-Mail Tampering causes church to seek PO box

-District Conference forbids homosexuality, prepares for revival

-Youth Camp 2000 information

-Visitation plan

-And more

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Cover Story:

KEEPING IN TOUCH

Assistant pastor Mark Guyer has initiated a visitation plan to personally visit or contact each former member or absent present member of this church.

Many questions came up following an obituary in local newspapers. The infant son of former University EMC regulars passed away suddenly in June. To the surprise of many newer members, the family was listed in the obituary as members of this church!

Sympathy went out to the family and some of our membership attended the funeral. We still love them dearly. But if they still consider us to be their home church, and have visited once or twice in the last five years, have we been lazy in showing our concern to those who no longer attend our services regularly?

In June’s Board Meeting, pastor Mark asked if the church had record of all members who have come and gone through this church. It was mentioned that there is a church membership roll in the office, which contains records dating back to our days as John Wesley Southern Methodist Church (see issue 5). The records are sporadic and there are whole years unrecorded during the late 80’s and early 90’s, with some penciled-in recent updates (It’s a start, anyway).

Mark began to compile a list of those whom he should visit this summer. The visitation is not intended to lay a "guilt-trip" for them come back to church, or to stir-up any animosity from any past conflict. The visitation effort is meant to let these people know we still care and will pray for them, and that they are invited back to worship God with us at anytime.

Also, a new emphasis will be placed on communication. Barbara Smartt has spearheaded an effort to create a church calendar, to let all visitors and members know about birthdays, anniversaries, church activities, et cetera. Charlotte Sparks has mentioned mailing friendly invitations to our monthly church coverdish in order to reach out to those whom we have had contact.

Remember: Our outreach is not dependent on how many people our “clergy” contacts. While pastoral visits are nice, who dares to prohibit any one of us from visiting a brother or sister in the Lord? If you know someone off-hand who hasn’t been to one of our services in a while, take a moment and give them a call! Write them a postcard or something. You have the authority to do so. But remember to be friendly and avoid gossip.

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Working the Field

by Andrew Hogue, editor at-large

The most common misconception within the Church today is that only Spiritually-gifted evangelists can play a part in convincing someone to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour.

God has gifted some in the Body of Christ as evangelists, and given them skill at persuasive speaking and preaching the Gospel. Does that mean the rest of us who are not persuasive evangelists are to sit back, drop a few bucks in the collection plate, and expect our missionaries to do all the work? God forbid the day when we fall for that!

"He made some to be apostles, and some prophets. And some to be evangelists, and some pastors and teachers-- For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." --Ephesians 4:11-12

Jesus compared the mission field to harvesting a crop (Matthew 9:37-38, John 4:34-38). The reapers, of course, are the angels of the Lord when the end has come and the Judgment is upon us. He will sort out the good crop from the bad. But we are the laborers.

Anyone who has planted a field of crops or just planted a simple garden knows that reaping the crop is not all the work. There is much that must be done before hand-- Busting-up rocks, plowing the soil, tilling rows, planting seed, etc.

Some of us are good at "breaking rocks" by making bold statements in public about Christ, but may never see a soul come to the Lord. Some of us are in positions of discipline where we can "till the soil" and prepare our culture for a major revival. And others are good at preaching and teaching the word, thereby "planting seeds". And we can all pray for the "rain," or the saturation of the Holy Spirit to help bring those seeds of faith to grow into new creatures in Christ.

We all have a gift in some area. We can all do something to win a soul to the Lord, even if we’re not the one who gets to pray with a convert to accept Christ. The one who helps to reap the harvest is no more important than the one who helped to till the soil or plant the seed. Now who wants to go out and bust some rocks with me?

Curiosity abounded when the mail stopped coming regularly. According to neighbors across the street, letters addressed to the church were found strewn across lawns, often causing a scattered mess after mowing.

David Johnson, who bore the responsibility of checking the mail daily, said the mail has disappeared from the mailbox several times, only to be found elsewhere along the street. David made it a point to check the mail immediately after the postman delivered it, normally around 3pm. To David’s surprise, the mail was missing only minutes after delivery!

"Someone must have deliberately taken the mail and scattered it," David insisted.

No official action was taken until the following Sunday after a black, felt cross was left atop the mail during the week. Fearing that this may have been a warning symbol from a militant cult group, the church decided to call the police.

Officer Rachel Key of the Denton Police Department met with 4 of the church members to discuss the tampering. According to officer Key, the mail tampering is a federal offense, and cannot be dealt with at a local level. However, she has alerted fellow officers to patrol the church property on a more regular basis.

Key said similar symbols have been delivered to several churches in Denton. "It’s probably nothing-- maybe the actions of college students or some kids. But with all the church burnings going on, you can never be too careful," Key said.

The church has unofficially decided to abandon the mailbox outside the parking lot and secure an indoors post office box. Charlotte Sparks, church secretary, has purchased the new box at Pack ‘n’ Mail.

The mailbox and post will be removed from the property at a later date. The new address for the church is

University EMC

PMB #287

624 W. University Drive

Denton, Texas 76201-1889

The church’s street address, 2216 N. Bolivar, remains the same (obviously) and may continue to be used for parcel deliveries.

If you see any suspicious activity on church grounds, please contact assistant pastor Mark Guyer or a board member as soon as possible. Call the Denton police department if there is no answer.

The 2000 EMC Mid-States District Conference was held on April 27-29 at Copperas Cove, Texas. Assistant pastor Mark Guyer and praise leader David Johnson were our delegates.

While at the conference, 45 issues were discussed, from whether the EMC should allow homosexuality as a practice to encouraging Sunday School teachers to seek advanced training.

REVIVAL: Item 14 reaffirms the church’s concern to see souls won to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was voted unanimously that the focus of the District Conference sessions are to help the local churches to develop an emphasis on training, revival, and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM: Several other items addressed Sunday School policies. In item 6, the Mid-States Board of Christian Education was ordered to implement a teacher training program for all teachers in district churches. All Sunday School teachers are encouraged to attend their State’s Sunday School Association convention this year according to item 16.

SUNDAY SCHOOL CIRRICULUM: In item 28, it was recommended to the Board of Christian Education that David C. Cook, inc.’s Wesleyan-oriented cirriculum and study books be recommended to each church Sunday School commitee. Each church is still free to choose the cirriculum they feel is best-suited for their members.

MONEY MATTERS: Financial policies were addressed by other items. In item 33, a policy was adopted concerning donations to the District. According to the new policy, any request or stipulation attached to a donation of money or property will be honored for a period of seven (7) years. If the request is not fulfilled in that amount of time, the District has the right to use the donation as they direct.

Also, a recommendation in item 38 was made that each church place a deed restriction into their church building’s deed that, in the event that a local church decides to leave the EMC, and if there are any who remain loyal to the EMC, that the church property and title remain in the hands of the remaining EMC members (tell me that’s not a mouthful!) University EMC’s Constitution and By-Laws allows for the church to leave the denomination according to the procedure outlined in the EMC Book of Discipline, and would allow the Board to retain all money and property upon 2/3 vote.

MISSIONARY AID: It was also recommended in item 35 that each church donate toward a "life share" of $1,500 to help our missionaries in Bolivia and Mexico carry on in their work. In item 11, each church is encouraged to have at least one missionary speaker per year and one mission conference if possible. Item 12 allows for the Board of World Missions to visit each church in order to raise funds for the District Board of Missions.

WHAT, ME? A METHODIST? In item 17, a recommendation was adopted that there be a video and film library available to churches which highlight our Evangelical Methodist Heritage. This would include videos of sermons from EMC founder, the late Dr. J.H. Hamblen (see issue 4 of this newsletter). There is one available in the church office if anyone is interested.

SHADES OF GAY: With all the national media attention given to gay-rights activists and protesters among most mainstream denominations, especially the United Methodist Church, it is important that the true remnant of John Wesley’s holiness movement take a bold stand against abomination. Item 27 states, "The Mid-States district of the Evangelical Methodist Church reaffirms its commitment to the Bible and doctrine that homosexuality and lesbianism are sins and are unacceptable lifestyles." (See Romans 1:26-27 and Leviticus 18:22)

Evangelism (n) the winning or revival of personal commitments to Christ [from the Greek word euangelion, meaning "good news" or "gospel"]

(aka. the "a good time was had by all" section)