August 2008

Pastor's Perspective

This past month the "Returning to God" conference was held at Lake City Church in Madison.  Over the span of four days, more than 20 churches joined together for intense worship and challenging preaching as we were called to return to God.  The conference theme was taken from Hosea 6:1-3:  "Come, and let us return to the Lord.  For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.  After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.  Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.  His going forth is established as the morning.  He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth."

For me it was a treat to see churches come together for this time of refreshing.  I was involved in this kind of effort with the Dane County Associatio of Evangelicals for years in Madison, but saw little success.  What seems to have been the motiviation for this conference was a shake-up--failure and transitions in some larger churches.

That also seems to be the motivation through Biblical history and church history.  When times get tough, the church gets going!  In reading through the Old and New Testaments, we see those who begin with a heart for God but then over time and through His very blessings, they grew content or proud or just careless and one day found they had drifted away from Him.  We can see this same pattern in our country today.  Then we get a wake-up call:  "Return to God!"

Some of the first sermons in the New Testament were all the same message:  "Repent!"  John the Baptist said it when he introduced the Kingdom message; Jesus said it when He inaugurated the Kingdom; and Peter said it when he institutionalized the Kingdom.  We often have to remember that our thinking is not always right, and repenting is the way to keep checking it out.

Where are you as you read this?  Do you need to return to God?  We do not need a big conference to repent and return to our God and creator.

Pastor Ron

Church Picnic - Sunday, August 17

This year we have been invited to Omar and Linda Lapp's home to hold our church picnic, which will follow the morning worship service on Sunday, August 17th.  The Lapps have a large yard and we will have some games to play and lots of food to eat.

Meat, drink, utensils and chips will be provided.  Those with last names beginning with A-L are asked to bring a salad, and M-Z a dessert.

The Lapps live at 3384 Rutland Dunn Townline Road.  Take Highway 51 north out of Stoughton, past Culvers and Stoughton Lumber.  Take the next left onto Rutland Dunn Townline Road, go about .8 mile and look for the 3384 address sign on the right.  There are two driveways right next to each other--theirs is the furthest one.  Their driveway is 1/2-mile long so don't be discouraged!

Senior Moments

Senior Moments is a new outreach to the Stoughton Senior Center being organized by Phil Hinkle.  A team is being trained to go to the Senior Center to videotape seniors talking about their lives as a momento to give to their family members.  A training session has been scheduled for Thursday, August 7th, at 1:30 at the church so you can learn how to operate the video equipment.  Call Phil for more information.

Building Update

Several projects at the church are approved or on the way to approval.  New gutters are being installed this month in an effort to redirect water away from the Prairie Street entrance.  Second, the members and non-members thought going ahead with the central air conditioning was a good idea.  We hope to move ahead quickly on that project.  Thank you to everyone who gave their input on this major project.

CKCC at the Duck Pond

CKCC's own Bethany Dobie  was chosen from over 7,000 fans (at least before the hour-long rain delay) at the recent church outing to the Madison Mallards baseball game to go into a plastic booth and try to catch as much money as she could as a powerful fan blew it all around.  Quick hands got her $15 and the cheers of the fans.

A New Look for the Nursery!

Dawn Reeves and a crew of hard-working folk are painting the nursery with a Noah's Ark theme.  If you would like to help (it's a paint-by-number project), please call Dawn.  Several more helpers are needed to complete this ambitious project!

Mad City Church is hosting a men's retreat October 3-4 at Green Lake Conference Center.  The speaker will be Steve Farrar, who has spoken at Promise Keepers events and has written several books.  If you are interested in attending, there will be more information coming but mark your calendar now.