Christmas has come and gone and here we are in a new year and Spring is now upon us. For the past year I have served as community lay director for Southeaster Indiana and for the past year many folks were praying not only for the community but for me also and for that, I thank you. It has been a turnaround year for the community in a good way and I pray each of you have seen a difference. I ask that you get involved with the community and stay involved until Christ comes again. I know you remember how you felt on the walk, I know I do and that was 18 years ago. We have made changes on the board membership as we have each year and had great leadership and lots of prayers and hard work we were able to hold all four walks, two in the spring and two in the fall. I want to thank all those who worked the walks and especially the lay directors who work many hours and made many phone calls to develop the team for the walk and for God.
I want to thank those past pilgrims who are now some of our newest members of the community. To all of you get involved and stay involved also. Without you we would not have been able to have the walks. Spread the word and talk to others about Emmaus and get them to sign up for future walks. Make sure your willing servant form is turned in so that you would be called someday to work a walk. You will get a blessing as if you were in the walk for the first time. Thanks to all of you and I pray that we will meet again on a walk or a gathering someday in the future. Remember God knows what he is doing so don’t get in the way, just pitch in and help.
God bless each of you,
Michael Davis –former CLD
For the calendar
Men’s Walk #75- Oldenburg IN… April 15-18, 2010
Women’s Walk #76- Oldenburg IN… April 22-25, 2010
Men's Walk #77- Oldenburg IN... October 7-10, 2010
Women's Walk #78- Oldenburg IN... October 21-24
Your Emmaus Board of Directors
To meet your Board of Directors
Southeast Indiana Community Lay Director
Chris Kessen
A message from the Community Lay Director
What an exciting time to be involved in the Southeast Indiana Emmaus community! 2009 was a huge success as a result of this community following God's prompting. As a community, we were successful in having 4 Walks in 09', and without exception, God blessed those Walks and the pilgrims and others involved. As we enter 2010, as a board, we are equally excited about where God is taking this community. A new group of board members have answered God's call on their lives and the returning board members are looking forward to following God's direction. To all of the board members who have answered the call to serve I say “Thank You”.
As the Community Lay Director for 2010, I am also excited to lead this organization, with God's guidance. I look forward to watching how God will use this community to reach His followers and empower His church.
I urge you to submit a “willing servant” form that indicates your willingness to serve, as you were served by others on your Walk. I would also encourage you to prayerfully identify those around you, whether in your congregation or outside, who may be ready to take their Walk. We have had a great inflow of pilgrims and team on the last several Walks and I believe that if, as a community, we are intentional about sharing what the Walk to Emmaus meant to us with others, the number of pilgrims and team alike would be abundant. What does it mean to be intentional? …Talking to others on purpose. Sharing the way the Walk affected you. Your testimony relating to how God revealed Himself to you while on your Walk. This doesn't have to be from the pulpit, in fact, it usually has more impact if delivered in a personnel way. But please understand, it needs to be done prayerfully. It is important that as a community we realize that we are simply responding to Gods urging to follow Him. This is not a numbers game or a sales pitch. It is us, through the Holy Spirit, responding to His desire to use us, as His hands and feet for His glory. It isn't about how many pilgrims are on the Walk’s; it is about God sending the pilgrims He wants on the Walks and us responding to be their sponsors. We are all in God's family. We all are subject to His grace and mercy. We need to recognize that it isn't about us, but, about Him and His glory.
I look forward this year to visiting with as many churches as possible to share how God is moving in the Emmaus community. If you have comments on our community or the Emmaus movement, please contact me if you wish. We are truly looking forward to serving God and this community this year and wish you abundant blessings for 2010!
Chris Kessen
They asked each other, "Were not our hearts
burning within us while he talked with us
on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
(Luke 24:32 NIV)
A message from our new Community Spiritual Director---Bud Jones
DeColores… I have been asked to serve this year as Spiritual Director of the Southeast Indiana Emmaus Community. I consider it an honor and privilege to serve our Lord Jesus in this, or any, capacity. I have served in this position in the past and look forward to serving with the Board in following God’s directions, while being obedient to the Manual.
The Walk to Emmaus is a tool that God uses to bring us closer to Himself, and renews our commitment to Him and the Church. It is designed and intended to do just that, to take committed church goers and rekindle the fire. However, many people have found Jesus on the Walk, including myself, and made first time commitments. Many others have rededicated their lives.
In 1978 the first Upper Room Cursillo of Greater Cincinnati was held. A dear friend of mine stated, “If this is of God it will succeed, if it’s not of God it will fail.” Below is an e-mail I received from the Upper Room in Jan. 2007 when information was requested about the success of the Walk to Emmaus movement.
Dear Bud, here are the answers to your request.
Total number of Walks since 1979 24,000
Total number of people who have been on the Walk: over one Million
Total number of people who go through per Walk: 38 Pilgrims Average
Total number of Walks per year: 2000
Total communities 384
Total US Communities 297
Total International communities 87 in 32 Countries
Total languages including English 8
De Colores… Jean Johnson Green --Assistant Director -Walk to Emmaus International
I believe the above statistics prove that it has God’s approval and blessings.
Pastor Bud
Getting Involved:
Some questions to ask yourself about your participation
How long has it been since you first took the walk to Emmaus or your Chrysalis Flight? Do you remember your experience that weekend? When you returned home were you a slightly different or a completely changed person? Have you kept in mind that Christ is encouraging you to be more in Him than you could ever dream of on your own? Are you where you want to be today in your relationship with Christ? What will help you be the person Christ is encouraging you to be? Do you remember the steps suggested for staying connected? Are you actively involved in your faith? What is the condition of your relationship with God? Have you supported the Emmaus community since your walk? Have you sponsored another person to be blessed as you were blessed? In what ways do you stay connected to the Emmaus/Chrysalis community? How is Christ calling you to serve? What is your level of willingness to support these events? In what capacity can you serve? Are you able to assist in the preparation of agape? Perhaps you may be asked to serve on one of the teams, does your life model the servant role that is necessary to be a strong team member and role model for the pilgrims? You may have heard sayings like “it takes a whole village to raise a child”; well it takes a whole community to successfully complete one weekend at a time. How can you help? Each and everyone one of us, all God’s children are able to support in some way, prayers, food agape, table agape, being the hands and feet of Jesus during the event, etc. Please thoughtfully consider your experience at Emmaus or chrysalis and prayerfully determine what Christ is asking of you.
There are several events the community will be in need of willing servants for throughout the rest of this year. Every small part any of you is able to accomplish will bring our efforts that much closer to making an impact on the pilgrims that we seek to encourage and awaken in Christ’s name and with His strength.
To get started , you need to fill out a “Willing Servant” form. Complete it, and return it to us as soon as you can. Remember, there is no such thing as an insignificant
contribution.
We look forward to serving with you…
