Thursday, July 9

I started today in Davenport, IA, where I first interned 36 years ago.  The pastor and his wife, Bob and Angie Joseph, live in the parsonage where I met with my Sr. Pastor way back then. No time right now to talk about programs, but Bob and Angie do certainly have them happening there in Davenport. Some great ideas to share in the book.  First pic is of the Davenport Church and then you see Bob and Angie.  Great breakfast!  Thanks!!  Then I followed bob up to Cedar Rapids, IA to meet with an area group pastor's meeting.  Great time of fellowship.  Left to right you see Mark Luckesh, Bob Joseph, Roy Weeden, Gary Birth, and Dave Bissell.  What a neat group of guys!  Thanks for the fellowship.

Next it was into the rain and absolutely pounding wind, but I arrived safely in Ames, IA where I had my first district and initiated so many wonderful memories and friendships.  Treva Martsching, my clerk, is still watching children and active. She is sitting with Dave Lincoln who was the pastor until about a year ago and served there for nearly 10 years.  Had a great visit and saw this red tailed hawk in the neighbor's yard feasting on a squirrel.  Couldn't resist that pic and then he flew away.  The last two pics show the Ames Church which is pretty full each week and then the parsonage we lived in while pastoring there.

Today I'm off to Sioux City, IA and I'll catch up with you later!

Wednesday, July 8

What fun it was to spend some time at Andrews University which has such a diverse student base and faculty as well. I love this campus! The entry drive has been made so beautiful and this globe and archway sets a nice tone. The Pioneer Memorial Church is so easy to take pictures of and I also loved their Garden of Grace which I had not seen before. That even gives me some ideas for our courtyard in Napa! Due to my primary interview being limited to a phone call due to illness I had time to go over to the Pioneer Church and found Esther Knott, who I have known for many years.  Esther is on the pastoral staff at Pioneer in charge of small group ministries.  She has a real passion for connecting people with people as well as with Christ through small groups. We had a very insightful conversation and I'm looking forward to some material she has coming out later this year.

As I left Andrews to ride to Davenport, Iowa I could see dark skies waiting for me.  My fears were made reality as the rain began and grew in intensity.  For more than 150 miles I rode in absolute downpour, but God was with me and the bike handled it all well, but I must confess that it isn't much fun to ride that way.  I was thankful for good rain gear as well.  Tomorrow should be a bit drier, but Friday and the weekend look pretty gloomy. The good news is that each visit is so worthwhile and each day brings me that much closer to home.  I'll meet with a group of pastors in Iowa City tomorrow and then go on to Ames, Iowa, where I pastored my first church.

Tuesday, July 7 continued

We start this posting with a picture of Bruce and Jackie Moore, Sr. Pastoral couple at Battle Creek Tabernacle where they have served for 6 years. He took me to see some of the important Adventist history sights. I had seen them before, but I wanted some pics to share with you. You can see the graves of Ellen and James White in the second picture. The next one shows the entry gate for the Oak Hill Cemetery. Notice the date of 1844, which is an interesting coincidence. The next picture is of the former Battle Creek Sanitarium, which is now a Federal Building. This was built by J.H.Kellogg after the original Battle Creek San burned. Across the street you will see the Fire Station built after the San burned. The Review and Herald had burned down a year or so earlier and they determined that Adventist fires couldn't be put out. The last picture is of James and Ellen White's home which is part of the very interesting Adventist Heritage Village. If you ever get a chance to visit Battle Creek you will find a fascinating array of historical information from the origins of the Seventh-day Adventist organization and the great cereal wars between Kellogg, Post, and as many as 250 0thers who tried to cash in on the popular trend.

Tuesday, July 7

Well, I've got a little catching up to do and a lot of pictures to share. I had a hard time limiting it to the ones I'll put up here.  I started out Tuesday morning from Dayton and rode up to Toledo to meet with Mike Fortune.  This is a very beautiful church facility and Mike is doing a great job there in reaching the community in some very creative ways.  They sponsor and host a car show in the church parking lot every year and are getting a very large turnout. They have adopted a women's shelter, hosted community block parties and done mission trips to Toledo just to name a few.  Now Mike has asked his church to pick from the 20+ outreach events they have done and choose the three that they can do best.  They have a pastor with a passion and the church is trusting him to lead.  What a concept.  There is a picture also of Dee, the church secretary who, as always, holds things together.

The last two pics are of the Battle Creek Tabernacle church.  Bruce Moore, Sr. Pastor, gave me a great tour of the church and, as you will see in the next post, of some of the historical sights. They have done some nice refurbishing for a church that was built in 1924 after the Dime Tabernacle burned down in 1922.  I was interested to see if this church had an eye to the future in that so much history is focused here and I found that they definitely do.  Obviously they get a lot of visitors, but they are also offering a variety of classes to the community including Depression Seminars.  They have adopted a portion of a local highway and they participate in at least one local mission project with a Christmas offering each year.  I'll continue with my Battle Creek visit in the next post.

Halfway There

James Boyles helped me get another map of the third week's journey. You may or may not have difficulty seeing a line connecting the cities. I'm having some trouble on my computer, but James is seeing the correct picture.  At this point in time, after three weeks I was sitting at 6,217 miles.  I'll try to get up a new map showing where I will be at the end of week five, which is the first week back.  Thanks for following.
View Larger Map

On My Way Home, Part Two!

My second stop on Monday was at the Newark, SDA Church in Ohio where Pr. Tom Hughes is turning the tide and direction of the church. Tom is a fan of bikes for sure and serves as a chaplain for the Christian Motorcycle Association. He has worked hard to make the Newark Church increasingly loving and open to all who come.  They have a lovely sanctuary and although the workers could happily use more help you will not find more dedicated and committed workers anywhere. The first pic shows Tammy (Pathfinder and Youth Leader), Leon (Head Elder and a hospital chaplain), and Lynda (who does a whole lot of everything else). As always it is a challenge to steer the direction of a long established church, but I can see lots of good indications in process here. 

From there I went on to the Dayton area to stay overnight with Monte and Norma Sahlin.  Monte is best known as the research guru for the Adventist Church and has been an enormous help to me in this project.  I met his daughter, Melissa, and her husband, Gianluca, who is the pastor of a church nearby and the Agora project, which is a bookstore, teaching center, church, outreach and ministry that is doing some exciting things.  Their attendance has doubled over the past couple of years and, again, the key is building relationships outside of the church proper.  This is a neat young couple and God is really blessing them, and others through them. 

I just had to include a couple of pictures of Monte's library. He has about 10,000 volumes down there and I've seen a lot of school libraries that could be envious of what he has available. We had a great time talking about his research and my project.  In fact we talked until nearly midnight and then picked it up again around 6 a.m.  Sleep is highly overrated don't you think?

On My Way Home!

OK, I'm on my way home as of Monday morning and it was a very big, but very wonderful day to be sure. In fact it was so big I'm going to give it to you in two separate posts. The first pics you see are just some farewell shots of T's parents, Julie and T, and, of course, me and my sweetie!  First stop was Carnegie, PA to meet with Andy Clarke and the ministry he has put on the map there. He started with just his own salary being covered by the conference and he has put together a network of support that employs a half dozen or more and offers services to the community that dazzle the mind.  They have renovated dozens of homes affected by the flooding from Hurricane Ivan and others. They have impacted the community with such force that at a city council meeting where the council was counting on not approving a request for occupancy they had over 200 community leaders including clergy from many other denominations, business owners and others present to speak on their behalf and their request was approved unanimously.  I have a video of the meeting that I'll be sharing. I spent two hours with Andy and saw an incredible ministry that has sprung up in just a few years and they are having their first baptisms on July 18!  This was exciting stuff! Next I went on to Newark, OH and I'll put that into the next post. It was a long day with three stops and 530 miles! By the way, the last pic shows the brick building that they purchased.  They rent out two spaces for a pizza shop and another very nice cafe.  They occupy the third (far right) shop with a bookstore and all of the second floor and basement for a wide variety of services. You also see a picture of Andy and the other is of a safe that the kids painted.  There is a beautiful, but long, story that goes with that.  You'll have to read the book when it comes out!