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Written by The Rev. Charlie Vensel+
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Dear Saints,
Greetings in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
I do hope everyone is having an enjoyable summer, visiting friends and family, and simply slowing down a little bit. At the same time, I’m very mindful that school starts for our children in just a few weeks, and, Labor Day is just around the corner.
For All Saints, that means we will be back to our full attendance on Sundays and our fall programs begin. I thought I would take the opportunity in this post to talk a little bit about what we have planned for the fall.
First, we are committed to having parish-wide parties once a quarter. Plans are underway right now to pick that date and venue. Marti & Kathy Horwatt and Lisa Holland, our fellowship team, are working very hard to firm things up and I’m sure it will be impressive…it always is when these three get together on something.
Second, you’ve heard me speak of three seasons together. First was “getting our house in order” (making sure all of our ministries were functioning well), second is “going deeper” (really owning what we are doing), and third is “turning outward” (taking who and what we are into the community). We are about to enter our third season together.
We’ve made some major inroads into the community with Leadership Spartanburg, Spartanburg Downtown Association, Spartanburg Art Museum, Partners for Active Living, TOTAL Ministries, and Christmas in Action, just to name a few. We are slowly, but surely, becoming a church that can be “for” Spartanburg, serving our community and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Please see our website for more information on all of these exciting opportunities at http://www.visitallsaints.org/outreach/compassionmissions and http://www.visitallsaints.org/outreach/service.
Third, we are thrilled to be offering the Alpha Course this fall, starting September 1st. Alpha will take place in the TNT time slot on Wednesday nights. Hundreds of thousands of people have come to faith on this course, including myself in 1998. I t is billed as “A Practical Introduction to the Christian Faith.”
We have an Alpha Introductory Dinner scheduled for September 1st where people can come to learn more about Alpha and decide if this is something they would like to pursue. For now, we are only inviting people to the Introductory Dinner and opportunity to register for the course will be made available that evening. We hope everyone will invite several people to come to the dinner. However, you must register for the dinner, as space is limited. To learn more about Alpha, please see our website at http://www.visitallsaints.org/outreach/evangelism.
Fourth, we have some special things planned in order to help us all invite people to church. Very soon, you will be given some business card invitations to pass out to people you meet as you share about the church. You will also receive some personalized stationery invitations that you can mail to your friends with a personal note attached. We are hoping that every family will pass out ten of the business cards and mail out ten invitations.
We must remember that we are a relevant, real, and relational church. Relationships are where we are real and relevant; it is where church happens. We must be looking for new relationships and establishing deeper relationships with those around us. An invitation to church is certainly part of that process.
Lastly, our website has been updated with a lot of new material, that includes more information on who we are, our purpose, our vision, and where we are headed. We hope that this will continue to be our primary source of communication both within and without the congregation. Please check it out and check it often.
While the summer remains, be sure to get some rest. Fall is just around the corner and we will be hitting the pavement running.
Blessings,
Charlie+
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Written by The Rev. Charlie Vensel+
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“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13–14 ESV)
We have just passed Pentecost Sunday and are entering the time when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit for the equipping and empowering of Gospel ministry. It is not only a time when we praise God for this wonderful gift, but also a time when we cry out to him to increase it amongst us.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been sensing a real call to enter into corporate prayer for our church. I truly believe it to be from the Lord. I’ve had far too much confirmation from different individuals in unrelated events to ignore it. So, in obedience to what I believe is the Lord’s will for us, I’m issuing a call to corporate prayer. I see this call going out in three ways.
First, we ask you to remember the church and her needs in your own prayer lives, especially for me, our Council, and our ministry heads.
Second, look for some changes in the way we handle Prayers of the People on Sunday mornings for a while. I love the written prayers, and we’ll use some kind of form, but I want us to take the time on Sunday mornings to really press into the Lord in some specific areas. Ample time will be given between topics for people to pray in pairs or out loud. We encourage you to participate. Do not worry if you feel uncomfortable praying out loud, God knows what we need before we ask, and he will use your words, no matter how unimpressed you might be with them. The point is we do this as a Body on behalf of the church and that all participate.
Third, we will use the TNT time on Wednesday nights, starting on 6/9. For a season, we will consider this to be the “Prayer Meeting” of the church. We want the whole church to join us for these evenings. We will still have a time of worship, I’ll lead us in a short teaching, we’ll have a testimony or two, but much of the evening’s time will be given to prayer.
What am I asking us to pray for in these three venues? Well, I’ve come to believe we need to pray for a lot of things, but I’ll give you a sense of what’s been on my heart for starters:
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Written by The Rev. Charlie Vensel+
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Dear Saints,
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. I must apologize for not posting something sooner…just got busy and forgot all about it. No excuses.
 This Sunday, May 23, is Pentecost Sunday. It was formerly called Whitsunday, a moveable feast day that occurs fifty days after Easter and marks the end of the Easter season. It is the day on which the church celebrates and remembers the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the apostles (Acts 2:1-21). “Pentecost” derives from the Greek name for the Jewish Festival of Weeks, fifty days after Passover, when the giving of the Law was celebrated.
Because this event signaled the beginning of the apostles’ public proclamation of Jesus Christ, it is often called the birthday of the Christian church. It is also a traditional day for baptisms, and the color of the day is red, the color of the Holy Spirit.
Well, at All Saints Church-Spartanburg, we have a lot to celebrate this Pentecost. Not only is it the birthday of the Christian church, but the two-year birthday of our very own church. It is quite obvious that the Holy Spirit has been poured out in our midst. “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27 ESV)
God has been with us through thick and thin, equipping us, empowering us, adding to our numbers, and calling us to do much greater things than we could ever imagine. Our survival, indeed our thriving, has come from God on high. He has caused amazing things to happen in our midst; a strong community of people who love on each other and their neighbors well, reconciliation abounds, and a spirit of worship I have seldom experienced in any other church. Praise God for the gift of his Holy Spirit.
As I mentioned earlier, this is a fitting day for baptisms. We are proud to announce that we will be baptizing Journee Lawhorne this Sunday. It is a great witness to what God is doing at All Saints. I pray you savor every moment of it, reflect on the promises of God, the promises made on her behalf, and the promises we make to her and her family…folks, this is church! This is the work of the Holy Spirit!
In the spirit of Pentecost, and celebrating what we might call three birthdays, that of the Christian church, that of our church, and the baptism of Journee, we are going to do one of the things we do best at All Saints, throw a party! And there, we will also recognize all of those who have worked so hard to make All Saints flourish week-to-week.
For both our worship service and the afternoon party, we are expecting a good number of people to revisit us, folks that for one reason or another moved on early in the life of the new church. Praise be to God for the bonds of faith! We so look forward to seeing them.
The party is being held at Croft State Park, shelter 1. Official time is from 4pm to 9pm, but we encourage people to come any time after the service for fun and relaxation (some of our folks will be out there as early as 7am). Bring your bikes, lawn chairs, etc. There is a $2 per car parking fee that is on the honor system.
Food will include pulled pork bbq, cooked by All Saints’ finest pit-masters. All the sides and drinks you would expect will be there. We also have Spartanburg’s very own 1012 playing live from 5:30-7:30; they rock!
Folks, we do indeed have a lot to celebrate; a glorious powerful God who bestows power on his people for his purposes, that our people have stepped into that power to make a go of this thing, and that God continues to bless us.
Wishing you a great Pentecost Sunday, and hope to see you at the 10am service and at the party that afternoon.
Blessings,
Charlie+
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Written by The Rev. Charlie Vensel+
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Dear Saints,
 March 28th is Palm Sunday, which is the last Sunday in Lent, also known as the Sunday of the Passion, and the beginning of Holy Week. The day commemorates Jesus’ triumphal procession into Jerusalem and is marked by a blessing of palms and a procession of the whole congregation into the church. If the weather is good, we will process into the service together, from the courtyard of the Chapman Center. Please plan to gather at 9:40 to receive your palms and for processional instructions.
While outside, we’re also hoping to get a good photo of the congregation to send to our sister Church in Rwanda, Nanga sub-parish, in the Diocese of Kivu. For the photo, we plan on holding up a large sign that reads, "Amahoro y'Imana abane namwe iteka," which is Kinyarwanda for, “The Peace of the Lord be always with you!”
What is Holy Week? Holy week is the most significant week of the church year, starting on Palm Sunday and ending on Easter Day. The earliest Holy Week services seem to have taken place in Jerusalem in the sanctuaries of the holy places, as recorded by the fourth-century pilgrim Egeria. The Book of Common Prayer provides special services for most of these days and special readings for all of them. All Saints Church, Spartanburg will offer two Holy Week services that week. Maundy Thursday 4/1, and Good Friday, 4/2, both at the Church Office at 7:00pm.
 What is Maundy Thursday? It is the Thursday of Holy Week, on which the church remembers Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist and the washing of the disciples’ feet. “Maundy” is a medieval English form of the Latin word mandatum, meaning “commandment,” and it refers to Jesus’ “new commandment” in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (ESV)
In ancient times, the task of washing feet was usually assigned to servants. However, because Jesus washed the disciples’ feet at the last Supper, the early Christian church continued that custom, and it later became associated with the Maundy Thursday liturgy. Although earlier version of the prayer book did not contain it, the ritual was restored as an option in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The Maundy Thursday Eucharist is also the only one celebrated between Wednesday in Holy Week and the Great Vigil of Easter.
In this service, we will do a foot washing; participation in that part of the service is optional for those of you are not comfortable in so doing. We will also strip the altar bare at the conclusion of the service, in preparation for the Good Friday service.
 What is Good Friday? The Friday of Holy Week and the day when Christians have traditionally remembered and meditated upon the crucifixion of Jesus through fasting, penance, and special devotion. The earliest Good Friday rites took place in Jerusalem, beginning in the fourth century. Today, the liturgy customarily takes place in a bare church where the altar has been stripped and the crosses veiled.
The service consists of the Liturgy of the Word (often the passion narrative from John’s gospel), Veneration of the Cross, and the Solemn Collects (an ancient form of the prayers of the people), and does not include communion.
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