Columbus Elementary Worship

We had around 170 men, women and children (and a dog?) at our first regular service at Columbus Elementary yesterday! What a great morning to celebrate the message of the cross and the foundation of truth we have in God's Word.

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the pictures I took--they're not the best quality, but it's still neat to see our community worshiping together!

Now that we're in our new location, there's plenty of space for new visitors, so invite a friend to come see what God is doing!

The "foolishness" of the cross

During the sermon this morning I was reminded of a great song by Michael Card. As Dewey taught about 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, he described how the "perishing" look at us and believe we are "foolish", even "morons", for believing the incredible message of the cross. If I had my other guitar case with me, I might have tried to sing this song on the fly after the sermon, but the music was here at home (alas)!

Anyway, here are the lyrics to "God's Own Fool" by Michael Card. Maybe I'll sing it sometime in the near future...

Seems I've imagined Him all of my life
As the wisest of all of mankind
But if God's Holy wisdom is foolish to men
He must have seemed out of His mind

For even His family said He was mad
And the priest said a demon's to blame
But, God in the form of this angry young man
Could not have seemed perfectly sane

Chorus
We in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
We in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong
So we follow God's own Fool
For only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable,
Come be a fool as well

So come lose your life for a carpenter's son
For a madman who died for a dream
And You'll have the faith His first followers had
And you'll feel the weight of the beam

So surrender the hunger to say you must know
Have the courage to say I believe
For the power of paradox opens your eyes
And blinds those who say they can see

Words and Music by Michael Card

(c) 1985 Mole End Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) / Birdwing Music (a div. of EMI Christian Music Publishing), CCLI #2803065

New Hope camping trip idea?

"Okay, kids, time to get your jammies and parachutes on..."

A Healthy Church

I just read an interesting blog article by Dr. Ray Pritchard on Crosswalk.com. Pritchard, who preaches in churches all over the country, says he can quickly tell if a church is healthy by observing just two things. I was a little surprised what they were, but I think if he visited New Hope he would be encouraged. See what you think: How to Spot a Healthy Church - Quickly.

Live from McMinnville: Lindsey Jorgensen!

Our own Lindsey Jorgensen is putting on a recital at Linfield College this Sunday. Lindsey will be singing with fellow Music Education major Erica Jossi, and she says the program will include "some German Lied, French Melodie, English Art Song, a few Gershwin pieces, a duet from a Mozart opera, and a duet from the musical 'Wicked'".

Admission is free, and I know Lindsey would love to have plenty of folks there! So if you have a hankerin' for some classical vocal music, the recital is Sunday, April 29 at 6:30 p.m. in Ice Auditorium (Melrose Hall) at Linfield College.

"And then I introduce them to Harvey..."

As you may know, I'm a bit of a movie buff, and last night I watched "Harvey" for the first time. The 1950 film stars James Stewart as a gentle, friendly guy who walks and talks with a 6-foot rabbit. Of course, no one else sees Harvey the Rabbit, so most people think Elwood P. Dowd is crazy.

About two thirds the way through the movie, Dowd is talking to two employees of a sanitorium who originally want to bring this insane man to their asylum, but they are won over by his sweet nature. When Nurse Kelly asks him what he does with his time, he gives an answer that was so beautiful I listened to it three times. (It was vintage Jimmy Stewart, so I'm hoping you can catch the flavor of it as you read...)

Elwood P. Dowd: Harvey and I sit in the bars... have a drink or two... play the juke box. And soon the faces of all the other people they turn toward mine and they smile. And they're saying, "We don't know your name, mister, but you're a very nice fella." Harvey and I warm ourselves in all these golden moments. We've entered as strangers - soon we have friends. And they come over... and they sit with us... and they drink with us... and they talk to us. They tell about the big terrible things they've done and the big wonderful things they'll do. Their hopes, and their regrets, and their loves, and their hates. All very large, because nobody ever brings anything small into a bar. And then I introduce them to Harvey... and he's bigger and grander than anything they offer me. And when they leave, they leave impressed. The same people seldom come back; but that's envy, my dear. There's a little bit of envy in the best of us.

I just love the part where he says that the things they hear are "All very large, because nobody ever brings anything small into a bar." And it made me think again about how almost everyone I see, even in our fellowship gatherings, is carrying something heavy--pains, stresses, guilt, questions, decisions, regrets--and chances are there are few others (if any) in their lives who know anything about these burdens. As a worship leader I'm reminded again that I need to regularly lead our people in songs of hope and encouragement.

But that's not the only line that strikes me as a worship leader. Elwood goes on to say, "And then I introduce them to Harvey... and he's bigger and grander than anything they offer me. And when they leave, they leave impressed." Why is there hope and encouragement in any of our worship songs? Because we serve a God who is "bigger and grander" than any of our problems and burdens! As I lead people in worship, it's my job to focus our community on the One who is more wonderful and awesome and inspiring and glorious than any person or any thing! And I pray to God that when people leave one of our worship gatherings, "they leave impressed"--not by the music or the experience, but by the greatness and goodness of God Himself!

May that be true of all of us...and not just on Sunday mornings, but every day of the week.

Acts 4:1-13


p.s. Here's another great Elwood P. Dowd quote I'll throw in for free!

"Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, 'In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. And you may quote me."

Baptism Photo Gallery online now

I got some really nice pictures at the baptism service this morning, and I've loaded 18 of them onto a gallery on our website (www.newhopeconnection.com). You can find the galleries by clicking on the Photo button on the menu bar, or by clicking here.

I saw lots of cameras there besides mine...if you got good pictures, please share them with me! Maybe I can put up a second gallery!

Baptism Service

What great morning! We held our first-ever New Hope Christian Fellowship baptism service at the Aquatic Center today, and then met back at the Senior Center for worship and a potluck.

Six members of our Fellowship were baptized: Katie Rose Christian, Brennan Zeeb, Aaron Rogness, Tanner Scanlon, Danette Brandli and Bob Olson.

I love baptisms. I love the symbolism of it, and I love the celebration of seeing people publicly proclaim their dedication to Christ. It kind of reminds me of the line in the old hymn, "I love to tell the story, for those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest."

I've personally been saved by grace--I've "died with Christ" and have been raised with Him. And since I've enjoyed this great gift of grace, I love seeing it portrayed in baptism (even if it's in a shallow swimming pool in a hot, super-humid building)!

I don't think I was the only one who was excited by the baptisms. When we got back to the Senior Center we rocked out with one of the best worship times I've ever had on a Sunday morning! Everyone just seemed ready to celebrate and sing out to the Lord, and I for one loved it! And sharing a potluck meal afterwards was just the perfect way to cap it all off. Praise God for an awesome morning!

A little blog-reminder

Don't forget, you can post comments on this blog and on Dewey's Israel Connection, too. Just click on the Comments link at the bottom of any blog entry and follow the instructions!

SPAM!

Sing it anyway

Earlier this week I heard a new song on one of the Christian music stations called "Anyway". It's sung by country artist Martina McBride. I only heard it once, but I liked it a lot, and then as I was watching American Idol last night, there she was singing it live on the show! I think it was released a couple months ago, so maybe if you're a country music fan you've already heard this song a thousand times.

Anyway, the lyrics for this song are terrific, and I thought I'd share them with you...

You can spend your whole life building
Something from nothin'
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might never come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This world's gone crazy
It's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
In a moment they can choose to walk away
Love 'em anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

You can pour your soul out singing
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yea - sing it anyway

I sing
I dream
I love
Anyway

Freedom to fail

A couple years ago I ran across a quote that has given me some good inspiration. It's by John L. Mason, who as far as I can tell is some kind of Christian motivational speaker/author. Anyway, here is the quote:

"Only those who do not expect anything are never disappointed. Only those who never try, never fail. Anyone who is currently achieving anything in life is simultaneously risking failure. It is always better to fail in doing something than to excel in doing nothing. A flawed diamond is more valuable than a perfect brick. People who have no failures also have few victories."

I don't make decisions very quickly, because I tend to be a perfectionist. I sort of fear making a second best choice. In some ways this is good, because I usually end up with good results. Unfortunately, it makes me pretty slow at accomplishing anything. And sometimes there's just no way to know what decision to make, and I end up doing nothing. So the thought in this quote helps me to jump in when I don't feel confident in what's best or if I want to try something new.

I have thought of this quote in our New Hope context in a couple of ways:

First of all, in our Shepherd meetings we have to make lots of decisions. To be honest, most of them are minor things, but some are significant to what kind of place our church will be. There have occasionally been issues we've dealt with as a team where we have felt unsure of the best direction--but we're trying to lead confidently and not leave things unaddressed. Hopefully we are helping New Hope to be a flawed diamond rather than a perfect brick. We want our church to make a real difference for God's kingdom here in Yamhill County.

Second, we've purposely encouraged the members of our fellowship family to jump in and minister with their passions rather than wait for programs to be handed down from on high. It's been really neat to see how some of these have been starting up recently, and I pray that God will use each one in a special way. Maybe you have had some ideas of ministries you'd like to start here at New Hope, but then you had doubts about how successful it would really be. Well I say, what's the worst thing that could happen? If you start a ministry that flops, I guarantee that those of us in leadership here won't be shaking our heads or rolling our eyes--we will applaud those who try to do something for God whether it works or not.

A friend of mine worked on staff for a while with Pastor Rick Warren at the mega-sized Saddleback Community Church in Southern California. He told me that every January Rick makes all the church's staff members stand and raise their right hands and make some pledges. And one of those pledges is, "I promise to fail at something once a week". I hope you feel the same freedom to fail, because you may be surprised--maybe God will use your crazy idea to change McMinnville. To quote Mason again, "Everything great started as somebody's daydream."

So what has God been putting on your heart lately? Dream big and act boldly for Him!

Special Baptism Service

If you're a part of our New Hope family, don't forget that our worship service this Sunday (April 22nd) will begin at the McMinnville Aquatic Center at 10:30 a.m., where we'll hold our first baptism service!

The aquatic center is located at the corner of Adams Street and Park Drive right next to the library. We will gather around the pool to witness several folks testify that they are identifying with Christ in this important ordinance of the church. (We will have a few chairs on hand for those who might have trouble standing for very long).

Once the baptisms are done, we'll head back to the Senior Center for a time of singing and celebration, followed by a potluck lunch. It should be a great morning!

Easter Pictures

I've just added a new photo gallery to our website that has pictures of our Easter Celebration last week at Columbus Elementary School. To find our galleries, click on the Photos button on the main menu bar. You can then choose which gallery to view.

Don't forget, I'm always looking for digital photos of our Fellowship's people and events. If you've got pictures, let me know!

Sermons online

Just wanted to let you know that Rich Bryson's Palm Sunday sermon and Dewey Bertolini's Easter sermon are now both online at our New Hope website.

Visit our downloads page to hear these great messages!

A random joke...

Q: What should you do if you see a space-man?

A: Park your car in it, man.

Music recommendation

I get a weekly e-newsletter from a website called WorshipMusic.com, and each week they have a featured CD that you can listen to for free while you're online.

This week there's a really nice, contemplative solo piano CD by worship leader Klaus Kuehn that I've been really enjoying for the last couple days. If you'd like to hear it, you can go to www.worshipmusic.com and click on the little "Worship Music Radio--The Invitation" link. It should be on there until Tuesday the 17th. Enjoy!

Death and Taxes (and Worship)

Well, it's April 11th and it's probably about time for me to start doing my taxes. Hey, it's been a busy spring with our vacation to California and the Good Friday/Easter season that we just finished up...at least that's my excuse this year! On the bright side, I have until the 16th this year because everyone at the post office and IRS will be going to church on the 15th (and I'd like to invite you all to come to New Hope Christian Fellowship at 10:30)!
Paying taxes isn't exactly my favorite activity. And doing my own taxes is way down near the bottom of my list. (If only I didn't have to pay taxes, then I'd have the money to pay someone to do my taxes for me)! This year should be interesting, too, because in 2006 I worked for three different churches, we had three different addresses, we sold and bought a house, and Kelly started working again. Whee!

But this year I've got a new angle. This week I read Romans chapter 13, and it includes a paragraph about our "rulers". Take a look at this whole passage:

1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

So I'm thinking, if God established my government and they are His servants to do me good, then in a way my taxes are a gift to God's work! I know, that's a bit of a stretch. But at the very least, here it is in God's Word, the book I love and that I live my life by:

God wants me to submit to His divinely-established government servants here in the USA, not only to avoid punishment but for my conscience's sake, and that I need to give what I owe--taxes, revenue, respect and honor.

So, I'll be diligent with my tax forms, I'll be honest about how much money I made (a good chunk of it doesn't show up on my W-2's), and I'll do my best to have a good attitude about it all. Because after all, even if the IRS doesn't audit me, God's watching my work. And pleasing Him with my taxes is a part of my worship this week!

Worship and Serving go hand in hand

Here is a quote I recently found by Scotty Smith, pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin, Tennessee:

Two of the most-used words in the Greek New Testament for worship help us understand the synergistic balance and beauty of the service of worship and worship service: proskynein, which literally means, "to move towards to kiss" (e.g. John 4:23-24) and latreuo, which means "to serve" (Rom. 12:1-2; Phil. 3:3). My kisses mean a whole lot more to Darlene, my wife, when they are celebrated as an expression of a shared life, and not merely as a means for making me happy. Likewise, the "kisses of worship" must be kindled in the context of being with and serving Jesus for them to be expressions of loving adoration, and not merely a means of personal recreation.

Easter 2007

What a great day we had yesterday for our Easter celebration! I’ve heard three different counts on our attendance, but I’m guessing we had around 240 adults and kids celebrating Christ’s resurrection with us. Meeting at Columbus Elementary School was a success, and I appreciate all the volunteers who helped us get set up and torn down (and thanks especially to Bob Olson who is not only a New Hoper but is the custodian at Columbus).

I LOVE Easter. In my line of work it’s always a busy day in a busy weekend for me, but Easter is just a spiritual highlight for me each year.

I sometimes liken our Christian worship to being a sports fan. For example, a real Blazer fan is always reading about his team in the paper or online, watches the games on TV or listens to the broadcasts on the radio. And he even talks about it with other Blazer fan-friends at work or elsewhere. But the most fulfilling expression of his fan-dom is actually going to the games and cheering on his team with several thousand other fanatics. That’s what our Sunday morning worship should be. We should be honoring and praising our Lord all week long in all kinds of ways…but there’s something special about coming together with 150 others from our Fellowship to worship Him together as a community!

Well, if coming together on Sundays is like going to a regular season game, then Easter morning is like the playoffs! There’s a certain excitement and electricity in the air--the seats are all full, the faces are painted, and you’re there because you’ve been a winning team all season. God is great all the time, and we love to express our hearts to Him every week, but Christ’s death and resurrection is the ultimate example of His amazing power, and our eternal destinies are changed forever as a result of that awesome day almost 2,000 years ago! What a great reason to party!

All that to say, I loved worshiping with my church family yesterday, and I love the One who sacrificed Himself and then conquered death on my behalf! I hope you felt the same, whether you were with us at New Hope or celebrating at another church.

Unity Message

It took me a while because I was out of town, but I finally got Dewey's March 25th message on the downloads page on our church website (www.newhopeconnection.com). We've got most of Dewey's sermons there on the site, and they're all terrific, so check them out!

I'll have Rich Bryson's Palm Sunday message up on the site soon, too. Thanks for your patience!

It's tough being an artist

Palm Sunday Praise

We had a great day in church yesterday! I enjoyed worshiping with our fellowship after a week away. It was exciting to celebrate Palm Sunday, learning about the Triumphal Entry and singing "Hosanna" to our King!

I was also amazed at how full our little building was! Since this was the end of spring break, I expected our attendance would be low. But we counted 152 people there for the morning--our second biggest attendance ever!

I expect this week will be even more exciting. Don't forget we've got a Good Friday service scheduled for Friday night at 7:00 p.m. at our regular location. And then we will celebrate our first Easter together on Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. at Columbus Elementary School. Invite your unchurched friends to come and hear about the hope we have in the resurrection! We've put up an announcement on our home page, we'll have a couple ads in the local paper, and we also have invitation flyers you can pass out (contact Rebecca Bertolini if you need to get some). It's going to be an awesome celebration!