CHANGES - BIG Changes!!!!

The bible verse that kept coming to me the past week and 1/2 is: Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Proverbs 27:1

Pastor Gary & Sister Paula Rogers

Boy, what an emotional time this has been. Our beloved Pastor announced his resignation a week ago Sunday, August 22nd. We got "wind of it" on Wednesday and did not believe it and then on Thursday morning we knew it was a truth.

That Sunday I hated to go to church for the first time in the 3 years and 8 months of attending there. Before I have always gone with my "expectors" up...eager to hear what God had to say. On the other hand, I was thankful Sunday had finally arrived and we were going to hear it officially.

I was expecting to leave disappointed and angry at Pastor Gary. Instead...I have to admit he could not have given a better message. One of the best, perhaps, that he's ever preached, other than 2 weeks ago when he preached, "Sometimes You Just Have To Shout!"

He handled it with such grace and integrity. Here is how I posted it on fb right after arriving home, and it was still fresh on my mind and heart: "Well, now I can say it...our beloved Pastor resigned today. I am so proud and honored to have sat under this man's ministry. He is truly an honorable Man of God. He could not have handled today in a more honorable, dignified, Godly manner than he did. Mickey & I love you Pastor Gary and will miss you, but I know you heard from God and that you follow Him, as you have ALWAYS done and will ALWAYS continue to do what He tells you to do. You are a good and faithful servant of God. God's speed to you and Sister Paula."

I don't think there was a dry eye in the entire congregation. We were all broken hearted and hurting in the natural/fleshly part of ourselves and yet we all knew in the Spirit that this was the right thing, not only for them, but for our Church Body.

Wednesday night was another powerful Word of God and his sharing with us the over 2 year process of God's working in his heart and preparing him to leave and go somewhere else. He put out 3 fleeces he wanted to see fulfilled before he left: 1) That the church be completely out of debt. As you know the mortgage was burned on July 4th this year and the church owes nothing. 2) He wanted the right man to be prepared to take his place. & 3) He wanted a strong Deacon Board in place when he left. All three of this things were accomplished.

This past Sunday was his last sermon which was on "Transitions...A Part of Life" taken from Ecc 31:1-8 "In everything there is a season..." The auditorium was packed out. The headline of our Coweta American newspaper's headline on Wednesday had shouted "Rogers steps down as Coweta Assembly pastor" and it was the talk of the town.

After the service the Woman's Ministry put on a huge reception for them and everyone was invited for snacks, cupcakes, a huge cake, punch, & tea. 5 or 6 people gave brief talks about what Pastor Gary had meant to them and then Prayer shawls were presented to both Pastor Gary and to Sister Paula. After the shawls were placed on their shoulders the 7 Deacons and many others laid hands on them and prayed and it was done.

It is such a joy to be in a Church Body that can handle a departure like this in such a grand and noble way.

Pastor Gary has been Pastor there for 17 1/2 years and when he came there were just a handful of people. Coweta Assembly is now the largest congregation in Coweta running about 650. When he came the property value was $250,00 for the building and $75,000 for the parsonage and there was a debt of $60,000. Today the property is valued at 4 Million and 0 debt and $261,000 in the bank account. . Stephen Lee, the Associate Pastor, has been mentored by Pastor Gary for the past 16 years. We are indeed blessed.

God has great things for Chickesha, Oklahoma where Pastor Gary will be the Pastor and God has great things for us at Coweta Assembly of God.

We are excited about what God is going to do!!!!!!

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As if all the above wasn't enough going on......Friday night a benefit Indian Taco Dinner was sponsored by several people, and held at Coweta Assembly, for Mark Bates. A man dearly loved by not only Coweta Assembly but all of Coweta. Mark recently lost part of his right foot due to diabetes and has huge medical bills. $11,995 was raised for him!!!! Mickey & I helped serve and clean-up.

Saturday an auction was held to liquidate the estate of Chris McCormick who left his estate to the church. I posted about this in May here.

SO.... it's been a very exciting time in our little community of Coweta.....but the excitement's just begun!!!!!!

We love and serve an amazing God!!

A SURPRISE BLESSING

I had worked the Primary election on July 27th as a Clerk for the very first time and enjoyed it very much. After that election the County Election Office called me and ask if I would be willing to work at that polling place as the Clerk on a regular basis. I was delighted to be offered the position and naturally accepted.

Last Tuesday, August 24th, we had a Run-off election for the State Insurance Commissioner. So I worked my 12 1/2 hours, from 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Mickey picked me up and we went to a fast food place and had a bite to eat and naturally I was plenty tired and worn out.

When we walked in the house this basket was sitting on my dining room table! I said, "What is this?", and Mickey said, "Cathy K. dropped it by for you." Cathy is a wonderful young mother in her 30's who attends church with us and is in my Small Group class. They used to be our back door neighbors!

The tag in front reads:

"A blessing basket

filled just for you,

with cheerful thoughts

and prayers too!

Enjoy your gift

but when your done

please fill it up

and pass it to

another one :o) "

The back side of the tag reads: " If you are unable to fill it up that's OK! Enjoy your gift and return the basket to Coweta Assembly of God 486-3110 Have a blessed day!"

Tucked inside my basket were: A book: When God Winks At You by Squire Rushnell, a cute little photo album, a small spiral note pad, a carmel cream candle, a lovely green pottery mug filled with dove chocolates!!

And, a personal note which read: "I just wanted you to know I was thinking of you. You are such an inspiration to me and I am so blessed to have you in my life. Love, Cathy"

Can you say - TOUCHED and bawling like a baby!!!!!

I LOVE our Church and our Church Body which so demonstrates the Love of Christ on so many fronts and levels. Yes, truly a SURPRISE and truly a BLESSING.

I'm busy filling up my basket now and I'll show it to you when I'm ready to "pass it on". I already know who will get it and selecting what I hope will be the fight items for her.

****************

I have been scarce here in blogland because we have had sooooo much going on at CAG. I hope to share it all with you in the next few posts. Also a lot of hard work around our house that is wearing us out and leaving little free time. This too shall pass!!!!

Have a wonderful, blessed day!!!!!

SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS 2010 #10 - A Poem

Thank you Charlotte & Ginger for hosting Spiritual Sundays. Go here to read other great Sunday posts.

WHO?

Who can stand in evil's face

And help mankind run its race?

His name is GRACE.

Who reigns in majesty

Yet stoops to hear the human plea?

His name is HUMILITY.

Who helps the struggling soul to cope

Holds the anchor, steadies the rope?

His name if HOPE.

Who gives us daily breath

Leads us through chilling death?

His name is FAITH.

Who reigns supreme above?

Who has power we know not of?

EMMANUEL! His name is LOVE.

This poem was written by my husbands neice by marriage -- Beverly A. Joyce in 1999

SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS 2010 #9 - The Vine

This beautiful vase of roses from our yard were so lovely and fragrant.

A shot showing the various stages of beauty; from the bud, just opening, and into full bloom.

A few days later, this is the sad state of affair that these lovely blooms are in. Ugly, drying up and dying. I wish I'd taken another picture of them as they were totally falling apart and disintegrating.

Once again, as God so often does, He spoke to me that this is just a physical example that we can see with our eyes of the spiritual example of what happens to us when we become disconnected with our God, no longer connected to our Lord and Savior. Cut off from the Holy Spirit.

" Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is dead wood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is -- when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples." John 15:4-8 The Message

I know it always makes me sad to see someone begin to break away from their close walk with God. It is usually a gradual thing but you can see it happening and slowly, little by little you'll see the drying up and then the dying of their joy, their hope, their faith. Soon they have no life whatsoever in them. Oh that we all realize we are nothing.....He is everything.....and we MUST maintain that connection with HIM.

Thank you Charlotte for this wonderful place to share here at Spiritual Sundays.

PEACHES - daughter time & changing my mind!!!

This post is as much about changing my mind (I seem to be doing that a lot of that lately!!! - Is that a sign of getting older?) as it is about peaches!!!

A week ago Thursday my friends, Don & Barbara, called. They were going to go to Porter to the peach orchard and wanted to know if I'd like to ride along with them. I told them I'd ride out with them but wasn't going to buy any peaches.

Mind change #1 -----

I came home with this 1/2 bussel of peaches!!

Then a trip to the store to buy some Fruit Fresh to add to the peaches for freezing.

While at the store Mickey & I begin to look at the canning things and - Mind Change #2 - we decide to try our hand at canning. I'd done some years ago but it had been a l-o-n-g time ago and not that much experience even then.

Mind change #2 -----

We come home with a canning recipe book, canning funnel, 2 packages of freezing cartons, 2 type of sure jell and the fruit fresh (the original item we were going to purchase)



And this granite ware canner!!!

I begin reading the recipe book, canning instructions, etc. and come to the conclusion this is a lot of extra expense and a lot of extra time involved and so ....

Mind change #3 -----

Back to the store go ALL the above items except the original fruit fresh, 2 packages of freezer containers, 1 sure jell (because I'd already opened the other one to read the instructions) and the canning funnel which we decided would be good to use in our honey production.

This was all on Friday. The peaches were not quite ripe enough to process yet and besides. my oldest daughter, Suzette, had invited me to get a manisure and pedicure and have lunch on Saturday. I can never pass up the opportunity for this fun, special treat with my daughter. Of course after lunch we ended up at Pen*ney's where I purchased one of the "BED IN A BAG" comforture sets for the RV.

The peaches with the fruit fresh added.

Filling up the freezer containers.

9 of the finished 10 containers ready for the freezer..... and good eating during the winter months!!!

And of course, many delicious bowls of fresh sliced peaches to add milk and enjoy.

Mind change #4 ----- Remember the "BED IN A BAG"

Well I decided to take it back and just use the one that was currently in the RV because of the matching curtains, vanity seat top, etc.

Mind change #5 ----- I decide to buy a stipped queen size set of royal blues, red & beige for our bed.

Mind change #6 ----- After getting the above home I know this "look" is just not me. Too casual. I prefer a more feminine or dressier look. SO....back to Pen*ny's I go.

No wonder my posts have been few and far between lately......I've been too busy changing my mind and running back and forth to spend the time here on the computer!!!!

So share with me some of your recent mind changes..... or is it just me?

THE KING'S KITCHEN Celebrated 26 weeks!!!

The King's Kitchen reached it's 6th month mark, 26 weeks, with the meal that was delivered July 27th to 43 elderly shut-ins.

What a blessed, and very exciting adventure this has been!!

To recap: It all began with a forum that was held on January 17, 2010 at 4:30 to see how many people would be interest in this ministry. We were stunned when 30 people showed up. At the conclusion of the meeting 23 had signed up: 11 cooks, 2 reserve cooks & 7 delivery people!!

When we met with the Pastor, Deacons & Church staff on January 25th they agreed to stand behind this endeavor for $100 a week for 10 weeks and then see where it had gone and what they would do from there.

On Sunday, January 31st, Mickey & I spoke to both the 8 a.m. & 10:45 a.m. church services about Mickey's vision for this ministry. He showed the aluminum trays and various other supplies that had been purchased to begin. Mickey also shared the desire to eventually be able to obtain and use micro-wave able trays, instead of the aluminum, but that would entail the purchase of a sealing machine which cost around $1700. A special offering was taken in these two services and the total contributed was $3,587.27!!!! I shared that with my post, God Knocks Our Socks Off!!

Today I just wanted to share some pictures with you and then share the wonders and blessings that God has poured out on this ministry.

It is quite a production and takes MANY helping hands which God has supplied. Here we are filling, sealing, and loading the coolers to take the meals out for delivery. This is me, Jimmy is sealing (Jimmy & his wife Nellie also deliver one of the routes) Tim is counting and separating the trays for the various routes. Tim & his wife Jenne also deliver one of the routes. You can see the hands of a woman across the counter. There are several woman there putting the trays into the coolers. You can also see two cakes waiting.



This is quite a busy time and production when we get to this point!!!!

Another shot of this busy time. Sherry (in the orange shirt) is our main cook, helps us prepare all the menu's and does all the shopping for us. She is definitely a mainstay we thank the Lord for each and every week. Assisting her, in the green shirt, is Loretta. Loretta and another woman, Mary deliver one of the routes. Arlene, in the yellow shirt, I'll share about her later.

Another shot of me, Loretta, Arlene & Sherry very busy at work.

This is another shot from another day. At the stove again are Arlene & Sherry. Standing on the far side of the counter are Joi who helps cook one week and runs a weekly route. There are Jimmy & Tim in their posts again. On this side of the counter are Nellie, Mickey & Mary.

Just so you'll know we also have fun!!! This is Sherry's son, Reese. You can see he's all dressed up ready to fight the devil. Sherry also has a daughter, Madison, who blesses us each week. Sorry I don't have a picture :o(

Here is Mickey & Lucy putting the cartons of milk into the coolers. Lucy is the daughter of our Children's Pastor, Jacki, and often comes in to help out.

I don't have pictures of them but this summer Tim & Jenne's two grandchildren, Michael, age 5, & Michele, age 6, have been coming and going on their delivery route. Joi has often had one of her 3 daughters and her son (they range in age from kindergarten to 11 years old) going on the delivery with her. Mary's young pre-teen daughters have come in to help. Frankie, one of our Monday night cooks brings her pre-teen daughter, Jackie who helps in prep work. All these kids are learning and seeing what it is to be serving hands, legs and hearts for Jesus. How very blessed they are!!!!

Now to our numbers!!! Mickey presented this information and report to both church services this past Sunday morning.

To date we have delivered 890 meals. We often have a meal or two left, it's hard to judge and cook exactly, and we just this week placed 23 frozen meals in the Parlor Kitchen to be handed out by the Food Pantry people when someone comes in for a sack of food.

Our average cost per meal for food is $2.25. Including packaging it is $2.73.

Our first delivery on February 9th was to 23 people. Our delivery on July 27th was to 43 people. God is truly blessing and allowing us to grow gradually. We are thankful He has been doing it gradually and we have not been overwhelmed.

Now about Arlene. Here she is the very first time she came to help us, which was June 8th.

Arlene is a beloved school teacher in our town that EVERYONE knows and loves. She is a member of the 1st Baptist Church. She read the article that was run in our newspaper on April 27th and even before school was out for the summer called me and wanted to know if she could volunteer to help us.

Come & help she did and what a joy she has been from day one.

Here are Arlene, Mickey & Sherry on Arlene's last day in King's Kitchen, August 3rd. But she will be helping us any Tuesday they are on vacation and she made us promise to keep her slot open for her next summer. You better believe it will be Arlene.

Part of Mickey & my vision for King's Kitchen, as well as the vision of our Pastor, is to see us cross denominational lines and it become not a ministry of just CAG but a ministry of all Coweta churches and the Body of Christ. Arlene .... you are our first fruits of this vision and dream. We appreciate you and your heart sooo much. Thank you!!!!

I can't close off this report without mentioning the woman from Young at Heart who have furnished us with WONDERFUL desserts for all these weeks. Week after week, after week. We appreciate you and your love so much.....and we know those receiving these meals appreciate your home made delights. Thank you Robbin for heading up this group.

Now, I've saved the best news for last. We have NEVER had to touch one penny of that $1,000 that the Board had committed to us.!!! The people of our congregation have so generously supported this ministry from day one that not one penny of tithes have been used to support it.

We have so very many people to thank for all their effort for this vision and ministry: 1) Our Pastor who believed in it and supported it, 2) the Deacon's who caught the vision, 3) all those who have generously given of their funds to see that it happens week after week, 4) the 8 prep-cooks (3 separate teams) who join us on their assigned Monday evening, 5) the 4 teams of 2 each delivery people who faithfully serve and deliver the meals week after week in their own vehicles, at their own expense, and 6) Sherry who is the mainstay of these tasty meals that are prepared each and every week.

All praise and honor and glory go to our Lord & Savior, JESUS, and our Great God who allows us to be His hands, feet and heart as we reach out to this segment of our community.

What is God calling you to do and putting in your heart? Do it!!!

"Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead," James 2:17, NKJV.

CELEBRATING BIRTHDAYS

Do you ever feel like your life is spinning - spinning out of control? This is kind of what our life seems to be this summer. There just have not been enough hours to get everything done that needs to be done....or that we WANT to get done.

As you know, our family is BIG on celebrating birthdays with our big family dinners but due to every one's schedules this was not possible for these two.

First, Deann celebrated her first birthday, since becoming our wonderful new daughter-in-love on July 24th. Marc took her and their 5 children out for a special dinner that night at a Japanese restaurant they all love for the special occasion.

Mickey & I dropped over to their home that Saturday morning with our little gift bag of things and a loaf of my homemade Hawaiian Banana bread. Here she is seriously looking over a little daily Scripture motivation book we gave her. Then they drove us around to see some of the neighborhoods and homes they are looking at to purchase when Marc's Tulsa home sells. It was a fun, enjoyable time for all of us.

Happy birthday to you Deann. YOU are a gift to us and our family!!!!

Then, her husband, our younger son, Marc celebrated his 41st birthday on August 2nd........BUT he was in Denver on a business trip for his birthday and since he had to fly out on Sunday there was no way to put together our family dinner so........

Mickey & I decided to take just he and Deann out that Friday evening, August 6th, to a wonderful local steakhouse that we always enjoy. Marc & Mickey selected the Beef Wellington & Deann & I had Fillet Mignon. Yummy!!!!!


Deann's 3 sons were spending time with their father visiting his family out of state, and Marc's son & daughter we in California visiting their maternal aunt and grandparents .....SOOOO we had a very rare, very delightful evening and dinner of just the 4 of us. Then Suzette & Dave also took them out for another quiet, adult dinner of 4 on Monday, August 9th.

Happy, happy birthday to these lovely newly weds as they enjoy yet another occasion to celebrate in their new lives with each other.

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY 2010 #8 - Prayer Shawl #3 & Book

Is this the absolutely fastest year in history? It is certainly being so in my life!! The last time I posted on Spiritual Sunday was 2 1/2 months ago on May 15th. Seems like I just did!!

At that time I talked about a new Prayer Shawl Ministry my friend had started and showed you the first shawl I had made for my second daughter. Then I completed my second shawl, a red one for my older daughter. Today I am showing my 3rd completed shawl for my oldest son, David.

TThis pretty blue one. It has not been prayed over by my Tuesday night Bible Study group yet but I assure you it will be. It took me 4 weeks & 2 days to complete this one. I'm getting faster!!



Yesterday I started on my 4th: a variegated green for my younger son. Is any one else out there in blogland making the prayer shawls?

I wanted to share the 12th book I've read so far this year with you. Most of the information, and views that Grant Jeffrey shared are ones I am very familiar with. If you have not read a book on heaven, in my opinion this one would be worth your time and effort.


To view other Spiritual Sunday posts or to join in with one of your own please visit Charlotte's website here. Thanks again Charlotte for this lovely venue.