John Louk

"Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:8 NLT) . January 1, on our Western calendar, marks the beginning of a new year. Many people make resolutions for the upcoming year. Some of the most popular resolutions in our culture include exercising and losing weight, being more healthy, getting organized, learning something new, and getting out of debt. Unfortunately, most resolutions fail before the month is over because often we don’t have a plan to make it happen or we don’t have the discipline. As Christians, rather than simply making resolutions for the new year, we talk about the habits we practice that form our lives in the way of Jesus. The Apostle Paul tells us that physical exercise is good but spiritual discipline is better with benefits now and in the life to come. One of the early Church Fathers, Tertullian (c.160 – c.225) said “Christians are made, not born.” It...

Our Study Committee did a wonderful job this summer preparing a report to meet the requirements of The Book of Discipline for our future construction. Anna Dunnwald, Kristy Flack, Dave Jandik, Dan Whitaker, Kathy Wickham, and I presented the Study Committee Report to the Leadership Board and Staff this fall and together discussed Salem’s strengths and weaknesses. All of this information will be shared with the Charge Conference in order to authorize the building project and elect a Building Committee at the beginning of 2012. They will work with an architect to develop preliminary plans. Salem has nearly $500,000 from the buyout. This is good seed money. Salem will need a capital campaign to raise money for construction and will most likely need to build in phases. Near the end of the Study Committee/Leadership Board/Staff conversation, the questions was asked, “So, what did we learn tonight?” It was a great question. In many ways, there were no big surprises. We know that Salem ...

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel survived the holocaust and has written more than fifty books, including Night , a story based on his experiences as a prisoner in concentration camps. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. During his acceptance speech he said, “At special occasions, the Jewish tradition commands us to recite the following prayer: ‘Blessed be Thou…for giving us life, for sustaining us, and for enabling us to reach this day.’”   On November 20 Salem will celebrate our one year anniversary in our new location. We will come together for one worship service at 10:00 am on the 20th. I am excited for us to offer our gratitude to God for giving us life, sustaining us, and enabling us to reach this day. While it is very appropriate for us to recognize that our very existence and sustenance comes from God and to celebrate that, it also calls for a response. God invites us to work together. As Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “Think of us this way, as servants of ...

One of the biggest issues facing Salem is the creation and implementation of an intentional discipleship process. Our mission, the reason we exist, is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. So how do we do that? I believe the habits we practice in our lives are very important. So did John Wesley. When he was at Oxford, he insisted that the members of the Holy Club be disciplined in their study, prayer, and good works. Wesley called these practices the means of grace (worship, reading scripture, receiving Holy Communion, prayer, Christian conversation, and doing good). That is, they are the primary ways in which we receive God’s grace. He realized something important, though. These time-honored traditions weren’t enough. That became even more clear when he traveled to America on a missionary journey. Wesley went to Georgia in 1735-1737 to minister to the colonists and Native Americans. Bishop William Willimon tells the story in his book Why I Am a Uni...

What is leadership? Nicholas Murray Butler, former President of Columbia University, once said, “There are three kinds of people in the world…those who don’t know what’s happening, those who watch what is happening, and those who make things happen.” Leaders make things happen in the world.   In the church, our leaders are responsible for making things happen by overseeing people and ministries. I am very excited to announce that Salem has new staff persons. And they are great!   Along with our paid staff, Sharon Vavra (Administrative Assistant) and Bill Heald (Traditional Music), we now add Louis Busch (Building Superintendent). After many years of excellent years, Gary Novak has resigned to lessen the stress on his work schedule. We are grateful for Gary and all he has done for Salem. Louis has been serving as a Trustee on the Leadership Board and is already doing a great job of overseeing the building and property.   We are also adding new, unpaid staff persons: De...

In worship we have been reading the stories of our ancestors in Genesis. The Covenant God made with God’s people, beginning with Abraham and Sarah, is that because the LORD blesses us we will be a blessing; all the families of the earth will be blessed by us (Genesis 12:1-3). Through Jesus we have been grafted on to God’s people. So we are meant to be a blessing to all the people of the earth. Tom Long, a preaching professor in Atlanta, tells a story about the city where he lives that sounds like 1974 in Cedar Rapids when Interstate 380 was built next to Salem’s former downtown property. “A decision was made to build a new freeway into Atlanta…A swath of houses was condemned, and eventually a whole neighborhood was torn down to make way for the highway. For a short time, though, families were still living in those houses, homes that many of them had lived in for generations, but they knew that soon the bulldozers would come and tear them down. The effects were demoralizing on the nei...

What do we do when someone dies? Where is heaven? What is our theology? What is our ritual (practice)? I am offering this seminar on death and funerals to look at the funeral liturgy of the United Methodist Church, to read a short paper examining the Christian theology and practice surrounding death and resurrection, and to do some thinking and planning about our own funerals. All materials will be provided. This seminar will be beneficial for everyone regardless of age. It will meet twice. Session 1 will be offered on Wednesday, July 27 at 10:30 am and again on Thursday, July 28 at 6:30 pm. Session 2 will be offered on Wednesday, August 3 at 10:30 am and again on Thursday, August 4 at 6:30 pm. You do not need to attend both Wednesday morning and Thursday evening sessions as they are the same each week. In addition to the group time, I will meet with participants individually to discuss funeral plans, if they wish.