Greetings, friends
The time is quickly approaching for another long winter, but it’s not here yet. As I write this blog, it is 60 degrees outside! It took awhile for summer to get here, and it looks like it is taking awhile for winter to get here as well.
Not much has happened since the November blog. That’s sort of the nature of life around the holiday seasons. We enjoyed a good Thanksgiving with our daughter. She brought up a friend from Harding who had never been to New England before, so that was fun. We are anticipating a trip down to Oklahoma in a couple of weeks. We will be going to our son, Michael’s graduation from Oklahoma Christian University. Following that we will be spending time with Linda’s folks in Arkansas and my folks in southern Oklahoma over the Christmas season. So we are spending a lot of time in the meantime making arrangements for our dogs, getting gifts for the family, and battening down the hatches for winter.
My Christmas Choral Concert is this weekend. It is nice to get to know the people in the community, and to see them around town from time to time. One never can tell the evangelistic impact of such community involvement, but I feel it is important, if for nothing else, to promote a positive picture of the church in the community.
The church will be hosting our second community meal this coming Wednesday. At our last meal many of our guests said they would come back and bring friends with them, so we are hoping to have even more folks show up this month. Of course, this time of year you never can tell how weather is going to impact anything you have going on.
We are getting more excited about the upcoming youth rally. Craig Hicks from Tulsa will be our speaker and Andrew Moore from OVU will be leading the weekend’s worship time. This youth rally is so important for the church, not just because it is a place where lots of kids are encouraged in their Christian walk, which strengthens the churches in New England, but also because of the camaraderie that grows among the members of the congregation during this time. It is certainly a unifying time for the brethren here.
Well, I am going to let you go for now. May your Christmas holiday be filled with joy, family, and friends. Thanks again for all you have done in the past to contribute to our work here in Conway. We solicit your continued support, whether through financial means or through prayer. Despite the difficult financial situations many people are facing, may God bless you with provision for all of your needs through the coming year.
Blessings,
Leland
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
2009 Late Summer and Fall pics from Conway
Some of the church gang preparing for our first Community Meal
Sarah was the fishing queen! We cooked them up and ate them the next day.
Linda singing to God's creation
This was one neat sight from the top of Mount Washington
The Labor Day Fellowship at Gander Brook. We had a relaxing time with friends form all over New England.
Out for a drive one day during the foliage season.
Mount Washington, on a day that we were NOT on the top of it.
November Blog
Greetings from Conway
Well, summer has come and gone. Even though it started out wet and drab, we finally got some nice weather at the end of the season. It is amazing to me how time can fly by so quickly. The church has had a good summer. We had many visitors worshipping with us throughout the tourist season, and it was good to have met and worshipped with so many people from across the country who come to Conway to vacation. Linda and I have had a very busy summer as well, mostly entertaining a variety of friends and family. Hardly a week went by that we didn’t have someone in our home for a visit. Throw in a couple of weddings, a funeral, time spent at Gander Brook for retreats, and that makes for a really busy time in our household.
My in-laws, Russ and Jean McConnell came for over a month. Russ was traveling around to various congregations in New England encouraging the brethren who worship in these small churches. While they were visiting, we received a call from our daughter about a student from Harding needing respite for a semester, whose home situation was not conducive for her spiritual healing, so we have taken on a border until after the New Year. It has been joyful to see her gradually developing spiritual health and emotional strength and we are looking forward to her returning next year better equipped to deal with college life.
We are looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday as our daughter and one of her friends are coming in for the week. It won’t be long until we will head down to Oklahoma for our son’s graduation from Oklahoma Christian, and to spend the Christmas holidays with our families down in the south.
We continue to enjoy our work here in Conway. We have had several visitors from the community worship with us throughout the summer. Some have come to several services, and there is hope that we will be able to study with them in the future. One activity which we have recently begun is a monthly meal on Wednesday evenings. We began this activity not just to provide meals for families needing help with food costs, but even more so to get to know the community better, and to get them more familiar with the church here. We hope through this effort to find needs and offer assistance to those needing it. We had our first meal last month. We had over 22 people from the community come for the meal, and a couple stayed for the Bible discussion that followed, so the members here were thrilled.
We have begun making plans for our upcoming Annual Youth Rally, to be held in late February. The theme for next year’s event is “CSI” (Crucifixion Scene Investigation.) We will be looking at how the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus gives young people stable ground upon which to base their decision to become Christians.
As far as our financial situation, we are in the process of trying to secure help for our work here. We have sent information out to many churches about our needs, but have not received substantial help as of yet for 2010. We continue to trust that God will provide our needs in some way. If the future holds to be similar to the past in God’s dealing with our life, we will likely be receiving help from the most unexpected sources. Until we do receive more outside help, Linda and I are both working part time in different areas, trying to make ends meet.
Thank you all again for your support of our work here in Conway. We hope you will continue to support the ministry here next year. I am beginning to realize the process of growth here will not come as quickly as I would like. But the church is doing well in creating a foundation of friendship and love that will gradually make inroads into the community. Continue to pray for us as we keep planting these seeds, trusting that God will provide the growth in due time. God bless you all and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season.
Brotherly yours…
Leland
Well, summer has come and gone. Even though it started out wet and drab, we finally got some nice weather at the end of the season. It is amazing to me how time can fly by so quickly. The church has had a good summer. We had many visitors worshipping with us throughout the tourist season, and it was good to have met and worshipped with so many people from across the country who come to Conway to vacation. Linda and I have had a very busy summer as well, mostly entertaining a variety of friends and family. Hardly a week went by that we didn’t have someone in our home for a visit. Throw in a couple of weddings, a funeral, time spent at Gander Brook for retreats, and that makes for a really busy time in our household.
My in-laws, Russ and Jean McConnell came for over a month. Russ was traveling around to various congregations in New England encouraging the brethren who worship in these small churches. While they were visiting, we received a call from our daughter about a student from Harding needing respite for a semester, whose home situation was not conducive for her spiritual healing, so we have taken on a border until after the New Year. It has been joyful to see her gradually developing spiritual health and emotional strength and we are looking forward to her returning next year better equipped to deal with college life.
We are looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday as our daughter and one of her friends are coming in for the week. It won’t be long until we will head down to Oklahoma for our son’s graduation from Oklahoma Christian, and to spend the Christmas holidays with our families down in the south.
We continue to enjoy our work here in Conway. We have had several visitors from the community worship with us throughout the summer. Some have come to several services, and there is hope that we will be able to study with them in the future. One activity which we have recently begun is a monthly meal on Wednesday evenings. We began this activity not just to provide meals for families needing help with food costs, but even more so to get to know the community better, and to get them more familiar with the church here. We hope through this effort to find needs and offer assistance to those needing it. We had our first meal last month. We had over 22 people from the community come for the meal, and a couple stayed for the Bible discussion that followed, so the members here were thrilled.
We have begun making plans for our upcoming Annual Youth Rally, to be held in late February. The theme for next year’s event is “CSI” (Crucifixion Scene Investigation.) We will be looking at how the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus gives young people stable ground upon which to base their decision to become Christians.
As far as our financial situation, we are in the process of trying to secure help for our work here. We have sent information out to many churches about our needs, but have not received substantial help as of yet for 2010. We continue to trust that God will provide our needs in some way. If the future holds to be similar to the past in God’s dealing with our life, we will likely be receiving help from the most unexpected sources. Until we do receive more outside help, Linda and I are both working part time in different areas, trying to make ends meet.
Thank you all again for your support of our work here in Conway. We hope you will continue to support the ministry here next year. I am beginning to realize the process of growth here will not come as quickly as I would like. But the church is doing well in creating a foundation of friendship and love that will gradually make inroads into the community. Continue to pray for us as we keep planting these seeds, trusting that God will provide the growth in due time. God bless you all and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season.
Brotherly yours…
Leland
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Early Summer Pics
I had to turn around and get a picture of this to show you what our idea of an international airport looks like. We took a trip to the tip top of New Hampshire, to moose country, and passed this along the way.
The bride, Brynn, was 4 years old when we were living in Southbridge, where her family worshipped.
Graduation party for two of our seniors.
Nice to have Sarah home for the summer. The dogs think so too!
The church doing one of the things they do best...eat! Tonight it's waffles at our house. Yum...
See what wandered up on our deck at 4:30 one morning. After our bird-feeder!
We get all kinds of wildlife around here.
Sssssay, ssssonny!
Final preps on a Sunday morning out on the deck.
Howard and Jane Norton, at Gander Brook Work and Worship Week
Our humble abode
We occasionally needed a reminder from God, with all the rain we had recently.
Fellowship meal on Wednesday evening prior to our Bible Classes.
Hey...watcha me makes a fancy pepparrrroni pizza!
Greg owns a convenience store. Sarah, Linda and I all work there occasionally.
Sarah's dorm mom, Donna, came for a visit.
Sarah's friend, Donna and us at Quincy Market. She flew into Logan so we couldn't just drive home without taking a detour for lunch...
"Summertime, and the living is easy..."
Greetings,
A lot has happened since the last blog. It’s been a pretty busy spring here in the Mount Washington Valley. The weather has been annoyingly rainy and un-summerlike. We are getting sun today as I write this blog, and it really gets people into a better frame of mind.
The month of May was filled with lots of congregational activity. We began the month talking together as a church about ways we could influence people in the town and reach out to our neighbors. After a couple of more meetings, we have settled on a course of action which involves having a meal (weekly or bi-weekly we are still debating) on Wednesday evenings starting in August or September where we could invite our neighbors to come eat with us, free of charge. After the meal we would go right into a topical discussion of some relevant issue relating to our spiritual lives. We could also use this as a way to get to know various needs which we might be able to meet. Everyone seems to be excited about the potential of this activity. We are starting even now eating together on Wednesday evenings prior to our Bible classes, just to get us in a frame of mind for when we officially begin this ministry later this fall.
We had a work day back in May but were limited in what we could do outside because of the constant wet weather. But we did get a lot of ancient clutter from the last 20 years out of the building. We still have a few projects we need to finish up whenever we can get a spell of dry weather. I know it must be hard for you all down south to hear this as you are cooking in the heat.
This Sunday I will be concluding a nine week “Family Life Series” in which I dealt with many issues related to husbands and wives, parents and children, and teenagers. It was received well, and we have made CD’s available to all which have been disappearing quickly, so I know people have been getting the Word out to their friends. On Wednesday evenings we continue to discuss various questions being asked by the congregation. We are currently studying the nature of our spiritual battle and how we can effectively fight to keep from losing any of the freedom we have been given in Christ.
As far as personal activity, I have been pretty busy as well. In mid-May the community chorus of which I am a part had their Spring Concert. It is good to get to know people from town. I see them every once in awhile in Wal-Mart or the grocery store, and it gives an opportunity to stop and visit so I feel like more a part of the community activities. Everyone there knows I am a minister for the church here, so it offers opportunities at times to mention church related activity.
I also began working part-time a couple of days a week at the store owned by one of our members. Not only does this help out financially as the church here is still only able to provide us $1,850 a month, but just as importantly, it is another way to have an in with the community and get to know more people around the area.
This time of year, of course is the time for graduations and weddings, of which we have had several. We spent one weekend down in Massachusetts where I performed a ceremony for the daughter of a family who was in the very first church we helped begin in Southbridge, MA. We also went over to Vermont one weekend to attend the wedding of another friend from our son, Michael’s graduating class. And we had a couple of High School graduations, complete with after graduation family parties. We took a bit of time one Sunday to honor our grads and give them a gift Bible from the congregation.
Now that it is summertime, the church camp (Gander Brook) is in full swing. I spent some time up there last week at Work and Worship Week, where Howard Norton (of Harding, and formerly at OCU) was the evening speaker. We got quite a bit of work done in spite of the constant rain. It is nice to live fairly close to the camp.
We are getting into a really busy time of our summer. We have several out-of-town visitors coming our way. Sarah just had a friend from Harding come for a few days last week. One of Linda’s best friends from Abilene is coming next week. Then our son comes in for a couple of weeks, joined later by his wife. Then our eleven year old former neighbor from Vermont who loves us to pieces will make her annual trip to see us for a week or so. Lots of driving to airports, lots of food, lots of activity. And as soon as we blink, summer will be over!
Which means it is time for me to begin that annual process of securing support for next year. I want to thank all of you who have been supporting us over the last two years. Don’t be surprised to find a “thank you” note in the mail shortly. Blog pages are great, but not for the purpose of correspondence related to finances. For those of you who would like to continue helping the church here, we certainly would appreciate it. I am resolved to the truth that growth here might not be as quick as I would have liked when I first moved. We were blessed this year to have received a few sizable contributions which I have been able to scatter throughout the year to supplement our income. And I know our God will once again provide for our needs for the coming year as well. I am encouraged that it seems like the people in the church here are beginning to get more excited about moving forward and getting active in talking more with their friends in town. People didn’t do that for awhile after the problems the church faced before we came. So prayerfully we will see more growth in the future than we have up to now. I know the church will be glad when they will once again reach self-supporting status.
By the way, the church is now on Facebook. If any of you on Facebook want to be friends, look us up. Also, one of our members has just finished a course on Web Site construction so we have high hopes of having a functional site which we hope to use as a tool for getting the word out to the people in our area.
Have a great summer. Keep praying! And please consider us for mission support for next year. We love you all and appreciate what you and your support and prayers have been able to accomplish in this neck of God’s Kingdom.
Brotherly,
Leland
A lot has happened since the last blog. It’s been a pretty busy spring here in the Mount Washington Valley. The weather has been annoyingly rainy and un-summerlike. We are getting sun today as I write this blog, and it really gets people into a better frame of mind.
The month of May was filled with lots of congregational activity. We began the month talking together as a church about ways we could influence people in the town and reach out to our neighbors. After a couple of more meetings, we have settled on a course of action which involves having a meal (weekly or bi-weekly we are still debating) on Wednesday evenings starting in August or September where we could invite our neighbors to come eat with us, free of charge. After the meal we would go right into a topical discussion of some relevant issue relating to our spiritual lives. We could also use this as a way to get to know various needs which we might be able to meet. Everyone seems to be excited about the potential of this activity. We are starting even now eating together on Wednesday evenings prior to our Bible classes, just to get us in a frame of mind for when we officially begin this ministry later this fall.
We had a work day back in May but were limited in what we could do outside because of the constant wet weather. But we did get a lot of ancient clutter from the last 20 years out of the building. We still have a few projects we need to finish up whenever we can get a spell of dry weather. I know it must be hard for you all down south to hear this as you are cooking in the heat.
This Sunday I will be concluding a nine week “Family Life Series” in which I dealt with many issues related to husbands and wives, parents and children, and teenagers. It was received well, and we have made CD’s available to all which have been disappearing quickly, so I know people have been getting the Word out to their friends. On Wednesday evenings we continue to discuss various questions being asked by the congregation. We are currently studying the nature of our spiritual battle and how we can effectively fight to keep from losing any of the freedom we have been given in Christ.
As far as personal activity, I have been pretty busy as well. In mid-May the community chorus of which I am a part had their Spring Concert. It is good to get to know people from town. I see them every once in awhile in Wal-Mart or the grocery store, and it gives an opportunity to stop and visit so I feel like more a part of the community activities. Everyone there knows I am a minister for the church here, so it offers opportunities at times to mention church related activity.
I also began working part-time a couple of days a week at the store owned by one of our members. Not only does this help out financially as the church here is still only able to provide us $1,850 a month, but just as importantly, it is another way to have an in with the community and get to know more people around the area.
This time of year, of course is the time for graduations and weddings, of which we have had several. We spent one weekend down in Massachusetts where I performed a ceremony for the daughter of a family who was in the very first church we helped begin in Southbridge, MA. We also went over to Vermont one weekend to attend the wedding of another friend from our son, Michael’s graduating class. And we had a couple of High School graduations, complete with after graduation family parties. We took a bit of time one Sunday to honor our grads and give them a gift Bible from the congregation.
Now that it is summertime, the church camp (Gander Brook) is in full swing. I spent some time up there last week at Work and Worship Week, where Howard Norton (of Harding, and formerly at OCU) was the evening speaker. We got quite a bit of work done in spite of the constant rain. It is nice to live fairly close to the camp.
We are getting into a really busy time of our summer. We have several out-of-town visitors coming our way. Sarah just had a friend from Harding come for a few days last week. One of Linda’s best friends from Abilene is coming next week. Then our son comes in for a couple of weeks, joined later by his wife. Then our eleven year old former neighbor from Vermont who loves us to pieces will make her annual trip to see us for a week or so. Lots of driving to airports, lots of food, lots of activity. And as soon as we blink, summer will be over!
Which means it is time for me to begin that annual process of securing support for next year. I want to thank all of you who have been supporting us over the last two years. Don’t be surprised to find a “thank you” note in the mail shortly. Blog pages are great, but not for the purpose of correspondence related to finances. For those of you who would like to continue helping the church here, we certainly would appreciate it. I am resolved to the truth that growth here might not be as quick as I would have liked when I first moved. We were blessed this year to have received a few sizable contributions which I have been able to scatter throughout the year to supplement our income. And I know our God will once again provide for our needs for the coming year as well. I am encouraged that it seems like the people in the church here are beginning to get more excited about moving forward and getting active in talking more with their friends in town. People didn’t do that for awhile after the problems the church faced before we came. So prayerfully we will see more growth in the future than we have up to now. I know the church will be glad when they will once again reach self-supporting status.
By the way, the church is now on Facebook. If any of you on Facebook want to be friends, look us up. Also, one of our members has just finished a course on Web Site construction so we have high hopes of having a functional site which we hope to use as a tool for getting the word out to the people in our area.
Have a great summer. Keep praying! And please consider us for mission support for next year. We love you all and appreciate what you and your support and prayers have been able to accomplish in this neck of God’s Kingdom.
Brotherly,
Leland
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Spring is in the air...
Greetings friends.
As always I want you to know up front how much Linda and I appreciate your help in the work here in Conway. I hope you are having a blessed spring. The leaves are finally coming out on the trees here. Along with them comes the black flies and mosquitoes. Oh well, you take the good with the bad. It is really enjoyable living up in New England, as we don’t get the heat some of you down south are already having.
The church has had a fairly quiet April. As far as activities we didn’t do a lot this month. I think people are talking a break from the frantic activity of the last two months with the Youth Rally and Ladies’ Weekend. We’ll be gearing up for more activity here shortly, though. We plan on having a spring cleanup day sometime soon to help spruce up the place. We had a good discussion recently with the church about our direction for future activities and ways we can be more visible and influential in the community. There were a lot of good ideas, some related to serving people by feeding them or helping them with service projects around their homes. Other people mentioned having a Bible Fair for children. One of our members is taking a class on web-site building so hopefully he can be a help in getting our web page updated and functional. I would really like to use that as a tool for the community. Right now we don’t really have a web page to speak of. Also we hope to get some more coverage in our local daily paper.
I’ll be interested in developing these ideas to see which ones the congregation really wants to get behind. I believe that in their hearts, all of our members want to grow, and don’t seek to remain at the level we are right now. I also know they are enjoying this season of peace and joy after the turmoil prior to our coming. I know that sometimes having a small, cozy friendly group is nice since it grows closeness and with less people seem to come less problems. But less people also means a smaller Kingdom of God, and we don’t want that! The Lord will help us with the problems!
I had a “first” last week. One of our members is employed at a popular local pet store that just relocated to another site. At their grand opening (with dozens of pet owners with their dogs present) the owners asked me to start off the grand opening celebration with a prayer of blessing for the new store. It went well, and everyone seemed to enjoy the prayer. It was just another way God has opened a door to be more visible in the community, and to get the name of the Lord’s Church in front of people. Someone told me last night at services that there was a write-up in the paper about the event, mentioning the blessing. (I’ll have to go check that out!)
We are hoping to get some community involvement as well with a “Family Life Series” I have just begun. From now until July 12, my Sunday morning sermons will be on family life (marriage, husbands, wives, roles, parenting, children, etc.) On Sunday evenings we will use our time together to have discussion and answer questions people may have about the morning topic. We put an ad in the paper and in light of the recent focus in the news on the definition of marriage, perhaps a few people might come in to see what God has to say about it all. While the courts may bend their decisions to the will of the people, I want to bend my will to the decisions of God. He knows best. Anyway, that’s it for now. I didn’t take a lot of pictures this month, but I did put a few in of the pet store Grand Opening. Hope you enjoy. Have a great May and I’ll be in touch again next month.
Blessings,
Leland
As always I want you to know up front how much Linda and I appreciate your help in the work here in Conway. I hope you are having a blessed spring. The leaves are finally coming out on the trees here. Along with them comes the black flies and mosquitoes. Oh well, you take the good with the bad. It is really enjoyable living up in New England, as we don’t get the heat some of you down south are already having.
The church has had a fairly quiet April. As far as activities we didn’t do a lot this month. I think people are talking a break from the frantic activity of the last two months with the Youth Rally and Ladies’ Weekend. We’ll be gearing up for more activity here shortly, though. We plan on having a spring cleanup day sometime soon to help spruce up the place. We had a good discussion recently with the church about our direction for future activities and ways we can be more visible and influential in the community. There were a lot of good ideas, some related to serving people by feeding them or helping them with service projects around their homes. Other people mentioned having a Bible Fair for children. One of our members is taking a class on web-site building so hopefully he can be a help in getting our web page updated and functional. I would really like to use that as a tool for the community. Right now we don’t really have a web page to speak of. Also we hope to get some more coverage in our local daily paper.
I’ll be interested in developing these ideas to see which ones the congregation really wants to get behind. I believe that in their hearts, all of our members want to grow, and don’t seek to remain at the level we are right now. I also know they are enjoying this season of peace and joy after the turmoil prior to our coming. I know that sometimes having a small, cozy friendly group is nice since it grows closeness and with less people seem to come less problems. But less people also means a smaller Kingdom of God, and we don’t want that! The Lord will help us with the problems!
I had a “first” last week. One of our members is employed at a popular local pet store that just relocated to another site. At their grand opening (with dozens of pet owners with their dogs present) the owners asked me to start off the grand opening celebration with a prayer of blessing for the new store. It went well, and everyone seemed to enjoy the prayer. It was just another way God has opened a door to be more visible in the community, and to get the name of the Lord’s Church in front of people. Someone told me last night at services that there was a write-up in the paper about the event, mentioning the blessing. (I’ll have to go check that out!)
We are hoping to get some community involvement as well with a “Family Life Series” I have just begun. From now until July 12, my Sunday morning sermons will be on family life (marriage, husbands, wives, roles, parenting, children, etc.) On Sunday evenings we will use our time together to have discussion and answer questions people may have about the morning topic. We put an ad in the paper and in light of the recent focus in the news on the definition of marriage, perhaps a few people might come in to see what God has to say about it all. While the courts may bend their decisions to the will of the people, I want to bend my will to the decisions of God. He knows best. Anyway, that’s it for now. I didn’t take a lot of pictures this month, but I did put a few in of the pet store Grand Opening. Hope you enjoy. Have a great May and I’ll be in touch again next month.
Blessings,
Leland
Going to the dogs...
Can I have one, huh, please can I.
Just one, please, can I?
I just hope people had their eyes closed during the prayer, or they'd see that ever increasing bald spot.
Brian and Kathy, the owners, invited me to come offer a blessing for the business.
Trish, one of our members, is an employee here. She is standing at the far left talking to the guy in the purple shirt.
Linda with a fluffy friend
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