Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
The theme this Lent at West Side UMC is based on Bishop Robert Schnase’s Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations: Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-Taking Mission and Service, Extravagant Generosity. The purpose of this study is to move toward greater fruitfulness for the glory of God. Schnase points out these five practices “are … Read more
In the monthly West Side UMC Stewardship newsletter, we have been looking at the twelve qualities of the Christian steward as presented by Rev. Phillis M. Bowers in the booklet, Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation: Stewardship. The next quality, which is appropriate in the midst of Advent/Christmas and as we begin the new year, is … Read more
As our family goes through a period of change there are times that really bring a smile to our faces. This is one of them. Our mealtime habit has been to feed Sarah first and then sit her on the floor with a toy while we eat. One morning as I prepared Ethan’s breakfast (and … Read more
In A Labor of Love we tell of the DVD that Randy and I made for Ethan to watch while we are away. We hoped it would be a good thing, and not make him sad. We tried to make most of it fun, along with our bedtime routine. I’ve been staying in touch with … Read more
In case you missed the introduction of Sarah, you’ll need to scroll down or click here. Randy and I actually chose the name Sarah years ago, when we only dreamed of a child. My maternal grandmother’s name is Sarah. And both Randy and I like the name. Ethan Quinn received his name as a parallel … Read more
We didn’t put the preparation time into this trip like we did the first time around. We never did find our tour books on Korea – probably in some box somewhere. Part of not planning as much lies in the fact that we are relying on our memory of the first trip. Thankfully that has … Read more
I watched one of The Nines’ videos, one by Nancy Beach who is on staff at Willow Creek. The one thing she chose to share was, “Guard your heart.” Nancy says her heart is grieved with the number of conversations that she’s had with people from other churches who work on staff with a lead … Read more
In her book, The Organic God, Margaret Feinberg talks about the abundant kindness of God. She writes … I must not just accept that God is kind, I must embrace his kindness as my own. Feinberg says that kindness is largely learned: God displays his kindness through people who give us mini lessons of kindness. … Read more
I participated in this morning’s See You at the Pole event at Clearfield High School. This is what I shared. Engage: Go and Pray “Go and pray to God for me and for the people …” (2 Kings 22.13a, The Message) Israel and Judah had a history of waning back and forth in their commitment … Read more
In Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation: Stewardship, Phyllis M. Bowers has outlined twelve qualities of the Christian steward. Rev. Bowers is the Executive Director of The United Methodist Stewardship Foundation of Central Pennsylvania. It is an honor for her work to be published in a denominational guide. Over the next year, we will take a … Read more