Welcome to the Yorkshire Church Blog

24 September 2021

Good Day and Greetings to Everyone!

We have officially graduated into the Fall season this week. Although I love the summer season and really love a good snow storm, Fall is my favorite time of the year. The cool, crisp air of morning and the mild temperatures of afternoon are almost perfect conditions to enjoy the outdoors. The lower path of the sun through the sky provides a lighting effect that seems to have been perfectly designed to compliment the colors of the trees, often highlighted by a darker sky and big magnificent clouds. There’s nothing quite like the Fall breeze that swirls and scatters the fallen leaves along the ground and walkways. For me, it triggers thoughts of from my past, almost as if every leaf that is kicked up and swirled around is a wonderful memory of my life, each one a different color and a different shape. Each year adds new leaves and new colors to this mosaic of life. I really love the Fall! We serve and love an awesome God!

It has been a great week at Yorkshire church. Our administrative council met on Tuesday and, as you all know, I love a great meeting. This meeting did not disappoint! We discussed many great things that are happening within our church and have begun to set plans and goals for the future. Preschool is firing on all cylinders and our Scouts are back in action. In Education news, our classes are up and running, BUT, this past week, we had some challenges. Get this…we had too many children for the allotted number of teachers in both children’s church and our children’s Sunday school! Many thanks to Kristin Berman and Lexi Morrow who jumped right in to provide the necessary support to these programs. Your vision and awareness on Sunday morning to these needs and your willingness to step up, before any of us knew of the challenge, is greatly appreciated! What a blessing! So, if you are reading this, and feel that you would like to be involved in teaching, or helping a teacher support our students, let Rick Focht or the church office know. We will work with you to get you plugged into an area that meets your interests and callings.

In the area of missions, there is also some great things in the works. This week, one of the missionaries that we are supporting will be speaking to our fellowship and sharing her work in the Dominican Republic. It is great to hear how our fellowship is able to be a part of God’s work throughout the world. Rebecca Jacobs will speak to both the 9AM and 11:15AM services. Our mission’s team is also putting together a Fall fellowship event; Trunk or Treat. The event will be held outside on Sunday, 23 October from 1-3. There is a great deal of info that you will see in the very near future, but the gist of it is that we will offer a safe and fun opportunity for the children in our church, preschool, scouts and community to interact with members of our church and fill their bags with candy and treats in our parking lot(s). Expect great music, games, face painting, et al! I also will go on record here and make the following proclamation. There will be NO dunk tank. I want the team that is coordinating this event to read that again… there will be NO dunk tank!

Our Trustee’s report was focused primarily on the upcoming and required work to get our fellowship hall back in action. The necessary repairs to this flooding issue continue to be evaluated by Steve Spangler and Josh Strange. They are working with contractors and engineers to not only fix damaged portions of the fellowship hall, but also to ensure that the cause of the flooding is repaired. Yesterday (Thursday, the 22nd), we flooded again in significant fashion. Although frustrating, it gave us an opportunity to see just how the flooding developed over the course of the morning storm. It also revealed some elements that will require additional evaluation. The fellowship hall is an essential part of our church operations as it hosts our larger Sunday School

classes, Preschool activities throughout the week, and Scouts several nights a week. All of these activities have been displaced. We are moving forward with as much of the repair work internally that we can while final solutions are being engineered. As a result of yesterday’s rain, we once again have a mini-lake under the stage area. Beginning on Monday, October 4th, a team will begin removing the stage and current storage areas that are behind the current wall. This will open up the room to the walls and potential areas where water is entering the facility. Then, on October 11th through the 20th, a special team will be in to remove the current flooring, which includes the abatement of old asbestos tile which is underneath. This will be a complex process, but a necessary one. These are just the first steps of the repair process that can be completed while the water source issues are being addressed. During this time, our rain gutters, which contribute to our issue, will be upgraded also. So, there will be much going on at our church as we are doing all we can to get our fellowship hall back in operation as soon as possible.

Our Finance team report was very positive. The efforts to restructure our financial platforms and processes are providing great benefit to our fellowship as we grow in our worship, education, and outreach efforts. Our year to date (Jan – Aug 2021) financial picture continues to be positive:

Yorkshire Financial Picture including Joyful Noise Christian Preschool: January 2021 thru August 30, 2021

Income: Expenses: Working Capital:

$282,492.00 250,659.00

$ 23,752.00 (Positive Working Capital)

Our balance sheet also remains strong going into the fourth quarter. With this said, we will be incurring significant expenses to repair our facility as stated above. This year, we paid our insurance premiums in full and early. This has paid off as our insurance will be providing us $24,000.00 towards our expenses. But we anticipate the repair and restoration costs being well more than double this number. The good news is that because of your generosity, we can manage and cover any costs we incur. Our finance team is working to evaluate the best means to fund these expenses and will be reviewing financing options as part of their plan. The church has strong balance sheet, which allows us to have some good options in this area. But, it is also a time to state that if you are feeling called to participate in helping us navigate this situation from a financial perspective, any additional gifts to the “Building Fund” would be of tremendous benefit to our situation.

There were many other great discussions and meetings this week. I am blessed to serve with an incredible team of dedicated leaders here at Yorkshire.

In closing, I want to emphasize what a blessing it was to hear the sounds of our choir this past Sunday morning during our 11:15 service. Your gifts filled the church with great joy and everyone was touched by your performance! Great job Choir. I want to also extend Mike Heintzelman’s comments during the service to especially thank Beth Gross

and Jackie Linsey for their directing and accompanying efforts! Thank you!

Peace and Blessings! -pastor dave.

dkominsky@susumc.org
125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402

• (717)755-4952

• www.yorkshirechurch.org

17 September 2021

Good day Yorkshire!

Well, Rally Day has come and gone, and what a success it was! I am so thankful to have been a part of the festivities of the day and interacting with so many of our fellowship, scouts, preschool families, and so many neighbors from our community. I just want to again extend my thanks and gratitude to the team that made this happen at Yorkshire- it was certainly an effort of the masses! I could go on and on about it, but it was truly a special day.

How about our Women’s Bible Study on Monday evening! Nineteen women gathered together to share in fellowship as they are working through a study called Anxious, Fighting Anxiety with the Word of God by Scarlet Hiltibidal. I know that I can speak from Holly’s perspective that this was an incredible evening of sharing and prayer! They outgrew the room that they were meeting in before they even met! So, as a result, the staff of the church tackled the challenge and we will be resetting Rooms 201 & 203 prior to our weekly studies to accommodate larger groups while the fellowship hall is being repaired. This room is large enough to accommodate up to 30 people very comfortably. This will also accommodate our Men’s Fellowship on Wednesdays during both the 6AM and 6PM studies.

The Men’s Fellowship had a great time at the York Revolution Stadium on Wednesday evening! Thanks to Doug Berman for organizing this great outing and hosting us in a Skybox for what was a very good game. It was a time of simple fellowship and breaking of bread (well, actually meatballs, chicken fingers, hot dogs, cheese steaks, and moz-sticks and soft pretzels). It was nice to be able to grow in our relationships with one another as a group of Christian men. I am looking forward to starting our studies on Wednesday, Sep 22nd on the sixes which will be David Platt’s, Something Needs to Change, which is a video-based series built around an 8-day journey in the Himalayan Mountains. It is a challenging but compelling study.

We are now into our Fall season in the life of the church and with this brings administrative processes that we must undertake such as beginning the process of leadership selection for next year. In the next few weeks, the Nominations and Leadership team will be speaking with our current leadership team as well as recruiting members from our fellowship to serve in various roles. In most churches, this is a well-known process of begging and arm-twisting, but I see this as an opportunity to work with our leaders as well as those who are feeling a calling to lead within the church. I believe that a church that has leaders with a passion to serve will thrive.

This past year, our leadership team has begun to consider each of the administrative roles as a ministry, not a position. For example, Rick Focht is not just holding the Education Team Chair position, he is leading the ministry of education at Yorkshire. His gifts, insights, discernment and leadership of those who serve as part of

this valuable team is a critical part of how we are able to support the body of the church. Doug Berman and Justin Mann, who serve as our Finance Team leaders (Chair and Treasurer) do not simply hold positions, but they lead the ministry of supporting the processes that allow us to have a facility to worship in, have the resources to provide for the needs of the Education Team for example, as well as ensuring that the church has the means to carry out the missions that it is called to serve. Their talents, gifts, and leadership are critical elements of how God can use us as we seek to grow in our relationship with God and carry out the commissions of Jesus Christ. Of course, this carries through all of our leadership positions, Missions, Trustees, Nominations and Leadership, etc. If you are feeling a calling to serve as a leader in the church, please let me know or communicate your interest to Alison in the church office. We have some new areas that we would like to grow into as well as some existing vacancies –we will be in touch!

A quick update on the Fellowship Hall repairs. We have now received quotes from several contractors to get the work started. The insurance claim has been approved and is being processed. This will provide us $25,000.00 toward the work which is necessary to not only clean up the fellowship hall, but to repair the cause of the issues that we have been experiencing. We know that this will cover less than half of what we will need to invest, but our Trustees and Finance teams are doing an incredible job assessing the situation and strategizing how we will accomplish the financing of the project. The scope of the work includes new rain gutters, ground water drainage assessment and remediation, sump pump improvements/replacements, wall repairs and painting, new flooring in the fellowship hall, stage removal (black mold/mildew), removal of four large trees in front yard (fungal root disease-trees dead and/or dying causing year round leaf dropping clogging outdoor drains), and the expense of removing the black mold infested materials from the fellowship hall (years of flooding and moisture). So, again I must extend special thanks of appreciation to the efforts of Steve Spangler and Josh Strange in managing this process!

As usual, there is a lot going on at Yorkshire Church and I can’t begin to thank our leadership and our teams enough for all that they are doing. Next week I will share our finances through the end of August and we will again celebrate our thanks for everything that all of you are doing through your generosity to our fellowship. We remain financially stable and are able to manage our finances in ways that allow us to carry out the missions and tasks of the church, but also to be able to take care of our facility and property, as well. God is doing incredible things here through each of you, using each of your gifts in unique ways to further His Kingdom here in York County and the places He is calling us to serve!

Have a great and blessed day!

Peace and blessings, -pastor dave.

dkominsky@susumc.org
When the world is living in the darkness of fear, it is an opportunity for God’s Church to shine His light.

125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 • www.yorkshirechurch.org

10 September 2021 Good Day Yorkshire!

I am looking forward to this Sunday (12 Sep) and our Rally Day celebration. A reminder to everyone is that we only have one worship service at 10AM. This allows both services to combine and enjoy fellowship with one another. Following the service will be our outdoor Rally Day festivities. This will include the “official” ribbon cutting of our new preschool playground. The Joyful Noise children had opportunities this past week to check it out and we received rave reviews from them! I asked one little girl in the 4-year-old class how she liked the new playground. Her answer was, “I really liked it. There was a see-saw in there and I see-sawed, and see-sawed, and there was another see-saw in there, too. But I just see-sawed and see-sawed on the same one.” And then she jumped up in the air. I took that as a positive!

There will be games, a bounce house, a dunk tank, as well as great music performed by Steven Courtney at 11:15 and then Steven Courtney and His Band of Friends at 1PM. And, of course food trucks! Our preschool families, scouting groups and community have all been invited so we will have a great opportunity for fellowship with many who have a connection to Yorkshire Church!

The fellowship resulting from the festivities of Rally Day provide an important aspect of the church. In the Old Testament, festivals were held for all sorts of things, but were always done to commemorate the start or the completion of an event or time period (i.e.: the harvest). For Yorkshire, Rally Day is a kick-off and celebration of our new season of learning. It is a time where we prepare to begin and commit to Christian Education, or what we call Sunday School. The education team has been working to layout a new schedule and system of learning where instead of simply having Sunday School groups, we have a curriculum-based education program that allows our folks to find classes and content that meets their particular needs and interests for where they are on their faith journey. In theory, as our programs mature, we will have an education path for those who are new to their faith or interested in the basics of the Bible. We will also have a path for those that would like to dig deeper into the Word. We will have classes that involve open discussion forums as well as classes that will be lecture type learning opportunities. Beginning on Sunday, the 19th, we will be offering four adult Sunday School offerings, a Youth class, and two children’s classes. You can see a description of each class in the announcements. It is our hope that as the content of the class changes, that you will try different classes and different teachers which will also help us get to know a wider variety of our fellowship through the learning process.

In addition to Sunday School programming, the Women’s and Men’s fellowship groups will be starting new studies. The women’s group will be studying Scarlet Hiltibidal’s study entitled “Anxious”. To say that we live in anxious times might be a huge understatement. I am excited to see how this study not only provides great content, but more importantly an opportunity for our women to fellowship together with one another. The women’s group meets Monday nights at 6:30 beginning this Monday, September 13th.

The men’s fellowship will be studying David Platt’s “Something Needs to Change,” which is a challenge to us as to how we might make a difference, and why we should. The study is done in a video format using amazing cinematography of a trip through the Himalayas. As Christians, we are called to action. This study won’t tell

us what we should do, but will strive to open our hearts and bring us together as we begin to understand how God may use us to make a difference in the world. This group meets Wednesdays on the sixes- 6AM and 6PM, beginning on September 22nd. This is also a great opportunity for the fellowship of our men. We grow stronger together.

Now is a time for the church to grow stronger. I don’t need to get into just how weird the world is getting. I am not going to do a sermon series on end times or the prospect of them being today, tomorrow or even in a thousand years- that is God’s call. But we are certainly seeing a divisive energy permeating just about all aspects of our life. We are experiencing limitations and restrictions on our activities unlike anything that we have seen in our lifetime before. My focus and word to the church is not about which element of what you are hearing may actually be based on truth. What troubles me is the apparent lack of objective truth in what we are hearing. I am not going to tell anyone what they should or should not believe as to what comes across our media and news cycles. What I may have believed a few weeks ago is now different than what was presented yesterday and will probably be different again tomorrow. The only consistent in our world today is inconsistency. It is, quite frankly, difficult to know what to trust.

We, as Christians, are called upon in times like this to represent what we know as absolute truth, and that is the Truth of Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we have studied the lives of many of those in the early church, John, Peter, Stephen, Philip, and Paul, we don’t see them out speaking about the issues of the day or the differences that they had with the government. I am sure in their own circles, they vented out frustrations with one another, but when it came time to witness, their emphasis was on Jesus and the Kingdom of God. They knew the scriptures and they shared what they knew. They understood who they were talking to, were creative in their approach, and were persistent to those who showed an interest. They lived with a faith in God, and not faith in the world.

If we want to have faith in the Word, we need to be in the Word. It may not be in memorizing scripture passages in in being able to recite the books of the Bible, but simply in gaining an understanding of the Biblical story of Jesus Christ. This is why I feel the element of Christian Education in the church is of critical importance.

In regards to our time in fellowship, we will continue to leave the choice of wearing masks up to each person and respecting one another for their decision. Some feel more comfortable wearing masks and some would prefer not to. In each case, we honor each other through our love for one another. We are all in this together. As far as Pastor Megan and I, we appreciate each of you that enjoys a good handshake or a hug and these are the things that make our relationship special. But, because we interact with over 100 people on Sunday mornings alone, we feel that it is best if our affections are shared from a moderate distance. Please do not view this as our disinterest in this type of interaction. Its just a simple way for us to honor and respect each person that we interact with and support their concerns as we navigate these times. Yes, we want to share and speak with everyone and we will. We just ask you to understand that the fact that we are not reaching out to shake hands or hug is not a lack of our desire to do so! We can’t wait to return to a day where such gestures are the norm! These are challenging times in which we live. “When you surrender your life to God, fear’s grip over you begins to fade.” -Denzel Washington.

When the world is living in the darkness of fear, it is an opportunity for God’s Church to shine His light.

Peace and blessings, -pastor dave.

dkominsky@susumc.org
125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 • www.yorkshirechurch.org