THE MISSION OF JAY COUNTYMEN OF PROMISE IS TO BRING MEN TO A VITAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST AND EACH OTHER, SO THAT THEY CAN BECOME GODLY INFLUENCES IN THEIR FAMILY, THEIR CHURCH, AND THEIR WORLD.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May, 2010
Hello Brothers !
Welcome to the “Merry Month of May” with all of it’s busyness! Not only do we have Mother’s Day, but we also have the National Day of Prayer, Baccalaureate and Memorial Day! Spring is winding down, and summer is on the way!
When I think of busyness, I can’t help but think of Martha. You’ll remember Jesus’ friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, but, let’s read the story from Luke 10: 38-42 -------
“While Jesus and His followers were traveling, Jesus went into a town. A woman named Martha let Jesus stay at her house. Martha had a sister named Mary who was sitting at Jesus feet and listening to Him teach. But Martha was busy with all the work to be done. She went in and said, “ Don’t you care that my sister has left me all alone to do all the work? Tell her to help me.
But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about so many things. Only one thing is important. Mary has chosen the better thing, and it will not be taken away from her.’ “
Yes, sometimes I think we would all like to sit at Jesus’ feet as we take Bible Study after Bible Study, attend Prayer Meeting after Prayer Meeting, listen to Gospel Music all day long, etc., etc.. But if we do, who will do the work of the church? Who will teach? Who will preach? Who will serve the needs of our community and our church? Yes, I understand the frustration of Martha. Sometimes we feel like we are the only one doing all the work! But let’s examine Martha’s motivation, and ours, for a moment.
Why was she doing all of this work? Was it to please the Lord, and possibly get a word of praise for all her hard work? Did she want the others to recognize that she was, indeed, a faithful worker for the kingdom, and that she was sacrificing herself for the Lord? Did she want her guests to rave about her wonderful pot roast, or her spotless house? What was there in her motives that caused her to resent her sister’s lack of work?
Perhaps Martha was upset because she was working for the wrong reasons; and perhaps so are we! If she was working simply to serve her Lord in the best way she knew how, she wouldn’t have been worried about what her sister was doing. She would have rejoiced in the fact that she was able to use her God given talents to serve as only she could! Mary was not the cook and the housekeeper, Martha was.
The same applies to us in our work for our community, and our church (Kingdom Work). Some of us are gifted with the ability to perform a lot of tasks, and it seems that tasks requiring our skills are popping up all of the time. Consequently, we seem to be busy all of the time doing good things for our Lord.
I think that the key to maintaining our Joy in times of extreme busyness is to focus on the purpose of the task at hand, and why we are performing it. Don’t worry about other people and their work, or lack of work, but concentrate on how the Lord is allowing us to use the gifts He has given us in order to further the cause of the Kingdom.
Jesus knows what we can do, and what we can’t do well, and He has given us the ability to do what He requires of us. There is an old song entitled “Follow Me”. The last lines of that song go like this, “If just a cup of water I place within your hand, then just a cup of water is all that I demand. Take courage weary pilgrim, and place you hand in mine, and follow, follow, close to Me.”
That’s the key to joyful busyness, isn’t it, to follow close to Jesus, doing the things He has prepared us to do! There is no greater joy in this life than to have completed a task given to us by the Lord!
So, during this month of busyness, let us thank the Lord for the abilities He has blessed us with, and pray for the strength to perform them joyfully!
< + ~~~ + >
Keep the Faith!!!
April, 2010
Hello Brothers !
Welcome to April, and Easter! With Easter falling on April 4th this year we can truly see “new life” awakening all around us as we ponder the “new life” that Easter brings to our souls. When that stone was rolled away on that first Easter morning death was conquered and a “new life” of service was opened up for us!
That reminds me of the description of that first Easter morning found in Mark. Let’s look at Mark 16:1-4.
“Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, ‘Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?’ But when they looked up they saw that the stone had been rolled away – for it was very large .”
I find it intriguing that these loyal followers of Jesus, who had come to serve Him, were blocked by a large stone that they knew they could not move on their own, and yet when they arrived the stone had been rolled away from the entrance to the tomb where Jesus lay.
I find the same to be true for us many times. We come to serve Jesus, spices in our hands, but there is a stone in the way of our service. The stone could represent many things.
Perhaps we are not putting God first in our lives. We have allowed the things of this world to keep us from that close relationship with God from which we draw our power to serve Him. It may be that nice home, that new car, travel plans, or just sheer laziness that blocks the entrance to the close relationship we so desperately crave. I have found this to be especially true after retirement. When I was working I had routines that included times of prayer and Bible study early in the morning. After I retired a whole new set of routines had to be developed if I was going to maintain the closeness to the Lord I had enjoyed when I was working. The tensions between serving the Lord, enjoying life, serving our family, and serving our church can produce stones that block our way to the risen Christ!
In similar fashion, our focus on self-gratification may be a large stone that prevents us from serving the Lord by loving and serving our neighbor. Jesus said that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. In the Book of James we find these words, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27)
In our community there are many who need our help and compassion. It is easy to simply pray for the “lost and dying’, but to make some effort to help them with tangible things is something else. It does not have to be in the form of a huge gift of money. It could be something as simple as taking food to the Food Pantry, or old clothes to Goodwill. Perhaps it could be in the form of becoming a mentor for the “Kid’s Hope” program. You might even consider visiting older folks who are homebound, either at home, in assisted living, or in a nursing home.
The main thing is that we get our focus off of ourselves and on the needs of others. Our refusal to help others in need can be a very large stone blocking our relationship with Christ and our power to serve. As James also says “He that knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.”
Finally, we must realize, as the women who came to the tomb, that we cannot move the stone alone. They came to the tomb, ready, willing, and able to serve the Lord, knowing all of the time that they needed help. The same is true for us. We need help to remove the stone that blocks our joy; that keeps us from being all we were called to be. That help can come from the Lord as we pour OURSELVES, like a drink offering, on the altar, and turn everything over to Him.
But it can also come from the support and challenge of Christians Brothers. The PK meetings I attend, the Emmaus Breakfast, Disciple Bible Study, as well as Church Services all provide strength from friends and fellow pilgrims to move the stone from the entrance to a joy-filled life serving the Master.
How about you today? Is there a stone blocking you from experiencing a joy-filled Easter? Let go and let God and your brothers help you to move the stone!
Amen!! Amen!! Amen!!!
Keep the Faith!!!TL.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PK UPDATE
In March we had planned to hold our meeting at New Covenant Fellowship, but due to Terry’s illness we moved the meeting to Westchester UMC. The men of the church were SO gracious in welcoming us in on such short notice, but we were truly blessed by God’s Presence!
The program began at 8:00 A.M with a breakfast provided by the men of Westchester.
Our guest speaker was Pastor Greg Rittenhouse from Asbury UMC. As you know, Greg will be leaving Portland to take a church in Brazil, Indiana. Greg spoke to us about “Turning Our Faces Toward Jerusalem”, as Jesus did, and accepting our destiny as believers. We all have a mission to fulfill!
Our Challenging Moment was given by Barry Miller. He spoke about how we all are faced with “Desert Times” in our lives, and how we just have to keep our eyes on Christ and keep plugging ahead. O how we love and respect Barry! Pray for him, and all who are challenged by life!
Our special music and our time of “Worship in Song” were led by Tom Lightle. Tom sang “Jesus and Me” and “Follow Me”. If you weren’t there, you missed a truly inspiring program! Hope to see you in April!
Our April Meeting will be held at NewCovenantChurch, in Collett, on Saturday April 10th. To get to New Covenant, just take U.S. 27 south to 450S, turn right, or West, and follow it to Collett. New Covenant is on the right side of the street. The program will begin at 8:00 A.M. with a Continental Breakfast provided by the men of the church.
Our time of “Worship in Song” will be led by Irwin Bailey, who attends New Covenant. Our special music will be provided by Paul Reslar. It has been a while since we have heard Paul sing and I, for one, am looking forward to hearing him!
The “Challenging Moment” will be brought to us by Jack Rouch. I’m sure that the Lord will provide what we need to hear!
Our special speaker will be none other than the Pastor of New Covenant, Terry Bye! We are all grateful for God’s healing in Terry’s life, and we look forward to hearing what God will give him for us!
Please plan on coming to this special meeting, and bring a fiend as well!
In May, we will have a special “Mother’s Day” meeting at the JayCommunity Center on May 8th, when we will honor the women in our lives. The program will begin at 8:00 A.M. with a Continental Breakfast provided by Jack Houck and the JayCommunity Center.
The program is yet to be determined but I am sure that God will provide some God-fearing women to challenge us to be the men of integrity we are called to be!
Please plan to attend this special meeting to remember, and honor, the women in our lives! We couldn’t function without them!!
The May meeting will be our last meeting of the Spring. We will plan to have a meeting in July, and then resume our regular monthly meetings in September. God Bless your Summer with new and greater experiences with your family, and with the Lord!!
In the near future we will be getting involved in a prayer movement to cry out to the Lord for Revival in JayCounty, and beyond. Our area has experienced this kind of revival during the 1920’s and 30’s of the last century. God is surely capable of blessing us again if we just call upon Him with a clear, believing heart!!
If there is something special going on in your church, please let me know so that I may include it in this newsletter.
Note : If you have an E-Mail address, please send it to lightle@jayco.net to receive this newsletter via e-mail.
Welcome to March, a time of transition from winter to spring. (This is especially true this year since most of the Lenten season occurs in March!)
But today my mind turns to the hope of spring, “New Beginnings”.
In a few short weeks I will be riding my bicycle out into the Jay County countryside, looking for signs of spring. I love to go pedaling along, praying and singing as I watch the beauty of God’s creation come back to life after a cold, snowy winter. And a little later, after the farmers have worked the ground and planted their crops, to see the young plants burst through the soil into a new life; or to watch as the trees bud, and to watch those buds unfurl into beautiful green leaves. How wonderful are these “New Beginnings” that God creates for us each spring!
But “New Beginnings” are not limited to Nature. It can happen to churches and people as well! As many of you know and others are still learning, our Pastor at Asbury UMC, Greg Rittenhouse, has been appointed to serve First UMC in Brazil, Indiana, effective July 1, 2010. This will be a “New Beginning” for Greg, Brazil First, Asbury, and Asbury’s newly appointed pastor, Tim Dilley. There will be times of transitions for all concerned, continuity of many ministries, and new ministries as the respective churches and their new pastors bring fresh and new ideas for the making of disciples for the transformation of the world.
But let’s bring this down to a personal level. Are you experiencing winter in your spiritual life? Are you dragging around in the dark, surviving each day, with no spark of joy in your life? Then I say it’s time to WAKE UP!! Spring is on the way! Imagine all of the good things that God has in store for you if you just trust and obey Him! Look at all He has done for you in the past!(Remember last spring!)
We too can experience a “New Beginning”! Our attitude is a condition of our mind and heart, not our environment! Listen to what Paul says in Romans 12:1-2.
“ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by a renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
We can experience a “New Beginning” this Easter season if we just set our heart and soul on the perfect will of God; on what He has planned for us this spring! We need to transform our minds and get rid of the “stinkin’ thinkin’” of winter and set our minds on spring! Let’s prepare our hearts so that in a few short weeks we can lift our voices in a loud “Hallelujah!! HE IS RISEN”!!!
He is risen, indeed!!!
Keep the Faith!!!
TL
PK UPDATE
Our February 6th meeting was the “Super Bowl Breakfast Web Cast” from Miami, Florida. We viewed this “Web Cast” in the “Praise Café’” located in the basement of Asbury UMC. Since they discontinued the simulcast, and went to the web cast, it wasn’t available to us until 6:00 P.M. on the 6th. Therefore, we decided to have a Chili Supper at 6:00 P.M., followed by the web cast at approximately 7:00 P.M.. The web cast was great once again, as we heard testimonies from godly athletes. The Bart Starr Award was won by Kurt Warner. It was great to hear his testimony, and to see how his wife was so instrumental in bringing him to the Lord!
We had our program during the Chili Supper. We were blessed with music by the Praise Café’ Praise Band, and our “Challenging Moment” was given by Trevor Fennig. It was so nice to hear this young Christian give us a glimpse into his life! With his positive attitude, and God’s help, I feel confident that he will have a unique role in building the Kingdom of God! Amen!!!!
Our March meeting was to be held at New Covenant Church in Collett. Terry Bye would have been our guest speaker. But, as most of you know, Terry has developed a tumor on his brain. Please pray for Terry, and his doctors, so that, with God’s help, he will be able to serve the Lord as he always has; perhaps in a new and better way!
In the meantime, we have rescheduled our March meeting for March 13th at Westchester UMC. The program will begin at 8:00 A.M with a breakfast provided by the men of Westchester.
Our guest speaker will be Pastor Greg Rittenhouse from Asbury UMC. As previously mentioned, Greg will be leaving Portland July 1st to begin serving First UMC in Brazil, Indiana. Let’s all turn out to wish him well!
Our Challenging Moment will be given by Barry Miller, and our special music will come from the Westchester Praise Band. Our time of Worship in Song will be led by Irwin Bailey.
Come prepared for a time of “New Beginning”! Amen?!
Our April meeting has not yet been planned yet. If Terry is able, we may have it at New Covenant Church, just as we had planned for March. God is able, and time will tell!!!
Westchester UMC is planning a special program for young people on Sunday, April 11th. Mitch McVickers will provide this inspiring program at the regular service, beginning at 10:35 A.M.. Come, if you can make it, and bring a kid!!
There will be several Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services held throughout our community. Please plan to attend them. You will be richly blessed if you do!
In the near future we will be getting involved in a prayer movement to cry out to the Lord for Revival in Jay County, and beyond. Our area has experienced this kind of revival during the 1920’s and 30’s of the last century. God is surely capable of blessing us again if we just call upon Him with a clear, believing heart!!
If there is something special going on in your church, please let me know so that I may include it in this newsletter.
Note : We would like to begin sending this newsletter to you via E-Mail. If you have an E-Mail address, please send it to
THE MISSION OF JAY COUNTY MEN OF PROMISE IS TO BRING MEN TO A VITAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST AND EACH OTHER, SO THAT THEY CAN BECOME GODLY INFLUENCES IN THEIR FAMILY, THEIR CHURCH, AND THEIR WORLD.
