|
KEY CONTACTS
District Office Kings Pointe Business Park 15180 S. Wright Road Grand Ledge, MI 48837 (517) 622-8450 Office (517) 622-8451 Fax
Dr. John E. Seaman District Superintendent (517) 930-3491 Cell
Dr. Randall Rucker District Secretary Insurance Administrator (517) 930-3498 Cell
Dawn Stemen Office Manager (517) 930-3502 Cell
Dr. John Bowling President Olivet Nazarene University (815) 939-5011
Dr. Jerry Porter Presiding General Superintendent Nazarene Headquarters Kansas City, Missouri (816) 333-7000 |
|
Read the Michigan Nazarene in Printable Adobe PDF
Complete Michigan Nazarene (above in 1 file) These publications are available in Adobe PDF format and require the free Acrobat Reader available here:
|
|
District Office As I reflected on our giving to missions, Olivet, pastoral support and district ministries, I became increasingly aware of a more basic need: God-honoring personal financial management. While I want to see our district do well in our financial goal achievements, I am even more concerned about individual Nazarene families. Financially, America is spinning out of control. Last year 2 million Americans declared bankruptcy. It is estimated that 70% of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck, and as many as half have a negative net worth…and don’t realize it! Probably 50% of American families are struggling. Thirty-three percent of born-again Christians say it is impossible for them to get ahead in life because of the financial debt they’ve incurred. Alarming, isn’t it? These figures apply not only to the general public but likely to those who make up the members and faithful attendees in Nazarene churches as well. The bottom line for me is not a “thumb in the back” pushing our churches to “do better” – everyone wants to be 100%. My concern is to help our Nazarenes with their own personal financial burden. Now, before the line gets too long, I’m not talking about passing out envelopes of money! Every one of us, whether in excellent financial condition or in desperate straits, could profit from helpful guidance concerning a God-honoring system of personal financial management. We need to help each other in this area, and as a district we are committed to doing so this year. A team of financial planning consultants has been trained to serve our local churches. They will be providing training in a simple, God-honoring system called “Abundant Living.” This system, sponsored by Stewardship Ministries of the Church of the Nazarene, can, I believe, transform your personal financial management. It is for everyone, whatever your personal financial situation. I need it myself and can hardly wait for the seminars to begin! I am convinced it will help me manage my own finances in a way even more pleasing to God. A Nazarene in Texas said, “What I learned in the Abundant Living workshop set me free!” Dr. Steve Weber, Executive Director of Stewardship Ministries, believes “Abundant Living” is the best stewardship material available today, because it is simple, comprehensive, effective and user-friendly. Your financial situation and mine are serious subjects to God. Fifteen percent of everything Jesus said in Scripture is about finance! The biblical call is to be generous (2 Cor. 9:6-7), not controlled by a love of money (I Tim. 6:9-12), to live within one’s means (Prov. 30:7-9), to count the cost (Luke 14:28), and to have a wise spending plan (Prov. 27:23-24). The “Abundant Living” seminars are built on these simple yet exceedingly helpful principles. Over the next several weeks information about this training will be coming your way through your pastor, through the internet, and through other announcements. This is an excellent resource that will help all of us, so plan to take advantage of the ”Abundant Living” financial seminars. More on this later…for now, urge your pastor to plan an “Abundant Living” seminar at your church! Yours and His, John Seaman District Superintendent FINANCE TRAINING AVAILABLE FOR YOUR CHURCH August 22, 2006—Matt Schoenfeld of Abundant Living (Kansas City) represented Dr. Steve Weber (Stewardship Ministries) at the district office to equip a group of district facilitators to train local pastors and congregations on personal finance. Your church can schedule a facilitator to hold finance training in your area. Watch for details coming soon. INDIAN LAKE NAZARENE CAMP & CONFERENCE CENTER DAY September 17, 2006—Dr. John Seaman is calling all local congregations to focus on the privileges and benefits of our district campground. Not every district has 250 acres of lake front property to house camping and retreat events for all ages. Please use the slide show provided by Paul Casarez, Executive Director of ILNC, during your morning worship service to inform and support our campgrounds through taking an offering / pledges. Contact Indian Lake Nazarene Camp at (269) 649-2281 for further information. 2006 MINISTERIAL TEAM FALL WORKSHOP September 18-20—Indian Lake Nazarene Camp will be the venue to host Michigan District ministerial team members with distinguished guests Drs. David and Robert McKenna, leadership icons, and Dr. Carl Leth sharing devotions. Registration is due by September 8th. Call (517) 622-8450 or email districtoffice@minaz.org for more details. DISTRICT WIDE CHALLENGE DAY 2006 October 21, 2006—Saginaw Valley Church of the Nazarene will host this year’s Challenge Day with special guest Dr. Gustavo Crocker, Eurasia Regional Director. With extraordinary credentials and experience, you will hear expertise at its best about cutting edge global ministry. Take advantage of this exceptional opportunity from 10:00 am—3:00 pm to inform and inspire the youth and adults from your church. ANNUAL MICHIGAN DISTRICT LADIES DAY November 4, 2006—Join fellow sisters in Christ for a great day together at Owosso First Church of the Nazarene from 8:30 am—3:00 pm with special guest Joy Wisehart. Call (989) 723-2229 or visit www.owossonazarene.com/LadiesDay online to register. MINISTERIAL TEAM 2006 CHRISTMAS GALA December 4, 2006—Save the date for an awesome evening at Jackson First Church with fine dining, Christmas cheer, and the sounds of inspiring vocalist Allison Durham Speer. Watch for more details coming this fall. January 9, 2007—Another great ministerial team event will take place to kick off 2007 at Owosso First Church of the Nazarene. Evangelist Jim Mellish will be challenging the hearts and minds of those in attendance with encouragement and insight. Save the date! February 24, 2007—Reserve this special Saturday on your calendar for an unprecedented opportunity for local church leadership development in a state-of-the-art setting. The Eastern and Michigan Districts have collaborated to offer workshops targeting children’s ministry (including child care) at Perry Nazarene; as well as high tech youth and adult learning opportunities at Perry High School. Keynote speaker, Dr. Tom White, Executive Director (U.S.) for The Voice of the Martyrs, Inc., survivor, author, and agent for the persecuted church in communist/Islamic countries, will be addressing both general sessions. Olivet Nazarene University will provide wake up morning music. Comedy will kick off the afternoon general session. A block of hotel rooms will be reserved for Friday night lodging if your group has interest. This is your chance to equip local leaders for more effective ministry. Watch for registration brochures coming to your church. The following are addendum District Office news that was not published in the PDF version Please email statistics to district statistician Rev. Curt Rockefeller at curtncheryl@yahoo.com or call (517) 651-5595 in the event the web site is not responding or your zone coordinator is unavailable to report your stats. Thank you. If you have not submitted your centennial goals (requested by Dr. Porter and collected at assembly by the district secretary), please call them in or email them to the district office no later than tomorrow, Tuesday, August 29th. The goals to be achieved by October 2009 with God’s grace are in the following areas: _____ Members _____ New Nazarenes _____ Sunday School attendance _____ Worship attendance _____ New ministry initiatives _____ Daughter congregations started JIM DORSEY TRAINING AT DISTRICT OFFICE Just a reminder that on Wednesday, September 13th at 10:00 a.m. Dr. Jim Dorsey, Director of Evangelism Ministries, will be our guest at the District Office in Grand Ledge. He is the individual with direct responsibility for New Start ministries in the Church of the Nazarene. The purpose of this time together will be to encourage those who are in the process of a new start, to inform those who may be beginning the process, and to illuminate the understanding of those willing to be involved in this exciting arm of evangelism. Please let Rodger DeVore at Owosso First know that you are attending at your earliest convenience. Jim will have material he will want to prepare for distribution. You may call (989.723.2229), fax (989.936.5908), email (ocnrodger@michonline.net) or write (P.O. Box 1020 Owosso, MI 48867-6020) to inform of your intention. The District NYI Lock-In date has been moved to October 20, due to scheduling conflicts at the venue. A formal announcement with information and details will be mailed to local churches the beginning of next week. You may contact Matt Smith with questions at smitty@southnaz.org. 2006 FALL WORKSHOP REGISTRATIONS There is still time to send in your registration form with payment to be postmarked by September 5th for the September 18-20 ministerial team event at ILNC & CC. Registrations/payments postmarked after September will incur a $10 late fee (please include in payment). Final registrations must be received by September 11th for McKenna’s to ship training materials. Feel free to contact the district office with any questions. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Indian Lake Nazarene Camp ...coming soon... |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sunday School Ministries Welcome to fall in Michigan! The weather has been beautiful, and has recently turned wet. School is back in session; football is being played, church is getting back into the fall “swing” of things. As we get into this fall season, it is important that we make full preparations for how we are impacting our community. As I listened to Dr. Porter at District Assembly this year, I was really struck by his comments that we have not been given permission to continue to do the same programs and processes at church that have not been working in the past. Wow! As I think about this from my perspective I think of my drive to work each day. If I am going towards Flint instead of Lansing (where my office is) in my nice car, and going really fast (but not over the speed limit), and have all the neat toys in my car, and I am very sincere in my desire to get to my office in Lansing, I will not get to Lansing. Understand? For many of us, we have good intentions, and we want to have a growing church, but we are continuing to use methods or ideas that no longer are producing any growth for the church. We might say that if we worked harder, or if people were more committed, that those methods will work again “just like they used to.” We need to accept the fact that just because something worked in the past, that it may not work again in the future. We cannot be afraid to evaluate the things we do and drop or change the “good ol’ things.” We need to be aware of how the our society has changed, and try to find relevant ways to reach into our community and meet the needs of people who are hurting and ways to introduce them to Jesus. How are you planning on reaching your community? Have you walked or driven down the streets of your town and looked for ways you can meet a specific need? Have you thought about how you can take the Gospel to areas of your community instead of relying on them to come into your church? Let’s plan together! Let’s find a way to specifically REACH out in a new way this year! His for a Growing Sunday school! John
Setting 2006-07 Sunday School Goals Just as each church has been asked to provide goals to the General church in terms of worship attendance, Sunday school attendance, new ministry initiatives, membership, daughter churches, and new Nazarenes – we need to break those goals down into smaller pieces that can be accomplished year by year. Have you thought about how you are going to accomplish your goals? We cannot reach them in our own strength. We must bathe them in prayers of faith, and listen for God’s voice as to how He wants us to reach those goals. Then as we listen to His voice, we must take the action He wants us to reach the hurting members of our community – those people who are crying out for some hope in a sea that seems so hopeless. As I look at last year’s statistics, we had 15 churches out of 74 that averaged over 100 in Sunday school, with the largest averaging 374. In comparison, we had 27 of 74 churches averaging over 100 in worship with the largest averaging 991, and the next largest was 551. We need churches who will look at themselves and their surrounding communities, and then make the effort to break the different barriers at the hundreds (100, 200, 300, 400) for Sunday school and worship. These aren’t just numbers, these are the hurting people we just talked about above. They are looking for someone to share Jesus with them. See Thom Rainier’s book “The Unchurched Next Door” and explore the various stages of faith development. Plan on REACHing out this Fall during the SS Emphasis Here is a way to use the REACH strategy as part of your fall SS growth campaign. The general church gives us some guidelines and more information is available at: www.nazarene.org/ssm/r_fall06_intro.html
Upcoming Events District Challenge Day Oct 21 at Saginaw Valley Church! Dr Gustavo Crocker, Eurasia Regional Director will be our guest for this great day. He is an expert on church growth, and reaching out to the lost. You’ll want to be there at 10:00 a.m. for this great day! District Ladies Day – November 4, 2006 at Owosso 1st from 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m with Joy Wisehart. Call (989) 723-2229 to register for this great day of inspiration. TEAM DAY 2007 – Feb 24, 2007 at Perry High School (exit 105 off I-69) You won’t want to miss this great collaborative event between SSM, NMI, and NYI! Both Eastern MI and the MI districts are joining together this year to bring Dr Tom White (Executive Director for The Voice of the Martyrs, Inc). The Olivetians will be with us for music during the day, and many terrific workshops for all who are involved in ministry in your church! Watch for registration information! This is a great time to equip your lay leaders for more effective ministry in your church! Resources Indian Lake Nazarene Campgrounds—Make sure you take some time to acquaint your congregation to our District’s campground. Over 250 acres of beauty that is just waiting to help serve your congregation’s needs for a youth retreat, couple’s getaway, or a weekend away. Marriage Enrichment Events—Rev. and Mrs. David & Marilyn Tran are certified as marriage enrichment facilitators through the Church of the Nazarene. Contact them at (517) 283-1818 or e-mail is dmtranus@yahoo.com to schedule a time for your church marriage enrichment weekend. Monthly Sunday School and Worship Statistics are posted in pdf format at www.minaz.org/ssm |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Nazarene Missions International “From the President” I’ve been reading a book that was given to me by a special friend. The title of the book is “IRAN, Desperate for God.” There are eight chapters in the book that are real stories of people searching for a better life. Each of these has been trained and educated in their faith and traditions. They all have a unique conversion experience to share. As I read each one, several thoughts came to mind. I was amazed at how solid they were in their faith. They had been taught to believe there was only one God, Allah. Everything they did reflected this belief. Nothing could turn them. But the Holy Spirit continues to work even in the lives of Muslims. Seeds are planted in their hearts and minds that cause them to search for the “missing” pieces of their lives. When they turn the corner to Christianity, their faith is even stronger than it was for Allah. A faith they are willing to die for. We live in a country that doesn’t feel the oppression these people feel. We can wander about anywhere at any time with no fear. We can say and do whatever we want because of our “freedoms.” But how strong is our faith in God? Do we still have the same determination to serve God that we had at our conversion experience? Are we willing to die for the cause of Christ? Does our heart break when we learn of people dying around the world without Jesus? Or is it “business as usual” and we move on with a cold feeling? Pray that God will give us a broken heart for the lost of the world. Pray that we will carry this burden to God in prayer daily. Pray that we will have the faith to live for God in such a way to win our world. — Carol L.I.N.K.S. - Christmas in September
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever amen.” Galatians 1:3-5. As summer is quickly slipping away, the fall leaves are changing in color, and our children are preparing for school, our lives can become busy with many activities. During this time we must not forget the many opportunities God has given us to win souls for him. Through the Work & Witness program we have an open door to save the lost. Revelations 3:8 says, “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut”. Please continue in prayer for all Work & Witness Projects locally and around the world. The next Michigan District Work & Witness Project will be to Africa Nazarene University, March 10th-24th, 2007. If you are interested in going please contact Tom Banker at tntbanker@sbcglobal.net. It is amazing to watch a building “come together”. First, you see the big machines come in and dig a “big hole”. Then, the foundation is poured and walls begin to appear. Soon, the roof is in place and a sign goes out front announcing the new building’s purpose. With Alabaster, your church is building the kingdom of God by building other churches, schools, medical clinics, etc. Your funds are “poured in” with others from across the district and from other “world areas”. You help pay for big and small machines, materials and many workers. It all “comes together” to win people to Christ. Get your children, teens and adults involved. Talk about it in worship services, Sunday School and during your mid-week activities. Use everything you can to get “maximum participation”! For more information about Alabaster, contact Rev. Terry Turner at srpastor@communitynazarene.org. Does your employer have a United Way Fund Drive this fall? If your workplace provides an opportunity for you to give through United Way to non-profit charities by payroll deduction, NAZARENE COMPASSIONATE MINISTRIES, INC. is one of your options. NCM, Inc. provides food, healthcare, and rebuilding assistance in response to crises and disasters . Simply write in NCM Inc., 2111 E. Santa Fe #343, Olathe, KS 66062 and (1-800-241-4999) on your donor card. Are you employed by the Federal Government? When you are asked to give to the charity of your choice through the Combined Federal Campaign consider Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, Inc. Combined Federal Campaign # is 2018. For more information about Compassionate Ministries or ways to contribute, contact Rev. Don Wilkins at dchaplain1@aol.com.
|
