Big Change, Again!

After resting from all ministry for over a year, we are finally taking a position in Hardinsburg, KY. We will be pastors at Faith Community Church. We spent a long couple of years in “transition” and God has spoken in a huge way and we know that we are stepping into his purpose. We definitely have been in God’s plan over the last year, as we have learned so much from our church here and we intend to stay in relationship with them. One week ago we had no idea our life was about to change again.

Several things happened to confirm our decision. Last Sunday we went to KY for Terry to get his feet wet again in ministry since he hasn’t ministered in over a year. He just flowed right back into it and it felt good to see him doing it again. The people there seemed to know that we were the ones. They had put lots of prayer into it for a year and hadn’t been looking until recently.  We went away from there feeling an awesome connection and told them we would pray.

We intended on taking this slow and easy and just easing our way back. We shared all of our struggles over the last year and nothing deterred them. They seemed to really connect because of our struggles.

But several prayers were answered by Tuesday, including a huge one. Terry’s job at AT&T hasn’t been going well and we really wanted the benefits of the job, or he would have already quit. He went in to work that day and his manager called the sales team in and told them she had good news and bad news. The bad news was their team and their jobs would end Sept. 30. The good news was that they were guaranteed a job with AT&T wherever they wanted to go. We are now waiting to hear from several applications Terry put in for in the Louisville, KY area.

Terry will be able to do his schooling online and started this past week on his next class.  Also Kyle was settled into Teen Challenge last week and it was such a relief to have him taken care of for a while.

Needless to say, we didn’t just “ease” into this. We got really excited! As soon was we know of a place and a start date with AT&T, then we can make plans on when to move. The church is looking for a house for us right now.

It was a wild and crazy week. Now it’s a waiting game and then I know we will get incredibly busy soon.

A Year!

Wow, it has been a year since I last posted here. A lot has happened and it has been one of the hardest seasons we have ever been through. I’m not the most talented at writing, but I will try to catch up.

We have been on a rest from the ministry of any kind over the last year. We didn’t realize that we were in burn out until about fall of last year. We had consistently been in the ministry full time for many years, not always knowing how to utilize the help we had available to us from our church family. We have learned so much here by just sitting back and watching our current church operate in an apostolic government. The church is lead by a team of leaders and they all share in the responsibility of the church. The pastor, Glenn Shaffer, wrote a great book called, Apostolic Government in the 21st Century a few years ago and they have experienced it as a church themselves.  They also have one of the most effective discipleship programs we have ever seen.

I  am still working full time for the church doing the bookkeeping and that has been a real learning experience also. I do the books for both the Owasso campus and the Claremore campus and for the Christian school, so it is quite a job.  I love it!  Terry went to work for AT&T back in the spring as a sales executive doing door to door sales for the U-Verse division. He isn’t crazy about selling, but it has great benefits and pay when he makes the sales. He is also attending Southwestern Christian University and is working toward a degree and will soon obtain a Life Coaching certificate. Alex is in the 5th grade and attending the local school here in Claremore. Kyle is going into Teen Challenge for the next year and we believe it will be a life changing experience for him. If you want more information about that, visit me on my Facebook page and message me for the information. We have a prayer and support page set up and also information on how you may help us financially in being able to send him.

Terry went through a lot of depression and thought he would never do ministry again, but when the depression finally lifted recently, he is feeling that desire to start up again. We are praying for God’s will in all of this and know that His purpose will be fulfilled.  We found ourselves this last year in a strange place, at a strange church, not knowing anyone and away from any family. It has been very lonely, but we have slowly made some friends.  We have had to come through some tough stuff by ourselves this year and there were times we thought no one cared or would reach out. I hope to think that in the future we will be more sensitive to minister to others who are burnt out from ministry and to remember that we should reach out to them and love them and befriend them through the hard time. When you are going through stuff, you do not reach out for help, you tend to withdraw from everything and everyone.

I think that because we post on Facebook only positive stuff and we don’t air our “dirty laundry” there, that people just assumed we were doing great and didn’t really think about getting ahold of us and giving us encouragement.  What I am trying to say is that when you think about someone, please be careful to listen to the Holy Spirit when he prompts you to give them a word of encouragement.

But we are coming out and I believe that our latter years will be greater than our former years. God isn’t finished with us yet! I hope to post some awesome stuff soon about all that God is doing.

Sherry

How to Stop the Pain

I highly reccommend everyone reading, How to Stop the Pain, by James B. Richards.
We live in a world of heartache. Everyday millions of people smile and pretend that everything’s okay. You’ve been wounded, and you just can’t seem to heal. You try to get on with your life, but you just can’t move on. You forgive, but you can’t forget. Your ability to pursue your dreams is destroyed. Is there any hope? In How to Stop the Pain author James Richard helps you discover the emotional freedom that everyone wants but few experience. Learn the only biblical way to prevent pain and free yourself from criticism.

August 2010

As I was reading through the last blog, I would like to report on a comment I made about me needing a job.  I said in the blog: “Terry has started working for an audio/video company doing what he loves to do. It is truly a rest time for him. I am currently seeking direction for what I am to do. It would be awesome to find that kind of job that I can get paid to do what I love.”  Well it happened within a week of that post. On July 26, I started working full time at Destiny Life Church as the bookkeeper for the church and school. I love the job and am being fulfilled in the areas that I am talented and I have truly been walking in my grace for this season of my life.  Terry is working for Falcon Audio/Video. He still really likes it and is looking forward to getting to do some traveling to help install equipment in churches around the country. Right now he is doing several things that he enjoys. He is doing graphics, speaker building, sales calls, etc. 

We are still in the rest mode from ministry, but Terry is helping with keyboards some at the church. I know that God has led us to be in this time and we are waiting on Him. I’m sure whatever area of ministry we get involved in, it will be greater and better than ever before.  We are taking classes at the church and will be attending an Encounter Weekend in Sept.  It may not work out for Terry to go this time, since we don’t have a sitter for Alex, but he can go in the spring. We will continue to take the classes and training and hope to be able to be Lifegroup leaders over the next year. 

Alex is attending Claremore Christian School which is operated as a ministry of the church. So he is right next door to where my office is. He is really enjoying it.  It has been around for at least 25 years and they excel in every area. They have many areas of athletics and have very high standards in the academics. They are fully accredited with the state of OK and are recognized by ORU and other universities.   Kyle is living in Missouri with some biological family. He is attending school there. Please continue to pray for us and that we can work things out in that area of our lives.  God is in control and we have to totally trust that He knows what He is doing in this area.

We still have many needs and are praying about what we will be needing as permanant housing within the next year. We are in an even greater position than ever before to have to trust God for provision. We miss our friends and family in Missouri. We miss our daughter, son-in-law and precious grandchildren.

Please pray for us that we can stand strong in faith and continue to grow and that we will remain obedient to what God has called us to.

Sherry Palmer

Amazed by His Grace

Terry taught a sermon last year by this title. At the time, I didn’t grasp the message. God has been working on me. I’m amazed by how much God has extended grace to me over the years in my ignorance of who He really is and who I really am in Him. I thought I had gotten a real true revelation of who I am in Christ, but there is so much more. I love these times of growing. It is in these times, that faith comes easy. Every message I hear, every book I read, ministers the same thing to me. I am getting so much, that I long to share it with others and I want everyone to know and hear. But that is one of the things I am working on. I am not the fixer of everyone’s problems. I have to work on removing the plank from my own eyes, so I can help someone else remove the splinter from theirs.  The book I am currently reading is “How to Stop the Pain,” by Dr. James B. Richards. I didn’t even know I was in pain, but based on the judgments I have been making concerning my ministry, my family and my life, I have been acting and thinking in certain ways because of past pains and issues. I have this huge expectation that in the next few months I’m going to experience a freedom like never before. 

My heart is full and I can’t even put it in words. Thank you Jesus for my new church family. God has told us to rest and be in peace and we will have clarity. Right now, I know I am in the perfect will of God and being in “limbo” isn’t so bad.

Terry has started working for an audio/video company doing what he loves to do. It is truly a rest time for him. I am currently seeking direction for what I am to do. It would be awesome to find that kind of job that I can get paid to do what I love. None of this is to say that we didn’t love the ministry. We did and still do, but after 30 plus years, there needs to be a time to step back and to refocus and hear from God about what his purpose is in our lives.  We know that the 30 years in the ministry has been fruitful and that it will play a huge part in our launching into the next phase of our lives. I know I am just experiencing the tip of the iceberg and that there is so much more. 

Terry said the other day that when he was feeling the release from Word of Life, that it wasn’t necessarily a release from there, but a release from the ministry for a while.  We just went from one church to another.  We do feel that God has led us to Claremore, OK and to Destiny Life Church so that we can get refreshed, healed and launched into the next phase of ministry.

I love all our friends and family and I pray that as I grow that those around me will see the fruit in my life and that I can begin to see clearly how to help people to find the same freedom. I love you all!

Sherry

Cruisin’ to Stormin’ to Soarin’

I actually skipped the month of May for a blog. This blogging is really new to me and I don’t necessarily like writing stuff down other than tidbits here and there on Facebook. Terry has been so busy, and he is the talented writer, but here I go again updating everyone. I’m sure I’ll get better.

May was one of the best months of my life and ended on a pretty bad note. We were cruising and then storming in our lives and naturally. We got to go on a cruise, which was one of my lifelong dreams. We made plans last year after my birthday that for my 50th, we would go on a cruise and I thank Jesus that he allowed me to do that and kept me protected from what was about to happen. We had an awesome time on the cruise. It was everything I ever imagined and more. We went to Jamaica and rode the sky lift over Magic Mountain. We climbed Dunns River Falls. On another day, we went to the Cayman Islands and relaxed in the ocean. To see photos of our cruise you can go to my Facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=177129&id=1324766022&l=5589adc8fd.  You don’t have to have FB to see the photos.

As most everyone knows, we moved to Oologah, OK last November to take a position at a church as pastor after pastoring for 17 years in Sullivan, MO. We have been in a period of rest, since the church was small and no one needed us that much. We cleaned out a lot of closets, a shed, an attic, etc. So it was a time of organizing for me. Terry taught the Word on Wednesdays and Sundays. We made some new friends, which was awesome. About 2 months ago we began to feel that something wasn’t right. I thought it was homesickness, but it was actually my spirit telling me it was about over.  Right before the cruise I had the worst sick feeling in my stomach and during the cruise for one day, Terry had that some feeling. I remember him telling me that it feels like “the other shoe is about to drop”, a phrase we have heard several times from our dear friend, Kathy, in Missouri. 

As soon as we got home, we had a business meeting at church on a Wed. evening. We knew then that it would never work. By Friday the church and us had made a mutual agreement that it wouldn’t work.

The most awesome thing happened after that day. On Friday Terry felt that we should go to a church that we have seen every day as we pass by it in Owasso, called DestinyLife Church.  We went on Sunday morning and walked in and met the pastor. He was so friendly and made us feel so welcome. After church he introduced us to some people, who also gave us their phone numbers. He introduced us to several people later that night when we attended again. We felt so refreshed and free in the service. It was awesome! What we didn’t know was that we were walking right into an ATI Conference they were just beginning. We went every night through Wed. We got some direction and some awesome Word that was straight to us. On Tuesday, the pastor gave us a special offering that just put us over top in realizing our blessings in the hardest time of our life.

We decided that we needed some healing in our lives. Some situations have happened over the last 3 years with our children and we need to refocus our lives right now to getting those things worked out. We also could use the rest from the stress of ministry. We are moving to Claremore, which is only 20 minutes away from Oologah. We are down sizing quite a bit from what we are used to, but I know God will provide the place for our extra “things” or maybe he would like for us to get rid of a lot for some reason that we have no idea of.

Also Terry started a new job in May with the Oologah Post Office as a rural carrier sub. Soon that job will become more permanent and with more pay. I am working part time with the potential of adding more hours as soon as I can handle it with the move.

We are going to take it slow with entering back into the ministry and let this church minister to us and hopefully we can be a blessing to this church too. It is definitely a great church to connect with and for a great launching pad to the next phase of our lives. I have been reading a book by Joyce Meyer that really encourages me, “Never Give Up.” She speaks a about eagles in the book. I love the analogy of an eagle. A minister friend of ours, Chuck Balsamo, encouraged us by telling us about the eagle going through the molting season, where it’s feathers fall off, it’s beak falls off, and it doesn’t know if it will make it through the season. I know we are going through that season of molting and soon we will be soaring high above the storm and come out on the other side!

So who would have thought this year we would be resting, cruising, storming and about to soar higher than ever. There are some things God wants to do in our hearts and lives over the next few months. Please continue to pray for us and to pray for our children, Alex and Kyle, and for some decisions that will affect their lives. We are believing for some supernatural wisdom concerning them. You can find our contact info here. One last blessing. I have been diligently losing weight since January. I have lost 25 pounds!! I feel so good and I love to exercise, which is a miracle for me. LOL

Isa 43:2, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned or scorched, nor will the flame kindle upon you.”

Excited about what God has in store for our future.  Until next month, love you all,

Sherry

Hello Everyone!

Well I couldn’t let April go by without posting something to go in the April archive here on our website. We have been so incredibly busy this last month, it’s crazy. Let’s see, Terry has been working for the census. He is a crew leader now and worked this past week training other people to do the next round of census work. He is going for training as a rural carrier sub for the Postal Service in a couple of weeks. He will be working mostly Saturdays. I started working at Nonnis Food Co. in downtown Tulsa 2 days a week. I love the atmosphere and it is a good place to work, but all I do is file invoices and do filing for the payroll dept. I get to eat the little biscottis and they are so good. Then there are the ballgames that Alex plays 2-4 nights a week. So we stay really busy.

We are at a place of rest in the ministry. We aren’t doing anything except Terry is preaching on Sundays and leading Bible Study on Wednesdays. We decided that we were going to just do what we do best and let God grow the church. We are now running in the 30′s in attenance on Sun. mornings and 10-15 on Wed. nights. Everyone in the church is new except 10 people who were there when we came. Terry did one funeral during this month for an older guy.

We are getting ready to celebrate our birthdays, which started April 17th with a birthday a week until the middle of May for everyone in our household. Terry & I are going on our first cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines to Jamaica and the Grand Cayman Islands on May 22 for our birthdays. We will be meeting up with friends from Sullivan, MO for 5 days of fun and sun. Of course there are graduations and Mother’s Day. It is certainly going to be a full month. 

Remember you can keep up with us on Facebook.

Until next month,

Sherry

Spring has Sprung!

Someone recently mentioned that our update blog said something about Valentines Day. So needless to say, I’m behind and need to catch everyone up. Writing is something that comes pretty easy to me, but something I never seemed to sit down and do. So here I am, finally ready to give you an update on what’s been happening for the month of March.
As most of you know the history of the last few months, how we left Sullivan after pastoring there for 17 years, and how God released us and we ended up here in Oklahoma. Well for starters this has been one of the worst winters on record here in OK.  I was hoping that moving 5 hours southwest would bring some warmer climate, but evidently not for this year. We had record snows, record temps, and yes it snowed 6 inches on the first day of spring! I would highly recommend that starting out to pastor in a new location, that it would probably be a little easier to not move during the holidays and the beginning of winter!
Well at least the last 3 months have been very restful!! Had some pretty good family time, stuck in the house day after day, where cabin fever seemed to be the major epidemic. I am so happy it’s warm, and that spring is here. Yesterday it was in the 80’s.
I love spring. It has always been my most favorite season. New life springing up everywhere, the earth and everything seems to revive itself, which makes me feel revived and ready for new and exciting things. I’m so thankful for the seasons of spring in our lives, God  is always giving us the possibilities of new beginnings. The spring season reminds me of “hope”.  Hope is the transition factor that brings about faith, which produces the substance of the things we hoped for.
Spring is the transition that brings about summer. With transition there is always times of struggle and turmoil.  Storms are a prime example of what happens during transition, when what is old (winter) meets with what is new (summer). With the different climates colliding, you have the potential of storms. Anytime God begins to move in our lives and begins to take us through times of transition, it often causes us some storms. If we try to hang on to the old, while trying to embrace the new, then it will always cause turmoil and confusion, which leads to unsettlement and unrest. As we learn to trust and look forward, then we begin to move into the transition with joy, peace and excitement.
When we felt that God had released us, and that it was time for a new season in our ministry, we really felt that we had about six more months before the transition would be complete. Sherry had even mentioned that March was going to be month of really new beginnings. So here we are. We’ve already seen the confirmation of this. God is doing some awesome things, in our lives, in the church and in the lives of others.
I don’t know where this spring brings you in your life, but remember transition has it purpose to take you from where you have been to where you are to be. James 1:2-3, tells us that the trials and storms are good for us, that they produce in us some much needed things. You may feel that your present situation is very difficult, that this season of change is hard. But just remember in spring, that even in the mist of the beautiful jonquils, there may be snow, hail, rain or wind. It’s amazing how such a beautiful day can turn so violent so quickly. But it’s during these times of transition that we grow and learn how to trust God to the next season in our lives.

God bless your spring. May your season of transition bring much fruit in your life.
Pastor Terry

Time for an Update

Happy Valentines Day! 

I’m sorry we haven’t kept up with this page very often. Just a quick update. We have been in OK now for nearly 3 months. Things are going great. It has been a slow start with winter hitting hard and moving right around the holidays.  Our church is doing well. We are making very slow changes and believing God to bring about growth on His timing. The core of our church is very hungry for the Word and hungry to grow, so we have done lots of one on one ministry.  We are gearing up for a huge harvest for us and the church. We have sown many seeds over the years and this church has sown seeds in this community since the 1930′s.

Thanks to all our friends who keep praying for us. Through the awesome internet, we are able to keep in contact with so many

This has been a time of rest for us. We are resting from many responsibilities that we have been used to. We don’t have to worry about finances in the church. The burden has been lifted!! We have everything we need for the time being. Even personally, the Lord has provided to where we aren’t so aggressively looking for part time jobs. The church has many resources that we have always wanted.  It has been in the past that we had big ideas and dreams and even more people to implement them, but we didn’t have the resources.  Now we have the resources and are waiting on God to bring in the people! We are having an Open House Celebration Service April 18th and would love to have any of our friends to come and join us to see what God has been doing. I believe that the next couple of months will bring about growth in our church with people who are truly called here.  In May we will have our first “Cowboy Church” event.

Thanks to all our friends who keep praying for us. Through the awesome internet, we are able to keep in contact with so many people.

Sherry

Unchangeable Consistency of Change

Happy New Year to everyone!  Well here we are again, one year ends and another begins.  Two thousand and nine has been a very interesting year for just about everyone.   This past year brought major changes with so many people losing jobs, companies shutting down, the economy falling apart.  Many celebrities died and a number of very difficult things happened.  It kinda makes you wonder how 2010 will go.

We’ve seen a lot of changes this past year.  If anyone had told me last January that I would resign from pastoring where I had been for 17 years, and be pastoring somewhere else, especially in OK just north of Tulsa, I would have probably laughed at the idea. Also thanks to Facebook this past year, I have reconnected with a lot of people from my past; people who had influenced me and were instrumental in helping me become what I am today.    It’s very interesting the changes just one year can bring.  This was a pivotal year for me.  I turned 50, and I still only feel 25!  The years tend to fly by now days.

For our little New Years Eve get-together I spoke a little to those with us just before midnight about the unchangeable consistency of change. We are constantly doing two things in our life; we are always leaving and entering. Life is all about seasons, how we move forward through entering and leaving seasons in our lives.  And every time we leave one season, we carry something with us into the next season.  What are you going to carry from 2009 into 2010?  What are you going to choose to leave behind?  Paul said in Phil 3, when sharing about all that he had done and accomplished, that he counted all things as lost in order to gain more of Christ.  In verse 13 & 14 he said that one thing he does (and I love how the Living Bible words this.) “I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.”

For a lot of us, 2010 would have a much better outlook if we would bring all our energies to keep this one thing in mind, forget what lies behind and reach for what is ahead.  We can’t change anything that has already happened in 2009, and we can either choose to spend most of 2010 questioning why, why not, how come, wish I had not have done this or that, why didn’t I do this or that, or we can forget what’s behind and reach forward with more knowledge and wisdom and experience to what lies ahead.  Make this your motto and aim for the New Year, “Going places I’ve never been in 2010.”   In Duet. God says that He sets before us death or life, and to choose life.  Make a choice to choose life and what’s ahead in 2010.

May this be the most exciting year of your life.

Pastor Terry