Pastor Mike's Blog

Incredible Day!!!!

Sunday was an incredible day in the life of our church.  In case you don't know what I am talking about, it was our annual church picnic and baptism service.  God gave us great weather and more than 500 people joined us for the picnic.  Following the picnic, 22 people were baptized.  Of those 22, 7 were children and all the rest were students and adults. 

I love baptism services.  It is great to see people GO PUBLIC with their relationship with Jesus Christ.  It is also encouraging and moving to hear people share words of testimony and praise to God as they get baptized.  If you were able to join us, I'm sure you would agree that the service this year was meaningful and it was a blessing to the whole church to hear the words of testimony and how people chose to become followers of Christ.

I want to say a big THANKS to everyone who helped prepare for the day and make it something special for our church family.  Troy Jernigan - who attends Otterbein - made all the chicken.  It was the largest group he ever prepared for and I don't know about you, but I believe it was the best barbeque chicken I have ever had.  John and Sandra Horton oversaw the ice cream (we served more than 700 bowls and cones of ice cream).  Linda Etter oversaw the organization of the food and volunteers to serve the food and Greg Stoner was in charge of making sure the place was mowed and cleaned up for the day.  I want to say a special word of thanks to Gerden Riemenschneider for spending hours doing some extra clean- up around the fence area behind the baptism pool.  The list could go on and on, but let me just say on behalf of everyone who enjoyed the picnic a big THANKS to everyone who served and help make the day special.

God is at work in our church right now.  Attendances are up.  Lives are being changed.  God is providing financially.  People are serving.  Children's ministry programs are expanding.  It is a great time to be part of Otterbein Church and experience all that God is doing.  I look foward to see what He has in store for us in the weeks and months ahead.

It was an incredible weekend!!

It was an awesome Easter season at Otterbein and I believe God used it to make a real difference for Him.  As I think about all that has gone on over the past week or so, I continue to be amazed and humbled by what God is doing at Otterbein right now.  On Palm Sunday, we had over 1,000 people attend our services.  Thursday's special Lord's Supper service was very well attended and once again, it was a very special time of worship and remembering what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross.  On Saturday and Sunday, we had over 1,200 people attend our worship services.  We had 325 adults attend on Saturday evening and I believe 1/3 to 1/2 of those who attended on Saturday do not attend Otterbein regularly.  Beyond the numbers, the most important and greatest thing that took place over the past week or so was that lives were changed with the message of Jesus Christ.  Everything we do at Otterbein and all the special things we try to accomplish have one goal -- to provide an environment where people can hear about Jesus and move forward in their spiritual journey.  I know from comments that people made that God was a work in a powerful way and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the week's ahead.

I want to thank all of you who served in some way to make the past week or so come together.  Our music ministry, Guest Services team, and children's ministries did an excellent job and used the abilities and gifts God gave them to bless people and make a difference for Christ.  There were literally 100's of volunteers who served and made our church an inviting environment for those who attended.

I also want to thank all of you who prayed.  God answered your prayers.  Please continue to pray for all those who made a spiritual decision this weekend.  Pray that those who were unchurched will return back to Otterbein this week and continue to hear God's word proclaimed throughout this current series. 

It Was An Awesome Day!!!!

I hope you had a chance to join us on Palm Sunday for one of our Worship Services.  We had over 1,000 people join us for our services. It was an incredible day and as usual our music ministry did a great job leading us in a time of worship and celebration.  Our students also did an excellent job with their special presentation at the beginning of the service.  If you missed it, you missed something pretty awesome.

We are so blessed at Otterbein to have so many gifted people who are willing to give of their time to make a difference for Christ.  God is doing great things at Otterbein right now and I can't wait to see what He has in store for us on Easter Weekend. 

Earlier this morning, I met with Dave and the worship service planning team for this weekend and I am really excited about Sunday's service.  It is going to be uplifting and I believe very meaningful.  We are also beginning the new LIFE DASH sermon series where we are going to talk about how to make the most out of your life.

Please make sure you pray this week for a special outpouring of God's Spirit.  Pray that those who attend Otterbein will reach out to their neighbors and friends and that God will bring a large crowd this weekend to hear about Jesus.  Pray for lives to be changed -- beginning with yours -- because of what God will do in our worship services.

Heaven and Hell Q & A

I have had several comments and great questions that have arisen as a result of this past Sunday's sermon.  Most of them have had to do with a statement that I made that "it is possible that people in the intermediate heaven are able to see what is going on down here on the earth."  Several have asked where I see that in the Bible and why I made that statement.  Another person asked a great question that is related to it.  They asked  "if people can see what is going on down here, wouldn't they be sad by what they saw?  I always believed there is no sadness in heaven, so how could that be?

These are really great questions and I wanted to post something about it so that others could also see my response.  First, let me say that I don't think we know for sure that those in the intermediate heaven can see what is going on.  I think it is possible, but we don't know.  Secondly, it is important to say that we don't want to get caught up in the belief that if they can see us, we should or can try to communicate with them or send messages to them. The Bible would not support that and it should be avoided.

Perhaps the best explanation and what has challenged my own thinking about this is found in the book by Randy Alcorn called Heaven.  I mentioned it on Sunday.  Alcorn also has a website in which he addresses some of these issues and questions and I would direct you to them for your review.  I think he makes some good points and you can check them out and see what you think.

CLICK HERE to read an article he wrote on the "Awareness in Heaven of Events on Earth."  As you begin reading the article, he mentions you should also read "Rethinking Our Beliefs About Heaven" which lays a the foundation for his article.  MAKE SURE YOU READ IT FIRST and then check out what he has to say.  I believe you will find it helpful and worth considering as you wrestle with questions about Heaven and Hell.

Feel free to write comments or additional questions in the comment feature of the blog.

The Importance of Being Connected

Yesterday at church, we talked about the importance of everyone "ministering" to one another.  Simply put, the Bible teaches us that as Christians, we are all "ministers" of Jesus and have a responsibility to minister to others.  Too many churches today have slid into the mindset that the "professional ministers" (which usually means the pastor(s) and staff) are to do the ministry.  Yet, that is clearly not the way God intended the church to function.

As I was thinking more about this, one of the things that is also vitally important in this whole discussion is the need for everyone in the church to be CONNECTED WITH ONE ANOTHER.  Think about this with me.  In order for people to minister to one another, they need to know the needs of one another.  And in order for people to know the needs, people have to have relationships.  In other words -- they have to be connected with other people. 

As a pastor, I have seen the importance of this through the years.  Families that have been connected with others in the church have been ministered to in some incredible ways during times of great crises.  On the other hand, people outside the church and even some on the inside who didn't know people and who made little effort through the years to get connected, often found themselves lacking support and "ministry from others" when they needed it most.

Here is my question to you.  Are you connected with others in the church?  If not, YOU need to do something about it.  Connectedness will not just happen nor is it fair or realistic to think that it is everyone else's job to connect with you.  You have to take some initiative and put yourselves in the environments where connectedness and relationships can happen.  At Otterbein, those environments are things like our Adult Bible Classes, ministry groups like the choir, Women's and Men's Bible studies, small groups, and recreation teams.

If you are not yet connected, I encourage you to do something about it.  It is one of the keys to allowing you to fulfill part of your God-given responsibility to "minister" to others and it is also one of the keys to you receiving "ministry" in your life.

God is Good!

If you were at church this past Sunday, you know I shared a message about the NON NEGOTIABLE of salvation -- about how a person becomes a follower of Jesus Christ.  At the end of all three services, I gave people an opportunity to pray to receive Christ in their life and then asked them to let me know if they made that decision.  HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS.  Two people handed me cards on the way out letting us know that they prayed and chose to become a follower of Christ.  Very exciting. 

Let me encourage you to keep praying that others who heard the message on Sunday will respond to God's call on their lives and choose to become a follower of Jesus.  God is at work at Otterbein in some pretty amazing ways and I believe greater things are yet to come.

Other Questions?

We spent today talking this morning talking about some ANSWERS TO YOUR MONEY QUESTIONS.  If you missed the message today, you will be able to listen to it online on our website (click here) sometime on Monday after Rick posts it to our website.

Did you have a question that didn't get answered today?  If so, if you email it to me at mike@otterbeinchurch.org this week, I will do my best to answer it on my blog.  One of the questions I will answer (probably on Monday) has to do with burial expenses.  A couple of people asked some questions about this. 

For those of you who asked questions for the series, THANKS.  They were great questions.  I hope our responses today were helpful to you.

Watoto - Looking Ahead (Targeting Men)

Sorry I didn't write on Monday.  It was Jeb's 10th Birthday and we spent the day together as a family since Jeb was off school.  I joked with him that this year there was a national holiday in honor of two great Americans - Martin Luther King and Jeb Michael Newman. It is hard to believe how quick our kids are growing up.

Didn't the kids from Watoto do a great job on Sunday?  If you were not here on Sunday afternoon, let me simply say it was a great experience. The church was packed out -- we added chairs in the sanctuary and also added chairs in the lobby so everyone could join us.  Those in attendance also gave a very generous offering (more than $5,000) for Watoto along with sponsoring quite a few of the children.  It was great to see such a wonderful response from the church and community.

In the sermon outline I mentioned that I was going to write in my blog this week about some of our thoughts about the future.  Each day, I will write a little something.  Today, I wanted to make just a few more comments about something I shared in the 3rd service regarding something we are considering in the year ahead.

For the most part, women are more responsive to spiritual things than men.  While we have many men who attend Otterbein, one of the things we are considering is being more intentional about reaching out to unchurched men in our community.  Here is what is true.  When a woman and the kids start to attend, it is not necessarily true that her husband and the father of the kids will attend with her.  On the other hand, generally speaking, when a man feels comfortable with church and begins attending, you will also have the wife and kids.  Simply put, when you can reach out to a man, you will often get the whole family.  The opposite is not necessarily true -- when you reach out to a woman, you will not necessarily get the whole family.

So, we are kicking around what it might look like for our church to do better reaching out to men -- especially those who are unchurched.  It may include everything from the kind of music we use to the way we dress.  It probably includes doing more outdoor, recreation, and adventure kinds of ministries.  It is about much more than those things, but we are beginning to have some discussion about what this might mean for Otterbein.

Any thoughts or suggestions.  We would love to hear them.  You can email me at mike@otterbeinchurch.org or you can use the comment feature on the blog. 

Incredible Christmas Celebration

I hope you had the opportunity to join us today for our Christmas celebration.  Our music ministry led us in a wonderful celebration of Jesus' birth that included our Adult Choir, Children's Choir, Youth Choir, Orchestra, and Dancers.  I had so many positive comments following the service today and I want to say THANKS to everyone who was involved this morning.  Everyone did an incredible job and I know I can speak for our entire church family when I say that we are so blessed at Otterbein to have so many gifted people use their abilities and gifts to make a difference for the Lord.  One of the staff told me that we had over 120 different people involved in sharing the program this morning.  I find that simply amazing.

I don't know what the attendance was for today, but it was also very exciting to see so many people join us.  The middle service was almost full and in the third service, we opened the windows between the sanctuary and the lobby and had quite a few people sit in the lobby.  Thanks to everyone who invited someone to join them.

It is an exciting time in the life of our church right now.  People's lives are being changed.  God is bringing new people to our church.  He is using us to make a difference in our community through things like the turkey donations and other special ways people reached out to others in our community.

As we look toward Christmas Eve, I want to encourage you to pray for God to do something special through our Christmas Eve celebration.  Pray God would bring those to our services that He would want to attend. 

Until then, have a great week and continue to stay focused on Jesus during your Christmas celebration!

Sunday Reflections -- Great Books

                Today when I was talking about fear, I mentioned about DWELLING ON GOD'S LOVE, POWER, etc. as part of us building faith in our life.  I wanted to mention that along with reading scripture that focuses on God's power, love, etc., I also try to read some other good books that help to people my faith and confidence in God.  Two of my favorites when it comes to faith building are books by Mark Batterson.  One is called IN A PIT WITH A LION ON A SNOWY DAY and the other that I am reading right now is called WILD GOOSE CHASE.  I try to read a chapter (sometimes less) as part of my devotions.  You might want to pick them up if you are struggling with fear.  I think you find them encouraging and helpful in expanding your view of God.  You can get them at Amazon -- check out the links on the right side of my blog and it will take you to Amazon's site.

It was a great day at Otterbein.  We continue to see new families attend and many are commenting about how God is working in their lives right now.  This afternoon, we had more than 30 people attend the 1st Base Class and while I haven't gone through the signed membership covenants, it looks like more than 20 of those who attended today have chosen to become members. 

Have a great week!  Keep your eyes on Jesus and fight against the "problem" fear that arises in your life this week!