October Pastor's Corner

October Pastor’s Corner

During the Month of October we will be celebrating our 50^th Anniversary. We will also lift up the preschool in its 25^th year of operations. With visits from several of our past ministers we will be recovering some of the greatest assets of our church. We have created an amazing legacy in the Ojai Valley for United Methodists. We have helped to create and sustain HELP of Ojai, Noah’s Ark Preschool, and Ojai United Methodist Church. We have endured some great pains, with fires and floods, watched some dear friends leave our community and the death of some of the saints who have lived and worked among us.

These are all assets of our church. We have built a reputation for caring and hospitality in the Ojai Valley. We have shown ourselves to be people who reach out and care for the least of these, in simple ways – like through our giving to HELP of Ojai, Scholarships for students at Noah’s Ark Preschool, Camperships for our youth to attend United Methodist Camps, and countless other means. We have offered some fun ways to connect with our community, through the various Spring and Fall sales, the Sew n’ Sews and their crafting, and the opening of our lawn for the community to gather to watch the Fourth of July fireworks at Nordhoff High School. We have offered music to the community in the bell choir that has gone out at holiday time, members of our congregation who have given of their time and energy to sing with and for several retirement communities in Ojai, as well as the faithful direction of our Church Cancel Choir who have performed several cantatas and seasonal special music selections.

We have decided to be a physical presence in our community with our buildings. I know that has been hard at times, because of the fire and the need to rebuild, and because of the extra expense incurred to establish greater facilities for our programs, with the addition of Peterson Hall and the expanded Preschool Buildings. We have taken good care of the pastor and his family with the parsonage and the ongoing improvements undertaken there through the years, with sewer connections being added, additional electrical plugs, washer and dryer, new flooring, and plenty of paint.

In my visits with you all I have discovered you know your greatest asset to be the people of Ojai UMC. As we move forward we are going to delve deeper into the assets of the people of Ojai UMC. I am going to invite you to take a Spiritual Gifts Inventory. The United Methodist Church has a Spiritual Gifts Inventory you can take online at the umc.org website. 
http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.1355371/k.9501/Spiritual_Gifts.htm

Please check it out and pass your results back in to the church office by email at: