GenOn's bimonthly newsletter featuring insights, ideas, events, resources and announcements.
July/August 2015
   
www.genonministries.org

The call: God is faithful if we'll only listen

Rev. Michael Bush, First Presbyterian Church, Athens, Alabama
 

Whenever I think about the process of call, I think about Ellis. While Ellis could be charming and friendly, many saw him as grumpy.

 

We used the process of call just the way we had learned at LOGOS training. Everything came together just as we'd been told it would, except for our 5th grade Bible study teacher. A week before the first Wednesday of LOGOS, we still didn't know whom God was calling to teach that class.

 

We'd learned this might happen with the call process. So I shared a response from training with the congregation, "We don't yet know whom God has called to teach the 5th grade class. If you think God has been asking you to do this, and we just haven't figured it out yet, I would like very much to talk with you today."

 

After everyone had left worship that day, Ellis said to me, "You know what you said about the 5th grade Bible class?"

 

I was dismayed. This was not the solution I had been praying for. The thought of presenting to the call team the name of this grumpy retired executive as a 5th grade teacher made me shudder. But there was nothing else to be done, so the team prayed about it, and then offered the call to him.

 

God was more faithful than we were.

 

Ellis became a brilliant teacher of children. He became "Herman Ootix," the lead character in Course 5 of the Faith for Life curriculum.

 

God made Ellis a teacher of children, and nobody had ever known it. His hard edges softened. His support for nearly everything in the church grew. The fact that he (and all of us) finally did the hard work of hearing God's call to him not only led us to a great teacher, but also changed his life and the lives of so many children.


 

Do you have a similar call story? If so, please share via GenOn's Facebook page or website.

Happy birthday, Miss Barb! 
Liz Perraud, Executive Director, GenOn Ministries
 

Happy birthday to the best LOGOS head cook I know--Barb Schmehl. Barb turned 82 years old June 16, and she's been cooking for the children, youth and adults of LOGOS at Christ Memorial Presbyterian Church in Columbia, Maryland, for more than 15 years.

 

What makes her the "best" cook is not so much the food that she gets on the tables (though that is good). It's more about the love that she gets on the tables. She adores those kids ("her" kids she calls them). She can't wait for LOGOS to start each fall, and she's sad when it ends each spring.

Oh that all of us would be that enthusiastic about serving in the church.

 

Barb welcomes and includes all her kitchen crew with a smile on her face, even when a "helpful" table parent tries to "assist" serving the spaghetti and the sauce sloshes all over the kitchen floor. Or when the Texas toast burns. Or when we're on "stand-by" because it's another snowy Wednesday.

 

Barb's a living example of finding your call and sticking with it. No "been there, done that" for Barb or "retiring" from helping out! Our LOGOS director has told Barb that when she feels she can't physically do this anymore, we'll giving her a seat in the kitchen to direct the cooking from there. And she's fine with that.

 

She likes to share with people that I saved her life when I asked her to "help out" in the kitchen at LOGOS one fall many years ago. I met Barb on the soccer field-my husband coached our son and her grandson. She was a widow and hadn't been a part of the church for a while. I didn't even know then that she was a member of our church.

We needed more kitchen help, and she said, "yes." That was Barb's step back into the church. And she did the rest through building many, many relationships with people of ALL generations. I'm happy to take credit for being a little part of that.


What's your LOGOS call story? Please share the details on GenOn's Facebook so others can learn how to call church leaders to ministry.

 

In Christ,

 

Liz Perraud

Executive Director

GenOn Ministries

cell: 443-255-8492

Toll-free: 877-937-2572


 

Parents Corner: Be a parent leader in your child's activities
Shirley Carlson, La Crescenta Presbyterian Church, California

Getting involved in your children's lives and activities benefits both you and your children. Your kids will see the recognition and support you give them. And you'll have the chance to see them in a setting other than at home. 

GenOn's LOGOS program is an excellent example of intergenerational ministry that relies on critical parent involvement. This midweek program of faith, fun and fellowship offers parents the flexibility to get involved at various levels of commitment that match their gifts and busy schedules. 

Want to get involved in other ways? Consider these resources:

In This Issue
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Partner churches Together we can do so much more!
  One Great Idea    
One Great Idea

 
from Tuskawilla UMC, 
Casselberry, Florida

     
New Bible Study
Curriculum
 
 
Plan ahead for
2015

July 11
Burkburnett, Texas

July 12-18
Summit West
Estes Park, Colorado

July 19-25
Wheeling, W.V. 

Casper, Wyoming

Aug. 20
Greenwood, South Carolina

Aug. 22
Anderson, Indiana

Aug. 29
Northville, Michigan

Aug. 29
Georgetown, Texas

 

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