The Message of Jesus Christ Blog

They Crashed…They Served

Summer is almost done, and the first run of our Crash & Serve program has wound down, and what a success it was! We had a few bumps and hiccups along the way, but overall, Crash & Serve was a tremendous success.

The Crash & Serve program was developed to offer radical hospitality to youth groups coming to our community for the purpose of serving God and serving others in our community and surrounding areas. Groups were provided with a list of mission organizations and people in the community needing help so that they were able to select projects that best suited their group. The groups stayed all over the church and worked all over Pulaski County, and one group even went as far as Grady, Arkansas to glean fields. Work was also done at Camp Aldersgate and the Arkansas Foodbank Network, roofs were repaired, homes were painted, yardwork was done, among many other projects.

Seven groups from Kansas, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas brought approximately 250 people to work here this summer and performed thousands of hours of work and service. To put it into perspective, that‟s about the same number of Ozark Mission Project campers that Lakewood has hosted over the past four years. That's a lot of service and a lot of lives impacted through Lakewood UMC to the glory of God!

When I proposed the Crash & Serve program to Richard, the Finance Committee, Trustees, and Board of Stewards, I didn't know how well it would go. I hoped for the best and thanks to staff, Sunday School classes, and various groups in the church who were so graciously flexible, this first go-round was a success, and we learned a lot for the future. The groups that I heard back from once they returned home were very grateful and appreciative of the hospitality, the facilities, and the program itself. Some are already planning to come back, and we have other churches contacting us to schedule their groups for next summer.

A big thanks to Hank Godwin for helping as we kicked off this new program and for assisting groups in finding projects and sharing OMP tools with them. Also, a huge thanks to the following folks for welcoming groups, showing them around, and helping make their stays as pleasant as possible: Kendra Leirer, Jennifer Wilson, Rachel Goodwin, Mae Kirkwood, and Sue Winkley.

Crash & Serve is not a summer-only program, but that will typically be our busiest time. So, from time to time throughout the school year you may see youth mission groups at the church or joining us in Sunday morning worship. If you would like to be a host/hostess for a group, which basically consists of welcoming the group at the church and getting them settled in and seeing them off when they leave, please contact me. It has been a great summer of Expanding the Light of Christ!

Brandon Bates
YOUth Director

Brandon in Berlin: Representing LUMC at the Global Young People's Convocation

My whirlwind July is finally over, and now my whirlwind August has begun. My July ended with my participation in the Global Young People‟s Convocation in Berlin, Germany. I was selected as one of two youth-workers to represent our eight-state South Central Jurisdiction. It was quite an honor to represent the Jurisdiction, Arkansas Conference, and especially Lakewood UMC. The Arkansas Conference probably had the largest voting delegation at the Convocation with one youth delegate and two young adult delegates, one of which being Rachel Goodwin, our summer assistant YOUth minister. Each Jurisdiction or Central Conference only received five youth delegates, five young adult delegates, and two youth-workers.

The Convocation consisted of groups formed to look over submitted legislation and to make adjustments and recommendations before sending it on to the whole body to vote on. With the legislation in front of the whole body, we could decide to pass it, with a 2/3 majority, and then send it on to General Conference in 2012 with our "stamp of approval." This was sometimes a long and arduous process as translations had to occur in four different languages. We voted on issues from resolutions on the environment and extra-judicial killings in the Philippines to making changes on stances regarding homosexuality and the structure of agencies in the UMC.

We were also able to make excursions into the city to participate in an ecumenical worship service in the Berlin Cathedral and to visit cultural sites like the Jewish Museum, two former Nazi work camps, and Potsdam. Two of the nights all of the groups divided up and went to local Methodist congregations for supper and a time of worship with members of the church, which was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip.

It was an awesome and memorable experience and I greatly appreciate this church for its support, prayers, and financial contributions (which I just found out about and am humbly grateful). Our worship times at the conference and in the churches, even in different languages, was a powerful display of the vastness and reach of God‟s grace. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions about the trip. And, I must say I was not looking forward to coming home, mainly because the high temperatures there were in the low 70s, and not in the low 100s as they are here!

Brandon Bates

The Dimensions of Life

Several movies this summer have featured the “new” 3D technology. I know that “3D” has been around for a while. Do you remember the cardboard glasses with one lens of green plastic and the other of red? I remember when “King Kong” came out in 3D. It created some buzz.

Now, the technology has improved. You still have to wear the glasses, but they are not colored anymore. Somehow they use a digital technique to create 3D now.

This “third dimension” is the dimension of depth. No longer is the image just flat, vertical and horizontal. Objects appear to move from the screen towards the viewer. Or, the viewer finds themselves experiencing the “roller-coaster” effect of being “in the scene” as objects appear to move past.

The experience of 3D in the movie theatre is quite different than the regular 2D presentation – sometimes including physical sensations! – all because of the dimension of depth.

Faith increases the dimension of depth in life. Sometimes we live superficially. We get in a rut. We busily move from event to event in our busy culture, often not experiencing the dimension of depth that God means for us to experience.

I invite you to set aside 3 Sundays (August 15, 22, 29) for 3D. We will be exploring the dimension of depth in all 3 of our services. Just as the new technology of 3D changes how we view a movie, 3D faith will change how you see your life.

Make a commitment as we prepare for the beginning of school: 3D faith!

Rev. Richard Lancaster

“In the Know”

    “In the know.”
    Someone said English is the most difficult language in the world because we have so many expressions that don’t literally make sense or are logically impossible.
    Like the phrase, “in a rut.” Does it mean we are literally in a ditch? Or, “I am blue.” Everyone knows it means someone is a little depressed or gloomy. It doesn’t really mean I am the color blue.
    “In the know” means I have the inside information, that “I know what is going on.”
    So, to keep all of you “in the know” please note the following:

• We will worship in Wesley Hall at 9:45 a.m. in one service on Sunday July 4. “A Holy Day Trumps a Holiday” – Rev. Cindy Russell (see last week’s Steeple!)
• Vacation Bible School is July 12th – 15th, 9:00 – 11:45. We will make a special effort to support the Gardner Food Pantry during the month of July by bringing packages of Rice and Dry Beans each week. The Food Pantry is very low and demand for food is increasing. Our children learn about Africa and the Baobab tree. They will learn key words each day: TRUST, CARE, FOLLOW, SHARE. Rice and beans are also traditional foods in Africa. Let’s join our children: “Gardner Food Pantry puts their TRUST in us to help them CARE for the people of Arkansas. Let’s listen and FOLLOW Jesus and SHARE what we have with others.” – Rochelle Gray, Children’s Coordinator
• Our church has been blessed by the presence of OMP this week and Crash and Serve throughout the summer. “With deeds of love and mercy the heavenly Kingdom comes!”
• There will be a Special Edition Steeple next week. Watch your mailbox and read it. It has information that will assure that you and everyone are “in the know.”

I will see you Sunday as we celebrate our freedom in Christ!

Rev. Richard Lancaster

A Holy Day Trumps a Holiday

Recently, I have had a few people ask me if we were having church on the 4th of July because the 4th of July actually falls on a Sunday this year.  We even had the same question a few years back when December 25th fell on a Sunday and some churches canceled services because Christmas Day was on a Sunday.  I am totally and completely perplexed by this notion that we should cancel worship because of holidays.  Some of the holidays wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for the fact that of the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Why would we cancel worship on the one day set aside to observe the birth of Jesus?  Crazy.

Let’s just really think about this.  I can’t think of one Christian, national, or secular holiday that came before the birth of Christ.  The only exception would be Jewish holidays and feasts.  Early Christians celebrated the Sabbath on Sundays because of the resurrection of Christ on a Sunday.  Every Sunday is considered a little Easter.  So technically, the Sabbath is a holy day that trumps every other holiday.  The 4th Commandment tells us in Exodus 20:8 – Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.  It doesn’t say remember the Sabbath day, except for holidays.  John Wesley tells us in his commentary on Exodus 20:

The fourth Commandment concerns the time of worship; God is to be served and honored daily; but one day in seven is to be particularly dedicated to His honor and glory and dedicated to His service.  God sanctified and blessed a seventh day from the beginning of time.  God has given us the example of rest after six days of work; God rested and took complacency in Himself, and rejoiced in the work of His hand.  Through God’s example, God teaches us on this day to rest and take complacency in Him, and to give God the glory of His works in creation.

So, YES, we will have worship on Sunday, July 4th to honor God, to take part in the beauty of creation, and to celebrate the liberty and freedom we enjoy in this great land.  We're having one service, at 9:45 a.m., casual dress with special music and holy communion. My message will be “The Predicament of Freedom.”  The service will be followed by an Ice Cream Social and Meet and Greet for our new Associate Pastor, Rev. Andrea Allen

I encourage all of you to take time for Sabbath this Summer.  I’m pretty sure that God will meet you wherever you are!  

                                    (Off my soap box now!!)  Rev. Cindy H. Russell