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Our
theme as a District this year has been “Radical Together”. We realize how
easy it is to drift to what is comfortable, so together we are seeking to
hear Jesus’ words and settle for nothing other than radical obedience to him!
A
key point in our emphasis is rapidly approaching as we together embark on a
60 Day Radical Experiment, January 13 – March 13, 2014. The NEO Radical Experiment
involves six specific challenges. These action steps are adaptions of the
challenges David Platt gives in his book
Radical for a yearlong radical experiment. More than that, they
are a call for us to renew our heritage as Nazarenes. These action steps
challenge us to follow way of Christ, the way of Wesley and the way of
Bresee.
1. Pray
for the world. The early Nazarenes were energized by a vision of worldwide
ministry. Every day for 60 days, NEO Nazarenes will pray that the glory of
God would fill the earth. Sign up at www.operationworld.org
for the 60-Day prayer experience.
2. Read
through the entire New Testament. Nazarenes believe that
the Old and New Testament Scriptures, given by plenary inspiration, contain
all truth necessary to faith and Christian living. Studies continue to show
that that the most significant catalyst for spiritual growth, with no close
second, is engagement with the Bible. During these 60 Days, NEO Nazarenes
will be asked to read through the New Testament, asking God to give us
understanding and obedience to His Word. You Version (https://www.youversion.com/) has a 60-Day
Plan for reading through the New Testament that could prove helpful.
3. Commit
your life to multiplying community. The Nazarene
Sunday School and prayer meeting were vital to early Nazarenes as they
“watched over one another in love” (phrase John Wesley used about the
ministry of his small groups). NEO Nazarenes will commit themselves
wholeheartedly to the local church. But even deeper than that, they will be
asked to commit themselves to a small group that is intentionally sharing,
showing, and teaching the Word while serving the world together.
4. Sacrifice
your money for a specific purpose. Early Nazarenes
gave sacrificially of their resources to start new churches at home and to
evangelize the world. They also stood shoulder to shoulder with the poor and
broken, funding orphanages, homes for unwed mothers and rescue
missions. During these 60 days, NEO Nazarenes will be asked to look at
all of their expenses as a church, as individuals and as families through the
lens of the needs in the world. We will be challenged to set a cap on our
lifestyles so that we can free up as much of our resources as possible for
the sake of the glory of Christ in His church, among the lost, and among the
poor.
5. Spend
your time in another context. The Nazarene mission
statement is to “Make Christlike Disciples in the Nations”. All of us are
called to leave the comfort of our community. During these sixty days,
opportunities will be given for individuals, families and small groups to
give one day of your time in Gospel ministry outside of your community for
the sake of God’s glory in all the world.
6. Live
the Spirit Filled Life. The uniting core for
Nazarenes has always been belief in a real cleansing grace that conquers sin.
If we try to carry out the mission given by God in our own strength and
efforts, it will end in utter and complete failure. But as we live the Spirit
Filled or Sanctified Life, God works in common people to display uncommon
power and purity. Participants will be asked to daily pray the
“Exchanged Life Prayer”
I
trust that you will join with others in your local church in January as we
embark on the 60 Day Experiment.
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NEO
District News
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· Our
church in Nowata
is closing, at least temporarily. We thank Pastor Prady and Alicia Thimmaiah
for their service. We will be considering options for restarting a church in
Nowata this spring.
· Robert Jason (R.J.) and
Angela (Ang) Droese have accepted the call to serve as Youth
Pastor and spouse at Claremore
and will begin in January.
· Pastor Mark and Ashley
Sanford (Youth Pastor, Bartlesville) have accepted the call
to be lead pastor of a three-year-old church in northern Alabama.
·
We welcome Daniel
Newman as the new Pastor to Families at Core Church.
·
We request prayers for the District Advisory Board as we meet again on Dec.
17 to strategize about expansion
of our Compassionate Ministries on the District. Manna
House is already doing outstanding work in providing food and clothing for
those in need. We are now discussing how we can expand our presence in the
heart of the city and begin to help individuals with lifestyle changes that
bring lasting results. Pray for us as we seek ways to bring the life changing
gospel of Christ to the heart of the city.
·
One of the Key Initiatives of the USA/Canada Region is Multi-faceted Church
Planting. A key component of implementing that initiative is the training
provided by Dynamic Church Planting International. Dynamic Church Planting
International is offering training nearby in Carthage, MO on
Dec. 9–13. Contact Dave McKellips (dmckellips@neonaz.com)
if you would like more information.
· Aaron and Brittany Bolerjack
will be back in Oklahoma on home assignment from January - May 2014, between
Mission Corps projects in the UK. Let them know if there's anything
they can to do to help promote missions in your church during that time
frame.
Thank you to the churches who are adopting a pastor of another
church at Christmas – Bartlesville, Broken Arrow Core, Broken Arrow First,
Sapulpa, Tulsa Central, Tulsa Hills and Tulsa
Regency Park. We are better together!
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I
Want to Celebrate. . .
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Curtis
Martin, Mannford. . . The posts are in the
ground for our new outreach center. The plumbing has been roughed in
and preparations are being made to pour the concrete. We are
excited. We wish to say 'Thank You' for the new sound system which was
purchased for us by the Sapulpa church! A special 'Thank You' to Pastor
Jared Chestnut for designing and arranging for the purchase of the system,
and for installing it with Pastor Curtis assisting. What a difference
it made this past Sunday!
Claude
Guy, Sand Springs. . . We scheduled a baptism
service to baptize 2 of our pre-teens and during the service, 5 others (2
adults and 3 kids) came forward to be baptized! Praise the Lord!
Mark
Hiehle, Claremore. . . This has been an
exciting month! We had 3 people baptized, two were a father and son who
just received Jesus as Savior and Lord. We had a terrific evening with
Dan Bohi in which just about everyone in attendance came to the altar for
spiritual renewal, healing or a special touch from God. We also had two
babies born to members in the congregation. We are rejoicing with new
life both physically and spiritually!
Brad
Farnsworth, BA Core Church at Aspen Creek. . . We
baptized 8 new people, including a mother and her two children, and three
teen siblings. We also had 47 first-time visitors. We took in 5 new members.
Scottie
Behm, Chelsea. . . 1) We are very thankful to Our Lord
Jesus and for all our leaders, within and over our church. A special thanks
was shared with all the church board members, and Nancy Reeves who is
stepping down as church board treasurer. 2) We participated in the Chelsea
revival; our focus for the message was being radical together in our
discipleship to Christ. 3) We were able,praise God, to acknowledge and
express our sincere gratitude for all the hospitality and wonderful support
our local churches shared with us in 2013 as a great example of being radical
together.
Douglas
Reyes, Tulsa Central Mahanaim (Hispanic). . .
1) Saturday night on the 23 we had prayer (7:00 pm to 12:00
midnight) with 62 people praying and worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ.
2) Every Saturday morning our sisters were willing to hand out gospel tracts
and information from our church have been allocated a total of 400
flyers. 3) During the month we gave away 18 Bibles to people who were
in our church. Also bought an amplifier for bass, bass guitar, acoustic
guitar amplifier, an acoustic guitar, it had a cost of 1,400 dollars (money
obtained from the sale of meals the last Sunday of each month). 4) God is
greatly blessing as we will go " from least to most " that God is
doing great things in our meetings. Thanks for praying for us. Our goal for
next year is to be twice what we are now. We firmly believe we are doing the
will of God.
David
Stevens, Vinita. . . As I reviewed last year’s report, I
was reminded of a lady who got saved and baptized last year. Within a few
months she passed away. How thankful I am to be part of God’s work and help
these people make peace with God. We had another new attender who accepted
Christ and was baptized in his home before he passed away last month. This
was the grandfather of Shea Barr, one of our ministers in training. Shea led
his grandfather to the Lord and arranged for me to hold the baptism service.
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NEO
November Statistics
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Attendance
for November
2012-13
2013-14
SDMI
2,783
2,692
Morning Worship
3,529
3,755
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