Tuesday, August 28

Happy Tuesday!

Good morning OWC!

I'm enjoying a cup of Peruvian coffee from Irving in the Ville and it is yummy!! Highly recommended ;->

We had a terrific board (leadership team) meeting last night! I am thankful to God for such a group of forward-thinking, faith-believing leaders.

Any Mac people in the church?? Make yourselves known ;-> I've switched over to Mac this summer and now I'm wondering, "Why doesn't everyone use a Mac?"

Oh yeah...there were more stories at our meeting last night of OWC'ers 'walking across the room'. Sweet!

Hope you have a blessed day,

PT

Monday, August 27

Walking Across Rooms all over Fredericton

Hey OWC! I hope your week has gotten off to a great start!

Yesterday we talked about 'taking next steps' as we walk across the room to do simple, relational, evangelism. How's it goin'?
After the service yesterday I was being introduced to a couple who have been to OWC for the past two weeks in a row (very exciting!) and the husband pointed at one of our members and said, "She walked across the room in our lives". How cool is that?!

We currently have 28 teens and youth leaders on a camping trip to Fundy National Park. Let's hope most of them come home.

The August Board meeting is tonight -- I refer to them as the Leadership Team. Doesn't that sound better than "Local Board of Aministration"?

Don't forget...BIG Announcement coming this Sunday!!

PT

Saturday, August 18

Saturday A.M. thoughts...

I hope you all have had a great week!

We had 6 pre-teen girls over last night for a High School Musical 2 sleep over birthday party! They had a blast and I think they actually got some sleep. I got some sleep, so I am thankful ;->

Hope turned 11 back on August 1 but due to all of our moving-renovations and camp on Catons Island, she decided to put it off until the HSM2 release.

I picked this up off of Perry Noble's blog and it resonated with me...Here are 5 things for me to consider as I lead OWC:

1. Am I listening to God? Listening to people is important, especially when they have a need to be heard. I want to 'hear' what is on people's hearts and what they are passionate about. But, ultimately I need to be listening to God. God has a vision for OWC that he wants downloaded to us. It's just crucial that I listen carefully to God's voice.

2. Am I taking risks? I think OWC has already sensed that I am a risk-taker. There is a fine line between faith and foolishness and that's the line we need to be on. The opposite of taking is risks is doing 'safe-church', comfy church, maintenance church, etc. I need to lead us into the faith zone where God can bless us. It boils down to this - What are we doing that will fail miserably unless God helps us?

3. Am I understanding how big God is? Sometimes we breeze over statements like, "God wants to save the soul of every person in our community". We hear it, we nod, we might even say 'Amen', but we don't really believe it. My prayer is that we would get a fresh sense of the immensity of grace. Can we believe that God can use OWC to literally transform our communities?

4. Am I surrounding myself with the right people? Let me say this publicly - I am already BIG TIME thankful for the Board members of OWC. They are positive. They are forward-thinking. They are risk takers and they are in love with Jesus. I love being around people who stretch me, challenge me, and make me better.

5. Am I giving it my best? Obviously, I want my church to feel as though their Lead Pastor is giving it 110% all the time. But bigger than that, I will be held accountable someday for the effort I have put in to reaching this community with the Gospel. There is nothing more important than the Gospel - and I am convinced of it. It requires my very best.



What about tomorrow?? Week 1 of "Just Walk Across the Room". I've talked a lot this summer about being a church that reaches out to spiritually lost people. For the next few weeks, we are going to take some of the stigmas off of evangelism and talk about how each of us can be developing relationships for eternity.

Fall Kick Off - Sept 9 is the day when most of our people will be back from summer vacationing, etc. We are launching the Fall with the series, "LOST". This is a great opportunity for you to invite someone to church. We won't embarass you or them. It'll be a quality worship experience with teaching that makes sense.

Can't wait!

Monday, August 13

"GONE" is gone

Hey OWC'ers...I hope you are having a great Monday wherever you are with whatever you have on your plate today.

We spent last night at our cottage with my brother and his family, my folks, Gayla's folks, and a couple of butterscoth pies! We also had the fire fired up for some smores and hot dogs. Cottage life at it's best!

Yesterday morning we wrapped up the Gone series with Gone Hiking - How to get in the Word and Stay in the Word in order to stay on the path that God has for you. Remember the 3 points...G - P - S??

This week we are setting our sights on a series titled, "Just Walk Across the Room". It's based on Bill Hybels book of the same name which you can pick up at the Lighthouse. (It's also based on Scripture!)

Have a great week!

pastortim@olivetwesleyan.ca

Friday, August 10

Happy Friday

Hey OWC! I hope you are all having a great week!

Our 'stuff' arrived on Tuesday! Yaayy! It was like Christmas - seeing all that stuff we hadn't seen for quite some time. It's all in, but it is far from unpacked.

This week's big thanks goes out to Kim Henry who has helped many days at the parsonage! Thanks Kim! Also, Brian MacDonald has been in doing a lot of electrical work for us. Way to go Brian!


If you'd like to get a head start on Sunday, read Psalm 119, especially the first 16 verses. Go over it a few times...read it slow...pick out some keywords...it is full of powerful truth! We are continuing our GONE series with the 4th and final week - "Gone Hiking". We are going to talk about GPS and how we can stay on the trail God has laid out for us. P.S. As a follow up to last Sunday...Did you spend time this week listening to God? How did it go? I'd love to hear your story.


See you Sunday!
Pastor Tim

Thursday, August 2

Thursday Update...

Hello OWC! I hope you are all having a great week. Is it muggy enough for you??!! :-)

Thanks again to all of you that brought gifts to our pantry shower/fellowship! It was greatly appreciated! We are almost ready to move into the parsonage. Our stuff is being delivered by the movers this coming Tuesday. The men of our church have been working so hard, through this hot weather, to get us ready to move in. The painting, landscaping, etc all looks terrific! We're really excited about settling in.

Pastor Mark, Liz, Emily and Abby leave for vacation tomorrow. Please keep them in your prayers. Have a great time Brewers!

This Sunday we are in part three of our 'Gone' series, "Gone Camping". We're going to have a little fun with this service, so come expecting some creativity and a good time!

If you want to be looking at the texts of this week's message, read Matthew 16:13-28; 17:1-13 In 17:4 Peter was ready to put up a shelter, kind of a 'tabernacle-tent' deal. His intentions were good, but Christ knew that there was a lost world waiting at the bottom of the mountain and that was where he needed to be. There will be plenty of time to 'camp' when we get to heaven. In the meantime, we need to keep moving for Christ.

See you on Sunday!

Pastor Tim