Wahington's Lady by Nancy Moser

Here is another book by Nancy Moser worth reading. It is the story of Martha Washington before her husband became the first president of the United States. It is a history lesson that will interest even those not into studying history. Of course it is fiction, but it is based on many facts. One thing that prevented much personal knowledge of Martha was her act of burning all letters between her and her husband. So it was necessary to surmise much of the personal nature of their relationship. This is a book that will open your eyes to the founding of our great nation in a way that speaks of miracles. It is written again in the first person as Nancy does so well.

There is another novel entitled Mozart's Sister by this same author. It, too, would be worth your while to read.

Just Jane by Nancy Moser

Whether or not you are a Jane Austen fan, this book is a very interesting chronicle of an author.

It is written in the first person style and also in a similar style of that found in Austen's books.

Most of the story is true with some imaginings by Moser about things that have no written proof.

Jane had a short and fascinating life.

There are some life lessons to be learned with this reading.

Church in the Wildwood by Dooly, Dykes, Griffin & Mayne

This book, written by four authors, is a fictional account of a little stone church that was first built in 1869. Each story covers a generation of members as they worship through the years until the present.

This is light reading and very interesting.

Vision 2014

Last night our first fall Transitional Transparency Meeting was held which lasted 2 hours. The first hour was used to review summaries of the morning Sunday School discussions. There were five or six classes that reported. The morning sermon by our transitional pastor was the basis for the discussions. The sermon included a summary of a number of our previous meetings and then he left us with the question: What are we going to do about it? This referred back to one of the core questions of why the church is losing so many members.

The five sessions titled in the next paragraph are an attempt to work at the answer from the transitional pastor's point of view.

The second hour we had to choose to be a part of one of five groups. The five group or vision steps named were: "Healing of Congregational Wounds and Brokenness," "Creating A Pastor-Congregation Partnership," "Finding a Way to Attract and Hold People," "Find a Way to Renew Our Spiritual Vitality" and "Find an Answer to the Incredible Conundrum of Worship and Music Styles." The pastor had also included additional questions and sub thoughts for discussion well beyond the title of the group session.

Since only one of us was participating that evening, the vision step chosen was "Finding a Way to Attract and Hold People." The sub thought included the need for evangelism and that is what was shared from this point of view.

There were many other ideas of how to go about attracting and holding persons such as: building relationships with people outside the church, the need for community outreach activities and getting the churches name out and creating ways for establishing contacts.

A few in the group volunteered to get together again in several weeks to cement some of the ideas and thoughts to bring to the October TTM. The other 4 groups will also be reporting to the larger group.

It will be interesting to hear and see where the church is headed after the next meeting.

Please keep our church in your prayers

What we do from here...

This next Sunday evening we will be resuming our transitional transparency meetings. One of us is thinking of dropping out because of the perception that these meetings are fruitless.

This Sunday we will need to choose between the following:

1. Healing of Congregational Wounds and Brokenness

2. Creating a Pastor-Congregation Partnership

3. Finding a Way to Attract and Hold People

4. Find a Way to Renew Our Spiritual Vitality

5. Find an Answer to the Incredible Conundrum of Worship and Music Styles.

We are asked to choose which one of these five categories we wish to address. We can only address one of them because all five groups will be meeting at the same time.

Choosing one can be a problem. Will those interested in addressing our congregation's wounds be wounded further when perhaps not much interest by others is shown? Will the tastes and desires of only those present in the worship and music style group perhaps get their way in our services? Some may feel that their greatest concern expressed is missing within these five topics. But we need to go somewhere and this is where our transitional pastor has chosen to go. Apparently these subjects were the top categories picked by our congregation to achieve our vision for the future.

We wonder what God may have in store for our congregation? Will it be what we want?

Quilt set-up committee

Close up of top.

Baby Magic

One of us is a member of the quilt set-up committee for our ladies sewing. This project is finally completed.

The instructions were found on the internet and the name of the pattern is "Baby Magic". That's one down and two more baby quilt tops to go. These will probably be knotted. Then they are presented to new mothers in our congregation.

Bible Memory

One of us has been hard at work preparing as the new Bible Memory Coordinator of our congregation. Since this one is the same one that does most of the writing for our blog, there hasn't been an entry lately.

The original idea for the new year of Bible memory for our primary department has been entitled "Keys to the Kingdom." Each child will receive a keyring with 10 verses appropriate to their ages. The verses are laminated so the children can handle them without damage. When all 10 verses are memorized they receive a special reward. They get a small treat for each verse learned, and these are kept in a "Treat Treasure Chest."

If this quarter goes well, we will continue this theme. If not, some other ideas will be implemented. One problem has been the lack of involvement for the adolescent boys in our Bible Memory program. A solution may be to peak their interest with a friendly competition against the girl's class of the same age range. The class that has all students complete the memorization will win another special reward of their own choosing (within limits).

It will be an interesting year!