Be our guest…
Dear church,
When I became your pastor almost seven years ago I remember coming across the legendary poem from John Donne in which he eloquently states…
“No man is an island entire of itself…”
I had heard the words before but now they carried new weight. One of the first lessons I learned seven years ago is that as your pastor I needed pastors in my life. I needed other people who would come alongside of me and offer wisdom, guidance, counsel, perspective, correction, love, and support. In the next few weeks, I’m extremely excited to have three guest speakers that have, over the years, provided friendship and relationship for me.
On October 23rd we will be celebrating Minsters Appreciation Sunday.
My very good friend, Mike Kildal, will be preaching for us. Mike and Judi and his family are dear friends of Libby and mine. I first met Mike when I joined a fantasy football league with some friends several years ago. When I became pastor in December of 2015 he was one of the first pastors in town to reach out and send his prayers and wish me well. At the time he was the Executive Pastor of Redeemer’s Fellowship, and he currently serves as a Chaplain for Mercy Medical Hospital here in town. Libby, however, has had the Kildal family in her life since she was 16 years old! (I’ll let Mike tell the stories of sixteen-year-old Libby when he’s here with us 😉)
Mike will be speaking on the subject, ‘What happens when you truly encounter God’s Word?’ He will actually be continuing our series through the book of Acts but unpacking the next passage in our series in Acts 13. Mike is a dear friend, he is a colleague, he is a mentor, he is a pastor to me, and he and his family are family for Libby and me. I’m extremely excited for him to join us in a couple of weeks.
On November 5th our church will observe the National Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.
It is an observance within our faith calendar in which churches pray for Christians who are persecuted for their faith. It falls on the first Sunday of November and this year we are overjoyed to have Dr. Agam Iheanyi-Igwe of Bushnell as our guest speaker. He serves as the Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Bible and World Christianity.
Libby and I had a chance to meet Dr. Agam last year when I spoke at a chapel service for Bushnell University and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with him afterward. Our own Braden Abbott had Dr. Agam as a professor this last year at Bushnell and spoke of him in such high regard. In fact, when Danny Harrod of Boise Bible College was here earlier in the year I talked to him about the persecuted church globally. I shared with him our desire to highlight the persecuted church and he immediately recommended that I invite Dr. Agam to speak for us. His passion is to equip leaders for the global church and brings more than 15 years of pastoral ministry in Nigeria and in the United States.
The current research suggests that more than 245 million Christians today are persecuted. That is 1 of 9 Christians in the world today. We are going to be so blessed by hearing from Dr. Agam. He will help us understand and embrace our dear brothers and sisters around the globe who face persecution in ways it would be hard for us to understand. I pray that you will make being here for this Sunday a priority.
On November 20th we will have our 2nd Annual Gratitude Sunday.
Last year we decided that as we head into the holiday season full throttle it would do us all a bit of good to have a Sunday devoted to gratitude. I believe gratitude to be a pivotal Christian discipline in our lives. By living lives of gratitude, we gain perspective, we begin to live out the fruit of the Spirit, and we live out of generosity instead of selfishness. This year we have the great fortune of having Phil Roberts as our guest speaker from Emmanuel Seminary at Milligan College in Tennessee. Phil is the Assistant to the President for Seminary Development. He works closely with churches and donors in the Pacific Northwest on behalf of Emmanuel. Last year he was with us on Gratitude Sunday as his travels allowed him to join us and we are so thrilled that he will be speaking for us this year. In addition to having Phil speak for us on Gratitude Sunday, we’ll also have some helpful tools for your family to prioritize gratitude as you enter the holiday season.
I’m looking forward to having these three guest speakers. They have dedicated their lives to Jesus and I’m so glad we get to hear from them over the next few weeks.
I love you, church.
Pastor Daniel
(In upcoming issues of ‘Dear church’ we’ll talk about five questions I ask when I read my Bible, how I study for a message, and what a week looks like in the life of your pastor)
