10 08 16 Light of Christ Update
August 16, 2010
Hello Once Again, I just want to give you a quick update. The last couple of weeks have been amazing. Last week, we had 83 in church and we really didn’t have much going on. It seems odd that our numbers are actually a bit on the increase during the summer months. Perhaps people are simply taking the opportunity to visit other churches. But then again… Yesterday we had an all time high of 122 in worship. Granted, we did have the baptism of twins (my first twins) which brought many people, but it seems it was a day when we also had a lot of new faces that didn’t have a connection with the baptismal party. And several who are looking for a church home. Yesterday was an incredible day, but it really got many of us thinking, “What has God got planned for us?” Do we really need to start thinking about a second service? What if he keeps blessing us? If our numbers have gone up in the summer, what does the fall hold? I don’t want to jump the gun, but I don’t want to be without some foresight. I would ask for your prayers for direction for me and for this church. I believe God has got something brewing and right now I’m just hanging on, wondering where this is going. Please pray for direction, guidance, and vision as we enter year two in the month ahead. I do also want to give you a bit of a heads up on a planned change for these updates. I’m considering ending these updates in favor of updating more regularly on our facebook page. If you appreciate these updates, please let me know that you do and I may consider continuing. In the mean time, I invite you to become a fan and visit us at http://www.facebook.com/lightofchrist/ There are also some nice pictures of the baptisms yesterday. Thank you for all your prayers, love and support. pk
10 07 22 Light of Christ Update
July 22, 2010
Hello Once Again, I don’t have the time I’d like for this, but I really want to send this out, so there are several things that will have to wait for the next update. I’ll try to send another one next week. It has been an incredible couple of weeks. And while I was reminded once again last night that numbers aren’t always the best indicator of God working through this church, I do believe it is a statistic to consider. On Sunday, July 11, we had 81 in worship and more than 300 at my ordination. What an incredible outpouring of love and excitement for ministry! Then on July 18, we had 88 in church and more than 90 join us for our picnic after church. People were invited from other churches and obviously some did come. I have been attempting to put in regular church office hours (Monday – Thursday, 9:00 a.m. – noon) for the last couple of weeks so that if someone needs to get a hold of me, this is a set time for me to be available. It’s a learning process as I’m realizing how little I get done, but it is good to be here and be available. During the regular office hours, I am devoting an hour to personal prayer, devotion and study. We are letting the people of church know this for a couple of reasons. First of all so that they know I am praying specifically for them during that time. Second, if they have particular prayer requests, they are encouraged to contact me during that time so that I can include them in my prayers. I am so excited to see God actively working in the people whose lives we touch. There are so many ways that we can reach out and expand our scope of impact that it is sometimes overwhelming. Our church leadership is very comfortable with choosing how we expand very carefully. We don’t want to start in ten different directions and end up doing them all poorly. Our main focus right now is on beginning a Sunday School program, but we also have significant needs for youth and young adult programs. Please pray that God would lead us courageously in these areas. Thank you for all your prayers and support. pk
10 07 04 Light of Christ Update
July 4, 2010
Hello all,Once again I am absolutely amazed. God continues to bless us. I don’t like using numbers alone to determine success, but the last three Sundays we have had 77, 65, and 54. Actually, the most amazing one for me was today with 54. On the 4th of July none the less. I’m very pleased with that. We had several returning visitors who thought today might just be the day to check us out again. One of those returning families also included a potential drummer for us. This is critical for us since it is apparently rather difficult to find drummers that do not already have commitments elsewhere. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to attempt to improve our worship in this way. As of July 1, serving at Light of Christ is now a full-time gig for me. Having retired from my professional educator role in the last three weeks, I’m preparing to jump in with both feet and hold on tightly as God moves us in the months and years ahead. The next step in that process will be my ordination next Sunday. I know many of you will be there and I can’t tell you how excited I am for that day. The following Sunday I will be officially installed as missionary-at-large through Immanuel in St. Clair to serve at Light of Christ. It is truly difficult to acknowledge that the day has finally come. My family did have an opportunity to take a few days of last week. It was nice to relax and prepare mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for the days ahead. By the way, if you haven’t already done so, make sure you become a Light of Christ ‘fan’ on Facebook. I’m really striving to make use of it for communication and outreach. Thank you again for your thoughts, love and prayers. pk
10 06 13 Light of Christ Update
June 13, 2010
Hello all, I’m really sorry for the lengthy delay in getting an update out to you. Surgery on both my knees four weeks ago took much more out of me that I thought it would. And I had such great plans for getting things done too. I am recovering and I’m back to work, though I am often very sore at the end of the day. One thing I did accomplish in the last four weeks was completing my final seminary course. The educational part is done and now we are gearing up for my ordination at Trinity on July 11. It is hard to imagine that it was six years ago that I began the program. There have been more blessings in that time than I can count. The next week brings the last five days of my career in education and I can not tell you how excited I am to move into the ministry full time. Worship attendance has been between 54 and 76 (today) for the last few weeks and we continue to be blessed with new faces most weeks. I’m interested to see what our summer worship attendance will be. We trust that God will bring those to us that he would have us serve. Next Sunday we’ll be celebrating our Grads and Dads. It is absolutely amazing for a church averaging about 65 on Sunday, that we have at least nine high school graduates that regularly attend. We pray that God continues to bless them and that they return and bless us with their presence occasionally. We got some ink in the local paper on Saturday. If you want to check it out, here is a link to the article http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20100612/NEWS01/6120312/Strong-faith-guides-church We started something else new a few weeks ago. I firmly believe that a life of faith is more than just coming to church once a week and dropping a few bucks in the offering plate. I believe faith becomes more personal when people get involved. So during the offering these days, I’m providing servant opportunities. These are chances for people to serve God in either the short or long term. It includes things like edging the sidewalk to planning a fellowship gathering to bringing snacks for coffee hour. There is no pressure and if it doesn’t get done, we will survive. However, it is such a joy to show up at church and see things happen. I don’t know who does it. It just gets done. This last week, we had an important item that needed accomplished and nobody had stepped up, but I didn’t sweat it… too much. Then yesterday, someone at a graduation celebration asked if they could take care of it. Why am I still surprised at such things? God is incredible. Anyway, thank you for your prayers, your love and support. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you on July 11 if you’re in the area. God bless, pk
10 05 10 Light of Christ Update
May 10, 2010
Hello, Once again, it’s been a good couple of weeks. We had 61 and 65 in worship the last couple of weeks and we hit 80 for Mother’s Day worship yesterday. We continue to see new faces and God continues to bless our church family with these people. Call Day at the seminary was on April 27. I have been officially called as Missionary-at-large to ImmanuelLutheranChurch in St. Clair, to serve at Light of Christ in Marysville. In one sense, this is a mere formality as I will continue serving as I am now, only fulltime. On the other hand, this is a very real commitment on the part of Immanuel in that they are fully supportive of our efforts. This is a true blessing. Speaking of other churches who are blessings, Trinity in Port Huron continues to plan for my ordination on July 11. The love I feel from them is overwhelming and I anxiously anticipate that day. Related to that, I am getting increasingly excited as my class work comes to an end in the next two weeks. This course is the final step in being eligible for ordination. I’m actually a bit ahead of schedule in the class, so I think I’ll be in good shape. I thank God for the leadership of Light of Christ as we have dealt with some difficult decisions in the last month. I know that the hearts of the people who surround me are hearts with a desire to serve God through this church. I pray that God continues to guide our decisions with wisdom and discernment. I’ll be going in for surgery on Monday, May 17. I will be having outpatient surgery for an ACL reconstruction. This is the second time around for this and was a result of wrestling both times. I actually injured it the second time a couple of years ago, but it gives out on me pretty frequently now and I want to get this taken care of before I retire from teaching in the next couple of months. I don’t believe this will be a serious impediment to my activities other than for a few days. Thank you again for your thoughts, love and prayers. pk
10 04 18 Light of Christ Update
April 18, 2010
Hello All,
A short update today just to let you know that we had 65 in church this morning and close to 60 stayed for our Visioning Meeting afterwards.
We kept the meeting short as Frank and I talked about what circumstances had brought us to this place. We asked the group to consider how God had led each of them there as well. We handed out some questions that we asked them to reflect on and turn them back into us before they left. Now we will take a look at the feedback and relay that information back to them. More feedback can be left on our web site.
I continue to marvel at how God has impacted lives and touched the hearts of people with his love.
Thank you all for your support, love and prayers.
pk
10 04 11 Light of Christ Update
April 11, 2010
Hello,
I’m earnestly trying to be consistent with my updates. I won’t make excuses. I’ll just try to do better.
I want to start by giving an update on the certification interview I had in St. Louis in February. I don’t think I shared the results of that and since I asked you all to pray, I think you at least deserve to know the results. In short, I passed, but I definitely did not put my best foot forward. I honestly forgot that I had been told last June just how important some of the paperwork was that I had to submit in advance. Unfortunately, I was a bit flip with some of my responses. Oops. I was told at the interview that it was my face to face answers that saved my backside. I feel very blessed to have made it through that process and even more blessed that I won’t have the opportunity to make the same mistake again. Thanks for your prayers for this.
In regards to our recent worship services, we had 60 at our Palm Sunday service, 12 at Maundy Thursday, 33 on Good Friday, 112 on Easter Sunday, and 75 today. The Maundy Thursday was a little disappointing, but otherwise I feel God has truly blessed us with our current numbers. We actually have been talking about the potential of starting another service, perhaps this summer or fall. We have been hearing from many people that a Saturday evening service would be much appreciated. It’s amazing that we are just seven months in and have already begun those discussions. We aren’t going to jump in too quickly, but I think discussion is good.
We will be having an open after church meeting on Sunday, April 18. We want to share with people a few details that brought us to where we are and we want to get some input on where they see God guiding this church. I think people easily get burned out with meetings, but I believe this visioning meeting, if we keep it short and on task, can have a huge impact on the months to come. Please pray for us on the 18th.
I am still struggling with mixed emotions on those who have chosen to go a different direction in their church affiliation. I do understand that we cannot be all things to all people, but it is disheartening when individuals and families leave. I will leave that in God’s hands and pray that they find a church home.
I actually started this a week ago and I’m finally finishing it off. I think I’ll quit for now and get it out to you.
Thank you all for your prayers.
pk
10 03 15 Light of Christ Update
March 17, 2010
Hello all,
I apologize for the significant passage of time since my last update. Someone told me on Sunday that they have been looking regularly for updates on the web site and have been disappointed not to have found anything there. I guess it’s good to know that people are looking. And I guess I better get something there. My chiropractor even mentioned this morning that we too often neglect the important in favor of dealing with the immediate. This is important and I need to do better. I’ll keep this one short with a few details and try to get another update soon.
Our numbers have been encouraging in the last several weeks. Sunday worship has been 40, 46, 77, 65, 61, 52, and 56. In addition, we had 36 at our Ash Wednesday service in which I inadvertently attempted to asphyxiate the congregation. It all worked out and was a very appreciated service, except for the smoke smell.
We determined that because of our less than encouraging Advent service attendance, that we would forego midweek Lenten services. Instead, we are engaging in a Bible study on Wednesday evening with dinner as an important component. This has been very encouraging as we have had at least 10 and more often we have had fifteen to twenty.
We are looking forward to our first Easter celebration. We have decided to not have a sunrise service this year, but we may look at that next year.
This last week we recognized that God has already guided us in this place for six months. It was a good day to recognize that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We are ambassadors in Marysville so that God can make his appeal through us.
That’s should at least bring you up to speed for now. I’ll try to get more out next week.
Thank you all for being such a critical part of God’s success here at Light of Christ.
pk
10 01 31 Light of Christ Update
January 31, 2010
Hello all,
It has once again been an exciting couple of weeks. We had 59 in worship two weeks ago, 63 last Sunday and 40 in worship today with 33 joining us for communion. We continue to be blessed with new people every week for worship and for our Wednesday evening Bible study as well.
This last Wednesday was a landmark day for us. The Lutheran Church Extension Fund officially closed on the property with the Blue Water Free Methodist Church. Kathy and I went to witness the transaction and we were truly blessed by the experience. The Free Methodists are thrilled that their old building will remain a church and they are praying that God will continue to use us in this community. We also pray for them as they enter the next phase of their ministry. They have been blessed as the Michigan Department of Transportation purchased their other property which will allow them in turn to purchase a public school building that was closed last fall. It seems God has put a lot of things together for all of us.
The leadership team sat down with Ron Steinke of the Church Extension Fund after the closing to discuss our rental agreement. Because of the very reasonable price that we purchased the property for, we have some flexibility in how we proceed. It was a good meeting but I was additionally touched as Ron shared with us that after our meeting a couple of months ago, he had gone home and told his wife that he was encouraged by what he saw in Marysville and that it had been a highlight for him.
Our church council will meet again this Tuesday to make plans for the weeks ahead. With the Lenten season quickly approaching, we are hoping that God will use us at this time to reach out into our community. There are a lot of people struggling these days and we pray that God can touch their lives and souls through our efforts. Please pray for us as we enter this time and pray for those God places in our path.
I could also use your prayers for me personally. I will be flying to St. Louis on February 15 for my culminating interview. While we were told not to get too stressed out about it, after nearly six years it’s difficult not to have a bit of anxiety as it all boils down to an hour and a half interview. After that, I have one class to go, which will begin after Easter. It appears that July 11, 2010 is the official date for my ordination. If you happen to be in the area, we would love to have you join us in the celebration.
We are moving forward with joyful anticipation as we watch for God’s guidance for us. Thank you once again for all your support, your love, and your prayers.
pk
10 01 10 Light of Christ Update
January 10, 2010
Hello all,
It has been an interesting couple of weeks since the last update. I want to get to an interesting story, but we’ll take care of the more factual pieces first. We rejoice as we had 120 join us for our Christmas Eve service and we’ve had between 34 and 47 at our recent Sunday worship services. I believe the weather has affected our attendance, but I’m very excited to see where God leads us in the year ahead.
Things continue to progress with the facility. There were some complications that slowed things down a bit. The title maintained by the Free Methodists actually contained three different parcels. The survey crew was out the other day and we’re hoping things will be straightened out by the end of the month.
And now, the story. I believe I’ve mentioned before that one of our launch team members (Frank) had been placing our Light of Christ business cards all around the local Meijers store. He had been doing this regularly until someone we know suggested we might want to stop so as not offend the management there.
Well, we had a new family visit today and they came down to join us for coffee and snacks. As we chatted, they mentioned that they really believed God had led them to us. They said they had been talking about visiting Light of Christ one day recently as they were on their way to do some shopping at Meijers. Well, it doesn’t take too much imagination to picture what happened there. When she reached for a container of dipping caramel, she saw what she thought was a coupon and picked it up. It was of course one of our cards. Frank was ever confident that we would see results with his card distribution. It appears he was right.
Let me conclude this story and this update by saying that while this family indicated they would definitely be back, I’m sure we won’t be able to restrain Frank any longer. I guess we’ll take our chances with the Meijer management. It amazes me how God continues to use our simple actions for his greater good.
Thank you again for you love, support and prayers. And may God bless you all in this new year.
pk
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