Pastor Dan’s Blog

This post follows my sermon on December 31st on Ephesians 5:15-17. I believe one of the best ways we all can begin to apply the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to “make the most of the time” (verse 16) and “understand what the Lord’s will is” (verse 17) is to begin a regular Bible-reading habit in 2024. How can we do that? Here’s some thoughts about that from a variety of people at PCC.

Decide when you’ll do it and build it into your schedule. 

• To be consistent, I find I have to get up early, find a quiet location, preferably the same location every day, out of the main path of morning life. (Jerry Kolb)
• I find a time early every morning just prior to the sun coming up as being quite peaceful. (Fred Rose)
• My reading is usually in the morning when my mind is fresher, and before the worries of the day begin to intrude. (Robert Gregory)
• My dedicated reading and prayer time, is ideally in the morning. Not only is the mind fresher, it seems to really ground my whole day in Scripture and in an awareness of the Lord’s presence. (Alexis Cardona)
• I find the best Bible reading/devotional reading is in the morning when I get up… This usually gets me ready for the day. (Danielle Wheeler-Vickery)
• I make it part of my regular routine, after I workout each morning. (Toby Lee)

Find and Utilize a Bible-Reading Plan.

• I find it very helpful to read with a plan. It helps to keep me focused. (Beck Stephens)
• I have found the plan in You Version of the Bible most helpful and it can be followed on one’s phone. (Fred Rose)
• I sometimes follow a plan, and sometimes go to sections that I think the Spirit is leading me towards. (Robert Gregory)
• Most days, I spend time in the daily Bible plan that our Discipleship group has been doing. Or I do a devotional through the Bible app, whether it be my myself or with friends. (Danielle Wheeler-Vickery)
• See more plan suggestions listed further below.

Use a Bible App – If you use a smartphone, there are a number of good ‘apps’ available that are very helpful for establishing a regular Bible-reading routine. Here are several that deserve special mention:

• Bible.is lets you listen to God’s Word in high-quality, dramatized audio. You can also watch excellent word-for-word Gospel films about the life and ministry of Jesus. Kim Smith loves this app, saying, “Doing something with my hands while listening helps me to pay attention. There are a few versions that I switch back and forth between. The dramatic readings help. Sometimes I just keep listening beyond what’s on the plan for that day.”
• ESV.org has a variety of reading plans to choose from. You choose the plan you want and the days you want to read each week, and you receive emails containing the readings as well as links to recordings of them being read. This makes it easy to listen to text while you read it, which I find gives me better focus and comprehension.
• ReadingPlan is an app that helps you track your progress as you read through the Bible. You can start a plan at any time, progressing at your own rate or on the schedule dictated by the plan. You can optionally link to an online Bible site to see the day’s readings in the application’s built-in web view, or launch a native Bible app (if supported.) Five plans are installed by default; many more are available for download from within the app, or you can create your own. Kim Smith used this app to with a plan titled “Five Day Plan” in 2023 and likes how it is easy to open and check off each day.

Read with Friends

• Reading with friends is also very helpful. We have a text group that reads together and we text about things that stand out or that encourage us. (Beck Stephens)
• I’ve learned that an accountability partner is very helpful. At school I’ve found Godly friends that I text everyday when I read my Bible, and they do the same, and we’re able to help keep each other on track. (Cassidy Lee)
• Bible study with friends to keep me on track and in the Word. Accountability partners is a big help. (Erin Lee)
• I feel having another person or a study group is helpful to stay on track. (Danielle Wheeler-Vickery)

BIBLE READING PLANS

Ligonier Ministry offers an excellent list of Bible-reading plans including the following:

• 52-Week Bible Reading Plan – Read through the Bible in a year with each day of the week dedicated to a different genre: epistles, the law, history, Psalms, poetry, prophecy, and Gospels.
• 5x5x5 New Testament Bible Reading Plan – Read through the New Testament in a year, reading Monday to Friday. Weekends are set aside for reflection and other reading. This plan is especially beneficial if you’re new to a daily discipline of Bible reading.
• Chronological Bible Reading Plan – Read through the Bible in the order the events occurred chronologically.
• The Navigators Bible Reading Plan – Four daily readings beginning in Genesis, Psalms, Matthew, and Acts.
• The Navigators Book-at-a-Time Bible Reading Plan – Two daily readings, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. Complete an entire book in each testament before moving on.
• ESV Daily Bible Reading Plan – Four daily readings taken from four lists: Psalms and wisdom literature, Pentateuch and history of Israel, Chronicles and prophets, and Gospels and epistles.
• ESV 6-Month New Testament Reading Plan – Read straight through the New Testament in six months by focusing on a short section each day.
• ESV A-Psalm-a-Day Reading Plan – Read through the book of Psalms in 150 days with this chapter-a-day reading plan.
• Every Word in the Bible – Read through the Bible one chapter at a time. Readings alternate between the Old and New Testaments.
• Historical Bible Reading Plan – The Old Testament readings are ordered similarly to Israel’s Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament readings attempt to follow the order in which the books were authored.
• Redemptive-Historical Bible Reading Plan – This plan curates key chapters of the Old and New Testaments that help frame the flow of redemptive history—how God has worked in history to bring about his plan of salvation. It is designed to help you gain a solid grounding in the entire message of the Bible.
• Tabletalk Bible Reading Plan – This Bible reading plan includes two readings each day, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. By the end of the plan, you’ll have read through the entire Bible in one year.
• The Legacy Reading Plan – This plan does not have set readings for each day. Instead, it has set books for each month and a set number of Proverbs and Psalms for each week. It aims to give you more flexibility while grounding you in specific books of the Bible.
• Two-Year Bible Reading Plan – Read the Old and New Testaments once and Psalms and Proverbs four times.
• Robert Murray M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan – Read the New Testament and Psalms twice and the Old Testament once.

Design Your Own Bible-Reading Plan! If you haven’t found any Bible-reading plan that fits what you’re looking for, you can design your own plan online using the Bible Reading Plan Generator. This great tool allows you to pick the days of the week you want to read and the particular parts of the Old Testament and New Testament you want to be sure to cover in your reading. It has a number of additional customizable features that help create the plan that best fits your reading needs.

One Last Note: Tim Challies makes a helpful distinction in reading our Bibles for intimacy and reading them for familiarity. He says that intimacy with the Bible comes by slow, meditative reading that focuses on small portions—deep study of books, chapters, and verses. Familiarity with the Bible comes through faster reading of larger portions—the entire sweep of the biblical narrative. Both are perfectly good approaches to the Bible and Christians thrive on a healthy mixture of the two. There is great benefit in knowing the Bible as a whole (familiarity) and in knowing the most important parts in detail (intimacy) Read his entire article here: Intimacy or Familiarity.

A Special Congregational Meeting was held on Sunday, December 3rd, for the purpose of voting on the decision to call John Andrew Clayton to become Pompey Community Church’s Lead Pastor. The Oversight Council also used the opportunity of the meeting to inform the PCC congregation of several other matters. Here’s the important information that you should know from that meeting:

1. LEAD PASTOR SELECTION – Oversight Council Facilitator Beck Stephens presented John Andrew Clayton as the Council’s approved candidate for Lead Pastor and called for a membership vote pursuant to Article 6.A. of the PCC Bylaws. Members voted by written ballot to confirm the Council’s decision to call John Andrew Clayton to become PCC’s Lead Pastor. (74 votes were cast in favor of the motion and 1 voting member abstained.) John Andrew, Christy, and the rest of their family were then welcome into the meeting and congratulated by those attending. John Andrew and Christy will be taking a couple of days to prayer and discuss it with their sons before responding to the offer.
2. REPORT ON PROPOSED BYLAW AMENDMENTS – Oversight Council Facilitator Beck Stephens presented the proposed PCC Bylaw amendments the Council has been working on. One proposed amendment would allow for the appointment of Deacons to serve in various capacities at PCC. The other proposed amendment would clarify the roles and responsibilities of Elders at PCC. These proposed amendments will be brought to a formal vote by the PCC membership at the upcoming Annual Congregational Meeting on January 28, 2024. Until then, the Council welcomes your questions, comments, and other input on these proposed amendments. Click on this link to review these proposed Bylaw amendments.
3. UPCOMING ELDER VACANCIES – Pastor Dan Werthman informed the congregation of two upcoming Elder vacancies and the Oversight Council’s plans to fill those vacancies. First, Elder Alexis Cardona will complete his two terms at the end of December and take a mandatory sabbatical pursuant to Article 5.C.2. of the PCC Bylaws. The Elders and Oversight Council believe that an experienced elder is needed to fill this open elder position to provide stability and consistency to the Elders and Oversight Council in the midst of all the change that will come with a new incoming Lead Pastor. So the Elders and Oversight Council have nominated Todd Pittman to rejoin them as an Elder. This nomination will bring this to a formal vote by the PCC membership at the upcoming Annual Congregational Meeting on January 28, 2024. Secondly, Elder Toby Lee is being transferred by his employer to Indianapolis and will therefore be unable to finish his current term as an elder. Article 5.C.2. of the PCC Bylaws permits the replacement of an elder for the remainder of a term as follows: The Lead Pastor shall recommend a candidate and the Oversight Council shall approve by majority vote. Pastor Dan has recommended that Robert Gregory as a replacement for the last year of Toby Lee’s elder term (2024). The Oversight Council has approved this recommendation unanimously. The Council’s reasoning is, again, to provide stability and consistency to the Elders and Oversight Council in the midst of all the change that will come with a new incoming Lead Pastor. While this matter does not require a membership vote to affirm, the Council want to give the congregation the opportunity for input before they implement it in 2024. You are encouraged to contact the Council with any input, questions, or concerns that you have regarding these plans to fill these Elder vacancies.