In this issue:
- News from Around Our Great District
- PrimeTime Ministries Update from Rev. Charles A. Bledsoe
- Spring Luncheon Schedule:
- General PrimeTime Event, Niagara Fall, Canada.
- Eastern Michigan & Canada Central Districts' First International PrimeTime Ministries Retreat
- Gibson's The Passion of the Christ Creates Unique Witnessing Opportunity for District Churches
- Easter Celebration at the Mission by Barb and Bill Burdine
- Missions Flags Find New Temporary Home
- Opportunity In Africa
- Kids' Fun Day At The Mission A Great Success
Judy Smith's mother, Vivian Hammersley, passed away on February 23rd. Judy is the wife of Rev. Gene Smith, minister of music at Richfield Church. Helen Temple, missions writer for the Church of the Nazarene for four decades, died February 22, 2004. In addition to being chief editor for the Nazarene denomination's World Mission Magazine for many years, Helen wrote 67 published books on missions.
Rev. Dallas Hudspeth, former pastor of Flint First Church, passed away on February 27th in Little Rock, Arkansas. Rev. Hudspeth was pastor at First Church for over 8 years. He returned to Arkansas in September of 1999. At the time of his death he was pastoring North Little Rock Rose City Church of the Nazarene.
On Sunday Feb 29, Marilyn and Dr. Anthony were at Imlay City Church for the
installation of Rev. Jim Mellish as the congregation's
new pastor. Dr. Anthony appointed him through assembly 2005 with the approval of
the District Advisory Board. Jim is the nephew of Rev. James
Mellish who is an evangelist on our district and also pastored
Warren Woods Church for 35 years. Jim and wife
Mary have been members
of Imlay City for several years. Jim is a student in the EMD Nazarene Bible
Institute
.
The
Anthony's were also at Beulah
Church on the 29th to along with Beulah's new pastor Rev.
Clayton Williams. Rev. Williams, a graduate of Olivet Nazarene
University , has come
from the NW Indiana District to pastor his home church. He began attending
Beulah when he was 9 years old.
Nathan Prince, the son of Rev. Fred and Teri Prince, pastor at Union Lake Church, has finished up with ONU in December, and just received word that he was hired by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, to work as a clerk. Over a thousand applied, 15 were chosen for interviews, and he's the one they chose for the job. Congratulations to Nathan!
Marilyn and Dr. Anthony were on hand at Colling Church on Sunday, March 8th. Colling is on the Thumb Zone and is about 15 miles north of Caro. Congratulations to Rev. Jerry Wallace, pastor at Colling Church who received a unanimous 4 year renewal of his call. Jerry has completed 10 years at Colling. It is interesting to note that this is the second time Jerry has pastored this great church. Colling was also his first call out of Olivet and he ministered to this congregation from 1968 to 1973.
Congratulations to Rev. Darold and Rev. Patti Ward, pastor and associate at Cass City Church. They send the following note: "We want to share the wonderful news of the birth of our first grandson. His name is Dakota Lee Ward. He was born March 3, and he weighed 8 lbs, 13 oz. He is just perfect (I think he even has a halo!)."
Rev. Bill Bowers, pastor of Taylor Church is back in Mt. Clemens General Hospital with a lung condition. Please pray for Rev. Bowers.
Dr. Anthony spoke this week with Rev. Russell Stanley who pastored Flint, Mt. Clemens, Gagetown, Auburn Rd., Mt. Morris, Cass City, Sandusky, and Imlay City churches, all on the EMD. His wife Audrey is now under Hospice care and not expected to live long. They now reside in Northern Michigan. Please pray for the Stanleys.
Over 20 pastors from the Eastern Michigan District will be traveling to St. Louis on March 22-24 to attend the Church Development Institute. Our own Rev. Mike Morris is in charge of this conference.
The District Children's Celebrate Life was held at Richfield Church , Saturday March 13. Twenty one churches participated with and 327 children had over 800 entries. Thanks to Sandy Grimshaw, Children's pastor at Richfield and her assistant Melissa Koch and all the judges and helpers for making this year's event a huge success. Photos above are from some of the participants in the District Celebrate Life.
Gibson's Film Creates Unique Witnessing Opportunity for District Churches
Have you seen The Passion of the Christ yet? Dr. Anthony and Marilyn attended a showing with Rev. Steve Barkey and the Newstart Church -- Orchard Ridge congregation.Many other churches around the EMD made attending this film in its first week an all-church event. For example, the people of the Northpointe Church in Oxford quickly claimed over 50 tickets in the Oxford theater, holding a prayer walk in the hour before the sold-out 6:30pm showing on Ash Wednesday, the Passion's opening day.
Mel Gibson has said that one of the major purposes for the making of this film was to help Christians remember just what Christ endured because of His love for us. The packed-out theaters filled with only sounds of weeping and the rustling of tissues are a testimony that Mr. Gibson has acheived this. Please continue to pray that the impact of this film will change lives.
Testimonies are born by the time the final credits roll. Here are just a couple stories of how God has changed lives through the Passion from Rev. Vince Flippo, pastor at Bedford: "A young man named Derrick. Just met him today, Sunday, March 7th. He was a self-proclaimed atheist. He had some Christian friends who have been praying for him to get saved and challenged him to go to the movie with an open mind. He attended "The Passion of the Christ" movie. Gave his life to Christ after the movie on his own. He was at church in Bedford today visiting the friends who prayed for him. Pretty exciting."
"We operate a one-day-a-week service to community stay-at-home moms called "Mom's Day Out". One of the moms came to the movie with a couple of our workers at MDO. On their ride home from the movie as the ladies discussed what they had experienced, our two ladies led the mom to recieve Jesus into her life! Brings new meaning to "traveling evangelists" Newstart Church Biographies at www.EMDNAZ.org
PrimeTime Ministries Update
By Rev. Charles A. Bledsoe,PrimeTime Ministries Director
It is exciting to be on the Eastern Michigan District and being a PrimeTimer! We have some exciting events planned this year and each of us needs to mark our calendars so we can be part of the blessings the Lord is sending our way.
Spring Luncheon Schedule:
- May 1 Detroit Grace Nazarene Church.
Rosa Hunter, Coordinator - May 15 Richfield Nazarene Church
Betty White, Coordinator - May 22 Ridgeway Nazarene Church
Bill Crawford, Coordinator
General PrimeTime Event, Niagara Fall, Canada
We have reserved a charter bus to make traveling to this event more convenient and pleasurable, however we need 30 people to cover the cost of this bus. Please contact Rev. Robert Chandler (586-726-5876) to make your reservations.As PrimeTime Ministries continues to develop and grow within our denomination and on our district, we strive to develop creative, challenging, faith-building ministry events which encourage spiritual growth; utilization of ones spiritual gifts, talents and life experiences; and spiritual strength through service and fellowship. Because of this philosophy of ministry the following "First's" for our denomination are raising the bar of possibilities for PrimeTimers across our great nation.
PrimeTime Work & Witness "Blitz"
January - February, 2006
Barbados, West Indies (English Speaking, Caribbean Island) The Concept Is Simple: Five Teams, Two Weeks Each for Ten Consecutive Weeks to the exact same location.
Only 100 PrimeTimers (out of 152,000+) in the United States and Canada will join forces to become Five Teams to impact Barbados with the Gospel of Christ.
The Purpose is Pure: To make a long term impact in a short amount of time, so men, women and children will be saved and God will be glorified.
The Consequences are Eternal: "...for whosoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life." God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Our goal is to provide the people of Barbados with increased opportunities to hear, know and experience the redemptive love of God through His Son, Jesus the Christ. Our plan is to reveal Christ's love for them through our sacrificial service to our risen Lord.
Every project on this W&W Blitz will be PrimeTimer appropriate. If you think you have missed your opportunities to be involved in Work and Witness this trip is for YOU! On our PrimeTime W&W trip to Brazil, 16 of the 23 members were W&W "rookies." Many on this team thought they had missed their opportunity to be involved in this face-to-face, mission ministry. Most of the members on this team have already asked their name be placed on the "I'm Interested in the Blitz" list. Below is a preliminary list of possible projects for each of the five teams:
- Team 1 Light Construction / Light Maintenance
- Team 2 Light Construction / Light Maintenance
- Team 3 Outreach / Evangelism: Jesus Film, door to door canvassing, revival crusade, Gospel Services in the Schools, Children's weekend crusade, personal evangelism, Gospel Concert, etc.
- Team 4 Follow-up / Discipleship: Small Group Bible Studies; One-on-One Bible Studies; Spiritual Gifts workshop; etc
- Team 5 Medical, Dental, Optical, Public Health etc
This team project list is not set in stone, it is just a brainstormed list to give some preliminary direction to our Blitz. A set-up team is traveling to Barbados in April, 2004, to meet with the District Superintendent, the Barbados District Leadership and the Caribbean W&W Coordinator. At this meeting we will establish our goals and objectives, projects and ministry events which will enable us to help fulfill the vision the Barbados District has for its district. A PrimeTime Work & Witness website is being developed and should be online by July, 2004. The address will be www.GOPrimeTime.org.
If you would like to have your name on the "I'm Interested in the Blitz" list, contact Rev. Charles Bledsoe at ULNazarene@aol.com or 248-684-9457. No commitment is being made by placing your name of this list. Those on this list will be contacted first as information is made available.
Don't let a nine-letter word stand between you and some of the best opportunities for ministry being offered today. "PrimeTime" is not a dirty word describing age. It is a nine letter word that describes the best years of your life. Welcome to "PrimeTime Ministries!"
Kid's Fun Day At The Mission A Great Success
The weather was icy and hindered
attendance by presidents from the lower part of our district. However, those
people who made the trip were rewarded with a variety of personal blessings from
serving others. Forty-four children came with additional 40 adults and not all
of them came with children. Steve Rayburn of Rednose Ministries
shared the gospel through magic. Jason Justice and his
puppet team from Northpointe Church in Oxford shared a good
message and was followed by Max Lucado's story of "Hermie", a children's video.
Pastor Rob Prince explained the story of Jesus through the use
of the evange cube. And to top it off just right, a Gideon and NMI President,
Max Handcock, passed out New Testaments to everyone. The day
was completed with Pizza and punch . A big Thank you
to all who made it
happen.If you are looking for a place to serve others try Eastside Mission.
Opportunity In Africa
District teams are being formed to help build on the campus of Africa Nazarene University in the next two years. If you can see yourself going to Kenya for the purpose of getting involved in sharing your time, talents and Jesus with others , then find a date that best fits your schedule and call that team leader and get involved.Team #1
Arriving 1/8/2005 leaving 1/22/2005
Detroit First-Bill Heaton
734-453-3881 or bheaton@rc.net
Team #2
Arriving 1/29/05 Leaving 2/12/05
Highland-Mike Hefner
810-632-9411 or mkh1@flash.net
Team #3
Arriving 2/19/05 Leaving 3/5/05
Warren Woods -Chet Decker
810-771-4821 or cdeckwnaz@aol.com
Team # 4
Arriving 3/12/05 leaving 3/26/05
Thumb zone
Team #5
Arriving 11/22/05 Leaving 11/26/05
Howell-Pam Jaymes
517-546-5500
Stay on the ANU campus. Eat American food. Work could be anything from building, painting, typing, cleaning, planting, witnessing, touring, safari, and personal growth. Come join a team! Get a new vision of missions.
