Hello Folks,
I was sitting in my office cleaing out my e-mails when our DayCare Director Barbara Zilox stopped by and told me that the State of Tennessee has given Noah's Ark a 3-Star rating. This is the first time in the history of Noah's Ark that this has taken place. It is the highest rating that a DayCare can receive. I want to thank Barbara and all those teachers and helpers who have made this possible. They have worked extremely hard to bring this about and I for one am very thankful that they are part of the ministry of this congregation and poured themselves into the lives of these young people.
This week our congregation is providing a Vacation Bible School for our community and the local congregation. Last night I stopped in to see how they were doing and it appeared to be going very well. If you have not seen what it takes to be able to do this ministry you would be suprised at the amount of adults and youth that are giving of their time and efforts to make it work. Of course, there are those who have worked for months before it even began and I give thanks to God for their willingess to serve Him this way. You should have seen the children as they were eating in the Family Life Center. They were gathered around tables with their counselors and it was a pure delight just to watch and listen to them all. Sometimes it appears to me that the adults have as much fun as the children do.
This coming Sunday p.m. East Tennessee Camp Meeting will start and continue through the next Sunday p.m. Gilbert Davila will be our speaker and Cindy Magsig will lead worship. While I will be in Pennsylvania preaching a camp meeting myself I do believe that God will speak through them to accomplish His will here. Pastor Davila will also preach here on Aug. 5 in the a.m. and Cindy Magsig will minister in song. I pray that you will plan on being at these worship services.
Have a great one,
HGRudd
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Hello Folks,
At Anderson Camp Meeting during the General Assembly a resolution came to the floor that calls upon congregations to conditional deed their physical properties to the State Ministries of their respective states. It also called upon each congregation to agree to fulfill the requirements of a "healthy" congregation that are listed in the new Credentials Manual. I found myself in oppostion to that resolution for a number of reasons but most of those who were there, about 406 voting members, decided that it was acceptable.
Here are the reasons for my opposition. First, while I trust those who are in leadership today I wonder what might happen in the generations to come. Could it be that a congregation would conditionally deed their property to state ministries, or national, and have them depart from the biblical truth that is so important to us? I am sure the Episcoal Church never thought they would be in the situation they are now where local congregations are having to give up their properties due to their desire to disassociate themselves from their national stance on homosexuality. Just suppose your congregation decides to conditionally deed their property and they find themselve in complete oppostion and refuse to give financially to state ministries. Since that is one of the 15 expectations of a healthy congregation, and since our General Assembly has place a stamp of approval on it could they walk in and take your property? It would seem that is exactly the case--again I do not think this generation has to worry but what about 2 or 3 generations in the future? Will those who follow us rise up and call us traitors?
Second, this seems to be a step toward denominationalism to me. While this may be a small step at this time there could be great and dire unintended conseqences. We are hearing a number of people telling us that automony is bad but they are not telling us what they think it should be replaced with. The biblical picture seems to me to be mutual accountability but the problem we all have is that we want others to be accountable to us but we do not want to be accountable to them. Is the call to rename our State Ministers Association as Overseers a symptom of this issue? Is that another incremental step that is being taken? Now, again I do not think there are devious intentions in any of these issues but the law of unintended consequences could be the result.
Third, while I know some are saying that conditional deeding is needed, and I struggle with that question myself, to keep other groups from acts of piracy where local congregational properties are concerned, I would remind state and national ministries that the properties do not belong to them either! If a local congregation does not deal with those issues in a manner that rejects allowing people to sit in leadership that are not convinced of the message of the Church of God Reformation Movement then that is their decision, however wrong that might be. Our state ministries ought not to appear to want to take ownership for the purpose of funding for their own budgets. Again, this may not be what is desired but this might be the unintended consequences that some are confronted with in years to come.
This is something for all of us to ponder as we all are responsible for the those who follow us.
Have a great one,
HGRudd
At Anderson Camp Meeting during the General Assembly a resolution came to the floor that calls upon congregations to conditional deed their physical properties to the State Ministries of their respective states. It also called upon each congregation to agree to fulfill the requirements of a "healthy" congregation that are listed in the new Credentials Manual. I found myself in oppostion to that resolution for a number of reasons but most of those who were there, about 406 voting members, decided that it was acceptable.
Here are the reasons for my opposition. First, while I trust those who are in leadership today I wonder what might happen in the generations to come. Could it be that a congregation would conditionally deed their property to state ministries, or national, and have them depart from the biblical truth that is so important to us? I am sure the Episcoal Church never thought they would be in the situation they are now where local congregations are having to give up their properties due to their desire to disassociate themselves from their national stance on homosexuality. Just suppose your congregation decides to conditionally deed their property and they find themselve in complete oppostion and refuse to give financially to state ministries. Since that is one of the 15 expectations of a healthy congregation, and since our General Assembly has place a stamp of approval on it could they walk in and take your property? It would seem that is exactly the case--again I do not think this generation has to worry but what about 2 or 3 generations in the future? Will those who follow us rise up and call us traitors?
Second, this seems to be a step toward denominationalism to me. While this may be a small step at this time there could be great and dire unintended conseqences. We are hearing a number of people telling us that automony is bad but they are not telling us what they think it should be replaced with. The biblical picture seems to me to be mutual accountability but the problem we all have is that we want others to be accountable to us but we do not want to be accountable to them. Is the call to rename our State Ministers Association as Overseers a symptom of this issue? Is that another incremental step that is being taken? Now, again I do not think there are devious intentions in any of these issues but the law of unintended consequences could be the result.
Third, while I know some are saying that conditional deeding is needed, and I struggle with that question myself, to keep other groups from acts of piracy where local congregational properties are concerned, I would remind state and national ministries that the properties do not belong to them either! If a local congregation does not deal with those issues in a manner that rejects allowing people to sit in leadership that are not convinced of the message of the Church of God Reformation Movement then that is their decision, however wrong that might be. Our state ministries ought not to appear to want to take ownership for the purpose of funding for their own budgets. Again, this may not be what is desired but this might be the unintended consequences that some are confronted with in years to come.
This is something for all of us to ponder as we all are responsible for the those who follow us.
Have a great one,
HGRudd
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Hello Folks,
It is good to be back in the office and hopefully starting to get back to normal after being at Anderson Camp Meeting and then taking a week of vacation. Anderson Camp Meeting and General Assembly meeting was filled with business worship services and a couple of meetings. It was so good to see people that I have not seen in a while and while I sat through a few hours of General Assembly it was something that needed to be done. Every year business is presented and decisions are made where a handful of people, about 400 on Tuesday, make decisions that have impact upon the greater Church of God Reformation Movement. I pray that we see more people show concern and participate in this process and that the Movement would really be able to reach our world with this great message of Christ, unity and holiness.
When we left Anderson Ruth and I went to see our children. While at James' in Indianapolis we watched our grand daughters play softball. It was a real thrill to watch Jordyn hit a home run and to watch Alexis pitch. It is hard to believe that they are growing up. Then we went to Pekin, Il and stayed with Debby and her family. Bob, our oldest son, and I played golf one day and I was thankful to have that time with him. As I look at my children it causes me to realize how much I love them and give thanks to God for them.
We got back into town on July 5 bringing 3 of our grandchildren with us. Landon is 5 years old and it is his first time with us. Camryn is 12 and Breanne is 13 and they have been with us a number of times. We have tried to make the best of it, yesterday we took them to Locust Springs and let them spend some time on the water slide then later on in the day we drove through Cherokee National Forest and went to Hot Springs, N.C. and then drove home stopping to get ice cream.
I want to thank you for giving me that opportunity to enjoy my physical family. Yet I am thankful to be back here because of each one of you. God has given me a wonderful congregation to pastor and I praise him for you all.
HGRudd
It is good to be back in the office and hopefully starting to get back to normal after being at Anderson Camp Meeting and then taking a week of vacation. Anderson Camp Meeting and General Assembly meeting was filled with business worship services and a couple of meetings. It was so good to see people that I have not seen in a while and while I sat through a few hours of General Assembly it was something that needed to be done. Every year business is presented and decisions are made where a handful of people, about 400 on Tuesday, make decisions that have impact upon the greater Church of God Reformation Movement. I pray that we see more people show concern and participate in this process and that the Movement would really be able to reach our world with this great message of Christ, unity and holiness.
When we left Anderson Ruth and I went to see our children. While at James' in Indianapolis we watched our grand daughters play softball. It was a real thrill to watch Jordyn hit a home run and to watch Alexis pitch. It is hard to believe that they are growing up. Then we went to Pekin, Il and stayed with Debby and her family. Bob, our oldest son, and I played golf one day and I was thankful to have that time with him. As I look at my children it causes me to realize how much I love them and give thanks to God for them.
We got back into town on July 5 bringing 3 of our grandchildren with us. Landon is 5 years old and it is his first time with us. Camryn is 12 and Breanne is 13 and they have been with us a number of times. We have tried to make the best of it, yesterday we took them to Locust Springs and let them spend some time on the water slide then later on in the day we drove through Cherokee National Forest and went to Hot Springs, N.C. and then drove home stopping to get ice cream.
I want to thank you for giving me that opportunity to enjoy my physical family. Yet I am thankful to be back here because of each one of you. God has given me a wonderful congregation to pastor and I praise him for you all.
HGRudd
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