Tummytown

For those who have facebook, this isn't anything new. For those who don't, we're starting to shop for baby stuff (already stocking up on diapers). Our due date is April 24, one day before our 5-year anniversary. One of the teens in our youth group said we could have a candle-lit hospital dinner together. We'll see about that, but we're really excited about becoming parents! We heard the heartbeat yesterday and we go back in four weeks for a second visit, which will hopefully include and ultrasound. More to come later.

North Branch, MI

We move in 3 days. Our fourth home since being married four and a half years ago. For those who don't know, and that's probably most of you since we don't update this thing, the church we've been at in Baraboo, WI closed August 17. After my resignation, the district assessed the church and spoke with its leaders. After prayer, the district decided to end the ministry of Jubilee Wesleyan Church.

I had resigned the beginning of June and was looking for a new place of ministry when I got a phone call from Pastor Peter Damaska at North Branch Wesleyan. I had sent a resume there and hadn't heard much back. So I thought God had other plans...

Jamie and I thought we'd be leaving Baraboo much earlier than this. It reminds me of the story of Lazarus dying and Jesus learning the news. Instead of going to be with Lazarus when he was sick, Jesus waited until he had been dead 4 days. I heard a song once that says "My God is great/When He's four days late, He's still on time." In our case, God seemed to be a few months late in providing this new job. Maybe this is cliche, yet I believe God was right on time.

We wondered how we would live on a couple hundred dollars a week and how we would pay for moving expenses. We even thought of moving to Madison and trying to find jobs there until something popped up. Or if worse came to worse, we were going to move in with our parents, something I'm sure they would have loved (for the first week). So thanks, God, for being on time and for giving us an amazing fit of a church.

I'm officially going to be Pastor of Discipleship and Leadership at North Branch, which is in the thumb of Michigan. This means I will coordinate and empower our volunteers for children's youth, and adult spiritual formation. I get to give resources, teach, help cast a vision, keep us all on track with that vision, and encourage us as we move forward. The weekend we candidated we met a lot of people who are involved and who care deeply for their church...I think they'll make our "job" a lot easier. I also get to give leadership to the missions and local outreach efforts of the church. The church just took its second mission trip to Antigua in the Caribbean and I know we're looking to do much more globally.

So that's a fairly good summary of what's ahead. I'll post our new address on my (Josh's)Facebook page, so if you're a "friend" you can get it there. If you're driving through the east side of Michigan and want a good hotel, just shoot an email and we'll put you up.

We're Alive, We Promise

Yes, we are still breathing...just not typing as often as we'd like. Since we last updated you, several new things have happened.

First, I was ordained on June 26th. It still feels weird to be called "Rev." and I'm not sure if I will get used to it for a while. Rev. Hilty makes me sound so not 24 years old. It was a joy to be ordained alongside some of my friends in ministry and by Dr. Jo Anne Lyon. Our ordination ceremony was the first she took part in as our new general superintendent (and for those who don't know, the first female general superintendent in Wesleyan Church history). My family and Jamie's parents were all able to come up for the weekend, and we had my grandparents with us for the week prior to ordination. Jamie and I had a great time seeing family.

Second, the church is closing. Last Sunday I announced to our congregation that our final Sunday as Jubilee Wesleyan will be August 17th. This has been quite hard for some as they have been a part of thus church for most of their lives. I personally cannot totally empathize with them because I've never gone through this before. And yet it's hard for me to see a church that we've poured the last 2 years of our lives into close down. Please be in prayer for the people of the church in this time of transition.

Jamie and I have no real clue as to what God has in store for us next. We are in contact with a couple churches, but nothing is definite. Both places sound like they could be good fits, so please pray that God's will would be done AND be done in His time. He has been faithful up until now and I don't anticipate Him quitting anytime...ever. We will be quick to let you know what He does for us when that happens.

We had a good rummage sale the 4th of July weekend, getting rid of lots of things we don't use. There's two less sleeper sofas to move into a truck! Plus we earned money to help us get through the summer and to allow us to go on vacation, which we did this past week.

We drove 4 hours up to Door County, WI to Peninsula State Park where we camped for six days and 5 nights. If you're from Indiana, think Brown County. If you're from Michigan, think Mackinaw area. Door County is right off of Green Bay (the actual body of water) and is just a hop, skip and jump from Lake Michigan, right in the thumb of Wisconsin. It was a chance to stop thinking about the transition we're in and focus on ourselves. It's safe to say we both are more in love this week than last (not that we were on the rocks before...anyway, I'll stop digging). On our way home Friday we stopped in Green Bay at the NEW Zoo. We were literally one foot away from a giraffe's head, which I thought was pretty cool.

Also over vacation we both had the chance to read a book called "Who Stole My Church?" by Gordon MacDonald, a serious every-Christian-must-read book. It's a fiction book in which MacDonald puts himself into a made-up church that is going through a time of transition. He tells the story from his perspective and also gives the thoughts of older and younger people within the church along the way. I wish I could do a better job describing it. All I can say is, if you've ever wondered why one generation of Christians has a hard time letting younger generations change things, this book is for you. If your church has ever had a "worship war," it's for you. READ IT. NOW. :)

Tomorrow we give a concert for our church. Thirteen songs we've sang as special music numbers over the past few years along with some personal testimony times.

I'm sure there's more I've left out from June and July. But this will have to do. Until the next random post...

Resigning

Today I made the announcement to our church that I was resigning as pastor. Jamie and I don't know where God will take us next but we're trusting Him to be faithful just as He always is.

If you'd like to find out more about why we resigned, send us an email to either josh.mathetes(at)gmail.com or jamieleahilty(at)gmail.com. We can give you our phone number from there if you'd like to talk (I'm not sure how smart it is to post it here).

Thanks for all your prayers.

Josh's new job

We just celebrated our 4-year wedding anniversary at the end of April. We purchased the laptop I'm using to blog this as our anniversary present (something tells me that 4 years isn't the "laptop anniversary" but oh well). Hard to believe it has been that long being married. Jamie and I look back at our wedding pictures and I can't believe how much we've changed. I for one am a few pounds heavier. I find that my jeans and khakis don't fit as well as they used to. I'm hoping that my second job will help take care of this "reshaping."

Two weeks ago I began working with DeLon's Carpentry, which is really a fancy way of saying I work with DeLon. It's been a fairly easy first two weeks...I think God knew I would need to ease my way in to hard labor when I'm used to sitting behind a computer and seeing people all week long. I've already learned quite a bit, like how to hook a two-ton dump trailer onto a truck, how to remove mushrooms growing inside your apartment building's wet carpet (yes, we found 5 mushrooms growing in an empty apartment room that had water leak in), how to prep a driveway for sealing, how to get a sunburn (I actually already knew that), and how to eat lunch at the bar (in a Wisconsin town of less than 1,000, three bars is all you get).

It's been good. My dad will call and he gets excited that I am doing construction work since that's what he does and that's been his dream for me ever since I fell down the stairs in my baby walker. And DeLon is someone I can work with and still be friends with. He allows me to try things and learn by making mistakes and yet also tells me enough of what I need to know so I'm not standing around all day. He and I can share the tough stuff from church and I can trust him to keep it to himself.

It's also been tough. I come home tired some nights and don't feel like doing ministry stuff whatsoever. I only work for him three days a week, so the other days are good for ministry. Yet there is so much to "work on" that I feel guilty for not working those evenings. I was reminded by a pastor friend just a few days ago that this is not my church; it's is Christ's and He will provide the growth. I'm trying to let go of the pressure to succeed and the emotions that come with "success" and "failure." I'm trying to see this church the way Jesus sees it. It's a process and I have a long way to go.

Thanks for your continued prayers and blog comments. One final note...Jamie and I today made a list of things that need to happen for us to stay at this church/for it to stay open. Some things that need to happen in the next 30 days, 60 days and 90 days. I won't post them here, but I would ask that you pray that God's will be done and that if we're supposed to stay, God would confirm that by setting those things in motion.

Interesting Month

Some highlights: IWU Youth Conference--we took Melissa, our friend from church, down to IWU to preview the university and hopefully encourage her to attend there. The weekend was fast, long and incredible. Incredible to be home, to catch up with friends from school, work & church, and to see Melissa's reaction to what "Wesleyan" is outside of Baraboo:) The only downfall was that we didn't see Josh's parents at all, and only saw mine for about an hour.

But, Mom and Shawn made the trip up two weeks later to help us plan our finances and celebrate Josh's birthday. We had a fun time touring the Dells souvenir stores and eating Culver's. Thanks for coming!

Last weekend, Stephen, Michelle, Titus & Damaris Mowat visited the Dells and we were able to spend some time with their family. I think this is the first time we've been with them when both kids were awake. What fun!

For most of March, we unexpectedly shared our house with a mother & her three children who were in a desperate situation. The time went much better than I thought it would. It was nice to have them with us, and we had many conversations and Bible stories about Jesus and following Christ. Please pray for this family, as they do need to see a consistent Christian life lived out and also need to choose to let Christ into their lives.

It is nice to have the house back to ourselves again though. After hosting missionaries each weekend in February, then sharing the house with the family, it is a relief just to wake up to a house for the two of us.

Some urgent needs: Josh is looking for a nearly full-time job this month. We met with our leadership team to discuss the upcoming budget, and realized we all had to make a choice between maintaining the church building and having a bit of money to do outreach and aid spiritual growth or paying Josh a full-time salary. So, Josh will start work somewhere around here, probably 25-30 hours a week, depending upon the pay-rate, and also juggle pastoral & restart responsibilities. Neither of us is too excited about this for a few reasons: We feel like we are running with our heads cut off much of the time, attempting to get structures in order and fuel some energy and ideas into moving the church in a new direction...adding an additional job on top of this just seems so overwhelming. We are praying that the job is flexible to allow Josh to still participate in ministry related meetings, hospital visits & funerals, as well as camp roles and travel that we'd already planned for the coming year. We also had the hope of having an intern with us for 6 months to help start a teen ministry & worship, but with this new change in Josh's responsibilities, that seems unlikely, although much more necessary. The church is at a standstill on the remodeling project because we need guys who can mud and tape the drywall. We are also almost out of money to keep moving on. Josh was working on this project pretty hard, and with an additional job, I don't know what will take place. We have just 1 car, so our schedules & job locations need to be pretty flexible and local. And my kindergarten job ends the beginning of June. Our finances are tight as it is . . . We have the summer planned with camps, a mission team, Josh's ordination, and hopefully a vacation, although now that might not be possible. Anyway, sometimes we are unsure if we'll make it through the year. We are trying not to worry, but...At the end of the year, the church will close if something drastic in attendance & finances don't change. We are beginning the year when our district support is at 1/3 of the original amount, and next year we are on our own (if nothing changes, that means the church will close)so we are also trying to figure out some do or die idea that will be crazy, but just may get people into the door and start coming to Jubilee.

With all of this, I will be working 4 jobs & Josh will be working 2, if we can plan it right. I have just started a Creative Memories business and have held two Get Togethers this weekend. CM has tons of neat ways to organize & celebrate memories & photos...definitely has gone a long way beyond scrapbooking to appeal to anyone who takes pictures. If you're interested, check out my website (www.mycmsite.com/jamiehilty). I am also starting a freelance writing business. I've wanted to pursue this for a while and have been doing research into what I can do to submit my work for publication and also perhaps write for small businesses, ministries & non-profits. If you have anything you'd like written, please let me know. I'd love to help you in this area. The other two jobs include the kindergarten assistant position and keeping accurate records for a local contractor.

We'd appreciate your prayers as we start this new chapter of life...trusting in the Lord to provide each and every need. I know He is able. He has proven that many times. Thank you for reading our posts and praying for us! We love you and miss you...and hold you in our prayers, as well.

Facelift

Saturday was a big day. There were 12 of us at the church framing, insulating and drywalling our sanctuary ceiling. Praise God for whoever invented the drywall lift. All we had to do was put the sheets on, crank it up, and slide them in place. It was a lot easier to screw them in than if we had had to hold the sheets up ourselves.

There were 5 men from the Eau Claire Wesleyan Church (including Pastor Dwayne Winterberg), Pastor Roger Miller from the Hillsboro Wesleyan Church, Rev. Dan Bickel (our D.S.), Al Dolan (a member of our church), DeLon and Brady Davis (president and VP of operations, even though Brady is only 13), Rod Tucker (a member of the Church of the Nazarene in Baraboo), and me (Josh) helping out.

Our newspaper sent a reporter out to take pictures and he wrote a great story in today's paper. Here's the link. http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/news/274098

We've also been blessed by help from Pastor Doug Walborn of the Pardeeville Wesleyan Bible Church, Andy Tolwinski from Mid-State Electric in the Dells (a good friend of DeLon's), and Ross Curry, a local painter (also a good friend of DeLon's). If it weren't for their gifts of labor, we wouldn't be this far in the remodeling.

Here are some additional pics. The bubbles are from drywall dust on the lens. Oops.

Rod, Jim, Dwayne, Todd, Jim, Tim, Brady (in back), and DeLon after working Saturday.

Al, Brady and Doug, putting up insulation and trying not to breathe it all in.

Some Remodel & Winter Pics!

You're looking into our extended foyer where we can enjoy coffee, donuts & each other before & after service. Straight ahead at the back is Josh's new office, large enough to hold the copy machine and a desk for administrative work, as well as room to counsel people. To the left is the new nursery! It's not huge, but a good size for a small church. There will be a window that parents can see through to make sure their babies are fine. A sound booth is off to the front right of the foyer.

Josh and DeLon have done most of the grunt work. They've been incredible...Josh is learning construction as he goes. DeLon has been a great teacher, and very patient! Jamie has also learned all about insulating walls & ceilings, and of course cleaning up for Sundays!

These are the pews we are trying to sell. With the money, we will be able to purchase nice padded chairs that will make the upstairs much more functional for various types of ministry events. If you're interested, we do have better pictures available! :)

The new "back wall"---it is so cool!

The sanctuary walls were painted cinderblock with tall semi-windows nearly from floor to ceiling. We've studded, insulated, and drywalled, and already the building is so much warmer. The upper holes are for windows when we get the money to put them in.

This weekend we are hosting work days, and several men have come to help us insulate & drywall the ceiling! It is so nice to have help. Thanks to: DeLon, Brady, Doug, Al, Ross, Larry, Rod, Roger, Dwayne & the Eau Claire men, John, Laurie and Alesha. We are grateful!

This winter has been a real Wisconsin winter....and all of our friends are so surprised at how much snow we've had (and keep getting!). Last Sunday we got about 12 inches, on top of all the snow that hasn't melted. Apparently we are way past the record snowfall for this part--over 80", I believe. Another snowfall is coming Monday...yippee! Josh and I bought real boots and snowpants this winter, hoping we weren't wasting our money...and they have been the best purchase!

Prayer Requests, from our heart to yours!

A ton is happening right now in our lives and in the life of the church.

Early last week we were able to go to "The Getaway," our district's ministers and mates retreat up in Warrens, WI, an hour from us. What a blessing to be away for awhile. Dave Holdren was the speaker and challenged us in several areas of ministry and personal life. We left refreshed (the waterpark helped too!) and with several friendships renewed, as well. We are looking forward to hosting a youth mission team from Our Savior's Wesleyan in Mukwanago this summer. Stevan and Jessica Sheets are youth-pastoring there right now, and we enjoyed making preliminary plans for work/ministry opportunities. Please pray that their teens would catch the vision and jump on board with this trip. Also pray that while they are here, we all would make some vital connections within our community. We are hoping to go door to door and do some surveys, as well as host a large fun event for Baraboo...

As of January 1st, our church has a new name: Jubilee Wesleyan--A Community Church. With the new name comes the task of changing accounts, information, creating a logo, contacting the whole world with the change, etc...please pray that Josh and I would not be overwhelmed in the process and also that there would be time to do this (see why below).

As of January 7th, Josh and DeLon Davis (wonderful guys!) started remodeling the upper level of the church building. They have been working so hard each day and already the changes are making a good difference. They've constructed the stud walls for a nursery, sound room and office, as well as a foyer/entry hall in the back of the sanctuary. They're in the process of adding insulation and drywall to the cinder-block sanctuary walls, and will be insulating & drywalling the foyer. Ultimately, we hope to change the carpet, which is very stained in many places, enlarge the platform area, spruce up the restroom, add a new roof, lighting & windows, as well as replace our pews with chairs. All of these changes are vital if we are going to have a welcoming attractive place to bring in guests. BUT...we also have a tiny budget, need some major funding support and some volunteer labor (does anyone hear God telling you to come here?:). That is perhaps one of the biggest concerns of our lives right now...the changes are absolutely necessary--if we don't change, the church could still close. And if we do, the funding must come in to continue (and there's still not a guarantee that the church will flourish). We need $25,000 for this first phase of construction, not including the roof... so will you pray with us that the Lord will provide?

Administratively, we could use some help too...creating a workable church office and financial practices are necessary, but we also need guidance in how to correctly do that.

And our church needs unity. The numbers have been small. Growth has been backwards. Several of our new friends carry large burdens. And some in our congregation don't favor the building changes. Pray with us that we will lead change effectively and compassionately. The last thing we want to do is ruin a church...Josh and I are both seeing areas in our lives that need to mature spiritually...like love. That's a big action--to really agape each person with whom we interact.

Josh started preaching through the book of John in January. I'm sure this series will last all year. I wasn't sure what to expect marrying a pastor, wasn't sure if I could ever really grow and enjoy listening to someone other than my dad. But The Lord has blessed Josh and gifted him to minister the Word. The Lord has been among us in our services and has spoken. He has not left us...and I pray that we will stick with Him and follow in His footsteps.

This February is also our first Missions Emphasis Month. The church will have a faith promise commitment time (wow!), and we are hosting missionaries each weekend this month. We enjoyed having Ben Kidder, a church planter and friend from Minong, WI with us last weekend. This weekend my cousin, Jan Janofski will come down from the UP and focus on short-term and children's ministries...it will be great to have her and another cousin, Kevin. Then, next weekend Bill & Daphne Foster will travel up here with an IWU student and speak about career missions and their time in Australia. Josh will close with a focus on the Global Partners missionaries we support and our district's Nicaragua partnership. We enjoy hosting people in our home and it will be neat to see where God leads our church in the area of praying, giving & going.

Did you know: 40% of Wisconsin is completely unchurched? That was just one of the stats we heard from Ben on Sunday...that makes this restarting effort worth it...if we as a church can minister and bring the gospel to those who need it...this will be worth it.

Some other needs: We still need some people (families, individuals, students) to minister with us. We need worship leaders, organized administrative help, financial wisdom, outreach-oriented individuals, etc. If you or someone you know is interested in an internship, volunteer opportunity, or long-term move, please contact us. We need a laptop computer and projector...and we need to sell our pews.

Also, if you're ready to buy a magazine or renew a subscription, visit www.magfundraising.com/jubileewesleyan. All magazines are up to 85% off and our church's building fund receives 40% of the retail price.

Thanks so much for praying, for loving us and for supporting us.