The Pastor’s Piece – June 20, 2021

FCFI

June 20, 2021

There’s no limit to what you can achieve if you don’t mind who gets the credit.

After reading about the happenings taking place at Martintown Community Church over the last several months, several of the faithful readers of this column have taken the scenic drive to Martintown, Wisconsin to visit us on Sunday morning. Some have even come back. One person referred to us as “a spot in the road.”  That’s a pretty accurate description of Martintown, Wisconsin and we’ve adopted that phrase as our own. We’re a tiny little town sitting peacefully on a hill overlooking the Pecatonica River in Green County, Wisconsin. The town was founded in 1850 by Nathaniel Martin, who just happens to be the great, great, great grandfather of my wife, Cindy. It was important to Nathaniel that the people of the Martintown community have a formal place to worship, and in 1879, at the age of 63, he and one of his sons built the original structure of the church building for a total cost of $1200.  To this day, we still worship in that same building.

Lately, there’s been a lot happening on the grounds at good old Martintown Community Church in Martintown, Wisconsin. Last summer in the middle of the COVID 19 invasion, we installed a JumboTron video screen on the outside of the church building in order to make it possible for people to assemble and worship our Creator in spite of the government overreach. People came from everywhere to worship in our parking lot on Sunday morning. We dubbed it “Pajama Church” because some people came in their pajamas and no one knew or cared. 

Today, we still have car loads of people worshiping from the parking lot along with people worshiping inside as well. With outside church and inside church in full swing we ran into a traffic problem. There was a lot of confusion out there between services.  So we took it to the Lord in prayer, and as a result, an additional parking lot was soon developed. This past week that new lot was paved, the old lots were sealed, and all the lots were striped with new paint. It looks good out there. If you’re looking for a place to worship on Sunday morning, check us out. You might be surprised at what God has in store for you.

Church is a good thing and God expects His people to go to church. It’s in the Bible. Sometimes I will hear a person refer to themselves as a “lazy Christian,” meaning, they don’t go to church like they should, or they’re lax in their Bible reading, or they’re relationship with the Lord has grown kind of cold. But a careful reading of the Scriptures, and we find that a lazy Christian is not something you want to be. Jesus was not too happy with the lazy Christians at the church in Laodicea. He said to them in Revelation 3:16: “Because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of my mouth … Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” If you consider yourself to be a Christian, but are feeling lazy about it, I hope you will consider getting fired up for the Lord again. 

As you read this, we are in the middle of Vacation Bible School. We’ve been meeting every morning from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m.  It’s pretty exciting seeing those sleepy eyed kids every morning, then getting them all wound up with excitement in anticipation of the events of the morning – the singing, praising, laughing, snacks, crafts, and learning about the love of Jesus. I wish you could see their faces as the truth of God’s Word and the love of Jesus breaks through to them. It is priceless. We are expecting great things from God. We send them home pretty excited. Funny thing is, the leaders get just as excited as the kids – only we get tired out a lot faster. 

Then on the 27th, we’ll wrap up the week with a VBS celebration for the entire church family. At 10:30 we will have a short VBS program in the main sanctuary (and a message from Pastor Kevin). At 11:30 a.m. we have a food truck coming to MCC. I had to do some finangling and arm twisting to get them here but they finally agreed to come. The noon meal is on us on June 27th. Bring the whole family to church and stay for the fun. We also will have the soft serve ice cream operation in full swing. (That in itself is worth the trip). You won’t want to miss any of it. If you’re an 8:00 a.m. regular, come at 8:00 and come back at 11:30 – or stay the whole time – or come at 10:30 – you won’t be disappointed.

Have a great week in the Lord! 

(Kevin Cernek is Lead Pastor of Martintown Community Church in Martintown, Wisconsin).