Connection. Faith Journey Church. March/April Journey - Pursue - Impact

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1 Connection Faith Journey Church home of Gaarde Christian School Journey - Pursue - Impact SW Gaarde Street, Tigard, OR Ph March/April 2015 Join us as we welcome our missionaries Sue Beaman, Josh & Renee Ransom, and Tamara Henkes for Saturday. On Sunday, a guest from SHARED HOPE will challenge us as we kick off a focus on Human Trafficking. ARTICLE Page The Pastor s Pen 2 March / April Calendars 3 Schedule 4 West of 55 4 Missions News 5 Adult Ministries 5 Worship 6 6 Journey Kids 7 s 7 Our special guest on Missions Sunday, March 8th, is from Shared Hope. They are a local international ministry that focuses on eradicating sex trafficking through prevention, restoration, and bringing justice through legislature and policy solutions. Understanding the devastation that is wrought by Human Trafficking is the beginning of making a difference in the lives of those who have been affected by Human Trafficking. As Christ followers, we are called by Him to share the HOPE that His life on earth, death on the cross, and resurrection from the grave offered every soul on this earth. Our focus for Easter will be on that hope the does not disappoint, the hope that brings us to the end of ourselves, and to the arms of Christ. It is a hope that we must be compelled to share, not only with our neighbors and coworkers, but with those who have been caught up into the tragedy of Human Trafficking. Gaarde Christian School 8

2 the Pastor s Pen With the Death of Jesus on Calvary, we witness, amid the cacophony of soldiers and criminals, gawkers and passers -by, what looks like the final triumph of evil. All the ugliness and violence we can imagine was embodied in the events that had as their climax the six hours during which God in human form hung on a cross on a hillside outside the gates of Jerusalem It is only once we have seen the full extent of evil on display there and witnessed the apparent victory of death that we can begin to appreciate the triumph that is EASTER! ~Adam Hamilton: 24 Hours that Changed the World This triumph, this Easter morning exuberance is found in an incredibly dramatic way in John s gospel chapter 20, verses 1-9: Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he sawthe linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus'* head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, l who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ~ESV Reading this great passage of scripture I could not help but focus on the last verse (9) in speaking of John and Peter s revelation that came out of their lack of understanding and think Harriet Beecher Stowe s earth shaking words in 1852 in her book Uncle Tom's Cabin: His story, our hope story, His mercies (compassions) are new every morning! *Lamentations 3:22 & 23 I wrote a poem for this article and Easter season that expresses our great hope through Jesus story: Easter Hope, His Story Hero hanging from the cross. Emptying of Abrahams Bosom. Brilliance of an Easter sunrise. Woman with spices and caring. Echo of the empty the tomb. Footfalls of the running faithful. Story of the Savior of the World! ~T. Paul The great hero of World War II and then Prime Minster of England once said: "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened." We have provided two helps March through May this year to prepare your hearts for Easter and provide answers post- Easter for those who would want to explore Jesus story further through the discovery and discussion of GodQuest. Journeying Together ~Pastor Tom AVAILABLE NOW! O, with what freshness, what solemnity and beauty, is each new day born; as if to say to insensate man, "Behold! Thou hast one more chance! Strive for immortal glory! Every year Easter morning shouts to us wake-up! Arise! Thou hast one more chance! In fact, because of Jesus Page 2 BEGINS APRIL 15th Wednesday 7pm!

3 March - April 2015 Calendars MARCH 2015 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Missions Convention 8 Missions pm Convention Daylight Savings Time Begins Father/Son Overnighter pm Youth Group Day Trip to Oregon Coast GCS Spring Break pm APRIL 2015 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 7pm 2 3 Good Friday 4 5 Easter 6 Easter Monday 7 8 7pm pm GCS Middle 18 School Production pm Spring Brunch for ladies pm 30 Page 3

4 Service Schedule Sundays 8:45-9:45 am Sunday School - All Ages Nursery ( Birth - 2 Yrs ) 10:00-11:30 pm Worship Service Children s Church ( 3 Yrs - 5th Grade ) Nursery ( Birth - 2 Yrs ) 6:00 pm Adult Home Group - Location Varies Wednesdays 7:00 pm ABLAZE Youth s Missionettes (Girls Kinder - 5th Gr.) Rainbows (Girls and Boys 3-4 Years) Fridays 7:00 pm The Wave Prayer - Prayer and and Praise Worship (2nd Second Friday Friday of each of each month) month Tuesdays 5:30 am Men s Bible Study - Davidson s Office Hours 8:00am - 4:00pm Monday through Friday West of 55 Jesus said, Do not worry, saying What will we eat? or What will we drink? or What will we wear? indeed, your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. - Matt 6:31-32 My grandma, a depression era child, had said from time to time what I ve heard many say from that period of economic struggle, We were poor, but never knew it. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the basic necessities of life, though not in great abundance, were always enough to meet her family s needs as her parents depended on God s promise to provide. Nevertheless, while they struggled through those lean years, they learned not to take God s provisions for granted. Even today, many who went through the Great Depression are not quick to discard food or possessions. After all, this is a generation who did not have the luxury of just throwing out clothing on a whim. They became survivors who found ways to make things last. So, if anyone in our country today understands the adage Waste not, want not. It is these seniors. This combination of trust in God s goodness and an appreciation for all he provides, has given this group a wonderful perspective on God s care for those who trust him. This generation knows that no matter how difficult life becomes, God will be true to his word and supply what we need. Also, as these seniors model for their children and grandchildren gratefulness for and careful management of God s bountiful blessings, they help remind younger generations that these provisions are from a loving God and need to be cherished. In His Service, Pastor John Granholm Page 4

5 Missions News Mission ConneXion Conference January 16th & 17th Jim and I attended the Mission ConneXion Northwest Conference. Their vision is to help God s people effectively mobilize in Mission. Their purpose is to connect local churches and individuals to missions so that increasing numbers of believers are actively serving in areas of the world s greatest need and opportunity. While attending the conference we had the privilege of listening to four keynote speakers: Don Richardson: He wrote Peace Child about their work with the Sawi Tribe in Papua New Guinea, and 50 years later returned and created the mini-documentary video, Never the Same about what s happened since. Steve Richardson: The eldest son of Don Richardson, is the President of Pioneers and leads a mission organization dedicated to initiating church-planting movements among unreached people groups around the world. Pioneers is an organization whose passion has been to see God glorified among those who are physically and spiritually isolated from the gospel of Jesus Christ - from Muslim Bedouins in the deserts of North Africa to animist villagers in the jungles of South America to secular humanists in Eastern Europe and middle-class Buddhist urbanites in the sprawling cities of East Asia. J.D. Payne: A pastor of church multiplication with The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a missiologist and author of several books on missions and evangelism. Ramesh Richard: A theologian evangelist from India serving as Professor at Dallas Seminary and founder of Ramesh Richard Evangelism and Church Health (RREACH). He has dedicated his life to evangelizing leaders and strengthening pastors, and is seeing breakthroughs in how we cross-culturally reach into large numbers of individuals by training large numbers of pastors worldwide. The speakers were very interesting and spoke about the barriers and breakthroughs they have encountered when sharing the love of Jesus in their ministry. If you ever have a chance to attend one of their conferences it would be worth your time. Donna Randol Beth Chambers(Missionaries to OSU(Chi Alpha) Jamie and Alisha Deweese Missionaries to Clackamas Community College(Chi Alpha) Kiel & Niina Downey Missionaries to Thailand Rick & Laurel Ellis Missionary to Chile Carl and Terri Gibbs Missionaries to Africa Tamara Henkes Missionary to Romania Dennis & Diane Holcomb Missionaries to Poland Ken Huff Missionary to Cambodia Steve and Julie Kramer Missionaries to U of O(Chi Alpha) Bill & Carol Paris Missionaries to Tokyo, Japan Josh & Renee Ransom Missionary to China Matt & Heather Reigel Missionaries to Switzerland John & Beccy Rodli Missionaries to Azores/Portugal Rob & Jeanel Shipley Missionaries to East Africa David & Dorothy Yunuba Missionaries to Africa John & Carolyn Stewart Missionaries to Africa Recently while reading OFF BALANCE by Matthew Kelly there was a short passage that truly challenged me: It s easy to let another week, month, or year go by without really thinking about the life you want to live. It s too easy to just let life happen. There are a lot of ways you can live your life; the point is that you don t have to settle for the life you stumbled into. You can pick it intentionally. WOW! Imagine the impact each of us could make in our world if we were genuinely Adult Ministries intentional about how we live each day! We would make a difference in the lives of so many people, if our eyes were kept open to the possibilities that God presents to us every day. Will you take the challenge to live on purpose? Together we can impact our world with the grace and love that God intentionally showers upon us! Pastor Kelly GrosJacques Page 5

6 Worship This month I have been cooking quite a bit. I am an amateur cook who enjoys cooking different cuisines from different countries. As an amateur cook, I also like to try out exotic oils that you don't usually find. My favorite oil has to be coconut oil. Not only because of the health benefits, but also the smell of it. I often enjoy the final packaged product of coconut oil, but I've never thought of the process of extracting the coconut oil. With mostly any kind of oil, pressing is required to extract the essence. It made me think how as a believer, our life is kind of like the pressed oil. God often allows certain things to happen in our life, not because He wants us to suffer, but because He knows these situations will produce something amazing in us. It is like coconut oil. For a coconut to produce oil it must be pressed under pressure. Our life is often pressed by all sorts of different things, and they are not always fun. I believe if we are willing to trust in Christ through those times, He can use them to extract something amazing out of us for the world to see. The process of being pressed is not always enjoyable, but our God has the power to make messy things into something beautiful. It is not as important for us to figure out how we are going to get through the tough circumstance, as asking how we can trust Him more. If we are willing to trust Him, then He is faithful to complete the work that He is doing in us. Phil Tu FJC Worship Leader Youth Ministries Thank you for all of your support in sending our students to the Generation Unleashed conference in January! Jessica and I took five from the youth group to City Bible Church in Portland for the better part of three days where we all listened and learned from a multitude of youth pastors. The theme was Amazing Grace, and we heard all weekend about what God has done for us through Jesus sacrifice, not only forgiving our sin but giving us freedom in our lives. We all had a lot of fun in between and after services, and we may have even broken a piece of a playground With God s grace on our minds, we are now looking forward to Easter and all of its significance. Last Wednesday I spoke to the group about Ash Wednesday and Lent and the somberness of the cost of our freedom. In light of Lent, I challenged the students to think of something they could give up until Easter and I know some are really going for it. Andy Reum Youth Pastor Page 6

7 Children s Ministries In Journey Kids, we recently finished learning that the Reward for Everyone who Accepts Christ is Heaven in our REACH series, and have continued into the KidMo! series TEACH. During the next five weeks, we will start learning how to live out God s word in our lives through right Thinking, Exercising what we know in our daily lives, Amplifying Jesus, Changing bad habits, and Helping others. As we explore different Bible stories with Lester the Lab Assistant and Mrs. Fluffynutter, we will continue to learn more about God and grow in the truth. We have also been working to get the kids excited about the upcoming Missions Convention that Faith Journey is hosting for our missionaries. After handing out Buddy Barrels in service, our children have been diligently bringing in their change to contribute on their own as well. Also coming up, we have our annual Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday! Our Journey Kids will have the opportunity to search for eggs around our church campus and maybe even find one of our special prize eggs! I hope you all can make it! Jessica Scott Children s Church 10:00AM Freedom Kids Services for 3 yrs - Kindergarten On Sunday mornings, our little ones (three years old through kindergarten age) meet together to learn, sing and play. Journey Kids Services for 1st - 5th graders Kids, bring along your energy on Sunday mornings for Journey Kids! This is no time to sit back and watch... every child is an integral part of the service. Together, we re learning to worship, serve, reach out and translate what we re learning into action in our own lives. M Pact clubs for girls first through fifth grade - and - Rainbows club for preschool aged girls and boys service for becoming an Honor Rainbow and an Honor Prim. Between the 2 students, they had received a total of 51 badges to receive this special recognition. We are so proud of them as well as all of our students. On February 11th, we were able to give out 72 badges and certificates to our hardworking students. We also celebrated their achievement and faithfulness with a Valentine party. Come join the fun. On February 22nd, Mariah Balfour and Jayden LaGrotta were awarded trophies in our main church In His Service, Connie Frisinger M Pact Coordinator Page 7

8 Gaarde Christian School For we are God s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do good works. -Ephesians 2:10) This verse continues to guide us as GCS gears up for Missions Month, a time set aside to be intentional about investing in the lives of others, seeking to serve rather than be served. During March Missions Month, students will be challenged to bring canned food goods for the Oregon Food Bank. Students will also meet missionaries to Thailand, Kiel and Niina Downey in our kick-off chapel, March 4th. Preschool through eighth grade students will collect goods to meet some of their needs as they prepare to move to Thailand. Thank you for continuing to partner with us in the education of your student. It is a pleasure to impress upon them not only academic knowledge, but a knowledge and understanding of serving and loving others in the name of Christ. Important Dates Mar 13 - Father/Son Overnight Campout, 7pm - Sat 8am Mar 19 - End of Third Quarter / Talent & Art Show, K-8th, 7pm Mar 20 - Teacher In Service - No School, Day Care Open Mar Spring Break - No School, Day Care Closed Apr 3 - Good Friday - No School, Day Care Closed Apr 6 - Easter Monday - No School, Day Care Closed Apr Achievement Testing, 1st-8th Apr 17 - Middle School Program, 7pm Apr 30 - Class Pictures FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT THE GCS WEBSITE! Kendra Jones, Administrator YOUR CHILDREN, OUR CALLING SW Gaarde St. Tigard, OR 97224