Church Offices Closed  —  

for the Columbus Day holiday on Monday October 13.

 

How To Quantify Your Happiness

How To Quantify Your Happiness: In the Churchyard of Cambridge

Speaker

Dwight K. Nelson

Dwight Nelson served as lead pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University from 1983 to 2023. During his time at Pioneer he spoke on the “New Perceptions” telecast, taught at the theological seminary and has written books, including The Chosen. He and his wife, Karen, are blessed with two married children and 2 granddaughters.

Offering

In his famous poem Henry Wadsworth Longfellow embedded the key to happiness and a life of meaning. What secret lies within the Churchyard of Cambridge?
Saturday, May 17, 2014

More In This Series

06/28/2014
What do you get for the God who has everything? Especially if He already gave everything He had for you? Jesus gave us the answer in John 15:13 "Greater love has no man than this; to lay down one's life for one's friends."
05/10/2014
Contrary to what we've been taught, the latest research states that "Money Can Buy Happiness". Discover the surprising secret to a life of happiness and financial stability right now.
06/21/2014
In the year 1789, the crew of the HMS Bounty decided they'd rather go it alone and promptly placed their captain on a lifeboat in the south Pacific and waved goodbye. Could it be that some of us living here in the blessed and bountiful USA are perhaps not so different than that mutinous crew?

“How to Quantify Your Happiness: ‘The Churchyard in Cambridge’”

www.pmchurch.tv

  • □  Susan Reimer on the latest Journal of Consumer Research study
    •   “‘While people tend to define happiness in terms of excitement,

      enthusiasm and high stakes arousal, people define happiness in terms of calm, peacefulness and low states of arousal,’ the authors wrote. We still love thrills as we age, the researchers found. experiences give young and old almost the same amount of pleasure. But happiness from experiences as people got older.” (South Bend Tribune 3-2-14)

    •   Ninety-three year old essayist Roger Angell on aging: “‘We’ve outgrown our ambitions. If our wives or husbands are still with us, we sense a trickle of contentment flowing from the reliable springs of routine, affection in long silences, calm within the light boredom of well-worn friends, retold stories and mossy opinions.’” (Ibid)
  • □  Jesus in Acts 20:35
    •   “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
    •   Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “In the Churchyard at Cambridge”:

       “Dust is in her beautiful eyes”—a graphic depiction of the unassailable truth that you can’t it with you.

       Thus the poet can describe “Christian charity”—the charity of —as “the richest and rarest” of .

    •   The way Jesus Himself lived: “He went about doing ” (Acts 10:38).
  • □  Tim Aka in End Game Economics: Understanding the Financial Crisis through Scripture
    •   “It has become painfully obvious the world is suffering under a tremendous burden of debt. From Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain in the European Union, to Japan, China, and of course the United States, nations have become saddled with unstainable amounts of debt.” (8)
    •   “Individuals have also taken on great amounts of debt to try to attain and maintain a lifestyle. . . . Of course there are those who are truly impoverished without the necessities of life, but the majority of us have all we need for a comfortable life. Yet we don’t realize the extent to which has played a role in the creation of this lifestyle.” (8-9)
    •   USDTA: “Credit card debt in the USA currently amounts to a total debt of about billion dollars. The average credit card debt per credit card owning household is dollars. This is the total credit card debt divided by the number of households with credit cards. Credit card penalty fees in the US add up to about billion dollars a year.
    •   “Approximately million credit cards are currently in use in the United States, with credit card users having an average of cards each. There are about 176.8 million credit card users in the US. Every year, about billion credit card solicitations are mailed in the USA.
    •   “Students are particularly likely to have credit card debts and they are also likely to have multiple credit cards. The average credit card debt of a new graduate is dollars, with about 20 percent of graduates having credit card debts of more than dollars.” (http://www.usdta.org/credit-card-debt-in-the-usa.php)
    •   Romans 13:8 NLT—“Pay all your , except the debt of love for others.”

□ God in Malachi 3:10

  • “The 90 Day Tithe Challenge”
  • “The 90 Day 2nd Tithe Challenge”
    • “The first tithe was strictly for the support of the priests and Levites [Numbers 18:21; Deuteronomy 14:22]. The second tithe [Deuteronomy 14:23, 28-29] provided either for a sacred family feast before the Lord or for a table provided by Jehovah for orphans, for the poor, and for ‘strangers’ within the land. Levites were eligible to partake of all such feasts. The provisions among Israel for the needy encouraged the practice of true religion. The apostle James expressed the same principle for the Christian church (James 1:27).” (SDA BC 1:1003)
  •  Desire of Ages: “Having undertaken our redemption, [God] will spare nothing, however dear, which is necessary to the completion of His work. No truth essential to our salvation is withheld, no miracle of mercy is neglected, no divine agency is left unemployed. Favor is heaped upon favor, gift upon gift. The treasury of heaven is open to those He seeks to save. Having collected the riches of the universe, and laid open the resources of infinite power, He gives them into the hands of Christ, and says, All these are for man. Use these gifts to convince him that there is no love greater than Mine in earth or heaven. His greatest happiness will be found in loving Me.” (57)

“Test Me . . . Again” 

Church Offices Closed

Church offices will be closed for the Columbus Day Holiday on Monday October 13.

Graduate and Young Professionals Sabbath School

 We are launching our Graduate/Young Professional Sabbath School on October 18th. The class will be held in the Student Center's leadership lab. If you have any questions contact Chaplain Jacob Gibbs.

Andrews Academy Alumni Weekend October 17 & 18

Andrews Academy invites you to ALUMNI WEEKEND, October 17-19, 2025. Come and reunite with your AA family. Remember the defining moments of your past and reconnect with old friends. We look forward to seeing all of you once again at our Alumni Reunion! (All are invited, this year’s honored classes end in 5 and 0). 

 

AA Freshman Class Fundraiser

Please, support the AA Freshman class by ordering pupusas and more by October 17th. Pupusas freeze well! Order for future dinners!!!

Annual Hayride

 The Family Life Committee invites our church family to the Annual Hayride at Five Pines Ministries. Come enjoy hayrides through the woods, a bonfire with s'mores, warm food, and even warmer fellowship. Sunday, October 12, 5-7 PM, 6597 Smith Rd in Berrien Center. Join us for this fun, autumn tradition!

Announcing Honduras mission trip

Do you love serving children? If so please prayerfully consider joining the  Pioneer Youth Mission team of college students and church members. We will be serving at the Hogar de Niños in Honduras from January 2-12, 2026. Question, contact Scott Schalk or Glenn Russell at glenn@andrews.edu

Help Pack 7,000 Bags for Christmas Behind Bars

On Sunday, October 26, beginning at 9 am in Johnson Gym, 400 people will have the opportunity to help pack 7,000 bags for our Christmas Behind Bars event. Join us for this fast-paced, fun, and family-friendly event sponsored by Pioneer Memorial Church and Andrews University. Use this link to sign up: https://forms.gle/H9pHrvudPiex8yns5 (Your presence and invitation to others helps to support our strategic initiatives for PIONEER.) 

Fellowship Dinner
Pioneer Commons

 There will be a fellowship dinner this Sabbath in the commons.

Offering for October 11, 2025

Michigan Radio Ministries

In the parable of the Rich Fool, Jesus talks about a person who was poor spiritually because he invested in the wrong things in life. Despite his worldly affluence, he is deemed spiritually impoverished because he hoards wealth for self-gratification, while neglecting to invest in God’s kingdom.

Jesus concludes the parable with a warning, “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:13-21, NKJV). So, the key is to be rich toward God? How do we do that? It means treasuring what He treasures: our relationship with Him and others, love and compassion for hurting human beings, and a heart that seeks to do good and be generous.

Paul echoes this sentiment in 1 Timothy 6:18, urging believers "to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share." This is not just about charitable acts or monetary donations, but rather about an attitude of generosity that permeates all aspects of our lives, reflecting God's own generosity towards us.

Remember, we are most like God when we are generous with our money and our actions. What has God given you to invest in others? 

North American Division Stewardship Ministries

IMPACT with Alejandro Bullón

One of the most significant problems people face today is loneliness. Even though they live in nice houses and drive new cars, people are alone inside their homes and cry inside their cars. There are many problems with alcoholism in American families, and the pressures of social media on young people are getting stronger. No one shows who they really are; everyone is taught to create a facade that makes them appear happier and more complete, but the reality is that people are becoming increasingly depressed and anxious. The two nights of preaching with Pastor Alejandro Bullón will bring messages to the heart about how Jesus is the only solution to American society's problems and today's world. There is no other way out but the word of God. There is no one else but Christ to bring true peace and security to our lives. He is the only one who can take us out of a life of loneliness and connect us with him and other people who live for him.

Please join us at Pioneer on October 17 at 7:00 PM and on October 18 at 5:30 PM. (Programs will be in Spanish with translation via App, please bring your smart phone and headphones if you will need translation).

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