Staff


Rev. Ron Holmes Senior Pastor rholmes@soth.net	Rev. Barbara Royle Minister of Member Care broyle@soth.net	Rev. Jane Hays Parish Associate Emerita


Janet Lyon Marine Minister of Music jlyon@soth.net	Julie Cole Director of Children's Ministries jcole@soth.net	Nathan Heimer Director of Youth Ministries nheimer@soth.net

A church is so much more than a street address or bricks and mortar. A church is made up of people: men, women and children who have come together for a purpose. Essentially strangers, it is the presence of Christ who gives us a common focus and God's Holy Spirit who unites us into a living organism. God's love- shining among and through us - has the power to make this part of the Body of Christ a "light on the hill" penetrating the world around us. That's our mission: to attract others to Christ, and allowing God to illumine the lives of those closest at hand.

“But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” (I Samuel 13:14)

The word “disciple” is generally not used to describe King David. “Disciple” is a word more often used to describe New Testament followers of Jesus Christ. Old Testament heroes, like David, are more often described as “God-worshippers,” or even “God-fearers,” indicating a reverence and respect for God.

Yet, disciple would also be an appropriate word to describe David for his journey is certainly that of a disciple. At times exhibiting great trust in God, at times losing sight of God’s presence with him and trusting in his own abilities, wants and desires, David’s journey strikes some familiar chords with our own journeys as disciples.

We might, in fact, point to areas in David’s journey where he strayed far off the path of discipleship, areas with which we hopefully find little in common with our journeys. After all, it could rightly be said of David that he was an adulterer and a murderer (cf. II Samuel 11). Yet, it is also said of David that he was “a man after [God’s] own heart,” (I Samuel 13:14).

What David teaches us is what every disciple ought to know—the boundless and unconditional love and grace God has for His people. We, like David, seek to become people who exhibit more and more a heart like God’s. And we, like David, will occasionally stumble and stand in need of God’s love and grace.

Essential to our journey as disciples is our growing in knowledge and wisdom about our faith. Our Christian Education program has an important role in that process. Through the ministries described here in these pages, we seek to grow disciples of all ages—disciples who are making the climb up “Discipleship Mountain,” growing in their knowledge of Jesus Christ, improving in their service to Christ’s work in the world, and increasingly sharing the good news with others so that they, also, would become disciples of Jesus Christ.

Your support and involvement in our Christian Education program moves us closer to reaching the summit in our ministry for Jesus Christ. Join us in our journey to become more and more a people with hearts like God’s.