Silver Lake, Reconnect and ReEquip

Sunday morning, April 15, Sherry and I had the joy of worshiping with Pastor Duane Seitz and the congregation of Silver Lake Wesleyan Church. These are encouraging days for this small church as Pastor Duane leads them in this turnaround project.
​

​Highlights of the day included welcoming five new members (plus Rev. & Mrs. Seitz), baptizing two adult believers, and singing “Happy Birthday” to Mrs. Naomi Floor, their pianist who will turn 94 on Thursday. Following the service, we joined the congregation for a pitch-in meal in the fellowship hall. Pastor Duane is setting the pace by committing to personally knock on every door in town (366 households) and to offer the ministry of prayer to these neighbors.

Sunday evening, I was with Pastor Jerry Alexander and the congregation of Anderson Central Wesleyan Church for a productive town hall meeting as a follow-up from their consultation with our Maximizing Impact team. They will be voting on the report on Sunday, April 29.
​
Last week’s meeting included pastoral search committee meetings at Colfax Wesleyan Church on Monday evening and Lone Oak Wesleyan Church in Anderson on Tuesday evening. I’m grateful for the committed lay leaders that serve faithfully in our local churches but never more so than when churches are in seasons of pastoral transition.

Rev. Chris Williams, Seth Bye and I hit the road for regional meetings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Rev. Mike Colaw, Assistant DS for Region 2, hosted the pastors of the greater Indianapolis area at Trinity Wesleyan on Monday afternoon. Rev. Matthew Trexler, Assistant DS for Region 1, hosted the pastors of the greater Fort Wayne area at The River Church in Marion on Tuesday morning. The Region 3 pastors, led by Rev. Chris Williams, gathered on Wednesday morning at The Bridge Church in Logansport.
​

We have lots of fun at these gatherings, including the door prizes, but nothing is better than the privilege we have of lifting each other in prayer. It was a special blessing to be able to gather around our church planters and surrounding them with a circle of prayer. We really are stronger together!
​

On Friday, our team had the privilege of welcoming 42 retired pastors and spouses for our semi-annual fellowship. We held the morning session at Wesleyan HQ in Fishers and then hosted the afternoon group at Brookhaven Wesleyan Church in Marion. We were delighted to have Randall & Theresa Hudson present the upcoming events for our district’s Senior Adult Ministry. The fall bus tour this year will include Williamsburg, VA and then the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, NC. Our featured guest on Friday was Rev. Ron McClung, Assistant General Secretary of The Wesleyan Church, who brought an informative and encouraging report of developments in our denominational family.
​

​On Saturday morning, I had a breakfast meeting with Rev. Purciful and the pastoral staff from North Anderson Wesleyan Church, before heading to Marion for the funeral and home-going celebration for Rev. Edna Larimore at West 8th Street Wesleyan Church. Pastor Dan Van Cise led the heart-warming tribute for a life well-lived for God.
​
After the funeral, I dropped in on the meeting of the Board of Directors for Fairmount Camp. Mr. Dave Tippey leads this team and they were encouraged by the report from Angela Spangler, Executive Director, that their fundraising efforts had exceeded the $40,000 in matching funds from new donors!

​This week’s schedule includes District Action Committee, District Budget Committee, District Nominating Committee and, best of all, ReEquip! I’m looking forward to seeing our team come together this Saturday to learn how to lead our ministries to even greater levels of effectiveness in Great Commission ministry.

Thank you for all you do to advance the Kingdom!

Your servant in Christ,
Mark