquo;s new book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven and Hell leans in that direction but this idea has been around since the third century by the church father Origen. I will talk more about this view next week but let me quickly summarize this idea. They see hell as a temporary condition and believe somehow God will give people a second chance between this life and the next. They would argue that if God is all powerful and all loving then how can he be defeated in that endeavor. Their favorite scripture would be Romans 5:18 Romans 5:18 Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. Those who would oppose this view would suggest that God&rsquo;s love for us is best expressed in saving us from sin, not glossing over it. They would also wonder if there can truly be love without justice. As I said, I will talk more about this and what determines who gets into heaven next week. Annihilation View The last approach to understanding what the scriptures say about hell is what is known as the annihilation theory. It is the belief that heaven is a holy place in which no sin or evil will be tolerated. It also finds the idea that God somehow would create a place where people are eternally tormented to be contrary to who God is. They rely on the images of fire that relate to hell and see the most Biblical way to respect those images is to believe that whatever and whoever is not of God will experience the fire of judgment and then simply cease to exist. They interpret the &ldquo;unquenchable fire&rdquo; as a reference to Gehenna and how hard it was to keep a fire going in Palestine because there is limited wood. The idea expressed in phrase is that the fire will burn until everything is consumed and therefore God&rsquo;s judgment will be complete. They note that hell is never mentioned the book of Acts or in any of Paul&rsquo;s letters and whenever Paul refers to judgment or punishment by God he uses the terms perish or destruction. They also note that our most favored scripture spoken by Jesus uses the same term: John 3:16 &quot;For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.&rdquo; Philippians 3:18 For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. Matthew 7:13 &quot;Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. This is a view that is starting to gain more respect in that it seeks to be very Biblical and with better understandings regarding Hebrew terms and phrases it can make a strong case to those who respect the authority of the scriptures. They would argue that their position is not questioning the fact of hell but the nature of hell. While it is not the traditional view, it is significant that John R.W. Stott, one of the most respected evangelicals in our century adopted this view in recent years, which adds credence to this approach. Taking Hell Seriously Whatever view of hell you choose to believe I hope that you are very careful in how you apply it. Most of the time when I hear people talk about who is going to hell, they speak of Hitler, murderers, drug dealers, child abusers, or they apply it to people of other religions or sometimes Christians who don&rsquo;t believe like them. But then I look at how Jesus spoke of hell and he uses it to challenge the faithful. Matthew 5: 21-22, 29-30 &quot;You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, &quot;You shall not murder'; and &quot;whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; &hellip;if you say, &quot;You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. &hellip;29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. Jesus used hell to warn very committed religious leaders that they make converts and make them twice as much a child of hell as they are and then he asks them, &ldquo;How will you escape being condemned to hell?&rdquo; We need to use Jesus&rsquo; warnings of hell or Gehenna to make sure we take a good look at ourselves. Hell is meant to force us to consider the consequences of our actions or lack of action. Studdart Kennedy tells (in one of his books) of a father who, in fits of drunkenness, used to beat his son. In his sober moments, he loved the lad dearly. Now, however, the boy is dying and his suddenly sobered father is keeping a vigil beside his bed. In his fevered delirium, the child sees the father reach out to stroke his sweating brow. Instinctively, the boy flinches, brushes his father's hand away and cries: &quot;Don't let him hit me, Mother. Don't let him hit me.&quot; Hell is seeing, for the first time, the results of what we do. Rob Bell makes the point that it seems the people who talk the most about hell in the next life seem to do the least about the hells we experience in this life. And it seems that the people who work the hardest on the hells of this life seem the least concerned about hell in the next life. Jesus is concerned about both. If we take Jesus seriously then I would consider it wise for us to take hell seriously. To dismiss it is to ignore the judgment that we all must face. We may be children of grace and we put our trust in the ultimate grace of God but that grace is not to be taken for granted. That grace is given to spur us on to a life that is pleasing to God who has given His Son for us. Jesus used his understanding of hell to challenge those who would listen, to leave behind anything that does not belong in heaven. You see to Jesus heaven and hell are more than places, they are ways of living. We need to take seriously the fires of hell not just to make sure we end up in the right place but to begin transforming the hell we see on this earth into the quality of life we will find someday in heaven. Conclusion My youth leader in high school, the one who inspired me to consider going into ministry use to tell us a story to describe heaven and hell. It has always stuck with me and maybe it will speak to you. I do think it captures the spirit of how Jesus spoke about hell. She said that one day a person died and before they went to heaven they were allowed to capture a glimpse of hell. What they found was a huge banquet table full of the finest foods, more than anyone could eat and yet the people were hungry and starving. When the person looked closely he discovered that those persons in hell had no elbows. They had all this food in front of them but they could not bring it to their mouths. That made the torture of hell even worse. Then they were rushed up to heaven. And there they found the same banquet table, full of the same bounty of food. People there were smiling, talking and laughing. When the person looked closely they discovered that these people in heaven just like the people in hell did not have elbows either. But there was one major difference between heaven and hell. In heaven people had learned to feed each other. So I invite you to take Gehenna seriously, be careful how you explain God&rsquo;s judgment to others but even more hear Jesus&rsquo; warnings as you need to hear them so that the grace Jesus has made possible for you will not be wasted.
“Gehenna”
Series: Heaven and Hell: More Than a Place
OBUMC January 15, 2012

Series Introduction
Heaven and hell are two very complicated concepts to grasp. It is so confusing to some that I will hear Christians say, “Well, I have Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and I am just going to trust God will take care of things in the end.” I think that is a great attitude to have except for the fact that the more our society moves away from Christianity it is important to be able to communicate and defend the faith. Sometimes our simplistic explanations for heaven and hell become a stumbling block to persons seeking a meaningful spirituality. So my hope is that I can deepen your understandings and give you some language to talk intelligently about the afterlife. Last week we focused on heaven, next week we will discuss the arguments for universal salvation, today we talk about hell.

Introduction: Overcoming Paradigms

One thing I have noticed about myself is how much our paradigms or previous assumptions impact the way we interpret reality. For example, I have notice that after a buy a new car all of sudden I notice those cars of the same make and model everywhere. Now they were there all along but my mind didn’t take note and didn’t care. I have also noticed that people who are use to seeing me in my robe on a Sunday morning in my white robe will sometimes run into me in the grocery store or some other establishment and not recognize me. My head and face have not changed but since I am out of context and out of my “uniform” they just don’t even notice me.

Our mind does that to us. It forms impressions of reality and looks for those to be confirmed. I am sure some of you have seen this picture before:
(Image: The illusion picture of the beautiful and ugly woman)

Now what do you see? Do you see a beautiful woman or an unattractive older woman with a big nose? I am not sure what it means if you see the young or old woman first but isn’t it interesting how different people see different things. For some of us we have to work hard to see one or another.

(A Second Image: Elephant with how many legs:
Here is another picture. How many legs does this elephant have? What is interesting is how the brain fills in information whether it is there or not. And the reality is that we do the same thing with the Bible. Being raised in the church I have been taught the traditional understandings regarding most Christian subjects. As I began to read the Bible on my own I didn’t realize how much I let those traditional understandings influence how I am reading a particular text in the Bible. It is often an unconscious process that clouds your interpretation instead of letting the text speak for itself. One of the things I purposely do for my sermon preparation and Bible Study is to be sure I read a variety of perspectives because I think it gives me a better chance at hearing all the truth that God wants us to hear. I am grateful for those who teach in seminaries and universities whose living is to study the scriptures because they continue to bring new understandings and whether I always agree with them or not they make me hear and read the scriptures with a fresh perspective.

When it comes to considering the reality of hell and what the Bible teaches about it I would suggest to you that we need to consider some alternative perspectives if nothing else just to be sure you are grasping accurately what Jesus says about the afterlife. It is easy to be unaware that it has happened; it is hard even to begin to realize how profoundly tradition has molded us.

Somehow I wish you could get people to bring a blank slate to this topic but that is impossible so what I want to do today is to share some alternative approaches and let you decide for yourself what you believe about hell. Or maybe it will encourage you to look at the subject more deeply on your own. Now with that in mind let’s consider a couple of scriptures where Jesus uses the word gehenna which is translated hell in our Bibles.

Scripture
Matthew 5:21-22
21 "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, "You shall not murder'; and "whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, "You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire.

Matthew 10:28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Biblical Words for Hell
Now one of the challenges we have in studying about hell in the Bible is that the King James Version translated four different words in the Bible as hell, sheol, hades and gehenna are the important ones for us today.

Sheol - Hebrew word which literally means “unseen”
- 31 times “hell” (dissolve these in)
- 31 times “the grave”
- Sheol is used of national judgments to say they will disappear
- does not equate to the hell of fire & torment

Hades - Greek, New Testament equivalent of Sheol
- occurs 11 times
- KJV also translates as hell
- best translated hades or as the unseen
- Bible doesn’t use exclusively for a place of punishment
- used in the story of the rich man and Lazarus
- Acts 2:27, 31 says Jesus went there.
- most usage is for anything unseen
- also used for national judgments
- like Sheol is does not equate to the hell of fire & torment

Tartarus – used only once in the Bible in 2 Peter 2:4 refers to angels

Gehenna – the word which refers to our traditional understanding of hell
- used 12 times in the New Testament
- 11 times by Jesus and once in James 3:6 regarding our tongues
- this is where you will want to focus your study.
- Ge = valley henna means “Hinnom”

Gehenna
Now no matter what view of hell you ascribe to you will need to understand Gehenna. Gehenna was an actual place that Jesus’ listeners would have been familiar with. So Gehenna means literally the valley of Hinnom. It was an actual valley on the south and west side of the city of Jerusalem. Gehenna, in Jesus’ day, was the city dump.

Gehenna had quite a history that Jesus’ listeners would have been very aware of. It was in this valley where in the ancient days those who worshiped the heathen god, Moloch, had sacrificed Jewish children. To the Jews, this valley became desecrated territory and to show their utter contempt of the heathen god, Moloch, they turned this valley into the garbage dump for Jerusalem. It may have been the funeral pyre for the 185,000 Assyrians killed by King Hezekiah when they attacked Jerusalem and lost. Josephus, the Jewish history that wrote in the first century said it was where the thousands of dead bodies were placed when the Romans killed thousands of Jewish during the siege of Jerusalem in 69-70 AD. It smoldered continuously with fires. In it a loathsome species of worms bred and multiplied. The bodies of the worst criminals were thrown into this valley.

People tossed their garbage and waste into this valley. There was a fire there, burning constantly to consume the trash. Wild animals fought over scraps of food along the edges of the heap. When they fought, their teeth would make a gnashing sound. So Gehenna was the place with the gnashing of teeth, where the fire never went out. It became synonymous with the connotations of whatever is condemned, useless, corrupt and forever discarded. In fact, the worst fate that could come to any Jew was to not have a place to be buried, but to be thrown into the fires in the Valley of Gehenna, or Hinnom. Therefore, it was natural for Jesus to use hell or Gehenna as a word picture of God's judgment on those who were rebellious against his love. I am not sure I fully buy into this but it is an interesting theory, one interpreter suggests that this word Gehenna should be considered a proper noun in referring to this garbage dump and should have never been translated into the word “hell.” In those 12 places of scripture Gehenna should just say in English Gehenna. So in his opinion Jesus is not referring to a place in the afterlife but it just trying to let his listeners think of this horrible place as they ponder the warning of God’s judgment. Regardless it shows you how important the image is to our understanding of hell.

Four Views of Hell
When you consider all the views of hell I think we can summarize them into four categories.

Traditional
Metaphorical
Universalist
Annihilation

Traditional
The traditional view of hell has dominated Christian thinking from the time of Augustine to the nineteenth century. Simply stated, the traditional view affirms that immediately after death the disembodied souls of impenitent sinners descend into hell, where they suffer the punishment of a literal eternal fire. At the resurrection, the body is reunited with the soul, thus intensifying the pain of hell for the lost and the pleasure of heaven for the saved.


The Biblical images of hell were refined and immortalized by the famous fourteenth-century Italian poet, Dante Alighieri. In his Divina Commedia (Divine Commedy), Dante portrays hell as a place of absolute terror, where the damned writhe and scream while the saints bask in the glory of paradise. In Dante’s hell, some sinners wail loudly in boiling blood, while others endure burning smoke that chars their nostrils, still others run naked from hordes of biting snakes.

If you hold to the Traditional point of view these are the scriptures you will focus on:

Matthew 13:49-50 (All scriptures on slides please)
49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 25:45-46
45 Then he will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Revelation 20:10-15
10 And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever….13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; 15 and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Now those who hold to this position believe that part of being human is that we each have a soul. It is innate and therefore when we die it has to go somewhere. If that soul cannot go to heaven then it must go somewhere. They will point to scriptures like these and emphasize that the punishment is described as eternal and that the unrighteous will suffer the same fate in the lake of fire as the devil which brings torment day and night forever and ever.

Those who oppose this position would argue first that the immortality of the soul is a Greek idea and is not supported by scripture. They will point to 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul defends the resurrection and says that God will provide us with spiritual bodies but does not make that claim for the unrighteous.

Traditionalists read eternal punishment as eternal punishing. But those who oppose this view would tell you that when the adjective aionios is used with a noun it refers to the results of the noun so the meaning is really that the punishing is not eternal torment but the punishment is the ongoing separation from God. In other words what is eternal is not the punishment but the results of the punishment. They would also argue that the word used for punishment also has the meaning of pruning or cutting down of dead wood.

Metaphorical View
The metaphorical view finds that the idea of God punishing some with a tormenting fire just does not fit with the God of love they believe the whole of scripture suggests. How could God who is like a loving parent ever devise a system that continually punishes some for infinity based on 70-80 years of finite life. That does not seem like a just God to them.

They would argue that much of the language regarding hell is to be considered as symbolic. They would remind us that Jesus chose to use the image of Gehenna, the garbage dump because it was the worse thing he could think of to warn people what life without God will be like. They would tell us that the gnashing of teeth is intended as a reminder of the grim reality. I remember my college professor suggesting that we should use the gehenna image to inspire us to develop our own image of what separation from God for eternity would be like. He liked the image of each person being in a bubble floating in space isolated from God and the rest of creation.

Part of their argument would be that the image of fire cannot be taken literally because darkness is also an image that is used for hell and how can you have utter darkness where there is fire?

Pope John Paul II said this about hell:
"More than a physical place, hell is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy."

Then he went on to describe hell as "the pain, frustration and emptiness of life without God," adding that "eternal damnation is not so much God's work, as our own doing."

Those who share this view would quote this scripture, which is one of many that use the image of outer darkness:

Matthew 22:13 Then the king said to the attendants, "Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

I am not sure if Billy Graham would claim that he holds a metaphorical view of hell but he expresses this view of hellfire when he says:

"I have often wondered if hell is a terrible burning within our hearts for God, to fellowship with God, a fire that we can never quench."
--Billy Graham

This is a quote and I have seen others by him that try to soften the harshness of the punishment.

Those that oppose the metaphorical view would say that this does not make God look any better, that you are only replacing a physical torment with a mental torment.

Universalist View
The Universalist view is not a new idea. It has been promoted lately by Phillip Gulley and James Mulholland in their book Grace Is True: Why Every Person Will Be Saved. Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven and Hell leans in that direction but this idea has been around since the third century by the church father Origen. I will talk more about this view next week but let me quickly summarize this idea.

They see hell as a temporary condition and believe somehow God will give people a second chance between this life and the next. They would argue that if God is all powerful and all loving then how can he be defeated in that endeavor. Their favorite scripture would be Romans 5:18

Romans 5:18 Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.

Those who would oppose this view would suggest that God’s love for us is best expressed in saving us from sin, not glossing over it. They would also wonder if there can truly be love without justice. As I said, I will talk more about this and what determines who gets into heaven next week.

Annihilation View
The last approach to understanding what the scriptures say about hell is what is known as the annihilation theory. It is the belief that heaven is a holy place in which no sin or evil will be tolerated. It also finds the idea that God somehow would create a place where people are eternally tormented to be contrary to who God is. They rely on the images of fire that relate to hell and see the most Biblical way to respect those images is to believe that whatever and whoever is not of God will experience the fire of judgment and then simply cease to exist.

They interpret the “unquenchable fire” as a reference to Gehenna and how hard it was to keep a fire going in Palestine because there is limited wood. The idea expressed in phrase is that the fire will burn until everything is consumed and therefore God’s judgment will be complete.

They note that hell is never mentioned the book of Acts or in any of Paul’s letters and whenever Paul refers to judgment or punishment by God he uses the terms perish or destruction. They also note that our most favored scripture spoken by Jesus uses the same term:

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Philippians 3:18 For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.

Matthew 7:13 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

This is a view that is starting to gain more respect in that it seeks to be very Biblical and with better understandings regarding Hebrew terms and phrases it can make a strong case to those who respect the authority of the scriptures. They would argue that their position is not questioning the fact of hell but the nature of hell.

While it is not the traditional view, it is significant that John R.W. Stott, one of the most respected evangelicals in our century adopted this view in recent years, which adds credence to this approach.

Taking Hell Seriously

Whatever view of hell you choose to believe I hope that you are very careful in how you apply it. Most of the time when I hear people talk about who is going to hell, they speak of Hitler, murderers, drug dealers, child abusers, or they apply it to people of other religions or sometimes Christians who don’t believe like them.

But then I look at how Jesus spoke of hell and he uses it to challenge the faithful.

Matthew 5: 21-22, 29-30 "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, "You shall not murder'; and "whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; …if you say, "You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. …29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

Jesus used hell to warn very committed religious leaders that they make converts and make them twice as much a child of hell as they are and then he asks them, “How will you escape being condemned to hell?”

We need to use Jesus’ warnings of hell or Gehenna to make sure we take a good look at ourselves. Hell is meant to force us to consider the consequences of our actions or lack of action.

Studdart Kennedy tells (in one of his books) of a father who, in fits of drunkenness, used to beat his son. In his sober moments, he loved the lad dearly. Now, however, the boy is dying and his suddenly sobered father is keeping a vigil beside his bed. In his fevered delirium, the child sees the father reach out to stroke his sweating brow. Instinctively, the boy flinches, brushes his father's hand away and cries: "Don't let him hit me, Mother. Don't let him hit me." Hell is seeing, for the first time, the results of what we do.

Rob Bell makes the point that it seems the people who talk the most about hell in the next life seem to do the least about the hells we experience in this life. And it seems that the people who work the hardest on the hells of this life seem the least concerned about hell in the next life.

Jesus is concerned about both.

If we take Jesus seriously then I would consider it wise for us to take hell seriously. To dismiss it is to ignore the judgment that we all must face. We may be children of grace and we put our trust in the ultimate grace of God but that grace is not to be taken for granted. That grace is given to spur us on to a life that is pleasing to God who has given His Son for us. Jesus used his understanding of hell to challenge those who would listen, to leave behind anything that does not belong in heaven.

You see to Jesus heaven and hell are more than places, they are ways of living. We need to take seriously the fires of hell not just to make sure we end up in the right place but to begin transforming the hell we see on this earth into the quality of life we will find someday in heaven.
Conclusion
My youth leader in high school, the one who inspired me to consider going into ministry use to tell us a story to describe heaven and hell. It has always stuck with me and maybe it will speak to you. I do think it captures the spirit of how Jesus spoke about hell.

She said that one day a person died and before they went to heaven they were allowed to capture a glimpse of hell. What they found was a huge banquet table full of the finest foods, more than anyone could eat and yet the people were hungry and starving. When the person looked closely he discovered that those persons in hell had no elbows. They had all this food in front of them but they could not bring it to their mouths. That made the torture of hell even worse.

Then they were rushed up to heaven. And there they found the same banquet table, full of the same bounty of food. People there were smiling, talking and laughing. When the person looked closely they discovered that these people in heaven just like the people in hell did not have elbows either. But there was one major difference between heaven and hell. In heaven people had learned to feed each other.

So I invite you to take Gehenna seriously, be careful how you explain God’s judgment to others but even more hear Jesus’ warnings as you need to hear them so that the grace Jesus has made possible for you will not be wasted.
]]> Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:37:44 GMT 7D7AEC563C225F90D2C25802103C09B3 http://oldbethel.org/pastorsblog.cfm?feature=808636&postid=1714682 I got to talked to my son this morning. He is stationed at Ft. Bliss near El Paso, Texas for about 40 days of training before they head to Afghanistan. Today, they head out into the rough where they will live in tents to prepare for their experience in Afghanistan. We are in our new house and have now unpacked enough that we can walk through the house. Unfortunately, our garage is still full of boxes so both cars had to sit out in this snow. My goal is to get at least one car in the garage by this weekend. It sure has been nice having my daughter Kelsey so close. Her husband had a basketball game last night so she bopped over and watched the IU game with me last night. Last Sunday, we had a great meeting with the youth and adults who will be going to John&rsquo;s Island this summer. People are really stepping up to make this trip successful. We have to raise around $9,000 to add to the $6,500 that will come from the Faith Promise pledges to send 50 people on this Mission trip. About $1,600 has been raised so far. We will hold the Spaghetti dinner in March and surrounding Spring Break we are going to use the Mission trip model of forming teams to do Spring Cleaning. One adult will lead a team of 4-5 youth and we will do whatever you need done for whatever donation you consider fair. So if you have anything you would like done, contact Ric Gasaway and we will begin making plans. Speaking of our youth, I was very impressed Wednesday night when Allison Downing came up to me and said that she would like to join our hospital visitation team. Obviously, Allison has come to realize that she has a gift for caring and she is ready to put that gift to work. How great to see God at work and to have youth making a difference in our church. Plans are also coming together very well for our Souper Bowl Sunday: Food for the Body and Soul. Scout Master Jim Shaw is coordinating the effort, Noemi Cifuentes&rsquo; Ebenezer group is going to contribute some soups. So right now we have 4 pots of soup committed with a goal of 20. We hope to have over 200 people for this meal that will run from 11:30-1:00 on February 5. The Scouts are working up some awards to give to the best soups so, break out your favorite recipe. We dream of this being a relationship builder between the congregation and our friends at the Food Pantry. See the Connection Card this Sunday to sign up to donate a pot or crock pot of soup. This Sunday, we continue our series on Heaven and Hell: More Than a Place. I believe this message will be very helpful as you fit the concept of Hell in with the God of love we profess. I will explain how Jesus used the image of Gehenna to warn his listeners and I will share four different understandings of what hell might be. In preparation, I invite you to read the 12 places Gehenna is used in the Bible: Matthew 5:21-22, 29-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15; 23:33; Luke 12:4-5; Mark 9:43-45 and James 3:6. See you Sunday, Rev. Jerry
We are in our new house and have now unpacked enough that we can walk through the house. Unfortunately, our garage is still full of boxes so both cars had to sit out in this snow. My goal is to get at least one car in the garage by this weekend. It sure has been nice having my daughter Kelsey so close. Her husband had a basketball game last night so she bopped over and watched the IU game with me last night.

Last Sunday, we had a great meeting with the youth and adults who will be going to John’s Island this summer. People are really stepping up to make this trip successful. We have to raise around $9,000 to add to the $6,500 that will come from the Faith Promise pledges to send 50 people on this Mission trip. About $1,600 has been raised so far. We will hold the Spaghetti dinner in March and surrounding Spring Break we are going to use the Mission trip model of forming teams to do Spring Cleaning. One adult will lead a team of 4-5 youth and we will do whatever you need done for whatever donation you consider fair. So if you have anything you would like done, contact Ric Gasaway and we will begin making plans.

Speaking of our youth, I was very impressed Wednesday night when Allison Downing came up to me and said that she would like to join our hospital visitation team. Obviously, Allison has come to realize that she has a gift for caring and she is ready to put that gift to work. How great to see God at work and to have youth making a difference in our church.

Plans are also coming together very well for our Souper Bowl Sunday: Food for the Body and Soul. Scout Master Jim Shaw is coordinating the effort, Noemi Cifuentes’ Ebenezer group is going to contribute some soups. So right now we have 4 pots of soup committed with a goal of 20. We hope to have over 200 people for this meal that will run from 11:30-1:00 on February 5. The Scouts are working up some awards to give to the best soups so, break out your favorite recipe. We dream of this being a relationship builder between the congregation and our friends at the Food Pantry. See the Connection Card this Sunday to sign up to donate a pot or crock pot of soup.

This Sunday, we continue our series on Heaven and Hell: More Than a Place. I believe this message will be very helpful as you fit the concept of Hell in with the God of love we profess. I will explain how Jesus used the image of Gehenna to warn his listeners and I will share four different understandings of what hell might be. In preparation, I invite you to read the 12 places Gehenna is used in the Bible: Matthew 5:21-22, 29-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15; 23:33; Luke 12:4-5; Mark 9:43-45 and James 3:6.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Jerry
]]> Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:09:42 GMT 42F9BB97D8F29C9F7276292A6F4903E0