Memories...

When you get older, you have more and more memories... "back in the day" kinds of stories! Well, all this construction work at our new ministry center takes me back to the days after graduating from high school and the summers of college years when I worked for Jim and Penny Sedgwick's company Shore Hospitality Contractors and did many kinds of construction projects. The top picture is a timberpeg guest house that we built the first summer I worked for them in Trappe.

Then when I went to Bethany Seminary in the Chicago suburbs, I was the only paid carpenter on a new church project then called Christ Church of the Brethren in Carol Stream, IL. I spent much time doing carpentry work in this building (the second picture). It was only brick walls when I arrived. I helped on the roof, spent half a day inside the steeple, attaching it to the roof while a crane held it in place, framed lots of walls, installed the baptistry, hung drywall, and did most of the trim work. Those were the days!

And now I am re-living some of that as I work with our folks on the ministry center getting it ready for our July 1 opening!

I'm getting old and FAT!

Got another early birthday gift today... the cookies from yesterday were history by this morning! And tonight when I got home from working at the ministry center, I found that I had a huge homemade chocolate cake with chocolate icing...decorated saying "Happy Birthday, Pastor Martin" THANKS to Karen Townsend for the DELICIOUS cake! Couldn't wait till my birthday to eat a corner piece... Guess it wasn't enough for her to feed me supper last night!

And more than that, I guess I am going to put on the pounds! Might share some of it, but only because it is so big!

Speaking of putting on the pounds... today I took Caroline's driver's ed registration to Peggy Pusey's Driving School.... Peggy taught me to drive MANY years ago! So, I stopped at the house to drop them off, rang the doorbell and it was clear that though I had seen her a few years ago, she had no clue who I was... so, I said to her, you don't know who I am do you... and she said, Now I do, Martin! You've put on some weight! YIKES! I guess she will really think I am putting on the weight after the birthday cookies from Martha and the Cake from Karen and the strawberry pie that my dear wife is making for me!

And NO I am NOT 211 years old... that was Emma's way of getting to 42... 2 +1+1 =4 and the 2 single candles makes 2... that's 42! I love her thriftiness!

Another GREAT Day!

We've gotten lots more done today! The walls are falling. The pews are GONE... the organ is moved and going tomorrow! Another crew will work tomorrow. The bids are coming in and the teams are shuffling the priorities of what we can do with the money we have... and my friend Mike Bartemy from Eastern Shore Refrigeration is going to give us a real deal on the heating and air-conditioning system!

And the timing of things is starting to come together too! We are going to have to work hard to get done what we are doing before the contractors come in beginning next week! But we will work at it! And it will happen!

My Most Fervent Prayer

My most fervent prayer... even more so than the prayer that God would draw people to him through us in our new location.... is that we would remain one in this transition. The most important thing we have is our relationships! Both with God and each other. And if our relationships with each other get out of wack... then our relationship with God suffers as well. These could be trying times.... but we can't let them get the best of us! The community is watching and we must constantly remember that we are brothers and sisters in Christ!

At Community of Joy, the sign says "Where relationships Matter!" And we mean it!

Lord Jesus, keep us united in our focus on mission and keep us connected with each other in love!

Turning Heads...

We are definitely turning heads in our new neighborhood! Last night we literally turned heads. On our third trip with pews on trailers and in the back of 2 pickups, a lady who was walking her dog down Smith St. turned all the way around trying to see if that was really what she saw! And then when the next two vehicles passed by, she looked amazed! I wish I could know what she was thinking!

Also had an interesting experience as we were loading the first load. A lady stopped at the Smith St and South Blvd stop sign, rolled down her window and asked what we were doing with the pews. When I told her that they were going to another church, she gave the thumbs up... then she said, "I've spent many a nights sitting on those pews!" And I told her that we were replacing them with chairs and further invited her to join us for our July 1 opening. She said she would come!

Let's pray that God draws her in!

AWESOME Birthday gift...

Last winter when our youth group was having a fundraiser, I was bidding on some Martha Christopher homemade sugar cookies. It got to be so much fun... bidding up the price against her daughter Traci... we turned it into a real game... well guess what showed up at my door today... some homemade sugar cookies from Martha, via her other daughter, Tami -- what a JOLLY! They are delicious... guess what Traci... next year at the fundraiser... if your mom donates more... you WON'T be getting them! Better start saving your dollars! Cuz you are going to need them!

MORE progress...

The ministry center doesn't look like the same place! Tonight the pews left! YEAH! A wonderful church in Fruitland was so happy to get them and we were so happy to sell them... got $1400 for them! And tonight three guys from the church came with a pickup and trailer to get them. We started loading them at 6 and could only get three on the trailer at a time, so it took a while. Then Tri and Walt came with Walt's truck and Tri towing Walt's trailer with his SUV and the guys figured that we could get 2 on their truck, so we shortened the time significantly! But boy what back BREAKING work!

I had to cancel my worship design team meeting and went without supper... the notice was late and they said they were coming at 5:15. Oh well, thanks to Karen Townsend for supper that she sent with her "angels" Walt and Tri!

Oh, and the organ will go Thursday night to another church that wants it very much!

Here is what the inside looks like now!

More Progress...

Roger Jones of Jones Signs put the new address numbers up today. I added with Photoshop the church name... just to see what it would look like.

Progress, progress, progress....

Today, Daryl and I worked at the ministry center removing the stage rail, the organ walls, the curtains, the wood valance, and the window frames. Accomplished all that in about 3 hours. Still working on getting bids and making decisions.

I pray that our relationships will remain strong... through all of this. For relationships are the Jewel of what we have!

Must be summer...

The pool is open... and the girls are anxious to get into it! Opening the pool is my memorial day ritual. I sure hope the liner holds... we gave the money we had saved for replacing it to the church so that we could buy our new ministry center.

BTW, that is coming along nicely too! Though July 1 will be here way too soon in some ways and NOT soon enough in others. Several of us are going to spend lot of hours there this week getting things prepped for the contractors!

Props to our awesome prayer team leader....

More props... to Louise Mahan, our incredible prayer team leader... just got a postcard in the mail from her thanking our family for their continued prayers for Community of Joy!

I have been daily praying for our congregation and our new sense of mission as we make this transition. But if I hadn't been, after getting that card, I would definitely be inclined to begin praying for us!

It is a privilege to be part of such a GREAT group of people!

Props to our fabulous web minister....

Just wanting to give some props to our web minister, Stacy Habig.... she is the BEST! Look at what she did to our homepage of our church website. We are certainly blessed at Community of Joy with lots of great talent!

Another Awesome Step in the Journey!

Today, we met with some building inspectors from the City of Salisbury at our new ministry center. We were concerned about the possibility of being required to widen a rear door because we needed to replace the moulding. I told the congregation to pray about this two weeks ago and have been uplifting it myself since then. Well, today we learned that they see it as "replacing existing" and we won't have to widen the door which would have been a HUGE expense due to the domino effect with other areas needing to be addressed! God is GREAT!

The end has come....

Today was the end of the Spring Turkey Season here in Maryland and boy am I glad in some ways and sad in others.... Glad, because they are frustrating birds and in the late season, they sure got the best of me. Glad, because I can sleep in till 5:30 now... no more getting up at 3:15 to get there before the silver light of morning. Glad, because the endless road trips up and down rt. 13 are now over. Sad, because I love spending time in the early morning out in God's world watching and listening to the "dawn chorus". Sad because, I didn't get my second bird!

Wil and I heard about 7 different gobblers this morning and worked one... or actually he worked us. We set up 5 different times on him and he gobbled the most that any have recently once on the ground... but still no turkey!

Two pics... the end and the beginning!

A Celebration.... of a Great Week...

In celebration of a historic week, for our congregation, we had a special cake made by Tracey Townsend....isn't it awesome! Yes, God is AWESOME too!

Sunday was a great day...

Sunday's worship gathering was special.... it is always special when someone commits their life to following Jesus and publicly declares that intention through baptism... Teresa Morris did just that on Sunday... A new beginning!

We sure turned heads...

Today was an awesome day! We sure turned lots of heads today as there was a lot of activity and people all over the ministry center property. People driving down South Blvd. as well as people walking through the neighborhood were watching. In addition some of us met our neighbors, Chris and Cheryl!

Sure found some lost muscles!

Work Day Pictures...

Some of you have been asking for more pictures. Well here are some work day pictures from 5-20-07, our first Saturday of owning the building. We had 15 people in all and someone was there working from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Reminders of God's Presence

As we are about to make this journey from rented facilities to our own ministry center, I have been reading the Old Testament journey of the Children of Israel from Egypt into the promised land. In Joshua 4, Joshua commands 12 men to pick up a stone each from the Jordan River as they cross through it and carry that stone to the other side (the promised land). And then he tells them that these stones will serve as reminders of what God has done. In the future, he says when the children ask what these stones are, they will be a testimony to God.

So, I am wondering what stones we will pick up on this journey that will serve as a reminder of God's power, presence, and provision.

Part of why I started doing this blog was to record and give testimony to God's resurrection power, presence and provision in our congregation's life as we made this journey!

God is good! all the time! All the time, God is good!

Marked...

I always wondered why male dogs have this incredible desire/ need to mark their territory... now I know... I just had to mark the ministry center as ours....

Done Deal... It is SWEET!

Today we bought our first ministry center... the keys and the building are ours/ God's and the lot belongs to the bank! But real soon it will all be God's.

Here's a pic of the two church teams that were at settlement. Ours is on the right and theirs is on the left, except, I couldn't let it be divided like that so, for the picture, I joined the sellers!

It is a SWEET day for us! ALL thanks be to GOD!

Today is the DAY!

Today, we become owners of a ministry center... actually we become new stewards(caretakers) of it...to be used for the glory of God and our neighbor's good! Thanks be to God for this incredible gift!

First of MANY Work Days Scheduled... Saturday

We will host our first of many work days on Saturday at our new ministry center. 9 a.m. is the time to be there. Bring pruners, rakes, gloves, and be prepared to make the outside look just fine.

We will be doing LOTS of yard work! Cleaning out brush, trimming trees, and weeding flower beds. In addition, we will do some minor plumbing and could unbolt the pews. Come one, Come all!

Tomorrow we make history!

Tomorrow, Community of Joy Church of the Brethren will make history... we will own our very first ministry center! This is indeed a momentous occasion for us! Actually we are stewards of it with the Bank for God! It is his ministry center! And we will use it to help build his Kingdom here on earth!

By the way, we will be celebrating this history making feat on Sunday with a little celebration cake at our carry-in meal!

100%

WOW! What a great congregation of people I pastor! 35 days after the pledges were made to the building fund, we have collected 100% of them!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously doubt that there are many other, if any other, congregations that can lay claim to that fact! The statistic is something around 80% of the pledges that were made actually come in!

Knowing this group of people, now for almost 9 years, this does NOT surprise me! It is rather what I expected would happen! In fact, we gathered far more than was pledged! And some folks pledged a certain amount and their gifts came in more than the pledged amount... in one family's case, the amount give was triple the pledge.

God is so awesome!

Screwed Up Legal System...

I was in court most of this morning with a couple of friends. What a screwed up legal system we have and what wild lives some people live.

The system seems to do a GREAT job of keeping people suppressed from getting ahead and finding a new way of life. I am so disappointed in it! My friend has been doing all he can to break out of a very colorful distant past and every time a break happens... something else happens that pushes him down. Today was another example of that. I had hoped that the Judge would let me speak on his behalf, but when I tried to speak up, the judge ignored me. The judge didn't really seem interested in listening to my friend or in helping him. It seemed he just wanted to "wash" his hands of my friends situation.

Another sad observation, the folks with money had high priced attorneys and largely got off... the folks who were struggling, had public defenders and met them in the hallway briefly before going in before the judge. Definitely not equal under the law!

Amazing the sordid lives that some people live... the laundry list is a mile long and some of them have no hope or desire to break out... the thought I kept having is that God loves each of these people so much and desires so much more for them.

I hate being in court, but it definitely is eye opening!

The Most Important Team Gathers Sunday @ 9:30 a.m.

The most important team that we named in this whole transition will meet for the first time on Sunday @ 9:30 a.m. at SCS. It's the Prayer team, under the leadership of Louise Mahan.

What a neat letter Louise wrote to everyone in the congregation this week inviting their participation. I hope lots of you will join this important effort, as together we pray for God's guidance, favor and fruitfulness of ministry in our new location and neighborhood!

The work is begining...

Last night about 12-15 of us were at the church last night exploring, dreaming, planning, and begining to lay the groundwork for the renovations and decorations that will take place. It was a fun and electrifying night for all!

The building improvement team is busy getting bids on the work we'd like to see done and preparing for the day when we have possession of the building. There is lots of work to be done and the rewards will be great!

Can't wait to see the changes! And to be in the building!

It's almost here!

New Building... New Address in two ways...

To borrow a line from one of my favorite ladies... Miss Tami Brown... here is today's jolly!

I had the notion that we ought to consider changing the address of our new location from Smith St. to South Blvd. I feel this would be advantageous for a number of reasons, not least of which, the entry to the building and the parking lot will be from South Blvd. and the baggage associated with Smith Street would be wonderful to avoid!

I inquired at the Post Office about that and was given a name and number to contact. They turned out to work for the county not the city, but passed me off to the Director of the City of Salisbury Public Works. He indicated that this is a SIMPLE process and he can take care of it for us. He will call with a new address for us!!!!!! YEAH GOD!

All things new! Our NEW address will be 302 South Blvd!

A Ministry Center...

I always knew it would and have been casting the vision for any building we buy to become a ministry center. Well, true to form, this awesome congregation that I serve as Pastor, has taken it's first step toward that dream becoming a reality....

One of the ministries that is dear to our hearts is the "the least of these". Over the years we have done significant ministry with homeless brothers and sisters in our community. Now that we have a building, we can do more....

We have not yet settled on the building, but we have already locked in a date to be part of the Community Emergency Shelter Program (CESP) for this year. That means that we will host homeless men for a week in our facility... giving them a warm meal, a warm place to sleep, breakfast in the a.m. and a bag lunch. This shelter takes place in the coldest months of the year when area churches open their facilities to our brothers. (In additon to this, I am involved with a team of people from area churches and the community who are working to address the causes of homelessness in our communtiy.)

We have supported this effort in ways we could without a building... but NOW we can go to a new level... because our building is too small to house all of the expected 80 men, we will join forces with our neighbors, Bethany Lutheran Church, whose property adjoins ours.

The neat thing about that is that CESP needed to find more churches, I knew ours would be one new one... so, I said we would do a week and said I would get Bethany on board if I could! When I called my friend, Kevin Wackett, the pastor there, his response to my question about partnering was, "we had already decided to host this year, but didn't know who to call." Now isn't that God! AWESOME!

No surprises here! God is AWESOME and we are looking forward to forming a great partnership with Bethany Lutheran in ministering to our community. What a GREAT God we serve and what a GREAT group of people Community of Joy is!

More Steps Along the Journey...

This week has been a whirlwind week! Since getting the news on Friday of the appraisal and that it would support our moving forward, we have been busy....

We are assembling 4 teams to help with the transition... 1. Prayer Team, 2. Outreach Team, 3. Decorating Team, and 4. Property Improvement Team. Tonight 2 of those 4 will meet on location to begin their work.

We now have property insurance nailed down using the Church of the Brethren Insurance agency . They gave us a GREAT rate and GREAT coverage! Check them out!

The bank saw the light on our request to borrow $200,000 instead of the approved $180,000 so that we can have funds to work at property improvement!

Speaking of property improvement, that team has multiple contractors coming today and later this week to give bids on the work to be done.

It is and EXCITING time for us!

A Strange Warning...

I don't often have nights like last night... I awoke in the early morning hours with a commanding thought that was very strong. I had seen the news of the day and am praying for the folks in Greensburg, Kansas... but was not aware that it was bothering me in any deep way that would awaken me from a good night's sleep.

But, in the early morning hours, I was awakened with this thought... the pictures of what happened in Greensburg is a picture of what happens in our lives if we live them outside of a relationship with Jesus. Without Jesus, we face that kind of nothingness and devastation at the end of life.

So, the question for me and for you is "How is our relationship with Jesus?" Jesus offers abundant and eternal life to those who believe in and follow him. And that picture will be so different from the picture of Greensburg. (I am NOT suggesting that Greensburg was punished by God! I am simply talking about the picture of nothingness and devastation.)

It goes without saying... that the people of Greensburg Kansas are in my prayers. They have suffered an immense loss and I am sure that putting it all back together again will be a long struggle.

Trust.. the currency of relationships.

Yesterday, I picked up a key to the new church building. And we don't go to settlement until May 16! In some circles that would NEVER happen! But what may seem unusual, in the eyes of many in our world, should not seem unusual in light of the fact that both churches are followers of Jesus. Jesus taught that our "yes" should be "yes" and our "no" should be "no". Which means that we should be able to trust each other.

It feels good to be part of a relationship where we can trust each other. For trust is the currency of relationships! Without it...you are always suspect!

They are EXCITED!

The church folks from the church that we are buying are EXCITED that we are so excited! They are absolutely thrilled that we want the building and are going to use it as a church. They are thankful that we have a vision for how the building can help us share God's love with our community! Heather called today from the church just to celebrate with me! It's been a fun and wonderful journey so far... can't wait to see what is around the corner that only God can see now!

It's happening FAST!!!!

Wow! I can't believe it's been almost a week since I have updated this... things with our building purchase have taken off! And it's turkey season...so, that means lots of additional meetings, phone calls, planning and running up and down the road chasing turkeys in the early morning hours.

God is totally awesome! His math is the best! Our contract is for $360,000 and today the appraisal came back at $375,000... which was our last counter offer which they rejected and countered at $360,000! God's math, you gotta love it!

Then the funds are rolling in too! This week we collected $5,395 beyond our commitments which takes us to almost $212,000!!! Over 139,000 for the year. And over $137,000 for April alone!!!!!!!!!!! I am so thankful to be part of such an amazing and faithful group of Jesus followers!

Our Leadership Team is anticipating going to settlement on May 16! And is forming 4 teams to help with the transition... 1. A Prayer Team -- to under gird this whole transition and our outreach efforts, 2. An Outreach Team -- to lead us in ways to connect with our new neighbors, 3. A Building Improvement Team -- to lead our remodeling efforts, and 4. A Decoration Team -- to work at decorating issues. The next few weeks will have us working very hard to make things happen so that we can move into our new facility on or before July 1.

On settlement day, we anticipate a new sign going up that announces... "Coming Soon... Community of Joy... Where Relationships Matter.... www.joyfilled.com." Followed by a permanent sign with all our info and another sign that announces our opening day! At present that is July 1!