PRAYERS ANSWERED

Some of our prayers are answered. I was told today that Nathaniel Swift successfully came through a 21 hour operation. John and Connie will stay another day with him.
Also I heard that Lois Garrett was sitting in a wheel chair and had her lipstick on! She is still in the hospital for observation.
And tonight both building committees are meeting. I didn't get an agenda, so I don't know what is on the docket, but it means that we are moving forward and that is the right direction.
Continue to pray for our church and the hard working volunteers.
Charles

PRAYERS

We have a lot of things to add to our prayer list.
1. Nathaniel Swift is having delicate operations for a tumor on his head Wednesday and Thursday, but outside of the skull. John and Connie are with him as our prayers should be.
2. Lois Garrett has been taken back to the hospital and I have heard no more about her condition.
3. The Parsonage Building committee has signed their contract with the builder and construction is underway. We need to support their decisions and the construction.
4. Selection of the best floor plan for the Church Building will be made by the congregation this Sunday and we need to pray that God will direct those decisions and that we can move more quickly on the decisions related to that construction project.
5. Pray for each other.
Charles

PARTICIPATE IN THE PROCESS

Progress is being made, slowly, but all church members can now voice their opinion on which floor plan they prefer for the church building. The church committee met last night and approved two floor plans, A and B, to be put in the Cross Plains Public Library with silhouette elevations (because we have a lot of decisions about what the outside will look like) for viewing by church members all week April 24 - 28. Then on Sunday April 30 everyone can vote for the one plan they prefer. Then the committee can get back to work on the gillions of decisions about brick color, floor coverings, etc. that have to be made to finish the drawings and start cutting metal for the beams and columns.

The Parsonage committee also met last night and didn't sign their contract because they are waiting for the finished plans. They will meet again Monday night at 7:30 to hopefully complete the contract and start preparing a foundation. They did stake the corners after dark last night so someone ought to look at it in the light of day.

I remain ever the optimist that we will have a new parsonage and a new church this year.

Remember that this Sunday will have a lot of things to participate in. Sandra Jones will be ordained by the Presbyterians as a new deacon. We will have our pot-luck dinner where Dr. Henry Chisholm will be honored for his service. He will preach April 30 while pastor Senkel gets a well-deserved short vacation before the revival starts May 7.

Charles

PARSONAGE PROGRESS

Visible signs of parsonage construction are now to be seen as bull dozers clear the lots for the construction of the parsonage.
The Church Building committee met last night and reworked Plan B to make it about the same size floor plan as Plan A. It will go back to Pro-Cad to make new drawings to be put in the Library for all to see and for all to select which design to proceed with. I hope this can be done by next week.
Charles

POEM FROM ARLENE

Arlene sent this to me to put in the blog. She didn't write it.

Christian

By Maya Angelou:

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'.
"I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven.

"When I say... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace, somehow!

Share this with somebody who already has this understanding, as reinforcement. But more importantly, share this with those who do not have a clear understanding of what it means to be a Christian, so that the myth that Christians think they are perfect" or "better than others" can be dispelled.

May your day be filled with many blessings.

AMEN TO THAT!
CAR

GOD SHOWS UP EVERYWHERE

It is amazing where God shows up.
Today after visiting Lois Garrett between her physical therapist and nurse visit, where she looks ready to go to a party with her hair fixed and her lipstick on, I went to Kiwanis where I heard how God has worked in the community.
As you know the person who is responsible for Cross Plains is Debbie Gosnell who was the program brought by James Alexander. She started her talk telling how on December 27 she told herself that she couldn't handle another disaster in Cross Plains and was ready to quit. Her brother, Rick Potter, (who contributes comments to this blog) told her that with God's help she could do it. God told her she couldn't do it but He could. With that assurance and the prayers of her pastor, Ron White, she was able to work with the other hard-working city employees and the citizens to have the city cleaned up in 3 months.
I was sitting next to Jim Senkel and he said they had just used the fork lift elevator system at the Presbyterian church to install a brand new big organ on loan for a year from an organ dealer who had also provided one for the Kokomo Baptist Church that burned. Jim said our organist, Betty Lewis, loved it. I saw her at Higginbothams and she confirmed the feeling. She said she couldn't wait to get off work and go practice on it.
God continues to bless Cross Plains and FUMC.
Charles

CROSS ROADS COMES THROUGH

It is dangerous to thank just one church when so many have blessed us with everything from pews to pillows, but last Sunday my Sunday School Class improved 100% because Cross Roads United Methodist Church north of Fort Worth (I think near Haslet) brought a lot of really comfortable wooden padded chairs to the Presbyterian church and we enjoyed using them. When those that weren't there hear about the comfort they may all come back to Sunday School.
Cross Roads delivered them to us and we can't thank you enough!
Charles

BUILDING PROGRESS

This building committee is going to make an old man out of me. We met last night from 7:30 to 10:30 tweaking Plan B. Now the congregation is going to have two different looking church plans to choose from. Plan A will have the sanctuary with a separate Fellowship Hall and a classroom office building between them. Plan B will have the sanctuary in the center with classrooms and office on one side and the Fellowship Hall on the other. Each one will be about the same cost in my opinion, so it will be a matter of what will feel more comfortable to us.
We are delaying the construction schedule by a month while we back up and look at the two different designs. We hope to do one more iteration by the committee and then have both sets of plans for about a week in the Cross Plains Library for anyone to offer their suggestions and improvements and have a vote some Sunday after church to choose the best one. Then we can start signing contracts and ordering metal fabrication, or as we say in the aerospace business, "shoot the engineer and start cutting metal".
The Parsonage committee is rumored to be ready to sign their contract and should be setting stakes and clearing the site soon.
Charles

Food Pantry

Our food pantry was the beneficiary of the leftover food from the fire relief program. Last Friday, March 31, Tom and Sharon Ames, Tom and Arlene Stephenson, Del Pope, Johnnie Bland and I moved food in 2 pickups, a suburban, and a trailer to the food pantry building and to a spare classroom building at our old church site. The city guys helped us load the food. This will greatly help our mission to feed the hungry. This is such a wonderful program supported by our church and our community. It couldn't function without such great volunteers. I'll try to keep you updated on the progress of the food pantry. In March we served 40 families, which includes 98 people. Our main need is paper sacks. When you get groceries, please ask for paper sacks and give them to us. We need about 80 sacks per month.

CHURCH BUILDING PLANS

I received this email from Jane Bonner:
JUST READ THE CHURCH BLOG AND IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT THE MEMBERSHIP DID NOT VOTE TO APPROVE THE FLOOR PLAN ON SUNDAY...........IT WAS A DISCUSSION AND SUGGESTED CHANGES. I THINK MOST LIKE THE PLAN WITH SOME IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES. IT IS ALSO MY UNDERSTANDING THEY ARE WAITING TO SEE THE CHANGES ON THE PLANS FROM BARRY AND WILL ALSO HAVE AN AERIAL VIEW FOR US ALL TO SEE. I KNOW THAT THEY ARE CONSIDERING FLIPPING THE PLANS SO SOME LARGE TREES WILL NOT HAVE TO BE CUT DOWN.

I THIINK WE NEED TO BE VERY CAREFUL THAT WE DO NOT MAKE IT SOUND LIKE IT IS A DONE DEAL. IF THE MEMBERSHIP ARE LED TO BELIEVE THAT THEN THEY WILL NOT THINK THERE IS ANY NEED TO GO TO THE LIBRARY TO SEE THE CURRENT PLANS AND OFFER THEIR IDEAS AND THEY WILL NOT COME TO OUR INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS BECAUSE THEY WILL NOT THINK THAT THEIR VOICE WILL BE HEARD. THE PLANS ARE STILL OPEN FOR CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS AND CHANGES CAN STILL BE MADE.

Everyone needs to correct me when I report what I hear when I wasn't there.
Thanks Jane,
Charles

PREACHER PENSIONS

We attended the Conference presentation on the proposal to fund the new mandated pension plan for pastors held at the Comanche FUMC April 2.
As I understand the proposal from the Conference Pension Fund Committee the General Conference mandated a new plan to provide retiring ministers a much better retirement than in the past and I am all for that. Of course it will cost more money. Five percent more will be added to the 12% of the pastor's pay (salary + an allotment for either a parsonage or housing).
What galled my saddle sores was their proposal to cap the amount contributed by the large churches. When the salary + hits the average salary they don't pay on the amount above that figure. As a result all of us small churches have to pay the full amount while the big boys get a pass. If they paid their percentage on the full salary, it would reduce the amount paid by the smaller churches. I think if they want to pay more than the conference average salary, power to them, but they should pay the full amount toward funding the pension fund.
When I asked if this proposal could be changed at the Annual Conference, they said No. It had to be accepted or rejected and if rejected the committee will have to go back and study it and call a special Annual Conference to consider their new proposal (which costs a lot of money for the called session).
I have been a lay member of the Annual Conference in the past and do not appreciate how they operate. As I understand any member can offer an amendment to a proposal and get it changed. Those in charge try to stop the changes anyway they can. I am not a member of the annual conference this year, but I hope the members from the small churches will stand up and make the change required for fairness to those of us who pay our full apportionments every year.
The large churches have a record of not paying their full apportionments, but they get the largest number of members to the conference, which is also a burr under my saddle.
Charles

BUILDING PROGRESS

I got back from Austin Sunday afternoon and had to get second-hand report on the meeting on the church building by the congregation. Jim Senkel chauffered Janice, Sharon Pope and me to the meeting of the Conference on preacher's pensions held in Comanche. They told me about the congregation agreeing on the floor plans for the church and on selecting Hyde as the builder on the parsonage. The final cost of the parsonage is waiting for the change to a metal roof and the final decision on the use of copper tubing under the slab for the water system.
Jim told me that the Building committee is meeting Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. and my finance committee Wednesday night. So we will be busy again this week getting the construction started.
Charles