Museum Day

http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/about.html

Just so you know. Free admission across the USA.

Book list

As you can see the list of books that I want to read is growing. One part of being a pastor is growing so that there is reserve to share. It is important:

to stretch myself through experiences.

to enrich myself through reading quality material.

to soak myself in hearing good sermons from godly preachers.

to humble myself in God's presence daily.

I am sure there are many more important things. These are the things that are currently pulling on me. May God pull you to himself and fill you.

Hard sermon

This past Sunday's sermon preparation was probably the hardest one I've had yet. The sermon just wouldn't come together. I ended up with about twice the material than I needed. I let it sit for a day, and then after the Husker's tough last minute loss, I returned to it.

I hacked the sermon to pieces, and rearranged different sections and went to bed still feeling very unsure of it. As I slept the spirit continued to work. I woke up in the morning with the new end of the sermon spinning in my head.

Even 5 minutes prior to the sermon I still had misgivings about the sermon. Someone must have been praying. I missed a lot of things that I had prepared and added a couple things that came to me in the moment, and the sermon went okay. Praise God! There were a lot of heartfelt comments and learnings that people shared with me after the service.

The Spirit of God is still at work in the congregation... and in me. :)

To God be the glory, Amen.

Pictures from Nebraska

Enjoy some pictures from Nebraska. You should be able to see them even if you aren't a facebook member.

Click and enjoy

Labor Day

People in Ohio are lazy:) Just kidding! No really, I am kidding!!!!! I just wanted to catch your attention. Now that I've got it. Are you enjoying your day off to celebrate labor day?

I haven't found anybody here in Shickley, Nebraska that is actually taking the day off. Everybody is laboring to celebrate Labor Day. The people that I talked to last night are doing construction (Brett and Swartzendruber construction), removing irrigation pipe from the field (Will and Don, and maybe Derek and Kristi), Suzanne is mowing the lawn, and there is this pastor who is working in his office.

The girls are off today from school. I plan to hang out with the family this afternoon.

We took the girls and some friends to the Nebraska State Fair in Lincoln on Saturday. It was a good time of seeing animals, watching people, eating lots of really tasty (and expensive) food, and being with friends. The only things that were missing was a Ventrac booth and my Dad's Amsoil booth where we get a yearly picture with he and the girls. We all got pretty tired by the end of the day.

Oops

I must have gotten a little busy there. It has been nearly 3 weeks since I posted here. I have a pastor friend who sat around the first couple weeks wondering what he was supposed to do:) Maybe a slight exaggeration. That has not been the case for me. I have found plenty to do. Actually to the point that I have to discipline myself to not follow thoughts that come up. Instead, I have to write them down so that I can complete what I am working on. One morning, I realized that I had over a dozen things that I had written down while trying to prepare an email to worship planners about where my Sermon was headed.

Anyway, I am getting into the groove of things, enjoying the work, and looking forward to becoming more efficient. I want to get out of my office more.

Des Moines, IA

Yesterday morning at 4:30am, I hopped into our car and drove like a bandit to Milford, NE (about 1 hour). Why like a bandit you ask? Well, I intended to leave around 4am, but didn't wake up till 4:20. Why Milford? In Milford, I hopped into Bellwood Mennonite Pastor Dave Miller's car, and we headed for Des Moines Mennonite Church. (about another 3 hours) Why Des Moines? You sure ask a lot of questions, so I'll tell ya.

Yesterday, Dave and I had interviews with the Pastoral Leadership Council of Central Plains Mennonite Conference. These interviews lasted about an hour, followed by a time of discernment by the council. Then they brought you back into the room and gave you their verdict, encouragement, and council. Dave was interviewing to be credentialed as an Ordained Minister. He passed. I was interviewing to be Licensed toward Ordination. I passed. Let's celebrate.

It was an enjoyable day. I really enjoyed catching up with Dave Miller. He is a Pastoral Ministries grad from Hesston College. He is also from Kidron, Ohio. He is interesting, witty, thoughtful, talented, and reading this blog (I found out yesterday) :)

The interview was also enjoyable. The council was very gracious, asked good thoughtful questions, and seemed very interested in the success of Salem Mennonite Church and myself as a pastor. God's blessings to the council members, Dave, and Salem as you all serve God and his church.

Back to it

The girls are back to School! Alyssa and Courtney started school yesterday. They came back excited about their new friends and teachers.

Mom and Dad were here for a week and headed back part way this morning. It was good to have them here, experiencing what we experience. They had a lot of good to say about our neighbors, friends, community, church, and situation in life.

Emberlynn and Suzanne are enjoying some extra time together. She'll be in school before we know it.

I am working and blogging:) and dreaming. Still feeling my way through the work and personal life balance. I'm guessing that will be ongoing.

Installation Service

For those of you who wanted to know...

My installation/licensing service will be September 13th during the morning service (@ 10:30am).

Dave Greiser, Director of the Hesston College Pastoral Ministries Program will be preaching. Ed Kauffman, Conference Minister of Central Plains Conference will be officiating. The wonderful people of Salem Mennonite Church. There will be a fellowship meal following. Can it get any better than that:)

Saltdogs baseball

The town of Shickley had a night at the Lincoln Ballpark Sunday Night. It was a good time of connecting with friends and getting to know some more people from the community. This was put together by the Commercial Club of Shickley, and it was also a faith and family night at the park. There was concert by a talented Acapela (no better cause) type band before and after the game. Some of the local children's league ball players got to go out on the field. It rained pretty hard for about 3 innings. The saltdogs lost.

But the most memorable experience was getting out of our van at the park and realizing I had forgot our 5 tickets... Suzanne had a good laugh at what my face looked like when I told her what I had done. I felt like an idiot. I was so mad at myself. Those of you who know me as "always organized and in control", well there goes that. We had driven an hour and a half and now we would have to buy new tickets or drive all the way back to get them. Luckily, or by providence we had brought Wes and Linda with us, and Wes knew some people. It turned out that the organizer from Shickley had extra tickets. Fear, dread, and humiliation gave way to comfort, relief, and humility.

Here is where it got really funny. It was like God was saying, "let me take care of it. I will provide. You're not in control. You need a lesson on humility." No less than 4 people, as part of the sponsoring church where walking around giving out free tickets as part of the faith and family night. Each time they offered us tickets. I just had to laugh, and say, "Yes God, you are good. You have a good sense of humor. I need to be less serious about myself. Thanks for the lesson." We had a good time.