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The old song says it well. “Count your many blessings. Name them one by one. And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” Certainly we are full of gratitude this Thanksgiving for what God has been doing for all of us at Heartland Church.

Every Sunday morning I see new faces. We are blessed by all the new folks that now call Heartland Church home. While we don’t see everyone every Sunday over 400 precious folks are regularly participating in our life together. The testimonies of new Believers are especially gratifying. We have come a long way since 2009 when we were meeting in the small auditorium. We will have lots of people to baptize at Easter. If you want to follow Christ in baptism, please talk to me or Pastor Jon. There will be classes to prepare for baptism in January.

We see the increase with Children’s Ministry. We intentionally keep the kids in with their parents during worship through communion and then dismiss them to their classes. What a great bunch of teachers Kim Rockett has on her team. We are endeavoring to teach each child 100 basic Bible verses before they reach Junior High. Every Sunday two or three of the children will corner me to let me hear their latest memory verse.

Junior High has their Bible study during Sunday morning worship after communion. We have some excellent teachers for both the guys and the gals. It is wonderful to see these young folks growing in their faith.

Wellspring is our high school/college worship service that meets on Sunday evenings at 6pm. This gathering of over 30 young adults is doing church. Of course there is lots of opportunity for fun and games, but what we focus on is these young men & women being the church and ministering to one another. We have a great team of adults facilitating Wellspring, as well as a great worship team.

One of our over 20 small groups meets at 6pm as well. Jim and Lorraine Wyrostek lead this group. Some of the parents of Wellspring students are active in this group. We believe every Christian needs to be a part of a small community of Believers where there is not only Bible study, but opportunity for hands on ministry as well. If you are interested in being a part of a small group check with me or Pastor Jon or Pastor Carolyn.

We now have over 50 folks who have been through the basic Restoring the Foundations ministry training class. This introductory course will be followed by the second level of training after the first of the year. This training is fundamental to all our ministry teams, especially those we take on ministry trips. If you are interested in being trained and equipped to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit check in with Pastor Carolyn or Pastor Jon.

The Friday morning Moms meeting just celebrated their first birthday. About 25 Moms meet for fellowship and encouragement. Check with Christine Clifton or Keri Jo Fox if you are interested.

We are interested in getting some 12 step groups started to help those with difficult addictions. Shane Chellis is a great resource leader and will help you get started on a road to freedom. Call the church office for more information.

Our new worship project, Hope Rise Up is now out. You can get a CD from Barb Yoder in our bookstore or download it on iTunes. You can also get the last CD, Something More as well. Pastor Dave is hard at work on the next project which we hope will be done in the spring. The worship community continues to grow. Musicians, dancers, painters and techies all facilitate an amazing week by week experience for us. If you are interested in being a part of this ministry talk to Pastor Dave.

Natasha Utz is building a new team of worship dancers. If you or your child would like to be a part of this team talk to Natasha or Pastor Dave.

Our food pantry regularly ministers to 60 families a week. This translates into about 14,000 meals a month. Larry Snider and his crew are amazing.

Many of you have been a part of Dan Utz’s prison ministry. If you would like to help, talk to Dan or Fern. The 20^th annual Christmas Cookie Jail Ministry for Allen County Jail is coming up Saturday, December 17. How about making some homemade cookies and helping out?

Byron Funnell continues to be the point guy in our partnership with the Miami Tribe. Several opportunities exist in this growing relationship. We hope one day to have a Miami Christian Church done Native American style.

We continue to host New Life Anglican Church with Fr. Rick Leone in our chapel on Sundays at 11am. Fr. Nate Long leads All Saints Anglican Church on Saturdays. At 5pm there is a Eucharist service, with soup and salad at 6pm. At 7pm Fr. Nate does an hour Bible lecture. Check it out.

I continue to coach several church planters and pastors in the area. We meet Saturday mornings from 9 to noon on the fourth Saturday of the month for Kindling Ministries. This is a training time for church planting and church growth.

Operating behind the scenes, our Laying a Foundation of Intercessory Prayer Team, under the leadership of Gina Jehl, faithfully prays, not just for our church but in partnership with other intercessors for God’s purposes in the region as well.

For Christmas Eve, Pastor Jon is preparing our annual candlelight service. Meeting at 7pm, this 50 minute service is always a highlight of the season. We will also have a Christmas morning family worship and communion service at 10am.

As we look ahead to the New Year, we are working on a new sermon series called, “LifeTruth.” We will focus on practical ways to grow up, clean up, heal up, and move up in the fruitful Christian life.

I am grateful for your continued partnership in ministry and mission. We can do together what we cannot do alone. This is why God created the church. Some important Kingdom activites can only be done by the whole body of Christ working together. Your investment of time, energy, money, partnership and prayer are a blessing. Thank you and thank God for the privilege of being Heartland Church together.

In Thanksgiving,

Pastor Ron for the pastoral team

God has indeed favored us this summer. Marvelous answers to prayer include breakthroughs for employment, restoration for families and marriages, and God’s healing for hurting bodies. We all know someone who has had a miraculous touch from God as we have lifted one another to the throne of grace for God’s help. We are so grateful for faithful intercessors that continue to lay a foundation of prayer for all our ministries.

We can begin to recognize the turning of the seasons again as we face the end of summer and soon the color of the leaves will welcome fall. Our children and youth are back again at their studies. And we are excited, as we look at the plans for fall through Advent for our church life together.

Our Sunday evening youth service, WellSpring has hit pace.  Great participation by a growing number of teens eager to do church together with their peers is a great encouragement to us all. We have several new home groups beginning to gather in addition to our dozen existing groups. Most are meeting twice a month. Children’s ministry continues to build upon a strong foundation of Bible memorization and is ready to go to another level. And of course we are all eagerly awaiting the next worship CD of new songs from our worship community. I love Sunday services where so many are willing to step up and take part. Last Sunday we saw seven different persons ministering with grace and power from the microphone and dozens more engaged with praying for one other. I am eager for the artists to begin a new painting in the next couple of weeks. And I am looking forward to the new young dance team to become a regular part of our corporate worship. As you noticed last Sunday we have arranged the platform to accommodate these last two activities.

I am excited that we are now beginning a new cycle of ministry team training. I am praying for 50 new people to be trained in pastoral care skills so we might be better equipped to pray and minister to one another.  It is a prerequisite for any teams we take overseas in the next few months to have been through this training. And we will be partnering with Bethel Church, Cleveland in schools of the Holy Spirit seeing the gifts of the Holy Spirit activated in the lives of God’s saints.

I am blessed when I think about the 300 families a month that we help through our food pantry. We not only offer food but we pray for each household that God would touch each family with His love and grace.

The fourth Saturday mornings of the month from 9am till noon, I will be holding a class for pastors, interns and church planters at Heartland Church. We will be focusing on advancing the Kingdom of God through church planting, church development, and church growth. We will be learning and interacting together about how to practically build from the bottom up and the inside out in our various assignments for ministry. If we want different results than we have been getting, we may need to do something different than what we have been doing.

I am convinced that God is getting us ready for a greater release of His Spirit upon His church in our society. We are praying for revival and God wants it even more than we do. As Dave said in his message Sunday when the church steps out in faith and obedience, the enemy steps up to challenge with confusion and opposition. But the battle belongs to the Lord and we will be victorious.

Thank you all for your continued partnership and support. You’re a generous and tenderhearted community of faith. Please pray for our leadership that we will be wise stewards of time, resource and money.

We still have some needed repairs to make to the building and particularly the roof on the west wing as we head into fall. I know that all of us are facing financial challenges in these days. Approximately 20% of our fellowship is giving 90% of our financial support. Would you consider what God would have you do? We can do more together than we can do alone. God designed it that way. We need each other to fulfill our calling to be about the Great Commission. We can together make the difference God is asking of us.

May God richest blessings be yours and may He be glorified in our life and work together.

Ron Allen, for the ministry leadership team.

We are about to introduce this song at Heartland, so we invite you take a few listens and be ready to sing!

The women at Mom Time want to thank our Heartland Church family for supporting us through this exciting and exhausting stage in life. We hope you are encouraged by the following testimonies and thoughts from our Mom Time moms.

Friends

“Mom Time is a time to get a break from the kids and get to know other women. It is a time to build community and learn more about ourselves, each other, and where we fit in the kingdom of God.”

“Its a major blessing to have other Christian women to learn and grow with where we all love our kids.”

“I didn’t have deep friendships before Mom Time. I felt like I had to deal with life’s challenges alone, but now I have a support network of women who truly care. I know I am not alone!”

Faith

“We can grow in relationship with each other, share concerns and needs, pray, work together to be better moms, wives, and church.”

“Mom Time has been a huge blessing and an answer to many prayers!”

“I love that I have been able to be real with other women, talking about things I struggle with with my kids and knowing that no one is judging me.”

“Mom Time has been a source of hope, encouragement, growth, and strength.”

Fun

“A fun, easy going time to visit with other women going through similar situations. A great time to build each other up with love and encouragement.”

“Mom Time has been the vehicle for me to meet so many awesome ladies. The social outlet is incredible.”

We send a very special thanks to those who have given their time to make our group possible. We simply cannot do this without the loving support you have given. As our group expands in the coming months, we will have a greater need for help with childcare. If you can help or just want to know more about Mom Time, please contact Christine Clifton 433-0016 or Keri Jo Fox 466- 4087.

updated 5/19/11
Listen to Dave share more about Generational Ministry from 5/15/11

There’s a line in a song by Kevin Prosch that says, “You’re so unpredictable like the rhythm of weeping”. The Lord is preparing us for His next move by being unpredictable. For the move of God that’s coming, He wants to prepare a people He knows will yield to His leadership so the impact of His move is not directly tied in to the charisma of a handful of leaders. God’s not looking for a slick church. He’s looking for a people who will corporately yield to His leadership.

At the same time of being unpredictable, we’re seeing signs or rhythms that God is ready to move in a special way. It’s like we’re wading in the ocean being gently lifted by small waves, waiting for the one to catch. There are some who are standing on the shore waiting to see when/if the wave breaks before getting positioned to ride it. It’s time for all of us to get positioned together. We are all called.

Those of you who have experienced a move of God in the past, we need you. Fathers, mothers, grandfathers & grandmothers; we need you. We need your experience, wisdom & discernment. Don’t let memories of the former move, or the glory of the former house, keep you waiting in the wings. This house may not look the same as it did when God moved before. We, who have yet to experience a significant move of God, need you now. We make this promise to you, we will not disregard your discernment, wisdom & experience. We will honor you as Fathers, Mothers, Grandfathers & Grandmothers. The generations must co-labor together.

The glory of this house will be greater than what we’ve seen before. The people of this house will stand stronger. We will live for something more.

Dear Heartlanders,

I am reflecting on an amazing Sunday morning gathering. I am still getting reports from folks that had wonderful touches from God. However, Pastor Ron, ☺ had a senior moment and basically forgot to take the offering. And now here we are on Monday morning trying to pay the bills. Things are close, in fact a little short. We are all trying to do the best we can with what we have. However, would you prayerfully consider giving Heartland Church some extra financial support right now. And if you have advice on helping us do better with our stewardship please tell one of the board members.

Opportunities abound for us to grow in our ministries of outreach and mission. RainSong is really in a season of increased blessing and impact. We are excited about hosting the New Beginnings Powwow, March 26, 27. What an investment in church planting among Native Americans in the Midwest. We rejoice in the revival that Terry and Darlene are bringing to Indians in North America. ClearWater was doing a prison outreach this weekend in Madison. Thousands of men and women are finding freedom in Christ during their incarcerations. We are proud of Dan and his team. And our food pantry continues to help families at risk. David and his team are doing an amazing job. We are working on establishing a dozen new home groups. I am praying that within the year we will have the resource of lots of home groups for fellowship and discipleship.

We are planning to aggressively pursue training the saints for your work of ministry with seminars like the upcoming one this Saturday, Introduction to the Healing Ministry of Jesus. I have taught this syllabus hundreds of times, but each time through I gain further revelation and understanding of the amazing grace of God that invites us to minister with signs and wonders following. The fruit of this training has touched thousands over the years.

Again we are doing together what we cannot do alone. And if you would pray and see if God would ask you to give Heartland some extra financial support then we could avoid getting thrown off track by things like paying for new furnaces we didn’t anticipate. Remember the word for 2011. Something more from God, something more for God. Even the new worship songs are continuing tokens of God’s favor upon us in this season.

Thank you and blessings be upon you,

Ron Allen, for the ministry team.

Dear Heartland Church family,

The cold of the winter has not chilled the warmth of our fellowship. We have been blessed by God’s favor week after week and the testimonies of your care for one another both illumines and warms our hearts. Every week there are testimonies of God’s faithfulness. A person with an experience is not at the mercy of someone with an argument and we know whom we have believed and are convinced that He is able to watch over us and perform His Word in our lives. Thank you for continuing to grow as an example of God’s love and care.

All bills are paid. Praise God. We continue to have huge utility bills even though we have done everything to economize we know to do. The need for help both within the church and within the community continues to grow. We are making a redemptive difference. Thanks to your faithfulness in financial stewardship we are able to keep up. We have learned that when we put God and others ahead of ourselves, God put us at the head of His help list.

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38

We did have to replace the furnace in the pantry and room 8. That was an unexpected cost of $3000. We are having the parking lot cleaned more frequently that ever before. We have ongoing mission commitments as well. We will host the New Beginnings Gathering for All Colors, March 26, with Native Americans coming from all over the region for this Christian meeting. Many will need a place to stay. Thank you opening your homes and hearts to these folks. We are making a difference to right some long-standing wrongs between Native Americans & the Church.

Dave and the worship team are putting the final touches on a new worship CD that will enable us to share the incredible new songs that have been coming forth. These are first fruits of the promised “Something More” from God.

I love it when I see the whole church praying and ministering to one another. I love it when God goes beyond our preparations and surprises us with new directions and possibilities. I love it when new folks step up and step out in faith to obey God

May God continue to guide us and bless us that in turn we can be where He wants us to be, doing what He has graced us to do. Thank you for your prayers, your partnership, your investment and your trust in these days. God always saves His best for next.

Blessed to be a blessing,
Ron Allen for the ministry team.