Quote from Dad

My dad, Glenn Janssen, who attends New Hope when he and Mom are in town, wrote me an interesting thought he had. Maybe you'll think it's interesting, too...

I did some doodling last week which is quite thought provoking in regards to our future. We each have 2 parents; 4 grandparents; 8 grandparents; 16 great grandparents; 32 great-great grandparents, etc. If you go back 19 generations, roughly 500 years, the count goes over 1 million people who had a part in your coming to this life. Just imagine if only 10 per cent of them were believers, you will be greeted by over 100,000 relatives who will be glad you made it to your homecoming. It should be a delight to compare notes with them. How long do you think it will take to get acquainted with them all? Sort of gives me a nice warm feeling.

Watch your step!

I saw this on a friend's blog the other day and I couldn't resist sharing it with you!

Youth Water Skiing Day

We had a fun day on the mighty Willamette River yesterday! Eleven youth and five adults enjoyed some perfect weather and wonderful skiing conditions. Thanks to Rick Myers for driving his boat for us all day--we had a blast! Here are some pictures, and you can see more in the photo galleries of our website.



Rick Myers water skiing bare foot

The guys

The girls (plus Rich)

A churchless Christian?

I found this paragraph in an article by Richard A. Kauffman entitled "Don't Give Up on the Church". The author states as his theme, "Though often embattled and dysfunctional, the church is still where God chooses to meet us."

One of the besetting sins of American Christianity is its failure to take the church seriously, to see its essential role in the mission of God.

There is in the United States a growing phenomenon of Christians unconnected to any church, a gap between what George Gallup calls "believers and belongers." A simple comparison of the number of people who say they believe Jesus Christ is God or Son of God (84 percent) with the number who attend church regularly (43 percent) illustrates this gap. And, church-growth specialists tell us, younger believers have little sense of belonging to any church tradition.

The "Jesus and me" spirituality of parachurch Christianity has triumphed over the corporate consciousness of the historic churches. Is this not a contradiction of terms: a churchless Christian? A freelance disciple? To become a Christian disciple means not just deciding to follow Jesus, but also joining with a community of disciples bound together by their common commitment to their Lord.

I agree with Kauffman that we as believers really do need to be part of a community of others who love the Lord, even with all its imperfections and faults. We'll be hearing more of this theme on Sunday morning when Dewey preaches on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. Stay tuned!

"Young at Heart" at Chan's

Our new seniors group met for lunch after church last Sunday. People of all ages were invited, and I counted 27 folks there enjoying good food and fellowship!


Here are a few photos...

Softball Pictures!

As we were playing softball on Sunday I noticed a guy with a really nice camera and video camera taking shots for the opposing team. I tracked down his name and number from their coach, and Ky Azlein was kind enough to send me what pictures he had that included our players. I've posted a few here, but you can see the rest in our web site's photo galleries.

Sunday Morning at New Hope

What a great morning we had in church yesterday! If you missed it, I'm really sorry you couldn't be with us. I think it was a terrific time of worship for all of us, and I'm hopeful that God used my preaching in spite of me!

If you weren't there, I not only have the sermon online at our web site, but Steve Myers got a pretty decent recording of some of our music which is also uploaded on the site. You can find all of our downloads by clicking on the "Sermons, etc." button on the menu bar at our site, http://www.newhopeconnection.com/.

Our softball team didn't fare so well, losing to Creekside Community Church in a close contest (9-6?). At least we looked good in our new green shirts! And honestly, it was fun just to play. I think the good spirits on both teams was a pleasant testimony of the love and joy we share in the Lord. (I saw a guy from Creekside with a really expensive camera, so maybe I can get some pics from him to show!)

Dewey will be back next Sunday, and if you're in town this week I sure hope you'll come worship with us!

Worship preaching

Dr. Dewey Bertolini is still away speaking in California, and this Sunday at New Hope Christian Fellowship I'll be the preacher man for the day!

I’ve been a worship pastor for about 17 years now, and in all that time I've only really preached twice on Sunday morning. (If I stay at this rate, I'll be up to preach again sometime in early 2013). But I still look at this rare occurance as worship leading...Did you know that the time we take each week to learn from God’s Word is an act of worship? It should be!

Anything we do to acknowledge God’s greatness and goodness and lordship is worship. If you come to our preaching time humbly seeking to take God’s Word and apply it to your life, so that your thoughts and actions reflect His will, you are worshiping! And my goal is to lead our people in that kind of worship this Sunday.

So if you're coming to New Hope this week, come ready to hear from God. I'm no Dewey Bertolini, but I'll do my best to just serve you what I've found in the Bible, and hopefully His words will inspire you to live for Him!

Re: God's Loudspeakers

I got two interesting (contentious) comments regarding my last little entry! I'm curious if any of our regular readers have any comments of their own they'd like to add. Just click on the "comments" link at the bottom of the post!

God's Loudspeakers

"Times may be tough, but God has not forgotten Zimbabwe. Disasters are often God's loudspeakers to his people. People hear better during these times."

— Baptist pastor Ray Motsi, who was arrested with other Zimbabwean ministers for holding illegal prayer meetings.

All our heart...

“When I worship, I would rather my heart be without words than my words be without heart.”
- Lamar Boschman

"Letter from a farm kid"

I recently had this forwarded to me and I thought it was hilarious (even though I'm definitely a "city boy")!

Dear Ma and Pa:

I am well. Hope you are.

Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before maybe all of the places are filled. I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m., but am getting so I like to sleep late.

Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing. Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water.

Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, and stuff, but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food. But tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you till noon, when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.

We go on "route" marches, which the Platoon Sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it is not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice, but awful flat.

The Sergeant is like a schoolteacher. He nags some. The Capt. is like the school board. Majors and Colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.

This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move. And it ain't shooting at you, like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in little metal boxes.

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake. He joined up the same time as me. But I'm only5'6" and 130 pounds and he's 6'8" and weighs near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter,

Gail

Another great day

Well, our softball team suffered its first loss today. And it wasn't even close! Some team called "Where's Bill?" (I have no idea) beat us 20-10 on a beautiful afternoon. It was still fun--it's good to be with friends even if we're getting whipped on the softball field! Next week we'll actually have team jerseys (thanks to our new sponsor, Debbie Johnson and her mortgage business) so we're sure to win. :)

On the bright side, and more importantly, we had a great time of worship this morning. Rich Bryson spoke about how the original Passover 4,000 years ago clearly pointed to Jesus being the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", and we enjoyed sharing in communion and singing about God's love and sacrifice for us. I love our meetings together, and I hope the rest of our fellowship enjoys it as much as I do.

God bless you this week as you seek to worship Him with your life!

Prayer Requests and Praises

Did you know that there's a page on our website dedicated to prayer requests and praises?

I just visited that page and saw that there are some new entries posted just in the last few days. Why not check them out to pray for others in our fellowship?

And, of course, you can leave your own requests and praises there, too, either for all to see or just for the leadership. Just click on the Prayer Requests button on the web site's menu bar and follow the easy directions.

"...always keep on praying for all the saints." Ephesians 6:18

Woe...whoa

First a little background. Back in college I did one of those "read through the Bible in a year" programs. When I got to the four gospels, my normally slow reading got even slower. I'm a movie fan, and as I read about Jesus' life I found myself picturing everything as if I were directing a movie about it all. I always found myself frustrated that the movie versions of Jesus were so wimpy or sullen or bland. I just knew that the person these actors/directors were portraying would never draw crowds of people wherever he went or inspire people by "teaching with authority" as the Book says.

But what exactly was Jesus like? Back in those college years, I think I imagined Him as sort of this charismatic, funny youth pastor guy, only slightly more mature(!) Because, hey, that's what would draw me! But over the last couple decades since then, I've come back to the gospels many times, and the more I read the harder it gets for me to know how to direct my lead actor in my movie.

That's because there are chapters in the gospels like Matthew 23, which I read last night. Let me set the scene. Chapter 21 begins with the triumphal entry, and if you know the story, that means (a) the religious leaders there in Jerusalem are ticked off that the crowds are praising Him as king and (b) Jesus' death is only a few days away. What happens at the end of the Palm Parade? Jesus storms the temple area and overturns the tables of those profiting from the temple worship. For the rest of chapters 21 and 22 Jesus and these leaders are sparring, the latter are testing Him to try and trip Him up, and Jesus is telling some pointed parables that obviously paint these corrupt religiosos in a bad light.

Then comes chapter 23, where Jesus turns to His followers and essentially goes off on the "teachers of the law and Pharisees." See if this excerpt gives you a flavor of his message:

13"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
15"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

And then Jesus begins His closing thoughts with:

33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

(To read the whole chapter, click here.)

After I read these blistering words from Jesus I closed my Bible and just sort of sat there for a while. What do I take away from all this? This isn’t exactly how my charismatic-funny-youth-pastor-Jesus would address people. In fact, if my church’s youth pastor gave a talk like this, I’m sure I’d frown on it! If I’m supposed to be like Jesus, should I be this blunt and forceful in my speech, too?

I don’t really know the answer to that question. I do know that Jesus had the advantage of knowing men’s hearts (e.g. Matt. 9:4), and that I need to be a little careful when I judge people’s motives. Still, there must be room in the church for some straight talk, and those of us who are shepherds especially need to be prayerfully ready to speak it when necessary.

Anyway, here are two thoughts I had as I sought to understand what Matthew 23 means for me.

First, as I look at all four Gospels it’s apparent to me that Jesus never spoke this way to “sinners”, but only to the “religious” people who were acting hypocritically. His rebukes were strongest toward the ones who claimed to be godly but did everything for show and status. Jesus describes the scribes and Pharisees in verses 3 and 5:

But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach…Everything they do is done for men to see…

But Jesus had compassion and kindness for those who needed God. He challenged them to live righteously, but never in a harsh way. That means to me that there is no good reason for Christ-followers to scream “baby-killer!” outside an abortion clinic or preach fire and brimstone at a gay pride parade. Angrily yelling at “sinners” downtown is just not what Jesus would do.

Second, I think the main message for me is loud and clear: Don’t be a hypocrite! My religion, or more accurately, my relationship with Jesus better be just as real on Tuesday night at 9:37 as it is on Sunday morning at 11:00. Christ called us to be disciples, not actors.

We all have to deal with this temptation. Maybe for you it’s tough to maintain your spiritual integrity because the people you work with drag you into the muck. Maybe for me it’s tough to avoid hypocrisy because I’m actually paid to be a “spiritual guy” up front! But we each have to ask ourselves if we’re putting on a show in front of people. Is Sunday morning the only time we pray? Then aren’t we doing it for show? Is our language different in front of other believers? Do we treat our family different when we’re at church?

I want to be a 7-day, 24-hour Christian! How awful would it be to hear from Jesus, “Woe to you, Brian, you hypocrite!” I’m want to strive for the opposite, found two chapters later in Matthew 25: “Well done, good and faithful servant... Come and share your master's happiness!”

So now that you’re done reading this long blog entry, how can you make sure the next hour of your life (and the rest of this week) is honoring to Christ?

Youth Swim Party Pictures Online

We've got a photo gallery of last week's Youth Swim Party on the website now if you'd like to check them out. Go the Photos button on the menu bar and find "Youth Swim" at the bottom of the galleries list.

A Fun Sunday!

We had a great day last Sunday, and I've been meaning to blog about it here, but I couldn't find my camera for a couple days and I wanted to share some pictures.

Anyway, we had perfect weather for our outdoor service in the park. The city didn't allow us to have any amplified music, so we had to go completely unplugged with guitars, percussion and saxophone (my friend Hank came to play from Tualatin), but it was a nice change of pace. Dewey's message was on Rewards in Heaven, and you can hear it on our website if you missed it.

Our softball team also had a great day, beating Church on the Hill 25-15 in an exciting game! Our worthy opponents started out batting first and immediately put up 8 runs, so we were a little wide-eyed at first, but in the end we came out on top. I've been having a blast with the games, and I really appreciate Lisa Scanlon organizing the team (even though she's never made it to any of the games!). Dewey is our star pitcher and he'll be gone the next two games, so I'm hoping I won't end our winning streak when I take his place!

We all are really fortunate to be a part of this church family. If you're a college student who's away for the summer or a vacationing family just checking in to see how things are going, we miss you and look forward to having you back with us again!

(We had a number of disc golfers play on through!)

Jet Scooter!

This just has "bad idea" written all over it...

Sermons online

We now have the last three sermons uploaded onto the website's Sermons page, so if you'd like to hear these messages from Dewey Bertolini and Dave Bertolini they're ready to go! Here is a list:

June 24

"Hannah, an Unlikely Hero" - Dave Bertolini

1 Samuel 1-2

July 1

"Carnal vs. Spiritual Christianity" - Dewey Bertolini

1 Corinthians 3:1-8

July 8
"Heavenly Rewards" - Dewey Bertolini
1 Corinthians 3:9-15

Youth Group Swim Party

I got a chance to hang out at the Youth Group's swim party on Thursday, and then I left my camera there(!) Anyway, my camera's back, and here are a few shots of the afternoon. I'll try to post more pics on the website's photo page soon.

We had a fun time there at the Zacharys' house with swimming, a BBQ, worship and some Bible teaching. It's a good group of students, and there's room for more! We meet on Thursdays at 6:45 p.m. Check the calendar on the homepage for details.

A quote to ponder...

"As worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. Holy obedience saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern life." - Richard Foster

Happy Independence Day!

I am unashamed to say that I believe the United States of America is the greatest nation on earth, and I consider it a true blessing to be a citizen.

America certainly has its flaws, and there will be no perfect government until Jesus Himself comes to rule the world. But there is such prosperity and opportunity here. There is unparalleled security and stability. We have the greatest military in the history of the world and yet there is virtually no fear of it taking over the citizens' government. We are not frustrated by the corruption seen in countries like Russia, Mexico and so many others. It's a place where anyone can "make it big", regardless of their race, religion or family history (and we've all heard the stories). It's a place where churches like ours can meet whenever we want and proclaim God's great name without worrying about being persecuted, tortured or killed.

So I consider this place to be a real gift from God to me and the others who live here. I'm proud to wish our country a happy 231st birthday today and I look forward to the big fireworks celebration tonight!

Rush Hudson Limbaugh Jr. was a Missouri lawyer and a WWII fighter pilot. He wrote a speech a number of years ago that describes the great sacrifice paid by each of the original 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. I think the speech is a moving tribute and a wonderful addition to any American's July 4th celebration. Limbaugh never printed his speech, but his son (Rush Limbaugh III, who hosts an obscure radio talk show) has posted it on his website, and you can read it here.

Have a happy Fourth, and God bless America!

New Hope Softball is 2-0!

Sunday's game was much closer than the first one, but we still came away with a victory, a fun afternoon and a few good pictures...

Dawn Carver speaks softly but carries a big stick.


Joann Dorn and Dee Bryson paid extra for the good seats behind home plate.

Paul Doyle's spring is coiled while Kevin Gebhart looks on from second base


The New Hope faithful enjoying the game.


And here are the first 4 inches of Dale Rogness' inside-the-park home run.

Come join us for next week's game! You can find the game times and locations on the calendar of our church homepage, www.newhopeconnection.com.

"As Long as I Have You"

I taught our church a new song this morning called "As Long As I Have You" by Mark Roach, a worship leader in Missouri. Mark has a MySpace page, and you can hear this great tune on that site. Just go to www.myspace.com/markroach.

I love the energy and the message of this song, and I look forward to singing it again next week!

Here are the lyrics:

AS LONG AS I HAVE YOU -- by Mark Roach
© 2007 Dayspring Music, LLC/BMI

Though I'm walking through
this valley, Lord, the truth is
I know You're walking through this, too.
So I press on fearing nothing,
Keep my mind on one thing,
For You this is nothing new.

And all along You comfort me and
A sense of peace comes over me and
You show me how to rest and trust in You

Let the walls around me crumble
Let the wind and rain come through
I can face it all as long as I have You
Let the earth beneath me tremble
Let the enemy pursue
I can face it all as long as I have You
As long as I have You

You renew restore me,
Make my paths straight for me,
Set a feast before me, too.
My cup is overflowing
Lord, You keep on showing
All that comes from knowing You.