"There Is a Fountain"

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

Yesterday in church I referred to the backstory of William Cowper's graphic hymn, "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood". I got the information from cyberhymnal.org, and here is a link to that particular story if you're interested.

Cowper (pronounced "Cooper") felt enormous guilt over his actions and thoughts, but he found that the blood of Christ was powerful enough to provide forgiveness for even him. The same is true for all of us. There is no sin beyond His ability to forgive! That's why those of us who have experienced that forgiveness can feel these words resonate deeply in our hearts:

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy power to save.

"A city on a hill (ought) not be hidden"

I found this funny picture online the other day. By the words on the posters I’m guessing it was shot somewhere in northern Europe. You have to wonder if the guy who put up these posters side by side kind of shook his head at the irony, or if he even noticed.

It soon got me thinking about our new church. I imagine from heaven’s perspective many of our churches are like the poster on the left, reveling in their big juicy hamburger while right outside the door, in stark contrast, there are thousands who are hungering for what’s inside but don’t even know it.

A week and a half ago, Dewey encouraged us to “live up to our name--New Hope Christian Fellowship.” I know we all nodded in agreement inside, but it’s so easy for a church to become inwardly focused. I think every church I’ve ever been involved in has made some statement about wanting to “make a difference” in its community, but the temptation is so great for us to get busy with our churchy stuff and remain completely disconnected to anything outside of our walls.

Let’s not be that way! Let’s not keep all the Hope to ourselves…there are so many in our community who are desperate for it!

Molly & Ethan's Photo-blog, 2-11-2007

My kids were getting pretty anxious to leave church and go eat lunch last Sunday, but alas, mom and dad had things to do and people to talk to. So, when the whining commenced, I gave them my digital camera to distract them, and they took 52 pictures.

Molly just turned 6 and Ethan just turned 4, so let's just say that as photographers they, er...have lots of potential! Anyway, I've posted some selected photos from Sunday afternoon, February 11th, in the photo galleries, so if you're curious what they took pictures of...click here!

The Screen Team

I received this photo earlier this week, and figured it gave me a great opportunity to publicly thank Rich Bryson and Jason Alexander for all their help in setting up and running our projection system and PowerPoint slides.

Rich and Jason, I really appreciate your skills and your servant attitudes! Thank you for your behind-the-scenes work in helping our New Hope community to worship together!

(And thanks to Repkow Bruinsma for the picture)

Dedication Sunday

February 4th was our official dedication Sunday for New Hope Christian Fellowship--what a great day we had!

We had around 160 for our special celebration/ dedication service on Sunday morning, and it was great to have everybody together.

I really enjoyed our time of singing...it's those kinds of worship times that make me think of Psalms like "How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!" (Ps. 147:1).

And Dewey's message about hope was just right on. I pray that we will indeed "live up to our name" and proactively offer hope to the many in our community who desperately need it. (By the way, if you missed the message, you can find it on our website's "Downloads" page, so have a listen or tell a friend!)

We also had a fun afternoon watching the Super Bowl on the big screen! I counted about 50 of us there, and the food and fellowship were awesome...I can't wait for next year!

I've posted a couple photo galleries for the morning and the afternoon, so be sure to take a look at those on our site as well!

Congratulations, Danny & Lizzie!

If you were with us a couple Sundays ago, Dewey announced that Danny Varner and Lizzie Griswold got engaged! I asked Danny for some details so I could post them here on our New Hope Blog, and he came through for me with some great pictures and the story about how they got engaged...

Lizzie and I had made plans to go snowshoeing on Mt. Adams so the day before our hike I drove up to the mountain by myself and stopped at the Ranger Station. I told the ranger lady what I was planning to do and she was eager to help so we pulled out a map of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and she marked a great secluded spot out in the backcountry. With help of a compass I hiked a few miles through the snow to this beautiful valley that used to be a horse camp, which was now perfectly covered by a fresh layer of snow. I found some branches nearby and setup a sign I made earlier saying "Lizzie, Will You Marry Me?" smack in the middle of the giant valley. I then hiked back to my car and drove home all the while staying under Lizzie's radar for the day.

The next morning I picked her up and we drove out to the same spot. It was a sunny day and we were having a nice enjoyable hike through the snow. After a few hours of hiking we were approaching the old horse camp. Before we climbed down into the valley I told Lizzie I needed to go to the bathroom real bad so I went behind a tree and put on a button up shirt and a tie, I then threw my jacket over that to hide my snazzy new outfit. As we climbed down into the valley I was becoming impatient, she wasn't noticing the sign in the middle of the field, so I took the liberty of pointing it out for her, "Oh look, a sign in the middle of the valley, I wonder what that could be...". She looked at me suspiciously (I'm not a very good liar) and she started walking toward the sign with me right behind her. As she approached I struggled to get my jacket zipper unstuck, right as she came close enough to read the sign my zipper came loose, I flung my jacket off, got on one knee and asked the big question. She was able to say "YES" with the warm tears running down her face, I pulled off her right glove only for her to gently correct me, "Wrong hand", which I then took off her left glove and slipped the sparkling rock onto her finger. We then sat down in the snow holding each other as we ate a warm can of beef stew I cooked with a camping stove out in the quiet seclusion of the winter-filled Mt. Adams forest.

Danny and Lizzie plan to get married on August 5th in Silverton, Oregon. Congratulations!

Wanted: Pictures

Do you like to take digital photos? I'd love to get more pictures of church life at NHCF for our website.

I always enjoy websites more when I can see what the people look like and what they are doing. So if you like to take pictures, please bring along your camera and shoot away!