NINE YEARS AT FREE METHODIST COMMUNITY CHURCH - New Middletown, OH

July, 2003 – June, 2012

We Moved from Akron to New Middletown in June of 2003, and the VanArsdale family met us and helped us unload our truck – a kindness we truly appreciated!

Something extraordinary happened before we arrived.  Before Memorial weekend, as I was praying about the changes taking place in our lives, I felt a distinct calling to fast for forty days before assuming my new role.  I had tried fasting for forty days at Oakland and had to quit after twenty-five days because I was having severe stomach pain. 

I questioned God on this leading and He seemed to confirm it in my spirit.  So, I counted backward from July 7, (my first Sunday) and found that forty days would begin right after Memorial weekend.  That was great!  It allowed us to go camping and for me to eat all of my favorite foods!  J  I began the fast and continued it with very little difficulty – in spite of having to attend four graduation parties!!!!! 

On the Tuesday before my first Sunday, I travelled to New Middletown to meet my new secretary (Joni) and to see my office and tour the building.  I had met with the church’s Ministry Council along with Superintendent Charlie on a recent Saturday.  They had questioned me about a number of things and I had told them what to expect from my leadership.

When I arrived at the church, there were – to my surprise - many cars in the parking lot.  People were lined up and waiting to talk with me.  I met with people all day long and heard two sides of a story.  This was a VERY BROKEN church!  Many were angry with the Ohio Conference.    

I was taken so much by surprise!  It was a TERRIBLY discouraging day.  I ended up driving home late that evening in the dark.  As I drove along, I was determined to get home and call the superintendent and tell him that I was refusing the appointment.  It was then that I heard the “still, small voice of God!”  He simply said:  “Now do you see why I asked you to fast for forty days?”  

This changed my perspective!  He had prepared me spiritually for this day.  I began to put my trust in Him and asked Him to lead me and guide me through these early days of ministry at New Middletown.

Make no mistake about it!  Fasting changes you!  It changes your perspective and it changes your attitude!  I led through those first weeks at New Middletown differently because I had fasted.  Had I NOT fasted – I probably would have quit before I began.  But, having gone without food for nearly forty days had caused me to cast my dependence on God!  I always am closer to Him as a result of fasting!  Oftentimes I am reluctant to end a fast because I don’t want that nearness and dependence to end.    

Here’s a remarkable but true statement:  I believe that fasting is THE MOST POWERFUL SPIRITUAL WARFARE WEAPON THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US.  I also believe that fasting is the most UNDERUSED SPIRITUAL WEAPON that God has given us! 

I preached that first Sunday and reminded the people that just as many of them were missing their beloved previous pastor, there was a large group of people in Akron, OH, who were also missing their beloved associate pastor.  That reminder seemed to have an impact! 

I began giving ministry as fairly as I knew how.  I accepted everyone who was a part of the church and tried to minister to them as effectively as possible.  The extremely angry people were the hardest to deal with.  Some of them were in positions of leadership. 

I told the Lord:  “God, I will work as hard as I can to keep everyone in this church.  But, if they choose to leave, I will not pursue them.  I will trust that it is Your pruning work, and I will let them go.”  And I followed through on that.

All-in-all, there were about twenty people who were extremely troubled by the pastoral change.  I never even met about ten of them.  I worked HARD to keep the other ten involved in our church; but by December, they were all gone! 

In February, I lined up twenty brand new people across the front of the church and brought them all in as new members!!!!!!!  God is faithful!  And the church continued to grow for the next nine years!

I kept hearing about a promising young man named Justin Sargent.  I had not met him yet, but even the previous pastor had mentioned him as a strong potential leader. 

One day there was a knock on my front door.  There was a skinny, young kid on my porch and he introduced himself as Justin Sargent.  He seemed in a hurry and explained that he wanted to go to Teen Mania in Texas, but they required him to have a mentor.  Then he asked, “Would you be my mentor?” 

I told him that I had heard of him and that I would be glad to be his mentor.  He said he was in a hurry and he left.   I didn’t hear from him for three more weeks.  So, eventually, I found a way to contact him and told him:

“Justin, you don’t understand what a mentor is.  It means that you place yourself under someone else’s accountability.  It implies that you get together at least once-a-week to talk, pray and study.  If you want me to be your mentor, these are my expectations.  Otherwise, we’re done.”

He committed to meeting with me and it was the beginning of an amazing partnership! 

After a year-or-so, Joni married a man from the Cornerstone Church and left.  I began the process of hiring a new secretary.  Linda Savaet applied and I interviewed her (along with several others).  Linda was very meek and unsure of herself, but I saw valuable qualities in her that could be cultivated.  I hired her and she became a VERY VALUABLE partner in ministry!  She also became a soul-winner!  She continued to serve the church as our youth leader during my entire tenure. 

At one point, I remember going into her office and she began telling me about some of the kids calling and contacting her.  I asked her if she texted.  She said, “No.”  I told her to get a cell phone that she could use for texting and that, if necessary, the church would buy it for her.  I explained that it was the way youth preferred to communicate and that as a youth leader she MUST be proficient at communicating via texting.  Linda was VERY hesitant.  But, she followed through and became an even more effective leader as a result!  J

For the first three years at New Middletown, I continually asked every board and committee why they thought God had placed us where we were.  I’m certain that I aggravated these leaders by persistently asking this question, but we needed a clear answer to our question: 

Why are we HERE? 

The church was operating at a ‘status quo’ level with no clear sense of mission or direction.  I appreciated the diligent work of my predecessor, Drew Mountcastle, who had spent a great deal of energy renovating the building and property.  This allowed me to help the church focus on its MISSION! 

In my third year, Linda and I did an age-study of our congregation – as best we could.  We put our results on a small slip of paper grouped roughly:

    Birth to age 12
    age 12-18
    age 18-30
    age 30-40
    age 40-60
    age 60+

I presented this study to our Ministry Council (think:  Leadership Board). 

The first thing I asked them was if they thought it was fairly accurate.  They agreed that it appeared to be accurate.  Then I asked them to make observations.  It was slow starting, but gradually we observed that we were terribly weak in the 3^rd and 4^th categories. 

I asked what the implications of that might be.  We quickly observed that if it didn’t change, we would not have a church in the future. 

My only intention for this activity was to raise their awareness.  We clearly had achieved that objective.  I did add that I had come to them from a church that had been very effective at winning younger people. 

They asked me what it takes to do so.  I told them it primarily takes three main things:

1.       Having young people on the platform every Sunday so that new people see that young people can be leaders here.

2.       Placing young people on all of our major boards and committees and listening to them when they speak!

3.       Changing our worship (particularly music) to be more appealing to their age group!

By this time it was nearing 9:00 PM and everyone knew that I end our meetings promptly at 9:00 PM.  I began closing the meeting and moving toward prayer.  Bill Brandt spoke up and said, “Pastor, are we going to do anything about this?”  I told them that I had only intended to raise awareness and hadn’t really expected any action. 

A relatively new Council member, Tom Savaet (Linda’s husband), spoke up:  “I think we should give the pastor a green light to go ahead with these changes.”  I looked around the table and everyone was nodding in agreement.  They made it official, and things quickly began to change.  I did, however, remind them that there would be a reprisal to our efforts and that I would need them to advocate for the changes.  They agreed to do so!  I went home overjoyed!

Within two years, our church was FULL of young couples!  Our nursery was teeming with babies!  This picture was taken of our young couples: [and they weren’t all there that day!]

Within that three years, we also answered our question about our mission and clarified it. 

Cellular service was exploding at that time, so our mission’s icon became the service bars of the cell-phone:

We exist to HELP PEOPLE

get connected

to God, to other believers, and to the world in service!

at FMCC!

Get connected to God!

Get connected to other believers.

Get connected to the world.

 

Then, we set up to lead our church utilizing teams (I’ve always hated the word ‘committee’).  Here are some of the teams that led our church:

    · Adult Ministries Team
    · Youth Ministries Team
    · Children’s Ministries Team
    · Worship Team
    · HOPE Ministries Team [Helping Other People Everyway]
    · Prayer Team
    · Visitation Team
    · Buildings and Property Team
    · Missions Team

There were many smaller teams that also functioned under these main teams:

        o Small Groups
        o Greeter Team
        o Two different Worship Teams
        o Stewards Team
        o Recycling Team
        o Drama Team
        o Sound Team
        o PowerPoint Team
        o Decorating Team
        o Finance Team
        o Kitchen Team
        o Office Team
        o Security Team
        o Tellers Team

Our staff met every Tuesday morning for about two hours for prayer, training, evaluation, and planning.  On most Tuesdays we had eight or ten of the team leaders at the table!  They were very committed and very faithful!  They were the ones who - with the help of God’s Spirit – grew the church!  And God blessed our efforts!  Within a short time, we were seeing over two hundred in worship and meeting in two services.

After we established our mission, I embarked on a preaching mission that lasted for three years:

2008 – Getting and Staying Connected to God!

2009 – Getting and Staying Connected to Other Believers!

2010 – Getting Connected to Our World in Service!

We [Rhoda Swartz] began teaching Financial Peace University regularly and gradually accrued a savings of three months (as a church) to bring us in line with Dave Ramsay’s teaching. 

A CHILDREN’S SERMON

I strongly believed that children should periodically be involved in adult worship.  So the last Sunday of every month we kept them in the pews for the whole worship service.  Our children’s workers passed out children’s bulletins to keep them busy when I stepped up to preach.  I also usually had a ‘Children’s Sermon’ on those Sundays targeted toward them. 

I often used an object lesson to get the message across. 

Debbie had improvised a special, home-made tool that she used to clean out our ductwork at the parsonage.  It was a brush that she had fastened onto the end of a stick.  I often teased her about it, but she continued using it anyway.

One Sunday, for the children’s sermon, I pulled her home-made tool out of my mystery bag.  I heard Debbie’s audible gasp when I did so.  I proudly held up her tool and asked the children (gathered down front) “What do you think this is?”  Debbie immediately answered (quite loudly) “A stick to use to beat your husband!” 

Everyone lost it!  I think I finished the children’s sermon – but I doubt it if they learned anything that morning! 

Somewhere along the way, I received a letter from our World Missions Department asking me to select a group in our church to pray for a person or couple to accept the call to missions’ work.  I chose our Ministry Council.  For the next two years, we ended EVERY Ministry Council meeting by making a circle and asking God to call out someone (or a couple) from our congregation to serve His purposes on the mission field. 

After two years of prayer, Corey and Connie Persing asked if they could speak to Debbie and me after church one Wednesday night.  [They were part of the founding family of our church many years earlier.]  They met with us in our home’s family room and told us that they might be God’s answer to our prayers!!!!!!

Corey was a math teacher at a local Catholic school and Connie was a homemaker.  After opening communications with our World Missions Department, it was decided that they should go to Thailand for about two weeks to see how they liked it.  Our church paid their full way for this adventure.  They were thrilled! 

They fully enjoyed their exposure to the Thai people and began making preparations to be intern missionaries for a year, teaching in an international school.  Our church again made a massive financial commitment to getting them through this first ‘test’ year.  They then began raising support from other churches and conferences and God opened wonderful doors of support for them to eventually leave the school and be full-time missionaries.  Today, Corey and Connie continue to serve in Chiang Mai, Thailand where they participate in supporting our International Child Care Ministries.  Corey travels to numerous countries training pastors and overseeing their ministries.  They have become an integral part of Free Methodist World Missions!  PTL!!!!!!!!!

So many lives were transformed at Free Methodist Community Church!  I will be forever grateful for the grace that God showed through our ministry.  We had a rough start, but the rest of our nine years in New Middletown were largely without conflict or tension!  God enabled us to work together to build His Kingdom! 

My Biggest Faux Paus

I can’t remember the specific date, but it was around Easter.  I had worked hard on my message and the PowerPoint to accompany it.  I do recall that Travis and Troy were home.  Worship at FMCC was always rich and wonderful.  We had two excellent worship teams that led very effectively.  One of my approaches to ministry was to try to stay off the platform until time to preach.  I wanted people to know that when I came to the pulpit, they would receive the Word of God.  I took my role very seriously.

This particular Sunday, I started into my message with authority and confidence.  However, about half-way through the message, I could tell that I was losing people.  I have a personal rule:  Never look at the PowerPoint!  I figured that if there was a problem with the PowerPoint, our team would get it resolved as quickly as possible. 

Then, I noticed (our son) Travis laughing.  He made no attempt to conceal his hysterics.  I could see that (our other son) Troy and his cousin, Marshall were at least trying to restrain themselves.  Meanwhile others looked uncomfortable…  I tried to take authority by raising my voice.  The distraction continued.  For a good ten minutes, I struggled.  Then, gradually, whatever it was subsided and I was able to finish the message. 

The worship team came up and helped close the service and we had a brief break before doing it all over again. 

You guessed it.  The exact same thing happened in the second service.  Fortunately, this time, Travis wasn’t there.  But the awkwardness and complete distraction were there.  I struggled.  I had worked so hard on this message and it was important to me to get it right – but I just lost almost everybody right in the middle for about ten minutes. 

When the service ended, a man I respected greeted me in the foyer with the question, “Why did you have a dog’s butt on the screen?”  I didn’t know if he was making some strange attempt at a joke or if he just had a twisted sense of humor.  I had no idea what he meant.  He didn’t seem angry or even amused;  he seemed genuine. 

Eventually, I discovered that a picture I had on screen of Jesus with His arms outstretched, was actually the picture of a dog’s butt!  I had no idea.  I had selected the picture as a small thumbprint picture from Google.  However, I had projected it 8’x8’ on our front wall! 

Interestingly, some people – like me – only saw Jesus.  However, others only saw a dog’s butt!  Some people were amused.  Others were ANGRY and offended! 

Here’s the real clincher!  My wife was in the first service!  Several key staff members were in the first service – including my sister-in-law, Laurie Mahosky!!!!!   No one said anything to me between the services!!!!!!   The second service is the larger of the two services – we could have averted repeating the offense – but no one spoke up!  😳

Here’s the picture – you be the judge:

 

It may be unfair, but I must mention a few key leaders, hoping I don’t slight anyone:

§  Linda Savaet became far more than a secretary!  She was much more of a personal assistant.  She worked hard in youth ministries, kept me organized, established her own counseling ministry, and became a significant influencer for Jesus!

§  Justin Sargent did go to Teen Mania!  Then he came home and rolled up his sleeves to become a major influencer in our church.  His creative skills, musical ability, consummate energy helped us move forward!  For a brief time, he served as my associate pastor.  I wish we could have kept him in that role!

§  He eventually married Lis VanArsdale.  Liz was a shy, young lady upon my arrival.  The congregation had elected her as a reserve delegate, so they had seen her potential.  It took a lot of time and investment, but she gradually emerged from her shell and became a confident team leader in our children’s department.

§  Bill Greene was a member of our congregation who helped set up and significantly improve our sound system and PowerPoint capabilities.  He eventually stepped away from this responsibility and others took over, but his hours of re-wiring and investment will never be forgotten by me!  He put together several CD packets of my messages – for which I am very grateful!  Aside from that, he was a wise man who encouraged me many times!

§  Rhoda Swartz was a natural team leader.  She spoiled most of us (and her team) with her delicious food treats!  She opened her home to meetings and parties.  She led our HOPE Team with passion and compassion!  I pointed many of our newer team leaders to her leadership as an example!

§  Dave Sargent was a quiet, often over-looked member of our congregation (Justin’s father).  He had amazing ability to pull a group of musicians together for special presentations.  His own guitar skills were also a continual blessing to our worship team!  He was not always highly regarded in our congregation, but I always saw his contributions and appreciated them.

§  Mary Ann Sargent was Justin’s mom and she learned to play the bass guitar so she could contribute to our worship team’s efforts.  But her main gift was in the area of decorating!  Every Christmas and Easter she would spend countless hours decorating our sanctuary in ways that were mesmerizing!  She had awesome gifts and dedicated them to God – and it blessed us all!

§  Laurie Mahosky is my wife’s sister.  She was paid staff for several years and blessed us with her leadership skills.  She oversaw our NIGHT OF JOY for several years.  It was a Christmas celebration that included a full drama, special music, skits, comedy, etc..  It took a massive investment on her part and they always turned out to be spectacular.  Her husband, Charlie, has crazy guitar skills and blessed us for years by being part of our worship team! 

§  Sarah Janutolo (who died in 2019) was our treasurer at FMCC – actually for fifty years!  She was one of the easiest treasurers I’ve had the privilege of working with. She stretched as we grew and cooperated with me in growing and investing in our staff!  Although she never got us on computer, she was faithful and had the highest integrity in the way she managed the church’s finances!

§  There are others that I should speak of:  Sam Sargent who led our worship team for a number of years, Holly Swartz who also led our worship team and sang specials, Aaron Norling who faithfully manned our sound booth, Bob VanArsdale who taught classes and opened our worship almost every Sunday, Zonda Haase who trained up prayer warriors in our children’s department, Ginny Gerner who worked faithfully in our kids ministry, Bill Brandt our faithful custodian, and so many others….including the leaders of seven ‘Connection Groups’ that were consistently meeting at least once a month! 

Are you getting the picture?  It was a TEAM effort!  J

I recently came across a Facebook post I made on May 30, 2012, just before we moved:

Had another 'last' yesterday. My last meeting with the FMCC Team Leaders. What an amazing group of people! They're the ones who make EVERYTHING happen at our church! They lead teams that make a difference! It's been such a joy working with these folks. I'll truly miss them:

Linda Savaet                                  Pastor's Assistant and Pastoral Team
Justin Sargent                                Associate Pastor and Pastoral Team
Liz Sargent                                    Special Events Coordinator and Pastoral Team
Laurie Mahosky                            Worship Coordinator and Pastoral Team
Karen Sullivan                              Prayer Team Leader
Sarah Janutolo                              Treasurer/Finance Team Leader
April Jacobsen                              Preschool Director/Children's Ministry Team
Debbie VanArsdale                       Nursery Director/Children's Ministry Team
Zonda Haase                                 Missions Team Leader/Children's Ministry Team
Rhoda Swartz                               HOPE Ministry Team Leader
Debbie Haire/Alex Domineck      Holy Grounds Cafe Team Leaders
Sam Sargent                                 Worship Leader/Worship Team Leader
Sue Wiley                                     Greeter Ministry Team Leader
Dennis Mansfield                         Buildings and Property Team Leader
Brady Sullivan                              Audio/Visual Team Co-Leader

For about five years, we put together Christmas ‘Night of Joy’ programs that involved all age groups and fully costumed plays.  I wrote several of the plays and we bought two:

“The Great Manger Mystery”

    Sheep – Mary Ann Sargent,             Donkey – Josh Westfall
    Ox – Corey Persing                          Chicken – Laurie Mahosky
    Camel – Lee Wiley                           Joseph – Justin Sargent
    Mary – Liz Sargent                           Shepherds – Ryan Sargent/John Chapman
    Angel – Ginny Bredl                         Magi – Bill Brandt, Debbie Haire, Rhoda Swartz

“The Wise Sisters”*  [Karen Sullivan, Connie Griffith, and Linda Stahlman]

They were three homeless women who stumbled onto the truth!

“Dorothy and Her Friends meet the King!”* 

[Laurie Mahosky, Marshall Mahosky, Sam Sargent, and Paul Savaet]

“The Tale of Three Trees”*  [Debbie Haire, Corey Persing, Valerie Ware]

“Blind Bartemaus”  [Marshall Mahosky]

*   Written or adapted by Hal

These events took months of planning!  Laurie Mahosky took the plays that I had written and edited the script.  Then she worked with the players to develop a fun-oriented presentation of the Gospel!   Her commitment was HUGE!  Many other worked HARD to get the youth and children’s parts of the program ready.  Mary Ann Sargent cooperated by decorating the sanctuary to suit our needs.  It was an amazing pulling together by a large group of people to create a wonderful evening of music, drama, humor and fun as we celebrated the birth of our Savior!  Many made commitments to Christ at the conclusion of these special nights (one year there were seventeen commitments)!  We held them the first Sunday evening of December – which crunched our Thanksgiving a bit, but then gave us freedom throughout December! 

_________________________________________

After preaching on “Getting Connected to Our World Through Service” for a whole year, I used the next two summers to preach about the Great Commission – specifically, ‘Friendship Evangelism’.  I emphasized evangelism among our people with amazing results.  I strongly encouraged people to be courageous and lead family and friends to Christ.  I handed out cards, prayers, and other prompts to encourage people to follow through.  I created a ‘Champions’ poster on my door and added anyone’s name who led someone to Christ.  Eventually I had over twenty ‘Champions’!!!!

Ø  One woman led her aged, great aunt to faith in Christ!

Ø  Two women led their children into a relationship with Jesus.

Ø  One man reconciled with his hospitalized brother, gave him a Bible and led him to Christ!

Ø  Another woman led two co-workers in the sinner’s prayer.

I had Harold Ewing (a skilled woodworker and one of my favorite people) make a tall candleholder for our sanctuary.  I bought a large candle for it and placed them at the front of our sanctuary.  We called it our ‘Salvation Candle’.  I promised that we would light it on any Sunday when there had been a salvation as a result of someone in our congregation.  We lighted it a lot!  People would come in the front door and slip to the sanctuary to see if it was lit!  It became a powerful symbol of our effectiveness for Christ and His Kingdom! 

During these years, our growth in new converts and membership caught the attention of our denomination!  Three years we were recognized as a 'Multiplying Church'!  This meant that Debbie and I were invited to a special 'Multiplying Conference' where we were exposed to speakers who were recruited to equip us to keep our churches growing and multiplying!  

Twice, we made trips to Orlando, Florida, to be involved in these multi-day conferences.  We skipped the third - which was scheduled for the west coast - because of the expense it would have incurred on our congregation!  This was one of the wisest incentives I've seen the Free Methodist Church develop and maintain!  Each trip was rewarding, equipping and motivating! 

As a result, I began thinking more and more about my own personal impact on the world.  I began to realize that things hadn’t worked out quite the way I’d expected them to when I answered the call to ministry many years earlier.   I had hoped to make an impact on the world for Jesus, but the pastoral ministry tends to surround you with Christian people.  I carried this concern with me into my prayer times.

I increasingly began to long for an opportunity to be surrounded by lost people!  I started to realize that I’d never personally responded to the Great Commission;  I had not gone into the world to make disciples!  I grew more and more discontent.

Here I was, leading a growing church, yet feeling very discontent.  Toward the end of 2011, this discontent began to turn into a burden.  The Ministry Council (Leadership Team) had flatly refused a building project I had envisioned; I viewed it as a lack of faith in God’s ability to provide for our needs and vision.  It discouraged me.  I started exploring possibilities for going to another country to serve the Lord.  One day I was reading our denominational magazine and came across a full-page advertisement for teaching English in China.  I ran to Debbie and asked her if she wanted to go to China and teach English for a year – “They’ll pay us to do it!”  Her response:  “No way!”  Many times after that I brought similar ads to her again and again asking, “How about now?”  I got a consistent, “No.” 

When 2012 arrived, so did my forms from my superintendent regarding my next year’s appointment. I was in turmoil.  I turned the heat up on Debbie, telling her that I really wanted to do this!  We grew distant from one another as a result. 

Finally, as my deadline approached in February, I made a date to take her to lunch in Warren, OH, where I knew we wouldn’t be interrupted.  As we ate, I told her that I was going to turn my form in indicating that I would not be available for an appointment in 2012, and that I was going to begin to pursue an organization that could help us get to China.  She burst into tears!  She cried, “I don’t want to go to China!  I don’t want to go anywhere!  I like my life the way it is!”  My heart was wrenched.

I calmed her and said, “Okay.  It’s over.  You will never hear me use the word ‘China’ again.  Let’s eat.”  She immediately calmed down and we enjoyed our meal.  In my mind, it was a ‘done deal’. 

Early the next morning (around 5:30 AM), she entered my home study – this was VERY unusual; she had never been in my study at 5:30 AM!!!!!   She sat down and said, “I’ve had a change of heart…”  I interrupted her by holding up my hand.  “No!  We can’t do this!  You need to talk with someone, but not me.”  She tried to speak again, and I stopped her again.  “You need to talk with one of your sisters or one of your friends, but you can’t talk with me about this.”  And with that she left.

She did talk with her sister, Laurie, that day.  The next morning she came into my study again.  “I’ve talked with Laurie and now I need to talk with you.  After our lunch, I was reading my Bible and God took me to scriptures that have changed my heart.  The clincher was when I read these words from I Peter 3:5, ‘For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.  They were submissive to their own husbands…’  I want you to know that God has changed my heart.”  Then, with tears in her eyes, she said, “I want to go to China!”