Small, but blessed!

From the pastor's desk,

St. Mark's is greatly blessed.  We have three members who have volunteered to conduct the worship service and deliver the message when I am not available.  In this age when ordained Ministers are hard to find, the three members have stepped up to the challenge.  To give you an idea how scarce ordained Ministers have become check out this fact.  When I graduated from Trinity Seminary in 1965 there were 43 in my class.  Today the numbers have dropped to between only 5 and 7 graduates per year. This is only a fraction of the ministers needed.

You see why we are so blessed then to have these three.  Of the three Doug has preached many times when I have not been able to be present, ala vacations etc. His next time to lead worship will be Oct. 21.  Doug has been with St. Mark's for many, many years and also works with Mary Ann for special music at Christmas, Easter, etc.

Next up to conduct worship and preach this Sunday, Oct. 14, is MaryDell.  She has been in the service for many years and presently is at the Base working on her degree.  She has been with us a little more than a year and she brings with her a background of conducting worship and preaching when she was a member of a former church that was unable to call a minister due to the dwindling number of preachers available.  She and several members of that church took turns conducting the service for an entire year until a minister was secured.  She will be leaving us around April 1, when her studies are completed.  We thank her for her willingness.

The third willing volunteer is Moriah who joined the membership of St. Mark's a little over a year ago.  She has already conducted worship and preached 2 times at St. Mark's and shows a good grasp of the words needed to explain the message that the Gospel text proclaims.  She also is serving on Church Council. Her father is Mark Johnston and her grandparents are Mary and Lee Johnston.  Her next date to conduct worship will be Nov. 25.

You can see why I say that, though St. Mark's is not very big, she is very, very blessed.  To have 3 capable and willing members to conduct worship is a tremendous blessing.  The hymn, "Count Your Blessings" is a favorite of mine.  In one of the stanza's we sing, "Count Your Blessings, name them one by one", be sure to name our three volunteer preachers as ONE GREAT BLESSING for the members of St. Mark's.

I will next be with you Oct. 28, Reformation Sunday.

Pastor John