He made it another year! Now we can call him an “old married man”.
Don’t forget to let Ty know how much you appreciate him on his special day. Thanks, Ty for all you do and all you are. God bless you!
“Father, bless the servant that I am and the servant that I will be.” AMEN.
Here is a little bit of information on our Board of Director Nominees:
Heath Howard has been a part of the Wheatland Mission since 2006. He is married to Jenny (almost 9 years) and together they have three wonderful boys: Ethan, Jacob and Samuel. Heath attended Manhattan Christian College where he and Jenny met. Early in their marriage they did mission work in Abengourou, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). Heath works as a web designer at CCH where he designs websites for CPA firms. You can check out Heath’s blog here.
David Hoyer has been with Wheatland from its earliest days, is married to Irene (for 17 years) and the father of three boys: Malachi, Abram and Elijah. David graduated from WSU and the University of Arizona. David is a software engineering manager at LSI and the fire chief for the Sedgwick County Volunteer Fire Department. You can read David’s blog here.
Jim Murfin has also been with Wheatland from its inception and is married to Laura (7 years) and the father of three beautiful girls: Amanda, Stacie, and Meghan. (There seems to be a bit of a pattern here.) Jim has earned degrees from Friends, Washburn and SMU. He serves as an attorney and a municipal judge in Augusta, KS. We are waiting for Jim to join the blogroll.
These are three very special men who have both a heart for the Lord and a heart for the Wheatland Mission. Please continue to pray for both the Board of Directors and the vote that you will make.
•Remember that you can cast your vote at Wheatland’s Webmail.
•Curious about the process? Click here for the working group report.
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. – Micah 6:8 ESV
The Wheatland Mission is full of generous people. I am reminded of our trip to Haiti this past year when Paul Riley and I delivered over 7o pairs of shoes to the children there. You had two weeks to bring the shoes before our trip. Way to go. Upon our return we took up a collection to provide food and supplies to the orphanage in Fedja. Again, way to go.
One can read almost any passage of Scripture and discover that God cares very much about the poor, the disenfranchised, the down and out, the widow, the orphan, and those at the bottom of the heap. Since God cares, so should we. And, to be quite honest, I know Wheatland cares and am proud of that fact.
Our Justice and Mercy Team is now in place in order to help us become more intentionally generous. It is great that generosity comes naturally to us. The Justice and Mercy team will Wheatland be disciplined in our giving thus allowing our generosity to be a natural and normal part of our life as a community. This team will enable us to thoughtfully give at least 10% of our church’s income to ministries that serve the poor and those without Christ, both locally and around the world.
Laura Murfin, Michele Thiessen and Kelly Hayes have all agreed to serve on this team. Their combined experience in both long and short term mission trips, working with those who are in need within our own country, and a passion for those who are different than us will serve as an important resource in their work.
If you have a missionary or ministry, both local or abroad, that you would like Wheatland to support you can send the following information to one of the members of this team for review. After reviewing the information they will decide if Wheatland should support that specific ministry. After approval by the financial team and the board then that support, either long term or one time, can be provided.
Here is what you need to share with the team:
For over a year a small group of faithful, thoughtful and devoted members of Wheatland have gathered under the moniker of Working Group #1. (They didn’t know this. It was my designation to differentiate between their partner group which I will introduce later.) Their task has been to study, discuss and pray over the structure and function of leadership at the Wheatland Mission. This important task is one that requires their efforts in prayer and yours as well.
On July 14, the final day of VBS and the night of a church-wide picnic, the Leadership/Structure Workgroup (Workgroup #1) will provide a report to the congregation. I encourage you to be there that night for this special time. During this time they will share some of the results of their work from this past year.
In the meantime I do want to introduce the members of this team. It is likely that you know all of them but didn’t realize what group they were a part of.
The Leadership/Structure Working Group consists of Jim Murfin, Joe Jittawait, Kyle Rogg, Kelly Hayes, Brad Moser and Paul Hill. Please pray for them, their efforts and the leadership and structure of the Wheatland Mission.
May God bless you, now, and always.
The Weekend Team…AKA, “the staff” (l-r: Kelly Hayes, Kris Jittawait, Lara Riley, Paul Riley, Calana Hill, Paul, Michele Moser, Brad Moser, Leigh [soon to be Kasper], and Ty Kasper)
Every weekend there are a lot of different things that have to happen to make our worship gathering and children’s time a success. Each weekend there are several people, most of whom aren’t listed above, who make our gathering a special time of worship and learning. For example, on Saturdays we have at least 3 to 5 musicians, 2 to 4 tech people, 3 to 6 children’s workers, 2 to 4 communion/candle prep people and this is only for our “ordinary” services.
Our “Weekend Team”, a group I sometime call the staff, consists of those who lead out in each of these areas. Kelly Hayes oversees our ministry to children at Wheatland. She has a degree in Christian Education from Wheaton and works full time for KCSL (The Kansas Children’s Service League) Her combined expertise in both CE and human services makes her a perfect fit for organizing our children’s ministry. Kris Jittawait works closely with Kelly helping with our elementary children. Kris is married to Dr. Joe Jittawait and the mother of three great kids. Kris has worked in a variety of areas with our children and has also helped plan our community meals.
Lara and Paul Riley are troopers. Lara has helped in our kid’s ministry, baked communion bread, help set up the Lord’s Supper and been an overall servant. Paul Riley oversees our financial team and oversees the weekly offering. I am only scratching the surface of all that these two do.
Calana Hill, in addition to making Paul’s life very nice, is one of our worship leaders during our weekend worship. She helps choose music each week and plan the service. Calana is also a small group leader and during the week teaches piano to youngsters.
Brad and Michele Moser are such great help that it would be hard to share everything they do. In addition to Brad serving on the Board of Directors, the Mosers help greet newcomers to our weekend gatherings, prepare communion, help set up the worship space and Brad is a master griller.
Leigh (soon to be Kasper) Morris used to serve as our Children’s Ministry Coordinator. (This is the role that Kelly Hayes took over.) Leigh also helps with the worship team and helps coordinate special events at Wheatland. Leigh just graduated from WSU and will be teaching elementary students this fall in USD 259. Ty has just recently been added to the paid staff at the Wheatland Mission along with Paul and Kelly. He coordinates all of our worship preparation, tech team and will be working on the development of ministry to the youth of Wheatland. During the rest of the week Ty is a family support worker for Youthville.
It goes without saying that to be a part of the Wheatland Mission means you are a part of the team. Our weekend worship gatherings are not designed to be a passive viewing experience but a time of worship, active learning and encouraging one another. Please pray for this group and all of our teams at Wheatland.
THE WHEATLAND MISSION 