A Sad Day

After taking one of the Florin COB members to a PA state prison to visit with her son, I received some very heart-wrenching news on my cell phone as we began our drive home.

A chaplain from Lancaster General Hospital called to tell me that Ron Mellinger, 73 yrs., a Florin member and good friend who volunteers 2 days/week with Lancaster County Habitat for Humanity was electrocuted while working on a HFH house roof and was killed.

Bev and I spent some time with his widow, Judy, late this afternoon and early evening. Her two adult daughters and family who live out of state will be coming in tomorrow to PA. After the coroner releases the body tomorrow I'll be meeting with the family and funeral director to plan Ron's memorial service.

I ask you keep Judy and Ron's family in your prayers and that you keep Bev and me in your prayers as we grieve the loss of a close friend and as I extend God's love and grace to the family.

Shalom.

Getting closer all the time!

As of tomorrow, Tuesday, August 3, 2010 I am 45 days away from my "official" start with Antioch COB and 48 days from my first "official" Sunday in the pulpit on September 19, 2010. It will be here before we know it!

Bev and I are enjoying our final days and weeks with the Florin congregation and our friends in this community. We have had and have scheduled a number of meal invitations with folks as a way of celebrating our relationships and preparing for our departure on September 12.

We now have a scheduled closing date on our house at 429 Creighton Drive, Rocky Mount on Monday, August 16. We will be making a quick trip in/out to care for this important detail! We have been greatly assisted by C.A. Flora in making all of this possible!

I've been doing a good bit or reading and thinking about Antioch COB as a missional congregation. I close this blog post with the following quote from the Church of England, "Mission-Shaped Church" document, as it captures the missional church spirit,

"It is not the church of God that has a mission in the world, but the God of mission that has a church in the world... God is on the move and the church is always catching up with him. We join his mission."

Bev and I are looking forward with great anticipation to partner with you in mission! Peace.

Updates

We've received word that our pursuit of our new home is now at the stage of the appraisal being ordered. Everything else up to this point is going well with regards to the property. Periodic email conversations are taking place with Jerrold Flora and Beth Middleton. A periodic phone call also with C.A. Flora as he does a good job of keeping on top of the home purchase for us.

We are getting a lot of invitations from the Florin congregation to spend some special time with folk before we leave. This is helping to make our transition a bit easier as we keep coming closer to the time when we will need to say goodbye.

Our oldest daughter Erin is playing her french horn this week and next at a summer music festival in Lancaster, OH. Her sister, Kirsten and family are keeping Erin and Jeremy's two sons, Trevor and Erin while she is busy with this event.

Kirsten received some very good medical news this past week after an ultrasound, a cat scan, and finally a needle biopsy revealed no malignancy in a small mass that is located near the area of two c-sections. It is believed to be scar tissue but the jury is still out on that. Praise God there is no cancer!

Bev's current employer is still considering the possibility of her working remotely from our new location during next tax season. We'll hope to know something by the time of our move.

That's all for now. Shalom!

Back in the saddle again

This blogs title was inspired by the recent auction of Roy Rogers memorabilia including a stuffed and mounted Trigger (horse) and Bullet (dog). We have returned home from Annual Conference and "back in the saddle again" in ministry with the Florin COB. Yesterday was a good morning for me as I taught the single young adult Sunday school class, preached in worship with Bev as worship leader, and attending yesterday afternoon/evening a webcast, "Great Expectations Sunday School" with Bev and 5 other adults from Florin's Sunday school department. "Great Expectations..." provides some insightful material that I plans to share with Antioch and utilize as it best fits Antioch's context.

A busy week is before both Bev and me and we covet your continued prayers for our transition from Florin to Antioch. We pray for you as well. Shalom!

Annual Conference Update

Today is the end of the second full day of Annual Conference (AC) which began early and ended late for Bev and me. We both competed in the Brethren Benefit Trust Fitness Run/Walk this morning. Bev was the first place woman walker and I tied for second in the men's walking group.

Worship tonight included and inspiring message from Earl Fike on the gospel text about Jesus' encounter with the religious folk in Jericho and with Zaccheus. Earl's main point was that the COB is too easily found in the religious group who take issue with who Jesus is willing to befriend. It's an important word for us to hear today as we too often want to decide "who's in" and "who's out" as far as the church. Jesus reaches out to all people. So must his church.

Shalom.

Pittsburgh and "Taking Jesus Seriously"

We left Bev's mothers home late this a.m. and arrived in Pittsburgh, PA for Annual Conference around 4:30 p.m. We got checked into our hotel and picked up our registration badges, etc. at the convention center.

We had a wonderful time in Ohio between June 25 and July 3 with family and got to see many family members and friends. Attending opening worship of AC this evening provided many more opportunities to see a number of sisters and brothers in Christ- who we generally only get to see once a year at AC.

Opening worship was a blessing and Moderator Shawn Flory Replogle delivered a "right-on" message that was certainly anointed by the Holy Spirit.

It's amazing to me how many people had already heard about our call to Antioch COB and at the same time reminds me of how powerfully the Brethren grapevine works!

More later!

Blogging again!

Back to blogging since leaving home on Friday, June 25, and having the first internet access since then- how quickly we can get accustomed to having technology right at our finger-tips!

We had a nice family reunion at Phillipsburg, OH on Saturday, June 25, for the Jones family (Bev's mothers side of the family, who incidentally have Boones Mill, VA roots. Discovered at the family reunion some added info about a family cemetery around Boones Mill that we'll be looking for once we get moved to Rocky Mount.

I preached at Eversole COB, New Lebanon, OH on Sunday, June 27 (this is our home congregation) for their 100th anniversary. I preached on "Out with the old and in with the new?" as a question rather than a statement. The premise being that in Matthew 13:51-52 we are to bring both the old and the new out of our storehouse of faith to our living as Christ followers in the kingdom of heaven.

We also were able to spend time with both our daughters and their families, extended family, Bev's mother, my father and stepmother, and my mother and step-father. My step-father, Don Woolery who has been under in-home Hospice care was taken to the Hospice center in Dayton, Ohio for 6 days and treated for pneumonia. He is back home and doing some better. The picture is of Bev, her mother Ruth Bell and our daughter Erin and her husband Jeremy Schmidt and their two sons, Trevor (to the left) and Evan (to the right).

We are in Ohio for tomorrow and part of Saturday morning, July 3 before traveling to Pittsburg, PA and Annual Conference before we return home on July 7.