Family Bible Church FamilyGram Page

A Publication of Family Bible Church

July 2016 Volume 2016 Issue No. 7

in this ISSUE

Birthdays and Anniversaries

page 7

Halvorson News page 8

Global Partners—Family Lines

page 4

7 Reasons to Work in the Nursery

page 1

Pastor Ron page 63

Silver Eagles page 6

Summer Book Clubs page 2

VBS—Cave Quest page 1

Worship page 6

I magine…

…a child discovering for the first time that Jesus is the light of the

world.

…kids wor-shiping in powerful ways.

…children praying for each other in the challenges they face.

…adults and teens model-ing Jesus’ love to chil-dren.

…the kids in our church showing God’s love to families in need across the United States.

…children serving each other. This summer at Cave Quest VBS, kids will go on an over-the-top under-ground adventure where they’ll dis-cover Jesus can be their trusted guid-ing light through life! Be a part of Va-cation Bible school at Family Bible Church from 5:30 – 8:30 PM on July 18th through July 22nd. It’s an adven-

(VBS—Continued on page 2)

Vacation Bible School July 18th-22nd 5:30 – 8:30 PM

T oo often serving in the church

nursery can seem like a thankless job. Here are seven reasons why serving in the church nursery is

very im portant.

Reason #1 - God is in the church nursery. This may come as a shock, but the Bible has specific promises about God’s presence when children are welcomed and loved in Jesus’ name. Reason #2 - Your service in the church nursery allows church goers to focus on worship, rather than worrying about their children. In a very real sense your ministry makes it possible for the pastor to fulfill his ministry.

Reason #3 - The first (and som e-times lasting) feelings a child will have toward church is formed in the nursery department. Therefore, a positive expe-rience in the church nursery is essential.

Reason #4 - W hen you serve in the nursery, you are being entrusted with the most important (and vulnerable) members of the church family. There is no greater treasure on this side of heav-

(Reasons—Continued on page 2)

SEVEN REASONS TO SERVE IN THE

CHURCH NURSERY

Family Bible Church FamilyGram Page 2

S ummer Book Clubs (W OW ) star ted June 22nd and will continue through August 24th.

Book Clubs available this summer are:

Wednesday Mornings:

9:30 to 11:30 AM

June 22-August 24

Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids With The Love of Jesus

by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson

“Give Them Grace” is a revolutionary perspective on parenting that shows us how to receive the gospel afresh and give grace in abundance, helping our chil-dren know the dazzling love of Jesus and respond

with heartfelt obedience. We all want to raise good kids, but is “being good” really the point?

This mother-daughter team contend that every way we try to make our kids ”good” is simply an extension of Old Testament Law—a set of standards that is not only unable to save our children, but also powerless to change them. They need grace!

This Book Club will meet at Family Bible Church in room B3, Wednesday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30 (June 22-August 24). The cost of the book is $10; childcare is available for $5 for one child or $8 per family (paid weekly).

Wednesday or Thursday Evening:

The Jesus I Never Knew

by Philip Yancey

This book will rock your preconceptions and chal-lenge you with hard questions about why those of us who bear Christ’s name don’t do a better job of fol-lowing him. Yancey writes: “The Jesus I got to know in writing this book is very different from the Jesus I learned about in Sunday school. In some ways it is more comforting, in some ways more terrifying.” Prepare for a new encounter with the real Jesus of the Gospel; refreshing, unpredictable, and exciting.

There are two opportunities to be part of the this book club: on Wednesday nights, 6:30-8:30 (June 22-August 24) at the home of Nancy Condliff , 1267 E. Noel Greene Dr., 360-679-0710; or on Thursday nights, 6:30-8:30 (June 23-August 25) at the home of Marjorie Kott , 624 SW 2nd Ave., 360-675-3146.

This book is $10. Sorry no childcare is available for the evening clubs.

It’s not too late to join us! You can call Stephanie Burt (310-435-7319) with questions, or for more information.

(Club—Continued on page 4)

ture that’ll help every-one involved begin or grow in their relationship with Jesus!

We’re praying this awesome VBS program will touch children’s hearts and lives with Jesus’ love and power. Help kids in our community discover that...

5 Jesus gives us hope.

5 Jesus gives us courage.

5 Jesus gives us direction.

5 Jesus gives us love.

5 Jesus gives us His power.

As we plan and prepare for Cave Quest, our team would cherish your prayers. Pray that God would give us wisdom in planning. Pray for the right staff members to join our team. And pray that God would begin working in the hearts of the children who will come to Cave Quest!

For more information about this exciting ministry event go to https://www.groupvbspro.com/vbs/ez/familybiblechurch/gpgs/Home.aspx.

(VBS—Continued from page 1)

CAVE QUEST VBS

WOW Summer Book Clubs

en than the little ones God has given us. You must be someone special to have a job that is so im-portant.

Reason #5 - Your service is essential for your own spiritual growth. You may have never looked at it this way, but a growing Christian is al-ways a serving Christian. Jesus was known for put-ting others first, when you serve in the church nursery you are walking in His example.

Reason #6 - The church nursery is the first contact young families will have with our church. Your friendly greeting and exceptional care for their children can make a great first impression for our church. If they don’t feel like their children are safe, they will not return – and rightly so.

Reason #7 - Your service in the church nursery is a powerful opportunity for prayer. If every nursery worker would spend several minutes praying over the children in their care, imagine how God might begin to change this coming generation. There is no better way to create an environment of spiritual nurture than to pray while you serve in the nursery.

And remember that God blesses those who serve his children.

(Reasons—Continued from page 1)

Family Bible Church FamilyGram Page 3

A parent of one of our FBC family was criticized in their

local paper. The most irritating thing about the article is that the paper didn’t bother to interview the one they were criticizing. A simple phone call would have giv-en the paper a whole different perspective on the subject, but they just ran with the criticism they had received.

Jesus gave us what has come to be known as The Golden Rule, Do unto others as you would have done unto you (Luke 6:31). This advice is well known by believers and non-believers alike. What do you want people to do when they hear something derogatory about you? Are you happy if they just pass it on? Or, would you prefer that they come to you and check out the rumor? The answer to that is both obvious and Biblical. Be-yond the Golden Rule, Galatians 6:1 instructs that if we find some-one to be in error, we should deal with that person gently, directly, and conscious of our own vulner-abilities. Matthew 18:15-20 has Jesus teaching the exact same process with additional detail.

In all these passages, it is clear that we should go to the source to verify accusations. If the accusa-tion proves to be true, then we work one on one with that person for restoration. If they do not re-spond, then we are to include the appropriate additional people who can help bring the person to right thinking and/or actions. Never are we to just pass on bad news about someone. That is gos-sip which is regularly condemned in Scripture.

What if the offender is a public personality with whom we have no possibility to have meaningful contact? Let me offer you an ex-ample of one way to deal with al-legations about public or distant well known people based on something that happened at FBC.

Last Sunday a concerned person came to me with information about a well-known pastor who allegedly became involved with an

attempt to merge Christianity with Islam. This movement is called Chrislam. I don’t know who initiated the criticism that was brought to FBC, but the next day I simply called the criticized pastor’s church and expressed the following: “Hi, I’m a pastor in Washington State and I hate to bother you with this, but someone gave me a report that Pastor __________ was involved in promoting what is called Chrislam. I would like to respond properly to this allega-tion. I’m sure Pastor _______ has a formal reply. Can you tell me how to get that reply?”

The man pastors one of the larg-est churches in the world. I was forwarded to his office and left the same message on the answer-ing machine and then received an email the following day. I will share just a brief portion of that email.

“The so-called ‘Chrislam’ rumor is 100% false. If the guy who start-ed this libelous myth, or anyone else who passed it on, had obeyed our Lord's command (Matt. 18:18-20) to come directly to me, and then asked what I ac-tually believed - they would have been embarrassed to learn that I believe the exact opposite. As a 4th generation Christian pastor, my life & ministry is built on the truth that Jesus is the only way, and our inerrant Bible is our only true authority.”

Why did I call his church? Be-cause that is the Biblical thing to do – verify at the source! Also, because that is what I would want done for me! Isn’t that what you would want? You probably thought, “If they had just googled “Chrislam” and the Pastor’s name, then they would have found the refutation. That is cor-rect! However, since internet sources need validating, I thought I would go “straight to the horse’s mouth.”

Before you roast the FBC person who brought this rumor, let’s be gracious. It is my understanding that the person who shared the information with people here re-ceived it from a source that they thought, for good reasons, was

a message

from

Verify!

reliable. However, it is apparent that their source did not verify this partic-ular accusation. So our FBC person had what they thought was good rea-son to trust the information, which turned out to not be verified.

If you have been here any length of time you have heard me say “I want you to trust me, but I want you to study like you don’t.” It would be per-fectly OK, in the technical sense, to seek verification for every affirmation made in any sermon, lesson, discus-sion, article read, etc., but that would be terribly cumbersome. Instead, we come to trust people because they have proved to be generally reliable. The process of relying on those who have been reliable in the past is a good and workable practice. That be-ing said, it is wise to do spot verifica-tions from time to time in order to be sure our trusted source has not be-come sloppy.

To confirm our trust in our presump-tively reliable sources, we must ask ourselves two questions. First, does our source have a track record for being thorough in their research, es-pecially on the matter of negative al-legations and core theologies? This can only be determined by doing our own source checking. Second, we need to ask if they are teachable. Not “if,” but “when” they make a mistake, do they own it and correct it? If so, then that will usually be a very relia-ble source. If they are too…whatever…to check out their sources or admit when a mistake is made, don’t honor them with your trust.

Let’s be careful, cautious, compas-sionate, and very thorough, especially when it comes to dealing with nega-tive information about others. Let’s treat others like we would want to be treated.

Family Bible Church FamilyGram Page 4

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

The Fall 2016

term of WOW

Bible Studies

begins on Sept 7

and 8.

(Club—Continued from page 2)

their development as young men. Pray for our conversations along the way, that they would en-courage the kind of rela-tionship that allows a son to talk with dad about any-thing in life and faith as they grow into men. Pray that the sons would know how much their earthly

fathers love them and have their best interest at heart. Pray that all of us as God's sons would grow more deeply into our Heavenly Fa-thers love and what he has for us to know and experience of Him.

Prayer for the Metal Line Falls father/child group (June 16-19) and the group of fathers/sons coming from Spring, Texas for a week long retreat (June 26-July 2). Pray especially for pre-paring the father's hearts to see their sons as God sees them. Pray for their ability to discon-nect from work and be fully present with their boys. Pray for the sons to be able to share honestly with their fathers, in words, but even more with ac-tion. Pray that agreements with the enemy would be broken this week. Pray for the family lines of these pairs, that those lega-

D ear FL Prayer Team,

Summer is here and we are in full gear with a lot going on these days! We covet your prayer all the more as we minister with and to many Dads and their kids in the coming months. God is good and we thank for your continued encourage-ment along the way. We could not do this without you!

Pray for the fathers and sons who are a part of our "BLT" pro-gram this summer. BLT stands for Build a fly rod, Learn fly fishing, Test your skills on some fish! For the next three months a group of fathers will spend time together with their sons and other fathers participating in a series of workshops and trips aimed to build their skills in fly fishing but more im-portantly their bond with their sons. All of the sons are 12-13 years old, a very defining time in

cies would be mightily affected by the actions that take place these weeks.

Pray that we would come into contact with the fathers and sons and daughters that God would have us pursue.

We are going to be filming some father/child stories on the Grande Ronde river in October. These will be a pivotal part of our strategy moving forward. Pray over the production pro-cess (story development to the film team to the two father/son pairs that will be out here to all the logistics leading up to it) as it is just as much a part of the story as when we push record on the cameras. Pray that we would tell these father stories to the glory of God, and would see restoration spread into other family lines as a result.

Pray for our board team and our board chairs - interim, Bronco Huge and incoming board chair, James Colburn.

Thanks for your prayers!

Team Family Lines

Family Bible Church FamilyGram Page 5

I placed my head in my hands and whispered, “I can’t do this.” My perplexed husband asked, “Do what?” I replied, “Everything for everyone.” {That might have been a bit of a whiny exagger-ation on my part.} He raised an eyebrow at me and smiled a bit before responding, “You don’t have to.” How do I so easily for-get that’s true? It seems every time I end up exhausted this is the reason: I’ve delusionally de-cided the fate of the universe and all who live in it is up to me. No pressure, right? Here’s what’s true: I don’t have to

save the world. Jesus already did. And you don’t have to either. My friend Serenity works with wom-en at the House of Hope. In a recent newsletter, she shared how what she

does can be both wonderful and hard. And she included this quote from someone else trying to make a differ-ence in the lives of others: You know I cannot save them. I am not here to save anybody or to save the world. All I can do - what I’m called to do - is to plant

myself at the gates of hope. Some-times they walk by. But I stand there every day and I call out till my lungs are sore with calling, and beckon and urge them in toward beautiful

life and love. I can’t get this one phrase out of my mind or heart: I plant myself at the gates of hope. Yes. Isn’t that it? In other words, our job is simply showing up and pointing the way. Regardless of how it may feel some days, that is enough. We are not the savior of anyone or anything. Instead we’re simply messengers and serv-ants. The only arms strong enough to carry the weight of the world are the ones that stretched out on a cross. Those same arms are there to hold and carry us when it all feels like too much. Because what Jesus has already done is truly enough.

Visit Holley’s web page at http://holleygerth.com

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Sr. High Jr. High

Why You Don’t Have to Save the World this Week by Holley Gerth

9:50 am Sunday School—C-6

9:50 am Sunday School—C-6

9:50 am Sunday School—C-6

Youth Calendar for July 2016

Jr. Hi: 7-8:45 C-3 World View

Sr. High 7-8:45 C-6 “Chariots of Fire”

Sr. High 7-8:45 C-6 “Last Holiday”

Jr. Hi: 7-8:45 C-3 Camp Casey Night

9:50 am Sunday School—C-6

Jr/Sr High—Drive-In Movie at Blue Fox Bring $ for admittance & activities

(food, arcade, Go Karts)

Jr/Sr High—No Group

N e z P e r c e I n d i a n R e s e r v a t i o n M i s s i o n T r i p

NO S.S.

Family Bible Church FamilyGram Page 6

H ave you ever

had a song

completely make

sense the first time

you heard it? It is

funny to think that

Melissa Helser

who is the female

vocalist on the

album release of “No Longer

Slaves” did not feel an immediate

connection to this song. If you do a

web search for No Longer Slaves

Song Story you will find a 2+ mi-

nute video of the Helser’s talking

about the song and the making of

the music video. She says that it

took an hour of sitting and

being with the Lord to un-

derstand that the bridge

section of the song (which

she sings) was her story!

Though the bridge auto-

matically brings to mind

the Israelites at the Red

Sea and God splitting open

the waters to escape the clutches of

From the Worship Desk

the Egyptians, it is also a meta-

phor for our stories in Christ as

He makes a way, through His

love, for us to escape the enemy.

As a someone who works with a

songwriter this is a fairly com-

mon thing. It takes a while to sit

with the Lord and the song before

it makes sense in my story. But,

God has a great way of working

through the entire body of Christ

and their gifts in order to bring

us to a place of understanding

who we are in light of who Christ

is.

If you are finding it hard to con-

nect with a lyric of a song, I en-

courage you to go find

the lyrics, or come ask

for them on a Sunday

morning. As you read

through them take time

to pray them. Take

time to think about

what the song writer is

trying to convey in the

song. What element of the Chris-

tian walk are they trying to get across

with these lyrics?

You unravel me, with a melody

You surround me with a song

Of deliverance, from my enemies

Till all my fears are gone

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

From my mother’s womb

You have chosen me

Love has called my name

I've been born again, into your family

Your blood flows through my veins

You split the sea

So I could walk right through it

All my fears were drowned

in perfect love

You rescued me

So I could stand and sing

I am a child of God

“No Longer Slaves” – Jonathan and Melissa Helser (Bethel Music)

If you’re over 55 and want to have a great

time of fun, food and fellowship, join us on

July 15th at 6:00 PM

for the potluck, and 7:00 for our program.

Call Margie Kott at 675-3146 for more info.

Family Bible Church FamilyGram Page 7

Veronica & Mark Barlup

Carol & Rich Klinnert

Karin & Tyler Black

Sharon & Gary Nirk

Shelley & Donald Blackburn

Teresa & Brian Presler

Kayleigh & John Gangi

Breanne & Brett Smedley

Lynne & Tony Giammarinaro

DeLorean & Mike Zarronandia

Ruth & Ron Hancock

Scott Brady 09th Michele Kott 18th Jazmin Tanner 13th

David Broberg 23rd Marnie Marcus 14th Brian Thompson 30th

Casey Cabigting 13th Andy (A. J.) Markley 22nd Lynette Tompkins 14th

Shelly Darnell 25th Ben Marshall 17th Judi Ulery 22nd

Alex Eggett 19th Stewart Marshall 12th Lynne Vagt 11th

Anna Fitzgerald 20th Sherlin Martis 14th Rochelle VanSlyke 14th

Deanna Frederick 13th Sharon Nirk 16th Kathy Watkins 02nd

Dave Alvarado 26th Ken Fredericks 21st Wendy Nitcher 31st Sue Watson 27th

Zack Baldwin 16th John Gangi 30th Dan Potter 03rd Julie Wilhelm 08th

Dennis Behrman 26th Tony Giammarinaro 06th Teresa Presler 02nd Shirley Yadon 14th

Kellen Berthiaume 30th Cheryl Hansen 20th Jim Pruss 28th Joshua Zarraonandia 10th

Donald Blackburn 19th Griffin Haynes 21st Kerry Speth 14th

Rick Bonacci 23rd Marjorie Kott 11th Madison Sutten 15th

Family Bible Church FamilyGram Page 8

Upcoming

EVENTS

Every Tuesday 6:00 PM The Pier—College & Career

Every Wednesday 6:30 PM Prayer & Praise—Library

WOW Bible Studies

6:30 PM Thu Evenings

Silver Eagles 6:00—8:00 PM

Friday, July 15th

VBS July 18-22

Halvorson Family Headed to the USA for the Summer... Graduation complete...headed to the USA

It's official! Jon Michael graduated from Rosslyn Academy on May 25th and has plans to attend Biola University in Los Angeles this fall, where he hopes to study film production. We all enjoyed his graduation ceremony with his 57 classmates. These last two weeks since graduation have been full of many difficult goodbyes, as is expected with an international class such as his, with classmates moving all over the world. Goodbyes are hard! Besides the very difficult goodbyes, we have been busy packing our bags and getting excited for our family's first trip back to the USA in three years! We are headed to the airport this morning! While in the US, we will spend most of our time with family in Washington state as we help Jon Michael with the requirements of living back in America. We will also be making a quick dash to see family and friends in other states. We wish we could see all of you, our dear friends and team, on this trip, but that will have to wait until after Sarah's gradua-tion in 2017 when we plan to be in the US for a full year on home assignment. After three years away from America, we are bursting with excitement to return to America! Thank you, dear fami-ly and friends, for walking with us so closely the last three years as we have been ministering to the various people groups of East Africa. Our God is on the move and it is so exciting to serve with you in His work! We now look for-ward to reunion time and rest! Much love, Your fellow servants in Christ, Dan, Lesli, Jon Michael, Sarah, Lydia, and Abraham Our mailing address is: The Halvorson Family -PO Box 21171 -Nairobi 00505 -Kenya

Family Bible Church is a non-denominational church. We are located at 2760 N. Heller Road, Oak Harbor. Our Sunday service times are 8:30, 9:50 and 11:20 AM with Sunday

School running concurrently during 9:50 & 11:20 services. Nursery is available for 9:50 and 11:20 services.

Church office hours are 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM, Monday - Thursday. You can contact us by calling 679-1585. Our FAX # is 679-6144.

Email address: familybiblechurch@comcast.net. Web location: www.oakharborfamilybible.org.

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