Eastern Regional Association January 2024 Newsletter

Interim Superintendent Column

About three months ago, I stumbled upon a prayer I began to make my own most days: “My work is to serve well, not to be well-served. To be patient and gentle in all that disturbs me.”

It reminded me of a musing in Robert Raines’s book, Creative Brooding.

I am like James and John.

Lord, I size up other people

In terms of what they can do for me;

How they can further my program,

Feed my ego,

Satisfy my needs,

Give me strategic advantage.

I exploit people

Ostensibly for your sake,

But really for my own sake.

Lord, I turn to you

To get the inside track

And obtain special favors,

Your direction for my schemes,

Your power for my projects,

Your sanction for my ambitions,

Your blank check for whatever I want.

I am like James and John,

Change me, Lord.

Make me a man who asks of you and of others,

What can I do for you.

I’ve prayed this prayer multiple times over the years, but Eugene Peterson’s line “No one aspires to be a servant. We have a much higher opinion of ourselves.” I especially don’t aspire to be a servant to those who are not my favorite people.

Peterson also wrote, “…the biggest deterrent to the drudgery of caring for an everyday friend is the dream of helping an exotic stranger. Giving the distance requires less of us — less involvement, less compassion….

“In John Updike’s novel, The Coup, a U.S. embassy official, Don X. Gibbs, is murdered in his attempt to deliver a great load of American junk food to the drought-ridden African land of Jush. His wife later reflects: ‘I’ve forgotten a lot about Don…. Actually, I didn’t see that much of him. He was always trying to help people. But he really liked to help people he didn’t know.”

Somewhere along the way, my prayer underwent an evolution of spirit that now begins each day: “My work is to serve well the people I know the best, not to be well-served by them. To be patient and gentle when they sometimes disturb me.”

Clayton Blackstone

Financial Gifts from the North Springfield Advent Christian Church

 It is always a sad event when a church closes. Certainly, this is true of the North Springfield Advent Christian Church which closed its ministry in November 2023. With the closing, the remaining church members voted to distribute funds to several Advent Christian ministries. The Eastern Region was the recipient of two generous gifts that will ensure that the ministry of the North Springfield Advent Christian Church will have an impact on Advent Christian ministry for many years to come should Jesus tarry. The ERA received one check for $53,400 that the church has designated for "Scholarship Funds for Advent Advent Christian students who would be furthering their education at a Christian Educational Institution". These funds are to be administered by the Eastern Region. The ERA received a second check for $71,200, "to be used for church planting in the Eastern Region and to be overseen and administered by the Maranatha Conference."

On behalf of the ERA Board we are greatful to the North Springfield Church for their insightful designation of these funds to aid in the Great Commision of making disciples. May God multiply the ministry of this church to His names honor and glory.

George Karl

P.S. The North Springfield Advent Christian Church had also previously aided the church plant that will take place, Lord willing, this spring in Clayton, North Carolina through the gift of 50 NIV Bibles.

Rev. Matthew Malinowski

Matthew grew up in Farmington Connecticut with his three siblings and many foster brothers. He served as Youth and Worship Pastor for ten years at Grace Baptist Church in Bristol CT. He worked as a Counselor and Director for Camp Faithful Youth Camp in Southington Connecticut for 12 years. Pastoral ministry began for Matthew at Hope Christian Fellowship in Charlton Massachusetts. Matthew felt called to serve as pastor of the Dover Advent Christian Church in Dover Florida. After 5 years, a few hurricanes, and a two-hundred-pound weight loss journey, the Lord called him back home to serve as the pastor of Calvary Advent Christian Church in Bristol. Matthew enjoys writing music, playing basketball, and making people laugh. Matthew’s wife Ashley is a published author. She’s written a memoir called Tangled Blessings and a children’s book called Christmas Town. They have two beautiful girls named Daisy and Lily. They are currently enrolled in Central Christian Academy in Southington CT.

I often find myself taking the beauty of the stars in the sky for granted. Just recently, I was looking at a star that can be seen most of the year that we’ve all seen probably thousands of times. It’s a star called Deneb. This powerful star can be seen clearly with just the eyes we were given. Yet this star is 19 quadrillion miles away. That’s a 19 with 15 zeros! Yep 19,000,000,000,000,000. If you traveled 186,000 miles per second, you could arrive at this breathtaking star in about 3,000 years. Deneb is a bluish-white supergiant around 200 times the size of our Sun. This is one out of the trillions of astonishing stars in our universe. Why bring this up? I enjoy studying stars, it allows for a microscopic taste of the greatness of our heavenly father. Psalm 33:6 proclaims By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. With life coming at me at 186,000 miles per second, it’s easy for me to forgot to simply be in awe of God. I’m convinced that it would be beneficial for us all to take time every now and again to look up into the heavens and be in awe of our God. Psalm 8:3–4 says, When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? It is truly amazing that our great and mighty star breathing God, cares deeply for you and I. 

ERA In Need of New Bookkeeper

After serving in the capacity of ERA Bookkeper for the last couple of years, Lisa Godard has informed us that she needs to step down from the position. Lisa has brought a great commitment to the position and has brought us up to date in many areas of our regional finances, but she has indicated that it is time for her to resign. As you read about our need, if there is someone that you know who could possibly take on this paid position, please contact me. The bookkeeper is responsible for recording all receipts and expenditures for the region, including payroll.  A working understanding of Quickbooks would be very important. Thank you for your prayers and thoughtful help. 

George Karl

413-822-9502

Sumkarl@yahoo.com 

ACGC Spotlight

Meredith Broadway

Meredith Broadway serves as Communication Director at ACGC in Charlotte, NC. She holds a B.A. in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication from UNC-Chapel Hill. Her husband Matt Broadway serves as Regional Superintendent to the Appalachian Region. Their two teens, Elias and Lillian keep life lively. 

God With Us

The last year and a half have been marked by change, change and more change. My husband changed jobs after fourteen years as pastor of the same church, our family moved from the city to the country, my kids transitioned from private school to public and turned into teenagers. Lately, I’ve realized that change on that scale affects a person. Norms, expectations, roles and identity all shift with this amount of transition. There has been joy, thankfulness, grief, loss and everything in between.

The first year was a bit euphoric because after doing the same thing for so long, change felt invigorating. But as the dust settled over the next six months, I realized I wasn’t doing so well spiritually or physically. I felt disoriented, lost and detached. I struggled to meditate on scripture, pray for any length of time or take in a sermon. It scared me. 

Over Christmas I was reminded of Jesus being sent down to us, to me. In Matthew 1:21-23, the angel tells Joseph to name the baby “Jesus” to “fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’).”’ A simple truth with massive implication. Jesus really is with me. He is with me even when I don’t feel like he is. He has not forgotten me, and he will not abandon me. His presence is not dependent on my circumstantial or emotional shifting sands. 

In all the disorienting new, I am learning that he is right beside me. I hope you will join me in taking every burden and joy to him in 2024 remembering that he is “God with us.”

Emmanuel Church Gets Ahead of the Storm

Had King Solomon lived in New England, I’m quite sure the book of Ecclesiastes would have included an additional verse or two on the evils of weekend snowstorms. “This too I have found to be a great evil under the sun,” he might have written, “that winter storms wanteth not to keep the Sabbath but, in their blustering and blowing, ever work to separate the shepherd from his snowbound sheep.”

Those of us who do live in New England and who bear the burdensome and often nettlesome responsibility of deciding what to do when Sunday forecasts turn icy and snowy, know this evil full well. And wouldn’t we all love to have the wisdom of Solomon in our painful deliberations.

For many of us in the Eastern Region, the first Sunday of 2024 held a forecast for snow. The weathermen here in the Rochester area, were calling for a steady snow to begin falling before midnight on Saturday and to continue falling throughout much of the day on Sunday, with the heaviest snow coming in the morning hours. This, of course, had me breathing out imprecations on Jack Frost and longing for the lazy, hazy days of summer.

Having pastored for over ten years in New Hampshire and Connecticut, I’ve had plenty of experience trying to make sense of Doppler radars and weather models ahead of a stormy weekend. In these moments, I’ve many times been pressured by the cautious in my churches to preemptively cancel worship and by the Nanooks of the North to keep the doors open, no matter the cost to life and limb. Too many times I’ve canceled church only to wake to dustings and clear blue skies and I’ve often had to endure the grumblings of diehards as they fidgeted throughout my morning message, knowing heavy snow was piling up on their cars out in the church lot. Keeping the service time, no matter the weather, can seem imprudent, headstrong, and insensitive to some; while canceling Sunday worship can appear weak and capitulating to others. It often appears there’s no way to win.

For whatever reason, this new year brought new considerations for me. On that Thursday morning before the 7th, I floated the idea of moving the Sunday service from the morning to the late afternoon or evening. This would ensure that folks would have a chance to dig out and that towns would have time to clear most of the roads. But of course, the change would create a host of new problems as well. And there’d still be the anxiety of not knowing how the storm might change its speed, track, and intensity throughout the day. So, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with this option and refreshing the weather forecast on my phone’s app every ten minutes wasn’t helping any.

While I sat in the tenor section at choir rehearsal that night, I chatted about the storm with a woman who was sitting nearby. She told me that she’d seen online that another church in a nearby town had decided to move their service to Saturday. “Saturday!” I thought to myself. “Why not move the service to Saturday? No weather, no contingencies, no cancellations.”

That evening I bounced the idea off of my compadre, Josh Rice, and the next morning we pulled the trigger and made our announcement to the church: we would have our weekly worship service on Saturday afternoon at 2pm.

It was weird having church on Saturday afternoon, of course, and everyone in attendance confessed to suffering an awful arrhythmia in the flow of their week. But what a sweet service we had together and what wonderful fellowship we enjoyed with a Lord who, in sending His Son, established a sabbath way of life over a Temple day and hour. I hope to never have to move our Sunday morning service again, but having begun our church’s new year of worship on Saturday afternoon – I’d be pleased to keep our appointment with God on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or even Monday, instead of cancelling and missing even one weekly assembly. Maybe old Solomon wouldn’t see it as an evil after all. For as he said, “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” (Ecclesiastes 7:8) 

John Tate

Rev. Derek Irvine

Rev. Derek Irvine, along with his wife Kathleen, has been serving the Vernon Advent Christian Church in Vernon, VT as Associate Pastor since 2015.  He is a graduate of the Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies ('03), Lancaster Bible College ('06) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary ('09).

After graduating GCTS, Derek and Kathleen accepted the call to serve alongside Rev. Gene and Sandy Peters at Central Advent Christian Church in Clifton Forge, VA as an Associate Pastor. While in Virginia, their daughter Anna was born in 2010. In 2014, they sensed the clear call from the Lord to move back to New England and serve in their current position in Vernon to the present day

While studying for a recent sermon I was to preach I was struck by something I had never really thought about before in Genesis 3. Genesis 3:9 says, "But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" (ESV) 

After Adam and Eve rebelled against God and "their eyes were opened," scripture says that they ran and hid from God. They didn't come to their senses, realizing what they had done, and fall down on their faces before God and beg for his forgiveness. They didn't seek God at all. They didn't ask, "God, where are you?" It was God who sought them and asked, "Where are you?"  

The scriptures introduce us to a God who initiates and pursues His creation. When I think back over my life, I can see the sovereignty and providence of God as he constantly pursued me even when, at times in my life, I was not pursuing Him. Through His constant pursuit of me, by His Grace, I now have a relationship with the Almighty God of the universe and the blessed hope of eternal life with Him when Jesus comes again.

At Alton Bay Christian Conference Center

Sponsored by the Eastern Regional Association and the

Maranatha Advent Christian Conference

Speakers: Chris Date of Rethinking Hell

Justin Nash, Executive Director for ACGC

Scholarship Opportunities

DuBois Scholarship - Sponsored by the Maine State Conference, amount awarded depends on number of applicants and funds available; This scholarship is given in loving memory of Rev. Wendell DuBois, Tammy DuBois and Virgene Hughes. It is designed to assist those seeking a call to vocational ministry in achieving their academic goals. The application needs to be postmarked by August 31 to be considered. The scholarship monies will be disbursed during the 2nd semester of the academic year.

Berkshire Christian College Scholarship Fund - Scholarship amount varies depending on the program of study. The purpose and description of the scholarship is:

• Seminary education in partnership with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary at four campuses - two in Mass., one in Fla., one in NC. (www.gordonconwell.edu) Advent Christian students receive up to a 50% tuition reduction. (Additional scholarship assistance may also be available.)
• Theological formation through the Ministry Training Institute (MTI). Students enrolled in MTI are eligible for scholarships through Berkshire Christian.

Castle Hill Scholarship Fund - The Castle Hill Advent Christian Church closed its doors in December of 2019 due to declining numbers and the difficulty of finding pastoral leadership. Through a generous donation, a Ministry Scholarship will be established in their name. It is their desire that this ministry scholarship be established to help fund individuals who are seeking vocational ministry training either from a ministry training program within the Advent Christian constituency, or if a person chooses to seek to prepare for vocational ministry outside of the Advent Christian constituency, the Christian institution must be accredited.

Applicants are required to fill out the application and have all of the required information turned in to the Superintendent’s Office by September 15th in order to be considered by the Eastern Regional Board of Directors. The Board will present scholarships to qualified applicants by dividing $2000 dollars among them per year. If only one applicant applies, the cap for an individual scholarship is $1000 dollars made out to the school of their choosing.

Eastern Regional Association

P.O. Box 214 Winchester, NH 03470

Phone: 603-332-1412