CJ' s REFLECTIONS

I have a good friend whom I have know for most of my life. She has often been there for me when I needed guidance and support. Never really telling me what to do but always supporting the choices I’ve made even when I didn’t make the choice she wanted me to. There have been times when I relied on this person to help get me through some pretty rough times. One of the things that she would say to me was: “remember God will never put more on you then you can handle.” For the last few weeks it’s been my turn to be there for her as she has had to handle some trying times. And I smiled a little when I said to her “Remember God will never put more on you then you can handle” turn about is fair play after all. J

But truly we need friends who will love us enough to go through the hard times of life. We need them to remind us that God really won’t put more on us then we can handle. And laugh with us when we make the observation that we wish God didn’t think we where quite so strong.

This prompts a question. How do we obtain a strong faith? If faith comes to us when we trust in God, doesn’t He have to stretch our faith from time to time so that it will grow? How does He stretch us?

There are a couple of ways that I think God stretches us. I think he stretches us when we go through the tight times in life. I know that I have grown stronger because of some of the things that I have gone through in life. Having a husband commit adultery was hard. Going through trying to put the marriage back together and failing was also hard. But I learned so much about the need to forgive, the unforgivable, that I gained a new understanding of what God’s forgiveness is all about. I also learned that to forgive doesn’t always mean that you go on as though nothing happened. Forgiveness has to be accepted before things go on. If we cannot forgive ourselves then it is impossible to accept the forgiveness of others. It may sound strange to say, but having to forgive my husband taught me more about the need to truly forgive myself so that I could accept God’s forgiveness.

The other way that I think God stretches us is by giving us opportunities to step beyond the norm of our lives and do new things for him, things that on our own we might never dream of doing. Let me give you an example: When I was a student pastor I served a small congregation of about thirty people. I asked different people to take part in the service and one of the things they did was read scripture. At the time I was using two texts each Sunday they read one, and I read the primary text I was speaking on. Kind of the same way we do it when we use two texts on Sunday mornings. The Lay leader reads one and I read the other. When we started this I was told don’t ask Mike it would scare him to death to have to read in front of everyone. For a long time I didn’t ask Mike but then one morning I asked him if he would read the next Sunday and gave him the text. Mike agreed and on the appointed Sunday he stood up and read to everyone’s amazement. That afternoon I went to his home for a visit and thanked him for reading. He said. “I was scared to death but I know that God wouldn’t have had you ask me if He didn’t think I could do it.” God stretched Mike’s faith that day and the next Sunday he came to church carrying a brand new Bible that he couldn’t wait to show me and said, “it’s for the next time you ask me to read.” After that Mike was one of our most eager readers. Mike never finished high school but he can read his Bible aloud because he believed God wouldn’t ask him to do something that he couldn’t do.

I wonder how is God stretching you? Are you going through a rough time making you depend on him a little more then usual? Is God asking you to do something that you’ve never done before and have been to shy too try? Maybe it’s stepping out and joining a committee to do a project for the church. Maybe it’s taking part in the worship service in a way that you’ve never done before. Maybe God’s just reminding us that He’s there. Maybe God’s trying to see where we are with him?



Hope to see you Sunday

Pastor C.J.















The Cluster Ten, gathering in Creston was great. There were not a lot of people there but those who gathered shared an experience that was worth the trip to attend as we dedicated 208 Hygiene Kits and sent them off to Church World Services. I can not help but wonder if some of our kits have made their way to Joplin Mo. As we sent the kits to Mo. and they send the kits out from the nearest warehouse when a natural disaster hits. Wouldn’t it be neat if the ones we helped were from our neighboring state?

We had some good fellowship time and got the opportunity to learn a little about our sister churches in the cluster. We were provided with some great desserts. Michael Deatz provided and helped with some wonderful music and will be teaching us a song used during the service. Hope you’ll think about going to the next Cluster event.

Mark your calendars for the next Cluster event to be July 30th. This will be a Member’s Class for Adults “Learning to be Disciples Together”. We will be looking at Church History, Church Structure, Prayer, Baptism (its different forms and meanings), and Communion & Worship. This event will take place in Mt. Ayr from 9:30 to 4:30. Lunch will be provided for a free will offering.





Rev. Bill Spangler-Dunning Regional Minister& President is now on a 3 month sabbatical. Each regional minister is requested to take a 3 month sabbatical once every seven years. The reason behind this is that the stress of During Regional ministry is very demanding on the Minister and on their families. Bill has been in Regional Ministry for close to ten years and has never taken a sabbatical to refresh and renew himself. So when he was called as permanent regional Minister in April, it was with the understanding that he would take a sabbatical, starting in May.

While Bill is on sabbatical leadership for the region will be provided by four Ministers in Partnership. They are; beginning with our area Jim Wakelin, Bill Mitchell, Julie Gibson, and Tammy Rottschacffer.

One new staff member has been added to the Regional office in Newton Mrs. Amber Elliott who well be serving the region as Administrative Assistant.



General Assembly

General Assembly is coming upon us quickly our representatives will be preparing to attend soon. Each has received their business dockets and are studying them. More and more of what happens at Assembly will be available to see and study, which you can do by logging on to the Assembly web site through Christian Church Disciples of Christ.org and follow the links. Our representatives are Anna Ruble, Mary Louise Reeves and Rev. C.J. Latham. They will be attending business meetings and worship service as well as taking part in workshops though out the assembly.

Report from Week of Compassion

A number of Disciples families in the Joplin area lost homes and their possessions in the storm. The sanctuary and fellowship hall at South Joplin Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) was damaged, and has now been gutted following the storm. About 600 gallons of water was pumped from the basement. First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which was not damaged, is serving as a donation and distribution center for both volunteers and supplies. First Christian was also the site of a joint church service with South Joplin and First Community Christian, an independent church, where the worshipers joined together in prayer and reflection on Sunday, May 29.

Week of Compassion has already responded with solidarity grants for the Joplin community. To learn more about how your gifts through Week of Compassion can make a difference to those affected by the storms, go to: www.weekofcompassion.org








Pastor CJ
Chariton Christian Church
Disciples of Christ
Chariton, Iowa