Changes and Updates
Dear friends,
Rick Widener just informed me that I have spent 30 of the past 60 days in Ohio. And though I appreciate many things about the great state of Ohio, I am very glad to be home in Minnesota.
Much of my time in Ohiowas spent with Grace Fellowship Church in Mansfield, which is sorting through a tough season of leadership change. A year ago, GFC had 3 new elders and a new pastor/presiding elder. It would be both improper and impossible to go through all the details here, but suffice it to say that there were no moral indiscretions on anyone’s part. Waylon and Natalie Clemmons and family have moved to Berea, Kentucky to work with a Vineyard Church there. Though it was very difficult for both the Clemmons’ and GFC, I am satisfied with the process that occurred in this parting of ways. Very sad, but satisfied with the way folks handled themselves in challenging circumstances. But would you lift a few prayers for the following?
- The Clemmons family as they re-situate inKentucky
- The GFC family as they re-engage God and each other on the other side of this distress
- The GFC elders (Matt Godsil, Tom Russell and Steve McKee) as they lead GFC through this season
While in Ohio, I also was able to lead 2 mini-conferences (in Elyria and Findlay), a men’s retreat for Grace Church in Toledo, meet with leaders from 7 of the 8 ARC churches in Ohio and preach 4 Sunday sermons. I was also able to meet with a leadership team from Dayton that is interested in affiliation with the ARC through connection with Greg Weis, who pastors Grace Christian Fellowship in Dayton.
We are now in the process of serious planning for both a mini-conference in Florida at Tampa Covenant Church (Eric Meyer and Lou Kaloger) in conjunction with Faith Farm (Jim Benton) on February 3-4. They would love to have a host of northerners drop in for that time, and I’m guessing a lot of northerners would be happy to be in Tampa in January. So save your pennies, folks, and let’s see if we can get a good crew down there for that time.
The ARC Annual Conference will again be at Grace Church in Toledo on April 20-21, and the focus will be on the larger matter of making disciples with a specific emphasis on the heart of worship in an individual believer. This is the specific direction we feel we’ve been given and we are aiming to press this out with purpose. We are also sustaining determination to flesh out a previous word regarding making adjustments in the 3 G’s—Gifts, Generations and Gender. Consequently, several workshops will be done by some of our stellar and under-deployed women and teachers from the younger generation. And though this is not yet finalized, I am hoping to have as our plenary speaker one of the best teacher/preachers in Minnesota over the past 3 decades. And if he can make it, it will be a serious blessing to your heart and mind regarding this matter of worship and discipleship.
I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving celebration. I am so profoundly thankful for my family and for the very institution of marriage and family.
Blessings on you and yours,
Ned
November 21st, 2011 at 8:25 AM
Ned, thanks for your faithful service.