August Minutes

LEHIGH VALLEY DISTRICT MEETING
AUGUST 2008


The L.V.D.M. was held on Saturday, August 2, 2008 at Christ Church, Allentown. The meeting began with scripture reading and prayer. Rev. Dick Reigle is the new facilitator. Elections were held with the following results:

Rev. Paul Barber, Treasurer
Rev. Don Wert, Secretary
Rev. Trent Stehr – Lay Representative to National Ministry Team
Rev. Bob Bast – Pastoral Representative to National Ministry Team
Mrs. Lois Pfeffer – Alternate Lay Representative to National Ministry Team
Rev. Brett Kindig – Alternate Pastoral Representative to National Ministry Team (pending his approval)

The Treasurer reported that the balance in our checking account is $2,521.37.

Rev. Dick Reigle announced that he will prepare a monthly newsletter for the Lehigh Valley Churches listing up-coming events. Please send all announcement of events to Rev. Reigle.

Discussion was held about advertising in the Morning Call newspaper. It was decided to advertise at Christmas and Easter only due to the high cost.

Christ Church will host a district-wide Good Friday service in 2009. The Good Friday offering to launch Liberia was $172.00.

A district-wide Thanksgiving Eve service will be held at St. Matthew’s E. C. Church, Emmaus, on November 26th. Offering will go to help Everlasting Ministries food drive.

Terry Jacobs has requested the District to host a Prayer Summit this fall. St. John’s agreed to host this event on Sunday, October 26, 2008 between 3 and 5 PM.

Christ Church will host the Maranatha Choir on Thursday, July 16, 2009. Rev. Reigle is looking for help to house the students for one evening. There will be approximately 80 students.

We discussed having Karl Kettering present a series of services this fall. It was decided to put this off until spring or fall of 2009.

A Pastors’ gathering will be held on Wednesday, September 24 at 8:30 AM at the new Borderline Restaurant the corner of Union Boulevard and Pennsylvania Street in East Allentown.

Our next L.V.D.M. will be held on November 15 at 8:30 AM in the First E. C. Church, Easton.

Respectfully submitted,

Rev. Don Wert, Secretary


QUESTIONNAIRE

In order to research the possibility of consolidating our white copy paper purchases, we are asking each church to determine the amount of white paper (8-1/2” x 11”) used in one year. We are also asking for the type of printer ink refills you use. Once this information is obtained, we will see if we can cut our costs with a bulk purchase commitment. Information will be sent to all churches before any commitment is made. Please send this information to Rev. Don Wert, c/o St. Matthew’s E. C. Church, P.O. Box 433, Emmaus, PA 18049; stmattec@ptd.net.

"Life Without God" Performances

“Life Without God” has completed its first goal of a Halloween outreach program. In its second Halloween of existence the intent was to be “edgy’ so as to pique interest and not alienate the unchurched on the surface. Going forward the district has a youth outreach program up and running. It is versatile as seen in the Easton Halloween program or the Holy In program. The October and May programs are taped to be archived so that anyone could review. This ministry is available to all churches as an event to attract youth and friends. The local church is responsible for follow-up.

"Life Without God" With ARMY October dates

Friday October 28th at Arabic Living Church Bethlehem 7:30 Holy-In
Hey guys, this is timmyTim from One Way. We will also be performing three new songs on October 28th at the Arabic Living Church, 527 7th Avenue, in the Holy In. Come on down and check it out!

Monday October 31st at First Church E.C. Easton 6:00

Who is ARMY?

ARMY is the youth group of the Portuguese church, which meets at Arabic Living Church. They do a variety of media presentations at a fast pace from praise hymns to rap. They produce their own videos, sound, light, and write their own skits and perform.

"Life Without God" Email Highlights History

8/11/04
Greetings,
At the LV District meeting at Zion Saturday Aug. 7 the need to establish a “team to direct” was discussed in reference to the “Life Without God” Halloween outreach program...

9/7/04
We met last week to look at Boulevard's facilities (Tues.) and discuss the program. We decided after discussion to do an abbreviated scene or two on the night designated by A-town as Halloween when Boulevard does a program for trick-or-treaters.
We need to look at a way to connect with the kids in conveying that what is accepted behavior is not necessarily the best behavior according to God. Through God's way the world will be a better place. That's our goal. That's our challenge.
We decided the full program was too ambitious for the time at hand. We'll use this time to begin planning for the big production next year. Prayer is in order.

9/15/04
…The focus will be on which elements of daily sin can be illustrated in a scene (or two) to have the most impact on the lives of the “trick-or-treaters”: greed, rudeness, vanity, drugs, cheating, etc.
We need to have writers and/or actors that may be at a church near you. We should have youth involved…

9/27/04
Tonight “LWG” met at Boulevard. We’ll develop scenes involving temptation/use of drugs and the decision process. We need to illustrate God’s way and how that’s better than the world’s way. Nothing cheesey! Ideas are moving. Not clear what to do with all age groups...

“LWG” met Mon. 10/4/04. Tim Ginder wrote a 5 scene progression dealing with drinking. We’ll use rooms and dividers downstairs…

10/21/04
…With this effort we hope to lay the groundwork for a concerted effort in the coming year between the Lehigh Valley EC District churches. There are other strategies for working together in the coming year but “LWG” will be the main one…

11/17/04
…"LWG" is the Halloween program that we undertook through the ECLV District Unity Committee at Zion EC this past August. It was an "iffy" undertaking from the start, but through prayer and effort a program came together at Boulevard EC (they already had a community outreach which brought in many young people and parents). On 11/29 we'll be doing an assessment of sorts and trying to spread the word through the congregations.

3/8/05
... just reviewed the material for “Life Without God”. It is an ambitious program. We’ve adjusted the program as we’ve progressed because the original was very ambitious. We are near the point of knowing whether we have a pool of actors...
...On this past Sunday “Life Without God” met at Arabic Living Church. The Portuguese church that meets there has a youth group that meets along with New Bethany and Arabic Living that is oriented toward drama and performance. They have a special event April 1st (Friday) called a “Holy-In” at Arabic Living where they bring it all together for an energetic evening. We need our youth groups and/or leaders to be there. The “LWG” success I believe is closely linked to this...
4/10/05
The “Life Without God” meeting at Emmanuel Sunday afternoon April 10th went well. We discussed the “Holy-In” the ARMY (Always Reaching More Youth) performed Friday April 1st at Arabic Living Church. ARMY is the youth group of the Portuguese church, which meets at ALC. They do a variety of media presentations at a fast pace from praise hymns to rap. They produce their own videos, sound, light, and write their own skits and perform. At the next meeting of “LWG” we intend to have a showcase of this drama with light and sound. We would like the EC youth of the Lehigh Valley and their friends to witness this. It is important at this stage to make known to those who would work with us what it is we are doing.
We must be working together about the Lord’s business and get the unchurched to church (along with everyone else). We can start with the youth (and young at heart) as we work toward that goal. The next meeting will be 7:00 May 15th at New Bethany (224 N. 6th St.) when the ARMY will want you to be aboard. We would like to have all the youth groups of the various LV churches along. This is an important moment in our effort to work closer together in outreach for the LORD. Please be there youth, uniters, outreachers, and anyone who can pray.
5/13/05
Over the course of the past two years we have attempted to work toward our goals in the LVDMT and Church Unity Group of working closer together... The “Life Without God” project is moving ahead as God leads with the goal of outreach for Halloween...

5/16/05 The Life Without God “exhibition” at New Bethany Sunday evening May 15th featuring ARMY was another step in the right direction toward fulfilling our mission: A partnership with local churches to make Christ known. Curious neighbors came outside the windows and entered in. That reality is near as God leads.

Oct. 22 Bridging the Gap - St. Matthews

Bridging the Gap Conference will be at St. Matthew’s, Emmaus, Saturday, October 22, 2005 9:00am-3:30pm. How do we get God’s truth into the language of today’s generation? There are gaps we might better understand how to overcome. Get serious and bring your council and other leaders, ten dollars at the door. You don’t have anything better to do than to seize this opportunity for insight into what is going on in a society that you might not recognize. You are the leadership get your people aboard.

Hosensack Oct. 1

NEXT DISTRICT MEETING IS OCTOBER 1ST
9:00 AM TO 11:30 AM
AT
HOSENSACK EC CHURCH

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR CHURCH IS REPRESENTED!

WE ARE STILL IN NEED OF A SECRETARY-
IS GOD CALLING YOU TO SHARE YOUR TALENT?