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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 |
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Read the Michigan Nazarene in Printable Adobe PDF if available
Complete Michigan Nazarene (above in 1 file) These publications are available in Adobe PDF format and require the free Acrobat Reader available here:
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District Office The more I pray and reflect, the more convinced I become that it should not be my intention as district superintendent to oversee a multitude of new plans, programs, committees, initiatives, etc. To be sure, that is not to say that new efforts should not be made or initiatives started, it is simply to acknowledge that those who are carrying a particular burden—breaking the 200 barrier, encouraging healthy smaller churches to grow and be effective, church building policies, and more—should drive those efforts and initiatives. We are seeing that on our district in a number of ways. The concerns that weigh on my heart and for which I carry a burden, concerns that will be a principal focus for me in the years to come, and about which you will be hearing more, are church planting/new starts and making disciples who make disciples. My friend Dr. Russ Bredholt has influenced me greatly over the years. Dr. Bredholt grew up on the Michigan District and has been an important consultant to our denomination. I recently read information that he pointed me to that I felt would be of interest to our Michigan Nazarenes. The following is an informational excerpt drawn from an article found on the website of the Hartford Seminary’s Hartford Institute for Religion Research. The article spoke of trends that influence growth in churches at the present time. The Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership did a survey to study what makes churches grow. They discovered that wanting to grow is not enough. “Congregations that developed a plan to recruit members in the last year were much more likely to grow than congregations that had not.” Hmm, an intentional plan to gain members. That doesn’t seem too hard. It also said that “contemporary worship, geographic location, a website and the absence of conflict are key factors in why some congregations in America are growing.” Here are some facts on growth from that report; thought you might be interested in reading them. Perhaps you will find them helpful for your church as you intentionally plan to grow:
While most congregations in America are composed of a single racial/ethnic group, those that are multi-racial are most likely to have experienced strong growth in worship attendance.
I trust these findings challenge you to purposely reach Michigan for Christ. Yours and His, John Seaman ¹David Roozen, Director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary As of January 01, 2007 New district office hours are in affect from Tuesday—Friday / 9:00 am - 4:00 pm. Please use staff cell phone numbers listed on the Contact Us if an emergency arises during the hours the office is closed. February 24, 2007—By now your church hopefully has registered for Team Day 2007. Log on to www.emdnaz.org/teamday for more information regarding this exciting event. Please note the discount reservation deadline ($20/adults and $5/child care) has passed as of February 1st. Standard registration rates apply through February 10th (postmarked) at which time registrations will no longer be received (walk ins will be unable to attend). Approximately 500-600 from the Northern, Eastern and Michigan districts have registered. We look forward to seeing you there! DISTRICT MINISTERIAL TEAM ‘07 SPRING RETREAT April 16-18 2007— Spring is just around the corner and that means that assigned ministerial team members and spouses (senior pastors, associates, and senior elders) will be gathering for some rest, relaxation and inspiration once again at Essenhaus Inn and Conference Center (Middlebury, Indiana). This Monday-Wednesday annual event is a wonderful opportunity for churches to invest in the wellness of their pastoral leadership. Melinda Priest, ordained elder, minister of music and worship at Anderson, Indiana First, and great woman of God, will be a featured guest leading a time of sharing and worship on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Matt Schoenfeld, expert in personal finance from Abundant Living, will be addressing pastors on Wednesday morning. Dr. John Bowling, president of Olivet Nazarene University, will also be onsite during this 3-day event. Brochures with registration forms will be arriving in your mailbox shortly. Retreat pricing is à la carte to provide opportunities to select those activities that suit your schedule or preferences. All inclusive retreat packages covering district sponsored activities can be purchased for one easy price (Couples - $242 / Singles (one room) - $190 / Singles (shared room) - $122). Rooms are available for the evening before and following the retreat at our group rate. Registration forms and fees are due March 31st. February has arrived! Well, we are now into February. Sometimes one of the gloomiest months of the year. It’s cold (bitter cold is how my newspaper has described it!), snowy, overcast. But remember it is also the shortest month, it is one step away from spring, and the days are getting longer (and eventually warmer!). Sometimes as Christians, it can seem dark and gloomy. But we need to remember that there are better days ahead for those who put their trust in Christ. There is hope ahead! What a great reminder for us. My Sunday school class is studying the Lectio Divina series on 1 And 2 Peter (from Nazarene Publishing House!) and they remind us that Peter wrote these letters to be an encouragement to the believers. Some days we need all the encouragement we can get! We need to remember how Christ suffered for us, and how he paid the price for us, and the hope that we have for a better future. Not only that, but we are reminded that others are watching us to see how Christ has made a difference in our lives and how that impacts our daily lives. That is encouraging! As we make a concerted push to the end of the year, let’s focus on how we can share Christ’s love with those around us. How can we make a decided impact on our communities? We are coming up on Easter Sunday and Mother’s Day– two great times to reach out to those around us. Make sure you are making specific plans not just for short term, but long term. In the next several months, I want to share some ideas that churches are using to reach out to their communities. Not to raise one church on a pedestal, or to make you feel bad if you aren’t doing everything that others are doing, I want to be able to help you see possibilities for outreach within your communities. Use these as discussion points with your Sunday school/ Christian Education or church board to brainstorm how you may impact your particular community. His for a Growing Sunday school! John Outreach Ideas from Our Churches This particular item comes from Pastor John Shoup of our Sturgis church. Examine this carefully for ideas as to what you might be able to do in your own church! “We are actively involved in Angel Food Ministries (http://www.angelfoodministries.com/), having ministered to over 600 families since we started back in May. This is an outstanding ministry that touches and blesses so many lives. In March of last year we started a Ministry called "Our Daily Bread". We partner with a local grocery store that gives us all their day old bread, and then we in turn distribute this to the community twice a month. We have been able to bless over 300 families with free bread items. We give opportunity in both of these ministries, for the people to give us their prayer requests and then on Wednesday nights we take time in our service to pray for these requests. The ministerial staff has had several opportunities to pray with folks before surgeries, as many of these families are unchurched. The Lord has given us some wonderful opportunities to share, opened many doors, and we have several families that are now attending, some who have come to the Lord, as a direct result of one or both of these ministries. We started a ministry during this past year called "Community Watch" where we ask our church family to be watching as new people move into their neighborhood and then give us their address. We also receive a list from our local realtors of houses sold in our community. We then are partnering with our Chamber of Commerce; they give us a large packet of information about Sturgis and the surrounding communities. We then take that information, along with a packet of information about our church, and a small gift, place it all in a nice gift bag and someone from our church then delivers that bag to each of these homes.” I know many of our churches are involved in Angel Food Ministries. Many of you are doing many other great things with your community. Let me know so we can share your ideas with the District! Denominational Study this Spring to strengthen marriages! Continuing Lay Training presents as the denomination-wide study book, "Making a Marriage," for 2007. We are encouraging pastors, SS teachers & classes, and lay leaders during the months of February & March to consider using this book for training in this vital area of ministry in our world. "Making a Marriage" addresses the issues faced by new as well as mature couples from a biblical point of view and offers the foundational principles that help build a strong and lasting relationship. Whether you're contemplating marriage, struggling with communication, stress, and intimacy issues, or just desiring to make a good marriage better, "Making a Marriage" will maximize your marital satisfaction and lay a strong foundation for the lifelong task of building a loving and lasting marriage. Be sure to order books far enough in advance to do the study together. There are free resources available online at www.clt.nazarene.org. Spring 2007 Attendance Emphasis If you are looking for a winter boost for your Sunday school, check out the website for our 2007 emphasis “Making the Connection with God’s Word” www.nazarene.org/ministries/ssm/resources/spring2007/display.aspx This will be a great way to help your congregation to connect with God’s word. This also is a perfect way to lead into the 40 Day Listening Adventure (see below). There are a lot of ideas and helps to encourage your church to get into the Bible from Feb 11 – March 25, 2007. Sunday School Ministries is thrilled to partner with the American Bible Society and Faith Comes By Hearing to assist you in getting your people into the Word. By listening to the audio drama New Testament in the New International Version for 28 minutes a day, your people can listen to the entire New Testament over a 40-day period. There is power in the Word of God to give hope and to change lives. However, in our society and in many of our churches, people are becoming increasingly biblically illiterate. They are not spending time in God’s Word. They are not reading and applying God’s Word to their lives. Our desire is to ground people on the Word of God. The 40 Day Listening Adventure will begin the Monday after Easter and conclude on Pentecost Sunday. Every person in your congregation will receive a FREE MP3 disc when you call Faith Comes By Hearing to request the number of copies your church will need. It will transform your people and your church as they listen daily to God’s Word! Additional information will be sent to each church from the General Church in January. Information has been sent to the churches telling about an opportunity to obtain a MP3 player already loaded with the New Testament. The District is going to have approximately 800 of these available for $30 each. Think about the impact of giving one of these to your guests/visitors on Easter Sunday! Think about how they can be used to witness to unchurched individuals in your community! More details about how to order these MP3 players will also be sent shortly. TEAM DAY 2007 – Feb 24, 2007 8:00 a.m – 4:00 p.m. at Perry High School (exit 105 off I-69) We are so excited about our collaboration with the Eastern Michigan District to host the 2007 TEAM DAY! This day is scheduled for Saturday, February 24, 2007, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Included in this special training day are plenary sessions featuring the music of the Olivetians from Olivet Nazarene University and the exciting message from our keynote speaker, Dr. Tom White, Executive Director of The Voice of the Martyrs, Inc. In addition to that, we have many exciting workshops in Sunday School Ministries, Youth Ministries, Missions, Church Administration, and Leadership tracks. (I am intrigued by the seminar about “Why Men Hate Going to Church!”) We have added a limited seating offering for technology ministries in the church, hands-on training in computer labs. And we are offering extremely exciting interactive, hands-on, participatory workshops for Children's Ministry leaders and workers that will feature actual ministry productions for children. Children's ministries will be available for all children ages birth through 6th grade at a very reasonable cost. Information has already been sent to each church with information on all of the information on each of the seminars. All of this takes place in Perry, Michigan at Perry High School. Children's Ministries will occur at Perry Church of the Nazarene, just a few miles from the High School. This year, registrations can be done completely online including payment by major credit cards. Registration cost is very reasonable, After February 1, 2007 you will pay $25.00 per person, and $10 for children. The registration includes participation in plenary sessions and workshops, as well as lunch. The Nazarene Publishing House will be there to help you with curriculum items and you will be able to purchase resources to take home with you. Remember there are no registrations accepted after Feb 10, and no walk in registrations. So register now! Visit www.emdnaz.org/teamday for more seminar information and registration information. Don’t forget your monthly statisitics! You are doing really great each month with reporting your monthly Sunday school and worship averages to your zone chairperson on the last Sunday of each month. Let’s shoot for 100% reporting! We only had 11 “No reports” in January. This is great! It’s down quite a bit from the 21 and 23 we used to have, but we can do better. This is part of our accountability to each other and part of our being a part of the District team. We had almost a 5% increase in Sunday school in January and over 100 more in worship in January than the year before! Great! Thanks for the help! And if you are unable to contact your zone chair – you can still report your stats online at www.minaz.org/ssm/stats/stats.asp Don’t forget camp dates for this summer! Important camp information! Forms and more information will be coming to each church! Please help promote our camps! They are an important time for our youth and children, and many important, life changing decisions are made at our camp grounds. Be praying for the directors and workers at each of the camps as they impact the lives of our youth.
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Nazarene Missions International
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