On the Right Path The News let ter of the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity Fourth Quar ter, 2013 Walk In the Light Vol ume 13 Is sue 4 Keeping the Fire Alive Da vid Graves - Com mu nity Spir i tual Di rec tor He brews 12:1 says There fore, since we are sur rounded by such a great cloud of wit nesses, let us throw off ev ery thing that hin ders and the sin that so eas ily en tan gles. And let us run with per se ver ance the race marked out for us, 2 fix ing our eyes on Je - sus, the pi o neer and per fecter of faith. (NIV) One of the great helps in run ning with per se ver ance is par tic i - pa tion in an Emmaus Re union Group. Ev ery week you re ceive the op por tu nity to en cour age and be en cour aged, to con fess your fail ings and find you are still loved, and to share the grace of God as we fix our eyes on Je sus. I found a chap ter on Group Re unions in Day Four: The Pil - grim s Con tin ued Jour ney by Rob ert Wood. I loved the ti tle of the chap ter: Group Re union: Keep ing the Fire Alive and Your Nose to the Grind stone. When we want to do well, we fo cus on what is most ef fec tive for help ing us do well, or phrased a dif - fer ent way; you fo cus on keep ing the fire alive and your nose to the grind - stone. These met a phors re mind us that ef fort is re quired to keep a fire go - ing. If I don t feed my wood stove ev - ery hour or two, it grows cold. If I don t put the re quired ef fort into sharp en ing my tools at the grind - stone, the daily work is more dif fi cult and less pro duc tive. Par tic i pa tion in a weekly re union group plays a key role in help - ing us live out our fourth days by putt ing us in the com pany of peo ple who keep us ac count able and en cour age us when our. Southern Maryland Emmaus Gathering Jan u ary 18 Pot luck 5:00 PM Gath er ing 6:00 PM at Good Shep herd UMC 305 East Smallwood Drive Wal dorf, Mary land.20602 Childcare Pro vided Bring Friends, Fam ily, Neigh bors Ev ery one Wel come See FIRE page 5
Spring Walks - 2014 - West River Men s Walk #47 March 27-30 Women s Walk #48 April 3-6 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 for our walks (and oth ers) online at: www.3dayol.org Pil grim and Team Ap pli ca tions and this news let ter may be down loaded from the web at http://www.southernmarylandemmaus.com/ CLICK on Doc u ments, Lists and News let ters Recurring Events of the Southern Maryland Emmaus Community Next Gath er ing - Jan u ary 18, at Good Shep herd UMC 305 E. Smallwood Drive Wal dorf, MD 20602 Pot luck- 5:00 PM, Gath er ing 6:00 PM 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 will be an nounced in the next issue. 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. The sem i nar will be held at Good Shep herd UMC. 2
Observations From an Overworked Editor I awoke rather abruptly this morn ing, in a cold sweat, and trem bling just a bit. I knew there was Christ mas shop ping to be done, and I had found my self drift ing back to a year (that shall never be men - tioned), when I had made that most fa tal of husbandly er rors. That year (the one I can t men tion) I be lieved my wife. I asked her what she wanted for Christ mas, and she looked me dream ily in the eyes and said, Oh honey, don t get me any thing. I have you and that s all I need. I be lieved her, and I smiled. I don t know whether it was be cause I was flat tered, or be cause I stu pidly thought I was off the hook for a pres - ent that year (the one I can t talk about). Re gard less, that Christ mas morn ing when I ap peared in a robe with a red rib bon and green bow in my hair, of fer ing her a cup of hot choc o late and noth ing more, things did not go well. While in the bath room scrap ing the marsh mal low out of my hair, I hap pened to see my sal va tion sit ting in the mag a zine rack. It was a cat a log from Nor we gian Cruise Lines (oh why did I throw out that Hick ory Farms cat a - log?) I care fully tore a pic ture of a ship docked just off the coast of some un known des ti na tion, and, while she was re fill ing her hot choc o late, dashed down to my of - fice for the Christ mas card (yes I had thought to get one of those), signed the card, stuck the pic ture in side, sealed it and went back up stairs. Who knew you could book a cruise on Christmas Day? Christ mas was saved! I had saved the day, not with fi - nesse and plan ning, but through a stroke of dumb luck and a credit card. But then, that s the na ture of men is n t it? We stum ble along, of ten with the best in ten tions, mak ing mis take af ter mis take, and gen er ally try ing to rec tify those mis takes at the last min ute with ex trav a - gant gifts. Per haps there is a better way. God, the founder of the first Christ mas day, pro vided the true path to sal va tion, not just for one day, but for all time and for all peo ple. And he did n t do it through dumb luck and a credit card. God saved the day for all of us by plan ning the most gen er ous gift that has ever been given, the gift of his Son, Je sus Christ. Je sus did n t come from a cat a log, or an on line store, or a big box re - tailer, he came from the heart of the Fa ther who loved us so much that he was will ing to sac ri fice his own Son. Now that s a gift you just can t beat. Even men can learn and change. And so this Christ - mas, I will have a few gifts for my lovely wife, and among them will be a huge hug with thanks to God for send ing her to me, and for shar ing his Son with all of us. And now if you will ex cuse me, I need to check the cat a - logs in the bath room mag a zine rack. I need to make sure that the Gifts un der $50.00 cat a log is front and cen ter just in case. Merry Christ mas Dan Brennan On the Right Path Dead line for next is sue is Febraury 28, 2014. 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 to the fol low ing ad dress: dbrennan6@verizon.net. Very short ar ti cles or notes may be sent 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. 3
Southern Maryland Emmaus - Leadership & Service Re sources on Our Web Site Visit http://www.southernmarylandemmaus.com for these and other com mu nity re sources: Southern Maryland Emmaus Leadership Roster & Board of Directors Southern Maryland Emmaus Prayer Points of Contact Team & Pilgrim Applications Team & Pilgrim Lists (where available) Prayer Coordinator Ken Cain ken.cain@capitaltristate.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. On The Right Path This is the news let ter of the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity. It is Pub lished quarterly by e-mail, dis trib - uted by the Point of Con tact for each par tic i pat ing church, hard copy mailed, and avail - able on the South ern Mary - land Emmaus website. South ern Mary land Emmaus is af fil i ated with the In ter na - tional Emmaus Move ment of The 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 ist Church. Our pur pose is to in - spire, chal lenge, and equip church mem bers for Chris - tian Ac tion. Please con tact the POC for your church as listed in this news let ter if you are not re - ceiv ing the news let ter. www.southernmarylandemmaus.com Southern Maryland Emmaus Community Reunion & Accountability Groups The Re union Group list ing is tem po rarily un avail able while we are in the pro cess of ob tain - ing up dated in for ma tion on Re union Groups in the com mu nity. Pub li ca tion will re sume shortly. 4
Fire, from page 1 Agape Thanks You re solve is flag ging. The Chris tian com mu nity has been called to gether by Je sus so that we can sup port each other. So what are you do ing about your re union group? Have you found it yet? Are you par tic i pat ing en thu si as ti - cally in it? Pi ety, study, and ac tion are the legs that sup port our life in Christ, and all three legs are strength ened by weekly group re unions. De Colores, David Graves My name is Dale Merkle, Cal vary UMC, SME 3, ta - ble of Pe ter. CLAP! Hav ing served on Walk 45 as Agape team lead I would like to take this op por tu - nity to thank those who came to West River to help the Agape team of Walk 45. Great thanks to Angie Barnes and Ernie Jumalon for the use of the golf cart. That re ally saved a lot of walk ing. And many, many thanks to those who came to help as com mu nity vol un teers. Your help was greatly ap pre ci ated. Also many thanks to those who helped with the Sunday af ter noon clean up dur ing and af ter clos - ing. The great out pour ing of help dur ing the Week - end was truly a Bless ing to the Agape team, the Con fer ence room team and the Pil grims. Emmaus 4th Day Re union Groups Re union Group Guide lines Made up of 2 to 6 per sons Meet once a week Goal is to sup port one an other Not lim ited to Emmaus com mu nity Pur pose is to share faith Or der of meet ing based on Ser vice Card (over) o Prayer o Dis cuss Spir i tu al ity, Study, Ac tion o Sub ject Dis cus sion clos est to Christ, Call to dis ci ple ship, Dis ci ple ship de nied, Your plan, group ac tiv i ties o Pray for Spe cial Needs Ef fec tive Groups o Com mit not only to God but one an other o Pre pare ahead of time o Prac tice what you preach o Up hold one an other o Pray for one an other o Fo cus on the ser vice card o Re treat with one an other once or twice a year o Set and test per sonal goals o Act as a group o Be spir i tual friends o Reg u lar at ten dance o Prayer of Thanksgiving 5
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Merry Christmas! Can you be lieve that 2013 is al ready com ing to a close? The Lord has truly blessed the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity this year. We ve seen growth in our 4 th Day Gath er ings and events at ten dance and we ve had 4 walks that are con tin u ing to grow and re - new Chris tian lead ers in our lo cal churches. I know of sev eral ac tive re union groups and new ones seem to be pop ping up. (Re mem ber to let Bob Ev ans know so we can add any new groups to his list.) Look ing ahead to 2014, we have Week end Lay Di rec - tors lined up for Walks #47 and #48. I know that Wayne Welsh and Carol Barton have al ready been mak ing phone calls and work ing to ward form ing teams. Please keep them in your prayers. Also be pray ing for pil grims. If you have some one the Holy Spirit is lead ing you to spon sor, please get those ap pli ca tions mailed in to the Board of Di rec tors. As you look at the pol icy up dates found later in this news let ter, you will see that at 10 weeks (mid-jan u ary) be fore the walk we must have at least 18 ap pli ca tions on hand and by 8 weeks be fore the walks we must have at least 16 con firmed pil grims. Our hope is to have 24 pil grims for each walk, which is the rec om mended num ber from Up per Room Emmaus. I know that as a com mu nity we can ex ceed this goal. Keep pray ing! I would also like to take a mo ment at this time to thank you all for your sup port through out this year. I can t be - gin to ex press how im por tant your prayers and sup port have been for me as the com mu nity lay di rec tor this year. When each of you are do ing all you can for the Lord and this Emmaus com mu nity, it sure makes the job of lead er ship much eas ier. I leave you with words from the Gos pel of John speak - ing of John the Bap tist this hol i day sea son: He came only as a wit ness to the light. The true light that gives light to ev ery one was com ing into the world. John 1:8b-9 My prayer for the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu - nity and each of its mem bers is that we each bear wit - ness to the True Light in our homes, our churches, our com mu ni ties and our world. De Colores! Ka ren Smith South ern Mary land Walk to Emmaus Com mu nity Lay Di rec tor na tional Ver sion) on Am a zon for less than $15 and it came in 2 days. With 2014 fast ap proach ing I chal - lenge you to read thru the bi ble with me next year. Plenty of time for you to or der and re ceive your copy be fore Jan u ary 1st, 2014 Chal lenge My name is Con nie Wells; I at tend Lexington Park United Meth od ist Church. I walked on SME #28 and sat at the ta ble of Na omi (clap). This month s book choice is some what dif fer ent from past re views. Al - though I ve read this book from cover to cover be - fore, I ve never ac tu ally read this par tic u lar ver sion. Sev eral weeks ago our pas tor rec om mended The Daily Walk Bi ble by Walk Thru the Bi ble and said it is the best one he s found. I or dered mine (New In ter - 6 The Daily Walk Bi ble of fers a sim ple daily read ing plan and tools to help you com plete the jour ney and see how the Bi ble fits to gether. Each day s read ing in cludes an over view to give you a bird s-eye view of the day s read ing, sev eral chap ters from the Bi ble, an In sight of fer ing an in ter est ing fact from the day s read ing, and My Daily Walk a short de vo tion to help you re flect on and ap ply a spe cific in sight from the day s read ing. Ev ery sev enth day of fers a pause on the jour ney as you are in vited to Look Back over the read ings from the pre vi ous week, Look Up to God, and Look Ahead to the read ing to come. Are you will ing to com mit to read ing thru the bi ble in 2014? Please come join me on the jour ney!
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8 Board Notes The South ern Mary land Board of Di rec tors would like to ex tend a warm wel come to all the pil - grims who walked South - ern Mary land Walks to Emmaus #45 and #46. We would also like to thank all those who par tic i pated as team, spon sors, with their at ten dance at can dle light and clos ing and es pe cially with their prayers. Pol icy Up dates and Re mind ers Emmaus Board Members are required to attend at least 50% of our annual Board meetings in order to serve our Community to our utmost to fulfill our commitment in our respective Board positions. Pilgrim applications: There is a 10-week timeline prior to all walks for pilgrim applications to be received in hand. There must be 18 applications in hand 10-weeks out from the next walk. Pilgrim applications: There is an 8-week out timeline prior to a walk for confirmed pilgrim applications. We MUST have 16 confirmed pilgrim applications for each walk or the walk will be cancelled. Board Representative for each Walk is to be selected among all current and immediate past Board members. Immediate past Board members are being defined as someone who has served on the Board within the past five years. Couples, being equally qualified and equally involved with the Community, may be nominated together and serve on the Board together at the same time. The Board Treasurer will pay our gathering locations $10.00 for a regular gathering, $20.00 when we have a potluck activity to cover consumables. No money will be paid to host church if only a board meeting is held. The treasurer may opt to write a quarterly/bi-annual check to the host church if both parties agree. Child care will be offered at each Fellowship/Gathering and the hourly rate is $15 an hour with a $10 gas allowance per event. West River children care will remain at $50.00 per event but added a $10 gas allowance per event. No requirement to request childcare in advance will now be required. One full scholarship from the SME Scholarship Funds allowed per person per year. Agape scholarships paid directly to SME for the benefit of a specific Team member or Pilgrim/Sponsor will not count against the per person per year scholarship allowance. Board approval will not be necessary. This can be determined by the CLD, WLD and Treasurer only. It should first be determined if there is a way for others at that church to help. If not, team needs should be brought to the CLD, WLD and/or Treasurer. Pilgrim/Sponsor needs should be brought to CLD, WLD, and/or Treasurer. The Board policy states there should be a minimum of 5 people per table, NOT including the Team Leader & Asst. Team Leader. However, the Board allows the Weekend Lay Director the flexibility to amend the amount of tables on a Walk. Start with 4 tables but if less than 20 pilgrims, the WLD should readjust to 3 tables & reconfigure the team at the 8 week out time frame. West River s white agape cottage is no longer available for Emmaus walks; therefore when we do not have use of the Conference Center, the Board is authorized to rent 3 cabins or 2 cabins plus the Nature Center. The WLD, WSD, week-end Board Representative and Team Selection Chair will follow guidance provided in the Upper Room Handbook to select team members. Board Representative Walk Report is due 2 weeks after Team Evaluation Meeting and will be shared with all Board members at the next Board meeting. The Board historian will receive a pilgrim take home packet from the lead Agape or Board Representative after each walk. Southern Maryland Emmaus Board of Directors upholds the Upper Room policy that no children or people who have not walked will be allowed to attend Candlelight and Closing events. However, to encourage more family participation, the Board will provide 2 Safe Sanctuary trained qualified adults to provide childcare during Candlelight and Closing for those families who have walked.
The Cost of Sponsorship David Graves - Community Spiritual Director I had a per son ask me re cently about the cost of spon - sor ship as she was con sid er ing spon sor ing some one for an up com ing week end. Her ques tion was brief, What does it cost? but the an swer is that it costs more than just a dol lar amount to spon sor. As spon sor ship is very im por tant both to the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity and to any per son who might at tend an Emmaus week end, I d like to of fer my an swer for your con sid er ation as well. Spon sor ing con sists of many steps: 1. First, Pray over who to in vite. Emmaus is pri mar ily in - tended for build ing Chris tian lead er ship in the Church. The week end is in tended to strengthen a per son s spir i - tual life and deepen his or her dis ci ple ship. Emmaus is not for ev ery one, and ev ery one does not need Emmaus to be a faith ful Chris tian. But it can be a real bless ing. 2. Give the per son you would like to spon sor an ap pli ca - tion and en cour age them to con sider par tic i pat ing in a week end. A per sonal tes ti mony could be very help ful. 3. Ex plain the main points of an Emmaus week end. An - swer their ques tions, there are no se crets, but you also don t need to tell them more than they need to know. 4. Un der stand your com mit ment as the spon sor to: a. Fund the week end for the pil grim cur rently $225. There is a $35 ap pli ca tion fee ex pected from the pil grim so they have a small fi nan cial com mit ment to the week - end. The spon sor picks up the $190 re main der. b. When the per son is se lected for a week end you will re ceive a more spe cific check list of items, but in gen eral you will need to col lect the agape for the per son. c. Drive them to the week end Thurs day at 7 PM and stay for spon sor s hour. d. As sist the fam ily if needed dur ing the week end. e. Sup port and pro mote the events of the week end. f. Pick up the pil grim at clos ing Sunday 4 PM - and hear about their ex pe ri ence. g. Bring the pil grim to the 4 th day event. h. Help the pil grim get in volved in a weekly re union group. 5. Un der stand you may not serve on the team if you are spon sor ing. Spon sor ing is dis cussed in de tail at the 4 th day event so it is ex pected that spon sors at tend a fourth day event be fore spon sor ing. Spon sor ing is ob vi ously much more than sim ply writ ing a check. But spon sor ship can be the ac tion that changes a per son in a pow er ful way. I know the Emmaus move ment played a sig nif i cant role in my Chris tian dis ci ple ship and my path to full time min is try. Per haps God is call ing you to help open that door for some one through sponsoring a person on a weekend. Welcome To Our New Website? A clean, at trac tive ban ner wel comes you to our com mu nity's new website: www.southernmarylandemmaus.com. While you may be used to us ing other URLs to reach our site, please up date your book marks and re cords to use only the ad dress pro vided above. There are some tech ni cal is sues we are deal ing with re gard ing our older sites that may take a lit tle time to re solve, but we want you to be able to look at and com ment on our re de signed site. We know there are up dates still to be ap plied to the new site, and we are in the pro cess of tran si tioning re spon si bil i ties for main te nance of the site. So please bear with us. Your sug ges tions are al ways wel come. 9
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Ken's Perspective by Ken Cain The Walks - My thoughts Both the Spring and Fall walks for 2014 have been sched uled. We will need team mem bers and Spon - sors. ri ence to 96 new pil grims in 2014. For our pur poses, let's call the op po si tion him Satin. One thing I will say for this guy, he is per sis tent. Here are just a few of his tools, and ways we can com bat his grand plans for the de mise of our Chris tian Com mu nity.. 1. Pro cras ti na tion Send in your ap pli ca tion to team or spon sor to day. We need spon sors even more than we need team mem bers. Of course team - ing is vi tally im por tant, but it seems get ting peo ple to Spon sor is the bigger challenge. I have started a pro ject to try to piece to gether the his - tory of our com mu nity walks. Some in for ma tion is on our website and Sheila Hanson, keeper of our da ta - base has given me some ad di tional in for ma tion. Look - ing back on the his tor i cal data we have, I came up with some con clu sions which, while not per fect, will serve as the ba sis for what I would like to say. Over the last 10 years we have held more than 10 walks with 18 or more Pil grims. Most of those walks av er aged above 20 and one or two hit 24 or 25. In that same pe - riod we have held walks with 17 or less at least 13 times. At least four of those walks had 12 pil grims. One other fact on nine oc ca sions in the last 10 years we cancelled walks. At one point we went nearly 2 years with out a walk. There has been dis cus sion in the com mu nity about the min i mum num ber of pil grims needed to have a walk. Here are some thoughts for of us to con sider: 1. First we all want the walks. None of us want to can cel. Not even a sin gle walk. Not ever. 2. It is a huge dis ap point ment to form a team and then have to can cel the walk be cause we don t have enough Pil grims 3. It is em bar rass ing for a spon sor to have to tell an ea ger and ready Pil grim, Not this year, we just don t have enough peo ple to make it work. The point is: there is ab so lutely no rea son one why we should not be able to have four walks in 2014 each one hav ing 24 par tic i pat ing pil grims. We have over 600 mem bers in this com mu nity. We can do this. But that means each of us must take per sonal re spon si bil ity to spon sor or team this year. Christ is de pend ing on us. So if He is with us, what can de feat us? Let's look at what is stand ing in the way of giv ing the Emmaus ex pe - 2. Time Please con sider a group ef fort where you share the re spon si bil i ties. One per son can drive the pil grims and an other can pick them up. Some one goes to can dle light and some one at tends clos ing, or maybe you all ride to gether. You get the idea. 3. Money Group ex pense. Per haps your church can help, talk with other Emmaus mem bers, do a bake sale, or call me! (I know peo ple) You do not need to send money with the ap pli ca tion. 4. The other guy will do it News Flash! You are the other guy! Per son ally, and speak ing strictly for my self, there is no way that any one is ever go ing to con vince me that it is God s will that we can cel a walk. If the walk does n t hap pen it s on us, not God and that in cludes me. I am go ing to end with a quote from some one in the Com mu nity I ad mire very much. The name is not im por - tant, but the mes sage is. We seem to spend a lot of time dis cuss ing the right num ber when, in the end, we all want to move for ward and hold the Walks. Bot tom line - we can t have too many ap pli ca tions! We are now ac cept ing ap pli ca tions for all walks in 2014. The key word is NOW. PS: I m not go ing tell any body else how to pray. I m still too new in my own walk with Christ to be hand ing out ad vice to oth ers. For my self I am go ing to pray not only for fu ture walks, but for the past teams, and pil grims, and boards as well. I m go ing to start pray ing now. I m go ing to pray sev eral times a day, and go ing to ask God to give us what ever it is we need to get this done. Please pray as you see fit, but please pray. 11
Walk in the Light - South ern Mary land Emmaus Visit us on the web at www.southernmarylandemmaus.com "Were not our hearts burn ing within us while He was speak ing to us on the road, while He was ex plain ing the Scrip tures to us? Luke 24:32 In for ma tion on the South ern Mary land Walk to Emmaus, as well as pil grim and team ap pli ca tions may be found on our website: www.southernmarylandemmaus.com South ern Mary land Board of Di rec tors 2014 Changes Com ing (note: po si tions to be fi nal ized in Jan u ary) New Members Pat Brennan Gary Cox Neil Martin Dale Merkle Bud Campbell Lee Campbell Returning Members Karen Smith Rich Ulrey Dawn Townsend Angie Barnes Pat Dawson Cheryl Merkle Len Lent Mike Blizzard Ken CAin Bob Evans David graves Departing Members Rick Pitonyak Connie Wells Linda Horty Jeff Ford Neil Martin Laura Suban