Good Morning Parkway Family;

             It was good to be with you all again this past Sunday.   God was glorified as we gathered and worshiped Him through music – praise team you did a great job and so did the Mountain Ridge Ringers – through scripture and through prayer – thank you Jan for helping me out – and through the message.  I feel the same way that I did yesterday.  God has done great things – God is doing great things – and God will continue to do great things in our church.   I encourage you to join what God is doing at Parkway.

             As most of you know, this year I started running.  Someone asked me on Sunday if I had run before we moved to Staunton.  I had to admit that I hadn’t.  Running was suggested to me a year ago when we came to interview.  If you would have told me a year ago that I would be running 5 miles every other day and would have already completed my first 5K run, I would have thought you were crazy.  Of course, now that I am running I know some of my friends think I’m crazy.

             I remember that first day, it was August 31st, 2009.  It was just three days after my birthday.  Pastor Barry and I went over to the Lee High track and began running.  He warned me to do some stretching so we did that, then we began our first lap.  We completed 200 yards on a jog.  Not bad was my thought and then we walked for 200 yards and we kept alternating this until we completed four laps.  It took us 20 minutes to complete one mile.  I wasn’t so sure that I was going to make it to my next birthday.  Slowly but surely, we worked together over that first month – jogging and walking – jogging and walking.  I was able to build up my stamina, little by little.  I remember I was so excited when I could finally run one mile – then two – then three – then four.  By that time, Ward and Jeff convinced me to enter a 5K race.  That was in November.  I completed my first 5K race ever in 36 minutes and 59 seconds.  It didn’t matter to me that I finished almost last.  My main goal was to complete the race. Over the last couple of months, I have worked up to 5 miles every other day and slowly but surely, I am taking seconds off each mile.  I can now complete on a very fast day 5.2 miles in just over an hour.

             Why do I tell you all that?  Before Easter, Pastor Barry challenged us about our spiritual growth.   I took that challenge as well as many of you.  How are you doing on that challenge?  Perhaps you are only taking baby steps, like I am doing with my running.  The point is are you making progress and if you are that is great – I applaud you, just like many of you have encouraged me in my running.

             In addition to that, I am amazed at the body’s ability to respond to exercise.  I would have never guessed that I could have made that kind of progress.  The other thing that I am painfully aware is how quickly progress can slip away from you.  It takes constantly pushing the boundaries of what you know you can do.  In my journaling of my running progress, my final statement to conclude each entry comes from Paul’s words found in his letter to the church at Ephesus.

“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us”.(Ephesians 3:13-14 – New Living Translation)

             I encourage each one of you, no matter where you are in your spiritual journey to press on to reach the prize for which God has called you to.  I love you all. Have a great week.

Pressing On!
Pastor Dale

             Praise the Lord for His marvelous grace!  I am still rejoicing over another great service in the Lord’s house.  The Holy Spirit’s presence was so evident and it was wonderful to see so many around the altar for prayer.  God is about to do something amazing at Parkway!  I’m still singing that little chorus “Holy Spirit, Rain Down!”

             This past week I received in the mail an eco-friendly circular from LOWES.  It had all kinds of green, eco-safe fertilizers and pesticides.  One thing that particularly caught my attention was the “Tomcat” Live Catch Mouse Trap.  Evidently you can catch little “Tom and Jerry” without harming them and then take them out somewhere and release them in the wild.  Or another alternative might be to catch several of the little critters and release them some dark night near the home of someone you don’t like very much.  I’m not recommending that, but it is a possibility.  Or what if a couple of mice just happened to escape from some kids book bag in the middle of an English class.  I’m sure that would be a big hit!  These things may have some great potential after all!

             Now I know what some of you are thinking.  Who in their right mind, other than some 5th grade boy intent on tormenting girls (or a pastor with a devious sense of humor), would be interesting in catching and releasing  mice.  To  most people’s way of thinking (my wife included) the only good mouse is a dead  mouse.  This is just another example of our society’s politically correct excessively tolerant philosophy.  Even a disease carrying destructive rodent is to be protected.

             Unfortunately, this philosophy of tolerance has spread to our personal lives as well.  Who worries about a little sin anymore?  What difference does it make if you tell a little white lie?  Who cares if you cheat on your taxes?  Everyone does it!  I heard someone say on TV recently they were involved in an innocent affair.  How could an affair ever be innocent?  We’ve adopted a nonchalant attitude toward evil.   

             How different from the apostle Paul who says “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin…­(Romans 6:6).  Or as he tells us in Romans 8:13 .. “If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body the you will live”.  The point is we don’t want to give sin a breeding ground or a small pest can become a big problem.  Let’s take decisive action.  Don’t tolerate even a little sin.  Ask God for forgiveness and cleansing.  Let’s seek to live holy, Christ pleasing lives.

             I hope you have a great week.  Remember and be praying for our upcoming Local Church conference on May 2nd.  We have some exciting things to report and we are looking forward to sharing some dreams for the future.

                                                                 Yours for Christ,
                                                                 Pastor Barry

            Good morning!  I trust your week is off to a great start.  I’m just rejoicing in another gorgeous day in the Shenandoah Valley.  I can’t remember a more beautiful Spring.  The trees and shrubs have been so colorful this year.  Even some of the little purple weed flowers in my yard are quite beautiful (I sprayed them with weed killer anyway– but they were pretty for awhile).  Isn’t God good!  What a blessing to be a child of the King.

             I was reading in Romans 8 this week and I came upon these verses: …. “those who are led by the Spirit  of God are sons of God.  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.”

             Max Lucado shares a story about visiting the old city of Jerusalem with his family.  One afternoon as they walked toward he Jaffa gate they found themselves following an orthodox Jewish family—a father and his three small girls.  One of the daughters, perhaps four or five years of age, fell a few steps behind and couldn't see her father.  “Abba!” she called to him.  He spotted her and immediately extended his hand…

             When the signal changed, he led her and her sisters through the intersection.  In the middle of the street, he reached down and swung her up into his arms and continued their journey.

             Isn’t that what we all need?  An abba who will hear when we call?  Who will take out hand when we are weak?  Who will guide us through the hectic intersections of life?  Don’t we all need an abba who will swing us up into his arms and carry us home?

             Let me just encourage you this morning to trust your “Abba.”  Whatever your need, He is big enough to take care of it.

                                                                 Have a great week!
                                                                 Pastor Barry

Good morning!  I hope you are still rejoicing in the victory of the empty tomb this morning.  I personally cannot remember a better Easter!  The weather was perfect and all of you looked great (I love the little girls in their frilly dresses.  Even the Snead boys had on ties!  They couldn’t keep those shirttails tucked in, but they looked sharp!)  Most importantly, our worship services were first class celebrations [“The Good Friday service really set the stage for Easter Sunday]  If you didn’t sense God’s presence and rejoice over the good news of the empty tomb, then something is wrong with you.  A special thanks to our choir, musicians and to Pastor Dale for all of his planning.

Not only did we experience great worship, but our ladies outdid themselves on the Easter breakfast.  Marcia told me those were “healthy waffles” so I had two servings. (I’m not sure how healthy the eight ounces of syrup was that I drowned them in, but they were sure good!)  Also, a special thanks to Michelle for lining up the Easter Egg Hunt at the close of Sunday School along with the special resurrection lesson in Children’s Church.  Hopefully, our children got the message that Easter is about so much more than just candy.  I am very proud to be the Pastor of Parkway Wesleyan this morning.  It was great to see everyone working together to move chairs, set up tables, serve a meal, carry sound equipment, etc.   

All total we ministered to well over 140 on Easter Sunday. [ Sunrise Service = 95, Sunday School = 91; AM Worship = 118]  Hopefully, many of those new faces will be back to worship with us again.

This morning the question came to my mind, what now?  Now that we’ve reminded ourselves that Jesus is alive, where do we go from here?  The disciples went back to Galilee, spent 40 days with Jesus, received the gift of the Holy Spirit and then launched a movement that took the “good news” of the gospel to the four corners of the earth.  It’s our challenge to continue that mission in our generation.  I like the way Jesus says it in Mark’s Gospel “Go into all the world and preach the Good news to everyone, everywhere.” (Mark 16: 15 NLT).  Let’s never forget why we are here.  It’s not really “good news” if we keep it to ourselves.  Everything we do needs to be focused on ministering to needs, touching lives and sharing the life-changing truths of God’s Word.

Have a great week!
Pastor Barry