Our Grandson Christopher

Holston – Take The Challenge

3000 Baptisms in Holston on Pentecost Sunday

50 “Golden Days” of Evangelism

40 Days of Prayer and Preparation

TELL ME MORE!

You may remember hearing from the stage of Annual Conference that the Conference Witness team would challenge us to celebrate 3000 baptisms on Pentecost Sunday (May 23, 2010) in Holston Conference.  The Witness Team would like to take this opportunity to “brief” you, our Conference leaders, on the plan, invite you to ask questions, share comments, and help publicize as we continue refining and developing this time for an exciting and potentially Conference-transforming Spring in Holston Conference.  Info coming soon in the Call, Call 2 and a save the date(s) letter to each pastor under appointment in Holston.

In the book Prophetic Evangelist, Harry Denman called the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost the “50 Golden Days of Evangelism”.  He also wrote a letter in which he called on every pastor not only to observe Pentecost, but to lay the groundwork for experiencing Pentecost.  That is what we are praying for in Holston in 2010.  Here is an outline:

* Feb 19-20  Holston Evangelism Conference

This event will be held at Cokesbury Center in Knoxville, TN. We welcome the Rev. Rudy Rasmus and Bishop James Swanson to lead us through this inspirational and motivating event.  We will celebrate the past year’s theme and covenant to “Offer Them Christ” and to invite Holston to the next steps toward Pentecost 2010.  Friday: Optional Mission Outreach (“Grace bags” to Knoxville Homeless) 3-5; Registration 5-7; Session I begins 7pm.  Bishop Swanson will conclude the conference by 3pm on Saturday.

* 40 Days of Prayer and Preparation — beginning on Feb 23rd, we will encourage every congregation to pray, fast and ask God for a burden for the lost. Churches may organize specific prayer groups, teaching or preaching about prayer and fasting, or other creative Holston ways of preparation.  The Witness Team will provide a 40 Day Prayer Guide which will be daily devotions written by lay and clergy members of our Conference.  (District Superintendents – if you haven’t already, there may still be space for you to add a day’s devotional writing…) At this time we are working on the best delivery of these guides, but at the least we will be emailing copies to local church pastors and designated leaders for copying and distribution. The Witness Team is asking that every Pastor and Lay member who has a blog to add the daily devotional to your church and personal blogs.

*  50 Golden Days of Evangelism — from Easter to Pentecost 2010, each congregation will be asked to intentionally concentrate on evangelism in their community. Again, the Conference Witness Team will supply a guide (“50 Days of Evangelism”) with concrete, specific suggestions for individuals and groups within churches to start conversations, build relationships, and offer Christ in your community.  Some congregations may plan for a Pentecost celebration with dinner on the grounds where river baptisms and all other forms of baptism recognized by The UMC may take place.

*** 1 Great Day of Pentecost *** — baptisms, renewals and lives transformed for and by Jesus Christ

40 Days of Preparation + 50 Days of Evangelism = A 90 Day Investment in 3000 lives. Sound unlikely? Unbelievable? Too much?  In our 904 churches, this would be an AVERAGE of 3.1 baptisms per worshipping community.  What do we have to lose?  Suppose we ONLY baptize 1000???  Help the Witness Team make this Spring of Pentecost preparation a reality for Holston.  No single group, ministry team or leader can do this.  We believe that God is in this… and we ask for your support, feedback and most importantly for your prayers.

With Bold, Passionate, Risk-taking love —              The Holston Conference Witness Team

Contact Ronnie Collins         ronnie24317@yahoo.com or (276) 728-2434

or Amy Rollins Probst     pastor@broadwayumc.net or (865) 202-3019

with feedback or suggestions.

Gazette Article Out of the Box and Carroll Schools Partnership

Photo by Christopher Brooke Tutor Diana Hill goes around the table and asks students specific questions about literary terms Dec. 1 at Out of the Box as part of Carroll County Intermediate School's afterschool program. Students include (clockwise from left) Michael Dyer, Alex Webb, Mary Beth Hill, Lino Aviles and John Gates.

Photo by Christopher Brooke In the social part of the afterschool program last Tuesday, Logan Pickard (left) and Marcus Barr bowled on the Nintendo Wii.

Source

By CHRISTOPHER BROOKE

HILLSVILLE — Without the social aspect of tutoring at Out of the Box, eighth and ninth graders from Carroll County Intermediate School might not spend an extra 90 minutes being so studious on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The school system recently teamed up with community partner First United Methodist Church of Hillsville, using the church’s youth ministry space set up in the Main Street storefront that formerly housed the Ben Franklin five and dime store.

Just as the church saw the need for a place where young people could socialize, educators felt the students would also benefit from that aspect of Out of the Box.

The Nintendo Wii video games on the big screen TV, the pool table, the foosball table, the Internet, the snacks, the couch and easy chairs — and the hour the students have to enjoy them — act as an incentive for participation, not only for the youths that get to study at Out of the Box but also those who meet with their tutors at the intermediate school first and join their peers for the social time at the end of the day.

First, though, last Tuesday, five students either sat around a table to discuss English literature concepts, or in the case of Geo Brown, concentrated on filling up a notebook page with a creative writing assignment about a creature that takes over peoples’ bodies.

It was only his second time at Out of the Box, and Brown was sticking to a deal he made. “Well, my mom wants to see me get my grades up just a little bit.”

So, on Tuesday he seeks help with English and on Thursday it’s science.

Students have a choice of staying in the cafeteria for tutoring or going a few blocks down the street. For his part, Brown indicated that he wanted to be in different surroundings when possible.

The tutoring time seems fairly pleasant, he indicates. “It’s pretty nice — people help you out and you get snacks.”

At the next table, the students ask Hill, their tutor and also an English teacher at school, to continue going over the many literature ideas they need to know for the entire 90 minutes, instead of reading for half the time.

“Mood is the way a passage makes you feel when you read it,” students and teacher agreed.

A symbol stands for a larger idea, like darkness meaning evil or light meaning good; a narrator in a story could be limited to the first person or it could be written in third person omniscient; an author could come out and state a theme in a text or let it be implied; repetition is, just like it sounds, repeating words or phrases for emphasis; rhythm is made up of the combination of accented and unaccented syllables; the setting is where and when a story takes place; conflict drives the tale; and so on the tutoring went.

The students can relax, munching or sipping away on snacks, and Hill feels she doesn’t have to be as strict as in class.

She likes the afterschool program because it allows teachers to reach students they’d never get to tutor otherwise. It’s a wonderful thing, Hill said.

Out of the Box provides the location, the snacks and the presence of an adult from 3:30 to 6 p.m. two days a week, said Ronnie Collins, the Methodist church’s assistant pastor. Being someplace nice serves as a tutoring incentive for the youth.

By housing the tutoring sessions, Wednesday evening get-togethers, Sunday morning Bible study and Fifth Quarter activities after home football games, Out of the Box is becoming a fairly well-known place for youth, Collins said. Wednesday evenings could see up to 80 teens in attendance.

Collins is glad the church has become a community partner for the school program. They see it a part of their mission.

“It seems to be working well… the kids love it and from what I see the tutors like it, too,” he said.

Since Out of the Box opened in October 2008, Collins said the mission has spent $10,000 downtown, mostly to provide pizza and other snacks.

That doesn’t come from church members’ tithes, but donations people give go above and beyond.

The ministry continues to look for new community partnerships and to add new efforts to create more opportunities for the youth, he said.

The collaboration arose as part of the 21st Century Learning Centers and the CASE program at the intermediate school, explained Mark Burnette, the school system’s director of secondary education.

Afterschool programs like CASE fit with the goal of getting youth to stay in school and become successful after they graduate, he said.

“The kids like to go down there and have that socialization time and it’s a safe, secure place to go,” he noted. “It’s basically just to provide a different type of environment for kids to participate in.”

He appreciates the help provided by the church, especially as Out of the Box gets no funding from the school system for it.

Numbers gathered by Carroll schools about their on-time graduation rates indicate that these efforts are having an impact, Burnette said. On-time graduation rates have risen from about 77 percent for the division and about 79 percent for the high school to about 85 percent for the division and 86 percent at the high school.

Burnette believes those are the best statistics for a school system locally.

While the students in the CASE program would be considered at-risk for their scores in English and math, intermediate school Principal Chuck Thompson noted that afterschool participants are much more likely to continue on with their education.

Of those in CASE, 51 of 52 students have either graduated or are on track to graduate on time, the principal said.

“The bottom line is to see that our kids are successful, that they stay in school regardless of their circumstances and they go out into the world and are successful,” Burnette said.

SNL – December 20th, 2009

Here is our text for this Sunday night. Share your thoughts and be sure to pray for understanding. I can’t wait.

Ronnie

Matthew 7: 13-29

¹³“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

¹⁵“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

²¹“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ ²³Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

²⁴“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

²⁸When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

This Day In The Life Of Your Pastor – December 13th, 2009

1. Samuel is so tired. He is crying & saying “you can’t go to bed” please read a book. He is growing up so fast about 11 hours ago from TwitterBerry

2. What an awesome day. I am blessed to be a part of Gods work for this time in this place. I am the most blessed man in the world. Time 2 rest about 11 hours ago from TwitterBerry

3. Check out Fridays Galax Gazette, Chris Brook wrote a great article on Out Of The Box and Carroll Schools partnering together about 11 hours ago from TwitterBerry

4. 1st UMC Hillsville sent 400 plus showboxes to children across the globe today. Awesome about 11 hours ago from TwitterBerry

5. Need to log an 18 mile run this week, looking for the best opportunity & best weather about 11 hours ago from TwitterBerry

6. I have an awesomely busy week & desire your prayers. I am never complaining, I just truly desire your prayers about 11 hours ago from TwitterBerry

7. Laundry time about 12 hours ago from TwitterBerry

8. awesome service,God is awesome, getting something to eat and heading home about 13 hours ago from web

9. heading to 1st UMC Hillsville to preach for SNL with SouledOut, join us for an awesome time of worship and Bible Challenge about 16 hours ago from web

10. Setting up Keiths laptop and blackberry. It is hard getting your older brother into the 21st Century about 19 hours ago from TwitterBerry

11. My training buddy Kenneth Dickens has signed up for the Myrtle Beach Marathon. It has been an awesome day! about 20 hours ago from TwitterBerry

12. somebody loves me! there is birthday cake on my desk!!!!!! I will be running xtra miles tomorrow but I will be eating this about 21 hours ago from web

13. We had 1 person saved @ 1st UMC Hillsville & 11 people joined the church about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry

14. Keith Musser just joined the 1st UMC Hillsville about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry

15. My brother Keith is in church with us this morning, I am thankful about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

16. we are in Operation Christmas Child mode @ 1st UMC Hillsville this morning, great ministry about 22 hours ago from web

17. Just downloaded some cool apps for the blackberry, I am a slow learner about 24 hours ago from TwitterBerry

18. getting ready to head to the 830am service at 1st Hillsville UMC, Join us about 23 hours ago from web

19. Working on the Sunday Night Live Sermon. Matthew 7: 1-12 about 24 hours ago from web

20. “For there is a Third sort of sinful judging, which is the condemning any person at all where there is not sufficient evidence”. John Wesley about 24 hours ago from web

21. “Neither does it necessarily imply the speaking at all, but only the thinking evil of another”. John Wesley about 24 hours ago from web

22. Myrtle Beach Marathon is 61 DAYS | 0 HRS | 18 MINS | 38 SECONDS