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Dear
NEO family,
Are
you enjoying the cool front today? I guess the high may only get to 99
degrees! I know several of our churches are having VBS this week. Aren’t you
thankful for air conditioning?
Kidz
Kamp is only a week away!
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Kidz
Kamp
July
19-22, 2013
Sky
Ranch at Cave Springs
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Church/Pastor
Review in Muskogee
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The
Church Board of the Muskogee First Church of the Nazarene met with me on July
9, 2013 to conduct the pastoral review as set forth in the Manual of
the Church of the Nazarene, Paragraph 122. We discussed recent
accomplishments, major decisions facing the church, and strengths of the
pastor and board along with areas needing attention. Pastor Monty Nichols
received a very excellent evaluation and review by the board and his pastoral
relationship shall continue according to the Manual provisions. It is
sure fun to see a board and pastor united in love and mission!
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General
Superintendent in Jurisdiction for Northeast Oklahoma
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In
harmony with action of the Board of General Superintendents, Dr. Gustavo A.
Crocker will be the general superintendent for the Northeast Oklahoma
District, effective August 1, 2013, until December 31, 2013.
Beginning
on January 1, 2014, Dr. Eugénio R. Duarte will assume jurisdiction until
December 31, 2015.
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Pensions
and Benefits Giving
Continues
to benefit NEO!
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I want to thank NEO
churches for their faithful support of our retired pastors through giving to
Pensions and Benefits. In 2012, $134,534 was collected from NEO Churches that
were added to the P & B Trust. But NEO retirees received more than we
paid in! Benefits paid out to NEO in retirement, insurance and benevolence
assistance totaled $197,377! Let’s continue our faithful and generous giving
- we are better together!
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NEO
June Statistics
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Attendance
for June
2012-13
2013-14
SDMI
3014
2500
Morning
Worship 3872
3473
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I
Want to Celebrate. . .
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David
Stevens, Vinita. . . A great General
Convention and Assembly! Thank God for His faithfulness. I also want to
celebrate faithful Church attenders and members who take care of the Church
business when the Pastor is away.
Bill
Hilton, Tulsa Living Hope. . . When prayer time
came today, after receiving requests, I was interrupted by 2 of our young
girls who have been attending. One sometimes has a request. Today they were
wanting to be allowed to lead us in prayer as several adults sometimes
do. And so they did. How often do we get interrupted by someone actually
wanting to pray? I'm sure Jesus was proud of the little children whom He has
invited to be brought to Him. We are planning our first VBS in many
years for the end of the month.
Scottie
Behm, Chelsea. . . We had our first VBS in
approximately 13 years, and it was a fantastic success. We are using a
mission focus, tied to the international Nazarene effort associated with the
Kids Reaching Kids mission offering. We would like to say thank you to Pastor
Mark Hiehle and the Claremore church for their Barnabas type of
encouragement. Their participation and efforts made the difference in our
first VBS being such a great success. Claremore sent an awesome group of 11
leaders, 4 children and also lent us the use of their bounce house for the
VBS children to enjoy. We would also like to thank Lowes and Stonebridge
nursery for their products made available at significant discounts. My
9-year-old son, Andrew, my wife Sarah, and I went door to door in our
neighborhood on Thursday and Friday to invite children to this Saturday
morning VBS event. We had eight new neighborhood children respond from those
invitations by coming and participating. There was a free pancake breakfast,
a wonderful worship service and message, pony rides, crafts, tomato plant
transplanting/pruning and a water balloon toss and catching game.
Brad
Farnsworth, Broken Arrow Core Church at Aspen Creek. . .
We received 7 new members this month.
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Why
You Should Quit Listening
to
Your Pastor
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I’m
done listening to my pastor.
D.O.N.E.
Done.
All
this talk on believing the Gospel. Trusting God through pain. Loving my kids
with all of my heart. Believing God’s way is better than my way. I’m done.
Will
you join me?
Quit
listening to your pastor talk about how much he loves you. About how God has
a plan for your life. About how you need to link arms with other people and
join a small group.
Quit
listening to him when he says that it’s good for your heart to give
generously.
Quit
listening when he talks about turning your back on your sin. About trusting
the God who loves you. About your need to repent.
And
when he prays for you … stop listening then, too. Don’t listen when he
encourages you to step up and serve others. Or to spend a week this summer at
student camp. Or going overseas to share the love and hope of the Gospel.
Stop
listening. Please.
Stop
listening and start doing something.
Take
what your pastor says and start living it. Let it resonate so deeply in your
soul that it pushes you to action.
Listening
alone is worthless. When the act of hearing Truth doesn’t end in some form of
action, it’s not done you any good. As James puts it, "But don’t
just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only
fooling yourselves." — James 1:22
If
we listen and don’t do,
we’re fools. James goes on to compare us to the person who looks in the
mirror to make sure everything’s straight … and as soon as they look away,
they forget what they looked like. That’s dumb.
So
let’s quit wasting our pastor’s time by listening. It’s not doing either of
us any good. A storm’s brewing, and we’ve got to be ready. The question is
not whether we will have enough knowledge or not. The question will be
whether we can do anything about it.
"But
the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man
who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent
struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was
complete." — Jesus, Luke 6:49
Stop
listening to your pastor. And start doing.
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Guymon
Church of the Nazarene
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Guymon
Church of the Nazarene is inviting any and all to a Prayer Encounter on
September 19 – 22. Cory Jones and Daniel and Carol Ketchum are facilitating
and leading this Encounter as we pray: “Lord, Teach Us to Pray.” For more
information, go to www.guymonnazarene.org.
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