April 20, 2011
INFLUENCE
I was saddened recently to hear about the plight of a young man we met several years ago at PUMP. He was a little kid in the program we work with. He was bad news, but beautiful. He had a foul mouth, total disdain for authority and a black outlook on life. His parents were in and out of prison and drug addicts. He was in the foster system most of his life. It was a sad story. This month he was arrested in Portland for the murder of his 14 year old girlfriend. How tragic! I have had a hard time wrapping my head around this. How does a kid go so wrong in such a short time?
The answer is clear. INFLUENCE. Influence is everything. Positive influences can lead you one way, and negative the other. Sure there is free will involved, but influences are much stronger than we often give them credit for. The older we get the clearer this becomes. And once we have children, we start to understand. Suddenly I understand why my mom cared so much about the kids I hung around with!
The children at West Main are blessed to have so many positive influences on their lives, from their youth group, to their families. They are surrounded by a group that loves them. But there could never be too much!
We recognize this and are making some changes in the way we do Youth Ministry. We are slowly moving to a more INTER-GENERATIONAL MINISTRY approach. This method asks families and adults to walk right next to our teens. We want to be together and not segregated. We want the generations to know one another despite the massive gap that culture tells us is there.
I am convinced that relationships with adults who have truly been changed by Jesus are the key to showing our teens what the Christian life is all about. We can have the biggest and fanciest programs in the world, but they will not matter without these relationships. I am asking all of you to join our youth ministry. Come to class with us. Sit with some teens in worship. Let's get to know each other and let’s show this world what power positive relationships really have. Together we can do anything!
– Pannell
IF CHRIST HAD NOT COME
“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.” These words of Jesus in John 15:22 picture what might have been had he not come to earth. What then would have been the lot of the human race if he had not come to rescue us?
On first thought, some might breathe a sigh of relief to be rid of the guilt that came when Jesus taught us. He did indeed raise the bar for sin higher than we had ever known before. Adultery was not only wrong; just thinking about stepping over that line was a sin. Ill will toward another man, he said, was sinful and condemning long before the act of murder. Harsh words were to be stilled before they revealed harshness in our hearts. Who could live up to such a code of conduct? Would it not have been better to live in ignorance and the supposed bliss that comes with not knowing right from wrong?
But wait! In a world without Christ we would know of no one who had come back from the dead. There would be no reason for hope of ongoing life. If Christ had not come, oratory at funerals that spoke of life after death would be empty and without foundation. For our hope is built on the resurrection of Christ and his promises to us.
Without Christ we would not know that sin separates us from God. Nor would we know that he has provided for our reconciliation through his gospel of the second chance. In him, forgiveness and grace become precious to us.
Love of others is not real, atheists tell us, but is only a selfish desire that causes us to preserve our genes by caring for our kin. If Christ had not come we might believe this lie and would never have known that the God who made us loves us. Nor would we have seen the intensity of that love demonstrated on the cross. In short, we love because he first loved us. The love we learn from Christ develops bonds that go well beyond common bloodlines.
Jesus taught us to value the individual. In the name of democracy our nation often speaks and acts as if we had discovered this lofty view on our own. Actually, it was Jesus who taught that one lost sheep (one person) out of a hundred was worth searching for. He taught crowds, but he also often interrupted his busy schedule to teach one man or one woman. He had time for the poor man, a sin-soaked person, and social outcasts. We are saved from sin individually. We learn from Christ that God knows even the number of hairs on our head.
Women ought to be especially grateful for their elevation by our Lord. He entered a world where women were not allowed to be schooled alongside of men. But to the surprise of his disciples, he taught them. He brought monogamy to a polygamous world. Women were a part of the group of disciples he traveled with. Even while hanging on a cross, he was mindful of his mother and committed her to the care of John, one of his disciples.
Having learned from Christ, Apostle Paul writes of sisters in Christ who labored with him in the gospel. Apostle Peter writes of them as being co-heirs with their husbands of the grace of life. Widows had a special place of care in early churches. In contrast to the honor Christ accorded women, consider societies where abortion of baby girls is encouraged.
Morality in western nations, with increased use of drugs and lewd behavior in sexual matters, is on a slippery slope downward. Without Christ and the absolute values he taught, there is little hope of slowing this rush into the gutter of human behavior.
In short, where would civilization be without Christ? When Paul writes of Christ as being “The savior of all men, especially those who believe,” I take it to mean what seems obvious – that even an unbelieving world has greatly benefited by the coming of Christ. For without him all of the underpinnings of morality, equality, and justice would be missing. This helps us to understand why those who do not believe in Christ are described as “lost.”
– James Gibbs
Daddy-Daughter Dinner Dance April 30th
Please arrive promptly at 5:00 p.m. in your beautiful dress to get your photo taken with your special guy. You will receive a special wearable keepsake of the event. Dinner will be served and after dessert you and your guy will share some laughs and dancing. For more information, please contact Marcie Dixon.
****Items we need to borrow for the event:
Up to twelve card tables and about fifteen strands of white mini single-strand, non-blinking Christmas lights. If you have any of these items, please let Marcie Dixon know ASAP.
We will have a church work day this Saturday, April 23rd, beginning at 8:00 a.m. Please bring your shovels, hoes, gloves, rakes, tools for trimming bushes, etc. We need help pulling weeds and putting down more bark in our flowerbeds. Thank you for your help. For more info contact Dan Beeks.
***A special thank you to Larry Albright, Chris Brass, Buddy Denzer and Buck Reagan (a Sojourner) who helped get a jump start on the weeding of the flowerbeds. The flowers that the Youth Group and others planted are looking great - they are a bright spot in our neighborhood.
Prayer Requests . . .
Please continue to pray for a complete healing for Mel Hamilton and Connie Kennedy ... For continued healing for Truman Scott as he recovers from his stroke ... For Ernest Strawn who is having radiation treatments ... Cooper Albright, as he continues his fight against cancer and for his parents as they take care of him ... Chaley Johnson requests prayers for her Uncle Rick, who has been diagnosed with stage three colon cancer ... Bob Stapp requests prayers for the Armstrong Family in the loss of their father, William, who was killed in a motorcycle accident ... Jason and Jennifer Bucey request prayers for a friend’s mother who is very ill ... Omar Dimas has now been released from the hospital, but will need more surgery and lots of therapy ... Prayers for the safety of all of the people recently hit by tornadoes ... For our President and all of our military men, women and families.
Memorial Service for Dan Slovak – Saturday, May 7, 11:00 a.m. — There will be a sandwich/fingerfood/potluck fellowship following the service. Please bring lots of your favorite foods to share. ***Memorial contributions may be made to our youth camp fund in lieu of flowers.
Teen Food Drive
Please help our teens as they collect food for a community food drive. Please bring lots of canned foods to our building and leave them by the Visitor Center. This is the LAST WEEK for our food drive and we still need more food. For more info contact Brian Pannell.
The Prayer Retreat that had been tentatively scheduled for May 13-14, has been postponed until a later date.
Elders, Deacons, and Ministry Leaders - please reserve the date of May 7th, for a Saturday Morning Breakfast in the Fireside Room at 7:00 a.m. For more information contact Dan Beeks.
Camp Fundraiser Dinner -- May 21st in the Fireside Room. More details to come.
Ladies Class Barbeque
Ladies, please mark your calendars for June 18th, for a barbeque at the home of Bill and Barbara Viera. Please come at 11:00 a.m. and stay until ??? More details to come.
2011 Directories are ready to pick up! They are located on the table by the Visitor Center. Please take only one copy per family. The directories that are in the binders are for new families or for those who do not have a binder.
Congratulations to Levi and Ariann Wisdom on the birth of their daughter, Mckenna Ariann, on Saturday, April 16. Mckenna weighed in at 4 lbs. 13 oz. and 18 3/4 inches long. Proud great-grandparents are Larry & Wydie Denn.
Calendar of Events
April 23 Workday at the Building Starting at 8:00 a.m.
April 30 Daddy/Daughter Banquet Begins at 5:00 p.m.
May 7 Elder/Deacon Breakfast; 7:00 a.m. in the FSR
Memorial Service for Dan Slovak 11:00 a.m. at the Building
May 21 Camp Fundraiser Dinner; FSR
June 18 Ladies Class Barbeque Begins at 11:00 a.m.
At the Viera's Home
