Dear NEO family,
This week Karen Patterson, Bud Lauhon and I represented you at the Fall meeting of the Trustees of Southern Nazarene University. I am so thankful for SNU and the way God has used this educational institution for over 100 years to be a part of his transformative work in the lives of students! SNU continues to model the hospitality of grace, the pursuit of truth, and the practice of discipleship. Let’s support SNU and urge our High School students to visit the campus this year. I believe they will be surprised by the quality of the education offered and the availability of financial aid to make it affordable.
I met today with Tim Odom, SDMI Chairman, Jonathan Odom, NYI President, Rodney Durr, Adult Ministries Director and Ken Wheeler, Children’s Ministries Director. A HUGE Training Day is being planned for Saturday, April 25. It will be the place to be for children, youth, and adult workers, as well as Church treasurers and other leaders. Mark your calendars.
Churches, let's continue to be strive to be high impact churches. Our next session of "How to Grow a High Impact Church", will be Monday, Nov. 24, 6:30 pm at Tulsa Central Church in the Kannady Family Life Center. Chip Ingram will be teaching on the Law of Liberation and the Law of Structure. Call me if you have any questions.
District Work and Witness:
Calling on all you folks who would like to grab a (hammer/saw/paintbrush) and help out. Our Northeast District Team still needs a couple more volunteers to help out in our District Work and Witness Trip to the Ukraine. The trip is scheduled for April 13 - 26 of 2009 and will cost about $1,900 per participant. Please pass the word around. Call Jerry Wilburg, right away, at 918-607-8561. Also, perhaps some churches are able to help the participants in defraying the cost of going by having a bake sale or special offering. Please look around and see what you could do to help. During these times of financial crunch it is important that we all do what we can to help out. Thanks so much for your help and your prayers.
AUTHOR APPEARANCE AND BOOK-SIGNING EVENT
Nazarene Authors Dr. David & Lisa Frisbie will be at Mardel's Bookstore in Tulsa, 71st and Mingo, near Woodland Hills Mall on Saturday, November 29th. Hours for the event are 1 PM to 3 PM. The Frisbies will be signing copies of their new book for married couples, "The Soul-Mate Marriage: The Spiritual Journey of Becoming One." This new book has already been endorsed by more than 30 ministry leaders, family counselors, and key denominational executives. "The Soul-Mate Marriage" is about how to build spiritual and emotional intimacy in a marriage, starting from right where you are! It's about becoming closer, deeper, stronger, more intimate in your relationship--- drawing on more than 20 years of marriage and family therapy experience.
Dr. David Frisbie joined the staff of FamilyChurch.tv on January 1, 2008 as Executive Pastor and Pastor to Families, serving under the direction of Senior Pastor Brett Rickey. In addition, David and Lisa are the NEO District Coordinators for Marriage and Family Ministries, serving under Rodney Durr, Director of Adult Ministries for NEO.
David and Lisa would love to meet you at Mardel's in Tulsa! Please stop by and get acquainted with these new NEO ministers. "Soul-Mate" is their 10th published book; they have also published dozens of articles about marriage and family life in magazines, journals and newspapers.
Christamas Decorations Available – Free! John Teel of Broken Arrow First writes: We have redesigned our Christmas decorations at Broken Arrow this year. This has left us with a lot of nice stuff from previous years that we’d like to give away free to any of the district churches. There are also a number of non-seasonal floral arrangements (in good condition) that we won’t reuse since we renovated our facility. Interested parties may contact me via phone at (918) 455-3550 or email at johnt@banazarene.org.
Here’s a sample list of what’s available…Evergreen picks, Pinecone picks , Red berry picks, Mauve poinsettia, Garlands (In 12” lengths), Cranberry bows, Gold beads, Gold bows, White bows with holly and ivy print, Gold ornaments (Shatterproof balls), White ornaments (Religious)
& a wide assortment of non-seasonal (can use anytime) floral arrangements
Sooners verses Red Raiders! Both sound like law breakers needing some good, honest "Cowboys" to keep them in line. Many of us will be watching the game tomorrow night and cheering for the Sooners. But just to complicate things for you, I thought I would let you know that Graham Harrell is very involved at Lubbock First Church of the Nazarene. In fact, one of their members told me this week that they bring him up front every Sunday and pray for him. Last Sunday they gave him the Distinguished Service Award for the Church of the Nazarene. Now that he has this coveted award (who needs a Hesiman), we can only hope that Harrell will have a let down and OU will fight through for victory.
Have a blessed weekend and a wonderful celebration of Thanksgiving!
Dave McKellips
Friday, November 21, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Dear NEO family,
Greetings in the strong name of Jesus. In these uncertain times, it is good to have our lives built upon the Rock, isn't it? I pray that you will lean into Jesus and experience His peace, hope, joy and love in abundance today.
Our youth begin their NYI Fall Retreat tonight. I understand that they already have 180 signed up to attend. Let's pray for director, Ryan Amey, and all of our students that this will be a time of great fun and spiritual transformation.
We had a District Advisory Board meeting last evening. As we looked at our financial reports and the faithful giving of the NEO churches, we had reason to give thanks. We also rejoiced in the good return we are getting in our investment in others. Last year our District churches paid $150,782 to Pensions and Benefits. In 2007, our District pastors received $221,937 in benefit dollars! Our churches paid $252,934 to Southern Nazarene University. The amount paid over 90% our educational budget is awarded back to SNU students from NEO. So, last month we gave $316 to each of our 27 students. Last night, David Fitzgerald reminded us that we consistently get more in scholarship and grant money for NEO students at SNU than our District pays in budgets each year. Your giving to the District is helping to start two new churches and train and develop leaders on our District. Your giving to World Evangelism is producing Pentecost type movements in many areas of the world. At a time when your investments in Wall Street are not doing so hot, isn't it good to know that your investments in Kingdom work are producing great dividends!
This week I have been finishing the editing of a devotional booklet that we will use in churches across NEO beginning January 1. This will be one part of a Spiritual Renewal Emphasis, "Back to the Basics". We also will have Zone Prayer Cluster Meetings in all five Zones (Jan. 3, 3pm—Muskogee ; Jan. 4, 5pm—Bristow: Jan. 6, 7 pm—Skiatook ; Jan. 7, 7pm —Claremore; Jan 11, 5pm—Tulsa Regency Park). What could be seen as a 25 day Spiritual Adventure will climax with our Spiritual Renewal Weekend on Januay 23 - 25 with Dr. Jack Eyestone and Leaving 99.
Last Sunday night, Gloria and I were blessed to be at Sapulpa for a revival service with Rev. Greg Rickey. I took a few pictures:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Abt2TZizYsWTFzA
Pastor Don Cowan told me, "we have raised $2643 for our Thanksgiving meals for Others. We anticipate that we will be able to feed almost 100 families. Wow! That truly is a God thing! We are working cooperatively with Sapulpa Community Care. This is the biggest offering ever from any one church." This is coming right after an incredible display of giving to others by the Sapulpa Church in the Centennial Celebration. When Don came to the church in April, 2007, his passion was "Others". It sure looks like that is now the passion of the entire congregation. Praise the Lord!
Churches, let's continue to be strive to be high impact churches. Our next session of "How to Grow a High Impact Church", will be Monday, Nov. 24, 6:30 pm at Tulsa Central Church in the Kannady Family Life Center. Chip Ingram will be teaching on the Law of Liberation and the Law of Structure. Call me if you have any questions.
The article below highlights the need for good planning. Let's continue to update and implement our action plans!
Small Churches Struggle with Planning
Small churches often get most of the equation right when it comes to making progress, but the one major mistake they make is poor planning, according to results from a recent study by LifeWay Research.
The study shows that an overwhelming majority of pastors of small churches (94%) say they see the need and problems in their community that the church has been called to address, and eight out of 10 say they share with their congregation a clear and compelling picture of what God is calling their church to look like in several years. But 67 percent of pastors of small churches — congregations that average fewer than 100 in primary worship attendance — say they are frustrated with how slow progress is being made at their churches.
Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research, says, "Understanding God's calling and the context of the church is important, but leadership requires knowing where you are, knowing where you need to go and knowing how to get there. Most pastors of small churches actively pursue the first two, but many struggle with the third."
Of the 350 Southern Baptist pastors surveyed, only 29 percent strongly agreed that they had a clear plan to transform their churches into what God wanted them to be. Thirty percent agreed that they are confused about where they should invest their own time and effort. And although 70 percent of the pastors said their church budget was enough to fund current objectives, 40 percent agreed that their church rarely has time to reflect and plan properly. For instance, two-thirds of the small churches rarely change the person in charge of certain work or responsibilities. And less than six in ten churches regularly review methods and results of events and programs.
McConnell encourages small churches to "stop and evaluate what they are doing and who is doing it." He added, "Pastors who candidly assess their own strengths and weaknesses can surround themselves with leaders who have the talents that they lack. Each local church should seek out and utilize members gifted in organizing people and processes." [christianpost.com]
Have a blessed weekend!
Dave McKellips
Greetings in the strong name of Jesus. In these uncertain times, it is good to have our lives built upon the Rock, isn't it? I pray that you will lean into Jesus and experience His peace, hope, joy and love in abundance today.
Our youth begin their NYI Fall Retreat tonight. I understand that they already have 180 signed up to attend. Let's pray for director, Ryan Amey, and all of our students that this will be a time of great fun and spiritual transformation.
We had a District Advisory Board meeting last evening. As we looked at our financial reports and the faithful giving of the NEO churches, we had reason to give thanks. We also rejoiced in the good return we are getting in our investment in others. Last year our District churches paid $150,782 to Pensions and Benefits. In 2007, our District pastors received $221,937 in benefit dollars! Our churches paid $252,934 to Southern Nazarene University. The amount paid over 90% our educational budget is awarded back to SNU students from NEO. So, last month we gave $316 to each of our 27 students. Last night, David Fitzgerald reminded us that we consistently get more in scholarship and grant money for NEO students at SNU than our District pays in budgets each year. Your giving to the District is helping to start two new churches and train and develop leaders on our District. Your giving to World Evangelism is producing Pentecost type movements in many areas of the world. At a time when your investments in Wall Street are not doing so hot, isn't it good to know that your investments in Kingdom work are producing great dividends!
This week I have been finishing the editing of a devotional booklet that we will use in churches across NEO beginning January 1. This will be one part of a Spiritual Renewal Emphasis, "Back to the Basics". We also will have Zone Prayer Cluster Meetings in all five Zones (Jan. 3, 3pm—Muskogee ; Jan. 4, 5pm—Bristow: Jan. 6, 7 pm—Skiatook ; Jan. 7, 7pm —Claremore; Jan 11, 5pm—Tulsa Regency Park). What could be seen as a 25 day Spiritual Adventure will climax with our Spiritual Renewal Weekend on Januay 23 - 25 with Dr. Jack Eyestone and Leaving 99.
Last Sunday night, Gloria and I were blessed to be at Sapulpa for a revival service with Rev. Greg Rickey. I took a few pictures:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Abt2TZizYsWTFzA
Pastor Don Cowan told me, "we have raised $2643 for our Thanksgiving meals for Others. We anticipate that we will be able to feed almost 100 families. Wow! That truly is a God thing! We are working cooperatively with Sapulpa Community Care. This is the biggest offering ever from any one church." This is coming right after an incredible display of giving to others by the Sapulpa Church in the Centennial Celebration. When Don came to the church in April, 2007, his passion was "Others". It sure looks like that is now the passion of the entire congregation. Praise the Lord!
Churches, let's continue to be strive to be high impact churches. Our next session of "How to Grow a High Impact Church", will be Monday, Nov. 24, 6:30 pm at Tulsa Central Church in the Kannady Family Life Center. Chip Ingram will be teaching on the Law of Liberation and the Law of Structure. Call me if you have any questions.
The article below highlights the need for good planning. Let's continue to update and implement our action plans!
Small Churches Struggle with Planning
Small churches often get most of the equation right when it comes to making progress, but the one major mistake they make is poor planning, according to results from a recent study by LifeWay Research.
The study shows that an overwhelming majority of pastors of small churches (94%) say they see the need and problems in their community that the church has been called to address, and eight out of 10 say they share with their congregation a clear and compelling picture of what God is calling their church to look like in several years. But 67 percent of pastors of small churches — congregations that average fewer than 100 in primary worship attendance — say they are frustrated with how slow progress is being made at their churches.
Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research, says, "Understanding God's calling and the context of the church is important, but leadership requires knowing where you are, knowing where you need to go and knowing how to get there. Most pastors of small churches actively pursue the first two, but many struggle with the third."
Of the 350 Southern Baptist pastors surveyed, only 29 percent strongly agreed that they had a clear plan to transform their churches into what God wanted them to be. Thirty percent agreed that they are confused about where they should invest their own time and effort. And although 70 percent of the pastors said their church budget was enough to fund current objectives, 40 percent agreed that their church rarely has time to reflect and plan properly. For instance, two-thirds of the small churches rarely change the person in charge of certain work or responsibilities. And less than six in ten churches regularly review methods and results of events and programs.
McConnell encourages small churches to "stop and evaluate what they are doing and who is doing it." He added, "Pastors who candidly assess their own strengths and weaknesses can surround themselves with leaders who have the talents that they lack. Each local church should seek out and utilize members gifted in organizing people and processes." [christianpost.com]
Have a blessed weekend!
Dave McKellips
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
