A letter to stake members urging all to seek a hastening of the Lord's work in our stake, too

The following is a letter from the stake presidency to all members of our stake issued on July 5, 2013.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Two weeks ago the entire Church was invited to participate in the broadcast of a mission president’s seminar. It was a marvelous meeting filled with vision and inspiration.

We all came away with a renewed desire to participate in this remarkable day of hastening by becoming more effective member missionaries. In short, our Church leaders have called on us to gain “A New Vision for the Work of Salvation.”

To that end, we urge all members of our stake to do the following:

• Review the new Church website about “Hastening the Work of Salvation” located
   at http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/a-new-vision?lang=eng

• Make our personal missionary efforts a focus of our fast this Sunday, July 7.

• Begin praying daily for the Lord’s guidance as to what each of us and our families
   are to do to hasten the work of salvation in our stake.

We live in extraordinary times in which the rising generation has responded to a prophet’s call in numbers never seen before in history. Each ward in our stake now has its own set of missionaries and possibly more to come.

All of us are witnesses of prophecy being fulfilled. “And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten…and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth…” (Moses 7:62)

The Lord truly is hastening His work on the earth (D&C 88:73). Will you join with us in asking the Lord to hasten His work in our stake, too?

In response to a family wanting to pull away from the Church

The following was an email sent on June 18, 2013 to a couple in our stake. It followed a lengthy visit in their home the evening before in which I tried to encourage them not to leave the Church. The father, in particular, had become disgruntled with the Church after studying anti-Mormon literature and the wife had found fault with Church doctrines and practices that she feels disparage women.

Thank you for your kindness in allowing me into your beautiful, and most comfortable, home. It was a treat to be with you both. And, Jennifer, thanks for the balloon on the mailbox. I'm embarrassed to say I missed it when I arrived, but saw it on your mailbox as I was leaving. That was so thoughtful of you! (as It turns out the "rustic barn" was the key landmark that got me to your home just fine…and what a barn! thanks for the tour :)

As I mentioned last night, we will miss you both and your children so much. Please know that you are wanted, welcomed and needed whenever you feel drawn to attend or be with us. We are a better church with you among us, but I respect your feelings and decisions. The saddest part of all of this is that the insensitivity of members (including, or especially, your stake president) contributed to your choices. Please forgive me and all of us!

As I shared with you last night, one of the issues here is that of passing judgment or judging others and things.

You have chosen to judge the church, modern-day prophets, other church members and church history. If we based the propriety of judging strictly on the Bible, you'd be on pretty thin ice for judging at all (Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, that ye be not judged.")

It gets even stickier with verse 2, "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." In other words, it appears to me, that if you're going to require modern-day prophets in your judgment to be infallible, then you should expect to be judged to the same standard. Verses 3-5 are also very telling.

Fortunately, the Joseph Smith Translation comes to the rescue clarifying that we ARE to judge, "but judge righteous judgment." (JST Matt 7:1-2)

So it's OK... in fact, it's expected… that we make judgments. But our judging must be in righteousness. So how do we do that?

Below are some scriptures, if you care to review them, that I find helpful in knowing how to judge righteously. I'm not suggesting I always judge righteously (you know that I don't), but thankfully the Lord is patient and He has given us scripture guidelines on how to judge righteously. As we continue to study and apply the scriptures,  hopefully over time our judgments will improve so that ultimately we will judge others and things in the same way He will judge us—in righteousness.

James 2:13

3 Nephi 11:29

Moroni 7:15-17

D&C 52:14-19

Thank you for still wanting to be friends; even more than friends in so many ways. May your choices and desires bring you happiness in your home.

Reaching Out to Other Churches to Join with Us in a Faith-Based, Community Food Drive in September 2013

The following is a letter mailed to more than 60 pastors in the Gresham area inviting them to join with us in a neighbor-to-neighbor, faith-based food drive on the weekend of September 14, 2013. We were gratified to have six pastors agree to join with us and the Gresham Stake as charter participants in this first-ever food drive of this type.

28 June 2013

Dear Pastor,

SnowCap and other food pantries in our area continue to have a growing need for commodities to help the needy. That has prompted a group of east-county churches to organize a Faith-Based Community Food Drive this fall.

It’s a food drive with a twist!

All of us have neighbors who would like to serve the community but are not active in a church or affiliated with a faith.  Working together as churches can you imagine…

…How much good could we do in our community if we asked our congregants not only to give, but to reach out to their neighbors
and offer an easy, non-intimidating way for them to give, too?

Here’s how easy it can be:

·   In early September, all participating churches distribute pre-printed grocery sacks with instructions to their parishioners or congregants.

·   Congregants personally take a grocery sack to 4 or 5 (or more, if they choose) of their neighbors inviting them to join in our Neighbor-to-Neighbor, Faith-Based Community Food Drive for the needy.

·   A few days later congregants pick up the grocery sacks with the food donations from their neighbors and, with their own food donation, deliver them to the nearest participating church or community center.

It’s really that simple. And our potential influence for good in the community will have been multiplied many times over.

It can be our own “fishes and loaves” experience.

Besides the potential for collecting literally tons of food for the nearly 20 food pantries in our area, this will provide believers an opportunity to set an example of discipleship and fellowship through being good neighbors. Daily news reports suggest there’s never been a greater need than now for neighbors to get acquainted with neighbors.

We have chosen to conduct this food drive the weekend of September 14 to coordinate with the other two major, local food drives during the year: the US Postal Service food drive in the spring and a food drive by local businesses, led by Gresham Ford and Riverview Bank, during the Christmas holidays.

Food pantries are often depleted of supplies in the summer months and eagerly welcome this food collection initiative in early fall.

Your church is invited to participate—at no cost to you. All supplies are being donated. You simply encourage your congregants to participate; then coordinate the collection of the donated food.

If you’re interested in participating, please complete the enclosed form and return it by email, fax or mail no later than July 10.

We look forward to joining with you in this worthy cause to bless and nurture the needy in our community.

Sincerely,

Dr. Brian Allen, DDS

Chairman, 2013 Faith-Based Community Food Drive Committee

Charter Participants of the Faith-Based Community Food Drive:

Pastor Keith Evans                                                   Pastor Larry Jorgenson                       

Greater Gresham Baptist Church                                                          Trinity Lutheran Church                      

Father Charles Zach                                                Pastor Steven Hardy

St Henry’s Catholic Church                                                      Damascus Community Church

Dr. Richard Craft, President                                    Pastor Dennis Alger

Gresham Stake, LDS Church                                                      Zion United Church of Christ

Pastor James Erb                                                 President Crismon Lewis

Hollyview Church                                                                        Mount Hood Stake, LDS Church

Preparing Our Stake for Special Missionary Training Broadcast

June 2, 2013

TO: All Stake and Ward Leaders and Interested Members

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are pleased to announce that the First Presidency has authorized all stake and ward leaders and interested members to view a special live broadcast titled “The Work of Salvation," as part of a seminar for new mission presidents to be aired via satellite and over the internet from 3:00 to 4:30 pm Pacific time on Sunday, June 23. 

This will be a most unusual opportunity for the entire Church to witness members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles addressing new mission presidents. Because of the unique nature of this broadcast and the timeliness of the topic, we desire every member of our stake to participate in what will certainly be an historic event.

Therefore, please be advised of the following changes to the block meeting times in our stake on June 23 so families can view the broadcast live at home or at the stake center:

·   All wards (except Mt Hood YSA and Powell Valley) will hold sacrament meeting and Sunday School at their regular time, but dispense with their third-hour meetings;

·   The Mt Hood YSA and Powell Valley Wards will hold their sacrament meeting at
1:00 pm that day and dispense with all other meetings;

·   The Estacada Ward Conference, set for that day, has been rescheduled for Sept. 15.

We encourage all members of our stake to take advantage of this rare opportunity to view a new mission president’s seminar and hear Church leaders specifically address the impact and implications of the dramatic increase in full-time missionaries this year.

Stake Presidency