Interim Executive Minister

"Keep It Real" is the closest I have come to a theme for 2005. I have learned this term from my children. According to my understanding of their explanation, it means the opposite of a "phony". "Keeping it Real," means being authentic. It means living, facing, and telling the truth. It is my hope that the spiritually we will practice together will be Real. Facing our reality no matter how bad, threatening and scary will be the beginning of God using us to find a better way. The people we are trying to reach are searching for meaning and reality. Let us help them on that journey by "Keeping It Real".

Camping could not be done in the same way
During the past two weeks, we have made progress on the road of facing the truth about our situation as a region and seeking honest and hopeful answers to the challenges we face for the future. The Camp Task Force met in Cheyenne on Saturday, January 29. After some intense discussion and people sharing their passion for this ministry, the participants concluded that a new day was dawning. The group affirmed the valuable ministry of camping. There was recognition that camping could not be done in the same way, if ABCRM is going to focus on its core mission of supporting the ministry of the local church and encouraging spiritual leadership.

Last Saturday the Board of Black Forest met to consider the potential impact on the new direction. The Board issued a statement requesting prayer during this time of spiritual discernment to consider difficult options.

The Financial Task Force met to examine the health of the Region at present, to develop a long-term healthy financial basis in order to provide services to our constituent member churches in the future. Upon their examination of the viability of camping, they concluded that drastic changes were needed to ensure better stewardship of our limited resources.

The quality of their commitment to make a difference
Last Saturday a group of twenty youth leaders met from several churches to discuss how to establish a collective ministry for our future, our youth. The room was filled with enthusiasm, laughter, and concern. I was impressed by the caliber of leadership we have and the quality of their commitment to make a difference in the lives of our youth. We will hear more from them in the next issue.

This Saturday almost one hundred men will gather at Black Forest under the theme of "Breaking Down the Barriers". I want to express appreciation to John Pipe and the men at Calvary Baptist Church for opening up their men's retreat in order to expand it to the broader community for men. I hope that this will be the start of a great ministry amongst men in our region. We look forward to hear of their plans in the next issue.

In this edition, we have focused on an underutilized resource in our region. Our retried ministers have served God for many years in different circumstances. In their retirement, they have a love for the work of God, some time and a willingness to serve. We highlight some of the great work done by these servants of God that is making a difference in the lives of our churches.

Bob Frykholm retired to a community where there was no American Baptist Church. He and Marilyn were prompted by God to start a Bible Study for totally unchurched people. He writes about his insights. Who knows how many God will challenge to do the same. You may not start a conventional church but reach out to people who are seeking to know God on their turf. We are grateful for the services of Ron Liesmann as Pastor of First Baptist, Torrington and General Board Member, representing ABCRM. He reflects on his experiences during this time before his retirement in April. Don Lambert writes about his dreams for the Senior Resource Team. Richard Delleney writes about a heart-rending story of ministry to a church ready to respond to the challenges and opportunities that they were facing. Ingrid writes about a wonderful, innovative program, entitled Pastor to Pastor, initiated by Area III and supported by FBC, Lamar for the pilot year. Dan Vincent, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Fort Collins challenges us to face the realities of change.

Acknowledge the pain of loss and grief of change
In the next two weeks, the Pastoral Task force will meet to talk about how to under gird our work with a pastoral consciousness. How can we put in place pastoral structures that will help us acknowledge the pain of loss and grief of change? How can we learn to handle difficult and contentious issues based on deep spiritual conviction without separation, schisms, and division? The ecumenical Task Force will also meet to consider our ongoing relationship with the Colorado Council of Churches and our concern about the issue of homosexuality.

I want to make a special appeal to you to plan to be at the Area meetings in April. I can assure you that these meetings will not be "business as usual". In fact, we want to ensure that we discuss the business of the Kingdom. How can we embrace change, intentionally? Your input will be sought about the new Vision of the Region, the realignment of structures that will change Areas, as we have known it, and the reorganization of camps.

These are challenging, yet exciting days. Despair, defeat, disillusionment is not an option. Let us continue to confront death with all its fangs and meet our future with God.

Your partner in the gospel,

Desmond Hoffmeister

by Ingrid Dvirnak

"Pastor to Pastors" is a pilot project providing pastoral care and friendship to ABCRM pastors. Building positive relationships is a basic need within our Region. Our staff is stretched in many directions, so creating a position called "Pastor to Pastors" is one way to help meet this need.

The person serving in this capacity will make at least two quality visits to each pastor during a calendar year. In addition, phone and e-mail support will be provided. The Pastor to Pastors will also help clergy identify continuing education opportunities that might enhance their ministry. Confidentiality will be maintained.

The first year of funding for the program will come from the Area III budget and a special gift. While the program is being initiated by Area III churches, the intent is to expand it to meet the needs of pastors in the entire Region.

Contact persons for the program are Rev. Tom Wheeler, FBC/Fort Morgan; Rev. Barbara Graham, FBC/Colorado Springs, Rev. Wayne Dvirnak, FBC/Pueblo, and Rev. Desmond Hoffmeister, ABCRM.

by Bob Frykholm

When Marilyn and I returned to Colorado for retirement, we decided to form a Bible study group comprised of folk with no meaningful relationship to Christ or the church. During our first year in Buena Vista we met people, built relationships, and sought discernment on whom to invite.

Persons effective and successful with their lives surfaced. Along the way a Fortune 500 CEO, dentist, college teacher, landscape designer, computer specialist, banker, surveyor, real estate agent, contractor, nurses and homemakers signed on. Now in our fourth year, 13 of us meet together on Thursday evenings, currently studying the book of Acts.

Marilyn and I agreed that the Bible would stand on its own. We would not try to convince anyone of its truth. Neither would we function overtly as evangelists ("No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit."). We believe the Spirit will call forth whatever good happens in the hearts of the members.

This has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my ministry. Discussions have been lively and stimulating. We have witnessed dramatic attitude changes; from caution, skepticism, even cynicism, now all seem "friendly" toward God.

Have any chosen to follow Christ? Marilyn and I have had significant personal conversations with particular participants about what it means to respond in faith to our Lord. But we've learned that it's difficult to take this step when one has intellectual issues, no previous exposure to the gospel, or was turned off by the church in earlier years. We believe that in time our efforts will bear fruit.
We can be reached at fryk@chaffee.net

by Don Lambert

A new church/pastoral resource in the Rocky Mountains is the Senior Resource Team of volunteers (SRT). Retired pastors, chaplains, and select lay persons are an invaluable, available source of strength and consultation for pastors and churches of the Region. SRT leaders who are fully trained, experienced, and committed, but now retired with some reserve time and energy, are making themselves available to the Interim Executive Minister as volunteer consultants on call.

The SRT group was conceived at the 2004 Region Annual Meeting, then later organized at Black Forest Conference Center, and is already at work assisting local churches and pastors. Areas of volunteer service include supply preaching, pastoral interims, counsel with pastors and spouses, church mediation, denominational training, as well as being a confidential sounding board for the Executive Minister. Individual volunteers accept only those responsibilities for which they are available, qualified, and interested. Attention is also given to service in proximity to their homes.

Drs. Dwight Neuenschwander and Don Lambert are initially serving as co-captains of the SRT to contact potential volunteers and to maintain a current volunteer list with chosen areas of expertise. The Region may provide some travel and telephone reimbursement for team members, all of whom serve upon request by the Executive Minister as needs arise. It is hoped this resource will benefit the entire Region and perhaps serve as a model for other Regions of ABCUSA.

by Richard Delleney

The rumors began to fly, but the one that hurt the most, was when a member in the Congregation heard from someone outside the Church say that "the Church had shut their doors" and that the First Baptist Church was no longer open as a place of Worship and Service. Quite the opposite happened! Not only had the doors of the Church remained open every Sunday, but also there was an infusion of a new spirit and a new determination to become a vital downtown church with new and innovative ways to minister.

In October of 2004, the small group of members that were left decided the Church could not continue the way it was going. They had to face the reality that a change had to be made and after consultation with a respected former Pastor and the Executive Minister they called a new Interim and committed themselves to the task of "restarting" the Church again from out of the "ashes". Nearly, every office and officer of the Church was not longer in place and there was a sense of great loss. But a spirit of hope and determination laid at the heart of those who took up the mantel.

A new slate of officers and lay leaders were elected and Annual Meeting were rescheduled. The Church asked for and received unanimous support from every member present. It started slowly, but surely, and with a deep sense of urgency doors began to open. A new trust was evidenced as each member prayed for and supported each other.

God used the Christmas season's ancient story of the journey Bethlehem as a catalyst toward a new day. From a handful that had hoped, to a strong attendance at the Christmas Eve Service there was evidence that a corner had been turned. With a new "deficit" Budget that was $5000 short of the Goal, the Church decided to put it in God's hands and to trust God to see it through. Word got out and someone made an anonymous gift of $5000 and several members made an additional Commitment of $3000 to go over the basic budget. Other indications showed God's grace working in their midst.

A Senior Ministry Program was developed and a commitment to reach out in prayer was established. It was called the "Prayer and Care Connection" and a new Senior Luncheon for fellowship and outreach was started. Since the Interim is not in the community daily, a Lay Care Pastor(s) service was started, a month at a time, to follow up on visitors, prospects and hospital visiting. Worship Services were redesigned and Lay Leader participation is strong in every Service. All the Boards and Committees have been reorganized and revitalized.

There is still much to be done and no one is taking anything for granted, but the so called "closed door" factor became a determination to make sure the doors remain open as long as God wants First Baptist Church to be a vital witness to His Love and Grace in Greeley, and the congregation remembers that our devotion is to Him first.

by Ron Liesmann

150 words cannot express the deep gratitude I feel to the Lord for giving the possibility of service with the Region Board! That service gave my church and me a call to respond to the challenge of the Rocky Mountain Region that was much wider than our local church's needs. It gave us the challenge of working with outstanding lay and pastoral leadership, with caring, competent, helpful, and imaginative staff. The names Barger, Bowser, Salsman, Stephenson, Woodward, Jimenez, Martin, Currier, Peters, Fink, McCandless, Kobia, and Scherr come to mind from earlier days, and recently, McCormack, Hoffmeister, and Schwiessing. For all those and more I give thanks to God.

150 words cannot express the regret I feel at leaving at this time of challenge. It is time for engaging ministry, not retiring! Our hurt and division have been made very clear. My prayer for the Region is that God will show us how to regain our focus on Christ, to find in Him the place for confession, repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and love, and to rekindle the fires for mission, evangelism, serious, effective Bible study, and church planting that called the churches of this Region into being in the first place. I pray that in Christ God will show us that the strategies of His Kingdom are strategies of love, that do not include the coercive techniques and backbiting that were with us in our recent conflict and are with us in our turmoil with the world's culture war.

I love you and I pray for you. Please forgive me where I have hurt you. Pray for us as we enter a new stage of our lives.

With you in Christ, Ronald P. Liesmann, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Torrington, WY

THERE IS AN OLD SAYING that the things that got you to where you are today are not the things that will get you to where you need to be tomorrow. With those words, George Barna begins his 13th chapter of The Second Coming of the Church. The thesis of this book seeks to alert the local congregation that it must "reinvent" itself or face virtual oblivion. Those seem to be harsh and alarming words to me. How can something so powerful and profound as the local church be in danger?

The reengineering of the local church is heavy on our minds as we look at our churches of the RMR. Our Executive Minister, Rev. Desmond Hoffmeister, has placed before us and on our hearts, the reality of the region in his recent letter dated January 22, 2005. He used the word change eight times in his letter to stress what must happen to turn our region around (to reinvent itself).

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THESE CHANGES? For this pastor, it has to do with connecting and uniting our churches to help one another reengineer our thinking and move from a survival mode to an embracing of change that will lead us into the 21st century with a sense of mission and purpose. How do we do that and not commit ministerial suicide? I defer to Barna's words:

1. The shape of the church must change…
2. Innovation alone is inadequate…
3. Mega churches are not the wave of the future…
4. The impetus for change will emerge from among the laity…
5. The net effect of the changes will be to make the churches more responsive and proactive…
6. Churches must become:
   a. Birthing Centers for new churches
   b. Training Centers for gifted people
   c. Service Centers for the needy
   d. Developers of ministry in partnerships with interfaith groups, other denominations and para - church groups

JUST THINK OF WHAT THE IMPLICATIONS OF THESE CHANGES WILL MEAN. The role of the family of God will be elevated and the true spiritual nature of the people of God will emerge.

Change is difficult and almost impossible for some. We cannot expect everyone to embrace it with open arms. However, in Barna's words, "we must deal with the reality of it (change) intelligently, strategically and intentionally." It is not an illusion and it will not go away if we ignore it. At first, change will strike us all hard. We have had a predictable, comfortable, secure ministry environment for so long that any changes will at first seem radical, and even threatening. However, I feel that God will be with us each step of the way and He will prepare us for the coming era of transformation.

Dan R. Vincent, D.Min – American Baptist Church, Fort Collins, Colorado

We extend a warm welcome to Pastor Alvin Wilkerson and his wife, Elizabeth, to the Flagler Baptist Church. The Wilkerson's moved here from Dighton, KS. Pastor Wilkerson started with the Flagler Baptist Church December 11, 2004. WELCOME!

It is with a sad heart that we heard about Rev. Larry Oswalt. He suffered a severe stroke on February 1. Praise God that Larry's immediate recovery has been remarkable. We send our love and prayers to Larry, Lois and his family for a full and speedy recovery.

We acknowledge the following extraordinary gifts:
A gift of $909.90 from Dwight and Aladine Neuenschwander. This generous gift is for the Senior Resource Minister's Team. Thank you!

A gift of $805.00 from Dr. Robert McQuaid and the East Mountain United Church in Tijeras, NM. Dr. McQuaid's Church is not yet a member of the American Baptist Churches of the Rocky Mountains, and yet they sent us this generous gift. Thank you!

As the Biennial draws near, the Local Arrangements Committee needs your help. The areas that we need your help in are listed below.

For more information please contact the team leaders listed or Maxine Gatewood at maxinegatewood@aol.com or 303.377.8821.

Registration, lodging, speakers and other pertinent information can be found at www.abc-usa.org by clicking on the Biennial link.

We need your help in the following areas: