Pray for revival

Peony from public garden

One blessing from all our transitional work is the formation of a Spiritual Vitality group meeting. It meets every Wednesday evening. This is a time of meditation, prayer, singing and sharing. It follows very closely to what in times past was called "Prayer Meeting". One of us has been attending for the past two weeks. This has been a real blessing. Time is spent in sharing burdens and in prayer. Singing is also a time of inspiration. Often scripture is read and thoughts are expressed. For not being planned, it is amazing how this all fits together and hearts are blessed. We are of the opinion that what our church needs is a time of revival. Perhaps this meeting might lead to just that.

Our transitional pastor has been sharing sermons on "Spiritual Vitality" also.

We are also of the opinion that our congregation needs the power of the Holy Spirit to bring about revival. Please pray with us.

The Heart of Thornton Creek by Bonnie Leon

It is always a pleasure to discover another good Christian writer. We both truly liked the writing in this first installment of The Queensland Chronicles by Bonnie Leon. It is set in the 1800s and follows the life of Rebecca Williams from her beloved Boston home of wealth and previlege to the arid Australian backcountry. Rebecca is a fiercely independent woman dealing with the constraints of societal expectations. That independence causes many heartaches. But, in the end, Rebecca learns to have faith and love. These lead her to forgiveness for others.

Surprise Ending

Surprising end to Sunday's Transitional Meeting

Last Sunday evening the T-meeting was held for the month of October. As usual our T- pastor led in a devotion time and then launched into his presentation.

We reviewed the 5 steps of transition that were laid out 18 months ago when our T-pastor first came to our church. He suggested that we were stuck on "where to go from here" and "what will our identity be for the future. " Our T-pastor said that he was not going to force his agenda on us and would drop plans for additional meetings. Also he would now let the leadership of the church take over to find out what the church will decide on how it wants to die. The T-pastor said based on all of his numbers review and other factors the church will die either by attendance declining or by re birthing into something new.

Picking up the ball from the T-pastor must be somewhat of a load for the leadership to experience since his removing himself as a leader in this journey has happened very suddenly. The T-pastor is making himself available for consulting to the church leadership for the rest of this journey

We believe though, with many prayers, we the church can come through this process and find some type of a new identity while maintaining and keeping the gospel central in our services.