Northeast Community News – June 18, 2013
Dear Friends and Family,
Happy Father’s Day! You did remember, right? Last Sunday was Father’s Day and the church purchased and handed out gifts for each father, grandfather, stepfather, and father to be! Didn’t get yours? Let us know and we will save one for you! Seriously!
As I age I’m surprised how fast Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Labor Day come! In the blur called passing time, make sure you are intentionally building relationships! I have never heard someone approaching death wishing they had spent LESS time with loved ones! In fact, it is quite the opposite! So, if you didn’t have time over the weekend to call on old dad give him a call! You’ll be glad you did! And if dad is no longer with us, take a few moments to remember him deeply and give thanks for your many blessings!
We had a wonderful worship service this week! We prayed a prayer of liturgy for our Fathers and we received Curt Christopher into membership! Curt had once been a very active part of the “Fuller Church” and shared with us many certificates he received for perfect attendance as a child! In fact, he achieved 9 years of perfect attendance!
God’s message to us this week came from Galatians 2:11-21 and was titled, “Living the Crucified Life.” After Paul had discovered Peter’s message and actions were out of line he challenged him to his face and called him a hypocrite! Are you a hypocrite? Do you live one way at church and another at home, at work, or in the marketplace?
God wants us to move beyond reformation and conformation to the world – He desires transformation! Beyond conforming to the rituals and rules of legalized religion or the world, Paul declares we are to be “crucified with Christ” (v. 20) and live a holy life. God wants us to not just look holy or act holy; He wants us to be holy! This requires a death; a death to self and our expectations, hopes, and plans in favor of God’s plans and filling; a filling, cleansing, empowering, leading, and abiding of the Holy Spirit.
If you want to live a life of holiness, if you want to live the crucified life, it begins with admitting you have a need lying below the surface! You need to confess the struggle, divided thinking, and war within and begin the process of yielding everything to God, and then ask Him to come cleanse and sanctify you with the power of the Holy Spirit!
WED. NIGHT ADULT BIBLE STUDY AT 6:30PM
Come and join Shannen Parsaca as she teaches this week’s mid-week Bible study while Pastor Dan is away at General Assembly in Indianapolis Wednesday at 6:30pm!
Healthy Living! It is a way of life as Holiness People!
“Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive…So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:23, 31).
Everything we do or do not do can bring honor or dishonor to God and be constructive or destructive to the temple of the Holy Spirit! With that said, we plan to bring a variety of articles, thoughts, and opportunities to keep the temple holy and honor God!
Margin! Marginless Living! Margin in Emotional Energy!
In his book Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, Richard A. Swenson, M.D., a Christian doctor, sees a steady stream of exhausted, hurting people coming into his office. The majority of them are suffering from an uncontrolled societal epidemic he calls living without margin. This week we will briefly examine the need for margin in emotional energy!
Dr. Swenson writes, “When we are emotionally resilient, we can confront our problems with a sense of hope and power…Emotional overload saps our strength, paralyzes our resolve, and maximizes our vulnerability….” Swenson argues we have been “ambushed by a load of psychic traumas” waging war on our emotions.
From the stress of fractured families [in the church, too, I might add] along with a culture inclined to individualism (narcissism), R and X rated movies, illegal drugs, early sexuality, to a society filled with reports of suicide, unplanned pregnancy, child abuse, spousal abuse, single parenting, pornography, crime, indebtedness, job insecurity, and the lack of affordable housing not to mention ringing phones, texts, email, and crying babies it is no wonder there are more mental health workers than police officers today!
The doctor offers 14 prescriptions to restore margin in our emotions. I only have space to list them here, but if you would like more information let me know!
1. Cultivate Social Supports 2. Pet a Surrogate 3. Reconcile Relationships
4. Serve One Another 5. Rest
7. Cry
10. Offer Thanks
13. Hold Fast Hope 14. Above All, Love
If you’re feeling emotionally overloaded right now know first of all you’re not alone! We’ve all been there! Second, why not try to gain some margin by trying one or two of these strategies! Finally, remember to pray! God is still listening and answering! Amen!
Blessings! Pastor Dan
Hello from Pastor Amy, your Associate Pastor/Administrative Secretary
My office hours will vary every Tuesday, and if you need to see me, just call! My responsibilities also include preparing our weekly program, so if you have an event that you would like to put in the program or newsletter, please feel free to contact me!
On Prayer Requests: If you have a specific praise or prayer request which you would like to appear in the program and/or newsletter, please make sure to fill out the tear-off sheet in the weekly program, or contact me at any time.
Please Update Me! We have a long, ongoing list of prayer requests. Please keep me
updated. Requests will be pulled from the newsletter & program after three weeks.
Church Office: 616-459-2773 My Contact Info: 616-514-9521 or aorban@nnu.edu
NEWS AND EVENTS
Note: Pastor Dan and Janie traveling to General Assembly this week!
This week, Pastor Dan and Janie will be traveling to Indianapolis, IN to spend time at the Church of the Nazarene’s General Assembly. If you don’t know, this assembly takes place only once every four years, and is a time of meeting and celebration for Nazarenes from every corner of the globe! They will be leaving Wednesday morning, so please pray for their safe travel and for a blessed time at General Assembly. Here at home, we will be blessed to have Reverend Christopher bringing us the message this Sunday in Pastor Dan’s absence, so pray for him as well!
Jonathan Gingrich is going to Germany!
Jonathan is a Calvin student who was with us for the year, and he is heading to Germany this summer. Will you pray for his travel and his time there? Will you check out his blog?
Here are some details from him:
I come to Grand Rapids on the evening of July 7th. We have a week of classes in Grand Rapids and leave that Friday (July 12) for Berlin, so prayers for travel would be very nice. We have classes Monday-Thursday every week and either have Friday through Sunday free, or we go on a group trip together. On the 19th we are going to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp just north of Berlin, so that should be a pretty somber experience. The week after we are taking the entire weekend and going down to the southwest, to Heidelberg, and then coming back to worship in Luther's church in Wittenberg.
We're going to try and find a race or two to run while we are in Germany, which should be a very exciting experience, as I've never run a race outside of the midwest, much less outside of the county, but we're having trouble finding a good race with competition to run against. My friend and I have to leave the program a week early to come back August 17th for cross country camp. I also went ahead and created my blog for the trip http://grinchingermany.
Indian Lake Paint Project – will you help?
Irene Pratt is leading an effort to repaint part of the Indian Lake Nazarene Camp Tabernacle. So many of us cherish the experiences we have had at ILNC over the years, and we want to help take care of this wonderful place which is truly a gift from God. While this might seem like an enormous project for our little church, we believe that God has called us to make it happen, and He will provide a way! We still need $400, but money is not the only way to give! Irene is also asking people to come down to the camp to do the actual work. If you are willing to get on board, contact Irene!
Attention Teens – Summer Youth Group has begun!
We have kicked off our summer youth group, and we want all teens to know that they are invited to join us on Wednesday nights. For the summer we will be studying lessons about missions, and so far they have been great lessons. We also have pizza parties, work on painting the youth room, and pray for each other. If you are a teen or know a teen, won’t you join us? Talk to Theo Orban or Pastor Amy.
Feeding the Hungry – July 02! We need your help!
Do you realize there are people in Grand Rapids who are hungry and need food? There is more need than you realize! Jesus told us we love Him by caring for those who hunger, are in prison, are thirsty, and those who are sick (see Matt. 25:35-36). One way to do this is to partner with North End Community Ministry (NECM), pay for a dinner to feed 150 hungry people, and serve at the NECM ‘Supper House’ located at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church on July 02. Will you help? You can give a financial gift (it costs us $200) or help serve and clean up (we need 10 servers). See Pastor Dan for more details!
You can send mail to Larry! Please note new address!
Most of you know that Larry Terhaar is currently in prison. We received his new address. It is important that he hears from his church family! Don’t forget, we even have church postcards that you can use, just ask Pastor Dan for one! Here is Larry’s new address:
Larry TerHaar # 866962
c/o Marquette Branch Facility
1960 U.S. Highway 41 South
Marquette, MI 49855
40 Days of Prayer for Camp Meeting Started May 29
The District Office has put together a 40-day prayer guide leading up to Camp Meeting this summer at Indian Lake. Copies of the prayer guide are available on the table outside the sanctuary. Would you make intercession a part of your daily prayer life from May 29 thru July 7? Bless you in advance for taking the time to pray for our District and Camp Meeting! God is good!
Attention Children and Youth! Do You Want to go to Camp?
Indian Lake Nazarene Camp is located in Vicksburg, MI, and is a place where Nazarenes from throughout Michigan join together everyone summer for camp. Many who spent their childhood and teen years at summer camp will agree that camp is not only a lot of fun, but can be life-changing! This year, Indian Lake is offering a special promotion! If we get three new campers to attend, the fourth goes for free! Registration for camp has already begun and we are running out of time! We already had three teens register!
Please note that your church board feels strongly about making sure children and teens who want to go to camp can go! Therefore, scholarships are available to help cover expenses if needed. You can see the bulletin boards, the tables outside of the sanctuary, or Pastor Dan or Pastor Amy if you are interested and want more information! You can also go to the website: www.ilnccamps.org, or call 269.649.228. The dates for different ages and camps can be found below:
CHILDREN AND YOUTH CAMPS!
Discovery Camp (grades 1-2-3): July 1-3
Boys & Girls Camp (Grades 3-4-5): July 29-August 2
Middle School Camp (Grades 6-7-8): July 18-22
High School Camp (Grades 9-12): July 14-18
Indian Lake Nazarene Camp Events
If you don’t know, Indian Lake is a Nazarene campground where people from churches all over our district gather for District Assembly, children and youth camps, and various other activities. Pastor Dan and Janie own two cabins there, and usually invite everyone down to visit during family camp week in July. Here are some upcoming events at Indian Lake as we approach Spring and Summer:
July 4-6 – Family Festival. Fun filled days with activities for all ages, including a 5k walk, other sports, water slides and rides, animal show, crafts, swimming, ponies, pontoon boat rides, a climbing wall and zip line, an outdoor movie and more!
July 7-14 – Family Camp Week/District Assembly. You can find the specific dates for District Assembly events each day of the week by grabbing a brochure from the tables outside the sanctuary, or talk to Pastor Amy. This is a great week and a great time to visit the campground!
Postcard Greetings Now Available
Don’t forget, we have NE Community postcards and they are available to anyone who would like to send them to invite, encourage, miss, or welcome someone to the church! Interested? See a Sunday school teacher or Pastor Amy or Dan.
Upcoming Events
June 23 Reverend Chris Christopher visits
July 4-6 Family Festival at Indian Lake Nazarene Camp
July 5 First Friday Chinese Lunch @ 11:30am, Hibachi Alpine
July 7 Family Church/Communion Sunday – NO Children’s Church
July 7-14 Family Camp/District Assembly at Indian Lake Nazarene Camp
July 14 Reverend Chris Christopher visits
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