The Winter Methodists - Part I

It's Autumn. The hydrangeas are finished with their decorative work for the season. I’m outside on this cool, crisp day, next to the house, cutting them down and bagging them up.

Two ladies come around the corner of the house and approach. I’m kneeling in the dirt, cutting away at the sea of woody stems.

“Are you David Pontzer?” one of them asks.

“Yes, I am,” I say as I get up and turn to see who might be walking up on me. I spot their cruiser bicycles parked in the driveway.

I recognize one of the ladies as Denise, who lives down at the end of the street.  The other one, whom I don’t know, asked, “Are you the David Pontzer who wrote The Whispered Shout?”

“Guilty,” I said.

“I really liked your book. My name is Jane, and I live just two doors north of Denise. Would it be OK if we use your book for our winter Bible/book study at the Methodist Church, and would you be willing to participate?” She asked.

Jan, my wife, walks over. She was also out working in the garden. Jan knows both of these ladies. She heard the question.

Before I answer, I look at Jan for her version of our answer. We are trying our best to be in agreement on all things. One of those agreements is not to enter into any agreements unless we are in agreement, hence my glance at her while I contemplate my answer. She gives me an affirmative nod. I said, “Yes, I can do that, sounds like great fun.”

Then there was a bit of chit-chat, introductions, an exchange of phone numbers, and a discussion of how it might work with the study.

The next day, I received a text, “The governing board at the church met and approved the plan. The study is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, January 27th, at 6:30 pm and will run weekly for 6 weeks.  We will be meeting at the Methodist church in Port Sanilac.”

I responded with one of those “thumbs up” icons.

The next day, a letter was found in our mailbox, without a stamp. Using my above-average ability to solve mysteries, I realized it was hand-delivered. Probably by a lady riding a cruiser bike. Inside was a draft copy of a flyer for my review before it was to be sent out to the local churches. I thought to myself, “Local churches, hmm, this may be a bigger deal than I thought.” I looked over the flyer and texted Jane asking her to include information about how to purchase my book on Amazon as well as at the local gift shop.

On Friday, my wife and I visited the gift shop to get some more soup mix. Alice, the proprietor, said she needed more of my books to sell and was thrilled that I would be “leading” the winter Methodist Book Study.

I said to her, “You used the word lead.”

“Yes, I volunteered you to lead the study. I hope that is all right?” she said while laughing.

I thought, “Well, God, I was thinking about how to best market my book, but I would never have come up with this. If you want me to ‘lead,’ I’ll lead. I’ll be needing some Holy Spirit help.”

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. (James 3:1 ESV)

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Fast forward to Tuesday, February 9, 2026. I’m up early as usual with a cup of coffee on the lamp table next to my reading chair. It is seriously winter outside. Tonight, will be gathering #3 of the Methodist Winter Book Study. I’ve got my fingers on the laptop keys. “Well, God, what do you want me to say at the meeting tonight?” Then they type.

Welcome to Gathering #3.

Take a minute to think over this past week of your lives.

Did anything unexpected happen? Did you have any thoughts that felt like intruders in your brain?

Has Satan been on the attack? Anxiousness, sickness, relationships?

Has the Holy Spirit been helping you to discover new and exciting truths about the reality in which we are living? Standing taller, looking forward to the day, a deep breath of peace, a rock-solid trust in God, no matter the circumstances, an excitement about what he has in store for you in the next minute, hour, season, year, lifetime?

By virtue of your showing up here tonight, you are seeking God. You want to know him better. You want to be more confident that how you live your life is pleasing to him. You want to know if he wants you to change anything. Or maybe you know you need to change something and need God’s divine help to do it. That would be seeking His righteousness.

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We have this thing at our church called Prayer Rooms. It happens on Mondays at 10:30. It’s 90 minutes long. There is some music and singing and scripture reading, but the whole thing is very much unscripted. The idea of it is to intentionally set aside a rather long time, 90 minutes, to pray and mostly listen to God.

Not everyone has time for this sort of thing. But, being retired, we have plenty of time for it. Jan and I usually go.

So, yesterday we were there. I was talking to God, going through my many times repeated prayer list of assignments for God.

I have one of those yellow Post-it notes next to my La-Z-Boy stuck to the top of the lamp table. Actually, there are several of these Post-it notes there. On one of them are the first names of my friends who have yet to believe. To accept Jesus’ gift of eternal life. My friends on this list don’t believe. God commands us, believers, to make disciples, so I pray for them.

  At the top of that list is Jack, my good friend. He is a practicing atheist. There are other names on there, too. I think maybe one or two of them are standing right at the narrow gate and looking at it.

So in prayer rooms, I prayed for each name that they would (1) be chosen by God, that is, that God would not give up on them. That God would somehow let them know, hopefully gently, they are being sought by him. And (2) that each one of them would decide to believe what Jesus said. He is the way, the truth, and the light, and the only way to restore a relationship with their creator is to believe in Jesus.

I went through the list.

Then I got out my little notebook and a pen and sat there listening. This really works for me; I get all kinds of whispered shouts.

God said I know all those names, you keep mentioning them over and over.

I pray, “How should I pray for them?”

God answered, and I scribbled in my notebook. David, pray that I give them more days to live. A long enough life to really hear me and see me. Long enough for them to make the biggest decision of their lives.

So, I prayed, “Lord, let them live long enough to respond to your choosing them and to finally decide to believe the words of Jesus.”

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That Tuesday night, the book study group gathered in the basement of the Methodist church. The faces of some of those names on my Post-it note were in my eyes. I read to them what I had typed that morning about my discussion with God during the Prayer Rooms.

Then I said, “That whole thing sounded like a sermon, not a book study. Please know that I am not a preacher or a pastor. I am the most surprised person here regarding my being here and saying all these words. Let’s kick this meeting off with a prayer.”

God, we love you, and we seek you. We ask for your presence to be among us this very night.

Holy Spirit, please direct our conversation and illuminate truth for us.

Lord, help us not to be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of our minds.

Bless us with the knowledge of our individual role in your community here in the Blue Water area.

Jesus, show us how to clear the way in our hearts to be as ready as we can be for when you return in person.  We want to know you, behave like you, and do the things you do.

Father, renew in us our wonder, awe, intimacy, and delight in simply knowing you.

May our study together bring us closer to that.

Amen.

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Blog readers, stay tuned for the “rest of the story.” Winter for the Methodists ends on March 3rd, our last meeting. I’ll surely have an article to report on the study’s outcome. These meetings are on Tuesday nights at 6:30. Everyone is invited. More info at thewhisperedshout.com