Category Archives: Community Impact

Rewards of Christmas

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Sunday was such a rewarding day. In the morning, the message was about how this Christ whose birth we celebrate at Christmas  removes our guilt. The message is online at the church website if you missed it or if you would like to share it with a friend. Being reminded that our guilt is gone because of Christ’s work on the cross is rewarding.

In the afternoon, I performed a funeral service for Ethel, whose son and grandson have repaired my car for the past 14 years here in Curwensville. Today, when I stopped in to see Carl he commented on the funeral — one in which the good news of Christ was presented with an eye toward Christmas — saying it was an excellent service. It’s always rewarding to present our hope in Christ and have it well-received.

In the evening, the Children’s Christmas Program was presented with many guests. It might be the best attendance we’ve had at such a service at Curwensville Alliance in years. Carrie and the rest of the leaders had worked hard, and the kids did a great job. It was well-done, entertaining, spiritually focused, and just about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in church! Experiencing that event was rewarding.

Sunday night, Laurel got the same stomach flu that many have had, so since I am almost certainly infected, I’ll be avoiding people for a couple of days. This is not rewarding.

Preparing for the Christmas Eve service and the Sunday morning to follow — that’s rewarding!

See you at 7:00 p.m. Christmas Eve!

Thankful for the Thanksgiving Service

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I am still learning — and I am thankful for that.

I say that because, at the October meeting of the Curwensville Churches, I suggested we skip the Thanksgiving Service. Attendance had dropped over the years. Different leaders were going in different directions. I was feeling kind of frustrated, and anyone in that meeting of the pastors knew it.

A few days after the meeting, Pastor Scott stopped by. His words  to me were dead on. “Steve — this is a good thing. I don’t feel like God wants us to let it die.” So we prayed about it, regrouped, and renovated it to make it a special event. And it was special.

A Day Awaits Leading Worship

The worship was led by A Day Awaits. The Curwensville Town Choir presented two special musical selections. After each pastor was introduced, Jim Bell led the people in a prayer of thanksgiving for them. Then the Curwensville Alliance Drama Team presented an amusing and thought-provoking drama before Dr. Robert Ludrowski presented his message: Turkey Wars.

The building was all but full — latecomers had trouble finding a seat.  The offering received to help the needy of Curwensville was, perhaps, the largest we’ve ever received at an event of that nature.

Afterward, the good people of Curwensville Presbyterian treated everyone to enjoy pie in their social hall.

And to think — I wanted to skip it this year.

I am still learning — and I am thankful for that.

100 Years…

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That’s how long it seems it’s been since I updated this blog. 100 years. Or more.  Lots has been happening, so proper prioritization places these updates at the end of the job queue.

Monday I went in to see Rick. He’s in good spirits and is looking better than he did last week. It’s great to see how well he communicates even though he’s not able to use speech. Don’t let the good report of his attitude and ability to communicate make you feel he’s without need for prayer. He’s still on a respirator and still in intensive care. Rick is very appreciative of the prayer support he receives from the church family. Thank you!

Tuesday, after meeting with the pastors in our community who cooperate together in the Ministerial Association, I took some time to deliver some BBQ CookOff tickets to some people in the area. They were received with gladness and it looks like they will be joining us for the CookOff. Pray that we will see a good turnout for this event. Later in the day I made a couple of visits.

There’s no cell phone service in our area today for Verizon customers. Believe it or not, that’s actually been a blessing for me. On my trip to see Gilda today, I was able to spend time alone with God, listening to great sermons on my iPod and speaking to him in prayer. Gilda is getting therapy in the State College area and is progressing quite nicely. She expects to be home in a couple of days. Praise God for the way she’s recovering.

In between times, I have been working on some small group discipleship, sermons, and some one-on-one discipleship. Each of these holds challenges and rewards. My one-on-one discipleship is pretty intense, so pray that I can dialogue well with those involved.

~Pastor Steve

Free Tozer Audio Book and More..

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I listen to a lot of audio books. It’s a great way for me to gather information while doing other tasks. If you have been on the church website, you already know this , but I’ll put it here too. www.christianaudio.com is offering a free A W Tozer audiobook in the month of July 2010. It’s really free — I already downloaded mine. So if you like audio books or always wanted to try one, grab this one. Tozer is the most well-published Alliance author ever. And one of the most published Christian authors of the 20th century. Plus, as a child, he lived in La Jose, PA.

SuperVBS is going Super! There were 137 children present in SuperVBS last night. Total enrollment of children is over 160. Please pray that the lives of the children and the workers will be impacted for Christ. The children are inviting their families to join us on Friday evening. Pray that the adults who attend would be influenced for Christ.

This week I have spent some time doing some face-to-face counseling and some “remote-counseling.” It’s amazing to me how accustomed today’s young adult is to electronic media. Telephone conversations, texts, chat, and emails are an everyday means of communication, even on deeper levels. Please pray for those I have been counseling — that the Spirit of God would use our conversations as a sanctifying influence.

One more prayer request: Please pray for a young adult who is struggling to do the right thing. Pray that God will use whatever means he needs to in this person’s life, so as to benefit those involved and glorify himself. I am sorry I cannot be more specific, but I am sure you understand. And as you pray, we can be sure God knows the situation better than I could ever explain it.

Thanks!

~Pastor Steve

Too Busy to Not Post an Entry…

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It’s hard to imagine what it would be like to have no food. And it’s hard to think of someone like that living in our own community. But early in my day, Tuesday, Pastor George called and told me of a woman who called needing food. We’ve help this person before with heat — she was heating her home with an electric oven because she had no money to buy fuel. We know her situation and know the needs are legitimate. What a blessing it is to be part of a Christian Community of Churches that cooperate together to help in these situations. Please pray for the needy in Curwensville — that as the churches help them, they will see the love of God and find faith in Christ.

My chaplain, Jim Vandervort, stopped by and took me to lunch yesterday. He grew up in Bradford, so we had lots to talk about. It was great hearing his stories and knowing that he was praying for me and the other pastors in his care. Rev. Vandervort has been having some physical problems, so if you would, pray that God will help him as he continues to minister in this important position.

I stopped by the nursing home for a visit and then spent some time in reading, listening to podcasts, and researching some doctrinal issues online. In the evening, I spend a couple of hours teaching the Baptism Bible Study to some baptism candidates. Ah — what a joy that is! Pray for those getting baptized at the end of the month — that this will be a significant milestone in their lives.

The rest of this week is swamped for me. I need to complete the minutes from the LOCC meeting last week. I’ll be helping Laurel with the technical end of preparation for the Women’s Retreat. I’ve some visits to make to some new people. I will be helping out with the seminar on Knowing God’s Will at the A Day Awaits Lock-in. And I’ll be making normal preparation for Wednesday and Sunday services. Having that kind of schedule ahead of me, I thought about not posting anything here. And then I realized — Hey, this is a prayer blog! I should post this so that people will pray. Being too busy to post an entry to a prayer blog…. wow — that’s almost as bad as being too busy to pray!

So please do — please remember all these things when you go to the Lord in prayer. Thanks!

~Pastor Steve