Oh The Places You'll Go

Just the other day I was reading Dr. Suess’s, “Oh the Places You’ll Go” to my eight year old daughter Adeline.  The book was a high school graduation gift from my best friend Sarah Davidson Driesbach.  I still remember the feelings of fear coupled with absolute excitement as we wondered where our lives would end up post high school.  Next weekend, Sunday June 1, we will be celebrating the accomplishments of our graduates and I suspect they will be dreaming of their futures with that same combination of fear and excitement.  Whether graduating from high school or college, many of our students will be asking the questions, “What’s my major?” or “Will I get a job?”  These practical questions are really all about purpose.  People are really asking themselves and God the question, “What is my purpose?”  We were created for a purpose--to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Loving God and loving others changes the world.  Our graduates are world changers!  We can’t wait to see how our graduates will use their lives and their gifts to change the world for Jesus Christ! 

But we need more than the graduates to invest in this next opportunity to change the world!  The weekend of June 7/8 we will be taking up a special Shiloh Fest offering.  On the first Saturday of August, hundreds of people will come to Shiloh to collect necessary school supplies for the first week of school.  As many parents and guardians know, school supplies are expensive and every year Shiloh is able to partner with families by providing over 800 backpacks full of supplies.  The Shiloh Fest offering is an opportunity for us to personally invest in the education of our children and teens.  Kids matter--kids matter to us and they matter to God.  There will be special Shiloh Fest envelopes in the bulletins June 1st and 8th.  I challenge you to give generously.  

Graduates and non-graduates alike, I want to leave you with a little advice from Dr. Suess,  So...be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea, you’re off to Great Places!  Today is your day!  Your mountain is waiting.  So...get on your way!   

Blessings, 

Pastor Rachel 

You are called!

This week I heard our own District Superintendent, Rev. Brian Brown, remind our Leadership Council that all of us are called.  We all work for Jesus and Jesus Christ has laid claim to our lives.  Rev. Brown was reminded us of our call to ministry, whether clergy or not.  We were gathered to help Pastor Danny wrestle with his call to ministry.   On Tuesday night, May 13th, the Staff Pastor Parish Relations Committee, along with the Charge Conference, confirmed Pastor Danny’s request to become a Candidate for vocation of Local Licensed Ministry in The United Methodist Church.  It was refreshing to hear the movement of God in Danny’s life and how Shiloh has become part of Danny’s call to ministry!  As Danny and others have discovered, the steps toward credentialed ministry are numerous and it’s a process that takes time.  For the next several years of Danny’s life, he will be in the process of being and becoming a Licensed Minister.  For those of us unfamiliar to the process, you might be asking yourself, "What does that mean?"  It means that although Danny functions as a pastor on staff here at Shiloh, he is working through the education and formational requirements.  He has been and will continue to meet with our District Board of Ordained Ministry.  This summer Danny will attend Local Licensing School, and when he has completed the steps and is affirmed by the District will become appointed as a Local Licensed Pastor at Shiloh.  You also may be asking the question, “What will change?”  For Danny, a lot, for you not much.  The biggest change you will experience is that being a Local Licensed Pastor gifts Danny with the opportunity to administer the sacraments (Holy Baptism and Communion) within the context of the local church.  It doesn’t mean that the Senior Pastor will stop administering the sacraments, but it means that there will be more than one person on staff able to administer the sacraments at Shiloh.  This will give Pastor Danny the opportunity to explore new gifts in ministry and deepen his practice of church leadership.       

On Wednesday, Pastor Dave and I gathered with hundreds of clergy throughout our Annual Conference for Clergy Session.  Once again the topic at hand, call to ministry.  This time focused on those persons coming into ministry and those persons going out.  As I listened to several clergy give witness to the presence of God and the call of God in their lives, Rev. Brown’s words rang true.  We are all called to ministry!  This is truth!  This is truth for you!  Whether ministry comes in the form of your professional career or ministry becomes a vocational opportunity, we are all called to ministry!  You are called!  If you’ve been wrestling with a call to ministry, please see one of the pastors at Shiloh, so that we can help you prayerfully discern that call!  

I challenge you to continue to pray for Pastor Danny and all the pastors on staff at Shiloh as we continue to wrestle with God’s call on our lives.  

Blessings, 

Pastor Rachel 

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day, Shiloh!  It’s interesting that our culture takes one day a year to celebrate motherhood!  I believe being a mom is a gift, but it’s a gift that comes with incredible responsibility.  And in the church, it’s not just about biology; mothers are the many women who invest their time and resources in improving the lives of women and children throughout the world.  What about the girls in Nigeria?   The promises we make at baptism makes me pray for, mourn with, and frankly angrily want to do something about the 234 school girls who were abducted in Nigeria last month!  Why?  Because these girls are our girls!  They may not be my children biologically, but every time a child is baptized, I make promises to God that says, “I will help this child become a disciple of Jesus Christ.”  We are family!      

On the cusp of the abduction, 8000 United Methodist Women gathered from throughout the world in Louisville, Kentucky, for the quadrennial (every 4 years) UMW Assembly.  The UMW is an organization of nearly 1 million women throughout the world and although the average age of an UMW member is 67 in the US, women in Africa are flocking to UMW meetings by the hundreds.  There is a real global interest in the development of women and girls throughout the world.  Why?  Because change, real life world-changing kind of change, happens when women are empowered!  From education to micro-businesses, the empowerment of women changes communities, it changes countries, it changes the world!  Two members of our United Methodist Women attended Assembly, Nancy Gallat and Kathy Erpelding.  There they not only heard testimony of the many ways that the UMW changes children’s and women’s lives, but they were also challenged to do their part!  The theme of the Assembly was, “Make It Happen!  Faith, Hope, and Love in Action.”  The UMW were challenged by fellow United Methodist Hillary Rodham Clinton.  who reminded the women that it wasn’t Jesus who fed the hungry.  He blessed the food, allowed it to multiply, and then said to his disciples, ‘YOU feed them.”  Nancy shared, “that’s what Jesus is asking of us!  People are hungry for safety, justice, peace, and of course food.”  Both Kathy and Nancy said it was an incredible reminder of the missional DNA of the United Methodist Women.  “It’s why we do the Rummage Sale in the first place!”  It’s not about the stuff, it’s about people and changing the lives of people throughout the world.  

Today millions of women and children are separated from their families because they’ve been forced into slavery.  It’s not just the 234 school girls from Nigeria, it’s millions.    As we celebrate Mother’s Day, remember the world’s kids are our kids and Jesus is asking us to do something about it, “YOU feed them.”  

To find out more about the UMW and 234 girls go to: 

http://prod.umwomen.org:88

http://prod.umwomen.org:88/news/faith-groups-around-the-world-call-for-school-girl

Blessings, 

Pastor Rachel 

Did you know?

There are awesome things happening in the life of the church and I wanted to share a few of them with you:

Where we have been: Holy Week and Easter

• On Palm Sunday, 70 people gathered to watch our No Strings Attached Puppet Ministry present “Planned With A Purpose.”
• 60 shared in Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday .
• 101 prayed through Stations of the Cross .
• Over 725 people celebrated the risen Christ in one of our four worship services on Easter Sunday .
• Our Children’s Ministry experienced over 100 kids through our two locations . 

Where we are going: May 

• May 4 is interim Campus Pastor Dave Hood’s first Sunday at our Price Hill Location.
• May 7 & 8 Rummage Sale                                                      
• May 11 we will celebrate Mother’s Day .
• May 15 6:30pm The United Methodist Women have the Annual Spring Dinner at the Farm. 
• May 15 7pm the Daniel Plan course begins at the Delhi Campus.  
• May 17 at 8:30am Change the World Day we will be loving our Price Hill neighbors.

Blessings, 

Pastor Rachel 

This is My Body…..This is My Blood

Today as I read through the story of Jesus, the disciples and His Last Supper, I was reminded that Christians throughout the whole world are receiving Communion today-- Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Orthodox and yes, even some Non-Denominational Churches participate in Maundy Thursday services.  There is something incredibly unifying when I imagine people who don't look like me, speak my language, and are not part of the same church receive the gift of Jesus' body and blood.  Today as you continue to read through the last week of Jesus' life, I want to challenge you to remember what unifies us, what makes us part of the same family!  No matter how big our differences, Jesus Christ is Lord of us all!    

I also want to remind you that tonight, Thursday, April 17, at 7pm we will be having a Maundy Thursday Service in Fellowship Hall.  It is an incredible way to remember The Last Supper and prepare for the remainder of Holy Week.  

Don't forget we also have the opportunity to pray through Stations of the Cross in the sanctuary tomorrow, Friday, April 18, 11am-7pm.  And our Easter Services are this Sunday, April 20, at our Delhi Campus 8, 9:30am, and 11am and at our Price Hill Campus at 11am.  

We are the body of Christ redeemed by His Blood!  

Blessings, 

Pastor Rachel 

 

“No Change” Change

Last fall, the Leadership Council in partnership with the SPPRC (Staff Pastor Parish Relations Committee) announced plans to shift Pastor Brent’s role as Pastor of Youth and Young Adults to the Pastor and Director of Adult Discipleship. This shift lead the SPPRC to begin a search for a new Director of Student Ministry.  Throughout this prayerful process, Pastor Brent has discerned a call to remain in the Student Ministry seat while taking on the role and responsibility of the Director of Discipleship.  The Director of Discipleship supervises and partners with the Staff and servant leaders in the Discipleship Ministry areas including: Children, Youth, Adult, and Preschool.  Since Brent is remaining in Student Ministry, we will be looking to hire a part-time Adult Discipleship Director along with a Full-Time Director of Operations.  The Director of Operations will be concentrating on all things building and finance in partnership with the Trustees and Finance Committee. The great news about these hires is that they are budget neutral.     

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Tana Casper, Chair of the SPPRC, at tanajean@aol.com,  or Pastor Brent Dearnell at brent@shilohumc.com, 451-3600 #106.   

Blessings, 

Pastor Rachel 

Here is a rough idea of these organizational adjustments:

What’s Happening In Price Hill?

There is a lot happening at our Price Hill campus!  In January, I wrote a blog about our strategy for our Price Hill location.  At the time, we were focused on rotating preaching on a monthly basis.  Since January’s blog, a lot has changed! Not only will there be changes in the pastoral staff in both locations, but our strategy has changed with the appointment of Rev. David Hood.  Rev.  Hood will begin serving as interim Campus Pastor starting May 1, 2014.  Pastor Dave will get an on-the-ground look at what is happening at Shiloh at Price Hill.  The appointment of Pastor Dave to Shiloh at Price Hill is a sign of both Shiloh Church’s and The West Ohio Annual Conference’s commitment to Shiloh at Price Hill.  You may not know this, but the District and Conference have granted $157,000 for our Price Hill location, which means that even though we have budgeted money for Shiloh at Price Hill in our Delhi budget, we have not used one penny of those budgeted funds in our Price Hill location!  We are grateful for the generosity of the Annual Conference and take the stewardship of those resource dollars very seriously.  God has given us a gift, an opportunity to claim our Price Hill community for Jesus Christ.  Here are some of the ways that you can be a part of what is happening in Price Hill:  

• BLOC after school program- Mondays and Tuesdays 6pm-8pm at Shiloh at Price Hill  
• Question & Answer Session- Wednesday, April 2 at Price Hill and Sunday April 6 at Delhi we will have opportunities for people to ask questions and to clear up any confusion around the transition between pastors in our Price Hill location.  
• Easter at Price Hill- There will be an Easter service, Sunday April 20, at 11am followed by brunch.  There will be an Easter Egg hunt for kids of all ages after brunch.  
• Celebration of Dorian's Ministry on Sunday, April 27, following the 11am service at Price Hill, there will be a luncheon celebrating Dorian’s ministry.  Please RSVP to Sandy Dietz at sandy@shilohumc.com or 513-451-3600 #101.
• Change the World Weekend United Methodists throughout the nation will be engaged in serve projects to make the declaration “we are making disciples for the transformation of the world.”  On Saturday, May 17, we will be gathering at our Price Hill location to be deployed in East Price Hill to serve throughout our neighborhood.