Bishop Schnase is coming to our area to give talks on The 5 Practices Of Fruitful Congregation in Mansfield on November 14. We have the brochures and information in the church office. I am planning on going and I want to offer you a chance to attend. I know that we underwent the study and we have implemented a lot of the ideas that we created. Still, hearing from the source is getter than getting it from books and dvd’s.

One day after we did the 5 Practices, I was in a restaurant in Waxahachie. Two ladies sitting across the room kept looking our way. I seemed to recognize them as well. After lunch, they came up. They were members of First United Methodist Church of Ennis and were there when we swapped pulpits.

Both were so excited about having gone through the experience of Keith and I acting like homeless guys and then springing the trap about greeting strangers among us. Anyway, one of the ladies told me the she had called her daughter and told her all about it. Then she said, “So I told my daughter, ‘Dear, I flunked church today!!’”

 Now that means that we did the study, impacted Ennis and through a member being excited may have excited her daughter in the Way. You see, what we do in our church does not siimply effect the ones who attend but can in fact impact someone we don’t even know about.

That’s why I want to encourage you to go the the Schnase event. We need to remind ourselves and perhaps if we called someone up we wouldn’t have to report we flunked church. Try to come November 14th.

Peace and grace. Reed. 

Sunday morning we two special events:

The first was cause for celebration. J P and Dena Jimenez and their children joined the church. What made it even more special was that both children were baptized. The Jimenz family has been visiting with us for some time. We extend a cordial welcome to our newest members. (See photo.)  

The other event of note was the annual Charge Conference held after the 11:00 service.  Dr. Don Scott, the Superintendent of the Waxahachie District, presided over this meeting.  Among other things, at the Charge Conference the church officers for the following year are formally elected. This includes the administrative functions such as finance, trustees, committees of Staff-Parish Relations, Nominating Committee, delegates to the annual (Central Texas) conference, and also, the team leaders for all of the ministries of the local church.

About forty people have agreed to lead our church next year. In a larger sense they have agreed to be servants in the name of the Lord’s work.  They have accepted a large responsibility.  It is our responsibility to be in prayer for them and to do all we can to support their leadership.  As Dr. Scott stated , “When they ask you to help in some way, your answer is yes”.  That is the spirit that will truly help us to Grow in Grace!

A second team football player at the U. of Northern Iowa, hardly a power house football program, met a single mom with two kids one of whom was blind. He wasn’t drafted by the NFL and went to work stocking shelves.

He did make it on to a team in the Arena Football League and played for a European Football League team. In 1998 he was picked up by the St. Louis Rams of the NFL with a minimum contract since the team drafted a quarterback for millions. It meant being second team again.

In the pre-season, the rookie got hurt so our hero got his big break. He did well. He won the starting job and was the NFL’s most valuable player and the MVP in the super bowl. Kurt Warner said at a Billy Graham Rally, “People often ask the secret to my success as a football player. It has nothing to do with my off-season work outs or my diet. The secret to my success in Jesus Christ.”

So, from a second team player to a champion and he feels that the secret to success is the Lord. How about you? Are you successful? To whom do you owe your success? Yourself or Jesus? You may never play in a Super Bowl but with God and Christ, there are no second teamers.

By the way, this Sunday, be on the bench…it will be your turn to become a MVP.

Peace and Grace. Reed.

On a beautiful fall morning, eight Faith Builders gathered at NTAC to complete work projects for several residents.  These projects were easy ones: cleaning windows and screens, hanging curtains, covering window air conditioners.  You don’t have to be an engineer or carpenter or painter, just a willing participant!  Men and women are equally capable of completing these activities.  Several new projects are on the schedule.  Contact Henry Moore or Tom Neely if you would like to participate.

IT’S COMING NOVEMBER 22ND. GET READY!!

As of today, October 13th, We have had 12 days of rain and only one dry day.  Like some of you I am beginning to wonder if we need to begin work on an ark.  This is certainly a prolonged period of rain and cloudy weather.  As pastor, I thought I might offer some advice as to what to do during all this wet weather.

Take a long nap.  It works for bears.  They hibernate for about 6 months.  So if we do the same, it will be March when you wake up.  Which by the way is in time for the spring rain season so back to sleep.

Read a book.  Actually, don’t read it but tear out pages and use them for towels.

Set a fire outside.  That may take some effort as the rain will keep putting out your matches.

Run as fast as you can from your house to your car dodging the rain drops as you go to stay dry.

Sing “Rain rain go away, come again another day.” at your place of work at least 20 times as loud as you can.  It won’t help but your boss will send you home out of pity figuring you’ve lost your mind.  It’s good for a free week long vacation.

E-mail someone in a desert place of all the rain and send a picture. It will make them green with envy.

Go outside and have a good cry.  No one will know since they will think you’re just all wet.

Get a lounge chair, sun glasses and put on a bathing suit.  Go and sit in your front yard and drive your neighbor nuts by insisting that it isn’t raining and they are just imagining the whole rain thing.

I hope that helps.  Now for a more serious note.  Remember we just went through a drought and a lot of heat. Let’s remember that God always provides as He sees fit.  He gives us the dry and the wet as He sees fit.  He gives us cold and heat as He determines.  He gives us all in His time and place.  What we need to remember is it really is God’s world and He knows far more than we can ever imagine.

Peace and Grace. Reed.

Sorry I missed last week. Short week and I was out of town but here is the latest offering.

Let’s move out of the Old Testament into the new. Let’s look at the four Gospels as a whole. The four are Matthew, Mark< Luke and John. What are Gospels as opposed to the Epistles? The Gospels are accounts of the Ministry of Jesus. Even with that, they are almost as wide in their scope as any four books could be if you consider they are retelling the ministry and the death and resurrection of God Himself.

There are other books that claim to be Gospels like the Gospel of Thomas and others. However, the church felt that these were the be canonized. The cannon means that there are certain measurements that have to be met to be included in and a part of the Scriptures. The four Gospels met the data to qualify.

Later, as we go back through the books more in depth, we will get into the authorship, date and particular passages. For now, we will only take them up as a collection. 

Of the four Gospels, Mark is perhaps the oldest and most original. Without getting into the details, Matthew and Like borrow from Mark but Mark doesn’t seem to us others. So if Matthew and Luke uses Mark but Mark doesn’t use them, then they know and probably read Mark.

John’s Gospel stands alone.

Matthew and Luke include the Birth narrative but the Mark and John do not. Even with that, Luke was probably wrote his narrative later depending not on first hand knowledge or eye witnessing. He seems to have collected stories of Jesus and wrote his Gospel.

Mark is the shortest of the books. It is because for him the most important thing was the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

John on the other hand wrote independently and uses the language of the Greeks or Romans. His is a book with soaring language and includes some influence of other worldly theology. His of the best written source that enables us to soar.

The Gospels were written after the writers realized that Christ would come again but His return was still some time away. They wanted to create a story that could be read by people all over the world and learn and become indeed Christians. For the first 20 to 50 or so years the church depended on oral traditions. It became evident that in order for the stories to be told consistently and over a wide spread area, they needed to be written. 

I suggest that a good Gospel to read to get a foundation, Mark is your guy. His is focus on the ministry of Christ and gets you quickly to the days before the Cross but then he slows down the story to a crawl. Notice how often he uses the work “immediately” until the last few chapters. If helps us to realize that even the miracles, parables, etc were not as important as the events of the last week.

That is true but let’s remember that it is in the richness of the other parts in the other Gospels that makes the soul soar and the stories we love so. After all, who want to miss out on the Birth Narratives?

Peace and Peace. Reed.

As many of you know, I have been in Houston for a weekend seminar. I had a great time but with what I learned, things could get scary around here. Still, it was doo to get away and even better to get back.

I was reaffirmed in that living in north Texas is far better than Houston. In all do respect to Houstonians, I’ll take the mix master in Dallas to the entire system down there. I am convinced that they don’t put people in jail down there. I think they just put them on the interstate and if they survive 30 days, they are forgiven even if they committed murder.

In just the trip in I was reminded of the need for prayer, the need of patience, the need to be forgiven and to be thankful for life. Oh and by the way, I found out I can scream like a little girl. To say I am happy to be back is an understatement. I jsut have ot figure out how to get the front end of my car back in front of the rear axle again. I actually saw a guy WALKING across I 10.

 Now, what in the world does that have to do with faith? Three things. First, do make sure your relationship with the Lord is always sound. On the interstate is not the best of times. That means spend time in prayer, meditation and talking with God. Second, be sure to forgive others. Remember, when you see someone making a mistake. call it sin if you with, you too will also sin. If you want to be forgive, you must first be willing to forgive others. Third, do be thankful for what you have in life. Be thankful for your family, your home, your life, your work, your world. In all seriousness, you never know when you might lose it. There are now bets that you will seven survive the next hour. Make every hour of every day be a precious gift.

 I said there were three things, in fact there are four. NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRUMSTANCES DRIVE IN HOUSTON UNLESS YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!! Gotta go. Time to take a couple of tranquilizers.

Peace and Grace. Reed