E-Tidings, January 2004
From the District Superintendent
I remember Mary very well. She was my Sunday School teacher when I was just a young boy at Williams Lake Church. Now I can't remember a particular lesson she taught but I'm sure a lot of what I know about the Bible came as she opened the Word of God to me and the other young people in our class. She had a passion for teaching and she did it well. Mary Rivers went to be with Jesus a couple years ago and I'm indebted to her for the investment she made in my life.
People today are vitally interested in the Bible and how it applies to their life. What better way to give them the knowledge and training they so eagerly want than through Sunday School. Sunday School is much more today than it was back in the 50's and 60's. It is small groups, it is electives, it's discussion but it is always based upon the Word of God. Yes it meets on Sundays but it's not limited to Sunday. Sunday School is more versatile today than ever and it's just as important if not more so.
In April the Eastern Michigan District is privileged to host one of the most dynamic training events in the country. TEACH 2004 will be held at Flint Central Church of the Nazarene April 16 & 17. Every pastor, associate and Sunday School worker should plan on attending. It will be time well invested for the Kingdom. For more information and to register go to http://www.theartmill.com/nph/teach/home.html.
Steve AnthonyDistrict Superintendent
In this issue:
- News from Around Our Great District
- Orchard Ridge Grand Opening
- Christmas at the Eastside Mission!
- Updates from Greg Boisture, District NYI President
- Celebrate Life
- Campground Clean-up
- EMD QUIZZERS ROCK ST. LOUIS
- Christmas At The Hop
- District NYI All Nighter
- UPCOMING NYI EVENTS
- Youth Camp Dates
- NYI Quizzing Dates
- Used RV's for Sale at Camp
- Camp's Heritage 2006 Campaign Update
- New Fax Number for District Camp
- Work & Witness Team of N.M.I. Presidents to Eastside Mission
- Meijer To Support Camp Programs
- Camp Facility Openings
- About E-Tidings
News from Around Our Great District
Rev. E. Gerald and Wanda Gray have accepted a call to pastor the Metropolitan Church. Rev. Gray has served as the interim pastor at Metropolitan since November. He and Wanda began their ministry immediately. They have previously pastored churches in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Dr. Anthony was at Flint Abundant Grace on January 11, with Rev. Greg Cavette . Dr. Anthony gave the message and offered an invitation after which several seekers came to the altar. Abundant Grace is working with Rev. Roger Lutze, an ordained deacon that attends Richfield Church, as he sends men from the rehabilitation program at Carriage Town Mission to church at Abundant Grace. Also, please pray for Rev. Cavette as he suffered an on the job injury at Verizon several months ago. He is still in pain and unable to return to work full time.
Our sympathy is extended to Rev. Mark & Amanda Mountain on the death of their baby Landon Carter who was born premature at 22 weeks on Sunday, December 28th. Amanda was expecting triplets and gave birth to this one baby. Landon lived several hours. Amanda will be hospitalized for the rest of her pregnancy while they await the birth of twins.
Sympathy is extended to Ruthie Roe, wife of Rev. David Roe - pastor at Adrian Madison Church, on the death of her mother during the week of January 4. Funeral services were held in Illinois.
We welcome our new District Office Secretary, Kathy Van Every. Kathy is a resident of Fenton and joins the staff following the retirement of Margie Dooley last year. Karen Morris, wife of Rev. Mike Morris, has served as interim secretary since that time.
Congratulations to Rev. David and Jodi Mills, associate pastor at Flushing Community, on the birth of Carly Elizabeth Mills. She was born on December 29th and weighed 7lbs 2ozs and was 20 inches long.
Congratulations also to Clio New Start Pastor and wife Rev. Scott and Kari Salo on the birth of their first child, Hallee Jean Salo. Baby Halee was born on January 9th and weighed in at 8lbs 14 ozs and 20 1/2 inches long. She had to remain hospitalized for several days but is home now and doing well.Pray for Teen Ranch in Marlette
Many of our pastors and churches have been involved in the ministry of Teen Ranch in Marlette. Teen Ranch is an interdenominational ministry to troubled young people. Matt Koch is CEO and a member of Richfield Church. He has sent Dr. Anthony the following prayer request:Teen Ranch has come under attack from the State of Michigan because of our ministry to reach troubled children for Christ. In October we had our annual audit from the State, as a result of this audit we have been given a moratorium (not able to receive any Residential children in our care), because "Private agencies under contract with FIA may not impose their religious beliefs on children in our care."
The first option is to cave in to the demand of the politically correct - compromising our mission and our Christian values for a few lousy dollars from the State of Michigan. This would be the easy path to travel down. This would be building our house upon the sand.
Or we can stand and fight. We can stand strong and refuse to sacrifice what we know and believe to be right, trusting in God and His people to meet all our needs. This is building our house upon the Rock!
So please help us in joining in prayer to Stand upon the Rock in furthering God's Kingdom
Rev. Alvin Richards, retired elder on the EMD passed away January 2. Rev. Richards pastored Gagetown, Bedford, Auburn Rd (now Cornerstone), and Ellington Churches. For years he served as an Evangelist and a Song Evangelist. He was very active in the church and was a great encourager to your District Superintendent. Rev. Richards was 89 at the time of his death.Also remember to pray for Brian Jolly the father of Rev. Andrew Jolly, pastor at Lapeer Church, who has been hospitalized recently. Brian is a member of Adrian First Church. Also pray for Norm Rucker, father of Flint First pastor Rev. Don Rucker who had some recent surgery. Norm is a charter member of Warren Woods Church and has previously served on the District Advisory Board.
Rev. Judy Eckilsen, associate pastor at Cass City Church has had knee replacement surgery. She is doing well. Please pray for her.
Fenton Church, under the leadership of Rev. Gregg Davis, has recently expanded their ministry and have implemented two morning worship services.
Orchard Ridge Grand Opening
On Sunday, December 21 Orchard Ridge Church of the Nazarene opened its doors to the community surrounding the northwest Macomb County. Rev. Steve and Sharon Barkey and a very gifted core group worked hard to prepare for the grand opening that was held at Duncan Elementary School. The new church, sponsored by Warren Woods Church and Pastor Tim Gocha, welcomed 153 people for the first service. Since the grand opening the new congregation has averaged over 80 in attendance and several people have received Christ as Savior.Congratulations to Rev. Barkey and the fine core group at Orchard Ridge. If you would like to find out more about this exciting new church, Rev. Barkey can be reached at 586-992-8769 or e-mail at SBarkeymsu@aol.com.
Christmas at the Eastside Mission!
Thanks to everyone's help 70+ volunteers helped serve over 500 ham dinners, distribute over 1,000 gifts to men, women and children, send 130 turkeys home and made the children even happier by sitting on Santa's lap to have their picture taken and receive stuffed animals.Once again you, God's people from the Eastern Michigan District, rallied to support and make Christmas better for so many. There were hundreds of happy faces and some tear filled eyes also. Again we thank you for loving Jesus and His Mission.
Love,
Bill, Barb and the Mission Board
Updates from Greg Boisture, District NYI (Nazarene Youth International) President:
Celebrate Life: March 6th is the date for District Celebrate Life. Some of you are new to the district and I want you to know what this is about. It is a talent and sport competition. District Celebrate Life is a time that the youth of the district can show off their talent, gain insight for improvement and encouragement to use it for the Lord. The talent portions includes singing, art work, instrumental, quizzing and many other areas. The sport portion includes, Men's and Women's Volleyball, basketball, co-ed soccer, 5K run, table tennis, golf, chess, and many others. Winners at the district level will advance on to the Regional level at Olivet the early part of May. Information will be to you in a short time. Mark this date, I would like to see the greatest turn out ever for district Celebrate Life so we can have the biggest group ever go to Regional Celebrate Life. Last year we took 2nd overall at Regionals, let's stomp them this year.
Campground Clean-up:
June 4th and 5th we would like to invite all the youth groups to come on out to the Campgrounds to help beautify it for the summer. We ask that you arrive at 6pm on Friday and you will be free to leave by 6pm on Saturday. Friday evening we will have a concert and worship time by the worship team from Crossroads. Each church is asked to donate $50 in perennials - Mrs. Stokes will make some recommendations. We would like to provide an opportunity to bless Rev. Stokes and the campground staff. Please contact Vickie Wolfcale at Crossroads Nazarene, Home (248) 236-9939 Cell (810) 441-6415 or e-mail color=#000080>holdingunswervingly@yahoo.com to register your group.WANTED: Able bodied teens willing to donate 24 hours at EMD Campgrounds. Time will be spent planting, painting, raking, etc. Lodging provided. Free Concert!
CHRISTMAS AT THE HOP: December 5th, 2003. Christmas, 50's style, was celebrated at Richfield Church of the Nazarene on Friday night, December 5th with about 150 students and leaders from across the EMD. DJ, Bob Hughes, from WHNN the Oldies Station, kept the sounds of the 50's alive along with karaoke specials from our very own EMD youth. Dinner was served, $300 dollars in gift cards were given out along with vintage records (as if any of the youth would have anything to play them on). The night was a great way to usher in the new Christmas season. Thank yous go out to all the Richfield Family that helped the night function as well as Kristie Selvidge who spearheaded the night from the decorations (they were out of this world) to the events of the night. Thank you also to Leah Beal for her great catering.
DISTRICT NYI ALL NIGHTER: Following the District NYI Christmas Banquet, a group of about 115 traveled to the Lapeer Recreation Center for a night full of swimming, waterslides, basketball, volleyball, racquetball, wallyball, running track, pizza, card games, board games, "Princess of Thieves" and "Santa Claus 2." What a blast. It was great to see the district youth together having such a great time.
EMD QUIZZERS ROCK ST. LOUIS: December 4-7, 2003. Ten of our district youth traveled to St. Louis, MO to compete at a Regional Quiz Competition. "I have never seen quizzing at such a high level before. There were students from all over. It was amazing to see God's Word planted in so many young peoples hearts" said Donna Chirco, chaperone. The students that went were Ryan Prescott, Michael Flowers, Austin Cook, Teri Farr, Stephanie Smith, Stephanie Ling, Kendra Rose, Jennifer Particka, Brandon Lake, and Andrew Thompson. The chaperones were Donna Chirco, Bob Flowers, Teresa Sherman. This EMD All-Star team placed 3rd (Girls Team) and 5th (Boys team) overall in the C division. EMD was one of 19 districts that represented 5 regions. There were several dozen teams involved in this massive event for quizzing. Congratulations to the quizzers and leaders for representing our district with greatness.
I want to thank all of you for your dedication to the youth of our district. I appreciate all of your support to me and to the many, great events that we provide for the youth of our district. We have the greatest district around with the greatest support system of youth pastors and leaders. I would ask for your continued support of the events on the district as well as of each other. Those who work together build great things together. - Greg Boisture, EMD NYI President
Camp's Heritage 2006 Campaign Update
40 donors have given over $9,300 to date toward camp improvements. We have been unable to start our new bathhouse due to the inability to receive a building permit. Present water usage at the camp requires additional waste water treatment provisions. We are working on a complex process of resolving this issue as well as making plans to remodel the existing bathhouse for the Summer, 2004 season.New Fax Number for District Camp
Camp Fax: 517-546-4410 The main voice line remains 517-546-9683. Please make a note of this fax number change in your district journals.
Work & Witness Team of N.M.I. Presidents to Eastside Mission on November 22, 2003-Responded with Love
The day came with perfect weather and beautiful people as we gathered to learn, lend a hand and leave with a better perspective of our own inner city work at Eastside Mission.
Dr. Anthony spoke briefly giving a little history and information concerning a Tax break for donation to Eastside.
We heard from board members Rev. Margie Bryce and Andy Gensheimer as they shared their hopes and dreams to expand the ministry of Eastside with involvement from all churches on the district. We toured the three buildings and observed the teens from Rochester sorting clothes as a outreach ministry under the direction of Marshall Ruddle their youth pastor. We saw the eye examining room, the baby ministry building. We ate a wonderful tasty meal together. Prepared and served as if we were "needy and hungry". We watched a video that changed our way of thinking about mission work and the people it serves. The short time together closed with sharing our new thoughts and ideas. There were questions, comments, compliments, tears, and encouragement shown to Bill and Barb Burdine. We applaude those who helped set up the days activities for us to taste and see the need to serve others.
Come join us as we experience PART II of President's and Friends Work & Witness return to Eastside and share a Veggie Tale Saturday afternoon with peanut butter sandwiches, pop and popcorn. Closing with the the story and explanation of the evangel cube. February 21,2004. - Reta Steely, District NMI President
Editor's note: This article along with more photos from the day as well as more Missions news can be found in the January/February 2004 District NMI Newsletter currently available on EMDNAZ.org.