From the Pastor
I’ve enjoyed delivering the recent series of sermons on our spiritual enemies represented by the enemies of the Children of Israel in the Old Testament. I heard a lot of good comments during and after the series and I appreciate all of them. We may get back to that series again sometime, but we’ve got a full calendar for a little while. Starting October 5, I’ll be delivering a series of sermons on the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount as part of our fall campaign. That will end on November 16, after which we’ll start a holiday season series.
New Worship Services
In synch with the campaign, I will be using a new set of worship booklets. Part of the reason is the decaying state of our current booklets, but they will also feature a somewhat different order of service. The forms and atmospheres of the service will remain the same; this is not a contemporization of our service. But I believe that we can serve one important group of regular attendees better: our children.
Parents regularly comment on their children’s ability to stay focused through the fifteen or twenty minutes it takes to get from the beginning of the service through the children’s talk and the second hymn. My observations from the chancel confirm this. To address this, we’ll be shortening the opening sections of the regular worship service and rewriting other parts to be more child-friendly. I don’t think we’ll be leaving out any major portions of the service; some of you may not have even noticed that the service was changed. As always, I will appreciate any and all comments on how our community worship can best serve you.
Building Healthy Relationships Campaign
Our General Church-wide spiritual growth campaign is almost underway. The theme this year is “Building Healthy Relationships.” We’ll be reading portions of the New Testament surrounding the Sermon on the Mount and learning how the Lord blesses us, and how we can become blessings to the people around us. As always, we are forming several groups to get together in homes around the community and talk about what we can learn from this part of the Lord’s Word.
Building Plans
On another front, the Executive Committee is moving into the final stages of preparations for the construction of an addition to the building. The agenda for the October meeting includes a presentation from the Building Committee. We’re planning to have all the information we need to make a final decision about going forward with the project. If the vote is in favor, we hope to be able to sign a contract in early November. With our Middle School classroom bursting at the seams, we are hoping to occupy the new room in July 2009.
Before the October 8 Executive Committee meeting, the Building Committee will be displaying drawings and other information in the front hall of the church. We’ll be keeping that information station updated throughout the process from that point on. Please take a look to find out more about what’s happening.
Lawson Smith’s Visit
Our regional pastor, Lawson Smith (pastor of the Kempton New Church) will be visiting Pittsburgh over the weekend of October 18-19 for my annual evaluation. Anyone who would like to meet with Lawson should contact him directly. The Pastor’s Council and the Executive Committee will be meeting with Lawson on Saturday afternoon. I will be preaching on Sunday, October 19 since that is one of the fall campaign weekends and so Lawson can hear one of my sermons.
