An excerpt from Pastor Taylor Holbrook’s “My Final Point” in the HRC 2011 Summer Newsletter:

 Lourdes Kleid co-led the youth ministry with Randy for many years. She was hired by Kevin Phillips and has been on staff for over ten years. She has led the growth in our youth missions and opened all of us up to new ways of worship. As of June 30 Lourdes’ job as Coordinator for Youth Worship will end. Fusion will be ceasing for the summer and we are looking for new developments in the fall that will be defined by new leadership. Lourdes has deeply blessed the life of each of the kids in my family and many of the kids of this church. We look forward to new ways that God will use her in new seasons.

 

Lourdes posted this thought on Facebook that we can trust for the church in every season:
“My life changed today but I know God has a perfect divine plan set up for my life – and He will now be the One to guide my every step of the way into the fulfillment of that divine plan!”
I hope we all can live with that type of trust.

 

In Christ,
Taylor

 

 

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Lourdes was born in Havana, Cuba. To escape Castro’s regime, when Lourdes was 10 years old, her family escaped Cuba. They left through Central America, and moved through Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico on a six month that ended in the United States. They settled in Westchester County. Lourdes became a citizen in her junior year of high school.Raised a Catholic, Lourdes attended Catholic schools through college. It was in Westchester County that Lourdes met and married Michael, her husband who is an arborist. They have two children; Amanda and Adam and grandson Max.Lourdes will always be thankful to her friend Chris Wells for introducing her and her children to HRC in 1991. After a few visits, she immediately knew she wanted to be a part of the church. She immediately began the new member’s process. She loved HRC but was not very connected and felt like she was missing “something”. That “something” was the presence of Jesus Christ in her heart.

In 1997, Kevin Phillip, then our Youth Director, randomly approached Lourdes and suggested she go on the Mountain TOP Mission with the Youth Fellowship. Even though she was befuddled by this, she accepted. This changed her life. She had never been involved in mission work, and really wasn’t sure about a two week trip with a “bunch of crazy teenagers”. Within hours of the trip, Lourdes began to really enjoy spending time the kids.

Mountain TOP was a significant life change for her. She experienced the joy and reward of doing God’s work and became a Christian and accepted a life with Christ on a Thursday night in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee. On her return to New York, she knew she wanted to continue the joy she experienced working with teems and became a volunteer youth leader at HRC. She was hired in 2001 and is currently the Minister for Youth Missions and Worship at Hopewell.

Her greatest desire is to guide young people to experience the same joy in a life with Christ as she discovered in 1997.

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Last Tuesday night I walked through the Youth House while Lourdes was leading Jam for the Lamb. The year was 2010, but it could have been 2003 or so.

Jam for the Lamb is the musical jam session that led to the uTurn worship band. The reason you have not seen uTurn recently is that several of the members graduated HS and are away at college. So, it is back to Jam for the Lamb and kind of starting over again.

So, I am walking through the Youth House and I see and hear about a dozen people playing and singing. They range in age from 13 to 50 something. There are kids and adults from our church, kids and adults from other churches who come here because there is nothing like this for them at their church, kids brand new to our church, kids who have been around a while but whom we rarely see at anything else we do. It was a great conglomeration of people who fit together well in this under the radar event.

It reminded me of when Jam for the Lamb started. Several of the kids who participated with Lourdes and Wes were disconnected from other youth activities in the church. They had not yet found a home in our youth program. It was by offering this unique opportunity that several of them got connected and then went on to missions and worship and life changing events. Seriously! Some of these kids’ lifes’ directions were influenced by Jam for the Lamb, uTurn, camps and retreats and mission trips. At least two of these recent grads are pursuing careers in music and worship.

Along the way some of the adults that have served with this inter-generational band have grown spiritually and moved on in other worship venues.

So, it is back to the future. I look forward to seeing who God grows and calls through this ongoing ministry.

Oh, by the way, they could use a lead guitarist! Contact Lourdes.

P.S.     We are accepting donations of LEGOS (plenty would be good) and old magazines. We are using them to help us lead seminars on our Sharpe Retreat, 2/12-14. So, please drop these off in the breezeway of the Youth House before Feb 10!!

Thanks for the opportunity to serve!

In Christ,

Randy

“GET OUT OF MY LIFE, BUT FIRST CAN YOU DRIVE ME AND SARAH TO THE MALL”!!??   That is the title of a book on parenting teenagers. I have not read the book but I love the title. There are many versions of it: ” Don’t talk to me but make sure my clothes are cleaned for school”, “Drive me there now but don’t wear those clothes”, etc. You know the deal. As a father with a 13 and 11 year old, I am buckling my seat belt for these coming years. I still expect them to be great years, but with new challenges.

As part of the Hope Well,   we will soon be offering a seminar series on Parenting Teenagers. This should be an easy sell. I think anyone parenting teens would appreciate the help and thoughts of others. Pam Hansen is the point person on this, and she will be sending out info. She has done research and is developing this 6-8 week curriculum. It will include teaching and small group discussion.

The series will  start in February and run on 6-8 evenings lasting through April. We will be having the sessions on Sunday evenings that overlap the Youth Group time, so you can drop off your teens and stay for some nourishment for yourselves. Stay tuned for the specific dates and times.

You will be hearing more about this.  I suspect this is a seminar that we will be offering again in the future.

Thanks for opportunity to serve!

In Christ,

Randy

This Sunday is the big fire!! Our tradition for the past few years at HRC has been to gather our Christmas trees and other brush into a huge pile, and on Epiphany Sunday make a huge bonfire. In addition to other things, this represents the power of light over darkness.

So,  bring your trees to the pile near the Croniser parking lot.  You can do this anytime between now and 6:30 pm on Sunday, Jan 10.

We will eat, worship, and watch the fire!

Also, BRING YOUR DISH TO PASS for the same night. We start the evening with a POT LUCK SUPPER. Here is the schedule.

5:30-6:20 POT LUCK in Fellowship Hall.

6:20-6:30 SING and make our way out to the Croniser parking lot.

6:30-7:00 brief  WORSHIP and light the fire at Croniser lot.

7:00-8:00  OPTIONS- fellowship around the fire; fellowship, hot chocolate and snacks in Fellowship Hall; 6-12th graders go to Youth House for games and hanging out with youth leaders.

THIS IS A FUN AND EASY EVENT TO INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO.

Sunday morning

As we look at the story of the Magi and Jesus this Sunday we will be thinking about these ideas.

PURSUIT- the Magi pursued the star to find Jesus. What part does pursuit play in our following and finding Jesus?

RECOGNITION- the Magi recognized something special about this baby. What things have you recognized about God and life recently, as a result of your pursuit?

WORSHIP- the Magi bowed and worshipped the baby. In what ways has your pursuit and recognition led you to worship?

OFFERING- the Magi offered gifts of gold, frankincense and myrhh. They gave what they had. What offering have you made recently? What next steps is God calling you/us to as we grow in recognition, worship and offering?

And, as it is CHRISTCARE SUNDAY, I specifically ask you to consider this:   IN WHAT WAYS HAS PARTICIPATION IN A CHRISTCARE GROUP HELPED YOU TO GROW IN YOUR PURSUIT, RECOGNITION, WORSHIP AND OFFERING?

Yes, you know me well enough by now. I will  give you he chance to speak out and tell us how this has happened in your life.

I look forward to being with you all this Sunday, and to hearing stories of how God has led us out of darkness and into greater light.

Thanks for the opportunity to serve!

In Christ,

Randy

“Some of our greatest theology is in our Christmas carols.” I recently heard a pastor say this while in a clergy Bible study. Of course,  someone quickly quipped, “and some of our worst theology as well.” Both statements are true enough, but I prefer to focus on the first one. I love revisiting these hymns each year and being moved by some of these powerful words.

It only makes sense. If one of the greatest truths of all time is God coming to live as a child and a human on this earth, the words that have been written through the centuries to try to capture or reflect this would be inspirational.

“O Come, thou Dayspring,  come and cheer our spirits by thine advent here.”

“The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”

“Son of God, love’s pure light, radiant beams from thy Holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus Lord at thy birth…”

“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity!”

What are some of your favorite Christmas hymns? Think about it. Our worship on Dec 27 will be singing these songs and pondering the meaning and depth of some of these great words.

“Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing.”

Thanks for the opportunity to serve.

In Christ,

Randy

I was so busy today that I decided to stop. I wish I did this more often. I sat quietly for 20 minutes. It was a chance to nourish my soul, and maybe hear what was going on in my soul. It helped me to put ‘all those things’ in perspective. It was not all as urgent or upsetting as I thought.

Later today someone told me that he has made daily solitude a ‘non-negotiable’ in his life. He wishes he had done it long ago. He is a very busy person. He said he hears from God ‘almost daily’ now that he has been practicing solitude. He takes time every day, before starting his schedule, to sit still and listen.

Silence is one of the languages of God.

Alfred Hitchcock was a master of understatement. Remarkably normal people doing shocking things. Kind of bizarre. I love understatement. It can speak so clearly. I sometimes get lost in the noise and pomp and majesty and heralding. Maybe God is  a master of understatement. There is something about God being born in a manger, quietly and unnoticed, that I can almost hear. But, I hear better in the silence.

This is a crazy time of year to be talking about solitude and  stillness. But, I usually want water more when I am parched.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13.

It is that time. Here He comes again. Make way!

Thanks for the opportunity to serve.

In Christ,

Randy