|
Dear NEO family,
NEO
was blessed to have great camps this summer! I am so grateful to our Camp
Directors (Linda Holland, Todd Barker and Dustin Wine) and the incredible
team of sponsors that our churches sent to these camps. And we had larger
camps than last year, with some of the best kids and students anywhere!
Camp
(Re)Generation was last week with over 260 in attendance at Camp Bond. Blair
Spindle communicated clearly and with passion; the band, Same State, was
awesome; the schedule was full and “messy”. What I enjoyed most was seeing
kids seeking God around the altar in the six worship services. On Saturday
night, after Blair challenged our kids to be “all in”, living a life of full
surrender to God, we had wave after wave of students coming forward to do
business with God. It was a sweet time of prayer! Thank God for camps.
|
|
|
 |
|
At
camp, I was thinking about how we can help our children and students build on
their camp experience and grow deeper in their faith. I again thought of the
opportunites ahead for Bible Quizzing and Engage the Word. What if every
child and student who went to camps this year got involved in our Bible
Quizzing Programs? What if all students joined adults in our 40-Day “Engage
the Word” emphasis beginning September 30? Let me remind you of this theme by
reprinting one of the major challenges in my Annual Report at Assembly:
Awakening
Spiritual Depth
Major studies have been done in recent years to try to figure out how churches can produce mature, Christlike disciples. Maybe to no one’s surprise, the classic spiritual disciplines are still the key. The NEO District seeks to support efforts of local churches to help members develop “holy habits”. Each of the past three years we have provided resources to help your members incorporate prayer, Bible reading and fasting in their lives leading up to Spiritual Renewal Weekend. We will do so again in January, 2013.
But
we must do more! In the four-year study done by Willow Creek involving 1200
churches and 280,000 people, they found that the most significant catalyst
for spiritual growth, with no close second, is engagement with the Bible.
Executive Pastor Greg Hawkins says, “Do whatever you can to inspire members
of your church to fall in love with God’s word.”
SDMI
Chairman, Rev. Steven Lester, and I are calling every NEO Church to “ENGAGE
THE WORD” in the Fall of 2012. What is Engage the Word? This Scripture
reading emphasis is an exciting and easy way to deepen your congregation’s
connection to God through His Word. This 40-Day emphasis is uniquely designed
to help churches mobilize to develop life-long habits of daily Scripture
engagement. There will be tools for youth, children and adults and apps for
your smart phone. ENGAGE the WORD begins Sept. 30.
Pastors,
teach your people God’s word, show them how you yourself are living it out
and then challenge them to take a next step in response as we ENGAGE the
WORD.
Another
ministry that I believe could make a profound difference in our children and
youth is Bible Quizzing. Since we know that engagement with God’s Word is a
key to spiritual growth, why can’t every church with children and youth begin
a quizzing program? It is a fun and fruitful way to help our kids hide God’s
word in their hearts.
Pastors
and Bible study leaders, I know you cannot be responsible for your member’s
spiritual growth, but you can be spiritual coaches, walking alongside people
and giving tools and encouragement to help them grow.
|
|
|
|
District
News
|
|
Joe
Thornton, father of Tulsa Hills Pastor, Jim Thornton, had
successful surgery on Monday evening to repair his broken hip. Joe will
be moving to a rehab center to continue his therapy until he is strong enough
to return to his new Tulsa home.
Broken
Arrow First Worship Pastor James
Peterson and Ashton
Leibold recently announced their engagement with plans for a
December wedding.
Pastor
Steve Brown
and family moved into the Cleveland parsonage on August 1 and will be
officially installed on August 19.
Rev.
Brian Stephens
will be installed as Lead Pastor at Broken Arrow First on September 2.
“Annual Written Goals and
Expectations” for each local church are due into the District
Office on August 15.
|
||||||
|
|
|
NEO
July Statistics
|
|
|
|
Attendance
for July
2012-13
2011-12
SDMI
2778 2708
Morning
Worship 3641
3679
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
I
Want to Celebrate. . .
|
|
David
Stevens, Vinita. . Our attendance statistics continue
to increase. Our focus on Love and Relationship is ministering to people. Our
constant prayer is that God will have His will in our church.
Gerald
Burch, Coweta. . . Had a good Children’s Crusade, with
over 30 children participating. Under Janie Young’s direction we had
many of our adults and youth volunteer for this event with Rachel Bess
serving as our guest speaker. We also had a good showing during our
Bluegrass concert featuring the Gaskill Family; followed by a watermelon
fellowship afterwards (we had many attend from Wagoner Cornerstone Community
Church). Our NYI has chosen to support the Cookson Hills Ministry
located near Kansas, OK. They have just completed a clothing drive, and
plan to begin a food drive shortly. Other Zone NYI groups were invited
to join with them with positives from Wagoner Cornerstone Community and
Tahlequah. Some of our men went one Saturday, joined by some from Wagoner, to
frame in the roof on a well house, with plans to return in August to finish
that job and start another. Our NYI group plan to go and volunteer in
other areas on the ministry’s campus.
Brad
Farnsworth, Tulsa Connection. . . We have had the best
attendance for the month of July since we started. Project Reach teams have
been successful in meeting new people in our community.
Don
Engie, Grove Lakewood Community. . . God is truly
developing a sincere unity here at Grove Nazarene. We are being challenged to
be about furthering God’s Kingdom – not ours – and seeing His name lifted
high – not our name. As we have been going through Acts, laying a foundation
for what we are going to be as a church, God is challenging us to be about
His Message and His Mission. He continues to challenge us, and I am grateful
that He is changing our hearts and making us people who want to be about
reaching the lost for Christ. He continues to bring new people who are
“testing the waters” - people who do not have a background in church or
people who have been severely hurt in the past by “church people”. We do NOT
want to be a church that is content with recruiting people from other
churches – we want to be a church by God’s Grace that reaches people
who don’t know Christ.
Scottie
Behm, Chelsea. . . Our congregation’s hosting of the
Chelsea Ministerial Alliance’s 5th Sunday in July evening worship service. It
was a joy to praise the Lord together as one body of faith with some of the
other 10 area churches. That service for us was a large gathering with
about 75 people in attendance. We have been blessed with Delmar and
Barbara Bowman visiting our church from the Enid area. Delmar always
brings his guitar and sings specials when they visit. We want to celebrate
the heart for Jesus that our congregation has - people are saying that is the
primary reason they enjoy coming to our church. One of our 14-year-old girls
recently put it very well, when she said on her FaceBook page “Back off
Devil, I belong to Jesus.” We as a congregation love our neighbors and
we love being overcomers who belong to Jesus.
Curtis
Martin, Mannford. . . We had a Saturday
outreach event, which we called a “block party”, to introduce our new Naz
Nite children’s program. We provided food, face painting, blow up bounces,
tram rides, and a clown, and met new people who are now attending some of our
church services.
Joel
Heid, Dewey. . . A four-year-old girl comes with a
friend on Sundays. Her parents never come, but her dad did last
Sunday. He asked to talk with the pastor. He wanted to ask Jesus
to take control of his life. He prayed with tears, and we rejoiced with
him. Pray for Kyle that he will continue in the Lord and share with his
wife.
Mark
Hiehle, Claremore. . . In June and July we
conducted 2 Family Faith Festivals in order to reach new families in our community.
During the two Saturdays, we had 198 people attend, not counting all those
from the church who worked. We are now following up on these
visitors. We added a new member in July. The Lord blessed us
greatly!
Tim
Odom, Collinsville. . . Welcomed two couples as
members to our congregation this month!! Had a great children’s and
teen camp and praising God for his goodness.
Otoniel
Dannemann, Tulsa Fuente de Vida. . . This month we
celebrate 6 baptized and 4 families became new members in our church. Thanks
be to God because in the women's ministry 4 women decided to follow Jesus as
their personal Savior.
Steve Davis,
Sapulpa. . .
· Growing
intergenerational ministry
· New regular
attenders
· All-church
emphasis on prayer and fasting
·
Outstanding participation in children’s & teen’s camp
|
