Archived Sermons

This page contains items of interest for friends and members of the congregation as we seek to provide a strong ministry in our community. Articles and selected comments from our pastors and others are provided on this page. Some sermons may be available on audio tape for replay. If you would like to obtain a tape, please contact our office for information . Other items of interest about our congregation are available as we share the ministries of our congregation.

We're providing these informational pieces, letters and communications which may be of interest to you as friends and members of First United Methodist Church. If you have questions, we invite you to contact: Web Manager, First United Methodist Church, Fort Dodge, Iowa

We also offer for your continued study of the scriptures a website which contains Lectionary Commentary, including the Lections for the current and future weeks of the Christian year.

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A MESSAGE FROM MARK...

   As many of you now know, I have been appointed to First UMC of Fort Dodge as an interim pastor until June of 2008. I look forward to the opportunity to help this church maintain a high level of ministry to its members and to the community over the next several months. If my first days here are any indication, you have a strong commitment to the church and the Gospel. My welcome here has been warm and friendly. And I sense in the staff and members a deep faith and a calm competence.

   Please help me to get to know you by introducing yourselves to me and telling me a little bit about yourselves and your vision for Fort Dodge First UMC. The months ahead can be a good time to experiment with new ways of worship and service or to solidify current successful ministry. Let me know how I can best help you be good and faithful servants of God.

   I bring a long and varied history of service to the United Methodist Church and state government. In addition to appointments at two churches in the Des Moines District, I served twelve years in the Iowa Legislature and recently completed five years as Director of the Iowa Department of Elder Affairs. My interests are wide and varied. I love to fish in Canada where my wife Faith Ferre and I have purchased property where we will build a retirement home. I have a special interest in the changing way in which people nowadays age. My wife and I are ardent ball room dancers. My wife is also a minister. She serves as one of the pastors at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Des Moines.

   I look forward to meeting you and getting to know the community of Fort Dodge. Please help me by making an effort to tell me who you are and how I can best help you be faithful members of this church.
                                                                         Mark

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                       LECTIONARY READINGS

                                 October
          October the 7th (the 19th Sunday after Pentecost)
                    Psalm 137, Lamentations 1:1-6, 2 Timothy 1: 1-14, Luke 17: 5-10
                October the 14th (the 20th Sunday after Pentecost)
                    Psalm 66:1-12, Jeremiah 298: 1, 4-7, 2 timothy 2: 8-15, Luke 17: 11-19
                October the 21st (the 21st Sunday after Pentecost)
                    Psalm 119:97-104 or Psalm 19, Jeremiah 31: 27-34, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, Luke 18:1-8
                October 28th (the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost)
                    Psalm 65, Joel 2:23-32, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18, Luke 18:9-14
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