Reformation Presbytery of the Midwest
Stated Meeting—February 26, 2011
Pursuant to notice, the Moderator, Pastor Fred Fleming, called the meeting to order at 1:00 PM Central Standard Time. Pastor Fleming opened with prayer. The meeting was held at the Falls Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Menominee Falls, Wisconsin. The Moderator had issued a call to the meeting in a timely fashion.
Devotional
The Moderator read Scripture and led a devotional based on Acts 15. Dr. Frank J. Smith led in prayer.
Roll Call and Quorum
The roll was called with the following members in attendance:
Pastor Fred Fleming; Elder Jim Brown
A quorum was declared to be present.
Visitors
The following visitors were introduced: from the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Pastor Karl Thompson* (Old Stockbridge and Zoar); from the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, Pastor Frank J. Smith*, Pastor Jason Camery. By common consent, the visiting presbyters were granted the privilege of the floor. Also in attendance were the following visitors: Mrs. Dairalene Fleming, Mrs. Beverly Brown, Doug Long, and Ron Giering *. All of the visitors marked with an asterisk (*) joined the meeting by telephone conference call.
Reading of Minutes
The minutes of the called meeting from January 21, 2011, were read and approved.
Election of a Moderator
It was moved, seconded, and carried that the present Moderator be re-elected for another term, extending until the first stated meeting of 2012.
Ministry Matters and Evangelism
Reports were heard with regard to the New London congregation, and the Antigo and Milwaukee mission efforts.
The following report for Reformation Presbyterian Church, New London, Wisconsin and the Antigo Reformation Tea and Coffee House was given by Pastor Fleming:
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Dear friends and brothers, this report is for the Reformation Presbyterian Church, New London, Wisconsin; Reformation Tea and Coffee House, Antigo, Wisconsin; and also Reformation Presbyterian Church of Antigo.
Since coming into the Presbytery, I have attempted to do a lot with very little. Our church funds do not provide enough money for advertising. Therefore, most of our advertising has been by word-of-mouth. Street witnessing, tract passing, one on one evangelism.
1. Reformation Presbyterian Church, New London, Wisconsin:
Services have been held weekly in New London with a few exceptions, mainly because of weather. Following a period of transition, we removed four families from the church rolls at the end of last year, most of whom have not attended since before this period and when I became the pastor. We did gain one new member and that was in January. The highest number that has attended services was ten, but on an average we are about five. However, we are the new church on the block. With the coming of spring and summer we will be laboring to reach out to the neighborhood. During the summer, my wife and I went to the Waupaca County Fair and spent several hours passing out tracts, and witnessing to the people going to the fair.
2. Preparing for spring and summer witnessing:
We are preparing for more street work, tract passing, and looking for opportunities for street preaching. With the coming of spring and summer, we will once again be going out to witness on the streets. One of the things we will want is an abundance of good solid Reformed tracts to give out. I have been thinking about trying to do some street preaching at the courthouse. Many of us have already seen the crazy shenanigans that some street preachers do. However, my own example was George Whitefield who preached dynamic sermons on the street. Sermons on the street should follow the example of a sermon being preached in a church. You could have a first call to draw people’s attention; however, after that you should read the word of God and expound the text.
3. Church services in Antigo, Wisconsin:
Last year, Antigo Presbyterian Church merged into Reformation Presbyterian Church of New London. More recently, we have had a new interest in establishing a local church here in Antigo. We’ve had some people express an interest, and we intend to move forward with those plans.
4. Street witnessing in Antigo, Wisconsin:
We do a lot of street witnessing in Antigo. We’ve tried to make Saturdays a time of witnessing at the county Farmers Market. Part of this is recorded on youtube.com. We have operated Reformation Tea and Coffee House for the last four years. We haven’t had a lot of people stop in, but we have given away assistance to people that have requested help; this includes food distribution, medical assistance and counseling.
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5. Evangelistic work with children in Antigo, Wisconsin:
We have several small children in the neighborhood that have come to our house requesting Popsicle sticks. At first they would get the Popsicle sticks and go play. However, two of the children have become regular visitors at the Reformation Tea and Coffee House. These are two little girls that my wife has been teaching to sew and crochet. We have been using the “Veggie Tales” and talking with them about the real meaning of the stories. Both girls have expressed an interest in attending church with us. Our plan is to continue with these instructions. The mother of one of the children is just a few doors from ourselves. We have invited the mother, the sister, and the one brother to also come.
6. Door-to-door evangelism:
In working with the Indians on the reservation, we have seen that they often will invite you into their homes to talk. We plan on doing some of that right here in Antigo. One of the things that we will be doing is to take with us tracts that expose the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
7. Food distribution network:
Because of my background in rescue missions, we plan to begin a food distribution network. Already we have a bit of food distribution that comes from the OPC churches. We plan to solicit food donations from markets, restaurants and stores. Although there is a food bank in town, it is at a church on the outskirts of town and is only open one day a month. I believe there is also a Roman Catholic food pantry. As much as possible we encourage others to come to our home and eat. We have also been able to share clothing with others people.
8. Work with Zoar, OPC:
For over a year, I have gone out with the Zoar OPC Congregation to do door-to-door evangelism. This has been with Pastor Karl Thompson, the elders of his church, and the wife of one of the elders.
9. Assistance from the OPC Denomination:
There is a wonderful relationship between ourselves and the brethren of the Zoar OPC and Old Stockbridge OPC. They have assisted us in many ways such as praying for us, encouraging us, and even providing for fuel. They’ve also included us in their prayer meetings and are always looking for ways to encourage us. Elder Steve Bosman and his wife have attended services with us in New London. The Reformation Tea and Coffee House sign that we have in front of our house was given to us by them.
10. Preaching at the Zoar OPC congregation:
I have preached at the Zoar OPC congregation three times and was scheduled to preach last Sunday evening; however, a storm closed down services for both churches.
Prayer was offered for this ministry by Pastor Karl Thompson.
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The Milwaukee Mission Work report was given by Elder Jim Brown
Ministry efforts continue to go forward in the Milwaukee Metropolitan area. Since we started our Bible study in the fall of 2009, we have had 32 different people attend. The majority of those attending have come through the outreach efforts of relationships that have been made. Others that have attended include family and other believers that have been a real encouragement to us.
The outreach efforts have focused mainly on a very impoverished part of the City of Milwaukee. My employment has placed me in a unique situation were I meet people and talk with them on a regular basis. As I have already mentioned, the area I work in is very poor. It is also an area that has a high crime rate. Just this week I was speaking with a woman who told me that she was struck in the head with a shovel by another woman (while her son looked on) because she asked her to turn down her radio. She was taken by ambulance to a local hospital and received twelve stitches. The matter is before the District Attorney of Milwaukee.
I have worked for my employer now in this general area for almost four years. During this time, God has allowed me to see the hurt and pain, as well as the turmoil and destruction, and the struggles in the lives of many people, and to know that the only real remedy is Christ! To that end He has prepared my heart with a lot of compassion and a real desire to see lives changed in a meaningful and lasting way through coming to faith in Christ.
Apart from Christ, the greatest need here, is a church home. Most people that I have met have no church home. Many of the Protestant Churches in the area are Pentecostal, and there is no Reformed work in the area. After a little more than a year with our Bible studies, we have seen that there are real spiritual and physical needs that cannot be met through a Bible study format only.
Over the last few months, we began to discuss the possibility of starting a mission work and going forward with planting a church. Two weeks ago, we had our first service. Following our service, my wife and I spent some time with a young man named Sam and discussed with him his need for Christ. My wife and I were then able to pray with him before I took him back to the part of the city where he is from. Sam, like others that we have met are dealing with some extraordinary circumstances. He is not married, but has two young children. Recently, Social Services took his children from him and his girlfriend, which also has put Sam in many ways, into a homeless situation.
Though I am not sure of what the frequency will be for our church services, we will be having our second service this coming Lord’s Day.
The Lord has also given me opportunity to counsel others. I have spent a lot of time counseling a few individuals both in person and over the phone. I have also been able to assist others with physical needs as well.
It is interesting that when my wife and I were relatively new believers, we talked about becoming missionaries and considered various possibilities of traveling abroad to be used by God. Little did we know years later that He would use us in a place only fifteen minutes from our home.
Prayer was offered for this ministry by Pastor Jason Camery.
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The Establishing of the Antigo and Milwaukee Mission Churches
Presbytery had previously authorized the establishing of a mission church in the Milwaukee area. It was moved, seconded, and carried that a mission church be now established. It was moved, seconded, and carried that the Presbytery establish a commission for the oversight of Reformation Presbyterian Church of Milwaukee, said commission to consist of all presbyters of the Presbytery with a quorum of two.
It was moved, seconded, and carried that the Presbytery establish Reformation Presbyterian Church of Antigo as a mission church, and also that Presbytery establish a commission for its oversight, said commission to consist of all the presbyters of the Presbytery with a quorum of two.
The floor was opened to others to offer input.
It was moved, seconded, and carried that the Presbytery request the assistance from other elders to come along side for the purposes of advice and counsel in the matters of the two churches under the two commissions. Dr. Smith has already given his support and others are welcome to consider their support as well. After further discussion, others offering support were Pastor Jason Camery. Pastor Karl Thompson offered to continue encouraging and assisting the efforts in Antigo (along with Ruling Elder, Steve Bosman). Doug Long also offered his help and support as well.
Missionary Assistance
Through the efforts of Elder Matt Filbert of Reformed Presbyterian Missions, a call has gone out for volunteers to come to Wisconsin this summer in order to support the work of Reformation Presbytery of the Midwest.
Prayer was offered by Ron Giering for the ministry of this Presbytery and for the progress of the gospel in Wisconsin.
Interchurch Relations
Correspondence has been sent to the Ad Interim Commission of Great Lakes-Gulf Presbytery (RPCNA), expressing the desire of representatives of RPM to be present at the March 3-5, 2011 meeting of Great Lakes-Gulf Presbytery. Both of the presbyters of RPM are planning to attend that meeting.
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church has not responded to the correspondence sent last May with regard to fraternal relations. Pastor Karl Thompson did inform us that the OPC has not forgotten about us and that the letter sent by us is still being processed through the denomination and that we should hear something soon.
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Prayer was offered by Pastor Karl Thompson for the pursuit of fraternal relations with a view to the unity of the visible church.
Finances
Currently the account balance for presbytery stands at $140.00. The Committee of Administration has authority over the finances, including the bank account.
Unfinished Business
There was no unfinished business.
New Business
There was no new business. However, Reformation Presbytery of the Midwest would like to offer our gratitude to Pastor Ben Snodgrass and the Falls Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Menominee Falls, Wisconsin, for their kindness and wonderful hospitality, and for the use of their facilities for our meeting.
Next Stated Meeting
The next stated meeting was set for January 28, 2012, at the call of the Moderator (with the understanding that with appropriate notice, he may reschedule the date of the meeting). The time and place of the meeting will be set through advance notice.
Reading of the Minutes
The minutes for this meeting were read and approved, with the understanding that any minor clerical matters could be corrected by the Stated Clerk, and that further relevant documents could be appended.
Closing Comments from the Visiting Brethren
Several of the brethren expressed thanks for the opportunity to participate in the meeting.
Adjournment
There being no further business, Elder Jim Brown led in prayer and the meeting was adjourned at 2:10 PM CST.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Brown, Stated Clerk
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