Pastor’s Ponderings—July 2026

To the church of God as found at Marion Salem Church, called to be saints together with those in every place who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ: You are miracles of God’s grace and mercy!

Summer is getting to be very busy at Salem. July brings the Ice Cream Social and Vacation Bible School. We’ll begin worship in the month with a service of anointing oil and healing prayer for anyone that would like to participate. This time of concentrated prayer is a special means of grace that anyone can participate in, either by praying for others who request prayer or by receiving prayer for any need you have. We’ll also have the opportunity to participate in Camp Sychar, a holiness camp meeting in Mt. Vernon, OH that Pastor Heather will share more about in this newsletter. At the end of July we’ll begin our next cohort of the Membership Class. I want you to know everyone is invited to join in this discipleship group.

There are a couple of other additional items in this month’s newsletter. I have copied an article from one of my seminary professors on the Old Testament’s importance to the Church today. It is a longer piece than usual for our newsletter, however he does a thorough job of explaining why the Old Testament is so foundational to not only understanding the New Testament, it is essential to Christian faith. I hope you find it helpful for your study of God’s Word and encourage you to lean into his teaching.

Finally, the other additional item in this month’s newsletter is a prayer guide for the upcoming General Conference that will be starting at the end of August. Those who will be travelling for and working at General Conference need our prayer support.. The first prayer guide begins on July 15th and will run until the week before the General Conference starts. I will make sure that updated links are included in next month’s newsletter for the second prayer guide.

Whoever said summer was a slow season is either not paying attention or doesn’t want to learn, grow, and serve. Thankfully at Salem Church we remain focused on being Kingdom People with several opportunities for each. I look forward to what God has in store and if you’re interested in making more opportunities, please see me so we can get it started!

Blessings

Jason