Cold Spring Church
780 Seashore Road
Cold Spring, NJ 08204 USA
609-884-4065
It’s probably not too surprising that if our Transformation Pastor were to write a book, it would probably be about the topic of transformation. And, you’d be right!
Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers, published Pastor Kevin’s new book, Crayons for the City: Reneighboring Communities of Faith to Rebuild Neighborhoods of Hope. Transformation is a process, not a destination. When a group, congregation, or community intentionally enters a process that is centered on learning and a readiness to change, transformation can be experienced as growth and a new capacity to accomplish a group’s or congregation’s mission and purpose. And Pastor Kevin reminds us that it’s not just change for change’s sake, but a belief that God wants to transform our lives in the community of faith and the community at large. See reviews and get your Kindle or Paperback copy today, click here.
“And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play” Zechariah 8:5 (NLT).
Pastor Kevin says, “Zechariah 8:5 was the vision for writing my new book, Crayons for the City. That vision continues to be my motivation for inviting community leaders to read Crayons and apply its practical framework in their own context.” Crayons is about asking leaders to take a look at their community impact, not just their effort.
The title Crayons for the City takes its name from Pastor Kevin’s work with children in Philadelphia that began with a box of Crayola crayons. The idea was to give voice to the child’s whole world experience in a very stigmatized and under-resourced neighborhoods of Kensington. The kids were given drawing topics each week: Me and My Neighborhood; Me and My Friends; Me and My Family; Me and My School; Me and My World; Me and My Church, and Me and My Future. The drawing journey led to significant conversations and opportunities to engage children and their families in community transforming activities. The book tells the story that began with a box of crayons which progressed into a whole community project of hope and a new future.
Pastor Kevin writes about leading the faith community since arriving in September 2016. From more open and energizing worship to asking the congregation to intentionally welcome and include the community at large, especially young families and those without any religious affiliation. He refers to programs and all gatherings as “Farming Events.” Pastor Kevin describes Farming Events as activities that plant seeds, nurture relationships, and foster forward-looking and cascading connections between the events moving forward.
“Everyone can be part of God’s transformational work,” Pastor Kevin says. Here’s an excerpt from Crayons for the City:
“While walking is good exercise, walking around the block to better understand the neighborhood is even better. …not to advertise programs or solicit support but to actively engage with residents and pay attention to what God is doing.” Pastor Kevin believes that God is active and working all over the greater Cape May community. What Cold Spring Church can do is to notice what God is doing and get involved. Everyone gets involved in their own unique ways.
“There are wonderful possibilities ahead for any church,” Pastor Kevin says, “Transformation begins with an authentic connection to God through Jesus Christ. God loves our community. It’s up to us to demonstrate that love in relevant and accessible ways in everything we do.”
This new book can help any community leader, church leader, or missions student discover effective ways to achieve a positive impact. Our community deserves no less!
At the following link you will find the book description along with endorsements and other information: LINK
If you are interested in a review copy of this new book, please fill out the form to request review copies HERE. Please indicate the journal you are associated with on the form.
Book Details:
Yoho, Kevin R.
Crayons for the City: Reneighboring Communities of Faith to Rebuild Neighborhoods of Hope
Cascade Books
ISBN 13:978-1-4982-3087-2
Softcover $33
Pub. Date: 11/9/2017
Community Connections: Learning and Serving
MARCH 31, 2018
FATHERS MATTER COMMUNITY CELEBRATION
Youth Advocate Programs is excited to announce “Fathers Matter” a day of fun for the whole community to celebrate the male role in the family and community, and especially the role as fathers and their children. Treat dad to a fun filled day from 11 am – 3 pm on Saturday, March 31. Martin Luther King Center, 207 W Main Street, Whitesboro, NJ 08252. Call 609-465-8747 for more information.
Youth Advocate Programs is hosting this event. YAP also sponsored the recent Opioid Overdose Prevention Training at our church. Several members of our congregation serve YAP in various capacities.
Our pastor, Dr. Kevin Yoho, will offer an interactive crayon drawing time for kids, as he wrote about in his new book, Crayonsfor the City: Reneighboring Communities of Faith to Rebuild Neighborhoods of Hope. A special session about the book and how communities can become places of hope will be offered. A drawing for a free book and book signing will follow.
This special day at the Center provides families a free, fun day. A coordinated array of services will be provided with the ultimate goal of shifting New Jersey’s social climate towards one that highly supports fathers as essential beneficial influences in all children’s lives.
The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2018. (Yes, its Valentine’s Day! What a perfect time to experience God’s love as we begin our Lenten journey!) Cold…
Read More
This week was my second Annual Congregational meeting. And I am delighted to say, like I said last year, I am grateful and energized as the Transformation Pastor (interim pastor) at Cold Spring Presbyterian Church. God is obviously up to something in greater Cape May and I believe that Cold Spring Church, as it approaches its 304th year, is at the center of that spiritual activity!
A Signpost Up Ahead : Transformation Journey
We are a community of faith on a transformation journey as disciples of Jesus Christ. We are moving forward to vitally connect spiritual and other resources with the community at large. God has blessed us with an amazing congregation and a beautiful campus including our cemetery, Price Hall, other buildings and our historic red brick church worship center. The transformation journey of learning, improving, and trying new things, and everyone is on this journey together!
“But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do” (James 1:25 CEB).
Mile Marker Report
Putting the Good News into practice is our mission. The term Mission is used a lot, and its not surprising that its meaning can be broadly understood. “A congregation, like the human body, can be represented by its resources, values, and priorities. But the change a congregation can experience is developmental and is governed by the capacity of its members to learn and grow.”1 So Mission refers to how we put our resources, values, and priorities to work. Distinct from Mission is Vision. When we refer to Vision, we are describing a future time when we hope to have realized our goal. A sample/draft Mission might be: Our vision is that our community at large experiences improved spiritual health and wellness accessing Cold Spring Church resources including worship, events, cemetery services, meeting space, and other connections in person and online. Our Mission Study Team is now working and will be responsible, in consultation with the session, to research and explore new connections with our community and propose new ministry ideas to expand our mission and contribute to our growth.
To help us measure our progress, we paused during a sermon last Spring to reflect on how we are feeling now about our spiritual connections compared to the year before. The survey said most of us moved from low engagement to high engagement. Wonderful! 82% said they would recommend Cold Spring Church to a friend or neighbor. Amazing! Good has blessed us with 7 friends who decided to become members of our community of faith in 2017, the most added in many years. Worship attendance was up 20% with increased giving, more visitors, and an increasing number of innovative events. We are now blessed with a Singing Team that enriches our worship.
Let’s recall a few of the 2017 events (attendance in parentheses). Palm Sunday (75), Maundy (Holy) Thursday (23), The Hunt Is On! Easter Egg Hunt (85 kids), Sunrise at Sunset Easter sunrise service at Sunset Beach (32), and our Easter Celebration (107). Our Gift & Craft Fair, Presbyterian Women Christmas Bazaar and Luncheon, and the Open Air and Craft Markets (one of which had a music group of local performers) were well attended and provided opportunities to build relationships with the community. Christmas Eve was unusual in that it fell on Sunday in 2017. We enjoyed two worship services that drew a total attendance of 150 with 70 attending the morning Christmas Eve worship and 80 the candlelight service. I am grateful to God for inspiring us to gather as we are sent out to bless the community! I am also grateful for everyone who is growing, learning, and trying new things. This Annual Report includes stories of these activities that are enthusiastically supported by the Cold Spring Church community of faith!
Taking New Paths
We made significant new connections with the community at large, too. We are now on the tour schedule of the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (MAC), and we receive referrals from Cold Spring Village. (P.S. The Village lovingly refers to us as “their church” connection!) We also renewed partnerships with the Cape May Historical Society, Congress Hall, and the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum, among many community groups. I have enjoyed participating with the Lower Township Clergy, as well as our improved participation in West Jersey Presbytery. In 2017 several of our leaders attended the presbytery’s Congregational Life Sunday and I presented a workshop entitled, How Your Church Can Become A Community Destination. (I hope even more attend this year’s event!)
I continue to be grateful and amazed by our staff: Judy, Jayne, Scott, Chris, and Bob, and those on our part time crews as they meet unexpected challenges and joyfully serve others with commitment, passion, and love. I am proud of our Leadership Team (Session), Caring Team (Deacons), Presbyterian Women and the Circles, Busy Bees, Singing Team, and our Wednesday morning Bible groups, among others, who have joyfully provided opportunities for people to get involved. The congregation’s generosity allows us to offer reduced fees for some non-profit community services groups like A.A., and free space for ministries like the Christ Child Society and the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Ministry is a partnership and I welcome your comments on what is working well and what improvements might be made.
What Does the Pastor Do the Rest of the Week?
Some have asked how I spend the rest of my time when I am not fulfilling the 30 hours/week, part-time, ministry as your pastor! On of the activities I enjoy is teaching in my third year on the faculty of City Vision University (www.cityvision.edu). This accredited, faith-based, university provides low-cost undergraduate and masters degree programs for students from all over the world. I have the pleasure of teaching Youth Ministry, Social Entrepreneurship, Small Business Entrepreneurship, Theology of Work, Leadership and Management, and Organizational Systems. I enjoy the impact I can have on students, especially those in other countries.
I am glad to share with you that my first book, Crayons for the City: Reneighboring Communities of Faith to Build Communities of Hope was published in November. It tells an amazing transformation story set in Kensington, Philadelphia. A congregation learned how to create new connections with children and families, and it all started with a box of crayons! Written mostly for community and church leaders and students who want to make a positive difference in their communities. If you enjoy Philadelphia history and learning how seemingly ordinary people can achieve extraordinary impact, you might also enjoy this book. I presented a signed copy of Crayons to the session. It is available in the church office if you’d like to review it. You may visit the publisher’s page here: https://wipfandstock.com/crayons-for-the-city.html
Expecting More Movement Ahead in 2018!
Now in our 304th year, we can deliver spiritual and other resources through our community of faith to our community at large that transforms our neighbor’s lives in the name of Jesus Christ. What do you expect this year?
In 2018, our leadership and caring teams, groups, teams, staff, and individuals just like you all have an opportunity to expect more of Christ, and of each other. Imagine how our greater Cold Spring area neighbors could experience God is new ways, more relevant and effective ways? How could seniors be energized by hope? How can younger people grow and connect to serve and learn so that more and more people experience the abundant life?
I hope you are growing and learning! Let’s get involved a bit more. Give a bit more. Engage a bit more. Serve a bit more. Love a lot more.
“My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God” (1 John 4:7, NRSV).
Cold Spring Church. Energizing Spirits. Transforming Lives. Expecting More in 2018.
Are you on the road with the Spirit?
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
1 Yoho, Kevin R., et al. Crayons for the City: Reneighboring Communities of Faith to Rebuild Neighborhoods of Hope. Cascade Books, 2017. Page 64.
Expect More!
How is your new year looking so far? Are you expecting much? We are not victims to our past. We are not destined to merely repeat last year, this year. We can choose a different, more hopeful future. Want to find out how 2018 can be different? Read on, and here’s a hint: Expect more.
They arrived at Bethsaida. Some people brought a sightless man and begged Jesus to give him a healing touch. Taking him by the hand, he led him out of the village. He put spit in the man’s eyes, laid hands on him, and asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up. “I see men. They look like walking trees.” So Jesus laid hands on his eyes again. The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight, saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus. Jesus sent him straight home, telling him, “Don’t enter the village.” (Mark 8.22-26)
Someone shared a brochure they picked up at a church they had recently visited when out of town. (I really appreciate learning how other communities of faith communicate their mission and message, so keep sharing your experiences when you are away!)
The brochure is entitled, What to Expect During Your Visit. It was intended to be read by the first-time visitor and previewed what a normal, regular order of worship looked like, how the service would be conducted, the pastor’s theology, and a brief description of church groups. It sounded so complete. (Incidentally, it was not a Presbyterian church.)
I wondered though, how many people only experienced what that brochure described should be expected? As if that brochure was the bar to be met. Nothing more or less. We have produced our own Welcome to Cold Spring Church brochure and I am reviewing it with different eyes now.
We do want everyone, especially our first-time guests, to feel safe and not be caught off guard or made to feel uncomfortable. That is why I try to help aclimate guests during my Welcome each week as worship begins. But I wonder if our worship is too regimented, regular, and maybe a bit too predictable. It might be better if more surprises were experienced! That is, if worshippers expected MORE from God, and we experienced MORE in worship, wouldn’t we more likely be more energized as God’s creativity and wonder were released?!
The story above from the Gospel of Mark about the man who could not see tells what on the surface looks like a failed miracle of Jesus. But it actually tells the story of expectations being exceeded.
The man’s friends expected that Jesus would heal the condition of blindness. Imagine like in a post office you line up to see Jesus. Next. Next. And so on. Jesus will heal you. Next, please.
As if that was the man’s only need, the man’s vision circumstance, could Jesus possibly care about. But surprisingly, what we learn is that Jesus cared about the man’s entire life experience not just his vision challenges. Jesus took the man out of town, where otherwise-abled people gathered (those we thoughtlessly refer to as the disabled). Jesus wanted the man to experience something other than same old shame and rejection. Using his own saliva as a healing balm, Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes, asking him if he could see.
Yes!, the man exclaimed. The now-sighted man reported that he saw people upside down! Seeing upside down was better than not seeing at all, right? Maybe they should leave well enough alone. They expected that he would see after being with Jesus. Good enough, then! Maybe they should just go back to town with the little they got.
But thankfully, they waited, they managed to expect more. They recognized in that moment of increasing clarity that Jesus not only could, but would do much more than they at first imagined. At the Master’s Second Touch, all was well, and Jesus reminded him, there is no need to go back to that village begging! Jesus exceeded the expectations, and I believe, he wants to exceed ours, and our community’s expectations, as well.
What do we expect in our congregation’s worship and ministry? I suggest, not nearly enough! God’s transforming Spirit is urging us to go beyond incremental and incomplete blessings to receive the empowering Second Touch to be that real, new, community of Christ’s disciples. Come on! We have already found we can dream again. We have increased our energy. We have increased our financial giving. We have experienced healing and hope and I don;t think God is out of blessings. Do you?
Our 303 year old mission, should we fully embrace it, is to deliver spiritual and other resources through our community of faith to our community at large that transforms our neighbor’s lives in the name of Jesus Christ. What do you expect?!
In 2018, our leadership and caring teams, groups, teams, staff, and individuals just like you all have an opportunity to expect more of Christ and of each other. Imagine how our greater Cold Spring area neighbors could experience God is new ways, more relevant and effective ways? How could seniors be energized by hope? How can younger people grow and connect to serve and learn so that more and more people experience the abundant life like that man did, like Jesus continues to offer to us today?
During the past year you may be in a better place, but look carefully. You may see, but are “people walking upside down.”? Well, pay attention, because the Master’s Second Touch is on the way for a new, healthy, and abundant year. Get involved a bit more. Give a bit more. Engage a bit more. Serve a bit more.
Cold Spring Church: Energizing Spirits. Transforming Lives. Expecting More.
Let’s not settle for a new year, but an expect more year. I can’t wait to see what emerges…
Pastor Kevin
Cold Spring Church partners with local Alcoholics Annonomous groups to provide a safe and convenient place to hold meetings. AA groups meet at 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Sundays.
Read More
