73rd Annual Assembly of the
Upstate New York District Church of the Nazarene
General Superintendent Dr. Jesse Middendorf and honored guests, Mrs. Susan Middendorf, Rev. Corey McPherson, Mr. Andy Wright, Chaplin Dwight Jennings, the Upstate District Ministry Team of Pastors and lay leaders, and you, our guests, to this 73rd Assembly of the Upstate New York District:
It is an honor and privilege to share this report reflecting the mission and ministry of the Upstate District team of churches.
“There is a time for everything, and a season of purpose for every activity under heaven.” These are the words and observations of Solomon. They serve to remind us of the season and the purpose of our coming together, which is to review, reaffirm and renew our calling to be the “theo to koi” – God-bearers to our world. Or, in response to the invitation of Jesus, “Come – follow me! Live My life! Be My disciples, and as you do so, make disciples of those you encounter along life’s journey.”
The Season of Review
The season of review serves as both a time of reflection that brings closure, as well as a time of preparation for looking forward to a new tomorrow.
In our review of closure, we can report that God has been faithfully at work through our churches. As such, there is a sense of recovery that is showing in the following statistical indicators that help us assess our progress in ministry effectiveness.
Making Disciples
- New Nazarenes – 212 (+41)
- SDMI – 2,759 (+145)
- Morning Worship – 4,195 (+158)
- SDMI Responsibility List – 6,084 (+980)
- District Church Team Membership – 4,408 (-106)
Stewardship
- World Evangelism Fund - $412,447.11 = 95.06%
- District Team - $299,499.00 = 87.72%
- Pension and Benefits - $103,590.16 = 89.48%
- Eastern Nazarene College - $128,467.37 = 63.94%
These are indicators that should serve to continue to challenge us in our mission of making disciples and being generous and faithful stewards in our giving for others. I want to express to you my deep appreciation for having embraced the challenge to eliminate the “zeros” in our reports. Every church endeavored to show a gain in reaching new people for Christ, making disciples, and giving for others.
In a year following and still being heavily impacted by economic downturns, this statistical giving record reflects your willingness to give sacrificially as well as your faithful obedience as stewards. Thank you for believing God does and will continue to provide as we trust Him and dare to put our faith into action.
There is also evidence in our “Making Disciples” data that there is a growing sense of God at work in us, among us, and through us. We currently have five churches ministering as either a New Start church or a new multi-site extension in a new area. These churches are becoming influences for Christ in their respective communities.
- Christ Covenant in Livonia
A multi-site of Rochester Calvary Community Church
Pastor: Rev. Mark Blankenship
- Church Radiant in Gates
Pastor: Rev. Shane Smith
- Cross of Christ Deliverance Temple in Rochester
Pastor: Patrick McNair
- Liberian National Church of the Nazarene in Buffalo
Pastor: Elizabeth Toe
- Life Church (North) in Evans Mills
A multi-site of Watertown First Church
Pastor: Rev. Chad Clardie
You will hear in their reports some of the stories of how God is at work.
As a district, we have in these past six years endeavored to reestablish a foundation that will enable us to rebuild and develop into the future with health and strength. We have, as a result, closed some churches that were inactive and some that needed a new start. We have sold property and we have purchased new property for the future. This past year we began the development of the Upstate New York District Resource Center, which is located in North Syracuse on highway 31 in Clay, New York. This property of 5+ acres will not only house the District Office Center but will also house our New Start Church, The Journey’s Way Church of the Nazarene. We look forward, with anticipation, to having a certificate of occupancy within a couple weeks.
In concluding our Season of Review, I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to the following:
- District Advisory Board: Rev. David Cramer, Mrs. Donna MacPherson, Rev. Mark Blankenship, Mr. Doug Kitchen, Rev. Patrick Fleming, and Mr. George Hill.
- District Treasurer: Mr. Bob Hawkins
- District Secretary: Rev. Dr. Dennis King
- District Sunday School Ministries Board Chairman, Rev. Denny Swart, and his Board
- District NMI President, Mrs. Donna Buell, and her Council
- District NYI President, Rev. Dan Eddings, and his Council
- Brooktondale Nazarene Camp and Retreat Center Administrator, Mr. Stan McLain, and his Board
- District Board of Ministry Chairs, Rev. Dr. Bob St. Clair and Rev. Dr. Scott Buell, and their Board
- District Church Properties Board Chairman, Mr. Donald Sykes, and his Board
- District Office Technical Support: Rev. Kevin Smith
Your leadership and direction in your respective areas of ministry and mission continue to assist us as a District Team in developing as a truly missional and transformational influence for Christ.
Last, I want to express to each pastor, pastoral staff, and to each of you as a part of Jesus’ Ministry Team of Disciples my personal appreciation for your commitment to not settling for a status quo mentality. We can, and I believe we will, as this review reflects, continue in the momentum of “Renewing the Passion” for God and for making disciples.
The Season of Reaffirmation
Prior to any season of renewal, there must be a season of reaffirmation. This is the time wherein there is a recommitment or reaffirmation to live, act and behave in certain ways. Much like Israel at the time when Ezra and Nehemiah had them assemble after the rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall in order to reestablish their covenant with God, we, too, must reaffirm our covenant responsibility to live and serve as a Kingdom of God community throughout Upstate New York. I would invite you to reaffirm with me that, as a community of connectional churches, we will affirm the following:
- We will not allow busyness to become a substitute for “being about the Father’s business.” Programs that do not connect to the intentional mission of bearing witness for Christ, of providing loving and caring outreach in order to make disciples, or of building up each other in faith may enable us to give the appearance of being an active church, but fall short of “Being the Church.”
- We will no longer major on the minors and minor on the majors. We too often spend our God-given resources of time, talent, finances, and other gifts of grace on that which, at the end of the day, accounts for very little in terms of bringing glory to God.
- We will therefore make as our priority:
- To love God with our complete self
- To seek God’s will above our own
- To be a praying people
- To follow Jesus in life practices of loving obedience to God; loving others as we have been loved by Jesus; serving others as we serve Jesus
- We will, with intentional plan and practice, move from a maintenance mindset to a missional mindset of “Being the Church.” This season of reaffirmation is that which prepares us for the coming of a Season of Renewal of Passion.
Season of Renewal of Passion
Through one of my life mentors I learned that we must “Pray with an expectant faith, and live with the anticipated hope that the Holy Spirit of God will work dynamically in us, among us and through us.” This, I believe, is the heartbeat of a Renewed Passion. It is daring to envision the “not yet,” while living as if it were already present.
In John’s Revelation, he records the message of the Risen Jesus to the church in Philadelphia. “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, you have kept My Word, and you have not denied My Name.”
There is before us, on the Upstate District, an open door of opportunity. We live in a region where 50% or greater of our population have no affiliation with any church. This number alone would mean over 4 million people have no church connection. This number increases even more when the measurement includes a personal connection of faith and obedience to Christ.
I truly believe that God has set before us, the Upstate New York District churches, an open door of Renewal. A Renewal of Passion that will lead us to becoming a missional District of reproducing communities of authentic disciples, disciples that are being equipped and encouraged to be missionaries sent out by God’s Holy Spirit, to live and bear witness of God and His love to all they encounter.
In this Season of Renewal of Passion, we must dare to dream God-sized dreams of what He desires to do in us and through us and for us. What could happen if we begin to live out the scripture promise of Jeremiah 32:27, “Behold, I am the God of all things, is there anything to hard for me?” What would we dare to attempt if, in our Renewed Passion, we acted in the confidence of I John 5:14, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know we have the petition that we have asked of Him.”
In this Season of Renewal of Passion the critical question is this, “What are we asking God for?”
My prayer is that we will ask God for a new infilling of His love, a love for Him that will cause us to seek Him first above all things. A love that will seek in all ways to express itself to others in the same manner Jesus’ love expresses itself to us. For at the end of the day, it will be the measure of how we have loved that will make the difference in whether or not we have lived as God’s missional church. There abides, according to Paul, three key characteristics of the church: Faith, Hope, and Love. But the greatest of these is Love. In closing, I would paraphrase the words of the aged apostle: Let us truly love one another, for love changes the world…it leads to a Renewal of Passion for God.
For Him and others,
Coach Bill
Rev. Bill T. Carr
