Let's Do It!

Dear Parents and St. Matthew Family,


156 students and  50 adults are coming back from Camp Wow as different people. That is what happens when you have a face to face encounter with Jesus Christ, but the real work has just begun.

Will you honor the promise you made when some of these kids were baptized to do what ever it takes to help them know and grow in Jesus? Will you made good on our purpose statement by providing all of them, young and old opportunities to become disciples? Will you say yes to being part of these vital ministries when your name is called?

Parents, will you get serious about reading the bible and praying as a family? Will you submit yourself to a small group so you can grow in the Lord? Will you lead by example so that he seeds grown at Camp can be nurtured and fed? Will you make every effort to have your family in worship EVERY weekend? That’s right, every weekend. Not once a month, not every once in a while, not when their ball team is not playing, but every weekend come to worship.

Church Family, are you willing to make adjustments in your own worship schedule to make sure these kids have a place to praise God and bring their parents? Are you willing to sacrifice time, money and energy to make sure these kids have the space to grow in their relationship with the Lord? Are you willing to pitch in so we can raise up strong disciples who can carry on the work of Jesus after we have joined Jesus in heaven?

Thank you to everyone who is already putting it all on the line for the Lord week after week. You are making a difference. More than ever I understand by your example that our ability to make a huge impact for the kingdom is not limited by space, money or time. We are no longer going to be waiting on a new building to go where God has been leading us. God made it very clear to me while at Camp that the time is now and it begins with our children and youth.

Together, united by a love for God and the Lordship of Christ, the Holy Spirit will lead us to claim the promise that has been ours since the beginning, changing the world for Jesus and it start with our students.

Let’s do it!!

God is Moving at Camp Wow

I don’t want to leave the mountain named Camp Wow! Four nights in a row we have witnessed God move in powerful ways in worship. Four days in a row we have witnessed the Great Potter working to shape and mold young lives in a yet to be finished word. Four days in a row we have witnessed adults sent here to be a blessing getting Wowed by God with a blessing themselves.


I am encouraged. The Church has a future because even now the Holy Spirit is preparing leaders to carry on the legacy of faith and assume the mantle of leadership. I have never been more convinced that Children and Youth ministry is two of the most important things that we do. We can cannot invest to much creativity, time, financial and human resources into these two areas.

Sacrifices must be made by the whole body to adequately resource and fund children and youth ministries. Our students are not our only our future, they are our present reality. They need Jesus. They need to know that somebody cares. They need to know that they are wanted, valued and loved by ALL of us. They need to know that when life happens, when parents and the world fails them that God is there. They need to know that the Church, the Body of Christ will not complain or judge that they are to loud, to messy or in the way. By our actions, they need to experience the reality that they are Children of God.

I am committed to the vision and the mission. I invite you to join me in praying, working, serving and giving so that we can reach as many students as we can with the love of Jesus. Will you accept the invitation? Will you join me in making a sacrifice so your children and grandchildren, and your neighbor's children and grandchildren  might know the Lord?

I look forward to being with you in worship this weekend. I am praying for you. Please pray for me.



Peace,



Rick

News from Camp Wow

The presence of the Lord is very evident at Camp WOW. Over 300 campers, half of them from St. Matthew, and 50 adults have zeroed in on the Salvation plan of God. They are worshipping with reckless abandon, openly sharing in small groups and joyfully playing all of the available games.


The temperature is hot and the ground dry, but God is good. The nights are short and the days are long, but God is good. The bunks are small and the food is…....you get the picture, but God is good! Some are sunburned and a few have a touch of homesickness, but even then God is good and spirits are high.

Parents, be proud of your kids because they are doing awesome. Spouses, your mates are wowing everyone with their Christ like mentoring skills. Our young adults are carrying on the legacy by leading and teaching the juniors in the ways of the Lord. And notice the number of your church family that are serving in leadership capacities.

Bonnie Schechter: Co- Camp director and Curriculum Coordinator

Chris Bohon, Andrew Dolan, Chris Kerr, Alexis Tate and Tony Swindall: Music

Julie Mason and Stephanie Prewitt: Junior Creative Expressions

Jim Perkey and Mike Richey: Senior High Recreation

Christi Lachman: Camp Nurse

Holly Fort: Power Point design and implementation

Leslie Lummus: Worship Coordinator

And then out of the blue, Kae Embry invited her Jesus painter friend , Lance Brown, to share his gift during worship and you would not believe the impact of his art. Pam Gellerup is working quietly behind the scenes as "our girl Friday" taking care of last minute details and I could go on and on and on. No doubt I am leaving somebody out but there are so many to name and EVERYONE is performing and serving at a very HIGH level. Praise be to God!

I know I am bias, but I am humbled to see the spiritual maturity, and commitment of our students and leadership team. Please pray that young and old will encounter Jesus at Camp and return home a little more transformed into his image.

I am still praying for you. I hope you are doing the same for me.

Peace,

Rick

Let's Commuicate

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." What was God doing?  Communicating! God took the initiative to communicate the measure of His love for humanity and all of Creation.

Listening is an important part of communication and as we have listened to those who call St. Matthew home, we understand we need to get better at communicating. We ceased publicizing the newsletter in 2008 because only a small percentage were reading it and the production costs were escalating. Staff reductions and the rewriting of job descriptions left us without a point person to drive communications.

The E Newsletter you just received ( click here to read) is our new communication strategy that will be will be driven by church wide news the whole body needs to know. Alan Mink and Judy Gilbert will assume leadership on executing the plan.

I encourage you to use your own mediums to communicate with your small groups and ministries regarding meeting times, schedule changes etc. We will supplement your efforts as we can, but our church communication strategy will focus on matters of mission interest for the whole.

Please help us spread the word about our new approach to communicating all that God is doing in our midst. We are a multi generational church with diverse communication styles but working together we can more than meet the challenge of keeping each other informed as we strive to glorify God and share the love and grace of Jesus Christ with as many people as we can.

Side note, please continue to pray for God’s guidance as we process how to add a second contemporary worship service to our Sunday morning schedule. We are reevaluating our entire approach of connecting with people and their experience from the moment they drive into the parking lot until they drive out. We hope to communicate the first outline of a plan by August with implementation in October of this year.

I am praying for you and I ask that you pray for me.

Peace,

Rick