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Elders Participate in
“Miniversity” on Vision
Several of our elders,
Mark Stokes, Steve Jones and
Sheila Dannenmaier, along
with Pastor Lowell Roddy,
recently traveled to
Lebanon, Tennessee, to
attend a “miniveristy” held
at the Lebanon Cumberland
Presbyterian Church on the
topic of vision. The
purpose of the event was to
introduce church leaders to
the processes used by other
churches to make wise and
prayful decisions concerning
congregational goals.
Participants studied
various scriptures to
understand what the prophets
and apostles meant by the
term “vision.” The program
also encouraged everyone to
look at how the early
Christian church responded
to Paul’s vision of the
Macedonian man requesting
missionary assistance and
apply that conviction and
enthusiasm to a plan for
fulfilling the challenges
before us today. Topics
that were covered included:
Identifying the Need,
Claiming God’s Vision for
Our Congregation, Evaluating
the Obstacles and Resources
that Impact Our Vision, and
Planning to Make Our Vision
Happen.
While several of the
groups attending the
conference were there, like
Charlotte CPC, to learn
about the vision program,
others are farther along in
their efforts and described
what they have learned as
they worked through the
extensive goal planning
process. The pastor of the
Lebanon CPC told how the
congregation discovered
unperceived needs in their
community and developed new
goals and programs to meet
those challenges. As a
result the church is
experiencing renewed
spiritual vigor with dynamic
physical growth as well.
While the results of the
vision process will vary for
each individual
congregation, please be in
prayer that our church will
be open to God’s leading as
we work fulfill His vision
for us in the Charlotte
community.
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Do You Want to Go to Heaven?
Sunday school teacher: “How
many of you children want to
go
to heaven?”
Everyone raised a hand
except one little boy.
Teacher to the boy: “Johnny,
don’t you want to go to
heaven?”
Johnny: “I can’t. Mother
told me to come home right
after
Sunday school.”
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God and Your Money
What money?
That’s a good question. The
sad reality is that many
American families spend more
money than they make. That
should be a shocking fact
for Christians. Why? Because
Christians are supposed to
be good stewards of all that
we have: our time, talent,
intelligence, energy and
possessions, including
money.
Let’s consider money from
the Christian standpoint:
1. It
is not sinful to earn all
the legitimate money one can
garner. In itself, money is
not evil. It is the love of
money we must resist.
2. It
is important to save as much
as we can-at least 10
percent.
3. It
is vital to make a budget
and stick to it.
4. God
owns the world and gives us
the responsibility to take
care of it. It takes money
to care for home and
property.
5. We
should strive to five at
least 10 percent to God’s
work, which includes the
church.
6. One
reliable fact about
stewardship: There is no way
we can out-give our loving
God. Ever!
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Pointers on
Gardening?
There’s the story of the
minister who was making a
wooden trellis to support a
climbing vine.
As he was pounding away, he
noticed that a little boy
was watching him. The
youngster didn’t say a word,
so the preacher kept on
working, thinking the lad
would leave. But he didn’t.
Pleased at the thought that
his work was being admired,
the pastor finally said,
“Well, son, trying to pick
up some pointers on
gardening?”
“No,” he replied. “I’m just
waiting to hear what a
preacher says when he hits
his thumb with a hammer.”
—Homiletics
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Science
and Scripture
We need the spectacles of
science to show us what the
universe is like, and the
spectacles of Scripture to
show us how to relate to God
as creatures in the divine
image.
—Dr. Barbara Pursey, retired
teacher
at Dubuque Theological
Seminary
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Shedding Tears Before God
When Philip Johnson,
renowned architect and
designer of the Crystal
Cathedral in California, was
just 13, his family took him
to France. When they entered
the cathedral at Chartres,
Philip was so moved by the
majesty and beauty of the
building dedicated to God
that he burst into tears.
I have also shed tears in a
church. I wept when I felt
the nudging presence of God
pointing me toward the
ministry. I wept when I was
ordained. I wept when I
retired after serving as a
pastor for 38 years.
I have seen people weep at
the altar rail. I have seen
brides cry during the
marriage ceremony. I have
observed people weeping at
funerals and sometimes at
the baptism of a child. I
recall a man saying to me,
“I cried during the sermon.
Do you know that what you
preach can sometimes make a
person cry?”
To weep before God is to
be in good company. Job
said, “My eye pours out
tears to God” (Job 16:20,
NRSV). A psalmist prayed,
“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and
give ear to my cry; do not
hold your peace at my tears”
(Psalm 39:12, NRSV). Read
Jeremiah 9 and you will
understand why he is called
“the weeping prophet.”
Jesus wept over the
wretched status of Jerusalem
where he was spurned (Luke
19:41). He also wept when
his friend Lazarus died
(John 11:35). St. Paul wrote
to the Corinthians, “I wrote
you out of much distress and
anguish of heart and with
many tears” (2 Corinthians
2:4, NRSV).
The point is this: When
you are moved to cry before
God, cry. People with caring
hearts do that. This is
something to remember,
especially during Lent.
—Charles Ferrell
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Mission
Prayer Emphasis
Keep
the
Hopson family
of
Kampala, Uganda,
In East Africa in your
prayers this month
Kenneth
and Delight Hobson, along
with their three young
children, Kaleb, Austin and
Emilee, serve with the
Cumberland Presbyterian
World Gospel Mission.
Kenneth serves in the
management of a printing
press. He is currently
involved in a feasibility
study of beginning a
Christian ministry in
Kampala. Delight will be
teaching and discipling.
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Mark your
calendars for the Nashville
Presbytery's Children Bash
on April 22 beginning at
2:00 at the Brenthaven
Church.
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Things to Ponder:
●
We have forgotten the
gracious hand which has
preserved us in peace and
multiplied and enriched and
strengthened us, and have
vainly imagined in the
deceitfulness of our hearts
that all these blessings
were produced by some
superior wisdom and virtue
of our own. Intoxicated with
unbroken success, we have
become too self-sufficient
to feel the necessity of
redeeming and preserving
Grace, too proud to pray to
the God that made us.
—Abraham Lincoln
● Too often we underestimate
the power of a touch, a
smile, a kind word, a
listening ear, an honest
compliment, or the smallest
act of caring, all of which
have the potential to turn a
life around.
—Leo Buscaglia
● The difference between
what we do and what we are
capable of doing would
suffice to solve most of the
world’s problems.
—Mohandas Gandhi
"A Historic Church,
Living the Good News"
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