Future Staff Hire

Of those who responded 67% said if we add a staff member it should be someone to work with our children's ministry and the many volunteers who bless this ministry.

Worship Attendance

Of those who responded 60% said there was no difference in their worship attendance in the summer. Another 19% said there is little difference in their attendance pattern and the same 19% said they make more Sundays than they miss.

What would make your summer attendance better? Would an early morning informal service help? Would shorter services help? Would an outside service by the cross or in the Pavilion help? Would a Saturday or Sunday night service help?

E-News

According to those who responded 43% read the whole E-News when it arrives and another 9% reads it all over time - that is 52% reading all of the E-News - amazing. Another 28% reads the sections that interest them. The E-News is now one year old - I will send out the first ever E-News this coming week to remind us where we have grown since the first publication.

How about some comments about the E-News? What sections do you like or appreciate? What sections do you avoid? What would make it more informative and helpful?

Our Summer Adventure Camp - VBS

Our summer adventure camp - VBS - ends tomorrow, June 26. How about some words of encouragement for those who planned the event, for the workers of the marketplace, for the tribe leaders and more?

I will begin by saying that it was awesome seeing the gym filled with children and parents. I don't know the numbers but it seemed twice as many as last year if not more.

The tribe leaders all did a wonderful job this year and the marketplace has never been better. We have some real creative people at Mt. Oak.

I was blessed to attend and see the smiles on the faces of the children. They loved the skits and the whole experience.

Pastor Charlie

Pastor Charlie recently wrote an article about encouragement. I would like to encourage Pastor Charlie. How about posting some positive comments about Pastor Charlie and his ministry at Mt. Oak.

I will begin by saying that when I ask Pastor Charlie to do something, it is done as soon as possible. I do not have to follow up or ask about it, it is done. If you have had persons on your staff you know how important this trait is and how helpful.

I will also say that Pastor Charlie is a great asset to me and makes my job easier. I haven't always been able to say this in the past.

Thank you Pastor Charlie - I appreciate you!

A year is almost up!

Mt. Oak & Friends,

A year is almost up. Give your opinion about our first year together. I will print the good and the bad and the ugly if the person identifies him/herself. I am all about being an open book. Someone mentioned coming out of the Congregational meeting that is was good to talk to our pastor. I want to communicate and to be approachable.

I have appreciated our first year together and believe that the best is yet to come!

Congregational Meeting

Congregational Meeting

Wednesday night, June 18, we had our first congregational meeting together. It was a well attended meeting and much was shared. For those who missed the meeting and for those who didn’t take notes, here is the basics of the meeting.

We started with prayer for the church and her ministry. We continued with a retelling of the vision, mission and strategy of the church.

Our Vision

Our vision or churchwide purpose is to be a people who are – Living as disciples of Jesus Christ! We want to truly be walking the walk and not simply talking the talk.

Our Mission

Our mission or steps to meet this vision is to be a church that is – Introducing people to Jesus Christ, Developing relationships in Jesus Christ, and Making mature disciples of Jesus Christ. We want to be purposeful about our vision. We do not want to merely be say this but rather have it represent us. We want to be actively introducing people to Jesus. It amazes me when people who have attend church all their lives say they have never heard about the need to have a personal walk with Jesus. We want to introduce folks to Jesus, help them develop a deep relationship and then to mature their faith relationship.

Our Strategy

Our strategy to accomplish the above is by – Being inviting and welcoming, Being intentional about growing disciples, and Being a servant of Jesus Christ. We heard that 75-85% of the people who come to a church the first time come because they were invited by someone. We need to be intentional about inviting people to church to hear about Jesus. We need to be intentional about developing discipleship programs that will grow our relationship with Jesus. We need to learn to serve, because in serving we become more like Jesus and mature in our faith.

We are starting to see this vision, mission and strategy working in many areas of our church’s ministry. People are excited about the direction of the church.

Our Children’s Center

One place that we are seeing an increase in activity and excitement is with our Children’s Ministry. We are planning some work on the Children’s Center and work will begin shortly. Our target date for completion of an amazing area is September 1 and we can only accomplish this with your help.

Dione Bowlding, the Director of Youth ministry and until we hire someone for Children’s Ministry he carries a duel title of Director of Children and Youth ministries, shared an exciting presentation of the plans for the Children’s Center.

I could not do justice to his sharing in words what he shared in word and picture form. There is a PDF file (it is large) on the children’s page on the website where you can see what is planned. Suffice it to say the children’s workers are excited and the children will be blessed. We wish to develop the Children’s Center to be a children’s haven. The place to be for the children of Mt. Oak and the community! The name of our Children’s Ministry is now Kingdom Kids and we plan to use the theme of a kingdom, God’s kingdom, with castles and other items. Check out the pictures.

When we start in the next week on this project we will need your help a plenty. Check out Kurt Bulger, Allan Macomber, Molly Bragg, and/or Dione Bowlding to offer your help. Excitement is catching and God is not through with us by a long shot.

Pictures of the ideas for the Children’s Center will be on display in the entrance way to the gym for all to see. They will also be on the website. Get excited about where your church is headed.

Our Budget

The last part of the Congregational Meeting was about our budget needs.

Attendance is up! Average attendance for the last four years running goes like this – 361, 250, 204, 374. God has reversed the trend downward and people are finding Mt. Oak the place to be once again.

Our budget is growing and our giving is up! Our weekly need for the 2007 budget was $12,596. For 2008 that climbed to $17,059 a week.

The huge increase mainly comes from two major capital fund projects, the Children’s Center and the HVAC for the gym, and our full apportionments.

Our giving has increased by almost $2,000 a week but we need to raise it another $1,800 a week more to meet this year’s budget.

Carolyn and I challenged the church the first Sunday of the year to increase giving by 10%. Some may have taken the challenge. If we all did, I believe we could make budget.

I realize that everyone is under some financial pressure these days. The recession, even if it hasn’t been named that, has hit most of us. Gas prices have reach all time highs and other commodities will follow. Yet for the price of a pizza a week ($10) or two ($20) your church could continue to meet their needs and projections.

A Vote Was Taken

One vote was taken at the Congregational Meeting, giving the Church Council a voice from the congregation. The Children’s Center project asked for a $15,000 overrun cushion on top of the $55,000 and other designated funds in case they run into things not foreseen. This passed without descent and was passed to the Church Council.

Conclusion

Our vision, mission and strategy are sound. But remember, they need you. Without the support of the body of Christ named Mt. Oak, they are merely plans. Even well intentioned plans are useless unless they are walked out. Won’t you walk with us in the process of making disciples for Jesus Christ?

Something about those who responded

Here are some items from those who have responded...

Areas that tempt
50% had issues with anger
46% with overeating and lust
37% with selfishness
28% with control and material things

Most important for presidential candidate
26% leadership
23% faith
18% ideals
15% experience

Who will you vote for?
70% said John McCain
19% Barack Obama
4% other
4% not voting

How often do you exercise
37% rarely
28% four or more times a week

Diversity

Diversity – by Rev. Ray

One of the many blessings that Carolyn and I have received at MO is the diversity we see in the Body of Christ. There are numerous ways that we are diverse while being faithful to the Scriptures.

The word diversity may scare some people. Diversity suggests mixture, variety, differences. Some seem threatened by diversity and want sameness. They want unity, everyone singing the same note. Diversity might take more work than singing the same note but there is nothing like a beautiful harmony.

Some of our diversity is obvious when you walk into worship. When someone arrives at the 10:30 service for instance they will see babies, children, youth, young adults, couples, singles, families, middle aged people and seniors. They will also see different shades or hues of people. A kaleidoscope might have a hard time coming up with the many shades of color we find in our seats.

Less obvious than skin colors might be ethnicities, cultures, nationalities. Not all lighter hued people are from Ireland for instance or any part of Europe. Not all darker hued people are from Nigeria or any part of Africa. We might be first generation Americans or we might be able to trace our family tree back several generations. Some keep their citizenship in their native land and work or live in the United States while worshiping at Mt. Oak. What richness!

Another less obvious form of diversity would be our economical differences. Not knowing people’s bank accounts, I would imagine, knowing some of the jobs we hold, that we have folks making well over a quarter of a million dollars a year as a family. We also have folks that are making minimum wage and some on fixed retirement incomes. The great thing about Mt. Oak is it is hard to tell this by looking at people because we do not put on airs (for the most part) and when we come through the doors, we are in harmony. Isn’t that the way a good choir sings, so that the notes blend and it is hard to distinguish who is singing what part?

I could go on and on, for our diversity is throughout our church. We have seekers, brand new Christians, young Christians and mature Christians. We have a diverse amount of education. We are diverse in the communities we live in, and more. Yet one place we strive to have commonality is our desire to be more like Jesus. We may be diverse in our sin, but want to be unified in our desire to rid our lives of sin and to follow after Christ. We will not be swayed to call sin acceptable, trying to bring God down to our understandings.

Another piece of diversity I noticed last week, and I see it often, is the diverse ways in which we worship. We have a service at 8:15 that meets in the Sanctuary. They use the organ and piano and mainly sing hymns. It is rich in heritage and structure (you know we can only be so structured for sure). In this service there are some folks that have been at Mt. Oak for generations and some who have been in church all their lives. They are fed by the style of worship we share in this service. The pastors lead the entire service and we call it traditional.

Our diversity at 10:30 is often on display. We see this diversity in the various elements of worship we celebrate. It is common to see folks near the cross taking communion. Every Sunday we offer Holy Communion for those who wish to receive this sacrament more than once a month. Whether the youth or the adult bands are leading the service, it is common to see folks sitting, folks standing, folks moving around the worship area. Folks raise their hands; folks sing with their eyes closed; folks sing loudly, and folks sing quietly. At times we use hymns, at times to different tunes then we might remember. Mainly we sing the songs that are current on the Christians radio stations that play contemporary Christian music. The order is less formal. We might sing for a short time and go right into the message or we may worship for a substantial time before getting to the proclamation of the Word.

Something happened this past week that continued to show our diversity as we share diverse elements of worship. The various elements of our worship are like a symphony to me. The choir sang an anthem, an old hymn. Our youth worship team led us in praise and worship. Our Director of Worship led the service as he usually does, and he felt led by the Spirit to offer a time of prayer for healing. This led to an awesome prayer time where some came forward for prayers and some gave testimony to healings. Pastor Charlie and I were one team and others joined us as we prayed for those who came for healing. We prayed for those who came forward while the rest of the congregation continued to worship through singing. There were families and friends that came and prayed for each other. During the sermon people were talking to me as I preached. It was awesome. It brought tears to my eyes to know that in the same service we experienced elements of traditional worship, contemporary worship, gospel worship, charismatic worship and more. And we were all one body. We experience elements of worship that would be divisive in other churches at Mt. Oak. We see them as a rich harmony, a form of diversity that is a blessing and not a curse.

While we are not yet perfect, we are learning to be excited about our diversity. It is my heart’s desire to serve a church where people are more interested in connecting with God, in their own way, than watching others try to connect in their way and judging them. I pray our church will be a place where someone could sit and be silent in worship even while others are moving about and being demonstrative in their worship. The Holy Spirit can reach us all in different ways. The commonality we seek is a people seeking after God.

Thank you for being the diverse congregation that you are and are striving to become. Some may not appreciate diversity and want to be in a more homogeneous church. A choir of all tenors would be nice at times, but to hear the sopranos, the altos, the tenors, the baritones, and the basses come together in harmony is such a blessing. Thank you. You are fulfilling this pastor’s vision of a diverse church body. Please keep loving people and accepting people, even when they are not just like you! And may God smile on us as we worship Him together!

Young Adults

What Would Work for You?
What would work for you as a Young Adult group? Go to Rev. Ray’s blog page and leave your comments. E-mail at YoungAdults@mtoak.org if you prefer.

Bowie Baysox
Who would be interested in a Young Adult outing to watch the Bowie Baysox on Thursday evening, July 31st? They are playing New Britain and someone will win a new Diamond! I will get us a good price in tickets and we could have a blast! Let me know by June 22nd and I will order the tickets. It could be loads of fun.

Christian Worldview and Theocracy

Dr. Del Tackett of the Truth Project asks this question. Does a Biblical Christian worldview call us to seek for, or work toward, a "theocracy?"

What do you think?

Added Worship Service

It is time to debate the pros and the cons of adding a new worship service on Sunday mornings or at some day/time. I love to discuss things and get the bugs out before we approach an idea. I am not saying we are moving next month to do anything but rather talking about it ahead of the moment.

The Question - As we approach 300-350 on a regular basis at 10:30 am service, do we add another worship service or build a new worship center?

To start the ball rolling, here is a suggested Sunday morning schedule, if we add another service.

8:15-9:15 am Traditional Worship in Sanctuary
8:45-10 am Additional Service in Gym
10:30 am -Noon Contemporary Worship in Gym

1. We realize there is a crossover of time in the early services.
2. We believe that adding a third service will automatically increase attendance, and thus add to our base and strengthen our church.
3. We could offer Children's Education at both services in the gym.

To build a new worship center that would hold 1,000 to 1,500 people would cost what? 3 million or more?

Is it more important to worship together (one large worship center) or utilize the facility at additional times while adding to the staff?

Let the discussion begin.

Define sin and temptation please!

Define sin and define temptation please.

Temptations

Name things that tempt people and more importantly, given examples of how to avoid the temptations and to resist them as well.