| Meet our OSL Board of Directors |
|
Hazel Kundinger :: Don Crary :: Charles Boole :: Barbara McBride Don Scott :: Larry Mitchell :: Louise Weiss :: Linda Miller :: James Ross |
|
Don
Scott During the ‘70s, Don attended several OSL events and was inducted as a member at the Isaquah, Wash. North American conference (formation of Region 12 under Ivan Futter) and became active in the newly-formed Burnaby Area Chapter of OSL, Region 12. He was elected secretary of Region 12 in 1988 with added responsibility as treasurer. Shortly after, he was asked to edit and publish Wellspring, the newsletter for Region 12. He continues as Region 12 treasurer, Wellspring editor and frequently as ad hoc secretary. In 1992, Don and Norma served as registrars/organizers for the largest North American Conference in Vancouver, B.C. He has also assisted at several North American Conferences as a prayer group leader/facilitator. Don is retired from over 31 yrs as a professional salesman of electrical equipment in the paper and mining industries. He says, “Our Burnaby Area Chapter is still active, and I continue to share and encourage our members with what the Lord keeps on teaching me.” Don's meditation will be added shortly. Larry
Mitchell
After seeing the thousands of sheep on the hillsides of this beautiful country, I think I can better appreciate the importance of the role of the shepherd and maybe also understand more fully what John’s Gospel is trying to teach us in this passage. What I think John is saying is that people are like sheep and as sheep wander aimlessly around waiting to be led and guided in the right direction, so do God’s people. And as the shepherd is sent to look after, protect and guide the sheep committed to his care, so too is Jesus sent to look after, protect and guide us through our journey in life. Jesus has a unique way of describing his role and work. He refers to himself as the Good Shepherd and says, “I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.” Isn’t it a wonderful thought to guide our meditations during this Easter season that Jesus came to earth so that you and I might have fullness of life! This means that if Jesus came so that we might have life to the full that His purpose in coming was to bring us healing and wholeness of life. Jesus came to bring healing for our hurts and wholeness for our souls. The basic premise upon which Christian healing is built and maintained is that God does not will us to be sick, but to be whole in body, mind, and spirit. To be whole in body, mind, and spirit is to have received, at the hands of the Good Shepherd, the abundant life of the Gospel. There are many pseudo-claims to healing in the world today, but it is only the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is the medicine of God that can and will bring us that wholeness of life that God desires for us and is His will for us. I leave you with this thought: have you allowed our Good Shepherd to bring you fullness of life? If you have, you have opened yourself to receive God’s gift of healing and wholeness. May God’s blessing be upon you, and may God’s love sustain you.
In Jesus’ love, Larry Rev.
Fr. James H. Ross
He has been in the Order of St. Luke healing ministry for over 20 years and served as regional warden of Southeastern U.S. for six years, during which time it grew from 38 chapters to over 100. Meditation (From April 2005 Sharing magazine): Isn’t that exciting – one of the sad things is that our communication with God has become one-sided and it has reduced the whole matter to a human level and taken the awe out of it. After all, we communicate constantly, and we make our needs known to anyone who will listen and to some who won’t. Nothing makes prayer real to us more than some evidence that it is indeed a two-way deal. If you see prayer simply as a way to get the universe to do your will, then you will consider prayer answered when you get what you want and unanswered when you don’t. The first step in understanding prayer as communication with a caring being is to realize that such a being may accept our request, defer it, or even refuse to talk about it until we have thought it through a bit more. We cannot imagine any way to improve on the mind of God. We constantly think up ways in which we would like to change it. We have to realize that God is reaching out to us all the time. God is the aggressor, the initiator. We should learn to pray with the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Only as we tune in can we begin to receive what our Creator has designed and poured out for us. With our heavenly Father many of us have a severe case of arrested development. When it comes to healing, the most important thing we can do for each other is to pray. It brings healing to the one praying, and to the one prayed for. And even I suspect to the one prayed to. For in daring to believe that prayer is worth our effort, we begin to heal the breach between ourselves and God. We acknowledge our littleness, and His greatness; we admit our brokenness and His wholeness; we recognize our need and His willingness to fulfill that need. Prayer is an unknown, and all too often, untried quantity, even in Christian circles. Yet it has a miraculous potential to change the world. Most of us talk more about prayer than we practice it. I know for myself, when I do pray, that amazing things happen. It’s as if it unleashes an unseen power into the world – a power that releases everyone, including myself, to give and to receive love. Where love is, healing takes place. The Rev. James Ross serves as Executive Chaplain and as Liaison for Regional Wardens and Chaplains on the OSL Board of Directors.
|
|
|
I received a wonderful, Biblical background in my church. When I grew up, I married the love of my life, Jere, also born and bred in the Methodist Church. Our children were baptized in the church as early as possible. When each of our children went through confirmation and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior, it was precious and emotional. I took every Bible study offered and I learned so much, but always felt something was missing. I knew if what I had was all there was to Christianity, it never would have lasted 2000 years. In 1997, I had an encounter with the Lord. It was powerful and transforming. I moved from knowing about God to knowing God. I committed myself to learn to pray. I have been on the glorious adventure that the OSL motto describes. I was healed of life-long, debilitating asthma in 1998 at an OSL healing mission and then became an active member of the Order. My pastor allowed us to start an OSL weekly healing prayer meeting in our church. We were moving in the gifts and seeing glorious healings on a regular basis. As I moved closer to the Lord, He was speaking to me in marvelous ways. One of the ways the Lord speaks to me is in songs. Every morning when I awake, I pause to tell the Lord "good morning" and He sings over me. It sets the tone for my day. Sometimes it is a hymn; sometimes it is a secular song. I look up all the words to the song and He gives me messages; usually of love or encouragement, sometimes a word of correction. Sometimes it is a riddle that I have to dig out the meaning; almost like a game between parent and child. God is so good. In July of 2005, instead of waking up hearing a song, I woke up hearing a Bible verse…"O taste and see the Lord is good." I was familiar with the verse and knew it was in the Psalms. I looked it up to see the context. It was a nice message, but did not bring any "revelation." The unusual thing was that the scripture kept looping in my mind. I kept hearing it over and over; much like a tune you cannot get out of your head. I asked several of my prayer partners what the scripture meant to them. I dug into commentaries and teachings about the verse. Still no satisfaction and the verse kept repeating in my mind, over and over. I was getting frustrated. I told the Lord I did not understand what He was trying to tell me. After about two weeks of only hearing "O taste and see the Lord is good", I prayed and asked the Lord to please stop the recording in my mind. It stopped. One night in September, I sat straight up in bed when I heard in an audible voice, "You have to leave your church, and you have to leave now." It was as clear as any person speaking to me. I was stunned. I questioned the Lord. "What are You talking about? I can't leave my church. I am in charge of the Prayer Shepherd ministry! I can't just walk away." No answer. I lay awake the rest of the night praying and wrestling with what the Lord had spoken to me. I realized I was being asked to make a choice. I was at a crossroads. I had promised Him years ago that I would go where He wanted me to go, but this was not what I expected. When morning came, I told Jere what had happened. He, too, was surprised. He wanted to know where the Lord had asked us to go. I told him He had not told me that part, only that we had to leave and we had to leave now. Jere prayed about it and agreed. The next day, I went to my pastor and told him what had happened. He was understandably shocked and asked me where we were going. I told him I did not know, that the Lord had not told me. He only told me to leave. I assured him I was not mad or upset. I was simply being obedient. After tears and hugs, he gave me his blessing and I walked out the door. I went back to my office. I told the Lord we were going with Him and we trusted Him. Later that day a man that I had not spoken with in two years dropped by my office and started talking about his church. I thought this was an interesting coincidence. He said he went to a new church in downtown Athens. He said it was contemporary and charismatic. I told him I usually went to Wednesday night prayer meeting and I did not have anywhere to go this week, so I would visit his church for their midweek service. The next day, I pulled up in front of the building. It was a storefront and very plain looking. I prayed and told the Lord that He knew that I was an artist and loved beautiful things and that I was sure this was not the place for me. I hoped that He just wanted me to meet someone here, visit that night and start my search for a church on Sunday. I went inside and there were a lot of people there for a midweek service, probably 30-40. I was impressed that they had brought food and were feeding people from the downtown area that were unchurched. As the band started to play, I turned to find a seat and saw a 12-foot wide sign on the wall behind the pulpit. In big, bold letters that read, "O taste and see the Lord is good." I laughed out loud and thought, "Lord, You are so funny!" I learned later that the church had been praying for almost two years for the Lord to send someone to lead the prayer ministry. I also learned that the parent ministry over this church had sent out a directive two weeks before that all their churches were to start an active healing ministry and start praying for healing at every service. I was the answer to their prayers! I have reflected on all this and the Lord revealed that when you are going where you have always been, you don't need signs. If you are traveling around your hometown you don't look for road signs. However, when you are going somewhere you have never been before, you need a sign to direct you. I also realized that He knew that in my flesh, I would have looked for a traditional church, stained glass windows, a choir, and a bulletin. He made it clear this was where we were supposed to be. For a while it was a struggle (especially with my mother and brother). Jere and I were out of our comfort zones, no piano, no hymns, no choir, no bulletin. On the other hand, our two sons loved it. My eldest son, Stephen got baptized in the Holy Spirit shortly after we started attending. The pastor, Darrell Simbeck is so anointed, and even Wesleyan. He preaches in blue jeans and his words are straight from the heart of God. The church is growing. People are being saved and lives transformed. "By their fruits ye shall know them." We are praying for the sick and hurting at every service and have weekly community-wide healing prayer and Holy Communion. We are taking healing prayer outside the church walls into hospitals, Walmart, coffee shops and fairs. At 56, Jere and I are among the oldest folks in the church, but it so wonderful to see so many young people excited about the Lord! I am so thankful that the Lord has led us into this glorious adventure! Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but
one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to
what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward
call of God in Christ Jesus.-Phil. 3:13, 14 NASV . |
|
|
Louise
Weiss
I live in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in the beautiful American Southwest. Contrary to popular opinion, New Mexico is not all hot desert. We live at 7500 ft. on the edge of the Jemez Mountains. We have four seasons, and sometimes lots of snow in the winter. I have been married for 35 years to my husband, Doug, a physicist at the national laboratory here in Los Alamos. We have one grown son and two wonderful grandsons. They are the joy of our lives. Doug and I belong to Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church, where we are both licensed Lay Readers and Lay Eucharistic Ministers. Additionally, we train other people to participate in this ministry for our church. I am convener of the Los Alamos Chapter of OSL. I am seeking to improve the educational opportunities for our chapter and provide more ways for our members to engage in healing prayer. Our chapter assists in the monthly evening healing service at Trinity on the Hill. I am involved in the healing ministry personally in several ways. I pray for healing in the physical, emotional, and spiritual areas, by the laying-on of hands, and by intercession. I am also involved in praying for inner healing by holding appointments with people who come for that ministry. I do hospital visitation for my church, and sometimes I substitute for our local hospital chaplain when she is out of town. I really enjoy teaching about healing and about OSL. I have held adult education classes in healing at my church, have facilitated Christian Healing Ministries’ School of Healing Prayer classes, and regularly teach my chapter about different aspects of healing. I have led workshops at the 2000 and 2003 North American OSL Conferences. I recently led a workshop at the Presbyterian Southwest Synod Conference in Albuquerque, NM. I have also organized several missions and regional conferences. Most recently, I was the organizer of the 2004 North American Conference last June at Glorieta Conference Center here in New Mexico. Obviously, the healing ministry of Jesus Christ has a big place in my life.
Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. Mt.27:39-40
When I attend the three-hour service at my church on Good Friday and hear the meditations on the seven last words, I want to say the same thing: “Come down from the cross! You don’t have to do this!” But He did have to do it. By not saving Himself, He saved me, and that sacrifice was a necessary price, willed by God. It was the only sacrifice which could atone for my sin. It was the only way I could be made worthy to enter the kingdom of God, and I am so grateful to Jesus for staying on the cross. The other thing I think about when I read this passage is that His example applies to me, too. I have not been nailed to a cross, but sometimes the adversities I encounter feel that way to me. I want to escape the pain, escape the misery, and find a quick fix, some easy way to feel better, even if for a short time. I want to come down from my cross, but His example teaches me to live through the pain, to cling to Jesus as the One who understands and feels the pain with me. He will walk through my trials with me and I will come out of them closer to Him, with the knowledge that I have done the right thing by not escaping. By staying with my crosses, I will find healing for my soul through Jesus. By His wounds, I am healed.
Faithfully, Louise
|
Meditation:
Bio:
The Rev. Fr. James H. Ross was raised in the Episcopal Church and
is now a priest in the Charismatic Episcopal Church of North America.
Bio:
I grew up in the Methodist Church. In my family, if the church doors
were open, we were there, for four generations! Our entire lives revolved
around the church. Until recently, I defined myself as a Methodist
Christian. I love the teachings of John Wesley. I love the hymns of
Charles Wesley. I love the order of worship and the traditions.
(From
February 2005 Sharing Magazine):