When I was a child, I NEVER would have thought I would be staying up late, chatting with good friends on the other side of this great country of ours via a device called a computer. That's what I just finished doing. I guess I won out, even the time difference is only two hours difference, Rosemary gave it up to turn in for the night! It is 12:12am here right now. Rosemary and her husband Kevin are very long time, very good friends. (Is that a correct sentence?) You get the idea. We did a lot of stuff together in our church in Nevada, and it was a wonderful time of growth for all four of us. My wife Pat is part of the foursome of usually having a good time while studying many things as we developed our United Methodist Lay Speaking abilities. Kevin is the shyer of his couple, as is Pat of mine. Rosemary is gregarious and has a beautiful voice that she shared with everyone many times, and some of the best was during the Annual Mary Powell Talent Show, that the church held, and still does, I understand. Kevin being the more subdued of their twosome, really surprised me when he found his spot proclaiming the Word of God as a pulpit supply person on our list of about six Certified Lay Speakers that had been chosen and trained to preach on a rotating basis throughout the year. His growth in public speaking was a wonderful process to watch unfold. He found his own style of presenting God's Word and did it very well. Rosemary's gift was one of vocal music. She is still singing for the Lord at every chance given to her, and does that with a modest temperament, and still belts out the tunes with a power rarely experienced. Then my partner in crime Pat, the quiet and almost in the shadows, developed a ministry of caring. She was one of the original "Shepherds" that got organized at First Henderson UMC. Their job was to watch over their "flock" of church attendees, and to send birthday cards, missed you cards, thinking of you cards, phone calls sometimes, and the like for the group she was assigned. How important is that ministry? VERY IMPORTANT, because it showed the people who attended our church that they were important as Brother and Sister Christians and that someone cared enough to know when they missed a service, had that birthday, or whatever. We are all in the category of caring for each other as we grow in our respective church families. Our Shepherding program was inspired by someone who put it into ACTION. It is a successful program still in place today.
I was excited about all the people in our congregation that were lead to seek the United Methodist Lay Speaking Program enough to put their gifts in action as leaders of the church. The UMC has now changed the name of Lay Speakers to Lay Servants I guess, because too many people thought that it was just a group of folks that were trained to give sermons on Sunday morning. That wasn't the case though. It was for Lay members to be trained as Leaders of their congregations in such a wide variety of areas to specialize in, not just, and only, speaking/preaching on Sunday morning. The new named program has some new ways of instruction, and new terminology to learn. But this is about the teams that our little congregation in a little town just outside of Las Vegas Nevada developed into something that we are all very humbled but proud of. When Pat and I left that wonderful little church, the membership had grown to over 200+ members, two Worship Services on Sunday, Dinner and Bible Study on Wednesday nights and a Lay Speaking Team of 28 Certified Lay Speakers and one Local Lay Speaker. The one was only because there is a one year "discovery" period for the candidate to feel their way into what ministry they are gifted in. I suppose it didn't hurt that four years earlier, I had been asked to be the North District Director of Lay Speaking ministry, but there was a lot of excited and "Jazzed for Jesus" folks that wanted to DO for Jesus! Kevin, Rosemary and Pat were there at the right time to participate and grow in Christ with all the excitement of learning together, doing together, and sharing the Love of Jesus and His Father, God, as we all grew in the church. I remember it as a time of individual growth, throughout the whole district, which encompassed from Central Nevada, to the northern communities of Arizona, like Winslow, Flagstaff, Lake Havasu, Kingman, and Needles to name a few. There were about 30 churches and our district had developed about 143 Lay Speakers because we had a training team that went out to these remote churches and trained their members how to serve God and His church. What a glorious time we had doing God's work. What was interesting is that the Clergy supported our program with everything they could help, to make things happen. What a fantastic time!
One of the rewarding parts of serving God and his Churches was that we could do it with friends that loved Jesus too! What a team we had. Another couple that were instrumental in this process were Paul and Linda. They were my "away training team", even when I could go with, they were always there to do what was necessary to make it happen. Paul has since gone home with the Lord, and Linda has started her new life serving God as a Local Pastor in the United Methodist Church and has been appointed the church in Caliente, NV, serving as their Pastor. See what God has for us all in giving us all our own special gifts to share His word? Some are preachers, some are care givers, some are hospital and nursing home visitation folks, some are hospitality specialists. Others are Sunday School teachers, and still others are perhaps musicians or song leaders/singers. Who knows what gifts have been given to folks that can be used to share the story of Jesus and the Love that He has . . . or you. Isn't that wonderful?
All this because I saw Rosemary's Facebook page comments and our "visitation". It brings back some memories of friends of many years, of which some have been mentioned in this blog, and others too many to share at one time....maybe more later. I sure hope that you, the reader, have memories and wonderful recollections of the great friends you have developed over your lifetime. They are priceless...each and every one of them. If you can, then you have been blessed by God. And we all rejoice in that. BTW: time: 1:15am Monday Time really passes by quickly doesn't it?
Keep singing, keep praying, keep smiling,
Blessings,
Gary
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