Time to make new friends

Tuesday was my last day as Associate Pastors at First Church of God in St Joseph, Michigan. It was a strange sort of day. Very few people were in the offices and those who were, were surprised to see me.

We got word that the daughter of one of our members was in the hospital and she would like to have a pastoral visit, so I went. When I got to the hospital, I found the lady’s room, but she had never heard of the lady who we thought was her mother. She had never been to our church, but she had been to Crystal Springs Church of God one time for a funeral. I asked her if could pray for her since I was there anyway. She said, “No, just say a prayer when you get home.”

“Anything special you want me to pray about?”

“No. Just general prayers.”

“O-o-o-o-o-o-kay!”

A little later Nancy Barker stopped by my office to say goodbye. That was difficult. She is a very special lady. But we made it through that. The nice thing about being a child of God is the assurance that you never have to say a final goodbye to any of God’s people—we’ll see each other again on the other side.

Next I turned in my church keys to Pastor Greg, our church administrative pastor, shook his hand and told him how much I have enjoyed being on the staff at First Church. I then said goodbye to those who were there, and gave a hug to Debbie (my next door neighbor for the last six years, and one of the nicest and most Christ-like persons I’ve ever met) and finally I headed home to retirement. On the way home I found a left-over fortune cookie from our latest Chinese restaurant visit and when I opened it, I read, “This is a good time to make new friends.” I got a good laugh out of that—it seemed so fitting it was almost uncanny.

Actually it is always a good time to make new friends, so that is always true. I guess that’s the secret of a good Chinese cookie fortune—maybe that should be my next career, writing Chinese fortune cookie fortunes that are always true for everyone all the time in every situation. I’m tempted, but I think not. But I will spend more time on my blog where I hope to share something worthwhile that you will enjoy reading.

I also have two book manuscripts that need polishing and a publisher (or two) to find. I am too young to retire, so now I am a free-lance writer! It would be nice if I could earn some money at this (not so new) occupation, but thanks to social security and a small IRA from the 101(k) that was left over from my original 401(k), and some rental properties, extra income is not absolutely necessary (although Carol may think so).

Well, as the fortune cookie said, “This is a good time to make new friends.” I hope you’ll be my friend, as Mister Rogers would say, and that you’ll follow me on my blog.

Seriously, this day does bring a lot of thoughts and memories. I accepted my first congregation in Hoopeston, Illinois, while I was still in college, in 1965. During that time we have made so many friends and have had the privilege of mentoring, teaching and encouraging so many people I can’t possibly count them. Preaching the Word of God, knowing it will live on in the hearts and lives of people long after I am gone…what an incredible privilege! Singing hymns and spiritual songs, many given to me by the Lord, has also been a special privilege.

Today reminds me of the words of the poet Robert Frost…”I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference.”

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Lion kill in Tarangire

We were missionaries for the Missionary Board of the Church of God (now Global Missions) in East Africa. We lived at Kaiti Mission on the Great North Road, about two hours Southwest of Arusha, Tanzania. We took a day off from the mis­sion and headed for Tarangire National Park, a wildlife refuge, where large numbers of wild animals lived and no hunting was allowed. From people we met on the road we had heard a pride of Lions had killed a Zebra and if we went quickly, we would be able to see them.

Sure enough, we went the direction indicated and saw a huge flock of buzzards circling overhead—a sure sign of a lion kill. Buzzards circle hoping to get a free meal but they can't land until the lions are finished and gone—otherwise, they become a free meal for the lions.

We arrived to see several beautiful lions. One large male was in charge of several female lions, and a few half-grown lion cubs. The scene included the half-eaten remains of a zebra.  We drove to within a few feet of the pride and began taking pictures. They had seen enough cars to not be afraid, however when I drove a little too close to get a better angle for a picture, the grand-daddy lion grunted and stood up. He walked to the zebra, took it by the neck with his teeth and pulled it farther away from the Land Rover and stood with front feet planted on each side of the zebra, watching as I took his picture—daring me to get out of the car and try to get his ze­bra.

The lions appeared to be perfectly tame, but I knew the peaceful scene was misleading. If I had tried to get out of the car, it would have been my carcass he was drag­ging around by the neck and I would be their next meal. After the Lions finished with me, they would leave my skeleton for the birds to pick clean, then the Hyenas would come, break my bones and suck the marrow out. Within about a day there would scarcely be enough evidence to know I had ever existed.

The peaceful scene we witnessed was totally deceptive because those lions were extremely dangerous. (Just ask the zebra.) The Apostle Peter knew what he was talking about when he said Satan is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Satan wants us to think he is as tame as those lions appeared to be—that we can mess around with sin and not be affected. He tries to make us think we can live in his world and not be hurt, but you can be certain, he will devour us if we give him half a chance. The only protection we have is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. We can ei­ther depend on him as Savior or be eternally devoured by Sa­tan. That’s the worst kind of lion kill.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Focus 40—a time of prayer and fasting

Congregations across the Church of God will spend forty days of prayer leading up to Easter. Will you join us for those forty days, as we pray for various concerns such as the vitality of our movement, and for our Church of God congregations, missionaries and pastors all over the world? If you do not attend a Church of God congregation, pray for your congregation and denomination. As we do so, we join with Christians around the world who fast and pray during the Lenten season.

It is my custom in my prayer time, to pray for all the saints, as directed by God through the apostle Paul in Ephesians (6:18) (“always keep on praying for all the saints.”) I urge you to also pray for the entire family of God, which includes all the saints of God in and out of every communion throughout the world. Pray we will love each other and will each love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Pray we will be witnesses for our Lord Jesus Christ in all our thoughts, words and behavior, and finally pray we will all be filled with the Holy Spirit of God, living our lives in the awesome power of the Spirit rather then limiting ourselves to our own inadequate human power.

But the primary purpose of this year’s Focus 40 is to pray for those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. So pray for people you know who do not have a personal relationship with Christ, to experience his salvation for themselves. The goal is for 25,000 people to be saved in Church of God congregations around the world. In whatever church group you worship, I encourage you to pray for similar results

As we do this, I also urge you to also pray for all people on earth who do not know Christ—about 4,666,666,667 (4.6 billion) persons! If you are like me, you can’t even conceive of that many people, much less comprehend how to pray for them. The immensity of those numbers is overwhelming to us but they are not overwhelming to God. When we pray for them all to be saved, they are to us, an incomprehensible mass of humanity, but to God they are individuals whom he loves with a passion, and persons he knows by name. This ministry of prayer is a tool God gave to humanity so we can work together with him to accomplish his marvelous Will—especially the salvation of all humanity.

At this Christmas time let us not forget the reason for Christ’s coming—to proclaim God’s love for all mankind—to bring “peace on earth, good will toward men”. In other words Christ came not only for your salvation and mine, but so the entire world might personally experience the love and peace of God.

As we do so, we strengthen God’s Kingdom locally and world-wide. We draw near to God, individually, congregationally, and altogether as a movement, and we join together in this wonderful work of prayer with all the marvelous family of God throughout the earth.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Giving, and How to Encourage it

A year or so ago in board meeting a member asked, “Why we don’t do as well in our regular giving as we do with Faith Promise?” I didn’t answer very well due to a lack of preparation, but I’ve thought about it a great deal since then and in a recent staff meeting, when asked a similar question, I shared very candidly. I thought it might be helpful to share here, what I have learned through the years about teaching people to give.
 I recently read a book that helped me find words to describe what I have been doing through years of teaching stewardship. The title is Primal Leadership, learning to lead with Emotional Intelligence, by Boyatzis and McKee. They explain the difference between resonance (harmony) and dissonance (discord) in leadership. The first inspires followers, but the second discourages them and may even create deserters.

People respond better to encouragement, praise, and other positive stimuli than they do to need, emergency, guilt, criticism, or other negative stimuli.

Negative stimuli actually discourage giving even when used to ask people to give. In an old familiar joke the preacher says ‘The good news is we have enough money to meet our budget! The bad news is it’s still in your pockets.’ When I first heard it, I laughed, but it is the worst possible joke if you want good results. Such put-down humor hurts and it especially hurts giving. It doesn’t make people feel like giving. It makes us hold on tight to our money because we know dissonant means are being used. We may not know the word, but we know the feeling and none of us like it.

The best way to get people to give is first, teach biblical concept of tithes and offerings, or biblical stewardship. Secondly, let the Holy Spirit convict their hearts. Do not, under any circumstances, try to do the work of the Spirit to create that conviction. When we try to do his work we always do it badly and it often comes across as condemnation, which is not a godly work. Finally, when people give, leaders should give the congregation encouragement and praise for a job well done. Even if they are not doing as good as they should, if they give anything that should be openly appreciated by those in leadership. With consistence, in different ways and with positive words, and if done with tact and love over time, this will build a strong, financially healthy congregation of generous, happy people.

Here are some other important points:

1. Offerings are an important part of worship. The way offerings are received at many churches announces they are not important. Some offering statements even imply we’re ashamed to ask, but we need the money, etc. Offerings should be acts of worship, adoration and praise, to God. Whoever came up with the idea of saying “This offering is just for the home folks and if you’re a visitor you don’t need to give” has wasted time and insulted God by saying something they have no right to say. What if God is telling one of those visitors to give? How do we know he isn’t?

2. Teach about giving before every offering. A short comment or prayer such as, “When we give generously we are most like God.” Or, “Giving our tithe to the church is our way to recognize every good thing comes from God.” These and other such positive reinforcements week after week builds resonance (harmony) within the church and with biblical living, and produces people who give tithes and offerings, generously, and happily.

3. Pray for God to anoint the offering. Just as we pray for salvation, sermons and worship, we can also pray God will bless church giving. God wants to bless. The prayer of faith is his method.

4. Offerings should be well received. Worship Leaders have other things to think about and almost never give offerings the time they deserve. Pastors, or whoever receives the offerings should be trained in how to give a warm and positive encouragement to give as God directs. Time should be given to do the offertory well—with the dignity required for an act of worship and devotion to the most High God. People will never give enough to the church, but they will give to God. They just need to be inspired so they give from a heart bursting with the joy of the Lord.


I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

I’m a Facebook Freak

Okay, I admit it. I’m a Facebook freak. I love it. 

Since I joined Facebook I’m more in touch with our daughters and with our grandchildren. I’m better in touch with my siblings who are on Facebook and I’ve learned to know nieces and nephews better and even know what’s happening in their lives. I have somewhere around 95 first cousins, although way too many have gone on to heaven already. (My mom had eleven siblings and dad had six and all except one of Dad’s (a brother) lived to raise their own families). In addition to all these first cousins, all of whom I know and love, I now know my cousins in the second and third generations that I never knew before, but have become their friends on Facebook.

Of course, one reason is that Carol and I have such wonderful families! We are so blessed to have two wonderful daughters, their spouses, and four wonderful grandchildren. We keep in touch so much better through Facebook and added to that, I love being able to email back and forth. This is an amazing time that we live in. I love the information age. I think it’s the best “age” yet!

But we also enjoy our extended families—the Blumenbergs and Aringtons, (my family) and the VanScoiks and Hiatts (Carol’s family). Many of them are on Facebook—and probably many more are on, but we haven’t learned about them, haven't found them and haven’t yet become their “friends”.

I also love families. The family is a creation of God and he liked what he did there so much that he modeled the church after it and made the church just a great big extended family that includes all the “saints” in every state, nation, culture, continent, and every era of time.

I also like that fact that Facebook is a good place for a prayer meeting. I don’t know if Mark Zuckerburg is a praying man, but his Facebook invention now makes it possible for prayer requests, praises, prayers and answers to prayer to skim across the internet almost at the speed of light. I once placed a prayer request on Facebook and had a commitment to pray within two seconds from a niece who lives over a hundred miles away. Thank God for Mark Zuckerberg!

Just yesterday I had a Facebook conversation back and forth with Tammie Tregellas, our Missionary in Malawi. Several months ago, once again through Facebook, I became friends with Emmanuel Masamba, one of our pastors in Malawi, Africa. What an incredible time to be alive!

There are some things I don’t like about Facebook. I don’t like farms, factories and games and if any of you asks me to be involved I just klick on “Hide”. Sorry, but I’m just being honest.  If it was up to me all the Facebook farms, etc. would just disappear. But not the people who farm those farms or run those factories—I still love all of you! I just don’t want to visit your farms, factories, etc., unless they’re real and you’re there to greet me.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
:)

Everybody Has a Story!

When winter comes people tend to spend more time indoors. Even for those of us who enjoy the snow and the outdoors in winter, there are still times when the weather or darkness forces us inside and that is a great time to work on the family genealogy. Every time one of our old folks die they take with them a multitude of family stories that will be lost forever. The only way to prevent this is to get those stories recorded. The best way is to write or record them yourself as a genealogical gift, both to your forebears and to your descendants.

If you're a senior citizen don't wait until someone asks, take the time to write your memories and save them for your descendants. Don't worry about how well you do it. Just get the information recorded before it is lost. Some of my most important family information was written in the trembling hand of an aged ancestor and those documents are now treasures.

I remember with great fondness both sets of my grandparents. They lived in the same town, went to the same church, and called each other “Brother and Sister Blumenberg” or “Brother and Sister Arington”. They first became acquainted when both their families attended Pulltight Church of God in Southeast Missouri. During the 1937 flood on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers which destroyed so much farmland and disrupted so many people’s lives, my Blumenberg grandparents lived on the dry side of the levee, but my Arington grandparents lived on the flooded side. When the Missouri State Police warned residents they had to get out, Grandpa Arington took his family, as many possessions as he could carry with available wagons and teams, along with cows hogs, chickens and kids, and furniture including stoves, then headed for the dry side of the levee. Grandpa Blumenberg invited grandpa Arington to put his livestock in his barns and pastures until he could get settled. Grandma Arington and the girls spent the night at the Blumenbergs, while Grandpa Arington and the boys went to a house they had rented, to put up stoves and get it ready to live in.

Two of Grandpa Blumenbergs sons, our Dad Roy, and our Uncle Elmer, married two of Grandpa Arington’s daughters, our mother Mollie and our Aunt Dalvia. What an amazing amount of happiness those two marriages conceived, along with nine kids and a multitude of grandchildren and great-grandchildren!

This is one of my favorite grandparent stories and it is the sort of story that makes family history fun to read. Your family has similar stories if you will seek them out and write them down. If you don’t, those stories will soon be lost forever, so get it done before it is too late!

My friend Bob Confer, one of the pastors at First Church of God in St Joseph, Michigan, has written a workbook to help with this important and joy-filled process. If you would like to know more about the Living Legacy Journal, by Bob Confer, email Pastor Bob at the church (bob.c@myfirstchurch.com) to order a copy for yourself. You can use it to teach a Sunday School class, share with a small group, or just use it for your own family to get your history recorded before you grow old and lose it. I know you think you’ll never grow old, but if you’re lucky, you will. Someday you’ll be the older generation and the stories of your parents and grandparents will only be recorded in your mind. Don’t let those stories die when they would mean so much to your descendants.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.