Family News

April 4, 2004

SHORT  BY

STUFF   DAVE SHANER

First I would like to thank Scott Rouse and Mike Reeves for preaching in my absence. They are both very talented, loving God and His people very much. We are very fortunate to have such capable leaders. We are also in the process of selecting our elders and deacons for the next two years. Your selection forms are due to be turned in today. If you have not already done so, please do so today.

A lot of activity takes place at this time of year. The annual Leadership Training for Christ (LTC) convention in Phoenix is this coming weekend. Many of our young people, as well as some of their mentors will be going. Be sure to keep them in your prayers as they travel and participate.

Next Sunday another opportunity exists for each of us. Being “Easter” Sunday, many of your friends and neighbors will be attending some church service that they otherwise would not. Historically, more Americans go to church at this time than any other day of the year. With the movie, The Passion of the Christ, still fresh in many hearts and minds, a great door is opened to us.

Jesus’ conversation with His disciples following His encounter with the Samaritan woman is very instructive (John 4:27-38). They had just come back from town with food, but Jesus was not hungry. He was talking to a woman about the water of life. After meeting Jesus, she went to town and told everyone about Christ. The response was tremendous as her friends were all coming out to meet Him. The reason Jesus wasn’t hungry was because His food was to do the will of God. He wanted His disciples to feed on God’s will as well. Jesus asked them to lift up their eyes as the fields were ripe for harvest. What did they see? They saw men and women coming up the mountain to meet Him. They were the fields that were ready for being led to the Lord.

Do you have your sickles ready? Paul said that some of us plant the seed of the gospel while others water it (I Corinthians 3:6-8). Jesus also said, “Thus the saying, ‘One sows and another reaps is true.’ I sent you to reap for what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” (John 4:36-38)

Ask someone to come to church service with you this Sunday. Pray for them everyday this week. Next week, they will hear a sermon about the love of God and the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The Romans had a saying, Tempus Fugit, which means ‘Seize the Day.’ This is good advice for the Lord’s church - Let’s Seize the Day!

Have a Great Week!!

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.  -Revelation 3:20

Reminder.....

Please remember to turn in your forms for Elders and Deacons selection today to Pat Irmer, Helen Rouse, Wayland Lipscomb or the church office by Sunday, April 4. Please list the current and new elders you wish to select.

Columbia High School Choir

The Columbia Christian High School from Portland, Oregon will be here to sing for us on Wednesday, April 14 at 6:30 p.m. Your help housing this group of about 55 students would be greatly appreciated. There is a sign up sheet on the kiosk. Thank you!

Easter Egg Hunt

The Easter egg hunt is this Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Dalton Gardens City Park (across the street from the church building)! Children from church and CCS, ages 6th grade and younger are invited. There will be a story time, and cookies and juice, as well as the egg hunt. The children will have the opportunity to support Lifeline of Hope, a charitable organization which supports Russian orphans, by bringing in coins that will be collected. Please encourage your kids to participate in this effort by saving coins to bring so they may help other children who don't have the blessings that we enjoy.

Help Needed!

We are still looking for help with the Easter egg hunt. There are several areas in which we need assistance. You could help by donating prizes for the golden eggs, by providing cookies for refreshments, or by providing two dozen plastic Easter eggs filled with candy or other treats to hide for the children. The children from our congregation as well as students of CCS are invited, so we will need lots of cookies and filled eggs! If you would like to help in any of these areas, please contact Mary Petersen or Kathy Taylor.

Family Game Night

Be ready for tons of fun at our monthly game night, April 9, 6:30 p.m. in the small auditorium. Bring snacks and games. Come join the fun!

Donations Needed For the Prayer Garden - soap chips (to keep the deer away) and used coffee grounds (to keep the slugs away). CCS Auction - large coffee cans and empty wrapping paper tubes. See Georgette Rude for more details.

Shepherd’s Corner

Easter is next Sunday, a time of the year that many Christian religions view as the most important day. And indeed, the greatest event in all history is the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, the very event that allows all mankind, through faith, to have a righteous relationship with our Lord.

Scriptural evidence reflects how the early church met on the first day of the week to celebrate this great event. And to this very day, Christians still gather together on every Sunday to reflect on, and partake of, the memorial emblems that celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Praise God for such great love.

-For the Elders

New Ladies' Study Group

There will be a new ladies' study group offered on Tuesday afternoons at 12:30. Our next meeting will be on April 6th at the home of Kathy Taylor and children are always welcome (and mommies with children ENCOURAGED to attend!) The study is for any woman, of any age, with or without kids! We will be studying "Secrets to Exceptional Living" by Joyce Meyer. This study is offered in addition to the ladies' group that meets on Tuesday mornings and everyone is welcome at either or both studies!

Attention Ladies: HELP! HELP!

It is only 6 months until our 2004 Ladies Fall Fellowship on Saturday, October 2, 2004, with our speaker, Lacreta Scott from Altadena, CA. We have many decisions and planning still to do. Some of you have already volunteered to head committees, or help. But more help is needed to make the day bring glory to God and encourage one other. To this end we will have an important meeting Sunday, April 18 at 2:00 p.m., here at the church building. Please plan on attending and being involved. You are needed!

Remember the purpose of the Ladies Fall Fellowship:

1. To involve our ladies in working together to serve the Lord and draw closer to one another.

2. To be an encouraging, uplifting day and growing time for our sisters as Christian women.

3. To be a non-threatening time to share Christ with our non-Christian family and friends.

4. To bring glory to God.

See you at the meeting!

Calendar of Events

April 6 - 6:30 a.m. - Prayer Breakfast at JB’s

April 8 - 11 - LTC Convention in Phoenix

April 9 - Game Night - 6:30 p.m. Small Auditorium

April 10 - Easter Egg Hunt -10:00 a.m.

April 14 - Columbia High School Singing Group

April 16 - Ladies Craft Night - 6:30 Sm. Auditorium

April 18 - Ladies Fall Fellowship Meeting - 2:00 p.m.

April 18 - LTC Celebration - 5:30 p.m.

Prayer Requests

George Kane is recovering from heart surgery in Phoenix. His surgery went well.

Patricia VanWagner, a friend of Betty Wilhoite’s, is in the last stages of cancer. Pray for comfort.

Mark Lynn, a minister of a church in Boise, is recovering from surgery from a blood clot on his brain.

Haley, a 5 year old granddaughter of a friend of Darlene Preston’s, has been diagnosed with leukemia.

Sally, Patty Welter’s aunt, is recovering from a heart transplant.

Kenneth Bond, Kim Howard’s grandfather, is in the hospital with pneumonia.

Pray for Sarah Ward’s cousin, Billy, and his two sons on the unexpected death of their mother, Suze.

Christopher Henrikson, Don and Wilma Flanagan’s grandson, is in Iraq. Also, for Claudia Moberg’s grandson, Daniel in Kuwait. Keep their safety in your prayers as they serve our country.

Please keep Bud and Kathy Litterell and their daughter, Natasha, as they return home from Russia on Tuesday.

Tim & Alyssa Frahm ask prayers for the decision process in Thailand regarding the adoption of Nuanna.

Pray for the Reeves and the Togo Team, that the Lord will continue to bless their work, and that the families will have good health.

Continue to remember: Ron Dupey, Rita Welter, Connie Savoy, Pam Neill, Jerry Roth, Patty Welter.

BIBLE BUILDERS MEMORY VERSES

Children's Sunday A.M. Bible Classes

4 years - Grade K:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find.” Matthew 7:7a

1st - 2nd Grade:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Matthew 7:7

3rd - 6th Grade:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Matthew 7:7-8

Mike’s Memos.......

The Devil’s Beatitudes

If Satan were to write his beatitudes, they might go something like this:

Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, or too distracted to attend Bible class or worship a couple of times a week with fellow Christians. They are my best workers.

Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked, and expect to be thanked. I can use them.

Blessed are the touchy. With a bit of luck, they may stop going to church. They are my missionaries.

Blessed are the troublemakers, they shall be called my children.

Blessed are the complainers. I am all ears with them.

Blessed are they who are bored with the preacher’s mannerisms and mistakes, for they get nothing out of the lesson.

Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own congregation, for he is part of the problem instead of the solution.

Blessed are they who gossip, for they shall cause strife and divisions that please me.

Blessed are they who are easily offended, for they soon will get angry and quit.

Blessed are they who do not give an offering to help with God’s work, for they are my helpers.

Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother or sister, for he shall be with me forever. (food for thought from a bulletin digest)

It is so easy to get caught up in the negative. Instead, let’s learn and live by the beautiful beatitudes of Christ.

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LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR CHRIST

Phoenix Convention

We leave this Thursday at 5 am!

­Please, anyone who can help with one or a part of one of the $276 plane tickets, your gift would be appreciated!!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Keeping the Sacred Story Alive

Scholars and preachers from around the world will join in Malibu to celebrate the marvelous themes found in 1 Timothy. Join Mark Love, Ruebel Shelly, Billy Wilson, Shon Smith, Don McLaughlin, Kevin Withem and Rick Atchley and others, May 4 – 7, as they remark on the wonderful mystery of Godliness. To receive details about these and other classes, call (310) 506-4270, or e-mail Whitney.Wall@pepperdine.edu

Secret Sisters

Please remember to keep your secret sister in your prayers and to contact her so she knows you are praying for her! If you have not heard from your secret sister yet, please let Katrina Swaim know so we can be sure that nobody's information was lost!

CCS CORNER SCHOOL NEWS

Parent Response by Dan DuPey

It was educational, emotional, spiritual, and, at times, comical visiting with our three (3) children over the past few days! We, as a family, reflected over some of the experiences they have had and are, now, going through. We, also, as a family, are proud of the influence God has made in our lives. He has blessed our three (3) children with more focus and confidence as they begin their individual journeys in life. God is at the head.

We might say that God has a huge homework assignment for us as parents: simply, Children! We must build a strong foundation with our children from the beginning. This must always include God with every activity. This is something that our school staff has always stressed to our C.C.S. parents. If you want your family to be successful, you must DO things with them, be involved, participate in activities with them, tell them that YOU care and always be there for them. And, whatever we do, whatever we say, wherever we go, we must put God first, and rely on Him.

It is great to see that Dave and Kathy have taken a long deserved vacation together. There is always a need for couples to refocus on each other. It is important to have a special time to plan, encourage, and uplift each other. We are often so busy that we forget about living and family, but focus on life and "me". Teri and I, also, are always excited about the long trips we take, as it gives us time to discuss, question, goal-set, encourage, and plan for things that are coming up!

So, we reflect back. What was our assignment? What is your assignment as a parent? The number one assignment that we felt God wanted us to do as parents was to instill in our children a biblical view of the world. In other words, whatever they did, whatever they came into contact with, that they would respond according to God's will, not their will. This is NOT an easy assignment, but a great goal. It is, also, a very successful goal when utilizing god's plan.

Parents must involve themselves in their children's lives enough to ensure that they have a priority. Whenever an outside source influences or shapes our children's lives more than we do, what have we done as far as parents? Have we failed in our duties according to God's will for them? Teri and I feel, as Christian School Educators, that we must help our parents understand how beautiful God's plan is in raising their children. We, as God's people, his Church, must set the example for others. We MUST be ready at all times to direct, focus, instruct, and involve our lives with that of our children. We can do this if we place God at the highest place!

CCS AUCTION....Please....Please make plans to attend our Auction coming up this Month!

Date: Saturday, April 24th

Time: 9 a.m. (Come join us for breakfast & lunch)

Where: Kootenai County Fairgrounds

Fairgrounds.

Odd Socks?

TO SERVE April 11^th, 2004

Contact Warren Brown ASAP if you are unable to serve.

Assembly Times:

Other Bible Study Groups are offered at various times. Please call the office for times and places.

Statistics:
WEEK OF 3/28/2004

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