” Simplify”is the battle cry is an increasingly complicated world that is searching for happiness.

In their Minimalist Podcast and book “Love People, Use Things“, Josh Milbirn and Ryan Nicodemus preach the Gospel of minimalist living. “The Minimalists show you how to disconnect from our conditioned material state and reconnect to our true essence: love people and use things. This is not a book about how to live with less, but about how to live more deeply and more fully.“

I have read other articles on living small-things like mini-homes, being frugal, cutting waste, buying experiences rather than possessions, and leaving a low carbon footprint in all things. Everything from Dave Ramsey books to the Holy Scriptures values Simplicity. 

This was my actual pocket gear and it doesn’t speak of simplicity.  I never left the house without these items and is a symptom of my relying on my stuff. Do I really NEED two pocket knives?

The letter to the Thessalonians speaks strongly. “…make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you” (1 Thessalonians 4:11)  Commanding it is fine but why not do it because it make for a simpler stronger faith and healthy living.

A wealthy entrepreneur divested all of his portable possessions except for 15 things.  He lived with AirBNB, Uber and ” a duffel bag that includes a “laptop, iPad, three sets of chinos, three T-shirts and a Ziploc bag filled with $4,000 worth of $2 bills.”.  That’s 10 of them (from the penney horder). What would you put in your bag if you had to carry everything you own?

Obviously this isn’t practical for most of us but the point is made; living simply means that your stuff works for you rather than you working for your stuff.  The question is a good one-what would you pack in your bag? 

1. A great backpack 2.wallet with all credentials and access codes. 3. Phone and charger.  4. A sturdy knife 5. 2-blue jeans 6. 3 plain button up shirts 7. Sturdy Lace up up boots 8. Athletic shoes. 9. Cash 10.  Ruger and ammo 11. The Big leatherman. And finally but firstly Faith.  

May sound corny to some. I have a bible on my phone and keep other emblems of faith handy. But a light weight double portion of faith, with the connections, strength and attitude that God gives is the most essential gear. How sad life would be if we only relied on our stuff. 

Less mechanical gear creates more space for the spiritual. This is where confident living begins.  Simplify…

Edit October’s theme is “The First Faith” and the image is a carpenter’s clamp and the concept is binding ourselves to Christ.  The first faith is in Christ!  The first disciple that must be confronted with the gospel is  

October 2, 20th Sunday of PentecostHoly Communion Sunday!!!!

Matthew 6: Binding through priorities

What is your first thought in the morning?  What will be your first accomplishment of the day?   Whether fitness, coffee, kids or faith, how you start leads  you where you will end up!

October 9, 2016: 21st Sunday of Pentecost,

Luke 17:11-19, Binding in Christ through Praise

We are living proof of faith and strengthen our “Binding in Christ” when we live out the discipline of PRAISE!  Even if the rest of our world is griping and grumbling, we grow in faith when we praise.  Sometimes that just means we are going to praise anyway!

October 16, 2016: 22^nd Sunday of Pentecost

2 Timothy 3:10-4:7, Binding in Christ through persistence

The call to faith requires that we tie a knot at the end of our rope and hang on sometimes.  Our personal growth in Christ will lead us through some dry times and struggles.  With faith and living IN faith, we will have the strength of Christ to carry us through.  How can we intentionally cultivate that?

October 23, 2016: 23^rd Sunday of Pentecost

2 Timothy 4:6-8. 16-18, Binding in Christ through Worship

Worship is not an hour on Sunday, it is a lifestyle.  Pouring ourselves into life, and participating intentionally in the everyday life of Christ while we pour is exciting and fulfilling.  We must have a ready defense-FAITH-and grow in our Binding to Christ as we exercise our faith in the everyday.  What does that look like?

 October 30, 2016:  24^th Sunday of Pentecost

Luke 19:1-10: Binding in Christ through Contentment.

There is only one thing to be chronically discontented about-Our spiritual health.  There is always another step of growth in faith.  In the rest of life though, Discontentment leads us to sin, addiction and all sorts of spiritual, physical and relational health problems!

Coming Events:  All Saint’s Sunday on November 6. Charge Conference November 13! Halloween on the square TBA, Fall Festival on October 14 and a celebration of our fund raiser on October 15, Tradition’s Workshop with George Brookover, FIFTH SUNDAY DINNER ON THE 30^TH.

Please pray for our new Bishop, Dr. Scott Jones, who will follow bishop Janice Huie.  Bishop Jones was my evangelism professor at SMU, is a power speaker and writer, and an intensely practical theologian.  Here is a brief  biography

“Friends in the Northwest District,

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Last night at Jurisdictional Conference Bishop Scott Jones was appointed as our new bishop to begin September 1 when Bishop Janice Riggle Huie retires. A little about Bishop Jones.

Scott Jameson Jones currently serves as the resident bishop of the Great Plains Area of the United Methodist Church serving the states of Kansas and Nebraska.

He was born in 1954 in Nashville, Tenn. and was raised in Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana and Colorado. He received degrees from the University of Kansas (B.A. in Philosophy), Perkins School of Theology of Southern Methodist University (Master of Theology) and Southern Methodist University (Ph.D. in Religious Studies). His dissertation research was focused on Wesley Studies and the History of Biblical Interpretation.

He was ordained deacon in the Kansas East Annual Conference and elder in the North Texas Annual Conference. From 1986 to 1997 he served as pastor of three congregations in North Texas. In 2003-2004 he served as interim pastor at Stonebridge UMC in McKinney, Texas. From 1997 to 2004 he served on the faculty of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. In 2004 he was elected a bishop by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference and assigned to serve as the resident bishop of the Kansas Area as of September 1, 2004. He was assigned to the Great Plains Area effective September 1, 2012, which included the Kansas East, Kansas West and Nebraska United Methodist conferences. The three conferences joined together to become the Great Plains Conference January 1, 2014.

His most recent books are The Future of the United Methodist Church (2010), Staying At the Table: A Gift of Unity For United Methodists (2008), Evangelistic Love of God and Neighbor: A Theology of Discipleship and Witness (2003), and United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center (2002), all from Abingdon Press. Other books he has written include John Wesley’s Conception and Use of Scripture and Gathered Into One: The World Methodist Conference Speaks. He was co-author of Wesley and the Quadrilateral: Renewing the Conversation. He has been named associate editor of volumes 5 and 6 in the Bicentennial Edition of The Works of John Wesley, the scholarly edition of Wesley’s Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament.

 Scott is married to Mary Lou Reece, who is president of Reece Construction Company. They have three children. 

 A Service of Installation is scheduled for October at Marvin UMC. More information will follow as it is confirmed.

Please be in prayer for Bishop Huie as she completes her appointment here, and for Bishop Jones as he prepares for his appointment here.

May God bless our ministry together”

(From Marlin Fenn, TAC SouthwestDistrict Superintendent)