Play ball!

Hi Everyone,

Spring is here and there is nothing like being outside and enjoying the great outdoors.   One of the activities I enjoy is watching a softball game especially when it is people that I know.  I have a lot of great memories of coaching my daughter in little league softball.

It is time to play ball!   Harvest Community Church has a coed softball team this year.  They have been practicing getting ready for the season.  Spending time together playing softball provides the opportunity for the players, coaches and fans to get to know each other better.  Often we see each other on a Sunday morning but don't get a lot of time to interact. 

Come out and support the team and have fun cheering and encouraging one another.  Check the HCC Facebook page to see the schedule and keep up with the team.

Miracle on Main Street

The Miracle on Main Street Children's Christmas Musical was presented by the children and youth at Harvest Community Church last Sunday. I hope you were there to see the musical. The children and youth did a fantastic job. I have received many positive comments from people who enjoyed the childre'ns musical. We have a great group of children and youth in our church. It was exciting to see their talent and enthusiasm as they fulfilled their parts.

It was fun being a hippie. Joyce and I got into our parts. I especially enjoyed relating to the youth with speaking parts. The practices were fun as we related with the youth.

I appreciate all the volunteers who put time and energy into the musical. It was a team effort. There are many gifted and talented people in our church. It was the volunteers who made it happen.

The best part of the Miracle on Main Street was seeing a lady come to Christ. She was invited by a person to come to the musical. I was introduced to the lady after the service. We met this week and she picked up a red bag. After leading her to Christ she is ready to join Alpha. The Miracle on Main Street musical was the instrument that changed an individual's life. That is the reason to have events like the musical. That made my Christmas.

A Christmas without Jesus is like giving a present with no gift inside. There is nothing like receiving the free gift of salvation. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

My First Friday Experience

This past Friday Joyce and I had the opportunity to reach out into our community at First Friday in downtown Goshen. What an experience it was! It was a challenge and exciting as we promoted VBS and our Cruisin' to Glory Car Show. We registered 15 children for VBS and passed out 400 VBS postcards. It was an amazing atmosphere as people were cruising in their classic cars on Main Street.

What was even more amazing was the conversations that we encountered with people. I learned a lot about our community. What was interesting to me was the importance of the name of our church. Some people knew about our name change, wondered why we changed the name of our church and wanted to know more about our church. Harvest Community Church is a name that is understandable to people especially to someone who does not know Christ. The name, Harvest Community Church, does communicate a message. This became even more evident to me.

Even with all the churches in Goshen, there are so many people who need to be reached and become followers of Christ. I was struck by the fact of how important it is to have meaningful conversations with people who do not know Christ. Do we know how to have meaningful conversations with lost people? We all have a story to share with how God has worked in our lives. What is your story? Are we ready to share with lost people at any given time? My experience on Friday was that the harvest is plentiful and we need to be ready to share what God has done in us. The harvest is here.

Merry Christmas!

I hope that you are all doing well. It is a fun time of the year spending time with family and friends. I enjoy getting Christmas cards and hearing about what is happening in your life. During this time of celebration it is also easy to get caught up with life and miss the real reason for the season.

One of the things I enjoy is watching our children at Zion Chapel perform. This year the children are presenting a 20 minute children’s musical called “Follow the Star.” It is a great opportunity not only to watch our children perform but it also allows for the Good News to come from their hearts.

What are you doing this year to celebrate the birth of our Savior? It is fun to read the Christmas story to our children and reflect on it. It is amazing what Jesus did for us. Have a Merry Christmas!

Peacemaking

I hope that you are enjoying the great fall weather that we have been having. It is great being outdoors. The conflict solutions team recently went to Washington DC to the National Peacemaker Ministry Conference. It was a great time being together with the other team members.

It is refreshing to get away from the normal routines of life and see different scenery. How do times away from your busy schedule affect you? It is often a good time of reflection for me. Learning new concepts and learning how to put them into practice is exciting. I came away deeply impacted by the conference. The Biblical teaching was outstanding.

I appreciated the foundational review of the power of the Gospel. How do you work through conflict? If we do not understand what we have received through Jesus and His forgiveness for us it will be difficult to forgive others when we are in a conflict. It gave me a deeper gratitude for what Jesus has done for me. It is so important that you and I are helping people resolve conflict.

I spent three days of my week at a reconciling marital conflict seminar. It is sobering how divorce is impacting our culture. Addressing the deepest causes of our conflict in our hearts is essential. It is important that you and I keep our marriages healthy and strong.

Let’s continue to develop a culture of peace within our families and churches. How are you doing in the area of conflict? You and I have the opportunity to have short accounts with God and the people we have contact with. God’s forgiveness is real and alive for each and everyone of us.

Cruisin' to Glory

We had a great day at the Cruisin' to Glory Classic Car Show. I hope that you enjoyed the outside event. The weather was great! I heard a lot of positive comments on how much you enjoyed the service being outside and would like to share with you the changes we made, goals we had set and the outcomes.



- An outside Sunday morning service that would involve the car participants. How did you feel? It felt like our guests were included in the service since they could hear the service from where their cars were parked. I thought the testimonies were great.

- Serving our guests with no strings attached. The car participants were provided a free breakfast and t-shirt along with a gift bag. The winners of each car class won trophies. We were able to cover a lot of our costs through money donated from sponsors. What was neat was that some of the car participants wanted to give a donation back to the car show.

- Provide opportunities throughout the day for ministry. The prayer tent was a big hit. Several people wanted prayer to receive physical healing. Two red bags were picked up from car participants. Praise God! That was awesome! That made all the hard work that goes into the service and car show worthwhile.

- To make it fun for all ages. Children's ministry offered a different venue for the service with singing and a movie. After the service, the kids played games and the helicopter drop was a big hit again. I hope you got to see the kids run after the candy. It was fun to see.



Thanks to all of you who volunteered your time at the car show. I appreciate all of the effort that you put into it. What do you think? I think that God was honored.

The High Seas Expedition

What a week we had at Vacation Bible School! Zion Chapel had over 100 children participate in the "High Seas Expedition." We had great participation with over 75 volunteers serving in various ways. The children sang worship songs, learned Bible stories, played games and had great snacks.

I found out that I still have some kid left in me. I got to dress up as Pirate Santiago. It is so much fun being around children. Being a pirate I sure had their attention at times. It actually made me feel young! Does it wear you out being around children for long periods of time? Maybe it is my age? I did find myself at the end of the week kind of tired. It is fun to act and be involved in drama. Being around children brings the acting out of me.

One of the highlights was on Thursday when we gave the opportunity for the children to come to Christ. It is important to impact their hearts at a young age. With the pounding of nails into the cross, Jesus death for us was made real. Then Jesus appearance that He rose again was great for the kids to see. I heard that a young girl was crying and she asked Jesus into her heart. There were many others very quietly watching as it unfolded.

All the work that goes into an outreach like VBS is worth it when lives are touched and changed. Pirate Santiago even got a lot out of VBS himself. I think it is so important that we keep reaching out to the next generation. Have a great week and keep on serving the One who created you!