Dear NEO family,
Greetings in the strong name of Jesus! These have certainly been historic days in the USA. I am thankful to be a part of a democratic nation where we can participate in the political process. I am thankful that in our nation people from any race, gender or background has opportunity to advance to positions of power and influence. The late Tim Russert often quoted his dad as saying, “What a country!”
We, as Christians, have participated in the political process and now we must continue to pray for and support our elected leaders. At times our faithfulness to God and Scripture may call us to respectfully speak in opposition to the policies of our leaders. Many Christians believe that non-violent civil disobedience may even be an appropriate Christian response in some circumstances. But our basic Scriptural call is to pray for our leaders. And as we pray for our leaders, let’s also pray for a revived church and for courageous clergy. As Charles Colson writes, “This is no time for Christians to go into bunkers. This is a time to repent, to pray more. It’s time for Christians to lead.”
A friend of mine, Rev. Fred Wenger, sent out the following prayer the morning after our elections this week. I commend it to you.
Father, I thank you that I live in the United States of America. I thank you for the opportunity to vote and let my voice be heard. Now that my vote and the votes of millions of Americans have been counted, I thank you that we have a clear choice for President. Teach his supporters the grace of winning. Now Father, I pray that you will be with President-Elect Obama and his family. Let them seek and find your grace as they enter this new phase of life. Surround them with your protection.
I ask that you guide President-Elect Obama as he forms his government. Please guide him towards the most godly, capable and upright among us. Help him make wise choices. Give him wisdom and advisors who will be able to lead us out of the huge financial mess. Give him wisdom and advisors who will find adequate responses to other pressing problems. Give him wisdom and advisors who will enable us to walk tall on the world's stage. Give him wisdom and advisors who will be able to bring an honorable resolution to Iraq and other troubled areas. Give him wisdom and advisors who will be able to guide him in dealing with those who would cause us harm from without.
I ask that you will bring into his circle of advisors and acquaintances, godly men and women who can keep his administration on a morally steady course. Ones who will point him towards a sensitivity and appreciation of moral values so many of us hold dear in regards to the life of the unborn. Let him and the ones around him continue to recognize the strong Christian heritage so many of us hold precious. Give him a heart to be the president of all the people.
Teach those of us who voted for John McCain the willingness to give him a chance, and a heart to pray for his success. Teach us to conduct the "watchdog" role with grace and decorum. God forbid that any among us be unChristlike in lifting up Jesus Christ.
Father, please lift up from among us those who can and will be used to bring revival and renewal to our nation and our world.
In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.
Last week, Gloria and I had the privilege of sharing in our District Ministers and Mates’ Retreat in Branson. What a great group of pastors and spouses we serve alongside! Thank you NEO churches for making it possible for your pastors to attend. On Sunday we worshiped with Pastor Geoff Gunter and the wonderful folks at Regency Park. Pictures of both events are below:
Ministers and Mates Retreat
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Abt2TZizYsWTFiA
Regency Park Nov. 08
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Abt2TZizYsWTFqg
Americans Keep Giving Even in Tough Times
While the recent economic downturn has caused many churches and non-profit organizations to wonder what the last two months of the year may hold in store, two recent studies suggest that, even amid tough times, Americans will keep giving.
A national survey of online consumers released this week finds that 51 percent (89 million people) plan to donate to nonprofit groups via the Internet in November and December. The study, which was commissioned by Convio Inc., a Texas-based maker of online donation software, estimates that online giving to charities will top $3 billion during this holiday season.
A related report, released in September by Giving USA Foundation, surprisingly shows that, over the past 40 years, times of recession and economic slowdown have not had a major impact on charitable giving. The research reveals that, during recessions since 1969, total giving has only dropped by an average rate of one percent. "It's important at this juncture for cooler heads to prevail and for non-profits to not listen to those who would claim the sky is falling," said George C. Ruotolo Jr., past chairman of Giving USA Foundation. "Those charities with a clear and compelling case and an established loyal donor constituency will continue to succeed, even in difficult times." [GivingUSA Foundation, yahoo.com]
Have a blessed weekend!
Dave McKellips
Friday, November 7, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Dear NEO family,
Greetings! I was having email problems last Friday (I think my computer was upset at me for being gone to Ministers and Mates Retreat for a few days.) Anyway, I apologize for not getting a blog posted at the end of last week.
Rachel Bess, our District Children’s Quiz Director reports: We had our first Area Quiz this past Saturday at Central. We had eight churches participating with 59 quizzers (29 Red Level and 30 Blue Level) and many parents, grandparents and friends attended. We have 63 quizzers registered for the year. All went great and the Blue Level adapted to the power point with their quizzes exceptionally well. Thanks to all the directors, coaches and parents for working so hard with these children to teach them the Book of Exodus.
Our pastors and local leaders did an outstanding job of getting their monthly attendance reports into the District office last week. Many had great gains over a year ago:
NEO Top Ten Leaders
S.S.
Claremore +45
R.P. Hispanic +35
Collinsville +33
Sapulpa +32
Drumright +27
Tulsa Family +35
Sand Springs +20
Tahlequah +9
Owasso Silver Creek +6
Horton Chapel +5
AM Worship
BA Connection +99
Claremore +52
R.P. Hispanic +38
Owasso Silver Creek +31
Sand Springs +28
Dewey +24
Nowata +10
Miami New Life +9
Skiatook +7
Coweta +6
I always love to read what our pastors are celebrating each month. I trust you find it encouraging as well:
I want to celebrate...
David Stevens, Vinita Overall the Vinita Church is doing well. Attendance is up. The spirit of the services is improving as we focus on celebration, fellowship, worship, and changing our focus to “Others.”
Claude Guy, Sand Springs We baptized 5 children this month - 4 of which come to church through our van ministry. The night before we had a teen activity in which 27 teens showed up to participate. Out of the 27 teens, 25 of them were here the next morning for Sunday School. That Sunday was one of our biggest attended services we have had in quite some time --- 96 for Sunday School and 142 for our Morning Worship. It is great to see how God is working in and through the lives of our children and youth!
Rodney Durr, Muskogee First A wave of visitors this month that has really helped our momentum, four baptized, and three new Nazarenes
John Whitsett, Tulsa Central Exceeded our Faith Promise goal of $75,000 in covenant commitments on Sunday, October 26. Had a very well received Battle Plan for Believers seminar with Steve Laswell. Our Centennial Celebration was a very positive and inspirational day.
Stephen Hundley, Cleveland We had a great revival w/ Dr. Alan Duce!
Casey Hollingsworth, Miami New Life I’m thankful for my loving church family who blew my family away with their generosity shown towards us during pastor appreciation month. They took up a love offering and surprised us with a check that we used to install bricks in our new addition of our home. God is so good!
Angela Bentley, Bristow This week we are celebrating one year since we started our new outreach ministry to children and youth. We have named it Wednesday Night Live! It continues to grow as our youth invite new friends almost weekly and more adults are becoming involved. Most often our WNL attendance is greater than our AM Worship attendance, but many of them are beginning to attend Sunday School and worship so we will soon see it affect those averages as well. We have grown so fast that we quickly developed a need for added transportation for WNL and outings. We began praying for this need and God honored our obedience to His direction in an amazing way! Central Church has donated a van to our ministry! Praise the Lord! God is so good! It has been so exciting to see our people realize that this is what God wants to do with us and our resources! And when He loves them enough to send such a definite affirmation of their labors such as the van – it is overwhelming!
Gordon Smith, III Dewey Our Centennial celebration/Church Homecoming! We had a tremendous service, with a number of guests and visitors. We finished painting the hallway and stairwell of our church (before the Centennial Celebration), and we are nearly finished with our painting project! The recommitment of a couple in our church who has decided that they desire to pass down a heritage of Christ-like love to their children. Their family, a few years ago was on the verge of falling apart, but God grabbed a hold of this couple and they are a family that is following Jesus! God is still in the business of restoring marriages! We have hired on two new staff members. One person is going to be our “Family Life Pastor” whose goal is to connect our children and youth to the congregation while also connecting with the parents on how to better serve them. And the other person is going to be our “Baby Boomer Pastor” (don’t have an official title yet), but he is going to focus on ministering to the age group from about 40-60 years in age. We are excited about what God is doing, and looking forward at what God is going to do in the future!
Don Nichols, Tahlequah Centennial Celebration Saturday October 4, 2008. We had over 400 in attendance. We concluded the event with reenactment of Pilot Point Business Meeting.
Gerald James, Claremore 166 people from our congregation participated in our "GO" event. In addition, we had approximately 20 people who came out to the cookout because they were pre-invited and 30 people came out because we invited them between 11:00am and 12:00noon on Sunday. The worship service at the park was beautiful and several people made new commitments to Christ. Four of those people are going through Basic Bible Studies. A couple more families joined our church this month. We also have a few more families going through our church information class. Our Centennial Sunday Celebration was great!
Don Cowan, Sapulpa The excitement of the “Next 100 Years results” We continue to pray with and for South County Community church
David Rogers, Mannford I want to celebrate new roofs and rain gutter on church and parsonage. The greatest celebration for us this month was the opportunity to go and minister to the residents at Cimarron Pointe. We enjoyed being with the residents. We worshipped with them in music and through the Word.
Nathan Burns, Owasso Silver Creek We recently had a Sunday Night Youth Led Worship Service and had 101 in attendance. .Financially we are doing well, God is faithful! We had an outreach event for Jr. High Students and had 25 in attendance (We only have three Jr High Students). We also collected 280 lbs of food for the Owasso Resource Center. On the 19th God's Spirit fell upon our church in an incredible way and we got out of the way and allowed His Spirit to lead. It was the best service we have had to date.
Wayde Normandin, Chelsea We are moving forward on accomplishing our goals this year. Three of our goals for building a healthy church are in progress. First, we are building a strong financial picture at the church by tracking finances using the NTS accounting system, paying budget allocations on time and building an emergency fund. Second, we have also made needed repairs to the church which is helping to enhance the image of the church in the community. This month we resurfaced our front parking lot, replaced two exterior doors and jams, hung exterior siding and soffits on the church. In addition, we installed a new window in the nursery. Our new roof is completed and leak free. Next month's plans will be new carpeting for the church entry way and further improvements to the church nursery. Third, Sunday, November 2, we are coming together as a church to begin THE QUEST, a 40-day spiritual adventure. This journey is designed to bring our church to a new level of unity, spiritual maturity and enthusiasm.
Alan McBroom, Davenport Our Church Board has been fired up about reaching people for Christ in such a way that our vision and ministries are becoming more sharply focused!
James Wilson, Barnsdall We had an exciting visitor this week from the spouse of a regular attendee. This individual rarely has very much to do with the church, but chose to attend Sunday worship this past week.
James Wilson, Pawhuska Highs and lows this month with a high of 77 on the Centennial and a low of 31 last week (many members traveling).
Brad Farnsworth, Connection New people every Sunday; baptized three adults, including a husband and wife; three more waiting to be baptized; there is a positive note among all our volunteers
Jake Reese, Pryor Two new ladies coming to Christ: Jamie Coblentz and Ronee Ayotte.
Kim Kent of Southwest Church We are having Rocky Calmus speak at the Berryhill School Auditorium November 8, 2008, Saturday, at 7:00 p.m. Following him will be the Justin Colfield Band. The tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at the door. If anyone wants a ticket, please have them contact me either via email or (918) 857-8006. All proceeds will go to the Berryhill Schools for drug testing. This was prompted due to the death of a 16 year old boy this last summer, drugs given to him by his father. He was the oldest of 4 boys, and his grandparents and brothers go to our church.
Hope you have a blessed week! You are loved!
Dave McKellips
Greetings! I was having email problems last Friday (I think my computer was upset at me for being gone to Ministers and Mates Retreat for a few days.) Anyway, I apologize for not getting a blog posted at the end of last week.
Rachel Bess, our District Children’s Quiz Director reports: We had our first Area Quiz this past Saturday at Central. We had eight churches participating with 59 quizzers (29 Red Level and 30 Blue Level) and many parents, grandparents and friends attended. We have 63 quizzers registered for the year. All went great and the Blue Level adapted to the power point with their quizzes exceptionally well. Thanks to all the directors, coaches and parents for working so hard with these children to teach them the Book of Exodus.
Our pastors and local leaders did an outstanding job of getting their monthly attendance reports into the District office last week. Many had great gains over a year ago:
NEO Top Ten Leaders
S.S.
Claremore +45
R.P. Hispanic +35
Collinsville +33
Sapulpa +32
Drumright +27
Tulsa Family +35
Sand Springs +20
Tahlequah +9
Owasso Silver Creek +6
Horton Chapel +5
AM Worship
BA Connection +99
Claremore +52
R.P. Hispanic +38
Owasso Silver Creek +31
Sand Springs +28
Dewey +24
Nowata +10
Miami New Life +9
Skiatook +7
Coweta +6
I always love to read what our pastors are celebrating each month. I trust you find it encouraging as well:
I want to celebrate...
David Stevens, Vinita Overall the Vinita Church is doing well. Attendance is up. The spirit of the services is improving as we focus on celebration, fellowship, worship, and changing our focus to “Others.”
Claude Guy, Sand Springs We baptized 5 children this month - 4 of which come to church through our van ministry. The night before we had a teen activity in which 27 teens showed up to participate. Out of the 27 teens, 25 of them were here the next morning for Sunday School. That Sunday was one of our biggest attended services we have had in quite some time --- 96 for Sunday School and 142 for our Morning Worship. It is great to see how God is working in and through the lives of our children and youth!
Rodney Durr, Muskogee First A wave of visitors this month that has really helped our momentum, four baptized, and three new Nazarenes
John Whitsett, Tulsa Central Exceeded our Faith Promise goal of $75,000 in covenant commitments on Sunday, October 26. Had a very well received Battle Plan for Believers seminar with Steve Laswell. Our Centennial Celebration was a very positive and inspirational day.
Stephen Hundley, Cleveland We had a great revival w/ Dr. Alan Duce!
Casey Hollingsworth, Miami New Life I’m thankful for my loving church family who blew my family away with their generosity shown towards us during pastor appreciation month. They took up a love offering and surprised us with a check that we used to install bricks in our new addition of our home. God is so good!
Angela Bentley, Bristow This week we are celebrating one year since we started our new outreach ministry to children and youth. We have named it Wednesday Night Live! It continues to grow as our youth invite new friends almost weekly and more adults are becoming involved. Most often our WNL attendance is greater than our AM Worship attendance, but many of them are beginning to attend Sunday School and worship so we will soon see it affect those averages as well. We have grown so fast that we quickly developed a need for added transportation for WNL and outings. We began praying for this need and God honored our obedience to His direction in an amazing way! Central Church has donated a van to our ministry! Praise the Lord! God is so good! It has been so exciting to see our people realize that this is what God wants to do with us and our resources! And when He loves them enough to send such a definite affirmation of their labors such as the van – it is overwhelming!
Gordon Smith, III Dewey Our Centennial celebration/Church Homecoming! We had a tremendous service, with a number of guests and visitors. We finished painting the hallway and stairwell of our church (before the Centennial Celebration), and we are nearly finished with our painting project! The recommitment of a couple in our church who has decided that they desire to pass down a heritage of Christ-like love to their children. Their family, a few years ago was on the verge of falling apart, but God grabbed a hold of this couple and they are a family that is following Jesus! God is still in the business of restoring marriages! We have hired on two new staff members. One person is going to be our “Family Life Pastor” whose goal is to connect our children and youth to the congregation while also connecting with the parents on how to better serve them. And the other person is going to be our “Baby Boomer Pastor” (don’t have an official title yet), but he is going to focus on ministering to the age group from about 40-60 years in age. We are excited about what God is doing, and looking forward at what God is going to do in the future!
Don Nichols, Tahlequah Centennial Celebration Saturday October 4, 2008. We had over 400 in attendance. We concluded the event with reenactment of Pilot Point Business Meeting.
Gerald James, Claremore 166 people from our congregation participated in our "GO" event. In addition, we had approximately 20 people who came out to the cookout because they were pre-invited and 30 people came out because we invited them between 11:00am and 12:00noon on Sunday. The worship service at the park was beautiful and several people made new commitments to Christ. Four of those people are going through Basic Bible Studies. A couple more families joined our church this month. We also have a few more families going through our church information class. Our Centennial Sunday Celebration was great!
Don Cowan, Sapulpa The excitement of the “Next 100 Years results” We continue to pray with and for South County Community church
David Rogers, Mannford I want to celebrate new roofs and rain gutter on church and parsonage. The greatest celebration for us this month was the opportunity to go and minister to the residents at Cimarron Pointe. We enjoyed being with the residents. We worshipped with them in music and through the Word.
Nathan Burns, Owasso Silver Creek We recently had a Sunday Night Youth Led Worship Service and had 101 in attendance. .Financially we are doing well, God is faithful! We had an outreach event for Jr. High Students and had 25 in attendance (We only have three Jr High Students). We also collected 280 lbs of food for the Owasso Resource Center. On the 19th God's Spirit fell upon our church in an incredible way and we got out of the way and allowed His Spirit to lead. It was the best service we have had to date.
Wayde Normandin, Chelsea We are moving forward on accomplishing our goals this year. Three of our goals for building a healthy church are in progress. First, we are building a strong financial picture at the church by tracking finances using the NTS accounting system, paying budget allocations on time and building an emergency fund. Second, we have also made needed repairs to the church which is helping to enhance the image of the church in the community. This month we resurfaced our front parking lot, replaced two exterior doors and jams, hung exterior siding and soffits on the church. In addition, we installed a new window in the nursery. Our new roof is completed and leak free. Next month's plans will be new carpeting for the church entry way and further improvements to the church nursery. Third, Sunday, November 2, we are coming together as a church to begin THE QUEST, a 40-day spiritual adventure. This journey is designed to bring our church to a new level of unity, spiritual maturity and enthusiasm.
Alan McBroom, Davenport Our Church Board has been fired up about reaching people for Christ in such a way that our vision and ministries are becoming more sharply focused!
James Wilson, Barnsdall We had an exciting visitor this week from the spouse of a regular attendee. This individual rarely has very much to do with the church, but chose to attend Sunday worship this past week.
James Wilson, Pawhuska Highs and lows this month with a high of 77 on the Centennial and a low of 31 last week (many members traveling).
Brad Farnsworth, Connection New people every Sunday; baptized three adults, including a husband and wife; three more waiting to be baptized; there is a positive note among all our volunteers
Jake Reese, Pryor Two new ladies coming to Christ: Jamie Coblentz and Ronee Ayotte.
Kim Kent of Southwest Church We are having Rocky Calmus speak at the Berryhill School Auditorium November 8, 2008, Saturday, at 7:00 p.m. Following him will be the Justin Colfield Band. The tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at the door. If anyone wants a ticket, please have them contact me either via email or (918) 857-8006. All proceeds will go to the Berryhill Schools for drug testing. This was prompted due to the death of a 16 year old boy this last summer, drugs given to him by his father. He was the oldest of 4 boys, and his grandparents and brothers go to our church.
Hope you have a blessed week! You are loved!
Dave McKellips
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