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Dan's Journal
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posted on July 30, 2010 09:04
Dear Gordon,
Well, this is the last time I’ll write to you via email. While I love letting you know what is happening in our church every week, I decided we need to shift gears a bit. Starting next week we are going to run a bio of a Pastor/ Ministry Director. That will last until October, and then I am going to write a weekly blog for the website about what is on my heart, what I am thinking, what God is saying to me, etc. Of course, I will keep you appraised in other ways of what is going on here.
Here we are better than half of the year completed, and I am wondering how our folks are doing reading their One Year Bible. I know that many are reading everyday and not only learning, but hearing God speak to them. If I am correct, there are those who started reading, got discouraged and gave up. I am praying today these folks will be reignited to start reading their Bible again by being reminded why they read. As you know, we read the Bible because we want to know the author, listen to the author, and hear the author shape and guide our lives. We hear a thousand voices everyday telling us how we should live, what we should think, and/or what we should buy. Behind those voices is a worldview and a value system that is incompatible with God and how He wants us to believe, live, and think. I don’t know about you Gordon, but I need God’s Word and truth to wash over my mind every day to combat all that I hear and see every day. We are only lying to ourselves to think the cluster bombs of the media and the culture we live in don’t impact us and mold us. Enough of that. I desperately want our people here at Lima Community to know God in a real and personal way, and reading His Word is a significant part of knowing Him.
This is the last week of our series, Alternatives to Christianity. Our last one is like a couple of the other alternatives we have looked at, under the radar, but influencing each of us much greater than we know. I am working on getting this series packaged so our folks can purchase the whole thing together. We have baptisms in August and then ramp up for the Fall. Until then, I plan on enjoying the rest of the summer to the fullest. I hope some of that time will be spent with you catching lots of huge bass.
Signing off on Dear Gordon. I will miss writing to you.
Love your other son,
Dan
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amytabler posted on July 22, 2010 13:27 
Dear Gordon,
How is every little thing? I haven’t heard from you in awhile, so I just assume you have been swamped with work and getting ready for Josiah and Amanda’s reception. I’ll give you a call later this week and catch up. Did I tell you that one of your grandsons has been serving the Family Ministry this summer? He is getting a good look at how things work as he explores what area of ministry he would like to pursue. God has been leading him in this for a long time, and I look forward to seeing how He directs him in serving Him with his life. Yes, I am proud.
I spent a great couple of days with our staff leadership team this week. What an incredible group to work with (This goes for all our staff.) As the Lead Pastor at our church, each of these folks are huge gift to me and Lima Community. We spent time praying and working on plans for our future, especially in the area of discipleship and outreach. As you know, we have a great, great church, but we know we need to take big strides forward in reaching the missing and making disciples. A disciple is someone who is learning from Jesus, imitating Him in every area of our lives. For us, this means not trying to create "programs," but developing the environment where each of us who call Lima Community home cannot only truly be disciples but also make disciples. This is Jesus’ command and expectation for every one of His followers. This is also the only way to experience the abundant life Jesus promised for all his people, and to fulfill the purpose for which He has put us on this planet.
This week we are continuing the series Alternatives to Christianity. A lot of our folks have told us the light bulbs have gone on in their own understanding of other religions and the Christian faith. This has been my hope all along. The more we understand the grace and power of our own faith, the greater our confidence becomes in sharing Christ with others. We are looking at Mormonism this weekend, and I know many will be surprised at what they learn.
"Please keep your dog beside you, sir," a woman said crossly to the man sitting opposite to her on the bench at the park. "I can feel a flea in my shoe." "Midnight, come here," replied the man. "This woman has fleas."
Love, your other son,
Dan
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posted on July 16, 2010 12:08
Dear Gordon,
We are really enjoying the summer. I am thinking about asking God to let summer continue for a few extra months. Do you think He will answer yes? I know, I need to get a life. Have you had many opportunities to fish yet? I am hoping we get a chance to go together at some point in the next several weeks. It is certainly cheaper than golf, and a lot less aggravating. Did I tell you I birdied the first hole the other day when I went with Justin? Of course, the problem with doing that on the first hole is your expectations get crushed on the rest of the holes.
We have been working hard on developing our discipleship ministry at the church. We launched the Huddles I talked to you about earlier this year and they are going well. This Fall we are launching the pioneer groups of what we call Missional Communities. These are groups whose primary identity and focus is the mission they join together to accomplish. The mission could be anything the Holy Spirit leads them to do and makes them passionate about. However, their goal is to be involved in the mission and identify the persons of peace the Lord has prepared for them. Remember, the person of peace is the way Jesus taught his disciples to reach people. These persons are those God has prepared for us to build a relationship with and share the forgiveness and love of Jesus. I am really looking forward to seeing these new groups getting underway.
Our Family Ministry has taken on a big challenge to help our Nazarene District purchase 1,000 soccer balls to distribute worldwide. These soccer balls have been a simple way to share Christ with kids. Because soccer is the most popular sport in the world, there are countless 1000’s of kids who could be reached through these balls. The balls are $10 a piece and our kids and teens are receiving the offering toward these balls through August 15. I hope you and Helen will talk about how many balls you would like to purchase.
We continue our series called Alternatives to Christianity this week. This week we are talking about Islam. After this we will take a look at Mormonism and Postmodernism. This has been a great series helping our folks to clearly understand the incredible differences between Christianity and every other religion in the world. Along with this, we are seeing how incomprehensively blessed we are to be a part of God’s eternal family with Jesus. I know you understand perfectly.
We miss you and Helen lots!
Love your other son,
Dan
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posted on July 09, 2010 12:05
Dear Gordon,
Did I tell you I have started to play golf with your grandsons? Yes, I know it is a game for the insane and delusional, but I sure enjoy playing it with the boys. Justin received one of those mega-Bertha drivers for his birthday. I never really used one of them before. One of the things I learned is you can hit the ball farther, but that doesn’t mean you hit the ball in the right direction. I also learned how much better you can hit the ball out of the taller grass if you put it on a tee.
We are continuing our message Alternatives to Christianity, where we compare various religions against the Christian faith. We’re looking at things like: Are all religions the same? Isn’t truth relative? Is there only one way to God? and many other questions from other religions. We realized how various religions tend to impact what we believe today and the need to understand what God says about them to make sure we’re truly following Him and not something else. Cindy Porter did a fantastic job addressing a very difficult one this last week, Consumerism. I encourage you to go online and listen to her message on itunes or from our website at Limacc.com.
As you know, our folks at LimaCC are committed to reaching out to others in so many ways through local, national, and international missions. One of our opportunities happening right now is offered through our District office and coordinated by our own Mel Miller. Mel has been working for months now coordinating many efforts for his 7-week stay on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina. Groups from many different churches will be traveling to the reservation throughout July and August to work on projects in private homes as well as the church site. This is an awesome opportunity for families to serve together and share Christ’s love in practical ways. Our group from Lima Community travels to the Cherokee Reservation in mid-August. Please continue to pray for Mel and the Team through the summer.
Just a few weeks ago I shared with you the honor I felt in baptizing so many of our kids at camp, as well as one of our adults earlier in June. Sometimes we find that people have a lot of questions about baptism. It is so important that we understand what baptism means and the importance of being baptized. Baptism is an outward sign of our celebration that God has done something special on our behalf through Jesus Christ. This public statement in baptism shows that we have responded to God’s grace in Jesus and that our life is under new management – our life is brand new where we now choose to live only for Jesus. I am elated for those who have responded to the Lord’s direction in their lives through baptism. Baptism is so important to us that we have put together a brochure and a short class that is very helpful. We are looking forward to more baptisms in August and encouraging all those who would like to be baptized to sign up on the communication card.
Ready… It was the middle of the night. Suddenly there was a loud rapping on the doctor’s door, followed by a groan. The doctor angrily thrust his head out of the window. “WELL?” he shouted. “No,” moaned the man. “Sick.”
Love, your other son,
Dan
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amytabler posted on July 01, 2010 09:56
Dear Gordon,
Things have been pretty quiet around home this summer. Pam hasn’t shot at me lately, which is always good. Also, I do believe my kids still love me, at least for now. Other than trying to figure out what is wrong with your grandson’s car, all is relatively calm. I am still thinking about our reaching Generation Y, and what that would look like for us. One of the key roles of our church is reaching the youngest generations. Whether we do this or not will determine a great deal how faithful we are to the gospel, and whether our nation will still have many witnesses to Christ.
Even though it is summer here at the church, a lot of things have been going on. I told you about kids camp already, but we have another camp that just finished last week, Royal Family Kids Camp. I got word that the many volunteers who served this year did another terrific job. Once again dozens of at risk kids had the opportunity to receive the love of Christ through our people. I am always amazed at the gift our people give these kids year after year. Along with this, we have a good group of people learning how to hear God’s voice this summer in a class being offered during our 9:00am service. Because hearing God is so key to the Christian life, we want to continually teach on the subject. Then, our Source video venue will be having a picnic after services on July 11. Brian Romine, the Source venue pastor, along with the venue leaders, are working on some great improvements.
We continue our series this weekend called Alternatives to Christianity. This one will probably be a bigger surprise for some folks than last week. My hope through this series is that our folks will better understand the Christian faith and gain greater confidence in what they believe, as well as sharing what they believe.
Oh yeah - we introduced our new Segullah Clubhouse director, Lindsey Kline. She has been our interim director for several months, and we believe the Lord wants her to be our full-time Director. I am grateful to God for raising her up for us as a church. Also last weekend we had a guest worship leader, Lani Stacy, who knocked it out of the park.
Happy 4th of July! Don’t blow any of your fingers off with fireworks. Remember, you already have one stub.
Love your other son,
Dan
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posted on June 25, 2010 11:35
Dear Gordon,
Lately I have been thinking a lot about the youngest generation in our country. Sociologists call them Generation Y or the Millennials. The oldest of the Y generation are now 30 years old. The reason I have been thinking about them is only 5% of them attend church regularly. As you can easily tell, that is incredibly low. Knowing this makes me afraid for them and our culture. We are very close to losing the Christian faith in America. I am praying and asking God to show us how to reach them and make them disciples here in the Lima region. Because we are a church that seeks to reach the missing and make them missionaries, we have to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit to figure this one out. I don’t have any answers yet, but I will keep pursuing them. That is pretty heavy, I know.
Since you asked me a while back about our new staff searches I have been wanting to give you an update. While we have not yet identified a Worship Pastor, we have identified some of our own members to provide leadership in this area. They are doing a great job, and I am so appreciative for all they do. We are still looking for a youth pastor, but we have a few persons in the hopper and are starting initial conversations with them and seeking the Lord for his direction. However, the Junior High Ministry, we call Collision, has been consistently growing under the terrific leadership of their pastor, Jessica Porter. Both her and her team of unpaid servants (volunteers) truly love and are committed to our 6-8th grade students. This weekend we are pumped about introducing our new Segullah Clubhouse Director (1-5th grade). We are very thankful to the Lord for His direction in this vital position in our children’s ministry.
I forgot to tell you about the incredible Kids Camp our children’s ministry held a couple of weeks ago. Not only did we have 132 kids participate, we also had 50 adults who served and made the camp a reality. The best part by far was the 22 kids who were baptized proclaiming their faith in Jesus. This weekend our folks are going to have the opportunity to watch these baptisms on video. There is no question these kids being baptized is one of the most important times in the life of our church. On top of this, we baptized an adult on that same weekend. She gave a wonderful testimony of how Jesus has transformed her life.
This week we are starting a new series called, Alternatives to Christianity. We have been planning this series for some time and will be looking at options to the Christian faith and how they stand up to what we believe. I am hoping through this series we will gain a greater confidence in our own faith, and help those who are undecided about following Jesus take several steps toward him. Anyway, I think the first alternative we look at this week will be a surprise to most of our people.
Check this out – A cannibal chief invited another cannibal chief from a different tribe over for dinner. They sit down and eat the best meat. After dinner, the visiting cannibal chief said, "Wow that was good! Your wife makes the best meat." Then the other cannibal chief said, "Yeah, I'm gonna miss her..."
Love, your other son,
Dan
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posted on June 17, 2010 16:21
Dear Gordon,
Just now talking to Pam and she told me while she was on a walk my puppy almost got whooped by a brown lab. She says he was tail between the legs scared. There goes my theory of my dominant dog companion. I have a lover not a fighter.
The Lord is really moving in our church. Not only have healings continued, we have many who are seeking Him for breakthroughs in their lives and many more connecting with their Person of Peace – that person or persons who the Lord has prepared for them to build a relationship with and ultimately share Jesus. I don’t know all the Lord is wanting to do with us, but I know it’s good. We have been praying for a long time for the Lord to do what He wants with us, and I hope people will be praying for more and more of the Spirit, and for all of us to be truly sensitive to His leading. God goes where He is wanted both in individual lives and in our churches.
This next week 120 of our people will be holding our annual Royal Family Kids Camp with 64 campers, and we will be praying for protection, attitude, weather and safety this weekend. Their mission is to show unconditional love to these very needy kids and create positive memories for them in the face of their negative environments. I am always in awe of those who serve these kids every year, offering the kind of love only Jesus can give through them.
We finished our budget year recently, and I am so thankful for the generosity of our people. In spite of the economic environment in our country, our folks remained faithful in giving to God’s work here and around the world. He is in the work of garbage collecting and recycling, and we are seeking to join Him in the family business. As I have always said, we have the best people bar none. I know after having been here several times you agree.
This Sunday is Father’s Day, and I am giving a special father’s day message, plus we have a gift for all of our fathers. Additionally, we are asking our folks to invite as many fathers as possible to join us. Happy Father’s Day!
Love, your other son,
Dan
P.S. Newlyweds are doing great!
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posted on June 11, 2010 12:34
Hi Gordon,
I tell you what, God is doing some incredible things in peoples’ lives. I recently talked with two people who were experiencing physical healing in their lives. One person experienced healing in their legs after a bad fall, the other one in their ankle, and there are more stories just like those. It seems to me while God loves pouring out his blessings on his kids, He also wants us to share these stories with “the missing,” those who don't know Christ.
We just finished a series where we learned that we are God's treasure hunters, searching for the missing, and all that God asks of us is that we reach out to the people in our lives who the Holy Spirit is already working in. Luke 10:5-6 calls them people of peace, people who are responsive to us and receiving God’s help through us or just a listening ear... the things that show them Jesus. Over the next six months we’re praying for everyone who’s committing to reach out to a person of peace. We’re encouraging everyone who calls Lima Community home to reach out to a person of peace, develop a relationship with them, and then share their stories as an encouragement of what God is doing through that.
Continuing in that same theme, there are some incredible things happening this week. Over 125 kids are going to Camp Rock Star where they will get to know Jesus in a deeper way and have an awesome time! We are also partnering with Renovate, where Lima area churches are coming together to serve our region through projects, music, food, and the message. Finally, this Saturday from 11am-4pm, at Faurot Park, we will join with over 40 area churches to show our unity and care for each other and the community. There will be a picnic with free food, great music, and fun events for kids and teens.
Please be praying for all these events along with Royal Family Kids Camp which starts soon. It's great to be a part of a church family that loves God and really cares about the region! Pray for many people of peace to be found!
One last thing… last week there was some incredible destruction done to the area around Toledo from a tornado. Hope Community, Pastor Brandon's church, is asking us for volunteers to help with clean up, minor construction, and to just show compassion to those affected. Our folks can check out the CrossTalk for details on how to help.
Love, your other son,
Dan
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posted on June 03, 2010 16:16
Dear Gordon,
Your granddaughter finished the 5th grade this week. Yes, she is going to be in junior high. When we moved here she was only a little knee biter, now she is turning into a young lady before our very eyes. This kind of makes me nervous as a father. Oh well, there are always threats and intimidation when the boys start calling. Maybe I can simply turn them over to one of Jessalyn’s brothers.
We have a lot coming up in the next week here at the church. Our youth our doing a thing called Renovate next week, where they go out and serve the community doing all sorts of projects . Our annual kids camp is next week too. I get the privilege of baptizing 20 of our kids who completed the Next Steps class, including Jessalyn. We are also doing outside baptisms this next weekend. I love to hear the testimonies of how Jesus has changed people’s lives. Add to all this, we are a part of what is called, Community in the Park, where the churches in our city come together. How this all ended up in the same week in June is a mystery… just the way things worked out.
This series we have been working on, American Pickers, has been really good for me. I told the congregation last week how much my passion and commitment to missing people needs to be re-ignited. I am praying with a lot of people in our church for this, along with opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s leadership as He speaks to us about the missing He wants us to connect with. We don’t need to go door to door to reach people, but go to those treasures the Lord has already prepared for us to find. The pressure is off of us. The Lord does the work, and we show up in people’s lives as He makes the appointment.
What do you think of this – “Little Johnny, why is your homework in your Dad’s writing?” the teacher asks. “I used his pen,” he replies.
Love, your other son,
Dan
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posted on May 28, 2010 13:05 
Dear Gordon,
I don’t know about you, but I thought the wedding was truly awesome. Of course, I am terribly biased, but what parent wouldn’t be? For me, being able to perform the ceremony for my own son was a true gift. There is a real satisfaction you feel as a parent knowing you have done your best to raise your child to know and serve the Lord, then opening your hand and letting them fly. I do have some regrets - wishing I would have been less obsessed with my work at times, and more focused at home. However, we did a lot of wonderful things together, and enjoyed many great conversations only a Dad can have with his son. And, we will continue to be able to do both of these things. Yes, I did ask him what he planned to do after the reception. He told me, “Dad, I don’t want to talk to you about those kinds of things.” Hmm?
We are continuing our series this weekend called, American Pickers. No, not the kind of picker you are thinking of, but people who pick through junk in basements, garages, barns, and other places to find things of value they can sell. I really felt led to put together this series, as I know God wants us to step up our OUT as a church, and as individual believers. Once again, I am so amazed by how God searches for us in the garbage pile of sin, and when He finds us He makes us into someone powerful and useful for Him. What He has done for us as followers of Jesus, He is longing to do for everyone here in the Lima region. More than anything He wants us to be the recyclers with Him of the garbage we see all around us in relationships, marriages, schools…people’s hearts and lives.
Did I tell you about the Palm Sunday service we did with area churches? I can’t remember if I did. In just a couple of weeks we are going to be part of something called Community in the Park 2010. This gathering of Christians gives us an opportunity to have fun and fellowship, where Christian believers from all area churches join together. There is going to be Christian music, games, competitive sporting events, food, etc. And, it is all free. Did I say there would be food? This kind of event would probably be very good for the churches in Manteno.
Check this out - Little Johnny came downstairs bellowing lustily. His mother asked, “What’s the matter now?” “Dad was hanging pictures, and just hit his thumb with a hammer,” said Johnny through his tears. “That’s not so serious,” soothed his mother. “I know you are upset, but a big boy like you shouldn’t cry at something like that. Why didn’t you laugh?” “I did!” sobbed Johnny.
Love your other son,
Dan
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posted on May 21, 2010 09:40
Dear Gordon,
I am not certain but by the time you get this you may be on your way here for the big day. Someone asked me how I felt about the marriage, etc. At that moment I had not given it a lot of thought. However, I did tell them one word comes to mind – strange. I don’t mean the marriage will be strange, because I believe Joe and Amanda will do wonderfully. By strange, I mean strange for me. For one, it feels very different for me to be marrying my own son. I am so privileged to be able to conduct the ceremony, but I am going through what I think every parent goes through when they marry off their first child. There is a sense of loss and a strong sense of celebration. Pam and I have done our part, and now our son must live his own life for Christ. We are so proud of them both, and look forward to how God will use them. Who knows, in a few years you may be a great-grandfather. Boy, you are old.
Remember me telling you that our vision is to “make missionaries of the missing.” The Bible tells us the moment we say yes to Jesus, we say yes to being his missionary to our world, right here in the Lima region. We often think of missionaries as being overseas, but missionaries are where there are people who need to be reached for Jesus. In fact, a follower of Jesus is someone who reaches others so they to become his followers. There are many thousands of the missing here to reach and to become followers of Jesus, so there is no lack of need for us to reach out. We have right around 2,000 persons who attend our church every weekend, and I am truly thankful to God for each and every one. Yet, there are well over 200,000 in our region who are not a part of a church. My assumption is, most of them do not truly know Jesus. To help us move forward in the fulfillment of our visions we have started groups of 6-8 persons called “Huddles.” For us, these huddles are where growth in following Jesus takes place in the optimum environment. We grow together in hearing God’s voice, recognizing “kairos moments” (kairos is one of the Biblical words for time – opportunity, God’s breaking in time.), and working together in how to understand, plan, and act on what God is doing in each of our lives. For the past several months these groups have been meeting, and I really like what I see happening in and through our folks lives who are a part. I will tell you more about these Huddles later.
Coming out of our passionate desire for the people of Lima Community Church to see God’s heart for the missing and join Him in the search for them, we started that new series I told you about last week, American Pickers. Have you had a chance to watch the show yet on the History Channel? If you haven’t, the show is about these two guys who are antiquers who scour the countryside looking for stuff that may not be worth much the owners, but would be of great value to someone else. They are constantly searching for those treasures they can buy and resell. It dawned on me how God does the same thing. He is always searching for people who are far from Him, because they are treasures to Him. If we as a church can truly grasp this, we will think about reaching people for Christ in a whole new way. We will also see how absolutely vital it is that we join God in the search.
Pray for us that God’s heart for people, particularly missing people, becomes ours. See you soon!
Love, your other son,
Dan
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posted on May 15, 2010 14:24
Dear Gordon,
This past week was a big one for me and some of our other staff members. We spent a considerable amount of time learning about discipleship and outreach, then planning. While the time was invaluable, I think all of us came home bleary eyed. Also, this past weekend we had a friend of mine, and now friend of Lima Community speak. His name is Scott Peterson and he did a great job for us. He told a very funny story about pulling his brother-in-law’s shorts down in front of his entire extended family, only his brother-in-law was missing a very important item. You will have to listen on-line.
Have you seen the TV show “American Pickers” on the History Channel? These two guys, Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, scour the country looking through piles of grimy junk, junkyards, basements, garages and barns, looking for hidden gems they can restore and re-sell at a profit. This weekend we are starting a message series with the same title. I will let you know more about the series later. Also this weekend we are honoring our high school graduates. We take this time every year to celebrate their achievement and pray for God to use them in mighty ways for His glory during their lives.
I forgot to ask, did you remember your daughter’s birthday? If not, too late, it passed. If you recall, she is 35 years old now (I think J). Anyway, we all celebrated together as a family. I also cheated and ate a little ice cream cake.
Looking forward to seeing you this next week as we gear up for the big wedding. All things are a go, but I remind Josiah it is not too late to stay a free man. He just looks at me like I am stupid.
Love, your other son,
Dan
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posted on May 07, 2010 09:16
Dear Gordon
May is a special month for us here at Lima Community. Of course we are honoring all mothers this weekend and thanking them for the many ways they help us all year long. Moms can have a big impact on so many people in their lives, not just their own children. I’m so grateful for my mom. She surely deserves an award after raising Mike and me.
Next weekend we’ll be recognizing our 2010 graduates during the 10:45 service. You probably remember us doing this in past years, but this year things will look a little bit different. I’m looking forward to this time with our graduates. We are really excited about joining in prayer for our senior class as they begin a new chapter in their lives.
Oh, by the way, I wanted to give you an update on our new East Side venue that Pastor Tim is leading. They started out on Easter Sunday with a great crowd and are already reaching new people for Christ on the East side of town. This week their group is handing out gift bags to the Howard Johnson employees and setting up a prayer request drop box at the hotel. Great ideas, don’t you think?
Looking forward to seeing you again soon, Gordon. Please tell Helen happy Mother’s Day from all of us.
Love, your other son,
Dan
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amytabler posted on May 03, 2010 10:48
To help the Lima CC family know what is on my heart and keep you informed of what is happening in our church, this letter is addressed to my father-in-law, Gordon, who lives in Illinois. He is always interested in what we are doing and how the church is progressing …
Dear Gordon,
As always, having you and Helen here was great. I am elated that I had someone to hang out with…somehow going to a wedding shower full of women was not appealing. And thanks for the mower!
As you heard, we finished the series we did on relationships. I thought Cindy did a terrific job talking about handing conflict. Doing the "Go" part is very difficult, but I know what can happen in relationships if we go to the person and not someone else. It also keeps us from a lot of sin. This week the message is called, "Why Doesn’t God Like Church People." Intrigued? Listen on the computer if you get a chance. I think you might be as surprised.
Is your church talking about the National Day of Prayer this next Thursday, May 6? We are going to be giving out some info on it this week. Isn’t it amazing that folks like us can change a nation when we pray? Sometimes I find it hard to grasp myself, but I know God moves when we get before Him and invite Him to do the work only He can do. In fact, I know He waits for us to call on Him. I hope the Lord isn’t waiting too long for us - our nation certainly needs mighty change.
You might have noticed when you were here last weekend that our church was voting on two new board members - Brenda Stocker and Jennifer Martin. Both of these wonderful ladies were confirmed, and we are very happy to have them serving on our Church Board.
I know this is short, but having shared a lot with you when you were here, I won’t talk anymore. See you in a few weeks at the wedding!
Love, your other son,
Dan
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posted on April 23, 2010 11:07
Dear Gordon,
We are looking forward to seeing your beautiful faces this weekend. Well, at least Helen’s beautiful face. :-) Anyway, while the shower is going on, you and I need to find something fun to do. We have been working through a series titled, Can You Relate? Because all of us need to be continually working on our relationship skills, it has been good for me to see the simple truth of successful relationships from the Bible. This should be no surprise to anyone; the Bible is a book about relationships.
While you are here we are having two celebrations. The first one is a bitter sweet celebration. Andy Myers (our Worship & Fine Arts Assistant Pastor) and his wife Leigh are leaving us to become missionaries in South Africa. They will be serving in a slum in Cape Town. This is truly a tough place to work, so many of us will need to keep praying for them throughout their two years there. They have to raise their own support, and right now they are at 77% of what they need. I am believing many of our folks will respond to the Holy Spirit’s leadership and get them to 100% support. Andy has done a terrific job training musicians and vocalists, building bands, charting music, and leading in the Source. A lot of his work goes unseen. We simply see the finished product at the weekend worship services. We are having a reception for them after the Saturday evening and 10:45 services. Along with this celebration we will be appreciating our hundreds of unpaid servants. These are the people who faithfully serve the Lord by volunteering in our church. The number of persons it takes to operate our church effectively is truly amazing. We have the best of the best people at Lima Community.
I can’t remember if I told you about the Pastor’s Chat we had last Sunday evening. I talked about some of the new emphases we are taking as a church, and I addressed our staff searches. The folks there got to ask their questions, and by some miracle I had time to answer all of them, finishing in one hour, including group prayer time. Must be a God thing! I also told a new, great joke. If I remember I will tell you. I know you love my humor…as do the people here. :-)
See you in a few days!
Love your other son,
Dan
P.S. Our Faith Promise total is at $255k. Great stuff, eh?!
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posted on April 16, 2010 12:58
Dear Gordon,
Right now I am working with one of your grandchildren on his tax return. Hey, we still have a whole two days to get it in. I always feel greatly relieved when all the tax forms are filed and I no longer have to sift through the paperwork. I would not make a good CPA. Oh well, we all have different gifts. I love what Dave Barry says: "To you taxpayers out there, let me say this: Make sure you file your tax return on time! And remember that, even though income taxes can be a 'pain in the neck,' the folks at the IRS are regular people just like you, except that they can destroy your life."
Our friend, Jeff Schwarzentraub, spoke last week and started our new series titled, Can You Relate? I have been told what a great job he did. I am not at all surprised since Jeff always does a great job for us. This weekend I’ll be talking about another key ingredient to successful relationships, even with the people we find rather abrasive. I think most of us would agree, that is not always easy!
Hey Gordon, I also wanted to ask you to pray for the Pastor’s Chat we’re having this Sunday. We’ll be sharing some things with our folks about where we’re going in building a discipleship culture and a missional focus for our Journey Groups. And, we’ll have some updates on staffing positions, both internal and external, as well as a time for Q & A and prayer. This is a really important time not just for information, but a time for us to collectively seek the Holy Spirit’s leadership and direction in bringing God’s kingdom to the Lima region.
Didn’t you tell me you and Helen are going to come here in a week or so, to help get ready for Josiah’s and Amanda’s big day? I am so very happy for them, but sad for me. Not having Joe at home with us will be difficult to take for Dad and Mom. Yes, I understand you know all about this.
Thanks for your prayers!
Love, your other son,
Dan
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posted on April 09, 2010 11:28
Hey Gordon… it’s Vince. Hope you had a fantastic Easter! I have a lot of Yeah God’s to tell you about here!!!
Our Good Friday service was a really cool experience of walking through what Jesus’ experienced up to the crucifixion. Dan did a great job making the message personal with a visual of our sins and selfish attitudes being like bricks that are loaded on Jesus as he went to the cross for us. Then we wrote down what we were struggling with and gave that to Jesus. It was very moving, which led us to Easter, from powerful testimonies and baptisms of 12 people in Lima Live, to great music lead by Jon, to the reminder that Jesus’ resurrection makes it possible for us to not only live with him, but be empowered by him as his spirit lives in us. It was awesome with over 3800 people who showed up that weekend. Pastors Cindy and Brian are following up with over 100 people who made some sort of commitments that weekend as well!
Oh, and I can’t forget the Palm Sunday event that happened two weekends ago here. We had over 40 area churches, all denominations as well as protestant & Catholic. It was the most diverse people group I’ve seen in years...old, young, black, white, Latino, Asian, it was awesome. I’m currently working with some of the area pastors and there are some great things ahead as the area churches start to work together in greater ways to share Christ’s love in our community. I’ll keep you updated!
Another Yeah God was our first offsite video venue, Lima Community Church – East Side. Because we didn’t advertise the service outside of our church, Pastor Tim was expecting a little over 30. Instead they had to keep putting chairs out with lots of new guests showing up, ending with a total of 79 people being there. Keep praying about our East Side venue. This has huge potential for reaching the missing on the East Side of Allen County, especially when we advertise to the community an official launch date in the fall. Meanwhile, Pastor Tim will be working with the people committed to that venue and start to build a Journey Group to build community.
This week we start a new series, one I think we all need! We all experience conflict, often times because we think as individuals and tend towards selfishness, forgetting that almost every aspect of life has some sort of relational component to it (ie: our relationship with God, spouse, kids, family, friends, Christians, non-Christians). Can You Relate, our new series, will help us see how to apply the key biblical components to our relationships that will make them healthy and successful.
Last Gordon, I know how you like being in the know. Pastor Dan will be doing a Pastors Chat on Sunday, April 18th in the sanctuary at 5pm. He’s covering all that’s going on with current and future staffing, as well as looking at how our purpose, Making Missionaries of the Missing, is being fulfilled in various ministry areas. You know the thing I like about these times is, it’s not just about information, but it’s a time where people can own ministry, ask questions, and we can pray and seek the leadership of the Holy Spirit together for our church! Come join us if you can. It’s great to be in a church where people care about what God wants for them and the community!
In His grip,
Vince
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posted on April 02, 2010 10:20
Dear Gordon,
Because I won't see you this weekend - Happy Resurrection Day! I hope that you and Helen have an incredible celebration with your church family. I know we are planning a great one here. For me, one of the best parts of Easter is knowing that in every corner of the world Christians will be enjoying our biggest celebration of the year, starting with Palm Sunday then Good Friday. Jesus death and resurrection is the turning point of history. His life split the calendar from BC to AD. I'm sorry I started preaching, but I get excited simply to be reminded that because He lives we can live.
For our celebration we get started with one of my favorite services, Good Friday. Then of course we hit the peak with our weekend services. Many of us are fasting on Friday and praying God uses these services to touch and change many persons’ lives. Even more we are going to enjoy the privilege of witnessing several of our folks be baptized, declaring their faith and trust in Jesus. I always tell those to be baptized the deeper the sin they have committed, the deeper I have to put them under the water, not to mention the longer I need to hold them under. Good thing I don't have to baptize some of the staff. :-) If this isn't enough, our new East-side off-site video venue gets started at Howard Johnsons. This will be the initial start and then the big launch happens in September. Pastor Tim is the leader, and he is ready to go out with many members of the Lima Community Family. I am praying that many others will answer the call and give themselves to being a part of this venue for at least six months. This will make a big difference in getting this outreach off to a successful start.
After this weekend we are starting a new series called, "Can You Relate?" We are going to spend a few weeks learning some the most important ingredients for successful relationships. As you know, relationships are what life is all about, so we make or break ourselves depending on how well we navigate them.
Pray for us as we get ready to be together as a church family and meet the Resurrected Jesus. You are fantastic!
Love your other son,
Dan
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posted on March 25, 2010 17:10
Dear Gordon,
Really glad you got to be here for one of our Faith Promise services. I hope you got a taste of the ways Lima Community reaches out to the world. As of today we have received commitments of $212k toward our goal of $300k. Of course, that means we have a ways to go, but we will be receiving commitments for the next couple of weeks, so I am confident we will get to where we need to be. Thanks for you and Helen praying and considering making a commitment yourselves.
I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to Easter. We have one primary agenda at our church – reaching the missing, those who do not have a church home and are far away from God. We are called by God and commissioned by Jesus himself to take the Gospel to the people around us and around the world. I also know Easter is THE biggest opportunity we have during the year to invite our friends to church. Why? Because surveys consistently show that when asked, a majority of unchurched people say they would accept an invitation to visit a church on Easter. In other words - THEY'LL COME IF WE'LL JUST ASK THEM!! I didn’t get to ask you who you are inviting to your church. All of us need to pray for boldness and an open door. God will answer that prayer for each of us, and we could be the instrument God uses to change a life forever. I bet you liked the invitation we gave out with Pastor Vince in his jammies.
Before we get to Easter we have to go through Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Along with our worship services this weekend, we are hosting a Community-wide Palm Sunday service with a 90-voice choir on Sunday evening. Then we are going to experience Good Friday at a special worship time. This is always one of my favorite experiences of the year. I know I am ready for the Resurrection only after I experience the Cross in a fresh way.
I forgot the FAQ for many of us who are reading the One Year Bible. “Why can’t I seem to stay consistent in my daily Bible reading?” This is a great question. A lot of people struggle with the same thing. There is whole list of possibilities, so let me address a few of them. Often times you lose sight of why you are spending time with the Lord in the Scripture and prayer. You spend time with Him every day because He longs to be with you more than you want to be with Him. Your time with the Lord everyday is about relationship, the opportunity and privilege to be alone with the lover of your soul, to listen to Him and know He will listen to you. Seen this way, your daily time in reading the Bible and prayer can be anticipated. Think of it, you get to be with God. Another possibility for inconsistency is in what you value. You fail to do certain things not because you do not have the time, but because you do not value those things. You simply do what you value. Perhaps a reexamination of values by checking your schedule may reveal that you value television or something else more than being with God. Yet another reason for inconsistency with God is self-discipline. There are many ways to address a lack of self-discipline, but the easiest is to have someone hold you accountable. Invite someone to ask you every week how your reading is going, what you are learning and what God is saying. Let’s touch only one more. Your struggle to stay consistent in your Bible reading may come from a lack of understanding of what the Scripture is all about. First, I want to once again encourage you to stick with it, keep reading. Second, I would encourage you to pick up the book, 30 Days to Understanding the Bible, by Max Anders. These short daily readings can give you a quick overview of the content of the Bible.
Love your other son,
Dan
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posted on March 20, 2010 07:50
Hey Gordon,
I feel like I just woke from a coma now that the sun has finally made a regular arrival and the temperature hit 60 degrees here. The sun makes me happy. I have thought about asking the entire congregation if they would like to fly south for the winter ever year. How was your time with the knee-biters in Charlotte? Does Tyler remember that my name is "Wonderful Uncle Dan?" I am sure that Jenny and Jim appreciated you and Helen's visit last week so they could get away.
As I told you before, this weekend is Faith Promise. I always anticipate the weekend, knowing the HUGE difference our giving makes around the world and right here in Lima. We are looking forward to our speaker, Camille Melki arriving. Camille is the Director of Heart for Lebanon, a ministry dedicated to sharing the message of Jesus through education, humanitarian aid, community development, and leadership training. He lives right in the heart of the Muslim world, and understands what it means to face the challenges, and potential hostility for being a follower of Jesus.
We are also anticipating a wonderful Palm Sunday service next week, as well as hosting a community wide evening service which includes a community choir with folks from area churches. I know you and Helen will be here in Lima on Saturday, perhaps you can stay till Sunday and come to both services. The evening service starts at 6:00 p.m. This service starts our Holy Week remembering the great sacrifice of Jesus on the cross with our Good Friday service, and of course our Resurrection Celebration Sunday. For us at Lima Community this is a perfect time to invite our friends and family who do not have a church home.
Looking forward to seeing you and Helen soon.
Love, Your other Son,
Dan
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posted on March 12, 2010 12:19
Dear Gordon,
Thanks for responding to my thought last week about giving me a call. Sorry, I did not get to talk to you that long. I really appreciate your checking in to see how I am doing. As for the family, our lives are moving along smoothly right now. And of course, your daughter is still out of the world fantastic, and your grandchildren are better than wonderful. Of course, I may be somewhat biased.
Last week I had the opportunity to visit a couple of our ministries in action that I do not normally get to see. I visited Collision (our Junior High ministry) and The Source (our video service in the Axis). I have got to tell you I was impressed with what I saw - both of those ministries are doing a terrific job! I wish I could see them more often. Perhaps by the next time you are here, both you and Helen will be able to visit our new off-site venue starting soon at Ho Jos.
Our people and the staff are gearing up for Faith Promise next week…the weekend where we get to see how God is using our church, and will use our church all over the world in missions. Our speaker from Lebanon will give us a view of the Mideast and how God is using His people in a very difficult place to be a Christian. In the U.S. we have a difficult time imagining what our brothers and sisters in Christ go through on a daily basis simply because they have put their faith and trust in Jesus. All of these folks and millions around the world who do not yet know Jesus, desperately need us to remain faithful and generous in our giving. Having been privileged to travel around the world, I find it very challenging to communicate the urgency of our prayers and dollars going to these precious people in terrific need. But like I told you, the family of Lima Community Church always steps up to the plate in giving to missions globally and locally.
This is the last week of our healing series. I am blown away by the healings we are receiving. We have more video testimonies of people who have received healing than we have weeks in the series to show them. Then, as you may or not have thought about, we are only a few weeks from Easter. We are working on getting there as we prepare for some of the best services of the year – Good Friday and the Resurrection Celebration. We are doing a different Good Friday service this year and believe we will truly experience the cross again. You cannot get to Sunday of the resurrection without going through Friday of the cross. My message to our church is Invite, Invite, Invite. Each of us would be amazed if we knew how many people would come if we just offered a simple invitation. As they come to one or both of these services, most will take one step closer to Christ.
We still need you and Helen to be giving serious prayer for us as we search for new staff. Searches like this are always a big challenge, and even more so for us as a church our size really requires staff members who lead and develop others to serve alongside of them. This is way different than simply hiring a staff person to do the ministry all themselves. We could not hire enough people to do that.
I hope you and Helen enjoy a restful trip to North Carolina to see the twin babies, along with Tyler and Amelia. Oh yea, remember that this weekend is Spring forward. Knowing your sleep habits, losing an hour will not bother you. As for us at Lima Community, we will provide IVs for the intake of coffee. Yes, there are few things in life that cannot be made better by a good cup of java…no fru fru stuff for me. Just ask Vince.
Love your other sin, I mean son,
Dan
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posted on March 05, 2010 13:44
Dear Gordon,
I realized today that we have not talked on the phone in several weeks. I will try to give you a call in the next several days. We are doing well, except one of your grandsons has been sick for several days with some kind of flu. I am prayerful it stays away from the rest of us.
We have so much coming up here at the church. Our marriage course called Love & Respect and our financial course, Financial Peace University, are starting March 18. In just two weeks on March 20 & 21, we will be having our Faith Promise weekend. I told you a little bit about this last week, but I can’t remember if you have ever been here on this weekend. For us, here at Lima Community, this is an incredibly important weekend because so many lives here in the Lima Region and around the world are affected by the giving commitments that are made. God has given this spiritual family a great responsibility and privilege to spread the Gospel of Jesus, feed the hungry, care for orphans, and support missionaries all across this planet. The great news is our folks step up year after year to give and sacrifice so we can partner with God for another year of making an eternal difference on Kingdom fields. To show what a difference we are making, this week I received a letter from Franklin Graham thanking our church for giving so generously to Samaritan’s Purse to bring life saving help to Haiti. Now Samaritan’s Purse is also sending teams and resources to help the victims of the earthquake in Chile. Thank God for relief ministries like this one.
Along with Faith Promise, Easter is just weeks away now. Not only are we planning meaningful Good Friday and Easter services, we are also doing baptisms on the weekend. The Bible teaches us that we are to be baptized as an act of obedience (Matthew 28:18-20), and as a critical means to both cement our faith in Jesus as well as a means to publicly declare our faith. As you know, when a person is put under the water, they are declaring they are washed from all sin and have died to their old self. When they are brought out of the water they are declaring they have risen to new life with Christ. Baptisms are always a powerful time for us, for me.
I hope the FAQs on Bible reading are helpful to both you and all those in our church family reading the One Year Bible. This week’s FAQ is – What if I only understand a small portion of what I am reading in the Bible? This is fairly normal for all of us when we first start reading the Bible. The best thing you can do is not worry about the parts you do not understand, but instead focus on those parts of Scripture you do understand. Someone once said, “It is not what I don’t understand in the Bible that concerns me, but what I do understand.” When you are obedient to what you do understand, the Lord will reveal more and more truth to you. Why should He give any of us more understanding when we are not doing what we do understand? If you understand 10% of the Bible the first time you read it through, you will understand increasing amounts as you study and read over time. Eventually you will be amazed by the truth, wisdom, and guidance you have received, not to mention the transformation that has taken place because you kept reading. One of my ongoing prayers comes from Psalm 119:18 – “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things from your law.” God has answered this prayer so many, many times, and He will do the same for you.
BTW, when you get a chance, check out my video journal at www.LimaCC.com/PastorDan. You will get to hear one of my favorite jokes at the end.
Love, your other son,
Dan
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posted on February 26, 2010 13:31
Dear Gordon,
I wish you could have been here last weekend as we did baptisms. The testimonies of life transformation were a true gift to our congregation. Baptizing folks is one of the great, great privileges I have as a pastor. To hear what Jesus has done and is doing in persons’ lives as He uses our church is always an encouragement. Not only were baptisms happening here, four persons were also baptized in Peru by Pastor Vince. Good stuff, eh?
In just a few weeks we are having our annual Faith Promise weekend. I don’t know if you remember me telling you, but Faith Promise is the weekend we focus our attention on missions and outreach locally, internationally, and globally. In one weekend it is very challenging to communicate to our folks the incredible impact we are making for Jesus all over the world. Through our giving and mission teams thousands of children are being fed, people are coming to faith in Jesus, missionaries in every area of the world are being supported, even in places where missionaries have to live under the radar because those countries are hostile to Christians. Right now in Peru alone we are planting nine churches. The bottom line is, we are making a huge eternal difference. I am always amazed and thankful for the generosity of Lima Community as we give so generously to what God is doing in the world. This year Camille Melki from Lebanon will be our speaker. I will tell you more about him next week, and I will be doing one of my on line video journals to share more about this upcoming weekend. As another expression of our heart for people, we are returning our groceries this week for One Bag One Car. All of this food goes to a local soup kitchen to feed those in need right here in Lima.
The FAQ question for this week is – “Why is it important to read the Bible and pray every day?” To try and answer this question let me ask another question. What if our people ate only small amounts of meager food during the week and only one good meal on the weekend? We would be looking at emaciated people in need of nutrition. How would these same people do in standing up under an attack from an enemy? In their weakened condition caused by malnutrition, they would lack the strength to fight and would be easily defeated. The parallel is clear – how do we Christians fair in our relationship with the Lord and in the spiritual battle(s) we encounter all the time? If all a follower of Jesus receives during the week is a snack from a devotional book, if even this much, and then a meal during a weekend service, he/she becomes emaciated spiritually and easily deceived and defeated by Satan. This is why Satan does everything he can to distract us from reading and studying the Bible and spending quiet time with God. He works to keep us too busy and/or undisciplined, to deceive us into thinking we can do fine without this time in God’s Word and prayer. Imagine what our marriages and relationships would be like, how we could stand up to temptation and make wise decisions, if we would decide to no longer live on snack tidbits and feasted daily on the Word of God. We would be an army for the Lord, a force of power and love that makes a difference in our world much larger than we can comprehend. Along with this, we would enjoy the smile of a growing, vital, deepening relationship with the God of the universe.
Hey Gordon, have I told you lately how much I love you!
Love, your other son,
Dan
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posted on February 18, 2010 11:11
Dear Gordon,
Boy, it seems like quite awhile since we have been able to talk…at least a couple of weeks. I totally understand if you are avoiding me J Everything has been going along fairly well on the home front. Pam and the kids still love me, I think. At least they are pretty good at faking it. Josiah will be moving into his new place soon. We went to check it out this past Sunday evening and it looks great. As for me, I am still carefully watching my health. While I certainly cannot do all that I used to do, (Translation, I am learning not to be a person so obsessed with ministry) I am surprised with how much I can do. Monitoring and guarding my energy is an everyday challenge for me; however, I know for certain the prayers of the folks here keep me moving. Not only this, but prayer is why we are seeing God do so many fantastic works in the lives of our folks here – healings, salvations, hunger for God’s Word, etc.
This is a wonderful weekend for us as we do baptisms. I feel so privileged to be a part of a person’s obedience in being baptized and hearing their transformation story. We continue our healing series this week, Healing for Everyone, with a message called, “How to Heal Yourself.” The stories of healing coming out of this time have been a gift to read. While we are doing our gig here, several of our folks are still in Peru. We are continuing to pray for them so the Holy Spirit will empower them in ways they could not have imagined. One of our guys there is keeping a blog of his experiences. You can check it out at http://searching4thekingdom.blogspot.com/.
Before I sign off, I want to share with you another FAQ from our One Year Bible reading. The question is, “What’s wrong with using other books for devotions?” Not to sound sarcastic, because I certainly don’t mean to be, but most daily devotionals should be titled, “Jesus is sugar and spice and everything nice.” In other words, they are all fluffy and sugary with no nutrition. Granted there are some devotionals that rank way above the rest, and sometimes I recommend them. However, there is only one book that is inspired by God, only one book that are God’s words to you and me. Of course, there is nothing wrong in reading other books in devotional time, yet first and foremost we need to go directly to the Word itself. If after we read the Bible and have some time left, then we can read a good devotional. Nothing compares to reading, studying, and hearing from the Scripture. Eat the meat first and the dessert second.
Hang in there!
Love your other son,
Dan
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