Countdown – We are the Church

 

You hear this from me a lot, but it is not a Tom thing. It’s just a thing, and you were getting this from me before I was your pastor. What’s that?

We don’t go to church. We are the church

We are the church. We are called out of the world by God, set apart for God’s purposes, and sent back into the world to be his love and share his good news.

We go to worship in a building most people call a church, but realize this association didn’t happen until people started building places of worship outside of the homes where the early church met.

It’s great to have a building to gather in, but the people who follow Jesus, not the building, are the church.

You are the church.

We are the church.

There is only one church with Jesus as the head. We write different names on the building, have some varied traditions, and may baptize or serve the Lord’s Supper a little differently, but we—that’s everyone who professes Jesus is Lord—are the church.

Does this really make any difference?

Try this: Go coach a bunch of kids and repeatedly tell them that they are all losers and don’t stand a chance. See how they perform.

Next, coach a different team and tell them over and over that they are champions. See how they perform.

OK, if you actually would try the first one, don’t coach, teach, or try a leadership role. The whole concept of the beatings will continue until morale improves doesn’t ever work.

You will see the same results in older kids and even in the professional ranks. You, as the coach or teacher,  set expectations.

We, as the body of Christ, have expectations too. Consider the difference between:

I go to church and I am the church.

We are the body of Christ. That’s our identity. We are his church.

We are the church.

When we say, "I am the church," we put God’s name on who we are. Who do we belong to? We belong to the great I Am.

I am the church. You are the church. We are the church.

Be the church!

Insurance and Savings

 Most of what was shared about insurance premiums at the last presbytery was also shared by Doug Weims when we switched to Brotherhood Mutual, but we decided not to act on any cost-saving choices at that time.

One thing worth considering is building funds to a level of self-insurance to minimize our cost. I don’t think we can ever go insurance-free because of liability issues and some presbytery requirements. But we could start moving that way.

If we take out a second CD, we should add to it with whatever we save by increasing our deductible. So, if we save $500 each premium, we don’t put that in the general operating fund; we obligate it for the CD and add it to the CD upon renewal.

I suggested something like this when we paid off the loan we took out for the building. We would continue to budget the $2000 each month for our savings/CD/capital program (whatever name we had at the time), with the intent of having some self-insurance fund. We opted not to do that at that time.

To the current situation, savings on insurance and investment in a CD will seem like small savings in comparison to the very large amount needed to adequately insure the buildings that we have, but it’s that inertia thing again. Nothing happens until something is put in motion. A body at rest remains at rest—you know the spiel.

It’s the "he buried his talent in the ground" thing. The risk of putting the money in a CD is minimal. If we needed it before it matured, the most we could lose is the interest. The principal is not at risk. We get about 10-16 times the interest on the CD than we do on the savings account, where a fair amount of money now resides.

It’s also that discipline thing. Disciples should have discipline. In the case of insurance savings and what to do with it, that means if we do this, we do this with each premium. This is not a when we feel like it deal. It is a call for discipline. Our children or grandchildren might be the ones who realize a level of savings where we can significantly reduce our premiums and add to the savings.

What is the risk? If we had to cash it in early, the actual loss to us would be the quarter percent interest that leaving it in savings would earn. Yes, we could potentially lose ten times that amount, but only if we put the funds in a CD. If we leave them where they are, we have no chance at potential gains.

It’s the you miss 100% of the shots you never take thing. It won’t lose anything if we do nothing differently, but we gain very little.

I did not put this on the agenda as you will surely need time to assess it and weigh it against your risk tolerance, but I wanted you to think about it. I know it historically goes against our tendencies as a session.

If you subscribe to Covey’s four quadrants, this is a quadrant II decision. Maybe it will prompt us to action at some point.

If we don’t do this, it should be a deliberate decision and not a passive oversight.

Please think and pray about this.

Moderator Report - October 2025

Moderator Report

October 2025

  I have kept this report lean and linked earlier reports for more context. We do have some action items to accomplish at this meeting, but the list is shrinking.

Seek Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

Missions. I think the coat drive may be OBE, but it is listed under Old Business as an agenda item.

Worship. Now is the time for people to offer a Thanksgiving or Christmas special music.

Education. Rodney is working on cancelling the curriculum for Chrissy’s class. No other changes were noted.

Building and Grounds. Hosting the Presbytery helped shrink the “to-do” list.

Fellowship. We will have two fellowship gatherings with food before the end of the year. The Thanksgiving gathering will be a full meal, and the Christmas gathering will be finger food. Both will follow a short worship service. I put fellowship meals on the Dates for Planning Purposes list for the first two 5^th Sundays in 2026.

Financial. Windstream botched our current bill. How do we want to proceed? This is an agenda item. We may want to consider putting everything in savings except $10,000 into a 6-month CD before the rates go down. Also, we need a check ($200) for our MA offering before 23 November 2025.

Other

Red River Presbytery was surely a “Well Done!” across the board.  Not to get bruised by patting ourselves on the back, but this event mobilized many within our congregation. That’s some God’s love in action.

Elder Nominations. Both Ethan and Kathy said yes to their nomination. The congregational meeting to elect is scheduled for 14 December 25.

Pastor Turnover. Kathy has taken over the janitorial contract management. If you have not already selected one, an elder on next year’s session should be assigned as a representative to the ministerial alliance. The first meeting of the new year is tentatively scheduled for 6 February. I recommend that you have a confirmation meeting on 28 December 2025 to include the elders joining the session as well as those rotating off. You will need to elect a moderator pro tempore before or at that meeting from the five who will be serving in 2026.

The Search Committee is formed. They were blessed on 5 October during the 11 am service. The session needs to decide whether to meet with them or leave the direction to the session members serving on the committee. I suggest the full session meet with the search committee so discussions are not stove-piped and the committee and the session have a meeting of the minds. A handout of what the session captured in its discussions over the past several months, presented as guidance to the committee, would be a helpful reference.

Building Access. Dwight Shephard once again has a key to our building. Living Waters has stopped maintaining much food on hand at their location and comes here. I gave Heather’s key to Dwight. He had one before, but he has not had one since we changed doors. We had fewer keys for these doors, and I waited until I could recover one. Gayla Hite has one as well. I have asked for it a couple of times, but didn’t want to be pushy over a key that likely poses no risk to our security.

Tom Personal. In October/November, I will put some of my books out in front of my office for people to take if they want them. I may have to adjust the location depending on how long we keep up the Fall Photo area.

 

 

Links to information not included in the report.

Dates for Planning Purposes.

F4 Schedule

Worship Meeting Report

Projects in Search of a Champion.  

Unfinished Business.

Previous Moderator Reports

Unfunded Deficiencies

Online Giving Link

2024 Annual Report

Smart Pack

Turnover Background Documents

Budgeting References

ICA – Pastor Template

ICA – Janitor Template

Recurring Tasks

Prayer List

Insurance and Savings

Red River Presbytery Facebook page

 

 

 

Box of Chocolates Meeting

 

Anyone in the Burns Flat area interested in making or enjoying good, wholesome music, including Christian music, is invited to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Burns Flat, Oklahoma, for a meeting on 23 October 2025 at 6 p.m.

This meeting is to assess interest. Would you like to play your instrument as part of a group? Would you like to sing in a cantata or a community choir? Or do you just want a jam session every now and then? Do you have an artistic gift that you want to put to use somewhere?

This is to say that we don’t know where this will lead, but we want to find out. For starters, who is interested? Let’s see who in the community has been looking for such an outlet, ministry, or just the fellowship of others who are musically or artistically inclined.

Let’s call this the Forrest Gump Box of Chocolates Meeting. You never know what you’re going to get, but let’s find out.

Meet with Mike Kiser at 6 pm on 23 October 2025 at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

P:ray for the Search Committee

 

The Search Committee is established and ready to work. We blessed them Sunday morning and ask that you keep them in your prayers in the months ahead. This item is Refrigerator Worthy.

 

Lori Schneberger

Ethan Delp

Desarae Simmons

Garrett Stegall

Kristy Denbo

Faith Schneberger

Kylie Denbo

Dylan Walker

Kenzie Delp

Heavenly Father,

Bless these men and women who have accepted this charge to search for a new pastor. Grant them wisdom, patience, and joy in the work they are doing for this body of believers. Grant them eyes to see and ears to hear your leading during this time. Grant them your strength when they feel weak. Lead all of us to encourage them. Help them grow through the experience so you can trust them with more in the future.

Lord, Bless our Search Committee.

Amen

Countdown – Connect the Disconnected

 

Countdown – Connect the Disconnected

Some years ago, I adopted a phrase that I pair with our sharing of the gospel. Those words were "connect the disconnected."

There are many who have professed their belief in Jesus and not taken a single step forward in their discipleship. They may have thought that when they professed Jesus is Lord that was the end of the race.

It’s likely that they still pray, especially when the rent is past due.

It’s likely that they believe in everything they professed.

It’s likely they asked you to put their mother or son on our prayer list.

It’s likely that they, in many ways, do want to please God.

But they are stuck in their preexisting patterns, disconnected from the body of Christ and from abundant life.

So, remember, part of what we do is reach out to these people as well and invite them to come home, even if they have never been here before.

There is a family of faith for everyone.

Moderator Report - September 2025

 

Moderator Report

September 2025

 

 I have kept this report lean and linked earlier reports for more context. We do have some action items to accomplish at this meeting.

Seek Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

Missions. We helped 69 children with school supplies.

Worship. Changes discussed in the Worship Meeting are implemented.

Education. NTR

Building and Grounds. Improvements have been continuous over the past few weeks.

Fellowship. New (combined) teams are posted.

Financial. I asked Phil to reduce his thoughts to writing on the Division of Treasurer Duties so it could be examined by the session before the meeting. (Pending). Mandy has not received any of the funds we agreed to support this class.

Other

Red River Presbytery will be in the books by the time of our meeting. We need to share the information from the meeting as well as capturing costs and lessons while the event is still fresh in our minds. I expect Kathy to have considerable thoughts on the experience, but we should all take a moment to share a lesson or two for future endeavors.

Elders, please continue your prayer and meditation regarding your nominations for our next elders to serve on the session or reducing the size of the session. Here are the responses so far concerning willingness to serve. The nomination process begins at this meeting.

Ethan Delp       Yes

Danny Rush      Not at this time

Rick Reeves      If needed.   

Kathy Stegall     If needed 

Larry Walker      No response

Rodney Chilton As a last resort 

Carolyn Murray  No response   

 

Pastor Turnover. Kathy will take over the janitorial contract management on 1 October. Garrett will take over supervising the rental of the manse on 1 December. Rodney will take over bulletin preparation beginning 1 December. Tom will cease financial transactions on behalf of the church on/about 1 December.  I expect 21 December 2025 to be my last Sunday in the pulpit as your pastor.

The Search Committee is to be confirmed at this meeting. Bless the search committee has been moved to 5 October 2025.

Tom Personal.

I also expect 2025 to be the last year that Sharman does Angel Gifts or F4. She might be back for F4, but we have significant travel in the first part of 2026, so she would not be present for half of the Wednesdays in the spring. She might continue with the backpack ministry intake if that ministry continues.

I have stopped my “I’m not going to be here Sunday” texts. I think I placated the emotions that prompted the request; they were not efficacious, and subsidized complacency on the part of the session. If the 6-12 months of notices I have provided don’t do the trick, a last-minute text isn’t going to help.

Links to information not included in the report.

Dates for Planning Purposes.

F4 Schedule

Worship Meeting Report

Projects in Search of a Champion.  

Unfinished Business.

Previous Moderator Reports

Unfunded Deficiencies

Online Giving Link

2024 Annual Report

Smart Pack

Turnover Background Documents

Budgeting References

ICA – Pastor Template

ICA – Janitor Template

Recurring Tasks

Prayer List

Red River Presbytery Facebook page