"Will the 800 number still work after 20 years?"

Harmony and I took our every other week trip down to Bismarck on Saturday and, as we often do, brought a Papa Muphey's "Take & Bake" pizza home with us to cook up that night. After putting the pizza in our 1987 model oven I, for some reason, closed the lock handle that apparently you're only supposed to use when cleaning the oven. I tried to retrieve the pizza 12 minutes later only to find that I could not unlock the oven door...so I pushed even harder and ended up warping the handle! We had to call over one of the elders of our church who owned an electronics repair store for many years to help us almost completely dismantle the oven so that we could get trip the lock and retrieve the now burnt to a crisp pizza (an hour and a half later). I ended up having to taquitos for dinner.

On Thursday we were invited over to one of the farm house of one of the family's in the church for Thanksgiving. It was great getting to know them better and having a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. On Sunday I preached for the first time at the Prarieview nursing home in Underwood. They ask the local pastors to help out once a month which I figure will give me the opportunity to serve the community and get to know some of the residents and staff there. It went well except for the worship singing which would have gone better had I chosen hymns that the organist and residents knew!

A month ago I saw an ad in the local paper that the school was looking for an assistant basketball coach. I grew up playing basketball in rec leagues, have always wanted to coach youth athletics and thought it would be a great way to get more involved in the community. After turning in my resume I hadn't heard back from the school and so figured they found someone with more experience. A week ago I received an email from the principal asking if I was still interested and after talking it over with Harmony and praying about it, I accepted. Due to the Thanksgiving weekend, I missed the first practice but have since attended the last two. There's another assistant (who coaches the JV team) in addition to myself and the head coach. I'm very excited about learning more about coaching and getting to know the students and community members through this. We have our first pre-season scrimmage this weekend and I'll try to remember to keep you posted with the results throughout the season.

Speaking of basketball...Duke looks really good this season! I know its still early but I think this could be a special team even though they're young (only one senior) and relatively short (7' foot reserve but no starter over 6'8"). The sermon this week was on 1 Peter 5:1-5 about right relationships in the Church. If you liked to hear it, click here. Pray for me to be even more diligent in serving the church having now added another activity, for Harmony in starting up a women's outreach bible study and our church starting up a youth ministry in January.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Hunting and Painting

I forget to mention last week that Friday November 9th was the opening day of deer hunting season, which runs through Thanksgiving weekend. The fact that schools around the state were closed Friday (even though the season didn't officially begin until noon) speaks volumes about the popularity of hunting around here. Some in our congregation had more luck than others in filling their tags (the license you buy for a doe or buck).

Harmony and I spent most of Monday painting our living room and upstairs hallways a shade of yellow. We might actually have chosen one shade darker than we wanted but it looks quite good, if I may say so myself. This is something we had talked about doing even before arriving and had even purchased the paint a couple months ago but I had been dragging my feet. We are planning on painting the bathrooms a shade of blue but may take a little bit of a break before starting that endeavor! If I remember, I'll put up a photo of our new look living room.

This past week was pretty busy as we helped out with the Child Evangelism "Kid's Club" at the school on Wednesday (had 40-50 kids show up!). On Thursday I had a "Healthy Church" meeting with other local EFCA pastors in Dickinson. We discussed Sunday School curriculum, ways to get to know people in your community and Mott winning the nine-man football championship (one of the pastors is from there and Underwood's only regular season loss was to Mott). Sunday evening was our monthly elder meeting in which we meet to pray for the congregation and talk about how we can lead them better. In addition we invited the deacons to join us to discuss next year's budget. I really appreciate the work the elders and deacons do for the church and especially listening to the way they pray is refreshing and encouraging.

The sermon this week was on 1 Peter 4:12-19 and entitled "Christian Pain Yields Joy." If you'd like to hear about how God uses the suffering in the lives of believers to bring about joy in their lives, click here. This was also the week I gave a talk on Charles Haddon Spurgeon during the adult Sunday School. Given the topic of suffering we've seen over and over again recently in our series through 1 Peter, it was neat to study a man who endure so much but remained so faithful to the Lord, including his committment to prayer. If you'd like to learn more about "The Prince of Preachers," check out the biography I have listed in the book section. Please pray for both Harmony and I to grow in our boldness and courage in sharing the Gospel.

By God's Grace, Jeff.

The Snow Shovel Works

Yep, on Thursday morning we had a half inch of snow on the ground. I got some practice in shoveling the driveway (although the rest melted by the afternoon). The weather has certainly been getting colder but we've still had some nice days (low 60s this past Saturday). I've always said, I don't want to hear talk about Global Warming from anyone who hasn't spent a winter in some place like Illinois or North Dakota.

This Saturday Harmony and I made our bi-monthly trip down to Bismarck. We purchased some Christmas items including lights since this will be the first time we won't make it back to see our families over the holidays. We caught a movie and had McDonald's for lunch (until you live an hour from the nearest fast-food you won't understand the significance of that statement).

I finished up the adult Sunday School series on the Spiritual Disciplines this past Sunday and am excited to share about Charles Haddon Spurgeon this coming Sunday. In the last Spiritual Disciplines lesson, we saw what it looks like to persevere in the Disciplines. It's one thing to be excited to study the Bible, pray, serve now but what about in a couple months when they aren't as fresh on your mind. I know I have at times been known to start something only to give up on it within six months. Harmony is even surprised I've stuck with this blog!

The sermon this Sunday was on 1 Peter 4:7-11 and was entitled "The end is near...so live like it!" It was a great challenge to me to consider how I'm living my life in light of Judgment coming soon. If you'd like to check it out for yourself click here.

How Much Did Your Church Sign Cost?

One of the benefits of living in a small town in this part of the country is that for the most part people are pretty positive about churches and therefore churches are allowed to do what would be impossible in larger cities. Case in point. All of the churches in town have signs just off the main road leading into town from the highway...for free! Our Church had not put one up since the merger until Harmony and a few others painted the old Baptist 4x8 wooden sign and one of the deacons drilled holes and put in posts to mount it on last week. Now we have signage!

Harmony started a pilates class with another lady from the church this past Saturday morning in Washburn. She was really sore Sunday and Monday but for some strange reason was willing to wake up at 5:00am on Tuesday morning to drive fifteen minutes to a 5:30am pilates class that she knew would make her sore afterwards! I'm proud of her and I think it will also be a good way for her to get to know more women in our area.

Last night we had a second youth ministry planning meeting and I believe we worked out of all the details to start up a junior/senior high combined group in January. Now all that's left is to advertise all over the area (including in the local papers, on town bulletin boards and in the school...yes that's right, a church beign able to advertise events in schools believe it or not. Please pray for us as we figure out all of the details and seek to start this up early in January.

I am finishing up the adult Sunday School series on Spiritual Disciplines (i.e. prayer, evangelism, service) this coming Sunday. I think it has been quite helpful and hopefully has laid a solid foundation for future topics. Next I am going to teach a one week Christian biography session on Charles Spurgeon, a 19th Century English Baptist who has had a great affect on my life, and then another guy from the church is going to teach through a series on the early church in Acts.

The weather has been turning colder over the past couple weeks such that a number of days this week won't see a high of 50. We even saw our first snow flakes of the season on Monday. This wind has also been picking up steadily. Winter is coming!

This sermon this week was from 1 Peter 4:1-6 entitled "Live Christ-like or Die Judged." Hopefully you picked up on the reference to this summer's blockbuster movie "Live Free or Die Hard." Anyway, it seeks to answer the question "Is the Christian life worth it in spite of suffering?" If you would like to hear how this question is answered, click here.