Allow me to begin by sharing with you the story of my call to ministry.

God began to make me aware of His plans for my life when I was very young and that call was confirmed as I would consider vocations other than pastoral ministry, but He wouldn’t let me get away from His plan.  The call kept getting stronger until it was clear that if I was going to follow Him, I was going to be a pastor.  Later, He added a counseling ministry to that call, especially to clergy and their families.

He helped me to prepare through my education at Northwestern, Eastern Nazarene College, and Nazarene Theological Seminary.  10 years into my pastoral ministry career He helped me to further my education at Edinboro University to prepare me for the development of my counseling ministry.
Following seminary he led Carol and me to the Monroeville Church where I was part of a church plant until we moved to Edinboro in 1985 for me to pastor that good congregation from which I resigned to go to Edinboro University to earn a degree in psychology.  Carol and I joined with this congregation in 1990 and I was a part-time associate working with my father, who had been here since 1953.  One year later he passed away and I agreed to be your pastor for a one year interim.  That was 28 years ago and God has permitted me to continue to work with this wonderful church. 

So today, I bring you my 28th and final Annual Pastor’s Report.  Yes, I will be retiring at the end of October, this year.  It is time for me to transition out of full-time pastoral ministry to be a full-time husband, father, and grandfather.  I have communicated this to our Church Board and to our District Superintendent, Rev. Dan Eddings, and I look forward to filling the pulpit in churches during their interim or when their pastor is away.  I also believe that God may continue to use me to assist other churches to become better organized so that they can more smoothly function and to come alongside other pastors and their spouses to encourage them in their ministry.  Carol and I plan to travel and spend plenty of time with family. 

It has been my privilege to be your pastor and to serve God together with you for these 28 years and I look forward to these next six months as we prepare for your transition and Carol’s and my transition.  You are a wonderful congregation in so many ways.  You have loved us and been gracious with us.  You have supported us and prayed for us through some very challenging times in this life’s journey. 

I firmly believe that you are ready for this transition and I have been bragging on you to DS Eddings.  I have told him of the excellent leaders that we have in our congregation and about how so many of you are involved in ministry.  I have explained to him that this congregation does not depend on the pastor for ministries to function but that you know what you are doing and are doing it. 

It is my goal to have you fully prepared for this transition spiritually, emotionally, administratively, and financially.  It is my sincere hope that no one will leave the congregation because Carol and I are leaving, but that you will continue serving God together as a unified congregation.  It is my prayer that God will lead you to the right pastor for you and that God will, even now, prepare the heart of that pastor and their family.  It will be an affirmation  of my years of ministry with you to see you grow spiritually and numerically during this transitional phase and on into your working with your new pastor. 
This past year has been a good solid year for the church in many ways.  It has been my privilege to work alongside and help to train our associate pastors Tonya Hockenberry and newly ordained Connie Young.  Sunday School ministries has done very well under Tonya’s leadership and we have enjoyed her preaching ministry, as well.  Connie has done a great job keeping us focused on discipleship through various discipleship groups and through continuing to challenge us with the questions, “Who is discipling you? and Who are you discipling?”  We have benefited from her excellent preaching of God’s word and her involvement in others parts of our ministry.   I feel that my ministry will continue on through them wherever God chooses to place them.  It has been wonderful to work with a very dedicated Church Board and department heads.  God has blessed us financially this year with special gifts totaling between $80,000 and 85,000, mostly designated gifts, that have enabled us to pay Connie a small salary and to accomplish many projects with the building and grounds.  We must continue to be faithful in our regular tithes and offerings in order to fully fund our ministries.  Thank you to Randy Hites, Head Trustee, and to the other trustees and the many volunteers.  God has blessed us with excellent employees:  Denise Hites—Treasurer; Jenifer Crowl—Administrative Assistant; and Shirley Copeland—Custodian.  They each go way above and beyond the expectations of their job and I appreciate them and know that you do as well!  We have had many step up and accept nominations for our Annual Meeting today, which indicates a healthy atmosphere in the congregation resulting in you being willing to participate.  New people are coming to church, for which I am very glad and many are growing in their knowledge and application of the Word of God in their lives.
I want to leave you with Carol’s favorite verse, which is also a favorite verse of many of you.  It is God’s promise to Carol and me as we move forward in life and it is God’s promise to you as a congregation. 

Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Dear Friends,

I am so glad that our congregation has a wide age range of people who are a regular part of our congregation, but we can do even better.  All too often we see young people who have been raised in the church straying away from the church once they get out of high school (or sooner).  Some never find their way back and others come back at crucial times in their life, especially when they have children of their own.  Your church board believes that we can do better and are taking steps to evaluate how good of a job we are doing at being a church where this age group feels welcome and to look at how those in that age category feel about their church.  To help us to accomplish this we will be using a tool developed by Fuller Youth Institute called the “Growing Young Assessment”.

Growing Young Assessment In order to help us better understand the culture of our church, we will soon be inviting our regular attenders to complete a brief online assessment (it will take you only 5 to 10 minutes). This survey is based on the work of the Fuller Youth Institute, specifically the research presented in the book Growing Young: 6 essential strategies to help young people discover and love your church. Your responses will remain confidential as they are incorporated into a larger report.  If you do not have access to a computer to go online we will have computers set up at the church on a couple of Sundays and we will help you to complete the assessment.  Your thoughts matter!

We do not want to lose even one more teenager or young adult to the church or to the Kingdom of God!  Following you taking the evaluation we will receive our results recommendations to help us to improve in our ministry to and with this age group.  They are so important to us!

​Watch the church website, Facebook page, announcements, and your email to find out how to go online to be a part of this important assessment.  The life we are able to continue to reach and minister to may just be one who is very important to you!
Holy Week is coming up soon.  Look elsewhere in the newsletter and on the calendar for our schedule of services.  Plan now for this to be a time for your own spiritual evaluation and growth.  Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for our sin so that we could have a right relationship with God and be with Him for all of eternity!  He rose again to prove that he has power over both sin and over death!  Worship with us as we remember all that God did for us.
At the end of April we will be finishing up our church statistical year.  We will be taking in new members, electing our officers as well as our delegates to this summer’s conventions.  I will be sharing my annual report with you on the Sunday of our Annual Meeting on April 28th.  Please be in prayer for the elections and that we might be inspired as we finish one year and move into a bright future of serving God together.  God has blessed us this statistical year in many ways and we have been able to be a blessing to His work locally and around the world! 
How is your spiritual growth?  One of the best ways that we have found to grow spiritually is to be part of a discipleship small group.  If you think that you might be interested or if you have questions, please contact our Associate Minister of Discipleship, Pastor Connie Young at (814) 572-4255.  We have men’s groups and ladies’ groups and can form new groups as needed.  I encourage you to get involved in a Passages group and grow as you learn more from the Word of God. 
Our NEW SOUND SYSTEM will be operational by Sunday, March 31st.  We are thankful for a generous donation that has made it possible to upgrade our system so that you can more clearly hear the service both in the sanctuary and online.  The KITCHEN RENOVATION is coming right along.  The new storage area off of the kitchen is almost complete and the flooring will be the next part to go in.  The kitchen will be much more user friendly to better support our times of fellowship (we do love to eat!).  The materials for this work are thanks to another generous donation a couple of years ago that also enabled us to replace the roof on the church building.  Now that spring is here we can get back to completing the installation of our NEW PLAYGROUND!  Again, you gave and we are able to offer this fun area for our children!  Thank you for your financial faithfulness, not only for these major projects, but especially your regular tithes and offerings that keep our staff paid and the lights on and our ministries functioning effectively!
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Wayne

Dear Friends,

If we are to believe Punxsutawney Phil, winter should be over soon!  I, for one, would love to believe that famous weather prognosticator this year!  We actually had to cancel church one Sunday in January due to a storm hitting at just the right (or should I say wrong?) time leaving us buried in new snow on Sunday morning.  We heavily rely on our automatic call system that we use for prayer chain calls/texts to notify you if we ever have something like that come up.  I would strongly encourage you to notify Ruth Steinheiser at 814-756-0443 if you are not currently receiving notifications through Call Multiplier.  While it is rare that we need to contact you for such a time critical announcement, the prayer requests that go out are extremely important and your prayers do make a difference!

In my letter last month, I shared with you that we will be having a class to prepare people for church membership called “Nazarene Essentials” that will be taught during the Sunday School hour beginning March 3rd.  So far, we have so much interest from our younger teen class that their teacher, Dana Young, will be teaching the material to the whole class and then they and their parents can decide if they are ready to come into church membership.  It is exciting to have at least 8 teens who are interested in taking the class and pursuing what it means to be a member of their local church and of the International Church of the Nazarene. 

Older teens and adults, please contact Pastor Connie Young or myself to express your interest in taking the Nazarene Essentials class.  We will have a good time learning and growing together. 
Here is what we will be looking at:           

March 3:  The Basics—A Brief History and Our Core Values
March 10: Worship and Theology
March 17: Evangelism and Discipleship
March 24: Leading and Serving
March 31: A Closer Look at Wesleyan Theology
April 7:  A Closer Look at Polity and any other topics that we need to cover in more depth

On Sunday, April 21st we will be taking in new members during the morning service so that they will be eligible to vote in our Annual Meeting the following Sunday.

The church seems to be enjoying and benefiting from the current sermon series, “Ancient Words—Ever True” as we are looking at the lessons we can learn from our favorite Old Testament stories.  During March, we will be looking at the 10 Commandments, Gideon, Samson, Ruth & Naomi, and David & Goliath. 

Congratulations to my wife on her retirement from the Erie County Department of Health where she has worked for over 25 years.  She has invested in the lives of numerous families through her dedication to educating parents on how to have healthy children.  For a number of those years she was working especially in West County based in the two elementary schools that are a part of Northwestern School District.  Some of you have been able to assist her client families by providing transportation to appointments, moving of furniture, etc. Carol has passionately poured herself into her work and we look forward to what God has in store for her in retirement.  WELL DONE, CAROL!!!
​
We all make a difference in the lives we come into contact with through our employment, neighbors, network of friends, and community members.  Be sure that you are leaving a positive impact for Christ on everyone you come into contact with.  “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17 (NIV)

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Wayne

Dear Friends,
​
What brings you joy?  What are you joyful about?  We had “Joy Teams” that delivered cookies on Christmas Eve to various places where people were having to work.  The teams found joy in delivering Christmas greetings and cookies and the people who received the cookies were recipients of joy as well.  At our January Church Board meeting we discussed ways we can be joyful and share joy with others throughout this year, rather than just at Christmas.  Nehemiah 8:10 says, “...the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  Philippians is Paul’s letter of joy (even though written from a prison cell) and in 4:4 he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again:  Rejoice!”  Psalm 66:1 admonishes us, “Shout for joy to God, all the earth!”  In Galatians 5:22 we find that joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  In His teaching on the Vine and the Branches in John 15, Jesus said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”  Find your joy in Christ and then share it with others.  You need joy, our communities need joy, your workplace needs joy, your school needs joy, your friends need joy, and our world needs joy.  Share the JOY!

We have quite a few people in the church who are newer to the church and quite a few who have been a part of the church for a while who would like to know more about the International Church of the Nazarene, including our local congregation.  Pastor Connie and I are going to be co-leading 6 week group beginning Sunday, March 3rd at 9:45AM called “Nazarene Essentials.”  It will run during the Sunday School hour through April 7th.  This class will prepare you to consider whether or not you would like to join this church.  You will gain information that will enable you to make an informed decision on membership.  We have many people who are very much a part of our church family, but have chosen not to become a member and that is fine. However, joining the church gives you more a sense of belonging and a sense of mutual commitment.  Members are able to vote in church elections and hold office.  We will look at what the commitment to being a member involves. 

Anyone is welcome to come to the class.  Where we meet will depend on how many people sign up.  We will begin promptly at 9:45AM as we have a lot of material to go over in each hour session.  Material will be provided to you at no charge.  You can have the study book electronically or we will print it for you.  If you are looking to join the church you will need to make every effort to be there each week.

Here is what we will be looking at:         
  
March 3:  The Basics—A Brief History and Our Core Values
March 10: Worship and Theology
March 17: Evangelism and Discipleship
March 24: Leading and Serving
March 31: A Closer Look at Wesleyan Theology
April 7:  A Closer Look at Polity and any other topics that we need to cover in more depth
​
On Sunday, April 21st we will be taking in new members during the morning service so that they will be eligible to vote in our Annual Meeting the following Sunday.

• Please contact Pastor Wayne or Pastor Connie to sign up for the course.
• Teens are welcome to come to the class and join the church.
• Current members are welcome to take this class in order to have a refresher course on your church.
• Children are allowed to join the church and we will prepare them separately from the teens and adults.
• Members must be 15 years old before they can hold office or vote.

The goal of this course is to provide an overview of the Church of the Nazarene’s purpose, mission, organization, and key beliefs.  I am hoping that many of you will join with us for this group!  (It will certainly bring me JOY)!

Our apologies that the January newsletter did not get out to you until half way through the month.  It was the month where if anything could go wrong with the newsletter, it seemed to.  It is our goal to have it out to you in a timely fashion so that you are well informed concerning all things happening in your church.  Have a great month.
​
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Wayne

From the Pastor’s Pen Laptop

Dear Friends,     

Every once in a while I find that I have to hit “Restart” on my phone because it is messing up in some way.  The same holds true with a computer, rather than just choosing “sleep” mode it needs to be shut down and restarted.  Many electronic devices are the same way.  If things aren’t working right, try restarting (or rebooting).  Fortunately, God recognized that we need something similar built into our lives and designed an end to one year and the start of a new year to give us a chance to reboot.  We can look at what isn’t working for us in the past year and make corrections in order to be healthier in some area of life.  Of course, there are other times when we can reboot such as coming to Him seeking His forgiveness for sin and allowing Him to help us to make the necessary changes in our lives.  Perhaps there are areas in your life where you are ready to give up (or already have given up) where what you need is to allow God to give you a reboot opportunity.  You may be ready to throw something away when you just need to take the opportunity for a fresh start.  I don’t know where you might need to apply this principle right now, but I know that if you are open the Holy Spirit will show you where to apply it.  “God, where do I need a reboot in my life?”

As we start the new year I am beginning a new series of messages based on our favorite stories from the Old Testament and applying the timeless truths that we find in them to our lives today.  The series is called “Ancient Words—Ever True.”  Each Sunday, I or one of our pastors will be sharing a different story from the Old Testament and pulling out the truths for our lives today.  Many of you have shared with me what your favorite stories are and many of them will be finding their way into the messages for the next several months.  I am still developing sermon titles and choosing Scripture passages, but here is where we are going to be going for the month of January:

Sunday Morning Messages (11AM)
January 6             “Ancient Words—Ever True” –an introduction to the series
January 13           Creation
January 20           Adam and Eve
January 27           Noah and the Flood
 
In our Small Group on Sunday evenings we will be using lesson material from “The Discipleship Place” which is a ministry of the Church of the Nazarene that offers lesson material in Biblical topics, theology, and church leadership.  Some of our people have used the site a great bit.  If you are reading this online, just click on the name above to go to the site.  Materials will be printed for the Sunday PM group, but if you cannot join us and want to do the study on your own, just click on this link:  Old Testament Study.  You may also request materials to be printed for you by contacting me.  Here is the schedule for the Small Group study:
 
Sunday Evening Bible Studies (5:30-7PM)

​January 6             “Introduction to Old Testament Studies”
January 13           “Literary, Historical, and Geographic Divisions and Important Archaeological Discoveries
January 20           “Introduction to the Pentateuch”
January 27           “Primeval History and Patriarchs/Matriarchs”
February 3           “The Exodus Event and Covenant at Mount Sinai”
February 10        “Entering the Promised Land and Call for Monarchy”
February 17        “Period of the United Monarchy in Ancient Israel”
February 24        “Divided Monarchy and 8th Century BC Prophets”
March 3                “The Period of the Exile”
March 10             “The Postexilic Period”
March 17             “Poetic and Wisdom Literature”
March 24             “Synthesis: With a View to New Testament Fulfillment”
 
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Wayne

Dear Friends,     

I often challenge you at Christmas time to slow down and enjoy the Christmas season by not feeling that you have to be involved in every Christmas tradition that your family has ever had.  So often, we are so busy getting ready for Christmas that we miss the wonderful anticipation and joy of this holy season of the year.  I believe that this year’s theme will really lend itself to helping us to do this.  Read below to find what to expect and how you can choose to get involved.  Be thrilled once again by the HOPE of Christmas and of our world!

Advent is almost here!  Our theme for Advent will be “A Thrill of Hope.”  Experience HOPE in the person of Jesus.  In a world that feels weary and uncertain at time, the devotionals, worship services, messages, and studies invite us to pause, breathe deeply, and learn to live into God’s promise of hope in the person of Jesus. 

Devotional books are now available for adults/teens for $6 and storybooks for families with children are also available for $6.  Kids will follow the Advent story through the eyes of Hope, an 8-year-old girl living in Bethlehem and preparing for the guests arriving at her family’s inn.  See Pastor Wayne to get or order you book.  If you would like one and cannot afford the $6, please see me as we will cover one book per household as well as a children’s devotional for families with a children (children).   A Thrill of Hope app will be available for download and will release a new video each week of Advent for kids to learn a song that they can sing along with Hope.

The sermon schedule for Advent will be as follows:

• December 2nd—The Anticipation of Hope    Luke 21:25-36    Pastor Wayne
• December 9th—The Way of Hope                    Luke 3:1-6          Pastor Wayne
• December 16th—The Generosity of Hope       Luke 3:7-18        Pastor Connie
• December 23rd—The Promise of Hope           Luke 1:39-55      Pastor Wayne
• December 24th—Sharing the Light of Hope

​Christmas Eve is always a special service and is well attended at our church and I’m sure that this year will be no different.  Be listening/watching for more information coming soon about plans to share the Light of Hope with those around us on Christmas Eve.  There are many people who have to work on Christmas Eve, such as those who work in the nursing homes, police officers, gas station/convenience store employees and we are going to reach out to them on Christmas Eve by taking trays of cookies to them after the service (nursing homes prior to the service).  This will involve needing many dozens of cookies baked and these will be packaged up on the evening of December 23rd.  How can you get involved in this new way of reaching out to share God’s love with the community around us?

​Merry Christmas from Carol and I!  We certainly hope that you have a wonderful Christmas season and a happy new year.  You mean so much to us and we love you!  I hope that we get to see all of you who are in the area out to church as often as possible during this Advent/Christmas season. 

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Wayne

Dear Friends,     
Do you ever feel like, as a Christian, you just don’t fit into our society?  Your ethics are different from some of those around you.  You want to dedicate Sunday as your Sabbath while society treats it as just another day of the week.  The language that some around you use is just not the way you talk.  Some friends just can’t understand why you don’t do some of the things that you used to do.  You fear that your children and teens are going to be pulled away from God through friends, media, and what they may be taught at school.  You fear losing them to the society around you.

T. Scott Daniels has written a book entitled, “Embracing EXILE—Living Faithfully as God’s Unique People in the World”.  I had the privilege of hearing him speak on this topic at a pastor’s conference at Mt. Vernon Nazarene University and felt like he was really nailing it as far as describing how we should look at the society we are living in today and how to interact with that society.  Rev. Daniels is senior pastor at Nampa College Church of the Nazarene.  Previously, Scott pastored in Pasadena, California and served as the dean of the School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University.  He proposes that, “Exile can be a frightening prospect.  Like the Israelites in Babylon, Christians today may feel they are in unfamiliar territory, surrounded by a culture with customs and practices foreign to their faith.  In these times of dislocation and powerlessness, God wants to help his people experience anew the possibilities of covenantal faithfulness.”  In Embracing EXILE, T. Scott Daniels invites the church to embrace this modern time of “exile” and to seize this unique opportunity to be a blessing to the culture around us.  The world needs a holy people who embody the habits of the coming kingdom.
​
We will be starting this 7-week sermon series and group study on Sunday, October 7th.   The topics will be:

• Strangers In a Strange Time
• Now You Are God’s People
• This Is My Story
• Holiness Takes Practice(s)
• Blessing Babylon
• Raising Resident Aliens
• More Than Survivors

The group discussion on the topics will be on the same Sunday evenings of the morning message on the topic beginning on October 7th at 5:30PM (the same time as Children’s Bible Quizzing). 
Books are available at the church for just $6.  See and pay Pastor Connie Young for a book.
UPDATES:  We had a great time at the Albion Fair with the youth and mission groups running the Snack Shack to raise funds for their ministries.  Thank you to everyone who donated supplies, baked/cooked the goodies we sold, worked in the booth, and helped with set-up and tear-down.  Our Back to Church Sunday, “You Belong Here” was a wonderful service with about a 30% increase in attendance!  Many seeds of the Gospel were planted.  Pray for those seeds to grow!
When you aren’t here to worship with us, we really miss you.  We want to worship and fellowship and grow with you!
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Wayne

Dear Friends,     
Many of our young people woke up this morning earlier than they have been and went to school for their first day back.  Others already started or start tomorrow.  May God be close to our students, teachers, and school administrators as they begin a new school year.  This is an opportunity for taking Jesus into the public arena from the kindergartner through the high school senior and for the employees.  Our church mission is “To be and develop disciples of Christ” and you all have an opportunity to do just that in the public school!  Go be disciples!

​Dear Friends,
What an exciting couple of weeks we have had through the ministries of Albion Nazarene!  We worked with other churches in the local Ministerium to put on a one night event, Summer Safety Bash, right after school let out for the summer for children and their parents/guardians.  The focus was on safety of the children with many community groups participating.  We had between 450 and 500 people there in the Albion Borough Park including the 80 volunteers.  The evening ended with two family movies on two different screens and many people enjoyed a wonderful night out AND the weather was perfect!  Thank you to Tonya Hockenberry, our Sunday School Ministry Leader and Associate Intern Pastor, for her leadership and to out Sunday School Ministry Board for birthing the whole idea!