Revival Returns to Ava, Ohio

At the beginning of the 20th century a great revival broke out from a tiny blacksmith shop in Ava, OH, and the Ava FMC was chartered in 1909 with 12 members. (Five of their direct descendants still attend the church today.)

After thriving in the 1920s and 30s, then experiencing great revivals in the 1970s and 80s, the church declined to seven people, and in 1994 contemplated closure.

In 1995, Rodney Reeves — formerly youth director at Center FMC in Sarahsville, OH — began pastoring at Ava and the small church began to grow.

Then, in 1998, disaster struck. A torrential flash flood sent seven feet of water into the church, destroying virtually everything and forcing the congregation to meet for several months on Tom and Nancy Seevers' front porch. "We didn't let Satan win," says Reeves, recalling the flood. "We were going to be victorious." And so they were: As they began to rip out the damaged walls, Ava's 25-30 members got inspired. And, after rebuilding and repairing their church, they rededicated it in 1999.

The following year they rededicated their focus as well, adopting the credo that the church belongs to God. New programs were started; Reeves taught about tithing and the congregation brought its tithes and offerings — using some of them to assist the elderly with food or bills. "Our community saw the church doing what the church is supposed to be doing," says Reeves. "It's not me," he adds. "The new converts are working."

As Reeves preaches love and care — and the congregation focuses on acting it out — the word "family" has come to be synonymous with Ava FMC. As a result, also during the year 2000, Reeves and his leadership board decided that the Lord wanted them to expand their community outreach efforts, so they started a number of new ministries. Two of the most successful have been their midweek Family Night Services and summer Family Fun Nights.

The new Family Night Services have allowed the church to combine several separate services, outreach activities and evening events into one. "I really felt that coming together as a church was what God truly wanted for us," says Reeves. The Family Night Services have been a great success, and in June of this year, Ava changed the format of its CLC honor council to include awards for both the teen and adult classes.

Held in a variety of settings and at various times of day, the church's summer Family Fun Nights have proven so popular that they've been continued even after the season's end. The gatherings were originally one of Reeves' solutions for declining summer attendance and the desire to encourage fellowship, but have now become a much-welcome facet of body life at Ava.

One of the most memorable of these fellowship times wasn't held during the summer at all. It was a Sunday morning worship service in November, on the shores of beautiful Seneca Lake. Many people were very moved as Reeves spoke about being fishers of men. After worshiping together, church members had a picnic and enjoyed a variety of fun activities including pontoon boat rides and horseshoes.

In keeping with its roots, during May 2002 Ava held its annual spring revival. Many people in the church, including Reeves, said this year's event was unlike any revival they'd ever seen. Nine people made personal decisions for Christ, many were sanctified, and miraculous healings took place.

Between January and August 2002, the Ava church had 14 people come to the Lord. Looking ahead, Reeves says: "Although we do have faith goals for the year and for the future, we simply let the Lord have His way with us. We find that it just works better that way."

Pastors Find Renewal Away from the Daily Grind

Men and women who serve as pastors in our local churches are relied upon by so many for so much. With the church's regular activities (often day and night), preparing sermons, making time for family and friends, and so many other commitments at the forefront, our pastors often give little attention to personal development. Ironically, spiritual growth is one area that suffers when so much time and energy are placed on the needs of others. Appropriately, two pastors have recognized this phenomenon and have found ways to address it — to offer places of prayer and retreat away from the daily grind.

Oakland Acres Hermitage

Rob Kirkham, senior pastor of Rushville FMC (IL), knew God wanted him to be involved in the lives of his fellow pastors. Chris and Lynn Trone, members of his congregation, approached him with an offer to help make that possible: a piece of property they owned which they were willing to allow the church to use as a retreat center for pastors and their spouses.

Having developed a long-range plan for pastors through his work on a master's degree at Greenville College, Kirkham found that a pastor's number-one perceived need is personal spiritual development. In researching the idea of a retreat center, Kirkham contacted J. Barry Wilson, who had done his master's work at Olivet Nazarene University on why pastors quit. Wilson had discovered that the majority of pastors leave the ministry due to stress, whether it be financial, job or family-related. "A place of solitude and prayer fits that bill," Kirkham quickly determined. Oakland Acres Hermitage was born.

Set on 144 acres of timber, meadows, hills and valleys — about 10 miles from the nearest town — the hermitage is just that: a place of solitude. A split-level home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room and chapel, the hermitage can comfortably sleep six adults. No fee is charged to stay, and the people of the Rushville FMC take care of maintaining the property. "The church here really cares. They see it as a valid ministry to pastors, which I think is a very special thing for a local church to do," says Kirkham of his congregation. "When people come, there will be someone out there praying for them — someone they'll probably never meet."

In October 2001, the hermitage welcomed its first guests. From there, no advertising was needed as word-of-mouth proved sufficient to keep the house occupied. While the majority of hermitage guests have been pastors and their spouses (from at least six denominations), some also bring their children, and church laypeople are also welcome. A 15-member children's choir and its counselors from Lighthouse Community Outreach Center in St. Louis recently stayed at the hermitage as well.

In August 2002, the hermitage started offering its visitors an optional counseling component. Bill Syrcle, a member of the Rushville FMC, has teamed up with two other Christian counselors to form Counseling Perspectives, L.L.C. in Macomb, IL, just north of Rushville. Syrcle will make house calls to the hermitage if a guest requests it. The firm takes insurance, but should an individual not be covered, the Rushville church has offered to pay the balance. "We just want to be helpful to pastors and have a place for them to go," Kirkham emphasizes.

One way that guests can verbalize what their visit has meant to them is through a journal maintained at the hermitage. It stays there so that others can benefit from reading the entries, says Kirkham. "It's been worth every penny and every hour that we've put into it, to go back and read about how God has touched their lives."
For more information about Oakland Acres Hermitage, call Pastor Rob Kirkham at (217) 322-3717.

Mary's Place

For Doug and Margie Newton, the question of what church ministry leaders really need (and often lack) became personal in August 1999. Having served as a pastor for 18 years, and more recently as executive director of Free Methodist Communications and editor of Light and Life magazine, Newton and his wife realized that their own lives had been overtaken by the "stuff of life" and that prayer had been edged out.

"We fast-forwarded our lives and imagined ourselves at 70 years old, still struggling with not being people of prayer," admits Newton. "We made a significant decision that we would do whatever it would take to rearrange our lives so that prayer would be at the center."

As the couple determined what logistical changes needed to happen to achieve their goal, it became clear that if they were feeling this way, others probably were too. In what Newton calls a "rush of insight," the couple's mission became that of providing ministry leaders with a place to pray and think creatively about their personal lives and ministry routines while developing a workable plan to reorient their daily schedules around ample time for prayer. "It was as strong a calling as anything we've experienced," says Newton. "We needed to devote our lives as a ministry to other pastoral couples and church leaders."

From the beginning, the Newtons were determined that if their goal was to support and encourage people to reorient their lives around prayer, they would have to create a "silver-platter-type situation" — a rare opportunity at absolutely no cost to the couples. Initially, Colorado seemed an ideal place to bring people for retreat, so the Newtons moved to Estes Park in January 2000 and Newton continued in his roles with Free Methodist Communications and Light and Life magazine in an off-site capacity.

They chose the name "Mary's Place" for their ministry — from Luke 10:42, where Jesus compared the busy Martha with her sister Mary who sat at His feet: "But only one thing is needed," He said, "Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

The Mary's Place ministry includes three phases: preparation, the on-site experience and follow-up. Preparation includes some readings and filling out a questionnaire. The on-site experience is a week-long retreat that consists of prayer, work in a guidebook (specifically designed by the Newtons to help couples explore issues preventing them from focusing on prayer) and daily meals taken as a group (including casual fellowship and sharing). The Newtons emphasize that counseling is not part of the retreat experience at Mary's Place. The follow-up phase involves continued correspondence and contact with participants for encouragement and accountability, and a standing invitation for "refresher" trips to Mary's Place.

After welcoming their first Mary's Place guests in November 2000, the Newtons determined that it would be beneficial to plan for more than one couple at a time. They tried several multi-couple retreats off-site, but soon came to the conclusion that they should build a house that would accommodate several couples at once (and that would also serve as the Newtons' own residence). The cost of providing off-site housing would be eliminated, thereby allowing more retreats to occur throughout the year. And with more space, the house could also be used for short-term sabbaticals and getaways.

In May 2002, construction began on a 6,000-square-foot prayer retreat house near Bowling Green, KY. The Newtons anticipate that it will be ready for guests in January 2003.

In all of this, the Newtons continue to marvel at the Lord's faithfulness through their obedience to Him. Says Newton, "Each time, we come away amazed and really grateful at how the Lord specifically works with each of these couples. It really spurs us on."

For more information on Mary's Place, visit www.marysplace.org.

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