Message from Anthony
The Worship Leader: Always in Defense of God’s Truth
Whether you are in front of the congregation for a Sunday morning service or in the pew next to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, YOU are a worship leader. Someone is always watching how you worship, how you connect with others, how you defend the faith, and how you prioritize God in your life. Even when you fall down and mess up, people are watching to see how you get back up. You are always leading someone as you follow Christ – whether you know it or not. So what does a worship leader look like? How can we be better worship leaders AND better worshipers as we follow God? Just like a house, it all starts with our foundation – the Word.
The Word means exactly what it says. There is no room for human interjection or rebooting it like a superhero series. What you read is exactly what God intended to write. Sometimes, those words are a bit uncomfortable. Sometimes, we don’t exactly like what they have to say to us. Sometimes the message we’re receiving from the Bible makes our society a bit angry. Too bad. Saying the Word is uncool, culturally rejected, or makes us uncomfortable is not a good enough excuse to try and rewrite the inherent Word of God. The Bible was never intended to adapt to culture, rather our culture is mandated to revolve around the truth of the Word.
As leaders, we must be ever vigilant in defense of this truth. We must be prepared to stand courageously and defend the truth, even in the face of adversity, and even to the point of death. We must claim Christ and the Word fully, not just partially, or we disqualify ourselves and all who follow us from eternity in heaven with the Father. We don’t want to arrive in heaven only for God to say “I don’t know what you were preaching down there, but it certainly isn’t what I said.” No, we have a responsibility to accurately represent God and Christianity no matter the personal cost.
Before coming to Meadowbrook, I lived in Roseburg, Oregon. It’s the heart of the Umpqua Valley, and the home to Umpqua Community College. Many of my professors from Liberty University remember praying with me as the events of October 1, 2015 unfolded. I was sitting in an office less than three miles away when Chris Harper Mercer stepped onto the Umpqua Community College campus and started shooting my friends and fellow residents.
Everyone was in shock at what was happening. None of us had believed for a second that it could happen here, but it did. Worse yet, Mercer was asking his victims a question before shooting them. He asked each one “Are you a Christian?” and issued them an order, stating “If you are a Christian, stand up.” Knowing that he was most likely going to kill them, those students still stood for God. Even when Mercer told them “because you are a Christian you’re going to see God in about one second” they still stood as he killed them.
Here I was, less than a year into my degree for ministry, while three miles away is the reminder of the very real danger to standing up for Christ. Martyrdom doesn’t just happen in faraway places, and the shooting at UCC was a stark and sobering reminder of just what I had signed up for when I dedicated my soul and my life’s work to proclaiming Christ.
What sticks in my mind and in the minds of our community residents is that these students chose to stand when they could have hid. They could have denied Christ, but instead they took up their cross and stood for the truth. If they can do so in the face of certain death, there is no excuse for us refusing to do so in the face of peer pressure.
The Word leaves no room for compromise on the morals and instruction of God. There is no bargaining room, no haggling that we can do to make what is wrong become right. Instead of looking for a way to conform to the culture, we need to ensure that we are right with God. We stand on the front lines of the battle between the forces of a fallen world and the hope of salvation that only comes from Christ. We never know when we will be called upon to give the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the truth.
A true worship leader courageously stands in defense of the Word, no matter the personal cost, because this life is not all there is. The last thing that several of those UCC students did on this earth was proclaim Christ, and what better way to lead others to Him than to follow in the footsteps of the apostles?
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) – Paul of Tarsus
Meadowbrook Youth Group Meets Thursday Evenings
The kids are meeting on Thursday evenings, from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m., at Meadowbrook, in the new TEEN Room downstairs. It is located across the hall from the kitchen/fellowship hall. There has been lots of fun, fellowship, and games, as well as growing closer to God and each other!
Please see Anthony if you have any questions.
Please plan on attending the next Sisters In Service (SIS) Meeting on Monday, October 25th from 6-7:30 pm in the Fellowship Hall. The first meeting for the SIS season in September was spent enjoying dinner together, spending time getting to know each other, and planning the 2021/22 service year. If you have any questions, please contact Cathy Podvin.
Missions Update – October 2021 (Update)
IDES – International Disaster Emergency Services
IDES Mission Statement – “IDES exists to meet physical and spiritual needs of suffering people throughout the world in the name of Jesus Christ.”
- The IDES organization returned our phone call and reviewed some of the currently available “in person” volunteer opportunities. Here are a few of the things Meadowbrook could participate in:
- Funding and participate in a meal packing event. This event could be organized in our area either with Meadowbrook alone or with other local churches.
- Participate in one of the two large packing events that are held every year that are already funded in Indiana. None are currently scheduled, but we could participate as soon as one is scheduled.
- Fund and build sheds on location in Indiana.
- The MCC Missions Team will be meeting 10/6/21 and discuss what option would best fit our resources. As soon as additional information is available, it will be announced.
- Thank you to our Meadowbrook family for your continued generous Faith Promise offerings that are making a difference in the lives of our community and around the world!
Join in the fun at the Fall Festival on Sunday, Oct. 24th
A meeting to finalize Fall Festival plans will be held on October 10th, meeting immediately following church to finalize plans for the fall festival being held on the 24th.
On Sunday October 24th, there will be a Pot luck at noon followed by youth games and bounce house. Plan on attending and join in on the fun!
Looking for a way to serve at MCC?
- Make cookies, brownies, bread (banana, zucchini, etc.) to support our “Fellowship in the Foyer” right after church. See Joe or Mimi Romaella to help with this ministry!
- Join a Mowing Team!
- Join Sisters in Service as they start up in the fall to serve our community!
- Join the Missions Team!
- Serve Jesus! All helping hands are welcome. Please see one of our Elders or Deacons to get plugged in.
1Peter4:10: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
October Birthdays
Tom Schwartzenberger – October 2
Arleen Rossol – October 3
Kathy Couture – October 8
Gene Paul – October 10
Tamara Elwell – October 11
Carolyn Bennett – October 16
Debi Newton – October 17
Wendy Kapusta – October 20
Pat Wundrach – October 20
Jim Martin – October 24
Nona Wundrach – October 26
October Anniversaries
Denis & Kathy Couture – October 8
Dan & Elaine Bright – October 17
Ron & Theresa Meegan – October 21
Jeremy & Brandy Cox – October 28
