Youth Mission Trip 2023!! New Orleans! The first day of the Youth Mission Trip began with a bang, while we had a couple issues we persevered and remained positive. Leaving the church at 4:00 this morning to start the day, on our way to the Baltimore airport our first turmoil came with the Conowingo Dam not working and a detour being taken. Finally reaching the airport we discovered the news that the plane was delayed forty-five minutes, leaving us to discover and explore the airport. After the wait we finally and safely boarded the plane, flying out and reaching New Orleans with a congratulations from the Southwest crew on our mission courtesy of Alexa Musser chatting with the attendant....
“We Are Gathered By God” There is a woman who is sitting home alone reading her Bible. There is another woman who is at the church sitting around a table surrounded by styrofoam cups, as she serves on a committee trying to plan next summer’s Vacation Bible School and mission experience for the children. The question I want to ask you is, “Which of these two women is more deeply involved in the kingdom of God?” ...
"Peace" Several years ago, a young, 11 year old girl named Marie, share what life was like living in the Middle East, specifically, the country of Lebanon.Her whole life has basically been living in that war-torn land.She explains her difficult situation by writing, "Our country is on fire, I could cry.I am in fifth grade of the free school and I have never known anythi...
Keep Reading"Aged to Perfection" Yesterday was another great day of worship at Chestnut Level.At 8:00 A.M. the weather was beautiful outside, the music upbeat, and the preacher not half bad.It was a joy to welcome Connor Musser, Olivia Musser and Luke Smith as Communicant members at Chestnut Level.I thought that things went off without a hitch, despite the parade of Amish buggies p...
Keep Reading"Faithfulness" Tony Campolo tells about a friend of his who was traveling on a train just outside London.He was sharing a compartment with two other men.About twenty minutes out of the station, one of the men fell to the floor with an apparent epileptic seizure.His body grew rigid as the seizure took control.Immediately, the man's traveling companion dropped to the floo...
Keep Reading"Telehandler Encouragement" A couple of weeks ago I was working at the church, when Chestnut Level's own Tom Henry called me.He said he needed to see me right away.So, I went there quickly, thinking it was a pastoral emergency.Instead, Tom beamed with pride as showed me his JCB Telehandler (aka teleloader) that he has had for about a year.I watched as Tom deftly grabbed...
Keep ReadingJoin Pastor John and his guest co-leader, Rev. Dr. Michael Wilson, who will be leading a Bible Study tonight on Matthew 24:32-35, The Parable of the Fig Tree. Everyone welcome to join us for this study and discussion! Michael Wilson is the Stated Clerk/Facilitator for Developing Leaders for Donegal Presbytery.In this role, he helps to shape the flow and process of our p...
Keep ReadingJoin Pastor John and his guest co-leader, Rev. Dr. Michael Wilson, who will be leading a Bible Study tonight on Matthew 24:32-35, The Parable of the Fig Tree. Everyone welcome to join us for this study and discussion! Michael Wilson is the Stated Clerk/Facilitator for Developing Leaders for Donegal Presbytery.In this role, he helps to shape the flow and process of our p...
Keep Reading"Not Perfect" Ken Medema is a Christian musician who was born blind.His parents taught him to play games, ride a bike, and even water-ski.It isn't that they were callous to his condition of not being able to see, it's just that they were more interested in affirming him as a person of worth, created in the image of God.With this inner peace, Ken Medema sometimes almost ...
Keep Reading"No Need to Fear" One of the joys of being a child growing up in the 1960's, was the abundance of classic cartoons on TV.You know they are "classics," because they had stood the test of time and are still watched by children today.When I talk about classics, I mean true classics like Scooby-Doo, the Flintstones, Bugs Bunny, Speed Racer, Popeye, the Jetsons, Rocky and Bu...
Keep Reading"What 'This' Is" In the movie, "City Slickers," Billy Crystal plays a New York advertising agent who has a terminal case of the mid-life blues.He is bored with his job, bored with his marriage, bored with his life.On his thirty-ninth birthday he says to a friend, "Have you ever reached the point in life where you say to yourself, 'This is the best I'm ever going to lo...
Keep Reading"Inner Space" I came across the most charming video onYouTube.It's about a dad who sent his son's little toy train into space.This dad took his little boy's favorite toy, A Thomas The Tank Engine train, hooked it up to a weather balloon, and then attached a small camera and an old cell phone with a GPS to track it.And then he let it fly.Well, that little train floate...
Keep Reading"Cherish" I just love the word "cherish."Some of you may remember a love song back in the 1960's by The Association called simply, "Cherish." Part of the song goes, "Cherish is the word I use to describe All the feeling that I have hiding here for you inside.You don't know how many times I've wished that I had told you.You don't know how many times I've wished that I co...
Keep ReadingJoin Pastor John and his guest co-leader, John Minihan, will be leading a Bible Study tonight on Matthew 20, the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Everyone welcome to join us for this study and discussion! Our guest leader, Rev. Dr. John Minihan. was with us in October 2017 to preach at John Hartman's Installation service.John i...
Keep Reading"Heavenly Citizenship" The late theologian and author, R.C. Sproul tells of a time he was invited to do a series of lectures in Eastern Europe, culminating with a trip to Romania.Now he and his group were warned that the border guards in Romania could be quite hostile to Americans and that they should be prepared to be hassled, and maybe even arrested at the border.Sur...
Keep Reading"MacGyver Ministry" Do you remember the TV show, "MacGyver," starring Richard Dean Anderson?It ran from 1985-1992, which is an eternity in network television.It was a pretty successful show, and had its own cult following.In fact, it was so successful, that they did a remake which launched in 2016.Of course, it might just be that Hollywood has run out of good ideas for ...
Keep Reading"A Hallelujah from Head to Toe" Yesterday, we returned to in-person worship for the first time since March 15.It was wonderfulto once again be together after all this time apart.We began with our 8:00 am outdoor service.The weather was perfect, the technology held up just beautifully, and the music was moving.Now the preacher was just okay, but you can't have everythi...
Keep Reading"Traveling Anxieties" The summer conjures up images of picnics, the beach, the mountains, or just day trips in the car.After being homebound for 3 months, people are ready to move and groove, and be out and about.However, for millions of American, traveling also elicits panic.While millions of people will hit the roads this summer, there are people who will have a h...
Keep ReadingJoin Pastor John and his friend, John Winings, as they lead a Bible Study on the book of John, Chapter 4, The Woman at the Well. Thursday, June 11, 2020 11:00 A.M. https://us04web.zoom.us/j/805070626 One tap mobile - 805070626# US Toll...
Keep ReadingJoin Pastor John and his guest co-leader John Winings, will be leading a Bible Study tonight on John 4; Jesus and the woman at the well. Everyone welcome to join us for this study and discussion! We are happy to have John Winings co-teach the Adult Zoom Study this evening.John is a good friend of Pastor John's.If you recall, he was a participant at Pastor John's ...
Keep Reading"Be Like Jesus" As I watched the Michael Jordan documentary on ESPN, I had forgotten what a global icon he became, and how his successes on the basketball court led to many business opportunities off the court.MJ earned roughly somewhere around $1.7 billion (pre-tax) in sponsorship money over nearly four decades.He has endorsed Nike, Hanes, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Wheat...
Keep Reading"Thanks for the Thorns" Last month, I finished up my Adult Zoom study on the Book of James.I offer my thanks to those who tuned in, and for those friends of mine who helped me lead it.We finished up with James 5 (13-16), and specifically, the subject of prayer and suffering. I think we would admit that to give thanks in every situation in life would be very difficu...
Keep ReadingSunday, June 7, 2020 Communion Sunday 10:00 A.M. https://zoom.us/j/275111180...
Keep Reading"Not The Way It's Supposed to Be" In the movie, "Grand Canyon," an immigration lawyer played by Kevin Kline finds himself stuck in Los Angeles traffic after a Lakers' basketball game.Rather than waiting it out, he attempts to bypass the traffic jam by taking an alternate route home instead.However, the route he takes leads him down progressively darker and more des...
Keep Reading"The Impossible Dream" A couple of weeks ago, I was watching a video on YouTube of the TV show, "Britain's Got Talent."In this show, two brothers come out on stage and sing beautifully the song, "The Impossible Dream," -- leaving the audience and judges spellbound.Click on the linkhttps://youtu.be/zTmhDyxBybU It reminds me of the story of Don Quixote, The Man of La M...
Keep Reading"Spirit of the Living God" Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday, and as we come into Monday, some of you might be wondering, "Now what?"In other words, what are we supposed to do as this empowered church, with Spirit-filled empowered people?Well, the good news for us is that God promises to give us the abilities to accomplish the things He commands us to do.Jesus said,"The Ho...
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