2024 Annual Pastor's Report
Annual Report • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Handout
Our gathering this morning will be different than the norm. Today is our Annual Celebration – technically Annual Meeting as required by the Church of the Nazarene.
If you are a guest this morning – whether it’s your first, second, third time – this is a great day to be here. We are going to celebrate Christ and what God has done in this congregation over the past 12 months. We’ll have an opportunity to give God praise. We are going to celebrate one another. We’ll have an opportunity to say, “Thank you.” We’ll need someone with a mic. Not only will we hear about this past year, but we’ll also get a good idea of where we’re heading.
A few things items of necessity. We have written reports from the Church Board and Ministry Leaders - these are available in your email or if need be, we have a few hard copies available.
Voting. If you are a full member of KNAZ, please seek God’s guidance as you vote for two new Board Members and 2 delegates to Mission Convention and District Assembly. Voting will close at 12:15pm, unless I’m long winded today. We’ll announce the results at the Taco Feast downstairs after service, which everyone is encouraged to stay, especially our guests.
I’ll pray over our service and voting. Kenny, come on up and call us to worship.
Part I
We are a
The Church of the Nazarene is a global community of faith commissioned to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and the message of holiness to people everywhere.
https://nazarene.org/
The Church of the Nazarene is comprised of nearly 3 million members around the world. We have almost 31,000 congregations in 165 world areas. That’s our denomination, and we, at KNaz are a part of what God is doing through the Nazarene Church.
So, how have we done over the past year? Let’s look at some statistics. Doesn’t give us the whole story, but it does give us a glimpse into what God has done and is doing. If my numbers are correct, in the past 12 months we have seen 3 rededications to Christ and 7 people who confessed Christ as Savior for the first time! We received 2 new members into the Nazarene church and baptized 6 people!
Our average Sunday AM attendance in March of 2023 (my first month) was 73. Dropped to 50 in April (a little rough on the new guy). As of last month, we averaged 79 on Sundays.
We have one person whom God has called into vocational ministry and received her Local Minister’s License - Sarah Levesque. She has taken the first steps toward ordination. Beyond Sarah’s calling, I believe I spoke prophetically over two of our children this past year. God is still calling people into vocational ministry.
Maybe some of you, even now are sensing God’s call (vocational or to serve). If so, trust me – the only appropriate response to God’s call is, “Yes, Lord, I will follow.”
Many of you participated in City Fest last year. Mike Britton launched our Hospitality Ministry; Pastor Connie Jo launched the Women’s Ministry; Pastor John started GriefShare. Bruce Froemke and Sarah Levesque got Evangelism Explosion integrated into the church; Becky Myers stepped in to lead our children’s ministry; Pastor Mike Myers and Janelle Fenters started a Teen Sunday School. Mary Allensworth and Susan Johnson became our Volunteer Coordinators; Vicki Fenner “retired” from decorating the church (which we greatly appreciate her years of service) and Sylvia Schell is now leading the decorating ministry; Jerry Brown took my vision for a Welcome Center and Coffee Shop is making it a reality. Dan Conrad and his family and now Chris Tempest are our two music leaders. And across the congregation I see many of you coming alive and taking ownership of your church and your ministries. I see people stepping out in faith and trying new things.
What a fantastic church board and ministry leadership team this congregation has. I am grateful to the Lord my God for John Mogle, TJ Yates, Sylvia Schell, Tim McDaniel, Tom Keller, Jordan Fenters, Mike Britton, Sarah Levesque, Mike and Becky Myers, John and Connie Jo Kays.
Now, did I cover everyone and everything? No. So now,
It’s your turn. Here’s your opportunity to say, “Praise God for ___________.”
Let us give thanks to God for something that He has done in or through this church during the past 12 months. Please, keep it brief.
Part II
The mission of the Nazarene Church and KNAZ is To Make Christlike Disciples.
How we accomplish the mission is called a vision.
Our vision is to To Equip People to Love God, Love Others, and Make Disciples.
So much of life falls under those three areas.
At one of our Wednesday night prayer meetings, this vision morphed into a prayer of what I believe KNAZ should become. So now
I am inviting you to pray with me to make this vision a reality.
But to make this a reality, each of us must be willing to participate in whatever way God asks. I’m not going to elaborate on this prayer this morning – that will be another sermon. I’m going to give you bullet points to pray over.
Let us pray that Klamath Nazarene becomes a …
1) Saving Church (equipping people to love God).
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
Chad’s paraphrase: All people without a saving relationship with Christ are spiritually and eternally dead. Therefore, Christ died for all to give all an opportunity to have life. And it’s His love that compels us to participate with Jesus in saving the world.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
We helped 7 people come to Christ over the past year. On one hand – that’s exciting. On the other, that's so few compared to number of people around us who need Jesus. I want to see more people come to Christ because this congregation exists! And for that to happen I believe
We need a Renewed passion for Jesus Himself and the Gospel!
So pray with me that we become a saving church.
Let us pray that Klamath Nazarene becomes a …
2) Sanctifying Church (equipping people to love others).
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Jesus wants to save us, and He will accept us just the way we are, but He never ever wants to leave us the way He found us – and thank God for that!
What do I mean by a sanctifying church? We believe in the Church of the Nazarene that
God wants to free us, not only from the penalty of sin, but also from the power of sin.
God calls us to a life of holiness – of being separated from the world and being entirely His – where Christ on throne of our hearts. We, in the Nazarene Church believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We call that “entire sanctification” when the Spirit cleanses us from sin - empowering us to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to truly love our neighbors as ourselves.
John Wesley wrote –
“By salvation, I mean not merely deliverance from hell, or going to heaven; but a present deliverance from sin; a restoration of the soul to … purity,
a recovery of the divine nature; the renewal of our souls after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness, in justice, mercy, and truth.” ~ John Wesley
Sanctification is a work that God does in me that empowers me to do His work in the world. So pray with me that we become a sanctifying church.
Let us pray that Klamath Nazarene becomes a …
3) Sending Church (equipping people to make disciples).
I want KNAZ to be a place where people are saved, sanctified, and sent.
KNAZ should be a place where people are empowered to minister.
in the way God has called you and designed you – to minister in your lane. All followers of Christ are called to be ministers (servants) of the Gospel, but we’re not all called to minister in the same way.
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.
So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.
For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
We are all co-workers, ministers with Christ. As Jesus said, as the Father sent me, so I send you. So in one way or another we are all sent. However, we understand that God calls certain individuals to specific and/or vocational ministry. Wouldn’t it be something if WE create a culture of sending – that as we partner with God, He raises up pastors, missionaries, and Christian educators and more? Pray with me that we become a sending church.
Let us pray that Klamath Nazarene becomes a …
4) Spirit-Empowered Church.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
May we become a place where people understand and use their God-given gifts. And may we become a place of healing – spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Become a place of miracles, and where the broken are restored, and the blind see and he captives set free. A place where demonic strongholds are torn down, and where the poor and the fatherless and widows are cared for – all for God’s glory. May we become a place whereas Jesus said,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Lastly, let us pray that Klamath Nazarene becomes a …
5) Sitting Church.
This is perhaps the most important one. If we as a church family are going to truly commit ourselves to following and obeying Jesus above all things, and
If we are to become a saving, sanctifying, sending, Spirit-empowered church, then we must humble ourselves and sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him every day.
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.
But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,
but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
I’m not interested in becoming a busy church, or a megachurch or a program-driven church. My main concern is that we become the church God desires, and that will only happen when we commit ourselves to what is most important in this life – and that is sitting at the Master’s feet.
Pray with me that we become a sitting church.
Please receive this report and incorporate this into your daily or weekly prayers and let’s see what God does during the next 12 months, and at our next annual meeting we will have much to celebrate. So please pray with me that Klamath Nazarene becomes a saving, sanctifying, sending, Spirit-empowered and sitting at the feet of Jesus church. Who’s in?
And that is my Pastor’s Report for 2024.