the newsletter of the southern maryland emmaus community€¦ · the reunion group listing is...
TRANSCRIPT
On the Right Path The News let ter of the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity
First Quarter, 2012 Walk In the Light Vol ume 12 Is sue 1
More than 10 years ago, whenI stepped in to as sume the ed -it ing re spon si bil i ties for theSouth ern Mary land EmmausNews let ter, I strug gled to find
a name that would be mean ing ful to our pur pose as a com mu -nity. “On the Path” seemed very ap pro pri ate to an or ga ni za tionthat was the em bodi ment of the Emmaus ex pe ri ence. To day,as I write this, I am won der ing if we are still on that path.
You’re al ready ask ing, I’m sure, who is this guy, and what’s heknow about our com mu nity. That’s a fair ques tion, and so, justa brief back ground sketch for you. I was a pil grim on South ernMary land Emmaus Walk #1. It was for me lit er ally a life-chang -ing ex pe ri ence. I know that is said by many, and I can’t speakfor them, but I made ma jor changes in the di rec tion of my life asa re sult of that walk. So in fused with the spirit of the walk and anew found re la tion ship with God was I, that I found my selfteam ing on Walk #3, and many sub se quent walks af ter that. Ihave served in ev ery po si tion avail able to lay team mem bers,in clud ing Lay Di rec tor. I also served sev eral terms on theBoard of Di rec tors and as co or di na tor of the 4th Day Sem i nar for sev eral years.
Many of you, I know, have had sim i lar ex pe ri ences to mine, and there fore, must share my con cern for the fu ture vi a bil ity of ourcom mu nity. We have moved, it seems, from a com mu nity thatwas able to com fort ably sup port two walks in the spring and two in the fall, to one which now strug gles to or ga nize even one peryear. We have seen re cent walks cancelled due to a lack of pil -grim ap pli ca tions, and there is gen u ine con cern about our abil -ity to con duct walks in the com ing year. An Emmauscom mu nity can not sur vive with out a vi brant and ac tive sched -ule of walks.
Community Gathering
March 17th, at Good Shep herd UMC305 East Smallwood DriveWal dorf, Mary land.20602
Morn ing Gath er ingBreak fast at 8:00 a.m.
Gath er ing 9 - 10:30 a.m.
Gath er ings held the 3rd Sat ur dayof each month
If you need child care for the Gath er -ings, please con tact Janet Goodwin [email protected] or phone301-737-4070.
Check www.somdemmaus.com for up dates!
Con tin ued on page 3
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Fall Walks - 2012 - West River
Men’s Walk # 41 - November 1 - 4 Women’s Walk # 42 - November 8 - 11
Make plans to at tend the com mu nity events for each walk:Thurs day - Spon sor’s Hour - 7:00 p.m. Sat ur day - Can dle light - 8:00 p.m.
Sunday - Closing - 4:00 p.m.
Sign up to pray forour walks (and oth ers)
on line at:www.3dayol.org
Pil grim and Team Ap pli ca tions and this news let ter may be down loaded from theweb at www.somdemmaus.com
CLICK on “Doc u ment, Lists and News let ters”
Recurring Events of the Southern Maryland Emmaus Community
Next Gath er ing - March 17, at Good Shep herd United Meth od ist Church Break fast at 8:00 a.m. Gath er ing 9 - 10:30 a.m.
Spe cial Morn ing Gath er ing - watch your e-mail for fur ther information
4th Day Sem i nars
Sem i nars are held in the spring and in the fall fol low ing the men’s and women’s walks. The next sem i nar date willbe No vem ber 17. At ten dance at a 4th Day Sem i nar is re quired in or der to spon sor pil grims , and highly rec om -mended for those who wish to team.
This Week: 02/12/2012
Emmaus Com mu nity Stats
51 Week ends in 18 States and 2 Coun tries 34 Women's Week ends and 17 Men's Week ends
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On the Right PathDead line for next is sue is April 1, 2012. The pre ferred method of sub mis sion is as an MSWord doc u ment file or a WordPerfect file (.rtf file also ac cept able) sent via-e-mail tothe fol low ing ad dress: [email protected]. Very short ar ti cles or notes may besent in the body of the e-mail mes sage. Please send your com ments and rec om men -da tions as well to the ed i tor, Dan Brennan, at the e-mail ad dress above.
"On the Right Path" is pub lished by the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity. Dan Brennan Ed i tor.
Are we “on a path” that might lead to our com mu nity dis -band ing? The symp toms are be gin ning to ap pear: at -ten dance at gath er ings is down; pil grim ap pli ca tionsare dwin dling; re union groups are fewer and less ac -tive; in ter est in serv ing in lead er ship po si tions on theBoard of Di rec tors is dis ap pear ing.
There are no easy an swers to the ques tion of why those symp toms are ap pear ing, but there are ar eas we needto look at closely. Have the na ture of our walkschanged? Are we do ing things dif fer ently? Are we fol -low ing the guide lines for se lec tion of pil grim can di -dates? Is our Team se lec tion pro cess work ing? Is ourTeam train ing pro gram cre at ing ef fec tive teams? Arewe re ceiv ing suf fi cient sup port from those pas tors whohave been on walks? Are we fol low ing the EmmausCanon as we pre pare for walks? Are pil grims on ourwalks be ing given the same op por tu ni ties to ex pe ri ence a new re la tion ship with Christ as we were when wewere “on the path”? Have we be come too fo cused onthe or ga ni za tional as pects of be ing a com mu nity? Should our at ten tion be di rected more to wards mak ing
our walks the spir i tual oc ca sions they are in tended tobe?
Right now, your Board of Di rec tors is grap pling withthese and other ques tions as they look to re vi tal ize thecom mu nity, but the an swers ul ti mately will have tocome from each of us as broth ers and sis ters in thiscom mu nity of faith. If South ern Mary land Emmaus is tocon tinue, we need to help the Board an swer theseques tions. And we need to step up as spon sors, asmem bers of a team, as can di dates for the Board of Di -rec tors, and as peo ple who have been blessed by ourown 4th Day ex pe ri ences.
Will we be “on the path” next year, or sim ply re mem ber -ing nos tal gi cally the way things were?
With this edi tion of our news let ter we have changed thename to "On the Right Path". Let's stay on that path.
Dan BrennanEd i tor, “On the Right Path”
On the Right Path con tin ued from page 1
HELP Wanted
Eat ers needed for our Gath er ing's Pot Luck Din ners.
Re quire ments:
Must be able to lift a spoon or fork while op er at ing a ta ble knife with the other hand
Must love a va ri ety of foods, good com pany, and be able to ef fec tively han dle sec ond help ings
Help ful but not re quired:
Like to have fun, tell jokes, and share sto ries.
Walkins wel come the 3rd Sat ur day of ev ery month
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Southern Maryland Emmaus - Leadership & Service
Per sonal in for ma tion con tained in this news let ter is in tended for Emmausac tiv i ties only, and will not be re leased to other or ga ni za tions for any rea son.
On The Right Path
Is the news let ter of theSouth ern Mary land EmmausCom mu nity. Pub lished 4times a year (Feb ru ary, May,Au gust, No vem ber) bye-mail, dis trib uted by thePoint of Con tact for each par -tic i pat ing church, hard copymailed, and avail able on theSouth ern Mary land Emmauswebsite.
South ern Mary land Emmausis af fil i ated with the In ter na -tional Emmaus Move ment ofThe Up per Room, Nash ville,Tn. Emmaus is a pro gram of -fer ing of Up per Room Min is -tries of the United Meth od istChurch. Our pur pose is to in -spire, chal lenge, and equipchurch mem bers for Chris -tian Ac tion.
Please con tact the POC foryour church as listed in thisnews let ter if you are not re -ceiv ing the news let ter.
Rick Pitonyak Com mu nity Lay Di rec tor/Chair
Ka ren Smith As sis tant Comm. LD/Vice Chair/Facilities
Musicladykaren@ya hoo.com
June Fauber
Past Community Lay Di rec tor/[email protected]
Con nie WellsSec re tary/Historian
Linda Horty Trea surer
June Fauber Com mu nity Events Co or di na tor
Rich Ulrey
As sis tant Events Co or di na torrich [email protected]
Ken Cain Com mu ni ca tions/Directory
ken.cain@cap i taltristate.com
Ca thy Lavoie Reg is trar/Pil grim Selection
Rich Ulrey
As sis tant Reg is trar/Pil grim Se lec tionRich [email protected]
Steve Larsen Spir i tual Di rec tor
steve049@ya hoo.com
Va cant
As sis tant Spir i tual Di rec tor
Brenda Smith-Thomas Spon sor ship/Re union Groups/Fourth Day
Sheila Hanson Team Se lec tion Chair
Joe Hegedus Assistant Team Se lec tion
Ka ren Smith Mu sic Di rec tor
musicladykaren@ya hoo.com
Jane Elliott
Agape Co or di na [email protected]
Shiela Hansen
As sis tant Agape [email protected]
Prayer Co or di na tor
The Ros ter of the Board of Di rec tors is al ways avail able on our website
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Southern Maryland Emmaus Community Reunion & Accountability Groups
The Re union Group list ing is tem po rarily un avail able while the coordinator, BrendaSmith-Thomas, is in the pro cess of ob tain ing up dated in for ma tion on Re union Groups inthe com mu nity. Pub li ca tion will re sume shortly. Mean while, check with your church'sPOC (page 6) for in for ma tion on meet ings for your church.
www.somdemmaus.com
Visit our website. No need to reg is ter at our new website as no per sonal in for ma tion is main tained.
Hello SouthernMarylandEmmausI pray that this news let terfinds all of you en joy ing thismild win ter we have had sofar! Most, if not all, of you
have re ceived a let ter sent out from me with team andpil grim ap pli ca tions ex plain ing the cur rent con di tion ofSouth ern Mary land Emmaus (SME). Since this let terwent out I have re ceived a few phone calls and emailswith ex pres sions of con cern and the de sire to spon sorpil grims for our fall walks. This is most en cour ag ing andI pray we have an over abun dance of pil grims andwould there fore need to start work in the fall to haveSpring 2013 Walks!
We are in the pro cess of talk ing to pro spec tive Week -end Lay Di rec tors for the Fall 2012 Walks and I will an -nounce those as soon as I can con firm the can di dates.Now is the time to sub mit your team ap pli ca tion. Myprayer is also to have an over abun dance of team ap pli -ca tions to be able to eas ily staff the teams for each ofthe walks.
Our Jan u ary Gath er ing was well at tended con sid er ingthe poor weather and this is also en cour ag ing. We hadthe Good Shephard UMC band as our mu sic for theeve ning as well as a talk on Pi ety, with em pha sis onprayer, by Ka ren Smith. There was much sing ing and
lots of prayers for our needs and the needs of the com -mu nity, teams, and pil grims.
SME is host ing the “North east Re gional Lead er ship De -vel op ment Train ing” on Sat ur day, March 3rd, at La Plata UMC in La Plata. The train ing will be from 9 – 5 and isopen to ev ery one in the com mu nity. As Board Mem -bers, we are re quired to at tend this train ing at leastonce dur ing our term in of fice. This is a great op por tu -nity to see our re gional Emmaus rep re sen ta tives andlearn all about Emmaus.
In clos ing, I am re ally en cour aged that there are a lot ofyou out there who are scream ing, “NO! We don’t wantSouth ern Mary land Emmaus to shut down!” Keep thefaith and get those pil grim and team ap pli ca tions sub -mit ted and we won’t be shut ting down. Keep pray ing. Iam con stantly re minded to pray, and pray, and thenpray some more.
YBIC,
Rick PitonyakCom mu nity Lay Di rec torSouth ern Mary land Emmaus
The theme for our February Gathering was “Agape – A Sign of God’s Love.” We made Agape for the Fall Walks as well as some to take home with you. Connie Wells gave a short talk on “Agape Love”. We also had a guest band from South Potomac Church. This was a great Gathering and I pray that you were able to take the time to attend.
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Southern Maryland Emmaus - Prayer Points of Contact
Bowie UMC Mary Browne [email protected]
Cal vary UMC Dawn Townsend [email protected]
Ce dar Grove UMC Jacque Benjamin [email protected]
Chicamuxen UMC Ches ter Willett [email protected]
Em man uel Bap tist Dick Fogg [email protected]
Em man uel UMC Ed Plotts [email protected]
Dahlgren UMC Rob ert Kertesz [email protected]
Clinton UMC June Fauber [email protected]
Corkran UMC Vacant
Faith Bi ble Church Wendy Headrick [email protected]
First Saints Com mu nity Church Wendy Headrick [email protected]
Faith UMC (Rockville) Cindy Mat ter [email protected]
First UMC (Lau rel) Dave Meixner [email protected]
Glenn Dale UMC Kay Smith [email protected]
Good Shep herd UMC Linda Flanagan [email protected]
Bethel UMC Jan Holmes [email protected]
In dian Head UMC Sa rah Miller [email protected]
La Plata UMC Bonnie Thomp son [email protected]
Leonardtown Bap tist Church Wendy Headrick [email protected]
Liv ing Springs Don Rich ard son [email protected]
Lexington Park UMC Kathie Wright [email protected]
Marbury Bap tist Church Denise McConnell [email protected]
Mt. Zion UMC John Carns [email protected]
New Life Wes leyan Church Dona Bat ten [email protected]
Olivet UMC Bob Bohn [email protected]
Prov i dence/Ft. Wash ing ton UMC Rich Weaver [email protected]
St. Paul UMC (Lusby) Everett Baker [email protected]
Shiloh UMC Peggy Ire land [email protected]
Smithville UMC Kathy Massaro [email protected]
South Po to mac Church P.J. Pitonyak [email protected]
Trin ity UMC Linda Horty [email protected]
Trin ity Bap tist Vacant
Wa ters Me mo rial UMC Nancy Massie [email protected]
If your church is not listed, please vol un teer to be the Prayer POC. Send your name,
e-mail ad dress, and tele phone num ber to [email protected]
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Southern Maryland Emmaus Community Notification
of Change to the BYLAWS
Due to the an nounce ment of the pos si bil ity of South ern Mary land Emmaus (SME) clos ing as of Jan u ary 1, 2013the Board of Di rec tors has voted to ex tend our term in of fice six months. As a re sult of this, the new Terms of of -fice shall be gin Jan u ary 1 and shall ter mi nate De cem ber 31. The Board felt that with the pos si bil ity of SME end ing at the end of this year, it is not in our best in ter est to hold elec tions un til later in the year, once we know that SMEwill con tinue.
As a re sult, the BYLAWS need to change. The cur rent BYLAWS state:
ARTICLE IV. BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Sec tion 3. Term of Of fice
c) Terms of of fice shall be gin July 1 and shall ter mi nate June 30, ex cept for of fi cers who shall serve un til elec tionof new of fi cers in July as pro vided in Sec tion 5.
d) Nom i na tions for the board elec tions shall be made at the May Board meet ing. Any mem ber of the Com mu nitymay sub mit po ten tial nom i na tions.
e) Board elec tions will be held at the June Gath er ing of the Com mu nity, with bal lots printed for the June News let -ter.
The Change will state:
c) Terms of of fice shall be gin Jan u ary 1 and shall ter mi nate De cem ber 31, ex cept for of fi cers who shall serve un til elec tion of new of fi cers in Jan u ary as pro vided in Sec tion 5.
d) Nom i na tions for the board elec tions shall be made at the Oc to ber Board meet ing. Any mem ber of the Com mu -nity may sub mit po ten tial nom i na tions.
e) Board elec tions will be held at the No vem ber Gath er ing of the Com mu nity, with bal lots printed for the No vem -ber News let ter.
Ar ti cle VII. Amendments in the BYLAWS state:
Pro posed amend ments may be pre sented to the Board by any mem ber of the Board one (1) month in ad vance ofcon sid er ation by the Board. If the amend ments are voted in the af fir ma tive by a three-fourths (3/4) vote they willbe cir cu lated to the mem ber ship by the Com mu nity News let ter and if no pe ti tions signed by at least twenty-five(25) com mu nity mem bers ob ject ing to the new amend ments are re ceived, the amend ments will be con sid eredadopted. Any ob jec tions must be re ceived within sixty (60) days of the mail ing of the no ti fi ca tion. If an ob jec tionpe ti tion is re ceived the amend ment will be con sid ered voided. If the Board then wishes to sub mit the amend mentto the en tire Com mu nity for a vote it may do so. A ma jor ity or plu ral ity of votes cast by com mu nity will de cide themat ter.
The Board con sid ered this change in Oc to ber and voted in the af fir ma tive at our No vem ber Board Meet ing. TheCom mu nity is no ti fied as of this news let ter and if you have an ob jec tion, have sixty (60) days from the date of thismail ing.
Take care and God Bless, Rick PitonyakCom mu nity Lay Di rec tor
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Ken's
Perspective
Ken Cain,Com mu ni ca tions
I heard some rum blingsin our Emmaus Com -
mu nity that I would like to speak to you about. Theyrange from gloom and doom to what’s ev ery one wor ried about? As you all know you have been re ceiv ing amonthly let ter, pos si bly 2 or 3 al ready. You can ex pectthis will con tinue. These are com mu ni ca tions from each in di vid ual board mem ber on a monthly ba sis ex press ing their views, in di vid ual con cern and po si tion on the fu -ture of our mass com mu nity.
Each of us has to ap proach the sit u a tion based on ourown per sonal per spec tive life ex pe ri ences and in di vid -ual walk with God. My own per sonal po si tion for thosearound me is that if you do not be lieve the Emmauscom mu nity should con tinue, if you be -lieve its time has come and gone andwe should now be mov ing on to othermis sions of more im por tance andmore relevance to our to our cur rentsit u a tions, that does not make you abad Chris tian or bad per son. It is sim -ply your point of view.
I would like to share my own per spec tive. Most of my life ex pe ri ences prior to com ing to Christ and even af terthat most won der ful mo ment in my life are based on mybusi ness ex pe ri ence. I’ve worked a lot of dif fer entplaces and had lots of jobs rang ing from as sem bly linesto se nior man age ment. In hind sight the as sem bly lineswere al ways more im por tant to the com pa nies than these nior man age ment. I have helped open some busi -nesses and I have been a sig nif i cant par tic i pant in clos -ing some. Busi nesses like any thing else have lifecyclesand some times it is time to fold the tent and move on. Iwant to make one clar i fi ca tion be yond the point thatfold ing the tent is pain ful, and ev ery body knows that.Peo ple will tell you that busi nesses close for lack ofmoney and fi nan cial re sources or cap i tal iza tion (what -ever you want to call it), or poor man age ment de ci sions. These ex pla na tions are sel dom true. What usu allycauses busi nesses to fold is that peo ple give up. Theboard, the own ers, the se nior per son nel, the em ploy ees just draw the con clu sion that this is too hard, too muchwork and no body re ally wants to do this any more. Thatis why most busi nesses are never sold and never make
it past the third-gen er a tion of fam ily-owned man age -ment.
So let me tie this back to Emmaus. My first thought isthat this is an in di vid ual choice be tween you and God.There is no right or wrong de ci sion. If you feel God hascalled you in other di rec tions and not to sup port theEmmaus com mu nity, then that is not any one’s place tojudge. Let me go back to my anal ogy of busi ness forjust a sec ond. When busi nesses are fold ing there aregen er ally lots of peo ple that think the busi ness will sur -vive with out them. They don’t think their in di vid ual con -tri bu tion is all that im por tant. They think if they don’tshow up to meet ings and they don’t par tic i pate inevents, or var i ous func tions it will all be fine. They be -lieve that some one else will step up to the plate. Thattends to be the pre dom i nant think ing right be fore theend.
The point I’m driv ing at is sim ply this. My fear is you’reget ting these let ters and your think ing it’s all go ing to begood be cause enough peo ple will step up and your par -
tic i pa tion is not all that im por tant. Ifyou’re think ing that you’re not the onethat needs to be in a small group,spon sor a Pil grim, be on the team,show up for the can dle light, the clos -ing ses sion, or be one of those issing ing the Saints are march ing in be -cause some body else will do it, I canonly tell you his tor i cally that is not
what I’ve seen.
So let me give you one more busi ness anal ogy. Peo plea lot smarter than me wrote this book sev eral years ago, "22 Rules of Mar ket ing". The first rule is to do some -thing, any thing, and do it now. Time grows very short for our com mu nity, No vem ber seems like it’s a long wayaway but it’s not. It’s also not too late for our com mu nity. There is time if we do it now, not next week, not nextmonth, but now. So I ask each of you my Chris tianbroth ers and sis ters to do some thing.
For my part, I will pray that you are not think ing that it will be okay, that some body else will do it, and that we won’t miss your pres ence. Be cause if you are in fact think ingthat my Chris tian friend, you’re wrong.
I do not have a clever way to close this ar ti cle so I willsim ply say God Bless You.
DeColoresKen Cain
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Leadership Development Training is Coming to Southern Maryland!!
Have fond mem o ries of your Pil grim Walk toEmmaus? Or of a Walk week end dur ing which youserved on Team? Want to re live that up lift ing senseof grat i tude and pur pose? Want to learn more ofwhat it takes to put on a Walk week end or to serve on the Board of Di rec tors? Then mark your cal en dars to at tend, or help with, the Lead er ship De vel op menttrain ing be ing hosted by the South ern Mary landEmmaus Com mu nity on March 3, 2012, at La PlataUnited Meth od ist Church.
Mem bers of the North east Re gional Emmaus/Chrys -a lis Lead er ship Team will be com ing to our Com mu -nity to hold a one-day train ing ses sion for both Clergy and La ity. This train ing is re quired for new Boardmem bers, but is also open to any one with a de sire tobe more in volved in their Emmaus Com mu nity andwith the Walk to Emmaus week end. It’s a fun daythat will re new your sense of com mit ment to be ingthe hands and feet of Je sus.
Like all Emmaus events, the day opens with mu sic. Train ing ses sions are then spaced out over thecourse of the day, along with Holy Com mu nion,lunch, and of course, those “we have <this> muchtime” breaks. For most of the day, Clergy and La itywill at tend sep a rate ses sions, and the fi nal ses sion
will break out for a or ga ni za tional re view of ei ther theEmmaus or Chrys a lis week end.
Come and join us! Fel low ship with other Emmausmem bers, help re vi tal ize your Com mu nity, and mostof all, learn more about al low ing God to work throughyou to “make dis ci ples of all na tions”. We’ll alsoneed agape love ex pressed through tak ing care ofthose at tend ing, pro vid ing lunch, morn ing mu sic, and other as sis tance to wel come our guests and maketheir day en joy able and mean ing ful. Be on the look -out for more de tails to come. DeColores!
First Quarter Community Events
I greet ev ery one in the name of our Lord and Sav ior, Je sus the Christ! My name is June Fauber. I wor ship atClinton United Meth od ist Church and walked on West Vir ginia #54 and sat at the Ta ble of Cor ner stone ofChrist. This year I am the Com mu nity Events Co or di na tor on the Board. I fol low Carol Barton in that role. She’s a hard per son to fol low as she did such a su perb job last year. Thanks Carol for all your hard work andcare in guid ing the Com mu nity’s events.
For those of you that braved the weather in Jan u ary to at tend our gath er ing, we are most grate ful. We had aturn out of nearly 40 and ev ery one had a great time. Feb ru ary's gath er ing was also some thing to re mem ber,with over 70 in at ten dance, we made Agape, sang, prayed, had one fan tas tic pot luck din ner and went homefeel ing that the Holy Spirit had touched our lives.
Would n't you like to get that feel ing of shar ing God’s love with oth ers even be fore the fall walks? Here is yourop por tu nity to be gin and to get reenergized for this New Year. Come join us on March 17 at 8 AM, that’s right Isaid 8 AM, for the most fan tas tic break fast you have ever had, cour tesy of Good Shep herd United Meth od istChurch. Noth ing to bring, no pot luck this time, ev ery thing will be ready for you to en joy a meal with your fam ilyand any one else you would like to bring. We will have a short ser vice and be gone by 9:30 AM. You re ally don’twant to miss this gath er ing and the chance to ex pe ri ence fellowship, the Holy Spirit, and the love of our Godthrough our Sav ior Je sus Christ.
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Serving as the Body of Christ
By Ka ren Smith
Most of us have prob a bly been pleas antly sur prised byall the warm weather this win ter, or least warmerweather. As pleas ant as that has been, I know I per son -ally would n’t want to be sleep ing out side, even in niceweather, but sadly that is a re al ity many peo ple andfam i lies in our world, coun try and even our com mu nityface ev ery day. Thank fully, Life Styles of South ernMary land is an or ga ni za tion try ing to help these in di vid -u als, by or ga niz ing and of fer ing a pro gram called SafeNights.
Safe Nights co or di nates with lo cal churches to pro videbreak fast, a packed lunch, din ner and a safe place tostay through the cold win ter months. Safe Nights pro -vides cots and a staff mem ber to spend the night. Theweek of Jan u ary 14th-21st, Trin ity Bap tist Church hosted Safe Nights. Last year, a cou ple of mem bers from Cal -vary UMC sim ply went to help serve din ner one eve ning and break fast one morn ing. This year we re ceived acall ask ing if we could pre pare a cou ple of the meals, aswell as serve.
Cal vary’s Friend ship Club ar rived Tues day eve ning,with meatloaf, scal lop po ta toes and green beans. Theyhad some un ex pected help from some mem bers of Good Shep herd UMC, who have been ac tive par tic i -pants in this pro gram for sev eral years.
Sat ur day broughtsnow, ice and freez -ing rain and mem -bers of Cal vary’sOut reach Com mit -tee slid ing into thepark ing lot be tween5:30 and 6:00 in themorn ing with break -fast cas se roles andfruit sal ads in hand. Some even ar rived early enough to help a cou ple mem bers from Trin ity pre pare and packlunches!
This is just one ex am ple of many ar eas we are called tobe Christ’s hands and feet. What was even more awe -some about this ex am ple is that we were truly work ingto gether as the Body of Christ…no de nom i na tional bar -ri ers, just fel low Chris tians (from at least 3 churches)work ing to gether to meet the needs of those less for tu -nate and share the love of Christ.
My les son/chal lenge to each of you is two fold: 1) Keepyour eyes open for op por tu ni ties to serve as Christ’shands and feet, and 2) When you find one of these op -por tu ni ties, don’t be afraid to in clude oth ers. We’re allpart of the body of Christ, each serv ing a unique andspe cial pur pose, and some times we might need an ex -tra hand or foot.
Looking for a Few Body Parts
Team for ma tion is be gin ning very soon for the men andwomen Fall Walks and we need many parts of the bodyof Christ to form these teams. Did you know that eachper son serv ing on a team has spe cific roles and as sign -ments that are nec es sary for each pil grim on a Walk tore ceive love and hos pi tal ity?
Pil grims will see ex am ples of un con di tional love, co op -er a tion, at ten tion to de tail, obe di ence, and re spon si bil -ity as team mem bers re late to one an other and workto gether as the body of Christ jour ney ing along the road to Emmaus. This also helps pil grims to be gin de vel op -ing the same qual i ties to use on their Fourth Day ac -cord ing to the love of Christ. The Walk to Emmausin spires us to be come a more faith ful dis ci ple, an ac tivechurch mem ber, and one who seeks op por tu ni ties to
ex press faith in lov ing acts of servanthood. Are you abody part ready to share your qual i ties and to serve?
Did you know there is a “one-third rule” in form ingteams? One third of the team will be mem bers whohave never served in the con fer ence room. One thirdwill be mem bers who have served up to three times andthe re main ing one third are team vet er ans. This pro -vides an op por tu nity to in cor po rate new team mem bersand to move ex pe ri enced team mem bers into lead er -ship roles. Are you a body part ready to be chal lenged,sup ported, and to grow?
Are you ready to be a part of Christ’s body by serv ing on
an Emmaus Walk?
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My name is Con nie Wells; I at tend Lexington ParkUnited Meth od ist Church. I walked on SME #28 andsat at the ta ble of Na omi (clap). It was dur ing mywalk that I was in tro duced to the de vo tional book“JESUS CALLING” by Sa rah Young. The per sonwho pre sented the Growth Thru Study talk sug -gested the book and said it was one of her fa vor ites. On my first team re treat week-end, the WLD usedJe sus Call ing as a de vo tional and again, highly rec -om mended we each get a copy. I or dered my copyand did n’t think any thing more about it.
Sev eral weeks later I re ceived a call at work from mysis ter say ing that she had breast can cer and it wasstage 4. What a shock – why her? Had n’t our fam ilysuf fered enough? I was n’t too happy with God as I
drove home that eve ning. In the mail box wait ing forme was my copy of Je sus Call ing. Check out Oc to -ber 14 the day I got the news of my sis ter’s can cerand the day I re ceived my book – “Be pre pared tosuf fer for Me, in my Name. All suf fer ing has mean ing in My king dom. Pain and prob lems are op por tu ni ties to dem on strate your trust in Me. Bear ing your cir -cum stances bravely —-even thank ing Me for them” Boy have I missed the mark! Thank ing God or trust -ing Him was FAR from my thoughts. God has such a sense of hu mor and gen tle way of get ting my at ten -tion.
Since that day 3 years ago, I have given over 3dozen Je sus Call ing de vo tional books to fam ily andfriends. Each time the re sponse is “This book isspeak ing right to me and what I’m ex pe ri enc ing”; or“It’s as if she wrote to day’s de vo tional just for me”.
I en cour age you to pick up a copy. Each daily de vo -tion takes less than 5 min utes to read and gives you2 or 3 scrip ture verses to look up that ex pound on the thought for the day. I’d love to know what YOU thinkof JESUS CALLING!
Timeline for form ing teams:
April 10 - Dead line to re ceive ap pli ca tions
April 13 – 19 - Team Se lec tion Com mit tee meets to re -view ap pli ca tions and po ten tial roles
April 21- Names pro vided to the Board for ap proval
April 22 - Names pro vided to the Week end Lay Di rec -tors to be gin call ing po ten tial team mem bers
Late June – Oct Team meet ings and train ing
For as in one body we have many mem bers, and not allthe mem bers have the same func tion, so we, who aremany, are one body in Christ, and in di vid u ally we aremem bers one of an other. We have gifts that dif fer ac -cord ing to the grace given to us. Romans 12:4-6
If you are prayer fully con sid er ing team ingfor the fall 2012 Walks, you can down loadteam ap pli ca tions from the South ern Mary -land Emmaus website atwww.somdemmaus.com. Mail your com -pleted and signed ap pli ca tion to South ernMary land Emmaus, P.O. Box 1242,Leonardtown, MD 20650. You can alsoemail an elec tronic ver sion of your team ap -pli ca tion to Sheila Hanson [email protected] fol low ing up withmail ing your signed ap pli ca tion. If the teamcost is dis suad ing you from ap ply ing,please note that schol ar ships are avail ableto as sist in pay ing for the team cost of aWalk.
Christ is Count ing on You!
“Walk in the Light” - South ern Mary land EmmausVisit us on the web at www.somdemmaus.com
Luke 24:32
In for ma tion on the South ern Mary land Walk to Emmaus, as well aspil grim and team ap pli ca tions may be found on our website:
www.somdemmaus.com
On the Right Path1005 Nor folk DriveLa Plata, Md. 20646
Time Sen si tive Material
"Were not our hearts burning within us while He wasspeaking to us on the road, while He was explaining
the Scriptures to us?”