Dear NEO family,

Aren’t you thankful for “God Sightings”? The last two weeks have been very demanding for me, physically and emotionally. But almost every day I see the evidence of God’s activity and care. Let me just share a few “God sightings” this week:

• Claude Guy called Monday reporting on the service Sunday at Sand Springs. After the Board secretary reported on the positive pastoral review, they had special music and the Lord took over the service. Ten people came to the altar, they anointed some for healing and a young couple found help in their marriage. As a D.S., I had no idea how God could use an announcement of a positive pastoral review!

• Cole Weston emailed me on Wednesday. On Sunday he told the Okmulgee Church that the mission of the church is to reach out, and that they would try to find new ways to get to those in our community to help. But Cole didn’t have to find ways to reach out this week. God immediately began bringing some people to Cole that he had opportunity to minister to. Cole wrote, “I feel like I'm doing what this job is all about. You just can't beat Jesus for job satisfaction!”

• On Thursday, Jenny Schuneman was taken on a Cononco Phillips Angel Flight to M.D. Anderson Hospital. Today she was to have an appointment with Dr. Rabi. They will not be admitting her to the hospital, she will be on an outpatient basis. Dr. Rabi will evaluate everything they have on her, run some tests of his own and then determine whether or not they can do anything for her. This is NOT a promise of a cure, nor that they can even treat her, BUT this IS the opportunity we have been praying for - that they would be willing to see her and evaluate her and give her this chance. God is answering our prayers!

• I stopped by and saw the progress being made on the new building at Miami New Life yesterday. The new building is huge and is going to be a tremendous blessing, but even more exciting to me was hearing Pastor Casey Hollingsworth report of the way God is blessing their services and helping this church reach new people.

God is at work in our world. I am blessed to be able to be a recipient and partner in His work!

Tomorrow is Sunday School Training Day, “Building Foundations That Last” at Broken Arrow First. This will be a time of inspiration and practical helps for those who work in children’s, youth and adult ministries. Registration is at 9am and we will conclude by 2:30pm It is not to late for you to decide to come. Hope to see you there.

Continuing Lay Training (CLT) is committed to equipping laity for effective ministry by facing important issues in our culture. On Thursday, April 29, 2010, Dr. Bryce Fox CLT will host an educational conference call on sexuality in young adults and how the church can communicate Christian values about sexuality in our current culture. To join the call, dial 760-569-6000 and enter the access code 793452#. The time of the call will be 7pm Central time zone.

SNU Tulsa’s MBA in Health Care will start its first group on August 10. This master’s in administration is for people who have a bachelor’s degree (accredited and in any field) and who have experience in any aspect of the healthcare field and who would like to fulfill positions of leadership in the healthcare industry. This could also include people interested in medical missions. It might be people who work in health insurance companies, those in allied fields such as respiratory therapy, or physical therapy, for example, or nurses or even doctors who want to go into administration. They do not have to have a background in business such as accounting and finance. We will teach those things to them.

The instructors, all committed Christians who subscribe to SNU’s mission, are MDs and others who are in positions of leadership in Tulsa medical facilities and organizations. For example, Dr. Pat Bolding, family physician, who was an administrator for over 20 years for In His Image, and Dr. Jack Sommers (MD, MBA), who is the Chief Medical Officer for Community Care Managed Healthcare, will both be teaching in the program. So will the HR Manager for Eastern Oklahoma Red Cross, among others. The students in this program will be getting really good “real world” information.

Our General Superintendents recently released this week an important affirmation of belief that I want to share with you. We are to contend for the faith that was once entrusted to the apostles. May those who come behind us find us faithful!

WE BELIEVE

As General Superintendent Emeritus Don Owens suggests, every movement of God has a binding address. We believe that the Church of the Nazarene was birthed in the heart of God and that she continues as an expression of the movement of God in our world.

The church revealed a level of genius a century ago when it expressed the nonnegotiable elements - a binding address - of biblical faith in eight simple yet profound stated beliefs in the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene:

Agreed Statement of Belief
26. Recognizing that the right and privilege of persons to church membership rest upon the fact of their being regenerate, we would require only such avowals of belief as are essential to Christian experience. We, therefore, deem belief in the following brief statements to be sufficient. We believe:
26.1. In one God - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
26.2. That the Old and New Testament Scriptures, given by plenary inspiration, contain all truth necessary to faith and Christian living.
26.3. That man is born with a fallen nature, and is, therefore, inclined to evil, and that continually.
26.4. That the finally impenitent are hopelessly and eternally lost.
26.5. That the atonement through Jesus Christ is for the whole human race; and that whosoever repents and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is justified and regenerated and saved from the dominion of sin.
26.6. That believers are to be sanctified wholly, subsequent to regeneration, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
26.7. That the Holy Spirit bears witness to the new birth, and also to the entire sanctification of believers.
26.8. That our Lord will return, the dead will be raised, and the final judgment will take place.

In these days of theological experimentation and inquiry, it seems prudent to the Board of General Superintendents to lay special emphasis on some of these agreed beliefs.

We believe in God. Revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, He is holy love and light; eternally existent and infinite; Sovereign of the universe; holy in nature, attributes, and purpose; all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present.

We believe in the inspiration and authority of Scripture. We hold that the Word of God is the primary source of revelation for knowing God. Dr. H. Orton Wiley, who helped shape our theology in our formative years, wrote: "We conclude that the Scriptures were given by plenary inspiration ... in the manner that and to the degree that the Bible becomes the infallible word of God, the authoritative Rule of Faith and Practice in the Church" (Christian Theology, Vol. 1, p. 170).

We believe in the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" (John 14:6). We believe that "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

We believe that, subsequent to regeneration, believers are to be entirely sanctified through the work of the Holy Spirit. We further believe that in the work of entire sanctification the believer's heart is cleansed from all sin and that the believer filled with the Holy Spirit is enabled to love God with the whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love others as oneself. We believe that growth in grace and the disciplines of holy living are a lifelong necessity for a life wholly sanctified to the will and purposes of God.

We believe in the Church, "the covenant people of God made new in Christ" (Manual, paragraph 15), as the visible expression of God's presence and mission in our world.

This is our binding address!

Ephesians 4:12-13 makes it clear that every effort should be made for believers to be "built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." This, the Bible declares, will prevent us from being unsettled by every wind of doctrinal experimentation that blows across the religious landscape.

We call upon our churches, our institutions of higher learning, and our people at large to hold fast to these agreed beliefs. Let us set aside anything and everything that distracts from our mission to make Christlike disciples in the nations.

--Board of General Superintendents

You are loved!
Dave McKellips