Spiritual Health

“The first indication of spiritual health is your impatience with religious games.”  Barna, Maximum Faith

 

Thoughts?  mpalmer@monaz.org

Prayer Gatherings

Tonight we start our Fall Prayer Gathering Tour.  I look forward to being in Poplar Bluff tonight and Sikeston Eastside tomorrow night.  I trust all will try to make one of the gatherings around the district.  They are posted on the website.  I believe God is doing a great thing on our district, and look forward to a great fall.

Encouragement

I have just returned from a couple of weeks of vacation, then meetings with Dr. Porter and my North Central Region DS colleagues.  It was a restful and refreshing time.  I am back in the “saddle” and looking forward to a great fall.  While on vacation, I did quite a bit of reading. Besides a couple of John Grisham novels, I was excited to read Henry Nouwen’s The Way of the Heart.  This is a great read on Solitude, Silence and Prayer.  I am currently reading The Return of the Prodigal Son, also by Nouwen.  This is a book that I strongly encourage you to read.  I think you will find it to be well written and very interesting.  You will never look at the story of the Prodigal Son the same again.

 

Also, the tide is continuing to rise in regards to new congregations.  Soon I will be announcing some of the developments.  They are truly exciting!!  Don’t lose the dream of assembly!  You can start a new congregation….

 

Thanks for all you are doing for the Kingdom.  Good things are happening.

 

ps.  I am trying to collect the full works of Henry Nouwen.  If you have some books of his you would like to sell, please let me know.  Thanks 

The Impossible

What are you attempting to do that only God can make succeed?

Thank you

What a wonderful assembly and conventions we had this year. God was certainly good to us. I encourage you to continue to allow God to enable you to see great things happen this coming year. We have so much to look forward to. Thanks for your participation and support!!

Sent from my iPhone

Devotion to Christ

"Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ.  The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him.  It is easier to serve than to be drunk to the dregs.  The one aim of the call of God is the satisfaction of God, not a call to do something for Him.  We are not sent to battle for God, but to be used by God in His battlings.  Are we being more devoted to service than to Jesus Christ?"
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

New Life

I love this time of year.  We have been blessed with a very mild winter, and an early spring.  The birds are building nests, the flowers are blooming, the trees are budding, and Mary and I are 2 weeks away from being grandparents for the third time!!  Signs of new life are all around us.  Just a few weeks ago, however, things were brown, dead, dormant and dismal.  Spring was something in our future, now it is our reality. 

Sounds like the Gospel story doesn’t it?  Once things were dead, dormant and dismal, sin had a death grip on our lives, things looked bleak.  But then Jesus came, and transformation has taken place.  He told us that that we could have new life because he was alive.  This is the message of Easter!  He has overcome death, and has come to give us new life.  As you spend time in the Word the next couple of weeks, reading about the events leading up to the Resurrection of Christ, don’t forget to thank Him for the new life he has given you.  Also, don’t forget to pray for someone who still lives in the dead, dormant, dismal life of sin, separated from Christ.  Pray that the resurrected Lord would bring them to a place of transformation and life. What a message!  What a Savior!  What an opportunity!  

 

Michael G. Palmer

District Superintendent

Missouri District Church of the Nazarene

mpalmer@monaz.org

314.962.8977 office

314.962.6229 fax

 

“The Missouri District exists to equip and empower local churches in making Christlike disciples.”

 

Prayer Gatherings

I am thankful for those of you who participate in our district prayer gatherings.  I think it is a valuable time, as we spend time praying for our district as well as for each other.  We have had some special times this spring in our meetings.  Please continue to pray for our churches as we attempt to be effective in making disciples. Remember,  In order to do this, we must be intentional.  What is your plan?

 

I am really looking forward to our Preaching Workshop with Dr. Dan Boone.  Here is a quote from his book, Preaching the Story that Shapes us.  “As preachers, our first act of preaching is to listen with deep confidence for the breath of God moving in and through the texts that we are given to preach from.  Our task is not information but revelation.  And the only hope we have is the ever-present Spirit of God speaking.”  Pg 44

To all of our pastors/staff/and preaching students.  I hope you make every effort to attend. 

 

Michael G. Palmer

District Superintendent

Missouri District Church of the Nazarene

mpalmer@monaz.org

314.962.8977 office

314.962.6229 fax

 

“The Missouri District exists to equip and empower local churches in making Christlike disciples.”

 

Clarence bapizmal service

Here is a picture of the Clarence baptismal service
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"The Cloud"

I continue to rejoice at the signs of a coming rain.  In fact, it is raining now in many places across the district.  Remember District Assembly when we were encouraged to look for a sign of rain, and we saw “ a cloud about the size of a man’s hand”? 

 

Pastor Stan and Carla Hudson, pastors in Clarence, report that last Sunday, Pastor Stan baptized 10 children.  There were 20 new people in the service as well.  What a great day!!  Let’s pray for them as they now focus on discipling these children and make a strong effort to reach their parents.  Keep up the great work in Clarence!!

 

Pastor Gary Garrett told me this morning that Sunday they had 14 conversions and 4 rededications to the Lord.  He has been preaching on Heaven and Hell, and many have made eternal decisions as a result.  Nothing is as exciting as people coming to the Lord and learning to follow Him.  Thanks for the great report Gary.

 

What’s going on in your world?  Do you see it?  God is working….Let’s celebrate!!

 

If you have some good news, send it to the office, we want to tell the Story as it happens.

 

Michael G. Palmer

District Superintendent

Missouri District Church of the Nazarene

mpalmer@monaz.org

314.962.8977 office

314.962.6229 fax

 

“The Missouri District exists to equip and empower local churches in making Christlike disciples.”