Hello, Crossroads Family!
I look forward to seeing and hearing what God will do in our lives during the rest of this week! I have an opportunity each morning to pray for the little group of kids that gather below my bedroom window to wait on their school bus to summer school. I wonder how God might answer my prayers either today or some day far in the future. Are there people around you that you can pray for regularly? It’s an opportunity to serve in a small unseen way.
This Sunday morning we’ll finish our sermon series on “Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs.” I hope you’ll join us and bring a friend with you if you’re able. A few people from our congregation will share their musical gifts and a story about how God used a particular song in their life. We’ll finish our journey through the history of music in the American Church.
Don’t forget that this Thursday night, June 12, is Gospel Night on the square in Nevada. If you’ve signed up to help at the concession stand, I look forward to seeing you there! If you need a reminder about your time slot or have any questions, please reach out to Julie Kemper.
Our Sunday night home group is on a roll now. We had a good discussion last Sunday tracing the development of the people of Israel through the Old Testament. We’ll meet again this Sunday at the church building from 6:00 – 7:15pm or so. We’ll talk about what happened in Israel between the Old Testament and the New Testament — also how things looked for the Jews after the fall of Jerusalem in the year 70, the beginning of a long period of dispersion around the world.
On our calendar for next week are our famous trio of monthly activities :
- Thursday, June 19 : Men’s Recharge, 6:30-8:00pm, at the church.
- Friday, June 20 : Women’s “Drive-In” movie at Erin Reedy’s home beginning at 7 pm.
- Saturday, June 21 : Women’s Fellowship Breakfast, 8 am, at 54 Cafe in Nevada.
I’m also excited about our 24-hour prayer vigil which starts Monday, June 30, at 6 am, and continues until Tuesday, July 1, at 6 am. If you haven’t signed up for an hour time slot, please do. You can reach out to Catherine Moss if you have questions or need help signing up.
Don’t forget that there are prayer cards in the “Prayer Room” at the church. You can put a praise or prayer request on a small card and attach it to the bulletin board there. Stop by the Prayer Room and learn about some ways you can pray for people.
A church picnic on Sunday, June 29, following the worship service will be a fun way to get together and celebrate the end of a busy month of growing deeper in relationship with God and each other. We’ve reserved the pavilion at the upper Radio Springs park (near the playground equipment), and more details will be coming soon about what you can bring.
My Summer
Some have asked what my summer looks like. I wouldn’t say I have a lot going on beyond the weekly responsibilities we discussed a few weeks ago in my sermon on “working the angles” — study, prayer, and giving spiritual direction — but maybe I do. The sermon series on music has been a lot of fun for me and some extra work. There’s a lot of history there; paring it down to a digestible amount has required some time and thought. It has been a personal question of mine: How did we get where we are today in terms of the music we use in our churches? There has to be a story there, I’ve thought, and as we’ve seen, there is! I love the story of Israel, too — what God’s faithfulness to the Jews teaches us as Christians. I’m enjoying the preparation and study required to put that Home Group series together. I hope you won’t miss out — keeping an eye on what’s happening in Israel gives us clues to what God’s doing in the world. I look forward to leading the discussion at Recharge next week on the fifth commandment: Honor your father and mother — our struggle with authority. I’m also hopeful we can have a New Members Class at the church soon, possibly in July or August. I look forward to the McCallister family joining us on a Sunday in August to share about the work they’re part of in Berlin. The summer will fly by, won’t it!
Here’s a little more going on in my life during the next couple of months :
- I have plans to attend EFCA One (the biennial national conference of the Evangelical Free Church of America) June 24-26 in Des Moines. It has been a long time since I’ve been able to make it to a district or national conference of the EFCA. I appreciate the church making it possible for me to go, and I look forward to bringing some ideas and inspiration back from the conference. I’ll be rooming with my son-in-law, Jason Harms, pastor at Westview Church in Albert City, Iowa, while there.
- I have five sermons to prepare for Kamp Keirsey high school camp in July. Imagine preaching to a roomful of high school students! You all at Crossroads put up with me in ways high school students may not! Please pray for me as I seek God’s leading for the right daily sermon during an important week in these kids’ lives. (Btw, Crossroads is scheduled to prepare and serve dinner on the first night of camp, July 20. I hope you can be part of that! It’s a blessing to the students and to the camp staff.)
- I’ll likely be helping my daughter Esther move at the end of June. She has accepted a new position as Event Coordinator with the Herzog Foundation in Smithville and will be moving into a new apartment. She’ll be one of four Event Coordinators at Herzog, responsibile primarily for events they hold in Kansas City and in Santa Barbara, California.
- I’m enjoying doing some pre-marital counseling and some personal discipleship with a handful of people in our church. I enjoy the freedom in the summer to interact with many of you in ways I’m less able to do during the school year. I continue to meet on Thursday mornings with two other local pastors for encouragement and accountability. I believe we all three benefit from our time together which has been a weekly occurrence for 3-4 years now.
- I look forward to a short trip to see my daughter Annie and my granddaughter Fiona at the end of July. Mark Tice will preach for me on Sunday, August 3. I’m also way overdue to see some of my church family in Hermann, Missouri. It’s hard to fit it all in! I’m grateful for many good friendships and for a large biological and spiritual family. I look forward to connecting with my good friend Dale Losch for lunch in Kansas City in July. Two 60-something men eating lunch at Cracker Barrel. Can you envision that? (Yes, probably.) Our families’ friendship goes back to our first days in France, over 35 years ago! Our EFCA Central District Associate Superintendent (and good friend), Mark Farran, will be passing through Nevada this week, and we’ll have lunch together. Mark is an encourager and prays for all of us!
- I’m particularly excited about our upcoming prayer vigil at Crossroads, and I’m grateful to play a small part in organizing it. I can’t emphasize how important this extended time of prayer and renewal will be to the well-being and future of our church! Thanks to those who have signed up, and I hope others of you will as well. If you feel like an hour of prayer is more than you can bite off, let Catherine know you’ll take a half-hour. We can make it work. The word “vigil” has to do with keeping awake to watch or to pray — something Jesus asks us to do. We need to be praying for the future of Crossroads — despite quite a few being absent this past Sunday, there were 68 in attendance. This is a blessing and is quickly going to present new needs to us!
A Final Word
More than once this year someone in our church has received a text message or email that appears to be from me asking them to give money to, or purchase a gift card for, someone in need. Please don’t ever act on a message like that without contacting me first. I wouldn’t ever ask you to do something like that through an email or text message. This is a scam going around that has popped up in other churches, too! Thank you! I think we all understand the need to be careful in this area.
An encouraging word from the story of Ruth: “Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today.” (Ruth 4:14)
I look forward to seeing you soon!
— Tom
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