Western Pennsylvania Church Board Dialogues

April 17 and 18 I had the privilege of meeting with several Church Boards in Western Pennsylvania to dialogue and listen on 2 major topics. 1.) Mission. 2.) Youth and Young Adults. I asked what each church was finding effective in Mission, what the church might like to dream about doing, if God made it possible, and what the Conference might do in support, training and resources for mission. Then I asked what the current status was for Youth and Young Adults in each church, what the church might like to do, if God made it possible in a Youth or Young Adult ministry and what the Conference might do in support, training and resources for mission to Youth and Young Adults.

This weekend, I met with the Boards of:
Pittsburgh and New Brighton

East Suburban and Greensburg
Derrick City, Mt. Jewett and Warren

I also met with the leadership of the Adventist Community Services—Greater Pittsburgh

While at Pittsburgh, I was drawn to a picture on the wall of the Church hallway, depicting various aspects of the Pathfinder law as lived out by the Pathfinders. Pittsburgh Church has a good Adventurer and Pathfinder program.


On April 24,25 I repeated the dialogue with additional Western Pennsylvania Churches, by meeting with Church Board members of:
Erie, Lowville and Seneca

New Castle, Shenango Valley and Meridian Road (Butler)
Washington, Uniontown, Mon Valley
Indian, Johnstown, Distant, Laurel Lake

Quite a few good ideas and dreams for mission came through from listening to these Church Boards. At each location I took extensive notes of what was shared, by typing each comment into my computer. At the same time, I projected up on a screen with a video projector for all the Board members to see, just what notes I was typing.

If you would like a copy of the notes from any of these dialogues, just let me know which ones you would like to see.

Washington Adventist University

Washington Adventist University broke ground, Friday, April 9, 2010 for a new Music Arts instructional building.

This will house the instructional space and practice rooms for the New England Youth Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse Rittenhouse

and the voice and choral groups under,). direction of Dr. James Bingham, Music Department Chair.

Jeanne and I attended the ground breaking and then enjoyed a reception/lunch with Blue Mountain Academy alumni Margaret McFarland and Mr. and Mrs. Leroy Haas.

Following the lunch, I attended the Washington Adventist University Board of Trustees meeting.

Non-functional Jewelry and the Adventist Christian

Non-functional jewelry and the Adventist Christian
(Something other than a watch, cuff links, wedding band, tie tac/bar, health
bracelet.)

What wearing non-functional jewelry is NOT:

• It is not necessarily a barometer of a person’s commitment or deep
spirituality.
• It is not a moral equivalent to the 10 commandments.
• It is not a test of fellowship or church membership.
• It is not just what women and men wear on their person.
(It can also include expensive cars, a 4 wheel drive truck with a gun rack, a
house larger than necessary, a Rolex instead of a Timex, a “trophy wife” or
husband, or anything thought to make a statement or show a status in life.)
• It is not able to fill the sense of inadequacy—which only Jesus Christ can fill.
• It is not able to make us more attractive – as compared to being a loving and
loveable Christian.
• It is not able to provide us a true source of well-being.
• It is not to keep us from seeing a cherished, loved and sought-for Child of Jesus
Christ.

What not wearing non-functional jewelry IS:

• It is a principal taught in the Holy Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy.
• It is a way for a Christian to express with their own person—that Jesus supplies
all of my personal self-image needs.
• It is a way for a Christian to live by a principle of asking, “Do I really need
this as a steward of God’s goods?”
• It is a way to express that a Christian has priorities that are higher than
fitting in to current cultural expectations.
• It is a way of demonstrating the freedom a Christian has in Christ from secular
influences and orientations that are not necessary.
• It is a reminder to live a simple lifestyle in all things. (Live simply – so
others may simply life.)

Not wearing non-functional jewelry -- It is a principle I am glad to live by!

Stroudsburg Church is on the Move, and so is Easton

The Stroudsburg Church is on the Move and so is Easton!










The Stroudsburg Church is on the move. They have the highest attendance in the Conference and the second highest tithe. Recently they have remodeled the bathrooms used both by the Church School during the week and by the Church family on Sabbath. For years an overhaul in the bathrooms was needed. The walls and the drains have now been re-done.


Soon, it is contemplated, energy efficient windows will be installed in the school classrooms. The bulletin board just off the foyer of the Church, had a good promotional though for the church school.

I had the privilege of sitting in Jim Yansen’s Sabbath School class. Jim has encouraged his class to work toward several local mission projects. One of those, was to pray for young adults to be invited to the Sabbath School class and attend church. Right now this class has 2 young adults taking baptismal lessons. Jim has also challenged a young adult Caucasian member to specifically invite his friends and other Caucasians, since the Stroudsburg Church family, which used to be mostly Caucasian, is now 80-90 percent made up of those of British West Indian descent.

On this Sabbath, there were 2 young adult Caucasians present in class, one young man had been invited by this initiative, and it was his first Sabbath in attendance!
Although I had only planned to sit in the congregation, I was invited to join the worship leaders and provide the welcome, the call to worship and the benediction.
During the announcement time, I shared with the congregation about our commitment to lead youth and young adults into Share Him evangelism. One family already inquired if their daughter could participate, and one adult lady agreed to pray about coming alone on the Guatemala trip Share Him evangelism trip this summer, as both a speaker and a chaperone for the young ladies.
Pastor James Clark, who is normally present, had committed to attend the youth Sabbath worship service in Easton, which were entirely presented by the youth.
After church, I joined with Thomas Pitts, the head elder and Pastor Bernard Charles, who is the building committee chairman, and reviewed the artist’s conception for a possible new church and activity center.


The steel buildings being considered are estimated to cost near $4.5 million. The building committee chairman, who had led out on building a similar project, shared with me that he believed it could be finished for $3.7 million, utilizing the many craftsman in the church who are involved in the construction business as a living.

Following several conversations with church members after the Stroudsburg Church service, I made my way to the Easton SDA Church.


Here a complete Sabbath Youth Day was being led out by Javier Mendez, the local youth leader. 3 other youth groups from other Conferences had been invited and come for the day. In the morning, the youth provided the entire worship service, including the preaching. I arrived a little before the 3 p.m. afternoon service. The church was full-packed all day!



Kris Eckenroth, PA Conference Youth Director was able to join the youth at Easton in the afternoon also, and he has been working with the Easton church in its youth ministry.

Kris and Javier have also developed a close working relationship with the PA Conference COOL camp summer ministry. Javier leads one of the summer teams which goes to PA Conference Churches or Schools and conducts a summer day camp for at least 1 week. Many, if not most of the kids coming to the summer day camp are non-Adventist and quite a few of those are un-churched. Javier works with our Adventist COOL Camp youth workers, and provides intentional leadership and spiritual development each day for the youth who are leading out, in addition to giving them direction in reaching summer day campers for Christ.

Afterwards I spoke at length with Paul Richards and his wife Kesha.
They both work in sales for Verizon and are in the top 10% of their 1,300 employees for sales. However, they are being pressured to work on Sabbath. We spoke for some time about possible actions they could take. I pointed them to Walter Carson at the Columbia Union and also offered to go to Scranton to meet personally with upper management on their behalf.

Please keep these fine Adventist members in your prayers.

Chambersburg Church in Mission and a Church Plant

PRESIDENT’S BLOG
March 27, 2010

Chambersburg

This Sabbath I had the privilege to join Pastor John Rengifo and the Chambersburg SDA Church. The worship service begins at 9:15 a.m. While there for the service, I was asked to officiate for an ordination service for Brandon Senior as an elder, and Sonny Hoffman and Randy Winkler as deacons.
Then the morning worship message was entitled, “Failure Prepared a Leader,” and drew 8 principles of Christian leadership for church leaders from the life of Moses.


The Chambersburg Church has a SIGNS gift box out front for the townspeople to pick up free copies.



Inside the foyer, I was impressed with the bulletin board and all the attention provided for the active Pathfinder club.


After lunch, I asked to meet with the Church Board and we discussed the role of the Church Board in the mission of Jesus. We looked at various church officer positions and said, if that position is not about reaching the lost, or not active in reaching the lost, it should be re-evaluated as to whether it ought to be continued, funded or promoted.
Three lay members of the Chambersburg church are presenting a Share Him evangelistic meeting in about a week. After the Board meeting, several members and youth went out along the streets of the city to “prayer walk” and intercede with God for reaching folks with the wonderful Adventist message we have.


In the afternoon a Hispanic SDA Church Plant meets in the Chambersburg church facility. Juan Lopez happened to be there for the worship service, and I asked those who attend the Church Plant to come together for a picture.

Missional Church Assessment at Hampden Heights

President’s Blog
March 12, 2010

Mission Intentional Church Assessment

The Reading Hampden Heights church was the location for a Mission Intentional Church assessment and consultation beginning last Wednesday night through this Sabbath afternoon.

Our assessment team consisted of:
Elder Ray Hartwell, President, Pennsylvania Conference
Elder Bill Peterson, Assistant to the President for Mission, Pennsylvania Conference
Dave Morgan, Vice President of Education, Pennsylvania Conference
Tamyra Horst, Communication Director, Pennsylvania Conference
Elder Mike McCabe, Pastor, Kenhorst Boulevard Adventist Church, Pennsylvania Conference
Dr. Ray Pichette, Vice President of Pastoral Ministries, Potomac Conference


Coming into this assessment process, the local church provided the assessment team with a comprehensive document of the 20 year history of this church.

We conducted personal interviews with over 12 individuals asking about the strengths and weaknesses of the current church life. We also met with the church board and reviewed the data from the self-study the church board had provided. Later, we conducted a focus group interview, consisting of over 20 individuals representing a broad cross-section of the church by age, gender, ethnic and philosophical backgrounds. We also interviewed Pastor Brian Cassell and his wife. Then the assessment team indentified the major strengths and the major concerns affecting this church’s ability to effectively work on the mission and calling of Jesus for a church family. After these were listed, the assessment team provided a comprehensive list of recommendations or prescriptions for the church to implement for becoming intentional in mission going forward.

This report with the prescriptions will be shared tomorrow immediately following the fellowship meal right after church.

The Hampden Heights church will received this report, and then in 2 weeks will have a business meeting to vote whether or not to accept and implement all of the recommendations.

We in the Pennsylvania Conference are blessed by God to have a Conference staff like we do, that are dedicated and willing to coming alongside our churches and spend the time to support and equip our church families for service. Each church we work with has an assessment team that differs from church to church, that draws from the Conference leadership staff and pastors that we have. I am very proud of our staff and all the time they give and diligent work they do.

This is the 3rd Mission Intentional Church assessment process with a Pennsylvania Conference Church. Other churches are preparing to request the Conference assist them with this process. For anyone who would like Ellen White selections that provide the principles behind the MIC approach, feel free to request this of me. Also, I have a power point presentation that addresses many of the questions people have asked about the MIC process here in Pennsylvania, which I would be willing to e-mail to anyone who asks.

Mission Intentional Church helps a church apply a functional system and a structural framework to be the church we are called to be in the last days, that focuses on the calling to reach the lost for Jesus before He comes. It does not take the place of necessary prayer, reflection on God’s word and a deep, heartfelt call for the Holy Spirit. It also does not take the place of repentance and confession of unfaithfulness, which precedes the reception of the Holy Spirit. However, it does follow the counsel of Ellen White that we are to pray for the Holy Spirit, in order that we might plan and executive wisely (AA p. 50), and that “the leaders in God’s cause, as wise generals, are to lay plans for advance moves all along the line.” GW p. 351

Elementary Music Festival

PRESIDENT’S BLOG
March 6, 2010

Elementary Music Festival

It was a joy to attend portions of the Pennsylvania Conference Elementary School Music Festival held at Blue Mountain Academy. Tracy Enoch, the BMA recruiter has been the overall coordinator for the Elementary Music Festival this year. Eric Engen and Hector Flores have participated with many elements of the programming. Each of our BMA Elementary schools are represented.




Before the worship service began, I joined the BMA students for Sabbath School in the gym. Carlos Abreu, a BMA Board Member and student parent led a very engaging lesson study with the Academy student body while the elementary students practiced in the Church.



On Sabbath morning, it was wonderful to see 200-250 students crowding the choir area of the BMA Church as they sang 3 songs for Divine worship.


Craig Ziesmer, principal tells me that already a student from New Jersey, who is here this weekend, has declared his intention to attend BMA next year. One of our elementary school principals was telling me that one of the 8th graders wasn’t sure he wanted to participate and attend the music festival over the weekend. So the principal said, “For anyone who wants to stay home and not attend music festival, the assignment is to write a 2 page report about each of 15 music composers.” She said that the student thought about it and then decided that he wanted to attend music festival and he would like it! As I talked with her, she said he really was having a good time and was glad he came.



After church 2-3 BMA students talked with me and shared about their desire to be accepted as ministry workers at the Laurel Lake Summer Camp program this year.

I am so happy for the multiple ways our Conference works with young people, and the many teachers, camp staff, youth workers and family members who give ministry to our Adventist young people every week.