What a fascinating story this is. Another one for the “Pastor fallen from grace” file.

“The Blacks said Rev. Newman decided to resign after telling church leaders he had sexual relations with his new wife prior to their being married and after the church leaders advised he needed to either resign or face a church trial.” News Article

Dennis Newman was a popular minister of a large church in Chattanogga.
He resigned rather than face a Church Trial which is methodist speach for a disciplenary process.

A group of people have formed a breakaway group and their support for Dennis if strong.
One interesting comment is this one,

“…someone told me that Christ United Methodist will get a new pastor and everything will go back to normal.Well, not for me it won’t. I don’t go there to socialize and drink coffee and then listen to a talking-headbecause I am supposed to. That church is just a building without Dennis Newman. I’ve attended dozens of churches in the past 59 years and have never had someone touch me, teach me, and open my heart until meeting Dennis eight years ago. I will follow him wherever he goes to preach. I worship God and not the man, but my God choseDennis Newman to deliver his message to me.”

The rest of the comments are similar. Over at Backyard Missionary Hamo has a discussion on the cult of personality. This may be a story which supports his claims.

A sober reminder that your marriage is precious, and not to be taken for granted, especially as a Pastor.

My small group is starting a study of Judges tonight.

“They did not drive them out of the land completly”

Woh, theres a lot in that verse, a lot of application.
It reminds me of this verse, “be Holy, as I am Holy”.

Sometimes in ministry you are privileged to pastor someone who teaches you far more than what you could ever teach them, yet still allows you to minister to them.

Mick Gander was such a bloke.

He stumbled into church one Sunday, having been unable to find the church he was looking for.
He shared with me that he was not going to stay, but he had because of what I had preached on.
That Sunday was the first time in my ministry at Bedford that I had really got personal, got blunt, direct, pointed, really let go with my sermon. One of the lines from my message was, “we are meant to come here to worship the Almighty God, but many of you were worried about where your normal seat is”

It was the Sunday after a Saturday wedding, and the pews were rearranged. I never did put them back in their ‘proper’ place, and that was five years ago.

But I digress. Mick stayed around.
He shared with me that his old pastor had told him, ‘you cant sing’. Eliot and myself told him otherwise. When he sang, everyone loved it, and his message resonated with most people in the congregation. The senior ladies loved him, I think he had a blue rinse fan club.

I was a big fan and remember clearly the first time he got up to sing, at a Cafe Church night.
After an initial nervous stumble, he brought the house down.

The curse some stupid blind ignorant JERK had put on him was gone. God is Gracious.

I miss our Tuesday morning coffee and chat about church, I miss seeing Indi, his dog, I miss seeing the white Feroza pulling up in carpark, I miss sharing Thai food with him and John Rodgers.

But most of all I miss having him up the front, taking us to Jesus.

http://www.mickgander.com/

Craig Turley – Heaven and Hell
After reaching the pinnacle of the AFL as a premiership player, former West Coast Eagles’ star, Craig Turley’s life has been a struggle and a journey towards identity, belief and inner peace. Featuring on ABCTV’s Compass program at 10pm this Sunday this story also includes input from Church of Christ Chaplain to the Eagles, Neil Fong

I’ve always felt different. I’ve never quite felt that I’ve fitted in wherever
it is that I’ve been, as much as I’ve been accepted there. Whether that was in
school, in the Police Force or in my football career,”

The heart is a bloom Shoots up through the stony ground
There’s no room No space to rent in this town

You’re out of luck And the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck And you’re not moving anywhere
You thought you’d found a friend
To take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand In return for grace

It’s a beautiful day Sky falls, you feel like
It’s a beautiful day Don’t let it get away

You’re on the road But you’ve got no destination
You’re in the mud In the maze of her imagination

You love this town Even if that doesn’t ring true
You’ve been all over And it’s been all over you

It’s a beautiful day Don’t let it get away
It’s a beautiful day

Touch me Take me to that other place
Teach me I know I’m not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day Don’t let it get away
Beautiful day Touch me Take me to that other place
Reach me I know I’m not a hopeless case

What you don’t have you don’t need it now
What you don’t know you can feel it somehow
What you don’t have you don’t need it now
Don’t need it now Was a beautiful day
(U2)

Here are two wonderful thoughts from this Psalm

“singing a song of thanksgiving and telling of all your miracles.”

Is there anything better than telling of the miracles of Christ?
We will be doing this on Sunday night at our church meeting. First meeting I have looked forward to in ages.

“I love your sanctuary, LORD, the place where your glory shines”

A place where His glory shines. On the Sunday just gone the congregation lifted a full two notches when we sang, “Blessed be His name”. Its a great song, and I felt some of His glory shining on us, a real connection with God.

My weagle loving brother inlaw sent me this!!

Could become part of our vanacular