Driving while distracted

Just a thought that I would like to share. Many states are now passing laws that say a person cannot legally text while driving. Just for the record I agree with that. It is very dangerous for a person to take their mind off driving to send or read a text message.

However, I want to share that I also believe that it should be just as illegal to do the following things and drive.

Eating a happy meal or other food order

Smoking a cigarette

Talking on the cell phone – hands on or hands free

Listening to loud music

While holding a dog in your lap

While reading a newspaper

While I have been guilty of some but not all of these (Never read the paper that I remember while driving) all of these things are distracting and can and have caused accidents. Why are there no laws against such things?

Ronnie

Give to the Children of Sudan for Christmas

Myrtle Beach Marathon February 13th, 2009.

I am running in honor and support of Children in Southern Sudan.

Holston Conference is planning an Orphanage and we can help by raising support to get the job done!

Maybe your family could send your gift to the children of Sudan in honor of each other!

If you would like to support, send your check to 1st Hillsville United Methodist Church, C/O Ronnie G Collins PO Box 356 Hillsville Virginia 24343. Make the check to Holston Conference and on the remit line “Hope for the children of Sudan”.

Maybe you would like to run and raise support, go sign up!

Why not do something you love and help others at the same time?

Together we can change the world!

Here is how it will work. I will travel to Myrtle Beach in February and run the 26.2 mile Marathon on February 13th Day in honor of and support of The Children of Sudan Africa, “Hope for the Children”.

Every gift that is given will go to support the children of Sudan, “Hope for the Children”.

I have a Goal of $2620.00 that is $100.00 per mile.

Help me meet the goal but more importantly help the children of Sudan.

There are several ways that you can support.

# 1 is in your prayers

26 people (Churches, Youth Groups, UMW, UMM, any group)could donate $100 and I would reach the goal.

Donate $1 for every mile = 26 dollars

Donate $5 for every mile = 130 dollars

Donate $10 for every mile = 260 dollars

Donate $20 for every mile = 520 dollars

Donate $100 for every mile = 2600 dollars

or simply Donate Any $ Amount

My goal is simply to raise as much money as possible and have fun doing it. I am inviting people (Runners) who would like to help raise money for the children of Sudan to join me in the run. You can sign up to run at

http://www.mbmarathon.com/site3.aspx

Make your checks payable to: The Holston Conference of The United Methodist Church or The Holston UMC

Designate your Check “Hope for the Children of Sudan”

Mail to: Ronnie G Collins, PO Box 356, Hillsville Virginia 24343

I will compile the checks and get them to Holston Conference on behalf of the children. You will receive a letter from me to signify when the gift is received.

I am excited to see just what Miracle the Lord will do.

Ronnie

Hope for the
Children of Sudan

Logos Bible Study Notes

The church of the future is now!

New congregation makes an Impact in Atlanta

Source United Methodist News Service

Impact Church holds worship services in an auditorium at the Georgia World Congress Center, next door to the home field of the Atlanta Falcons.
On home game Sundays, worship may take on a football “Game Plan” theme.
A UMNS photo by Morgan Thomason, courtesy of Impact Church.

By Gayle White*
Dec. 17, 2009 | ATLANTA (UMNS)

The Rev. Olujimi W. Brown

Methodism’s founder John Wesley traveled on foot and horseback to spread the Gospel in Georgia more than 270 years ago. Today, one of the state’s newest United Methodist churches sends the word out via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Worshippers are even encouraged to text message during services.

It’s working.

On Dec. 20, Impact Church will be officially constituted as a United Methodist church by the North Georgia Conference. With two services most Sundays drawing as many as 1,000 people and an annual budget of about $1 million, it’s grown faster than any other new church plant in the conference during the last 20 years, said the Rev. Jamie Jenkins, executive assistant to Bishop Mike Watson.

On a recent Sunday morning, worshippers – many in jeans and sweaters – swayed and clapped to contemporary praise songs in an auditorium at the Georgia World Congress Center. Actress Niecy Nash spoke about the struggles that followed her divorce, her image appearing on giant video screens flanking the stage. Then the Rev. Olujimi W. Brown, the lead pastor known as Olu, came up to preach, wearing sports coat and slacks, no tie. Pacing the stage, he spoke passionately for half an hour about treasures in clay jars.

You are the earthen vessels that hold the gifts of God, he told the congregants. “Never forget where your gifts come from.”

He sprinkled in a few references to football.

“Best pre-game show” in Atlanta

Sunday worship draws up to 1,000 people. A UMNS photo courtesy of Impact Church.

At Impact, don’t expect a bulletin, liturgy or congregational hymns. But don’t be surprised if someone hands you a plastic football, a miniature megaphone or tickets to an NFL game.

Impact, after all, bills itself as the “best pre-game show” in Atlanta. For several months, its worship services have been held in an auditorium of the massive convention hall next door to the Georgia Dome, home field of the Atlanta Falcons. Impact landed at the convention center when the middle school that had housed it underwent renovations.

On home-game Sundays, football fans in jerseys and face paint pour out of a nearby transit station as worship gets underway. Inside the convention center, some worshippers were similarly dressed – without the face paint. A few may be going to the game. Congregants may even be asked to text message the answer to a question to win a pair of tickets.

The football subtext is a matter of turning a challenge into an opportunity, Brown said, adding, “We knew we would run up against football season.” So Impact’s marketing team – one of the church’s working groups made up of staff and laity – developed a strategy called “Game Plan.”

Early next year, Impact will move back to the newly refurbished middle school, but a team is looking for a more permanent site.

“We see ourselves as being an investment in the community,” Brown said. “There are warehouse-factory type spaces that have been a blight in the community. We can invest in them and make them an asset.”

New way of service

Jesus is portrayed as a rock star during Easter worship. A UMNS photo by Shannon McCollum, courtesy of Impact Church.

Brown, 32, grew up in Lufkin, Texas, the son of divorced parents. He attended Baptist churches with his mother and grandmother during the school year and Presbyterian services with his father during the summer. He graduated from Jarvis Christian College, an institution of the Disciples of Christ.

Because of a Methodist mentor, he chose Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta, the United Methodist component of the Interdenominational Theological Center, a consortium of historically black seminaries.

He was youth pastor, then associate pastor at Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta before “feeling the nudge to do something different.”

“I was very reluctant to do a new church plant,” he said.

A yearlong program in the North Georgia Conference provided the confidence he needed. The conference’s church development initiative also provided much more – including his salary for the first year; a $100,000 grant for facilities or staffing, of which the church spent $12,000 to hire its first band and saved the rest; and another $25,000 for startup costs. Brown and his wife, Farrah, raised $25,000 more.

Brown – and conference officials – knew from the start that inner-city Atlanta didn’t need another traditional United Methodist church. Ten sit within a five-mile radius of the West End area Impact is targeting.

“But the world does need many more cutting-edge and relevant new churches that are willing to reach the people of the world for Jesus Christ in new and creative ways,” Brown wrote almost four years ago in his vision statement for Impact. 24-7 future

He envisions a church that will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with recreation, child care, counseling and worship opportunities available to people whose jobs prevent their participation during the day. There will also be plenty of opportunities for service and outreach.

Some of Impact’s charter members come from other United Methodist churches. Others have been unchurched for years.

Impact is “out of the box,” said Dereke Dorsey, a United Methodist who’s attended Impact for about five months. “It’s unpredictable. There’s something new to experience every Sunday.”

“We see ourselves as missionaries,” said the Rev. Tommy Willingham, executive director of new church development for the North Georgia Conference, “and, like all missionaries, seek to meet people where they are in order to share with them the great news of a savior.”

That, Brown says, should have an Impact. An Impact not only on individual lives, but on an entire city.

*White is a freelance writer based in Atlanta.

News media contact: David Briggs, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

From John Tate @ Holston Conference: Financial Matters

During the past couple of years working with local churches, I have discovered that we appear to have difficulty sharing information about changes that impact the local church, especially with regards to financial information.  Therefore, I am attempting to communicate important issues that will have a financial impact on the local church for 2010, with you and your local church treasurer.  Unfortunately, in checking our database of information, we do not have the e-mail address for your Church Treasurer.  Therefore, please forward this information to them and also encourage them to update their records with the appropriate District Office, so that we may communicate important information to them.

As part of our emphasis on communication, we are attempting to share information about the Conference finances and automate our collection processes on our website at http://www.holston.org/finance.  The information referenced can be located under the “forms and downloads” section of our finance page.  As a part of this we have published several items that we believe are relevant to your life in the local church.

1. Status of goals report.  This report lists all churches within the Conference, by district, including their apportionment amount due and the amount paid by each church.  This report is updated each month by the 5^th.
2. Conference budgeted financials.  We publish this report on our website on a monthly basis that includes all line-items that are supported by your apportionment payments.
3. We are receiving electronic payments that include church payments for apportionments, advance specials, AFLAC premium payments, health insurance, and other various payments that you would make to the Holston Conference.  We are even providing discounts on the church portion of the health insurance to provide additional incentives for churches to remit these payments electronically.
4. We also have posted the 2010 premium rates for health insurance.  Each amount increased 4% from 2009 to 2010.
5. The details of the workers compensation insurance plan are posted on our website and include the rates and details of this plan that was adopted at the 2009 Annual Conference in Lake Junaluska.

If you do not have access to the internet, you will find all of these amounts and these details reported each year in the Conference Book of Reports and Conference Journal.  I would encourage you to seek out these resources as you plan your budgets and to stay up-to-date on financial issues and changes which have been approved at Annual Conference that will impact your church budget.

As always you can contact me at (865)293-4125 or e-mail me at johntate@holston.org.  Our entire staff is available to assist you in tax issues, finance committee structure and responsibilities, insurance and property matters, budget planning, and other financial matters that pertain to your local church.  Starting in January 2010, we will begin a monthly blog that will detail all upcoming events and new initiatives that may impact our partnership in ministry related to financial initiatives of the Holston Conference.

Sunday’s Coming

This post is from Pastor Perry Noble and it is good enough to share. If you are not familiar with Perry, here is the link to his blog. Enjoy. PerryNoble.com

Dear Pastor…Sunday’s Coming… December 18, 2009

Hey pastor…

Sunday’s coming…

It will be here in less than 48 hours!!!

Are you ready?

This week will be someone’s first week in your church!

Your church is a powder keg WAITING to explode!!!

God wants to do things in your church that would absolutely blow you away if He were to download it all on you at once.

Sunday’s coming…

People will be in your church that are one heartbeat away from hell…

Will you share the GOSPEL?

Will you call for commitment?

Sunday’s coming…

You have been called, equipped and empowered by God to do what you do!

He knows where you are!

He knows what you are going through!

He has NOT forgotten you!!!

Have you BEGGED God to do something unexplainable and undeniable?

Have you allowed something to distract you this week?

Have you become obsessed with anything or anyone other than Jesus and the vision He has poured into you?

Sunday’s coming…

The next Billy Graham, Bill Hybels or Rick Warren COULD be sitting in your church this Sunday…heck, they MIGHT not even be saved yet…

There is UNLIMITED potential within the people in your church who know Christ.

People want hope!

People want to change!

People want to LIVE!

They need to hear YOU tell them about CHRIST!

Sunday’s coming…

Let’s put on our game faces…

This could be the last message that you ever get to preach…EVER!!!

SO…SAY IT, bring the FREAKIN HEAT!!!

Sunday is NOT a burden…it’s a gift…GO FOR IT!!!

Hurting people need our help!

There is no doubt in my mind that God is calling us to help those with addictions as well as their family and friends who are affected by the addictions. I am reading and studying the following two resources and I am finding them to be right on task.

Pray and ask God if He would have you be involved. We have a place “Out Of The Box” that would make and excellent place for a “Celebrate Recovery” Group.

Who do you know and I dare say all of us know multiple people who get a new lease on life with a ministry like Celebrate Recovery.

I can’t do it alone, we need group leaders, worship leaders, and helpers of all kinds.

Contact me.

Ronnie

Logos Passage Guide

This Day In The Life Of Your Pastor – December 17th, 2009

1. “When God is drawing us to himself, He often uses pain in our lives to stimulate a thirst in our hearts for relationship with Him” about 12 hours ago from TwitterBerry

2. Taco. Bell for the drive home about 14 hours ago from TwitterBerry

3. Ok I am shopped out, time to head home. about 16 hours ago from TwitterBerry

4. “Many people have never considered that life can be satisfying even if their marriage is difficult.” Thriving Despite A Difficult Marriage about 16 hours ago from TwitterBerry

5. We have been upgraded to a MAJOR winter storm of 12 inches and up. Roanoke news says this may be a record breaking December snow about 18 hours ago from TwitterBerry

6. Shopping, till I’m dropping but I have found some nice Christmas gifts for me about 19 hours ago from TwitterBerry

7. Shopping, till I’m dropping about 19 hours ago from TwitterBerry

8. We were so blessed with diapers when Judah was born. He is now 7 months old and we haven’t had to buy diapers yet. 1 box left! about 19 hours ago from TwitterBerry

9. Wow lunch was really good. Now we are shopping. I love my family! about 20 hours ago from TwitterBerry

10. Dynasty Buffet for lunch & it smells really great about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry

11. “While everyone desires to be happy, this is not a biblical purpose for marriage” Thriving Despite A Difficult marriage about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

12. “Scripture teaches us that marriage is inherently difficult” Mike & Chuck Misja about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

13. Reading “Thriving Despite A Dificult Mariage” just 2 dispel speculation, I am reading it 2 hlp others & it can strengthen my marriage also about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

14. Praying for Beth this morning about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

15. Just completed 8 miles with Kenneth, we R back in training mode. 943 pace, 1270 calories burned. Were back! about 24 hours ago from TwitterBerry

16. In the news, 4 yr old boy is not allowed 2 go 2 class cause he has long hair. So many ppl tell us weekly Samuels hair should be cut, amazing about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

17. heading out for a run with Kenneth and Kayla this morning about 23 hours ago from web

18. weather underground says 4 inches for Cana Friday and Additional Heavy accumulation on Saturday, woot about 23 hours ago from web

19. Just saw a forecast that said parts of our area could get 18 inches of snow about 23 hours ago from web

20. “Each of our lives is tangled up with hurts that haunt our hearts, hang-ups that cause us pain, & habits that mess up our lives”. John Baker about 24 hours ago from TwitterBerry

21. “Not one of us is untainted by sin & because of sin, we’ve all hurt ourselves, we’ve all hurt other people, & others have hurt us” about 24 hours ago from TwitterBerry

22. “Every single person as a member of the human race deals with a hurt, a hang up, or a habit at some level, in some form”. Rick Warren about 24 hours ago from TwitterBerry

23. Reading “Lifes Healing Choices” by John Baker about 24 hours ago from TwitterBerry

24. Myrtle Beach December 16, 2009 THE FULL AND HALF MARATHON ARE SOLD OUT!! about 24 hours ago from web

25. Myrtle Beach Marathon 56 DAYS | 23 HRS | 47 MINS | 8 SECONDS about 24 hours ago from web

26. I love to be up early, the peace and quiet. God often is found in the silence 4:24 AM Dec 17th from TwitterBerry

27. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, or be 80 degrees 4:16 AM Dec 17th from TwitterBerry