The Missionary Church East Central District Newsletter. Camp Meeting: Spirit-Led or Spirit Managed

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Jeff Getz, East Regional Director for the Missionary Church, challenged us right off the start to be people who are Spirit-led, allowing the Holy Spirit to dictate every aspect of our lives, rather

The Spiritled life gives up its rights to be directed in the way God sees best, while the Spirit-managed life sees life more as a 50/50 partnership with God and self coming to a series of joint

On the last night of camp, a lightning storm blew through with a bolt hitting a big ash tree, which sent tree bark flying 100 yards in all directions.

Dave DeSelm, Founding Pastor and Lead Pastor at Fellowship Missionary Church in Fort Wayne, IN, challenged campers from 1 John 5:21, Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

Marks Missionary Church in Mishawaka, Indiana, then preached a series of messages on Things that Trip Up Believers.

1 The Missionary Church East Central District Newsletter Volume 453 September 2012 Camp Meeting: Spirit-Led or Spirit Managed This year s Camp Meeting, July 21-29, 2012, was again one of those hot and sticky camps. Yet, in spite of the heat, lives were challenged and changed toward a deeper relationship with our Savior. Rev. Jeff Getz, East Regional Director for the Missionary Church, challenged us right off the start to be people who are Spirit-led, allowing the Holy Spirit to dictate every aspect of our lives, rather than Spirit-managed, which lays out parameters in which the Spirit must operate. The Spiritled life gives up its rights to be directed in the way God sees best, while the Spirit-managed life sees life more as a 50/50 partnership with God and self coming to a series of joint agreements. Life becomes a RENEW: Electrifying Our fourth annual RENEW Camp, August 2-5, 2012 was again a big success and ended with a BANG, literally. On the last night of camp, a lightning storm blew through with a bolt hitting a big ash tree, which sent tree bark flying 100 yards in all directions. While no one was hurt, the sights and sounds of that lightning strike certainly got everyone s attention. Rev. Dave DeSelm, Founding Pastor and Lead Pastor at Fellowship Missionary Church in Fort Wayne, IN, challenged campers from 1 John 5:21, Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. In a series of six messages, Dave dealt with several idols that compromise between what God wants for me and what I want for myself. Rev. John Gregory, Senior Pastor at St. Marks Missionary Church in Mishawaka, Indiana, then preached a series of messages on Things that Trip Up Believers. Those things included fear, an unforgiving spirit, distraction, poor choices, and insurmountable barriers. Dr. Dennis Engbrecht, Senior Vice President at Bethel College, taught a short history on Revival, discussing revival as seen in the Old Testament, New Testament, Reformation, in America over the last few centuries, and then as seen in the Missionary Church. (Continued on page 3.) often find themselves in the lives of a Christian (Continued on page 3.) Inside this issue: From Our District Superintendent 2 Camp Meeting Contd. 3 RENEW Contd. 3 From Our Director of District Ministries 4 Coming Events 5 Women s Fall Retreat 6 Lumberjack Retreat 6 Your District Team: Rev. Dale Leinbach, District Superintendent dalel@ecdistrict.org Rev. Jeff Gerig, Director of District Ministries jeffg@ecdistrict.org Mrs. Jean Gerig, Secretary jeang@ecdistrict.org Mrs. Wendy Dyke, Financial Secretary wendyd@ecdistrict.org District Office Information: Phone: (937) Fax: (937) Website:

2 Page 2 From Our District Superintendent Dogs or Cats The following article, written by Mike Ege, is used by permission. The more I think about it, Christianity can be divided into two categories - there is dog Christianity, and there is cat Christianity. There are significant differences in the two, and although I am not a cat lover, I believe cats are a better example of what it means to follow Christ. Bear with me as I explain. My friend John has a dog. His name is Micah the Mountain Dog. This dog is the coolest dog, simply because he is loved. John really, really loves this dog. That is about all this dog has going for him. He isn t the brightest bulb in the pack, but he sure can chase down a scary shadow! Micah seems to be the only one who can see the many invaders to his property, so he is frequently sounding the alarm - very frequently. Micah is a wonderful dog, but he is a dog, and there are certain rules of doghood that apply to all dogs. One of the big ones is that he longs desperately to please his master. And he wants rewards - as many as he can get. (Translated, that means Micah is over weight because he gets a lot of rewards.) Laura and I have this cat. His name is Willie. I can t say I am really a cat person, but this cat really gets loved by Laura and the boys. (Translated that means that Willie and I avoid each other with a cautious respect). But like all cats, there are certain rules of cathood that apply to all cats, and our cat is bound by them. One of the big ones is that he doesn t really care about what anybody else wants or thinks - he is a cat. He doesn t come when you call him, he doesn t fetch sticks, and he doesn t feel the need to put on a show to please anybody. He seems pretty content to be a cat. Dogs are a little like contemporary Christians. They think it is their job to please God, and they will do whatever spiritual gymnastics to make God happy. And if they think they have done a good job performing for God, they expect Him to be impressed and give them treats - blessings, more cool belongings or money, answers to questions, or a word from the Lord, etc. When they don t get the treats, they hear God saying bad human, baaaadd human! It is funny how you can shame a dog - you can make him feel bad simply by the tone of your voice. You can control his behavior by your pleasure or displeasure toward him. But have you ever tried to shame a cat? Sometimes as a joke, I will say to Willie you re a bad cat! You stink at fetching sticks. You re bad for shedding on the couch! And it doesn t matter what kind of voice tone I use, Willie doesn t really care what I think. He won t be shamed by me. He seems really comfortable in his own skin, and knows that he is loved and there isn t much I am going to say to him that is going to change that. As I look at Micah the Mountain Dog and Willie, I see that they are both profoundly loved. But their perceptions and experience of that love are vastly different. Micah, like all dogs, wants attention and wants to earn his love and wants to get treats even though he couldn t be more loved by his master. He thinks, on some doggy level, that he must earn his worth. So he performs accordingly. Willie the cat is the opposite. He rests in the love he is given, and doesn t feel bad about anything and doesn t feel the need to jump through hoops to get what he has already been given. He just enjoys. God doesn t need us to earn the love He has already given us. He doesn t need us to jump through performance hoops. I hate to write these words since I struggle being a cat lover, but we need to be a little more like cats and rest in the fact that we are already loved, and that we can t earn it any more, regardless of the tricks we can do. Cats simply don t care what people think of them. Wouldn t that be nice as a person in loving relationship with Jesus to not care what people thought about us? To rest in the love we have already been given without the sense that we needed to do something. I wonder what would happen if we could trust His love for us? Would we actually be able to do more in reflecting the image of God? Because if we would be willing to have our relationship with God be about His unending affection for us rather than our works based, contemporary Christian view, we might be able to live in a faith that is totally about His love, and nothing about our earning it. The last lesson I see in the story of Micah and Willie is that regardless of how they might respond to their master s love, both are profoundly loved. The love is a gift, undetermined by the response, whether the object of that love lives in it or not. So when you look in the mirror of your love relationship with the living God, is there a way you could rest in and trust the love you ve been given without tying it to your performance? Life coaches Mike and Laura Ege challenge people who are tired of shallow, ineffective faith to go beyond the brink of what they ve always known and ignite a spiritual journey full of adventure, purpose, and freedom. To learn more about living a spiritual edgeventure and sign up for a FREE series, 7 Radical Freedoms, visit their site at

Page 3 Camp Meeting Continued from page 1 Some of the special highlights of Camp Meeting included the magic and comedy of Jim Barron, an excursion and guided tour through Bruckner Nature Center, as

We were also pleased to host a Bethel College gathering and a Fort Wayne Alumni & Friends gathering after a couple of our evening services.

Pastor Chad Seabright, itinerant youth evangelist with the Nazarene Church, was our youth speaker for Journey. This year, eighty -two teens attended, with several making commitments to Christ.

Youth activities included swimming at Troy Aquatic Center, bowling at McBo s Bowling Lanes and roller skating at 36 Skate Club.

3 Page 3 Camp Meeting Continued from page 1 Some of the special highlights of Camp Meeting included the magic and comedy of Jim Barron, an excursion and guided tour through Bruckner Nature Center, as well as a Petting Zoo with buggy rides and a wild and crazy kid s carnival. We were also pleased to host a Bethel College gathering and a Fort Wayne Alumni & Friends gathering after a couple of our evening services. Other late night activities included Minute to Win It, Wii Pictionary, Match Game and Bingo, where campers competed for fun prizes for their respective street. Pastor Chad Seabright, itinerant youth evangelist with the Nazarene Church, was our youth speaker for Journey. This year, eighty -two teens attended, with several making commitments to Christ. Chad challenged the teens to be overcomers in the world in which they live. Youth activities included swimming at Troy Aquatic Center, bowling at McBo s Bowling Lanes and roller skating at 36 Skate Club. We appreciate the leadership of Pastor Brad Reineke in directing Journey. Attendance this year at Camp Meeting was down a bit this year, due most likely to the extreme heat and the storms that seemed to hit around service time. We are very grateful for the generous giving as over $28,000 was pledged or given to the camp ministry. We praise the Lord for His many blessings related to Ludlow Falls Camp and look forward to how He will use the grounds in the future. Next year s Camp Meeting is scheduled for July 20-28, 2013, with Rev. Joel DeSelm, Senior Pastor at Woodburn Missionary Church, Rev. Allen Sudmann, Senior Pastor at Davison Missionary Church in Michigan, and Dr. Marcus Warner, President of Deeper Walk International confirmed as our speakers. RENEW Continued from page 1 and how the Christian should attempt to safeguard his heart. Highlights of the week included Peter Rushton, The Reptile Man introducing the boys and girls to various reptiles, amphibians, and arachnids. The children also enjoyed a funfilled carnival on the last afternoon of camp. Next year, RENEW is scheduled for August 1-4, 2013, with Rev. David Gallimore, itinerant evangelist who travels the world to encourage, equip, and evangelize people.

4 Page 4 From Our Director of District Ministries God-Sightings This year for the Gerig Family Vacation we decided to do the cross-country road trip out to California to visit family and to enjoy the adventures of the wild west. We left two hours after RENEW ended and drove nineteen hours straight, seeing the sun rise in Colorado the next day. Our family left Ohio with two goals in mind, the first being to see license plates from all fifty states, plus the District of Columbia. We came close, but fell four states short, missing Delaware, Vermont, New Hampshire, and North Dakota. Don t people from those states travel out west? Our second goal was a bit more rewarding, to see God through His creation, which we called God sightings. Romans 1:20 tells us, For since the creation of the world God s invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Our desire was to catch glimpses here and there of God s eternal power and divine nature by what he had created throughout the western United States. Our first God sightings took place in Colorado Springs where we visited Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak, two of God s masterpieces located in the Rocky Mountains. Of course, standing on top of Pikes Peak was just breathtaking. It s purple mountain majesties inspired Katherine Lee Bates to write America the Beautiful. It was also the place that literally took your breath away, as it stands at over 14,000 feet in elevation. That s why people at the top were sucking in Oxygen in a Can, conveniently sold in the gift store. The God who created the beautiful mountains of Colorado was also the same God who supplies the oxygen we need for life. What a great reminder! At Garden at the Gods, we took in the beautiful red rock formations. It was gorgeous to behold, but it was also the place where the water pump went out in my car. Jean was the first to notice the antifreeze puddle. We had already decided as a family that because of all the unknowns of embarking on such a long trip, we wanted to put our total trust in God and never let worry take away our joy or cause a sense of panic within. Now we were being put to the test, yet our mini-crisis turned into another God sighting. We had caught the water pump soon enough and were able to get to a GMC dealership which fixed the problem and shuttled us around to our other excursions so we didn t miss a thing! What if we had had car problems driving through Kansas in the middle of the night? God certainly took care of us, not allowing us to escape a problem, but being with us through the problem, protecting us and bringing the right people across our path? Oh, by the way, its here we found our New Jersey license plate. We made our way across the high plains of Wyoming, the salt flats of Utah and the deserts of Nevada to arrive in Redding, California, where Jean s brother and family live. It was 110 degrees. People there say its a dry heat. What that means is that you don t sweat as much but you still fry out in the sun. God showed up in many ways out in California. Standing next to a Coastal Redwood or Sequoia Redwood has a way of humbling a person. I m small and this tree is BIG, so the One who created this tree must be ginormous. We brought home a redwood pinecone. It s huge! We then stood by the Pacific Ocean and marveled at how vast the ocean waters are? God does BIG really well. We then visited Old Shasta, a ghost town that sprung to life during the 1849 gold rush but soon died out in the 1880 s when the Central Pacific Railroad bypassed Shasta for Redding. I was reminded that while trees can last for hundreds, if not thousands of years, the stuff that man creates is often short lived. Check Hawaii plate off the list. We made our way through Yosemite National Forest and then ventured into Death Valley. When you have places named Deadman Pass, Hell s Gate, Starvation Canyon, Coffin Peak, Furnace Creek, and Funeral Peak, you know your kind of in a bad place. The story is told that a group of pioneers back in the gold rush days tried to take a short cut through the valley and very few made it, thus the name. We ventured down to Badwater, the lowest spot in North America at 282 feel below sea level. That day the temperature was at 120 (Continued on page 5.)

Page 5 God-Sightings Continued from page 4 degrees. Jillian summed it up best when we got out of the car and she exclaimed, I feel like death.

I was reminded that the God who takes care of animals in Hell s Gate Death Valley is the same God who takes care of me over in Troy, Ohio. Here we were just too hot to check off any more plates.

We took our kids for a drive down the strip to see the various neon lights, but often had to divert their attention from something shown on a large video screen or billboard.

For me, not a great substitute for the things we had been seeing earlier.

5 Page 5 God-Sightings Continued from page 4 degrees. Jillian summed it up best when we got out of the car and she exclaimed, I feel like death. Yet while you might think nothing lives in Death Valley, there are a wide variety of animals in the park and God takes care of them all. They find food and water somehow to sustain themselves. I was reminded that the God who takes care of animals in Hell s Gate Death Valley is the same God who takes care of me over in Troy, Ohio. Here we were just too hot to check off any more plates. Next we made our way to Las Vegas, aptly named Sin City because of its open acceptance of various forms of adult entertainment. We took our kids for a drive down the strip to see the various neon lights, but often had to divert their attention from something shown on a large video screen or billboard. I m sure God resides even in Las Vegas but the thought I took away was that Las Vegas is man s best attempt to add purpose and fun to life apart from God. For me, not a great substitute for the things we had been seeing earlier. Yet even here we met a family from Argentina that spoke little English, which gave our girls a chance to practice their Spanish. I think we were an encouragement to each other, both being so far from home. Our last big God-sighting came in the form of the Grand Canyon. Nothing can really describe the sight of seeing the sun setting to your left, a lightning storm moving in on your right, and a magnificently large canyon lighting up in shades of red below. It was amazing. As part of the girl s requirements to become Junior Park Rangers, we had to listen to a 90-minute presentation on fossils. The park ranger explained how the land had once been a sea millions of years ago and then through seismic shifts and soil erosion, we ended up with this great big canyon. I m sure some of the people were buying his story, but I was having a hard time believing it. In fact, I felt a bit silly even listening to it. This Grand Canyon had to be here because God was giving tangible evidence of His eternal power and divine nature. I was reminded that when God is taken out of the equation, man will come up with all kinds of explanations to make sense out of life. Scratch Connecticut and Massachusetts off the list. Well, we finally made it home, after 6200 miles and approximately 90 hours in the car. The last great God-sighting on our vacation our house! What a joy and blessing to be home and no one killed anyone. We all survived each other. God gave us a wonderful two-week blessing, yet his blessings continue. I came into the office on Tuesday, plopped down at my desk and looked at the pile of papers. I saw the over 450 s awaiting me. I just wanted to put my feet up, take October 1-3, 2012 Pastor Peer Network (PPN) Michindoh, Hillsdale, Michigan October 5-6, 2012 Women s Fall Retreat Hope Hotel, Fairborn October 13, 2012 Youth & Kids Quizzing Grace Missionary Church, Celina October 19-20, 2012 Lumberjack Retreat Ludlow Falls Camp a quick nap, and maybe the pile would disappear. Yet I was thankful that God had given me the ministry I have with the district. Today, as I was driving to work, a kid darted across the street right in front of me without looking. I was driving into the sun s glare and I could have easily been too slow to react, but God was there, and I was able to come to a complete stop. God protected that child from getting hit and he protected me from hitting that child. I m sure the kid was a bit scared, but hopefully he learned a valuable lesson to cross at the corner and look both ways. Anyway, my point is that God is present in our lives all the time and in many normal ways which we don t even notice. I am learning to see God not just on vacation, but in the every day routine of life. How about you? Is God a part of your everyday life? God reveals his eternal power and divine qualities to us every day. Paul tells us that they are clearly seen. When was your last Godsighting? If it s been awhile, why not make a special attempt to see God at work in your life today.

6 *Includes free lodging and meals! Registration Deadline: Wednesday, October 10, in a room $65*; 3 in a room $80*; 2 in a room $100*; 1 in a room $120* The Missionary Church East Central District 607 South Market Street Troy, Ohio U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 325 Non-Profit Organization Troy, Ohio RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Leader s Digest. Camp Dates to Move in The Missionary Church East Central District Newsletter. Inside this issue: Your District Team:

Leader s Digest. Camp Dates to Move in The Missionary Church East Central District Newsletter. Inside this issue: Your District Team: The Missionary Church East Central District Newsletter Volume 443 October 2011 Inside this issue: *includes lodging and food See the website for details. From Our District Superintendent 2 Camp Dates Contd.