Letters to the Churches of Carbon County and Beyond

Hello folks of Carbon County and a big Wyoming hello to those beyond Carbon who receive this posting. How was your week? The early snow storm affected most of Wyoming and it dipped into Colorado. Now as I write the snow has melted away and there seems to be little if no evidence of chaos shut down highways. Halloween was untraditionally warm this year and the kids (and the Wasinger Parents) are recovering from the candy binge. As I look about in this part of the state this is what is taking place: The Apostolic Team for both Regions 4 and 5 (mostly the southern half of the state) met about a week ago using WebEx; Saratoga continues to work through their discernment process in calling a local preacher; St. James in Encampment started Wade in the Water with the assistance of Rev. Ray Grieb (Ray is also working with Saratoga with the preaching discernment); St. Thomas is getting prepared for their Mustard Seed Project – Blessing Bundles; St. Luke is about complete with their Wade in the Water; and I have been receiving reports from St. Paul that their afterschool program has drawn in a large group of kids (about 30 kids). I hope this letter finds you well.

Last Monday (October 26) I was in Laramie in the mid afternoon to work on my personal project and that evening I was a host for the joint Apostolic Team meeting between Regions 4 & 5. We talked about what took place at convention; shared what other churches are doing with their formation processes; and scheduled our face to face meetings in November.

Tuesday (a week ago) I drove over to Saratoga to participate in a preaching discernment process for Ralph Hicks. We are coming to a conclusion soon as Ralph has worked hard to prepare his responses to the questions that have been listed in the study guide. We have generated a new set of discernment questions for the next round of discussions. Fortunately I made it home before the scheduled winter storm hit for the week.

Wednesday I was in Kraft Hall in Rawlins for office hours and that evening I was on another WebEx meeting with the Regional Reps and my fellow Ministry Developers. We meet monthly to discuss what is taking place throughout the state and to stay in touch. Lately we, as a group, have been working on Safe Guarding God’s Children training and to move the resolution from the last convention forward. Following that meeting I was on another conference call with Evangelism in which we have discussed what we have been doing and to plan a face to face meeting in November.

Thursday I met with Karen Buckingham to review her checklist for priesthood and to debrief from her first of six retreats to learn about Family Systems. At this point the winter storm was in full effect throughout the state and it seemed to quite life down for about 72 hours. It is amazing and humbling to realize how much control we really have in this life. With that in mind was scheduled to go to Denver on Friday to take care of an appointment with Alexis, but the roads were closed so I caught up on my other administrative tasks.

Sunday I was in Dixon and presiding at St. Paul’s. As I looked about it was great to see so many people who were able to make the adjustments to the time change and yes even children were in our midst. We had a Ministry Support Team meeting following the service. The question of the Mustard Seed Money came up again and there was some jovial frustration about how the money is not being spent. One person said, “I know God has a plan for the money and we just need to figure it out.” Five minutes later there were three to four ideas that were presented. How it has been working is that the Church will make an offering and then the local community will rally and take care of it themselves. The church provides the spark the people of the community provide the fuel and energy.

This is how my week is shaping up: Tuesday is an administrative day in which I am writing this letter and have taken a couple of phone calls. Pat Walsh and I are in the process of planning a youth event in the area this December and more details will be coming out soon. Wednesday I will be on a weekly web/phone meeting with the Ministry Developers starting at 8am and then I will have office hours at Kraft Hall from 10am to noon. During my office hours I will be taking to Karen and developing a blessing for the “Blessing Bundles” for St. Thomas. Wednesday evening I will be hosting a WebEx meeting with the Wyoming Wilderness Camp leadership to begin planning 2010 programming. Thursday is another administrative day to write a sermon and other various items. Sunday I will be presiding at St. Thomas in Rawlins in which the church will be launching their “Blessing Bundles” and perhaps do a house blessing in Rawlins that afternoon.