December 11, 2025

I am praying for you all as we head into the New Year and start planning the business meeting. God be with you all.

The things we are working on:

Had several hospital admissions this past month that the Elders dealt with, as well as prayed for them.

Working on the listening meeting, it was cancelled due to not being prepared adequately, but Frank was able to put together a summary of the last one, which was very helpful.  We are very aware of the direction we feel the church members would like to see the church go.  So, we are working to make outreach a priority in the coming year.  Might need to look at different processes open-minded to see how this will play out for Zoar Church. It has been eye-opening that God is leading Zoar in His direction, and we just need to allow Him to lead.

Met with the finance team to aid in the budgeting process.  It was a very good meeting, and the Elders are understanding the budget process and expectations for them to help.

We will be doing a time of Caroling and fellowship this coming Sunday, and this will be a great opportunity to demonstrate what outreach is all about.

With Daniel’s funeral this past month, the church has had to grieve, and we want to thank Pastor Andrew for his Leadership through this time and for the sermon, giving all of us permission to grieve and allowing us to heal.

As Elders, it is up to us to pray and get into God’s word, listen to His direction, and help guide the church. Thanks, Zoar Church, for allowing us to do just that.

Council approved to make $400 of church mission support available to Janet McMahon, who is going on a church sanctioned Mission trip to Thailand.

November 13, 2025

Pastor Andrew

These last four weeks have been full. We have entered into a season in church that is relatively stable. October and November are months when church ministries start to feel like they are running smoothly. These periods of time can become monotonous, though they are often fruitful. I have not found that to be the case for myself. Rather, I feel like I am searching for smoother water. The burdens of sickness in the church, familiar discord, and other issues in the body have worn me out spiritually. Caring for souls is not a light task, and my spiritual shoulders are drooping. Along with that, my school schedule often demands my weekends and other moments where rest would be helpful. I would appreciate your prayers as I try to identify what is most important and focus on those things. Church leadership could be tempted to throw a quick fix at my weariness, but I don’t think that’s what I need.

Church leadership can help me in a few ways, firstly:

• Continue to take full ownership of their responsibilities. When members of the church leadership, especially the Elders, take responsibility for their duties, such as visitation and relationship building, I’m encouraged that things will work out.
• Pray for me. Satan often strikes when we are tired. I have felt more temptable and exposed recently than I usually am. Pray that God would defend me and keep my eyes on him.
• Lean into the vision and goals of the Elders. The Elders and I have invested heavily in considering new ideas for 2026. When other parts of church leadership lean into this process with us and ask, how they can help and pray, I find that incredibly encouraging.

Along those lines, I am so encouraged by the recent cooperation between the Elders and the Finance team as we have developed budget goals together. I look forward to seeing even more cooperation in the future and as we invest in a yearly system of strategic goal-based budget development. This year, more than any other, I have noticed this sort of intentionality with the budget, but we still have room for growth. I look forward to what trends like this could mean for us moving forward.

Please keep praying for Joseph and Lexi as they start thinking about their 2026 goals. Their jobs are multifaceted and burdensome at times. Please continue also to pray for yourselves. (Council) You guys have important jobs, and our church would not work without you.

Elders

We have been working on several things as Elders.

• We had a listening meeting and asked for some direction the congregation would like to see the church working towards.
  • Overwhelming response stating people would like to see us doing more local outreach. 
  • Will be having some more questions go out to the congregation for suggestions on how they would like to see a program and how we can get others involved.
• Did a study on Fasting and Prayer, and the Elders may try to offer some suggestions to the congregation.
• Rick walked us through an exercise on how to bring out what we would like to work on and set goals.
• Every other month, all Elders meet with Council to make sure we are all on the same page.  It is going very well, and the Elders are excited about the open communication.
• Worked with the Finance Chairman to help get the budget in to not wait until the last minute and cause tension with the finance team.  It was a super productive meeting, and we were able to see some areas of concern and over-budgeting and make suggestions.  Elders are taking a more active role in helping Ministries of the church and guiding as needed.
• Elders met about Senior Pastor Evaluation, and we were all in agreement that Pastor Andrew is doing a great job and should be rewarded for his efforts for Zoar MB Church.

Will be rolling out some ideas at the church wide business meeting in January and start guiding the church in a more forward-thinking.  We look forward to seeing what God has in store for 2026.

Trustees

• We had a work day 2 weeks ago and checked and cleaned the boiler burners (there were 4,400 holes to be cleaned.)
• It was suggested to put a notebook together with the process of changing over from heat to air conditioning, and when maintenance needs to be done, and record it.
• New kitchen faucet has been installed.
• We have been talking about different ideas to make some changes in the kitchen; rearrangement of things because of close quarters. Changes will take place over the winter.
• Jared Enns has been working on installing the new cameras in the sanctuary.

Finance/Budget

As of November 13, 2025, the budget is $51,425.09 behind. We are at 74.3% of our budget and should be at 86.5%. All bills have been paid.

Business

The Annual Business Meeting is set for January 25, 2026.

October 9, 2025

Reports:

Pastor Andrew

Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession. We serve a winning God, and I’m thankful for that. Since our last meeting, I continue to be busy with the work of the church. After a series on love, we have returned to our time in Exodus. Along with the usual church work, I have also begun investing in a men’s group with a few of our young husbands and dads. I feel this investment is valuable and needed in our day. I also benefit from the mutual encouragement of groups like this.

I’m thankful for the seven people who chose to invest in the membership class. Their interest represents continued growth.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that currently my greatest stressor is school. I was not prepared for the amount of investment my latest class required. So far, things are going ok, but I would appreciate prayers as I invest in that and in my other duties.

Elders

We have met 2 different times this month, and we have discussed;

• Finished up our study on the different churches of Revelation.
• Put together a lunch with an informational meeting in a way the congregation would like to see the church grow, and in future planning.  
  • Received some good ideas and are working through some of the information received.  
• We also suggested that we hear from Pastor Joseph and Children’s Director Lexi Milne every so often, so the Church knows what is happening within their ministry.

We look forward to seeing what God has in store for Zoar Church.  We are all very appreciative. We have discussed how we think we, as Elders, seem to be listening to God and following his directions, and it is exciting to watch the church growing beyond its walls.  What a great problem.

Trustees  

• Brian Wedel replaced the garbage disposal switch
• Cameras have been ordered for the sanctuary
• A new kitchen faucet has been ordered
• There was discussion about the modulator they want to purchase to improve the quality of the picture on the TVs at PVH. At this time, only St. Peter’s UCC will be in on this project. We will be moving forward with the purchase of the modulator.

Finance/Budget

As of the end of September 2025, the budget is $60,410.33 behind. We are at 61% of our budget and should be at 75%. All bills have been paid.

Other Business

We will continue to have Listening meetings for the congregation, to feed into the business meeting.

me serious.

September 11, 2025

Pastor Andrew

I’m reflecting on the death of Charlie Kirk as I write this. Never has the church seen such evil times. While some political and even spiritual ease has drifted across our nation under the leadership of Trump, that office has no ability to face off with the evil spirit that has begun to permeate this land. We see the effect of this type of evil even in our own community. How many of our students are following Christ passionately, bravely, and devotedly? How many in our town understand the Word of God and do it? We want to keep boys out of girls’ bathrooms. When we succeed, we feel as though we have really won. This is not the case. We have already lost. The fact that topics such as these are on the docket is proof of our failure.

The question we must ask is, what is the church’s job in fighting these trends? Since COVID, we have seen a large reduction in church attendance city-wide. While Zoar is maintaining her numbers, other churches are not. The result is that the gospel has become even less effective in our town. How should we respond? The men of Issachar understood the times and took action. Do we understand the times? Do we take action? Or, are we simply happy to have so many pews filled?

Zoar church is at war. We are engaged in a violent struggle against the current of our time, and more than ever, we are going to need to see what God is calling us to do about it and then do it. I hope and pray that the fulfilment of my basic pastoral duties is part of that battle. I continue to rejoice in part that Joseph and Lexi play in that same endeavor.

Please continue to pray for the Elders and me as we seek God in discerning how to engage in this fight. God holds us responsible in the church for being proactive in this regard, and we need your prayers.

Elders

Elders have met 2 times in August, with some really good things working:

Finance/Budget

As of the end of August 2025, the budget is $58,259.66 behind. We are at 54% of our budget and should be at 66%. All bills have been paid.

August 14,2025

Pastor Andrew

As the summer winds down, we are just weeks away from kicking off our fall programs. Last week’s announcement about limiting the number of kids involved in Wednesday night pervolunteer may have surprised you. Despite a few exceptions, finding volunteers for Wednesday night has always been the hardest part of that ministry. For some reason, there seems to be a lack of buy-in. Because of this, our Children’s Ministry Directors cannot simply focus on developing a great program; they have to beg for help and leverage their existing volunteers, to be consistent and committed. Honestly, that’s a ridiculous and sad reality. By limiting the number of kids, we can accept per volunteer, we force our church membership to take ownership of our programs and lighten the load of our Children’s Ministry Director. If Church Members and regular attenders feel strongly that Wednesday night activities should be open to everyone, they should step up and help. I fully support these new guidelines.

There are a few other factors here also. Like, children are safer when there’s adequate help.Also, by entrusting way too many children to our volunteers we actively punish those whoselflessly engage in helping with our programs decreasing the likelihood that they will help in the future. There is a real possibility that this fall our Children’s Ministry will reach fewer than it could, simply because we don’t have enough volunteers. If that bothers you, I would invite you and your wives to get involved, even as many of you already are. Feel free also to encouragethose around you to take ownership of this. Inman’s children are not just Lexi’s problem. They are our collective calling.

In other news, the regular work of the church continues. I stay busy preparing sermons, leading Bible studies in my home and now, most recently think-tanking a men’s fellowship for young husbands and fathers. I’m also praying about joining the Ponca Board. You can pray for me as the school semester begins next week.

Elders

We have been meeting together every other Tuesday routinely.  We have been starting out our meeting with prayer for the church and congregation, as well as specific areas of concern.  We have also been studying the churches in Revelation and how they compare to Zoar and modern-day.  Each Elder has been tasked to take a church and research it, and report on it to the rest of the Elders. Things we have been working on:

Finance/Budget

As of the end of August 2025, the budget is $56,822.19 behind. We are at 49% of our budget and should be at 58%. Multiply and Missionaries are paid up. All bills have been paid.

The Finance Committee categorized the funds to provide a clearer understanding of where our funds are allocated and for what purposes.

The Finance Committee is working on budget line items that have money in designated funds to make sure the budget matches the actual need. 

July 10, 2025

Pastor Andrew

It’s good to see the Church continuing to minister through the summer. The holidays have provided an opportunity for a few new faces to trickle through our doors. Frank Peters has been working hard to encourage extra attention to new attenders. His efforts can be seen as a few of our members hurry around Sunday mornings with name tags on. The fact that this kind of ministry is needed is good news.

Summer often provides a conundrum for ministers as some weeks are really slow and others are packed with several events. I’ve taken the opportunity on the slower weeks to visit or call different members of the church.

The recent baptism of two young students has proved the efficacy of our children’s programs and the involved approach that our volunteers and staff take in their ministries. I’m glad for their work.

Our church was busy with VBS, after which Hope and I, along with most of the church staff, drove down to Oklahoma for the Southern District Conference.

Moses continues to be our teacher, along with Pharaoh, as we seek to learn what the Spirit has for us through Exodus. This series has been challenging and encouraging as we plod along. I’m thankful for the grace of God as we work with Him in the vineyard for the harvest.

Elders

The Elders continue to meet every other week with devotions, prayer, and conducting the business of Zoar MB Church. Things working on:

• Each Elder has been tasked with taking a church in Revelation, studying it, and presenting a devotion on it at the beginning of each Elder meeting.
• We continue encouraging prayer for the Church both personally and corporately. It has been mentioned several times and in the bulletin for people to come to the Sunday morning, 9 am prayer time. We are working out a time of guided prayer, like we had around Easter time. 
• Each Elder has an opportunity to minister to different areas of the church and report back to the Elders at each meeting on how it is going
• A greeting/welcoming team has been formed to hang out in the foyers each Sunday to greet new visitors and welcome them to Zoar Church.
• Wednesday night summer supper mission was a success, each night not only delivering meals to the elder members but also some new ones at PVH. Most of the time, we were delivering between 25 and 30 meals to PVH and serving 75-100 in the fellowship hall.
• Eric has started joining different Sunday school classes to remind them that the Elders are there for them and are willing to do what they need for their class to succeed. It also gives us a chance to pray and answer any questions that they may have.
• We are meeting with different teams of the church to get a feel for what they do; it has been very eye-opening for the Elders. We want to understand as well as encourage them to use their budgeted money as God leads them, and to remind them to have next year’s budget recommendations to the finance team by the 1st of November.
• We are working with what we see it could look like for Zoar’s projected church growth, and what we can do to prepare for it.

Even though it has been a busy summer, the Elders are putting the Church and Church Family 1st and like seeing the growth we are experiencing, but we “Give God all the Glory for our Growth.

Trustees

Working on a piece of equipment at PVH that will improve the picture quality on the TVs.

Finance/Budget

Discussed the budget as of June 2025; the budget is $52,741.68 short. This makes us 24% behind on the budget. The first half norms have been paid to Multiply. Missionaries have received their money for the first two quarters. All bills have been paid.

Business

Church Council b voted to help with the expenses for Vacation Bible School.

May 8, 2025

Pastor Andrew

Greetings, Church Council. These last several months have been both blessed and difficult. The ministry of the church continues to work. We were blessed with an awesome turnout on Easter Sunday, and our attendance seems to be growing steadily. More important than that is the spiritual growth that we all are experiencing as we invest in the body. I was glad to see the Elder’s prayer incentive work so well. That represents both exciting leadership from the Elders and a willingness on the part of the body to cooperate as we pursue God together.

Lexi wrapped up her first semester here with the church. I’m confident that her work has been enjoyed by our students and their families. I look forward to seeing her continued growth. Joseph intends to keep his program going through the summer as he did last year. I think that’s a good direction. He’s also planning a mission trip to North Carolina.

I’d invite all of you to continue to pray with us on Sunday mornings. Jesus said, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray earnestly then to God for more laborers in the vineyard!

Elders

Elders are still meeting every other Tuesday and starting our meeting with devotions and prayer.

Things we are working on;

• Still working on vision casting for the church
  • One area is Visitation from Elders, and each Elder took an area to work on
    • Widows and Widowers
    • Shut-ins and Elderly
    • Farmers
    • Hospital stays
    • New Christians and Visitors
  • Prayer for Zoar
    • Had a 24-hour prayer vigil during Holy Week and had a good turnout.
    • Having prayer time before the church service
• Partnering with StepMC from McPherson to teach people how to manage money and allowing them to present to the Church.
• Still offering communion one time per month
• Added to the bulletin a reminder that the Elders want to pray for fellow churchgoers and for them to submit their problems and concerns to them through their communication box in the south foyer.
• Met with Council and Brian Harris (District Minister) on how we can improve.
  • Working on more accountability 
  • Working on unity with Council and other teams in the church

• Approved team members for a mission trip to Uganda

• Working on bringing all ministry teams to Elder meetings this year to make sure they have what they need to run their ministry and to help with next year’s budget so it does not all fall on the finance team’s shoulders.
• Will be starting June 11^th providing Pop In Supper

Trustees

Have had a lot of trouble with the refrigerator, and it is fixed and working now.

Brian Wedel fixed the backflow to the boiler.

Gail Wiens is going to make a door in the wall to gain access to the boiler pump.

The basketball goal is up and being used.

There has been a request to have a bench put in by the playground.

Still need to install a fence around the playground.

Finance/Budget

Discussed the budget as of the end of April 2025. A little behind but not uncommon. The mission trip for those going to Uganda is paid for. Missionaries have received their money for the first quarter.  All bills have been paid.

Business

Pastor Andrew and Hope will be attending Sunscape Retreat in Divide, Colorado sometime early fall.

Other Business

Pastor Andrew will be on vacation from May 26 – June 2. Pastor Joseph will be giving the message on June 1. Also, Joseph will be the speaker during the 2^nd week of Ponca.

March 18, 2025

Pastor Andrew

These last several weeks have been mostly business as usual. I continue to tend to the flock while also pursuing a strategy of equipping the other leaders in our church to do the same.

We finished up our series in Ephesians during the month of February. My prayer is that those lessons continue to guide us as a church. Since then, our church has moved into a new series looking at the book of Exodus. I’m excited to lean into these passages as the year continues.

The new series is called, “Becoming the people of God”. My prayer is that the lessons of Exodus reach across the divide of time and even covenants to help us understand how we can more fully follow God.

I look forward to the weeks ahead as our church changes its focus somewhat towards Lent and the sacrifice and resurrection of our Lord. We do indeed serve a risen Savior.

Trustees

Finance/Budget

Discussed the budget as of March 18, 2025. All bills have been paid.

Other Business

Pastor Andrew shared that Janet McMahon, Pam Thiessen and Hope Wuerffel will be going to Uganda June 8-22 and looking to do some fundraising to help with their expenses and give people a chance to support them.

February 13, 2025

Pastor Andrew

January and February can be busy or slow. Of course, the lead-up to the annual business meeting can be hectic for all of us. Perhaps our business meeting was the most significant thing that happened in the church’s view in the month of January.

Speaking of significant happenings, it was awesome to see two new members join the church in February.

As for the last few weeks, things got incredibly busy around the time Nora Jane passed away. I was working on several different church-related duties around that time. I’m often amazed at God’s timing. After we took time to celebrate Nora Jane’s life, Hope and I got very sick. We were out of it for about a week with fevers and bed rest. Hope bounced back quickly but I seem to have come down with some secondary infection that’s kept me pretty miserable until now. I’m still not at full capacity and am especially thankful that the church calendar is not bursting at the seams right now.  I’m especially thankful for Pastor Joseph this last month who filled in for me on Sunday the 2^nd.

I continue to maintain my basic duties and look forward to having more energy soon. This month, I’m glad for our great God who continually sustains us even when we are sick.

Elders

Well, another year to gear up for.  We really discussed at our last meeting all the ways we see work being done for God’s kingdom at Zoar Church.  Along with the Elders being more visible, we are trying to make sure that our leadership for the church is God-Centered.

Finance/Budget

The Annual Business Meeting went well and the new budget for 2025 was approved. Discussed the budget as of February 13, 2025. All bills have been paid.

Other Business

Gordon Enns gave a presentation.

Pastor Andrew

The regular work of the church continues without any hindrance. We canceled church of course on the 5^th of January. I have used the extra time I’ve been awarded because of that cancelation to do some visiting at the Home.

I’m eager to see what God has for us in the New Year and hopeful that all of us will surrender to God’s will in all things.

Thanks to everyone here and everyone represented here for making the last year work.

Elders

• We have been working on goals

Trustees

• Basketball goal has been selected and paid for
• Discussed creating manuals needed for operations in the church. (re: HVAC, Sunday Morning setup)
• There are plumbing issues that need to be taken care of. Some of the drains need to be changed to help drainage. The baptistry drain needs to be revamped. Sometime in January, we will have a camera/snake run through the drains to see their condition.

Finance/Budget

Discussed the final outcome of the 2024 Budget. All bills are paid and we’re in really good shape. Reviewed the 2025 Budget to be presented and voted upon at the Annual Business Meeting.

Other Business

• There was discussion on the possibility of having an online directory.