Otterbein Church

Sunday's Service - February 24, 2008

On Sunday, Pastor Bill will be sharing a message with us entitled "Why Fish?"  It is also Pastor Bill and Barb's last Sunday with us before moving to New Jersey to assume their new ministry assignment with Liebenzell Mission.  During all of the worship services, we will take a few minutes to express our appreciation to Pastor Bill and Barb and pray for them.  The service will also include a meaningful time of worship led by Dave Besecker and our music ministry.  I hope you will be able to attend.

Just a quick reminder.  On Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., we will have an ordination and commissioning service for Pastor Bill and Barb Schuit.  The service will be held in the church sanctuary and will last about one hour.  Following the ordination service, we will have an open house reception for Pastor Bill and Barb in the church fellowship room until 6:00 p.m.  This is a "come and go as you please"event.  If you are unable to attend the ordination and commissioning service in the afternoon, please feel free to stop anytime between 4 and 6 for the open house.

Please pray for God to work in a special way in the life of our church on Sunday at all of the services.  Pray it will be a special day for Pastor Bill and Barb and for everyone who attends.  Pray for lives to be changed through the things we do on Sunday.  And pray for God's special help and guidance for all our ministry team (singers, shepherds, teachers, nursery workers, ushers, greeters, etc.) as they serve on Sunday.

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.  Until then, enjoy your weekend.

Mike

Are You Serving Others?

The following is a devotion that Dave Besecker shared with the adult choir on Feb. 20. I believe it is a good question for everyone to consider.

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Are you developing a heart for serving others? This is a very important principle that we must develop if we want to influence people the same way Jesus did.

Dwight L. Moody, the famous nineteenth-century evangelist demonstrated the heart of a servant one day in the late 1800’s. A large group of European pastors came to Moody’s Bible Conference. As was their custom, at night, they placed their shoes outside the door of their rooms at night to be cleaned by the “hall servants.” Of course, in America, there were no hall servants.

That night, as Moody walked the halls of the dormitory praying for the conference and those in attendance, he saw the dirty shoes. Wanting to help them, Moody mentioned the need to some ministerial students, who excused themselves from helping. So the worlds’ most famous evangelist of his day took it upon himself to gather up the shoes, took them to his room, cleaned and polished them and returned them to their place in front of the room door. No one notice, so Moody thought.

The next morning, the European pastors opened their doors to find shiny, spotless shoes. Moody told no one what he did, but there was one person who had spotted him in this act of selfless service the night before. Then an amazing thing happened. The next night and every night of the conference, different men secretly volunteered to shine the shoes of their guests.

This story reminds me of the passage in John 13, when Jesus, seeing that there was no one to wash his and the disciples feet, took it upon himself  to take a towel and basin of water and kneel down before His creation, his subordinates, His friends and wash their dirty feet. Wow, what an example of servanthood.

So, I would ask us all again. Are we developing this same attitude within our own hearts? If so, we will be a great blessing to others and a Christ-like example to those around us. In either case, we are influencing people the way Jesus would have done. Isn’t that the goal?

Sunday's Service - February 17, 2008

On Sunday, we are going to wrap up the JUST WALK ACROSS THE ROOM sermon series.  This week's message is entitled "Grander-Vision Living" and will focus on maintaining the momentum of pointing others to a relationship with God.  During the message, we will focus on Luke 5:1-11.  It is a great story that will help challenge us and remind us of what is really important in our quest to help point others to a relationship with God.

Sunday's service will also include something unique for our church.  Our youth choir will be performing a stomp routine.  This is something they have been working on in preparation of their summer tour when they will use music and other aspects of the arts to share Christ with others.  I am looking foward to what they are going to share with us.

Dave and our music ministry will also help to lead us in a meaningful time of worship.  I believe it will be a great Sunday of worship and learning together. I hope you will be able to join us.

Please pray for God to pour out His Spirit on our church this weekend.  Pray for lives to be changed.  Pray God would bring those He wants to attend to our church.  Pray for everyone who will be volunteering -- pray God would help them get everything together for what they will be doing and that He would provide wisdom and help for them to do whatever He wants them to do on Sunday.

See you Sunday!

Mike

What's Up in Student Ministry?

Six months into the launch of our new Middle School Ministry for students in grades 6 through 8, a few observations have become increasingly clear to me:

• The proposed new space to be created in the Sprung structure behind the existing Youth Ministry Center is greatly needed and will be incredibly appreciated. Not only will it regularly house Diverge, our Sunday morning Middle School large group program, but it will also free up our current meeting space, the Ministry Center gym, for Children's Ministry and other special events and activities to use more easily.

• It's been more difficult than expected for me to provide direct oversight and leadership to both the Middle School and High School ministries. Because of our Sunday morning programming schedule and lacking someone to serve as a regular host, Bible communicator, and more or less the "face" of AMDiscovery, our Sunday morning High School large group program, my time and energy has been split between the two. As a result, the planning and execution of special events and activities, as well as timely, regular communication about the Student Ministry has not been all I'd like it to be. However, despite the shortage in resources, this school year we've been able to offer a number of weekend conferences, concerts, service projects, fun activities and High School connecting groups (called CREW) in addition to our Sunday morning programs.

• A number of programs vital to our Middle School ministry's effectiveness have not yet started. This is due mainly to a shortage of volunteer leaders who love God, like teenagers and have time in their schedule to devote to building relationships with them. Without homes to host them and qualified caring adults to lead them, our Middle School connecting groups, as one example, have yet to launch.

I continue to be excitedly optimistic about the future of Student Ministry at Otterbein Church and by God's grace I believe our very best days to be ahead of us!

Chinese Students Visit Otterbein

This is a note that we recieved from Ester

Last Saturday, Nathan and I took many students went skiing at Whitetail resort and stayed one night with host families from Otterbein Church, PA. Praise the Lord, everything turned out perfectly.  I know God is watching on each of us and taking care of all my concerns.  My dear Lord is so sweet!!  It’s the first time for most of the students to stay overnight with American host families. On the other hand, it’s also the first time for many of the Otterbein Church brothers and sisters to host Chinese people.  We all had a good time together.  Below is an email a student wrote to me right after we got home from this ski trip.  I hope you will enjoy reading this J

“Thank you so much for organizing this fantastic trip for us.  It is the most terrific trip I've even had! I really had a wonderful weekend and I am quite sure it's the same feeling for others. Additionally, I feel like being at home with my host family last night. It was you who offered me such opportunity to making friends with those nice people. I also like the church service in Otterbein Church this morning. Everything turned out to be excellent! You and your family have contributed yourselves to making arrangements for us! It's hard for me to show my appreciation by word.”

Sunday's Service - February 10, 2008

I hope you have had a great week and were able to LIVE IN 3D this week.  In case you don't know what I mean when I say 3D, it stands for:  Develop Friendships, Discover their Story, and Discern Next Steps...in helping point another person to a relationship with God.

This Sunday, we will continue the JUST WALK ACCROSS THE ROOM sermon series.  Pastor Bill will be sharing with us this Sunday and the message is entitled "The Power of Story."  Orginally, I thought I was going to be out of town this weekend for a conference, but my plans changed and Pastor Bill graciously agreed to go ahead and share the message this week.  I look foward to what he is going to share and believe it will be helpful and practical.

We will also have some guests with us this week during our 3rd worship service.  You will remember that we are hosting a group of chinese students from the DC area who are coming up to ski.  They will be joining us for our third worship service.  It will be a great opportunity for us to "walk accross the room" and make them feel welcome.

There are many exciting things going on in our church right now.  We are hearing about lives being changed.  New families are attending with us.  Things are progressing in our search for a new Associate Pastor.  Thanks for praying!  God is answering your prayers and God is at work.

Please pray that God would have His hand on all we do around here this weekend!  Pray for God to pour out His Spirit on our church.  Pray for Pastor Bill -- pray that God would anoint him with the words to say and that he would have a special sensitivity to God's Spirit as he shares on Sunday.  Pray God would help each of us who attend to have an open heart and mind to hear what God wants to say to us.

Have a great weekend.  I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Mike

Sunday's Service - February 3, 2008

On Sunday, we are going to continue our JUST WALK ACROSS THE ROOM series we started last Sunday.  It is a series where we are talking about how we can point people to God and how they can have a relationship with Him.  Sunday's message is entitled LIVING IN 3D.  We are going to talk about three practical things (they all start with D) we can do that will help us point people to God.  I hope you will be able to join us for one of our worship services.

Sunday's service will include the Lord's Supper and Dave and our music ministry will also lead us in a meaningful time of worship.  I look forward to our services on Sunday and believe they will be uplifting and helpful to you on your spiritual journey.

Please pray for God to pour out His Spirit this week on what happens on our campus on Sunday.  Pray that lives would be changed.  Pray God will help you to have an open heart and mind to whatever He wants to say to you.  Pray for God to bring everyone He wants to attend with us on Sunday.  And pray for everyone who will serve this Sunday (teachers, shepherds, musicians, nursery workers, greeters, etc.) that God will help them in any final preparation and that He would use them in a significant way to make a difference this weekend.

Have a great weekend.  I will see you on Sunday.

Mike