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| Colorado Rocky Mountains from the Boulder SDB Church property |
Dear Friends,
I hope you are enjoying the warmer days of spring, between cold
snaps. Where I live in Colorado it snowed this week, in mid-May! But summer is
coming, and I am looking forward to more outdoor ministry and our annual SDB
Conference.
I
and my fellow volunteers are making progress on improvements to the Conference
database, and we are closer to using it for the Sabbath Recorder and
other mailings (replacing an older system). We call it the “CRM”, meaning
Church Relationship Management. We have information on the SDB churches in USA
and Canada, plus many individual SDBs and those who want to connect with us but
live at a distance from our churches.
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| Milton SDB QPlace leaders |
One
of our goals is to know what skill sets people have so we can better connect
needs to resources. For example, if your church wants to get better at reaching
your community for Christ, we could put you in touch with people in Milton who
have been hosting “QPlace” groups, or leaders of the White Cloud church who
minister to local schools, or people in Dodge Center who are doing “Time to
Revive”. So, I am gathering information on our people’s skills and experience
to store in the CRM.
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| Marcelo Saez, new contact with group in FL |
I
continue to enjoy helping the people who inquire about SDBs. In the first
quarter of this year I responded to 17 people. Some I was able to connect to a
nearby pastor or other leader, but most are far from our churches. I always
offer links to online worship services as an option. Recording or livestreaming
your service is a great ministry to these remote Sabbath keepers. Some also contribute
financially to the church they follow online. If you are interested in helping these
remote Sabbath keepers stay connected to SDBs, please contact me. We need
volunteers!
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| Pastor Steve Osborn at new location in Dacono CO |
My
home church, Boulder SDB, began meeting in Dacono in April, renting from a
ministry partner, New Horizons Christian Church. The property in Boulder is
under contract and expected to close in June. We are excited about serving our
new community and I will be leading teams to host church booths at several
events this summer. I had hoped to move to this area, but rents are much higher
than where I currently live so no move for now.
One afternoon in March I attended a 2-hour training at the community
library on Child Sexual Abuse Prevention. I recommend this excellent training to
all church leaders and those who work in children’s ministries. Darkness to
Light (www.d2l.org) is a national organization offering free training, instructor-led
and online. The program is called “Stewards of Children”. Check it out!
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| Worshipping at the new location |
In order to get
practical experience making disciples, we have created a number of mentoring
pairs in our church to help each other grow. I am enjoying mentoring and hope
we have new believers to disciple soon. On
the PULSE team we continue to plan for changes in our focus and structure, as
well as guiding the process of finding a new name. Hope SDB? Restoration SDB?
Reach SDB? Getting closer!
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| My trusty 12-year-old Mazda 5 |
For
those sending financial gifts, there is no address change yet for the Boulder
church so you can continue to mail checks to SDB Church of Boulder, 6710
Arapahoe Rd, Boulder CO 80303. You can also designate a gift through the
Conference, https://seventhdaybaptist.org, “Donations”. Be sure to include my
name.
One-time
gifts are much appreciated to cover higher expenses this year for dental
work, replacing both my laptop and smartphone (already purchased), and attending
General Conference in July ($435 room & board). I plan to drive there so I
can visit the folks in Cumberland, Maryland, where I served in 2015. I may also
need to get a newer used car this year. Mine is at 172,000 miles!
A
high point this spring was participating in the SDB Pastors’ Conference in Milton,
Wisconsin. I gave a short presentation on my work and the need for pastors and
church leaders to help with new contacts.
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| Barb Green, Parish Nurse, Milton SDB |
Two highlights out of all the great
sessions were a presentation by Barb Green, RN, on mental illness and how churches
can respond by getting educated and being supportive in a variety of ways, and
a presentation on “The 9 Arts of Spiritual Conversations.”
One part of the 9
Arts is forming a “QPlace” group where nonbelievers feel safe to ask tough
questions about God and faith, without being judged. The Connecting Church
(Milton) has been holding QPlace groups for almost two years. The facilitators
have grown in faith and boldness, and there are some new followers of Christ!
Nick Kersten can point you to more resources on these topics
(nkersten@seventhdaybaptist.org).
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| Daughter, Ana, being bold in Boulder, 2013 |
Speaking
of boldness, I wrote an article for the March “Sabbath Recorder” entitled, “Pray
for Boldness”. It encouraged boldness in sharing the gospel and reaching out to
unbelievers, based on my experiences in recent years, applicable to both
extroverts and introverts. You can read it from the
Conference website: https://seventhdaybaptist.org/sabbath-recorder-march-2019/
On
a personal note, I am looking forward to the arrival of another granddaughter
in August as Paul (my son) and Aimée welcome child number two. It has been a
blessing to be near enough to see them nearly every week and once in a while I
get to babysit, too! I really enjoyed going with Aimée in March to a women’s
retreat by her church. It was spiritually and physically refreshing (hiking and
line dancing). |
| Prayer by pastors for Rob Appel as he transitions the Executive Director role to Carl Greene. |
Prayer requests:
- For Pastor Steve Osborn and all the Boulder Church in the process of replanting. We want to get good at making disciples!
- For SDBs to be passionate about revitalizing our churches and planting new churches.
- For SDB pastors and leaders of our Conference who may carry heavy burdens as they minister.
- For God’s provision to cover expenses for dental work, attending Conference, paying self-employment taxes, replacing computer and phone, and possible new used car.
- Praises for good relationships with my neighbors and good spiritual conversations at our monthly potlucks.
- Praises for my faithful supporters who pray and give to support this ministry. I’m very thankful.
God bless you and grant you His joy and peace,
Patty
