13 Sep Recognizing 9/11 with New Life at Corunna

Pastor Kevin Whitacre (right) prepares to baptize one of the ten persons baptized on September 11 at Corunna. (click to enlarge)

The folks of Corunna watching the baptisms. (click to enlarge)

At Corunna, we chose to focus on our identity in Christ as our guidepost for the best and worst of days. We then moved forward with the renewal of our church by receiving 7 new members, and baptizing 10 believers at our celebration!

13 Sep 9/11 at Our Church: Findlay, Ohio

Chet Conley, associate pastor, First UB (Findlay, Ohio)

As associate/music pastor of First UB church, I spent a vast number of hours putting together a Powerpoint presentation, timed to Don Moen’s “God Will Make A Way.” I mention this only because I viewed it in part so many times during the process that I almost knew at each beat of music what slide should be up and for how long. With each run through, I discovered my focus was on producing a well thought out presentation. When I completed it and viewed it from start to finish, I became so emotional, I couldn’t play it again. Thinking it was just me, I asked my wife Carol to view it and tell me what she thought. As she saw it, she too became very emotional.

I did not want to open or end our service on such an emotional note. Indeed, memorializing a monumental event in our nation’s history merits such a presentation. But, in lieu of all the preparation, it did not really tell a story of Christ’s compassion and mercy like the story of the cross does.

Empowered to make the musical decisions for our church, and after much prayer, I believe the Spirit led me to this conclusion: the best way our church might honor those who lost their lives that dreadful day was simply to observe a moment of silence. We used a Powerpoint slide of a young lady wearing a commemorative tenth anniversary 9-11 T-shirt shirt as a backdrop. Far less elaborate than I had planned. But the impact confirms that God is always on time. It proved a very poignant but effective opening moment in our worship service.

13 Sep 9/11 at Our Church: Morroco UB

Mark Smith, Morocco UB Church (Temperance, Mich.)

Morocco UB church held an outdoor service on September 11, with 64 people attending. We allowed time to remember 9/11. Four young people were baptized in a pond. A carry in dinner was held following the service.

Pastor Todd Greenman is the pastor at Morocco, where exciting things are happening! We have a roof project going on, ordered 25 worship chairs for our overflow area, replaced railings on our outdoor deck, and are busy making preparations for our annual Family Fun Fest on September 24 (2-6 pm). This event will include live music, games, crafts for children, food, and lots of fun. If your in our area come celebrate with us!

What did your church do to recognize 9/11? Write up something on this form.

12 Sep 9/11 at Our Church: King Street (Chambersburg, Pa.)

Jonathan Ford (right), pastor of Worship and Arts at King Street Church (Chambersburg, Pa.)

We invited first-responders in our community and church family to attend in uniform and took time to recognize and express our appreciation to them for their service. We also gave each a DVD titled “The Cross and the Towers” as a thank you.

We used 2 video elements in our service:

• “Why We Remember,” that was followed by Taps and the choir anthem “Salute to our Fallen Heroes” (from the collection, “Sweet Land of Liberty”) which included “America the Beautiful” and “The Lord’s Prayer.”
• An 8-minute short feature with testimonies of some first responders in New York City.

Our service included communion, which was followed by bagpipes entering from the rear of the church playing “Amazing Grace.”

Dr. Beukema preached a sermon titled, “When Towers Fall” (see http://www.kingstreetchurch.com/sermons for a copy).

We have heard already that the service was helpful to people who were looking for hope and consolation.

12 Sep New Members at The Rock

Teddy Fairchild (right), the new pastor since July 1 of The Rock in Findlay, Ohio, reports that they took in 11 new members on Sunday, September 11.